The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-18 00:00:00

TILE ARMY.

Yesterday morning the officers and men of the
battalion of Royal Marine Light Infantry, now at
headquarters, Chatham, were assembled at a full
parade in the barrack-square for the purpose of
witnessing the ceremony of decorating two non-
commissioned officers and a private of the corps,
each with a silver medal, which had been awarded
them, with a money gratuity, by order of the
Lords of the Admiralty for long and meritorious
service. The battalion having been formed' in the
usual order, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel
T. C. C. Moore, the letter directing the distribution
of the medals was read to the troops by the Adju-
tant, after which Colour-Sergeant William Hopper,
Corporal Daniel Norman, and private William
Wheeler were called to the front and addressed by
7forfs'xii. During
Colonel E. Rea, the second commandant of the divi-
sion, who expretsed the gratification he experienced
in having to present such a mark of their Lord-
ships' approbation to the three men before hire,
years in the ser-
who he trusted would long live to wear their
well-deserved decorations. Colonel Rea then
handed each of the recipients his medal, which
was fastened to his breast in the presence of the
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mlhod Colour-Sergeant aiy2inyl3
service, and
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the whole time they have gratuitybeen' the •
in service each
man has borne a most exemplary character.
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presented

CORONER'S INQUEST. -A PAUP ER' S

COFFIN.

Yesterday, Mr. Carter, coroner for East Surrey,
held an inquiry at Christchurch Workhouse, rela-
tive to the death of Eliza Ellen Ilassett, aged 24, a
pauper inmate of that house.
It appeared from the evidence of the witnesses
connected with the wornouse that the deceased,
who was very imbecile and infirm, was found dead
on the floor by the side of her bed on Friday morn-
ing last.

Mr. Bianchi, the medical officer, deposed that he
had examined the body, and was of opinion that
the deceased had died in a fit.
A sister of the deceased here stated that she in-
formed her before her death that the nurse of the
ward had been exceedingly unkind to her, and had
put her for several hours in a strait-jacket, as
well as otherwise ill treatino, her.
Mr. Bianchi said he did' not believe that the
deceased was placed under restraint, as such a
course was never adopted without informing him
of it.
Matilda Livett deposed that she was the deceased's
sister. She was conveyed to the workhouse from
she contrary,
should
the hospital, having attempted committohmicsi.i s
lh\suicidert nes
s
by jumping out of a window, by
w
frac-
turedwas
decidedlyboth her
had not
been in any
way ill treated, but, onthe
received the utmost kindness at the hands of the
parochial abe uthorities.
l
sisters body to the grave.
The Coroner said he wished to know if a plate
t o fll oNv
he trusted that
with the name on it was placed upont he coffin when
Workhouse, in answer to the
a plaluiepvta wassterboufrid.
thee
coroner, said that they generally used cards, on
which the name of the deceased person was written.
He had no objection to the friends placing a plate
on the coffin ; but when they were compelled to
bury in the metropolitan churchyards, the minister
refused to allow the body to be interred if there
was any ornament about the coffin unless they
were paid extra fees.
The Coroner said, the coffins should be distin-
guished in some way, as persons, for aught they
knew, might follow the body of a stranger to the
grave instead of their friend or relative.
The jury having concurred in the remarks of the
coroner, returned a verdict of " Natural death," at
the same time expressing an opinion that dc4mc4
had been properly treated in the vrorkhouge.

On Monday, the 28th February, the Ministerial
Reform Bill will be brought forward by the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. There is no shirking nor
evading of the question. The promise given will
be faithfully and honourably redeemed ; and on the
nature of the contemplated measure will depend,
not only the fate of the Government, but also the
peace and tranquillity of the country. There have
not been many demonstrations, but the omission is
easily accounted for. So many pledges have been
given, such brilliant hopes have been excited, that
the people are satisfied—believing that a large and
comprehensive measure is inevitable, and not
deeming it essential to waste power in the pursuit
of what must be conceded, beyond any possibility
of doubt, even within the present session. They are
waiting in assured quietude; but any serious delay
might be productive of results which no Govern-
ment would -wish to encounter, and which might
constitute very formidable precedents for future
transactions.

