The Sun.
London, England, 1854-06-14 00:00:00

longer support it, because under it had been elected the-
French Emperor. (Loud cries of " hear, hear.") And
then, to crown all, the Time; newspaper must needs lay
hold of this most notable declaration and embalm it with
a leader. (Much laughter.) Need he remind the house
how vain were all his efforts at that time to stem the
torrent which had set in against the ballot. They had
got hold of an unpopular Frenchman, and therefore the
ballot was wrong. But why, said the hon. gentleman.
(facing the Treasury bench), why should I not now tam
round upon you, confounding you with your claptrap, and
choking you with your calumnies ! (Hear, hear.) Thank
the ballot for having given to France the most constitu-
tional monarch she has ever possessed. Thank the ballot
for having given to France a monarch whose sentiments
and actions are alike French. (Hear, hear.) You called
out the militia, you fortified your ports, you built ships,
all in dread of this French monarch—who, instead of
wishing to draw the sword, has kept it in the scabbard
until it could no longer be kept there except with dis-
honour—and then only to draw it, not to minister to a
hostile ambition, but drawing it for the oppressed against
the oppressor, for the due balance of power, and the rights
of nations. (Loud cheers.) Yes, thank the ballot for all
that, as you found fault with the ballot for having elected
the man. The other day, at that glorious pageant at
Portsmouth, there was no man that did not express the
feeling and sentiment that was re-echoed by the press from
one end of the country to the other—that there was but
one thing wanting to make the most glorious sight com-
plete, and that was the presence of the French fleet in our
waters—and on the deck of her Majesty's steamer her
august ally, praised by you all as faithful, loyal sad brave
—the latest elected Monarch of France. (Loud cries of
Hear, hear.) However, laying aside all such considera•
tiona, he held that the virtues or the vices of the man
elected by ballot proved no criterion of the goodness or
badness of their system of voting. But hon. gentlemen had
turned round on him and said—" Why press this measure
of reform at all at a moment when the Government had

lust consented to withdraw their Reform Bill." Now, that

was a position which he could not understand at all. Why,
they might just as well say that hon. gentlemen should
not go into Scotland to shoot grouse, because Lord Aber-
deen did not wear Scotch phillibegs. (Great laughter.)
in that bill of reform ho did not find one scintilla of pro•
tection to the electors of the country ; the bill did not con•
tain one word about it worthy of a thought. And let the
rer eent
thesebeoeeni
dnbbegiodl
tinkeredtl
sh would
house mark, that while this language was held to him, he
found the Government—aided and abetted, indeed, by some
thwweohhmnei
e.
;r
which
aettunhhctiel
yyea gentlemen i
vees— cureb sides—loading d inh
l.gnt
ogot
thtetehnoedaevilst tableh
of
epi
rh
stairs,bills
y
of all tinkered work—by '
hear, hear.) Now, he rejoicedgolug together
was the the fate
ttohaptiheceers.ma
j(Lesatuygahtssr,
Govern-
mentand had laid aside their Refer
nlelctehase ag to protne
because he did not
believe it contained the ingredients
success, while it seemed to possess e
destruction for the present able and liberal nAdministration.eus e;
The cause which militated against the success of reform was
just this, that men could not be persuaded to give up politi-
cal power; they must beforced to do so, and the people alone
could do that. The people must be called in to assist in the
putting down of corruption in that house, and they must be
persuaded to take the bill on their shoUlders' as they did in
1852. But that they never would do until the bill was
made more palatable to them, by giving them a much
larger extension of the suffrage, by making it less complex,
and by joining to that protection to the elector at the
polling-booth. (Cheers from the members below the gang-
way on the ministerial side of the house.) Well, the Res
form Bill slumbered, and, hoping always to speak of it in
the past tense, he would say, requiescat in pace. (Laughter.)
