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London, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

would be to place the masters and mates of the British
merchant service in a high position as compared with
any foreign merchant service in the higher branches of
education. The noble lord said that we ought to estab-
lish a system of instruction whereby masters and mates
would be qualified for undergoing the examination, and
that during the last year he had established two schools
for that purpose, the expenses of which were to be de-
frayed out of the surplus funds in the hands of the
Board of Trade, arising from the fees payable by masters
and mates passing the examination and from other
sources. He (Lord Stanley) believed that the Board of
Trade was empowered by act of Parliament to appro-
priate this surplus in such a manner ; but it was only
right to say that certain local marine boards had ob-
jected to such an application of these funds. An appli-
cation had been made to the Committee of Privy Coun-
cil on Education for pecuniary assistance to these schools ;
and he trusted that that department would be able to
give the case a favourable consideration, for he felt a
very great interest in the schools, and should be sorry
to see them falling into decay from want of support, be-
cause he was sure they were effecting a great improve-
ment in the character of the mercantile marine. It was
the wish of the Government that no further fees or dues
should be required from the mercantile marine in respect
of lights, pilotage, ballasting, the examination of masters
and mates, or the engaging or discharging of seamen,
than such as were absolutely necessary for maintaining
the establishments in efficiency ; and they wished, also,
that they should be responsible to Parliament for the
expenditure of the funds so raised. They desired, fur-
ther, that the local boards and local authorities should
have the management and direction of such matters as
could best be conducted by them ; but they thought,
likewise, that there should be a control and superintend-
ence on the part of a responsible department of the exe-
cutive. The noble lord, in conclusion, said that there
would be no objection to the production of the returns
which the noble lord opposite asked for.
The Duke of NORTHUMBERLAND asked whether
the promise made by the late Government, that a nauti-
cal school would be established at Shields, would be rati-
fied or not by the present Government ?
Lord STANLEY of Alderley was understood to an-
swer that an application for a contribution in aid of the
school at Shields had been made by the President of the
Board of Trade to the Committee of Privy Council on
Education, but no reply had yet been received.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said that he hoped
there was no intention on the part of the present Go-
vernment to do what their predecessors in office had pro-
posed to do—that was, to deprive the royal navy of its
existing rights as to anchorage.
Lord STANLEY of Alderley was not aware of any
such intention on the part of the present Government.
As far as he knew, the rights of her Majesty's ships as
to anchorage had never been considered by the mercan
tile marine to be a serious grievance.
The motion for returns was then agreed to.
CONSOLIDATION OF THE STATUTES.

Lord LYNDHURST then rose to put a question to
he Lord Chancellor upon the subject of the proposed
consolidation of the statutes. He said it would be re-
collected that his noble and learned friend on the wool-
sack had made a statement soon after the resumption of
the sitting of Parliament with respect to the course
which the Government intended to pursue relative to the
amendment of the law ; and he (Lord Lyndhurst) bad
collected from the usual sources of intelligence that one
of the measures proposed upon that occasion referred to
the revision of the statutes, and that his noble and
learned friend intended to strike out from the collection
of statutes a great variety of acts, and to classify the re-
mainder and purify them to a certain extent from the
ambiguity and defects by which they were characterised.
