The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

THE BRIBERY BILL.

The order of the day for the third reading having been
read,
Lcrd HOTHAM protested against the inference, that
because ho refused to fall down and worship the bill which
the noble lord had set up, he was therefore anxious to per-
petuate any undue practices. If the noble lord had been
content with defining bribery and treating, affixing to the
offence any penalties that he might think fit, and provid-
ing a proper tribunal, there would be nobody in the house
more willing to support the measure than himself (Lord
'Hotham). But the decisions of election committees were
not satisfactory to the nation. It was perfectly notorious
that the first thing people asked was to which party the
three belonged and to which the two ? (Hear, hear.) The
bill might no doubt do if, as had been suggested to him
by his hon. friend, all men were Walpoles ; but as it was,
persons with " robust consciences" would soon find the
means of driving a coach and six through its provisions.
He should therefore oppose the third reading. He re-
garded the introduction of the clause to legalise travelling
expenses, the payment of cabs, and the attempt to intro-
duce reasonable refreshment, as fatal to the intention of the
good working of the bill, and as such he should not regret
to see it defeated. (Hear,'hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said the noble lord had treated the
bill as if it were the first attempt at legislation on bribery,
whereas a great part of the bill was a mere consolida-
tion of existing acts. The bill merely attempted to
place the law on a more satisfactory footing, and to de-
fine it more clearly where it was obscure. Did the noble.
lord mean to say that the promoters of the measure ought
not to have made such an attempt? (Hear, hear.) He
told them this was an unjust measure, because it relieved
the rich at the expense of the poor. The noble lord said
the poor were punished by the bill, but the rich were not.
Now so far from that being the fact, the tendency of the
bill was to place penalties and hindrances more upon the
rich than they had hitherto been open to, while it did not
aggravate, but in some respects diminished, those on the
voters. For instance, it dealt with undue influence, and
imposed a declaration upon candidates and members.
Hitherto the bribery oath had been taken only by electors,
but it was proposed to repeal that obligation, and transfer
it to the elected. Having pointed out the merits of the
bill, so far as it related to the appointment of an election
o cer and the publication of election expenses, the noble
lord went on to observe that complaints were general
throughout the country after the last election of corrupt
practices of every kind, both of bribery and treating. It
was said, indeed, that they had prevailed to a greater
extent than they had ever been known before, and upon
these being brought before the election committees a
great number of members were unseated by those tribu-
nals. Well, then, that being so, was it not their bounden
duty to attempt to apply some further remedy to these
corrupt practices ? The noble lord seemed to think that the
task of investigating controverted election matters ought to
be transferred from the election committees to the courts
of law but when the constitution of those tribunals was
amended, as it was proposed to do by the bill to be brought
in next session, he for one shoulo be sorry to see such a
transfer made. At present election committees were too
often suspected of party or political bias, and he was afraid
if the trial of controverted election petitions was trans-
ferred to the Court of Common Pleas, he was afraid the
judges would lose their character for impartiality, fur not
a year would pass before some of them would be accused
of acting from political bias. He could not, therefore,
think that the plan which the noble lord seemed to have
in view would get rid of the evil that was complained of in
reference to controverted election inquiries. This bill,
however, was an attempt to correct the abuses which took
place at elections, and although the noble lord might be
exceedingly desirous of putting an end to bribery and cor-
ruption, he could not but think that if the house were to
adopt his suggestion, and reject this practical attempt to
correct such bribery and corruption, they would hardly
get credit for the sincerity which they deserved. (Hear.)
Mr. ROBT. PALMER had one fault to find with the bill.
It attempted to accomplish too much, but as it only was an
experiment, and as there would shortly be an opportunity
of practically testing its merits, he would suggest that it
should be made a temporary measure. A clause might be
introduced to limit its operation to the Ist of August and
the end of the next session, which would admit of its
being tested at both borough and county elections.
Mr. COBDEN confessed that many of his objections to
the bill as it now stood would be removed if some of the
amendments on the paper were carried. For instance, the
noble lord the member for Middlesex proposed that the
house should reject that part of the bill which allowed tra-
velling expenses; and if that motion were carried, it would
remove many of his objections.' On the other hand, some
tehree declara-
tioneared,egthataitvew
hon.
tgoenbtm
.be taken
openbpoy smiteempbreorpos
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ifn
he should, be inclined to vote against the third reading.
In this state of things ho thought the best course to adopt
was to allow the third reading to pass, which would then
admit of all these several amendments being disposed of,
and the final decision might be taken on the question that
the bill do pass.
Col. SIBTHORP said old birds were not to be caught by
such chaff as that. (A. laugh.) The bill was a Treasury
6 ail.) Talk of putting down
it to be found?
clap trap, and was intended to prevent honest men prac-
tising Christian charity. (A latbribery, indeed. What was it ? Where was
If it was to be found anywhere it was amongst
should
pants of the Treasury Bench, and for his part he
re-
joice to see that bench regularly whitewashed—(a laugh)—
it ought to be scoured three or four times with
hot water,
the cen
and then painted in oil. (A laugh.)
The bill was then read a third time without a division.
Mr. J. FITZGERALD then proposed to leave out clauses
17 to 24 inclusive, for the purpose of inserting other clauses,
which should provide that every candidate should appoint
some person to act as his agent, by whom all the election
expenses should be paid, and who should be reqUired to
keep a book, to be called "The Election Expenses Book."
At the expiration of one month after the election the
agent would have to furnish a true copy of the entries
contained in the book to the returning officer, with a de-
claration of their authenticity, while a similar declaration
would have to be made by the candidate. This mode of ac-
tion would get rid of the complicated machinery of the
bill, and at the same time secure that publicity for the
nTahienehloyn:.
,a,nEdvleerayrneaenddmi
election expenses which appeared to be its immediate object.
part of the election expenses, • he shall have
become such, and before he shall grp to pay any
hand, appoint some person(ieamt
candidate
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ehee:
samtaegol
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the first
paymentclause,
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his candidate may at any time by
a
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