The Express. — London, England, 1853-06-15 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS.—TuEsDAT, Jusz 14. he Luau C11•NCILLI.011 took hte beat at 5 o'clock. ROYAL ASSENT. The Royal mesa was given, by 00101114131011, to the fol lowiag bills ..—The Consolidated Fund (1,000,0001.) ; the Burghs (See'land); the Sheriff and Commissary Courts Erickshire); the County Election Polls (Scotland); the e of Drama ; the Aggravated Assaults; the Cardiff Waterworks; the Sheffield Waterton.; the Liverpoel borough Court; the Cambridge University and sown Waterworks; the Stockport Improvement ; the Brightool. Hon, and Preston Waterworks; the Edinburgh High street and Railway Station; the Scottish Central Railway; the Midland Railway Act Amendment ; the Maarten sad Layton, with Warbrick Improvement; the Wolverhampton Markets and Fairs, lte. The Lords Commissioners wen—the Lord Chancellor, the Vulva of Argyll, and Lord Stanley of Alderley. PETITIONS PRESENTED. livenan TAX (Inntton) —By Lord CAMPBELL, from Monaghan, against the income tax. The Earl of WICKLOW supported the prayer of the petition. THE LATE GOVERNMENT AND MR. KEOGH. Tne Earl of ECiLINTON said that he had waited for the presence of the noble duke, the Secretary of the Colonic., to refer to a subject to which the noble duke alluded the other nicht. The Earl of ABERDEEN hoped the noble earl would excuse him fur the interruption, but he begged to inform him that no• ice had been given in another place of a me- Gen on the subject to which he nforrzel the day atter to annoy. The Earl of EULINTON was quite aware of that fact, and, under the circumetaners, he would not wish to enter into a discussion ; but he must state that it would be in the recollection of their lordships that a few nights ago the noble duke the Secretary of the Colonic charged a noble lord, a member of the late government, with having offered office to Mr. Keogh. He had now to state, on the past of that noble lord, that he distinctly and unequivocally denied ever having made, or been authorised to make, an offer of office to Mr. Keogh, or any one of his political friends. GREAT EXTRAMURAL CEMETERY ASdOCIA- 165,1 - BIZL 7 Lord REDESDA.LIioedtbe second reading of this bill. The Earl of lIARROWIIY, after stating various objec tions to the bill, and. amongst others, the proximity of the proposed cemetery to the metropolis, moved the second reading of the bill that day six months. Their lordships then divided— For the second reading—Contents 37 Non-Contents 36-1 -------- - - The bill was then read a second time. HACKNEY CARRIAGES (METROPOLIS) BILL. The report of amendments on this bill was brought up. Esrl WALDEORAVE moved the omission of the 15th clause, which prohibited public carriartes from conveying persons to hospitals who were suffering loom any infectious, contagious, or cutaneous disease. Lord STANLEY of ALDERLEY withdrew the clans*. The other amendments were agreed to. LANDS IMPROVEMENT (IRELAND) BILL. Viscount CANNING brought up the report of the amend- meats on this bill. THE WYCRWOOD FOREST BILL This bill paw.d throsgh eoutosittee. THE &LAVE LAW OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Lord BEAL MONT rose to move an address for 00176. spondence respecting the law of the State of South Caro lina on coloured seamen arriving in port. Ile stated that one oltject he had in bringing this subject under the notice of the house was to show that there were meansof nesting the difficulty, which had arisen in consequence of the wizen of coloured seamen on board British vessels arriving at the ports of South Carolina without doing anything offensive to the state itself. The Governor of South Carolina had, lie understood, stated that he would be prepared to recom mend a modified state of the law, requiring that all coloured seamen arriving at any of the ports of South Carolina in foreign vessels should be confined on board during the stay of the ship, and not permitted to go on shore. if that were done it would, he apprehended, be all that was neceseary. The means moat likely to succeed in this case was to induce the leuislature of South Carolina to take the initiative in modifying the severe law rather than that we should bring the matter under the immediate attention of the federal government. Ile must, however, in conclusion say that be believed our consuls had acted within their instructions. No doubt their instructioas were exceedingly strong, but still they tailed to produoe any effect. On the contrary, they were the cause of considerable irritation. Having now stated to their :ordshipe the exact situation of the ease, it remained fur him to move for the papers, to enable their lordships to see if any steps could be taken to procure a change for the future. (Hear, hoar.) The Earl of CLARENDON believed his noble friend had truly estimated the state of things which prevailed in South Carolina formerly, es well as more recently, for since the noble lord had given notice of hi motion, he had examined the whole of the correspondent. upon the subject, which was very voluminous, end extended us r • period of thirty years, and it certainly did exhibit the great difficulties which we had had to contend with, and which still surrounded the subject. He thought the proper mode of dealing with the matter would sot be by agitating Abuse, but by affording guarantees for securing the state against any disturbance of its public tranquillity. By persevering in that course he still enter tained the hope that their lordships would me the law not abrogated, for that was not likely to take place, but eer tainly modified is its operation. (Cheers.) The motion was then agreed to, and Their lordship, immediately afterwards adjournei,at half past erns o'clock. HOUSE OF COMMONS.—TCESDAY, JCNE 14. The Sraakan took the chair at 4 o'clock. PRIVATE BUSINESS. The following bills were road a third time and passed : Shipley aad Bromley Road ; West Harptry Road; White haven and Forams Jonetion Railway ; Alston Roads (re committed) ; Birmingham and Oaford Junction, Birming ham, Wolverhampton, and Dudley and Great Western Railways; Ediaburgh, Perth. and Glandes Railway ; Limerick sad Forms Railway ; Belfast Municipal Bounda ries; PUBLIC BUSINESS. ROYAL ASSENT. The Usher of the Black ReaapPat:nd at the table, aad esaaatosed the hooey to the Roue of Lords to,hear the meal mem riven to several hills. TEE APPOINTMENT OF SOLICITOR-GENERAL 1O& IRELAND. Mr. ?ZOOM tibia I. "Tyr sOtiee --. that at the earliest ...outlast pass mi IMmoday he should make a stater/sent to the Mass setmmlbe it transaction in which his pommel bosom woe invobtob, OW, as his statement must refer to the net& lord the moalmr he Coleraine (Lord Naas) sad the MGM Wm. wrwormo 4 Marti Eseez (Major Bemford), he pordwatorly woodlomoe loodwa.d AM feet with a view to secure their ottooinnon ea *at iiiwiciiDOßOUoll WRIT. liis D. MAL *mated a petition from inhabitants of thia Wend sas that a fall inquiry Mto the corrupt ]Ma eh Men. bad not been made before the anatlON* imipmpen of the absence of wittiness who aleseska. aaI SW dos retuned to their hoots, and =Ma faia writ dmiiii not inane until farther inquiry t. Siri7TYRELL thaa mewed that a writ do inie for the borough of Harwich, is eh* 10111111 of Mr. Petcock*, wives elastics kee bees declared void. &r J. V. SHELLEY, is the abases of Sir De Leg Evans, moved al ea aseirdaesst that a Weft essusittee of Ste members be ippdellill by Ibe emesiNee of eekelfrei to Leask' late the state el the lepieseisllee of tic of Herwieb, but Ober rose Meeerelso all be ibeeM bs it drew his aeseedsiest, bat De Mali mid* 'he he vele egebut haulm the writ. (Hear, Mar.) The home than divided. For the mati;; ----- 247 Airtime it THE BALLOT. Mr. M. CHAMBERS presented • petition from Green wich, and Sir J. V. SHILLIT three petitions from; West minster, in &seer of vote by ballot. Mr. H. BERKELEY said he rose, pursuant to notice, to ask leave to bring in a bill to give to the electors of Great Britaia and Irelead the protection of the ballot. When Lord Aberdeen's ministry announced to the country their intention to bring forward • measure of reform, he had hoped that the ballet might be • component put of their scheme, and that they would have deemed it necessary to protect the consciences and the persons, the minds, and the bodies of electors, by the ballot. But having had a distinct intimation in the addresses of Lind John Russell and Sir James Graham to their constituents, that they were determined not to have anything to do with that measure, he, under • strong souse of duty, aid by the counsel of friends for whose judgment he entertained a great respect, had deemed it necessary to ask permission to legislate on that subject. When he lest ad dreamed • House of Commons on that question, it was on the ere of a general election. Lord Derby had determined to throw himself on the country; and perhaps that might I have suggested to Mr. Dickens the strange idea of Lord Coodle throwing himself on the country in the shape of sovereigns and beer. (Great laughter.) The hangers-on of the two factions were on the alert. The springs for moving the constituencies were put in order ; and they hail it in evidence that gentlemen high in of instance, the Right Hon. Wm. Bcresford—had taken counsel with Mr. Frail, of Derby notoriety, no doubt for the purpose of se curing the purity of the great tory party; at the sometime they had ocular demonstration that the Right Hon. W. Goodenough Halte r might be seen taking counsel with Mr. Ceppock, of St. Albans celebrity, no doubt for the pur pose of securing the same laudable result for his party. (Cheers and laughter.) They bad evi dence that the masquerade shops had been ransacked ; that wigs, spectacles, and disguises had been put in requi sition—that aliens and olibis were in vogue—(hear, hear), and all this to usher in with due solemnity England's great septennial saturnalia, and to do honour to that freedom of election in which her Majesty's cabinet ministers would wens so greatly to rejoice. (Cheers and laughter.) At that time he raised his feeble voice to point out to the house the gathering storm. He endeavoured to show that England was about to place herself in a position disgrace- Ad to a christian country in the eyes of Europe. Two hundred years ago, old John Evelyn had made the same complaint, almost in precisely the same words. He spoke of " the confused, debauched, and riotous maser of electing members qualified to become representatives of • Dillon," and said that elections more resembled a Pagan bacchanalia than an assembly of sober and christian I sum (Hear, hear.) Was . it lot a dlegrainful faith that after the lapse of WO loam with, t" march °C., intellect, the increase of nailbrush. the progress of education, aid the (*lemony, fed to say th e., mockeryof a reform bill; those very evils Still formed the Invented from the Cove of Cork to the Giant's Cause. way ? (Hear, hear.) Some 40 years after John Evelyn had Mad* this complaint, another great reformer arose, and attacked the same evils which Evelyn had deplored— , Daniel De Foe ; and he pointed out the ballot as the remedy. 1 His writings mast have taken great effect on the public of I that day ; ild the House of Commons passed a bill to /sake the batot the mode •f electing members of parliament. but it was rejected by the Lords, who of course refused to lay the axe to the root of their own unconstitutional in fluence. Well, our great Pagan bacchanalia had passed over, and left the nation staggering under its effect. A great struggle had taken place, in which tyranny with its inn heel had crushed in the dust the liberty of the elector, i through means of our existing electoral system; bribery and intimidation had gone hand in band to complete the I wart of general decimalisation. When he (Mr. Berkeley) ! last spoke he warned the house that flocks of low attorneys, the means by which the House of Lords returned their no minees to the House of Commons, were hovering over the land (cheers) like the harpies of old, seeking Ito pounce upon and defile the banquet spread before them. (Cheers.) Those flocks of attorneys were now gorged, sated, ruminating upon the past enjoyment of unlimited expenditure and untaxed bills—(loud cheers and laughter)—or repluming themselves for another flight, allured by the prospect of • hundred teeming election peti tions up stairs, involving the outlay of some 200,0001., of which those gentlemen expected, and no doubt would ob tain, the lion's share. (Cheers.) Such were some of the consequences of our glorious electoral system, that system of which we were so proud, which was so manly, so Eng lish—se especially English, that other nations repudiated it. (Cheers.) The honest portion of the electors them selves hated and detested it, for it was to them a erste= of humiliation and disgrace, and at a general election they suffered under what might be appropriately termeda reign of terror. (Hear.) While they hated and detested this system, a majority of the elected were determined to abide by it ; thus showing to demonstration that they were not elected by the voice of the electors, but by a power which con trolled that voice. The evils of the system were two- fold ; they consisted in bribery, including treating and in timidation. That house had made many futile attempts to put down bribery ; all its efforts had been addressed to th it point; no effort had been made to put down intimida tion. They compelled their committees to take an anoma lous and inconsistent course ; they forced them to turn out of that house members who were perfectly innocent l of bribery themselves, because some agent, either through 1 gross cupidity, or the greatest rascality and tresehery, had l ' either given some venal elector a couple of pounds, or had drenched some beast with a gallon of beer. (Laughter.) While thus intent on purity of election, they equally per mitted candidates, candidates' friends, and candidates' agents, to drive their tenants to the poll, there to falsify 'heir consciences and to give a dishonest vote. (Hear, hest.) They permitted customers to compel tradesmen to vote under pain of ruin. (Hear, hear.) They permitted creditors to drive their debtors to the poll or to prison. (Cheers.) They permitted masters to discharge their ser vants ; and they remitted a reign of terror to pervade the country from one end to the other. (Hear, bear.) That was straining at the gnat and swallowing the camel. Inti midation waa the giant malady of our electoral system ; in comparison with it, bribery was buts puny dwarf. The action of bribery was simple; they purchased a man's conscience, and :commanded his vote. Though bribery was indefensible, there might be redeeming features in it. He had known a workman tedium from pawn his box of tools through re ceiving an election bribe. He had known medical aid fur nished- to an ailing family through an election bribe. Bat what redeeming feature was there in intimidation ? (Hear, hear.) Its action was complex; its effects were manifold. Its weapons were punishment ; and it worked by that far famed instrument, wholly and solely English in its inven tion and application, the election screw. Need he tell the house what the election screw was, and how it worked ? (Chem.) It was a power which the elector could not re sist. It commenced with an inqpisition into his private affairs, worthy of • Penchi or a Vidoeq, carried on by the election agents; and when, by means of this severe inguisi tion,his liabilities and misfortunes wan laid bare, the power became clear by which he might be acted upon. The work ing of the system was to twist from the free, manly, and indopendent Englishman a dishonest vote. (Hear, hear.) Fourteen years ago, in secemding Mr. Grote's motion, `ie had demonstrated at some length the mischiefs of the diction strew, and he would state a few instances which he then gathered from the canvassing books of election agents. These books contained the names of the electors, either printed, lithographed, or in mana• script, with their residences and avocation., against which was lett • margin for the experienced agent to enter his re marks. The following were some of them : " John So and.so, publican, votes against us. Mem.—Put the screw cm him through Mr. So-and-so, the spirit merchant, with whom be is in arrest..." (Cheers and laughter.) "Thomas So-and to, beershorkeeper, refuses to promise. Mem.—Carrass him in company with Mr. So-and-so, the licensing magis trate." (Great laughter.) "Peter So-and-so, cheese monger, splits his vote. stem.—Put the cheesefactor upon him to make him plump." (Laughter.) "Abel So-and so, tailor, votes amunst us. Mein.