The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.—Sus OFFICE, OCT. 19.

THERMOMETER, TN THE SHADE.
53—highest since noon yesterday.
53—lowest this morning and during the night.
Cs—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-29.65.
WIND, Easterly ; fresh and squally, with dull rainy
weather.

THE SUN.

TUESDAY. OCTOBER 19, 1858.

The far East and the far West of England aro
exhibiting just now two rather different, rather
opposed activities. In the remote West the Ballot
Society has been, during the last week, holding
very successful meetings at several places. In
Exeter, Devonport,:and Truro, we find by the local
journals that the electors have been enlightened, if
light they need, on the subject ; and at the last-
mentioned place, it being an important election-
eering capital, a public meeting was held to pro-
mote the adoption of the Ballot in the Reform
measure of next session. The Vice-Ch.irmnn of the
Ballot Society, Mr. WHITEHURST, attended all the
meetings, and furnished many practical illustra-
tions of the intimidation so universal in the coun-
ties, and so much too common in the towns. In the
Eastern Counties, Castle Hedingham has again
poken, and Major BERESFORD, Mr. Du CANE, and
other rural Conservatives, have warned Lord DERBY
not to listen to Radicals and to democratic de-
mands. The Ballot, to be sure, they did not ex-
pressly repudiate. All the speakers took for
granted, like all others hitherto, that a Tory Re-
form Bill we are to have, but they seemed to have
some hope that it should really be " a mea-
sure to suit all classes and to please all parties?,
Without protection to the voter this can never be.
Our Tory friends acknowledged that extension of
the suffrage must be one feature, but extension
must include a class more dependent, if possible,
than the large classes which are now at the mercy
of others. Whether in the counties or in the
towns, whether by enfranchising more agricultural
tenants or more operatives, an extension of suffrage
except under protection of the Ballot, will be but
an extension of political slavery.
All parties cannot be pleased by the most liberal-
looking measure, unless they feel that it elevates
instead of degrading them. It is not merely those
whom sham Liberals may deride as theorists, who
will be aggrieved if protection be not given to the
voter. The new electors themselves will not thank
those who have made them electors. They will
even owe them a secret grudge. At present they
may justly feel that they are deprived of a right
enjoyed by their equals or their inferiors; but they
are not compelled to disgrace themselves. The law
denies them, indeed, the privilege they ought to
have ; but it does not now give it them with one
hand, while it permits with the other the inti-
midator to take it from them. We strongly
suspect that a large ,extension of the suffrage may
form a part of the new bill ; but we are perfectly
sure that it will procure few thanks unless it prove
a bona fide extension.
One of the speakers at Castle Hedingham con-
trasted, as has often enough been done before, the
larger proportional number of members returned
by boroughs. They return, he reminds us, three
hundred and nineteen members, while the counties
return but one hundred and forty-four, and the ratio
of electors is as three to one in the counties and
towns respectively. This is an apparent inequality,
but only an apparent one. The real electors for
the counties are landlords. Give us the numbers,
and we imagine the three to one would be just re-
versed—the boroughs -would have three electors to
the one of the counties. Subtract, besides, from the
boroughs those entirely under the influence of the
landlords, and their members, as they ought to be
added to those for the counties, and the proportion
of members returned by the counties would be

vastly the greater.
Now, the concession of the Ballot would settle
all these quarrels. No one could object then to
representation in proportion to population and
number of electors. Liberate the country electors,
divide them in some fair proportion into tolerably
equal constituencies merge the agricultural
boroughs in them, or unite these small places in
dietriets of boroughs—we should not be very pug-
mew, Ats to which—and we should willingly
enougb.!contede to the country constituencies their
natural proportion t
0 members. The one thing

which vitiates all calculation, and prostrates all
fair arrangements is, that the electoral unit, the
individual elector, is in sonic cases a re 11 unit, in
others but a cipher multiplying ten or one hundred

times the value of the real unit, his landlord.
Make the tenant as well as the lani,( rd an elector,
which the Ballot would do, and how easy would it
then be to adjust representation fairly.

