The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-22 00:00:00

iron
1? ailed amongst them at the last ele-ctloii, that the
committee recomranded- that they should be . disfran-.
'llised• Those who supported the bill were -anxious to
reeish those who so corruptly voted. He (Sir Robert
r ,1;) also agreed that those who had been guilty of cor-
tuP"cm should be punished ; but he begged the house'
nam
recollect that there were twa other classes of voters,
the freemen and the 10/. househoders. Now the
emarnittee, whose report he was about ltd refer to, was
presided over by the hon. and learned member for Roches-
ter mr.
Bernal), in Whom the house had 'so much-con-
fidence as to make him as it were their Deputy Speaker,
as he presided over their proceedings while in committees
ef the whole house. The committee to which he (Sir
Robert Peel) had just alluded had for its head the hon.
gentleman, and they had every desire to arrive at the
truth, and to proceed with the utmost_ impartiality. That
e°raraittee, then, which condemned the class of voters_ to
Lwii,icb he had alluded' went onto report that the committee
, ead not beert able to discover that•the-freemen or the 10/
uouseholders had been in any wav involved in such corrupt
practices. (llear,- hear.) That was as corpplete an
I,acquittal as there possibly could be by thisimpartial tri-
Y„"al• (Hear, hear.) They acquitted the 'whole, censti-
"eneY, with the exception that he had slated,'of
tl,l corruption ; and_-the noble lord "the Paymaster of the
lie torces •
should be gratified that the new eonstituency which
had 'given to the borough by the Reform Bill had
Passed through the ordeal Without being tainted with con-
:" ruarcm• ((heers. ) They. had . seen the general pre-
of corruption amongst one class of voters, and
:',;(mgh inducements were held out to then they escaped
'nout imputation', ' (Hear; liar.) Now 'What was the
!mother of them? ()n the next election not kss than -six
- 'Mildred voten, if the eorrept voters . were disfranchised
allEl the boundary of the borough" not extended ; there
- uOUlcl be 124 fremeii, and thereinainder would be 101..
"tigeholders. This, then; would be such „ a constituency..
ae the noble lord (Lord J. Russell) 'contemplated aS'the
e.„1"1 and permanent constituency for the boroughofflertford.-
'"
1; "eY all' agreed to 'shake off the guilty class of voters--
at he trusted that the' house, seeing that there was a
erit constituency left,- would' consent to leave the
-4:ligh as he propoSed.' It should.be recollereted that the
1,0111,g-freemen would gradually die off, and the election
Here-"" be in the single class'householders. Istow
was little doubt that if the boundaries of ihe boroegh
• - not enlarged the number of the latter class of- Voters
liuld he five hundred. He (Sir .R. Peelywould ask the
kcalse to- compare- this with other towns, and to recollect;
t:; hat there were not less than ten boroughs having only be--
~,ween three hundred and four hundred enters. (1-iear.)
There were' five hundred voter. in Hertford who were
qUalified tinder-the Reform Bill. They had been exposed,
teroPtation, and had passed through the trial without a
•--,B_tairi: They, therefore, stood on higheigraund than un-
- ,ried voters • they, therefore ought to have the franchise
'ilitrusted td ahem. The charges against...them had-been
sa.bmitted to a severe tribunal, which
.thoronghly inyesti-
gated the matter, and acquitted them. ;He (Sir Robert
Peel), therefore, put it to the- house to say upon what
Principle they ought to _be -punished, .(Hear; hear. )- He
did not wish to enter into any details on'the subject ; but
.he was extremely anxious to state; te..the: house the.real
question under consideration----It was a political question;
:.and he trusted_ that the house would only regard it in that
e„ fight. tinderthe Reform Bill the botmdaries of the lico
otigh of HertfOrd had been fixed ; and,' as no charge hid
'been proved against -the permanent.- constituency-of- the,
-410 rough,. therefore there could .be no necessity for the'
large-addition to the BormfiltAlie9x.").- :His' amendment'
was, that the remainder-of the bill...after. file. first clause,
should be struck out. 41e- should- not then . press his
ndment, bin he intenctett-ta-do-sctthat eVerring-
AVALTER. hoped the'honSe-ioiild agree with the
r order ti eport t!' e committee,:andeanienftZlel,the bill pass,
tr am the w..rzi!nsenielyy-the-evireomplained of.---He would not
entering into the evidence given before
committee on the
,present. OCCasimi;for the purpose of
beewing• the extent, to -which corruptionliad. been carried,
,tut„ hO feared that-some hon. members had already begun
torget the aggravated nature of that evidence. It was
o ffieult for thopse, who had aitended- to to to select any.
