Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1854-02-16
NUMBER 40.
RICHMOND wHIG.,
Rersru IN Husi.pd.


From the London Times Jan 81
While every one is waiting for tho reverberstion Of ,h.
hrst cannon shot which shall boom waves Of th.
Black Sea, Sheffield has fred the rs signal ru Of m.
coming Parliamentary conflict. Although there arc msoy
sers on which We cannot sgrce With the spcakern vho
met 70 10 honor to the Spartan virtue Of " Hsda.Id
whom not even the dainles of Lord Msvor sss, ro,I
tempt from his bench the House of Common -. ,oass
admit In all arness that the meeting was moder.ts In
tone and credabe in point of ability aud taste the opIv
exception to this latter merit being IN. e.,,,v.ssr,
enogums iavished q not yery rem.yk.bI. .nes,h
made oy Lord Godeiich. Nobody has so sincere and
nearJe respect Tor the peersge your out and out Rad
ical and no Candidate certain Of success i,h 49,
constituency as democratic Lord. On one poipt -.
the party ofsentIemeu assembled TO dscuss
.he ProsPects OF fciorm. No among them sll "a.
found absurd enough advocate that rdicuIou. mo-.
trnm Tor aagmentng the evils Of our present sysem-
trennis Paramens That article seems 10 ha Va Yon,.d
out OF the Radical creed Ne spcerev r.oIc. ~
has done so Next to the suppression of this once
lar topic We have to observe the carefully coneess
out sun very remarkable divergence opinion with ref
erence TO tho eItensonio suffrage or eounse AZ ch
place and on such occasion nv to say
'hng with regard 10 the franchise but, while Er Hey-
worth spoke of universal suffrage and Lord Gojeeb
hve round franchise Messs. Golden and Bright conapsS
themselves TO sale generaes and preferred deang In
millions to coming To close quarters with ths most cbar
'ass"S question Nobody can doubt that the constjtu
ent class ought to be augmented but the adnrer. f
hvepound franchise will seek in any sdyoc.cy of
that measure in the Cobdrn and Rsbt
Obviously the Of the great Eurcnesn revn,ea
have not been wholly without their effect upou the mnd
of our popular leaders, and they are much TO their
EnnId
take the government OF this country oat Of Ire
hands in which is placed in order give Il TO un
ted and unknown classes for the sake of rounding ne.
rod or raising cheer IL remarkable also hat such
arguments brought forward in vor Of reducing
the franchise based almost entirely or collateral
sideraons and avoided stadiOusy the question which
"a decisive of the who We are told that nv re
ducing the franchise shall developc public spirit and
patriotic feeling in the masses which the very terms or
the argument presupposes not to exist. are told
that by lowering the franchise shall enlist the upper
classes OF this country heartily side OF education
and inspire them with genuine desire to humanize nnd
instruct those who will have become masters of their es
tiny But surely this Is beginning the wrong end On
behalf OF those who have anything ose in this country
behalf Of the classes who will be swlmpcd the ynst
infusion OF electors humbly beg that the educa
tion may come frat, and, instead Of giving the fran
chise in order to induce them 10 fit themselves IT, let
US have some evidence OF apt tude before hand
the trust. country just released from de.potism
and seeking for institutions popular character must
necessarily something chance; but arc under
such compusion Even if Parliament were not
reformed at ALL posses in assembly which trsp-
sscs with zeal and honesty incredible amount of pub
lie business, which very sensitive the eIpressioa Of
public opinion, and which certainty shrink from
comparison with any representative body in the world
II small wisdom to hazard the of these
useful qualities for the sake Of giving the working classes
a more perfect expernce Of public duties The nstu.