—Makes Sir Thomas So and-so's liveries : apply to Sir Thomas to compel him to split, or not vote at all. ' (Laughter.) He could add in stances of this kind nef iipteituat, with the names of the parties; and, if he were before an election com mittee, he could call evidence to prove the exist ence of that election anew to an extent scarcely credible—entaialy not believed by the hon. members who =:Shot note. (Hear, bear ) For one ease of , there were 6,000 arse of intimidation. (Hear, bear.) It was reinillsd throughout every grade of society; every man wee brolght mem sr lass to screw his neigh bour. The ounnittese tack a seurse that appeared anoma lous and Hanks% if Vide objest was purity of election; for though taking segdzeale el bribery and open intimi dation, and ph force leading to • breach of the peace, they paved by this view. Though its °potation came before them es a matter of mune, yet as • matter of course they must pass over it, far there was so law which they could wield against it. This was remarluiblr exem plified in the Clithaveo esnuoilloo. They referred, in their report, to bribery end phydeal "wee intimidation, but said not a word of that more deadly intimidation which turned the small farmer oat of his bans or his house, which ruined the tradesmen, or put the debtor in prison. That was passed by ; coning under the name of the screw, the committee did sot feel authorised to report upon it. (Hear, hear.) To show how the screw acted at Clitheree, he would read a letter of one elec tion agent, who hired another election gist for the purpose, and the sole purpose, of plash" an this I election screw. It was • letter from one Windt* Wheeler, I the agent of Kr. Matthew Wilson, the sitting ass bar, is Robert Watton, a farmer, who it wasegentlimen that bad great influence with and and he had been tampered yak to obleba: li A ll ir E;li men to bully and beat the alarreta, but It seemed be pre ferred the service of Mr. Wan, and altogether rejected those overtures. That letter vas as follows :—.. Dear Sir, —We are greatly obliged to you for your letter of the 28th of June, and for your kind exertions on the part of Mr. Wilson. Every TOW that we can get will Do wanted, and therefore I should be glad to hear of any addition W oar strength. James Watson, of Brownlow, has net id remised ; and although we expect he will vote for Mr. Wilson, still a word from you will, perhaps, pet • definite promise. They are putting oa the screw with their tuseate in all directions, and we must do the same in eilielehmes. Have you any other tenants voten ? Kr. Sunnis Witham has &Joseph Green who is all right, and • Tonliasen wham I should) like you to ate ; in fact, any one you have any infisend over. Of cowry you must charge me with your al a:passes end lose of time, which I shall g l e ire ; t lai to pay. With thanks, believe me yours truly, IT. Wusitioa.—lnne 30, 1852, Clither o e ." If these elec tors were as many buck-rabbits they could not be spoken of more contemptuously, and the made of handling back rabbits was very suggestive of the mode In which these gentlemen dealt with the electors. (Hear, hear.) They teak them by the ears, and transferred them from one side to the other, without any complaint or resistance from the docile tenants-at-will. (Laughter.) Was this • state of things which an enlightened nation should suffer si.hest attempting to apply a remedy ? But against iatimidation they 6baadd no remedy whatsoever. He defied the most astute member of that house to point out anything like a remedy for it. (Hear, hear.) Thu* was no remedy but the ballot; and they knew it. (Cheers.) They could make no law to prevent a landlord from ejecting a tenant-at-will when he pleased. The landlord was not obliged to assign his reason for doing it; and they could not make him assign one. They could pan ao law to prevent that. They could make no law to prevent a customer from changing his tradesman as often as he pleased; it was utterly impossible to make • law to prevent that. They could make no law to stay the judgment creditor, and prevent him from putting his debtor tither into the polling-booth or into prison. (Hear, bear.) That was utterly impossible. Through every grade and phase of society they could make no law to com pel the employer to keep on the employed. Then, whallact could they pass to prevent this intimidation? The cases he , had referred to were those in w hi c h th e ver y g i st o f intimi -1 dation consisted. Open voting exposed the veter to the in. flucnce of persons who, by the knowledge they so obtained, were able to deal out punishment or reward to the elec tor. The elective franchise was thus wrested from the class that was legally entitled to it, and was usurped by others, who had no right to it at all, more par tkul irly by peers of the realm, who were forbidden by law from i n t er f er i ng i n elections for members of parliament. i (Cheer.) Secret voting was the only mode of preventing this esil, and he should not trouble the house on the sub ject of intimidation, further than to add two pithy sen tepees—one by the best au th or i ty o f t h e olden time, the other by the first authority of modern days —" There is no yr o i. me f t ,o h ke e i. o p: . o i p , t h e n eu ii i by wa y t the s way '° ! ot t h i s i s b balloting." II o i l i n i n i , t i g . , i l:ll , :a t iiodDbauati engrainedelb , ! no way of stopping impossible," exclaimed George Grote. intimida tion mechanically (Cheers.) His complaint was that, though intimidation was raging through the land like an epidemic, and though ' they had as certain a remedy for it as vaccination was for the small-pox, they denied to the country the cure. (Hear, hear.) One feature was remark.ible in all the speeches of the present ministry, from Lord Ab , vdeen downwards,--the admission of the deplorable Lieu of near electoral system. This admission was made at the eleventh hour. (Hear, hear.) Up to this time almost, there (suits had been most audaciously denied. Her Majesty's government were pledged to bring in a large measure of reform. That measure of re form was " looming in the distance" —(laughter)— but it was so far off that it could only he seen by m's.isterial telescopes. (Laughter.) as would co wo that this memo s of velem would en- Mtge the au , and thus get rid of the soma nstituen alit. sae (Hear, ar.) If that were so, then the argument of as right hon. gentleman had no force Whatever. The right hon. gentleman made a reek in mode of the FlewlteM and Frail., the Coppoeks and ,Edwardors, et id sweat ovine. But he regarded thew people in the light of a PO, which, by its escape, gave notice of the presence of • cow rainier body. (Hear, hear.) Let them gat rid of the few, tering body, and they would then Nit suffer from the ran (liege, hear.) But they kept • kreat•welrering dunghill of corruption, and they found fait with the fungi that grew there! (Hear, hear.) He would now put in bright and pinning contrast to these miserable shifts and arguments of cabinet ministers the straightforward declaration of the Solicitor-General (Mr. Bothell). That boa. and learned gentleman told the electors of Aylesbury that "it was not within his power to describe the character or the details of the reform measure which the ministry was about to introduce, but he must say that the first element of suck a measure ought to be the extension of the franchise, and the next the possession of the ballot for the protection of the voter." Whereupon the electors and audience called out "Three cheep for the ballot!" (Hear, hear.) Seek then was the opinion of the hon. and learned gentleman, the first counsel in the highest court of judicature in Eng land. (Hear, beer.) Such also was the opinion of liar J. Hominy, the present Master of the Rolls. And such the opinion of Mr. Page Wood, now Vice-Chancellor. (Hear, hear.) It was pleasant to be able to tern to Hansard for their speeches, and to see the contrast between them and the miserable futile breakdown arguments of cabinet ministers. (Hear, bear.) But he felt bound to meet the latest objections on reeord to the principle of vote by ballot. The members of the present cabinet seemed but too glad to I creep under the gaberdine of the Times for shelter. The' ' ballot, said the Times, was a question not of philosophy but f fact It would not prove an efficient protection to the voter, because In these days every man's opi nions were known. He (Mr. Berkeley) would admit that the question was one of fact and not of philosophy. Bit en whose aide was the fact, and on whose aide was the phi losophy, or rather the sophistry ? (Hear, hear.) " Dow the ballot (it is asked) prevent a man's opinions from being known ?" The concealment of a man's opinions depended on himself, but the main and material fact wee, that the ballot prevented the man's vote from being known. (Cheers.) He was speaking in the presence of en assem bly that protected themselves from the Sir Lucius O'llig gers of society by means of the ballot, and he put it to them to say, if the ballot did not enable them to conceal their votes, and, if they wished it, their opinions also ? (Hear, hear.) Well, but the Sir Lucius O'Triggers of polities were more dangerous than the Sir Lucius O'Triggsea el society; and was it fair or just, he would ask, in am. with their broad acres and their broad cloth, to seek to conceal their votes and opinions by means or the ballot and deny the same protection to men who wore fustian and men who were tenants-at-will ? (Hear, heir.) Would they , answer that question ? (Hear.) Ile often put it before, but ' he never yet got an answer. (Hear.) But he denied as a mere matter of fact, that the electors could not conceal their opinions, and that they must necessarily be known. (Hear.) It was said that the poor electors were too gam less, and that their opinions must be known. Why there were hundreds of thousands of poor persons in this country associated ether who did keep their secrets inviolate, (Hear, hear.) tog He was, himself, a member of the Forestall and Odd Fellows So cieties—(laughter)—and he had no doubt many of the members around him were in the same position. (Hear, hear.) He knew there was a vast number of Odd Fellows in the House of Commons. (Much laughter.) Now he never knew