The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-06 00:00:00

frankly our sentiments on the subject, and Ido not be ---
give to t
n •he people .—c -
a.a you hope to quiet
7 I ----
It 19. intended to stave off the
know that we can say more. But the question re- k then. -with, less .
mains still to be decided in what way the other demanZ for the Iteorm which all want, by granting
Powers will be consulted. Her MAJESTY'S Govern- Reform.
s which will, at least, look like something.
merit have spoken out on the subject as
,has also . Another
Bribery and Corruption Bill is to follow
the British Parliament; and the British public, its predecessors, and, by this autumn, we may ex-
and I may say all Europe will soon know the peat a Reform Bill will have passed both houses,
manner in which we have spoken. But the other of which the title might be, " The Act for keeping
Powers have not yet spoken ; I cannot presume out Radicals, and keeping Whigs and Tories just
to say what the opinion of those Powers will be where they are."
.......
on the subject in question ; but is it at such
a moment, let me ask, and on such a subject, that
the House of Commons will consent, day after day,
to listen to vague discussions founded on no definite
resolution ? It is my persuasion—l may be totally '
mistaken on that point, because other circumstances
may occur to disappoint any such prophecy—but
my persuasion is that if the language of disap-
proval is held in Berlin, is held in Vienna, and held
in St. Petersburg, that this project of annexation
will not be persevered in."
The speech of Mr. ROEBUCK was, as usual, pun-
gent, yet truthful. But it is questionable how far
it is prudent to quarrel at the same time that
people are driving (perhaps a rather hard)
bargain. On that subject we leave Ministers to
deal as best they can. Possibly Lord J. RUSSELL
would have shown more discretion if he had not
taunted, in fact, challenged hon. members to bring
forward a resolution and try the question rather
than resort night after night to acrimonious
assaults. Lord JOHN might have been told
that though he now boasted a majority,
the chapter of accidents might turn the tables, and
his present friends be found wanting. A General
at the head of a strong army may wish to come to
battle at once, out his less confident opponent may
think it better to keep up a sort of guerilla war-
fare, and so harass where he cannot hope to
conquer.

It is Llifficult to divert our attention at this mo-
ment from the one all-absorbing and most painful

subject of contemplation, the miserable paltering of
our Governaxeut to the Emperor NAPOLEON 111.

Having already, however, expressed our views upon
this vital question—we would allude here, inad-

vertently, to a totally different theme of a local and
metropolitan, rather than of a national or imperial
character. Repulsive though this minor theme is
in itself, it is of a sweeter odour than that which
was last night agitated in the House of Commons
in the course of a desultory and stormy discussion.

For in regard to the latter, had we not immediately
prior to the commencement of the debate, a some-
what degrading reminder that the EMPEROR
was flinging us an unlimited supply of dirty
rags—to enable us probably to wipe out, as
far as we can, the recollection of [wo
thank Lord JOHN for the phrase which
comes echoed back to us from Sardinia]—the Blot
on •ur Escutcheon. Resolutely turning our regard,
however, from the House of Commons itself, we
would here fasten it for a little while upon the
proceedings going on in one of the committee-
rooms in the New Palace at Westminster.
It is the apartment in which the Select Com-
mittee is now carrying on its inquiry as to the best
means of purifying the Serpentine. Yesterday
the proceedings of this committee commenced.
The Right Hon. WILLIAM COWPER, her MA-
JESTY'S Chief Commissioner of Public Works,
occupied the chair, having around him at the table
chosen committee - men, and, before him, Mr.
HAWKSLEY himself, the civii engineer, under

We who so well remember the excitement by
which the first Reform Bill was carried, cannot
help comparing the present with the past. Then,
as now, all was pretty calm till the GREY Ministry
made their offer to the nation—but there the resem-
blance ceases. Then from the moment it was seen
that it could command no working majority in the
House of Commons, and woulel be resisted with the
most obstinate hostility by the Lords, the enthu-
siasm of the country knew no bounds. The most
subservient electors threw off all fear, and turned
out unceremoniously those who would not vote for
" the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill ;"
and eventually it became law through fear of insur-
rection in its favour.

