The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

APRIL 18, 1857. T HE ELECTIONS. SCOTLAND. Wicx Burtoits.—The declaration of the poll was made at Wick on Saturday. The Sheriff having read the returns, the majority in favour of Lord John Hay was declared to be 101. Lord John Hay very briefly addressed the electors. He said they had now shown in a manner not to be mistaken the estimate which these burghs had formed of their late member, Mr. Laing. They had discarded bim, and also refused to Lave Mr. Shaw, and the grounds on which they had preferred himself, a perfect stranger, showed how strongly they felt in favour of the principles he represented. The result of the contest would be to him the highest possible induce ment to devote himself to their service. Dr. Bannister, as agent for Mr. Shaw, protested against the validity of the election, on the ground of treating, intimida tion, and bribery. THE ELECTION OF SIXTEEN PEERS IO represent Scotland in the Upper House of Parliament took place at Holyrood this week, in preoence of a crowded and brilliant assemblage of about 1,600 persons. The principal clerks of session officiated as the returning officers in place of the Lord Clerk Register ( Marquis of Dalhousie ). The roll of the Peers of Scotland was called as it stood at the period of the Union, when the following peers answered to their names :—The Dukes of Atholl and Montrose ; the Marquises of Tweeddale and Lothian . the Earls of Morton, Perth, Lauderdale, Wemyss' and Mardi, Airlie, Leven and Melville, Kintore and Seafield ; Viscount Strathallan; Lords Blantyre, Colville of Culross, Belhaven and Stenton, Rollo, and Polwarth ; in all, eighteen. Signed lists were given in from the Duke of Buccleuch and Queens - berry, the Duke of Lennox (Richmond), the Earls of Crawford, Eglinton and Winton, Cassilis, Home, Haddington, Galloway, and Aberdeen ; Lords Sal toun, Gray, Cathcart (Earl of), Sinclair, Cranston, and Forrester ; in all, fifteen. Signed lists had also been sent in by the Earl of Orkney and Lord Somer ville, but, not being accompanied with the usual signed oaths, could not be received. The Earl of Buchan, through Lord Morton, sent a proxy, which, for the same reason, was not available, and the Earls of Stair and Buchan sent in signed lists equally irregular. The oaths of allegiance, supremacy, and abjuration were taken by the peers present and afterwards subscribed. Their votes were then taken both viva voce and by signed lists, the result being that all those present voted for the same peers as represented Scotland in last Parliament—namely, the Marquis of Tweeddale, the Earls of Morton, Home, Strathmore, Airlie, Leven, Selkirk, Orkney, and Seafield ; Viscount Strathallan ; Lords Gray, Sinclair, Elphinstone, Colville of Culross, Blantyre, and Polwarth. All e peers sending signed lists voted for the same. These peers were thereupon duly elected to serve in the ensuing Parliament. The following were the votes given :—The Marquis of Tweeddale, 33 ; the Earl of Morton, 3:3; the Earl of Leven and Melville, 33; the Earl of Home, 33; the Earl of Orkney, 33; the Earl of Strathmore, 33 ; the Earl of Seafield, 33 ; the Earl of Selkirk, 33 ; Viscount Strathallan, 33 ; Lord Gray, 33; Lord El phinstone, 33 ; Lord Colville of Culross, 33 ; Lord; Blantyre, 33 ; Lord Polwarth, 33 ; Lord Sinclair, 33 and the Earl of Airlie, 25. IRELAND-(CLOSE OF POLLS). LONGFORD COUNTY. Colonel White Colonel Greville Mr. Forbes 932 WICKLOW COUNTY. Viscount Milton Mr. W. F. Hume Captain Monck DUBLIN COUNTY. Ilavnilton Taylor Doraville 1,04) ANTRIM COUNTY. ) 'akenitam AlTartney .... O'Hara CLARE COUNTY. Conyngham Calentt Fitzgerald CAVAN COUNTY. Maxwell Annesley Dease; DOWN COUNTY. Hill Fordo bier MILICENNY COUNTY. Ellis Greene 1,620 Mostyn Shee THE PRESS. EXTENSION OF THE FRANCHISE. I HAVE given you the general ideas which prevail in the Conservative party upon electoral reform. The Conservatives think that any DEGRADATION of the existing franchise would tend to swamp the influ ence of property, and to give mere numbers a most unfair and most dangerous preponderance over those other elements of representation which are entitled to great weight—as intelligence, station, and wealth. But to any EXTENSION of the franchise, as it. exists, the Conservatives will not be opposed. Let me endeavour to make this distinction perfectly clear. The franchise, as regards boroughs, would be DEGRADED were it reduced from 101. to 51. houses. The practical