The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-03 00:00:00

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE
ON VOTES OF ELECTORS.
The following report has been delivered among the
Parliamentary papers printed by order of the House of
Commons :
The Select Committee appo!nted to inquire into the
alleged facilities afforded to vexatious and fraudulent
objections and fraudulent claims by the present system
of registration of county voters for Members of Parlia-
ment ; and to whom several petitions, alleging the ex-
istence of an organised and extensive system of fraudu-
lent and vexatious objections to the votes of duly quali-
fied doctors, were referred ; and who were empowered
to report their observations and opinion thereupon from
time to time to the House ; have agreed to the following
report :

In pursuing the inquiry committed to their charge,
your Committee. have found it their first duty to go into
the matter of the several petitions referred to them, com-
phiining of abuses in the way of objecting to country
voters alleged to have been vexatiously raised by the
Anti-Corn-law League ; and for this purpose they have
examined, besides several gentlemen who have acted as
revising barristers, parties connected, on the one hand,
with the counties from which the petitions emanated, to
sub,tantiate the alleged grievance, and, on the other
hand, with the Anti-Corn-law League, to explain the pro-
ceediogs complained of, their object, and the results.
They have also gone, though with less fullness, into
the other branch of the inquiry committed to them ;
viz. the facilities for 'risking fraudulent claims, which
the present system of registration may be supposed to
afford ; and on this head, perhaps, it will be convenient
at once to bring forward the few observations which your
Committee have to offer.
There is no doubt that, according to the law as it now
stands, facilities do exist for creating votes, by a system
of granting rent charges to the amount of 405., and of
splitting up property into small freeholds of that value ;
and such facilities have been taken advantage of by dif-
ferent parties, at different times, and in different deg' ees,
for the purpose of increasing electoral influence through
the means of individuals so put upon the register. In
many cases, these new electors are in no other way con-
nected with the respective counties, and in some in-
stances, as in the case of rent-charges, they bear no
share in the county burdens.
It is held by the Courts that such divisions of pro-
perty, although made for the express purpose of multi-
plying voices in elections, are not within the meaning of
the 7th and Bth William 111., c. 25, commonly called the
Splitting Act ; but that a " conveyance made in comple-
tion of a bond fide contract of sale, where the money
passes from the buyer to the seller, and the possession
also from the seller to the buyer, and where there is no
secret reservation on trust on the part of the seller, is
not avoided by reason of the object or motive of the pur-
chaser and seller being to multiply voices at an election."
In consequence of this decision, it has been suggested
to your Committee, that it would be desirable to check the
practice of splitting up tenements into many qualifica-
tions, which has, during the last two years, acquired a
Hew extension, either by bringing it within the provisions
of the Act of William 111., or by raising the qualification
out of rent charges and freeholds, where the holder is not
resident within the county or division of the county of
which he claims to vote, from 40s. to 101. On this latter
suggestion, being rather a question of general policy
than properly belonging to the province of your Com-
mittee, they forbear from offering an opinion ; on the
former a recommendation will be found in No. 2 of the
Suggestions at the end of the report. Before, however,
they quit this subject, they feel called upon to state,
after a full investigation of the facts, that in the case of
the numerous small freeholds of this nature which have
been recently created under the influence of the Anti-
Corn-law League, they have no reason to believe
(although the freeholds were acquired avowedly for the
purpose of obtaining votes for a particular object) that
they have been paid for otherwise than out of the funds
of the purchasers themselves. The League have, how-
ever, contributed to this object, by affording, in many
Cases, the assistance of their agents to facilitate the ne-
gotiations and purchases ; for which purpose, also, the
sums paid by persons desiring qualifications in various
counties have been collected into accounts with certain
bankers to the credit of certain agents of the Anti-
Corn-law League.
With regard to the power of making objections, which
has mainly occupied the attention of your Committee,
they think it will be convenient first to state the change
which has been made in the law upon that subject by
the recent Act for " Amending the Registration of
Voters." Under the Reform Act the objector was to
give notice of his objection to the person objected to, or
he was to leave it at his place of abode, as described in
the list, or he was to deliver it personally to the tenant
in occupation of the premises. Under the present Act
(6 and 7 Vict. c. 18.) the objector is to give the notice
of objection to the person objected to, or ha is to leave it
at his place of abode, as described by the list ; and when-
ever his place of abode is not in the parish or township
to which such list relates, be is also to give or leave a
duplicate notice at the residence of the occupying tenant.
The most material alteration, however, made by the re-
cent Act is, that the production of a duplicate, stamped
by the postmaster, of the notice of any of these objec-
tions, is made conclusive evidence of the service of the
notice.

