The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-04 00:00:00

THE GOVERNMENT REFORM BILL

JOHN HUNTER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The remains of the celebrated physiologist
and surgeon John Hunter having been recently
found in the vault under the church of St. Martin-
in-the-Fields, where they were deposited on Oct.
22, 1793, I am directed to inform you that the
Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, feeling
it their duty to obtain for the remains of this illus-
trious man a resting-place worthy of them, have
asked permission of the Dean and Chapter to de-
posit them in Westminster Abbey, which has been
most readily accorded ; these authorities stating
also that " they shall be proud to be the guardians
there of the ashes of so great a man."
Your early insertion of this information will
afford the highest gratification to the medical pro-
fession, amongst whom, since the discovery of the
remains, the deepest interest has been excited that
they should receive the highest honours which can
be paid to an illustrious man.
March 3. E. BELFOUR.

THE PRIVY CO UNCIL, (5-c.

(Faorn the Court Newsman.)

Her Majesty the Queen held a Privy Council at three
o'clock yesterday afternoon at Buckingham Palace. It
was attended by his Royal Highness the Prince Consort,
the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord President; Earl of Hard-
wicke, Lord Privy Seal; Earl of Derby, First Lord of the
Treasury; Earl of Malmesbury, Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs; Major-General Peel, Secretary of State
for War; the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, Chancellor of the
Exchequer ; Sir John Pakington, First Lord of the Admi-
ralty ; Lord John Manners, First Commissioner of Public
Works ; the Marquis of Exeter, Lord Steward ; Earl
Delawarr, Lord Chamberlain ; and the Duke of Beaufort)
Master of the Horse.

Before the Council the Right Hon. Spencer Walpole had
an audience of the Queen, and delivered to her Majesty his
seals of office as one of the principal Secretaries of State.
At the Council the Right Hon. T. Sotheron-Estcourt
was sworn one of the Queen's principal Secretaries of State,
and received from her Majesty his seals of office.
The Earl of Donoughmore was declared by her Majesty
President of the Board of Trade, and Lord Lovaino Vice-
President.

The Earl of March and Lord Lovaine, by command of
the Queen, wore sworn of her Majesty's Most Honourable
Privy Council.
The Hon. William Bathurst was the Clerk of the Council
in Waiting.

The Earl of Derby, the Earl of Malmesbury, and Sir
John Pakingtou had audiences of her Majesty.
The Queen held a Court, and Mr. Rivers, Peruvian
Minister, had an audience of her Majesty, and took leave.
M. Osma had an audience of the Queen, and delivered
his credentials as Minister Resident from Peru.

Their Excellencies were respectively introduced by the
Earl of Malmesbury, the Queen's Principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, and conducted by Major-General
the Hon. Sir Edward Cust, K.C.H., her Majesty's Master
of the Ceremonies.

The Hon. Frederick Bruce, C. 8., had an audience of the
Queen, and kissed hands on being appointed Envoy Extra-
ordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of
China. Mr. Bruce was presented by the Earl of Malmes-
bury.

The Court was attended by Lord Claud Hamilton, Trea-
surer of the Household; Viscount Newport, Vice-Cham-
berlain ; Col. the Right Hon. Cecil Forester, Comptroller
of the Household ; Viscount Strathallan, Lord in Waiting ;
and General Sir Edward Bowater, Groom in Waiting,

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
d'Aumalo dined with Mr. Harcourt and the Countess
Frances Waldegrave last evening, at their mansion in
Carlton-gardens.

His Excellency Count Bernstorff, the Prussian
Minister, and Count Brandenburg; Councillor of Legation,
were present at the,. Queen's levee on Wednesday, at St.
James's Palace.

The Earl and Countess of Portarlington have
arrived at Claridge's Hotel, from Emo Park, Queen's
county.

Lord. and Lady Aveland received Mr. Justice
Erle, the High Sheriff of the county of Rutland, and the
leading barristers of the Midland Circuit, at dinner at Nor-
manton Park on Monday last. Sir William Erle passed
the night under his lordship's hospitable roof.
Lord Herries has left Claridge's Hotel for Ebring-
ton Park, near York.

The marriage of Lady Harriet de Burgh, youngest
and only unmarried daughter of the Marquis and Mar-
chioness of Cianricards, with Mr. T. Vernon Wentworth,
only son of Mr. and Lady Augusta Wentworth, of Went-
worth Castle, Yorkshire, was solemnised yesterday, at St.
James's Church, Piccadilly. _ . -

,
The Hon. Air. and Mrs. Smyth Vereker received
at dinner on Wednesday, attheir residence in Chesham-
place, his Excellency the Netherlands Minister, the Earl
and Countess of Laneshorough, the Ladies Anna and
Catherine Loftus, Viscount Eanelagh, the Hon. Mrs.
Keith Falconer, the Hon. Hallyburton Campbell, Sir Adam
and Miss Hay, Mr. and Mrs. M'Garel, Major and Mrs
Hall, Mr. Cornwallis West, and,Mr. Dayrell.

