The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-15 00:00:00

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL.

I proposo that this board should consist of 50 members,
elected by the corporations of the large towns and the ma-
gistrates of the chief counties, say, 25 members from the
towns, and 25 from the counties. The duties of this board
will be to prepare bills for the consideration of Parlia-
ment; both the bills, public and private, submitted to
thorn by others, and bills they originate themselves. As
this board will be constituted by Act of Parliament, it
will be competent for Parliament to reform or abolish it
at any time. In tho administration of its duties the Tp,gis-
lative Council will bo independent either of the Parliament
or the Crown, as much so as the bank of England or the
Metropolitan Board of Works. With the proposed board to
assist it the House of Commons, with its 350 members,
will have ample time to get through its work without
nightwork, as at present; and as rogards its acts, compared
with those of the present house, it may be expected to
throw all past legislation into the shade.
The following are tho heads of the proposed bill:
Ist. The House of Commons to consist of 350 members,
elected by the boroughs and counties of the United King-
dom. There will be no necessity to make distinctions be-
tween the three portions of the kingdom, but to treat Eng-
land, Scotland, and Ireland as one country.
2d. Seventy members of the house to retire annually in
rotation, their places to be filled up by an annual election.
3d. The right of the Crown to dissolve Parliament to
remain unchanged.
4th. The freemen in boroughs to be disfranchised.
sth. The qualification for the franchise to be a rental of
six pounds in towns and counties.
6th. Small boroughs and boroughs now joined together
as one to be disfranchised and thrown into the counties.
The boundaries of large boroughs to be extended so as to
relieve the counties as much as possible.

ith. Population, property, and special circumstances to
bo considered in distributing the seats for boroughs and
counties.

Bth. The nomination of candidates on the hustings and
other useless formalities to be abolished.

Having now given the outlines of my scheme of Parlia-
mentary Reform, I will conclude with one or two remarks.
Past experience has shown that wo cannot have a Reform
Bill oftoner than once in thirty years. That being so, I
have looked to the probable wants of the next generation
in drawing up the bill as well as present wants.
_ .

Electoral Reform has occupied the attention of the voters
for the last forty years or more to the exclusion of almost
every other national reform,which has retarded the progress
of legislative reforms,an evil which cannot be exaggerated.
At last we may expect peace and contentment, for when a
bill so comprehensive and liberal as that now proposed is
passed, the attention of the voters will be taken off Electoral
Reform and directed to Legislative Reform, the one being
only a means to the other. That the Reform of Parliament
now proposed will prove a real boon to the country I do not
doubt ; neither do I doubt that it will greatly strengthen
the Constitution and promote the interests of all classes.
At present wo have a great many private bills passed
every year, but very few public bills, but when wo have
the Reformed Parliament and the Legislative Council we
shall have all this reversed, for then we shall have more
public bills than private bills. The great reduction of the
number of members will be supported out of doors, but
opposed in the house, as it will throw so many out of their
seats. But this is a difficulty which a dissolution of Par-
liament will remedy. The minister who opposes the bill
must give the house to understand that it is their intention
to recommend a dissolution in the event of the bill being
thrown out, whfch will show the house that it will be
useless to oppose the bill on selfish grounds.
I have only further to say that if my plan of Parliamen-
tary Reform is favourably received, I will then proceed to
complete it by giving a list of the boroughs and counties
to be disfranchised snd represented, and as I am not con-
nected with any political party the impartiality of the work
may bo relied on. A. ALISON.
41, York-terrace, Regent's-park, Jan. 12, 1867.

THE KING OF PRUSSIA AND COLONEL WALKER.
—On Christmas-eve Colonel Walker, Military
Attache at Berlin, received an autograph letter from
the King of Prussia, conveying to him, with warm
expressions of regard and goodwill, the war medal
of 1866, permission to accept which had arrived on
that day from England. Shortly afterwards a
servant of the Crown Prince brought Colonel
Walker a parcel containing a most kindly-
expressed autograph letter, his portrait, and a
black marble paper weight engraved with the names
and dates of the battles of Nachod, Skalitz, and
Kouiggratz. The ornament on the top of the paper-
weight is tho decoration of the second-class of the
Red Eagle, with crossed swords, which the King
had previously requested through the British Go-
vernment to be allowed to confer on Colonel
alkor, but that permission to accept had been re-
fused.
The Italie states that it may be considered as
certain that the Pope has come to an understanding
with M. Tonello, the Envoy from the Italian Go-
vernment, upon the principal points of his mission.
The only point which remains to be settled regards
the reduction of the number of Dioceses, but the
delay only turns upon an obstacle of form, and it is
expected that the difficulty will very shortly be
overcome.