The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-11 00:00:00

_
r MAY "574 NDAY EVENINI-2 3
DON', _MO

METROPOLITAN COUNTIES and
GENERAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY, 27, Iteg,ent-
ducat, Waterloo-place, London. Ca,)ital, 100,000/.

TRUSTEES.
Rt. Tin. Spencer It. Walpole,M.P. I Richard Spooner, Esq., M P.
Henry Peter Fuller, Esq. E. Vansittart Neale, Esq.
Life Assurance business transacted in all its branches.
N.B. The bonus declared 3t the last division of profits averaged
33 per cent. on all the premiums paid.
F. FERGUSON CAMROUX, Manager.

THE WE LLINGTO N.—The SALOON
DINING-ROOMS aro OPEN to Gentlemen from Six until
Nine p.m. 'A French Dinner is served at a minute's notice, "a la
Fosse," charge, Including dessert and attendance, seven shillings.
The dinner " carte" for the day may be seen in the Entrance Hall. 7—
Entrance, 53, St. James. street, or 160, Piccadilly.

GUILDHALL, 28th April, 1857. The
Committee for Letting the City's Lands will meet at Guildhall
on WEDNESDAY, the 13th day of May next, at One o'clock pre-
cisely. to receive Proposals for a Lease, for a term of 80 years, of a
PIECE of GROUND, on the West aide of St. Swithin's-lane, in the
City of London; and a House adjoining, being No. 1, New-court, St.
Sw ithin's-lane. •
Plans of the property may, be seen, and further particulars and
forms cf tender obtained upon application at the Architect's ;Mice

FERDINAND BRAND, Comptroller.

OFFICE OF THE GAS LIMIT AND COKE CO.,
FORSEFERRY-lIOAD, WEsmurtSTElt, May 11, 1857.
VOTICE IS HEREBY. GIVEN, That a Special
11 General Court of the Proprietors of this Company will be
held at the Company's Gas Works, HorseMrry-road, Westminster,
an FRIDAY, the sth day of June next, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon,
pursuant to the Act of the 59th year of his late Majesty King George
the Third, far the Election of the Directors of this Company for four
years, who w:11 then go out of office by the efflux of taw., and will
then be eligible to be re-elected ; and should a Ballot be required, it
will continue opeil for four hours from its commencement.

C. BURLS, Secretary.
By order of the Court of Directors.
N.B. The chair will be taken at 12 o'clock precisely.

Freehold and Leasehold—Southwark, Enfield, and London.
,TO BE SOLD, pursuant, to ~an-Order of. the
.High Court of Chancery, made In a certsin cause of " Shep-
heard v. Sheoheard," with the aoprobation of the Vice-Chancellor
sir Richard Torin Kindersley, the Judge to whose Court the said
cause is attached, by Mr. PETER BROAD, at the Auction Mart, in
the city of London, on TUESDAY, the 9th day of JUNE, 1857, at
one precisely, be Eight lots, the several Freehold and Leasehold
Es.ates hereinafter mentioned, viz. :—Four Freehold Dwelling
House', numbered 1,2, 3, and 4, John-street, Southwark.; a Free-
hold Mouse (divided into three tenements) situate at Baker-street,
Enfield; a Freehold House, with Garderradjoming„ called "The Six
Bells," at Chase side, Enfield ; a Leasebo:d House, with Shop, No.
110, Oxford-street ; a Leasehold House, with Shop. No. tis, Quad-
rant, Regent-str-et ; a Leasehold House, with Shop, No. 3, Bruton-
street, Bond-street ; a Leasehold House, No. 15, Little Marylebone-
street ; a Leasehold Nouse, with Shop, No. 417, Strand. —The pre-
mises may be viewed, by leave of the tenants, one fortnight preced-
ing the sale, and printed particulars and conditions of sale may be
had gratis of Messrs. Cameron and Booty, 1, Haymond-build•ngs,
Gray's•inn, W.C.; of Messrs. Julius and Cameron, No. 19, Bucking-
ham-street, W.C. ; of Er. J. G. hick, No. 11, Gitay's-inn-
•
sq 111 .•, of Messrs. Bennett and Paul, No. 1, Siza-lane, Back-
lerstury, E.C. ; of Mr. C. M. Collett, 25, Bed'ord-place, Southwark-
tbiroind
egee.r:roNa.d.
,
28, SE at the Mart; and of Mr. Peter Broad, auc-
tioneer, E.C.

