The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-29 00:00:00

TRY THE BALLOT.

The Ballot has often been before ,the citizens of
Norwich as a subject of discussion, it will surely
now 'become a subject for action. When we find
some o 1 the leading citizens unpleasantly impli-
cated, or charged with being implicated, in trans-
actions of a criminal character ; when witnesses, of
whom one would not have thought such things,
decline to answer in acourt of justice, because their
answer would tend to 'criminate themselves;'—the
question, What shall be done P must be uppermost
in the mind of every man who cares for the character
of the city or of the circle to which he belongs.
We pre-judge none of the accused ; we will not
even judge the witnesses whose evasive answers
must have for their object the concealment of others
guilt or their own. We only say that the possi•
bility of the charges, the prima facie evidence of
their truth, and the ominous silence of the wit-
nesses, are enough to make any Norwich man blush
for his city. Some seem to think that the bribable
class of electors cannot be made worse, that their
political virtue has been so long gone, that they
must be viewed as unfortunates, whose disgrace is
their own only. But, besides the indubitable fact
that there would be no politically unfortunate class,
if there were no political debanchees, this is not the
class whose -rims, real or alleged, have staggered
the community. Not only our local press, but the
daily press of England, is now ringing with scan-
dalous charges against many of our chief men.
And, we repeat, it is an infamy which should make
our whole city blush, that these charges should
have even presumptive evidence in their favour.
We hold it to be mere affectation, or worse, hypo-
crisy rather, for either party in Norwich to pretend.
that its ranks are pure. A commission in Norwich
-would certainly leave it no better reputation than
is now enjoyed by Wakefield and Gloucester. There
are men, of course, on both sides, who will have
nothing to do, personally, with corruption ; but who
will have the hardihood to deny that there are too
many on both sides who are determined only to win,
be the means what they may ? It is of no use to
bandy accusations. We believe, indeed, that a
commission would show, as at Wakefield, that the
side of the unseated members was not the worst—
was not, indeed, the origin of the bribery at the
last election. But we do not care to defend counter-
bribery any more than bribery. Beth are criminal.
enough. The excuse of provocation is at least in-
sufficient. Virtue, not counter-crime, is the only
allowable antagonist of crime.
In Norwich, as in Gloucester, it is but too plain
that corruption at municipal elections is the train-
ing school for corruption at elections for members
oeParliament. A school of the worst possible kind,
since it is open annually, the other but infrequently.
It is a school opened, too, with so little reason, if
reason there could be for anything so bad ;- since
municipal matters have but a very indirect conee,
Lion with politics. Whatever need there may be to
fight, by all methods, the political battle of the
State, there is none whatever to fight it for the
city. The administration of our local affairs can
demand but competency for local business. Yet
the blindness for party zeal has stained the muni-
cipal elections with all the vices which have so long
disgraced our parliamentary elections.
In this mortifying state of things we call upon
all citizens of character to take a stand which will
do something towards retrieving the position of the
city in the eyes of the country, and, what is more
important, Thal: afford a reasonable prospect of
stemming- the tide of corruption itself. We cannot
now, indeed there is no need to do so, repaat the
well-known arguments for the ballot; enough that
none of the stringent measures yet enacted have
proved sufficient unaccompanied by the ballot, and
there is no reason to imagine that any can be pro-
posed which will ever be so. All respectable
voluntary bodies of persons, not excepting our Dis-
senting. Christian Churches, continually resort to
the ballot when they wish that every vote should
be conscientious or unbiassed. It is a thoroughly
acknowledged practice amongst Englishmen ; it is
in use everywhere, in short, but where it is now
most wanted. Probably there are few persons in
what is called respectable life who have not at some
time or other voted by ballot. It is high time,
therefore, to drop all the pretended arguments
against it, which we give those who use them credit
for not believing, and to demand the application of
this long-tried and well-known remedy for the
abuses which have disgraced our city. We do not
object to other enactments. Let bribery be made,
as Lord Brougham seems to suggest, felony, and we
should rejoice. But even that would be no reason
why we should not demand the Ballot as a security
to a great extent, against temptation itself, and as
the most moral, orderly, and easy way of collecting
the suffrages of the citizens.
What we should recommend, therefore, is that
Norwich should take up the Ballot by itself, make
it the subject of a distinct petition, and force it
determinedly on Parliament in connection with the
new Reform Bill. It is not needful that we should
demand it for the whole kingdom, though we are
confident that for another kind of bribery, that of
fear, the counties need it even more 'than the bo•
roughs. Let us, however, in the present emergency
attend to our own reformation chiefly. Let us ask
in a way not to be trifled with, the Ballot for Nor-
wich. We may obtain it for a case of confessed cor-
ruption like ours, when we should certainly not ob-
tain it for the whole community. Our Town Coun-
cil, our electors, our non-electors, should be urged
to send their several petitions that all elections for
the future in Norwich, whether Parliamentary or
municipal: should be by Ballot. We can hardly
conceive that such a petition would be refused.. We
know our rulers arc sorely afraid that one or two
fair trials of the Ballot would, by the excellence of
its working, rouse the whole kingdom to demand it.
That will be the real and the single reason
why Lords and Commons would like to refuse
our petition. But it will be difficult to find a de-
cent pretext for doing so. It cannot he alleged
that the Ballot, if ever so tried, would hurt the
whole kingdom by being tried in Norwich. Nor
can it be said that Norwich itself can possibly be
rendered by it more corrupt. It would be, truly,
the experiment in rill corpore. Indeed, the friends
of the ballot would hare ground of complaint that
it should be tried under such disadvantage. Can
the ballot or anythinn, else, they would say, be an
adequate disinfectant for Norwich? We hope so.
It would not come alone. The whole city would
surely be desirous to show that in asking the ballot
it intended to enter a political penitentiary, no more
to return to its former courses.
We must, however, conclude. We can only say
that this appeal to respectable men of all parties
has been wrung from us by facts respecting all
parties which have came(' us deep grief. We are
confident a wiser step could not be taken than that
we recommend. Others may and will be needful,
but the simple and manly demand of the ballot is
the first step we ought to take in the path of elec-
toral reformation.—Norfolk News.