The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-17 00:00:00

1859.

Lieut. Alexander, Lieut. Mason, Ensign Matur.!
and Ensign Searle.
The 2d Derby Militia (Chatsworth Rifles) com-
pleted 21 days' training on the 12th inst. On the
11th they were inspected by Lieut.-Col. the Hon.
A. Cathcart, 96th Regiment, who expressed him-
self much pleased at the soldierlike appearance of
the men and their efficiency in the field, the more
so as the weather had been very ranch against
them. The complement of the regiment is 567, out
of which number 438 were present at headquarters,
and 351 under arms.
Major• Gen. Cunningham, C. 8., has just com-
pleted the half-yearly inspection of the King's Own
2d Staffordshire Regiment of Militia, commanded
by Col. the Hon. E. R. Littleton. The gallant
general has reported favourably with regard to the
efficiency of the regiment,

The Huntingdcishire Rifle Militia, under the
command of the Earl of• Sandwich, are at present
embodied at Huntingdon for 21 days' training and
exercise. The regiment is 225 strong.

SPORTING NOTES.

THE SECOND OCTOBER MEETING

The disgraceful incident which marked the close
of the Newmarket meeting is to be much regretted,
not only for the odium which it will heap upon the
turf, but because it is also calculated to blight the
prospects of a young man, who, by the exercise of
steadiness and honesty in his profession, might
have attained a position of affluence and respect
in society. He is not, however, so much to blame
as the persons who advised him to act wrong. The
case will be brought before the Jockey Club, and
no doubt exists that those whose (II) itching
palm induced them to transgress the laws of fair
play will be rigorously dealt with. The prominent
features which the race for the Cesarewitch dis-
played have been sketched by so many different
hands that I shall not attempt to portray them
very elaborately. It is well known that New-
market to a man believed in Artless. It is equally
well known that the mare went suddenly amiss,
and that on the day preceding the race her start-
ing was deemed uncertain. Money was therefore
hedged with eagerness,. and some people in their

haste to " get out," even laid their bets
off at a /loss. So many glum faces amongst
the Wiabitants of Newmarket I do not
remember to have seen after a race the

triumph of which fell to th 9 town. Before the
start Mr. I'. Pair was very confident in the chance
of Gaspard, but his eagerness to divide after the
dead heat showed that his faith had been much
destroyed. Articss will, it is said, be at least Nibs.
better on the Cambridgeshire Day than she was on
Tuesday last, and should this assertion be correct,
she will be very nearly achieving the double event.
I have received the "office" to watch Gracchus, and
I expect a demonstration to be made in his favour
in the course of the week.

The two-yr-old events were not very important.
The success of Thormanby on Friday will erase the
somewhat bad impression which his previous de-
feats tended to create. This horse likes a distance,
and next year he will be very troublesome over a
long course.

People are not satisfied with respect to the age of
Umpire, even now after the publication of the
voluminous certificates as to his birth and parent-
,age ; and several bets have been laid that he will
not start for the Derby without another exami-
nation of his mouth being ordered. Mr. Ten Broeck
has just imported several yearlings, which are
much admired, and which will, if we mistake
not, gain for themselves no inconsiderable racing
reputation in this country. The meetings for this
week are three—lpswich, Northallerton, and Kelso.
I have not received a list of arrivals for eidier
place, and must, therefore, postpone my discus-
sion of the probabilities until to-morrow night.

A FRESH MAN.

TILE BALLOT IN NEW ASOU7H WALES.

