The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1885-11-21 00:00:00

Vic ,Stourbribge tebsetter,
• —B—ATIJIMAY, NOVEMBER 21st, 1885
TfiE GENERAL f.LECIOic:

THE Sixth Session of the Parliament of 1880
has at length ended, and the whole kingdom
is in the throes of a General Election.
Coming events in the political world so un-
mistakeably cast their shadows beenre, that
the beginning of a struggle finds the local
leaders on every hand fully prepared for the
fray. One of the Acts of the Parliament
which has just drawn its latest breath has
wrought such a change in the voting power
of the country, however, that the contest
which now absorbs men's minds is of peculiar
interest. The alterations make the. issue
very difficult for the astutest of prophets to
fortell, for no man can with certainty say
how thci great bulk of the newly enfranch-
ised will bestow their suffrages. Hence,
though law compels politicians to fight the
battle-at the polls fairly, and without resort
to the assistance of their once powerful
auriferous ally, there will be a hot struggle
in many a constituency; and things electoral
will engage the energies and thought of
every public-minded man from now until
the becvild woolc of December. May the
best men win, and the outcome of the strife
be a Parliament of wise and capable states-
men, determined to unite their ability in
bringing about the good of the great nation
they will be chosen to govern. November
24th is the first possible day, and December
7th the last possible day of polling; and
though doubtless the strength of parties in
the comhig Parliament will be pretty ac-
curately gauged by the end of this month,
two must Nctlit till the second ,veek of next
o know- the full extent of the people's ver-
dict. Bribery and corruption can have no
part, happily, in the election. The days of
undue ieflaence are over for ever, so that a
polling fer members of Parliament is not at
all a similar affair to the disgraceful events
which characterised the elections of even
-the earlier manhood of the present genera-
tion; though the parer excitement of the
contest of our more orderly times will be,
donindess, very great and keen, and all ab-
sorbing. So stringent its the measure guard-
ing against improper practices, which for
the first time governs the present General
Election, that not a few ardent politicians
will unintentionally, we fear, overstep the
mark and bring themselves within reach of
the pains and penalties which follow irregu-
larity. But the party battle, waged in a
wholesome air, will evoke a more intelligent
interpretation of the country's will than was
ever before elicited. And the occupation of
the unscrupulous election agents, who con-
trolled seats to their own aggrandisement
and bitekinailecl aspirants to Parliamentary
honours to a shameful extent, is gone, for
the allowable expenses of candidates are now
lintited to so small a sum in every case that
these political vampires, despairing of far-
ther plunder, have given up the business in
disgust. Bribery, treating, or influencing
in any way are too dangerous to be counten-
anced by eith,r side; and, apart from this
and the inviolable secrecy of the:ballot, there
are other changes in electoral procedure
which make the present General Election
remarkable above all its predecessors. Pol-
ling places will be mora accessible than ever,
by reasen of the changed constituencies.
Of coarse, the allocation of polling places
rests with the sherriffs, and it may be that
in some few cases fixtures will be too sparsely
or in:: yaveniently made by the officials; but
the remodelling of the boroughs into divi-
rims, and 0313,3r?q,117 the rearranceement of
the ceunev censtitaerriee, intuit effectually
ut aa end to many a long journey to record
The vote. It, is well this is so, in every way;
for apart ieom eoueicieratione of coavenience
ind independence, the hiring of vehicles,
either pereonalry or by proxy, by candidates,
henceforth conetitutes an electoral offence
lieniehable by fine and loss of seat. Then
the coutineation of the polling until eight
o'eleeir: in the evening will do away with
much of the harry-scurrying crash daring
the workmen's dinner-hoar, which has al-
ways formed an unpleasant episode of late
elections. Indeed the whole polling proce-
dure has been virtually revolutionised, and
this revolution has been all for the best.
Even the brass bands and flaring torches,
which lent sonnd and light to enliven the
fierce contests of the time past, have been
banished for ever from the candidates'
equipment by the Corrupt Practices Act,
for no would-be M.P. must pay, or permit
Lis agent to pay, for musical assistance in
the+ campaign. Neither must the gay ban-
nc;st and streamers, the cockades, ribbons,
and rosett3s, without which no election has
taken place within man's memory, ever again
be provided at the expense of the candidates.
If the old hot politicians of the days of Gill-
ray and Ilogarth and Craickshank's young
manhood could lift their heads from their
("Riot resting-places during this election,
they would, one may well imagine, sleep
death's long sleep all the more composedly
and thankful for the knowledge that the
change which chased humour and wild ex-
citement from the polling world did not
occur in their time. How they would wag
their heads, were that possible, and pro-
phesy England's ruin by reason of each de-
-o:ieracy ! But the country is all the better
became the official return of candidates' ex-
penses will never again amount to an aggre-
gate of two millions for the whole country;
much less one fierce fight in a single con-
stituency cost half-a-million, as in the earlier
(.1:,,p1 when Wilberforce contested the nn-
aled shire of York. Elections of the
future will never be determined by such
P" 7 ag• treke inviting a bevy of
yeemel to take
. 5",=2t Yriug, 4 then patting
A.: with the shipload until the
.tilc poll. In a word, votes and
irtr.onzinot hencefort h be bought, sold, or
uduly inflaenced. And the result will be
timt, we hll have a much more trust.
anl trusted and honourable House
Commons than was poSSible when corrup-
t:ea raged rampant from Court to cottage.
liakitig Parliamentary elections simple,
reaeing them from unnecessary outside ex-
citemente, rendering them convenient for
Very voter, reducing their scandalous cost,
and all the other improvements which this
reforming age has witnessed, will raise the
dignity and power of Parliament, advance
it greltly in the estimation of the people,
and fit it folly for the vast legislative work
which lisa before it. May the next Parlia
mint of her Itaiesty be her best is the
Altruist aspiration of all true Britons, parti-
Fans or not. .

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