The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The text of the Reform Bill of 1867 is
at length before us. The Ministers of the Crown
hesitated as long as possible to commit themselves
to any particular plan of Reform, but the patience
of the House of Commons has its limits, and the
time had at last come when the honour of Parlia-
ment demanded the production of a definite scheme.
A bill has accordingly been presented to the house.
Not, indeed, that this can be looked upon as final.
If we were compelled to regard it as the ultimatum
of the Ministry, we should despair of any solution of
the Reform question in the present year. But the
previous experience of the session, not to speak of
the language of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
yesterday afternoon, warns us not to be dis-
couraged. The bill which has been laid upon the
table is a formal sketch of a complete measure,
but as some of its leading features have been
already repudiated by all sections of the house,
it cannot be deemed anything more. The ques-
tion for the rest of the week is, therefore, not
whether the measure propounded can be ac-
cepted as a whole, but whether it is capable of such
manipulation—by omitting provisions here, and in-
serting others elsewhere—so as to offer at last a sa-
tisfactory solution of a problem which the House of
Commons itself must take in hand. The bill opens
with a definition of the occupation franchise in
boroughs. It is proposed that the occupier of any
dwelling-house shall have a vote after an occupation
of two years during which he has been rated to the
poor and paid his rates. At first sight this appears
to promise a considerable enfranchisement. Some
exception may be taken to the length of residence
required, but we do not regard this objection as
substantial. The payment of rates is, in itself, no
more than an evidence of that personal responsi-
bility which justifies the household franchise to the
minds of persons so widely separated from each
other as Mr. Henley and Mr. Bright. As a matter
of fact, however, experience has proved that the
personal responsibility of the lowest rank of house-
holders is unreal, and in order to secure the due
payment of rates it has been found necessary in
many cases to make them a charge upon the owner
instead of the occupier. The occupier, of course,
pays the rate in the form of increased rental, but
the owner is primarily liable to the demands of the
overseer. Before the Reform Act of 1E32 the bur-
den of poor rates was in several boroughs thrown
upon the owner by local acts, and it was accord-
ingly necessary in enfranchising the £lO house-
holders to provide that, where the owner had been
made previously liable, the occupier should be at
liberty to claim to be rated and to pay his rates,
without prejudice, however, to the right of the over-
seers against the owner in case of the occupier's de-
fault. The Small Tenements Act of 1850 em.
powers the vestry in any borough to make the
liability to pay rates in respect of houses rated
at and under £6 a charge on the owner, and
it follows that wherever this act is adopted the
enfranchisement proposed by the first part of
the present bill would cease at the £6 rating
limit. Below that line personal payment of rates
would cease, and, therefore, the privilege of the fran-
chise. It would, however, be plainly intolerable that
the right of these householders to votes should depend
upon the decision of a local body. The 34th clause of
the bill therefore provides that any occupier may
claim to be rated in order to acquire the franchise,
following in this respect the analogous provision of
the Reform Act of 1832. The result would be that
just as all £lO occupiers paying their rates vote at
present, and where a local Act throws the obligation
of rates on the owner, the occupier may claim to be
substituted as the ratepayer in order to get his vote,
so the bill of the Government would make all house-
holders, iesident and paying their rates, voters, and
where, under the operation of the Small Tenements
Act, the owner was made the ratepayer, w,r6uld en-
able the occupier to claim to be substituted as the
ratepayer, and thus again obtain his vote. At the
first blush the bill of the Government would give a
household suffrage as simply as the Act of 1832
gave a £lO rental suffrage. It is said that practi-
cally the householder rated at £6 and under would
experience such difficulty in establishing his claim
to be put on the Register that he would cease to
prosecute it, and the result of the Ministerial pro-
posals would be a £6 rating franchise where the
Small Tenements Act was adopted, and a household