He believed that the intimidation and corruption existing
at the present time was as bad as that practised at the re-
mote days of Daniel Defoe. And did they suppose it was
to be put down by penal enactments? Why what said the
high authority of Mr. Thomas Babington Macaulay on this
point. He said—" You cannot repress intimidation by
penal laws, for such laws are an infringement upon the
most sacred rights of property it can only be suppressed
by the ballot." (Hear, hear, below the gangway.) Well,
but there was the bill of the hon. and learned member for
Suffolk (Sir F. Kelly), imposing the necessity of an oath
upon the electors. But had they not already oaths enough,
and appalling violations of oaths ! Did not men sell their
votes as they sold pigs, or sacks of flour, or sacks of apples,
and then go to the polling booths and swear that they were
guiltless of being bribed ? He knew himself a case where
an elector, on his way to the poll, received a bribe of Si.,
and then took the bribery oath with the 51. in one hand
and the Prayer-book in the other. He knew another
instance where an elector proceeded to the poll between
the two contending parties, one of them contrived to slip a
Si. note into his right hand. On this the other party in-
sisted on his taking the oath ' • but he slipped away, and
the people imagined that he could not stand the test of the
oath. But what happened ? Why, towards the end of the
day he turned up again and voted • explaining that in the
morning, having the 51. note in his right hand, he could
not take the oath without exposing it. (Laughter.) Again,
all those bills at which they were at work so zealously said
not one word about intimidation, or if it was mentioned it
was after so puerile a fashion that no one was believed to
be in earnest. After all the corruption and intimidation
of 1853 they had bad but one bill purporting to amend
the law against bribery and intimidation, and ordaining
a penalty of 501. against any one who should resort to force
or threats to influence an election. But did that meet the
intimidation of landlords—did it meet the intimidation of
customers ? Was a landlord compelled to avow his reasons
for discharging a servant—a customer for discharging his
tradesman ? In conclusion, he would quote two cases to,
show that no law which they could make would meet or
check some kinds of intimidation. The first case to be
mentioned was on very high authority, it was one of in-
timidation quoted by Sir James Graham, the First Lord
of the Admiralty. (Laughter.) He found it, in a speech
addressed to the Conservative electors of the county of
Cumberland at Carlisle, on the 4th of June, 1838, by the
right hon. gentleman. After his defeat on that occasion
the right hon. gentleman brought to bear all his great
power of sarcasm and quiet irony against we poor Whig-
Radicals, as he delighted to call us. (Much laughter.) Poor
Mr. Hume especially came in for his share—the right
hon. gentleman, considering him " a very bad politician
—(laughter)—and something addicted to rebellion." (Great
laughter.) He found great fault also with the noble
viscount opposite (Lord Palmerston), and described him as
having been " indiscreet enough" at the Westminster elec-
tion to vote for " Leader and Evans." (Renewed laughter.)
And then the right hon. baronet proceeded to lay it wen
in to the Comptroller of the Royal household. (Laughter.)
He said—" What was the course which the Whig Ministry
—the Ministry of Lord Melbourne—pursued at the last
general election ? Why, on that occasion Mr. Leader stood
for Westminster, in opposition to a man who was no un-
tried man, but a most distinguished officer—a man most
eminent by his public services, moderate in his opinions,
and of the greatest suavity of manner. And what decision
did her Majesty's Government come to between two such
characters? I blush to state. (Laughter.) Would it be
believed that an officer high in her Majesty's service, no
loss a person than the Comptroller of the Household, with
the full sanction of the Government, was appointed chair-
man of Messrs. Leader and Evans's committee, in opposi-
tion to Sir George Murray. (Cries of ' shame,' and ' oh,
oh,' and immense laughter from all sides of the house.)
Well," continued the right hon. baronet, " you may sup-
pose I have stated the whole of the case ; nothing like it.
