The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1867.

reasonably expected of them ; and, in fact, there is
no other definite objection to the measure. The
country demands a considerable extension of the
borough franchise ; it is granted. It demands a
reduction of the county franchise ; it is granted.
It asks for some guarantee that the class enfranchised
shall be fair specimens of steady and loyal English-
men, and such a guarantee is found in the adoption

of that test usually appplied in ordinary business
affairs. It requires the enfranchisement of intelli-
gence, and it is offered an educational vote. These
are the main principles of the measure, and surely
they give a sufficiently broad basis for a grand and
permanent structure. The Attorney-General in his
very able and sensible speech last evening argued
strongly i❑ behalf of a household rating suffrage on
the ground of its permanency. It offered, he said,
a prospect of permanence which did not exist in any
other experiment yet tried. As for the county
franchise, said the hon. and learned gentlemen, every
one admits it ought to be altered, the only question
being as to the precise amount of alteration, which
could best be discussed in committee. " The same
remark," added the Attorney-General, "applies to
the redistribution of seats, and the general question
whether there ought to be a certain amount both of

enfranchisement and disfranchisement. There is
but one question on which we can be really divided
on the occasion of the second reading, and that is
the principle of the borough franchise." Thatprin-
ciple has already commended itself to the judgment
of the country ; and the House would have very in-
accurately represented the public sentiment had it

insisted on the retention of the old limit of a
certain amount of rental. Having then ac-
cepted the main principle of the bill,
and having received from the Government an inti-
mation that they were prepared to concede minor
points, there would have been no valid reason for
delaying the second reading. We congratulate the
House and the country on its having advanced to
this stage, since the necessity of a prompt and de-
finite settlement of this long-vexed question is now
frankly admitted on all hands.

The speakers last night represented many shades
of opinion, and almost every clause in the bill was
discussed with a vigour and ability which left

little to be desired. Mr. GLADSTONE was by

the rules of the House silent, but he had
not left us in ignorance of his sentiments,
having previously exhausted his ingenuity and his
eloquence in successive oratorical onslaughts.
Next to Mr. GLADSTONE'S proceedings the course
which Mr. BRIGHT might think fit to pursue has
probably excited most curiosity. It could hardly,
perhaps, have been expected that the hon. member

for Birmingham would give his cordial support to
any measure of the kind in which he has had no
share. Some time since, indeed, he expressed him-
self in favour of a household suffrage, when it was
not on the tapis, but it is a different thing when

theories take actual form. Then it is that
professors find their professions troublesome
that Reformers think that Reform should begin
in the Cabinet; that Liberals are inclined to put no

liberal construction on the measures before them.
Mr. BRIGHT will oppose the bill, telling its pro-
moters, in general terms, that they are about to
repeat the error of 1832, and re-enact the exclusion
of the working classes from the franchise. How
can this be, unless the working classes of this coun-
try are in a very different position, intellectually
and socially, from what the hon. member for Bir-
mingham has hitherto tried to make us believe.
If a man can neither pay his own rates,
nor live a certain time in lodgings at a
fixed sum, nor put money in the caving
bank, nor pay anything in the shape of direct taxa-