suffrage elsewhere. If this be true, the proper
means of amending the bill would not be found
in abolishing the necessity of the ratepaying quali-
fication. Personal responsibility should still be
essential in the voter, and it might be secured by
reducing the limit of the Small Tenements Act, and
making its operations universal. It is certain that
the personal payment of rates is a valuable se-
curity for the "steadiness" Mr. Henley looks upon
as the best criterion of fitness for the franchise,
and by making the limit of the franchise coincident
with the limit of rating a vast interest would be en-
listed in maintaining unaltered the franchise quali-
fication. We have dwelt upon the occupation fran-
chise in boroughs, because upon it the fate of the
Bill turns. The Government, if they are wise, will
make only the faintest resistance, if any, to a re-
duction of the occupation franchise in counties ;
and, on the other hand, the educational franchise
will meet with no more serious obstacles than Mr.
Beresford Hope's rambling criticism. The fran-
chise in respect of the possession of £5O in the
savings banks or the public funds for two years is
open to little objection, but it is evident after Mr.
Gladstone's criticism on Monday evening that the
taxpaying franchise must be reconsidered. We
need not dwell upon the dual vote, which will cer-
tainly bo abandoned. No doubt could exist upon
this point after the debate on MoMay, and Mr.
Disraeli's reply to Mr. Bright last night was suffi-
ciently significant. The fact that the Government
embodied dual voting in their bill must, however,
always be remembered as an irreversible condemna-
tion of their political sagacity. They were warned
against the proposal from every quarter, and when,
in spite of reiterated ;comings, they submitted it t o
the House of Commons, it was condemned front
every bench. The clauses of the bill relating to
the distribution of seats are so palpably faulty and
insufficient that we cannot believe Parliament will
accept them as any solution of what is, in fact, the
very essence of the Reform question. The House
of Commons will hesitate before it commits itself
to the hypocrisy of disfranchising Great Yarmouth
and Lancaster, and the proposal to restrict the
further distribution of seats to the taking of a
single member from twenty-three boroughs
now returning two members each, and having
a population below 7,000, can only be meant
as a pretext for deferring distribution to
another season, and thus keeping the Reform
question unsettled. It is incumbent upon Par-
liament, if for no other purpose than to vindicate
its own sincerity, to force a bolder policy upon the
Government. The proposal to multiply polling-
places so that there shall be one in every place where
there are 200 resident electors, and to throw the ex-
pense of such polling places upon the county rates,
is a step in the right direction which merits hearty
support. The clause authorising the use of voting-
papers in all cases is, in principle, equally excellent,
but it is not easy to see how the practical difficulties
of securing the attestation of voting papers are to
be overcome in the case of a large constituency, and
some such security must clearly be necessary. The
Enclosure Commissioners are to appoint assistant-
commissioners to examine the boundaries of the
existing boroughs, and to determine the boundaries
of the boroughs proposed to be created, and their
reports will be submitted to Parliament for confirma-
tion. The clause defining their powers is carefully
drawn, so as to limit them to the question whether
it is necessary to " enlarge" existing boundaries,
but it is at least open to doubt whether the limits of
those boroughs which in fact comprise agricultural
districts should not be contracted. It is characteristic
of the hurry in which the bill has been fromeo that
one important provision has never been mentioned
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in any of his
speeches. It is suggested that a member holding
an office of profit under the Crown'should not vacate
his seat on the acceptance of another office. We
do not anticipate much objection to this proposal,
but before making the alteration it is worth while
to inquire whether the reason which requires a
member to vacate his seat at all on accepting office
is any longer valid. The question may, however,
too probably, never come on for discussion, in con-
sequence of the breaking up of the Ministry and
abandonment of the Bill. We have before us, as
we have said, nothing bat the sketch of a measure,
which mud undergo great alterations to make it

acceptable either to Parliament or the nation, and
where so much is open to debate we look forward
with much anxiety to the result.

THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON " TIIE MILITARY
REORGANISATION IN ENGLAMD AND IN FRANCE."--

Since our last publication General Peel's propo-
sals for the Army reform have been laid before
Parliament, and the scheme for the reorganiza-
tion of the French Army has likewise been
published. The two plans form a great contrast.
Our own is limited to a moderate increase of the

soldier's pay and to the recruiting of the Militia
by voluntary enlistment to its full strength of
120,000 men, coupled with a proposition to make
it partially available as an army reserve. The
French Government, on the other hand, propose
to double their Army, adopting, with some modifi-
cations, the Prussian system of a general conscrip-

tion. General Peel's -plan, as Cr as it goes, is a
good and useful one ; but is not a bold or coinpre-
.

hensive scheme.

Ile seems to have an inordin-

ate fear of increasing the estimates and to view
the question in rather a narrow way. The same
want of boldness or comprehensiveness struck
us in his answer to Major Anson's motion
on the Indian Army, and to Mr. O'Reilly's able
and excellent speech on the employment of
Sikh troops in certain of our Colonies. The
general is considered a very able administrator,
and no doubt knows well the feeling of the
House as to army expenditure. But judging
from the almost unanimous expression of
opinion •in the periodical press on this sub-
ject, the general public opinion seems strongly
in favour of a thorough reorganization of our mili-
tary system, and it seems to us a great pity this
feeling is not taken advantage of to a greater ex-
tent. The soldier's pay is to be raised twopence a
day, and another penny on re-enlisting after twelve
years' service, making their pay is. 2d. and ls. 3d.
respectively. This will appear to the general

