The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONLON, TUESDAY EVENING, NA.RCH 12, 1867.

but there is good reason to believe that the new
scheme of the Government will approach more
closely to Mr. Cox's object. _

He proposes in fact the adoption for Parliamen-
tary purposes of the municipal franchise, a method
of drawing the line between wholesale exclusion and
indiscriminate admission to the franchise, which is
every day gaining in public favour. Mr. Cox opens
his subject with the obvious statement that a Re-
form Bill must be constructed on one of two prin-
ciples ; it must be either constitutional or democratic,
and he proceeds to define the difference between the
two very succinctly. The constitutional principle,
he says, requires the representation of all classes and
interests in some proportion to intelligence and
property. The democratic principle demands the
representation of the numerical majority. Mr. Cox
himself inclines very decidedly to the former view,
and regards with unmitigated apprehension any
approach to a form of democratic government. He
lays down two conditions as indispensable to a good
and safe measure of Reform. 1. That it should
open the franchise to as many as may be safely
admitted. 2. That the franchise should, if possible,
be based upon some definite principle. From these
premises he arrives at the conclusion that the
adoption of the municipal franchise is at once the
safest and most comprehensive method of dealing
with the question. No franchise measured by
amount can, he urges, be anything but purely arbi-
trary. There can be no satisfactory reason given
why an £8 franchise is better than a £7, or a £6
than a £5. Thus the Constitution will be brought
upon a sliding scale, with no fixed resting place,
until it reaches absolute democracy.

This danger will, he thinks, be best avoided by the
adoption of the municipal franchise. " A house-
holder is a settled citizen contributing directly to

the public funds, and liable to serve public offices.
In nine cases out of ten he has a wife and family,
and more or less of property in the shape of goods
and chattels, often as dear to him as are the pos-
sessions of his richer fellow-citizens to them. These
are substantial securities to the community for a
common interest in its stability and well-being."
The householder, too, possesses franchises, and has
learned to use them. He was, besides, included in
the old franchise of " scot and lot," and, besides,
possesses the advantage of a definite basis upon
which Reformers may well be contented to rest.

Mr. Cox next comes to the consideration of the
effect to be produced upon our Parliamentary re-
presentation by the change which he proposes.
" Can it," he asks, " be adopted with a reasonable
assurance that it will not defeat the great principle
of any constitutional reform—the representation of
the whole community, and not of one class of it
only ?" He is satisfied that such an end would be
fully attained by the franchise he proposes, and he
proceeds to illustrate his arguments by quotations
from the electoral statistics. In seventeen large
towns the effect of adopting the municipal franchise
would be to double, and, in some, even to quad-
ruple, the present number of electors. But it is
in these very towns that the franchise is most
eagerly desired, and there is little probability of a
considerable increase of the electors materially
affecting the character of the representation, since
the members returned are usually of advanced
Liberal opinions. In 80 boroughs in which the
municipal and parliamentary boundaries are conter-
minous, Mr. Cox calculates the addition which
would be made to the electors at 23 per cent. In
76 other boroughs, where the boundaries are not
identical, or the franchise does not exist, the adop-
tion of the municipal franchise would make
an addition of 11,200. This calculation is based on
the same proportion of 23 per cent., and the total
results of Mr. Cox's figures are as follows :
" The additions to the borough constituencies
would be :—ln the 80 municipal boroughs, 36,710 ;
in the 76 non-municipal boroughs, 11,200 ; in the
17 large boroughs, 102,392—a total of 150,302."
Of course these figures may not be indisputably
correct, but they are at least founded on a definite
basis ; and Mr. Cox reminds some of his critics
that he has founded his estimate on the gross num-
bers of both electors and burgesses, so that the
number to be affected by double entries, removals,
and other causes, would not alter the relative propor-
tions. The calculations of the results of the £7
franchise were, he says, based on the assumption
that every £7 house would produce an elector,
whereas the facts are very different, owing to various
causes of disability. The conditions of Household
Suffrage which be proposes are, that the owner or
tenant shall have occupied a dwelling-house for two
years preceding the 31st of July ; being rated for
the same, and payment being made of all rates due
thereon before the Ist of Jan. preceding. The rate
book might be the register, and the revision court
would have to deal only with personal disabilities.
The County Franchise need not in Mr. Cox's
opinion be so much enlarged, as he fears the
great increase of election expenses consequent
upon its reduction, but this objection is scarcely
sound. If, as he himself argues, the agricultural
population is very much underrated, both in num-
bers and importance, by the dwellers in towns, it is
time that their representation was based on more
liberal principles. The manufacturing populations
and wealth are concentrated in a small space, the
agricultural and other populations and wealth are
scattered over a vast area, and consequently the
general impression is that the former far exceed
the latter iu numbers. Such is not the case, the
entire borough population being 9,326,709, and
the entire county population 11,427,655. A
representation of numbers would therefore actu-
ally give the preponderance to the county or non-
manufacturing interest. We need not enter fur-
ther into the details of Mr. Cox's plan, though we
may mention that he coincides in the opinion which
we have often expressed, that it is most undesirable
to restrict the House of Commons to the present
number of members. "An addition of twenty,"
he says, "to the present number of the House of
Commons would permit the construction of a most
complete and satisfactory scheme ; but which, with
the present limit, is impracticable without disfran-
chisement to an extent that would be neither desir-
able nor just."
The general features of the plan which he proposes
are undoubtedly both Liberal and Conservative, and
household suffrage has much to recommend it,
though to render it effectual and satisfactory we
should like to see the addition of a lodger franchise
and an educational franchise. We are not without
hopes that some such measure may be accepted by
Parliament, since the leading statesmen of all parties
perceive the necessities of the time, and are be-
coming more and more inclined to lay aside party
feeling, and work heartily together in the national
cause. The great distinction between parties
at the present crisis is, in Mr. Cox's opinion, the
division between Constitutionalists and Democrats.
" The earnest desire of all who have anything to
lose is to put aside the past divisions of parties,
which are altogether inapplicable to the circum-
stances of the times, and to form one great party,
in which Liberals who arc not Democrats, and Con-

