The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-13 00:00:00

AN AMERICAN ON THE BALLOT.

On Tuesday evening a meeting was held in the Tem-
perance Hall, Sheffield, to consider " The importance of
making the ballot a part of the New Reform Bill." There
was a very numerous attendance. Alderman H. E. 'Thole
presided, and on the platform we observed Edward C.
Whitehnrst, Esq., vice-chairman of the London Ballot
Society; Pliny Miles, Esq., of 'America; Mr. F. Sims,
Sheffield, agent of the Ballot Society, &c.
Mr. PLINY MILES was loudly applauded on rising.

He said he did not know that he was called upon
to make any excuse for his appearance. Though his
voice was feeble, he would raise it in a country like
this in furthering the ballot. To him it was a matter of
surprise that there should be anything like objection to
vote by ballot, provided the rulers consented to allow
the people to vote at all. (Cheers.) In the United States
they believed that all power emanated from and belonged to
the people. There was a party in this country, who were
known as their rulers, when in reality they should be their
servants. (Hear, hear.) He was not there to advance
anything which might be taken up as an argument for cer-
tain parties or certain conditions of society, but to state
certain facts. Their opponents had said the ballot did not
work well in America. True some people were not strictly
honest, and they had a very wide suffrage ; certainly the
American was not a perfect Government, neither was the
English one. (Hear.) They had next the universal suf-
frage in all their states, and their nation had gone through
prosperity unequalled for nearly a hundred years. We were
accustomed to think the tsvo Governments were among
the best in the world for the government of the people.
English people were accustomed to think theirs the best,
and Americans did the same. If he were asked what form
of Government he would prefer, he should choose the lat-
ter; but it must be a fundamental maxim that all power
existed in the people, and not necessarily in certain parties
that were born in certain positions. Their rulers had to
come to them to carry on the springs of war, for taxes, for
money, and why should not they came to them for power.
(Cheers.) He was conversing the other day with one of
those simple, well-meaning persons they would find every..
where, whom he met in London, and he said he did not
know what to think of the ballot; he could not understand
it. He (the speaker) told him there was no difficulty in
understanding it; it was exceedingly simple. They had it
in America to protect the voter in bis inalienable rights as
well as for convenience. The people were not accountable
to others for their use of power. When the people in America
sent their representatives to Washington to make regu.,_
lotions for the public good, they said "We will have no
secrets with you, and every vote you cazt shall bo an open
one : we will not allow you to go there and vote under the
rose." Then at the end of two years, if they were not
pleased with the votes given, they said, " Stand on one
side, and we will put somebody else in your place." (Hear.)
It to him looked a very simple matter. He did not appre-
ciate the political system of this country, but at the same
time it appeared to him, that if they were called upon to
give an opinion, it should not be one of coercion. There
was a difference between voting of one's own free will, and
being driven to it at the point of the bayonet. If they
allowed people to vote, and did not allow them to vote as
they pleased, then the operation simply became a farce.
They had on the table a copy of an American ballot box.
They had generally a larger box than that, because they had
generally a larger number of votes in most communities
than that box would hold. But people came to a table like
that where everybody stood round. There were two or three
inspectors of elections. A voter handed his paper to one of
them, and he had no right to open it or to look at it. He
saw that it was a single piece of paper, and took it before
his brother inspector and dropped it into the box, and thus
the process went on silently and secretly. Some English-
men said they had disorderly elections. They had had
sometimes a little disorder. Even in New York they had
sometimes disorderly elections, it was said. And had they
not in this country sometimes disorderly elections? (Hear,
hear.) He was told that one man in every six had the
power of voting in this country. In America five-sixths
had tho power; and he believed that more than two-
fifths of the residents in New York were persons of
foreign birth, and were, therefore, much less under
control ; and yet he had never seen anything like lighting
at the polls. There was very frequently a great deal of
delay caused by what was called challenging the votes, that
was, in suspicious cases a person said he would challenge
the vote. A magistrate who was present took up the Bible,
and the voter had to make oath that he was legally a voter,
and qualified to vote under the constitution of the state; and
some instances had been found where persons had perjured
themselves. The ballot was a great advantage where there
was a very wide suffrage, and he must say that open
bribery was certainly not common in America, that going
and purchasing votes was not common. for a very good
reason—that there was too large a crowd to buy; and another
reason was that the purchaser was buying a very uncertain
piece of goods that could take wings and fly away. (Laughter.)
Suppose there were two candidates, one named Wood ;
he (Mr. Miles) could get voting papers for each candi-
