The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-26 00:00:00

proposes to give one fifth only of the one hun-
dred and thirty vacant seats to the counties,
the rest to the boroughs. Rather a wide
difference certainly; and we may rest assured that
whatever number of boroughs be disfranchised,
wholly or partially, the lords of the soil will fight
hard to appropriate a larger share of the spoils of
borough disfranchisement. They will now loudly
proclaim that the disfranchised boroughs were
landlords boroughs, and that landlords ought to
get the seats ; yet it was but the other day
they were reckoning up all these members as proofs
that the boroughs had the lion's share of Parlia-
mentary representation !
But the Bill contains, or is to contain when its
other half is published, a yet more cruel onslaught
on the tenant-drivers in the counties. The more
cruel, because so reasonable are the clauses that no
argument can be found against them, and they can
only be resisted by sheer clamour and wilfulness.
We refer to those clauses which will give the dis-
franchised town voters votes for the county in
which they live, and which will protect their
votes and those of all other voters against land-
lords, lawyers, and all other intimidators by the
Ballot. The Chandos clause will not be repealed,
nor the voters under it disfranchised ; they will be
rendered as independent as they ought to be, and
willbe surrounded by a host of new andindependent
voters. Merging the little boroughs in the coun-
ties to which they naturally belong, and establish-
ing a £lO franchise, will elevate the counties to
free constituencies. Indeed, if these clauses be
carried, we see no reason why the members for
counties and for boroughs too should not be iiro-
portioned to the voters in each. We must grant,
however, that town populations can hardly fail to
be the more intelligent.
Let our landed aristocracy take care. It will be
dangerous indeed to their order to raise the ques-
tion of equal representation for towns and counties.
They have a House of Lords now—let them not
forget that it is the most vulnerable to political
argument of all the institutions in the country.
With very trivial exceptions it is a house of Land-
lords. It has no claims but those of prescription—
& kind of claim which is becoming of less value
every day. There are Episcopal Life Peers there
too, whom, 4tt least, half the nation thinks had
better attend to their episcopal business. Other
Upper Houses in civilised and constitutional coun-
tries are elected; and unless their lordships and
their sons and connections in the Commons be very
quiet about the number of county members, they
may soon hear of a Supplemental Reform Bill for
" another place." The country may soon think
that elected Lords must be superior to those fur-
nished us by the chances of birth.

It would be fortunate for the country if strin-
gent examinations should be passed by all desirous
of becoming candidates for Parliamentary honours.
We should not then find pleas of ignorance, or of
being unable to comprehend what is put forward
on questions of vital importance, on which the wel-
fare, happiness, and prosperity of the community
mainly depend. A celebrated writer on what was
accustomed to declare that he had hope of any
player who was guided by any principle, however
erroneous, but that the man who professed
" ignorance" was perfectly incorrigible. So it
is on the Money question. If Noble Lords
Right Honourable and Honourable Gentlemen,
would do their duty we should have no
doubt as to a triumphant issue, and that
within the ensuing session. All that is re-
quired is a full and fair discussion, and calm and
attentive consideration ? It will be the wonder of
posterity that so much apathy, ignorance, and in-
difference could have prevailed on a subject of such
vital consequence to the best interests of society.
The question must be considered, and that with-
out further delay. The nation is disgusted with
sham inquiries before packed committees. There
is no lack of information. Any person that chooses
to study the topic can find all that is essential for
arriving at a sound judgment. It would be impos-
sible to refer to all of what may justly be termed
" text books," on the interesting subject, but those
who read the admirable report of the Select Com-
mittee of the House of Lords in 1848 ; " The Free
Trade and Fettered Currency" of Sir A. ALISON ;
the writings of Mr. JONATHAN DUNCAN, and al-
though last, not least, the productions of our re-
Mr. HAMERSTANSFELD, and spected correspondent,
we may add, our esteemed contemporary the Der-
byshire Courier, will be enabled to give conscien-
tious and judicious votes. There can be no excuse
for ignorance, as we have already stated, and there-
fore it is indispensable that every man desirous of
obtaining the support of an " independent" con-
stituency should study the question, so as as to make
some response when interrogated. He may be a
DACUS, not an CEDIPus, but still gross negligence
should not be received as an excuse for shelving the

point.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer will have a diffi-
cult task in preparing his budget, but it is even more
essential to give the people the means of providing
for all the charges that may be required. Cheap-
ness is not all that is required. There must also
be the means of obtaining the " low priced articles."
The creators and producers of national wealth have
been cut down in their charges ; the wages of ope-
ratives have been reduced, and they have not
been able to spend so much as otherwise would have
been the case. The result was that the drones pro-
fited at the expense of the bees in the national hive,
and that a third party, that may be termed " the
hard calculators" enriched themselves at the expense
of both. What is required is free trade in currency
—that there should be a sufficiency of what Mr.
STANSFELD properly terms truck tickets—which
can be used as the instruments of exchange, so that
the business of every-day life may be transacted.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston are enter-
taining the following company at their seat, Broadlands,
Rants :—His Excellency the Prussian Minister and the
Countess de Bernstorff, his Excellency the Sardinian
Minister, his Exellency the Spanish Minister, the Countess
of Shaftesbury, Count Jaucourt, Baron Marochetti, Count
Louis Corti, Lord and Lady Wodehouse, Mr. and the
Misses Sullivan, Mr: and Mrs. Chamberlyne and Miss
Chamberlyne, Mr. Fleming, &c.
Prince Alfred landed at Tunis on the sth inst.,
from the Euryalus frigate, and the visit somewhat astonished
the Moslem population. It was soon known that the
Prince's arrival was an event quite destitute of political sig-
nificance, his object being to inspect the works of excava-
tion now being prosecuted on the site of Carthage. The
Prince was received very cordially by the reigning
Bey, who had the City Palace prepared for the use of his
royal highness. The Bey also begged permission to invest
Prince Alfred with tke badge of the reigning family of
Tunis, a diamond only worn by princes of the blood. Be-
fore leaving Tunis Prince Alfred honoured the Consul-
General by accepting an invitation to rt ball, which was
got up with all the magnificence possible under Tunisian
circumstances.

®Mr. and Lady Margaret Beaumont returned to
Bretton Hall, Wakefield, on Friday last. Mr. Beaumont
is expected in town early next week.
DEATH OF MR. BASIL BAKER, THE ACTOR.—
Yesterday morning Mr. Basil Baker, one of the last remain-
ing actors of the old school, died somewhat suddenly at his
residence in Grove-street, Liverpool, at the age of 54. Mr.
Baker was for many years connected with the Liverpool
theatres, though he was also a deserved favourite with the
theatrical public of Dublin and Manchester. He was also
for several years a most useful actor in the Lyceum Theatre
in Londons during the regime of Madame Vestris and Charles
Mathews. Mr. Baker, previous to his death, which was
caused by rheumatism of the heart, had only been absent
from his duty at • the Theatre Royal about a week. Mr.
Baker, who was twice married, leaves a widow, three young
children, a married daughter, and a son in the Customs at
Liverpool.

HIE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1859.

return to Shanghai. Thence the Baron and suite
again departed on the 7th, and finally arrived here
iin the English mail steamer Aden on the 11th
nstant. The La Place has been towed back to
Shanghai by her Majesty's ship Inflexible.
His Excellency Mr. Reed, United States' Com-
missioner, left this port for America on the Bth
instant. The Leghtion is now in charge of the
Chinese Secretary, Mr. S. Wells Williams, LL.D.
At Canton matters are progressing steadily,
though Major-General Sir C. T. Van Straubenzce's
policy of keeping the garrison closely confined with-
in the walls, is loudly decried.