The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-24 00:00:00

dealt fairly by the an. Happily, all the violence of
O'CONNOR and his associates
thehas recigonmopfieFtzr:Gus
subsided, and the e remains
nothing but the fair, peaceful, yet ma ly assertion
of a right to the franchise, such as «e have heard
from Smithfi old, from Birmingham, from Man-
, chester, fro, n Newcastle, and from other places.
One of the best features of the working-class
agitation is -this moderation. Indeed, while assert-
ing manhood suffrage as the only principle they
can acknowledge, they have yet cordially voted to
support Mr. BRIGHT, whose rating suffrage would
fall very far short of it. They see strongly their
rights„ but will take a liberal instalment of them.
They pronounce no bill to be satisfactory which
leav‘as adult citizens out of the pale of the repre-
sentatiord, but they will not insist on satisfaction of
all demands. Can there be a better time than this
to do something worth doing in the direction of
enfranchising working men ? We are not threat-
ened. There are no night meetings, and drillings
on heaths and moors. There is not even any tu-
multuous demand for what is desired. Never
could the middle classes bestow on those below
them, what they must one day give, with a better
grace. We well know the feelings with which we
all regard concessions wrung from the Peers ; they
have alienated us from that haughty body, not,
attached us to them. So will it be -with the con-
cession of the Franchise, if the operative classes
have to wrest it from us. What might now become
a bond of union will then become only a cause of
lasting and contempt.

As Mr. FYFE justly observed, confidence begets
confidence. The true way to ensure in working
men a loyal attachment to the constitution—to
enlist their support, and to gain their good-will to
the classes above them—is to trust them. Let
them understand that the constitution of the coun-
try.exists so equally for them, as for all besides, that
its administration and protection are as cheerfully
placed in their hands as in our own. It is really the
case. The working classes are legislated for quite
as much and as well as they will ever legislate for
themstives, and the fact will be plainer to them
when they are not, apparently, jealously excluded
from all direct influence on the Legislature. We
are not concerned just now to advocate this or that
particular franchise. Mr. BRIGHT'S is before them.
They have, or large numbers of them at least have,
cheerfully accepted it. It seems, at least, that the
voter should be, if a poor man, yet a known and
responsible man, and this is decidedly better than
any mere artificial line of demarcation.

We need hardly add that the " confidence" must
be complete. The vote must be given, not to the
man's master, but to the man himself. No exten-
sion of the suffrage can be tolerated without the
Ballot. We do not, indeed, know of any meeting
of working men, who ought to know their own
position best, in which they have net spoken
of the Ballot as inseparable from the fran-
chise. A vote for 'corking men, without the
Ballot, would be a fetter, not a fran-
chise. It is astonishing how some parties
lie on the watch for the shred of a plausibility
against so obvious a right as free voting. Mr.
BRIGHT had a cold at Edinburgh ; to shorten his
speech he omitted discussion of the Ballot; forth-
with he was held to have retracted or grown cold
on that subject! It was as well they told him so
in time, since at Glasgow he did it full justice.
Indeed he could tell them, and truly enough, that
wherever he went, and whatever differences of
opinion he met with, he met with none on the
Ballot. It is the one subject on which he found
all Reformers agreed, however they might differ
on the limits of the franchise, or in the apportion-
ment of members. " There is," said he, "no por-
tion of the propositions for Reform that have been
submitted to the public in other parts of the coun-
try in England that has been received with such
unanimity, and such an enthusiasm of resolution, as
the proposition that the Ballot shall form a portion
of the coming Reform Bill." Let Lord JOHN and
Lord DERBY ponder over this fact.

At this period, when many happy families are
indulging in joyous anticipations of a merry Christ-
mas, when healthy and prosperous children arc
looking forward with eager anticipations to the
gifts and luxuries provided for their use, it may
not be unprofitable to turn for a short period to
the condemned cell in Reading Gaol and consider
the deplorable state of poor MARY NEWELL, who
now lies under sentence of death for the murder of
her own child. The unhappy girl is but
twenty-two years of age, and, unfortu-
nately for herself, was sufficiently prepossessing
in appearance to attract the attention
of a certain ROBERT WILLIAM FRANCIS, a poul-
terer, then residing in Friere-street, Reading. He
had known her for five or six years, and having
persuaded her to yield to his wishes under a pro-
mise of marriage, accompanied by the stale pretext
that it was not convenient for him to marry just
yet, as his sister was keeping house for him,
heartlessly abandoned her to her miserable fate.
She, of course, lost a situation in which she had
acquired the respect and esteem of her mistress,
who, greatly to her credit, came forward at the
trial to give her miserable servant a character.
When she subsequently came to Reading to ask
him what she was to do, as "he knew she was in
trouble by him," he said " he did not know what she
was to do, for he was engaged, and could not have
her, but he would keep the child." In this respec

however, he changed his mind as much as when he
had promised marriage to his ill-fatedvictim. After
her confinement in the union workhouse, and re-
maining there for nearly three months, she deter-
mined on making a last appeal to her betrayer.

If he was not prepared to redeem his
first promise, he might the last—might at
least " keep - the child," or give some pecuniary
assistance to its heartbroken mother. When, how-
ever, she adventured on the experiment on the very
day of her discharge from the workhouse ; when,
after walking eight miles to produce the infant to

its father, vainly hoping that some feeling might
be excited, if not favourable to herself, at least to
the innocent baby. But she was grievously mis-

taken. Although perfectly destitute, -without the

means of obtaining a lodging for the night,.
without even a, single farthing in her
possession to enable her to procure the
slightest nourishment, her seducer refused
the slightest assistance to one whom he had

promised to make his wife, either for herself dr fo:

the child that he acknowledged to be his own. lie
saw the baby, but did not take any notice of it, and

did not recollect passing any remark on it. To her,

however, he was more explicit. His reply to the

question of what she was to do—was that "he did
not care what she did, she could do as she liked,

but he would not give her anything." He then
dressed himself, and swaggered out of the shop,
leaving the miserable creature in company with•his
sister, who speedily told her that there was no use
in her staying, as he might not be home until 11 or
12 o'clock.

This kind-hearted and sympathising female porn-
pleted the ruin the poulterer had commenced. Poor
MARY NEWELL left the shop, but walked about
until midnight vainly seeking another interview,
to madness, she commtted
Then, driven to despair, i