public to be a fair rate olr'emuneration to un-
skilled labourers, who form the bulk of our re-
cruits. The increase will, no doubt, be a great
help to our soldiers ; we must nevertheless not
forget that their pay is subject to heavy stop-
pages. To take the old rate of pay, speaking of
the line, the account would stand thus :—Pay 13d.
a day, from which would be deducted for rations,
viz., :Vb. of meat and 11b. of bread, 41d. ; then 3d.
for tea, &c., and Id. for washing, making Bd. ; this
will leave sd. But a further deduction is made of
2d. a day to supply the men with new under-cloth-
ing, and for repairs, &c., so that he has but 3d. a
a day on an average—if so much—to find himself
in beer and to meet his other requirements. The
additional 2d. and 3d a day will thus be very wel-
come to our gallant soldiers, though in our opinion
their pay is still inadequate. The better plan
would be for the Government to supply them with
three good and substantial meals, finding them in
all articles of dress and necessaries, with a fine for
careless or wilful damages, and then to fix the pay
at 6d. a day, with an additional 2d., or, at all
events, Id. every five years, in addition to any
good-conduct pay they may earn. This would be
a rate of pay which we believe would be an in-
ducement to young men of the labouring class to
enter the Army in sufficient numbers, and we could
then dispense with the system of giving bounties
and rewards to enlisters. The pension is not to be
altered, and remains at Bd. a day, or at most Is., if
the men have earned all the good-conduct marks
after twenty-one years' service. It ought not, in
any case, be less than Is., and a permanent pension
ought to be given to those men whose health has
broken down from diseases contracted in the field
or in unhealthy climates. What can be more dis-
graceful than to see soldiers who have served in
the Crimea, or who saved our Indian Empire
during the mutiny war, and whose constitutions
are ruined by diseases—the direct consequences of
the hardships they underwent--dismissed (if not
totally disabled) with a pension of 6d. a day for a
couple of years, and then left to beg or eke out a
miserable existence as best they may. Are not
such men to be found in all our towns and vil-
lages ? And could we set up a better rival to
the recruiting sergeant if we tried to do it? No
other Army in the world is called upon to per-
form the duties ours has to do, to face unhealthy,
and sometimes deadly climates for years, and often
engaged in warfare with brave but savage tribes.
The mortality is very great. On an average in the
whole Army, out of 1,000 men it is reckoned that
not more than 450 are in the ranks after ten
years, the remainder being lost by death, or
desertion, or discharge ; so that long service pay
or pension is not enjoyed by many. Ours is,
we must recollect, a professional Army. Our
soldiers ought to be well paid, their comforts
more attended to, and, above all, the decencies of
life better maintained in our barracks. Of our
soldiers it ought to be said, as well as in Wallen-
stein's Lager, 4, Dem Soldaten muss scin Solde
werden, da'rnach heisst er." The sympathies of
the writer of the present article are with profes-
sional soldiers, so long, at all events, as they are
national men who have dedicated their lives': to
the upholding of the national honour and follow
the flag, as it is emblazoned on so many of our
regimental standards, übique quo fas et gloria decant.
Whatever shortcomings there may be in soldiers,
at all events even the humblest is ready at a mo-
ment's notice to face death and lose his life
in his country's quarrel. General Peel's propo-
sal to raise an additional 30,000 men for the
Militia is a very good one, if he can succeed in
raising the men. He seems very confident of
doing so, however. He further proposes to allow
30,000 Militia to volunteer to join the Army Re-
serve, and to give £6 bounty to induce them.
They are to remain in the Militia, and are only
liable to be drafted into the Line in case of war.
If this plan succeeds it ought to be extended to
the whole Militia, and for the future the Militia
ought to be recruited on the condition of serving
abroad either regimentally or in drafts to the
Line, and it ought to be embodied two months
annually ; it would then, however, be necessary to
pay more attention to the drill. We shouldthus have
a valuable Reserve of 120,000 men. But it would
likewise be essential for home defence to reorgan-
ize the local Militia, which must be raised by the
ballot and organized in the limner we recom-
mended in a former article, and not be less than
200,000 men. The privilege which the new scheme
gives to men of the Line who have not completed
their time of service to commute each remain-
ing year in the Line for two in the Reserve,
with the option of reverting to active service,
strikes us as likely to give satisfaction to many
soldiers, but this privilege would not operate to
any great extent, indeed the number of those
who would have the option is not estimated
higher than 2,000. A large reserve in this
way could only be formed by making it com-
pulsory for men to serve in the Reserve after
seven or eight years in the Line. It is very
doubtful if we could raise recruits in sufficient
numbers to carry out this plan, and on these con-
ditions we think it would be necessary to raise
still higher the rate of pay if we do not offer our
recruits a provision for life, or give them perman-
ent pay while they are in the Reserve, which
would be very expensive. We think the plan we
have recommended of the whole Militia being
made the Reserve preferable in many respects.
Some such reorganization of our military system
is, in our opinion, indispensable ; and, in view
of the gigantic armies raised, or about to be
raised, on the Continent, it is folly or madness not
to do now what most certainly would have to
be done at the breaking out of war—to put our
land forces on a footing more in proportion to the
armies of foreign States. The French Army is to
be reorganized in this way. The annual contin-
gent is to be fixed at 160,000, which is the number
of able-bodied men. Out of 325,000 males of 20
years of age, one-half of this number, or 80,000,
are to serve for five years, instead of seven as
hitherto, and are then sent to the reserve for four
years. The other half of the contingent is to
serve only in the reserve for four years, and to
be embodied for three months, and then to
join the national Garde Mobile for five years ;
all persons who may now procure substitutes, or
who have formerly done so, will have to serve in
this Garde Mobile for five years; the duty for
this latter force is to be easy, not more than a
fortnight's drill is to be required, and they are
destined for the defence of fortresses and the cus-
tody of the coasts. Old soldiers are allowed to re-
enlist on the present advantageous conditions.
Indeed, this feature in the French service of so
many conscripts who have served their time, re- '
enlisting for a second or third engagement has
been much favoured and developed by the pre-
sent Emperor—they form about 25 per cent., we
believe, of a French regiment. The result o the
new organization, roughly stated, is, that France
will have an active army of 400,000, and a re-
serve force of 430,000, making together 830,000 ;
and, in addition, the Garde Mobile of 408,000 men,
making a total of 1,238,000 men. The Army
hitherto was fixed at 400,000, and the Reserve
220,000 men, making together 620,000 men. This
is a great increase to the military power of
France, and every Frenchman fit to bear arms of
the requisite age will have to serve in the way
we have explained. It is certainly not so oner-
ous as the Prussian system ; and the service in
the Line is reduced from seven to five years—
this will be advantageous to the conscripts,
although the universal obligation to serve will be
more generally felt by the nation at large. The
scheme does not seem to be popular in France,
notwithstanding the jealousy of Prussia, which,
is very prevalent. It cannot surprise us that, as
Prussia keeps up and develops her military system
in the new confederation, France should also

