The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-07 00:00:00

THE METROPOLITAN POLICE.

Mr. Ahlertnan WOOD brought up the report of the
Committee appointed to inquire into the matters contained
in the petitions of Frederick Young and others, and ob-
tained leave to report the minutes of evidence taken before
the Committee.

The Report was read by the Ch•rk ; it stated that the
Committee, having inquired into the petitions, and exa-
mined witnesses relative to the conduct of the police in
Walworth and Camberwell, concerning the ernp:oyment
of the police as spies, had come to the following resolution,
via. that the conduct of the policeman, Popsy, was highly
r .prehensible in taking a prominent part in those pro.
ceeditigs which his duty only required him to observe,
and in prying into the secrets of private life; that while a
sanction had been given to him in some parts of his con-
duct, sufficient caution bad not been exercised by those
under whom he was placed in warning Win against any
undue means of supplying his eoip!oyers with repos' is ;
that the system of sending out policemen in plain
clothes was no just cause of complain, so long as they
confined themselves to observing bre ieltset of the law and
breaches of the peace, but the Committee urged the main•
tenance of that system within those limits, and they
strongly deprecated the practice of employing persons as
spies, as a preceding abhorrent to the feelings of the
people, and alien to the spirit of the Constitution.
Mr. CORBETT said, as it was he who brought for-
ward the petition, and he who moved that a Committee
might he appointed to inquire into the subject, he felt it
to be his duty to make a etc observations to the House on
this occasion, especially respecting the conduct of the
witnesses.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL made ao observation
to the Hon. Member across the table, but in so low a tune
as to be utterly unheard in the gallery.
Lord ALTHORP considered that it would certiinly be
more convenient for the lion. Member to reserve discussion
on this subject till af, er the minutes and report wern
known to t e Members gener illy.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, that be only
wished teat the House might be completely in possession
of all the evidence given before the Committee.
Mr. HUME thought that if the thing were dropped in
this way there would be no opportunity afforded at all of
oiscusming the question; and theref,re if the Hon. Alealber
for Oldham was to he prevented from making his ob-
servslions now, he (Mr. H.) hoped that the Noble Lord
would fix a day on which the subject might b- discussed.
Lord ALTHORP said that if it were pressed, he should
not oLjeet to the Hon. Member saying new any thing
that occurred to him.
Mr. SPEAKER said it had been moved that the
minutes of the evidence taken before the Court, and the
report, should be printed ; and it certainly would be more
convenient to have the discussion brought forward when
the House was in p.issession of the whole.
Mr. Alderman WOOD presented a petition from certain
merchants and other inhvitants of the city of London
,gainst certain parts of the 13 ink Charter Bill.

Mr. HARDY gave notice of his intention on the third
reading of the Slavery Abolition Bill, to move the intro-
duction of a clause to prevent masers of slaves from mat• ing
any addition to the prescribed laws of labour without
legislative authority fOr the Mitre ; and also for further re-
stricting the I .bour of females under theage of 18. The Hon.
Member also gay:: notice, that early next session be should
move for !cave to brine in a Bill to consolidate and amend
the laws relative to bribery at elecions, and to diminish
the ex.ienses of elections of Manbers to serve in Par.

Mr. GISBORNE presented a petition from certain in-
habitants of the city of London, against certain provisions
of the Bank Charter Acts, particularly the proposed limi-
tation of partners to six in banks, within 65 miles of Lon-
don, not being bank,' of issue.
BOROUGH OF STAFFORD.
Sir T. FREMANTLE then rose to bring forward
his tration for leave to bring in a Bill to &franchise the
borough of Staff ird. He had been Chairman of the Com-
mittee which had been appainted by the House to inquire
into the proceedings at the late election, and, conse-
quently, although other Members of that Committee
were much more competent to take a prominent part in
this question, yet he was called ou to take an active part
in the proceedings. The Committee had come to the
resolution, from the evidence which had been laid before
them, that general and systematic bribery had taken place
at S afford, and that it was expedient that that
borough should in future cease to return Members
to serve in Parliament. In pursuance of that resolution,
he had now to move the House fur leave to introduce this
Bill, He !eh no di-inclination on the present occasion to
take this course, Navin, always considered it the duty of
that House, when a direct case of corruption was proved
before it, to take some severe and certain steps in
regard to it; and in proof of this be need only refer to
the course which he pursued on a former occasion,
when the case of East Retford had been brought under
the notice of the Hou,e, and when it w is proposed to
transfer its franchise to Birmingham. It the depravity
and corruption of Stafford were suffered to pa.s unpunished,
what an example would be held out to other consti.
tuencies. What they did last session to purify the represen-
tation would be more than nugatory, it would be
mischievous, for it would have extended the field of cor-
ruption, as in the case before them. He admitted that it
vasdifficult to prevent the occurrence of bribery and
treating at a contested election. So long as human nature
was as it was, money and the good things of this world would
inevitably induce voters to be guided by what they could
pt, instead of by their opinion of the respective can.