that the secrets of these societies had been betrayed either from garrulity, or drink, or any misplaced confidenee in woman. (Laughter.) He bard heard the wives of Freemasons' declare that there could he' no secret in freemasonry, because if there was they would he sure to get it out of them in their soft hours. (Laughter.) So much for the general habits of the people. (Laughter and cheers.) He had been challenged to deal with facts, and he would now produce evidence to show that the political opinions of the electors were not generally known. In these days and under the present electoral system, peer men no more dared to assert their political opinions than they dared to give their votes contrary to the wishes of their lanolords. It was now twenty-one years since the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) made a speech at Torquay on this subject, and he hoped some friend might persuade the noble lord to abide by that speech. The noble lord then said— " Greet as I apprehend the inconvenience of the ballet would be, yet if it come to this, that I must either adopt such a measure, or see the tenantry of England ranged at electioas, contrary to the feelings of themselves, I should have no doubt; I should at once renounce my pre• vious opinion, and at ones adopt the vote by ballot." The noble lord, no doubt, passed much of his time in Um princely mansion of his brother, ohs Duke of Bedford, it whom he heard it insinuated that he ever Maiaked • tenant for any vote he gave, or that he ever in mg voter from voting against him. 'Cheers.) Ceasettweady, the noble lord might have some excuse at that east, period he thinking that the tenants would nut be ranged at else dens etintrary to their feelings. But he must suppose that the noble lord, like Rip Van Winkle, must have slept for $0 yaw, if he was not cognisant of all the evidence that bad Mee thundered into their ears ever since; and if he did net me and admit that the tenants-at-will were ranged under their separate leaders and led to vote contrary to their own opinions and the good of the community. (Hear, bees.) Was it not notorious that the electors of the same estate voted for whig or tory as it changed into the heads of landlords of these respective opinions 1 (Hear, hear.) That was proved in evidence, and Mr. Ward clearly showed that the fact was so. (Hear, hear.) Who could be deaf to the evidence in the case of the South Notts election, where the testate were led up to vote like so many vermin ? (Hew, bear.) Was the noble lord deaf to all this? Was he deaf to the state of things now existing? He called upon she noble lord, as an honest man, to deny, if he dared, Na seevietion of the truth of the representation which be pm of the existing state of chiefs. (Hear, hear.) If he aeoli ace, be called on the noble lord to fulfil hie pledge, al ft vet* kV the ballot. (Hear, hear.) It wee sen that the ism by ballot was a measure of derneeratielleMbimor Wow Mid that be so, when the noble bed 1111 Mee that II was to the good sense, the Millnilik said the minim of the people t hat they awl she lea- Ilsommee of their constitution ? (Rear, hear.) What leollenahant power was there in the ballot of ear =loyal, wise, and moderate men into democrats, end repub licans? Wm the privilege of giving as I.l4lllMid was fraught with such consequences ? (Hem, hem) The alfset of the ballot would, in kis opinion, be Se emleratisa of an usurped right (Rear, hear.) Ito aka wield be to carry out the Christian doetrine "Ben der MO Cesar the things that are Cresee." A s to the beileememrtiag the English people into medalists and de- WIWI% Bash a notion appeared to him stark raving mad ', neffila (Cheers.) Hs glanced at the proceedings of MO Mess in England, and of another in Ireland, far the peep, et showing that the ballot was the surest, the mast itemelitutimal, protection against violence and oor. remise. and, as • remedy against intimidation, far bake sod more coestitational than surrounding the with armed ',Mimi. (Hear, hear.) The Beg which he selected as an illustration was that of Oldham, end he said that in Ireland the ballot would have prevented the catastrophe at the Six-mile =He shawl& set be doing justice, however, if be Met the desbeysrd voters of Chatham were more melee the Wiesen of ethers than the tenant farmers ; and be maledebsed that if they ' attempted to die fremeldso the acetate of Chatham, they oeght, at the same tine, ea a mattermatter of justice, to disfreashin the terant-fatmers of the county of Heat. It was, thee, beans he objected to the east =f treaty over elusion, that he entreated the Man to free the neatly ben Its perulelous emaKuenses; It was benne he wadi gentioefly teeny out the anti. meats of the sable lee/. sad ratan to good sew, wis dom, sad raneratin She Ovum, of neeediag as un fettered vote, that be SIPUSIM Ist_reteet thec a ties of th e people. (Chem) Whim they bused of dome eracy, he entreated the here to member the endure of the people is INg r Oat minleable en, ulna the demo (lnn were head the gangt weeders of their anatry. (Cheers.) nil ars dun to neracaber the ma dam of the people at the Cheat Ishibitiaa, melted es that deaden wee by great latefteese and the len of order—Omar, haar)—he ors call spas Om sot te hen% the ening of the giggle at tU inieuesat or = m a ll Pool den ( ffeirelnee)—maritai n the ft then wag venues sad reopen for the Migh est mighty dead—dhe aristocrat w re ho lay ia the grist before them; sad thee be told them to get rid of their paltry tenors and their aristocratic trembling* at democracy. (Cheers.) He called upon that newly-elected Home of Commas to stand forward and prove themselves worthy of the people who had sent them there; be called upon them to restore to the people a great privilege, a chartered right to which they were as much entitled as they were to enjoy the sun that shone in God's firmament or the breezes of spring ; and that they might do this he entreated them most respectfully, but most earnestly, to legislate on this subject. (L,ud cheers.) J. V. SHELLEY seconded the motion. He said altar the speech which had just been delivered he should not feel justified in detaining the house at any length. If it would 1w difficult to bring forward any new arguments in favour of the ballot, it would, he thought, be still more difficult to bring forward any new one against it. (Hear.) The arguments in its favour had been strengthened a hun dred-fold by the decisions of the recent election committees. He did not know whatlremeily the noble lord meant to pro pose now ; but his (Sir J. V. Shelley's) constituents were strongly impressed with the aeceuity of being allowed to give their votes by ballot. (Hear, hear.) Some of them, who lived in the fashionable parts of West pilaster, or in such streets as ltegent-street, Bond street, and Oxford-street, had no wish to be subjected again to the annoyance and discomfort of being visited by fine ladies in carriages, and having the screw put upon them. (Hear, hear.) He would be glad to learn what was the opinion of the country gentlemen on this subject, but he perceived that at present that party was represented solely by the hon. member for Cambridgeshire (Hr. E. Ball). On the occasion to which he had already alluded, that of the debate in 1838, the hon. baronet the member for Hefts (Sir B. Lytton), is replying to the argument that the ballot would weaken the influence of property, ob served that there were two kinds of influence, legitimate influence, and improper influence ; that when improper in fluence was being used to over-rule the conscience of the voter, the ballot would be • protection, and place the poor and the rich man on equal terms, but that wherever a g roat proprietor was more beloved than feared, legitimate influence could not he taken away by the ballot. He hoped the opinion of the hon. baronet would now have due weight with the country party, and that they would not pay them selves the bad compliment to conclude that if tho ballot existed the constituencies would not select persons of their claw!. (Hear, hear.) At all events ho should vote for the motion with the greatest cordiality. THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 15, 1853. The question that leave be gins is landau the bill having been put, Mr. H. BALL opposed the notion, not because he was not disgusted with the election practises recently exposed, but because be considered the proposed remedy altogether inadequate to meet the evil. What be considered the best means of meeting the evil he preeeened to explain, his sys tem being founded upon the payment of members, the desirability of which ho maintained in feeling terms— 'with Niels etheerity, indeed, as to amuse the house en esedingly. Mr..l. PHILLIMORE considered that, whether the case of the honest or dishonest voter was taken into consideration, the argument in favour of the ballot was equally unan swerable. And any argument which applied to England applied with double force to