The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-24 00:00:00

1„ ' S
.1.: • A U GUST 24, 1850.
4 • 9

fOr the last month, but she could not maintain him any
longer, and the child was to be turned away that day.
Mr.
.LONG did not consider that Mrs. Teller's ease
came within the category of one who was actually
starving, and for whom immediate relief was absolutely
necesitiry.

'The brother said that a suggestipn ft-cm the magis-
trate would no doubt cause the guiridians to interfere on
tehalf of his sister.
g
Mr. LONG said he would send an officer of the court
to repretent the case to the relieving officer and the
board of guardians who might, it they pleased, mon-
sider their determination,but he
to do so.

Whipp, 86 D, said that he held a *arrant for the
apprehension of Mr. Telfer, but had not been able to
find him; he bad been advertised for_ by the guardians.
The applicant'sabrother observed that Mr. Telfer was
not far off, and that if he was sought after he might be
found. Tao guardians of Paddington had evinced gnat
lukewarmness in the matter.
It was ultimately arranged that Whipp, one cf the.
warrant officers, should wait upon the relieving officer of
Paddington, accompanied by Mrs. Telfer. A gentleman
present gave Mrs. Telfer some silver to enable her to
obtain a meal and a night's lodging, for which act of
kindness she expressed her thanks, and theta retired
from the court.

. •
CLERKENWELL.
IVIr. James Lansdon, a master boot-maker, residing
next door to the Prince of Wales public-house, Vincent-
terrace, Islington, was brought before Mr.Combe, charged
'with ereatin€, a disturbance and with assaulting police-
constable Clax, 324 N division.
The officer said that, between twelve and one o'clock
at night, - he saw the defendant hand-in-hand with
another man, at which time four or five other persons
were present, in front of the above-mentioned house.
He asked what they were after; when he was told that
they were going to run a race. He told them that that
was not a proper time, but they took no heed of him,
and started off, and on returning the defendant struck
him on the chest, and knocked him down. The accused
fell immediately afterwards, and was picked up by his
friends. Witness then went up to him, and claimed him
as his prisoner, laying hold of him, when he instantly
gave him a most severe blow on the mouth, which bled
for half an hour.
Cross examined by Mr. Robinson—Went off his beat
to stop the running, and was opposed by the mub of
five or six persons. Mr. Jefferies is the landlord of the
Prince of %Vales, from which house the race commenced
and terminated. It was from that house to the County
Court and back, about 300 yards.
Mr. COMBE here said he could not see what right the
policeman had to interfere at all, for, according to his
own showing, there was no disturbance—no crowd
created; end he knew of no law to prevent a man running.
Mr. Robinson said there was something else in the
back-ground. To the policeman—Was net the defendant
running at full force at the time you say he knocked you
down? Witness—Yes; and he struck me at full force,
and intentionally.
Mr. COMBE—A man in running might do so by acci-
dent, in swinging his arms about, although a professed
runner would keep them stiff.
Mr. Robinson—Were you not trying to stop him when
he hit you? Witness (after hesitating)—Yee.
Mr. Robinson—And were you not endeavouring to
seize him, and had even your hand on his shoulder when
he was running and fell? Witness—Yes; but that did
not make him fall.

Mr. Robinson—What made you interfere at all off
your beat? Witness—Because I heard a great noise.
Mr. Rjbinson—When you took my client into cus-
tody did he not go to the station-house quietly? Wit-
ness—He did.

Mr. Robinson—You have sworn that your mouth
bled for half an hour. Now did not the defendant deny,
in the presence of your inspector, that he struck you at
all, and wish him to examine your mouth, or even offer
to send for a doctor to do so?
The witness admitted that such were the facts.
Mr. Robinson—Pray was your mouth cut? Witness—
slightly.
Mr. Robinson suggested that his mouth should be
examined.
Mr. Bayliss, the chief usher, baying done so, said he
could not perceive any injury.
Hogard, 210 N, examined—Was on duty near the
County Court, and heard the witness Clax spring his
rattle. He went to his assistance, and found him
struggling with defendant; he assisted them up, and
took the latter into custody.
Mr. Jefferies, Mr. Walker, and another person, denied
most positively that any assault had been committed by
the defendant. The officer pushed upon him without any
just cause.
Mr. CONDE dismissed the complaint.