,
An alleged abuse arising out of this new facility o
proving the service of objections, is one of the prilacipti
grounds of complaint. It is alleged that, taking ad-
vantage of this provision, the agents of the Anti-Corn-
law League posted at Manchester on the 22d, 23d,
and 24th of August last, but mostly on the 24th, the
last day permitted by the law, many thousand notices of
objection (the Postmaster at Manchester states them,
including duplicate notices to overseers and occupying
tenants, at upwards of 23,000), principally directed
against voters for North Warwickshire, North and South
Cheshire, North Staffordshire, South Lancaster, East
Gloucestershire and Buckinghamshire ; so late, and
in such numbers, that the Postmaster was not
able to dispatch them for several days suc-
cessively ; and that a very large proportion of
such notices consequently did not reach their desti-
nation till long after the time contemplated by the
law—in some cases after the day appointed by the Act
for the overseers to notify publicly the objections made.
It is alleged that these notices were in a very large pro-
portion, directed against persons of undoubted qualifica-
tion, men of large property in houses and land within
the respective districts, tenants of large farms, and other
persons of that description, on the chance, as they ima-
gine, of such parties, or some of them, not appearing
to defend, and thus losing their votes ; that in fact a
large number of unquestionable votes was thus struck
off for want of such appearance, the parties objected
to being in many cases prevented from attending by
remoteness of residence, illness, business, unwillingness
to lose their time, or, as in some cases, on the conviction
that the notices which had been delivered be-
yond the time appointed by the law were informal ;
and it is also stated that a very small proportion
of such objections proved on examination to be valid ;
while the redress intended to be provided for such cases
by the late Registration Act, in the power conferred on
revising barristers to award costs, was withheld or re-
fused, except in a few instances; either because the ob-
jector having failed to sustain one objection, declined to
attempt to sustain any more, and was thus enabled, ac-
cording to the interpretation put upon the Act, to with-
draw himself altogether from liability to costs, or else
because some trifling amendment in the description was
required in the opinion of the revising barrister; and
that by reason of a rule generally laid down by revising
barristers, that no costs shall ever be allowed when an
amendment, however trifling, is admitted in the descrip-
tion, the claimant was in such cases precluded from ob-
taining compensation for his loss of time or the trouble
imposed on him in sustaining his vote.
Complaint is further made, that the agents of the
League, in most cases, did not even attempt to sustain a
serious objection, but confined themselves to raising some
trifling objection as to the description, to shield them-
selves from costs, and it is also stated that, in the cases
of South Cheshire and North Warwickshire, persons
were selected as objectors, who, having notices so
numerous to sign in so short a time that they could not
get through them themselves, delegated that task, to a
great extent, to others, who signed their names for them,
and thus created many invalid notices ; the invalidity of
which, when established, was held to be a reason for
not giving costs to the voter who appeared to answer
them, though, if he had not appeared, he would have lost
his vote for non-appearance.
Now, on this statement, the main points, which appear
to be disputed by tho other party, are not as to the
number of objections served, nor that a large proportion
of them were served on parties of undoubted qualifica-
tions. The numbers stated by the chairman of the
League, when analysed, will be found to vary in no
material degree from those of the complainants. The
main difference is in the proportion claimed as suc-
cessful, and in the inference to be consequently drawn
from such proportion, as to the vexatious or justifiable
use which shall be held to have been made by the League
of the opportunities of objection offered by the law.
On this point the conclusions drawn by the respective
parties do materially differ ; and on neither side is
such evidence adduced as can lead to a very accurate
conclusion. The details of what takes place in the
revising barristers' courts are not matter of official
record, and the best information to be gained re-
specting them is, in most cases, derived from im-
perfect recollection, or from the notes of the contending
parties taken hastily on the spot, and communicated,
possibly with some exaggeration, to the party papers
in
the respective counties. Besides which, a different esti-
mate of success will always be taken as an evidence of
justification by different contending parties.
The Chairman of the League claims on his side as suc-
cessful all ojections which terminated either in amending
the description of a vote or in expunging a name ;
whether, in the latter case, the name was expunged
upon an investigation of the qualifications, or by reason
of the non-appearance of the voter ; whether the name
had been already struck out, or the description
amended, at the instance of the overseer, or whether
the alteration was solely due to the interposition of the
League.
On the other hand, the complainants admit to the
credit of the League only those cases in which a really
bad vote was struck off upon the hearing of the case, and
where, but for the interference of the agent of the
League, the vote would not have been struck off.
One party conceives itself entitled to serve notices
upon every voter, in the description of whose claim the
smallest error can be discovered, and maintains its right
to do so, not only on grounds of strict law, but also as
acting in the spirit of the law, and as the only means by
which such accuracy of description can be secured as
will provide a pure register, and enable parties to
examine into the real sufficiency of the qualification.
The other party mainly looks at the hardship of ex
posing the voter to the chance of being compelled to
prove his vote, however undoubted, year by year, and of
obliging him to come up to the Court of Revision, at what-
ever distance he may be residing, and at whatever
inconvenience, frequently when the cause i,,9 trivial omis-

sion or a technical error ; and that at no real peril o g T N
cos 's to the objector, who may only attempt to sustain "-'
lis objection against the parties not appearing, .• i . ...Tl-il s-r"--'-1.-'.
w h m it is evident he runs no risk, for if they tie': wes:.-,,----4 -- ----
appear he is certain of success, and if they do -='•`-‘ f'-'' ,C...;f:01:,
he withdraws his objection. •) - -,:-.-•: , •74 , •
t According to the different views of this subjec kit."..
may be taken, different conclusions will, of cou --:Ve'•,:.., :--,
drawn as to the proportion of the objections ma fiji",-:::;'...--
the League which were really very vexatious, or 'v.-I f.': A k
far the League were justified, upon the whole, in 4044
general tenor of their course in this respect by the
reasons assigned. The investigation, however, fully
establishes the fact, that udder the law, as it now stands,.
the bond fide voter is exposed to the possibility of such
vexation and annoyance, that he might easily be deterred
from coming forward to support his vote, however well
entitled to it, and that, practically speaking, he has
neither protection nor redress.
Under the circumstances, your Committee beg to offer
the following suggestions, which they hope may prove
to be a material improvement in the registration of
voters, combining protection and encouragement to the
bona fide voter with sufficient security for keeping the
register pure and in a state of intelligible and accurate
description.

=;r

,'-
`.

SUGGESTIONS.
1. That the operation of the Act of 7th and Bth
William 111., c. 25, s. 7, commonly called the Splitting
Act, should be extended to all conveyances, grants, con-
tracts or holdings made or given by the same party out
of the same tenement, for the purpose of " multiplying
voices in an election," notwithstanding that such con-
veyances shall have been made bona fide, and the pur-
chase-money paid, and though the possession may be
really transferred, without any secret reservation on
trust for the seller.

