The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-01 00:00:00

ebelenina gnu

LONDON, FRIDAY, MARCH 1, 1850.

Another struggle for Parliamentary reform was
gallantly made last evening, but, as a matter of
course, proved wholly ineffectual. Under the direc-
tions of our veteran Reformer JOSEPH HUME, the
Honourable Member for Leicester, the Honourable
Member for Sheffield, and the Honourable and Gal-
lant Representative of Middlesex, endeavoured to urge
upon the consideration of the Legislature the neces-
sity of extending the suffrage, of adopting the ballot,
of consenting to triennial Parliaments, and of ar-
ranging the elective districts in a manner more ac-
cordant with the principles of the Constitution, and
in a form more proportioned to the relative size
of the constituencies. All to no purpose !
Sir GEORGE GREY was obdurate. Lord JOHN
RUSSELL was more than obdurate, his rejec-
tion cf the scheme being enforced by the sarcasm
of his language. It is strange too that the pseudo-
lovers of democracy—these most specious Whigs and
so-called Liberals—should persist in flinging back in
the teeth of the people such demands as those we
have enumerated, as though they were propositions
of unparalleled extravagance. It is strange, we say,
because the requirements comprised in the motion of
the Hon. Gentleman the Member for Montrose are
either such as have been acknowledged in pre-
vious legislation, or such as are strictly com-
patible with the legislative measures intro-
duced and carried by the present generation
of statesmen. Triennial Parliaments, for example,
are no novel theories spawned from the new-fangled
philosophy of a CHEVALIER, and assented to by the
equally new-fangled social philosophy of a FOURRIER.
Septennial Parliaments, contrasted with them, are
as things of yesterday to :the matters of antiquity ;
for what we now ask is only a return to the ancient
custom of our constitution. The extension of the
suffrage, at least to some moderate extent, is a scheme
precisely resembling the one propounded by the Go-
vernment in reference to the sister island, and intro•
duced to the Legislature under the form of the Parlia-
mentary Voters (Ireland) Bill. When we ask,
therefore, for the extension of the elective franchise
to a larger section of the people in Wales and
England—to something more than 800,000 out of a
population of 16,000,000, or, taking even the revised
of
calculation of the Home Secretary, to something
more than:5009140,0002
w, oute ar e ofon
only
yn
asking adult
fr
themale popula-
tion
appli-
cation to the portion chief •
on of the United Kingdom
of those very boons which the Cabinet
has deemed advisable for the better government
of the smaller of the British islands. We are only
seeking a small instalment of that wholesome reform
which has been lavished wholesale upon the English
settlers in Southern Africa, and in others of our colo-
nial possessions. With reference to the ballot, more-
over, we are simply requiring from the national re-
presentatives that mode of voting which has
been long in vogue in their most conser-
vative wet most aristocratic clubs—that mode
of voting which has twice saved the people
of France on occasions of tremendous emergency
from being plunged anew into all the horrors of a
social and political revolution. Finally, as to the
better distribution of the country into electoral dis-
trict., we maintain that Mr. Hume and the rest of
the Radical Reformers are insisting upon a necessity
which is altogether removed beyond the reach of con-
tradiction. It is removed beyond the reach of con-
tradiction, for inasmuch as it admits of no argument
whether it is just or unjust that a borough of 20,000
voters should have as many representatives as a
borough.of 60,000 or 70,000.
Seeing, therefore, that the demand* comprised in

the annual motion, christened by some parties Mr.
Humes Charter, are, as we have already observed,
strictly in accordance with the ancient scheme of the
British Constitution ; or, seeing yet further, that
they are actually compatible with the policy adopted
towards Ireland and towards the English colonies
by the existing Government—who shall presume to
sneer them down as the dreamings of political tran-
scendentalism, or the insane aspirations of a body
of legislative fanatics ? Among the fanatics of this
character we are proud to be enrolled ; and if this be
transcendentalism then we too are indeed transcen-
dentalists.