&dates. The candidates themselves were exposed to
great temptation when the numbers appeared likely to
rein close, and a holy of voters, let it be understood, would
vote according to the payment they received. He asked
lion. Gentlemen who had gone through contests, whether
if was not a situation of temptation ? He called upon
those who had withstood the temptation of that situ ttinn
to join with him in putting down the system, which he
would describe, and which had been proved to
prevail in the borough of Stafford.—(Hear, hear.)
If it should be thought that he wished to punish many
respectable and innocent persons at Stafford. he begged to
remind the House that a person whose situation in life
might place him above receiving a bribe, might be actual),
noire guilty than a receiver, by becoming the corrupter of
the voters by distributing bribes, whether from partisan
zeal, or any other motive.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
One of the usual incidents of an election at Stafford
was, that the candidate should at the very outset begin
by putting his hand in his pocket.—( Hear, hear.) On
going down, it appeared the condidate had to meet the
burgesses at some convenient place for introduction,
and would remain unknown to his intended constituents,
unless every voter received an introductory fee. At the
last election, each of the three candidates followed the
usual custom. One began with ss. a voter, but another
having given the more magnificent sum of 104 ,hiscompetia
tors were obliged to enlarge their gifts to the same amount.
'l'ne Grand Jury Room was the place of audience for one
of the candidates, where be had to undergo the shaking
by the hand of eight hundred voters, who, withdrawing
to the Court House, there received each his 10s. This,
it had been contended, was no bribery, but he would put
it to the Hon. Member for Stafford himself whether it could
be called hy any other name.—(Hear.) This system was
not confined to the lower etass of voters, but many other-
wise respectable men received these bribes. Some sent
their servants or sons for the " tickets," and if they
molted to get them turned into cash at once, did not
forget to do so at the conclusion.—(Heir, hear, hear.)
At the election it was proved that the recognised price of
a single vote was 21. 10s., and of a plumper SI., which
sums, as the election proceeded, were gradualfy doubled.
Out of the 10/. householders more than one half appeared
on the paid list. Of the 101. householders thus bribed,
two thirds were of a respectable class of persons. Of the
lower classes, full six sevenths received money. -The
offences in this borough had been often repeated and had
been carried to a great length, and as the crime had been
signal so ought the punishment to he. He had great ob-
jection to mixing an agricultural and a town constituency,
and he should therefore oppose the plan suggested of
merely disfranchising the corrupt voters, and adding to
tile constituency the neighbouring towns. One reason of
his objecting to such a mode of correcting the evil was, it
had been tried before and had not been found sucaessfol.
For instance, Penryn had been united to Falmouth, and
yet it had not been found that the old freeholders of Pen-
ryn had been induced to abjure their old propensities. If
there was to to' a new constituency, there must be a nu
clews to form it upon ; but here a nucleus did not exist, or
it was so small that if persons asked what numbe r of voters
were free from corruption, the answer must he, very few,
and these who would net take money had been guilty of
receiving other considerations. So far had corruption of
the lowest kind polluted even the apparently respectable
classes, that in one instance a gentleman who kept his
pony chaise actually sent his wife to receive his bribe. A
schoolmaster, who ought to have known better, went about
to pay the bribes; and a parish clerk, who 1 kewise went
about to procure votes, took a 10/. note with him, as the
people told him they would not vote upon his promise, nor
before they saw he bad the money to pay them with.
Tue Committee had proposed that a Bill should he brought
in ro disfranchise the borough, and not to transfer the
franchise to any other place. Now that the great populous
towns were represented in Parliament, it was not necessary
to transfer the franchises of boroughs which might he de.,
prived of their elective rights on account of corruption.
The Tories proposed there should he no more disfranchise-
ment on the principle of transfer, and the Noble Lord had
said the present ease ast,s one of a nuisance which ought to
be put down.—((fear, hear.) He said the same; but it
the franchise were given to another place, it was no longer
disfranchisement. Stafford was a nuisance that ought to
he disfranchised and exterminated.—( Hear, hear.) He
could not hope to carry the B II into a law this session, but
fie trusted he could proceed to that extent in the next.
He should now move for leave to bring in a Bill to dis-
franchise the borough of Stafford.
M. IIACLEOD secanded the. motion.