4b1:47 REFORM BIL L—THE EA WT

t bweaggLonfin ( From the Examuner.)
gcourse,inm May should
byul 1
plunge no o
inne thoaa a
subject
ses-
sionnbleetof such magnitude as a new I teform Bill, which it
could not possibly bring to' maturity, and could
hardly indeed do more than discuss in the crudest
and least profitable manner.. The only practicable
step was probably that which the Government has
taken with a promptitude arid explicitness greatly
to its credit, the acknowloelgruent in the face of
IParliament that; an improver neat in the representa--
tion of the people is required, and that a measure
for the purpose will be pr epared in the vacation
and be proposed in the next session. It will be
observed that Lord Palmerston speaks of the sub-
ject with a gravity of expression which shows that
he takes no narrow or trivial view of it. He calla
tis• " a large question," from which we may fairly
and even confidently infer that be coutemplatas
dealing with it in no petty or niggardly spirit.
Large questions are only to be dealt with largely.
"It may often be your duty," said Lord Mel-
bourne' once with true wisdom, "to resa rain the
impetuosity of popular feeling, but this is true
policy—when you do gi ye, give generously." -
Mr. Roebuck, who Ira previously laid a resolu-
tion on the table pledging the house to take the
subject early into its consideration, received Lord
Palmerston's assurance. in the proper tone, and
wisely declared his intention to leave the question
in the hands of the erovarnment.. -
It will be remarked that the Government pledge
is confined to the, Bete ates and anomalies-in. the ex•
'ging distribution of the, franchise. Consequently,
though it is right that Xi. Roebuck's notice should
be withdrawn, it is otherwise with Mr. Henry
Berkeley's on the independent question of the Bal-
lot. The Ballot, though a Parliismentary Reform
in itself, is a question that stands entirely apart,
upon its own distinct grounds, unconne:led with
the question of electoral districts, or any extension
of the electoral franchise. The advocateS of the
Ballot simply demand that the franchise should be
made a reality, let the. privilege be enjoyed by
few or by many. The case for it is, of course,
stronger with a confined electoral body than a great
one, because the smaller the constituency the
greater in proportion is the practical diminution
from its power, through the operation of the foul
influences. There is no reason, then, that the sense
of the new Parliament should not be taken at the
earliest convenient moment upon the subject of
Mr. Berkeley's notice. That the question has
made considerable progress with the public since it
was last discussed in the Heim of Commons we
have no doubt. The general election cannot but
have given it a great impetus. The Marquis of
Waterford, at the head of the terrorists, has done
it iznmense service ; the doings of Ruthin have
been no less serviceable on this side of the Channel;
and, as we have elsewhere shown, the failure of
the Corrupt Practices Act in the Queen's Bench
has reduced to a demonstration the impotence of
any possible law to protect the independence of
voters exposed by their circumstances and condition
in life to COI ruption in its most insidious forms.

A DEPOSIT--NOT A PROMISE TO PAY!

(From the Freeinan.)
What should Reformers insist upon this session ?
We reply, Nothing loss than a substantial deposit
of reform. Many of our readers will have seen the
feelers put out by the Times. Last week it owned
that the country expected Parliament t ) pass a
Reform Bill, and Olen pressed on Toryism the
danger of delay,—the danger of arousing the people
to demand larger concessions than would now
satisfy them. This week the wind veers a point or
two, the text being a rather singular mistake of
Mr. Watkin's, the member for Yarmouth, who
strangely fancied that the Palmerstonian journal
could wish to give the suffrage to every man who
could write his name and vote. A liberal journal
appears as if it would be satisfied by the admission
of a Jew to Parliament this session ; and we have
little doubt that Lord Derby himself would offer
but a nominal opposition to that proposal, if
thereby he could insure the postponement of re-
form. Other liberal papers ask for an avowal of
reform policy in the Queen's speech, and a full ex-
planation by Lord Palmerston of what he will do
next session. We, on the other hand, ask for
something worth having this session.
We think there is urgent reason for Reformers
to demand this. We are met, of course, by the
pretence of want of time. It is but pretence. The
Morning Post in reply to Disraeli's taunt proved
that Lord Palmerston had "wasted" not " a year,"
but only three weeks. As the old members have had
so long a breathing time instead of a short Easter re
cess, and as the new ones are fresh to their work, they
can all afford to give the country ample time for the
Purposes for which the country eleciedor re-elected

them. One of those purposes, the chief of them, was,
notoriously, Parliamentaryßetorm. Let us hear no
more of want of time, therefore. Indeed the return of a
large majority on the Liberal side, ought to shorten
debates and save time. With a majority of a hun-
dred, a Premier, as well practised as Lord Palmer-
ston in Parliamentary management, can save time
—if he will.

