The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOITRNALS.

TIMES.—The language of the Queen's Speech had
certainly led us to expect that the promised Reform
Bill would be founded on information to be pre-
viously laid before Parliament. Mr. Gladstone
nas now given notice that he will move for leave
to bring in a bill on March 12, but declines to
undertake that the statistics under preparation shall
be in the hands 'of members by that day. In the
meantime, we are not without the means of com-
paring the growth of the electoral body with that
of the population generally since the date of the last
Reform Bill, and thus of ascertaining aproximately
the tendency of the franchise to extend or contract
itself without auy change of the qualification. In
the year 1864 Mr. White moved for various returns
bearing on this subject, and the statistics then fur-
nished by the Registrar-General are still of consi-
derable value. Their general result is not, on the
whole, favourable to the prevalent impression that
the suffrage is now practically more restricted than
it was 30 years ago. On the contrary, we find thit
whereas the total population of counties and boroughs
in England and Wales rose, between 1831 and 1861,
from somewhat less than 14,000,000 to somewhat
more than 20,000,000, the total number of electors
increased within the same period from 655,456 to
1,012,532, or rather more rapidly than the popula-
tion. If we distinguish counties from boroughs, it
appears, as we should expect, that voters have mul-
tiplied much faster in the boroughs. The county
electors in 1831 amounted to 370,379, and in 1861
to 534,085 ; the borough electors in 1831 were
285,077, and in 1861 478,477, a ratio nearly corre-
sponding to the increase of population. Looking,
therefore, either to the whole country together, or to
the boroughs separately, and assuming that all
classes of the community have contributed equally
to the increase of population, we should infer that
a sensible downward extension of the franchise
had taken place in the course of the last generation.
When, however, we come to examine these tables
more closely, we cannot fail to be struck by one
prominent fact. It is not in general the small but the
large boroughs in which the spantaneous develop-
ment of the constituencies has most signally out-
stripped that of the population. Let us take for
example some of the great manufacturing towns
and the metropolitan boroughs. The population of
Manchester has grown from 240,294 to 436,252, or
82 per cent; the constituency of Manchester had
grown from 6,726 to 21,880, or 225 per cent. The
population of Salford had just doubled itself ; the
constituency of Salford had more than trebled itself.
The population of Birmingham had grown from
143,986 to 296,076, or 105 per cent. ; the constitu-
ency of Birmingham had grown from 4,000 to 10,823,
or 170 per cent. Not to burden our readers with
too many figures, we may add that, in round num-
bers, Sheffield has increased its population by 102
per cent. and its constituency by 154 per cent.; that
Portsmouth had increased its population by 88 per
cent. and its constituency by 232 per cent.; and.
that Southampton had increased its population by
143 per cent. and its constituency by 194 per cent.
Of Finsbury, Marylebone, and the Tower Hamlets
it may be roughly stated that they had increased
their constituencies twice as rapidly as their popula-
tion, and in Lambeth we are startled to observe that,
while the population had grown from 154,613 to
294,883, or 91 per cent., the constituency had actu-
ally grown from 4,768 to 23,944, or 402 per cent.
On the other hand, there are exceptions which mate-
rally qualify the effect of this apparent law. The
City of London had declined in population by some
10,000, and its voters had been diminished by about
500. In Westminster, too, the constituency had not
kept pace with population ; and in Liverpool, where
the estimated increase of population in the 30 years
was no legs than 240,000, or 120 per cent., the in-
crease of electors was but 5,193, or less than 50 per
cent. At Preston there was a decrease of 3,534 (from
6,352 to 2,818), and the gradual extinction of Mr.
Gladstone'a favourite potwallopers at Newark had
reduced the constituency there by 824, notwithstand-
ing a rise of 2,000 in the population. But for such
compensations the general rate of increase in the
borough constituencies would be startling, and, even
as it is, the expansive tendency of the franchise in the
largest towns will probably take many by surprise.
There is another point connected with the distri-
bution of electoral rights which has of late attracted
some attention. It has often been remarked that, in
proportion to its population and property, the North
of England is much less fully represented than the
South. This is no doubt the fact, if we exclude Mid-
dlesex from the calculation, but not otherwise. Our
contemporary, the Economist, has done good service
by publishing tables which put the comparison in its
true light. These tables are founded on a bisection of
England into two districts—the one comprising the
northern counties properly so called, with the chief
seats of manufacturing industry in the west ; the
other comprising the southern and more agricultural