Ptieular
'OllO Passage in support o However
f..his:argument. Hower
been
the polline- money might- haveoriginally been, it had
'ell by late candidates for that borough converted into
reeans of .the_grossest
..cerruPtion. The hon. member.mereeicribed the r9tere of .the feastings that had. taken
1- ate three quartereof a year.prior-to the. election, the way
which refreshment-tickets had been distributed and open
'‘.
'tse*-„ kept for-thel'aecomunadaticeLof the _fetters, _observing
nit electors did not appear to hae had .empty sto-
It'aells, whatever else they might have had to
.complem
.of.
er
he
somewhat strange, too,„at.the üblic-h bills. 'a ,e
amount of 120/.• and-220/.t should P be allowedouse to ae-
eiulate without the landlord's knowing by whom they
ttt to be paid. He would observe,' in conclusion; that.:
hpFhad deeided upon he bribery and corruption
ttbieteß-2-tzea.-. Plac ' and-t'a'd-tht mloptimi of
reai - - • •
t .at the reeom .ndation of the C:Onartiittee in order ~
(Zuteinedy the - evil' and he trusted.:_ttal.`they,would new
sent t •
Lo n being passed into a law. .
obe„,rd P. SOMERSET.eouldnot help making a single
• for -Zation in" answer- to -the-I-eine-As-Of the bon.. member
tretttserkshire. The hon. ,rneAer had spoken of thein „,
gl:t Hertford ; .but neither heliniself, nor his frieria,"
'• - ittllictee seemed during the last election to have been-.
- tCheers.) The
poi t "uservations onreFtfoi'd were much TO the'
n ; but th
puei,64 far e Voters of that borough would be sufficiently"
of his ri h tlieircorruption,. for even if the amendment
or five hundred of them .would be disfranchised.- That, hood_;
ever' Was not the ease with the constituents of the:holt'.
',leather for Berkshire,.not one of whoMbailbeen subject&
to the slightest penalty. (Loud cries_of " Hear.") 2f.bere
was a bill in its progress through the -Imuse, which had
been introduced by the noble Pavmaster- of the Forces, the
object of which was to punish all the voters in boroughs''
. who might be guilty of any sort of corruption. He (Lord
Granville Somerset) was sorry that the provisions of that.
' bill did not extend to Aunties as well as to boroughs, in
_
order that it might inelnde . the constituents of the hon.
member for Berkshire, and other. county ccinstituencies",
• Many- of whom- were as .corrupt as any berotigh constitu-
- ~Hey in England, Scotland, or Ireland. (Loud -elvers.. )
Iniesbeld not but think that- a county constituency' which
theeon:svtrt(ilextcl
yought to be subject to: punishment as well as
house _Dia borough.. The question before the
corie"7.es?t, however, was not whether there hadheen
Ptiou'r-
was nelator- hof Fleiffoid'; the -teal
well
g.4atvhi,et‘hher,the, y sEl°uul p_uulsh the ymocent as well asthe
• vot, - at norough." He prayed the house not to in-
he guilt
/11::
,nitteianr.lie punishment to be inflicted on the
called oJeATANLEY. said .that die. noble iord .had
the honthe--house to pass judgment on the constituents of
can. member for: BerkAtirr, whom he had presumed to
Yet irilqr,--though they had not been put upon their trial,:
e declined to 'punish the electors of-HertfOrd, whohad
He Proved guilty of the .grc;ssest corruption. (Cheers.)
