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

THE POLICE BILL.

Captain SCOBELL asked the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, whether a return (ordered to be laid
on the table of the house, about three months ago) of the
number, cost, &c., of the police force in each city and
borough in England and Wales, will be so rendered, and
be in the hands of members previous to the second reading
of the Police Bill being moved.
Lord PALMERSTON promised that the return should
be forthcoming before the second reading.
Mr. M. GIBSON thought there would be little chance
of carrying the bill this session, but, at the same time, he
should be glad to know when it was proposed to take the
second reading. He also wished to know when the noble
lord intended to bring in his promised bill to give the rate-
payers of counties a control over the expenditure.
Lord PALMERSTON observed that as to fixing the day
when the second reading would come on, that must depend,
of course, upon the progress of the other business of thit
house, which was of a more pressing nature, and after the
experience of last night it was impossible to say when many
bills before the house would be brought on. But it un-
doubtedly was his intention to ask the house to pass the
Police Bill into a law; he should be ready to hear any ob-
jections that might be made to any particular parts of the
bill, and those objections should receive his best attention.
With regard to the other measure, suoh a bill was pre-
pared, and whenever ho saw a chance of bringing it in he
should avail himself of it.
THE BALLOT.

Mr. Serjoant SHEE presented petitions in favour of the
ballot. _ .

Mr. H. VERNON presented a similar petition from
Truro. - . .

_______
➢ir. H. BERKELEY presented a petition to the same
effect from Chatham.

Mr. COBDEN presented a petition from Carnarvon for
the ballot, and ono from Bothnia praying that there may
be no extension of the franchise without the ballot.