2. That any person who has established his right to
vote by sufficient proof to the satisfaction of the revising
barrister may require him to write " Proved" against
his name, and he shall then be entitled to the privileges
conferred on a " proved registered voter;" but every per-
son intending to vote shall give notice to the overseer of
his intention to do so, and the overseer shall enter against
his name in the register or list of claimants the words
" Claims to prove his vote ;" and any person on the re-
gister may at the time of revision object to such vote
without previous notice.
3. That a claimant to be registered shall insert the
post town of his place of abode in his notice of claim ;
and that in all cases where the notice of objection is served
by the post, the party objecting shall insert in the direc-
tion the post town stated in the notice of claim.
4. That the objector shall reside within the limits of
the same polling district as that in which the party ob-
jected to claims to be registered.
5. That a double entry of the same name for a dif-
ferent qualification shall constitute a ground of ob-
jection.
6. That the party objecting shall be bound to state
generally the nature of his objection (that is to say) ;
that he objects under ono or more of these heads:-1.
"On the merits of the qualification." 2. "On the
ground of misdescription." 3. "On the ground of a
double entry."
7. That if he objects on " the merits of the qualifica-
tion," he shall be confined to questions arising out of
the third column.
S. That if he objects " on the ground of misdescrip-
tion," he shah be allowed to point out any errors, omis-
sions, mistakes, or inaccuracies in the first, second, and
fourth columns, or any mere verbal error in the third
column; but he shall not be allowed, under that form of
objection, to go into the merits or nature of the quali-
fication.
9. That on an objection on the ground of double entry
only, he shall be confined to that head of objection.
10. That for each notice of objection to voters on the
rt gister the party objecting shall deposit 2s. 6d. with
the overseers of the parish in which the property is
situated, to abide the event of the revising barrister's
decision.
11. That any person, being a " proved registered
voter," whose vote is objected to " on the merit of quali-
fication," shall be entitled, on establishing his vote a
second time, to recover, as of right, the sum of 40s. from
the party objecting, over and above the 2s. 6d. which
the party objecting had deposited with the overseers.
12. That any person already on the register, other
than a "proved registered voter," whose claim is objected
to on the merits of qualification, shall be entitled, on
establishing his vote, to recover the sum of 2s. ed ,
which the party objecting had deposited with the over-
seers, and such additional sum, not exceeding in the
whole sum of 405., as the revising barrister, according
to his discretion, shall think fit to award.
13. That where a party has only been objected to " on
the ground of misdescription," and the revising bate ister
has anything to add or to alter in his claim, he shall not
be entitled to any casts whatever ; but where the revis-
ing barrister has nothing to add to or to alter in his claim,
he shall be entitled to the 2s. 6d., which the party ob-
jecting bad deposited with the overseer, and also such
additional sum, not exceeding the sum of 405., as the
revising barrister, according to his discretion, shall think
fit to au ard.
14. That a party objected to on the ground of misde-
scription, shall be at liberty to make a declaration of
what he considers to be the proper description of his
claim to vote, before a magistrate, who shall certify
under his hand such declaration was made before him ;
and on such declaration being produced at the revision,
the revising barrister may, if the description appears to
be sufficient, amend the claim, or allow the vote, without
requiring any further evidence.
15. That the name cf a party objected to on the
ground of double entry may be retained on the register
for all or any of the qualifications on which he claims
to vote ; but he shall be bound to elect at which polling
place he inteeds to vote, and he shall not be permitted to
vote elsewhere ; and wherever his name occurs on the
register no entry shall be made against it to this effect.
16. That where a person is objected to on the ground
of double entry, and the objection is sustained, no costs
shall be given ; and the party objecting shall be entitled
to recover back the 2s. 6d. which he had deposited with
the overseers.
17. That in all other respects the power of the revising
barrister as to giving costs shall remain as it is under
the 46th section of the 6 and 7 Vic. c. 18, except that the
amount which is not to be exceeded, shall be fixed at the
sum of 40s. instead of the sum of 20s.
18. That in the list of the persons on the register, or
claimants to be transferred to the clerk of the peace
column
nAct6 containingan
theVictoria,names of
flBth,
those
p
9,
persons
sbew
who claim
to prove their vote ; and, in the list of persons objected
to, to be transmitted under the same section, shall be
aided columns specifying under which of the three heads
of objections in suggestion No. 6 the parties are objected
to ; and the clerk of the peace for each county shall,
before the day of , file the same in
alphabetical order, and retain them till produced to the
revising barrister, open to the inspection of any regis-
tered voter.
Your Committee wish, however, further to state their
opinion, although they are not prepared to offer any,
specific suggestion for the purpose, that, without alto-
gether depriving claimants or objectors of their respec-
tive rights as now enjoyed, it would be very desirable
to render the registration a matter of official duty on
the part of responsible and competent officers, to be
employed in forming and correcting county registers. They
cannot conclude without submitting to the House that
the present mode of remunerating revising barristers
appears to have led to or induced a greater hurry of
business than is quite compatible with that minute and
deliberate investigation which is necessary to ensure as
much as possible a complete and clear and accurate
register, and that some alteration in the present system
of remunerating these officers would be desirable.

