The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-22 00:00:00

The committee was struck on the 9nd of December,
1890, jut after Bail Grey's govenur ant had sea '
(welded to Ake. The committee was a whig committee,
Mr. B. B. Clive, the member for Hereford, vru chairman.
It was obvious from the opening speech of counsel,
that the object of the petitioners was to upset the
return on the ground of Informality, in order that
there might be a chance of getting Mr. Raphael in,
Mid of securing the 4,000 k The committee very
phtiently baud the evidence about the closing. of
the poll ; bat it was clear that it made very little mi-
preesion. There appeared to have been a wrangle,
and the worst that could be said wu, that the poll
was closed under misapprehension as to the intention
of the parties. It was far, indeed, from clear, that
Mr. Raphael's friend had not consented to the poll
being closed—certainly the Mayor so understood him.
Under these einumitanees it was necessary, in
order to upset the election, to go into evidence u to
the remaining allegations contained in the petition.
There was no difficulty in vroving that from 101. to
121. a piece had been paid for votes. This matter,
indeed, was so notorious that almost any one to be
met within the street at Evesham could have told

the committee all the details.
The evidence laid before the committee was as
slight as could be placed before them consistently
with the accomplishment of the object in view. The
attorties saw the delicacy of their position. A very
little proof beyond that which was necessary might
lead to awkward consequences. It was not by any
means their wish to bring people to the bar of the
house, nor to ran the borough upon the shoal of dis-
fr:uchisement. They were very careful, therefore,
what they proved, and they only proved just what
was sufficient.
The committee came to resolutions that Sir Charles
Cockerel' and Archibald Lord Kennedy were " not
duly elected, and that by their agents they were
guilty of bribery at the last election for the borough
of Beecham. It was discussed whether the com-
mittee should report upon the date of the borough;
but, by the casting vote of the chairman, it was de-
cided that there was not sufficient evidence to war-
rant that step being taken.
The report of the committee was presented on the
13th of December. Mr. Clive, the chairman, moved
in the usual way that a new writ be issued for the
election of members for the borough. The motion
was carried. Something was then said as to the
printing of the report. Mr. Clive said he saw no
necessity for incurring that expence. There the
matter dropped for that evening.
On the next night Capt. Arthur Durcombe, a tory,
who represented Bassetlaw, or, as it is now called,
Rest Retford, and who had been a member of the
Evesham committee, moved, after the disposal of
private business, that the evidence taken in that case
be printed. It appeared that he bad been one of the
minority in favour of reporting upon the state of the
borough, and probably he was influenced by a desire
to show that there were other places in the world as
corrupt as East Retford, which only a year or two
before bad escaped disfranchisement on condi-
tion of the hundreds being added to it. Mr. Due-
combe assailed the chairman for trying to stifle the
case, and he expressed an opinion that the writ had
been moved too hastily. Some discussion followed, and
ultimately the motion for printing the evidence hay-
inghs been agreed to, but Lord Chandos gave notice that
heintended to move that the clerk of the crown be in-
structed to issue a supersedes' to the writ,—a course
for which there was scarcely a precedent in the parlia-
mentary annals.
It might well excite, as indeed it did excite, sae-
prise, that a motion of this nature should proceed
from the tory benches of the House of Commons; and
in the case, ton, of a borough reorning tory repre-
sentatives. The causes of so unusual an occurrence
deserve some explanation. They were these:
Although no public intimation had been given of
the fact, it was, even in three early days of the Grey
ministry, pretty generally understood that the go-
vernment, at the earliest passible period, would intro-
duce a large and comprehensive measure of reform.
Now, nothing was more desirable than to embarrass
the new government, and to place theta in an unfa-
vourable light in the eye of the country with regard
to the mermen they intended to propose. fns
Evesham case appeared to present a very favourable'
opportunity for so doing. The committee was
a whig committee. It had only done half
its work. The government must either let
the writ go, which would place them in an un-
popular position with the country, or they must with-
hold it, which would place them in an unpopular
puitivn at Evesham. If they flinched, they would
injure theme Ives with the nation on the question of
reform : if they upset the report of the committee,
they might offend seine of their own friends • ithin
the house. It seemed to the tories that this Evesham
writ placed the government in a dilemma, and they
consequently resolved to take up the subject and have
a party debate upon it.
Accordingly on the 18th of December the Marquis
of Chandos moved that the sepersedeas to the writ be
issued. Mr. Rue, the tory whipper-in, came for ward
with precedents to support the motion. One or two
members objects d to it; they were chiefly whig out-
siders. At length Lord John Russell rose. He said
that this was a subject on which he should be dis-
posed te consult the feeling of the house. If they
thought it better to suspend the writ he should not
object, although such a course was very unusual, and
might be very unnecessary. Sir Robert Peel argued
that the writ ought to be suspended, and Lord
Althorp followed in the same strain as Lord John
Russell. Ultimately the motion was put, and the
Speaker decided it to be carried in the affirmative.
A few days after the house adjourned for the
Christmas recess. During the vacation the report
was printed, and immediately on parliament re-
assembling Lord Chandos gave notice, that he should
move a resolution that " the corrupt state of the
borough of Evesham requires the serious attention of
the house." This motion was fixed for the 17th of
February. The government at the same time gave
notice of their intention to bring forward the Reform
Bill on the let of March. Evesham, it was evident,
was to be the skirmishing ground preliminary
.to the
great fight between the two parliamentary armies.
On the 17th of February, pursuant to him notice,
the Marquis of Chandos proposed his resolution.
" For the last 40 years," he said, " the borough had
always been in the market. It was put into the
hands of him who would give the highest sum.
and he was prepared with proof of its corruption."
He then defended the purity of his own motives
in bringing the case forward. It would "create
genera! disgust if when a case of corruption was
proved the house refused to notice it. He proposed,
if this resolution was adopted, to introduce a bill
to disfranchise Evesham, and transfer its representa-
tion to Birmingham."
The resolution was adopted, and on the next night
the Marquis of Chandos introduced his bill. He
moved that a copy of it should be served upon the
Mayor of Evesham' and that the Speaker do issue
warrants to Edward Protheroe, Esq., and a number
of other persons, to attend at the bar and give evi-
dence upon the bill on Monday the 28th of February,
being the day before the introduction of the govern-
ment measure of reform. Mr. Hume objected to this
proposal, as calculated to impede the progress
of public business, and to put the country
to unnecessary expense. An animated discussion
followed; the opposition urging theimportance of the
business and the delinquencies of Evesham—the go-
vernment treating the motion as a mancetivre 0 em-
barrass the intended measure of Reform and as •
proceeding quite unprecedented, pending ihe disclo-
sers of the ministerial plan.
Ultimately, it was agreed that the bill should be
read a second time upon the 28th February, but that
the examination of witnesses should be postponed
until the 7th day of March. On the 28th, however,
Lord Chandos and the tories found the public
excitement so strong upon the measure which wee to
be propounded the next day that they " postponed
the bill fora week;" which war tantamount to drop.
ping it in tote.
The Evesham Disfranchisement Bill was never
heard of after. Benham appeared in &Wale Bal
the first Reform BilL Within a very few weeks after,
parliament bad dissolved. The new writ for Remit=
was issued se a matter of course, and thus the borough
bad a lucky escape both from temporary and per-
manent disfranchisement.