The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-11 00:00:00

Yesterday the long-expected meeting of the sup-
porters of Government was held at the official re-

sidence of Lord Russell, and the final explanations
were made preparatory to the coming debate. As the
meeting was private, in the sense that reporters were
not present, any account of it must be necessarily
imperfect, and we do not profess to give even a sum-

mary of the proceedings. But the most important
feature was, of course, the speech of Lord Russell,

which contained several points worthy of notice. It
is needless to say that complete unanimity prevailed.

Those members who have made up their minds to vote
for Lord Grosvenor's Amendment would of course for

he most part stay away, or listen in silence to the

statements of the Premier. Lord Russell spoke about
an hour with temper and judgment, and we have no

reason to complain of the announcement he made

on the part of the Ministry, since they are the best

proof that the criticisms of ourselves and others on
the conduct of the Government were founded on

reason, and have not failed of their effect. Lord
Russell, of course, repeatedthe determination of the
Government to stand or fall by the vote of the
house ou the second reading of the bill now before
it. If this, however, had been all, there would have

been little interest in the meeting. It would have
revealed nothing that was not known before, and
given no assurancewhich was not possessed by mem-
bers and the country before the Easter recess. The
attitude of the Liberal opponents of piecemeal Re-
form has, however, produced from Lord Russell a
declaration on the subject of the redistribution of
seats, which marks a considerable advance in Minis-

terial opinion. Lord Russell now states that the
Government will speedily lay their bill for redistri-
bution on the table of the House of Commons, and

that they bind themselves to stand or fall by it as
absolutely as by the Franchise Bill. He also states
that.in his opinion it is just and expedient that the

actrnA Parliarnont -Franchise Bill
should also pass the bill for the Redistribution of
Seats. Those who will carry back their recollec-
tions to the utterances of Mr. Gladstone at an
earlier period of the session will be able to appre-
ciate the change which the remonstrances of the
Liberal party and of the chief organs of indepen-
dent opinion in the press have produced in the
counsels of Ministers. We do not say too much
when we describe the language used a few weeks
since as ominous of a most unjust and unconstitu-
tional manner of dealing with this question. It was
plainly suggested before Parliament met that the
lowering of the franchise was an expedient for the
election of a new House of Commons, which
should deal with the redistribution of seats in a
manner not to be expected from a house constituted
like the present. When the interest and curiosity
of the country were at their height, Mr. Gladstone
in a marked manner refused to pledge himself in any
way concerning a redistribution of seats. Such a
measure might, or might not, be introduced ; but it
had, according to the Ministerial exponent, no con-
nexion with the Franchise Bill, which was a scheme
complete and perfect of itself. The impression
which the declarations of the leader of the House
and his chief ally produced on all who heard them
was that a naked bill for the lowering of the fran-
chise was intended by Government, and that this
measure, with all its demoralising consequences in
certain boroughs, was not to be supplemented by
another, unless there should be some demand for it
at some future time. Having regard to Mr. Glad-
stone's well-known opinions concerning small
boroughs, there was reason to believe that, as far as
he was concerned, there was no intention of going
further ; but at the same time it was not difficult to
foresee that the scandals which the new system
would create, the corruption which it would increase
in a number of the agricultural boroughs, and the
anomalies which it would render more intolerable,
must soonlead to a strong agitation, and a long and
bitter conflict between the reinforced boroughs and
the other constituencies. We have now, however, a
very different Ministerial programme. It is con-
cluded that there shall be a Bill for Redistribution
brought in immediately after the second reading ;
that the Franchise Bill shall be discussed in con-
nexion with it ; that the Ministry will bind them-
itytes.topEnce,e,d,, Jueriz
bbuiLl,pmdcuto other,,, ;
ment ; and that they will stand or fall according to
its success. Why, we may ask, could they not have
said all this before, and why could they have not
gone further and made up their minds to unite the
whole in one satisfactory measure ? Having con-
ceded so much, the Government might well go a
little further. They might lay their Bill for Redis-
tribution before the llouse at once, and not call
upon their supporters to take a leap in the dark by
voting for a measure the principle of which can only
be judged by something which is still withheld.
The speech of Lord Russell, we are informed, was
well received. Mr. Bouverie promised to vote for
the second reading. Mr. Laing and Mr. E. James,
however, persisted in their opposition. These gen-
tlemen, whose objections were, of course, not well
received by such a meeting, may, we presume, be
expected to support Lord Grosvenor's amendment.
Mr. Baxter and Mr. Cogan, on behalf of the Scotch
and Irish members, expressed themselves satisfied
with the postponement of the bills for their respec-
tive portions of the United Kingdom, on the pro-
mise of Lord Russell that these shall form parts of
the Government scheme. Nothing more remains to
be said or done before the debate begins. The opi-
nions of almost every member are now known, and
the speeches will be rather the manifestoes of those
who utter them than compositions intended to per-
suade the listeners and determine the result of the
division.—Tines.
L d I