)

PROTESTANTISM IN POLA/s:D.
Count Valerian Krasinski, in continuation of his second
lecture at Williss's rooms, on Saturday last, reviewed the
history of Protestantism from the time when the successor
of Stephen Batori, Sigismund 111., ascended the throne in
1586, glancing occasionally at the political events as they
happened more or less to affect the subject under discussion,
and adverting transitorily to the literary States of the na-
tion. Sigismund Vasa, the son of the King of Sweden, end
rtthe
me% o f
descended from the Jayellon dynasty, by his n,
he
sister of Sigismund Augustus, entered upon
V. ma reign
heresy from Poland;
f all
orty-
years' duration, dinhrea tlino no
s,
thaliilkeedl
and his measures, as far as their effect. can be gauged by the
character of the Senate, entirely fulfilled the augur of the
Pontiff; for that body which, in 1572, contained but two or
ybytoPoepxetilpexatteus th
three Roman Catholics, at his death numbered nearly as
many Protestants. Ilis policy was never to confer the
offices of state, and never to bestow the crown lands, ex-
cept on those of the favourite sect. The comparative efficiency
of this mode of conversion to Rome among the Polish no-
bility, led the lecturer to parallel this period in his nation's
history with the times of James 11. of England, when Dryden,
and many of less note with posterity, were induced to adopt
the religion of the court ; an identity of effect, he said in
circumstances less creditable to England, for there the peer-
age was hereditary, which in Poland depended on the
pleasure of the court. Discontent and civil war soon fol-
lowed. In 1r,91 a riot broke out at Cracow, and the Protes-
tant church was burned to the ground. De Thou ascribes
this to the instigation of the Jesuits, but the Roman Catholic
writers say that it originated in a Scotch congregation, who,
beginning to dispute upon matters of faith, ended with blows.
The Jesuits were then-in possession of about 50 colleges and
schools, and an annual income of 100,0001. The Eastern
Church numbered within her pale the vast population
of the south-stern provinces of Poland. Several
attempts to bearing them under the dominion of Rome
utterly failed, but continuing in their own faith,
they were among the most loyal subjects of the Polish
Crown. The civil power of the magistrate, which suffered
during the reign of Sigismund 111., a weak king, never re-
covered that authority under his successors which could
enable it to give effect to the measures of good government,
or to defend the rights of the citizens against the encroach-
ment or the insult of party; consequently, the weak were
under the necessity of yielding to the strong, and the ad-
, herents of Rome wielded their power with a harsh hand over
the diminished numbers of the Protestants.

DEATH OF THE COUNT DE ST. LEU.—A letter from
Leghorn, of the 25th ult., announces as follows the death of the ex-
King of Holland, father of Prince Louis :—"Count de St. Leo, Prince
Louis Iluonaparte, died here this day of a fit of apoplexy, with which
he was attacked yesterday. From the moment of the attack he re-
mained in a complete state of letkargy, nud expired this morning
without a struggle. He was in the sixty-eighth year of his age,
The prince had been paralytic for several years, and lived a very
retired life. lie kept himsel: entirely free from all political intrigues,
and supported all the vicissitudes of fortune with a rare rcsignation.
and dignity. He had no one with him at the moment of his death
but a young man, whom be had brought up, and who never quitted
him. An express was immediately sent off to Florence with the
news for his brother the Prince de Montfort, the ex-King of West-
phalia, aged 62, who is the last survivor of all Napoleon's brothers.
The deceased Prince has left but a very small fortune, not exceeding,
it is believed, 50,000 or 60,000 francs a-year. By his will he expresses,
a wish to be buried at St. Leu, in France. This wish will be eXecut'Ad
as sown as the body can be embalmed."
Lord JoHN RUSSELL has conveyed to Mr. 'Ml-
derspin, in the following letter, the sense which her Majesty en-
tertains of his claims and services :—Chesham-place, July 16, 1546.
Sir,—l have received her Majesty's commands to place your name on
the list of pensions to deserving persons charged up on the Queen's 's v 0
list, for a yearly sum of one hundred pounds. It gives me great
pleasure to convey the Queen's gradeus wish that you willar_ein
this testimony to your services as the founder and promoter ut.
schools.—l remain, your obedient servant, J. ItusaßL'
derapio, Dart On-upon• Humber."