The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-02 00:00:00

more searching inquiry hal not taken place into all the
circumstances of the case. The report stated that the
member petitioned against had been guilty of bribery by
his agents, and it specified several cases where with sums
of 51., 101., and orders for refreshment, bribery had been
practised. The committee further found, that treating
had been.practised to a considerable extent. (Hear, hear.)
Now, he very well recollected the time when if such a re-
port were made to the House of Commons, a motion would
be immediately made in reference to the borough where the
bribery and treating took place. In these days of purity of
election—(laughter)—he thought it most desirable that there
should be full inquiry into all the circumstances connected
with the last election for the borough of Blackburn, and
whether the borough should not be disfranchised in con-
sequence of the malpractices pursued by portions of the
electors. He supposed the evidence taken before the com-
mittee would be printed in the course of a few days, and
he suggested that his hon. friend Sir John Shelley should
move that the writs be issued to-morrow fortnight, the
16th inst.

Mr. COBDEN said the statement made by the hon.
member for Lincoln was a dismal one. That hon. gentle-
man had warned the house of the possible danger of not
having a sufficient number of representatives to carry on
the business of the country, and he told them that if they
delayed the speedy issue of writs in those cases where
elections had been declared null and void, they might run
the risk of losing one-sixth or one-eighth of the entire
number of members, if not more. It appeared to him
(Mr. Cobden) that in such a state of things their only busi-
ness was to show the country they were prepared to act
vigorously, to follow up the scant laid by the committee,-
and to track the full amount of corruption that had taken
hold of the great bulk of the constituencies. The character
of the reports presented to the house by the committees who
had already concluded their labours, showed that attempts
had been made by those who prosecuted the petitions to keep
back as much information as possible, and to adduce that
postion only which would fulfil their object of unseating
the sitting members. If they closed their eyes on this state
of things, and overlooked the condition of those boroughs
where corruption tcok place, because they had not the
whole of the facts before them, at the next election the re-
turn of such members would be disputed, as those who
trafficked in and made a periodical profit might consider
convenient. The hon. member received a letter from one
of his constituents, calling on him to urge a Parliamentary
inquiry into the circumstances of the last election for
Bridgnorth, which he said would throw Sudbury and St.
Alban's completely into the shade. The country expected,
as the first and most important business to be performed by
Parliament, that they should show themselves honest in
dealing with cases of borough corruption. He hoped his
noble friend would persevere with his motion, for be did not
consider one month too long a period to give the boroughs
for the purpose, as it were, of purifying themselves.
Lord NAAS said it would be far better that they should
come to a general decision, that in all cases where bribery
was proved, and the member unseated, no writ should be
issued until the house had had full time to consider the
evidence on which the committee had arrived at their deci-
sion. As, however, at that hour of night, they could not
discuss the matter properly, he would support the motion
for adjournment.
Mr. COBDEN—I would suggest to my honourable friend
the member for Westminster to accede to the motion for
adjournment.
Sir J. V. SHELLEY—I have no objections. All I wish
is that a full inquiry take place into the matter. (Hear.)
The debate was accordingly adjourned to Thursday next.