SAFFRON WALDEN PETTY SESSION,
August 17.

A young man named David, in the employ of Mr.
Robert Tredgett, of Bourn Farm, Ashdon, was sum-
moned for trapping hares.
Mr. Freeland, solicitor, attended to prosecute on
behalf of Mr. Hewitson, lessee of the game from Lord
Maynard.
Richard Kingswood, keeper to Mr. Hewitson, stated
that on the 10th inst. ho was in Mr. Treigett's barley
field, when he saw the defendant and Thomas Rule set-
ting some traps, which they said were for rabbits. Wit-
ness told them not to do so, as he knew bares went there.
Next morning witness found a hare in one of the traps,
about half a rod in the field: about half-past four the
defendant came along, and after looking round went
down on his hands and knees and took hold of the hare
and trap, which he covered up in the standing barley.
Witness said, " Well, David, then you took that young
hare this morning." He denied it; but witness went to
the place and found it still alive. The defendant then
said his master (Mr. Tredgett) had give❑ him leave to
set traps for rabbits, and he found the hare there, but
never touched it.

Mr. Freeland said all the wild animals belonged to
Lord Maynard, the landlord, and produced the lease,
which granted the right of shooting to Mr. Hewitson;
but which it was ruled could not be received as evidence.
The tenant, Mr. Robert Tredgett, stated that he was
so angry with the rabbits that he had set traps and em-
ployed persons to kill them, because the understanding
with his landlord was, that when he was overstocked
with rabbits, he should be at liberty to destroy them.
Mr. Chiffens, Lord Maynard's steward, told him there
should be no rabbits to hurt him, and if a gentleman
hired the manor they should be caught. He admitted
that he had no authority to kill the game nor to carry a
gun, but there was an understanding that he might de-
stroy the rabbits.
Lord BRAYBROOKE—If he assumes the right to kill
rabbits and he kills a hare, I apprehend that he is
liable to a conviction.

Mr. Tredgett--I told the defendant that if he caught
a hare in a trap instead of a rabbit he was to put his
foot upon the spring and let the hare go.
Lord BRA.YDROOXE thought there ought to be a written
agreement between the landlord and tenant defining the
matter more clearly.
Mr. Tredgett admitted that he had no right to destroy
the hares or rabbits unless they were injurious to him;
he had no recent authority to set traps since Mr. Hewit-
son had leased the shooting.
Mr. Wolfe considered that if a farmer had once the
privilege of killing rabbits, he might continue to kill
them unless it were altered by a fresh agreement.
Mr. Tredgett said Lord Maynard himself, in a conver-
sation this spring, gave him permission to kill the rab-
bits, but in no case to injure the game.
In answer to a question from the Bench, he admitted
he bad killed one young hare this year with a dog.
Lord BRAYBROOOKE—Your dog does not know hares
from rabbits, I dare say.—(Laughter.)
Mr. Tredgett said he had caught GO rabbits this season
and upwards of 200 young ones.
The room having been cleared for the bench to consult,
The CHAIRMAN said, after mature deliberation, the
Bench considered it was not safe to convict, as it was
not shown that although the hare had been caught that
the defendant made any use of it;
ithe magistrates con-
sidered that the whole fault lay n the agreement, or
rather want of a written agreement; an understanding
was
a a verylnueh louse
better
way to have a proper agreement, or
else in a fortnight's ume they shoipd have another case
brought forward, and if so the informant should be
enabled to show that the trap was set for hares, and that
way
of doing those thing, and it would
be
an unlawful use bad been made of the game.
Case dismissed.— Essex Standard.

