The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-12 00:00:00

fined to n, single instance, what shall we
.say of his

crime who deliberately calls upon the Almighty Judge
Of all the world to witness and to punish his false-
hood ?" What would this honest and learned judge have

felt on seeing scores of men who had already voted driven
4tp by the zeal of an unscrupulous election agent, and again
tendering their votes with the solemn oath that they had

not polled before, and all for the purpose of gaining time
that expected voters might arrive before the close—the

books ofthe poll clerks making it certain that their second
votes could not be received ; or what would have been his
feelings had he seen the inhabitants of a town filled with

his old Yorkshire clients, generally and habitually selling
their votes for a price, and with their minds made up, after
having received it, to swear upon the gospels of God that
they had got neither reward nor promise of reward, from
any person whatever. The effect of the prevailing corrup-
tion upon the upper classes, as well as upon the humbler,
the candidate, as well as the voter, in spreading those prin-
ciples, and giving a lower moral tone generally, has been
noted. The tricks resorted to, and, among others, the want
of good faith, much more of high and delicate feelings of
honour which have recently been disclosed, clearly indicate
the , extreme anxiety to obtain that which is equivalent to
political power. There seems no bound to this desire, no
labour which men will not undergo, no suffering they will
not endure to grasp it. A great poet has described the
honest arts by which men may strive to reach this summit—

