The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-23 00:00:00

BY JAWS W. KENT, SURGEON, STANTON, SUFFOLK.
In submitting the following plan of voting and conducting
of elections to the notice of the public, I beg leave to state that
I am not so vain as to presume that it is a perfect one, but, on the
contrary, I offer it as the outline of a system which when per-
fected by wiser heads then my own', will, I believe, be found
to be far superior to our present system, and of great use to
the voter, the Member of Parliament, and the public in ge-
neral. I flatter myself that the lovers of peace and good
order will readily acquiesce in a plan which has for its base
justice, peace, and order; but those persons who are great
admirers of the present "good old English system," as they
termit, ofconducting elections by bribery, treating, drunken-
ness, riot, and bloodshed, and forcing electors to travel
miles to give their votes, amidst threats, insults, and as-
saults from hired bullies, armed with bludgeons, to overawe
and intimidate the peaceable voters, will instantly reject a
proposition from their " exalted minds," which is diametri-
cally opposed to their refined taste and sordid interests.
The following is the plan which I would propose, which
resembles, in some few respects, the system adopted for test-
ing votes at 'municipal. elections:-
1. The registration of voters to remain as at present.
2. That an office be established by Government called the

" GeneralElectoralßegister Office,-;' to be conducted by
suitable officer, ffi cer, or_ocers, for the purpose of annually regis-
tering the total number of all the voters in every county,
city, and borough in the United Kingdom ; and also for
printing, making, and distributing voting papers and enve-
lopes to enclose them for all the voters.
3. The voting papers to be ornamented with marks, &c.,

. .
like bank-notes, to prevent forgery, and a blank space
should be left in the centre of them for containing the names
of the candidates—and, if deemed advisable, the name of

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the county, city, or borough, might be printed on the voting
papers, and a supply for all the counties, cities, and boroughs,
in the United Kingdom might always be kept printed, so
that only the names of the candidates would want to be
printed on them. In all other respects the voting papers for
the whole kingdom should be precisely similar; and when
they are delivered to the voters, they should not contain the
voter's name, initials, residence, trade or profession, number
of his house, or of his registration ; nor should the officers
appointed to deliver or collect them, or any other person
affix the name, number, or initials, of the voter, or other
mark, whether on the voting paper or the envelope, fir the
purpose of rocognising them again, Under penalty of five, im-
prisonment, and disfranchisement. The voter, also, shall not
affix his name, abode, seal, or other mark, to the voting
papers or envelopes; but there shall be printed instructions
given on each paper, directing the voter to draw a line with
a pen across the names of the candidates that he does not in-
tend to vote for.
A notice should be printed on the voting paper requesting
the voter to have his voting paper ready by eight o'clock on
the morning previous to the day of election, as the officers
might possibly collect the voting papers on that day if the
high sheriff or mayor thought it expedient.
The voter may seal up the voting paper in its envelope
with a wafer or sealing-wax, but must not affix any seal to
ittat_ig,in case of his not sealing it up, the officer who col-
lects tbeatrxigpapz,rs shall sea Tit with his seal.f office.
With respect to the probability of forging the voting
papers, it seems to me to be a matter of impossibility, be-
cause the officers, who deliver them in company with the
friends of the candidates, would take special care when col-
lecting them to receive only the same number of voting
papers, and at the same places where they delivered them.
Even supposing it to be possible for them to be forged, would
not the fear of the law of transportation for forging operate'
powerfully as a check upon those whose dishonest motives
might incite them to attempt it.
4. When a writ is issued for the election of a Member or
Members of Parliament for any county, city, or borough, the
high sheriff or mayor, as soon as he has ascertained the names
of the candidates who intend to offer themselves for the
choice of the voters, shall forthwith transmit the names of
such candidates to the general register officer, who shall
cause their names to be printed on the voting papers of such
county, city, or borough, and forward them to the high
sheriff or mayor, which latter shall appoint a sufficient num-
ber of respectable officers to deliver a voting raper in its en-
velope to every voter six days previous to the day of polling,
or collecting the voting papers; and each candidate shall be
allowed to send a friend with the above officers at the time
when they deliver out the voting papers, and likewise when
they collect them again, in order to see that the officers exe-
cute their duty with justice and efficiency. And the officers
and candidates' friends with them shall not enter into any
political conversation with the voters, or persuade them to
vote for any particular candidate, under a severe penalty.
Should the officers find that any of the voters on the regis-
tered list are dead, in foreign lamb, incapacitated from voting
by insanity, or by crime, or any other natural or legal pro-
hibition, they shall return such papers to the high sheriff or
mayor, stating the cause of their returning them, and such
voting papers shall then be destroyed in the presence of the
candidates.
_5. On the morning of the election or polling, the above