TGHREAVELSEANDTEAuFa.I2R2.—ETIhNis VquEesSt EinNto Dth(.3
day
tutnAin
palbody,
origin of the late fire in High-street, in this town, was
Oakes, magistrate, and
held before Mr. Hilder, coroner for the borough, and a
sat with the
respectable. jury. The Town-hall, where the inquest
was held, was partially filled by the most respectable in-
coroner, and great interest in the proceedings, which
severalhabitan memberstin-
habitants
f themunicipal
were prolonged from 10 o'clock A.M. to near 4 P.M., was
betrayed by all present.
Several witnesses were examined, whose evidence went
to show that the first external appearance of the fire
of t town.
was in the premises of Mr. Adlington, 65, High-street,
from whose kitchen it was first seen to issue. The chief
point in respect to the origin of the fire was, whether it
began in a stove and flue which were averred to be in
Mr. Reed's cellar, on the same floor with Mr. Adlington's
kitchen, or in the fire-place in that kitchen. The evidence
in respect to the time of the first discovery of the fire, and
of the alarm of the inmates of both the houses, in one
or the other of which it must have originated, was ex-
tremely contradictory, as was that of the state in which
the inmates of both houses were seen to make their es-
cape. Some witnesses, for instance, deposed that Mr.
Reed was in full dress, and Miss Reed also; but it ap-
peared from the evidence of Mr. Reed, Miss Reed, and
the servant, that they all, upon the alarm of firo being
given, made their escape; Alr. Reed carrying his coat,
trousers, and waistcoat, on his arm, and Miss Reed clad
in flannel under and over her night dress, as was also
the servant. Upon this point much stress was laid. But
the whole of the conflicting evidence as to the first ap-
pearance of the fire, of the first appearance a the in-
mates of the houses of Adlington and Reed out of their
respective houses, and of the subsequent actual outbreak
of the fire, went to show that no suspicion could attach
to either of the parties inhabiting those houses iu re-

spect to any guilty knowledge of the origin of the fire.
The stove and flue from it in Reed's cellar on the same
floor (the ground floor) with Adliegton's kitchen
was proved by him and his servant never to have been
used. The builder of it deposed to having never
finished it. It was intended fur the purpose of drying
tobacco (Reed being a tbacconist). On the other
hand, the builder on being sent by the coroner to exa-
mine that particular place as it now lay bare by the fire,
on his return stated that as it now stood it was quite dif-
ferent from what he had built. Mr. Reed deposed that
it had never been altered, and had never be( n used since
built by this man. Adlington persisted in his statement
as given before the magistrates en the Wednesday fol-
lowing the day of the fire, that he saw the fire burst into
his back parlour from a cupboard by the tide of the flue
in the partition between his house and Reed's. The evi-
dence on this point was as prolix as it was inconclusive.
On the whole, it may with truth be said that the mass of
evidence gone into proved nothing further than that the
fire originated in one or other of the two houses respec-
tively occupied by Messrs. Adlington and Reed. The
jury apt:eared to have come to such a corclusion by giv-
ing the following verdict:—
•' That the two houses lately known as No. 65 and 66,
in High-street, were burned down and destroyed by fire
on the 11th of August, 1850, but by what means such
fire originated there was no evidence to show.

EXECUTION AT MONMOUTH.
MONMOUTH, FRIDAY EVENING —This morning Man.
rice Murphy and Patrick Sullivan underwent the ex-
treme penalty of the law for the wilful murder of an aged
Welch woman named Jane Lewis, near Newport.
The wretched culprits, who were Roman Catholics,
were attended in their last moments upon the drop by
the Rev. Mr. Burgess, of that persuasion, to whom, on
the previous day, they had admitted the justice of their
punishment. Murphy said he. first struck the woman
Lewis with a stone; that she then became stupified, and
that they took her in that state into the wood, where
Sullivan struck and kicked her, breaking in her jaws
and cheeks. They left her there, they said, believing
she was not quite dead. They had killed her, supposing
her basket to contain pro►isions, for they were literally
famishing for food. They also expressed their contrition
for crimes committed by them previously to their arrival
in England, and their satisfaction that the death of the
excise officer at Sydney, cousin of the woman whom they
bad murdered near Newport, did not stain their guilty
hands.