(From the Sydney Horning Herald.)
We have received a letter, dated June 15, ad-
dressed from the offices of the Society for Promoting
the Adoption of Vote by Ballot, London, and con-
taining a series of questions to which our attention
is requested, and a prompt reply.
It was not expected that any particular party
would greatly gain by the change. On the con-
trary, the ballot was introduced by a Government
generally called Conservative. The support of the
ballot by the party called Radical was by no means
warm or active. When the ballot was introduced
into the municipal system it was coldly received by
them—it could not be decently rejected. Theballot
has, upon the whole, been supported chiefly by
persons imbued with Chartist traditions, without
much reference to local circumstances, and by a
large section of the Corservatives—who have felt
it necessary to relieve the working classes them-
selves from the tyranny of the demagogues of the
workshop.
There can be no question that the ballot would
express the preference of voters for the particular
candidates chosen. Had the public known the
manner in which the election was proceeding dur-
ing its progress, there can be no question that some
would have been returned who have been excluded.
The ballot, therefore, in some measure interferes
with that tacit or expressed compromise of opinions
by which two parties consent to accept a candidate
rather than his competitor, and by their union
place him at the head of the poll.
Our impression is that the votes are not known
in the balloting, and that, if they are discovered,
it is through some other process. For instance,
in a small community it is quite possible that a
party may know all its own voters. The infer-
ence would be, of course, inevitable. But the
electors, for the most part, feel no hesitation in
giving their opinion, and their votes may be sup-
posed to harmonise with it.

The ballot has had this effect, that during the
progress of the election the voter has been enabled
to conceal his vote. There can be no doubt that
where men are dependent upon landlords or em-
ployers they have one of three courses open to them
—to vote in harmony with the opinions of their
landlords or employers ; or to lie, by preten ding to
vote in their favour ; or to brave whatever injury
may result from the irritation of those who possess
the power to avenge themselves. Political perse-
cution, however, in the colonies is rare and short-
lived. Persons desiring influence would hardly
venture to persecute, inasmuch as they would lose
far more by running counter to the prevailing notion
of freedom, than by indulging or even applauding
the conscientious vote of adependent.

We imagine that the ballot has but little to do
with the Blass of men returned. Having adopted
nearly universal snffrage, the natural tentency
is, of course, to increase the number of representa-
tives who espouse the notions of the labouring
classes, if they do not belong to that class. The
ballot has sent into the Assembly some men who
certainly cannot in any sense be deemed respect-
able. Looking, however, at the total result of the
election, most reflecting men are rather disposed to
be grateful than to complain. It must, however,
be remembered that in the colony various powerful
influences operate. The Irish Roman Catholic por-
tion of the population hitherto have been far less
democratic than in America. The pastoral pursuits,
of course, give a peculiar turn to the tastes and
opinions of the shepherd population by which they
are less identified with universal suffrage, vote by
ballot, membership without property qualification,
as now established, and other things of the same
nature, there are fewer rallying cries, and they are
growing fainter. •

- We believe the general impression is favourable
to the ballot, and we are not aware of any public
journals opposed to it. It has at least secured a more
orderly conduct of elections. It has given to the
working classes the power to conceal their opin-
ions, and, above all, so far as we can gather, it has
left less rancour than the system of open voting.
The persons active in the election of course form
but a limited proportion of the people ; the rest
quietly give their votes and return to their busi-
ness, and except by outward demonstrations of
zeal are not likely to lose their customers or friends.
While we readily supply this kind of informa-
tion we are quite aware that the question of the
ballot, in its English aspect, is not really compre-
hended in any of the queries proposed by our cor-
respondent. Not one of those objections which are
commonly urged against the ballot weighs a feather
in the colonial mind. We all perfectly com-
prehend that the true difficulty at home is to
reconcile the governing classes of Great Britain to
a total surrender of their political power. The
moral objections to the ballot appear to us, if not
frivolous, at least of comparatively little force; the
political—in a country like England—may be im-
mense. If it be made a principle in the constitu-
tion that the influence of one &ass upon another
shall be entirely withdrawn, and that a vote shall
be considered as the personal property of the man
iwshthoegpivleans
it,no old :_nterests to protect—no war debt to
Itnhearenceawn
ebeennnotrdyoulihkteththatistthheerbealalio.et
dis-
eeshtaarbigeisinnnoenat to
aristocracy td. o maintaine—tiand6naollCheuxriseth,
the question will assume an aspect entirely new.