The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-10 00:00:00

Legations.

The speech of M. de MORNY, to which we
have already referred, was not altogether ex mero
motu. The inspiration was drawn from another
quarter; and it is more than probable that the Eat-

PEROR, finding that his own speech did not pro-
duce the full effect anticipated, put the words into
the month of the President ofthe Legislative Assem-
bly, which would, he hoped, complete the impre's-

sion he intended to produce ! The question of
Peace or War rests solely with the EMPEROR
himself. If he desires the former, he can easily
satisfy the rest of the world by relinquishing the
gigantic preparations now in progress. If the
latter, he will incur a serious responsibility, and
may possibly cast down the dynastic edifice which
he has erected with such elaborate care and well-
considered skill.

Patience, Reformers! You have not thoroughly
learned your lesson yet. A little more time is to
be allowed you; whether it be meant for a " wet
blanket" or not, it is your own fault if it damps
your zeal ; and it will doubtless also be your own
fault if the time required:for attention to the urgent
matters of Mr. DISRAELI and the no distant day of
Sir JOHN PAXINGTON means more than a few days,
or two at most.
intimation
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House desire it, the second division may yet be
taken before Easter. You have but to will that the
Government, as well as Mr. BRIGHT and the Times,
should produce its measure ve •
ry speedily, and produce
it it must. We must think delay wholly indefen-
sible. The bill, Sir JOHN PAKINGToN
tells us, is
prepared—then why hesitate to present it ? Long
enough has it been in hand ; there is no excuse on
that ground for not giving it to us at once. It is
the special business of
the session ; we ought, there-
fore, to have it at the earliest possible hour, that we
may have full time to do justice to its principles
and details. As distant a day as necessary might
be named for the second reading ; and thus, while
Parliament was attending to matters of temporary
importance, however urgent, the country could be
attending to its own more appropriate business—
how it wishes to be represented. We cannot
conceive a single good reason for withhold-
ing the first reading of the bill, if it be
ready, and if it be not it ought to be. We
take, however, Sir JOHN PARINGTON'S word for the
, fact of itsbeing in a, fit state for the nation to see it;

and we warn the present Government that delay
will be both undignified and hazardous. We have
always demanded fair play for our Conservative
friends, but we look for fair play in return. /t
will not be fair play if we have not the Govern-
ment Reform Bill before us all in a very short
time.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL about hit the mark when
he said the House—he might have added, and the
country—will " wait their time, but they must not
be putting off the subject." Of course, his Lord-
ship wants to get the Reform business before the
House for his own purposes—still, the old adage is
ever true, fas est ab hoste cloceri ; and it was just
because Lord JOHN knew correctly the general
feeling, that he plied the Government with this re-
presentation. The least appearance of " putting
off" will bemore damaging to the Government than
even a bill obviously tinged with Conservatism.
Both would injure their position, but the latter
would be excused as consistent, however severely it
might be attacked. The former will be attributed,
justly or unjustly, to cowardice, perhaps to fraud.
It will be taken for a scheme to protract the dis-
cussion, by means readily conceived, into another
session, perhaps into another Parliament; or, it
will be supposed that the Government is conscious
that its measure will not be popular. Had our
Ministers anything to give us in the way of Reform
(it will be said), which ought to strengthen their
position with fair-minded men, they certainly would
proffer it amongst the first fruits of their labours
during the recess. We trust, therefore, that our
Premier will carefully consider his position, and
that he will, on a very early day—why not next
week P—give us a bill which shall enable all the
irresponsible Reformers to avow that their "occu-
pation's gone."
Meantime, an opportunity is thus given us to
appeal again to those who make Reform Bills, and
to those for whom they are made. We place
first, as we always have done—The Independence
OF THE VOTER. We hold that any reform which
does not secure the integrity of the unit of each
constituency cannot secure a sound constituency
at all. It seems generally agreed that moderate-
sized constituencies feel much more interest in the
members they select than very large ones ; it
seems to be also agreed by all schedule makers
that we shall not have equal electoral divisions,
and we certainly do not like them, but for a consi-
derable number of moderate-sized constituencies—
for all of these the INDEPENDENCE of the indivi-

dual voter is the essential thing. Even at Man-
chester we have heard of millowners conveying
their men from the factory yard to the poll, to
vote, not for themselves, but for their employers.
But second to this is the question on which there
is most dispute at present—the re-apportionment of
members. Respecting disfranchisement, the Tory
party, whether represented by the Anti-reforming
Times, or the honest but moderateßeformers, like
Sir JOHN E. WILMOT, do not irreconcileably differ.
The tug of war commences with the question—