The execution took place upon the gallows erected in
front of the county gaol. Calcrafc was the executioner.
The tolling of the bell at the gaol denoted the com-
mencement of preparations within. Just after eight
the procession ascended the platform, Sullivan and
Murphy, looking haggard and ghastly, walked up to the
drop with some difficulty. Having reached that spot
they were directed by the hangman to their positions
under the fatal beam. The Rev. Mr. Burgess addressed
the culprits at this moment, and they made some reply
expressive of their trust in the forgiveness of the Al-
mighty. The culprits were then directed by Calcraft
to move a little further apart, and the caps being
placed over their eyes, in a ley/ moments the bolt was
withdrawn, and the miserable wretches were launched
into eternity.
The last execution at Monmouth was that of Michael
Kelly, also na Irishman, who was hanged for the murder
of his sweetheart at Ne'Nport Barracks about two years
since. The inhabitants of Monmouth memorialised the
Home Secretary against the infliction of capital punish-
ment upon Kelly, but upon the present occasion not a
single voice was heard in favour of a reprieve for the two
cowardly wretches who this day suffered the extreme
penalty of the law for the brutal murder of an aged and
unoffcnding woman.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—We propose to place before our readers an
intelligible outline of some accounts with which they are
not very familiar, although few subjects are more se-
riously referred to in Parliamentary discussions. When
we explain that the balance-sheet before us is that of
the East India Company, it will be readily conceived
that our limits must be ill-proportioned to our materiels.
The finances of a Government administering the affairs
of ninety millions of subjects distributed over a country
four times as large as France can hardly receive any
adequate exposition in one of our columns, but the topic
is unusually interesting, and our observations may so
far facilitate private inquiries as to remove much of the
mystery which the transactions of the Company are
thought to involve. In pursuance of the Act renewing
their charter, the East India Company are compelled
to present to the Imperial Parliament a statement
of their revenue and expenditure, and as the accounts
thus rendered are published in the usual form of
such returns, there is no difficulty in procuring the
documents, though it might perplex the general reader
to arrive at the information they contain. The
computations are made in " Company's rupees"—a coin
of the inconvenient value of about ls. 10id. The " sicca
rupee," on the other hand, is rated at exactly 25., or the
tenth part of a pound sterling, so that accounts kept in
this coin are readily reducible to English comprehension.
The easiest way, perhaps, to deal with the returns now
before us is to consider the rupees quoted as sicca rupees,
on which assumption they, of course, become pounds
sterling by striking off the right hand figure from that
sum, and it 6 per cent. is then deducted for the inferior
value of the Company's rupee, the result will be accurate
enough for all practical purposes. The revenues of the
Indian Government are derived, in the old Oriental
fashion, from the rents of the territory vesting wholly in
the sovereign power, from monopolies of certain sales,
and from sundry smaller duties. Tho two former items,
however, constitute at least four-fifths of the imperial
income, and the attention of the general inquirer
need hardly be extended beyond them. Besides
these there are subsidies or tributes receivable
from certain native courts in consideration of past
transactions or present countenance; while, on the
other hand, there are certain assignments or allow-
ances charged on the revenues of the Company,
and payable to families or individuals, in accordance
with the treaty engagements of the Government. Such
is the income by which the Indian Treasury is reple-
nished. Its charges are constituted by the interest on its
debts; by its expenditure on civil, political, and judicial
establishments; and by the cost of the military force
maintained for the protection of the whole. The out-
goings, therefore, of this Government resemble those of
European countries, while the sources of its revenue are
for the most part different. India, for the purposes of
administration, is divided, as the reader is aware, into
three presidencies or governments—those of Bengal,
Madras, and Bombay, which vary materially as well
in other respects as in the extent of their territo-
ries and revenues. The Presidency of Bengal in-
cludes the whole of llindostan Proper—that is to say,
of the country north of the Nerbudda, comprising
also the eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, and
extending in the opposite direction beyond the
banks of the Indus. We speak of this as practically
one presidency, though the north-western provinces
were detached from it by the Act of 1883, and the for-
mation of the new presidency of Agra was actually an-
nounced in Government proclamations. But the sug-
gestion of the Court of Directors on this occasion, that
the nomination of a Lieutenant-Governor for these pro-
vinces would dispense with the expensive machinery of
a new presidency, was tacitly allowed to prevail, and
though the financial accounts of this portion of India
are still rendered separately, the distinction is not re-
tained in the principal departments of administration.
The presidency of Madras, the next in importance and
magnitude, comprises almost the whole of Peninsular
India, the presidency of Bombay being confined to a
narrow strip on the Malabar coast between Cambay and
Goa, with the additions of Guzorat and Catch, and the
anomalous appendage of Scinde. The boundaries, how-
ever, of these presidencies are arbitrarily taken, and the
resources of each arc, of course, interchangeable.
In the chief or Bengal presidency the net revenues
and charges for the latest year ascertained, that
of 1847 8, amount respectively to about 74 mil-
lions and 104 millions, showing a deficiency, speak-
ing in round numbers of about 21 millions. The gross
revenue reached the sum of nearly 10 millions, but the
charges of collection—above millions—and the allow-
ances of which we have spokou above as payable from
these funds—about 250,0001.—reduced it ultimately to
the amount specified. The land rents contributed 3}
millions to the total; the monopoly of salt 1 millions;
that of opium nearly 2} millions; and the subsidies from
indebted states rather less than a quarter of a million—
making altogether some eight millions out of ten; stamp
duties and customs yielding a large share of the remain-
der. Besides these regular items, there are also brought
to account in the returns of this imperial presidency
the receipts and charges respectively of the territories
ceded by the Burmese at the close of the war, of the
more recenily conquered province of Scinde, and of
what are called " the Straits settlements"—that is
to say, of Penang, Singapore, and Malacca. The
Burmese forfeits, between the mouths of the
Ganges, and those of the Irawaddi, return a net sur-
plus of about 80,000/. ; but the Straits settlements
do net quite liquidate by their revenues the demands
of their Governments; while Scinde shows an excess
of charge amounting to more than 200,000/. This fact,
however, as we have more than once heretofore explained,
admits of considerable qualification, and it is noticeable
that the returns of the province are on the increase,
while its charges are steadily lessened year by
year.,
The civil and political services of the Company in the
presidency of Bengal absorb about one million sterling,
and some 670,0001. is devoted to the administration of
justice. The charges of the military establishment (in-
cluding that of the north-western provinces) are not
less than 5 millions, and the interest on debt consumes
nearly two more. Altogether, the balance of receipt
and expenditure for this presidency represents, as we
have said, a difference of some 2} millions against the
treasury; but in considering these figures it must be re-
membered that the heaviest charge of a Government—
that of the military force—has been brought to account
in this total without any corresponding apportionment of
income. It is from this circumstance that the north-
west( rn provinces, taken by themselves, exhibit a large
surplus revenue. Relieved of all military obligations,
they are burdened with no expenditure save the cost of
their civil, political, and judicial establishments, and a
nominal interest payable on 'their' peculiar debt—
charges amounting in the total to no more than
870,0001. On the other hand, their land-rents exceed

[PRICE SD.

those of Bengal by nearly 11 millions sterling, thus con-
tributing little less than five millions to a gross revenue
of six. From this revenue the represeutat:ve of the
Great Mogul receives a considerable pension, other de-
pendents are similarly favoured, but the result, after
deducting the costs of collection, is a net revenuo of
some live millions against a total charge of less than
one, leaving, of course, a surplus exceeding fin-. On
the whole, therefore, if we consider Bengal as virtually
still including the north-western provinces, we shall find
that the net revenue of the presidency x3(eds its net
charges by a respectable sum—though this surplus
unhappily diminishing year by year. In 1845-46 it
3ielded 2,120,0001.; in 1846-47, 2,510,000/.; in 1847-48,
1.390,0001.; while for IS4S-49 its estimated produce
fails to reach the round figures of a million. On the
items and character of the expenditure inducing thi,
result we shall take another opportunity to speak.
What we have now said will servo to introduce the
reader to some knowledge of a subject seldom popularly
discussed, and to aid in the formation of independent
opinions respecting it. The whole revenue collected
from this mighty inheritance of the M0,..„,u!s by those who
are lords of its soil from the Hooghly to the Indus does
not amount, it will be seen, to the sum realised by our
Excise duties at, home, its land-rents producing little
mere than eight millions sterling, while the stamp
duties of these islands yield nearly seven. The recent
diminution in the revenue of Bengal has occurred in
its most important branches—the land-rents, the salt
and opium returns, and the Customs; the increase of
expenditure being mainly traceable to the " war
charges," which since 1845 have risen from about
100,0001. to more than 1,500,000/. Etch of these points
will receive material elucidation from remarks to be
offered hereafter, but enough has probably now been
said to serve the present occasion.