" Of genius emulous, to soara s high ;
With noble souls in noble acts to vie ;
On worthy toils to see suns set and rise—
The strifeis arduous, but the world's the prize."
But a vile, grovelling, unprincipled ambition, a thirst o
power at any price to be staked, despicable as it is, proves
equally uncontrolled in its victims—
" Whom neither fear of God, that devils binds,
Nor laws of man that commonweals contain,
Nor bounds of nature that wild beasts restrain,
Can keep from outrage and from doing wrong,
Where they may hope a kingdom to obtain."
And we preposterously think to restrain such an appetite for
power by the mere risk of losing it, the chance of the pur-
suit being fruitless. The loss of the seat is all the penalty
that we denounce to deter the great malefactors. I speak
here from some experience of the inefficacy of such penal-
ties. While the African slave trade was only punished by
the forfeiture of the ships it mocked the law, because the
profits of a successful voyage covered the loss of many fail-
ures. The wrong-doer was content to run the risk in the
eager quest of great gain. So the candidate and his agents
in their eager desire of a seat will run the risk of defeat, and
encounter any cost in money. But when I made slave-
trading felony, the pirate who had cheerfully run all pecu-
niary hazards would not expose-himself to be transported as
a felon, and the execrable traffic ceased. So it is clear that
candidates and tdeir agents, whom no dread of defeat or ex-
pense can restrain, will shrink from the hazard of an infa-
mous punishment when they see the tread-wheel as well as
the House of Commons at the end of the path which leads
from the hustings. It may be objected that the severity of
the infliction would preveat the execution of the law ' • and,
no doubt, as long as the enforcement of it is left to a tribu-
nal like the Election Committee-this result is-to- be appre-
hended. But how much longer are we to continue the only
nation which leaves the execution of its penal laws to pri-
vate individuals, inflicting upon the party injured by an
offence the additional injury of prosecuting the offender.
Instances continually occur of a criminal escaping because
he is wealthy, and can pay the forfeiture of the party bound
over to prosecute. An individual who had committed for-
grry some years ago escaped in this way. A charge of
manslaughter was thus stopped on its way to the grand jury
very recently, because the culprit at one of the public
schools belonged to a distinguished family, whose feelings,
as well as the credit of the scool, would have suffered if the
law took its course. An attempt to destroy a will by which
property of near a million in value had been devised away
from the testator's heir (bribes to any amount being offered
to obtain possession of the instrument) escaped altogether
through the mistaken tenderness of a professional man.
Those instances are given, many more of which came before
Phillimoro's committee. But rio facts are required
to prove what the least reflection shOws to be the in-
evitable tendency of this great defect in our criminal
procedure, subjecting the execution of the law to every
kind of accident, and protecting—even encouraging—cor-
rupt bargains in some cases, oppression in others. In no
instance is the defect more grievous than in that which
relates to electoral corruption ; for, unhappily, the offence
of bribery is treated too lightly .both by parties and the
public. It seems to be taken for granted that all men
would bribe if they could; the only shame is being found
out, and that sits very lightly. In a late newspaper discus-
sion of the sutject, the comparison between drunkenness
and bribery in this respect was very ingeniously and very
soundly treated, and as crowds flock to see an actor play
the drunken man, so do they flock to an election committee,
to hear of a kitten sold for £5O, and a £2O bank-note found
in the teapot of a voter's wife. But serious, truly serious,
nay tragical, are the consequences of the one fault and of
the other. They who laugh at the mimic exposure of in
temperance would be shocked to witness the real midnight
orgies of the gin palace ; and would perhaps shed tears over
the wretched house, forlorn wives, and starving children of
its frequenters. And they who have made themselves
merry at the committee, with the gibes of counsel, or the
tales of witnesses may shudder to reflect on the conse-
quences of electoral corruption, itself a grave offence, and
leading to dishonest courses that end in still greater delin-
quency. Nevertheless the fact is undeniable that the pre-
vailing insensibility to this renders a provision absolutely
necessary for securing the prosecution of such corruption,
if indeed we really and sincerely intend its extirpation.
That an improvement in the mode of dealing with election
committees would have a salutary effect, even without the
appointment of a public prosecutor, may be admitted. There
cannot be the shadow of a reason why the House of Com-
mons should stand upon its privileges to exclude all inter-
ference, after the important but wholly insufficient remedy
provided by the Grenville Act for the old and utterly in-
defensible course, and why they should not go a step
further, and make the tribunal one really deserving the
name of a court of justice, or, in other words, a tribunal
constituted of members all appointed without regard to
party, sitting not occasionally but permanently, well in-
formed in the law, acquainted with the rules of procedure,
competent to examine and to weigh evidence, guided
by the decisions of other courts, and pronouncing
its own in each case with the authority which may secure
its being followed in other cases. The illustrious statesman
to whom I have more than once referred engaged me to
work with him upon a plan the main principle of which he
suggested, when a bill came from the Commons fdr dealing
with charges of general corruption in boroughs and it was
applicable to all proceedings upon private bills. When
moulded into shape, and after alterations and additions, it
, was of this nature—a jury of twelve, selected from both
houses, seven Commoners and five Lords, were to examine
the evidence, sitting under the presidency of a judge, and
to find a verdict which should be binding on all parties as to
the facts, and also upon both houses, who might enact on
those facts as they pleased. The proposal elaborated it its
details was fully adopted by the committee to whom the bill