date. If then, a ruffian, friendly to Wood, came up
and insisted on knowing how he (Mr. Miles) was going to
vote, what would he gain by his question P He could show
him the voting paper with Mr. Wdod's name on it, as
though he were going to vote for Wood, yet drop the oppo-
nent's voting paper into the box, and the ruffian could not
ascertain for whom he had voted. So, vote without the
ballot looked to him just like saying, "We will permit the
people nominally to have a certain power, but in reality we
will give them none, providing we can get them under our
thumb." He could not see a reason why the people should
not have theballot, except for one simple reason—that were
it adopted intimidation could not go on. He had heard of
one or two persons from Virginia who said the ballot box
was quite useless. One said it was the box of Pandora,
from whence issued every evil. There were, however,
opinions Virginia not prevalent in any other of the
states. In colonial times, he believed it was there that one of
the original magistrates thanked God there were no
schools and no learning. The present governor of the
State of Virginia was Mr. Wise, who stated, in Congress)
that he came there from the county of Virginia, and he
thanked God there was not a newspaper in the county.
He did not know that they were discussing the qualifica-
tions of electors, but on that subject there was the opinion
of one of their eminent men, which was worth quoting.
A bill was proposed, which provided that no man should
have a vote unless he was worth 250 dollars. Benjamin
Franklin heard the debates in favour of the property
qualification. He did not see precisely the ground of
argument, but, after listening. he said ho thought
the votes were cast by men; and he did not know
why men worth nothing should have a vote as well
as the man worth 250 dollars. He said a man might
have a cow, a pig, a quantity of household furniture,
or a donkey. If that amounted to 250 dollars, he
would have a vote ; but before the next election the ass
might die, and then he could not have the vote. He added,
"Now, gentlemen, is it the man that votes, or is it the
jackass ?" (Laughter.) He once heard of a candidate for
office in New York, who had a friend, a banker, of some in-
fluence, and he asked his friend if he would assist him in
being elected to a certain office. The banker acquiesced, and
said ho would. He stumped for him--that was he made
some speeches in his favour. The election day came, the
ballots were deposited, and it was found that the gentleman
had got just three votes. " Why, how is this ?" said the can-
didate. The banker could not tell. Ho said, " Certainly
there are three votes. I put in one, and you put in ano-
ther, but where the devil the other came from I cannot tell."
(Laughter.) In America they had a process of counting
noses, as they called it. The agents, canvassers, and can-
didates went round and asked about the votes, so as
to form an estimate of the result of the election, and they
could judge only by the promises given. He might ask in
this country if it were not known how every man voted ?
The poll book was open to every one, and could be made
use o:. Could that be done in the United States ? No. If
a largo_ employer, or a man renting land, or one who had a
good deal of influence on those around him, should attempt
to coerce them, why then it was perfectly easy for them to
go and deposit a vote, which could not possibly be known
to the candidates. The law protected him in giving him
a secret vote, as unquestionably it should in every com-
munity. Methods had been tried to neutralise the effect
of this. In Massachusetts it was found the people printed
voting papers, but a plan was adopted to prevent it by print-
ing a certain stamp on the back of the papers, so as to know
them. They were printed by the state, and it was made obli-
gatory on every person to have one of those papers, and put it
inside an envelope and seal it up, and every vote was illegal
that was not so. He had heard the opinion of John Ran-
dolph against the ballot. He had a large number of slaves,
and a great number of persons over whom he had influence;
and it was very evident from his position in life that he
would oppose the ballot, because he could not influence
persons as he might have done had they given open
votes. To those who wished to give them to understand
that they actually did, and did not " keep the promise to
the ear and break it to the hope," they would say, "You
may vote as you please ;" but it was like a picture he once
saw, which represented a queen and a prime minister, who
wanted her to sign a document as the sovereign of the people.
She did dot seem inclined to sign it, and the minister had
gone as a matter of form. He was represented as saying, in
his blandest tones, "There is no compulsion, only you
must sign it." (Laughter.) Well, if there was no compul-
sion, then vote secretly; but if there was compulsion, thou
let them vote according as they wished. The ballot had
been described as

A simple, silent shower,
That demonstrates the freeman's power;
Like the snow-flake on the sod,
That executes the will of God.
(Loud cheers.)
Mr. E. C. WurrmußsT having addressed the meeting,
Councillor A. BOOTH moved " That this meeting desires
to express its opinion that the adoption of the ballot is in-
dispensable to an honest representation, and that no mea-
sure for the amendment of the representation of the people
in the Commons House of Parliament will be satisfactory
which does not contain a provision that the votes be taken
by way of the ballot."
The resolution was carried unanimously.

