The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-22 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 22, 1657,

What is Parliamentary Government ? Accord-
ing to our English notions, it consists of the com-
bined action of the three estates of the realm, each
of which is to be rendered perfectly independent

of the others. The SOVEREIGN is Chief Magistrate
of the country, and, as head of the Executive,

is bound to see that the decrees or enactments of
the Legislature are carried into practical operation;
but so far as the passing of new, or the repeal c f
obnoxious, laws are co .cerned, merely retains a
veto, which has virtually become obsolete. The
representative branch retains the absolute control
over the national purse. That constitutes its
great power, whilst all relating to the administra-
tion of justice is regarded with peculiar jealousy
by the Peers. The influence of the SOVEREIGN is
Pll powerful in the Upper House, inasmuch
as the power of nominating new Members
rests in her bands ; but the Commons is,
in theory at least, a purely democratic assem-
bly, and neither the Crown, nor Peers, can
interfere in the Elections. It is, in fact, a serious
offence for any Member of the Upper House to
attempt to control the free exercise of the elec-
tive franchise.

The Constitutional theory is the same in France.
As we have QUEEN, Lords, and Commons, they
have EMPEROR, Senate, and Chamber of Depu-
ties. The Senate is even more under the Impe-
rial control, as every member is directly nomi-
nated by the Government ! It would, therefore,
be more essential than in this country that
the deputies should fairly represent the wants
and the wishes of the people. It seems, however,
that, according to the existing system, the repre-
sentation is but a specious pretext, a hollow
mockery, and a gross and palpable delusion !
Ministers and Prefects send out manifestoes,
specifying the names of those for whom
the electors are to uplift their " most sweet
voices." A gigantic system of intimidation is
practised. Mayors who dare to utter a word in
favour of the Opposition candidates, or who do
not display the requisite zeal and enthusiasm on
behalf of the Ministerial nominees, are degraded
from their functions ; and public journals who
venture to publish an independent article are
" warned" and threatened with suppression. In-
timidation of the worst class is practised without
the slightest disguise or concealment. The Minis-
ters put forward stronger arguments on behalf of
their nominees than tho se for which they have
thought proper to censure " the most energetic
and active organ of the Opposition."
Under such circumstances, it is obvious that
representation in France is a mere legal fiction,
without the slightest foundation whereon to rest.
The jewel has been purloined from the Imperisi
diadem, and worthless paste substituted. M.
HAUSSMANN, Prefect of the Seine, declares that
" to be enabled t 3 govern, the EMPEROR stands in
need of an elective independent Chamber, but de-
voted to his cause and to the new institutions."
Let it, then, be really independent, or let
it be altogether abolished. If he has
the power of riding roughshod over the
People, let him do so, openly and without the
affectation of disguise. If none but his creatures
and toadies are to be permitted to have seats in
the Chamber, far better that he should assume all
the responsibility, and publish his ukases, like his
Muscovite model. He appears to possess despotic
power, let him use it openly, and not assume the
flimsy mask of representative institutions, unless
willing that it should be a full and fair represen-
tation of the People. In this country, such con-
duct would induce every elector to vote against
the party in whose favour it was exercised. In
France it ought to produce a similar result, or the
electors should not ape the airs of freemen, but
set themselves down as voluntary slaves, who
hug the chains they have not the manliness to
fling aside. They should accept either a pure
Despotism or free representation, but not disguise
the deformity of the one, under the flimsy veil of
the other.

It is quite obvious that something must at
length be done in real earnest, with a view to the
preservation of Hampstead Heath to the Metro-
polis. Otherwise, in the midst of our perpetually
renewed lamentations about its jeopardy, we shall
infallibly, waken, one of those fine days, to the
knowledge that the place is doomed (so to speak)
to die the death by bricks and mortar, beyond all
possibility of redemption. Already we have had
quits enough of petitioning upon this matter, of
speechifying, and of pamphleteering. Instead of
groaning continually to no purpose, over the evi-
dent danger in which the Heath perpetually is, cf
suddenly disappearing—let us, in the name of
co:nmon sense, Do Something effectual towards
its instant and permanent preservation.

On Monday se'nnight a Bill was actually intro-
duced in the House of Commons to the end that
Sir THOMAS MARYON WILSON may at length
realise his design of turning one of the loveliest
sylvan haunts of the Londoner into another
Cockney suburb of stuccoed minas and genteelish
teagardens l Of course that, the real meaning
and purport of this new, adroit, ingenious, but
most insidious legislative dodge (for it amounts to
nothing less) is not—you may be sure of that—
avowed upon the face of it I Nothing of the
kind. It is simply designated, in the most amiably
candid and innocently unobtrusive manner in
the world, a Bill to amend the Act of 1856 aff_ct-
ing the Leases and Sales of Settled Estates. That
rather notable enactment (it will be remembered
by those who watched its progress last year through
the Legislature), comprised among other clauses,
one expressly prohibiting the Court of Chancery
from granting an application for leasing powers,
and the like, in any instance where the applicant
might have previously applied in vain for tho
same object to Parliament. In other words, it
was a clause simply maintaining the old constitu-
tional axiom which has, time out of mind, pro-
nounced it to be altogether inexpedient and con-
trary to precedent to make a Court of Equity
a Court of Appeal from the supreme decisions of
the Legislature. It was an important clause, a
most important clause, and one which was carried
by a very considerable majority in the House
of Commons during the course of last
session, when it was earnestly opposed (to no pur-
pose) by the very individual who now coolly pro-
poses to repeal it—the introducer of the new Biel
to amend the Leases, &c., Act, the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman the Member for Enniskillen.

It is cleverly contrived all this on the part of
Mr. WHITESIDE, but—it won't do ! We cannot
entertain so poor an opinion of the new House of
Commons as to imagine for an instant that a de-
sign so dis-ingenuous can be permitted to pass by
without being promptly and indignantly frus-
trated. At the same time it must have at length
become apparent, as the saying is, to "the
meanest capacity" that the period has indeed
arrived when some energetic measures should bo
taken to prevent, for once and for all, the
possibility of these continual anxieties about
Ratapstead Heath. It is absurd to petition over
and Over again, and to do nothing more than
petition. It is preposterous to lament year after
year the risk We
lovely breathin iloifnglotshinrgongthoaft
Ytheruton
our vast capital— d
g I,l7arepee tfuoari 1
an to begin and end our re-
grets upon the Subject Simply with lamentations !
It rests entirely with ourselves whether
this state
of things shall continue or not. Hampstead
Heath—if we be really bent in earnest upon its