The Sun.
London, England, 1835-04-17 00:00:00

And quiet of the town, has been occasioned by the exclu-
sion of a dissenting candidate from the office of town-clerk
by the operation of the Test Act in 1824. (Evidence, p.
1,064 ; App. p. 67.) And in Newport (Isle of Wight,)
where the discontent is said to attach itself indiscriminately
to every object connected with the Corporation the principal
mark of popular dislike is also the Town Clerk. Of this
individual the Commissioners say " there appeared not
only an absence of the slightest ground for imputation in
any office, but an absence of anything like a definite suspi-
cion of any sort." (Evidence, p. 776 ; App. pp. 60, 61.)
The cause of this adverse feeling is simply the magnitude and
emoluments of the business carried on successfully by the
town clerk and his firm, not so much in Newport as in
other parts of the island, inasmuch as the said town clerk's
firm " holds almost all the appointments in the Isle of
Wight, which are commonly bestowed upon that pro-
fession."
Lastly, is the dissatisfaction arising, as far as it can be
traced, from party or political feeling, though probably, in
most cases, with some admixture from the preceding causes.
In Banbury, where all the several charges against the
corporation were disproved, the Commissioners report these
refuted charges as " proofs of the existence of an inveterate
suspicion and distrust on the part of the inhabitants towards
the local Magistracy, which leads even intelligent and well-
instructed persons to believe improbable suggestions and
accusations upon little or no evidence." (Evience, p. 14 ;
App. p. 34.) In Evesham " complaints were made of
the narrow and exclusive spirit in which the body is per-
petuated. Every one who is known to entertain opinions
at variance with those of the influential part of the cor-
poration is carefully excluded from that body" (Evidence,
p. 54 ; Appendix, p. 34) ; but in the following page the
Commissioners proceed to state thht, " as far as we had
the means of judging it appeared that the municipal autho-
rity was vested in the best hands, with reference both to
intelligence and character, to be found in so small a dis-
trict ;" thus contradicting-, by their own testimony, the pre-
ceding evidence as to the unfair exclusion of parties opposed
to the corporation ; yet nevertheless the Commissioners come
to the conclusion " that whilst such a persuasion (i. e. of in-
justice) as we have described prevails, whether with or with-
out reason, the administration of justice must be attended
with a degree of discredit and mistrust which cannot but be
prejudicial to every social institution." (Evidence, p. 55 ;
App. p. 34.) In Gloucester, where all the charges brought
against the corporation are dismissed, and the corporate
management of the town proved to be meritorious, "it was
strongly urged, by the parties opposed to the corporation,
that though the business were never so well conducted as by
the present corporation, the jealousies and animosities oc-
casioned by the system of self-election were productive of
great evil to the inhabitants at large." (Evidence, p. 62 ;
App. 34, 35.) In Marlborough, the Commissioners say
that " although upon a full inquiry we find the decisions of
the borough Magistrates in several instances of imputed
misconduct have been correct, the conviction of their poli-
tical opponents, that judgment is pronounced according to
a political bias, produces many of the worst effects of a
denial of justice." (Evidence p. 85 ; App. p. 36.) In
Reading, all the various charges brought against the cor-
poration are dismissed ; some of these involving a grave
inculpation, viz.—corrupt partiality in granting leases of
the corporate property to their own members. Here
the Commissioners state that the " mayor, aldermen, and
assistants, constitute the ruling body of the corporation ;
they are self-elected, and it may probably be ascribed to
this circumstance, and to the fact that members of the
same family have happened to belong successively to the
corporation for the last fifty years, that their conduct
is viewed by the inhabitants of Reading with a degree
of jealousy and dissatisfaction which their official acts taken
by themselves are by no means sufficient to account for."
(Evidence, p. 113 ; App. pp. 37,38.) In Bristol the state
of public feeling is such " that it seems doubtful whether
the corporation could now do an act of real liberality without
becoming liable to suspicion and reproach." (Evidence, p.
1223 ; pp. 70). And in the majority of cases the cause of
dissatisfaction is the preference given by the corporation to
individuals of a particular party. But all bodies and sets
of men will prefer individuals of the same mode of thinking
as themselves, and as far as it is an evil it is one which the
law never can recognise, because the law never can afford a
remedy. Such then is the nature of the dissatisfaction and
distrust of the municipal magistracy, assumed by the report
to be " general," and pronounced to be " just ;" but which
may be dismissed with the one remark, that although such
dissatisfaction must be carefully, temperately, and dispas-
sionately weighed and considered, and neither slighted nor
contemned, nor despised, still that the epithet of " just," as
applied to the same, ought to be expunged from a docu-
ment professing to assist the deliberations of Parliament.
4. The report describes (as before quoted) the " distrust
of the self-elected municipal Councils, whose powers are
subject to no popular control, and whose acts and proceed-
ings, being secret, are unchecked by the influence of public
opinion," " a distrust of the municipal magistracy, tainting
with suspicion the local administration of justice, &c. &c.
(p. 42), grounding, as it is presumed; these phrases upon
the evidence of the circuit reports. The report gives also
condensed statements of the " defects found in municipal
constitutions," illustrated not unfrequently by one or more
specific examples quoted by name, but usually omitting all
dates and collateral circumstances, the time when, and the
manner how, when the event occurred, or the act was per-
formed. _ _ _