servatives who are not reactionists, may unite for
the maintenance of constitutional Government, and
for the defence of civil, religious, commercial, and
perEonal liberty, against the despotism of democracy
which now threatens all of them with destruction,"

We already see some indications of such a union,
but the Democratic party have as yet but little in-
fluence in England. The temper and convictions
of the people are entirely opposed to their theories
and their practices, and Englishmen, in spite of
platform denunciations, are fully sensible of the
great practical blessings they possess.

The proceedings of the North German Parlia-
ment will naturally engage some notice just now,
and perhaps a good deal more may be learned from
a careful scrutiny of its doings than can be gained
by the perusal of the remarks of Prussian states-
men and the reflections of official journals at Berlin.
Herr BRAUEN made a sensible speech, in which he
advised his hearers not to run after the South
Germans, but to leave them to themselves. He
also said that national union was the chief
point to aim at. Count BISMARCK made a
speech, in which ha appears to have been
very animated. After dilating upon the glories of
the work before them, and the effects likely to be
produced by the draft of the Constitution being
unanimously adopted, he went on to consider the
real question at issue, namely, the minimum that
each State must sacrifice of its peculiar rights and
character. This is always the end of all this talk
of unity and national regeneration. It infallibly
happens that some small province must give way,
and that Prussia does not find herself called upon to
make any effort in the matter of sacrifice or giving up.
Her mission is always to increase as much as
possible, which is a very convenient doctrine at
any rate. Count BISMARCK waxed very indignant
at the notion that Prussia had behaved wrongly to
Hanover, which had been, he said, a nest of
intrigues, and the Minister would have been a
traitor to the fatherland who had hesitated to
remove such a dynasty. Considering the connec-
tion between our own Court and that of Hanover,
we think the Minister's remarks are most
complimentary, and prove how much re-
spect is entertained for England in Prussia.
Taking all things into account, the tone of Count
BISMARCK is not at all encouraging, and indeed it
seems to indicate that all the most extreme mea-
sures will be adopted in this new scheme ; but
perhaps such a result is only what we might have
anticipated after what has taken place.

1L A TEST INTEL LICENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, March 11.

