The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-15 00:00:00

S IN, LOON,
to-morrow, or he would have been in the House at its
sitting. As the Chairman of that Committee,
he had excluded from his mind all that
had taken place in Harwich in former years, and con-
fined himself solely to the particular charges of
bribery and corruption at the last election. He
thought, after sitting on the Committee, that there
was no evidence of general bribery and corruption
in the borough of Harwich. Single cases of bribery
and treating had been proved, but they were not
traced distinctly to Mr. Attwood or his agents, with
the exception of one case only. He thought the
best course to be adopted was that the
debate should be adjourned until the evidence was
printed and in the hands of Members, and that the
issuing of the writ should be supended until the
subject had undergone the strictest scrutiny.
Sir J. TYRRELL believed that the borough of
Harwich had returned some of the most able states-
men that had ever sat in that House"; and he thought
the Government ought not to be in too great a hurry
to disfranchise the borough.
Mr. V. SMITH thought that it would be very in-
convenient to discuss at present the question of the
disfranchisement of the borough of Harwich. He
thought that the Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary.
of State for the Home Department had been some-
what hardly dealt with by Honourable Members.
The Honourable Member for Montrose (Mr.
Hume) had attacked him as though he wished to
screen the offence. He (Mr. Vernon Smith) un-
derstood him to take no such course. The question
which the Right Hon. Baronet put to the House was,
whether the writ should issue now or not. That
was a question entirely distinct from the disfranchise-
ment of the borough. He thought that in a consti-
tutional view of the question the writ ought to issue,
because no borough ought to remain unrepresented for
any longer period than was absolutely necessary.
One of the Hon. Members on the Committee had
said that it appeared to them that there was some-
thing like collusion practised between the parties; and
he (Mr. V. Smith) thought that circumstance, coupled
with the recommendation of the chairman of the
Committee, ought to have some weight with the
House in inducing it to allow the present debate to be
adjourned.
Captain ELLIOT said that what he hail stated
was, that after the Committee had sat for a few days
it did certainly appear that there was something like
collusion between the parties, but subsequently, when
they saw the petitioners doing their utmost to prove
their case, that opinion was entirely done away
with.—(Hear, hear.)
Lord D. STUART said that he understood the
arrangement come to last night by the House, was
that the further decision of the question should be
postponed untilllon. Members should have been afforded
an opportunity of considering the whole question;
but he did not think that that arrangement at all
affected the motion of to- day for issuing the new writ.
He could tell Hon. Members, that if they wished
to enjoy the real coufldence of the country, and be
the real representatives of the people, they must not
endeavour to stifle inquiries upon these subjects, but,
on the contrary, keep tke elections as pure as possible.
Already a considerable feeling of disaffection pre.
veiled throughout the country with the inequality of
the present representation.— (Hear.)
Mr. BAGGE said that he was entirely in the
hands of the Home, and would either withdraw or
consent to adjourn his motion.

Lord PALMERSTON said that he was quite
prepared to agree to the motion being withdrawn,
and the debate thereon being considered as dropped,
and that the motion for issuing the writ should
not be renewed until atter the minutes of the
evidence had been printed and placed in' the
hands of Members a sufficient time to allow
of its being fully considered, and then that
notice should be given when the motion would be
brought forward. He thought that the adoption of
that course would fully reconcile the opinions of all
parties upon the subject.—(Hear, hear.) He felt
called upon to confirm the statement of his Right
lion. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home
Department, with respect to the understanding which
prevailed last night upon this subject. He was
in the House at the time, and could speak from a
perfect recollection of the circumstances. The under-
standing to which he was a party, and to which he
considered Hon. Members on the other side had
acceded, was that the question of whether the writ
should issue or not should be postponed until after
the evidence given before the Committee had
been considered by the llouse.—(Hear, hear.)
His own opinion was that he should be ready upon
the statement of the Hon. Chairman of the Committee
to move for the issue of the writ, and he thought that
the reference which had been made to the former re-
port of the Committee, in 1842, tended rather to
confirm him in that opinion, because he found that upon
that occasion there was a charge of general, if not
universal corruption in the borough; whereas it ap-
peared upon this occasion that the most searching
inquiry by the petitioners did not result in a proof
of anything like general corruption, or even corrup-
tion extending beyond three or four individuals.—
(Hear, hear.) The question of bribery was one
of such great importance, that he felt that
it was an abuse which struck so vitally
at the root of everythir.g upon which the
influence the character, the respectability, and effi-
ciency of this House depended—(Cheers)—that he
thought that this House should at all times, if they
erred at all, err on the side of extending opportuni-
ties for inquiring into all cases where it had been
shown that any acts of bribery had been practised.
—(Hear, hear.) Although he was aware that
upon general principles this House should be careful
not unnecessarily to suspend the issuing of writs, or
leave any portion of the country unrepresented, he
thought that upon the present occasion it would be
expedient that the motion should be withdrawn, and
the issuing of the writ not moved for until the evi-
dence given before the Committee had been printed,
and the House had had a full opportunity of con-
sidering its nature.—(Hear.) He therefore suggested
that the Hon. Member should withdraw his motion,
and immediately move that the evidence should be
printed.
Mr. BLACKSTONE—That has already been
moved.