tons of free country should neither lag behind nor ad
beyond the state of its moral intellectual develop
ment- The first is full Of discomfort and the
second Of danger. The franchise is arithmetical
question Il cannot be solved by counting up
the numbers who possess votes, and comparing
them with the much larger numbers who do not This
proves nothing. Mr. CrOssley may have a thousand car
petweavers who have but the OF their being
thousand gives them greater claim to the sufraees
than If they only ten. The real que stioi which
every speaker seduousy avoid is W III the en-
Of the lower classes in boroughs give us
better and abler members Of Parliament nfue more
enlightened and patriotic spirit into its deliberations
Will who starving them elves and their families
to support in ideness aud misery of their own choosing
thousands who have turned themselves out Of employmen
because they are too to understand submit
the known laws of demand and supply be choosers
OF lawmakers for great commercial country whose very
existence ia involved in conducting its legislation on sound
economical principles. We spprehend not
Mr. Coben appears 10 regard with dsfavor the enlarge
ment OF the county constituencies and the proposal to er
tend TO them greater portion Of the representation of
the country. The towns he says intelligent
than the counties and therefore have the better claim for
an increase Of representation, and for greater dminu
ton Of the franchise 1t is impossible accept this as
fair statement of the case between and county
Ii the counties remain present the mere
sppanages Of large landed propetor we should be dis
posed TO agroe that no rerograde step could be
adopted than to increase the number their representa-
tives; but the counties they now they would
be their franchise ide uniform wih that of the
boroughs quite distinct things The numbers added
70 the county constituencies by such change would be-
We venture TO infinitely superior both in respectable
and independence those who occupy the lower rank
among the borough They might be followers
of Mr. Golden enthusiastic admirers Of Mr. Hadfed or
OF the other gentlemen who spent happy evening nj
Sheffield amid their mutual laudations but they
would be able to thuk and for themselves and would
believe, keep alive amid all political and social chang
es thoroughly English spirit OF honesty and ndepen.
depce
The town constituencies are bitterly rcproacbed for
their apathy the subject OF the ballot They seem un
accountaby dead to their wrongs and t may well grieve
Mr. Corden find that those whose hard fate he has 60
long been describing cannot be brought sense of the
misery he depores. 1t looks the public had taken
the of this question: and making by its practical
good sc the enormous allowance for the difference be-
tween theory and practice which such case
demands had arrived at the conclusion that this great
nan anf irul had ,b..
so copsanty ascrbed to it.
The point on which We suspect public sympathy win
go most heartily with the reormers of Sheffield IL Mr..
Brghts clear and msstery exposition of the anomalies of
electoral system Unlike the franchise this IL grew
snee which hgures may ty represent and fully do u,ce
TO- The only advantage which is gained from small bo
rougbs TO be the OF such opinions
do not generally End favour with the msjorites large
constituencies. But this solitary advantage can easily be
compensated by plan for the representation Of mno.
rites, and il that be done shall regard the extinction
OF these discredtabe anomalies good unaoyod with
any mixture of evil Upon the whole, considering that
the speakers Sheffield constitute the most advanced
party in Parliament regard the tone they adopted
credtablc to their moderation and the arguments employ
ed well worth the consideration OF those who have un-
defakeu to frame measure which shall neither needessy
alarm the iimid nor dsaPpoint the reasonable eSgencs
of enlightened opinion.
CHARLOTTESVILLE TURNPIKE COMPANY.
AZ meeting Of the .iosiholdsr. Of the Richmond ch,
lo,'eyIs Ta,nP cS9!any held AZ Broad street HO s
pany, Col Charles Goodsl called shsE ana David
On usoiion of Mr. s.iisns sH.ss s .,oeisoa,r,
the ssertanng whether
Ia ufu number 10 organize
Number s,oetholds present, 81 shsrrs rerresrnsi
Mr. Robert A. Mayo being present called address
mssting and responded TO the call In able auner
maiay Of bill then pending
EsnsTsi assembly ne cbsrlsr said soppsay
adjourned 20 meet
aEan place II o'clock the ON inst,
adjourned meeting Of the stockholders Of the Richmond
9a Ps Hotel, mr. ny Scss h Move, SS H s %
should be allowed address the meeting than minutes
motion made by Mr.. Henry Boswell requiring the
sochhoders when their uhshsr
they pay their subserp lions money of ne
Brook Turnpike Company-Carried
motion Of Mr.. N O. CrenshAv list Of the soethodss
and In the progress of calling
Young requested the oet holders decide
the Ishto VOTE being only sussctber in the Rhmond
Charlottesville Turnpike Company
pike Road. The question argued length By
gsn aud decided In the srsu's The cali being eOnn