Mr. BERKELEY, in rising to bring forward his motion
in favour of the ballot, said he did so unelated by transent
success and undismayed by usual defeat, for he was equally
persuaded that the measure was one required by justice
and expediency, and one which the house would never
agree to until compelled by necesssity. He justified his
conduct by the pertinacity of Lord J. Russell in respect to
the claims of the Jews, which were certainly not stronger
than those of the Christian electors of this country to pro-
tection. The case of an elector was surely as strong as that
of the Jew; but the simple question to decide was, should
the elector elect ? Now on this point nothing could go
beyond the reasoning and argument of Mr. Grote, and those
who followed that gentleman in the advocacy of the ballot
had only to contend with the ghosts of the arguments
which he had demolished. (Hear, and a laugh.) Ono of
the last spectres which had appeared was the theory that
the elective franchise was a trust to the electors, to
be used for the benefit of the non-electors, and that
the voting must be open in order that the non-elec-
tors might be made acquainted with the manner iu
which the duty was discharged. A more delusive theory,
or one more dangerous in practice, could not be advanced;
for it was ono which assuredly encouraged intimidation.
The elective franchise was a right, and not a trust; but, if
a trust, he contended the elector could not discharge his
duty under a system of open voting. But he denied that
open voting fixed the responsibility of the voter. and on
this point he again quoted the authority of Mr. Grote. To
show the danger of this theory, he would refer the house to
what were called the Parliamentary blue, but which ought
to be called the Parliamentary black books—the accumu-
lation of the committees who had sat on the proceedings
at the lost election—he meant the Cork election. At that
election Mr. Murphy, Mr. Fagan, and Colonel Chatterton
were the candidates. Murphy and Fagan were Liberals
and Roman Catholics ; Colonel Chatterton a Conservative
and Protestant. It was in evidence before the committee
that the Roman Catholic priests took a warm interest in
Murphy and Fagan, and addressed their congregation after
Divine service, having evidently studied in the Russell
school—that school in which the Secretary at War had
taken his degree. (A laugh.) " You see, boys," said these
priests, " that the elective franchise is given to the electors
in trust for you, the non-electors; and, boys, all those who
vote for Chatterton are guilty of a breach of trust. Now a
breach of trust is a sin, and you are perfectly warranted in
preventing the electors from going to the poll to commit
that sin." (A laugh.) Well, the non-electors took the hint,
and did prevent the electors from goinc, to the poll ;
but he would admit that the violence whichp took place
did not arise from the recommendation of the Roman
Catholic priests ; and he was bound to suppose that such
violence did not meet with the approval of the noble lord
the member for London. (A laugh) The violence arose
from the dangerous doctrine promulgated by the priests
and by the noble lord ; for the nen-electors, acting as they
were desired, watched the polling booths to see how their
trustees voted—(a laugh)—and when they found them vote
"sinfully" they chalked their backs—(a laugh)—and when
out of the reach of the military nearly stoned them to
death. (More laughter.) To prove the accuracy of this
description he need only refer to the speech of Colonel
Chatterton at the dinner given to Mr. Isaac Butt,
the member for Youghal. (Hear.) Speaking of the Cork
election the gallant colonel observed, that, although his
profession had compelled him to witness many scenes of
blood, he had never been more horrified than at the scenes
enacted at that election. He described the appearance of
the wounded " trustees" as most sickening, and nothing
could be more constitutional than the language of the
gallant colonel when he asked whether mon would re-
cord their votes through such murderous scenes of
blood ? but he (Mr. Berkeley) confessed astonishment
at the concluding sentence of the gallant colonel's ad-
dress. After his description of all this bloodshed it
might have been supposed that some alteration in the
mode of voting would have been suggested ; but
the concluding words of the gallant colonel were,
simply, " Attend to the registry." (Laughter.) Attend to
the registry ! when the effect of the system was to doom
the electors to the martyrdom of St. Stephen, and to have
their brains knocked out. (Laughter.) The gallant colo-
nel said his heart and soul were bound up iu the Conserva-
tive cause ; and it was well known that the protection of
the voter was a brand of heresy in the Conservative creed.
The bruised and battered electors of Cork, thou, 'iuust
turn to the Liberal members for Cork if they desired a
sincere advocacy of the ballot, and he trusted he should
have the assistance of the senior member for that city on
this occasion. Two principles he (Mr. Berkeley) contended
for ; first, that the vote of the elector should not be pur-
chased by money ; and, secondly, that it should,_onot be
placed within the control of a peer of the realm.
pre-
vent the elector from being trodden down by the ballot,
hethe purchaser
or the peer, lot him have the protection of
which had never failed to give security to the voter where-
ever it had been adopted. In proof, it was only
to state that open voting
had frequently beennecessary
exchanged
for secret voting, but never secret voting for open. (Hear,
hear.) America had been cited as an instance of the failure
of the ballot ; but the result of correspondence with able
men in America, and with a society which enrolled
amongst its names that of Mr. George Grote, showed the
direct contrary. In America the ballot was in force in 29
states out [of 31. lt was instituted in Massachusetts in
163 i, remained in force to this day, and election dis-
turbances were unknown there. It was in force in
Connecticut, in Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana, and
Kentucky; and whereas, in the two latter states, before
of the ballot, in 1830, the fightin-, 1
the adoption au, ge-
neral disturbance rivalled our own election scenes at Black-
burn, Clitheroe, Six-mile-bridge, and Cork, the elections
were now conducted in the most peaceable manner. But
the ballot had worked equally well in Switzerland, Hol-
land, and Belgium. Yes, in Switzerland the ballot hail
been found to work well ; in Belgium, as ho hail himself
lately proved, it was equally successful ; and France af-
forded a third instance of its advantages, although it was
once the fashion to declare that it had been weighed in the
balance and found venting, because, under it, the present
Emperor had been elected to power. For need he recall to
the recollection of the house that, at the time of the covp
d'etat, the name of Napoleon was held in about as much
reverence in this - country as the name of Marshal
Haynau, of woman-flogging memory. (Laughter, and cries
of " hear, hear.") Why, the time was when my Lord Pal-
merston himself wits almost hunted about the country like
a mad fox, because he was deemed not to be as much_e
posed to the head of the French nation as the rest;
his
colleagues. (Renewed laughter, and cries of " d
)40car(;.') e f
ary of
Nor
could he forget that Lord Panmure, then a_Se'r
t.
State under a Whig GoveriAaent; actually cialtba., that
illtia9agh 11Q had all-5.31 IlaPPUted 13'--111Qt8 be 442414 O

