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THE BALLOT.

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THE BALLOT. THE BALLOT. The Ballot was read a third time in the House of Commons on Thursday, May 30th, and is fixed for its second reading in the House of Lords «a Monday. There can be little doubt, we think, iltat the Lords will pass it. The silence of Mr DISRAELI and Mr HARDY on the third reading is aignificftnt, we imagine, of a desire to hear no C) more about a subject which has become tedious and which, as it must be settled soon, might as well be disposed of now. It is possible the Peers may see fit to relax the obligations of llerTeCV, without which the measure would be worsethan useless, but the Commons could not or, accept amendments conceived in that spirit, and they would, therefore, only give rise to fruitless complications. Erroneous notions have pre- -vailed on the compulsory secrecy of the Bill, but Mr W .TKIN WILLIAMS'S speech, which we pub- j lish to-day, is well calculated to set our readers right on that point. It is distinctly provided that the voter shall secretly mark his vote on the paper, and, having folded it up so as to conceal his vote, shall place it in the box. Any in- fringement of this provision will be a mis- demeanour, and we cannot suppose that, in the presence of the agent of the opposing candidate, many voters will risk the danger of being C, pnnished for a violation of the law. The present Bill, therefore, gives us compulsory secrecy, which is the only secrecy worth having, and the Government will take care, no doubt, that no de- parture from this principle shall be sanctioned, if the Lords are unwise enough to introduce it. Mr WILLIAMS'S speech is exceedingly frank, and will help our readers to understand how many persons who have an instinctive repugnance to secret voting have been compelled by circum- stances to support it. As the hon. member says, both parties have abused open voting for their own purposes, and it is in the interests of neither, but simply to promote freedom of elec- tion, that he is an advocate of the Ballot.

MR WHALLEY ON ABUSE AND HOW…

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