He certainly did not envy the learned gentleman who
had been selected to perform this laborious and not very
inviting task, but it was only fair to state that in his
(Lord Lyndhurst's) own opinion, and in that of other
noble and learned lords, no individual could have been
chosen to discharge this duty whose appointment could
have given more satisfaction to the public than the learned
gentleman to whom he alluded—looking to his long ex-
perience, his general attainments, and his extensive know-
ledge of the law. But so far as he (Lord Lyndhurst)
could collect, he understood that the work assigned to
him was to refer entirely to the correction of past errors
and defects, and would not extend to any measure to
prevent the recurrence of irregularities and inconsisten-
cies in future acts. If that was the course which was
intended to be pursued, he ventured to say that it would
not be quite satisfactory either to the profession or to
the public. No person in the habit of attending our
courts of justice (and no one was more conversant with
their proceedings than his noble and learned friend on
the woolsack) could have failed to hear complaints from
time to time made by the judges of the defective and
careless manner in which their legislation was con-
ducted. It continually happened that hours were
wasted in our courts of justice, and in some cases days,
in endeavours to reconcile obscurities, to clear up incon-
sistencies, and to produce, as it were, light out of dark-
ness, and this very often with a very unsatisfactory re-
sult. But no only so. Learned counsel were employed,
at great expense to the suitor, to conduct subtle and in-
tricate arguments directed to the same object. It was
remarkable that these evils were allowed to continue to
accumulate without any attempt being made to remedy
them. Their lordships would, perhaps, recollect that
this subject was brought prominently forward by the
late Lord Langdale, who pointed out with great par-
ticularity the evil and inconvenience of the system that
had been pursued, and stated, without the least ex-
aggeration, that it constantly happened that acts were
so framed as almost to defy interpretation. His noble
and learned friend (Lord Brougham, we understood), in
a very able and comprehensive speech respecting the
amendment of the law, in 1848. brought evidence to the
same effect before the attention of their lordships, carry-
ing conviction, he believed, to the minds of everybody
who heard him ; but unfortunately those efforts also
tended to no practical result. A day or two ago he
(Lord Lyndhurst) had seen a volume of reports of the
Court of Chancery, and he was struck with a statement
of one of the learned judges in that court, of high cha-
racter and great learning, who said that it was almost
impossible to form a satisfactory or competent opinion
upon the construction of the particular act before him,
so full was it of ambiguity and obscurity. Was it pos-
sible, then, that they could proceed with the further
measures which his noble and learned friend on the
woolsack intended to propose without pretending to
unite with them some remedvy for the evils which he had
complained of ? If he were asked what was the par-
ticular cause to which these errors were to be ascribed,
he should, in the first place, point to the manner in
which amendments were introduced into bills during
their progress through Parliament by some noble lord or
member of the other house, who had, perhaps, not taken
the pains to read the act to which they applied. Per-
haps the amendment was inconsistent with the general
scope of the bill—it might not even be in accordance
with the particular clause upon which it was engrafted.
Could they be surprised, under such circumstances, if
errors and inconsistencies of various kinds would arise
in their legislation. If they would allow him he would
refer to one or two instances in illustration of what he
had stated, and show how these evils were continuing,
and continuing in an aggravated form. He would first
take an act referring to the county courts, which pro-
vided that where a party sued for a sum under 201., if
the plaintiff and the defendant resided twenty miles
or more apart, the judge of the court in which the case
was tried might award costs. Now, what had been the
result of that act ? An action was brought a very short
time ago in the Court of Exchequer, which might have been
brought in a county court (there being in this case a con-
current jurisdiction). The plaintiff received 131. odd,
and applied for costs. A question arose as to what was
the meaning of the act in the clause that he had men-
tioned, and whether it was imperative or at the discre-
tion of the judge to allow costs. The point was argued
at great length in the Court of Exchequer, one of the
judges of which—perhaps one of the most experienced
judges on the bench—stated that there were doubts as to
the act ; but, after a long hearing, the Court decided
that the word "may" must receive its ordinary inter-
pretation, and that it was at the discretion of the judge
to give costs or not, as he thought proper. The same
question came before the same court again two or three
weeks afterwards—another argument took place, and the
same judgment was pronounced. After a short interval
the same question was again raised in the court of
Comnuin Pleas, and deliberately argued, the decisions of '
the Court of Exchequer being cited and commented upon
at great length. After a discussion which lasted an
entire day, the Court took time to consider its judg-
ment, and some short time afterwards the Chief Justice
delivered an elaborate judgment, deciding that the word
" may " was not to be taken in a discretionary but in an
imperative sense, and the court awarded costs. Now,
their lordships must observe how easy it would be to
obviate such a difficulty of construction by introducing
the word " shall," or some equivalent word or words of
an imperative import, and thus have prevented all the
waste of time and unnecessary expense which occurred
on the three different occasions to which he had referred.
