The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-08 00:00:00

MANUAL of the FLEC 10/T L

te
By Samuel Warren, .t, sq., Q. C., E R. 6-c.7
Butlerworths.
In the very " thick" of the electioneering excite. (-
taere has been issued from the press by Mr.
Butterworth the law publisher,. one Of those remark-
able volumes which, more than any other individual
undertakings, are calculated to influence the votes of
the community, and, by so doing, to affect the cha-
racter of a Parliament. A more extraordinary vain'
pilation of its kind has perhaps never hefts-to been
given to the world—certainly not one more rigo-
rously impartial, more scrupulously accurate, or
more carefully compacted together. In the systematic
manner of its arrangement it constitutes the very com-
pendium of the laws relating to the formatiOn of the
lower-branch of the Legislature--; wherestain its c.opious
accumulation of all toe principal facts referring 'to
that all-important subject the book is little less than
minute and cornprehensive encyclopcedia. Mr. Warren
has evidently devoted to the work a surprising amount
of application. His, abilities have manifestly been ab-
sorbed in the task of concentrating into a single focus the
lights cepable of being thrown upon the difficult ques-
tion of " Elections"—but which had been hitherto
almost useless because scattered, and in some instances
therefore, altogether d iseipeted.Everything that can be
desired in the way of information upon the subject
which the author has bore treated with a really
be found on the instant
masterly lucidity may
without difficulty. This, of itself, is an advantage
euffieiently important. The materials of the volume
are so ordered as to be at once accessible—a merit
however whicb, with • all its uequestionable value, is,
perhaps, of all, the least noticeable in th-fiCompilation.
Superior at acy rate in a marked degree are the merits
of fidelity' and completeness—a fidelity which no
partizan predilections have interfered witb, and a
completeness which has mastered every separate de-
tail, no matter what its apparent insignificance.
The scheme of the work may be readily indicated.
It einbreces a rapid but luminous history of
the progress made in the election law during
the course, of the last quarter of a century, together
with an epitome of its character in reference to
Scotland and Ireland—the position, of the law in
England and Wales being, of course, considered
in detail, and this, moreover, with More than
ordinary elaboration. The last mentioned division
of the ". Manual " relates, firstly, to the present ar-
rangement of places returning Members—secondlY,
to the constitution of the franchise—thirdly, to the
method of ascertaining it by registration—fourthly,
to the incapacities for electing—fifthly, to the
qualifications and disqualifications for being
elected—sixthly, to the mode of exercising the fran-
chise through the agency of the returning officer and
his staff of functionaries—seventhly, to the mode in
which a voter may throw away his vote--eightly, to the
disturbing forms by which the exercise of the franchise
may be defeated, that is to say, by undue interference
by intimidation, by violence, by bribery, and .by
treating—lastly, to the ultimate adjudication upon the
exercise of the franchise, when impeached by electors
or candidates, by the House of Commons. The work
is manifestly, therefore, as may be recognised even
from this cursory synopsis of its contents, one
eminently calculated to prove of great practical
utility to all parties engaged in the responsible
labours of electioneering—to voters as well as to can-
didates—from the returning officer to the most subor-
dinate person engaged in the toils of canvassing, or
of polling, or of any other of the difficult
and arduous processes required to be passed through
before Whig, Tory, or Radical, can be transformed
into a representative. For practical purposes, how-
ever, it is to be feared that in many of the boroughs
and cities of England the volume will have ar-
rived too late -
to admit of its being consulted
with a view to guidance upon points of legality.
However this may be in those particular quarters,
it is unquestionable that the work will be peculiarly
acceptable to all parties involved in the labours of
county electioneering. Amongst the various divisions
of the manual above enumerated, especial notice must
be accorded to the one specified as the eighth—
namely, the one in which Mr. -Warren has treated
with uncommon sagacity the most delicate theme
having reference to electioneering—that touching
" the disturbing forces by which the franchise may
be defeated," making separate and particular mention
of undue interference, of violence, bribery, treat-
ing, and intimidation. From the singular im-
portance of this part of the Election Law we
could have wished the present " Manual " had
appeared somewhat earlier. Fortunately, even now
there are time and opportunity by availing
themselves of which many of the possess-ors of the
franchise throughout the United Kingdom may
derive from the warnings given upon this
head in the. eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth
chapters incelanlable advantages. If for nothing
else; the book would necessarily for those
chapters alone be welcome RS one of indisputable
importance. Another section would complete
the volume so as to render it a permanent authority,
and that section—defining the procedure before
election committees—we are gratified to ob-
serve, through an announcement in the course
of the preface, is already promised. At this moment
we cannot but think that the fourth chapter will—
from its being the most happily timed in its appear-
ance—be the most generally acceptable, relating as
it does (in reference at least to England and
Wales) to the peculiarities affecting the county
franchise. It will be borne very satisfactorily in
remembrance by all who consult Warren's Manual
of the Election Law that the statements contained in
it are, in every instance, based on the existing
common and statute law relating to the sub-
ject under consideration. And bearing in
recollection the number of statutes which have
recently passed through the Legislature, leading
to a multiplicity of alterations of the laws previously
enforced in regard to the labours of electioneer..
nig, it must be sufficiently evident that a book
precisely of this character was at this particular
instant in the highest degree desirable. It will be
hailed, therefore, even in the eleventh hour by all in-
dividuals interested professionally or otherwise (but
especially professionally) in the pending struggle—
by Parliamentary solicitors and agents, by clerks of the
peace, by town clerks, by revising barristers, by counsel,
by the electors themselves, and by the different gen-
tlemen who, as candidates, are aspiring to be repre-
sentatives. It will be observed by those who consult
the volume that Mr, Warren has inscribed it as "a
slight memorial of cordial friendship and respect" to the
Right Hon. Spencer Horatio Walpole, her Majesty's
Secretary of State for the Home Department. Upon
the title-page, as an appropriate motto, occurs that
sententious remark of Chief Justice Holt, "A
right that a man has to give his vote at the election
of a person to represent him in Parliament, there to
concur in the making of laws which are
to bind his liberty and property, is a most
transcendent thing and of a high nature"—an
..
obser-
vation it is scarcely possible to repeat at this
lattbs election,
over went.
rk
moment, in the midst of the din efes general
of g
without a glow of patriotic exustteamon
i
occasion, the subject,
before us cannot but
ing of our representativtebe
Everything
and the author—the
command for itself a
almost say, national consideration.

