The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1859.

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that great composer, Mons. Antony Lamotte, of Paris.
Leader, Charles Hall. Mons. Boulcourt, the celebrated cornet-
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artistes. Selections from Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, La Traviata,
Huguenots, Robert le Diable, and the new opera Martha.
Manager, R. R. Bignell. Doors open at half-past 8, close
ten minutes before 12. Admission, ls. to Promenade.

N.B.—All applications for the ab'ove band for Concerts and
Balls, to be made to Mr. William Price, treasurer, at the
Rooms.

CIHL7 CH .RATES.-MR. WALPOLE'S

RETURN.

(From the7FiTenuzn.)
We do not of course precisely know to what points
Mr. Walpole may call attention on the 18th inst. ;
but the following are some which strike us on the
first examination of his return. In the first place
Church-rates are now officially declared to have
fallen to at least the amount stated by the Libera-
tion Society. The last seven years' average amounts
to less than £249,000. The deputation to Lord
Palmerston in the beginning of 1858 stated the
amount at £313,000, thus docking off nearly
£50,000 extra which had been claimed by the com-
mittee of Laymen. They about the same time in-
formed their friends in a circular that they esti-
mated the additional loss caused by parish opposition
since the date of the return at £50,000 more, bring-
ing the then amount to about the £249,000 stated
in the present return. But this is not all. This
£249,000 is the average amount of the seven years
beginning from Michaelmas 1851. We all know
that the systematic opposition organised by the
society did not begin till 18.55. It is the later three
years therefore which are below the average : and
without at present pledging ourselves to exact
accuracy, we believe we shall not be far wrong in
estimating that the present opposition brings the
amount nearer to £200,000 than to £50,000.
Another point of even more importance is the
following. The Liberation Society stated to Lord
Palmerston that, independently of Church-rates,
the Church had an income from other sources ap-
plicable to the same purposes, which appeared from
the returns to be of a permanent character, and to
have increased during the period of fifteen years to
£170,195. This was don to 854. It now ap-
pears that the income thus obtainable has increased
so enormously as to average during the last seven
years not less than £293,000, of which upwards of
£249,000 is received from voluntary rates and sub-
scriptions.

Thirdly. It has been constantly insisted on by
the Liberation Society and its supporters, that rates
are not really wanted for repairs of the fabric ; and
are made, in fact, in consequence of the large addi-
tional amounts foisted on the ratepayers for the
ornamentals of public worship. The return seems
at first sight to contradict this assertion, which we
believe it really corroborates. It appears that re-
pairs cost £305,000, service £164,000, and " other
purposes," which we hope is not an euphonism for
downright illegality, £89,000, thus making repairs
the main item. But on looking to the return of
" extraordinary" expenditure, which means, we
take it, " building, beautifying, and improvement,"
and, therefore, is no part of the legal burden of the
parish, we find the amount set down as £229,000,
leaving a balance of £76,000, really spent in re-
pairs, as nearly as possible the sum stated by the
Libeation Society to Lord Palmerston in February,
1858.

Fourthly. We are told the Committee of Laymen
do still talk in private of the " 95 per cent." as the
number of parishes in which there is an opposition
to Church-rates, The present return comprises
10,206 parishes, of which it appears 2,090, or 20 per
cent., have no Church-rates whatever, and that in
2,824, or 30 per cent, more, the rates are obliged to
be eked. out by subscriptions, voluntary rates, or
endowments; leaving only 5,291 in which, whether
with or without opposition is not stated, the repair
of the fabric and the expense of public worship are
supported by means of Church-rates. It appears,
therefore, that one-half the parishes, and if we say
two-thirds of the population we believe no one will
accuse us of exaggeration, have emancipated them-
selves from Church-rates without the aid of the
Legislature.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

(From the Daily News.)