ion, he can hardly be accepted as a fair specimen of

that class of intelligent and prosperous mechanics
who feel it, as Mr. BRIGHT has often told us, so
great a hardship to be excluded from a share in the
representation of the country. It is not very easy
to understand what are the particular changes which
Mr. BRIGHT wishes to see introduced. He condemns
the measure as ungenerous and unstatesmanlike,
and yet he intimates that, by drawing a line at a
certain point in the rating, some final conclusion
might be come to. On the whole, Mr. BRIGHT'S
speech was more favourable than the Government
might have expected. No one could suppose that
he would be inclined to look leniently on a Con-
servative measure of Reform, even if it coincide
with his own previous declarations, but he seemed
to feel it necessary to apologise for his prospective
opposition, and addressed himself a good deal to
the question of redistribution. Mr. LAING, who
was much inclined to oppose the measure as being
Tory-Radical, instead of Liberal Conservative, was
not altogether averse to its provisions. He would
have preferred a £5 borough franchise, with a
liberal lodger franchise, a county franchise identical
with the proposal of last year, and an extensive
scheme of redistribution. Nevertheless, there were not
wanting independent members who supported the
main principles of the Government measure, and
the feeling of the House was clearly manifested in
favour of a fair and candid consideration of the
bill, with a view, not to its rejection, but its im-
provement and ultimate passage into law.
Such, we are confident, is the wish of the great
majority of the public, who are wearied and dis-
gusted with the constant reiteration of promises that
are never performed, theories that are never put into
practice, and professions that only serve to render
their professors too desirous for perfection to be
ever satisfied with mortal measure. With the
abandonment of the dual vote and the introduction
of the lodger franchise the two most serious errors
of the Bill will banish into thin air. All other
questions as to the exact line of rating, the dis-
franchisement of particular boroughs, and the
extension of the county suffrage, can be best
settled, as the Attorney-General observed, in
committee.

cumstances. The subject was again under con-
sideration to-day. This is not the first time that
the Legislators of France have been occupied with
this subject. The National Convention declared on
the 12th of March, 1793, that " imprisonment for
debt was contrary to sound morals and to the rights
of man."

The Emperor has charged one of his officers of
ordonnance Naval Lieutenant M. des Varennes,
with the mission of proceeding to Saigon to examine
into the state of that colony, in order that he shall
be able to give an account to his Majesty of the
progress which has been effected, and that measures
may be adopted to increase the relations of Cochin
China with the neighbouring countries.
A letter from Suez says : —" Scarcely a day passes
without some important service being derived from
the comumunicatio❑ across the Isthmus of Suez from
Port Said to Ismailia by the maritime canal, and
from Ismailia to Suez by the fresh water canal.
Some immense dredging machines have excited
great attention at Suez, but more astonishment has
been created by the number of packages from
Cochin China, Singapore, and Point de Galle by
the Government transport Orne, for the great Paris
Exhibition, which effected the passage across the
isthmus in four days. There recently arrived in
the port of Suez, from Alexandria by Port Said and
Ismailia, a beautiful Austrian gcelette of eighty
tons, freighted by a French company formed to
worked the sulphur mines at I) jenase upon the western
coast of the Red sea. This gcelette, which is called
the Primo, is the first merchant vessel which
has passed from one sea to another by the Isthmus
of Suez on a long voyage. The vessel was deco-
rated with French flags and ornamented with flowers
gathered at Ismailia. Sheds now in full sail to her
destination. It is hoped that she will accomplish
her voyage successfully, and that on her return some
time hence she will have the honour again to be the
first to sho Iv to the vessels coming from the Red
Sea the way by the canal of Suez, as she did in
coming that of the Mediterranean.
The cattle plague has so far subsided in Belgium
that permission is now given again to send oxen by
the railway. When the animals passed across the
grand square of Hasselt to the station the circum-
stance was hailed with so much joy by the popula-
tion that a large crowd assembled. Never, says a
letter from that town, did the Apis in Egypt re-
ceive such an ovation as did those animals, whose
free passage was hailed as an indication that the
plague had departed.