DAILY NEW S.—lf in a sharp frost a cup of water
is exposed to the atmosphere where there is nothing to
shake it, the water will remain fluid after its tempera•
ture has fallen many degrees below the freezing point.
If when it is in this condition the cup be smartly struck,
a number of spiculm will be seen to shoot out on all
sides, and in a short time the water will be converted
into a solid mass. This is not an inapt type of the pro-
gress of political movements. It is frequently impos-
sible, long after public opinion has become as it were
saturated with the conviction that some reform is neces-
sary, to get the worshipful public to pronounce that
opinion with the degree of unanimity and emphasis
which is required to carry the reform. When this is
the case orators may cry their hearts out and writers
wear their pens to the stumps without producing any
apparent effect, so long as society remains unrefiled.
Probably every reader and hearer they have assents to
what they say, but it is the languid assent men give to
au abstract proposition. But let society, when matters
are in this condition, receive some concussion, however
slight—h t a mercantile crisis pinch many and remove
some topping men from the top of the ladder to a
lower round—or let the example of some neigh-
bouring state rouse the imitative propensities
of our nature—and the long-desired reform will
be effected by a transition as sudden and irre-
sistible as that which made a lump of solid ice out of
what was a thin fluid only a moment before. The seem-
ingly wasted efforts of the agitators have no more been
resultless than tho silent working of the frost; they
made society ready to rush into the new state of being
as soon as the shake came. Now it occurs to us, that
in respect to electoral reform, public opinion is at pre-
sent in such a condition that little more than a good
rousing shake is required to bring about a repetition of
the Reform Bill movement. No candid or dispassionate
man will pretend that the Reform Act has been utterly
fruitless. To any one who should maintain such an
opinion, the repeal of the corn-laws, sad a few other vi-
tally important measures that have been carried since it
passed, give a flat contradiction. But one thing the
Reform Act has not done; it has not materially altered
the distribution of political power, or the means by
which the great mass of Members find their way into
Parliament, the manner in which they there coalesce or
split into sections, and the ways by which they creep into
office. Such a change, however, was precisely the thing
which the multitudes who sung in chorus " the Bill,
the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," till before the
clamour from their myriad throats the old close and no-
mination boroughs toppled down, like the walls of Je-
richo at the sounding of the trumpets, intended to effect.
The ten-pound franchise in boroughs, the extinction of
a certain number of boroughs, the creation of a certain
number of new ones, and the limitation of others to one
Member instead of two, was with them but the means to
an end; and that end has been missed. Under the old
electoral system which prevailed before the year of grace
1830, the aristocracy—titled and untitled—were the
masters and makers of the House of Commons. They
and their recruits and agents from the ranks of the
learned professions and the great capitalists swarmed
into the House through the close and nomination bo-
roughs, and made it their instrument. The wants and
wishes of the people—including under that designation all
classes as contradistinguished from the few who played
at the game of politics—were unheard in Parliament.
There were loud and long debates, but nothing came of
them in the way of legisla.ion with a view to assimilate
our institutions to the altered circumstances of society.
A modification or a change ita the Cabinet, a redistribu-
tion of the honours and emoluments of office among the
aristocratic scramblers for them, was all that was at
any time accomplished or aimed at. For the first few
years after the Reform Act became law there appeared
to be a change for the better. But this change was only
apparent. The aristocratic factions did not learn all at
once how to manipulate the new constituencies. Many
of them had long in their hearts been convinced of the
necessity or harmlessness of some of the changes de-
manded by public opinion, and were not unwilling
to concede them with a good grace, in order to earn
a character that might be useful to them. But the
short list of reforms which a section of the aristocracy
was prepared to grant has long baen exhausted. A new
generation has grown up to manhood, and advanced far
into it since 1830. New wants have begun to be felt by
society, and new wishes to be entertained. But these,
however urgent, have not yet found their way to the