What can be said as to the witty sarcasms flung at
the Treasury benches last night with an air of such
malicious bonhommie by the Hon. Gentleman the
Member for Middlesex ? What ? But that,
as on divers previous occasions, according to
the old adage " many a true word has been
spoken in jest." As our facetious contemporary,
Mr. Punch, has very recently suggested—and bug-
gested, too, with a humorous accuracy worthy of
the author of the " Comic Grammar"—statesmen in
office have a marvellous aptitude for forgetting their
antecedents, but remembering their relatives ! In

illustration of the correctness of the remark, at any
rate as far as the former peculiarity is concerned,
we may turn directly to the discussion of yesterday
in the British House of Commons. There
indeed we shall find many an evidence of the facility
with which the most popular of our liberal statesmen
can sink their antecedents as reformers in the waters
cf oblivion—enlarging upon the beauties of conser-
vation where they had formerly only recognised the
necessity for improvement. Against such inconsis-
tencies we have only to bring forward, as the most
terrible means of reproach, the speeches delivered by
these same statesmen when they vaunted their windy
patriotism from the tempestuous ranks of the Op-
position I

The Irish Parliamentary Voters Bill, adjourned
from last Monday night, in consequence of one of
the most fierce and factious oppositions upon record
in the history of party warfare, comes on again this
evening for consideration in the House of Commons.
No less than eight mortal divisions took place on that
evening, fur no better or stronger reason than to
await the termination of the Irish assizss—a reason,
to our minds, entirely insufficient to warrant the reck-
less and unprincipled conduct of the Protectionist
party on the occasion, or at all to justify such a
profligate waste of the public time. 'We feel con-
vinced the public will not deem the absence of a few
practising barristers a sufficient reason to stop the
process of legislation on a great and important ques-
tion, the justice and expediency of which has been
affirmed by a large majority of the House of Com-
mons, and which has been long and loudly called for
by the people of Ireland.
We do not believe the absence of one or two
country gentlemen from an Irish county during the
assizes will at all retard the dispatch of public
business, and we fully agree with a gentleman who
has won the respect of all parties in the House,
as well from his urbanity• and ever flowing good
humour, as from his practical usefulness—Mr. M. J.
O'CONNELL—" that it was not the first duty of an
Irish Member to attend the assiees." It is distressing,
we had almost said disgusting, to see men of sense
and talent yielding to the paltry dictates of faction,
and seizing every opportunity which the present un-
fixed and indefinite forms of the House admit of to
throw vexatious obstacles in the way of their political
opponents. We cannot but regret the course which
Mr. DIsaAELI, so mischievously for the public in-
terest and so ruinously for his own charac-
ter, pursued on Monday evening. It is melancholy
to see a man of his ability and undoubted
eloquence stooping to the vile trickery of a faction
who would blindly but vainly oppose every step tend-
ing to advance the liberties of man. We have more
than once expressed better hopes of the eloquent
leader of the Opposition, we have even indulged in
the hope of seeing him one day come out from among
the herd of obstructives and leave them in their in-
significance. We will confess we had some lingering
hope that he would not give to the littleness of fac-
tion the varied talent which was "meant for man-
kind," and we trust ere it be too late he will reflect
on his position, and not be led by the fiery partisan-
ship of wily and unscrupulous advisers into any
further opposition to a measure called for no less by
expediency than by wisdom and justice. We trust,
at least, he will be no further party to the disgusting
exhibition of Monday night, and that the measure
will be allowed to proceed this evening with the due
deliberation required by so important a subject, and
without further obstruction than is legitimate on a
measure under the consideration of rational and honest
men in a deliberative assembly.
The question itself is a very simple one, and to our
mind requires little argument to enforce its necessity
and justice. A few facts and figures will clearly show
that the people of Ireland are not fairly represented
in the British House of Commons. We would first
take an aggregate view of the representative body in
the three kingdoms. The population of England and
Wales, about 16,000,000, has 500 Members, or one
to every 32,000 persons ; Scotland, 2,500,000, has
53 Members, or one in every 48,000 persons ; while
Ireland, with a population of 8,500,000, has 105
Members, or one to every 81,000 persons. Now in
this broad and simple view of the case the injustice to
Ireland is manifest to the simplest understanding. If
the democratic principle were carried out to its full
extent, in accordance with the spirit of the Reform
Bill, and that the representation were strictly
apportioned amongst the whole constituent body in
the United Kingdom, the result would be as follows :
—Taking the population according to the census of
1841, in round numbers, at 27 millions, the 658
Members constituting the House of Commons would
give one Member for about every 41,000 persons, and
in a representation thus equitably apportioned the
numbers would stand thus:—

