The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1809-06-07 00:00:00

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recollected, that. in extronie ciao of palpable bail
atrocious bribery, 11w Heuse poowwwil within it- •
self the power of deciding upon the penalty DOM .
contended for. •
Mr. berths:hos reminded the House, whet wee ~ .
the design of the person bribing?—Tit sobsaiihat
seat le that Howie l They should then take rate
to detest that desige, by excluding hint from that
Parliament altngethet.
Air. Auto denied the pr neiple laid down 14
In. lion. and Learned Friesil, that they were tip le.
slate by precedent. Was the I louse likely to he
bettered by imffering the briber of A. to sit for
B. ?--If tat, legislate at all upon the subject,
they should take care to make the law effectual.—
The object wee to intimidatr from the cotatniaviou
of the offence, and, following yp this principle, the
sully effectivil mode was total excitation. The test
'fan oath to be tskeu by. Mrqsbess was proposed
II the hill, mad the propriety of We else., was
backed by an atethonty so high (that of the
Mier.! abe hoped would ;;ere it effeht ; and
were they to have, knowingly isod desigisedly, per-
jury embodied hi that Howe : foie was an argil-
meat altogether couclosive in his mind, in favour
of the ainenduicots
Mr. Wtl.l.l.loll9Mint contended that 111 the law
was intended for prevention. stud a putushment aas
the only stouts of effectuating that iutestion, the
aoseddinent was absolutely necessary.
Lard HhisltT I'l:Try observed, that it was arittad
the offence would be suLlciviitly punished by the
100 of the money ineffectually spent in the ensiles
cessful bribery ; but was it eat obvious that the
moiety would not be forfeited. as it *hold be to be
giveu only conti)tuo-teeny. fur the iittainuieut of the .
seat ? •
The SPEAZIR said, he extremely wished not to
ext rid the penalties too far ; and, as he i oushiered
they had been esilarged auflicieetly already, be
should therefore vote that the original wont, stand
part of the Bill.
l The House then divided en the question, that
the oingesal words steed part of vie clause: Ayes,
81 ; Noes, fin ; Majority, ul. The ankilddient
was of temper nezatived.
Whet, CM were re-admitted into the r allay, Mr.
1 Tieatter was on his legs, proposing an amend.
, merit to die oath in the original ail. He eatd It
; was of hitch it conscientious nakre, that no snow
could ri fuse to take it, vis.
" Thit A. B. rears he Ins not procured himself to be
, returnsa as a Member of Perlissasut. by to. le make of
on!, ;Asc. wider Government, or peustoo ; of that be bee
luBouuce.l nay of Ins electurs,4 a Fromm ef say plate es
emolument, to obtain Isis seat."
He couciuded by saying, without some otherrion.
Gentleman proposed as eath that *wild meet his
shore perfect approbation, lie vronld, divide. the
I louse on this, as he considered it a wholesale Tara-
sure. that did not prevent caoilitletes on its election
to employ avid pay agents.
1 Mr. Peacer*" objected to the amendment. as
the payment of 'oh. to a voter would be perjury nu-
•!,•r its influence ; and L.Vell the payment of the , ,
..: it agent at an election, Of a coutrnetion for the
, iiiiiest of his ch2rge„,suight bedeviled prrjuri.
617. TlBj”lej„nBbocoosivivreiit wool& beitie •
7esfialiirdioari thou.. irr the world ices/ ni ea.
sore was brought into "hat House to prevent Metn•
bera from paying their agents. But if the Right
Hon. Gentleman (Air. Percent) did not shape his
course very differt from what he had that wgla,
When the Bill came out of the Chweinittee, he-(Mr.
' Tiernev,) would not vote bar it.
Mr."Puitsouse said, be could not perCeive what
the payment of an agent had to do with contracting
for a seat in Parliement; the Right Hen. Gentle-
man (Mr. Pekeval) might es well say the candidate
who said a postilion half-a-crown for dhivihs an
elect°. to an election.could Dot take the oath. 'Die
Right lion. Gentleman then took a full and com-
prehensive review of the nature of the oath aseinend-
ell by Mr. Tierney, and concluded by observing
it should have his decided support.
Mr. CUIRVE, stated that the oath would be par-
ticularly necessary, as it would be a pledge to the
country that the House was dytermined to purify
itself.
Mr. Wit 3c arnace spoke at length as to some
measure being owreesary, as corruption had been
acknowledged by His Majesty's Minister-.
Mr. Timmer stated, that it was nut his inten-
tion to attach the ensue of perjury to the oath. fist.
on lookius -over the Journals of the House, he did
not god perjury attached to the oath taken at the
table.
Lord Mst.von approved of the oath proposed in
the Bill.
Mr. (7ammtito said, if any oath was at all nece9-
sary, that proposed by the Bill was certainly pre-
ferable to the amendment soggemed by the Right
Hon: Gentleman; as iu its latitude it was such as
could not be true.
Mr. Rose dhapproved of the punishment for
perjary being aosigned to such an oath. He would
ask the Hot). Gentleman opposite (Mr. Wilber-
force) in what situation he himself would stand, if
he himself was dcclurul not duly elected, after hav-
ing taken such IA oath
Sir T. Tyler° m spoke with great Pooh in favour
of the insertion of a strong and comprehensive
omit, fur without that, he thought the bill would
nut lie at at efficient. The people of England
would naturally think that every man who could
sot take such an oath into been bribed.
The Sec tacit stated, that when he formerly
*poke upon this subject. he had observed, that is
proper oath wwild be exceedingly usefel, and the
more so, if put to the Elected, instead of the
Elector ; but if it met with much diversity of
opinion, he would rather dispense with it, as he
was unwilling to stiperadd this, or any other provi-
sion, that would endanger its ultimate homes..
Strengths were not agates re-adinitted, but we um-
deretand that us discussion tuck place. that the
CIIAIIIMAN reported progress, sad obtaiusd leave
to it agiun this Jay.
Adjourned at HALF-PAST YOUR.
Letters from Cureeoe, dated the 11th Aprils
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bete espeAritced. It was expertei that the Verb •
also et seer would tail he Ernehredthebtearnin .4.
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