Ireland, where a vote under the present system was a curse rather than a privelege. He answered a favourite objection to the ballot by main taining that if it stopped intimidation it did everything, because it could not substitute anything worse; and that, at any rate, in the sheens) of any other pro posed remed the people had a right to demand this. The ba llot, moreover, had the support of some of the greatest men of all times, from Cicero down wards, and white they availed themselves of its be nefits, they had no right to deay them to the people. Mr. BRADY was in favour of the ballot, because the present bad system was the cause of incalculable evil among all classes of society, and failed besides to make the House of Commons a true reflex of public opinion. Mr. S. HERBERT said in listening to the speech which the hon. member for Bristol had addressed to the house, he was struck by one peculiarity, namely, that differing in thought from• his previous speeches on the subject, there was a consciousness on his part that how ever plausible the theory of the ballot might be for the purpose of redressing intimidation it was powerless with d re s g ti aal b to bgroiibengryb.ack a Hemvacelrye considerablehis eswit period, regard to an i ndtimthie principaly evidence he adduced of the evil of intimidation,to which no man could be more opposed than he (Mr. S. Iler bert), was given before a committee which sat not in 1853 but in 183.5. Ile accused the noble lord of having slept the sleep of Rip Van Winkle, while the evils of intimidation had been in operation since the Reform Bill. lie (Mr. Berkeley) must have slept the sleep of Rip Van Winkle, in not seeing the effect which public opinion had had since that time in redressing the evil of intimidation. But was it true that intimidation was the gigantic evil of the elective system ? He (Mr. S. Herbert) appealed to every gen tleman in the house, whether during the last 20 years intimidation had not been diminishing, and whe ther, unfortunately, bribery had not been increasing. Since the Reform Bill intimidation bad decreased. The hon. member for Leominster wanted to know what it was they ob jected to—bribery, intimidatioo, or the remedy? He (Mr. S. Herbert) objected to all three. He objected to bribery and to intimidation, and he said the ballot was not the remedy for them. It was impossible to suppose that the fact of every man giving his vote in secret would neces• eerily cause it to continue secret. The struggles in Ireland were between the priest and the landlord ; the relation of the tenant with the priest was peculiar, and the relation with the tenant was common. Unless the ballot 'enabled the tenant to be independent of both their remedy would be useless. In England, with • tyrannical landlord or a tyrannical customer, as the hon. gentleman described, the ballot would lead to a system of espionage, because, sup posing the ballot turned out to be a system of perfect se cresy, then the political opinions, the political associates of every man would be canvassed, and it would be natural to suppose that he bad voted according to his political opinions. He was not afraid of in timidation, because public opinion would be too strong for it, but he asked, would the ballot be effective in putting down bribery? How was it that bribery was generally found out now ? The first thing was that generally a number of men came to the poll about ten minutes before it closed, and gave their votes. The agent or the opposing candidate said, ' why here is so and so, who has been yellow all his life, voted for blue, or has been blue all his life, and voted for yellow?" Inves tigation ensued, and ultimately the bribery was brought home to him. But under this system of secresy the impu tation of a corrupt motive could not be suggested; so one would know how any one had voted; no suspicion would be awakened, and there would be no reason for making those investigations which resulted in a committee up stairs, and ended sometimes to the great dissatisfaction of hon. members. If that were so, they gave the candidate the advantage without the risk of losing his money, and they gave to the voter the possibility of voting with out the chance of detection ; and so far from the ballot tending to diminish the chance of bribery it would give every inducement to the candidate to bribe, and enable the voter to be bribed without discovery. 1 he bon. gentleman saiekerby not give this right to the poor man which in clubs the higher classes habitually used. Now, one of these was for political, and the other for social purposes, and there was no analogy between the two The honourable gentleman quoted the case of foreign countries, sod said they . were arguments and proofs in favour of the manner in which the ballot would work in this country. He need not have gone so far. That system was not con fi ned to clubs—it was adopted in the parish of Marylebons in the elec tion of vestries under Hobhouse's Act. Elections of that kind in Marylebone differed in nothing from ordinary political elections, and were carried on with the same vehe mence, the same acrimony, end party spirit ; and there was an entire openness of proceeding, ever body ' s vote was well known, and if any one was persecuted, or any custom lost, they were acted on in just the same way as if there were open voting. Thee with regard to America, Mr. Treuien heere, in his work on America, gave up the notion of secresy in vote by ballot ; and said that the mode of taking votes in the United States was open and ostentatious; that the', ballot was a good mode of taking rapidly and easily the votes of a vast population ; but any no tion of secresy was quite given up, and no attempt was made at concealment of the political predilec tions of voters. He said that " the term ballot in the United States meant nothing more than a rude of taking votes, which were openly and ostentatiously given." Again it ap peared from the evidence of an American that the system had only changed theeourse of corruption, and instead of buying hundreds of voters, the plan was (and this was as improve ment he (Mr. Herbert) did not think we in this country would adopt immediately, for it would require • little time for ingenious men to invent devices of the kiad)—the plan was only to buy one or two of the judges with whom the result of the election rested ; and there was no means of de tecting them in making false that which could only be done by a scrutiny of the ballot box and there was nothing to prevent the abstraction of one kind of tickets and the substitution of others. Sydney Smith in his admirable pamphlet on the ballot, which he (Mr. Herbert) wished it was consistent with the rules of the house to have read by the clerk at the table—(a laugh)—for it would be better than any speeches or arguments, humorously asked how you were to get an English voter to conceal his opinions; in that ease he must hurrah at the wrong dinner, drink the wrong beer, end busk the wrong head. ("Hear, hear," sad • laugh.) The hon. gentleman (Mr. Berkeley) said that the English were not garrulous ; but were they apt at concealing acts of public duty ? He (Mr. Herbert) would say, being half an Irishman, that although on the other side of the Channel tacituraity was not their forte, it was possible they would not divulge the nature of their votes. But for an Englishman to acquire the powers of concealment necessary to this system of voting, be could become each a hypocrite as to make it doubtful whether he would be entitled to exercise the franchise It was • common phrase among Frenchmen,; a Jed [crow lindivitinel." That was not our systm; and we did net put our political system into a state:lea t o: If that was abandoned it would be contrail. to the t of our free institutions — contrary to the spirit of our institutions, which were so conso nant with liberty; and if we were to adapt the English chancier to a system which would render sass ready so to abrogate their rights and their duties as to perform them under the veil of sump, you would demoralise the English character, and sap the very foundation on which our liber ties were built. He did not speak thus from any fear of the immediate effect of the ballot in the loss of the influence of wealth, of public virtue, or station. lie believed that it would make no very sensible impression on the returns of members. He did not object to the system in • party or political point of view, but because he believed it would tend, by destroying the self-respect of the constituenery, to strike a blow at one of the best qualities of the national character, which was created by the exercise of public functions, whether in high or in humble life, and which required • fearlessness which had been given to the national character—a stability which was inoonsisitent with a system of concealment. Actuated by these feelings he should vote against the introduction of the measure. Lord A. LENNOX opposed the principle of the ballot, denying