Lord HARDWICKE spoke out the other day as an
alarmist. The gallant Earl spoke strongly, it is
true, because he felt strongly ; but to say that he
spoke as an alarmist is an exaggeration. Himself a
distinguished officer in the Royal Navy of Eng-
land, the Lord Privy Seal is- naturally solicitous,
beyond the ordinary run of administrators, in re-
gard to the well-being and efficiency of the most
national arm of our different warlike profes-
sions. Lord HARDWICKE'S sympathies with
the maritime service date back to his boyhood
—extending down a period of nearly half a
century's duration. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the noble lord should be disposed
to regard the interests of the Royal Navy as in a
great measure pre-eminent to almost all others.
Why, this position of pre-eminent importance is
attached to the naval service by most thinking
and patriotic Englishmen. Unprofessional men
—mere land-lubbers--are disposed to give the navy
in this way precedence. We, all of us, as rationally
as nationally, take a pride in our wooden walls
beyond all other pride of a warlike character.
We have an inerradicable repugnance for a stand-
ing army ; but in broad contrast to this we have
a decided and rooted partiality for a floating navy
always in readiness. Among all the estimates
annually submitted to the House of Commons in a
Committee of Ways and Means—the Naval esti-
mates are precisely those least begrudged
even by our most rigid economists. Mr.
WILLIAMS nowadays, Mr. HUME, if you might
pare cheeses and skin flints anywhere else
than in our seaports and dockyards. Rather
than at any time run the hazard of an injudicious
thrift in regard to our fleets, we would as a nation,
even as confessedly a nation of shopkeepers with
the chance of the other extreme, that of a thrift-
less and prodigal expenditure. The Board of
Admiralty need never grumble over empty coffers.
That we have long known and felt as a community.
It will be so until—not very long before the arrival
of Lord MACAULAY'S New Zealander.
Yet with this all readiness, his eagerness to en-
courage the development of our naval resources we
are fated at last to hear from Lord HARDWICKE
in the autumn of 1858 the distinct intimation that
if in regard to our navy much has already been done
—" yet much more remains to do !" In speaking

thus, however, we do not in any way conceive that
the Lord Privy Seal speaks as an alarmist. Surely
it is wiser in these matters to warn—than to
to brag ! Surely it is more patriotic for a compe-
tent witness like Lord HARDWICKE to explain as
clearly as maybe what is yet admissable to be done
in the way of improvement, than to expatiate idly
and vain-gloriously upon what in this matter has
already been accomplished ! Besides, Lord HARD-
WICKE'S chief provisions are wholly incontrover-
tible. Science has already effected a transformation
in naval tactics, in naval architectural, in naval
organization generally. But far more than anything
that science has yet done—this is what science is
actually now doing in the way of still further
transformations. As a sailor, the noble and
gallant Earl feels that it is advisable, above all
things, to keep the service "up to the mark" pro-
portionately with the advance of scientific improve-
ment. Hence his very startling statements last
week—statements not of an alarmist, but of a
thoughtful and patriotic administrator.

It is nearly two years since the Times put forth
the doctrine that occasioned such fearful c0n5terna-
.:,.„.;,.......0,,,+ th. .. ~.2.1e time Clic
internal commerce of the country could be carried
on without a single ounce of gold. A deposit of
Consols, or the fact that the notes would be received
in payment of taxation, would render them uni-
versally acceptable. There was, however, just one
leetle drawback—viz., the alleged necessities of our
foreign trade, which demanded all the crushing
restrictions that periodically paralysed the trade
and commerce of the country, reduced the teal crea-
tors and producers of the national wealth to distress
and misery, compelling them to sacrifice the hardly-
acquired savings of more fortunate years, and all
the comforts they had with provident care and just
pride accumulated. In each commercial crisis pro-
duced by the artificial scarcity of gold, tens of
thousands, aye, hundreds of thousands—we fear we
might almost ascend to millions—of stalwart men,
the bone and sinew of the country, are thrown out
of employment, and changei into, not merely un-
profitable, but discontented consumers. " Lean
and hungry" persons have been proverbially dan-
gerous, if not from the time of CASSIUS, certainly
since that of SHAKSPERE.

