The Sun.
London, England, 1854-02-11 00:00:00

calved bribes, are all forced to attend and give evi-
dence—those acts, I say, have thrown a light upon the
corrupt practices which prevailed, at least in certain of
the boroughs, that never was obtained before. I should
say likewise, that before committees of this house there has
been a greater facility in obtaining evidence with respect
ton
snaking
bribery than existed until within the last few years.
Imy proposal to the house, I should state, per-
haps, first, what is the general nature of the statutes
which have been enacted upon this subject. The act 7
William 111. is directed against persons who have received
any money, or give any money, or who give or receive food,
drink, or entertainment, and disqualifies persons who are
guilty of these offences, The statute 2 Geo. 11. punishes a
voter asking any money for giving his vote by imposing
penalty of 5001., and for ever disqualifies the voter from
voting, and the person bribing from being elected. An act
which passed in the 49th George 111. inflicts various
penalties on persons who endeavour to procure a seat
in Parliament, and offer any gift or promise, any re-
ward or office, to persons who assist in procuring it. The
pecuniary penalties are very high, being 1,000/. for one
offence, and 500/. for another—that of receiving office. In
proposing amendments I should say that, generally, I leave
the offence of bribery subject to the punishment of misde-
meanour—that of fine and imprisonment, but do not pro-
pose to keep up ..he high pecuniary penalties. I think the
right bon. gentleman opposite (Mr. Walpole) takes the same
view of that question. The attempt to inflict a fine of 500/
on a poor voter who receives the sum of ss. for his vote,
would be utterly impracticable, and no object would be
gained by retaining those penalties. After proceeding
to define the offence of bribery, according to the man-
ner nearly in which it is at present defined, with the ad-
dition of some' other offences, which I think have been
omitted, I propose to define the offence of treating nearly
in the manner iu which it is at present defines." by law. I
then propose to define the offence of undue influence ; and
I will read to the house a clause which I should propose
iu ease the house will allow the
abilltan who shall,boebroughtin.Tbhye
clause is in these words—"
himself, or by any other person ou his behalf, make use of,
or threaten to make use of, any force, violence, or restraint,
or inflict, or threaten to inflict any inl urY, harm, or loss,
or in any other manner practice intimidation upon or
against any person on account of any such person having
voted or refrained from voting, or in order to induce or com-
pel such person to vote or to refrain from voting at an elec-
tion, shall be deemed to have committed the offence of un-
due influence, and shall forfeit the sum Of ---"" (say 501.)
" to any person who shall sue for the same, together with
full costs of suit." Having thus defined those offences, the
mode in which I propose—besides that which I mentioned
as the penalty for misdemeanor which now attaches to bri-
bery—to check those practices, consists rather of depriving
persons who mayhave been elected by bribery, treating, and
corrupt practices, of the object they sought to attain by the
infliction of any very severe penalties. I think you would
be far more likely to attain your end by depriving those
persons of the object at which they aim, than byproposing
the infliction of penalties which may never be enforced. 1
should propose to deprive the candidate of the seat in
Parliament of which he is ambitions, and to deprive the
voter of that vote of which he has made a corrupt use. I
should propose, therefore, that a person guilty of bribery
should be for ever incapable of being elected a member of
Parliament; and that persons guilty of treating, undue
influence, or making illegal payments, shall be incapable
of electing a member for the same place in the same
Parliament. This is the penalty which now attaches by
statute to the offence of treating. I then propose, where
there are any convictions for bribery and treating, that
copies of those convictions shall be sent to the Speaker,
and entered in the book of Parliamentary election dis-
qualifications. (Hear, hear.) I propose, likewise, with
regard to those voters who are guilty of bribery, that their
names shall be struck out of the register of voters, and
that—as I believe I once mentioned to the right honour-
able gentleman opposite (Mr. Walpole, as we understood)
in conversation last year—their names should not only to-
tally disappear from the register, but that there should
be a separate list of the names of persons disqualified from
having received bribes, and that those names should be
printed and published in the same manner as those on the
register of voters, so that they should for ever after be
seen to be disqualified for the commission of that offence.
I do not wish to go much into detail with respect to those
bills, and therefore I will not go into the various other
provisions of the bill to consolidate and amend the law
with regard to bribery, treating, and undue influence. But
the second bill which I propose to bring in I may explain
at the present moment is one of very great importance,
of which the provisions are more susceptible, per-
haps, of doubt and hesitation than these I have men-
tioned, but which, according to the view I entertain of
them, may be of considerable use in checking these de-
basing and degrading practices. (Cheers.) I have fre-
quently stated to the house, and to that all members in
this house generally assent, that it is a great omission, at
least in the spirit of our laws with respect to election peti-
tions, that where a case is one of the highest public in-
terest, it is made one entirely of private concern—(hear,
hear)—and those candidates who have by the most corrupt
means obtained a return are very often, instead of being
disqualified and rejected from this house, rendered secure •
in their seats by the inability of those who have opposed
them to stand the litigation, the delay, and the very heavy
expense which must attend upon their applying to this
house for a committee to try the validity of the return.
Now, I do not find it easy to remedy that evil, because the
house will at once agree that, while we ought to take care
to have an investigation into such cases, we ought not
to encourage or give any countenance to frivolous
petitions. What I propose is this—that with regard to
petitions which state that bribery, treating, corrupt prac-
tices, or undue influence have been used and have procured
the return, all such petitions, according to the bill which
I propose to bring in, shall be sent to a preliminary com-
mittee, which committee shall be in the nature of a grand
jury. This preliminary committee would consist of 15
members, to be chosen by the general committee of elec-
tions, and they would hear the evidence on the part of the
petitions to prove those practices. If they were satisfied
that there was a sufficient case to proceed to an election
committee, they would so report. to the house, and the elec-
tion committee would be appointed in the ordinary course.