A German paper contains some interesting sta-
tistics respecting the railways in every part of the
globe. The iron network of the world which at
the commencement of last year traversed a length
of 112,000 kilometres no? presents an increase of a
few thousand more kilometres. (There are a thousand
metres in a kilometre, and about 1,600 metres to an
English metre). Prussia is tmong the countries which
most contributed to this iterease. Independently
of the lines from Dunabouig. to Vitebsk, and from
Warsaw to Terespol, great progress has been made
in the line which proceeds from Moscow towards
the south by Orel and Kcursh, and which is destined
to join towards the west hat from Kiew to Odessa,
com with the Black
and will shortly place
tatnication
Moscow and St. Petersburg
in uninterrupted
year the first important line
Sweasa.
oplonooTcL utrhkaety
flrasomt
Routschouck to Varna. In
Scandinavia fresh progrem has been made to connect
the two capitals of Stockholm and Christiania by,
the opening of the section from Laxa to Christian-
hamm. In Denmark, there has been completed, by
the section from Frede)icia to the new Prussian
frontier, the line which vith the exception of the iu-
terruptiun of the two Belts connects Copenhagen
with the Austrian lines.
made Railways in Holland have
great progress,
and have much facilitated the
communication between the Netherlands and Bel-
gium. In 1860 the Belgium lines, which in 1865
were to the extent of 2,285 kilometres, were in-
creased by 281 kilometres. As to France, during
the first nine months of the last year, an extent of
738 kilometres of railway was opened, the greater
portion being in the south. Iu England, the chief
fact to notice in regard to railway progress last year
was the construction of the useful and interesting
lines around an I within the city of London. The
lines in Italy, by the acquis!tion of the Venetian
line and the opening of new sections,. were increased
to the extent of at least 1,100 kilometres. In Spain
the lines from Malaga and Cadiz were connected
with those of Madrid and Cordova. In the north
the port of Santander was connected with the cen-
tral lines, and the western line was extended to
Badajoz. There is now a continuous line from Lis-
bon to St. Petersburg, or rather to Nijin-Novogorod,
kanildomtehttrisesinmaaybobuo traversed, which separates thet five days the distance of 6,300
Tagus from the Volga. In North America the pro-
gress was such that in a few years there will be
speedy communication with California, and the two
great seas will be connected with each other. In
South America the countries remarkable for rail-
way progress are Brazil, Venezuela, and the Argen-
tine Republic. In India, where, in 1865, there were
3,2
akotoEen p n gllceisa .In or
h miles
sohft, at t
railway,
ll a great extension
has e two opposite ex-
tremities of Africa, Egypt, and the Cape of Good
Hope, to say noLhing of Algeria, railway communi-
cation has progressed. Australia, too, is beginning
to have railways.

Some of the Paris papers still persist that some
diplomatic negotiations have taken place between
France, Holland, and Prussia, relative to Luxem-
bourg. According to one version, the Prussian
Government, which considers itself the legal suc-
cessor and liquidator of the defunct German Con-
federation, is to receive compensation from the
Dutch Government, from whom she claims arrears
of various Federal contributions, and the amount
expended for various works of fortification. This
done, the Netherlands would give up the Grand
Duchy of Luxembourg to France for an indemnity
of 100 millions.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

ROME AND ITALY.

ROME, March 26.

The official journal of Rome, of to-day, declares
it to be incomprehensible that the speech from the
throne at the opening of the Parliament at Florence
should have spoken of the.legitimate liquidation of
the ecclesiastical property. Such a measure, it con-
tinues, is illegal spoliation suffered by the Church,
and cannot be legitimate, when lie who can alone
authorise it will never accord his sanction.

THE ITALIAN PARLIAMENT.
FLORENCE, March 26, Evening.
The Chamber of. Deputies to-day confirmed 15

elections.
Official intelligence has been received here of the
death of Senator de Filippi atitiongkong.

AUSTRIA.

VIENNA, March 27.

It is stated that the treaty of commerce between
Austria and Belgium will be finally concluded this
week. Baron von Beust will accept his election as
a member of the Bohemian Diet.

SERVIA.

BELGRADE, March 26 (Evening).

The Prince of Servia has issued a proclamation
announcing to the inhabitants his departure for
Constantinople on Thursday next in order to thank
the Sultan for the evacuation of the Servian for-
tresses. The only condition of the evacuation is
that the Turkish flag shall be hoisted on the Citadel
beside the Servian standard. During Prince
Michael's absence the Government will be conducted
by the Council of Ministers.

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, March 26, 6 p.m.

A revolution is reported to have broken out in
llayti. President Jeffrard is said to have escaped
on board a French man-of-war.

The Inman steamship City of Limerick arrived
out to-day.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Closing prices :—Gold, 134 ; Sterling Exchange
on London, 109 ; Five-Twenty United States'
Bonds, 1091 ; Illinois, 1151 ; Erie, 571. Cotton,
iniddliug upland, 31k.