examination. This was beginning certainly
with the beginning. It was dreadfully
fairplay to the chief offender, the curiously inge-
nious gentleman whose abominable plans have led
to the necessity of the present investigation. There
stood before Mr. CowrEve and his committee the
veritable Simon [we can hardly add] Pure—re-
membering what a very nasty project it is altoge-
ther, this scheme of Mr. HAWKSLEY, of perpetual,
yet utterly ineffectual, filtration. Out of his own
mouth Mr. HAWKSLEY was yesterday judged. His
revelation, his whole line of argument, his fre-
quently unwilling but still extorted acknowledg-
ments, mist already, we should imagine by the
majority of the committee, be regarded as per-
fectly conclusive. Almost every successive answer
extracted from the lips of Mr. HAWKSLEY
proved more damnatory, if possible, than its
predecessor. Take a few of his statements. Here
is cne—" The quantity of mud in the Serpentine,"
Mr. HAWKSLEY admitted, was nearly 200,000 cubic
yards .1 In some places it was eight feet deep, with
a depth of not more than eight feet of water above
it ! " Again—" From the time the lake was first
formed [in the reign of WILLIAM and MARY] it
has never been completely emptied, and after the
houses were constructed round the park, not only
vegetable matter but a large amount of filtration
from water closets found its way into the lake,
making considerable deposits ! " Yet while allowing
all this—Mr. HAWKSLEY has the astonishing cool-
ness, in answer to the inquiry of Lord FERMOY,
Are you net of opinion that such an extent of
mud [200,000 cubic yards, sometimes eight feet
deep, remember !] must necessarily injure the
purity of the water ?" [To say nothing at all of
more than a century's accumulation of sewage
matter.] Mr. HAWKSLEY has the extraordinary
coolness to reply, " It certainly produces no per-
ceptible injury !" In fact, he had previously gone
the length of assuring the Committee that the
water now in the Serpentine was about as
chemically pure, after filtration, as the water sup-
plied to London by the water companies ! In which
one is at a loss to understand the wisdom of ex-
pending £17,000 upon the filtration scheme concocted
by Mr. HAWKSLEY—remembering that that scheme
involves the necessity of pouring back again into the
Serpentine the same water when it has been filtered !
Upon this point Mr. HAWKSLEY yesterday ad-
mitted :—" My filters provide for the passing of
2,000,000 gallons per diem [or 60,000,000 gal-
lons a month—the whole Serpentine at
present containing within it a little more
than 60,000,000 gallons] ; but the waters
after passing through the filters, would, of course,
be liable to become impure again !" Then why,
in the name of common sense, ask us to do anything
so absurd ? The toil of SISYPHUS was perfectly
rational and satisfactory to such dirty: and utterly
ineffectual work as this. Fancy paying £17,000
down and £3OO a-year afterwards for the purpose
of filtering twelve times over every year 60,000,000
gallons of water, each time to be poured back
again into the receptacle from which this water
has been elaborately pumped and carefully
filtered —when it will, " of course, be liable to become
impure again," according to the explicit admission
of the ingenious contriver of this costly, yet value-
less plan of filtration ! Really, after this, the Com-
mittee may, with a clear conscience, make short
work of their proceedings. The plan is too ridicu-
lous to be taken much longer into serious considera-
tion.