The CHAIRMAN said the next resolution had reference
to a gentleman on whom had been placed by the people the
responsibility of drawing up a reform bill, who, by his uu-

tiring exertions on behalf of his country, had been obliged
to retire for a season from the service of the people, he
meant John Bright, Esq., M.P. for Birmingham. (Loud
and continued cheering.) The resolution was, " That this
meeting, v hilst it sincerely rejoices in the convalescence of
John Bright, Esq., M.P., desires at the same time to con-
vey to him its hearty thanks for his untiring and unflinCh-
ing exertions to obtain for the working classes of this coun-
try a fair and full share of the elective franchise, and that
franchise protected by the ballot." (Loud applause.)
Mr. MILES, in seconding the resolUtion, said that in
the United States, where he had spent most of his life,
the opinions oftenest , quoted, respected most, looked
up to most, were those of three or four individuals.
The King or Queen of England never made speeches
except very short ones occasionally from the throne, and
they were read, but there were three or four persons in the
British parliament whose opinions were. quoted and re-
spected in America. The first person he should name was
the late Joseph Hume--(hear)—and the others were John
Bright, Richard Cobden, and that unflinching patriot whom
they all knew, John Arthur Roebuck. (Loud cheers.) This
resolution was also carried unanimously.

Mr. APTunic moved, " That the thanks of this meeting
be given to Edward C. Whitehurst, Esq., and to P. Miles,
Esq., of America, for their able speeches in favour of the
ballot." (Applause.)

Mr. HIEBERD briefly seconded the proposition ; and after
a few questions had been asked, in answer to which it way
shown that the ballot worked well in Australia and America,
and that there was no possibility of fraud or deception being
practised by the scrutineers, it was carried amid applause.

LITERATURE.

Poems and Ballads of Goethe. Translated by W.
Edmonstoune Aytoun, D.C.L., and Theodore

Martin. Blackwood and Sons.

