The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-20 00:00:00

kern as if he were a party to the scheme, if not the European war, but of civil war. The alternative
originator thereof. - ' • ' trembling in the balance was not one in relation to
For what purpose has he, sorecently, despatched a posks.ible struggle upon the plains of Lombardy—
' a French naval squadron from Brest to the Medi- but t. terrible alternative of peace or war within the
terranean ? What can be the object of that extra- lin:it of these realms. In the April of 1859, it may
ordinary and formidable demonstration ? Surely, be, i't 'unhappily is, according to all appearance,

if any credence could be given to the pacific assur- I
ances of, the lifoniteur and other Government
journals, there could be no possible necessity for,
or even utility in; so premature a movement.; or if
THE BUBBLE CONGRESS is expected by France to
arrange all disputes the ships of war would be forth-
with recalled from a position where their presence
could only add fuel to the smouldering flame ready
to burst into a blaze at any moment. The language
of Lord DERBY at the conclusion of his very able
speech on the state. of our foreign relations, on. Mo-
nday evening, was peculiarly significant. He de-
clared that " war once commenced in Italy could
never 'be confined to Italy ! And once spread
beyond the limits of Italy, it was impossible to
foresee who ;would be drawn into it, how far it
would extend, or what might be its results—our
neutrality, so long as it can be maintained, must
therefore be an 'armed n eutrality: " After expressing
a fervent hope " that in the councils of Europe
there may' yet' prevail greater moderation,
greater wisdom, greater temper, that the
storm may pass by without bursting forth in the
violent and terrific manner which there is now too
much reason to anticipate," he added that the
chances of peace will be materially strengthened
" if it be withinth© knowledge of Europe that Eng-
land will not be allowed to remain a helpless or
feeble spectator of events which may compromise
her dignity and honour, but that a serious respon-
sibility, with all its results, will be laid on the head
of the Power, whatever it may be, which, without
due provocation, and the most urgent necessity, seeks,
for its own ambitious purposes, to involve Europe in
the calamities of a long and bloody war."
This is plain and decided language,. There can
be no doubt' as VI the party against whom it is
directed. Every word hit hard, and most unques-
tionably the. conduct of Louis NAPOLEON his been
greatly influenced, and the prospects of peace
materially enhanced, by the firm and unflinching
conduct of the British Cabinet. Ministers have
thus acquired a further and very powerful claim on
the thanks and gratitude of the nation—one that
ought to prove irresistible to every unprejudiced
and generous mind.

doub, tful to the last degree of uncertainty whether
or not tranquillity can yet be maintained upon the
frontiers of Sardinia, whether the signal for a dis-
astroua and most sanguinary struggle may not upon
any in stant become audible—or, admitting that
frightful possibility, whether the war trumpet shall
be sou nded first by French, Austrians, or Piedmon-
tese. In the April of 1831 the uncertainty was whe-
ther aiiarmy of insurgents should march on London,
from the west or from the midland. counties—
whether 10,000 men in arms upon the coast of
Sussex should take the road northwards—whether
the men of Yorkshire, or the men of Northumber-
land should first make their appearance in
formidable array within the legislative precincts at
Westminster. The imminence of this struggle• is not
matter simply at this day of idle conjecture. It is
related already in the pages of history, and that
moreover with the utmost degree of particularity.
The record may be found in detail in our own
columns and in • those of our contemporaries.
It may be scanned more readily in the first rapid
digest of the Annual Register. It may. be scruti-
nised in the more studied narratives of later an-
nalists. Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON has described the
perilous epoch in luminous characters in his con-
tinuation, of the History of Europe. Miss HARRIET
MARTINEAU has sketched the period in bold and
rapid outline in her continuation of the
history of England. Mr. ROEBUCK has depicted
the spectacle alternately in sombre a4d:•brilliant
colouring in his contribution to the " History of
Party." There is no question at all about it nowa-
days that England, in the April of 1831—exactly
twenty-eight years' ago—was upon the verge of a
bloody revolution. Professional jesters like the
Rev. SIDNEY SMITH might indulge an unquench-
able zest for whimsicality—writing in the midst
of the turmoil, " All young ladies imagine that, as
soon as this bill is, carried, they will the instantly
married; schoolboys believe that gerunds and
supines will be abolished, and that currant tarts
must ultimately come down in price ; the corporal
and sergeant- are sure of double pay ; bad poets ex-
pect a demand for, heir epics"—and so'forth; but it
was little better than dreaming upon the warm edge
of a volcano. There was a man killed during the
election down at Wigan, in Lancashire. The Lord
Provost of Edinburgh was all but thrown over the
North Bridge by an infuriated multitude. The
windows of Apsley House were all smashed
—and up went • shortly afterwards those
grim iron shutters • that defended up to the hour
of his death the home of the great Duke of. WEL-
LINGTON. Lord WILLIAM GRAHAM barely escaped
assasilation by secreting himself for 48 hours in
a garret at Dumbarton. Sir WALTER SCOTT, then
in the glory of his. peaceful reputation, standing as
it were upon the brink of an honoured and venerable
grave, was yelled at and hooted by a gang of ruf-
fians in the streets' of Jedburgh. The, pulse of the
nation throbbed at fever heat. Yet the scheme of
Reform which had awakened this fur•y of enthu-
siasm professed to *do little more in the way of ex-
tending the franchise than the scheme recently
laid by Ministers upon the table of the House of
Commons. The Government Reform Bill of 1831
professed to. increase the number of electors by
500,000 additional. That of 1859-by 400,000
more. The. total of these islands • being ex-
tended to • over 900,000 in 1831—a result
showing that one person in every thirty-
seven had a 'vote in the United Kingdom—
each member thus returned representing 36,579
individuals, as compared with the aggregate of the