The nursery hymn tells us that—
" Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do."
Men who have abundance of unwelcome leisure,
who are hardset to kill time, and not very anxious
to hasten back to their denuded homes to witness
the wretchedness of dirty housewives and weep-
ing children, in vain imploring the food
which they are unable to bestow, examine very
sharply into every complaint, and the more so
when there are real practical grievances to be
adjusted. A little extra pressure of the screw may
make them dangerous, not only to themselves, but
to others of more exalted rank. And it would be
but prudent for those who are in the enjoyment of
every luxury wealth provides to be contented to leave
some small portion to their less fortunate brethren.
Even the children described by LOCKE as " pulling
at the scanty coverlet" did not in those days
allow any of the family to remain absolutely
naked.

The admission and the objection referred
to in the beginning of this article consti-
tute the great elements of the Currency ques-
tion, and it will materially simplify the argu-
ments on either side if they be kept.
closely in view. Can we not obtain a domestic
circulating medium adequate to carry on all the
internal commerce of the country although there
were not a single ounce of gold in Great
Britain ? Unquestionably so, answers the Times,
and the matter is too clear to waste
time on. Men, in accepting anything in pay-
ment for their goods or labour, do not look to its
intrinsic value. They do not inquire whether the
tendered sovereign contains 123 grains of gold of
specific fineness. None but very" hard calculators"
indeed will weigh it, and not one in a million will
ever think of having the purity of the metal tested
to ascertain whether it is 22 carat gold, All
they know, all they require to know, is, that
it possesses a purchasing power—that it will be
accepted from them in payment of value received
to the extent of £l. The butcher has to pay the
salesman for his meat, and he has to hand over, in
turn, to landlord and tax and rate collector. The
money paid to the baker goes through a similar
process. In fact, there is no end to the
modes by which a man Who possesses a

national note constituted a legal tender in every
domestic transaction, can advantageously dispose of
it. Indeed, we believe that there is not a money-
changer in Europe or America that would look
scornfully at the welcome stranger.
_ _ _

It would of course be indispensable to take
precautions against any over-issue, but that
might be arranged under the authority of
Commissioners appointed by and responsible to
Parliament. We could not conceive that men of
position and known experience and standing would
be actuated by a reckless desire to involve
their country in ruin, and to bring disgrace and
discredit on their own names needlessly or
recklessly.
•

There only then remains the difficulty—we must
maintain our foreign exchanges to induce other
nations to deal with us, and for that purpose we
must not only pay an ounce and a quarter of gold
for every £5 note presented, but we must enter into
a series of restrictive regulations that would be
ridiculous if they were not praductive of such ter-
rible evils to the welfare and prosperity of the
United Kingdom, and the happiness of its people.
It gold were dealt with merely as a commodity,
subject to all the changes and vicissitudes. of the
market, in accordance with the law of supply and
demand, it might safely be left to the enterprise of
those engaged in the trade. Gold might at one
period be at a small premium, but it would far
more frequently be at a
,discount. The extent
of the fluctuations would, at the outside,
seldom, if ever, exceed a few pence in the pound.
The foreign merchant would willingly tack that
risk on to the other speculations in which he
was engaged. It would be far less formidable
than that arising from an increase of discount
from 2to 10, or possibly 20 per cent., and the
forced sales thereby occasioned, which reduce
him to bankruptcy and ruin. It almost savours
•f the sages of Laputa. We might have fancied
that some at least of the currency quacks had
visited the flying island, and taken a high degree
at its university. It is certain that the
foreigner would receive the same value under
either system, and but a comparatively small por-
tion of gold could be required to adjust the balances,
which would generally be favourable to England.
But this can only be accomplished at present by
those incessant fluctuations, which are less objec-
tionable when they assume the phrase of " infla-
tion," than when there is a scarcity, aye,
a famine of the only recognised measure
and representative of value. We should
complain of 1 per cent. as well as of 20,
although the evils of the former are incomparably
less than the latter. Indeed, it is because the
one inevitably leads to the other, that money
being rendered a mere drug in the market is to
be avoided.