Rumours prevail to the effect that since Lord
Derby and his colleagues agreed amongst them-
selves to a scheme of Reform calculated in their
judgment to satisfy the reasonable demands of the
country, they have been induced to reconsider cer-
tain of its provisions with a view to disarm objec-
tion on the part of some of their more ultra-sup-
porters. The story goes that, when tentatively
sounded as to the propriety of reducing the annual
amount of the occupation franchise in towns, a
troublesome few of their adherents showed a dispo-
sition to demur ; and that experience having long
ago attested the utter inutility of argument with
unreasoning beings of the stamp in question, Govern-
ment have found themselves forced to balance the
evils of spoiling the plan of Reform settled
before Christmas or causing a new split in their
already sorely chipped and splintered party before
Easter. We have no desire to investigate too closely
the bases of these reports. There are those who say
with grave and confident face that there is no foun-
dation whatever for the story. They aver that all
is unanimity throughout the camp, as well as within
the general's tent ; and that upon this day week
Parliament will be presented with a project of elec-
toral improvement to which not even Messrs. Ben-
tinck and Newdegate will find any conscientious
obligation to protest, and for which nevertheless
the most querulous of their Whig rivals will be con-
strained to vote on the second reading. What may
happen after that nobody seems at present to take
serious thought. The crisis of party fate hangs
upon the decision the House of Commons may come
to, when it is called to approve or disapprove the
principle of the forthcoming bilk That which is
fairly considered the principle of a measure is the
sum and substance of those main provisions whose
adoption would work an essential change in our
existing system. Of necessity, these provisions
can be but few ; the mass of the verbiage and tech-
nology of every elaborate measure must consist of
a number of corollaries from some three or four, or

it may be half-a-dozen, leading propositions. For
these, as a whole, the house will be asked to vote,
every one being liable to modification, qualification,
or amplification in committee ; and if for these thus
taken together a majority of the present House of
Commons cannot be persuaded to vote, it is under-
stood on all hands that an appeal will have to be
made to the constituencies of the kingdom.
As far as the county franchise is concerned, there
seems to be no longer any room for doubt or inde-
cision. When the £5O occupation suffrage was
interpolated in the bill of 1832 during its passage
through committee, one of' the shrewdest politicians
and best Liberals of that day prognosticated that
through the opening then made by a Tory leader,
the Tory party would sooner or later find themselves
driven onwards to a much lower county suffrage
and the ballot. Lord Althorp's words are coming
true. The obstinate and short-sighted author of
the Chandos Clause has just quitted the scene of
worldly contention ; and with the Duke of
Buckingham the mound of sand which he
induced the Legislature to raise against popu-
lar opinion in the agricultural districts of
England is about to be swept away. At what
number of shillings a year the rural occupation
franchise may be definitively fixed in committee,
whether at two hundred, as Mr. Locke King sug-
gests, or at two hundred and forty, as Lord Derby
and his friends agreed with respect to Irish coun-
ties nine years ago—need not be debated here.
That a great reduction is about to be made is cer-
tain ; and that the second part of Lord Althorp's
prophesy will thereby become inevitable seems
equally clear.
But what is designed for the extension of the
electorates of cities and boroughs does not as yet
appear quite so evident. Lord Sohn Russell's bid-
ding of £s—Lord Aberdeen's of £6—and Mr.
Bright's of rating without any poundage limit at
all, are all before the public, and are each in its
turn likely to be brought formally before Parlia-
ment, should Ministers so frame their measure in
the first instance as to open the door to such com-
parative propositions. But the door will not be
opened if, contrary to their own better judgment,
they commission Mr. Disraeli on the 28th instant
to submit a project of law in which, as some sup-
pose, no specific alteration is to be recommended in
the actual £lO borough qualification. This would
naturally be regarded as taking up a position of
resistance on the status quo established a quarter
of a century ago, which would challenge opposition
on the part of the most moderate of Progressive
Reformers. It would, in point of fact, be the
issuing of a shibboleth as the mot d'ordre of battle.
Nobody who has a constituency worthy of the name,
or a character for Liberalism worth keeping, could
venture to accept a bill of which this formed a

leading feature. We have never undervalued the
claims of the counties, or exaggerated the import.
ante of the towns. On the contrary, we have
avowed our sincere sympathy with the agricul-
tural interest in matters political (as distinguished
from the territorial interest), even at the risk of
dissatisfying many earnest friends of the common
cause ; and we are not now about to qualify
anything we have ever said as to the importance
of obtaining a large extension of the county con-
stituency, for its own sake. But we cannot
entertain for an instant the idea that the in-
dustry and intellect of the towns can be debarred
from their full share of justice when a general
measure of amendment is about to be produced. A

