The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-19 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE LANCASTER COMMISSION.

The report of the Lancaster Election Commission
is published. The total of the money spent on the election
is said to have been 14,5301. its. Bd. The muse adopted
by both parties is thus described :—" The machinery by
which these sums were passed from the pockets of the
candidates and their friends into those of the voters was
much the same on either side. Each bad a cashier to
whom was entrusted the whole of the funds employed.
The borough and county within the circuit of seven miles
were divided into districts, over each of which was set au
officer called ' a captain,' who dealt directly with the
cashier, and drew from him the iuoney required within
the district alloted to his charge. Under the captains
were ' sub-captains,' who looked after sub-divisions of the
district, or particular families, or knots of voters working
under the same employer. To these were joined a staff
of assistants and sub-assistants, whose duty it was to
treat and drink with the voters, and collect them at the
critical times of payment and voting. It is due to the
chief captains on either aide to say that they discharged
the shameful work on which they were engaged with real
and fidelity. Very few received remuneration. On the
conservative side were five chief captains marked off from
all subordinates. Their services were all gratuitous. The
liberals divided their ground into many more districts,
requiring a corresponding number of captains, and
rendering it more difficult to draw a line separating
chiefs from subalterns." In concluding their report the
commissioners say :—" We have now to point out by
name those on whom rests the guilt of thus debauching
and degrading the constituency. We have no hesitation
in affixing this stigma on Messrs. Fenwick and Schneider,
nor of adding that, with regard to the latter at least, a
deliberate and long-formed determination had existed of
carrying his election at any cost, by corrupt means and in
defiance of the law. The very gold destined to be used in
bribing in several instances passed through these gentle-
men's hands on its way to those who were then engaged in
bribing on their behalf, thus conclusively establiabing their
personal knowledge of and privity to the manner in which
the election was being conducted. We forbore to summon
them as witnesses, both because they could add little or
nothing to the information we had already received, and
because we were unwilling to place them in a position to
demand from us a certificate which might have the effect
of shielding them from the consequences which their
conduct seemed to us to have deserved. We, however,
offered them the opportunity of making voluntary state-
ments before us, of which Mr. Fenwick availed himself ;
but we have been: unable to extract from his state-
ment any matter which could vary the testimony we had
already received, or throw any new light on the subject
of our inquiry. Beyond all question the conservatives, as
a body, were quite as guilty as the liberals ; yet as we
bad no evidence to connect Mr. Lawrence with bribery
in the same sense as the late sitting members were con-
nected, that is, by direct personal action, and as it sass
only by a strict examin..tion of him that we could hope
to arrive at a true conclusion upon this point, we felt
that we should not be justified in abstaining from calling
him ; and we cannot find either from other evidence or
from his own any proof that he was cognisant of the acts of
bribery committed im hie name. We do not wish to be
understood as acquitting him from all blame ; we cannot
but think that from his own account he surrendered his
own judgment, and followed his ' injudicious friends'
with a too passive submission. We cannot but think that,
to a man dwelling in Liverpool, versed in politics, the
character of the borough of Lancaster, even at that time
but too well known, should have iised a spirit of in-
quiry. We think also that he did contemplate the ex-
penditure of a sum, indefinite, though within limits,
yet in excess of what he must have conceived a per-
fectly pure election could cost. We think, too, the
aspect of the town as described to us by his general agent,
Mr. Clark, should have caused inquiry on Ms part. On
the other hand it is proved that he did clearly give his
supporters to understand that he would contribute no
more than 1,0001., and that he did not in fact at any time
intend to contribute more than that sum ; and
that the above-mentioned payments of money by
the firm of E. Lawrence anti Co. were made during
his absence, and were in fact without his knowledge and
consent. On the conservative aide, the guilt of originating
a corrupt expenditure rests upon Mr. H. T. Wilson."
The following are the technical " findings" of the con.
miuioners :—" We find that corrupt practices very ex-
tensively prevailed at the election of July, 1865. We
find that 844 persons were guilty of bribery at the
raid election by receiving money or other valuable
consideration for having given, or to induce them to
give, their votes. We find that a further number
of 130 persons were guilty of corrupt practices at the
said election by corruptly giving or promising money or
other valuable consideration to voters fur the purchase of
their votes or on account of their having voted, or by cor-
ruptly advancing money for the purpose of bribery, or by
treating ; and we further find that of the said 139 persons
89 were electors and 50 (named in schedule B of this
report) were not voters for the borough. Finally, we
report to your Majesty that, with rare exceptions, corrupt
practices have for a long time prevailed at contested elec-
tions for members to serve in parliament for the borough
of Lancaster."

WEATHER REPORT.-(THIS DAY.)

TOIVDAY, F)BRVART 19, 3 LX.