The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 15, 1859.

HAYMARKET THEATRE.

_
The re-engagement of Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Mathews, and the announcement of their appear-
ance in two dramatic novelties drew a crowded
house last evening to this theatre. The first piece,
in which they played," The King's Milliner," is an
evident translation or adaptation of a French comedy,
and is well fitted to show off the powers of this
talented couple. After the comedy Mr. Mathews
appeared with his wife in a duologue, entitled
" Nothing to Wear." The bills proclaimed it to be
an old friend with a new face by William Brough,
which was truly the case, for in the supposed
novelty we recognised the somewhat old farce
entitled "No. 1, Round the Corner."
Mr. and Mrs. Mathews played their parts, as
might have been anticipated, in the very best man-
ner, and elicited from the gods the most uproarious
applause, who thoroughly enjoyed the idea of a
gentleman and a lady pledging each other's coats
and gowns. " The Galician Fete," an established
favourite, first introduced by the Spanish dancers,
wound up the evening's entertainments.

LATEST NEWS.

THE ITALIAN QUESTION.
The following telegrams were received at Mr.
Reuter's'office

PARIS, TUESDAY, MARCH 15.

The Moniteur of this morning publishes a fresh
article, stating that part of Germany now presents
an appearance both afflicting and astonishing.
" France," it says " has occupied herself with
the consideration of the alarming state of
affairs in Italy merely to allay it, in con-
cert with the allies and in the inte-
rest of European tranquillity. It is impossible to
show a more sincere desire to unrav el peacefully
the existing difficulties, and to prevent further
complications, which are always the result of want
of foresight and decision."
The article proceeds to show that the mistrust of
a part of Germany springs from reflections unjust
and painful to France, and shows contempt for the
independence of her policy.

" The existence of a great nation like France is
not restricted to her frontiers, but manifests itself
in the world at large by salutary acts. France
uses her endeavours for the benefit of her national
power and the advantage of civilisation. When a
nation relinquishes this character she relinquishes
her rank. To contest her right to this legitimate
influence would be to mistake the rights of France.
The Emperor understood how to overcome all pre-
judices when he ascended the throne. What
would have happened if, by acting otherwise, he
had rejected, through distrust, the servants of the
former dynasty, and if, instead of establishing
the tranquillity of Europe on a firmer footing,
he had shaken it by redeeming, at the price of
European security and independence the recollec-
tions of 1814 and 1815. Such, however, he has not
done. The Emperor does not hold the whole
of Germany responsible for the errors and malevo-
lence of certain manifestations which spring rather
from mean resentment than from serious fears.
Germany has nothing to anticipate from us for her
independence. We sympathise with her nationality.
By showing herself impartial, she will show herself
foresighted, and will do better service to the cause
of peace. Prussia understood this line of policy
when she united herself with England in order to
promulgate wise counsels at Vienna, at a time
when agitators were endeavouring to arouse angry
passions, and to form a coalition amongst the States
of the German Confederation against us. The
attitude of Prussia is certainly more advantageous
to Germany than the excitement of those who,
appealing to the malice and prejudices of 1813,
expose themselves to the risk of irritating national
feeling in France.

".The French people is susceptible in regard to its
honour, but at the same time moderate in the em-
ployment of its strength. If threats will arouse it,
it may nevertheless be pacified by conciliation."

BERLIN, MARCH 15.

The Mannheim Journal states that the Ministers
of War of those States which furnish contingents
to the eighth corps d'armee of the federal army,
held a conference on Saturday at the Castle of
Bruchsal.

INDIA AND CHINA.
MARSEILLES, MONDAY, 11.15 A.M.

The Calcutta and China mails have arrived.

A notification has been published threatening the
braves of Canton, and clearly expressing want of
confidence with the Government of Pekin.

A Danish vessel has been driven away from the
coast of Japan, no treaty having been concluded
with Denmark.

150,000 persons died of cholera in Jeddo during

one month.

Great activity had prevailed in Calcutta imports,
the market closing quietly. Sales in wheat had
been checked by last advices from the up country.
Exports remained without alteration. Interest one
per cent. higher; freights unchanged.

Exchange.—Calcutta, 2s. ld. to 2s. 1/d. ; Madras,
2s. Oid. to 2s. Id. ; Hong Kong, 4s. 61d.; Shanghae,
Gs. ld., with upward tendency.
Very little was doing is imports at Canton. A
good business bad been done in tea at Foochow at
lower rates. Shanghae imports continued in brisk
demand at unchanged prices. A moderate business
had likewise been done here in tea.

Sir John Bowring's early return to Europe was

expected.

ALEXANDRIA, MARCH 9.

Artim Bey is dead. Prince Alfred was present
at the ball given in his honour by the English in-
habitants.