had :been referred, and as thus amended, indeed totally
changed, it was reported to the house, and approved without
a dissenting voice. The Commons had no answer to offer,
they admitted the merit of the alterations we had made, and
indeed highly approved of our plan. But as it had become
a new bill rather than the original bill amended, they post-
, pond the further proceeding to another session, and it has
, unfortunately never been resumed. A few years after, when
it became necessary to change the whole course of proceed-
ing upon private bills, I proposed a set of standing ordrs
which were referred to a select committee. The duke urged
me to bring forward our plan of 1834 ; and on Iryexpress-
ing an apprehension that we should not carry
conse-
quence of the generality of the orders, they being tiu,g in
applica-
ble -
ble to all cases, and not confined to those eofhOTOuie•hs
charged with corruption, as the bill of 1834 had been, he
said, " At least let us try it, there being no doubt of its su-
perior efficacy; and if we are defeated we can retreat upon
your orders." We made the attempt, and were
.defeated
by a large majority in the committee; but we carried the
lesser plan through with some difficulty, and the house
adopted it without a dissentient voice. It forms the stand-
ing orders now in force, and, after much delay, the
Commons reluctantly adopted them, with some amend-
ments. Now, of course, a joint committee of the
two houses would not be applicable to election peti-
tions ; but the most important part of our plan, the commit-
tee sitting under the presidency of a judge, would be an im-
mense improvement upon the present system, and a still
greater would be the sending 141 the allegations of petitioners
and their adversaries to a permanent court of judges, irr?-
teovable, who should report to the house. With their opi-
nions, the report to be binding as to the facts only. The
house would, in almost all cases, though not bound, yet
voluntarily accede to the opinion expressed.
institu-
tion of a public prosecutor would be the. consummation The of
this plan, for the extirpation of all corruption, besides being
a very valuable addition to our criminal procedure in gene-
ral. But even without this important change, the estab-
lishment of a tribunal such as has been described would
have a powerful effect in checking the c p
and so justly complained of. It is ea y
el
1 tmanifestien s e
thatmue ifh
everything remains on its present footing, and election con-
tests can only be carried on at a cost ruinous ion_oeueseurtoinalgl but the
most wealthy, if no means are afforded !
punishment to the practisers of corruption, and the only
risk incurred is the loss of a seat, thoeneetxiitsuttingn, toev render
must
continue to eat into tie vitals of our c ionder
what is in mockery called free eleciotit
ea
choicef arce,t
of
fmthakeethe
House of Commons only by accidente
peo-
ple, to convert the election of members into the means of
subverting the independence and destroying
their constituents, and to raise a grave doub t the
whetherm eral
s thee of
country would not be injured by an extension of the fran-
chise, if it did not beget a furtherd.douptt
eaeboio ue,t
nt hd ee
ebde,
but
of the franchise as already enjoy
too probable that the prevalence of
ieoe rightsrruption will
as a reason against granting I tvwith theb-e used
c eat-
tached duties to those who
aarrieeeenooft atthis present
salioulowdletiol
possess them. The adverosf
the
great body of the people,
much upon the ignp
and not merely their imp
dbuercuattiioonn. butt tihseitrruheatvhmeyg
no habits of reflectionta
nrn
cpeenq e cdte
sted with a voice upon measures
would be unfit to be entrusted with a voice upon measures
of policy foreign or
domestic. But upon the question
of policy foreign c
however, other
who shall be deputed to represent them in Parliment.
to be taken into the account,
they might perhar be trusted. There are,
things besides their ignorance
e themselves
and a grave doubt arises whether men deserve the franchise
t the will nt depriv
who value it so little tha
acquired it. If renting a £lO
of any indulgence in order to.
house gives it, a man occupying a £6 house might have it
by saving 20d. a week in beer. It is but too certain that of
those who aro loudest in their call for the right of voting,
a very great number would refuse to pay this very small
price to obtain it. But the disposition to regard the vote as
bribed, as enabling them to com-
a thing which maiiibbeeitnugrned to profit, in a word, as con-
ferring t
reasoners do, that
it a crimhee for the lucre of. gain, offers a still stronger reason
with the franchise will raise them in
against granting it To imagine, as some
clothing these men
their own estimation and in
that of 2thors, and impress
of their importance ii'AT executing a great
them with a sense
public *us; is altogether too roinahtio a view for any prac-
tical man to take. Ruth© is certain that if corruption be
effectually put down, greatest obstacle to their admis-
sion among the number of electors is removed. But while
the law continues so lamentably defective both in its sub-
stance and upon prom uro, there is some satisfaction in
finding that the leading men at ono or two places, from a
the fear of disfranchisement, have been de-
sense of duty or
wising local measures for checking corrupt practices. Thus
at Bridgwater and at Norwich, vigilance committees have
embers of the Town Council, and other
been formed by
persons of authority, for the puiposeof keeping strict watch
over their fellow
AN msruen in then elections recently held.
praiseworthy pry something may be
From these
; the evil is too deep-rooter to be thus extirpated,
hoped
can hardly be doubted that in. the places where cor-
and it
t 'prevails and where the practice of it is of long
ruPti°ll n"
less facilities "•7*ll be found for adopting such a
standing,„Luse. While some reasoners contend that the people
are dls
qualified for the exercise of the franchise, in'other
for the possession of political power, by want of
words, 3
II WTI/ la r ft lid some would withhold it because of their
evil habits,
there, hasbeena
t all times, but never so much
as of late years, a disposition in a large and important
body to-assume power by acts, sometimes of doubtful lega-
lity, :ilia always leading by their almost unavoidable con:.
I sequ one es to a breach of the law. I allude to combinations
for raising wages, accompanied with a resolution not to