The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-30 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.-31Rrning, 4h. 38m.—Afternoon, sh. Om,
To-blonnow.-Morning, sh. 20m.—Afternoon, sh. 40m,

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LONDON, TIIE7?SDAY, AUGUST 30, 1866.

The Election Commissions continue their revela-

tions, which we can hardly call startling, inasmuch

as everybody knows the facts already, and bribery,

corruption, and intimidation are openly acknow-
ledged to be specially "English" virtues, without

whose assistance no member of Parliament could

be properly elected. But if we cannot profess a

strong feeling of surprise at the evidence given very
coolly before the Commissioners, we must have a

very low standard of political morality if we

accept such a system as these disclosures
reveal to us as part and parcel of the English
constitution. Every year the scandals are bad
enough, and this year they have certainly not grown
less. A noticeable feature is the matter-of-fact
manner in which the witnesses detail their proceed-
ings, evidently thinking all fair in political as well
as actual war. " Honour among thieves" the pro-
verb tells us, and though neither bribes nor bribed
must be classed in such company, they have, it
would seem, a standard of their own, and many
of the agents appear to think with Lord PAL-
MERSTON that the man who takes a bribe and does
not vote the way he was bribed to vote has
committed a breach of trust. One man indeed was
troubled by no such scruples, and coolly informed
the Commissioners that "he did not care about
having received money from the one side when he
voted for the other," and added the somewhat super-
fluous information that " he did not take a bit of
interest in the politics of either party ; he took no
interest in anything but himself." Then we have
a surgeon confessing that he is in the habit of can-
vassing his patients, and that having promised to
take a paralysed patient (since dead) to the poll
he found it necessary to bribe him with £l5
to get him to vote on the side he wanted.
But all these are contemptible items. Totnes is
far more lofty in its views. In that paradise a pig
is on occasion valued at £4OO, and gentlemen occa-
sionally require loans of some hundreds at election
times. The manner in which political views change
with circumstances is amusing. An organist offi-
ciates in a locality where " they are all Whigs,"
and votes for the Whig candidate accordingly. Pre-
sently he accepts the post of organist under Tory
influence, and his votes go over to the other side.

It is an expensive amusement to contest an election
nowadays. The thousands go fast, and there is the
satisfactory knowledge that " more money is spent
than the voters get; some sticks by the
way." And yet with it all, it is very generally
acknowledged that the worst cases never
come before the public at all. As in many other
instances, the secondary culprits catch the punish-
ment, and the ringleaders escape unharmed.
How many cases are there in which there
is an amicable compromise ? How many
in which the expense attendant on a
commission prevents any inquiry ? how many in
which local interests and personal feelings interpose
to prevent the exposure ? how many in which both
sides are too much involved for the loser to petition ?
hnw inanv in which bribery goes on on a smaller
intimidation iu all their powers are brought to bear
upon the refractory ; in short, -how many of our
M. P.'s are returned to serve in Parliament, without
the employment on their behalf of some agency which
they would be ashamed to acknowledge ?
Are we then to consider the case a hopeless one?
Are these disgraceful exhibitions a necessary part
of our much-vaunted Constitution ? Are English-
men so devoid of political morality and public spirit
that the great majority have no care which
way they vote so long as they get enough
money ? If the extension of the franchise
is to be only an extension of bribery and
intimidation, we shall not gain much by Parliamen-
tary Reform. If in multiplying voters we are to
increase the expenses of an election, we shall have
the representation of the country entirely confined to
the monied class, and no man will venture upon a
contested election unless he can afford to throw
away his tens of thousands. And, then, when
these immaculate representatives of independent con-
stituencies are actually lauded at St. Stephen's will
they be very ready to run the risk of another elec-
tion ? The threat of dissolution will be all power-
ful, and rather than drive the Minister to such an
alternative the members will sacrifice their strongest
convictions, and the Government of the day will
become virtually dictators. This is an extreme
which could not long be tolerated by the people at
large, but it is notorious that the same influences
actually are in existence at the present moment.

Many of our boroughs are hopelessly out of the
reach of a man who is not wealthy, but too inde-
pendent to accept the interference of paid party
agents in his election. The unwillingness to face a
dissolution is a fact well known to Ministers on
both sides, and made use of frequently enough.
Members are not always complaisant enough
or subservient enough to do as three or
four gentlemen did in Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
time, and vote on different sides within a
week because the Minister made it a Government
question ! But less openly the same thing is done
O and over
is eragthaibneinthtehceucroeurosfeaolfl etvheisrysession
v What,over
a
he
entangle-
ment of evil ? where is the guarantee that English
representative institutions shall really represent the
people ? that a contested election shall no longer be
the picture of all the worthless or unscrupulous idlers
of the borough—no longer a gambling speculation
which can afford to throw away most money on bribery
and treating, which side can display most ingenuity
in breaking the law without being found out. Phi-
losophers who have been long deliberating over some
complex question are occasionally surprised to find
that all the while they have overlooked the
solution from its simplicity, and not unfres truth,quently
the wise men refuse to accept the truth as
because it is so easy to arrive at. In the same way
while every general election increases the scandal,

while its evil effects extend more or less through our
whole political system, while thousands are spent
annually in useless commissions, and Parliament
after Parliament has enacted laws and declared
penalties in vain, our Conservatives, who
are so anxious to preserve the purity of
the Constitution, our Liberals, who are so eager to
obtain an accurate representation of thepeople, can-
not bring themselves to adopt the simple and prac-
tical cure for bribery and intimidation which is
offered by the Ballot.

There is nothing very particular in the last news
from the Continent, but slowly and surely the cause
of peace seems to be progressing. The Austrians
and Italians have by this time come to a better un-
derstanding, and the difficulties that at first seemed
insuperable are fast vanishing. The battalions of
National Gaurds which were mobilised during the
sent to th,:, r homes, and
war are being gradually