The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-12 00:00:00

WHEN CAN PARL
DISSOLV /zAti
Politicians, remarks the Times, are berly ;
-
upon the probabilities of a general eleciffin. • the _ k
;-
sent crisis, therefore, the influence of the Reform Act to
accelerate or retard such an event becomes a question of
especial interest. When will the momentous statute of
last year for the amendment of the representation come
into operation? What is the earliest time at which there
could be an appeal to the new constituencies ? There
appears to be some controversy on these important points,
but when we examine the language of the Act itself
the answer seems plain and free from doubt. The future
electoral body is as yet in embryo, and it will pass
an infancy of several months, and come of full age on
the Ist of January, 1869. The electoral lists are settled
every year in September or October, and the Reform Act
expressly provides that the first registration of new voters
shall not be made until 1868. Consequently, the revising
barristers in their circuits of last year acted under the old
system, and in the ensuing autumn they will for the first
time decide claims under the novel franchises. The
former Registration Acts enabled persons whose
names were on the annually revised lists to vote at
any elections which were held after the last day of
November, but one of the sections of the recent
Reform Act provides that the register shall henceforth
take effect from the Ist of January in each year. The
books, duly signed and transmitted by the revising bar-
risters to the clerks of the peace in counties, and to the
town clerks in boroughs, are to be by them delivered to
the sheriffs and returning officers in December, "and the
said book or books shall be the register of persons entitled
to vote for the county or borough to which such register
relates at any election which takes place during the year
commencing on the Ist day of January next after such
register is made." It is therefore obvious that there
can be no appeal to the enlarged constituencies until
1869. It is equally clear that the redistribution
of seats cannot take effect till that time. A section which
was interpolated at a late stage of • the progress of the bill
through Parliament enacts that in the event of a dissolu-
tion before January 1, 1869, "Each election shall take
place in the same manner in all respects as if no altera-
tion had been made by this Adt in the franchises of
electors, or in the places authorised to return a member or
members to serve in Parliament, with this exception—
that the boroughs by this Act disfranchised shall not be
entitled to return members to serve in any such new
Parliament." We may therefore safely conclude that,
if a dissolution occurred during the present year,
the appeal would be made to the old constituencies
exclusively, unless by special legislation the period of
bringing the new franchises into operation were accele-
rated.