His Excellency the Prussian Minister and the
Countess Bernstorff have left town, on a visit to the Earl
and Countess of Derby.

The Marchioness of Waterford has left Claridge'.
Hotel for Curraghmore, Ireland.

Mr. and Lady Elizabeth Drummond are receiving
company at their seat, Cadlands, near Southampton.
hnongst the company last week were Admiral Sir George
Seymour (Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth) and Lady
Seymour, Lord and Lady Camoys, Mr. and Lady Rose
Lovell, Mrs. Lane Fox, Mr. and Mrs. Stanley, the Misses
Seymour, Capt. H. Seymour, Col. Powell, &c.
The Right Hon. Sir W. G. Hayter, Bart., M.P.,
and Lady Hayter have left South-hill Park, for Paris
We believe that the statement which has ap-
peared in several journals to the effect that Mr. Karslake is
about to take rank as a Queen's Counsel is premature. The
learned gentleman has certainly not applied fora silk gown.

Mr. iames Garth Marshall and the Hon. Mrs.
Marshall and Miss Marshall have left the Clarendon, for
Paris.

WINDSOIt, Monday.—Yesterday herßoyal High-
ness the Duchess of Kent, accompanied by their Serene
Highnesses the Prince and Princess Leiningen, drove in
the Great Park. Her royal highness, we are happy to say,
is in the enjoyment of excellent health. Her royal high-
ness arrived at Frogmore from the North on Wednesday
last.

---
DAATH OF SIR H. J. CALDWELL.—We have to
record the death of Sir Henry John Caldwell, Bart. He
SW(I LtIITZ AMA, ILL toyer, ruv GAUCA u
of D. R. Paynter. Esq., of Dale, in the county of Pem-
broke. He succeeded his father in 1842. The deceased
baronet was a distinguished officer in the Austrian service.
TESTIMONIAL TO SIR JOHN• PAKINGTON.—A
movement, initiated by a meeting of Worcestershire gentle-
men, under the presidency of Lord Ward, is being made to
present a testimonial to Sir John Pakington, on his retire-
ment from the chairmanship of the Worcestershire quarter
sessions.

FATAL GAS EXPLOSION AT COLONEL GREVILLE'S.
—Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Bedford, coroner for Westmin-
ster, resumed the inquiry, at St. George's Hospital, into
the cause of the death of Elizabeth Blampen, who was in
the service of Colonel Fulke Greville, M.P., at No. 2,
Albert-gate, on the night of the 13th Sept. last. The coro-
ner said it was a very lamentable case, and the evidence
was very unsatisfactory. He thought the public could not
be too well informed of the dangerous character of such
works. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental death,"
and expressed their belief that there had not been sufficient
caution on the part of the gas-fitter. The coroner said the
gas-fitter ought to have represented to Col. Greville the
improspriety of leaving such a duty to a female servant.
THE AUSTRALIAN DESERT.-SAD FATE OF MR.
COULTHARD.—Despatches have been received from Mr.
Babbage, who was still prosecuting his exploration, but he
does not appear to have succeeded in finding any country
that can be easily made available. His letter, dated June 16,
describes the finding of Mr. Coulthard's remains. The body
of the unfortunate man lay under a scrub bush, and at a
short distance from him his canteen and other bush accou-
trements. Upon one side of that canteen, offering a con-
vex surface of tin abbut 12 inches long and 10 inches deep,
is scratched with a nail or some other rough-pointed in-
strument the following inscription :—" I river reached
water I do not know how long it is since I left
Scott and Brooks, but I think it Monday bleeding pomp to
leive of his blood I took his black horse to look for water
and the last thing I can rember is puling the saddle off him
& letting him go until now is not good. lam not th shure
how long it may be wether 2or 3 days I do not know
My Tung is stkig to my mouth & I see what I have rote I
know it is this is the last time I may have of expressing
feeling alive & the feeling exu is lost for want of water
My ey Dasels My tong burn I can see no More
God Help." Major Warbuton has also returned to Ade-
laide from his exploring tour, but he does not seem to have
been more successful.---Australian and Neu; Zealand
Gazette.