We have observed the following advertisement in
certain papers; it -was not sent to us, but we think
it worth a notice. •

The Chairman °Utile Central Committdd received the
following communication from the Chairman of the Ballo'
Society : •

Victoria-square, S.W.
Dear Sir, April 15,-1859.
As perhaps my example may influence some few of the
advocates of the Ballot to weigh the claims which Lord
John Russell has to the gratitude of all good Reformers
against his disinclinalion to a ford the only due protection
to the Elector, and to find the balance in the noble Lord's
favour, as I do; may I request that you will place my name
on the Committee of the four Liberal Members for London.
Yours very faithfully;
F. HENRY F. BERKELEY.

John I. Trivers, Esq.
I am an Elector of London.
To this letter we subjoin an extract from another
letter to the .electors of the United Kingdom, Which
has already been • given in our columns. The
extract runs thus—

Offices of the SociesY, 5, Guildhall Chambers, Basinghall-
street, London, E.C., April sth, 1859.
Electors, at the corning election, require of those members
who vote for the Ballot a mere hearty and decided slip port
than it has hitherto received. Reject every candidate who
is opposed to, or hesitates on, the Ballot; by every means
in your power aid us to gain the Ballot at once and for ever.
Signed by order of the Executive ConiMittee on
behalf of the Society. •
F. HENRY F. BERKELEY; Chairman.
EDWARD C. WHITERURST, ViCe:ChairMan.
W3i. Wlciinnat, Honorory Secretary.
Certainly at first sight these letters with the same
signature, appear irreconcileably opposed. "Reject
every candidate who is opposed to or hesitates on
the Ballot," says one—" Put my name on the com-
mittee of the most noted Whig opponent of the
Ballot," says the other—and do it because the Ballot
in his case isto be.postponed to his other merits !
To be sUre, 'one 'dates from Victoria-square, and
the other from the offices of the Ballot Society, but
we have yet to learn that any man with credit can
do officially, what-he, in his private capacity, pub-
licly aims to undo. We understand that the
Ballot Society gentlemen have hastened to de-
clare their innocence in regard to the inconsistency
of their chairman. But we must think it
very unfair of Mr. BERKELEY, while holding
that office, and apparently without even mentioning
it to the committee, to discredit them by acting in
the teeth of their advice, and himself by acting in
the teeth of what he had put his name to.
Mr. BERKELEY adds, in a postscript, " I am an
elector of the :City of London." We never heard of
Mr. BERKELEY'S occupying premises within the
limits of the City. Can it be that, as Chairman of
the society, he votes for its offices ? If so, the incon-
gruity would be singular indeed, of subscribers hiring
rooms from which to issue advice to electors to reject

population.
It is remarkable, by the way, that the First
Reform Bill, the Ministerial scheme of 1831,
like this recent Ministerial scheme of 1859, was
digested in the House of Commons before it could
be brought on in committee. The second reading,
in the former instance, it is true, was carried after
a debate of only two days' continuance (carried by
a majority of one in a house of 608)—whereas, after
a debate of seven nights' duration, the second read-
ing was denied very recently, as we all know, by a
majority of 39, in a house of 626. But although
the second reading was carried in 1831 by this
smallest of all possible majorities—one—when on
the 18th of April, 1831, Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved
that the house go into committee on the bill, Gene-
ral GASCOYNE moved that famous amendment
which was carried against Ministers by a majority
of eight in a house of 595. An adverse division,
which led to the stormiest dissolution of Parliament
upon record save one—meaning, of course, CROM-
WELL'S dissolution of the Long Parliament by force
of arms. Ia it not, indeed, plainly " so writin our
annals ?" Has not, the hon. and learned gentleman
the member for Sheffield recorded, in his " History
of the Whigs" (Vol. ii., p. 152), how yyILLIAm IV.
charged Lord BROUGHAM to his face with high
treason ! These are the words of Mr. ROEBUCK,—
" The KING started. in furious anger, flamed red in
the face, and' burst forth- with, What, my lords !
have you dared to • act thus F. . Such . a thing was
never heard. of. You, my Lord Chancellor, ought
to know that such an act is treason—high treason."
And whit was the response still. taking Mr.
ROEBUCK as our authority,—" Yes, Sire, I do know
it,' said the Lord. Chancellor," &c. It was a dis-
solution brought about in 1831 with thisagree-
able little dash of treason a dissolution
resulting twenty-eight years ago in a general elec-
tion that carried the country to the verge of civil.
war. If the present Parliamentary' crisis, there-
fore, be one in any way fraught with solicitude—
it is a solicitude in no degree comparable to that of
which the preceding generation had such really
alarming experience. Compared with that the
present excitement is but as a breeze " that blows
the poplar white," or an autumn gust that
" tumbles half the mellowing pears;" contrasted
with the thundering whirl and crash •of a tornado.