considerable majority of the House of Commons is
after all elected by cities and boroughs. A national
measure that omitted to deal generously and
liberally with them would lie under the just im-
putation of being practically no measure at all.
We do not believe that the men of mind and
courage in the present Administration would lend
the sanction of their names to any scheme of the
emasculate nature we have hypothetically described.
To carry such a bill would be palpably impossible ;
and to dissolve upon it would only have the effect
of deferring the issue for a few months longer,
without in any degree affecting its ultimate
certainty.
Nor can we suppose that men like Sir J. Poking-
ton, Lord Stanley, or Mr. Disraeli can be deceived
into imagining that any re-arrangement of voting
on the part of the forty-shilling freeholders in fee,
who now swell the numbers of the county constitu-
encies, and who, it is said, may with advantage bo
permitted the option of recording their votes in the
towns where their little properties are situated,
will materially modify the aspect of the general
question. These freehold suffrages are most excel-
lent and estimable in their way, but they are com-
paratively too limited in number and in nature to
compensate the great industrial mass for the exclu-
sion whereof they now so bitterly complain.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

EAST WORCESTERSHIRE.

The nomination of candidates for the vacant
seat in the representation of the eastern division
of the county of Worcester, occasioned by the
elevation of Colonel Rushout, the late member, to

the peerage as Baron Northwick, took place at
Droitwich, the centre polling-place for the division,
on Saturday. The candidates Were the Hon. Fred.

H. W. G. Calthorpe, son of Lord Calthorpe, in the
Liberal interest, and M. J. S. Pakington, only son
of the First Lord of the Admiralty, and, of course,
a supporter of the present Government. The ex-
citement which the contest has occasioned arrived
at its climax on Saturday, and the proceedings were
of a very noisy character.
The nomination took place in a small field at a
short distance from the town, where hustings had
been erected for the occasion, and these were occu-
pied before the hour appointed for the commence-
ment of the proceedings by the friends of both
candidates, who mustered also in great force in
the meadow itself.

The High Sheriff, Mr. W. C. HEMMING, having
opened the proceedings, and craved an impartial
hearing for both sides, and the usual forms having
been gone through,
Mr. FOSTER, M.P., proposed Mr. Calthorpe, and
in the course of his remarks said the old Tory tactics
had been resorted to in support of Mr. Pakington.
Mr. T. H. GALTON seconded the nomination.

Mr. E. BEABCROFT, then, amid much interrup-
tion, nominated Mr. Pakington, and complained of
the personalities which had been used on the other
side.