portion of the kingdom. The population of the two
divisions is nearly equal, each containing above
9,000,000 inhabitants, and the northern division re-
turns 195 members against 272 returned by the
southern. So far there is an undue preponderance
on the side of the south ; but if we take the income
tax returns into account we obtain a different result.
The gross amount of property assessed under sche-
dules A, B, D preponderates in favour of the south
nearly in proportion to its relative share of repre-
sentation, so that, judging by this test, no unfair
advantage has been given to the sunnier parts of the
island. It may be said,lndeed, that London ought
not to be thrown into the scale with the petty bo-
roughs of Devonshire or Cornwall ; butif this be ad-
mitted, surely Lancashire ought to be eliminated
too. The number of electors in Lancashire is more
than three-fourths of the number in Middlesex,
and the West Riding may well be set against
Lambeth, Southwark, and East Surrey. Not that
it is either possible or desirable to adjust with scru-
pulous nicety the geographical basis of our represen-
tative system. Nothing could do this effectually but a
sweeping reform, designed to substitute national for
local representation, and to convert boroughs. and
counties into mere polling districts. Such a plan has
met with acceptance among some ingenious persons,
and there are those who regard it as an almost Pro-
vidential specific for the evils of an inevitable demo-
cracy. Upon its intrinsic merits we forbear to ex-
press any opinion whatever, but it is truly wonderful
that it should be propounded as an easy solution
of a difficult problem. lf the disfranchisement of
a few close boroughs excites so formidable an oppo-
sition that a strong Government hesitates to face it,
how would a proposal for destroying, so to speak,
the personal identity of every constituency in Eng-
land, be received by Parliament and the country ?
Such wild schemes do but divert the public mind
from the correction of glaring anomalies exhibited
in the returns before us. While such places as
Honiton, Totnes, and Ripon are returning two
members apiece, the West Riding of Yorkshire,
with its 40,000 electors, returns but four, and South
Lancashire and Manchester, each with more than
20,000 electors, return but two apiece. These are
defects in our representative machinery which all
can understand, and which practically affect the
composition of the House of Commons. To lower
the franchise without redressing these would be the
very reductio ad absurdum of bit-by-bit legislation.
HERALD.—If any man will glance over the de-
bates in the House of Commons on any one night
since the opening of the present session, he will rise
from their perusal convinced in his own mind that
the report of a breaksup of the Ministry, which ob-
tained such general credence but two days ago,
was, after all, only premature, and the foreshadow-
ing of an event which will not be long in coming.
We find nowhere any sign •of the existence of a
Government strong enough to carry through any
measure on which it has set its heart. Instead of
union in the ranks and consistency in the pro-
gramme of the Ministers and their supporters, we
meet with vacillation and weakness, contradictions
and dissensions. The only Government measure of
importance since the opening of Parliament has
been carried by a compromise with the rival propo-,
sition of an independent member, who, in a division
of the house, defeated the Government on a ques-
tion of vital importance. If the Government floun-
dered thus grievously on the Cattle Plague Bill, if
they are likely to have a worse slip on the Reform
Bill, which is to be brought forward on Monday
week, it must also be remarked that they have
stumbled twice or thrice, and with difficulty righted
themselves, in such a common-place matter as the
passing of the naval estimates. The fact allowed at
the outset by Lord Clarence Paget, that although
expending money on the maintenance of the navy
at the old rate of ten or eleven millions annually,
we had not as yet one sea-going turret ship,
either built or building, while rival countries are
known to be rapidly reconstructing their navies
on this principle, was received with loud expres-
sions of disapprobation on both sides of the
house on Monday. If, under such circumstances,
the estimates are allowed to pass, it is only under
a general protest against the want of foresight
which has allowed the country to remain unpro-
tected, in these critical times, by the only arma-
ment which can enable her to maintain her place
at the head of the naval Powers of the modern
world. The treatment which Capt. Cowper Coles,.
the inventor of the turret system, had experienced
at the hands of a Government which at this parti-
cular moment is especially in need of his services,
has also been made the subject of all but universal
censure. Following the happy example of the wil-
low that bends to the gale, the Government, as soon
as it was made aware of the feeling of .the House of
Commons and the country on this point, lost no
time in promptly reinstating Captain Coles in his
office of adviser to the head constructor
of the navy.
By this and other timely concessions it hopes,
doubtless, to escape the storm that was gathering

