The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-14 00:00:00

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follow his example. In any way the struggle is soon
carried on openly ; the price of votes is raised from
the minimum of about 125 f. to 500 f. and I,ooof. in
proportion as the issue draws closer. Finally, the
election is over and the town wears a new air of com-
fort and prosperity; men pay their debts, build
houses, increase their business; a looker-on might
imagine that he was surveying one of those
small seaports where an exceptionally good fishery
had enriched the whole population. This is au accu-
rate sketch of an election in more than one small
town in England. That the moralist should view such
a picture in dismay cannot be disputed; that the
country is interested in snppressing such abuses,
nothing can be truer. But the fact should not be
lost sight of that a candidate who has paid so dearly
for his seat is not necessarily a bad member of Par-
liament. The composition of the House of Com-
mons is not necessarily deteriorated by facts of this
kind, and this particular species of corruption can-
not affect it as to the two most indispensable quali-
ties in a political assembly—independence
and intelligence. Corruption carried on
with the resources of the State would have the sad-
dest consequences. Let us suppose, for instance,
that instead of the candidates paying their electors
they obtained their votes by promising, in the name
of the Government, a place, a road, a canal, or a
railway ; who will dare to say that an M.P. of this
kind would be independent of the executive ? Cer-
tainly it is deplorable that an hon. member, such as
he, of Yarmouth for example, should have bought,
according to the account of his own agent, 236 votes
for 98,062 f. 50c. ; but after all, after paying such a
price for his seat, he would be likely to vote as he
pleased in the House of Commons, and would judge
the affairs of the country to the best of his under-
standing and with perfect independence. Could as
much be said of him if he owed his seat to the de-
clared and overwhelming protection of the Ministry
whichhad controlled the election, whether that Mi-
nistry were that of Earl Russell or Lord Derby ?"
M. Paradol seems to think that the lowering of
the franchise and the increase of electors will
merely act on the " vote market" by cheapening the
quantity, in virtue of great law of supply and
demand :

PRICE..... 4d.
STAMPED sd.