These irregularities and errors were sometimes even of a
ludicrous character. Some years back there was a clause
in a statute respecting the insertion of false entries in a
registry of baptisms. A pecuniary penalty was attached
by the bill to this offence, and, according to the usual
custom. A subsequent clause in the bill provided that
one-half the penalty should go to the informer and the
other half to the poor of the parish. In the progress of
the measure through Parliament, it was considered that
a pecuniary penalty was improper, and 14 years' tran-
sportation was substituted. But the other clause to
which he had referred was not struck out, and on
the construction of the bill it turned out that the
poor of the parish were to have one half of the
penalty, which was seven years' transportation, and the
informer the other seven, (Laughter.) He mentioned
this as a striking instance of the carelessness with which
bills were passsed through Parliament without proper
supervision. He would give another case - that of a
particular bill relating also to county courts, which was
originated in that house, and passed two or three years
ago. The bill consisted of about 25 clauses on its first
introduction, and passed through that house without
any material alterations. It went down to the other
house of Parliament, were 16 of its clauses were struck
out, and 18 other clauses were inserted. It was five
months in its progress through Parliament ; it came out
of that house at the close of the session, and passed, he
supposed, without much inquiry; and the result was
that there was not a single clause in that bill free from
error. One object of the bill was to give county court
judges the power of executing process out of their own
jurisdiction in certain cases. That was the evident ob-
ject of the party proposing the amendment, but, so far
from effecting that object, it acted directly the
reverse,and left the law precisely as it found it, altho
lengthy clause had been introduced to alter a
a
another clause, almost immediately afterward
* In
directions were given with reference to
therdasee' osu°n-ti

of the treasurer of the courts, and the same powers
were given as were conferred by " the last mentioned
act." Now " the last mentioned act " referred to an en-
tirely different object, and there was no previous statute
relating to the same subject at all. Again, in the same
act there was a clause giving compensation to persons
whose offices were abolished, with the usual provision at
the end that where a party received compensation, and
was afterwards appointed to an office the amount of his
compensation was to abate pro Canto as long as he held
the office. All that was only reasonable and in the ordi-
nary course ; but during the progress of the bill through
the other house it was proposed that another class of per-
sons should receive compensation, and a clause was in-
troduced to that effect. But the party wlso introduced
that clause did not take the trouble to read the act, or he
would have seen that there was a general clause granting
1 compensation, and that all he had to do was to add a
particular class of persons to this particular clause. How-
ever, he not only introduced a distinct clause to effect
his object, but he omitted any provision to make the
compensation abate if the party entitled to it should
afterwards hold another office, so that in that hill there
were two clauses for giving compensation totally at
variance in principle with each other. He repeated,
that in that particular act there was not a single clause
into which some error of more or less importance had
not crept in the course of its passage through the house.
He might multiply similar cases almost without limit
but those to which he had just called their lordships'
attention were not so strong as those which were adduced
by his noble and learned friend on the occasion to which
he had referred. He (Lord Lyndhurst) had selected
these instances on account of their recent occurrence,
and for the purpose of showing their lordships how this
evil, which was one of the gravest kind, was suffered to
continue ; and he exhorted their lordships, in the
strongest manner, to devise some remedy against the
continuance of such a vicious system. It appeared to
him that it would not be difficult to discover some
remedy. For instance, if some person of competent in-
formation and knowledge were appointed by the Govern-
ment, with such assistance as might be necessary to
make himself master of every bill introduced into that
house, and to watch it through the whole of its progress,
and to communicate from time to time some authority in
that house any alterations that were introduced into it
upon either its original or its amended state, he thought
that this evil, if it would not be entirely got rid of, would
at least be very much mitigated in its operation. How-
ever, it was not for him (Lord Lyndhurst), as a private
individual, to enter into the details of this subject—it
was a proper subject for the consideration of the Go-
vernment, and one of very great importance, and he
took leave, therefore, to conclude the short statement
that he had made by asking his noble and learned friend
on the woolsack whether it was his intention to accom-
pany, or to follow up, his measure for the revision of the
statutes with any measure for the purpose of remedying
the crying evil to which he had referred ? (Hear.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR said that he was sure
their lordships always listened to any statement made by
his noble and learned friend with so much pleasure and
attention that he could not but rejoice at the circum-
stance that the announcement which he (the Lord Chan-
cellor) had to make at the opening of the present session
had led to the inquiry which his noble and learned friend
had just addressed to him. He could assure their
lordships that he felt as strongly as his noble and learned
friend could feel, the absolute necessity of coming
to some arrangement whereby their legislation for
the future might be made more perfect than it now
was ; and when he announced, on the first day of their
meeting, the intention he had formed of endeavouring to
consolidate the existing statutes, he stated then, and he
had not the least difficulty in repeating now, to his noble
and learned friend, that one of the main objects which
he should always have in view so long as he had any
connection with the work of consolidating the statutes,
would be not only to devise the best mode of consolidating
the legislation that was already passed, but also to pro-
vide for a better mode of legislating for the future. At
the same time he did not wish to mislead his noble and
learned friend by inducing him to believe what was not
the truth, that he had in his mind at that moment any
definite plan with regard to this subject. He had stated
on the first day of their meeting that the best chance of
arriving at such a result was not to speculate any longer
as to what was the best mode of proceeding, but to pro-
ceed at once to do something. With that view he had,
since he announced his intention a month ago, secured
the services of a very learned gentleman to whom his
noble and learned friend had alluded, and who to his
general qualifications added the peculiar qualification
upon this subject that he was practically the only re-
maining commissioner who framed the report suggesting
the mode in which the statute law should be consolidated.
Being necessarily unable, from his other avocations, to
attend to the practical details of the matter himself, he
(the Lord Chancellor) had secured the services of a few
efficient men to devote themselves exclusively to the
task. He had not wished that it should commence be-
fore the Easter recess, because he could not, till then,
give his personal attention continuously to the subject ;
but he had put the matter into such a train that he be-
lieved in the first week of next month the work would
be begun, and an attempt would be made, as he pre-
viously intimated, in the first place to ascertain precisely
and exactly of what the statute book now consisted, for
Ihe believed there were thirty-esght quarto volumes
printed, not above six or seven of which were now in
force. That being done, he would take one or two rather
easy subjects, and consolidate the statutes relating to them
first, and turn them into better language and form, and
then lay them before the house a> a specimen of what
could be done in that respect. When that had been
completed, whether it would not be right to extend the
work further, and engage a larger staff for its execution,
he would not now speculate. One direction, which lie
always gave to every person enagaged on this subject,
and upon which he would always fix his own atten-
tion, was not only to endeavour to render in a more de-
finite and intelligible form the statutes that were already
passed, but to discover and suggest a practical mode
of reforming all prospective legislation likewise. (Hear.)
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH said that when it
fell to his lot, some years ago, to have the charge of
measures in their passage through Parliament, it was his
practice to have the hills reprinted with the amendments
that were mule in them, and he found that course to be
one that was attended with very great advantage. He
wished also to observe, that if their lordship's house was
to continue to havd a great number of bills thrown upon
its attention at once at the end of a session, no arrange-
ment that they could make could by possibility save
them from the discredit of passing acts which nobody
could comprehend.
Lord REDESDALE must say, with regard to the
language of acts of Parliament, that the judges had a
little to do with it as well as the houses of Parliament.
If the judgment of the Court, which held that the word
" may" was only permissive, had been questioned by
another Court, considerable doubt and difficulty would
have been saved.
Lord LYNDHURST said that for a lengthened pe-
riod of time there had been disputes as to the meaning
of the word " may" in acts of Parliament, whether it
was imperative or permissive only.
Lord ST. LEONARDS said that it should not be for-
gotten that the moment they touched the formal lan-
guage of an act of Parliament, they made a new statute.
The difficulty which had been felt with regard to the
word " may," whether it was imperative or permissive,
would give their lordships an idea of the consequences to
which the slightest alteration in an act of Parliament
might lead. The moment they attempted to alter the
formal language of an act of Parliament, they at once
established a code ; and if they were to have a code at
all, it must embrace both the common and the statute
laws. Some of their lordships who had examined in com-
mittee the question of what the probable operation of a
code would be, were aware of the great difficulties which
stood in the way of codification. It was suggested that
the proper course would be to entrust the framing of all
bills to competent persons, and that when the bills were
prepared, no alterations should be introduced into them
without being submitted to the framers. But still this
mode of proceeding would not be free from difficulty, be-
cause, in committee, an alteration might be suggested
and adopted, and then, when the bill came to be exa-
mined by the person who understood the whole of the
measure, it was hopeless to expect that he would find it
free from very gross errors. They must take blame to
themselves for many of the errors which appeared in acts
of Parliament; for bills did not receive that deliberate
consideration and discussion in committee which was re-
quired. Their lordships had it in their own power to see
that alterations should be openly mentioned and dis-
cussed before they were allowed to be passed, and if that
care were taken, he felt perfectly satisfied that a great
part of the mischief would be remedied ; but no body of
men could be responsible for a vast number of bills sent
up from the other house at the end of the session, and
thrown itogether on their lordships' table, when there
was not sufficient time to consider the provisions of each.
