The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-02 00:00:00

czYuleiatila AUL
c7g.,

LONDON, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1850.

The House of Lords have, we regret to say, ex- '
hibited another proof of their invincible antipathy to
any measure in any degree tending towards the ex-
tension of popular rights. " Parliamentary Reform"
is a phrase that stinks in the nostrils of the heredi-
tary legislators. They look back with regret on the
good old times when rotten boroughs flourished, when
each Noble Lord could " do as he liked with his
own," and when the obedient constituency received
with due submission the orders of its lordly pa-
tron, returning as its representative the worthy
gentleman, who, having purchased the honour, at a
tolerably high figure, was anxious to turn his bargain
to the best possible advantage, and only sought fa-
vourable opportunities for selling them in turn—or
even, if a greater evidence of subserviency were re-
quired, would, with equal pleasure, have re-
turned one of the sturdy " flunkeys," who,
with fragrant bouquet and stalwart calves,
wield the gold-topped bamboo behind her
Ladyship's chario`. These palmy days have
unfortunately passed away. The fetal year 1830 was
a peel el of mourning and tribulation among those
who had invested their capital in whit were com-
monly termed "pocket boroughs." Many were alto-
gether disfranchised. Pieced in the black list, the
doomed schedule A, no consolation remained for
their dejected proprietors. Others retained a
moiety of their former honours, and still sent
one Member to dose away his time on the
benches of St. Stephen ; while a fortunate few,
barely evading the assigned limit, continued to send
two Members to the Commons House of Parliament,
and thus shone with increased lustre from the extinc-
tion cf former competition. Forty-two boroughs,
sending sixty-nine Members to Parliament, escaped
this modern "massacre of the innocents." These fa-
voured districts are still what is modestly styled
"subject to local influences," or, in other words,
the mere form of an election is gone through.
The "free and independent electors " flock
joyously to the hustings to record their
votes in favour of the nominee of the noble patron.
There is of course no appearance of a contest, no
person would be guilty of an act of such ridiculous
folly as to suppose that those " highly respectable
persons," so eminently worthy of the franchise, would
vote contrary to the high behests of the magnate
into whose hands they bad surrendered what should
ba the most cherished privileges of a freeman. A
few complimentary speeches are made, and the day
closes in drunkenness and debauchery, a fitting con-
clusion to the disgraceful scene of corruption and
venality with which it commenced.
. . .

But-the Peers of England cannot consent to any
amelioration however trifling. Any adlitional infu-
sion of the popular• element into the constituencies
might render greater the chances of rebellion, and
possibly lead to political revolutions in the representa-
tion of these happy boroughs. Unwarned by
the consequences of their dogged refusal,
twenty years since, to disfranchise East Ret-
ford, and to bestow the privilege of which it
should have been deprived to one of our busiest seats
of manufacturing industry, their Lordships are still
opposing every concession, and exhibiting the most
unbending obstinacy. Bat they were speedily
obliged to " eat their leek," albeit the task was one
of intense suffering, and possibly they may again
have to yield an undignified submission if they force
the popular branch of the Legislature into a collision,
and that on a question relating to the constitution of
the Commons House of Parliament.

The state of the franchise in Ireland had become
truly deplorable ; it was a ridiculous absurdity to
assert that it was anything approaching to a popular
representation. The state of the electoral lists in
France previous to the late revolution was not more
remarkable than those in the Irish counties at this
moment. We have heard it over and over again
asserted that the fall of the Orleans dynasty was
mainly attributable to this glaring defect, and yet
the Lords are anxious to perpetuate in Ireland a
system which led to such results in a neighbouring
country.
The Earl of CAULISLE last night stated, and we
believe but too truly, that " the whole constituency
of the Irish counties did not amount to 30,000." And
be it remembered, that the inhabitants of these coun-
tries amount to between 6,000,000 and 7,000,000, or,
as Lord DgFFERIN remarked, " but twojifths of a re-
spectable man to every hundred persons in Ireland."
This was a state of things urgently requiring cor-
rection. Something should manifestly be done, and
that speedily to remedy the grievance. The Parlia-
mentary Voters (Ireland) Bill was accordingly brought
in and carried through the Commons by decisive

- -
majorities. The main principle of this much re-
quired and salutary, although inadequate, measure
was to bestow the county franchise on the occupiers
of land rated to the poor-rate at a net annual value of
Si. or upwards. That this was no wild or revolu-
tionary proposition, something approximating to uni-
versal suffrage, may be gathered from this fact, that,
if conceded to the fullest extent, it would not
give more than 264,000 county voters out of the
nearly 7,000,000 of inhabitants, or 15 per cent. of the
adult male population, while 29 per cent. of the adult
males are thus privileged in this more favoured
country. That was not so great a boon, but it was
objected to, and on the motion of the Earl of DEsART
151. was substituted for 81., the amendmen2. t being
of 2 carried against Ministers by a majority One
of the most important and urgently required measures
of the session has thus been neutralized by their
Lordships. It, however, remains to be seen whether
the Commons will remain firm, and stedfastly refuse
to yield to the alteration that has been made.