We confess we have been amusing ourselves with
the imagination of appeals to the public about bill
No. IV. Suppose its second reading carried by a
majority of one, a dissolution following, and Liberal
candidates taking the bill as their hustings text—
who would care to hear the sermon ? How many
opponents would go out for opposing it ? How
many new men be sent up to carry it ? Many free-
holders in boroughs would quietly say, we had
rather not lose our county votes. Some artizans
would like to gain a vote by the lowered franchise
—those who cared about politics and inhabited a
house of a rental atone £6 and under £B, for two
pounds sterling rental is the borough difference be-
tween Lord JOHN RUSSELL and the Hon. BENJA-
MIN DISRAELI. What a contrast to the difference
between the Tories and Whigs of 1832 ! Then, it
was the enfranchisement of the whole middle class,
and the annihilation of a host of nomination
boroughs. Now, it requires a political microscope
to tell which are Whig and which are Tory pro-
posals. We do not say these is no difference, but
we think the whole country feels that, being
no more than there is, it was hardly worth the
trouble of a general election—certainly not until
after the Tory bill had been mended a little in
committee. Will one single petition in favour of
the bill, as it is, reach the House ? Will one bye
election turn upon it ? Will any Ministerial can•
didate point to the bills of 1859 and 1860 and claim
the suffrage of a single borough on account of the
superiority of the latter?
Yet there is ample scope for a thorough liberal
bill ; letting alone the suffrage and the redistribu-
tion of the suffrage, had the Ballot been pro-
posed by her MAJESTY'S Government, does
any one doubt that the tables of both
Houses would have groaned with petitions ? No
Government would then have been possible which
refused it. It is a peculiarity of Englishmen that
they are slow to act, and take trouble, till they can
hope for a practical result. They are but too ready
' to leave to a few the work of advocating and pushing
an object, of which they, yet, thoroughly approve.
They do not like, as they think, wasting their
strength. But let them once see that an obvious want
is likely to be supplied—that there is fair hope from
energetic action, and they will bestir themselves
with vigour. The Bill of 1832 proffered the
redress of some intolerable evils, and it was
like the spear of rEoLus to the mountain side.
The vehemence of popular feeling would have
swept the Tories off the land if they had not
yielded to it.
At the 'present moment the Ballot is the want
most felt. Redistribution of seats is important—
extension of suffrage is important—but these are

rather theoretical than practical waits. No con-
stituency cares much about either fur itself. The
present electors do not want to add to their num-
bers, nor do our large constituencies, like the Tower
Hamlets and Marylebone, fret much at returning
but two members each. The disproportion between
these boroughs and Thetford or Arundel is indeed
a grievance, but it does not harass any one. The
Ballot, on the contrary, is needed by some in every
constituency in the kingdom, and their friends, if less
dependent, yet sympathise with them. But, in nume-
rous borough constituencies, and in all the counties
it is the one thing men care about. Every tenant
farmer, every country tradesman, every debtor and
borrower of money—the tens of thousands of de-
pendent voters—all want the Ballot. The Mini-
ster who had as much political courage as Mr.
GLADSTONE has of financial courage, might, by
proposing free trade in voting, carry the
whole kingdom with him. The despots who have
hitherto contested, or bought constituencies, would
hardly dare to whine out that it was un-English.
'I heir neighbours would soon tell the hypocrites to
leave that to them, and to renounce for ever the
truly un-English tyranny of telling them, or even
hinting to them, which way they were to vote.
Of course the bill is to 19( come law. Who will
care to prevent it. Radicals will not oppose what
has at least some good points in it. It will not
make things worse. If the bi-membral boroughs
sentenced to lose, perhaps their better half, will
coneent to do it, we may get a few representatives
more reasonably deputed—and the extensions no
Liberal can object to. That they will be exten-
sions of county serfdom, and borough corruption,
we have no manner of doubt, still they will be ex-
tensions. The Torifa cannot find much fault with
what is so very like their own work, and the Whigs
—well, it is their leader's handiwork. The Bill is
made for the House of Commons, and the House of
Lords too, as much as any Reform Bill well could.
With the most determined of Tory old peers, the
argument might well be—" A sop of some kind matt

THE VOLUNTEER RIFLE BALL.—The ball to-
morrow evening in the New Floral Hall, Covent-garden,
will be of extraordinary brilliancy. The demand for tickets
has been enormous, indeed it has surpassed all expectation.
The first idea of confining the ball to within the limits of
the new hall, capacious as the building is, has been
altered, and in order to give accommodation to the
votaries of Terpsichore, the pit of the Italian Opera
has been made level with the stage, so that
another grand supplemental ball-room has been provided.
The spirit and energy with which Mr. Gye has entered
into this grand entertainment is worthy of the highest
commendation. It is fully expected that her Majesty and
the Prince Consort will honour the ball with their pre-

sonce.
We regret to hear that Sir W. G. Itayter has
been prevented from attending in his place in Parliament
for these last 10 days by a severe attack of bronchitis.
His Grace the Lord-L:eutenant of Oxfordshire
has (by commission dated the 2d of March, 1860) appointed
his Royal Highness Albert Edward Pi ince of Wales, K.G.,.
to be the honorary Colonel of the Oxford University Rifle
Volunteer Corps.