What proportion of the vacant seats shall be
given to the boroughs, what to the counties ? We
have, we think, placed the question in a much
fairer light. We decline to pit the borough
constituencies as a whole, against the county
constituencies as a whole. We ask, What

proportion shall be given to POPULOUS, WEALTHY,
EDUCATED COUNTIES, and what proportion to
THINLY-PEOPLED, LESS WEALTHY, and LESS EDU-

CATED COUNTIES ?
Let each class of counties take the proportion of
members belonging to it. Let each individual
county, then take the share which is its due, and
then let each county apportion the members fairly
belonging to it between the towns in it which are
sufficiently populous, and convenient divisions of
the remainder of the population.
The latter part of the business would be easily
enough settled. It is the needless and undesirable
element of pitting all the boroughs in the kingdom
against all its counties which has caused all the
feeling. Take the number of members which any
county should have, and probably there would
rarely be any dispute within that county as to
what towns should return representatives, and how
many. What can our Landed Gentry ask more
than that the counties should be compared with
each other, as the basis of rearrangement ? What
can they ask more than that POPULATION, ASSESS-
MENT TO INCOME TAX, and ASSESSED TAXES—

should be the grounds of distinction between county
and county ? Bare land can have no claim to vote.
Heaths and moors do not want members. Industry
requires population., population and industry create
wealth ;—so strictly is this true in England, that as
will have been seen by our tables the industrious
the populous, and cultivated counties can claim
more on the ground of property than on that' of
population itself !

Mr. BRIGHT and we have often enough had oc-
casion to dffer. He is by no means our model
statesman, but he is a man of popular origin, of
popular instincts, and of business habits, and his
schedules, when subjected to a test so different
from any to which he has yet' referred, only show
that he has been thoroughly moderate in his claims
for those counties to which England owes her
greatness. These are the counties which enable
England to pay the interest of her enormous debt,
and to raise her immense revenue—the counties
which support her army and navy, and which fill

the whole world with the fame of her commerce—
the counties which alone make the other counties
worth high cultivation, and which require not only
all their surplus agricultural produce but that of
other countries besides. To the twelve counties
which we have contrasted with the forty; our land-
lords owe the value of their estates, their increased
rent roll, the absorption of a surplus population
which would otherwise beggar their estates with
pauperism, and the best market in the world far
their produce, close at their own doors. We call
upon the landlords of England to look facts in
the face, not to fight with their best friends, but to
accept the terms dictated by population, intelli-
gence, and wealth.

The Count Perponeher has left Maurigy's
Hotel for Berlin.

Viscountess Palmerston has issued cards for as-
semblies on Saturday, the 12th, and Wednesday, the 16th
instant.

Vicomte Bouillon has arrived at the Brunswick
Hotel, Jermyn-street, from Switzerland.

Lord and Lady Rokeby have left Montagu House
for Windsor.

assumed name of Ben Trovato, has just now celebrated
the Burns' Centenary with a volume of "Rival Rhymes,"
w,,oßrtejheyetoefd taking their
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Who is Ben Trovato asks Curiosity. Rumour replying—
A literary celebrity, who, for all-sufficient reasons, prefers
fora while the mask of the anonymous. ualtier."
famous
About 2,000 bales of silk, and 40,0001 b. of tea
have been saved from the cargo of the Jubilee, ashore near
Boulogne. The total shipments by this vessel were 2,329
bales of silk and 765,9001 b. of tea.
- The next sales of colonial wool will commence on
the 24th. Since the last sale the quantity arrived hasbeen
25,746 bales, about half of which are from the Cape.
THE WEATHER IN THE NORTH.—Last week a
man was found frozen to death among the snow on the hills
near Stanhope, in Durham. In the same week some sports-
men found the body or a person known as an American
prophet lying out on the wilds of Northumberland, near
Falstone, where he had frozen to death. In the same week
cowslips were gathered near Stockton, in Durham, and
wallflowers and other hardy garden flowers were in full
bloom in the public parks and gardens in the towns on the
coast of Northumberbzl.