That the Circuit Commissioners should patiently receive
and diligently inquire into all complaints, charges, and ac-
cusations, however trivial, which were brought before them,
was a proper execution of their powers ; nor was it com-
petent for them to exclude from their reports those sub-
jects of inculpation, which having taken place years ago,
and in some instances beyond the memory of man, could
scarcely be investigated with precision ; but it is sub-
mitted that, as an integral part of the general case, and
as elucidating the nature of the evidence, the report
should have called the attention of the Legislature to
the many instances in which accusations, often unitn-
portant themselves, and propounded without adequate
proof, were zealously urged as grievous charges. This is
attempted in the tables hereto annexed (pp. 22-32) ; and
upon perusal of the evidence to which the tables refer, it
will appear that the " suspicions with which the local admi-
nistration of justice is tainted," and the contempt of the
persons by whom the law is administered," have (so far as
can be ascertained from the reports) very frequently—per-
haps most frequently—no better ground than the feelings
"which leave even intelligent and well-instructed persons
to believe improbable suggestions and accusations upon
little or no evidence (Evidence, p. 14 ; App. p. 34) ; or
the suggestions of the spirit under the influence whereof the
" motives and actions of the corporate body, even where
they are unexceptionable and meritorious, are constantly
regarded with distrust, and become the subject of misrepre-
sentation." (Evidence, p. 116 ; App. p. 38.) The dates
of transactions,, omitted in the general report, material ele-
ments of investigation under any circumstances, are most
essential in this penal inquiry ; for we must never lose sight
of the main point, that the report contemplates an adjudi-
cation. Some acts, highly improper in themselves—belong
literally to the infancy of the present generation, others to
the past, the traditions andiegends, of the borough ; others
never can recur again, either in consequence of the change
of circumstances in the country, or by reason of the prohibi-
tion of the law ; yet all these are narrated as subsisting and
flourishing abuses, and propounded as the motives for legis-
lation.

(5.) The report (p. 45, sec. 108) states, that in " some
towns," large sums have been spent in bribery, and the other
illegal practices of contested elections. From the context
it appears that Parliamentary elections are inferred ; and
that the sump. were expended out of corporate funds. As
specific examples the report quotes the notorious case of
Leicester, in 1826 ; and states, that " in Barnstaple and
Liverpool the funds of the corporation have been wasted
in defending from threatened disfranchisement a body of
freemen who had been proved guilty of bribery." With
respect to Barnstaple, the money was expended in oppos-
ing a Bill introduced into Parliament, after a contested
election in 1826, intitutled " An Act for the prevention of
bribery and corruption in the election of Members of Par-
liament for the borough of Barnstaple, in- the county of
Devon," and which Bill was thrown out in the House
Lords (Evidence, p. 433 ; App. p. 43) ; thereby afford-
ing an inference that the freemen were not proved to be
guilty of bribery before that tribunal ; and that, acting as
conservators of its corporate privileges, the corporation
was bound to oppose the Bill. It is not altogether un-
worthy of notice, that the Circuit Commissioners proceed to
state that " no part of the funds of the corporation (of Barn-
staple) have ever been expended in contested elections ; the
corporation have been generally divided in opinion upon the
merits of the candidates : they have not as a body, there-
fore, interfered." (Evidence, p. 433 ; App. p. 43.) But
the main objection to this section of the report is, that the
reader cannot possibly discover that the evil, great and cry-
ing as it certainly was, is now entirely remedied ; the very
case of Leicester having been the cause of the introduction
of the Bill since passed into a law (2 and 3 W. 4,, c. 69),
" for preventing the appliCation of corporate property to
the purposes of election of Members to serve in Parliament."
No other corporation except Leicester appears on the face
of the printed reports to be charged with this abuse. The
report thus assumes a general charge " that revenues which
ought to be applied for the public advantage, are diverted
from their legitimate use, and are sometimes squandered for
purposes injurious to the character and morals of the people ;"
whilst the chief and principal foundation for this charge, in
which all corporations are involved, is an abuse or act of
delinquency committed by one corporation, and which abuse
has been thoroughly and effectually reformed.
(6.) The report (p. 45, sect. 108) states " that the
evils which have resulted from mismanagement of the cor-
porate property are manifold, and of the most glaring kind
some corporations have been in the habit of letting their