N watchmaker in 'lt(
sergeantlo .et 131 I N AL
I:3„ivt7ta, W COURT.
CE
ECORDER.)
George Tunneg, oEre the R
2.
.pnoistuael pleaded guilty to steal-
Ing a lanep"teePcoostmais:e'rg I il
Giaen-ea-slovereign, it being the
property o_ , ,
~,.. ra .
ted for seven 'years.
Jacobson, 25, watchmaker, and Thomas
HR wa3 tree. p .
dealer, were indicted for receiving stolen
1 c:P,l7a:PpinttpYlee:sz:r2e3d, that C
Lawrence
cheuies.,ews, Tottenham-ctohuertE•rodaidvia.nd J b o-
p
saS
pi:ob , t, int
o the
ee
sbaemere-srh"opd.to make ' tie! haticvoips:
nshere
and
search,
t
be f"D'hanle-aerrloywns,bate
also found an im-
esrtop,:veoldaerty, consisting of silks, watches,
crowns,
faraoouednn 'ode: thingslad:et:l:pi a
i i
ra.fsoctuher's place silks and other property was
identified
railway
wfiaoyoar sn,daontdh
other'
rth:Tbottetelhleeersvid:nee, which was very lengthy, was most cone
elu"ive, and the jury, having found the prisoners Guilty,
tbti'le_ere sentenced to 10 years' transportation.
Zr.l Gurney sat in the afternoon, and disposed of the
remaining business on the list in this court.
THIRD COURT.
(Before the COMMON SERGEANT.)
Thomas Weston, 44, chaser, pleaded Guilty to an in-
dictment for perjury.
The circumstances giving rise to the indictment were
these-:—The prisoner had become bail for two men who
were yesterday tried at the Surrey Sessions and trans-
ported for ten years. He, at the Southwark Police-
eou r swore.t,iortwoyears, that he
whichhad
waykept wholly false.houseandpaid rates and
taxes
He was sentenced to twelve mouths imprisonment.
The remaining portion of the day was occupied in
trying some chargi,s of felony, of no g
thereat
biums
ipnoerstsa nwe ea
s;
.application, been per-
and several prisoners having, by
tcosuTtls°tna'nds adjourned until
brought
ot tor aavne resned
,u
annt ill ntehse
Monday, Aug. 16.

COURT.

o
THE RIOTS AT STOCIIPORT.— On Monday the in-
vestigation into the recent riots
at
ce of this place was resumed
by the magistrates. The een Mr. Hewitt showed
that about 20 minutes past eight o'clock on Tuesday night
principally Irish, as-
slast
bhieeds,a wa nad garlseoatthrnautibtitue.:laewo la boys,
young
man break the win-
dows of Mr. Graham's ithuse, and the windows of the ware-
house
Englishman seized another Irishman.
of Mr. White. A shower of stones was thrown at the
witness by the Irish, who afterwards attacked Mr.
down Graham'
Lord-
s
street, one of whom seized an Irishman and took him into
scustody
t ,mas in3d.
A anotherbody of English Ithen came
Witness took a boy int , custody. The mob then commenced
breaking the Irishmen's windows, and a little boy was
knocked down and otherwise injured. ',De Court adjourned
till Wednesday morning,

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