officers, with the friends of the candidates, shall-proceed to
each voter's residence to collect the voting papers; the voter
must deliver his paper in its envelope to the officer, and if
not sealed, the officer shall affix his seal of office to it, and
put it into the box appointed for that purpose, which box
shall be locked, and the high sheriff or mayor shall keep the
key of it; and a small narrow opening shall be made in the
lid of the box, just sufficient to allow of the voting paper be-
ing slipped in. In county elections, or large towns, in order
to facilitate the collecting of the voting papers, it might be
deemed necessary for the officers to be supplied with horses
and vehicles, and they might commence collecting the papers
on the day previous to polling, taking due care at night
that the boxes are placed in a safe place, under a guard ap-
pointed by each candidate, to prevent their being interfered
with or stolen.
6. Oa the day of polling or election, efficient officers ap-
pointed by the high sheriff or mayor, shall open the boxes
one by one, and shall open each voting paper and proclaim
in an audible voice for what candidates the votes are given,
and the polling clerks shall enter each vote properly against
the name of the candidate for whom it is given.
The voting papers being all delivered in and written down,
the high sheriff, mayor, or their deputy, might proclaim the
state of the poll on the same day, or wait till the following
morning.
Respecting polling booths, in consequence of the voters
not appearing in person to give their votes, these places would
not be required, except in county elections, where the polling
places are sometimes fixed in villages, and even here a good
large magistrate's room, or club-room at a public-house,
would suffice; and in towns, the itown-hall would be suffi-
ciently capacious.
7. The payment of the ofiicer4 who distribute and collect
the voting papers, polling clerks, and other expenses in-
curred in conducting the election on this system, to be paid
by the county or borough where the election may take place.
8. Candidates not to be allowed to canvass personally, or
by agents, under a severe penalty; but voters may wait upon
them to learn their political principles, or elicit the like in-
formation from them.
9. Bribery, on the part of a candidate, or any one else, to
be punished by a heavy tine, imprisonment, incapacitation
for filling any office, and disfranchisement. Persons endea-
vouring, also, by dishonourable means, threats, treating, and
the like, to induce a voter to vote for a particular candidate,
or demanding to see him sign his voting paper, or to see it
after it is signed, or opening it after it is sealed up, or making
any mark upon it, shall in each and all such cases be subject
to fine, imprisonment, and disfranchisement.
10. On the day of election no flags, banners, colours,
musk, or processions to be allowed, or other party demonstra-
tions tending to emelte the passions of the people to dis-
orderly conduct and breach of the peace.
At elections conducted on the foregoing system every
voter, whether sick, bed-ridden' infirm, or absent from home,
would be capable of exercising his privilege of voting; and
every voter would note at his own house in a peaceable man-
ner. There would be no intoxicating of voters, feasting
them at public-houses, shutting them up or stealing them
away to prevent their voting conscientiously; no bullying,
insulting, and assaulting of voters when going to give their
votes; no false swearing; no hiring of bullies armed with
bludgeons to intimidate the peaceable voters ; no breaking
of windows, mobs and rioting, and calling in the aid of the
police and military, because the public safety was endangered.
The town and neighbourhood would be left in as quiet a state
as before the election ; personal animosities would be lessened,
and the injurious and malicious system of exclusive dealing
arising therefrom would be much less frequent. There would
be no mischievous and demoralising system of exciting the
passions of the populace by music, flags, drunkenness, and
processions ; and public-houses would not be opened for
dining and treating of voters who came from a distance, thus
incurring a double expense on the candidates for conveyance
and treating. And lastly, but not least, the Members' ex-
penses incurred in elections carried on in this way would be