The doubts which have arisen on this subject are due to
a want of uniformity in the language of the Act. It is
excessively ill-drawn, and the original defects of expression
have been aggravated by a number of interpolations and
alterations effected by various hands. Rarely, if ever,
has a bill been so utterly changed in its course through
Parliament. The last edition differs so widely from the
first as to be essentially a new measure. Unfortunately,
so much of the original was retained as to make the final
result a very inartistic piece of patchwork. The inco-
herency of diction is especially observable with respect to
the very question now before us. Thus, in the part rela-
ting to the distribution of seats, it is provided that "from
and after the end of this present Parliament" certain
boroughs shall cease to return more than one member, and
certain counties shall be redivided for electoral purposes.
Take these sections by themselves, and it would follow that
the new arrangement of seats must take effect at the next
general election, even though it occurred in 1868. But then
we have the clause to which attention has been drawn—
the 60th--which declares in the most positive terms that,
" notwithstanding anything in this Act contained," no
such changes shall operate before the Ist of January,
1869. There can be no doubt that an express direction of
this kind must prevail against the conflicting but less
peremptory regulations previously laid down. So, again,
there is an ambiguity in the clauses defining the new fran-
chise. They are now prefaced with the words, "Every
man shall in and after the year 1868 be entitled to be
registered as a voter, and when registered to vote," &c.
To vote when ? According to the grammatical construc-
tion, in and after the year 1868. But this interpretation
is plainly repugnant to the provisions about the formation
of the new register and the time when it shall take effect.
We are therefore forced to conclude that the words "in
and after the year 1868" refer only to the time of registra-
tion, and not to the time of voting. The words are inter.
polated. They do not occur in the bill either as originally
produced or as amended in committee of the House of
Commons ; and they have evidently been slipped into the
wrong place by somebody better versed in politics than in
_grammar, _
qnestion of subordinate but still of considerable
importance with reference- to the effect of an immediate
dissolution relates to voting in " three-cornered " consti-
tuencies. 'the novel principle is expressed with a brevity
which is really remarkable :--" At a contested election
for any county or borough represented by three members,
no person shall vote for more than two members." That
is all. It is needless to observe that those words were
never penned by an ordinary parliamentary draughts.
man. Surely, never was more matter compressed into
three lines in an Act of Parliament ! The conciseness is
not, it must be confessed, very felicitous in the present
instance, for it leaves us uninformed as to the time when
the regulation is to come into operation. To what
period does the word " shall," in this clause, relate ?
If to all future elections, the representation of minorities
may take effect even in the present year. With respect,
however, to the new three-cornered constituencies the
question does not arise, for, beyond all dispute, they will
not be entitled to their additional members until 1869. But
there are already under the old system eight county divi-
sions which have each three members. It is very material
to ascertain whether, if a dissolution occurred at the pre-
sent time, the minority clause would be enforced in these
districts. The correct answer appears to be that they
remain under the old regime until next January. The 60th
section says that the " franchises of electors " shall re-
main unaltered until that date. But the right of voting
for the third member is part of the franchise, and if the
elector were restricted to two votes there would be a
diminution of his electoral power. Consequently, it seems
safe to conclude that the intention of the Legislature to
suspend the general operation of the Reform Act has been
effectually expressed. Of course, it is within the com-
petence of the present Parliament to abridge the period
of suspense, and to put the new franchises in force more
speedily than the existing law would allow. It might be
determined, for instance, either to appoint an earlier time
for registration, or to dispense pro Mc vice with some
of its formalities. The great statute of 1832 for the
amendment of the representation furnishes an illustrious
precedent for such a course. That enactment contained
several directions of a temporary nature ; among others,
it provided for the contingency of a dissolution before the
first electoral lists could be completed. In that case
the necessity of registration was to be dispensed with,
and everybody was to have a vote if otherwise qualified
under the Act. There can be no insuperable diffi-
culty in repeating now what was done in 1832. If at
that time it was practicable to give the ten-pound
householders then newly enfranchised a right to take part
in elections even before they were registered, there could
not be any greater difficulty in conceding the similar pri-
vilege at the present time to the rated householders in
towns, and the twelve-pound householders and five-pound
eopyholders in counties. Registration is one of the most
admirable parts of the electoral machinery, but that it is
not absolutely indispensable appears from the circum-
stance that for several centuries the people of England
managed their representative system without' it. We
are not here discussing the question of expediency, or
inquiring whether the present emergency justifies a depar-
ture from the ordinary practice of the last thirty-five years
respecting the registration of voters. It is sufficient for
the present to note the technical aspects of the subject.
The discussion of our present political difficulties will be
considerably simplified by a consideration that Parliament
has at least the constitutional power of dealing with them.
The Legislature may, if it please, enable the Executive to
make a speedy appeal to the new constituencies.

Mr. Parker Rhodes, vice-Consul at Dieppe, has
delivered to Lord Stanley, at the Foreign Office, an
address to the Queen from the British residents, ship•
masters, and seamen of Dieppe, on the subject of the late
attempt on the life of his Voyal Highness the Duke of
Edinburgh.

A subscription opened by the Chamber of Com-
merce of Antwerp for funds to purchase ground on which
to erect a statue to Leopold I. produced, the first day it
was announced on the I;9urse, the sum of 58,000 f., which
the nest day was increased to 70,000 f.

One of the most beautiful sights in England is
the apple orchards in the Vale of Black-more, in the South
of England. They are now in full bloom, and there. is
every prospect of a very large fruit crop. The cider made
in the Vale of Blackmore is considered superior to Devon-
shire cider in the West of England, and is remarkably
cheap at the present time.

ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOClETY.—Preparations
for the approaching meeting- of this society on the race.
course at Leicester are making active ptogress. The shed.
ding, &c., is being erected as in former years by Mr.
Penny, of Taunton, and the show ground will comprise
nearly fifty acres remarkable for the evenneel fit the,