The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-01 00:00:00

BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS.

On the question for the adjournment of the House
being put,
Lord BROUGHAM said he would take that oppor-
tunity of stating the course he meant to pursue on the
important subject to which he had called the attention
of their Lordships on the first night of the Session. He
meant the subject of bribery and intimidation and other
malpractices which prevailed to (he was afraid)an unpre-
cedented extent at the late general election. He then stated
to the House that they could not more efficiently and faith-
fully discharge their duty, than by taking this subject
into consideration, and appointing a committee to en-
quire into the evil, and to provide measures that migh t
have a tendency to put a stop to them. The degree to
which these practices existed, the extent to which
they prevailed, and the miserable effects which they
produced, not only on the result of the elections, but on
the characters of those concerned, was matter of such
notoriety, that any further description of it would be
superfluous. He (Lord Brougham) had made it his duty
to inquire into the particulars of a vast number of in -
stances ; and at one time he had intended to select,
for the consideration of their Lordships, three cases
which appeared to him to possess features in some degree
common to them all, and when he stated to their Lord-
ships that the parties who were affected by the evidence
adduced to him were the three great parties which at
present divided men both in and out of Parliament—that
in one case the person charged was a person
connected with the Government, sitting opposite them
in opposition ; that, in another case, the charges were
directed mainly against the present Opposition, then
the Government—(Laughter from Lord Melbourne, and
the Peers on the Opposition benches.) He did not
know whether his Noble Friend laughed at the word
" present," •or at the word " Opposition." He
supposed there was no such thing as opposition.
Lord MELBOURNE—AIIow me to explain. I have
heard Gentlemen in the House of Commons called to
order for using the word " opposition." Nothing can
be more unparliamentary. than for any Gentleman to
state that he is pledged to opposition.
Lord BROUGHAM made an observation, which was
inaudible in the Gallery, which excited some laughter,
and proceeded. In this case he examined the facts stated
by the party with which he usually agreed adversely to
those against whom he had the honour of sitting.—
(Laughter.) In another of these cases the charges were
mainly directed against those with whom he had usually
the honour of acting—(Laughter)—those who agreed with
his Noble Friend and himself sitting on that
side of the House ; and in the third
case, the charges mainly affected a third
party belonging neither to the regular Tory
party nor to the regular Whig party, but to
a party which generally passed under another
name, belonging to neither one nor the other.
He mentioned these circumstances for the purpose of re-
minding their Lordships that it was in vain to say that
these practices were adopted by one party or another.
The fact was, that they were adopted by the partizans
of all the three great parties, and if he (Lord
Brougham) were to state the result of the inquiries
he had been able to prosecute, he should say, whichever
party in any given place had the greatest possession of
the means that party had been most lavish in adopting
every course that was calculated to corrupt their
fellow-subjects. Those were greatly mistaken who
held that these lamentable circumstances, to which
he had adverted, had been the result of the Reform Bill of
18:32. He knew that his Noble and Learned Friend on
the Woolsack would take credit to himself for having in
the debates on the Bill, predicted that the increase of
bribery would be the result of that mea-
sure. He (Lord Brougham) maintained the contrary opi-
nion. His Noble Friend, howevur, had a right
to state that his predictions had been to a certain extent
fulfilled. He (Lord Brougham) hell that the tendency
of the Reform Bill of 1832 was directly the reverse,
and the ground upon which he held that opinion was
this—provided the Legislature would do its duty in
checking such practices by punishing those crimes
the ground on which he thought the Reform Bill did
not encourage bribery was simply this—what was the
main cause of this bribery ? It was, that the candidate
expended his money ignorantly, as he might
do justly under the old system of voting, bribery
being the result of that expenditure, because
the expenses at elections under the old system
were such, that thousands might be expended legally;
but in the present state of the law, the expenses of
a contest were lessened almost to nothing. Such
being the case, every candidate who was called upon
to spend thousands, and did it with his eyes open,
must of necessity know that the money was spent
in bribery, Parliament would not do its duty unless,
when the facts came to be known, and when the corrup-

Lion and intimidation that had been practised had been
explained, it took means to put an end to such practices.
It was not the Bill of 1832 which had caused
the injury, but because Parliament had not taken other
steps. He had consulted those who had been ac-
quainted with the subject, and they had stated that
there could be no objection to that House inquir-
ing into the subject. Why, then, it might be asked,
did he not press for the appointment of a Com-
mittee ? The reason for his not doing so was this.
first that the duration of the Session would be so short
that it would be utterly impossible to complete the in-
quiry. In the other House of Parliament there were
about eighty election petitions pending, the greater part
of which would come to trial in the course of the next
Session, That being the case, it might be said that
great inconvenience might arise from making inquiries
in that House upon subjects that would come
before the other House of Parliament.--(Hear.)
These two reasons, after much consideration, appeared to
him to justify him, most reluctantly, in abstaining from
pressing on their Lordships that notice of which he had
given notice on the first night of the Session.
He hoped, however, that he would have their Lordships
concurrence in entering upon that inquiry in the
ensuing Session. lie felt sure that it might be
conducted with an absolute certainty of obtaining
information, He was confident that the facts
which would be elucidated, must lead to some
legislative enactment, and the inquiry would teach
them what the provisions of that enactment ought
to be, He should deem it his duty to call
their Lordship? attention to the investigation of the
facts a. soon as the inquiries in another place had been
bruugnt to an end.
The House then Adjourned. •

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Sept. 30.
The SPEAKER took his seat at a few minutes to Four.
The Right Hon. T. L. Curry took the oaths and his
seat for Tyrone.
The Duke of Marlborough's Estate Bill was read a
third time and passed.
The Riddle's Estate Bill was read a third time and
passed.
The Clayton's Name Bill was read a third time avd
passed.