During the late gale upwards of 400 fine old elm
trees were blown down in the Great Park, at Windsor, and
also several in the Long -walk and playing grounds of Eton
College.

h owingt ere
life,ot t
,egehet
s. clays
rshi(n)ucgo
A ballet dancer at the Opera of Berlin lost her
t,..alsieprleenl.tayhoefs
iscasticshtainilgeetiartt.
hatantldie,
she was so dreadfully burnt that 1,3 he died next day.
I.
THE ONI ) —T of
he pilot the llavre packet
reports that the life-boat of the ill-fated Ondine was picked
up at sea and towed into Havre by a pilot-boat on Thurs-
day week. It contained two dead bodies, male and female,
the former apparently a sailor, and the latter a soldier's
wife. —Lore). Chronicle.
THE BROUGHAM PEERAGE.—The Queen has been
pleased to extend the title of Lord Brougham and Vaux
hitherto limited to the p:esent peer, to his survivine, b
bro-
ther, Mr. Win. 13rougharn (formerly M.P. for Suuthwark,
and Master in Chancery), and to his male heirs:
PROMPTITUDE OF THE WAR-OFFICE.--A noble
earl, lord-lieutenant of one of the eastern counties, ad-
dressed a letter to the War-Office a few days before Christ-
mas, with reference to one of the volunteer rifle companies
in course of fel mation in his district. His lordship received
a reply last week, about 60 days after the despatch of his
missive ! One consoling fact may be gleaned from this
official procrastination—viz., that we aro not considered in
any very urgent danger of foreign aggression.

THE SUN, LONDON; TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 6, 1!60,

LATEST

NEWS.

111 AILS.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. Reuter's office :

PARIS, MARCH 6.

The ltfoniteur of to-day says :—Some German
paper's announce that the French artillery has
been increased by the creation of three new regi-
ments. The fact is, the number of batteries having
been reduced, the artillery has in reality undergone
a reduction. The Moniteur also contains the
nomination of 21 sous-prefects.

PARIS, MONDAY NIGHT.

The reply of Count Cavour to the French pro-
positions declares the desire of the Sardinian Go-
vernment to give effect to the views of the Em-
peror, but foresees immense difficulties iu carrying
them out. So far as the " autonomy" of Tuscany
is in question, Sardinia never had any intention to
interfere with the principle of the self-disposal of
that State. As a pledge of her deference to suf-
frage, if the vote for annexation should be favour-
able, it is impossible for her to repudiate it, as it
would be dangerous to impose upon a people a
solution which must give rise to the same difficul-
ties as in the Romagna, where the vicariat proposed
will be accepted. Buoncompagni is requested to
leave Central Italy during the taking of the vote.
The Paris papers publish the following, dated
Antibes, March 5 :

" NICE, MARCH 4.

" On the occasion of the anniversary of the pro-
mulgation of the Sardinian constitution manifesta-
tions were made by the Piedmontese party in the
Italian Theatre. Very few persons were present,
and those in the boxes remained silent. A demon-
stratip also took place in the French Theatre,
where the population of Nice demanded the Ode
Napolienne' and the Reine Hortense,' which were
performed amid enthusiastic applause, and shouts
of Viva l'Emperatore " Viva l'Annezzione ' The
situation of the country is very critical."

VIENNA, MARCH 5.

