New-York daily tribune., 1858-11-12

a check; they fulhll that admirably
Mr.. BRIGHT II personally in favor OF the widest
possible suffrage that the ingenuity of man can de
vjser for Universal or manhood suffrage" but
were he IN bring forward Reform bill FOR the next
session Of Parliament ne would act upon that prin
cpe because there great diversity o opinion, thou
sands believing hs, if every man had avote 'wonh
Gin some wsy or other give him weapon with when
che would attack the property Of his neighoors.
But he maintains upon the principle that one eectcr L
a. GOOD g. another that esch shond vote for the sans
portion Of Parliament.
EQUALITY OF Suffrage.
II shall be told that an not to 90 to the ontsd
State. for env illustration Well, viii come ltte
nearer home Take the King Of Sardinia. wa IN
the CITY Of Turln last year. and made inquiry there
as 20 The mode Of election and The Distribution 4" ,ci
bers and particularly with regard to the Sity oi
Genoa which has a population Of about Iil,vv', ana
,,,n,,s seven members 20 the Sandman Parliament.
Sardinia il not a Republic IL Government is a Inn
tied monarchy like Ours. Let rs go further IRON nome
to the colonies of Australia. Take the colony OF
New South Wales Of which the capital i The Cry OF
sydney /, returns eight members 10 the New oohth
Vale. Parliament. Go on 70 the colony " slc'orla,
Ia the CITY Of Melbourne. That city WITH its suolIos
returns thirteen members 10 the Parliament oi the
nrovipce Of Victoria and, by bill no~ Introduced by
he Ministers of that colony, the number OF thirteen
about to be increased Ia egbteeD. believe IN Del
eiurn and Canada-both countries under limited mon
archy-the rame rule applies and we kho" ihat
throughout all the United States the number OF MEN,
ber- allotted exactly to othennnber OF the popuaton
and that every ten years tins scale y adjusted. liz
fact II works itsel. do not tor moment argue mat
il is necessary to get an actuary to ascertain !he
number Of voters in every district, ana appoIlon
the number Of members 10 his calculation; out
saw tha. we have fair right TO an honest approxl'na
ton to regularity and fairness in this matter and la
there can be fair, no real representation IN tii7
country, or in any other country, without H. lake
4 fit-i+a tho ...rt hDrO urfl =
in Lopdon--wth the exception Of the city, they are
si1 in number-suppose you divide them INTO twelve
you would ziil have borougbs with multitude OF
$40 600 people-laTger than birmingham, and Win
about 10 600 electors each. They might be divided
again and stll would leave b0rOughh with pOpula-
ton Of ,GG0 and 1000 electors each; and, *hen
the franchise is extended, of course the number of
electors would be very much larger. London, the
METROPOLITAN boroughs, AMI all the great b0roughs of
the country ought TO be IL ;yided or -ubdivded They
ought to have double, treble, or quadrupe the num-
Der If members they have az present. W hat ms
erabe delusion il is that the great capital of the mid
land country with its 250,oCO to 3oOOo population
should seud only two members To the House OF Com
mons. If every man see before NE Is a voter, and
every man outside, in Birmingham, has vote, what
better would he be If he sends two members 10 the
House Of Commemorative some borough OF lO,OOD ln
hsbitants equal to one Of tho small corners OF your
city, is To return equal number The whole thing
as at present arranged, is difgraceful fraud. II
ought 10 be put end to- and II il ia not put an end
has been in the past very little better than farce
The Chancellor of the Exchequei would reform BY
increasing the number of the County Members, c., Of
landed gentry. But the House of Peers is comp )sed
almost entirely Of landhoders, exoep. few lawyers
and few successful soldiers. On The door s written,
NO traders admitted here" II "the landed pro-
"pretors insist upon great addition to their power
" in the House of Commons, We, the inhabitants Of
town, and the traders of England will be obliged to
" ask how is it that have not our share of power
" in the House of Lords"
THE SECRET BALLOT.
81 believe il is the opinion Of the great body of the
Refoimers Of the United Kingdom that any Reform
bill which preepds to be generally satisfactory to
Reforners should concede with the shelter and the
protection Of the ballot. will not discuss that qaes-
ton or argue in its favor an sure that In the
minds Of the electors of England it has long been de-
cided. IL has also been decided in the House of Com
mons Those who for it, for il alnly because
they wish free elections. Those who are opposed to
it, believe are opposed to il, in the main, because
the. believe it would LbeIate the great body OF the
constituencies from the control ard Influence of the
rich. Hear, hear The Iiaes ard other new pa
pers in discussing this question, bat The Times par
tcuary, treat il as if il were question to be de-
spsed and they tell MS that 1t is mean and unmany to
ask that should go to the poll and give tneir
votes in secret. But the very man who writes
that article writes it in secret. Hear hear.
He publishes IN secret; and If any man says
that he. ought to afiix his name to it
which dor { say, m'nd-wliat Is his answer lie
says, i am performing great public duty; ain
obliged, in the exercise OF that duty, to comment
with great severity upon Ministers end upon public
nep and TO expose abuses. and IN doing this 1t Is
necessary that should have the shelter Of anopy-
nous writing Well, dom dispute that. But if it
De wise and Just for a writer in The Times to have
that shelter in the performance OF public duty, say
il is equally wise and Just that the humble eector in
every county and every borough should have from the
law if the law can give IT, an equal protection IN the
exercise of his right of voting. Loud cheers. be-
heve that when the franchise Is thus extended, and
when the apportionment of members 10 constituencies
approximate TO a just arrangement, aad when you
have the protection OF the ballot then you WI have
that kind of representation in the House of Commons
which will give to every man <ho sits there real
constituency, and will fix him with a real responsible
ity. believe there Is couutry in the world, prob
ably that pretends to regular Government, where
there is less o real responsibility among high onuals
than there IS in England.
Afer referring to the conduct of Lord Sratford in the
matter OF the siege of Ksr,, Mr. Bright concludes as
follows
THE PRESENT ASPECT OF REFORM.
"When we employ servants OF the Crown and
of the State pay Il en for their services We nave
Int TO all their energies and all then devotion 10 the
ser vice and welfare OF the country. This stion of
Parliamentary reform, then, Is d great and serious
question. i wsnt to give word OF warning 10 those
persons who are now engaged, if there be any en-
gagged in connecting Reform Bill for the next session
that they should bring in no deluslve and sham
measure. Universal suffrage, equal distribution of
seats vote by ballot any of these things may be
may not be perilous, but il there be thing more
distinctly perious than another to the ruling class Of
this couptIy it il that now, when they are conn tted
TO at least temporary wish it were permanent
settlement of this great question, they should bring
ard and pass bill which, while il offers yon some
thing great in the way of constitutional freedom Is
found out Immediately after il is passed 10 be nothing
but delusion ana sham. II will disappoint every
BODY; il will exasperate the reformers; il will render
the feeling uow bitter both bitter aud malignant and
within twelve months after the bill has passed, and