The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-17 00:00:00

'0.R31 BILL. i declared their intention to give the bill their deter-
' mined opposition.

NOTTINGHAM.
A public meeting, which had been convened by
the Mayor, in compliance with a numerously-signed.
requisition, -v a; held in the Exchange-hall, Notting-
ham, on Tuesday evening, " for the purpose of tak-
ing into consideration the Reform Bill introduced
into the House of Commons by the present Govern-
ment."

The chair was occupied by Mr. Alderman Knight,
on the platform were the leading Radicals and
and Chartists in the town. The body of the hall
was filled chiefly by the working classes. •
The requisition and notice convening the meeting
having been read,
The following letters from the members for the
borough, Mr. Walter and Mr. C. Paget, were read
by the secretary :
" 40, Upper Grosvenor-street, March 14.
" Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
a copy of the resolutions which it is intended to propose- at
the meeting of the electors and inhabitants of Nottingham,
which is convened for to-morrow.
" I regret that I shall be prevented by Parliamentary
engagements both of a public and private character from
attending the meeting in question ; but I will thank you
to convey to the meeting the following brief expression
of my opinions on the important subject to which their
attention is being directed. Ist. lam of opinion that the
question of Parliamentary Reform ought to be settled
without any further delay, and in such a manner as
will prevent the renewal of any agitation on the subject
for many years to come. 2d. lam of opinion that the Go-
vernment Bill, in the present shape, will not satisfy the
last of these requirements ; and that,, both as regards the
distribution of seats and the question of the franchise, it
falls very short of the just expectations of the public.
am not disposed, however, to regard it, as some do, as an
absolute sham.' On the contrary, I believe it may be made
the foundation of a useful and permanent measure; and I
approve of the principle which it contains, that the occupa-
tion franchise in counties should be assimilated to that in
boroughs. 3d. I have always maintained the opinion that
those who claim to be admitted to the privilege of the fran-
chise should be prepared to accept the responsibilities which
the possession of such a privilege imposes on them ; and
that open voting is the best guarantee for the right exercise
of such a privilege. lam therefore wholly opposed to the
ballot. remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
" J. WALTER,"
The reading of the latter portion of Mr. Walter's
letter elicited evidences of disapprobation, voices
from the body of the hall demanding " manhood
suffrage" and " vote by ballot."
Mr. Paget's letter, which was warmly applauded,
stated :

" The inadequate representation of the working classei is
the great defect in our present system. The provisions of
the bill to remedy this defect are trifling in the extreme.
'No reform will be satisfactory which does not provide for
the skilful and industrious workmen such a fair share in
the representation as is due to their growing intelligence
and to the increasing proofs which they give of their ability
to discharge the duties of a citizen.

" The protection of the ballot is due to every voter, in
order that he may fearlessly and conscientiously fulfil the
duty imposed upon him by the possession of the franchise.
I have always voted for it, and I shall continue to give it
my hearty support."
Mr. Alderman CULLEN moved the first resolu-
tion' to the effect that the meeting was of opinion
that the provisions of the Government measure
were entirely inadequate to meet the just require-
ments and advanced intelligence of the nation.
Mr. GEE seconded the motion, which was carried
nem. con.

Mr. Alderman JUDD proposed the next resolu- •
tion, to the effect that any measure of reform, to
give satisfaction to the people and promote the ,
security of the country at large, should at least
provide for the enfranchisement of every person
who is wholly or in part a ratepayer, for vote by
ballot, triennial parliaments, an equitable appor-
tionment of representation to the wealth and
population of the kingdom.
Mr. Councillor HART seconded the resolution,
and commented in very strong terms on the new
Reform Bill, which was a farce, a delusion, and a
snare.
This resolution was also carried.
• A petition, embodying the views expressed in the
proceeding resolutions, was then adopted.

THE "VIENNA GAZETTE" AND THE

" NONITEU.R."

A reply has been given by the official Vienna
Gazette to the first of the Illoniteur's two articles
on the European " situation." The Austrian jour-
nal says :
It is on the article of March 5, in the Moniteur, that the
political world still grounds its hypotheses concerning the
juncture of affairs near at hand. Can the official organ of
the French government, casting a retrospective look at the
agitation it has so recently caused, confess that its object
is attained ? We think not.

It was not the intention of the Moniteur to create serious
hopes for the preservation of peace. This is proved by the
eagerness with which its confidential satellites deny the
pacific- veering round of French• policy revealed to broad
daylight in the speech from the throne of February 7, and
in Count Morny's address to the Legislative Corps. We
ourselves, and we deliberately say it, have not believed in
this veering round. We have not found in the article in
question of the Moniteur a single word in which we could
detect the symptoms of a return to more equitable senti-
ments, to the principles of right and justice.
What did the Moniteur mean when it spoke out on the
sth of March on the political situation ? We think we are
not wide of the mark when we say that the *liter wishes
to give to public opinion, in its estimates of the causes and
effects of the material and moral connection of affairs in this
situation, a direction different from that which public opinion
had been hitherto taking.
The efforts of the Moniteur, we admit, have been rendered
easier-than they were a few weeks ago. It had cause to be
satisfied with the success procured for it, both in Germany
and England, by the diversion about the special treaties
between Austria and various states in Italy. It could
reckon on the facility with which men would allow their
minds to be impressed by the idea it was about to propa-
gate.. This idea. has a far more extensive range than the
Constitutionnel would have us suppose when it talks about
localising the war, and wants to persuade Germany that
her interests do not lead her in any way to support Austria
in the Italian question. The idea which inspired the
article in the Moniteur is the divide et imperain the
" German question," a question that would inevitably-arise
if a certain hand could give to the situation of Italy an
equitable solution after the pattern of the treaty of peace
concluded at Paris in 1856.