that secresy would be preserved under such a system. lie denied that it would put • atop to bribery, and although be was of opinion that the bribery at the last election was a scandal to the country, and he would be ready to coincide in any measure that would put a stop to it, yet he did not believe that the ballot would have that effect. Mr. COBDEN remembered that about nine years ago be brought forward a motion in that house, on which he had bestowed more than usual trouble and attention, and which time and experience bad since proved to have been founded in sound and true policy. He remembered that the right hon. the member for Wiltshire, who was then in the cabinet, and the colleague of older and shrewder heads, was put forward to answer that speech, which was accompanied by some memorable circumstances. Now the right hon. gentleman was a little older, but he had hardly gained much wisdom from experience —(laughter)—for he had done precisely the same office now that he did then for older ind more sagacious colleagues. He had now taken up the defence of a question which had been as completely established by reason and argument as free trade had been in 1844—(cheers)—and he ventured to predict that the right bon. gentleman would lice to make as manly a disavowal after be had seen by experience the results of the ballot, of the opinions he had expressed that night. (Laughter and cheers.) This question, he (Mr. Cobden) repeated, had been settled by reason and argument ; and if they were dis cussing the ballot simply as a question affecting a body of men, all of whom rested upon a social equality, there could not even then be one argument or reason suggested why it should not be adopted. (Hear, hear.) Hide as they might —conceal it even from themselves, if they could—the fact was that they opposed the ballot because they entered upon a discussion of it with • Istent idea that it was the duty of somebody to know how somebody else voted. (Cheers.) But if a body of men—if 500 individuals were placed in one apartment, and they wished to know honestly the opinion of the majority of those men; if no one had right or power, or pretension, to exercise any un due influence whatever, or any mastery over them, except whet he derived from argument and reason, they would not find one of those dOO men that could say why the ballot should not be adopted. (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentleman had given them some argu meats with which he (Mr. Cobden) would now proceed to deal. And in the tint place he mast correct the as sumption of the right hon. gentleman that any one who had spoken before him had admitted that the ballot would be totally inoperative to put down bribery. What had been admitted by all its advocates was that it was perfect as against intimidation, and that it via a very po tent übstacle to bribery. (Rear, hear.) But the right hon. gentleman went further, and said that bribery might be an increasing cell, but that intimidation, owing to the operation of public opinion, was decreasing with the lapse of time. Ile compared the present period with 1833; and said that we had very much improved upon the state of things then, for popular opinion bad to a certain intent put down intimidation. He (Mr. Cobden) denied that. (Hear, hear.) What had been done was, that the counties, in • vast majority of cases, had so far sue curbed to intimidation, and had so far become subservient to territorial influence, that they had ceased to make any struggle for independence. (Cheers.) Talk of intimida tion having diminished ! Was it not the recognised prin ciple and etiquette in county canvassing, that it was an in sult to large proprietors to canvass their tenants without first obtaining their permission ? (Cheers) Would any body deny that? Why he had beard in one case, in which there were two proprietors of rival pretensions, where there was a quarrel, and some talk of a duel, in consequence of their having poached upon each other's manor. (Hear, hear.) The counties, before the Reform Bill, were the strongholds of liberal opinions in this country. There were members for counties who took their stand on that side of the house in defence of all oar old constitutional freedom ; and it was 'mainly county members that had carried the Reform Bill (Cheers.) Why, then, had such a complete change taken place ? They could scarcely now point to any county where a contest, however hopeless, bad been attempted on liberal and reforming principles. (Hear, hear.) The sim ple cause was, that they had given the proprietors such power by the control of their tenants' votes, that the free• holden, the ancieat stronghold of popular rights, had been swamped by a body of men, the most dependent and the most subservient politicians they had in the country. (Hear, hear.) Was that a state of thiuss to be passed over or to be remedied ? (Hear, hear.) The right hon. gentle man said they could not remedy it in Ireland unless they passed such • measure as would protect the people both from the priests and the landlords. But what did they want to protect them against ? They wanted to protect voters against any coercive influences that should compel them to vote against their will. (Hear, hear.) Ile might be told that the influence of the priests would be exercised in • private manner—in • manner which, whatever it might seem to them, they neither could, nor had they • right, to interfere with. (Hear, hear.) lie (Mr. Cobden) did not ask them to protect a man against a voluntary in fluence. He denied their right to prevent any man front taking counsel from those whom he knew, or supposed to be better able to advise him than ho was to instruct him self. (Hear, hear.) But this he did say, place a man in such a position that he might either follow or disobey, as he pleased, the instructions of those who undertook to guide him, whether they were landlords or priests. (Hear , hear.) Therefore, be said, let them try the (Cheers.) The right hon. gentleman told them that it would be no remedy against bribery. lie stated that bribery would be carried on wholesale—that one of your parliamentary agents would go down to a town and say to a number of people, " If you can return So-and-so I will give you so much to divide amongst you ; but unless he is re turned you have nothing." Now his (Mr. Cobden's) an swer to that was, in the first instance, that they did not in tend to have any of these little manageable boroughs. (Cheers.) It might be perfectly true of such places as Wil ton or Shoreham, for instance. But he would put it to the house, could any parliamentary agent go down to such towns as Birmingham or Manchester where there were constituencies of 6,000, or 10,000, or 16,000 electors, and buy them up wholesale ? (Cheers.) With so large a number to be represented, 26,000,000 persons to be rem seated by 6-58 members, they would have under the new Reform Bill—unless it was to be a mere sham and pretence —none but large constituencies ; and he would appeal to the house whether it was possible to buy constituencies of some 8,000 voters each ? (Cheers.) It had never been dome under the open system, and it would certainly not be done with the ballot. (Loud cheers.) The right bon. gen tleman said that the ballot wu not popular in America. He could state, from some little acquaintance with America, that any politician there who proposed to abolish the ballot in any state in which it prevailed, would be considered as little better than a political madman. (Hear, hear.) It was the cardinal article of their political taith; and there never had been an instance of a state which had adopted the ballot having departed from it, but the tendency had been constantly the other way. (Hear, hear.) His great hope from the ballot wu that it woul d chaege the character of our elections—put an end to bran bands, flags, and ban ners—and abate the nuisance of drinking and open houses. (Cheers.) With the vote by ballot people might poll as quietly as they went to church on Sundays, as was, in fact, done both in America and England in almost a/1 cases of voting by ballot. (Hear, hear.) These evils being acknowledged, what other remedy win there bat the ballot ? The right hon. gentleman should remember that he did not now speak in the name of a united cabinet ; at least one of hie colleagues was as hearty for the ballot as he (Mr. Cobden) was. The Attorney-General, the Soli citor-General, and the Judge Advocate were all prepared to vote for it. (Hear, hear.) So were • majority of the ordinary supporters of the government; and if the opposi tion benches had remained as thin as they were about 9 o'clock, the question would very soon have been settled. (Cheers.) He would suggest another experiment. Pass an act to make the ballot permissive. (Hear, bear.) He had such faith in the principle that he would offer the most handsome terms. Let them pan an act which should enable any constituency that chose to adopt the ballot, to try the experiment ; and having come to that decision, that they should, on notifying the same to the Home Secretary, elect their members by ballot during that parliament, re taining the power to return again to open voting if they did not like the ballot. (Hear, hear.) That met the argument that the people did not want the bal lot. Once for all, u they were threatened with a Reform Bill, for • Reform Bill without the ballot was a threat—(hear, hear)—he said most emphatically he would rather have no extension of the franchise, be would rather not run the risk of spreading the virus of this corruption, and the honors of this intimidation among another stratum of society ; he: would rather they remained as they were than subject another and a more dependent class of the people to the same corrupting and debasing influences as the present electoral body suffered from. (Hear, hear.) He therefore entreated the government, if they were not prepared to grant a reform bill with the ballot, to postpone it, and let the country have the ballot alone. (Cheers.) Sir R. PEEL said that last year he had given • silent *dilation to this measure, and he now wished to confirm it. He had adopted the ballot, not as the result of a hasty con clusion, not from a mere love of reform, or a desire of up setting and unsettling old institutions, but from a belief that it was calculated to promote the iborty and independ *nee of the people, and the purity and freedom of elections He was for supporting the legitimate influence of property, and it was not to distrust it that he supported the ballot, and whatever convulsions might follow the passing of the ballot, and all great changes occasioned more or less of con vuleions,abe legitimate influence of property, which the people of this country well understood the advantages ol and appreciated, would be maintained, and contended that secret voting was free voting. (Hear. hear.) They had not often in this country the means of testing this, but they had in other countries. There were two eases occurred the other day—the one in Spain and !the ether in Tuscany, which 'bowed, ae he thought, coachnively, the value ofthe ballot. He heard the noble lord (J. Russell) say the other night that ministers were not going to govern this country by checking the progress of democracy, but that they were going to make democracy conservative ; but it appeared to him (Sir R. Peel) that to attempt to make democracy conservative in a country where the aristocratic element had been dominant 160 years was • monstrous deception. (" Oh," and a laugh.) It had been said by a right hon. gentleman on that side, on one occasion, that the noble lord was the subordinate of a subordinate ; but he had the authority of the noble earl at the head of the government for saying that that was not the fact. Lord Aberdeen had told them that he had no subordinates, and certainly if that was the case, u it would seem to be, the present prime minister of this country stood is an extraordinary position. As he said what Lord Aber deen had stated appeared to be correct, for they had the noble lord (J. Russell) one day coming forward with a speech insulting the Roman catholic population of the United Kingdom, which, however, they soon afte r wards were told was a mere private opinion; and on another day they were threatened with a measure to deprive the poor dock yard artisans of their birthright, which, however, had been since abandoned under the conviction, as he believed, that the house would throw it out the moment it made its appearance. (Hear.) But the members of the present " united " cabinet seemed to differ in everything. They were not even agreed upon the ballot. There was the member for Southwark (Sir W. Molesworth), that glorious radical—(laughter)—who looked at the ballot as the anchor of political salvation in this country. He (Sit R. Peel) thought he was right. (Hear.) But there was the' right hon. baronet the member for Cariisle, who sat e complacently beside him under the Admiralty colours, be looked upon the ballot as the very Cape Horn of politics— as the ultima thule of political navigation. (Laughter.) lie knew:not what course the two hon. and learned gentle• men on the Treasury bench intended to take ; but they had the gallant captain, the eccentric member for Middlesex. They had heard a good deal about the Dardanelles lately, and of powers acting in harmony that were formerly belli gerent—at all events, he might say in restricted confidence that he should, on this question of the ballot, have the gra tification of meeting the gallant captain in the same lobby, and establishing with him the entente cordiale. (More laughter.) Was there not then an ample case made out for the adoption of the ballot ? Let them consider the ex pense of these numerous election petitions, the denial of justice which frequently ensued, and the demoralisation of the constituencies arising out of the existing system of open voting, and then ask themselves whether they were not called upon to do something to endeavour to improve the public mind ? If they weighed these considerations well and fairly, they would be ready to sanction this measure of the ballot as heartily as he was, convinced that it would not I deprive property of its legitimate influence, but would pro. mote the interests of all classes of the community. (Hear ) The LORD ADVOCATE considered the ballot repug nant to the principle of tree government, and he believed it was from the mere caprice of accident that it had been regarded as one part of the principle+ of those who professed liberal opinion+. However congenial secret voting might be to the principles of absolute government, as is Spain, it was utterly opposed to the principles of a free constitution. The duty of the voter being a public one, and eptrusted to him for the public good, ought to be openly performed ander the public cognisance. He thought the fel wothiwch"ithile wgnoeontatedralphuetn'ittht-ua7f Iseylof the advocates of the ballot looked only at the evil without ri gardiug atth jectionable elements of the remedy they • F ..% - d i and they seemed to forget that by intraduc.'ing ballot they would be introducing a new eleme n t - 4 1 would extend to the whole electoral oyetem and affect t he s a p n i d ri t w tah loosenp op tb l e The ties ball ot I Prevent bri bery ose and intimidation ; and if not, it would, as he lieved, increase all the evils of the present systetn—( o f: 0 1, ‘ land where would be your com mittees, your public oaths infra., your bodies of men banded together for one m arbitrary power, and as tending to shut out that ' mi t n ee ; s o be l s a which was the basis of free goverumeat. as n ej; bookt hoe l e w c e leicm d tc a s ' h o t' hru t t hasw h lt : Pi e ah a strtiuy n o p : stm d u al ti rib::: prom pt ed wd , he s i e ea p tli disrameti was maintained. e :ell t eee n o idg i nat io n t r t irb i t l e o . Pea e et u Ert o alla that bu n wlio t tttat i 'ol h'aire u i Z i a C he . U ech: I :e a r . et. t 'l b i Ll n i v° ll Poul df:ti common u. tram the throne to the peasant which was the lite blood of f they checked or obstructed thaCpublic spirit, although the might keep up the ewpty skeleton, they o f the power of all law to resuscitate it agile. (Rear.) Le t the law deal with bribery as a crime, and he believed that the law, if fairly carried out, was strong enough to vied! cate itself; but whatever they did, it was their most portant duty, in the interest of public freedom itself, to de nothing which would make it impossible fur them to alts. tinguish between the hone s t m an an d the rogue . (Chectsl lls said t ß h u a Mr. t t was in he a , B RlG H T, w m ar i e t w w . h h t :a t r t eo e f hourpa publi c l d f , c s the t b e u a gfsiohr::ni end a t wattiitgit"tut he was willing either to go on or adjourn. (A djou rn , adjourn.) ate perio I of the session, the house would probably lie disposed to site little later than usual. ((fear, hear.) 