We have heard much of the intimidation said to be em-
ployed by landlords during the last; general election ; but
what was that to the conduct pursued by this chairman of
the Westminster Radicals, this Comptroller of the House-
hold." (Laughter.) " Why, he actually withheld the
warrants of appointments from tradesmen until the elec-
tion was over, with the avowed purpose of influencing
their votes (groans).". (Renewed laughter.) Now, that
(said the hon. member) was a sufficient case of intimida-
tion upon excellent authority ' • and it was perfectly
amusing to see how virtuous a Whig was at the expense of
a Tory, and how virtuous a Tory could become at the ex-
pense of a Whig. (Laughter.) Why the right hon. gen-
tleman got the head of the amiable Comptroller of the
Household into Chancery, and finally floored him by a
regular cross buttock. (Much laughter.) He was per-
fectly astonished that the right hon. gentleman did not see
that there was but one way to control comptrollers of the
household—great chairmen as well as little chairmen—
silver sticks as well as gold sticks ; and that was, by giving
the electors protection against them. (Hear, hear.) The
next case which he had to mention was a frightful case of
intimidation. Here, however, he had to depart from his
usual practice, and claim the indulgence of the house, as
lie could not name the parties concerned, nor even the
locality where the circumstance occurred; and he was quite
satisfied that the gentlemen who had heard of the case,
with the innate delicacy of gentlemen, would agree that it
was necessary to forbear from mentioning names. The
facts took place at the general election of 1841, and up to
that moment he had never been able to use the case, having
bound himself not to do so until the death of the parties,
It appears that a master tradesman, an active Con-
servative in a certain borough, votes' for the Liberai
candidate, as well as influencing five tenants and workmen
of his to vote the same way. It was here well to observe
that neither of the candidates knew anything of the ease,
for both of them were too honourable men not to have
turned their backs upon the guilty agent with indignation.
Well, this tradesman did not hesitate to say that he bad
been intimidated into voting as he had done by a man
of property, to whom he was under deep obligation,
owing him a very large sum of money. This strange part
of the case, however, was that the creditor was a country
gentleman residing in a distant county, and likewise
tae
strong Conservative. But now he came to point ou
nature of the screw which induced a Conservative, t the
natureand a
man of property too, to support a Liberal. The country
'ster well married and settled
gentleman, a creditor,
debtorsi resided. Well, on the day
previous called upon thi lad
8•Y—
-iu the b borough where
election
letters of
ritte lalubdy
you previous
these letters ' •
are in my possession.
'Throutgohytohure
marriage; and jif they fall hdi eekaitw oft
them,
producedeee 't
to
Pt
haocafkv mineeetbeet,
into your husband's pos-
session,ruin „„d disgrace will attend you and your
a man this town you must,
know that your brother has advanced a
children• 1
large
or of
therefore, have mens meaus of influencing this person to
vote for the Liberal candidate, and if you don't your hus-
band will get possession of these letters." In short this
base election agent applied to this unhappy lady the screw
of rMu—the poor lady applied the screw of compassion to
her brother—the brother applied to the debtor the creditor's
screw—the debtor applied to his tenants and workmen
the landlord's and master's screw, and thus a ramification
of election screws was applied, to influence five electors to
betray the best interests of their country, and tell • lie
before their God. (Hear, hear.) Now let hon. gentlemen
reflect upon the wear and tear of conscience embodied in
this horrible conspiracy which he had just detailed—and he
would ask them could such a circumstance have taken
place under a system of open voting ? He had only then to
ask the friends of justice and humanity to record their
votes in favour of liberty of conscience. He hoped that
he might appeal to hon. gentlemen on both sides of tbe
house, for he had never treated this as a party question.a
(Hear. hear.) He did not for one moment wish to deny that
he was a party man, or that he had been a partisan of
f the seventeen
in tht
years during which he had had the honour o
&arty_
liberal administrations which had existed for thseventeen
on this
house. But on this question ho wasn of noe
u. alisayPwas neither a
" a plague on
question
Montague
nor
" through your ins rumentality
fhaectwwe t
orbealeuCgaepdulteot, no
oet
both your houses,
bort; and freedom of conscience
have been well
electora
nigh stamped to the death. It was therefore with the
high and
1 constitutional object of endeavouring to procure
purity of election that he most humbly yet earnestly
en-
treated the house to grant him leave to introduce this bill.
(The hon. gentleman on resuming his seat was received
with loud cries of " hear, hear," by the Radical members.)
Lord D. STUART said he• rose to second the motion,
and after the eloquent, witty, forcible, and convincing
speech of his friend it was only necessary for him to say a
few words. It was, he believed, the earnest wish of the
people of this country that the ballot should be esta-
blished, because they felt that all bribery bills and similar
attempts at legislation would prove ineffectual. He was
himself always in earnest in political, matters, sad he liked
to see government in earnest too, whether the gutter is
hand was war with Russia or the Ten:viva of