EDUCATION IN THE PIT DISTRICTS.—At Jarrow-
on-the-Tyne, and immediately under the walls of the mc-
nastery of the venerable Bede, the following notice is exhi-
bited in a publichouse window:—' Notice.—Thare wil be
a Coit supper at this house on Seturda_y forst the Winer to
to Pay Won shiling and the Losser to Pay toou shiling and
sixpence. The Coits to start at toou o'clock, the forst tow
on the list to Play and then third & forth and so one. Any
ParsBns desirarous to join this supper must Lcve thare
names with the Landlord of this House."

EDINBURGH.—A meeting of the Edinburgh Par-
liamentary Reform Committee was held on Wed-
nesday evening, to consider the ministerial plan of
reform. Mr. D. M'Laren, who presided, designated
the measure as a most objectionable one, cutting
off, as it proposed to do, 95,000 or one-fifth of the
entire constituency of England, by disfranchising
the 40s. freeholders. The proposal to make new
boundaries for burghs would, he said, greatly dimi-
nish the number of county voters, as well as the
creation of new burghs. Mr. M'Laren then gave
figures with reference to several burghs in Eng-
land, showing the value of farms within them and
the value of houses and stops. As to the reduction
of the franchise in counties to £lO, the speaker
contended that as it was applicable to land merely
and not houses, the effect would be to bring in as
voters a multitude of the smallest cottars in the
Highlands, who would be at the beck of their
landlords, while men occupying premises rented at
£8 or £9 a year, and having an income of £lOO,
would be excluded. Nothing was stated in the bill
about the voters within burghs, requiring to reside
within seven miles of them, and if, as he believed,
that clause of former acts was to be repealed, the
effect would be to enable parties to buy property in
burghs, and residing anywhere, in order to go and
vote in them. Altogether, he regarded the bill as
the boldest innovation and the most unconstitu-
tional measure that could have been proposed.
Bailie Blackadder proposed that a petition to Par-
ment against the bill be adopted, which was
seconded by Bailie Russell, and agreed to.
MANCHESTER. —A meeting, convened by the
Lancashire Reformers' Union, was held on Wed-
nesday evening. Mr. Alderman Goadsby presided,
and said he thought the Government Reform
Bill was so ridiculous for the purpose for which
it was intended that it would be laughed at
but for the almost universal contempt with which
it was looked upon. The bill lowered the fran-
chise in the counties, but, on the other hand,
it reduced the number of voters—as would be the
case to a considerable extent in regard to voters
for South Lancashire residing in Manchester. He
felt certain that on the second reading the bill
would be rejected by the house. A new house would
be the result; and he presumed that that body
would have to canvass Mr. Bright's bill, or some-
thing very like it; for it would be an insult to the
country to suppose that a majority could be re-
turned in favour of an administration whose Reform
Bill was such an abortion as that introduced on
Monday night. Mr. J. R. Cooper moved—" That
the so-called Reform Bill of the present Govern-
ment is a mockery, a delusion, and an insult to the
country; and that we pledge ourselves to support
the hon. member for Birmingham in his honest and
resolute endeavours to secure the most extensive
measure of Parliamentary reform practicable." The
motion was seconded by Mr. H. Ogden, supported
by Mr. J. J. Merriman, and carried unanimously.
A. petition to Parliament was adopted against the
bill. A second meeting was held in the Indepen-
dent Chapel, Great Jackson-street ; Mr. J. Whalley
in the chair. The Chairman said there was one
thing in the Government measure he approved of,
and all the rest was so bad that he did not know
what to call it. It was satisfactory that there was
now a party of politicians pledged to the £lO fran-
chise in counties.—Mr. Griffiths moved a resolution
alleging the necessity for a large measure of Par-
liamentary reform. He said the meeting was
assembled to say that Lord Derby's bantling could
not live. The great point will be that relating to
the equitable distribution of members to population
and property. That was the very essence of a
Reform Bill.—Mr. Macdonald seconded the resolu-
tion, and said he looked upon the Government
measure as an insult to the country.—The resolu-
tion passed unanimously, as did also another
pledging the meeting to support Mr. Bright.
BRADFORD.—Yesterday afternoon a preliminary
meeting of influential leading reformers of the dis-
trict was held in St. George's-hall, at Bradford, in
order to initiate measures to elicit a demonstration
of popular opinion upon the Government Reform
Bill, which was denounced as a delusion and a sham