tuenren'inded the house of' the" state in which the consti-
114' cif Hertford • - even after the Reform Bill. The
°p
ml
were evenath6 en suffering from' that species of
Iltnerrtml and intimidation which the fear of being de-
ette44 f their holdings created ; the orgies which were
ter4ged among the voters barrels of
such
wine broached
laati t7..''treet ; intoxication carried to such extent that one
;)alisba..; the voters-marshalled by the fegleman of Lord
44,1 g til-•A own corps and Lord Salisbury himself pared-
thief street, "supported on the. one hand. by a convicted
Such arid on'the other by a returned _felon. (A laugh. )
the, I,.'kere 'the-scenes to be seen at ,Heillord dering
refo election. It was high time they should be
rale
' Sir It
,taemb •••HARDINGE said that if .the object of the hen.
these speech .tvas to east imputations, he had eucceetled
east e„„'se imputations which the.hon. member. presumed to
'ecter'n Lord Salisbury might with equal justice be .hi-
guilt against Mr. Thomas.Duncombe, for he was equally 2
towith -the noble
oble "lord. . (Hear, hear, hear.) As
telish
" bill before them, what clid. it de ? The first clause ,
e (e.`o those guilty -of. corruption and that clause
see,'
iHenry Harding.) did not mean to oppose ; but the
and it clause puniihe t e Innocent as well as the guilty,
that clause he objected. r. By the second
f Ile 'oe Whale of the 101. voters *would be swamped.
..eoest?, hear. ) It was said that the enlargement of the
lit'4,!'?ency was no punishment *to the present electors ;
li
Henry Hardirige) considered it a species of
eultu
tent iixesetnalent thus to dilute.. 'What st-as the punish-
ale( upon.Aylesbu y and Cricklade ? A hinge
t „ Population was takenr into' he borough, .so that
4etie be argued that this addition to the. constir
sleeter as not intended- as a punishment to on, present
trend 'tit- could not be said that it Was necessary to ex-
' .1.14144 e constituency: on account of the smallness of that.
titled 11"eY.; for at Blackburn it had, -been.`thoug,ht en-
. ittit lvto enfranchisement, although the. number of voters
coest. as only 626, which was not more than the present
• . to itueue
eiley yof Hertford. In Tavistock, too, the consti-
`6asti, "as •only 2,175 so that, in point of numbers, the
• toe nr;"1, ev of Hertfor7 d would appear, even according to
re',o-11ei Ties laid down by the Belem Bill, to entitle_ it
Alr
''•RNAL r
. was at present.
th.hey really did not know what proposition
hone entertaining, whether it Was that enunciated by
(2010 it land gallant-member for :Westminster or what.
e!'lt tl --EvANS -said that if his amendment wouldpre-
bill from beine carried through Ihis session he
l'helc't Press it.
etl, 0 question of the:third reading was then put and car-
ertolochr„di,vishni being called for.
lie tVANS then moved, by way of rider, a clause
triefor,rtlhat at all futitie elections for 'the borough...Of
Pon te‘.4e votes owuhl be taken bv ballot.
vter - .
8 clause the house clivided, when the nuinbers
aius_, For the
t
amendment B2
Jl4l the 182
Majority —loo eutnission of strangers to the gallery,
K•EL should not move to leave'out thewhole of
,11,(11.; e\Vestrt:itib:e.a:use that would preclude thegallant member
e..eet oars, trent moving Ins 'amendment afterwards.
sec
saouldtake,'theiefore, was t Move to kayo-
.g . .
and 4LlTtd.c,"4.r.- (leftiOe4_,Ahttid-:f
port recommendition.