aristocratic understanding. The select circle of the
noble and wealthy, within which office and political
power are contested, is once more in its views and sen-
timents isolated from the general public ; and it has dis-
covered that the new constituencies aro little, if at all,
less manageable than the old, and has reconstructed its
shattered electioneering agencies. The Reform Bill has
been a failure, inasmuch as under it the real wants and
wishes of the people find a voice in the House of Com-
mons as rarely and with as little effect as ever they did.
Out of doors you scarcely meet with a man v. no, in
the frank confidence of private conversation, does not
admit as much. Even in public discussion it is but
faintly denied. A general ;spirit of dissatisfaction
with the profitless waste of time by Parliament per-
vades society. A rooted conviction that a further and
searching change in our electoral system is indispensable
andinevitable is daily gaining ground. And yet it can-
not be said that the course of Parliamentary reform is
making any visible progress. This is certainly not at-
tributable to any lack of zeal or ability in its advocates.
The leaders cf the Parliamentary and Financial Reform
Association are as indefatigably active as men can well
be. To look no further back than their last reported
meeting, more masterly and telling speeches than those
of Mr. George Thompson and Sir Joshua Walmsley
cannot well be imagined. Yet the visits of these gen-
tlemen and their colleagues to various localities are not
followed by co-operative action on the part of those who
receive their doctrines with assent and rapturous ap-
plause. All the work is left to them and the few who
originated the agitation along with them. No new
labourers flock iu to claim a share in the honour of
promoting the good work. Satisfied withexpressing
acquiescence and approbation, their auditors betake
themselves again to their ordinary avocations. They
wish for reform, doubtless, but expect, or, at least,
wish it to drop like an over-ripe plum into their mouths.
And thus it will be till the shake comes which is to
awaken men to earnest and decided action. Meanwhile
the labours of the Reform Association, though producing
at present little visible fruits, are not lost. They are
maturing convictions, and making purposes more definite
against the arrival of the hour of action. Nor can that
hour be far distant. A few such resultless sessions as
the last will work wonders. Nay, the present conti-
nuous rains, and sudden lowering of the temperature to
an autumnal chill—the extension of the Belgian floods
• to a few more countries—the short-corning in the Ame-
rican crop of cotton—or a final rapture between Prussia
and the other great Powers, may accelerate its advent.
Meanwhile, if we might take the liberty,
we would
venture to hint to the Reform Associative that their
missionary operations, with a view to prepare men's
i!:onn3inprdeosurenna
argrialeilnanitstig,
tthe coming of that hour, would admit of
We think they have judged wisely
as they have done of late, their enun-
ciation of the objects they aim at. What is wanted is
such a change in our electoral system as will ensure a
large infusion of new blood into the House of Commons,
and by that means compel the class who have hitherto
monopolized administrative office to adopt a policy more
in consonance with public opinion, and admit colleagues,
from classes hitherto excluded, into offices of note and
influence. To this end such a change must be effected
in the constituencies as will ensure the admission of
men to Parliament who are really animated by popular
sympathies, and who participate in the convictions of
the people. This is only to be accomplished by an ex-
tension of the suffrage, that will bring classes sow utterly
excluded within the pale of the constitution, and by
such a re-distribution of the electoral districts as will
prevent the House of Commons from being packed with
nominees of the aristocracy. To disseminate a convic-
tion of these truths is the especial task of the moment.
To expend thought and breath in devising and recom-
mending special plans for realising them is sheer waste
of time. Manhood suffrage, scot and lot suffrage, the ex-
tinction of small boroughs and the creation of new, or
the introduction of entirely new electoral districts, a
time will come for the discussion of these specialities.
The business of the day is to convince men that the suf-
frage must be widely extended, and that the close con-
'tituences, by means of which the aristocracy pack the
'louse of Commons, must be extinguished. Let this fact
be firmly rooted in public opinion, and when the moment
for action comes, the statesman who propounds the plan
best adapted to carry it into act will find himself
borne
Association onward triumphnh e
sn
orbey tnhde
more
concentrated Of
late
th
sßeafrogrna
u-