VIENNA, MONDAY.
There was a panic on 'Change to-day at the
opening, and the funds fell nearly 2 per cent.

Warlike preparations continue here, and the
journals of this morning speak in energetic
language.

GENOA, MARCH 13.

Volunteers from Venice are expected to arrive by
sea. General Cialdini is about to organise a division
of volunteers.

The Corriere Mercantile publishes an article
headed, " If we aid ourselves we shall be aided."
The article expresses confidence in the identity of
Neapolitan interests with the interests of the rest
of Italy. The writer of the article hopes that Eng-
land will well understand that the neutrality of
Russia is subordinate to the neutrality of England.
The article also denounces Mazzini as the enemy of
Italy.

MADRID, MARCH 13.

Mr. Preston, the Minister of the United States,
was received yesterday by the Queen in a private
audience. In the name of President Buchanan, he
assured her Majesty of the President's desire to
maintain friendly relations with Spain, and ex-
pressed his own personal conviction that the
general wish of the people of the United States was
to preserve the bonds of friendship at present exist-
ing between the States and Spain, and to do every-
thing in their power to avoid any misunderstanding
between the two countries.

The Queen replied in terms flattering both to the
United States and its Minister.

We learn by letters received yesterday, that the
emigration from Lombardy to Piedmont rapidly in-
creases. It includes all classes and degrees of people.
For instance, the son of Sebregondi, the actual
Podesta of Milan, has shed the dust of Austria from
his feet, and sought liberty and poverty in Pied-
mont. Young cadets of the noble families of Melzi,
Tavorna, and Litta, have also gone. From Udine,
a curate with 30 of his parishioners have sought re-
fuge in Piedmont ; so also from Trevita, another
curate with a portion of his flock have abandoned
their homes rather than submit longer to Austrian
misrule.

The'Austrian troops concentrated in the neigh-
bourhood of Semlin, in order to observe Servia, are
about to leave their present position. The force,

consisting of nearly 12,000 men, is ordered to march
towards Trieste ; and the belief is that it will ulti-
mately be sent to Verona, where the reserves of the
army of Italy will be assembled.

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY.

BOURSE, March 13.—Great heaviness prevailed
at the opening. It was reported again that Lord
Cowley had failed in his mission. The second
quotation from London arriving at 4- fall, caused
further heaviness, and many realisations took place.
A rally followed, and all quotations left off but
slightly lower than Saturday's prices. The Three
per Cents. closed at 68fr. Threes, after having
been done at 67fr. 85c., declined to 67f. 65c., and
are now at 67fr. 75c. ; Mobilier varied from 775 fr.
to 767 fr. 50c. ; Orleans, 1,337 fr. 50c. to 1,332 fr.
50c. ; Lyons, 832 fr. 50c. to 830 fr. ; Northern, 9301 r.
to 927 fr. 50c. ; and Southern, 520 fr. to 517 fr. 50c.
The market rather improved towards the close,
when the following were the last quotations :

4i per Cents. .... 94 75 I Credit Foneier
Do. end month .. ——l Belgian 4k —
3 per Cents 6B —lPiedmonteso (5) .. 78 25
Do. end month 6B Roman B5
Bank Shares 2860 —lAustrian —

Credit Mobilier .. 765 Spanish Threes —
Do. Acceunt ..... 777 50 Home Debt 4O

RAILWAYS.

Cash. Account.
Orleans
Northern . 921 25 .. 927 50
New ditto. 795 .. 796 25
Lyons and Mediterranean B3O —. .. 831 25
New ditto
Geneva
Midi — ..
Southern
Western 590 .. 590
Eastern
Grand Central — ..
Sardinian 4OO .. 400
Austrian
Exchange on London, at sight, paper, 25f. 15e. ; money,
25f. 10e. ; three months, paper, 25f. ; money, 24f. 97c.

.. 530 -

THE GOVERNMENT _REFOR3I BILL.

MARYLEB ONE.

Last night a public meeting of the inhabitants
of Marylebone, convened by the local Parliamentary
and Financial Retorm Association, was held in the
Court-house, Marylebone-lane, for the purpose of
considering the Governinent measure of reform.
The attendance was numerous and respectable ;
Mr. T. K. Pritchard, surgeon, was called to the
•hair