The election committee would then investigate the case,
and supposing that they should find that the petitioner had
proceeded with probable grounds, 1 should then propose
that his costs should be defraved at the public expense.
If, ou the contrary, they should find there was no ground,
then ho would be liged to pay the exuenses of the sitting
member whose seat he had attacked: (Hear, hear.) I
think that by these methods we should hold out some in-
ducement to those who now in despair give up the prose-
cution of election petitions to bring eases before the house
where very flagrant bribery has occurred. No one who
has watched general elections can but 'be aware, that while
there are numbers of cases brought to trial—that while in
certain cases the candidate is rich, or where he thinks he has
great influence in a place which it is worth his while to es-
tablish, the petition is carried on to its utmost result, and
very great expenses aro incurred; but there are other cases
where the bribery has been quite as flagrant, if not more
so, in which there is no investigation before this houses
and no inquiry takes place. But, sir, beyond this pro-
posal, there is another method which I propose,' and which
I once proposed before in another shape. I mention this,
however, as well as several other provisions, as plans
which have endeavoured to frame in order to check those
practices, but not as plans which it is certain ought to be
adopted by the house without very grave consideration.
I propose that where it is declared by a candidate that he
has reason to suppose that bribery or corrupt practices are
used during the election, in that case, if the number of
votes which he shall obtain from the poll shall amount to
two-thirds of the number which the successful candidate
shall obtain, and the successful candidate shall be proved
to have been elected by means of bribery, the election
committee shall have power to return the candidate
who petitions. (Murmurs.) I once proposed, but with-
out the limitation of the number of two-thirds, that.
in such a case the petitioner should be returned. It is a
mode of giving at least some inducement to persons to pe-
tition this house iii case they had been rejected, and at the
same time have had a majority of legal and unbribed votes
at the election. There is another proposal which I have to
make, which is an alteration, and not a very great altera-
tion, of the law as it at present exists, in consequence of
the bills I have introduced in former years. I- propose
that where an election committee shall report that bribery
extensively prevailed in any borough, then, without any
address from this house and the other house of Parliament.
the Speaker shall communicate that report to the Secretary
of State for the Home Department, and that report shall
be laid before the Crown, and the Crown shall thereupon
have power to issue a commission, in the same manner in
which commissions have been lately issued. I propose,
likewise, to alter the manner in which commissioners have
been appointed. (Hear, hear.) I formerly introduced the
appointment of those commissioners on the nomination of
the house, with the view to prevent any jealousy as to the
influence of the Crown ; but I cannot help thinking that
the dispersing among so large a number the responsibility
of nominating commissioners, tends a good deal to pre-
vent a due selection being made. I therefore propose re-
stricting the choice in England to revising barristers who
have been nominated by the judges in some former year to
the office of revising barrister, and to give the Crown the
nomination of those commissioners. I believe a Minister—
say the Secretary of State for the Home Department—
acting under a sense of responsibility, is much more likely
to make a good choice than could be made by the house.
importance, rattrownhsiuohf
With respect to the withdrawal of petitions, there are vari-
ous other provisions in the bill,
the present law of considerable
w)licharealtebu
are too much matters of detail to make it necessary to
enter upon them here. But there is one very con-
siderable alteration which, if I am allowed to bring in
the bill to consolidate the present law, I propose to make
with respect to election committees. I was always very
much opposed to the withdrawal of the power of
judging of the title of persons elected to Eat in this
house, from the house. I think the law has been so
much amended in that respect that at least there is not
any very well-founded 'complaint at present of there
being any party or corrupt influence in the decisions of
election committees. (Hear, hear.) But Ido think
there is still some reason to complain of a want of unifor-
mity of decision—(loud cries of hear, hear)—of a want of
that legal knowledge which would enable the committee
to decide in each case according to known principles of
law. (Hear, hear.) In order to obtain this advantage, I
propose that upon a dissolution of Parliament the Crown
shall appoint ten barristers of ten years' standing to be
assessors for the purpose of being nominated to act in
that capacity to election committees ; and that in every
subsequent year one person shall bo so appointed which
will probably be quite enough to be appointed for
that purpose, and that the general committee, in nomi-
nating the election committee, shall at the same time
name the particular assessor who shall attend the commit-
tee. I propose to repeal the provision—of which I was
myself the original author—that there should be a separate
chairman's panel. (Hear.) I propose that the general com-
mittee of elections shall choose the whole committee; and
in that way, and with the assistance of the assessor, I think
there would be a greater uniformity of decision than wehave
hitherto experienced. Now, with respect to prosecutions
for bribery, I likewise propose that when a committee reports
that persons have been guilty of bribery, upon a communi-
cation by the Speaker of that fact, the Attorney-Gene-
ral should at once prosecute the persons so reported to have
been guilty of this offence. I think it is desirable to re-
move those questions as far as possible from the discussion
and debate of this house, when you have once appointed
a tribunal by which they shall lie dealt with. These, sirs:
generally, are the provisions which I propose to introduces.
in these bills. The house will have a better view of them
when they have seen the bills and consulted their provi-
sions. I, for my part, in discussing their details, shall be
quite ready to listen to any suggestion that shall be made.
I believe that the great majority of this house think that
the time has come when we ought to endeavour, possible,
to prevent and to check these degrading practices—(cheers)
house.
—and
in raising the character of this use, (Loud
—and if we succeed in such an object we shall succeed
cheers.)
Mr. M. GIBSON said he should not on
_ the moment pre-
sume to offer a hasty opinion on the details of the plan
whichthe noble lord had submitted to their consideration;
on which 12e had new*
cbonturetheeo7thwe bi
enuotwoororali ints which caught his attention in the
addrem