and while we thank our countrymen at the antipodes
for their service and their example we should wish
to see them liberally rewarded with the hone urs for
which they are anxious, and which they have gal-
lantly earned. But, besides all this, we should im-
prove the lesson at home. We seem to be taking
such excessive pains in the manufacture of soldiers
that the product itself actually suffers in the process.
A simpler system, with more useful practice and less
drill, more freedom of mind and muscle, and less
complexity of exercise and routine, would probably
give us at once a better army and make that army
a more popular profession.
PosT.—The Ministerial scheme for the annexation
of Hanover, Electoral-Hesse, Nassau, and the city
of Frankfort has been accepted in its entirety by the
Prussian Chambers, and very little time will now
elapse before the law sanctioning this arrangement is
carried into practical operation. Regarding the in-
corporation of these several States with Prussia as a
political necessity, we cannot help thinking that the
means suggested by the advisers of King William
for the accomplishment of this object were the best
that could have been adopted. And this will appear
even more manifest from a consideration of the ob-
jections raised by some of the members of the Cham-
ber of Deputies in the course of the debate on the
passing of the bill. The task of conquering a State
is, in the majority of cases, much easier than that of
retaining it in possession, and, notwithstanding the
almost incredible facility with which Prussia made
herself mistress of Hanover, Hesse, Nassau, and
Frankfort, the difficulty of devisinga mode by which
they would be united to Prussia and at the same
time contribute to her strength was one which so
sagacious a statesman as Count Bismarck was not
likely to overlook. In one respect circumstances may
be said to have contributed to render the task com-
paratively easy. Germany has always longed for
unity. The inhabitants of the various states of the
Confederation, if we except Austria, speak the same
language, and regard their respective territories
as constituting portions of the same fatherland.
Again, to Prussia the majority have always looked
upon as their recognised leader ; and if their alle-
giance has been in part divided with Austria, the
fact has been due not to an affection for that Power,
but to that instinct of self-preservation which told
them that the rivalry of the two great Powers fur-
nished the only possible guarantee for their own
safety. Now, however, that the rivalry has termi-
nated, and that, bon gre mal gre, nothing remains
but to link their fortunes with Prussia, the popula-
tions of the minor States, at least of those north of
the Maine, will naturally incline to a fusion of in-
terests which cannot but operate to their own ad-
vantage. In dealing therefore with those four in-
dependent States which we have enumerated, the
Prussian Government were placed in a position far
superior to that in which conquerors generally find
themselves, and notably to that which Prussia occu-
pied when dealing with her share of the kingdom of
Poland, or Austria when she incorporated Venetia
with her heterogeneous empire. The difficulties
which, on the other hand, beset her 'Path, and the
obstacles which she found it essential to surmount,
may perhaps be best understood from a considera-
tion of amendments to the Ministerial scheme of
incorporation which were offered in the Chamber
of Deputies by some of the members of the Liberal
party. The bill for the annexation of the conquered
States consisted of three sections—the first provid-
ing that those States should be united to Prussia in
conformity with a provision of the constitution
establishing Prussian laws and Prussian institutions
throughout Prussian territory, the second postpon-
ing the operation of the Prussian constitution
in the annexed States for a period of twelve months,
and the third entrusting to the Ministry the execu-
tion of the act. To this measure two amendments
were proposed, one by Herr Lome to the effect that
existing institutions should be preserved as much as
possible, and the other by Herr Michelis making the
incorporation depend on the assent of the represen-
tative bodies of the respective States. The latter,
it is needless to say, went to the very root of the
measure, and in effect denied any right on the part
of Prussia to avail herself of the advantages con-
ferred on her as a conqueror. The right of con-
quest, it was said, depended on the law of nations,
but as the various States of the Confederation
constituted a league, such law could not possibly
apply in determining the relations subsisting be-
tween VlPri) "-TV ---ra'n-n-r hear
precise y o tha Ind wuc one sr ou expect o ear
adduced in an assembly of Germans, but in the pre-
sence of the practical manner in which it is ignored
by Prussia and Austria, it sounds a little strange
when advanced in the Chamber of Deputies at Berlin.
Besides, as was well observed in the course of the de-
bate, the result of the adoption of this amendment
would be that the Han overians would demand there-
establishment of the Royal House of Guelph, and
thus the obstacle which now stands in the way of a
united Germany, namely, the existence of small
States, would be perpetuated. The amendment of
Herr Michells was ultimately withdrawn, for not even
the most extreme members of the Opposition could
be brought to concur with that gentleman in thinking
that the project in which Prussia is now engaged,
and for the accomplishment of which she has incurred
such immense risks, should be made dependent on
the sanction of the inhabitants of a few minor States.
The amendment of Herr Loewe stood on a very diffe-
rent footing. A people may be brought to abandon
its allegiance to a particular dynasty, but it is with
difficulty and only after a long lapse of time that it
can reconcile itself to a change in its institutions.
Whatever justification might be offered for the course
adopted by Prussia in extinguishing petty courts
which, even if preserved, would only be ruled by royal
puppets, there was none, it was urged, for depriving
different sections of the German people of the insti-
tutions which they possessed, the laws which they
respected, and the usages with which they were sa-
tisfied. Prussia, it was contended, was not making
war upon kindred peoples, but only on the anoma-
lous system by which those peoples were kept apart
and their energies wasted in idle and foolish
rivalry. If it was necessary or expedient that Ha-
nover and Nassau, Electoral-Hesse and the free city
of Frankfort should become parcels of the Prussian
kingdom, it was not indispensable for effecting this
object that the existing institutions should be sum-
marily extinguished. These arguments, it must be
confessed, had much to recommend them ; the
counter-objection, however, that if the territories
are to become Prussian the institutions must also be
assimilated, was held by the large majority of the
Chamber to be unanswerable. The suggestion
which Herr Gniest, one of the leaders of the Liberal
party, offered, to the effect that the Prussian consti-
tution should forthwith be introduced into the an-
nexed States, and that all existing institutions not
incompatible with it should be permitted to subsist,
is well worthy of the attention of the Prussian Go-
vernment. As was well observed in the course of
the debate, the inhabitants of the conquered States
will have very little to be grateful for in receiving a
constitution such as that which Prussians have pos-
sessed during the past four or five years. How-
ever, it is the best which it is in the power of the
conquerors to give, and, as one of the speakers
pointed out, the recipients will be in as good a posi-
tion as the donors to effect an improvement in it,
in the event of any future conflict of opinion be-
tween the people and the Crown.

" What is the use (he says) of invoking reason
when experience has pronounced ? In this very
inquiry the electoral agent was asked how be would
manage municipal elections where he had to treat
with some 4,000 electors instead of a few hundreds.
He replied ingeniously that those elections must be
paid for like the others, but that in municipal elec-
tidns- the price of votes never rose above 2s. 6d.
(3 francs.) To lower the price of votes from 125 f.
to an average of 3f. or 4f. at the outside, and to
consolidate by increasing their number, the pre-
ponderance of venal voices would therefore be the
certain, the mathematical, result of universal suf-
frage at Totnes or Yarmouth. In this calculation,
and above all in that striking example of the mu-
nicipal elections, there is nothing encouraging
for the Reformers. In the meantime, Parliament
will doubtless exercise its sovereign power in
the case of these venal boroughs and deprive
them of the franchise for a time. It is a kind of
indirect fine inflicted on the electors, since some-
thing is taken away from them which they too well
understand how to sell. But it is easier thus to
punish the abuse than to destroy its cause."

The Queen of the Bees.

(From Once a Week.)

In every hive there are a queen, male bees or
drones, and workers, which are of no gender, or
rather undeveloped females. The queen is con-
siderably larger than the drone, and the drone is
about as much larger than the working bee. There
is never more than one queen in a hive, and if a
stranger queen should happen by accident, or in the
indulgence of her curiosity, to enter a hive in which
her authority is not recognized, the bees who act as
guards at the entrance instantly seize her, and
though their respect for royalty is too great to allow
of their ill-treating her, they crowd upon her so
tlINCllll‘r +l,ni net rsrse4 v.'s a L.,—
ease until their own queen arrives to do battle in
defence of her lawful rights. The conduct of the
commonalty under such circumstances is exceedingly
remarkable ; they could put the intruder to death if
they choose, without suffering their own queen to
run the risk of being killed, but they do not do so ;
they act strictly on the principle of fair play ; at
the same time they will not allow the combatants to
separate until the victory is achieved by one of them.
The instant their queen makes_ its appearance, at-
tended by a number of her subjects, those who hold
the stranger in custody draw back, and leave a clear
space for the encounter. If, as rarely happens, the
two sovereigns have no desire to fight, or if they try
to run away, the workers seize them, and will on
no account allow them to indulge their cowardice ;
they are never allowed to quit the arena, nor to
cease fighting until one is killed. Huber relates
several experiments made by him with the view of
ascertaining if this conduct of the bees were inva-
riable, and he found that it was ; whether the com-
batants were two queens, both engaged in laying
eggs, or a fertile queen and a virgin queen, or two
virgin queens. A very singular circumstance in con-
nexion with these encounters is, that both manifest
the greatest horror of using their stings whenever in
the course of the fight they find themselves in a posi-
tion to kill each other. In such cases they separate,
and show no desire to renew the fight, but the
spectators lay hold of them, and draw them back
into the cleared space, and compel them to face each
other again. It is not often, however, that the queen
of the hive requires any compulsion to fight. Her
jealousy of a rival is of the most intense character ;
and if two emerge from their cells at the same mo-
ment, their first act is to rush at each other and
settle by a single combat which is to rule ; they will
wnoermkeerrse consent to awdoinividdepdejZit sd:. In tion
tthanh this
there -
spect the example of the competitors for the throne
might be imitated with advantage to humanity by
human
competitors—they do not suffer or incite
their future subjects to engage in a civil war in sup-
port of their respective claims, but decide the ques-
tion by the simple process of fighting it out in their
own persons. There are occasions, however, when
the jealousy of the queen has to be restrained in the
interest of the community ; this is especially the
case when a portion of the hive is about to quit for
a separate habitation, in
consequence of the in-
crease of their numbers. The emigrants on these
occasions are led by the old queen, and a new
queen is liberated to take her place in the hive as
soon as she departs. But if at the moment the
emerge the
or
threatensweather
fall,
t lei
mnentsogttaht thenhetre
ywt hoaeu
watchfulness
aigcliir:
sae :sinooofistwhniellege
eubsaesradrdyealpatpyooeidpa,rt
eeavdnedtnaontt
dhrherekorci
overcast, colony
tl,,aanabd
about to toeit
from putting her to death, and from tearing open
the cells containing the royal brood,
occupants. The guards do not treat her with dis-
respect or unkindness, but they are firm. It is said
that she sometimes paralyses th • eir movements by
emitting a low humming sound, precisely as if she
were addressing them, and th
entries to take advan-
tage of the effect she produces to renew her attempt;
but the instant she becomes. silent they awake to
the sense of their dut •y, indeed they have ever for-
gotten it in.listening
to her.