bring up her Army to an equal extent. If, how-
ever, it is now to be a rivalry as to which nation
is to put the largest number of men in the field—
a question of mere numbers—the more vigorous
Teutonic race will carry the day. France would
do well to rely more on the greater number of sea-
soned and veteran soldiers in her splendid Army,
and on the great aptitude for war of her troops,
though even in this respect she will find a worthy
rival, if not her match, in the great military qua-
lities of the German nation.

LIVERPOOL THEA7RES.

PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE.

Mr. Henderson is following up his good work with his
accustomed enterprise and spirit. " Anthony and Cleo-
patra" has been withdrawn after a brilliant run of three
weeks, in consequence of the engagement of Mr. Barry
Sullivan, who made his bow on Monday night before an
appreciative and enthusiastic audience in his great im-
personation of Hamlet.

It would be a work of supererogation to attempt to speak
of Mr. Sullivan's assumption of the Philosophic Prince. Isis
Hamlet is already a "household word" with all who can
appreciate a graceful, highly finished, and scholarly inter-
pretation of Shakspere's greatest creation.
Miss Reinhardt's Ophelia, is a natural and unaffected
rendering of a pure and intellectual conception, and con-
firms the very high opinions formed of this lady's talents.
Shakspere must have had Mr. Blakeley in his "mind's eye"
when sketching the character of Polonius.
The mounting of the piece is in every way worthy of
Mr. Henderson's reputation. The scenery, specially
painted by Messrs. Dawson and Grieve, is artistic in the
highest degree, and has the additional merit of being
historically correct. The dresses and appointments aro
truly magnificent, and all the details are carried out with
a correctness and finish which will make the revival of
" at the Prince of Wales Theatre a land-mark in
the dramatic history of the day. Tho production of
Brough's celebrated burlesque of "Medea," which
concluded the programme each evening, afforded
Mr. George Faucet Rowe another opportunity for
the display of his versatile talents. His Medea, "the
best of wives, with a brute of a husband" (a character ren-
dered famous by Robson), is an exceedingly clever piece
of burlesque tragedy, and like all Mr. Rowe's " readings,"
has the merit of originality. Mr. Sullivan is announced to
appear in several of his best characters during next week.

THEATRE ROYAL.
Miss Madge Robertson is still the attraction at this
theatre, and to judge from the fashionable audience nightly
assembled to witness her really beautiful and intelligent
rendering of every character she assumes seems to be
gaining a strong hold over the sympathies of the Liver-
pool playgoers. Burlesque also forms an important item
in the bill of fare, and where George Honey, the prince of
burlesque actors, reigns, crowds of ardent admirers are
seen to throng. Mr. J. C. Cowper, an old Liverpool
favourite, is underlined for Monday next.

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
" True to the Core" increases nightly in popularity, an
l
has proved, as was anticipated, a great success. "The
Long Strike" has been revived in all its original splendour,
and has been added to the programme, the management
being evidently determined to supply not only quality, but
quantity. Several important engagements are announced.

THE VARIETIES.
"The Great Vance" is still the "order of the day," or
rather night, and seems to have monopolised a large share
of our ordinary conversation. Instead of the all-absorbing
and truly British topic, the weather, the question now 15
not " How wretchedly cold it is ?" but " Have you W.°
Vance?" "No !" "Then lose no time—not to have seen him
is not to have seen anything." There is no doubt but tha t
Vance has proved a trump card for the management.