There will, of course, be a large increase of the
franchise for counties, cities, and boroughs. That
cannot, by any possibility, be avoided, and there
will also be a re-distribution of seats. Schedules
A, B, and C must be prepared so as in the first
instance to ensure that, every member taking his
seat and interfering in the National Legislation,
shall at least have a respectable constituency—one
that entitles him to be heard in " the grand in-
quest" of the country.
But there is even more required than this. It is
not merely that there sfrould be a large constituency,
but it should also be an independent constituency
one that could faithfully express their feelings
through a representative elected without the ope-
ration of any corrupt or undue influence. Without
" the Ballot," or privilege of secret voting, the
franchise would be a curse rather than a blessing
to many who would receive it. They would have
toanswer many conflicting demands. The landlord,
the employer, the customer, the priest, whatever
might be •
his peruasion, would seek to control his
conscientious decision,while the hired bludgeon-man,
who seems to be regarded by Lord JOINT RUSSELL
as the impersonation of the misrepresented classes,
may give him abundant cause to remember the
vote he has given.

On every ground, then, the nation wants the
BALLOT. Is is the Alpha and Omega of Reform—
the one great point on which the hearts of nine-
tenths of the community are intently resolved. We
well know that neither Lord J. RUSSELL nor Lord
PALMERSTON will concede the boon in their
promised bills. We must, therefore, trust in Lord
DERBY, and we have but little doubt that, having
made up his mind that a measure of reform is
essential, he will give one that will be alike credit-

able to himself and satisfactory sto the Country.
All his antecedents prove that he is not, by any
means,;disposed to resort to milk-and-water or emas-
culated measured. When he enters on any subject
he does so boldly and honourably, and without any
degree of concealment or reticence. We shall,
therefore, be fairly informed respecting the nature
and extent of the measure, and be enabled to com-
pare it with those that may proceed from either
of the rival candidates for the Premiership. Mr.
BRIGHT has fairly and candidly explained the
principles on which he intends to proceed.
We wish that the claimants for office could
be induced to act in a similar manner. By so
doing they would afford an opportunity to the
people of deciding on the just and reasonable
claims which they might be pleased to put forward.
The nation will no longer be governed by a family
clique. The rule of the ELLIOTS, GREYS, and
RUSSELLS cannot be continued, but something far
better will come from the present struggle.
We shall have not merely h reform in the election
of members, but, what is more important, in the
constitution of Cabinets.

A remarkable and somewhat peculiar political
argument has recently made its appearance. It
has been eventually issued in the form of a pamph-
let,* entitled—the writer confesses perhaps too
ambitiously—" A Plea for the Constitution." But it
was penned originally as a contribution intended to
adorn the pages of a Quarterly review. To be
-r in—(for the identity of the publication hinted at
is sufficiently obvious from the imprimatur on the
ure, as well as from the colour of the political
thesis maintained throughout)—the pamphlet is
really and truly a rejected article written for "the"
Quarterly. Not an ordinary rejected article,
however. A perusal will show that distinctly
enough. But apart from the perusal, the paper, as
the pamphleteer informs us himself, in his preface,
" as containing an elaborate essay on Parliamentary
Government and Reform, was not prepared in
the shape appropriate to an article for a Review ;
and for this reason, with other reasons quite satis-
factory to myself, the editor was obliged to decline
it." Mr. AUSTIN, the writer of this really curious
and certainly, for the most part, very impressive
argument, originally intending to appear anony-
mously, as a reviewer, appears now avowedly (with
his name upon the title-page) as a pamphleteer.

