The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

One of the tests of the value of the Reformed Par-
liament will be its honesty in searching into and re-
forming the corruption of delinquent constituencies
brought before Committees on election petitions.
The new distribution of political power, effected by
the recent amendment of our representative system,
was admitted by all real and enlightened Reformers
to be imperfect, measured by the standard of popu-
lation or property ; but the Reform Bills received
the hearty and enthusiastic support of the country,
simply because all sensible men were convinced that
a more extended Parliamentary Reform could not
be obtained in the then state of panties, or through
the medium of an unreformed Parliament. Hence
the duration of Parliament, and the mode of open
voting, were questions wisely left to a more auspi-
cious period. The Reformers felt assured that the
Ministerial scheme was as extensive as could rea-
sonably be expec'ed from the Cabinet of Lord Grey
—if not more than his Administration could success-
fully wrench from the grasp of the aristocracy; and
that it would not be a final measure, whatever might
be the intentions of any of its official promoters.
The cases of East Retford and Penryn, with the
maniac declaration of the Duke of Wellington against
all Reform of the representation—insanely pro-
nounced after the solemn warning of the Frenchßevos
'titian of 18313—demonstrated to the people the utter
hopelessness of any justice at the hands of the purblind
Tories. Further, no part of the " working" of the
Old system more disgusted public opinion than the
party trieks of election committees, where the To-
ries, by y,
,virtue of their numerical superiority, almost
invariably protected the corrupt Tory constituen-
cies, and often unseated liberal Members, without
even a decent pretence. Now the tables are turned,
and we are. sure that there are within the House of
Commons a sufficient number of honest and inde-
pendent representatives who will probe to the bottom
the shameless and despicable arts and devices of
corrupt returns when brought under their notice in
" election petitions." 'We are induced to notice this
subject by the perusal of the printed election peti-
tions in the appendix to the votes and proceed-
ings of the House of Commons (many of which will
come before the Tribunal of Committees), and from
the report of a singular public meeting, recorded in the
Staffordshire Advertiser of Saturday last. The no-
toriety of the borough of Stafford—that sink of
electioneering corruption—is sufficiently admitted
without any retro.pective allusion to its memorable
and venal contests. The electors never acknowledged
any patron ; they set up in business for themselves
by the disposal of their own franchises, and it is well
known that the last comer and the best ls'ilder has
been from time immemorial their successful candi-
date. The purse of the claimant for the " confi-
dence" of the burgesses was the grand qua! fiestion
of his pretensions to favour—the only standard of
value in the borough of Stafford. The biography of
Sheridan, and the reminiscences of Mr. Ralph Ben-
son, afford ample proof of our picture of this noto-
rious constituency; when Sheridan's resources failed,
his " interest" in Stafford was gone. The recent
election in this borough—in treating, bribes, and
" promises to pay"---by common report, has not
redeemed its character. The common sense of the
country would be insulted if the sitting. Members,
the defeated candidate, arid all the electors swore
" on a waggon load of new testaments," that
the purity of election had not been violated at
the last contest. Accordingly we find a petiticn
against the present return (Appendix No. 21), as-
serting that Captain Gronow is not duly qualified,
but " incapacitated to have a legal estate by reason
of his being an insolvent debtor," with various al-
legations of bribery and corruption on the part of
his agents or partisans, demanding inquiry,
and requesting the House of Commons "to
afford the petitioners such further relief as to
the House should seem fit, either by passing a Bill
for reforming the constituency, or by confining the
electors thereof to the occupiers of houses of the
value of ten pounds." The merits of this petition
sve cannot prejudge; but we will say that the
country demands a thorough investigation into its
truth, and that the habit of election in such a noto-
rious borough should be strictly inquired into.
This measure of justice is further especially re-
quired by the extraordinary proceedings of a public
meeting of the Stafford electors, held at their Town
Hall on Tuesday last, and reported in the Staf-
ford Advertiser. It appears that the petition
in question was signed by about seventy electors,
and stands ordered for consideration on the
14th instant. The Stafford Advertiser prefaces
its report of the meetingas follows The petition
was presented to the House on Monday-se'nnight ;
when its allegations and prayer became known in
Stafford, the wrath of the freemen, as may naturally
be supposed, was highly excited against those, who
bad signed it. Many of the supporters of Mr.
Blount (tire unsuccessful candidate) liken ise united
in deprecating this petition, on the ground that if
corruption had been practised by any piirty it had
by all. -The town, therefore, was in a state of
complete ferment." This " ferment" was extremely
natural ; and we find it publicly stated that the pe-
titioners were exposed to every sort of. obloquy
and influence to withdraw their names from the
" odious petition." A handbill was issued, of
which the following is a copy :

"TO THE FREEMEN OF STAFFORD.-You are re-
quested to meet at the Townball, on Tuesday afternoon,
the 26th of February instant, at three o'clock, on very
important ?natters CONNECTED WITH YOUR PRIVILEGES,"
The patriot sons of Crispin, alarmed fer their
birthright, crowded the ball at the appointed time.
Captain Chetwynd (one of the sitting Members),
Mr. C. Flint, -agent for Captain Gronow, and their
chief supporters were present. Few persons would
more sensitively feel than the profession of Mr. C.
Flint the evil of disfranchisement ; and probably
few persons at the bar of the House of Commons
could more fully state the modes of Stafford elec-
tions. Mr. T. Boulton, one of the petitioners, read
his recantation ; he averred that he signed the ob-
noxious document inadvertently, " in a hurry, and
regretted what he had done." He offered the
amende honorable—" he now declared that he would
do everything in his power to avert the threatened
evil; and that if any expense were incurred in op-
posing the petition, he would contribute, and
that to no little amount.—(Cheers.)" We know
not who this gentleman may be who thus
" looks one way and rows another," but assuredly
he must be a man of substance, and if an expe-
rienced elector and electioneerer, must have been a
reflecting petitioner. The meeting then passed re-
solutions to meet " the threatened evil." Mr. Flint,
the agent of Captain Gronow, represented the Gal-
lant Member's pistols as a powerful assistant in the
common cause. " The Captain," said Mr. Flint
(we quote the Stafford Advertiser)," is but a little
man, but I bad rather Mr. Blount was in his own
shoes than myself." Now among other matters of
notoriety connected with this immaculate and af-
frighted borough, we all know that it has heretofore
enjoyed impunity in election corruption, from the
fact of all parties being " pot and kettle," to use a
vulgar though significant term. But the subject is
too deeply connected with the political liberties
of the country to be viewed with levity or un-
concern. A petition of grave allegation has been pre-
sented, and stands on the printed records of the Re•
formed House of Commons. Doubtless every local
exertion will he used to " hush up" the matter of its
complaint. If the petition be persevered in,we have
no doubt justice will be done ; but if it should not
be proi•ectited, we trust that the independent Mem-
bers of the House of Commons will not let the
Cr matter" drop. The imputation on the purity of
the borough is either true or false. Parliament is
affected with information of the deepest moment to
the purl y arid freedom of elections. If true, Staf-
ford con option must be burned out of the body
politic; if false, those who have abused the forms of
the House must receive retributive punishment.
This borough may have a " prescriptive," but can
have no real right, to send two Members to Parlia-
ment. With a population of scarcely 7,000 inha-
bitants, and a few hundred electors, what claim has
Stafford to the same share of electoral power ea-