Fortunately for the credit of the Government and
of the Legislature, not to speak of the national
pocket, the amendment proposed last evening by the
Hon. Baronet the Member for the University of
Oxford in reference to the Bill for the erection of a
temporary bridge at Westminster, was carried by a
sweeping majority of 123 out of a House of 153,
merely 15 being opposed to and 138 in favour of Sir
ROBERT Hangar INGLIS'S amendment. That amend-
ment was simply to the effect that the measure in-
stead of being read a second time should be for-
mally referred to the consideration of a Select
Committee. We have no very prodigious af-
fection, we must admit, in the abstract for
Select Committees. Indeed we rather look upon
them as Parliamentary valves for the superfluous ex-
penditure of public time, or as systematic excuses
for supplementary procrastination. To our thinking
there was something wise as well as witty in the re-
mark made the other day by poor Sir ROBERT PEEL,
when it was proposed to pursue a similar course in
regard to the Metropolitan Burial Bill—that the
reference of the matter to a Select Committee would
be the most extraordinary instance upon record of
extramural interment 1 Neveribeless, nuisance;

though they are, these Select Committees are, at
times, necessary nuisances : without saying it simply
for the sake of the pun, we may, with perfect truth,
remark, that by resorting to this method of com-
mitting obnoxious measures, our legislators are fre-
quently spared the necessity of most egregiously
committing themselves. Precisely such has been
the case in the present instance. By adopting the
amendment of Sir R. H. lanres, the House of Com-
mons was saved the disgrace cf thoughtlessly squan-
dering a large amount of public money upon a
most extravagant undertaking. For it can scarcely
be forgotten by the majority cf our readers (after
our very detailed exposure of the evils certain to re-
sult from this preposterous scheme) how mistaken and
ruinous would be the consequences likely to result from
the plan submitted to the acceptance of Parliament.
Looking at the hideous and dilapidated bridge
now spanning the Thames between Lambeth and
Westminster, it is really melancholy to reflect upon
the fact that no less than 70,000/. sterling
have been squandered upon it in the mere labour of
reparation : 70,0001., and the structure is still not
only a grievous eyesore in the very heart of our me-
tropolis, but is likewise in a condition that threatens
to be most dcngerous as a line of traffic and inter-
communication. Knowing this notorious circum-
stance, knowing that so many thousands have been
ineffectually wasted in patching up an uncomely pile
of masonry built up upon rotten foundations,
it is indeed marvellous to find a proposition
seriously submitted to the Legislature for the
erection of a temporary bridge, costing altogether on
enormous sum, considering that it is simply tempo-
rary—and that with a view to the careful recon-
struction of another and a permanent bridge upon the
site which has so long proved unsafe and ricketty.
The scheme altogether is without even that specious
reason about it which somewhat relieves of its absur-
dity the recommendation of the lubber in a sea-
fight to thrust his head through the hole
made by the first shot, under the con-
viction that there are a million chances to
one that a second will not pass through the same ori-
fice. It seems really as though the rottenness of the
bed of the river at this particular spot had endeared
the present site of Westminster-bridge to some of the
Members cf the Legislature, orias if the prospect of
continuing the old disbursements in the way of repair
was one of altogether irresistible fascination. Cer-
tainly
from our past experience of the foundations,
and their propensity to drop down lower and
lower when least expected, the funds appro-
priated to the carrying out of the exist-
ing plans in this instance might be very
appropriately termed the Sinking Fends. Thanks to
Sir R. 11. INGLIS, however, there is yet another op-
portunity afforded for the redemption of the public
from this deplorably voracious dilemma. The Bill
as at present constructed is about to pass under the
scrutiny of a very deliberate Committee. Before the
matter has passed through that Committee, we are
in hopes that it will be so ceeefully emended as to baffle
the recognition even of its originators. Our hopes
in this regard nee authorised by our sense of the
force of one or two very imperative and undeniable
considerations. We cannot imagine to ourselves, for
instance, the possibility cf the Committee sanction-
ing the selection of the present site for a bridge at
Westminster, so soon as they begin to estimate the
enormity of the sums of money lavished already in
the way of repairs, the too immediate proximity of
the existing structure to the new Houses of Par-
liament, and a variety of other equally per-
suasive reflections. Instead of recommending
the ridiculous proposition, to which the Commons
yesterday refused the privilege of a second reading,
we arc sanguine that the Select Committee may sug-
gest in their report the substitution of the present
structure in lieu of a new wooden one for a temporary
line of communication (thereby saving, as it were by
a stroke of the pen, a useless expenditure of 100,0001),
and the selection of a new site in lieu of the old one
(thereby setting off to the best advantage the gorgeous
palace of the Legislature, and securing to the bridge
between Lambeth and Westminster a safe and solid
foundation). By acting in this manner the Committee
will economize the public money, will secure in the
readiest way the uninterrupted flow of traffic, will
aid the genius of Mr. BARRY in displaying his archi-
tectural masterpiece, arid will prevent the recurrence
of a lamentable and expensive series of catastrophes.