'the subj ec t was worthy a fair and full discussiou ; and he was glad to find that on the present, the government me t it more the. neatly than on former occasion, from which be augured that they would either concede the question or were prepared to buckle on their armour and contend against it. (Hear, hear.) Ile admitted that the advocat es of the measure were bound to prove that the cote was one which required a remedy, and that the remedy they pry posed was the one applicable to the case. (Hear, he m ) The general arguments by which they were met might he comprised under three heads—first, that the evil complained of was not so great as it was represented ; secondly, that the ballot would net cure it ; and, thirdly, teat if it cured it, it would be as bad as the disease itself. He would not go at that hour into the particulars of the cases which had been brought before parliament during the present *aeon, but he would give the number of the seats which had been vacated under charges such as made it ueceesary for them to bring this subject before the house. During the session 1G members were unseated fur bribery only, 4 were unstated fur treating only, 7 for bribery and treating combined, 1 for an illegal engagement to pay money fur getting posses. sion of a seat, and 2 for intimidation and riot—the use of the Irish county. (Laughter) These made altogether 30 members unseated tar occurrences connected with elections, which they believed the ballot had a tendency to cure, if it would not alto gether remove, them. (Hear) What had been the num ber of petitions presented to the house after all the general elections 'Mee the Reform Bill ? In 1833 the number of petitions was 33; in 183.5, 33; in 1838, 60; in 1811, 43; in 1847, 40; and in 1833, 76, making altogether 282 petitions presented since the Reform Bill, or an average of not less than 47 for the six general clectioss. It needed no argu ment to show that, under these circumstances, the house stood in a position of considerable humiliation before the country and the world. And it was difficult to say whether the house or the constituencies lost more of character. (Hear, hear.) They had boroughs under the control of one patron, as Stamford; they had large bo roughs under the control of the government of the day, such as Chatham ; and they bad even large edits such as Westminster, where it was notorious thist many electors abstained from voting on account of the extreme pressure put upon them by men towards whom they stood in some relation of obligation. (Hear, hen.) But leeland, perhaps, afforded cases of more notoriety than England, and ha would invite the right hon gentleman, the Secretary at War (Mr. S. Herbert), to go with him to a county in the north of Ireland, where be mimed see that spirit of the Duk- of Newcastle lived as much in the Mar quis of Lendonderry as it did in the former noble: moo. (Hear.) They were battling for the purification of the electoral system, and therefore he would offer no evidence except that which was perfectly true and undeniable. He would read to the house extracts from the correspondence of the Marquis of Londonderry in reference to the last election for the county of Down. (The hoes. gentleman then quoted large extracts from the well known correspondence of the Marquis of Londe'. decry, in which be called the member for the county of Down (Mr. Kerr) "his member," and called the seat the family seat. The reading of these extracts elicited much laughter from the members.) Was not the case of the Marquis of Londonderry a fair parallel to the Duke of Newcastle, and did it not overturn the assertion of the right hon. gentleman that the corruption and evil of the days of the Duke of Newcastle were unknown now ? (Hear, hear.) The hon. member for Dungannon (Mr. Knox) alai wrote a letter with regard to the same county of Down elee tion, in which he asked the tenants to vale for. Lord E. Hill and Mr. David Kerr, " hoping that as they had been always treated with consideration, they would not forget what was due to their landlord by supporting the tenant league candidate (Mr. Sharman Crawford), whose vanity got the better of his good sense." There was also mother letter from Major Waring, who said that as a general elec tion was about to take place, and as the interest of the tenants and of the landlord was inseparable—(" hear, hear," from the opposition aide)—yea, but the tenant was always required to go with the landlerd—(uheerr)—al the interest of the tenants and the landlord was inseparable, he thought it to be his duty to make known his intentions to them, and if they were disposed to act with him, he would be obliged if they gave their first vote to Lord E. Hill, the tried and true friend of his country, and he did not intend to ask them to promise their second vote for the present. After some additional illustrative matter, be said, — well, the question now to be decided was this, the remedy for the evil ? He would like to ask whe ther these letters would have been written if there had been vote by ballot ? Would these gentlemen who talked about murderers have darea to write such letters while there was the protection of the ballot ? No, for then they would not only have been condemned for their tyranny, but they would also have been ridiculed for their folly in writing such letters. (Hear, hear.) But let the house return again arrow the Channel, and take a borough in England. Take Canterbury, where the bribery was carried on under the mask of giving 10s. to colour-men ; or Cambridge, where the electors were bought at the rata of 101. a head ; or Derby, where the price was 21. or IL Wee the money paid before the election in these caul No; it was paid after the voting—after the delivery of the pods. (A laugh.) In this country people were net in the habit of paying for goods before their delivery, and it Deemed that in these guilty transactions at parliamentary elution' the precaution was taken of not paying the money until the contract was kept and fulfilled. (Hear, hear) But the ballot would prevent all this. Ile came now to a particular point in this question which he hoped the house would allow him to go into in detail, because it related to the manner in which the ballot had worked in America, about which the right hon. gentleman the member for Wiltshire appeared to be under same misapprehension. Now, let the house bear in mind that in the United States they had more elections than we have. They had elections—general elections—throughout thirty three states, yet such being the che.k of the ballot that charges of bribery and corrup tion were altogether unknown on the country. (Hear, hear.) A few nights ago he was speaking upon thin subject to • distinguished man connected with the United States, who load, on fact, held the office of AttomerGe• pe ne r ral ceiv in e t w ha ha t t " ex u e n i tr te y ff Somersetahire, but he forgot that the hon. gentleman generally was in a good humour at that hour of the night t h ( e at l a l u a g u h g h o f.) the ge hon. wu member a t a loss fo to r (Laughter.) But let the helms bear with him for a moment on this point as the right hon. gentleman the Semliki -at- War, and the learned Lord Advocate, had both endearoutetl to persuade the house that it would be something detri mental to the British character to adopt the ballot. It, however, had not done so in America, according to the aa thority he had just stated. He wished them, then. a to noth ad er op e t oun a try7 s the dignity of that house was at present lowered, and which bad the character of representative institutions damaged , t al e solemnly declared worked th‘t he well ,h in t uogh not only in this country, but throughout the world ; and if they did not wish to appear hypocrites in the face of the country and of the world, it became hon. members either to point out a remedy as good as that of the hon. member s for Bristol, or to vote for this bill in order that it might be sent to the other house of parliament. (Cheers.) Mr. S. KNOX contradicted Mr. Bright's statement widt regard to Mr. Sharman Crawford, alleging that the tenants in the case referred to were left to vote as they pleased. Lord E. HILL said he mast deny in toto what the hon. member (Mr. Bright) had said with rk gar,' to the Ili,. William Ford. The hon. member e4id that gentleman was expatriated. Mr. BRIGHT arid he had only st.ited that be wed an exile. Lord E. HILL continued—At all erente the hon. mem ber had implied that he was compelled to fly. The Rev. William Ford held property in the county of ['own of the value of 7,0001. a year, and a more honourable man cr a better landlord did not exist. With regard to tne hen. member's long tirade respecting the Marquis of London derry, he thought the delicacy of the house bad already been sufficiently shocked. (Laughter.) Majar Wang was a strong protestant ; in fact, he was called a " hind William's man." Mr. BRIGHT said he did not know it. Lord E. HlLL—Then the hon. member knew It now. (Laughter.) Perhaps the hon. member would prefer a Homan catholic. At all events, it was notorious that the Roman catholic priests exercised more influence at the last election than the landlords. Lord J. RUSSELL'-After the speech of my right hoc. friend the Secretary-at-War, and my hon. and learnal friend the Lord Advocate, I should hardly have thought it necessary to say anything, hal not my personal co nduct been misrepresented, no doubt unintentionally, by the boa. gentlemen who brought forward this motion (Mr. 11. Berkeley). The hon. gentleman thought fit to repreSeg that, while I had held very liberal language in opposition , I had, when in office, upon this subject, ch..nged my coup , and taken a very different view of the matter. Now the (get is, that the speech to which the hot:. gentleman alludes was made in July last, previously to my election for the City of London. 1 bad voted in this house 1111 1,1 " t the ballot only a few weeks before, and when asked in the Guildhall, 1 stated that I should on any otha