Next looking at the House, let the country re-
member that its future successes very much depend
on its performances. The morale of such an army
as that of the Liberals in Parliament is almost
everything. If they are badly led at first, baffled
by ministerial cunning, dispirited by small and in-
significant achievements, or by defeats owing to
combinations of sections of their own body with the
mass of the Tories, they will soon look upon them-
selves as not destined to do anything great ; they
will settle down into the notion that they are to be
a common-place tax-voting, cabinet-serving Parlia-
ment, and Reform will drag on session after session,
till it may be pea tponecl for another Parliament. If,
on the contrary, some measure be passed of which
every Liberal can feel proud, of which he can tell his
constituents when he visits them in the autuane
with satisfaction, for which he can be sure of re-
ceiving their enthusiastic approbation ; the impetus
from such a triumph will carry him into next session
in the same spirit, and he will be determined then
to complete what he has so happily begun. Look-
ing, also, at the Ministry, and the uncertainty, not-
withstanding the vast majority, of its more than
surviving this session, it is utterly unwise to throw
Reform overboard to take the chances of another
session and another Cabinet; a Cabinet, be it ob-
served, which will not be under the same obliga-
tions to obey the behests of this Parliament as the
Premier is, by whose will it came into being.
We by no means believe that a complete new
Reform Bill this session need present any difficulty
to honest legislators. We know so well the prin-
cipal designed and undesigned defects of the pre-
sent Acts, that it is mere evasion of ate question to
plead the time required for elaborating details.
The Census tells us with sufficient accuracy where
to find constituencies : the only difficulty that can
arise is to settle whether principle or expediency is
to shape the new Bill. Are we to get rid of all the
paltry constituencies or not ? Are we to make the
number of members reasonably commensurate with
the number of electors? Are we to make some
tolerable approach to bestowing the suffrage on all
tax-payers, and on all who insist be amenable to the
laws ? Are we to protect the voter against intimi-
dation, and against the offer of a bribe ? These aro
the real points for discussion ; details of a formal
or a kcal nature will present no difficulty, and
could indeed be re-arranged and perfected from
year to year. They could even be made, as in
America, to depend on a self-adjusting principle.
To be precise then : we demand, as all Reformers
should, the one thing from which nothing ought to
induce them to waver—the taking of the votes at
the elections by Ballot. Though not absolutely
perfect, we should be satisfied with the enactments
of the electoral law in Victoria on that subject.
That law has the convenience of being a fact—a
tried and successful fact ; and, to avoid all fanciful
objections, we should be content to take the Ballot
clauses of that law as they stand. Concurrently
with this, we would fight hard for an Extension of
the Suffrage to all rate-payers at least, both in
boroughs and in counties: the pretence of a different
franchise for town and country being necessary, we
consider to be the veriest piece of Tory and Whig
charlatanism ever attempted to be palmed upon our
common sense. We would, of course, requ're the
abolition of the rate-paying clauses, and make it
very easy work for the revising barristers.
We have placed these essentials in the _order in
which we would contend for them. We wish for
a complete Reform Bill ; hut the ballot we would
not dispense with. We would turn any Premier
out of office who refused to concede that. There is
—and Lord John Russell and Lord Palnierst on
both know it well—there is more of reform in that
one demand than in all the others put together.
They know that all the others will follow that ;
but, that all the others might be given, and still
leave half the voters of the country at the mercy of
the dominant classes. They know that no exten- 1
sion of the suffrage they can give will be of so much
value as really extending it to the thousands who
now hale it but nominally. They cart about the

[ PRIOR 41). STAMPED 5

ballot's being merely a mechanical protection to
the voter, and forget that the poll book is nothing
but a mechanical device to give the tenant's vote to
his landlord. They pharisaically pretend concern
for the non electors, yet refuse the non-electors a
vote. • They refuse, as they say, in the interest of
the non-enfranchised, to give the ballot to the pre-
sent electors, but it is because they know that the
first Parliament, returned by a really free election,
would speedily emancipate the remaining six-
sevenths of the population.
We see it is now stated that Mr Locke King
means to press his motion early, and that he has
'created some dismay in Downing-street by inform-
ing the Government of It's intention. We heartily
wish him success ; but we would earnestly press on
him a more general form of his motion, and one
which- would adapt it to any Liberal change
namely, that the franchise in boroughs should also
be the county franchise for all persons not resident
in boroughs. Mr. Berkeley's motion is, however,
the one of first importance. Let us insist on
giving reality to our present constituency. Let us
put up with no shuffling on this point. Let us en-
courage the tens of thousands to vote who are now
afraid to do it, .and convert the tens of thousands
will are now but the voting machines for their
oppressors, into really "free and independent elec-
tors." The Ballot is the smallest deposit we should
demand this session; and the country should re-
solve to have a deposit, not merely a promise to
pay-

•
EXPERIMEA TS 071, NEIV DECKED COPPER
- PONTOONS at CITATILIM:

The interesting experiment in pontooning, an-
nounced by Sir C. Paslay for Monday afternoon,
the 11th inst., at Rochester-bridge, to which per-
sons who took an interest in the subject were in-
vited by a circular, has been postponed till Mon-
day, the 18th inst., in consequence of unexpected
failures that occurred in previous trial's on Friday
and Saturday last.

