The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-28 00:00:00

BONDING WAREHOUSES.

In rep to Mr. HADFIELD,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
subject of giVing bonded Warehouses to large manufacturing
towns was under consideration, but they had not come to
any resolution on the subject.

THE REFORM BILI 4.
Mr. GRIFFITH asked the Chancellor of the :Exchequer
whether the plan of uniformity of franchise between coun-
ties and boroughs wasconsidered by Government to form an
essential principle of the proposed Representation of the
People Bill, on which the fate of the bill was to depend ;
or whether, on the contrary, it was only one of those
details which, though forming part of the original
suggestions of Government, was to be considered
to be open to any alteration or omission in committee which
that house, in its wisdom, might determine upon.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
the course pursued by hon.' members in reference to the Go-
vernment ,bill was most irregular, for it was dealt with
wholesale and retail. If hoih members were opposed to the
second reading of the bill, they could vote against it, but
if the bill went into committee ;the Government would
consider any recommendation, and he would state the result
of that recommendation. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. WHITESIDE explained, in reference to the debate

of Tuesday night, that when Lord Palmerston said Lom-
bardy was to have been erected into a duchy dependent on
Austria, he was made by the newspapers to acquiesce in
the correctness of that statement, and to admit that he had
been in error, which he entirely denied.
THE ADJOURNED DEBATE.

Mr. E. JAMES, in resuming the debate, said that he
would vote against the bill and support the amendment of
the noble lord the member for the city of London. It had
been said that there was an attempt on the part of
certain members of the house and a party to Ameri-
canize the institutions of the country, because they
wished to go further in the direction of reform than the Go-
vernment. (Hear, hear.) That he denied, but he
thought they could not make a more direct movement
towards that result than by adopting the style of
personalities which had been introduced into the debate by
hon. members on the other side who had addressed the
house. He alluded particularly to the attack made
by the right hon. gentleman the Solicitor •General on the
noble lord the member for London, and when the
right hon. gentleman rose to make certain explanations,
he expected he would have apologised for that attack.
Having stigmatised the letter addressed by. Earl Grey
to Lord Elcho, and which was published in the daily
newspapers, as a most unconstitutional attempt at dictation,
he said he objected altogether to the proposition of the
Government with reference to the franchise. (Hear, hear.)
He agreed with the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequer that mere numbers should not be the basis
of the franchise ; but the fact was that where
there was an aggregate of numbers there they had a collec-
tion of those interests which were necessarily entitled to
representation. He contended that the effect of the bill
would be to create a machinery for the manufacture of
voters. With regard to voting papers, the adoption of that
part of the Government scheme would establish the
most efficient means for bribery and intimida-
tion. By that provision, all that was necessary
to be done by an agent for a candidate would be to bribe the
voter and put his voting paper in his pocket, that being a
greater security than he could possibly have otherwise. The
right hon. gentleman the Attorney-General for Ireland
stated on Frikay evening, as a proof that the working
classes did not require any extension of the suffrage, that
in the borough of Marylebone, which he represented, out of
120,000 electors only 10,000 polled at the late election for
the borough. But what was the fact—and he pledged him-
self to the correctness of what he had stated—that the 10,000
who voted were composed of the small tradesmen and arti-
sans in the district, and those who abstained from polling
were what might be called the moneyocracy of the borough.
(Hear, hear.) Any illustration of the views from that
part, on which he relied so strongly, was of no value.
It had been said by one hon. member who addressed the
house that the masses were not sufficiently instructed to
exercise the franchise with safety to the community at
large. But for years the energies of poets, philosophers,
and thinkers had been directed to educate the people at
large, and even the works of the right hon. gentleman,
the Secretary for the Colonies were operating in the same
direction, for his " England and the English," his " Eugene
Aram," and other celebrated works which emanated from his
pen, were already familiar in every dwelling in the country,
instructing the people with political knowledge, and charm-
ing the popular mind by his grace and beauty. (Hear.)
In reference to the noble lord the member for the City of
London, whom he had never heard spoken of in political
circles without the greatest veneration and respect—(hear,
hear, and oh, oh)—he would urge on the noble lord to
discard the plan on which he had previously acted, if he de-
siredto form a Government calculated to be of a permanent,
not an ephemeral character. To adopt the sporting meta
phor of the noble lord the member for Tiverton, he must
not select his Government from the old political Whig stud.
(Laughter.) The hon. and learned member concluded
by assuring the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) that if he did
not depart from the course. he had adopted in reform he
would fail in forming a Government that would enjoy the
confidence of the country, or take the place pernlanently of
those who had been compelled to surrender the helm of
public affairs. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. BEAUMONT rose, and was
[LEFT SPEAKING.]