The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-20 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

The House of Comnioaa bald an extraordinary
sitting on Saturday. 'Me principal object of the
meeting was to make progress with the Election
Petitions 13111, but Mr. O'Beirne and Lord Moho
took advsntage of 'lke second reading of the Ap- ,
,propriation Bill (which stood as the first ordet'
to call attention to the recent experiments upon
the Plymouth shield at Shoeburynees. The Douse
heard them with a good deal of impatience; and
the noble lord *as moved to so much anger by
the fact that Mr. Fawcett cheered a premise of
Mr. O'Beirne that he would be brief, and Mr.'
Monk causing the house to be counted, that he
was led to !make some severe observations upon
the indifference of financial reformers to
financial reform. Retorting upon these allusions,
Mr. Monk congratulated the 'noble lord upon
having bad an opportunity of airing his eloquence
without the possibility of Rabeing followed by any
pract lasi result. Sir J.Pakington would not give any
pronuse as to the steps which he might adopt with
reference to these shields daring the recess, but
undertook to act only with the greatest caution.
The first clause proposed in the committee upon
the Election Petitions Bill was one of which Sir
F. Goldamid had given notice, providing that
votes given for a 'candidate who was after-
wards convicted of 'bribery should be thrown away,
and that the meat should be given to the opposing
candidate, subject to the condition that he
should have polled one-third of the registered elec-
tors. The claw* was opposed by the government,
on the ground that its adoption would be unjust
to the honest and uncorrupted electors, who
might compose nearly the whole of the majority ;
and althoughit'svas supported by many hon. mem-
bers as a means of discouraging cornipt practices,
and amongst others by Mr. D. Griffith, on the
ground that it would " attack human nature in
ita vital point," it was rejected by a majority of
91 • 79 to 48. Mr. Fawcett's proposal to throw
the returning officer's expenses upon the borough
and county rates, led to an animated and
somewhat lengthened discussion. Mr. Disraeli
opposed it mainly upon two grounds—one,
that the subject of the clause was not
strictly connected with the object of this bill, and
the other,'that the adoption of this section would
east an improper burden upon rates which were
at present very heavy. Mr. Gladstone warmly
supported the principle of the clause, because it
would indicate that in the opinion of the house
the position of a member of parliament involved
duties to be performed, and was not merely a per-
sonal privilege ; and because he was anxious to
see the artisan and labouring classes represented
by men of their own rank in that house. Mr. Mill
regarded the clause as necessary to prevent the
representation falling entirely into the hands of a
plutocracy. The Home Secretary and the Sell-
eitor-General opposed the clause, on the ground
that it did notproperly belong to this bill, and
would merely relieve the purses of mem-
hers of parliament at the expense of the
ratepayers. These arguments were, how-
ever, insufficient to defeat the clause, and
upon a division its second reading was carried
by a majority of 9 ; 78 to 69. Mr. Faweett's
clause contained a proviso enacting that no one
should be nominated as a candidate unless he, or
some one on his behalf, deposited a sum of 1001.
with the returning officer before one o'clock in the
afternoon of the day preceding the day of nomi-
nation. Some misunderstanding was caused by
the cireumstanee that the first part of the clause
and the proviso were divided on the notice paper
by an amendment of Mr. Wentworth Beaumont.
After the division upon the second reading, Mr.
Bonverie stated that he had voted for the clause
under the impression that the proviso was not
before the committee, and moved that it be struck
out. The objection of the righc hon. member for
Kilmarnock was shared by many other hon. mem-
bers, and in deference to general representations,
Mr. 'Fawcett withdrew the proviso with a
view to reconsider its terms. This course did
not satisfy other gentlement who would not have
voted for the clause if it had not contained the
proviso, and the second division was taken
upon the question that it should be added to
thebill. The result was, however, substantially the
same as before, and the clause was carried by a
majority of 6; 76 to 84. Mr. Clay then proposed
to introduce a form of declaration to be taken at
the table by all members, and in the course of the
discussion to which it gave rise, the Prime Minister
appealed to hon. members who had given notice
of amendments, to postpone their proposals till
the report, and so allow the committee to be closed
that day. There was some little discussion as to the
period which should be appointed for the report,
but as soon as Mr. Disraeli agreed to fix that stage
of the bill for the first order on Wednesday, the
members having notices on the paper readily gave
way. Mr. Clay's amendment was negatived by a
majority of 40 ; 85 to 45; the schedules were
agreed to, and the chairman was ordered to report
the bill. Soon after the house adjourned.