over its head. Having once commenced the Bala,'
tary if not graceful process of eating the leek, it
was but a small thing that Mr. Gladstone should
have been called upon last night to step in to the
rescue of Lord C. Paget, beset and baited as he was
by an indignant house, and tender a frank apology
for an overstepping of their duty on the part of cer-
tain Admiralty subordinates. The necessity was
forced upon him by a simple statement made. by
Sir J. Pakington respecting certain proceedings
which occurred last week at Devonport. A petition
having been filed against Messrs. Ferrand and
Fleming, the Conservative members, a telegram
was sent down from the Admiralty that
°' ever
facility was to be given for serving the Speaker's
warrant on the workmen in the yard." We cannot
tell whether what ensued was in pursuance of pri-
vate instructiona from head-quarters, or the work
of some subordinate, who was guilty of the " to°
much zeal" reprehended by Talleyrand. We only
know that, whereas the Speaker's warrant is usually
served on voters in their own homes, in this case
35 or 40 dockyard labourers, who had voted for
into
a and Fleming, were driven like sheep
a police-court on the morning of the 22d ultimo,
and then and there submitted to a terrific brow-
beating and cross-examination by the attorney: for
the petitioners. This proceeding bore so plainly
the aspect of political intimidation by Government
officials that we are surprised that Lord C. Paget
could have ventured to defend it for a moment.
Members on both sides of the house concurred in
condemning it as most unwarrantable. The un-
kindest cut of all was that of Lord Robert Montagu,
who thought that such proceedings were no more
than might be expected " from a Government tot-
tering to its fall." Mr. Gladstone admitted that
they were much to be lamented." Inquiries would
he made, and orders given " to prevent the recur-
rence of such an irregularity." We trust that after
the severe lesson which has been given them Lord
Russell and his subordinates will know how to re"
spect freedom of election in the Government work-
shops, which are so manifestly under official control,
and will not attempt again to turn them into what
Lord John Manners called last night " political
shambles." Accepting for what it is worth their
recantation of the sentence pronounced on CaptaT
C. Coles, we may hope that they will not again
allow any sentiment of personal pique to override
their conviction of whatis best for the public serviee•
Captain Coles has had to force, as it were, his theories
on the world. Through much opposition, and an
immense amount of obloquy, he has succeeded, 11
immense perseverance and the incessant use- of his
pen, which he has wielded as skilfully and as con;
stantly as his naval tools, in convincing men wedded,
to old methods of construction of the superiority of
the system of revolving iron-clad towers place'
amidships. Because some of his outspoken
utte-
_r
ancea seemed to clash somewhat rudely and roughlY
with Admiralty prejudices, because rival artificers
Lt
were freely criticised in his able pamphlets and 'd
the letters which have from time to time appeared
in this journal, Captain Coles was summarily
sus-
pended from his office of adviser in the construction
of turret ships. This act of high-handed authority
was the work of an imprudent impulse which those
who yielded to its temptations have seen cause t°
regret. The able inventor, whose system has been
so amply vindicated by the naval combats in the
' last two great wars in the east and west, is n°w'
whatever Government may rule in England, fleet
listed in the great woik of remoelin our flee!
in a manner best in accordance with theg exigenelo
of this advanced period of the nineteenth century'

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MANCHESTER--THURSDAY.

----------- .
The show of wheat to-day was limited. There was fit
firm feeling in the trade, and prices were rather higher than
heretofore. Tho show of barley was small and the denlaad
was of a healthy character, prices being ls. to 2s. per gr'l:
favour of the seller. The show of oats was not large, an,
the previous week's rates were made. Beans in tolerable
request at recent rates. Peas underwent little alteration.

BURY ST. EDMUND'S—WEDNESDAY.
There was a goOd supply of wheat at this market to-day;
the trade was firm at fully late rates. Farmers bad
difficulty in obtaining Is. to 2s. per qr. more money 010
last week for the few samples of barley they had to offer"
Oats, beans,.and peas, without alteration.
White wheat, 53s to 555; old red, 46s to 48s;
40s to 44s , malting barley, 83s to 36s ; Page's prolific PK'''.
ley, 38s to 41s per qr.
averages :—Wheat, 1,010 qrs, at 44s 3d ; barley, 1,543
qrs., 31s 10d; oats, 160 qrs, 26s 6d.

BIRMINGHAM—TitunsDAY.
Our market this morning was fairly attended, but there
was not much disposition for business manifested on th
part of buyers, and with only a limited demand we repeat
the currency of this day se'nnight for each article.