As to himself, in the first instance, it is natural
that Mr. AUSTIN speaks, in his professional cha•
racter, somewhat authoritatively—h aving been for-
merly Professor of Jurisprudence at the London
University, and Reader on the same subject to-the
Hon. Society of the Inner Temple. As a politician,
he certainly occupies, according to his own show-
ing, a somewhat anomalous position. Originally a
Benthamite, he has long since got rid of his Radi-
calism. He calls himself a Whig—but he argues
distinctly as if he were a Tory. He speaks of Earl
GREY'S essay on " Parliamentary Government con-
sidered with reference to a Reform of Par.
liament," as approaching closely to perfec-
tion—yet Earl GREY is for a good many
reforms, and Mr. AUSTIN is for no reforms what-
ever ! In explanation of which latter incongruity
it is only necessary to observe that our pamph-
leteer—who regards Lord GREY'S essay as approach-
ing closely to perfection—regards our present sys-
tem of Parliamentary Government as nearly as pos-
sible as perfection. Again and again he talks
earnestly and awfully of " our incomparable consti-
tution." His argument, as we have seen, is entitled
" A Plea for the Constitution.". His hope is that
the exisfing organization of our constitutional go-
vernment may be maintained intact. Politically his
axiom appears to be what POPE'S was, what evety
true Christian is, ethically—viz.—

" Whatever iB, is right ! "
Insomuch that really and truly, in reference to the
present agitation for reform, Mr. AUSTIN might be
described as an alarmist. He insists that as things
are arranged. among us, all interests are exquisitely
and perfectly balanced. Touch them—interfere with
the existing arrangement—and the balance is lost.
Surely this is the inverted pyramid ! Surely it is
tantamount to maintaining that our constitutional
liberties are fearfully precarious.. The reformer
says, on the contrary—" No : the pyramid is firmly
and indestructibly planted among us upon its
broad basis. By widening that basis we are
jeopardising nothing—we are only strengthening
the whole fabric—we are only removing further
and further from us the possibility of anything like
a subversion. Our loyalty to the powers that
be is surely more secure than yours—you who
maintain that the whole machinery of the constitu-
tion is so delicately balanced that at a touch the
whole may be disastrously jeopardised."
Mr. AUSTIN puts himself plainly enough
in the latter category. Upon his first page
he tells us pointblank (the italics, of course, are our
own)—" the consequences which I anticipate from
any Parliamentary Reform are all of them mischie-
vous." Tho veneration here expressed for the
Constitution is identical with that we remember
to have heard expressed by an enthusiastic Shak-
sperian scholar when repudiating as sacrilegious
the emendations or alterations of the original
text by bRYDEN, CIBBEE, and others—" Don't
presume to alter him ! Thank GOD yon have got
such a poet ! and don't presume to alter him !" As
with the Shaksperian scholar in regard to the text
of the immortal Bard, so is it with Mr. AUSTIN
in regard to the machinery of the Constitution.
We are not to presume to alter it. The Reason
Why—is certainly here given by the pamphleteer
very ably, and at times (as we have intimated) very
impressively.
It is because the arguments of the anti-Re-
formers have been articulated in this pamphlet
thus ably and impressively that we have been
desirous of directing the attention of the
general public to the really remarkable treatise
of the ex-Professor of Jurisprudence. We do so
upon the good old principle inculcated in the
schoolboy phrase, audi alteram partem—in
"com-
pliance with the historic ejaculation of the ancient
Greek,
c
Strike, but hear me !" As Reformers—
such is our confidence
ful attention to thereasonable-
nessthat
logic of the anti-Reformers.
Wherefore, while we
cannot for a single instant
admit that (acecoraing to
a memorable phrase that
a hundred years ago—fell
once upon a time—not
from the lips of an august personage)
our repre-
sentative system is "on its trial"--we would still,
in all manly frankness and candour, direct the
attention of our compatriots to Mr. AUSTIN'S
remarkable and impressive pamphlet, entitled (he
himself says ambitiously-, we .say quite superflu-
ously) A Plea for the Constitution.

* A Plea for the Constitution. By John Austin, E&1.
Svo., pp. 42. John Murray. London, 1859.

There is a truism that " charity begins at home,"
but if we take Mr. HorLEY, of Eastbourne, as an
exponent we must admit that on his part the
charity is far and wide-spread among the multitude
of the poor, whose miseries are unspeakable.
We have on many occasions directed atten-
tion to Mr. HOPLEY'S very laudable and most
generous endeavours in vindicating the social rights
of our fellow-men, and in bettering the condition

of the poorer hard-working classes, that we need
only direct attention to his recently-published
pamphlet, entitled " Wrongs that Cry for Re-
dress."

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THE SUN.
FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 18, 1859.