Mr. F. SMITH seconded the nomination amidst
further interruption.
Mr. CALTHORPE then came forward amid re-
newed uproar, but was, after some time, allowed a
fair hearing.. After some personal explanations he
said the subject which interested everybody at this
moment was the subject of Reform. He had pledged
himself to vote for a certain extension of the
county franchise, but, ignorant as everybody was as
to what the bills proposed would contain, he con-
sidered it impossible for him to pledge himself far-
ther. With regard to the extension of the borough
franchise, he hoped there would be a considerable
extension of the franchise throughout the country,
so that hundreds of thousands who were now excluded
from the privileges of the constitution would have
a vote themselves. Tho re-distribution of Parlia-
mentary seats must depend to a great extent upon
the disfranchisement of boroughs, and upon that
point it was impossible to pledge himself. He would
not give his support to the ballot, believing it would
not he in practice what it was in theory. He be-
lieved, however, that the ballot would tend to pre-
vent some of that coercion and pressure which he
had seen in this contest—(cries of" Lord Ward")
—and which pressure was against him, and not on
his side. It was an easy matter for a landlord to
coerce some 50 or 60 of his workmen, but when the
franchise was extended, numbers alone would baffle
them. (Cheers.) He would, therefore, wait and see
what would be the extension of the suffrage, and if
he then found it necessary, he would no longer
oppose the ballot. (Cheers and uproar.) But at pre-
sent he must regard it as a most serious evil, and a
measure which would tend to induce among the
people a disregard for truth and truthfulness.
With respect to the question of church rates, he had
already told them he should vote for their entire
abolition. He believed the question was nearly
settled already, as the House of Commons on more
than one occasion had, by large majorities, opposed
it. He thought the Dissenters, with their 6,000
chapels and places of worship and their schools,
which they supported by voluntary contributions,
ought not to be called on to pay to the support of a
rich church, which, with its enormous income,
ought to be able of itself to raise so paltry a sum as
£300,000. He believed the clergy themselves, after
a few years' experience of total abolition, would be
sorry to return to the old exploded system. As to
the income tax, it was easy to vote for its entire
abolition, but the money could not be spared, and
unless it could he should advocate its revision so as
to make it press more fairly. He was for spreading
education, and especially industrial education, and
for keeping up our defences, but with due regard
to economy. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. PAKINGTON then addressed the electors,
but amid much interruption. He regretted that
political differences should sever private friend-
ships, and, after some generalities, explained
the cause of his absence from the county during
the canvass, and said—l stand here at the re-
quest of some kind and influential friends, not as
the son of Sir J. Pakington, of Westwood, but as
Mr. Pakington, of Powic'k. lam not here to advo-
cate, as I might do on a fitting opportunity, in reply
to Mr. Calthorpe, the measures of Lord Derby's Go-
vernment. I am not here to defend them against
the very weak attacks which have been made upon
them. I am here to tell you what are my principles.
(Cheers.) My principles are, as I told you in my
addresses, Liberal Conservative. (Hear, hear.) As
to reform, I am not going, like Mr. Bright, to put
before the public a Reform Bill of my own—(cheers
and uproar)—but I am ready to consider a liberal
reform measure whenever it may come before Par-
liament. One little illustration will explain my
meaning better than an hour's speaking. 'What I
mean is that I would reform our representative sys-
tem just in the same spirit as I would refurnish a
room when it became dilapidated. I would repair
it. I would not, as the destructive Radicals would
do, tear the room down and put up a common new
one in its stead, but I would restore, and would re-
pair, and make the room fit for its purpose without
destroying its character or its style. (A voice—
Will you support a £lO county franchise ?) I dis-
tinctly refuse to pledge myself to anything of that
sort. (Cheers and hisses.) I have already told you
that I had no idea of proposing a Reform Bill my-
self,' but Tam ready to consider a bill brought for-
ward by others. As to the ballot, you have heard
what Mr. Calthorpe has said, and I hope it has been
satisfactory to you ; but whether he is going to vote
for the ballot, or whether he is not, I can't make
out. (Hear.) But I will not support the ballot
whenever I may have the opportunity of voting
against it. (Cheers.) I must here repeat my most
emphatic denial of an attack which has been made
upon me about Puseyism. (Hear, hear, and uproar.)
A show of hands was then taken, and was de-
clared to be in favour of Mr. Calthorpe ; upon which
a poll was demanded for Mr. Pakington ; and a vote
of thanks to the Sheriff closed the proceedings.
The poll will take place on Tuesday (to-morrow)
commencing at 8 o'clock and closing at 5.

MARYLEBONE.
Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., has appeared as a candi-
date in the Liberal interest for the representation
of this borough in Parliament. To judge from the
meetings that have recently been held in his favour
the learned gentleman has a fair chance of success.
He has issued the following address to the electors :
" Gentlemen,—The enthusiastic and unanimous resolu-
tion .f the meeting of the Liberal electors, passed this even-
ing, induces me to offer myself as a candidate for the high
honour of representing your borough in Parliament. In
an address necessarily hurried I cannot explain to you in
detail my political sentiments. I will avail myself of every
opportunity to meet you in public and to avow to you my
opinions. lam sincerely and essentially a Reformer. I
would advocate a large and liberal extension of the fran-
chise. To the free and uncontrolled exercise of such fran-
chise the ballot is essential; and that system of voting
should have my most strenuous support. The revenues of
the Established Church, well administered, are ample to
maintain its efficiency; and those who conscientiously dis-
sent from its tenets should not be taxed for its support. I
would support a measure for the total, unconditional, and
immediate repeal of the church rates. I would advocate
the strictest economy in the public expenditure, consistent
with the necessity of maintaining the honour of England
and her dignity among the nations of Europe. lam not
insensible of the onerous duties which the position of your
representative would impose upon me. The vast local inte-
rests which would be confided to my care should receive
ray unremitting attention. The unprecedented coursewhich