On Thursday next, namely, the day after to-
morrow, the unfortunate Metropolitan Interments
Bill will be brought under Committee in the Lords,
having been already hurried sub silenuo through the
first and second readings. Unless some energetic
member of that august assemblage venture, then,
upon some bold and resolute opposition, we see no-
thing before us but the final stages re quired to trans-
form the measure into a veritable enactment. With-
out the realisation of that last opportunity, we shall
see this miserable Bill rendered the law of the land
by quietly passing the third reading in the Lords,
and in due course of time receiving the Royal assent.
One or two glaring anomalies we would here briefly
point out before the measure be brought into Com-
mittee. For example, it appears that instead of se-
lecting lands of a moderate cost, the highest priced
lands, such as the land at Erith, are chosen for the
formation of the first cemetery. Let it be
borne in mind that the Government (without
purchase) are already in possession of lands precisely
suited for the purpose of interment, and that the se-
lection of such lands would prevent the necessity Of
further exorbitant taxation, besides rendering the
charges for burial more reasonable—and the extrava-
gance of this arrangement becomes manifest. How
moderate the charges of interment may be made with
dun economy is seen in the fact that the poor can be
buried for one shilling and sixpence a head, and the
rich for one pound two shillings and sixpence, in ce-
meteries at this moment existing, and—fortunately
for them—not under the direction of Government !

THE ATROCIOUS ASSAULT UPON

lIER MAJESTY.

The Sun published a late edition, containing all that
could be known up to eight o'clock, which reached the
largo towns in the south and west of England early the
next morning. It is only justieo to say that we were
assisted in expressing The Sun on this occasion by
Messrs. Clayton a9d Son, of 265, Strand.
We have received, through Mr. Alexander Johnston,
34, Bachelor's-walk, a Fourth Edition of The Sun of
yesterday, containing the account of a most horrible
outrage on her Majesty.—Dublin Weekly Register,
June 29. _ _

We have received a dispatch, per Mr. Alexander
Johnston, news-agent, 34, Bachelg's-walk, from The
Sun of Thursday evening, of the atrocious assault upon
her Majesty.—The Nation, June 29.
We are indebted to Mr. Alexander Johnston, news-
agent, of Bachelor's-walk, for an early copy of the
Fourth Edition of last night's Sun, containing the ac-
count of a most dastardly attack on her Majesty yester-
day evening.—Dublin Evening Mail, June 28.
Our readers are indebted for the account of the atro-
cious assault upon her Majesty to the kindness of Mr.
Alexander Johnston, 34, Bachelor's-walk, who was at
the trouble to forward us the Fourth Edition of Thurs-
day's Sun, in which it was contained. We are much
obliged to Mr. Johnston for his courtesy on this occasion.
—7 he Tablet, June 29.

WHAT WOULD OUR ANCESTORS SAY P—WEHTE-
EAST Ix LEEDS!—On Friday last Messrs. Lovegrove, of
Blackwell, forwarded to Mr. Fleischmann, of the Scarborough
white-bait, lsc'thicdhinanrerrivpeadritny,ceipnitaasl
cHoontdelit,ioLne,eadas,da
wsuasppl
supplycooked of
h
w fora
great perfection as if eaten at Greenwich. Twenty years ago
this delicate fish could scarcely be transmitted to London.
So much for railway communication !
Miss WOOLGAR.—This justly favourite actress will
take her benefit at the Adelpbi Theatre to-morrow (Wed-
nesday). The Hunchback, in which she will play the cha-
racter of Helen, and her father, Mr. woolgar, that of Master
Walter, will be the chief piece. of the evening.
STATE OF TRADE.--The accounts of the state of
trade in the provinces during the past week are all satis-
factory, a better tone being now observable in the Man-
chester market. At Leeds and Bradford there is a full de-
mand at firm and improving prices. At Huddersfield there
is more doing in manufactures than for some time past; and
at Leicester, where also prices have risen, there is a cer-
tainty of work throughout the remainder of the year. In
all quarters the home demand seems recovering from its
recent depression ; and, owing to the prospects of the har-
vest, there is great confidence in its fiirther increase. The
report likewise from the Welch iron market indicates some
little revival.

Tam POST AND THE PEOPLE.—A. correspondent
informs us of a working man who, on Monday, received a
letter from Berwick, stating that his mother had died on the
preceding Friday, and requesting his attendance on Sunday
or Monday morning; the letter was not posted in time for
Saturday's mail, and there being no Sunday conveyance of
letters, it came too late to be of service; the bereaved sun
reached Berwick after his mother's funeral was over.
CHOLERA (IRELAND.—From a return just pre-
sented to the House of Commons, it appears that the total
number of persons attacked with cholera in Ireland, and re-
lieved, medically or otherwi,e, by boards of guardians, from
September 29, 1818, to March 25, 1859, was 55,141. The
cost of relict to 5,092 persons, whose relatioes or supporters
died from cholera, was 5,1831. 14s. 3d., which, added to the
medical and other expenses occazianed by cholera, made a
total of 41,1021.85. ld.