The CIIAIRMAN observed, the-question of Parlia-
mentary Reform was at length in the hands of the
people ; and his own opinion was that if they
backed up that tried reformer, Mr'. John Bright,
the time was not far distant when a comprehensive
and satisfactory measure would be obtained from
the Legislature.
Mr. R. MICIIELL moved the first resolution :
" That, in the opinion of this meeting, the bill en-
titled the ' Representative Bill of 1859,' introduced
by the Government, is an insult to the represented
and unrepresented reformers of this country,
and ought to be rejected ; inasmuch as it destroys
one-fifth of the county voters—studiously excludes
the working classes—legalises votes 17 proxy, and
leaves almost untouched the glaring anomaly
whereby a majority of the members of the House
of Commons is elected by little more than a fifth
part of the electoral body." He stigmatised the
Government bill, and declared his belief that the
so-called leading journal of the day had fallen into
a marvellous error in supposing that the country
was not alive to the importance of the franchise.
The people, he was firmly convinced, valued it
beyond all price ; and, as a man who was daily en-
gaged in trade and commerce, he could bear testi-
mony to the anxiety that was felt amongst that in-
terest for a speedy and permanent settlement of
this great question of Parliamentary reform.
(Cheers.)
_ _

Mr. J. A. NICHOLAY seconded the resolution, and
said that he had never expected to see the day
when a Conservative Administration would bring
in a bill for extending the representation of the
people. True, like an orange it was a squeezable
administration, but he was very much afraid the
people must bring about a change of Government
before justice would be done to their fair and
reasonable demands. (Hear, hear.) But the Con-
servatives must not be replaced by the cold and
equally illiberal Whigs, who were democrats out
of office and aristocrats when in. (Hear, hear.)
Lord John Russell had condemned himself by his
own acts. His Durham letter was only a flash in
the pan ; while his Vienna mission had shattered
his reputation for ever. (No, no.) Well, let those
who said so remember that Lord John Russell was
opposed to the ballot ; and surely no measure of
reform could be satisfactory which did not include
that protection for the voter. (Hear, hear.) Then,
again, there was Lord Palmerston ; he, too, had
been tried and found wanting. Both noble lords
cared more for place than advancing the interest of
the people ; and the question then arose to
whom should they look ? (Hear, hear.) He
thought John Bright was the man. (" Hear,
hear," and " No, no.") At all events, he
felt that as the Whigs could not be trusted, the
better plan would be to allow the Government to
carry the second reading of their bill, and leave it to
such men as Mr. Bright to amend it in committee.
(" No, no," and cheers.)
The resolution was then put and carried.
Sir B. HALL next addressed the meeting, and said
that he intended to vote against the second reading
of the Government bill. He had no wish to see it
put into committee, because, while the good which
it contained was compressed within a single clause,
its evil pervaded the whole bill, and he was there-
fore anxious to see its promoters ejected from office,
with the view of having them succeeded by men
who, backed by the support of the people, were
ready to bring in a comprehensive measure. He
did not credit the declaration of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer that the Government bill was not
brought forward with party motives. It was clear
that the proposed disfranchisement of the 40s. free-
holders was intended to advance the interest and
influence of the country or Tory party. Directly,
however, an outcry was raised against it, the Go-
vernment tried to back out of the difficulty by
visiting the sins of the father upon the son ; but
here again the proposal could not be sustained. As
to the savings bank clause, he disposed of that the
other evening when he stated that in the town
which he represented • before he was returned for
Marylebone, not one out of every 100 depositors in
a savings bank would come within the limits fixed
by the bill. Again, the bill proposed to disfran-
chise dockyard employes. On Friday night the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, in answer to a ques-
tion, said it would only " disqualify " them ; but
surely that was a distinction without a difference ;
and such an answer was nothing more than trifling
with the House of Commons and the country. The
fancy franchises of the bill might be disposed of by
a simple idea, which he would suggest to the
designers of unch, or any other kindred publica-
tion. They sbould draw a cartoon representing
Lord Derby on one side and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer on the other, distributing the franchise to
the three black graces—Law, Physic, and Divinity.
(Cheers and laughter.) In conclusion he would only
say that any bill for a reform of the representation of
the people must be placed upon a different basis than
the present measure. (Hear, hear.) It must in some
way or the other deal with the nomination boroughs,
and make a considerable reduction in the franchise,
not merely of counties but of towns also, and if it
could be made to include the ballot, so much the
better. (Cheers.) At the same time, if the good bill
to be hereafter prepared did not include the ballot,
he would not on that account vote against it, but
whatever might come of it, he had resolved to
negative the second reading of the Government
bill. (Cheers.)
Mr. EDWIN JAMES, M.P., was next introduced
to the meeting, and lie commenced his address by
announcing that all difference between him and his
right hon. colleague arising out of the late contest
for the borough was now at an end, and they were
now prepared to work cordially and amicably to-
together for the local and political interests of their
constituents. The Government Reform Bill 'was
not only an insult to the people, who were demand-
ing an extension of the franchise, but had been so
slovenly drawn up as to make some parts of it a
disgrace to an attorney's office boy. (A laugh.)
There were only two ways by which it would con-
fer the franchise upon the working classes ; the
first was contained in the £6O savings bank clause,
and the second in the £2O a year lodgers' clause.
Now, mark—under the first of these clauses it would
take a man years to get his name on the register;
the law would not allow him to deposit more than
£3O a year in a savings bank; it would thus require
two years to make up 1.160, one year to get on the
register, and it would be only in the fourth year
that he could vote. So much for that clause. As
regarded the lodger's clause, why a man who could
pay £2O a year for lodgings could, assuredly afford
£lO a year for a house. Where, then, was the
concession in this clause? (Hear, hear.) The pro-
posal to sanction voting by rating papers was op-
posed to the genius of the constitution ; while the
scheme for transferring the forty-shilling freeholders
to the towns and cities was proposed for no other
purpose than to enable the landowners or con-
federations like the Carlton Club to manufacture
votes, and swamp the residential or rating voters
within the small boroughs, where fifty or sixty
votes were often more than sufficient to