The official Wiener Zeitung will publish to-
morrow the following programme of reforms sanc-
tioned by the Emperor :
" The Council of the Empire will be augmented
by the nomination of Extraordinary Councillors
selected from among persons of known ability, and
by the nomination of 37 Ordinary Councillors
chosen from a list to be presented by the Provincial
Diets.

" The 37 Ordinary Councillors will be re-elected

every six years.
" The Council of the Empire will examine the
budget, control laws relating to financial matters,
laws of general interest, projects for the formation
of the Provincial Diets, and all questions submitted
to its deliberation by the Emperor. Until the con-
vocation of the Provincial Diets, the Emperor will
complete the Council of the Empire by appointing
persons of great distinction on the basis of popula-
tion."

TETUAN, MARCH 3.

General Echague has commenced a forward
movement from Serallo, but it is not known in
what direction.
Marshal O'Donnell has sent to Madrid the can-
non taken at Tetuan.

MADRID, MARCH 5.

The Duke de Montpensier has left for England.
The Eco de Tetuan asserts that an engagement has
taken place between two Kabyle tribes in the
neighbourhood of Tetuan. The tribe favourable to
the Spaaiards was victorious.

BOMBAY, FEB. 11.

T-cloths, 71b, Sr 10a to 3r 14a per piece ; domes-
tics, 101 b to 121 b, 6r to 7r 4a per piece ; 20 -water
twist, 8n per lb ; cotton Broach and Surats, 113 r
to 117 r ; Compta, 108 r; Oomrawnttee, 122 r to
124 r; Dhollera, 110 r to 115 r ; iron, 29r to 29r 8a
per candy ; linseed, ungarbled, 4r 3a to 4r 4a per
cwt; gingelly, 23r to 23r 8a per candy; rapeseed,
or to 5r 3a per cwt; pepper, Malabar, 87r to 88r;
wool, 115 r to 140 r per candy.
Exchange on China, 2191 r per 100 dols.
Freights to Liverpool, 65s to 70s; London, 60s
to 655; China, lOr to 11r.

Government Securities, Four per Cent., 83;
Five per Cent., 98.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FEB. 5

The Paris correspondent of the Times says :
Sir Robert Peel, it is almost superfluous to say,
was quite right as to the importance he attaches to
the word " revendication," which occurs in the Im-
perial speech respecting Savoy. That term was
used advisedly. The Emperor is well acquainted
with French legal terms ; and even if he were not
he probably had some one at hand to whom they
are necessarily familiar. In Raymond's large
quarto dictionary revendiquer means " to demand
back a thing which belongs to us, and which is in
the hands of another ;—to demand back a thingwhich
has been taken from us, or which has gone astray''
And the term is explained in the Dictionnaire des
Arts et Sciences thus :—" Revendication, in law
means the act by which the owner of a thing la
revendique—i.e., claims it from him who has un-
justly despoiled him of it; or from him who actu-
ally detains it." The 549th Article of the Code
Napoleon says :
" The mere possessor does not make the proceeds
his own except he possesses it (the property) bona
fide ; in the contrary case he is bound to render
the proceeds, with the estate, if the owner demands
it back."

The "revendiquer " was not, you may depend upon
it, employed by chance. But the ground on which
the revendwation is maae,is, that Savoy belonged
to Fran-ce d uri n 't he revolutionary period. If, then,
we consider the territory that fell to France from
1797 to 1814, and to which the same term would
apply, we may judge of the vast territorial changt s
that would follow,
The market has again been active. Rentes
closed at 67f. 90c., or theliame as on Saturday.

INDIAN AND AUSTRALIAN

MAILS.

EBY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.]
DOVER, TUESDAY MORNING.
The Indian and Australian despatches left this
place by the 9 a.m. train.

