The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-10 00:00:00

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

NORTH WILTS.
The Right Ron. T. H. S. Sotheron Estcourt
came before the electors of North Wilts yesterday,
on his appointment as Home Secretary, and was
unanimously re-elected. He was nominated by Sir
J. W. Audry, of Lacock, and seconded by Mr.
Peter Audley Lovell, of Malmesbury. After the
usual formalities,
• Mr. ESTCOURT entered at length into a defence
of the Derby Administration and of the Disraeli
Reform Bill. He alluded to the various objections
made to the bill with a view of showing that they
were without foundation, and said, although it was
not such a Reform Bill as a. Liberal Government
would have offered them, it was a measure according
to which a Conservative Government might and
ought to stand. As far as numbers were con-
cerned, he, knew the opponents of the measure in
Parliament were strongest, but he believed that the
Government could appeal to the country upon the
merits of it, and also upon their conduct during
their tenure of office, with the certainty of receiY•
ing a verdict in their favour.

THE GALWAY STEAM LINE.

A number of letters have been received with
regard to the subsidy of £78,000 per annum, pro-
mised by Lord Derby, to the Galway Steam line,
containing facts which require to be laid before the
public, and which seem imperatively to demand
some explanation from the Government. The
subsidy already paid for the American mail service
is £191,000 per annum to the Cunard Company.
Of course, on free trade principles, this grant, like
all of a similar character, has been open to strong
objections, since by tending to obstruct competition
it could in the end only injure the general growth
of rapid and efficient ocean steam communication.
The true plan contended for has been that every
steamer should be allowed to charge whatever rate
it could obtain for the carriage ®f letters, by which
means the speediest would alway be the best paid.
But the substitution of such a system in place of
long existing arrangements of a contrary kind
would at any time have been attended with much
difficulty and inconvenience, and the public were,
therefore, disposed to acquiesce in the prevaling
practice. In doing so, however, there were two
especial conditions which they always kept in
view. First, that grants of this description should
be made only in indispensable cases, and that the
effort should be to prepare the way for their gra-
dual discontinuance; and, secondly, that the lia-
bility to the exercise of favouritism should be
corrected by a strict adherence to the rule of
entering into no contracts except such as had been
invited by public tender. The point on which the.
Derby, Cabinet are now required to satisfy the
mercantile community as respects their arrange-
ment with Mr. Lever is whether they have acted-
up to these principles. The terms and correspon-.
dence have not yet been published, and the Govern-
ment may possibly be able to make out a sufficient
case, but in the absence of information there is a
strong suspicion, which has not been diminished
by a statement attributed to Mr. Lever on
his recent election, that he will support any
Government that will support his Galway-
scheme, that the desire to secure a certain num- •
ber of Irish votes may have exercised on the
minds of the Cabinet—perhaps unconsciously—some
considerable influence. It is urged that the Galway
line, by its ready connexion at Newfoundland with
the telegraphic network of the American continent,
will shorten by several days the means of intercourse
as compared with any other route, but this advan-
tage will cease as soon as the Atlantic' cable, for
which the Government are also offering a subsidy,
shall have been efficiently laid, and meanwhile the
question arises, if Galway is suddenly discovered to
be the best route, whether the Cunard Company or
some even of the existing unsubsidised lines could
not have contrived to adapt themselves to its advan-
tages. The Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia
Steam Company have for nine years carried on a
regular service without a subsidy, and during the
last two years have conveyed no less than 22,500 .
passengers. Yet an offer lately made by them to
carry her Majesty's mails for ocean postage and to
do their work under the Cunard contract
time was refused, and the directors, moreover,
were informed under date the 9th of November
last that " when a new postal service is about to
he established by Government it is the practice
to invite tenders by public advertisements, thereby
affording to all parties the opportunity of competing
for such services, provided they conform to the
required conditions." Nothing could have been
more officially correct or impressive than this
intimation, but how does it harmonise with present
experience ? Again, the Montreal Ocean Steam-
ship Company have a line of mail steamers between
Liverpool and the ports in the St. Lawrence, which
has been established three years, and after April
next is to perform a weekly passage from Liverpool
to Quebec. They enjoy a subsidy of £BOO a voyage
from the Canadian Government, but the British'
Government pay them nothing, although carrying
the British mails. What chance can they have in
c3lllPeting with a Galway company supported by
a grant nearly four times as great ? Of course,
the feeling on all these points is intensified at
Liverpool, where local interests, in addition to those
of the steam companies, may be largely affected
'
In London, however, they are viewed with com-
plete impartiality, and there is no desire but that
t ie Lever Company should meet with every success
that can be fairly earned. But it is not fair to
crush private enterprise by bounties, and still less,
in dispensing those bounties, to depart from the
only practice that rendered them tolerable, that of
opening them to the best competitors. If the mer-

