The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-01 00:00:00

TURTLE, TURTLE, TURTLE.
Clear, Thick, and Invalid TITItTLM SOUPS always ready.
ST. JAIIESS-W M. II KWLD, PENTATIroprietor.MOT, PICCADILLY,
ALL,
DONA

LONDON must have a SUPPER and MUSIC
ROOM for Gentlemen —Remember, we watt for you at
" EVANS'," after the Covent Garden Opera and the Theatres.

ght greoo.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Advertisements intended for The Express," London Evening
Paper, mot be at the Mee, 10, Bouverie-street, by Two
o'eMdt on Me My of pubitostiom

RAYMAIMLET.
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Esuirsews.
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which THE STREETS OF LONDON. Hamra Vining, T
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LYCEUM.
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HIGH-WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE. ^`sZ,
TIM DAY —Morning, 68m Afternoon, CM. 15m.
To-MonnOw—Morning, hi. 31m Afternoon,* Mt 44m.

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 1.

IT must have been painfully manifest to thc-e
who have followed the investigations of the Com-
mittees of the House of Commons appointed to

try Election Petitions in the present session, and
compared those investigations with inquiries in-
stituted at previous general elections, that the
offence of bribery has certainly not diminished,

and it is equally manifest that the existing sta.u-
tory enactments are insufficient to deal with the ex-
isting evil. Indeed, it maynow be considered oertain
thatnostatutoryenactmentdirectedspeciallytowards
the suppression of bribery can be efficacious ; for,
so Long as the rich candidate is willing to pay for
the honour of being a member of the House of
Commona, so long will voters be found who are
willing to take money from the rich man's purse.
But although rich men are found willing to pay
their money, it is practically found that they
rarely do so unless they have some tolerable cer-
tainty that the payment will secure its end ; and
it may therefore be useful to consider whether
some arrangement under which the attainment of

that end must be uncertain would not be the best
check that could be imposed on bribery.
There have this session been presented to the
House of Commons no less than 62 petitions
objecting to the return of members, and of these
no less than 61 were based upon allegations of
bribery. It must not, however, be supposed that
those places where the returns are not disputed
are immaculate. To the initiated in the myste-
ries of electioneering the practice of " squaring "
petitions, as it is termed in the jargon of the
clubs, is well known, and this process of squaring
goes on even after petitions are presented, so that
the investigations of the Committees are by no
means extended to all the cases that are brought
to public notice by petitions.
Of the petitions which have already been adju-
dicated upon by Committees, during the present
session there are already fivo caste in which
those bodies have specially reported that there
is reason to believe that corrupt practices
have extensively prevailed at the last oleo-
tion. Upon a finding by the Committee to
the above effect the general practice has been
that the Chairman of the Committee should
move for a joint address of both Houses of Parlia-
ment to the Crown praying that a commission may
be issued for the purpose of inquiry into the exist-
ence of such corrupt practices, and the Crown is
authorised, by a special statute, 15 and 16 Vic.,
cap. 57 (1852), to bone such commission, and pro-
vision is made by the Act for the mode in which
the inquiry shall be conducted. By a later Act,
26 and 27 Vic., cap. 29 (1863), there is a provi-
sion that where an Election Committee has reported
to the House that certain persons named by them
have been guilty of bribery and treating, and where
it appears by the report of any commission of
inquiry into corrupt practices at say election
that certain persons named by them have carried
on bribery and treating, and " have not been fur-
" suited by than with certificates of •adesnnity"

—which by the Act of 1852 the commissioners are
bound to grant to any person examined :Afore
them who makes a " true disclosure" of all things
of which ho shall be examined--such persons
shall be prosecuted by the Attorney-Genezal, if in
his opinion the evidence is sufficient to support a
prosecution.
Thus we have a machinery—First, of the Select
Committee, who are assisted in their inves-
tigation by the evidence brought forward by the
petitioner : secondly, the issue of a Commission,
with such power to the Commissioners as enables
them to follow up the inquiry of the Select Com-
mittee, and to obtain information in greater detail
than the Committee do ; and, thirdly, the
prosecution by the Attorney-GeneraL These are
statutable powers directed against bribery, apart
from the common-law powers, under which bribers
and bribeea can be punished if aad whew convicted.
The House of Commons assumes to itself the
right of dealing, as regards the conatituencies,with
any case in which evidence is before it of ex-
tensive corruption ; but its power Is limited to
the suspension of the issue of the writ in the event
of a vacancy for the particular constituency, it
being necessary to obtain legislative enactment in
order to deal out more condign punishment in the
shape of disfranchisement. In 1844 an Act was
passed to disfranchise the borough of Sudbury, in
the county of Suffolk, and in 1852 a similar Act
was passed disfranchising the borough of St.
Albans ; but an attempt which was made to dis-
franchise the borough of Barnstaple, upon the
evidence laid before Parliament by Commissioners
appointed under the Act of 1852, failed. Since
that time, however corrupt the constituencies
may have been proved to be by the report
of Commissioners, no attempt at disfranchise-
ment base been made ; and the only penalty as re-
gards the constituencies has been the suspension of
the writ.
Under the Act 15 and 16 Viet., cap. 57 (1852)
there have been, we believe, five Commissions—
for the borough of Barnstaple, the borough of
Wakefield, the city of Gloucester, the borough of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and the borough of Canter-
bury. In the case of Wakefield, the Commis-
sion was followed by the prosecution of the can-
didates by the Attorney-General, and several
of the agents were indicted for bribery. Did
the suspension of the writ work the good
which was contemplated 1 Certainly not ; for it
is notorious that the elections which followed the
suspension of the writs were in each place con-
ducted upon the same corrupt principles as before.
Bach of the above places has again figured