Members.
England and Wales would have 892
Scotland
Ireland
Thus, by the present unjust and inequitable distribu-
tion, England has about 27 per cent. more than her
proper share, Scotland about 10 per cent. less, and
Ireland 49 per cent. less than her proper share in the
representation.

Though these facts and figures are not, perhaps,
strictly pertinent to the question immediately at issue
this evening, yet, as they give a broad and general
view of the inequality and injustice of our present
representative system, we thought it right to place
them before our readers preparatory to our notice of
the apportionment of the franchise. In the counties
of England there is one voter for every nineteen
persons, in Wales one for every 18 persons, in Scot-
land one for every thirty-three persons, and in Ireland
one for every one hundred and twenty-three persons.
Thus, it is clear that the franchise of Ireland is as
narrow as its representation is unjust and unequal;
and if she is—as she ought to be—treated as an in-
tegral portion of the empire, this crying injustice
should be at once done away with, and her people
placed on something like a fair footing with the
other portions of her MaJesre's subjects. Upon
what principle of fair play or common justice these
equitable claims of the people of Ireland should be
refused or delayed we cannot imagine, as the obstruc-
tives have not condescended to favour the public with
any argument on the subject ; at least, none that
could fur a moment stand the test of a rational exa-
mination, and we trust the people of Ireland, or any
portion of them who have been deluded into a league
with those who would tax the poor man's bread, and
who would refuse them the rights cf a common citi-
zenship with their fellow-subjects, will at once awaken
to a sense of their position, and, giving up the insane
cry for protection,
abandon a faction that would per-
petuate their wrongs, and has ever been the enemy of
human progress and human liberty. It is much to
be lamented that some measures should not
be adopted to prevent a recurrence of the disgraceful
scene of Monday evening lest; and we sincerely
trust the present Parliament will not separate
without adopting some means to prevent the recur-
rence of the mischievous farce enacted a few evenings
since, alike unworthy the dignity of the House of
Commons, and detrimental to the public interest.

Those who are interested in the safety of Sir
Jonx FRANKLIN are requested by advertisement to
enter their subscriptions for a kind of miniature ex-
pedition, to be dispatched in quest of that dis•

tinguished navigator. Those who are interested in
the safety of Sir JOHN Ross, to say nothing of his
well-earned and most honourable fame as an Arctic
explorer, are bound by the common principles of
prudence to pause before embarking in an undertaking
of this character, and to meditate upon the probable
futility of any such enterprise. Our respect for the
abilities of Sir JOHN Ross, and our regard for the
reputation of one of our most eminent mariners,
impels us to speak thus before the scheme—a scheme,
to our thinking,
,more than usually perilous—shall
have become further developed. Rather than witness
any futile attempts of a mere supplementary descrip•
tion, we would gladly see the concentration of all the
intelligence, the energy, and the munificence of the
English people upon the bold and competent expedi-
tion of relief, fitted out under the direction of the
Government. Here, as elsewhere, union is of all
things the most desirable, because without union all
endeavours at affording assistance must necessarily
prove ineffectual.

After holding the office of Lord Chief Justice of
England for the long term of eighteen years, Lord
DENMAN this day resigns it, and retires from the pr.,-
fession of which, for the greater part of half a century,
he has been a distinguished ornament. It is now fifty
years since Lard DENMAN was one cf the most assi-
duous and most esteemed of the pupils of Mr.
CHARLES BUTLER, the eminent conveyancer, a learned
and a liberal man, whose friendship (a prize of which
any man might be proud) had been earned by the
assiduity of his pupil, and from whom that pupil
acquired those liberal principles and that knowledge
and reverence for the English Constitution which
urged him on every occasion, where great constitutional
principles were at stake, to at once rush forward,
careless of consequences, to preserve the ark of the
Constitution inviolate. It was this reverence for
constitutional principles that urged him on to under-
take the defence of BRANDRETR and the other vic-
tims of the unconstitutional spy system which SID-
MOUTH (to the eternal disgrace of his memory be it
recorded), sought to naturalize in this country ; it
was this reverence for constitutional principles which
urged him on to undertake, in conjunction with one
even more illustrious than himself, the defence
of Queen CAROLINE, whom it was sought to
crush by an unconstitutional Bill of Pains
and Penalties ; it was this reverence for
constitutional principles which induced him to de-
nounce, in terms which are now " familiar in our
mouths as household words," trial by jury as " a
mockery, a delusion, and a snare," if tricks and
tamperings with the jury lists, such as those prac-
tised by the Irish officials with the Dublin jury list
on the trial of the monster indictinait against O'CON-
NELL could for one moment be tolerated. A Liberal
during the whole course of his career in Par-
liament and at the bar—a Liberal during the ear-
lier portion of his career on the bench, he seems
during the latter portion of his career, as Judge, to
have suffered his mind " to be cribbed, cabinned
and confined" by the mere lawyers, most of the old
high prerogative Tories, who were his colleagues on
the bench, and by some of whom he had latterly suffered
himself to be led. His conduct in the celebrated
STOCKDALE and IhetsAnD case first exhibited the
influence which his high prerogative col-
leagues had acquired over him, an influence
which afterwards became plainly manifest in
all cases in which the Press was concerned,
which came before him for trial. In the Lord Chief
Justice of latter days, who evidently feared while he
hated the press, and who let no opportunity escape
of " feeding fat his ancient grudge," by stretching to
its utmost extent the law of libel, it was scarcely pos-.
sible to recognise the former Liberal Member for Not-
tingham. In this respect the career of his suc-
cessor, Lord CAMPBELL, presents a marked and
most favourable contrast to that of Lord
DENMAN. Lord DENMAN, like many other
great Whig lawyers, was fond of talking about
the feeedom of the press in Parliament and of toasting
it at dinner, but neither himself nor his friends ever

made any attempt to secure for the press the freedom,
the possession of which was, according to their own
statements, so necessary. Not so Lord C AMPBELL ;
no sooner was he raised to the peerage than he intro-
duced and carried the new Libel Law, which may
justly be callod the Bill of Rights of the Public
Journalist, which has made the li:)erty of the press
a reality, instead of, as it was before the passing of the

law, " a mockery, a delusion, and a snare," and which,
. . .