effect would be, to introduce a lower class of householders. In very many boroughs the vast majority of householders would be composed of the class who occupy houses between 51. and 101. per annum, and this class would, if the franchise were degraded, return members to the exclusion of all other classes. Do you want an illustration of this position ? Well. I take a letter in the Times of this day from an elector of Kidderminster. The number of elec tors at present is 495. The Times correspondent says that if the franchise were reduced to 51. houses the number of electors would be 2,400. Is It not evident that in all such cases the electors occupying houses between 51. and 101. would form an over whelming majority—that they would he the govern ing class—and that all the superior classes of voters would be as much and as totally excluded from a share in the representation as if their names were struck off the registry ? I take this one case as an example of what would result from a DEonAnATIox of the franchise. Let us now consider the result of an EXTENSION of the existing franchise. The borough of Kidderminster is surrounded by an arbitrary line. All 10/. houses within that line possess the franchise ; all 10/. houses without that line are excluded from it. Why should these borough electors be so highly favoured? Who are they ? In this very letter from Kidderminster in the Times it is stated that out of the 495 electors 70 are publicans and 39 beershop-keepers, together 109. Is it surprising that in the elections for this borough gross drunkenness and bribery prevail ? What should be the remedy? To degrade the suffrage? No, but to extend it, so as to bring in a purer class of voters. All 10!. houses in the rural districts around Kidderminster should confer the franchise for the borough ; and in this manner a constituency of three or four thousand honest electors—removed from the degrading influences of the beershop and from the radical agitation of the factory—would be formed. This is the kind of electoral reform that is required. The boundaries of boroughs must be so enlarged as to entirely abolish pure nomination, to gether with poihouse influence and radical dictation. I know it for a fact that at one of the borough elec tions just ended a Conservative candidate was offered a sufficient number of voters to secure his election at a pot of beer per head. . The Conservatives have nothing to gain by main taining this degrading system. As the principle is recognised that the occupation of a 10/. house should confer the franchise, let it be fairly acted on. Every 403. freeholder in the kingdom, and every 30/. tenant-at-will in the kingdom, have a vote for some county or other. Why should not every 101. house holder in the kingdom have a vote for some borough or the other ? By such a measure the borough con stituencies would be greatly extended, and on the whole the new voters would be of a far higher class than those which at present exist.—London Corre spondent of Essex Gazette. THE BOROUGH OF KIDDERMINSTER AND ITS ELECTION RIOTS. (Abridged from a Letter to the Editor of the Times.) Sir,—The public press continues its indignant com ments oc the recent " stoning" of the Vice-President of the Board of Trade and the principal and most in telligent of the citizens of Kidderminster. I am a Worcestershire mai, and, I am sorry to confess, an octogenarian, having been upwards of half a century thoroughly acquainted, as your readers will perceive, with the "ins" and " outs" of the borough. My facts and retrospective review will cast some light on the transaction. Kidderminster anciently sent members to Parlia ment tWillis, in the " Notitia Parliamentaria,") and by the writs of the Record Commissioner;' publica tion, sent two members to Parliament, with wages, temp. Edward 1. The town afterwards relapsed as a " decayed borough," or it was 4, disused." A century 3t'Y ago the manufacture of carpets was fortunately in - troduced. The population doubled between 180 1 and 1831 ; in the latter year its inhabitants numbered about 15,000. It contributed its Political Union in aid of Birmingham. Lord Grey's Reform Act bestowed upon the town, with a properly en larged boundary, the right of returning one member to the reformed representation. Kidderminster came just within the scale, and had friends at Court. In 1832-3 the first election for this " virgin borough" was disgraced by an expenditure of several thousand pounds on both