A Fiench View of English Electoral

Corruption

M. Provost Paradol contributes to the Debats a
few remarks on the " Electoral Manners and
Customs " of the boroughs of Yarmouth and
Totnes ; and, after a short sketch of the modus
operandi of the free and independent who attach such
a high value to the suffrage, he proceeds to say
"The English public does not practise the pre-
cept of washing its dirty linen en fanziae, and does
not consider that the honour of the country makes
it desirable carefully to hush up any disgrace-
ful facts which its enemies could misuse to
depreciate its institutions. Therefore, without
the least mystery, it places unaer the eyes of
the whole world the sad picture of elections such as
those of Totncs and Yarmouth. For these small
boroughs it seems that a contested election is a sort
of vivifying dew, a kind of manna fallen from Hea-
ven. The only problem is to discover two candidates
resolved to carry the seat, for if there be not a severe
struggle, the elector can make nothing by the elec-
tion. The friends of the town—good patriots in a
local point of view—therefore set to work to find out
rich and determined candidates. They find them
without much difficulty amongst those manufacturers
and tradesmen, who, having made their fortune, de-
sire to acquire a parliamentary status. Candidates of
such excellent disposition prepare for an election as
for a commercial venture ; they collect their funds
and hold themselves ready to carry the day by the
sheer weight of their purse. But either side hesitates
to begin, for the ordinary argument adduced to ex-

THE CUSTODY OF INFANTS.--Yesterday a ques-
tion as to the custody of infants, under the charge
of the Court of Chancery, came on before Mr. Peaks, tho
chief clerk attached to Vice-Chancellor Stuart'; court. An
officer of the army named Bradley had left three sons, and
the
Rev. Mr. Boyes was appointed guardian. Two of the
boys were residing with tneir mother, Mrs. Bradley, at
Croydon, and in this same house lived a Mr. Fox All
parties, with Mr. Eden, solicitor for Mrs. Bradley, bad at-
tended a few days since before Vice-Chancellor Stuart, and
he directed that the children should return to the Rev. Mr.
Boyes. They had not returned, and hence the present
application, and it was said that an application would be
made to commit Mrs. Bradley and Mr. and Mrs. Eden,
unless the boys at once returned. Mr. Eden's clerk said
he had nothing to do with the boys, and thought the Vice-
Chancellor bad shown "a good deal or
was
afeeelminaga"einfotlriethe
re-mat-
ter. The chief clerk said it was a most indecent remark to
make. What feeling could the Vice-Chancellor hhve but
to do justice ? A peremptory d
turn of the boy