turn an election. (Hear, hear.) How, then, was
this objectionable measure to be dealt with ? He
had been trying to find out in Parliament, but he
had not yet made himself master of the ins and outs,
the ups and downs, and the tricks of the House of
Commons. (Laughter.) Now he heard that Lord
J. Russell and Lord Palmerston had agreed to
co-operate together in opposition to the bill ; and
anon, that Lord Palmerston was going to support
the second reading. The tale varied from day to
day, and it was difficult to determine what either
noble lord would be at. He did not like Lord John
Russell's amendment, it looked so much like what
in sporting parlance was called a "cross." (A laugh.)
To carry on the metaphor, he wanted to see the
battle fought on the " square"—(renewed laughter)
—and acting upon what he believed to be the wishes
of the people, he should *vote against the second
reading. (Cheers.) He had heard a good deal of
stuff talked about the working classes being of a
revolutionary turn, and unfit to exercise the suffrage.
He believed nothing of the sort, and he could speak
with authority in the matter, because during his
recent contest for the borough he came into contact
with vast numbers of the working classes, and the
questions they put to him displayed as much
thought, judgment, and intelligence as could be
found either in Portland-place or Eaton-square.
(" Hear, hear," and laughter.) He warned, then,
the Government and the Legislature to be cautious
how they trifled with the just rights and demands
of a laborious and intelligent people. We were
now in times of prosperity, money and employment
were plentiful, and the poor were easily provided
for ; but the time might come when adversity would
extend throughout the land, and then it would not
be quite so easy for the governing powers to dis-
pose of this question with calm and dispassionate
deliberation. (Hear, hear.) Talk of the absence
of all excitement ! Why, did the opponents of popu-
lar rights wish for a revival of the agitation which
the country witnessed during the last Reform Bill
contest, when Lord Stanley, now the Earl of Derby,
jumped upon a table at Brooks' Club, and said there
should be reform or revolution, and Earl Fitzwilliam
from his place in the House of Lords, threatened he
would refuse to pay taxes as long as reform was
'refused ? (Cheers.) Did they want to see the
people of Birmingham marching upon London, and
the sky illumined again by the fires of Bristol and
Nottingham ? (Cheers.) If they did not, and
God forbid they should, let them no longer stand
up in opposition to the wisdom of the people, who.
in their advanced intelligence, wanted to revive no
such angry agitation. (Hear, hear.) He had no
wish to see the House of Lords disturbed, or the
principles of the constitution disturbed ; he only
desired to see the people brought more closely
within its limits. He believed that they could be
admitted to their fair share of power without dan-
ger to the throne or the state, and convinced that
such a measure would rather tend to the security of
the crown and the stability of the constitution, he
would not rest until he saw it passed into a law.
The two honourable representatives of the bo-
rough, who met with an enthusiastic reception,
shortly afterwards withdrew amidst renewed de•
monstrations of approval.
Mr. D'IFFANGER, jun., moved the second resolu-
tion, as follows :—" That no reform bill is entitled
to support which does not extend the franchise at
least to those who are rated or claim to be rated to
the relief of the poor ; its free exercise by the
ballot ; triennial parliaments ; and a more equal
apportionment of members to population and pro-
perty," which was seconded by Mr. Poland, jun.,
who advocated a residential manhood suffrage, and
regretted that the resolution did not go so far. He
thought they could not do better than employ Mr.
Edwin James to draw up a people's reform bill. It
was measures, not men, they wanted.
Mr. PHILLIPS moved and Mr. VERY seconded as
an amendment—" That in the opinion of this meet-
ing no reform bill brought forward in the British
House of Commons can be satisfactory to the body
of the people unless it gives the right of voting to
every man with a six or seven months' fixed resi-
dence, and is of sound mind and unstained by
crime." _ _

This amendment led to a boisterous discussion,
and eventually, upon a show of hands, it was de-
clared to be carried by a narrow majority.
Thanks were then voted to the vestry for the use
of the hall and to the chairman for his impartiality
in the chair, and the meeting dispersed.