The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-11 00:00:00

ELECTION PETITIONS.

Mr. Baron Martin's judgment in the case of Mr.
Samuelson, M.P. for Cheltenham, brings out the law as
to bribery and intimidation more clearly. The petitioners
proved that some offers had been made to bribe, and a
man named Cookey, a prizefighter, came forward and
swore that he had been employed to thrash certain men
in the town, and, together with some others (notably one
Brown), had been ordered to make a row at the polling.
booth. With regard to the intimidation, he declared
that, for the purpose of making violence and
intimidation operate on an election, it must be that
violence and intimidation which would operate on
voters and would induce persons of ordinary nerve to
abstain from voting, and unless it amounted to that it
would not void an election. It was not only that violence,
and assaults, and riots, and beating should occur to void
an election, except it should be of that character as to
render the elector reasonably unwilling to exercise the
right of voting. His lordship referred to the evidence of
Cookey and Brown, the Birmingham " roughs." He
would not believe either of them unless their evidence was
confir r.c.J.1,,, other persons. Cookev spoke of two acts of
- done ‘, - . or _
who was no voter at all, and who had not been called
as a witness. His notion was that Cookey had rather

exagge: ated the matter, but what had that, any way, to

do with the election? The other violence which he alleged
he emanated was upon the persons going to vote, whom,
he said, he jostled and pushed and tapped on the hat. He
(the learned judge) did not believe that such a thing
occurred ; if it had the voters would have been there to
confirm it. There was no voter called to shew that he
had been influenced in any degree by this violence. He
therefore disbelieved Cookey entirely, and believed his
evidence to be false. At the same time he wished to express
his disapproval of the idea of bringing down these men at
all from Birmingham. It was not only a wrong act, but a
foolish one. The folly was greater than the wrong.
As to bribery, it would be an unfortunate thing if any man
who meant to conduct an election fairly should lose his
seat through the conduct of some third person with whom
he was not directly connected. He believed that the evi-
dence established beyond doubt that there was no bribery
to any extent committed in the borough. He agreed with
Mr. Justice Blackburn that the giving of money was a
thing to be proved, but that when the evidence of bribery
consisted of only offers and proposals to bribe, the evidence
must be stronger than that of bribery itself. All the evi-
dence that had been given only shewed that two
sums of is. and one of 6d. had been given, and in his
judgment the case as regarded bribery entirely failed.
In conclusion his lordship said he believed that on the part
of Mr. Samuelson a more honest and pure election had
never been conducted, and he had no reason to believe that
bribery or treating had anything to do with it. He should
report to the Speaker that neither of the candidates had
been guilty of bribery, and that he had no reason to think
that any corrupt practices had been exercised in the
borough. It might be that Mr. Gardner's conduct was as
pure and as honest as Mr. Samuelson's, and he thought
there had never been a more pure and honest election than
this proved in a court of justice.

Mr. Justice Blackburn is engaged at Stalybridge trying
the petition against Mr. James Sidebottom's return. In
opening the case, Mr. Pope undertook to shew that Mr.
Sidebottom's supporters engaged men ostensibly to main-
tain peace and protect the rights of their voters, but the
result was to place Stalybridge in the hands of a paid
mob in behalf of one of the candidates. On the night of the
nomination day, Mr. Sidebottom's friends instructed the
roughs to secure as many of Buckley's voters as possible,
and to " bottle " them in the committee-rooms or public-
houses. Mr. Bates, the chairman of Mr. Sidebottom's
committee, actually ordered these roughs to take forcible
possession of Mr. Buckley's voters if they could not entice
them peacefully, and to convey them to Mr. Sidebottom's
houses. This work went on the whole of the time between
the nomination and polling day, and some of the voters were
made so drunk that they could neither stand, walk, nor
speak, and they were covered up with newspapers and brown
paper that strangers might not see them.As regards treating,
evidence would be given to shew that the total of expenses
returned by Mr. Sidebottom's agents at £721 could not
possibly represent the whole of the expenditure ; the ex-
planation of this probably was that these items repre-
sented what Mr. Sidebottom's party had thought it safe
to pay up to this time, and that Mr. Sidebottom's confi-
dential agent had come to the conclusion that he had been
supplying refreshments in a way which the law would not
countenance. The bribery cases, Mr. Pope declared, were
clear except in the matter of agency, which it might be
difficult to prove.

The Pungolo of Milan gives an account of an
extraordinary calamity which occurred a few days back
during a ball at the Prefecture of Binasco. A temporary
gallery in which the musicians were placed caught fire, and
as the ladder by which they had gained access to it was
removed, some jumped out and were injured in falling on
e ich other, while those who remained were more or less
severely burnt before they could be rescued. Of twenty
in all, sixteen had to be removed to an hospital ; one has
since (lied, and others are in a critical state.
THE EASTER VOLUNTEER REVIEW. —The COM-
rnitLe of metropolitan commanding officers appointed t..)
report on the best site for the usual Volunteer Review at
Easter, held under the sanction of the War Office
authorities, resumed their sittings on Tuesday. There
were four places named for the review—namely,
Brighton, Dover, Portsmouth, and Guildford—but
the last mentioned has been rejected, and Portsmouth
cannot be the scene of the review, as the South-Western
Company has declined to carry the volunteers at the usual
rates—namely, ls. 6d. each for the men, and a slightly
increased charge for the officers. The claims of Brighton
and Dover will therefore he presented to the vaeotinv of a
the metropolitan commanding officers, the townspeople ol
both places being desirous of the review being held there,
and the railway companies being willing t 0614 tj
necessary accommodation.