A WORD TO THE BENEVOLENT.—ROYAL FREE
HOSPITAL, GRAY'S-INN-ROAD.--It is with much regret we
learn that this institution, whose great utility to the poorer
classes, as well as the necessity for its merciful interposition
between them and disease and death, is sufficiently demon-
strated by its giving relief to more than 2, 500 patients weekly
—is so greatly in want of funds, in consequence of its daily
increasing development, as to risk the necessity of some of
the eleemosynary benefits conferred by its officers on the more
destitute of the very poorest of their patients being cur-
tailed. This ought not to be. The claims of this Institu-
tion are of a nature that should command the constant as-
sistance of the humane and benevolent. It is a charity
that seeks no other recommendation than the poverty and
disease of recipient, and-hopes for no other reward than an
alleviation of the sorrows of the destitute and afflicted
stranger.
THE iIkURNOPFIELD MURDER.—It will be re-
membered that a great amount of alarm and horror was
created throughout the country in the winter of 1855 by
the murder of a young surgeon, named Stirling, who was
shot down and murdered and robbed in a country lane, near
Burnopfield, in the county of Durham, at midday. Two
men, Richard Rayne and John Cain, the latter known in
the country side as " Whiskey Jack," were apprehended
by the county constabulary and charged with the murder,
and after a long investigation by the coroner, a lengthened
chain of circumstantial evidence appeared to be established
against them. They were tried at the Durham Assizes,
but the case failed in the most material points, and they
were acquitted. These men returned to their homes, and
it is but fair to them to state that they had the sympathy of
their neighbours, and have since been most regular and
industrious in their habits. Cain, who had been a bit
of a poacher and smuggler, was taken on the grounds
of a gentleman residing in the neighbourhood, and is
now his.gardener. He, since his acquittal, has been most
active in attempting to clear up the mystery of the
murder of the poor young man. He has ferretted out a
considerable amount of information with regard to other
parties ; and he has satisfied several gentlemen of great in-
telligence and influence in the county that he and Rayne
were not implicated in the murder. On Saturday a commu-
nication was received in Gateshead from the visiting jus-
tices of Maidstone, stating that a prisoner who is in custody
there has confessed that he was present at the murder of
young Stirling. Ho gives a detailed account of the cir-
cumstances, and states that after the poor young man was
shot, his throat was cut, and his brains beaten out by the
murderers. Major White, the chief constable of Durham,
will make full inquiry into the circumstances.
A PEOPLE'S PARK IN LIVERPOOL.—LIVERPOOL,
Monday.—The labours of the National Association for the
Promotion of Social Science are likely to be rewarded by
no small share of success in the town of Liverpool, judging
from the efforts which are now being made-in the way of
improving the condition of the working classes. Hence, it
appears that a movement has taken place which is likely to
prove successful for the establishing of a park for the people
' of Liverpool, on a plot of land known as Parliainent-fields,
one gentleman in Liverpool, a large employer, having
offered the sum of £l,OOO for this object, on the condition
that 20 other gentlemen will put their names down for the
like amount. The property in question belongs to the Earl
of Sefton, and it is thought that for an object of so praise-
worthy a character his lordship would be willing to treat
on liberally= for the Dale of the estate,

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