merely nominal, and their constituents would therefore have
better grounds for hoping they would do their duty more
honestly by them in Parliament, and not turn and sell them
for pecuniary considerations or office, as it is feared has too
frequently been done where the Member has been put to an
unreasonable expense. The respect and good feeling between
Member and voter would become real and not affected.
All these advantages, and many more, would be gained by
the foregoing plan of conducting elections and taking votes,
and which are not enjoyed by the method of voting now in
use, and which cannot be enjoyed even under the system of
vote by ballot as hitherto proposed. It is likewise superior
to the ballot, because it would have a double advantage of
being exercised both openly and secretly. To his neighbour
or friend, the voter might, if he pleased, disclose his senti-
ments, and show him for whom he had voted ; the voter
who needed secrecy or protection in exercising his privilege
of voting conscientiously would be benefited by it, because
the wretch who would like to influence him in voting dare
not attempt to coerce the voter to vote for whom he pleased,
nor yet demand to see his voting paper signed, or to see it
after it was signed, for fear of the law which would fine, im-
prison, and disfranchise him. Besides, the timid voter might
mark his voting paper soon after he received it and seal it
up, and no one would dare to open it.
It is superior to the ballot, also, in another respect—that
is, the voter can vote at his own house ; but by the ballot
system the voter must go to the ballot-box which may be
miles from his house, and in the confusion which prevails at
elections, an ignorant or timid voter might as well put his
ballot into the Wrong as into the right part of the ballet-box,
whereas at his own house, by the system proposed, he would
have five or six days to reflect on before he marked his voting
paper. By adopting this foregoing plan, we should approach
much nearer to the so-much vaunted " purity of election"
than we yet have, or ever can, by our present disgraceful and
unjust method of conducting elections.
In conclusion, I would say to those who approve of the
ballot, "Can you state any objections to this plan as not
being capable of giving all the security to the voter which
the ballot offers, and that it does not secure much greater
benefits to the voter, Member of Parliament, and the public ?"
To those who dislike the ballot, "Would you nut prefer the
method proposed to that of the ballot ?"—and to those who
so much admire the present manner of voting and conduct-
ing of elections, "Tell me why you prefer driving the honest
and respectable voter ta give his vote personally at the
polling-booth (and, perhaps, driven up to vote against his
own conscience and the interests of his fellow-subjects),
amidst the yells, insults, assaults,* riots, and bloodshed, of
ruffianly and fiendish mobs, hired for the unholy work of
carrying the election by brute force, in order to get some
corrupt Member returned, who, in return for the infamous
support they have given him, will, as soon as he is seated,
vote away their and their honest neighbours ' birthKErights?"
JAMES H. NT.
Staunton, near Bury St. Ed
Suffolk,
March 17, 1846.

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* " Nothing could exceed the state of excitement into which,
throughout the whole of the day, the borough had been thrown by
this severe contest. Every elector, as he came up to the poll, under-
went a severe busting, and fights came off among the crowd every
half hour. At ono period the polling-booth was invaded, and the
august presence of the mayor, who presided at the further end, sur-
rounded by wine, decanters, and poll-books, rudely outraged, &c."—
Election at Bridport —Times, Monday, March 9, 1846.

His Royal Highness Prince Albert presided, on Friday
afternoon, at a meeting of the Commissioners for Promoting and En-
couraging the Fine Arts in the Rebuilding the Palace of Westminster.
His Royal }Remus arrived at Gwydyr House, Whitehall, at a
quarter before three o'clock, attended by Major-General Sir Edward
Bowater. The Commissioners present were Viscount Mahon, Sir
Robert Harry Inglis, Mr. Henry Ilallam,Mr.Wyse, and the Secretary,
Mr. LitfillAtt, The ratting broke up at kalf-psAt lour 9'9199k•
_ .