sides, the late Mr. Godson, a Tory, polling 172 votes, and defeating a Liberal ( the present Sir G. It. Philips), who polled 159 votes. Both candidates expending in "treating" and hired mob partisans large sums ' a petition could not expediently he prosecuted. In 1835 the tables turned, Mr. Philips winning by 197 votes, Mr. God son polling only 124. A similar profligate expendi ture accompanied this contest. In 1837 Mr. Godson ecovered his ground, defeating Mr. John Bagshaw (the present member for Harwich) by 198 to 157. In 1841 Mr. Godson again met an opulent opponent. Mr. Sampson Ricardo appeared, as a stranger, on the issue of the writ, but polling only 200 against 212. This contest was the scene of riot and costly drunkenness. It is notorious in the borough that the defeated candidate within a week expended 4,0001., that his successful opponent exceeded that sum, and that the "managers" of both parties did not abstain from bribery. Hired mobs were the order of the day. In 18-17 Mr. Godson walked over the course, his purse and his invincible determina tion affrighting all corners. It is equally notorious that Kidderminster cost that gentleman "a fortune." On his death, in August, 18-19, Mr. Best, a barrister, son of a local merchant, became the " Protectionist candidate." The Liberal party, disgusted by the previous costly and unsuccessful management of its interest, resolved to fight a "pure e,ection." The late Mr. Thomas Gisborne was their chosen candi date. He polled 200 against 217. It is well known that Mr. Gisborne might have bought the return by purchase of a small and floating party, but he de clined the bargain. Such were the earlier contests and the state of the borough parties when the dissolution of 1852 oc curred, consequent on free trade. At that period, the local parties much broken up, the leading men of all sections deemed it high time to make common cause, to combine in the election. The "influence" of Lord Ward has been mentioned in relation to this borough. The fact is that his lord ship's influence is small, though, of course, desirable, but that nobleman acceded to the selection of a creditable candidate. Mr. Lowe contested the re turn, as the elect of the large majority of all classes, ousting Mr. Best by 240 votes against 152. On accepting office Mr. Lowe was re-elected without opposition. His returns, to my knowledge, have been perfectly pure. I now arrive at the last and eventful election. The result is before the country, in the disgrace of the borough and the temporary embitter ing of classes. On previous occasions " treating " had been the benefit of publicans. But, to the honour of the former class, the large majority disinterestedly supported Mr. Lowe. Nevertheless, I cannot but complete my local statistics by the re cord of the extraordinary number of publicans and beershop-keepers in this thirsty borough. The Parliamentary Licence returns of 1852 exhibit the almost incredible figures of 81 publicans and 00 beershopleepers ! Of this "licensed" body 109 persons were on the register of parliamentary electors, in a gross constituency of 491—viz., 70 publicans and 39 beer retailers !. . An extension of the franchise in Kidderminster to M. rated occupiers would raise the constituency to 2,400 electors. If this increase be effected by a coming further Reform Bill, and without conditions for a purification of such an electoral qualification, or unaccompanied by an improved mode of record of the vote, what may be the character of the next con test, or of the successful candidate' AN OLD REFORMER (A Surviving Member of the Society of the Friends of the People). Richmond, April, 12. THE PRESENT READING-ROOMS Or THE BRITISH MUSEUM will be closed after the 30th inst. During the first week in May, when the Museum will be closed as usual, the library of reference will be re moved from its present locality to the new reading room; and in order to avoid unnecessary interrup tion while this operation is being carried on, no strangers will be admitted to the libraries for any purpose whatever. On the Bth of May the new reading-room will be thrown open to the public generally, who will be allowed to visit it freely until the 16th, after which day it will be devoted exclu sively to the use of the readers. As the entrance to the new reading-room is through the front hall, it will be necessary that readers should bring their tickets of admission with them until they have be come known to the doorkeepers. ')