THE AUTOGRAPHIC MIRROR ripens and improves
with time rather than deteriorates. When first
started, it was expected that it must only too speedily
run the length of 'its tether. Since which time, on
the contrary, it has advanced very considerably in
excellence. The new series, that is the current
series, every one recognises as a manifest improve-
ment upon its predecessors. And every now and
then, of this new series, we obtain a number of
really exceptional merit—such an one, for example,
as No. 41 just now issued. In it there are com-
pacted together a dozen specimens of handwriting
—the handwriting of twelve distinct persons cele-
brated in one way or another, by genius, by birth,
by virtue, by valour—the Queen's mother, and the
mother of the late King Louis Philippe, and that
King's eldest son, the late Duke of Orleans—Bos-
suet, the Bishop of Meaux, and Ilenelon, the
Archbishop of Cambrai—Marshal Turenne and the
Great Duke of Marlborough—Alexander Pope and
Lawrence Sterne—James Boswell, Sir Joshua Rey-
nolds, and Dr. Johnson, to say nothing of a copy
of Sir Joshua's likeness of himself, and of a fac-
simile of his original sketch of his Figure of Faith
in the Groat West Window of the Chapel of New
College, Oxford. Twelve autographs in a number
published for sixpence clearly, according to
Cocker, a halfpenny each autograph—with the two
drawings and the letter-press thrown in !

DEATII OF DR. BABINGTON, F.R.S.—Dr. Ben-
jamin Guy Babington, F.R.S., the eminent London
physician, died on Sunday at his town house, in George-
street, Hanover-street. He was born in 1794, and edu-
cated at the Charterhouse. After passing through Hailey-
bury, he entered the Madras medical service in 1812, but
retired from it in 1819, and studied at the University of
Cambridge, whore he graduated M.D. in 1830. In 1831
Dr. Babington was elected Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians. He was attached to Guy's Hospital, and was
physician to Charter-house, to the Deaf and Dumb Asy-
lum, and to tho Margate Infirmary ; consulting physician
to the German Hospital, to the City of London Hospital
for Diseases of the Chest, to the New Equitable Assurance
Company, and to the English and Scottish Law and Clergy
Mutual Assurance Company. Dr. Babington has been for
many years a fellow of the Royal Society, and is known as
the author of a " Cyclopodia of Anatomy and Physiolgy,"
and of various papers in the " Medico-Chhurgic,al Society's
Transactions," as editor of Feuchterslebeu's "Medical
Psychology" (published for the Sydenham Society), and as
translator of " Ihe Epidemics of the Middle Ages."
THE HONDURAS MAIL SERVICE.—In conse-
quence of the West India and Pacific Steamship Company
having given notice to terminate their contract, the Post-
office has issued a notice that henceforth letters for Hon-
duras will bo forwarded by private ship unless specially
marked via Jamaica, in which case they will be forwarded
by the mail packet to that island and there left for convey-
allGQ tQ Belize by the lot opportunity.