An exquisite companion volume to the Poems
and Ballads of Schiller, already issued from the
press by the same publishers. What Sir Bulwer
Lytton accomplished so successfully in the one in-
stance, Messrs. Aytoun and Martin have achieved
no less successfully in the other; so that henceforth
the two greatest poets of Germany take their place
side by side among the grand foreign classics per-
manently incorporated with our own literature.
The majority of these translations from the Poems
and Ballads of Goethe—as in the instance of the
kindred translations from the Poems and Ballads
of Schiller—originally appeared in instalments in
the pages of lirackwood's Magazine. Several years
have elapsed since that partial and periodical pub-
lication. And now at last those scattered frag-
ments have been grouped together, and—consider-
ably enhanced both in number and excellence—
here make at length their very welcome collective
appearance. As the joint editors and translators
intimate in their Preface, they have by no means
attempted to give in this volume a version of all or
even of the majority of the minor poetical pieces of
Goethe, fugitive and miscellaneous. In this they
have acted without doubt most judiciously. Their
selection from that wilderness of grace and beauty is
surely all that the most unreasonable under the cir-
cumstances could well have hoped from their blended
taste and assiduity. " Every voluminous author"—
they
write by way of explanation as to their motive
in making this selection instead of giving the whole
—" every voluminous author has been unequal in
his efforts ;" adding, " Goethe, who was the most
industrious and indefatigable literary man of his
age [and they might have added, who lived himself
to the age cf a patriarch] was no exception to this
rule." They append to this obviously sufficient re-
mark a hackneyed simile only too suggestive of a
derisive application altogether undesigned.. " His
wheat,though of the finestquality,has not been so well
winnowed that the chaff has entirely disappeared."
The deteriorating particles making up the aggre-
gate bulk were surely worse than anything that
might be thus indicated. With the wheat garnered
up• from the fields of literature in the toils of that
laborious and extended life, there were tares too
abundantly intermingled. There, moreover, were
the wild oats—sown in' affluent and heedless profu-
sion—now only worth the perishing. A more
accurate, while at the same time a less hackneyed,*
metaphor, expressive of the motley aspect of the
treasure opened up to them for selection in
that mine of jewels—the Complete Poems
and Ballads of Goethe—would have been the
one applied by Dr. Johnson (in his famous Pre-
face) to Shakspere, where, speaking of the scarcely
calculable gems of thought and poetry there em-
bedded, he described them with eloquent allitera-
tion as " clouded with incrustations, debased with
impurities, and mingled with a mass of meaner
minerals." Here—in this delicious little volume of
the choicest selections—William Aytoun and Theo-
dore Martin have given the rarest of the poetic
gems of Goethe, in undimmed lustre, and as
nearly as possible in the actual counterpart of the
original exquisite setting. In regard to the blend-
ing of those ever-welcome names upon the present
title-page, it is pleasant to read the acknowledg-
ment here subjoined—familiar though the fact re-
lated had long been rendered by the rumoured
knitting together of the reputations of the Beau-
mont and Fletcher of burlesque—" The translators
may, perhaps, be allowed to add that they have
already had some experience of the advantages of
literary cooperation ; for a volume of humorous
poems and jeux-d'esprit, issued by them several
years ago, under the title of Bon Gaultier's Bal.
lads,' has been fortunate enough to obtain a wide
circulation." The familiar voices had long been
recognised, it is true—yet it is not the less agree-
able to have the double mask at length
thrown aside as superfluous. Wherefore
" All hail, Macbeth and Banquo! Banquo and
Macbeth, all hail !" Opening the book with a three-
fold relish of anticipation, we find this Aytoun-
Martin version of Goethe comprising within it
upwards of one hundred (in all 108) of these minor
poetical productions from the hand of the metrical
giant of Rhineland. Fortv-one " Songs and Lyrics"
—a quarter of a hundred" Miicellaneous" pieces—
a score of "Ballads and Legends"—one-and-twenty
" Poems in the manner of the Antique"—and the
poet's own " Introduction." To all these there
are only two explanatory notes appended—one to
the eltrich ballad of the Erl King"—the other to
that wonderful, impassioned, pagan masterpiece,
" The Bride of Corinth." The translation of the
last-mentioned poem, in itself one of the most
signal though it must be confessed also one
of the most horribly sensual of the triumphs
of the genius of Gocthe, is also here one
of the most remarkable achievements accomplished
by the united skill of the translators. In the
melody, no less than in the accuracy of the version,
it is worthy of being thus designated in simple
truth—an achievement. It is a triumph wou by
Messrs. Aytoun and Martin together—as in a lesser
degree is that gained by them conjointly in the
translation of the mystical and (in itself for the
most part) unsatisfactory " Introduction." Else-
where in the volume, with one or two rare
exceptions, they . work each upon a separate
canvass, each copying a separate picture,
from the original before them by the Great Master,
with the like glowing colours and with an admi-
rable faithfulness. Sometimes the skill of one is
shown in the epigrammatic, as in " The Husband-
man :"

" Lightly doth the furrow fold the golden grain within its
breast,
Deeper shroud, old man, shall cover in thy limbs when
laid at rest.
Blithely plough, and sow as blithely I Here are springs
of mortal cheer,
And whene'er the grave is dosing, Hope is ever stand-
ing near."
Sometimes the dainty adroitness of the other is
shown in the mirrored playfulness of a ditty like
that charming one, " Who'll buy a Cupid :"
" Now see this little creature—
How modest seems his feature !
He nestles so demurely,
You'd think him safer surely;
And yet for all his shyness,
There's danger in his slyness,
The cunning rogue 1 Young loves to sell !
My pretty loves who'll buy I"
Nothing could well be finer than the version of
that marvellous, goblin, grimly "Dance of Death,"
from the weird opening to the ghostly climax :
" It must have its shroud—it must have it betimeS—
The quaint Gothic carving it catches •
And upwards from story to story it climbs,
And scrambles with leaps and with snatches.
Now woe to the warder, poor sinner, betides I
Like a spindle-legged spider the skeleton strides
From buttress to buttress still upward 1"
As a contrast to which—ah! charming the fresh-
ness of " Early Spring." It is Aytoun here who
sings the song of Goethe :
" Come ye so early,
Days of Delight ?
Making the hillside
Blithesome and bright ?
" Merrily, merrily,
Little brooks rush,
Down by the meadow
Under the bush.
* * * • *
" Birds of gay feather
Flit through the grove,
Singing together
Ditties of love.
* * * *
" Now comes there sounding
A sough of the breeze,
Shakes thro' the thicket,
Sinks in the trees.
" Sinks, but returning,
It ruffles my hair ;
Aid me this rapture,
Muses, to bear !
" Know ye the passion
That stirs in me hero?
Yestre'en at gloaming
Was I with ray dear !"
Daintily, too, daintily—this time it is by Theodore