Lord PALMERSTON—If such a motion had
been made he thought that the worst course for the
House to adopt would be to agree to that motion.
Sir J. GRAHAM said that upon the suggestion
of the Noble Lord lie had no objection to withdraw
his motion, on the understanding, however, that
the issue of this writ should not be moved for
without notice, and such notice not to be given
until after the evidence had been printed.
Mr. \VAKLEY had witnessed, with great delight,
the virtuous indignation of the Noble Member for
Tiverton (Lord Palmerston), and he should not be
surprised to see that Noble Lord one day appearing
as the illustrious head of a powerful Radical party in
that House.—(Laughter.) Stranger things than that
had occurred before now in that house.—(Laughter.)
lie was proud to see that the Noble Lord was not
determined, with inflexible stupidity, like some
Hosiourable Members, to stick to old and obso-
lete prejudices, but had shown himself willing
to advance in the right direction.—(Hear, hear.)
The Noble Lord, the Member for Marylebone (Lord
D. Stuart), and the Hon. Member for Northampton
(Mr. V. Smith), had endeavoured to excuse, or to
palliate, the conduct of the Right llon. Baronet the
Secretary of State for the Home Department. Ile
could not account for that course of conduct. Last night
the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir:G. Grey) was for delay,
to-day, he being acquainted with the facts of the case,
was-anxious for the immediate issuing of the writ.—
(Hear, hear.) Shortly after the appointment of the
Right Honourable Baronet to office, he (Mr. Wakley)
had taken a phrenological view of his cranium—(A
laugh)—and he noticed distinctly that the Right
Honourable Baronet was possessed of a very large
organ of " justice."—(Renewed laughter.) Now,
after knowing that bribery had been practised in
this, the most corrupt and rotten of all corrupt
boroughs in the kingdom—(Cries of "No, no")—
well, then, ons of the most corrupt—the Right
Hon. Baronet was in favour of issuing the writ. To
whom was he to send this writ ? The writ would
have to be sent to these corrupt electors, who were
thus to be the instruments of adding another to the
number of "Attwoodian" Members in this House.
What, he would ask the house, was there
that would be safe in this country, if the
fountain of justice—the Right Hon. Baronet—were so
corrupted?
:Would the lives and property of the people
of this country be safe or protected if the fountain of
their laws were to be thus corrupt!—(Hear, hear.)
Large sums of money had been expended for the
purpose of corrupting this House to a degree which
had never been known.—(Hear.) The Hon. Member
for Essex, who seemed to entertain a fear for the
necessity of bringing forward a new Reform Bill, had
said that he thought that the large constituencies
were not in the habit of judging with sufficient
sagacity, or exercising a proper degree of caution in
the choice of their representatives. Why, was not
the Honourable Member himself a Member for a
large constituency ? —(hear, hear.) lie wondered
that the lion. Member had not formed a complete re-
futation of his arguments in his own person.—
(Laughter.) Essex had always been famous for its
representatives. The House might rest assured
that these things would ba constantly recurring so
long as the Election for Members was septennial
instead of annual, and they continued to be elected by
small constituencies who could be influenced by cor-
rupt means. If the constituencies were enlarged it
would be out of the power of persons to cor-
rupt them. At present it was considered a good
!peculation for persons to invest their money
in an election ; they knew that they would have their
seats for seven years, and could be able by that time
to palm their relatiOns upon the public. The Noble
Lord, the Honourable Member for Marylebone
(Lord Dudley Stuart), had said that in this