On the first of these days a raft of his pontoons,
consisting of four demi-canoes, put together in pairs
by deck and keel lashings, so as to form two decked
boots similar to canoes, and covered with the usual
superstructure of balks, chesses, anchors, and other
stores, after taking on board, at the gun-wharf,
Chatham, a 32-pounder on its travelling carriage,
weighing rather more than four tons, manned by
Lieut. Philips, R.E., with six men to row, a ser-
geant to steer, and a few spare men, attended and
assisted by two cutters, put off from these for the
purpose of landing the gun on the beach at Upnor ;
but the swell occasioned by a strong easterly wind
washed over the decks and filled the canoes with
water, which sank on their reaching I'm Upnor
shore where the gun was landed. The water was
then partly pumped, and partly baled out by
bucketci after taking off the hatches, one to each
demi-canoe. They then got under weigh again,,
and reached the pontoon basin, near St. Mary's
Creek. in readiness for next morning's operation,
leaving the gun on shore with its wheels embedded
in mud.

Next morning, having secured the wooden plugs
of the pump holes on the deck] of the demi-canoes,
which had been loose the day before, and made
everything watertight as was supposed, Lieut. Phil-
lips took another gun and carriage of the same cali-
bre on board the raft, and rowed up to Old Roches-
ter-bridge, where he moored it at high water slack,
in order that it might be exposed to the fury of the
half-ebb of one of the strongest spring tides of the
SWUM.

Owing to a mistake made by Sir Charles himself
in his written directions for the operations of this
day, the raft was moored about 30 feet higherthan
in any of the numerous experiments on military,
bridges formed there in the annual pontoon prac-
tice of the corps, so that as soon as the ebb tide be-
gan to flow, the water fell perpendicularly down
upon the heads of the canoes from which the raft's
crew were soon withdrawn; but as Sir Charles had
expussed a wish to be present at the rolling over of
the gun, whieh now appeared inevitable, the raft
was left to its fate; but he came too late to witness
it. When the gun went to the bottom, some of the
woodwork of the superstructure was broken, but
the canoes floated, turning over -upon their decks
with their keels uppermost, and one of them was
brought on shore at the landing place of the new
bridge for his inspection. A single plank of the
deck only was fractured ; but with the exception
of one small indentation, the copper appeared per-
fectly sound and uninjured. The woodwork of the
superstructure of which two balks only were said
to be broken, was oared by the engineers' boats,
and deposited in a builder's yard below the new
bridges, and the canoes were towed to the pontoon
basin the same evening.
Had Sir Charles arrived sooner himself he would
have prevented this accident by veering' out about
20 feet of the upper, and taking in the same length
of the lower, cables, but he was not sorry that the
accident happened, as it proved in a most convinc-
ing manner the superior strength of his new con-
struction.

On taking leave of them, be expressed his entire
satisfaction with the means afforded him by Major
Hassard commanding, during the absence of Col.
Sandhain, and the zeal, intelligence, and activity of
Lieut. Phillips and the non commissioned officers
and men of the Royal Engineers employed on this
occasion, which were such that these difficult and
dangerous operations, entirely new to them, were
executed without a single man being hurt. Better
pontoons he would never wish to have.

- On Monday the engineers will be employed in
getting the gun left at Upnor, and the other sunk
at Rochester-bridge, back to the gun-wharf. On
Tnesday, the leaks, - (if any) in the copper will be
repaired, and instead of one large hatch for both
compartments of the water-tight partition in each
demi-canoe, extending the whole width of the deck,
with seams half an inch wide at each end, secured,
by India rubber in a manner which did not exclude
the water, two small square hatches will be formed
independent of one another, each having its own
pump hole and plug perfectly water tight, both
raised a little above the deck, and just sufficient to
admit a man to get down into the interior of the
demi-canoe.

This was the arrangement of the original decked
copper canoes of 1819-20, over which the wares
caused by high winds and conflicting tides rolled
harmless, the restoration of which renders the post-
ponement for another week necessary, after which
Sir Charles will try the same experiments, at old
Rochester-bridge, that failed on Saturday, with
full confidence of success.