Mr. CH ET WYND—The House would ageee with him
that helore it would consent to bring in a Bill they would
see that a case was made out of the most powerful nature,
supported by fact of the most indisputable character. He
could not allow that the Hon. Mover had made out any
such a case. Pats of the evidence were given voluntarily,
parts under the strongest party feelings and jealousy and
the smart of disappointment, and no part whatever, be it
recollected, was given on oath. He should present a
petition to the House showing that where payments were
entered in the list, in many cases the money had not been
r.ceived. He would instance the case of Major Hawkins,
who had come forward as a candidate on a declaration that
he would nut pay one farthing—

Sir T. FREMANTLE—Bat be was not elected....
(Laughter

CHETWYND continued—At the end of the first
day he was a• the.heirl of the poll, and would have been
returned had he kept the poll open only two hours longer ;
but he withdrew Iron a melancholy circumstance, which
there was no occasion at that martient to mention. Of
the one hundred and sixty-seven new constituents that
voted, eighty-five were pair! and eighty-two were not paid,
and there were twenty six new constituents that did not
vote at all, and more than twenty 101. householders had
not registered ; so that there were one hundred and twenty
that were not imp:ached. It was unfair, moreover, to
judge heeshly of the neighbouring votes that it was pro-
posed to admit into the new constituency. Staffird was a
horough of great antiquity. It had existed prior to the
reign of King John, its privileges had b en conferred by
charter, and it had sent burgesses to Parliament as early
as the reign of Edward I. It was a place containing many
inbabitan,s of property. A great manufacture of shoes
was carried on there—(A laugh)—and it contained up
ward of 530 houses rated at 101. and upwards, and hid
sent Members to Parliament for six centuries. Ought
such a place to be deprived of its rights and privileges
which had been so long exercised by the ancestors of the
present generation ? l'he evils might be corrected by a
more lenient sentence than that of total disfranchisement.
The Hon. Member moved as an amehdnient (is far as we
could hear hi ::), that the neighbouring townships should
be added t , the borough of St,fford.
Mr. E. BULLER seconded the amendment.

Sir 0. MOSLEY &plumed all hasty legislation on the
sujecr, anti called on the House to pause before it set
such a precedent. If the House should disfranchise War-
wick aid Hertford, then, indeed, it would be dealing with
qui] justice. There was no legal evidence to prove cor-
ruption at Stafford, nor was there anything to-prove the
existoice of corruption in the elections in former years.
An HON. MEMBER observed, with reference to Stafford,
the constituency had verified the doctrine of Walpole, that
every man had his price.

Mr. ORD said that the two Hun. Members for Stafford
had admitted to a great extent the guilt of the electors of
Stafford. As respected the towns of Stone and Ecele-
shall, he thought it would be an injury to connect them
with eon nut a borough as that of Sthffurd.

Mr. HARDY was most happy to support the measure
before the House, and to disfranchise the borough of Staf-
ford totally.
Lord ALTHORP said the House seemed to be so much
di•posed to accdo to the motion of the Hon. li.ronet that
he thought it was hardly necessary for him to say any-
thing ; and what he rose for was to express a hope that
Hon. Gentlemen would not think it incumbent on him to
soy much. It was certainly the duty of the House to set
tneir faces against all these cases of bribery and corruption
is a must derided manner ; and for his own part he must
say, if ever a case Was made nut for punishment it was
this of the borough of Stafford.

An 110 N. MEMBER exµres•ed his concurrence in what
had fallen from it, Noble Lord.
Mr. Aid. COPELAND (as we were informed) said it
was on'y right that a reformed Parliament should make
an example of the borough in quesrion.
The gallery was then cleared for a division, but none
took place, the motion being agreed to.
POST-OFFICES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND