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

longer support it, bee, tune under it had been elected the
French Emperor. (I .oucl cries of " hear, hear.") Aid
then, to crown all, th, > 7ttniee newspaper must needs lay
hold of this most nota, 'ale declaration and embalm it with
a leader. (Much laugh 'lota) Need he remind the house
how vain were el his efrorts at that time to stem 'the
toi:eat which bad set in against the ballot. They had
got hold of an unpopu. iar Frenchman, anhdooth.
beilot was wrong. Bu t why, said the
gentleman
oga
e ar,
Thankhea bear.)
the Thank
ba
tiet
(facile). the Treasury bet leh), why should I not now t
round upon you, confoa sling you with your claptrap, and
712;2:oisesses?sed(H.
FrAu co a. monarch whose sentiments
the ballot for having gist )n to France the most constitu-
tional monarch she has
for having given to
and actions are alike Fy°,nel (Hear, hear.) You called
out the militia, you for hue 1-
your ports, you built ships,
all in dread of this. Freon ;h. monarch—who, instead of
wishing; to draw the in void; , has kept it in the scabbard
until it could no lenge r 13$ kept there except with dis-
hoeour—and then only to .draw it, not to minister to sy
heetle ambition, but dra, wia: ; it for the oppressed against
the oppressor, for the duo balance of power, and the rights
of rations. (Loud cheers. `,) Yes, thank the ballot for all
Volt, as you found fault es ith the ballot for having elected
the man. The other day, e.t that glorious pageant at
Portsmouth, there was no• motet that did not expiess the
re3l;r2; and sentiment thot note re-echoed by the press front
one end of the country to the ) other—that there was but
one thing wanting to make I he most glorious sight corn-
plot), and that was the presen se 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 and brave
the latest elected Monarch 'of France. (Loud cries of
Hear, hear.) However, layin, e aside all such considente
tioua, 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 anti said---' Why press this measure
of reform at all at a moment when the Government had
just 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 of reform he did not find one scintilla of pro-
tection to the electors of the couutiy ; the bill did not con-
tain one word about it worthy of a thougEtt. And let the
house rnaek, that %voile this language was field to him, he
found thee we• omelet —aided and abetted, indeed, by some
hon. ge itlemen on both sides—loading the table with bills
which they pretended would cure all the evils of our sys-
e ;ri where; antithe
trey
al there heeei
og billstioihcearveed
with,been
gotto etogetherus pthsetgf&rsts,
of all tinkered work--by going to tiece
d
hear, hear.) Now, he rejoiced that Majesty'shers( u (Laughter,
Govern-
ment meet had laid aside their Refoz Bill, because. be did nob
believe it contained the ingredients necessary to product,
success, white it seemed to possess all the ingredients of
destruction for the present able aid liberal Admix istration.
The causa which int I stated against the success of ea:form wtis
j ant this, that men colt id not be persuaded to give up politi-
cal power; they must be forced to do so, and the people alone
coo Id do iat. The people must be called in to Italia la in the
putting dawn of corruption in that house, and they must be
persuaded to take the bill on their shoulders, as they did in
183:3. But that they never would do until, the bill was
male 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.
pollirg-booth. (Cheers from the members below the gang-
way on the ministerial side of the house.) Well, the Ref
form Bill slumbered, and, hoping always to speak of it int
the past tense, he would say, reqaifscat in pace. (Laughter.>
Ho 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
hid! authority of Mr. Thomas Babington Macaulay on this
point, He said—" You cannot repress intimidation by
mal laws, for such laws are an infringement upon the
most sacred sights of property it can only be suppressed.
by the ballot." (Hoar, 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,
aud 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
au 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. Ha knew another
instance where an elector proceeded to the poll between
the two contending parties, one of them contrived to slip
53. note into his right hand. Oa this the other party in-
Bitted 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
dray he turned up again and voted; explaining that in the
reoleing, having the 5/. note in his sight 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 is earnest. After all the corruption and intimidation
of 1853 they had had 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
Cauaberland at Carlisle, on the 4th of June, 1835, 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 ho delighted to call us. (Much laughter.) Poor
3lr. Hume especially came in for his share—the right
hon. gentleman, consielering -him "a-very bad politician
—(laughter)—and something addicted te rebellion. (Great
laughter.) He found great fault also with the noble
viscount opposite (Lord Palmerston), and described him ae
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. well
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
less 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 front 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 filially 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, ho bad to depart from his
usual practice, and claim the indulgence of the house, a%
he could not name the parties concerned, nor even the
locality where the circumstance occurred; and he was quits
sat;sfied that the gentlemen who had heard of the case,
with the innate delicacy of gentlemen, would agree thatit
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 usethe 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, voted for the Liberal
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 case,
for both of them were too honourable men not to have
turned their backs upon the guilty agent with indignation.haea
Wel, this tradesman did not hesitate
had
say
done by a man
been intimidated into voting
waassouhnader deep obligation,
This strange par's
oofwiporgocieutortys,votory
lNavrbgoemsumbeofjp
was country
county, and rk•
„gentleman residing in a distant likewise a
tive But now he came to point out the
of the case, however, was that the creditore
strong Conserve •
too, to support a Liberal. The country
nature of the screw which induced a. Conservative, and a
pan7aerctryeditor, had a sister well married and settled
gh where the debtor resided. Well, on the day
oouthe election an attorney called upon thislady—
hPrgmnreeaentp:th.rileo:o:fibl'uocrted a packet of letters and said, " Through A*
death of a client of mine these letters are in my possession.
I know them to have been written by you venous to your
marriage ; and if they fall into your husband's pos.
session, ruin and disgrace will attend you and your
children. I know that your brother has advanced a
large sum of money to a man in this town ; now you must,
therefore, have some means 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 ruin—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 tel a lie
before their God. (Hear, hear.) Now let hon. gentlemen
disoin
reflect upon the wear and tear of consciences
em
t detailed—and he
this horrible conspiracy which he hadjo
voting He had only then to
place under a system of open
to
would ask them could such a circumstance have taken
He hoped that
votes in favour of liberty of conscience.
both ides of th
ask the friends of justice and humanity record their
treated this as a party 'question.
hours, for he had never
one moment wish to deny that
he might appeal to hon. gentlemen on a e
(Hear. hear.) He did not for
he was a party
h* h had existed for the seventeen
liberal administrations w
man,
or that he bad been a partisan of these
years during
he was of no party—on this
which he had had the honour of a seat in that
house. But on this question
a
P.
questionlet yet he would say " a plague on
Montague nor a -ago _
he belonged to no faction. He was neither
both your houses, for through your instrumentality
electoral liberty and freedom of conscience have been well
nigh
stamped to the death. It was therefore with the
high and constitutional object of endeavouring to procure
pm ity 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, and he liked
to sea government in earnest too, whether the matter in
band was W" With Ital§gia or Pao romoTal of grivraco.