The House of Representatives has passed a sup-
lement to the Reconstruction Bill, empowering the
military commanders of the South to take a census
and register, the votes of the population, call a con-
vention, and form a constitution under the Military
Government Bill. Congress will not adjoun until
the question of further proposed guarantees for the
reconstruction of the South is settled.

Alr.Sumner proposes to guarantee the homesteads.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Gold, 134. i. Sterling exchange on London,
1081. Five-twenty United Statcs Bonds, 109+ ;
Illinois, 115 f ; Erie, 61. Cotton—Middling Up-
land, 30.
The North German Lloyd Steamship, America,
arrived out yesterday, and the Inman steamer, City
of Boston, to-day.

MEXICO.

NEW YORK, March 11.

Advices received from Matamoras to the 4th
inst. announce that the Emperor Maximilian was
at Queretaro on the 21st February, with 10,000
men. Escobedo was 18 leagues distant from the
Imperialists, waiting to be reinforced in order to
give them battle. Parfirio Diaz was also awaiting
reinforcements in order to attack the capital.

MELBOURNE, Jan. 28.

The following ships have sailed for England
during the month :—Echinuga, with 26,500 oz. ;
Red Jacket, with 16,500 oz. ; Pride of the Ocean,
with 8,000 oz. ; Royal Standard, with 9,500 oz. ;
Lincolnshire, with 5,625 oz. ; and the screw steamer
Great Britain, with 59,000 oz.

SOUTHAMPTON, March 12.

The New York and Bremen Steamship Co.'s
steamer Baltic passed the Needles at 12.15 p.m

to-day.

CAN DIA.

ATHENS, March 7.
(Via Marseilles.)

The Greek steamer Arcadia has conveyed to
Sphakhia arms, ammunition, and clothing for the
insurgents, without meeting any Turkish cruiser.
She brought back to Syra 100 women and children,
and some insurgents wounded.

EGYPT AND TILE PORTE.

CONSTANTINOPLE, March 6 ( Via Marseilles).

Advices received here announce that the Egyptian
Constitutional Assembly have proposed to the Vice-
roy to withhold the payment of a portion of the
tribute to the Porte as compensation for the expense
of the Egyptian army in Crete.

THE NORTH GERMAN PARLIAMENT.
BERLIN, March 11.

In to-day's sitting of the North German Par-
liament, Herr Braun, deputy for Wiesbaden, made
a speech, in which he declared national union to
be the chief point to be aimed out. He deprecated
running after the South Germans with enticing
offers, and preferred that they should be left to
their own devices. This sentiment was received
with loud cheers.

Count Bismarck then made a speech. He began
by congratulating the previous speaker. He urged
the adoption of the draught of the Constitution,
which, he said, would open to the German people
a path in which the genius of the nation would
find objects worthy of its efforts. lie said the pre-
sent question was, what was the minimum that
each State must be required to sacrifice of its pecu-
liar character and rights.
" Who," asked Count Bismarck, " could set up
a responsible Ministry? Prussia does not desire
to follow a policy of mediatising. The basis of the
Confederation must be, not the employment of
force agrinst peoples faithful to their allegiance,
but fidelity to the treaties entered into by the dif-
ferent States with Prussia. The Government is
willing to accede to all possible improvements of
the draught of the Constitution. We recognise even
the necessity of a state of transition, and acknow-
ledge that the organisation of the Federal Army
should only provisionally be independent of a vote
of the Parliament. The union between South Ger-
many and the North German Confederation is in
course of preparation. In all questions affecting
the power and position of Germany the North and
South will be united. Ido not believe that the
Diets of the States of the Confederation will reject
the work agreed upon by the Parliament. Let us
do the work quickly. Let us place Germany in
the saddle ; we shall find her quite able to ride."
in reply to Herr von Munchausen, ex-Hanove-
rian Minister, Count Bismarck repelled in the
strongest terms the reproach that Prussia had vio-
lated the treaty of Langensalza. The Hanoverian
Court, he declared, had been a nest of intrigue, and
the Minister who would have neglected an oppor-
tunity of removing such a dynasty as that which
reigned in Hanover would have been a traitor to
the fatherland.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, March 12,

The Emperor has left for Pesth.
The Imperial patent formally convoking the
Reichsrath is expected immediately.