"every candidate who hesitates on the Ballot," and
of a gentleman using a vote for those rooms to dis-
credit that advice, and the Society which issues it,
Mr. BERKELEY'S letter was, in any case, a pure
work_ of supererogation. He could have let the
election alone without injuring his Whig friend.
He could not interfere, as he has done, without
injuring the Society of which he takes the chair.

We see now, however, plainly enough, that we
did not complain without reason, of Mr. BERKE-
LEY'S having sold himself to the Whigs in the matter
of Mr. WYLD'S motion. The Ballot Society in that
case had published their request to Mr. BERKELEY
to move an addition, respecting the Ballot, to Lord
JOHN'S resolutions, In a few days, frightened by
Whig solicitations, he announced his motion, but
for quite a different time. Explanations took place ;
the Society .yielded; and Mr. WYLD, struck by
the absurdity of the resolutions going 'to the
country, with the omission of the most important
reform of all, announced his motion. We all know
how it was :dealt with, though, excepting a few
pairs, it got, within one, the same number of votes
as Mr. BERKELEY'S.

It is quite plain, now, by Mr.. BERKELEY'S own
conduct, that he cares more for old Whigs than he
does for the Ballot. Is this consistent 'in a leader ?
Did VILLIERS, COBDEN, and BRIGHT gain repeal of
the Corn Laws in that way? Did Mr. MILNin GIB-
SON compass repeal of the taxes on knowledge by
sacrificing to any one's convenience, Whig or
Tory? And, if the Ballot is to be carried soon, it
must be carried by embarrassing all- we can who
stand in our way,• even though it b?, Lord JOHN
RUSFELL hiUiself. Be his merits what they may.

ExcHANGt IN INDIA.—The telegram from Bom-
bay yesterday announces a favourable movement of about
2 or :3 cent. in the rate of exchange, antan advance of
about 11 per cent. iii 'the price of Government securities.
At Calcutta, :whence the date is to the 16th of March, there
had also been an improvement in the price of securities,
but the rate of exchange showed no alteration, and the
charge for discount was still 9 per cent.
4 AMERICAN RAILWAYS.—AIthough the Cunard
steamer this week has brought only £6,000; her port of de-
parture being Boston, the rate of exchange at New York
showed a further tendency in favour of this country. Some
large amounts will, therefore, arrive within the next few
days by the Alps and Persia. Money was in increased
abundance, but the stock market had not been nnich influ-
enced. Owing to the revival of railway contention the
stock of the New York Central line had returned to 76,
the lowest point touched last year. The' Milwaukie and
Mississippi had failed to meet the April interest on their
first rn2rtgage bonds. At Pittsburgh, in • Pennsylvania—
the Birmingliiim of America—the people, with almost una-
nimous encouragement from the press, continued to insist
upon the.repudiation of the city and county debt, and to
defy the judgments of the law courts. A large number of
small investors were, consequently, reduced to distress.
From Mexico the Le was no later political news of import-
ance. The new attempt to open the TehualitcpeCroute ap-
pears to have ended rather miserably, and the surveying
party are said to haire quarrelled and separated.
Nancy was on. Friday visited by so violent a gale
that a small tower on the principal church:it the linver part
of the steeple .was carried away, and fell into the street at a
distance about 80 feet from the principal door of the church
The Agricultural Society of Algiers has offered a
premium of 500f.i raised by subscription among the mem-
bers, to any person who shall discover the means 4 pre-
serving tobacco plants, during their vegetation, from the
ravages of insects. • A commission, appointe4 for.tbe pur-
pose, will declare at•the end of September, 1860, &ri,4 after
trial, which remedy has succeeded.

if they are brought, as they now are, .to the aid of
the Tories to outvote Mr. BERKELEY, and to depre-
ciate the Belot, sd much the more necessary it
to weigh the merits of the Ballot against the merits
of the Whig:Lord, and to find that the Ballot scale
makes the other kick the beam. If a leader does
not do this, no humorous speeches can compensate
for such grave and damaging conduct;

If We arc now apparently upon the brink of an
European war, at the very moment .when we are
upon the eve of this general election; prior to the
passing of the Second Reform Bill—we should re-
member the still more imminent and snore frightful
circumstances which really and truly ushered in
the First !

Twenty-eight years ago it was a question, not of