cantle community can be satisfied that the whole
question has been dealt with by the Government
on its merits alone they will be quite ready to wave
any merely technical objections, and to give to all
the parties,concerned the benefit of the broadest
and most liberal view.—Times' City Article. -

WEST SUSSEX.
CHICHESTER, MARCH 9.
The election of a knight of the shire to supply a
vacancy in the western division of the county of
Sussex, occasioned by the Earl of March accepting
the office of President of the Poor-law Board, took
place this day in the Guildhall. The usual preli-
minaries, having been gone through, W. T. Mit-
ford, Esq., nominated Lord March for re-election
for the fifth time ; and Colonel Carr Lloyd
seconded. No other candidate being nominated,
the Sheriff declared the noble lord duly elected,
amidst loud applause.
Lord MARCH then addressed the electors, and,
after some preliminary observations, said it was
not without much anxious consideration that he
accepted the post offered to him by the Govern-
ment. Sympathising as he did with the Govern-
ment, and approving of all they had done since their
accession to power, he did not feel himself at liberty
to refuse. (Applause.) After reviewing the state
of affairs at the time when Lord Derby accepted
office, his lordship came to the main point, and ex-
pressed his satisfaction at the absence of any great
excitement, whichhe said would enable the house to
approach the consideration of reform in the' repre-
sentation of the people with that calmness and de-
liberation so essentially necessary to the discussion
of so momentous a question. There were two
schemes before the public—one, the scheme pro-
pounded during his autumnal migrations by the'
hon. member for Birmingham, on the principle that
numbers should have the right of electoral power ;
and the Government, scheme which, while it ex-
tended the franchise, avoided monopolies, and
wished to adapt the constitution to the present
and future wants of the country. (Cheers.)
Mr. Bright's scheme was neither more nor less
than a swamping of the constituencies of the
counties ; and he (Lord March) would ask the
farmers of Sussex, the shopkeepers of Chichester,
and the £lO householders in that ancient city—he
would also ask a class, powerful as intelligent, and
numerous as free, he meant the middle classes,
throughout this great and important country—if
they would sanction a measure which would effec-
tually wipe them off from the face of the electoral
earth. (Cheers, and "No, no.") Only once since
the passing of the Reform Act, in 1832, had there
been a Conservative majority returned to the House
of Conimons, and while there was no reason why
the country interest should have such a penal enact-
ment passed against them as Mr. Bright proposed,
there was every reason why the plan of the Govern-
ment should be carried to give them (the country
party) 'a judicious addition to the constituency.
(Applause.) The Government scheme for reducing
the county franchise, as it now stands, to £lO,
would have the advantage of putting an end to •
invidious distinction existing between town and
country. (Applause.) The noble lord then
pointed out various classes who have hitherto
been ignored, but would obtain votes by the
Government Bill, and quoted several extracts
from the Chancellor of the Exchequer's speech
made on introducing the bill, arguing that if
the extension of the franchise was to be based upon
the principle of population—the principle of the
new school—then the boroughs must be disfran-
chised and more members given to the counties.
(Cheers and laughter.)
The noble lord resumed his seat amid loud cheers,
and a vote of thanks was given to the sheriff, who
expressed a wish that should he be called upon to
act in a similar capacity before the end of the year,
an event he thought probable—(laughter)—there
would be the same good feeling that pervaded the
present occasion.