The Earl of ABERDEEN said that her Majesty's Go-
vernment were anxious to facilitate the progress of bills
by introducing them at as early a period as possible into
their lordships' house.
Lord BROUGHAM was rejoiced to hear that the noble
earl's attention was addressed to this most important
subject. Upon a former occasion, when he (Lord
Brougham) had brought forward the question of the
manner in which our laws ought to be made, his late la-
mented friend) Lord Ashbuton, had said to him, " You
may depend upon it, that of all the amendments in the
law which you are proposing, this is by much the most
self-evident, by much the most clear ; and it is the unde
far
lessd i
nav
theto
niable duty of Parliament to adopt it ; and
yetmay-
cult
dteopceanrdryupaolln
other
tt,htehraatinyeonudwiniellntsfint
dhanit
obtain you
sanction of Parliament to this most
important and
simple one." He (Lord Brougham
admitted that there
were difficulties in an alteration of the language of acts
of Parliament, because they nmet take care that the
new law was framed in langua e
gthat would suit the
former judicial int '
erpretatio But 1-1-
11. tn oli he know-
ledged the task to be di olio ac
know
he did
not think it
possible, but believed that some means might be disco-
vered for avoiding gross
errors. That so much might
'
done, and that so much would be done he had no manner
of doubt. But he
would do
doubted whether they
enough if they only from getting
prevented grosser errors
into the care should
statutes. He thought that great
be taken in the • • h act—that equal
original framing of each .
of its clauses,
care should be taken in the discussion
especially with regard to the changes that
Made in the course of that discussion ,_
greater care must be taken
their lordships'
terations introduced were
house from another
talways
amendments. But that all that might be
0 and that still
bill came back to
wei
place where the al-
terations in the nature of
not
could be done by the

superintending care of an individual be utterly den i
and for this reason—that the best security against over-
sights was to be found in more minds than one being ap-
plied to the subject. His noble and learned friend near
him had said that it would be better if more care were
taken by their lordships in working out the details qj
measures both in committee and at subsequent stages.
He (Lord Brougham) would not say it was hopeless that
their lordships should take more care, but that he should
ever see that assembly remaining there from about the
tpi pre e nbtahl
half
- bu
ur,u
rh a
01 ff- p
tasb t six o'clock,
eevening-(laughter)—he
en iug
oaugthroughbtethe o
_b
en cd iy-
ueuxlpyecsteittdiu;gatnbdrutuhgatb
thbeasthdoluffildcuisteebuuthreuirf
tlhoerdusihgibpts:
bnuott
for four or five hours longer, in order to get through the
measures before them—he would not say that he de-
spaired of such a result, but his hopes were moderate.
(Renewed laughter.) Still he believed it to be highly
desirable, and by no means impossible, that they should
avail themselves of the knowledge and labours of learned
persons in framing bills by way of what the civilians
would call an adminiculunt. Some time ago he had laid
before their lordships a proposal of this kind in reference
to proceedings upon private bills, and had no manner of
doubt that a board of this description, acting under the
stilierintendence of his noble friend on the wooisack, and
in communication with the Government, would enable
their lordships to secure a due, wise, and safe prepara-
tya of acts of Parliament. lie had always been of opi-
nion that the appointment of a minister
of justice would
be a highly expedient measure. Many agreed to the
thing who objected to time term, and he thourat that the
late changes in his noble and learned frien•i's court by
which Lords Justices were appointed in addition to, the
Vice-Chancellors, had substantially given to the Lord
Chancellor the power of acting as a minister of justice.