We will not go to the bottom of this idea now; we confine
ourselves to showing the way in which the Moniteur had
endeavoured, for the sake of this very idea, to explain to the
world how and why the French Government is not respon-
sible for the anxieties felt by Europe. " Where are the
words," demands the Moniteur, "where are the diplomatic'
notes, where are the acts that imply the desire to provoke
war ?" Had we not seen that this question is equivocal
enough, we might reply to the official organ of the French
Government by asking in our turn whether it has lost all
conscience and memory, or whether in its pride it fancies
the world must accept without reflection and in silence all
that is said to it. Such is not, in our opinion, the state
of things. The sense of truth and right, the will to let
them have free currency, is still spread far and- wide
among mankind. In this conviction we remind the
world of the forbearance and patience with which Austria
has endured the long and incessant provocations and
offences of her small neighbour. Is there any other power
that, under the same circumstances, could say it had ex-
hibited similar forbearance and similar patience ? The
attitude of Austria towards Piedmont, from the battle of
Novara to this moment, has been one uninterrupted abnega-
tion, quite unique in political annals. Nay, more, it has
been even too much so • for this self-restraint had reached
the stage where forgetfulness of duties—the most sacred
duties—begins. Such was the point that Austria had
reached in her relations with Sardinia. " Where are the
words, the acts implying the will to provoke war?" No-
where, we shall reply to this equivocal question. But who can
have forgotten that imperial France, at the outbreak of the
war in the East, declared she would carry the tricolored flag
to the foot of the Appenines if Austria refused to join her on
the Lower Danube ? Who can have forgotten the encou-
ragements that, since this declaration, "the Italian cause
has met with from the official and 'semi-official organs of
imperial France ? Who can have forgotten the support
which the efforts of the Sardinian plenipotentiaries found
for this cause at the Congress of Paris ? Who can have
forgotten the words with which the speech from the throne
flattered last year the hopes of the "oppressed nationali-
ties ?" Who can have forgotten the trial and case of
Orsini, the publication of that assassin's will and testa-
ment. Who does not still remember the war rumour raised
by the Governmental press at Paris last autumn, for the
Italian cause ? Who does not recollect the contradiction
given to those rumours at the very time the French people
were parading all their sympathies for the Italian Cause ?
Who does not still speak about the language used to
the Austrian ambassador at the Tuileries on the first day of
this year? Who does not sum up the injuries inflicted on
private and public wealth in every country ? Does not the
Moniteur confirm the existence of an alliance between
France and Piedmont, an alliance long mentioned by
rumour? "The Emperor," says the Monitenr, "has pro-
mised the King of Sardinia to protect him against aggres-
sion from Austria." Now, every one knows what a wide
interpretation is given to the word " aggression" both at
Paris and Turin
We have only to go back to the affair of Montenegro, when
the Moniteur_ applied the term "aggression" to the defen-
sive operations of the Ottoman troops who drove back the
Czernagores to their mountains. Let us take up the first
r tpaper come to hand from Tulin, inspired by the govern-
and the revelulionary ideas ; let us listen to tho debates
o he Piedmontese Parliament, and we shall hear it said
4itvet
every day that Austria's possession of the Lombardo-Vene-
tian kingdom is a violation of right—an Austrian aggres-
sion against Italy. Did not the First Minister 41 Piedmont
close the debate on the war-loan with these words, ti The
offensive and the defensive are relative notions."
But let us come back to the manifestations of French
policy respecting
Italy. All of them did not imply "the
will to provoke war," but they authorised King Victor-
Errunanuel to express the hope of seeing certain eventuali-
ties arise, by which the Italian cause might come off vi c-
turhus ; they gave him the right to impose on his exhausted
country fresh burthens, fresh war-charges. These words,
these acts " do not imply the will to provoke war," but it
is they which prepare the introduction of the peace-system.
that dates from Bordeaux, and which finds in the projects of
M. La Gueronnoiere the equitable solution of the Italian
question. They had resolved to submit the question
" diplomatically ' before they did so "politically." They
did not wish to provoke war, for they hoped, they said, that
peace would not be broken. It was imagined that Austria
was going to crown her forbearance and patience towards
Piedmont by benevolently accepting the equitable solution;
We were quite recently told from Paris that the measures
of precaution taken by Austria in anticipation of a ruptun
of the peace were a provocation addressed to France, and
that the latter could not but take it up. Now we read in
German paper :—" Hitherto it has been France that has
been provoking and sustaining the apprehensions of wail!
but now it is Austria's obstinacy that is feared?' i Let 0
how' this paper will acknowledge the wrong, it does to
~ ~..4
Austria.