Martin's voice—do we have trilled to us the 3 'iquant
words of the graceful song of " The Coquei-,1

" O'er the meadows tripped sweet Kitty,
On a dewy morn in spring,
Like a lark, her blithesome ditty, •
Gaily, lightly carolling, •
So la la! Le calla,
•
" Lubin, as she passed beside him,
Offered two. lambs for a kiss ;
Roguishly awhile she eye'd him,
Tripped away, then carolled this,
• So la la! Le ralla.
" Ribbons red young Collin proffers,
Robin with his heart would wile,
But she mocks at all their offers,
Singing, as she mounts the stile,
So la la! Le ralla."

Sufficient. however, in the way of quotation—or
we shall have enough to do, in truth, if we linger
yet longer; bee-like, among these delicate leaves.
Our choice might only be fully satisfied by enfring-
ing the law of copyright. Wherefore close we
the little volume, and lay it aside with one cordial
word of Thanks, at parting, to the genius shown in
this rendering of the great German's poetry by the
two faithful and fraternal translators.

Re-issue of Scraps and Sketches. By George
Cruikshank. Part I. Kent and Co., late Bogue.
It is like putting on a wishing-cap,' or sitting
down upon that little bit of carpet mentioned in the
Tales—opening once' more this
Arabian Fairy
wonderful omnium-gatherunz book of fu.n, by our
greatest English caricaturist. As quickly as the
Scotch trespasser, in one of the etchings in the pre-
sent number, we are " Bock agen"—in the days of
our fathers,w hen ladies wore dresses apparently with-
out any underclothing, and had their waists imme-
diately under their arms, and donned bonnets of the
memorable shape of the ancient coal-scuttles ! When
gentlemen adorned themselves with great shelving
hats, with curled up brims of very flagrant dimen-
sions, and struggled painfully into- coats with skin-
tight sleeves, the waist-buttons immediately between
their shoulder-blades, the collar half-way up the
back of their heads, the tails draggled down into
close proximity with the tendon Achilles ! When, to
adopt the words of an arch-wag who delighted us
with a hearty laugh on this last .New Yea r's
"Small boys had a dreadful high-shouldered, sleeved,
strait waistcoat put upon them by their keepers, over
which their dreadful little trousers were buttoned
tight, so that they roamed about disco-Ilse:late, with
their hands in their pockets, like dreadful little
pairs of tongs that were vainly looking fa.: the rest
of the fire-irons ! " Back into that extremely
ridiculous age we are carried at one wink from the
familiar eyelid of Cruikshank I?edivicus. As the
title of this delightful serial informs us, the work
here commenced, and which will be completed in
ten instalments, consists of a—" Re-issue of Scraps
and Sketches," by George Cruikshank. It is the
republication, in other words, of a collection of
renowned humorous illustrations—masterpieees of
the ridiculous—chefs d'ceuvre of the grotesque, AR,
bizarre, the utterly laughable, and irresistibly ludi-
crous eztravagances.We envy those who come fresh to
the examination of all this rare pictorial comicality.
One after one here the series pours forth from the
publisher's shop in Fleet Street—the well-known
prihtseller's, No. 86, hard by St. Bride's Church, over
against the Punch office. Here they come stream-
ing out in procession upon the illustrated outer
cover of the Re-issue— Illustrations of Time—
Phrenological Illustrations—Scraps and Sketches
—Sketch Book-,--while the public of to-day (such
a different public altogether) loiters wondering upon
the pavement at the unexpected reappearance.
There, for example, stands the gentleman with a
beard, a wide-awake, a cutty-pipe, an all-round
collar, Balmoral boots, and peg-top trousers. There
the lady with an oyster shell bonnet, clad in crino-
line. r‘ Oh ! Ha! V Hum! Puff ! Puff! Puff !"
says my gentleman smoking superciliously—and
out they stream again into daylight, those dear old
delightful provocatives of good humour. Part One
gives us the immortal " Illustrations of Time "
the analysis of the fun of which would be an imper-
tinence, particularly after the panegyric by
Thackeray in the "Westminster." -Wherefore we
content ourselves here with cordially welcoming
back in this revised and collected form, the famous
masterpieces of our inimitable Cruikshank.