b longer support it, because under it had been elected the
French Emperor. (Loud cries of " hear, hear.") And
I 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 turn
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 celestite-
. 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 ship.,
all in dread f 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. Tile 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 amid 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
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.
Been did not wear Scotch phillibegs. (Great laughter.)
In that bill of reform he did not find one scintilla of pro.
tection to the electors of the country ; the bill did not eon•
tain one word about it worthy of a thought. And let the
house mark, that while this language was held to him, he
found the Government—aided and abetted, indeed, by some
hon. gentlemen on both sides—loading the table with bills
which they pretended would cure all the evils of our sys-
tem; and all these bills have been got together up stairs,
where they are being tinkered with, to end as was the fate
of all tinkered work—by going to pieces. (Laughter and
hear, hear.) Now, he rejoiced that her Majesty's Govern-
meat
rn
meat had laid aside their Reform Bill, because he did enot
believe it contained the ingredients necessary to produee
success, while it seemed to possess all the ingredients of
destruction for the present able and liberal Administration.
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 be forced 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 Re.
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. Ho said—" You cannot repress intimidation by
penal laws, for such laws are an infringement upon the
most sacred rihts 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 know himself a case where
an elector, on his way to the poll, received a bribe of 51.,
and then took the bribery oath with the 5/. 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
5/. 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 i3l. 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 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
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 well
in to the Comptroller of the Royal household. (Laughter.)
He sail—" What was the course which the Whig Ministry
—the 31ini,try 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, bat :+ most distinguished officer—a man most
eminent by his public services, moderato 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.
Wo 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—groat 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
ho 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, voted for the Liberai
candidate, as well as influencing five tenants and workmen
of his to vote the same way. It was hero 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.
Well, this tradesman did not hesitate to say that he had
been intimidated into voting as he had done by a Men
of property, to whom he was under deep obligation,
owing him a very large sum of money. This strangea part
h creditor,
whoret
of the case, however, was that the creditor was a country
gentleman gentleman residing in a distant county,etservative 0 point out the
and
mCon
strong Conservative. But now he ca
nature of the screw which induced a
country
Conservative, and a
had a
man of property too, to support a Liberal. The
sister well married and settled
debtor resided. Well, on the day
previous ut
tters and said, " Through the
attorney called upon thislad
giuentthly emboartnoc:
a borough
election an
he produced e packet ohfe
.
i ovious to your
death of a cliout of maw these letters are in my possession.
1 1 cuoa, them
[f
ravietbay eertiw.aliletitae eutbyyo
your you
t phusband's
pos-
session, marriage
ruin and disgrace will attend you and your
children. I know that your brother has advanced a
t audto;
large suet of money to a man in this town ; now you must,
therefore, have seine 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 creditorpi
screw—the debtor applied to his tenants and workmen
the landlord's amid 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 a lie
before their God. (Hear, hear.) Now let hon. gentlemen_ie
reflect upon the wear and tear of conscience emrdand in
this horrible conspiracy which ho had just d
haveeetail taken
lie
would ask them could such a circumstance
hadonly then to
place under a system of open voting? He
to e rd their
ask the friends of
.justice and humanity He rile: hoped that
votes in favour of liberty of conscience. p
of
the
he might appeal to bon. gentlemen on both sides
a house, for he had never treated this PS partyt.,deny that question.e
(Hear. hear.) Hemomentid not for one wish
those
thee he had been a partisan of
he was party man, or
hart exists d for the seventeen
liberal administrations which
years during which ho had had the honour of a seat in that
house. But on this question he was of no party—on this
question he belonged to no faction. He was neither a
Montague nor a Capnlet, yet he would say " a plague on
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 11
and consti object f• l t %wiring ea • to prccure
h— telection that he most humbly yet earnestly en-
pins sy oe
) leave introduce this treated the house to grant inn ill.
(The lion. 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 see government in earnest too, whether the matter is
6 ho.nd wits war with Russia, ox the rella9ll4 of grievance:,