The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-15 00:00:00

jug was generally approved by all parties. It bad
greatly reduced the expense to the candidates—
(hear, hear)—:n fact, the amount to be spent by
them was limited by the government. It bad
secured peace and good order at the elections ;
there were no hourly returns ; nothing was known
till the close of the poll, and it was then too late to
make any disturbance. (Hear, hear.) Since the
adoption of the ballot in Australia numbers of per-
sons had become converts to the system. State-
ments had appeared in the press of this country as
to the bad working of the ballot, but these were
wholly unfounded ; the best order prevailed at the
elections, and this was testified by the Attorney-
General of Victoria, and others who had been leading
opponents of the ballot. (Hear.) A member of the
legislature bad recently written him to say that the
ballot had done a great deal of good ; the worst fault
he had to find with it was that the electors did not
vote as they ought. (Laughter.) But it was a suf-
ficieut answer to that that they exercised their own
flee will. (Hear.) It, had been said that only the
town populations were in favour of the ballot ; but
in Victoria its main supporters were the agricul-
tural members—in fact, its • only opponents were
the nominated members. (Hear.) Lord Naas had
expressed a doubt, at Cockermouth, whether, if the
population at large had been polled, they would
have been in favour of the ballot ; but his lordship
was decidedly in error. Mr. Nicholson then alluded
to the loyal feeling prevailing in the colony, and
observed that its contribution to the Patriotic Fund
was 150,0001., more than that of Scotland. (Hear.)
It had since largely contributed to the Nightingale
Fund and the India Relief Fund. The legislature
had voted 25,0001. to the latter fund, and that le-
gislature was elected by ballot. (Cheers.) After
again thanking the meeting for the honour con-
ferred on him, he disclaimed the sole honour of
having attained the success of the ballot in Aus-
tralia, and named several gentlemen who had ably
co-operated with him.
Mr. S. MORLEY moved the following resolution
—" Suceess to the Annual Motion for the Ballot."
(Hear, hear.) The public business of the country
ought to be the private business of every English-
man. Mr. Nicholson had acted on this principle
in the colony ; and we needed more such men in
the House of Commons—men of honesty and intel-
ligence—middle-class men—who would firmly
uphold the rights of the people. (Cheers.) The
object of the ballot was to wield the honest, not the
dishonest, voter—such men as were alluded to the
other day by Sir Henry Dryden, that precious spe-
cimen of a landlord, who declared that a tenant
had no right to use his landlord's land to vote
against him—(hear, hear, and laughter)—and said
he " would come down upon any tenant who
changed his principles." (Laughter.) There WAS
an impression out of doors that many members voted
for the ballot who did not sincerely &sire it;' he
had beard of one who said he always voted for it, but
it was all humbug. (Cries of "Name.") He be-
lieved that this was the case of many members. If
only 50 members would let it be known to the
"Hayter" of the day that they were determined on
having this question carried the thing would be
done, no matter what Ministry was in power. He
hoped such a combination would speedily be formed
in the house, not only in favour of the ballot, but
to obtain a thorough reform in the representation.
Mr. AYRTON, M.P., dwelt on the influence which

the ballot would exorcise on the morality of the
electors as well as the elected. One of the best re-
sults would be to show the aristocracy that their
predominance could only be maintained by superior
moral conduct. (Hear.)
The thanks of the meeting were voted to the Le.
gislatures and people of Victoria, Tasmania, and
South Australia, for adopting the ballot ; and the
proceedings closed with a vote of thanks to th•
chairman.