STRIKE AMONGST THE MASONS FOR NINE HOURS.
—Just when the neighbourhood of Huddersfield promises
most work, a difficulty has arisen between the masters and
men. The operatives gave notice six months ago. The
not ice expired on the Ist March, and they, sending a second
notice to their employers to say they adhered to their pur-
pose, all struck work on that day. The masters met the
men by declaring their determination to resist the move-
ment. On Friday, however, the masters (18 in number)
issued an announcement that they would give 4s. 6d. a-day
in'stead of 4s. The men, have not, however, as yet, ac-
cepted the offer, and thus we are threatened in Hudders-
field with a repetition of the disaster which has so injured
the metropolis, harming all concerned, paralysing labour,
and crippling- capital.—Lads Mercury.
AN OBNOXIOUS BONN ET.—A servant girl, named
Maxwell, brought an action in the Liverpool County Court,
on Monday, to recover £1 of her mistress, the amount of
one month's wages, in lieu of notice. The plaintiff stated
that she was going out one Sunday evening, when her mis-
tress called her back, and told her to put on another bonnet,
or to take the artificial flowers out of the one she had on.
She refused to do either, and she was then told that if she
went out in that bonnet she need not return. She did go
out in the obnoxious bonnet, and did not return, and she
now claimed a month's wages for the wrongful dismissal.
For the defence it was proved that there was a stipulation
made at the time the plaintiff was engaged that she should
not wear artificial flowers in her bonnet, and his honour
therefirs give judgment for the defendant,

THE WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC

SOUTHAMPTON, MONDAY.

The Royal Mail Company's steamer La Plata,
Captain Heenan, with the above mails, arrived this
afternoon, at 5.30. She brings 73 passengers, and
specie to the value of 840,717 dols. Her cargo
comprises 309 serons cochineal, 167 serons indigo,
19 serons jalap, 167 cases cigars, 56 bales tobacco,
1,061 bags cocoa, 2 bales sarsaparilla, 1 package
vanill, 9 cases succades, 29 bales bark, and 144
packages sundries.
Her dates are—Vera Cruz, Feb. 4 ; Tampico,
Feb. 1 ; Havannah, Feb. 9 ; Santa Martha, Feb, 7;
Greytown, Feb. 1 ; Carthagena, Feb. 11 ; Chagres,
Feb. 10 ; Jamaica, Feb. 16 ; Jacmel, Feb. 12 ;
Demerara, Feb. 9 ; Tobago, Feb. 8 ; Trinidad, Feb.
9 ; Carbadoes, Feb. 11 ; Grenada, Feb. 9 ; St. Vin-
cent, Feb. 10 ; Martinique, Feb. 12 ; Antigua, Feb.
13 ; Tortola, Feb. 14 ; and St. Thomas, Feb. 20.

The Governor of Jamaica prorogued the Legisla-
ture from the 7th of February to the 13th of March,
The weather had been highly favourable for
sugar malting,which was in rapid progress through-
out the island, with every prospect of resulting in
a material increase on last year's crop ; it is ex-
pected the increase will amount to 10,000 hogs-
heads. The young canes were also looking ex-
tremely well and promising.
he Cordova's Mercantile Intelligencer states
that since the last mail there had been many ar-
rivals from America with provisions and fish stuffs,
but with the exception of flour prices had been
generally maintained. A new feature was notice-
able in the trade, speculators making purchases at
a per- tentage of profit on entire cargoes.
Exchange on London—Colonial Bank, 90 days,

1 per cent. prem. ; 60 days, 11 per cent. prem. ; 30
days, 2 per cent. prem. Jamaica Bank, 90 days, 1
per cent. prem.; 60 days, 11 per cent. prem,. 30
days, 2 per cent. prem. Merchants' bills, 90 days,
per cent. Commissariat bills, 13- per cent., 30
days.
The weather at Barbadoes continued fliuch the
same as reported by last mail. The crop had
hardly commenced, although sugar was being made
pretty generally throughout the country. Small-
pox still lingered in some of the districts ; in other
respects the public health was good. In rice a better
feeling prevailed, and good white had realised 3
dols. Exchange on London—Bank bills, at 30 days,
dols. 490 ; 60 days, dols. 4871- ; 90 days, dols. 485.
Private bills, at 90 days, dols. 480. Bank bills on
New York, 10 days, per cent. premium ;30 days,
at par. Four per cent. discount for private paper,
at 60 days' sight.