The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-21 00:00:00

quisite majorities. Indeed, he would have a far
better prospect of seeing his views and opinions
carried into practical operation by introducing them
into the future stages through which the Minis-
terial measure must pass, than of carrying them as

an independent member, who could not command
the necessary time, and who must inevitably be de-

feated by a FABIAN policy. He was not at any
time a professed admirer of the veteran Viscount,
and we cannot conceive that he would change all
his former views for the purpose of restoring to

power the Minister of whom he spoke in the
strongest and most unequivocal terms.
There is, however, one mode by which the amend-
ment of Lord JOHN RUSSELL may be signally
defeated, and the aspirations of the ex-Premier
completely disappointed a mode which will
render the Government strong and powerful, and
ensure the support of every real and true-hearted
Liberal. Let THE BALLOT be conceded in its
integrity. Let every voter exercise his franchise
privately, without any one being enabled to know
in whose favour it is bestowed, and without sub•
jetting him to reproach or injury from any person
with whom he may chance to be connected in any
of the social relations of life. If he thinks
proper he may proclaim his opinions openly
—may assume any colours that he chooses
to patronise —be noisily loquacious in
favour of any candidate, but his vote must be
given in strict privacy, lest the publicity might
injure others less independent. As we have
repeatedly stated, it is the only way in which
bribery and intimidation, in all its multifarious
shapes, can be totally prevented. No one will
seek to purchase a vote when he cannot by any
possibility know that it will be given in accordance
with the contract. Indeed, it is by no means
unusual for some of " the free and independent" to
put money in both pockets, by accepting the ten-
dered gifts from each, and drinking themselves
into a state of total inebriety, while pledging the
healths of the rival candidates, at the expense of
any that supplies the intoxicating beverages.
We suppose that the opponents of TILE BALLOT
will declare that these are amongst the proud
prerogatives of Englishmen, and that no inter-
ference with such ancient rights and privileges
can be tolerated. A landlord must know
how his tenant votes, in order to be enabled
to put on the screw at the right time ; and
why should not a man about to make any purchases
know that he is dealing with a tradesman professing
orthodox opinions, and voting in favour of the
party with which he himself is connected? A
member of an aristocratic club does not like to
give offence by letting it be known that he black-
; balled any candidate ; therefore the security of
" the ballot" is given for the protection of the noble
lords and right hon. and hon. gentlemen who so
loudly protest against the same privilege being
conceded to the humble voter who might have more
reason to dread the results of publicity than they
could possibly experience.
From Lord JOHN RUSSELL or Lord PALMERSTON
there is not the slightest hope of obtaining any
concession on that, the most urgent and earnestly-
desired of all the various points of Parliamentary
Reform. They are both irretrievably committed
against it, and the statement of Lord JOHN RUSSELL
on Friday proves, beyond the possibility of doubt,
that he has not abated a particle of his protracted
hostility to the popular demand. There is far
better hope from the present Administration. As
we have already declared, the power of exercising
the suffrage by means of voting papers must inevi-
tably lead to " the Ballot." It is the introduction
of " the sharp end of the wedge," and indeed it
may easily be modified so as to recognise the
grand principle. It is only to require that the
parties opening these sealed papers, and recording
the votes therein contained, should be sworn to
secresy ; and that they should not be connected
with the district where the voting is taking place.
By some such means the Ballot may be won. Let,
then, the independent Liberals refuse to become
participators in the factious trick about to be
attempted this evening ; and prove that the great
Radical party are not to be at the beck and call of
any Whig leader who chooses to assume the name of
Liberal, without giving any proofs of the correct.
ness of his claim thereto.

The development of British Columbia affords a
glorious opportunity for observation. It is earnestly
to be hoped that the history of the new colony will

be carefully noted down from its very commence
ment ; for at every step it will be full of instruc.
tion. It is a mine of inestimable, of perpetually

expanding and of apparently inexhaustible ex-
periences. At every successive stage of its
progress it will be found replete with
sources of warning or of encouragement—indi-
cating for future colonists what to seek and what
to avoid under kindred circumstances.

Never certainly before this has there been wit-
nessed such a sudden incursion into regions
marked by all the signs of primeval nature of a
race armed with all the potent gifts and ap-
pliances of an advanced civilisation. Un-
til now those vast tracts of the North
American territory have been left entirely either
to the aboriginal Red Indians, or to the Fur
Traders in the service of the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany. Happily the discovery a year or two since
of the gold fields, skirting the banks of Fraser
River, tended at length to wake the
Government of Great Britain from an apathy
of fully two centuries, in regard to the
value of the North American seaboard on
the Pacific—of the fruitful but almost untrodden
forest depths inland towards the range of the
Rocky Mountains, and of the hitherto disdained
resources of the magnificent island confront-
ing the continent, and known as that of
Quadra or Vancouver. The procrastination
or indolence incident to Whig domination caused
this (literally as well as figuratively) golden
opportunity to be still during several months dor-
mant and untouched, until by a happy turn of the
wheel of
political fortune, Mr. LABOUCHERE was
replaced eventually by a man of energy, of origi-
nality, of unhesitating boldness and of unflinching
determination—a statesman who has during
the last nine months proved himself to
be eminently qualified for the conduct of the com-
plicated affairs of our vast
and scattered colonial
empire. Lord STANLEY'S sojourn at the Colonial-
office during the spring of '5B vas
merely marked
as the lapse of a purely transition period in the
history of the department. .By the time when the
noble lord was removed thence to the presidency of
the Board entrusted with the care of our shattered
and disorganised empire in Hindostan, the recently
installed Government had but just begun to settle
down to the serious toils of Administration.
The member for King's Lynn had not had time
to inaugurate a policy--had scarcely found leisure
to sort the heterogeneous papers left at quite
an unexpected moment in such dire confusion by
the right hon, member for Taunton. Insomuch
that when Sir BULWERdATTON entered the Cabi-
net at the date of Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S magnani-
mous withdrawal from it, the Right Hon. Baronet
the Member for Herts had, in almost every instance,
to begin
really ab fad°. There were all those 1