Many improvements still remained to be effected which
prejudice had been so powerful as hitherto to have pre-
vented, and on this ground he would take leave to read
to their lordships the words of a dear and lamented
and most venerable friend of his, Sir Samuel nomilly,
who, upon his failing for the third or fourth time to ob-
tain the assent of Parliament to some of those enlight-
ened measures for the amendment of the law which he so
often proposed, said—" I am not so unacquainted with
the nature of prejudice as not to have observed that it
strikes deep root and flourishes in all soils, and spreads
its branches in every direction ; but I have observed
also that, flourish as it may, it must by laws sacred and
immutable wither and decay after the powerful and re-
peated touch of truth." And, he added, " Whatever
may be my fate, the seed which I have scattered is not
fallen upon stony ground." It had not fallen upon stony
ground ; for every one of those measures—and let every
moderate and judicious amender of the law take comfort
from this fact—every one of the measures which that il-
lustrious man had propounded had now become the law
of the land, together with an amount of other improve-
ments which even he, sanguine as he was, had hardly
dared to expect. (Hear.)

COUNTY ELECTIONS POLLS BILL.
The house having, on the motion of the Earl of CAR-
LISLE, passed through committee on this bill,
Lord BROUGHAM said that he wished to take the
present opportunity of expressing his gratification at the
introduction of this useful measure, which he believed
would tend, in some degree to diminish the expenses of
elections, and also to abate in some measure the crying
evil of the time, namely, the system of bribery and cor-
ruption at elections. He (Lord Brougham) wished to
see the suffrage extended in safe and well-considered
directions, though God forbid it should become univer—
sal ; but he did not wish for the extension of suffrage
with the view of preventing corruption, for it was per-
fectly clear that that would not be prevented by extend-
ing the number of voters. If there was a place with
1,000 voters, 900 of whom were on one side, it was not
there that attempts would be made to bribe. It was
where there were 600 on one side and 400 on the other,
and it was with respect to the balance that bribery took
place. (Hear, hear.) Might not the same thing happen
where there were 10,000 voters instead of 1,000 Take
the case of any great city where there were 10,000 or
12,000 voters. The respectable part of the constituency
came forward, and gave their votes, and there remained
a difference between the parties of 200 or 300. It was
to that difference that the corrupting party addressed
himself, and the result was that as much bribery took
place in that great city as in any small borough of be-
tween 800 and 1,000 voters. (Hear, hear.) Therefore,
it was not by extending the suffrage, neither was it by
secret voting, that bribery was to be put down. He
(Lord Brougham) had the misfortune to differ from a
great many able and excellent men who thought that the
ballot was the true remedy for the evil ; but after all the
pains he had taken to make himself master of their argu-
ments he was not able to agree with them. It was cer-
tain that the ballot would prevent the detection of the
offence—(hear, hear)—but that was a very different
thing from preventing the offence itself. You could not
by the ballot prevent a bargain being made between the
voter and the candidate. The voter might be told,
" Let so and so be returned and you shall have 51.," and
thus he would be converted into an active agent for the
return of that party, and would be interested not only in
voting himself for that party, but in getting others to
vote along with him. He (Lord Brougham) would beg
to ask his noble friend at the head of the Government
whether or not he was prepared to frame some measure
for endeavouring if possible to extirpate this great evil
from our constituencies, either by prosecuting the offend-
ers at the public expense, or by increasing the punish.
ment of the offence, not to the unhappy voter, but to the
party bribing ? He trusted that his noble friend could
give him hopes that the attention of the Government was
directed to this subject. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of ABERDEEN said he could assure his
noble and learned friend that it was impossible that he
could be more anxious to check the present system of
bribery and corruption than her Majesty's Government
were. That being the case, of course the subject occu-
pied their most serious attention, and he did trust that
something might be done. His noble friend the member
for the city of London, if he had not yet given notice of
a motion in the other house of Parliament, at all events
had his attention occupied with the subject, and they-
had a hope of diminishing the evil to which his noble
and learned friend alluded, and which, if it were to con-
tinue as it existed at present, would go far to bring the
whole of our representative system into contempt. (Loud
cries of " bear, hear," from Lord Brougham.) He was
not prepared to say that there was any measure at this
moment ready for Parliament, but that something would
be done he thought he might confidently say. And he
did hope that that house would give its active co-oper-
ation in framing such a measure, and would not receive
it with any indifference or reluctance, but would lend its
hearty assistance to that which has now become a mat-
ter of necessity.
Lord WHARNCLIFFE said that the time bad come
when it was incumbent upon Parliament to take mea-
sures for preventing the present system of bribery and
corruption. He had not the slightest doubt that their
lordships would do all in their power to give their co-
operation and ready and anxious assistance to any meas-
ure calculated to attain that end. But he must say that
he thought they should not lay too much stress upon the
exposures which were now being made. He had no wish
to explain away the nature of the transactions which had
been brought before the public, but it had been said that
at the last general election there had been greater cor-
ruption than had ever existed before, and that the crime
of bribery was on the increase. Now, for his part, he
greatly doubted the truth of that assertion, and be did
think that it was not desirable that it should go forth to
the country and to the world at large that the whole of
the Parliamentary constituency of this country was in a
gradual course of progressive corruption. The truth was
that changes had been introduced into the mode of in-
vestigating these cases. Some short time since it was
indispensable not merely to show that bribery had exist-
ed in any case, but to connect it with the candidate him.
self. That practice was now entirely altered. It was
only necessary to prove one single case of an offence of
that description in order to invalidate the election, and
to displace the person who had been returned. It was
his (Lord Wharncliffe's) belief; from the experience which
he had had in transactions of this kind, that there was
n their
scarcely a member ever in Parliament who would not
ei,e.oeffounsthetito
have been unseated if all the circumstances connected
with his contested elections had been known. No
contest,
desiring, ue
Iposition,
fn ot ht
who had gone through a contested election coulal be ige
norant that when men were engaged in a keen ntrn„o,4e.
of that kind, there were men who would act
ac friends,
act,
cause,
butand
ww wouldhthe
wehxco
excited
el ad
theceb
y the
he candidatesthemselves
in
continuancectho
would be induced to do acts of this kind
desiring to throw the responsibility of b evena -without
one but themselves. If a single case ofbriber
on
any
could be proved to a committee, it wa this description
unseat a candidate, and to brand s now suffi dent to
stigma of corruption. For this r the place With the
him to be just to the constituenciesaon it did ap pear to
conclude that they We atthis of of this coo retry to
re
than at a former period. He d.d moment more corrupted
excuse such practices as had did not mean to palliate or
thought it the duty of both been complained 4. He
their best energies to the houses of Parliament to apply
thought their lordshi reparation of the evil, but he
and to the Ps would be doing injustice to them-
selves
to the country at large if they were to pro-
claim world that because they
,
had been more
successful than usu l •corruption, therefore
a in detecting
that more corru an on any former
occasion. lon had prevailed than
(Hear.)
The Earl red in the spirit
of CARLISLE fully concur
fallen from his noble
of the remarks which had just
friend, whose experience in the matter of l.eq.ilisnso had
been somewhat analogous concurrptli.swith
wish to check
wn.
And yielding, as he did, no
to
manhitnit would not be for
and prevent bribery, he still thought
the pursuit and
to make me •
the benefit, even of virtue itself,ious
go on with so much
running down of what was vicious
include in it what the
want of discrimination,
as to
never regard as wholly
general sense of mankindreprehensible.
For instance, the act of a
and equally lof beer to a voter who had made a
man who gave a glass
long journey to support
a candidate, ought not be looked
on in the same light as a person committing direct and
downright acts o f bribery. He trusted the bill now
under consideration would
I found serviceable, because
it had been found from experience that the secomd day's
imposedly considerable additional expense
poll not on
b t had a tendency to le-d parties to
°n the candidate,u
have recourse to bribery and other discredit,:,,le nets,
which
he was glad to observe the Legislature showing a
strong disposition to discourage. (Hear, hear.)
INLAND REVENUE OFFICE BILL.
On the motion of Lord STANLEY of Alderley, this
bill passed through committee.

COMMONS INCLOSURE (No. 2) BILL.
On the motion of the same noble lord, this bill also
passed through committee.
OFFICE OF EXAMINER (COURT OF CHAN-
ERY) BILL.
C
The LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving the com-
mittal of this bill, said he wished to make a single re-
mark with reference to a petition which he had pre!