conjoined with the libel law of Mr. Fox, may be
considered as the pall zdiurn of that liberty. A
better successor for Lord DENMAN than Lord CAMP-
BELL the Ministry could not have nominated—equal
to Lord DENMAN in his reverence for the Consti-
tion, in sound good sense, and in decision of cha-
racter, he is of more liberal principles, and is not
likely to suffer himself to be led away by the in-
fluence of his colleagues. No man ever left the
bench more respected than Lord DENMAN, no man was
ever raised to it of whom greater expectations were
formed than Lord,CAmenELL. Of eminently judicial
mind, a sound lawyer, a ripe scholar, " a man of
most upright and just integrity," we feel certain that
JOHN Lord CAMPBELL will more than realise the
most sanguine expectations of his most ardent ad-
mirers.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Journal des D6bats says that the slight uneasi-
ness which had manifested itself in the neighbourhood
of the Column of the Bastille, had completely disap-
peared, and that during the whole of, Wednesday the
greatest tranquillity prevailed throughout the whole
of that quarter of the city, as well as in every other
part of the capital.
The Moniteur contains the following official con-
tradiction of the rumours of war, which have, during
the course of the last few days, been extensively cir-
culated in Paris. The official journal says :
" The alarming reports which it has been endeavoured
to put in circulation for the last two days have to-day
acquired more consistency. We are authorised to declare
that they are devoid of all foundation. The Government
has received this day dispatches from Russia, Prussia,
and Austria, and they enable us to affirm that the
peace of Europe was never more secure. The news of
the entry into Switzerland of French, Prussian, and
Austrian armies is, therefore, completely unfounded.
The public cannot be too much on its guard against the
g
popffaacishg false news,
evidently invented with a
elections."
ypireowp propagation oena
approaching
It would appear, however, by the following ex-
tract from the Constitutionnel, that the relations be-
tween Prussia and Switzerland are not of that amica-
ble character which the friends of peace could desire,
and we think it is clear from the tenor of the article,
that should Prussia attempt to make good her claim
to Neufchatel by force, Francewill interfere in defence
of Switzerland. The Constitutionnel Says:—
"A certain number of political refugees in Switzer-
land disturbed by their intrigues the neighbouring states,
which demanded their removal. Switzerland, recognis-
ing these welf-founded fears, had already expelled the
greatest number of these refugees, and continues, so far
as lies in her power, to give satisfaction. Austria has
been the first to do justice to the loyal ardour with which
this measure has been executed and is yet executing.
But it would appear that Prussia is not guided by the
sole interest of neighbouring states. She wants to take
advantage of the circumstance to revive her ancient pre-
tensions over the principality of Neufchatel. Not satis-
fied with the almost complete solution of the precise
point touched by the general question, she would raise a
second altogether of a personal character. This tendency
having become manifest by signs sufficiently significant,
France, interested and resolved alike to protect the inte-
grity of Switzerland, has taken the precaution to rein-
force considerably the garrisons of the east."
The semi-official Patric contains the following an-
nouncement
"Russia completely unites herself to France on the
Greek question. The Russian ambassador in London,
M. do Brunnow, has received from his Government orders
to act in accord with the French ambassador in the nego-
tiation forwhich our mediation has given rise."
M. Docoux, aho was the Prefect of Police under
General CA VAIGNAC,
is the republican candidate fur
the representation of the departin6nt of Haute Vienne.
The members of the Mountain have issued a long
address to the people, which occupies two columns of
the National, on the subject of the elections. In the
course of this address we find the following definition
of Socialism :

The idea which triumphed tt the barricades of Fe-
bruary is Socialism, that is to say—the emancipation of
the masses by labour, labour raised to the level cf pre-
perty, which it engenders and legi:amises, the general
comfort being assured by an equitable remuneration of
y.
labour, and the abolition of usury
M. VICTOR
HENNFQUIN, the editor of the Demo-
cratie Pacifique, has been sentenced to twelve months
imprisonment and a fine of 5,000 E for the publication
of an article reilec.,ing on the PRESIDENT of the Re-
public.
The Grand Duchess of Bansri, the aunt of the
PRESIDENT, has arrived at the Elysee.
M. DUPIN is recovering.
BOURBB,
FEB. 273.—LAtest Prices—Five per

Cents., 95f. 30c.; Three per Cents., 57f. 50c. ; Bank
of France, 2,275 f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, FEB. 28.

The only transaction was—Boulogne and Amiens, 6%.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 23d ult. have arrived.
The house of General AMETTLER had been
searched by order of the Captain-General of Madrid.
MADRID BOLSA, FEB. 23.—Three per Cents., 29
for aocount ; Three per Cents., 12i, paper. Ex-
change on London, 50 20.