The Sun.
London, England, 1826-03-10 00:00:00

BRIBERY AT ELECTIONS.

The following is an Abstract of the BM for the
better discovery and suppression of Bribery end
corrupt Practices in the Election of Members to
serve in Parliament :

Clause I.—Whenever a petition shall be presented, alleging
general Bribery or Corruption, within six years, in the election
or return •f Members for any place, and it shall appear to the
House, that it contains matter requiring further investigation,
a day and hour to be appointed for taking it into consideration,
so that two days intervene between the day of presenting it and
the day appointed to take it into consideration I notice of such
day and hour to be, by order of the Speaker, inserted in one of
the two next London Gaiettes, and to be sent by him to the
returning Officer of the place the petition relates to, and
the returning; Officer to affix a copy of such notice to the
door of the rown HAI or Parish Church nearest the place of
Election.
the hour appointed for taking the Petition into con.
sidcratior', the House to appoint a select Committee to inquire
Into the matters contained in in, and report the result of their
inquiry ; such Committee to consist of the Member presenting
the petiton and Waco' others, to be chosen by lot, PI (turd n g
to the regulations and subject to the exemptions for choosing
forty nine Members by lot, contained in the recited acts, and to
be sworn to try the matter, and report their opinion, with the
evidence, to the house.
Il I.—Persons, before the day appointed to consider the pe-
tition, petitioning to be admitted as parties to oppose it, to be
allowed to appear before the Committee by themselves, their
Counsel or Agents.
IV.—All the rules, regulations, authorities, powers and me-
thods of proceeding prescribed and given by the recited Acts to
Select Committees for the trial of controverted elections or re-
turns, to be in force with respect to select Committees appointed
by virtue of this Act.
V.—Costs of such inquiries to be defrayed in the same num•
ner as the costs of prosecutions directed by the House.
Vl.—Act, or any thing to be done in pursuance of it, not to
affect the election or return of any Member, nor to affixt the re-
cited Acts or any other Acts now in force, for regulating the
trials of controverted elections and returns.

Yesterday morning, soon after two o'clock, the
driver of the hackney-couch, No. 901, had set
down his returning fare in Marsham-street,West-
minster, when lie proceeded to the horse-ferry,
at 'thank, for the purpose of washing and wa-
tering his horses. The carriage and horses, of
which the latter were valuable, both belonged to
Mr. Russell, the coach-muster, in Vauxhall.
road. Knowing that the tide was rising fast,
Lee, one of the watchmen, felt ►t ►teces•ary to
caution Wade, the driver, of the danger he ran,
but %%rade not being quite himself, still treated
the watchman's warning with contempt. He pro-
ceeded at once into the river, when himself and
coach and horses were borne away by the in-
creasing tide ; but the piteous cries uttered by
the driver brought the watchman back, who,
assisted by a bargeman, was so fortunate as to
succeed in saving Wade himself from a watery
grave. Carriage and horses were, however, soon
carried by the current as far as Vauxhall-bridge,
where, at length, the coach filled with water.
Drags were procured on the spot. After an
effort of nearly two hours, the horses were found
drowned quite under the coach, and even the
latter was much damaged.

In the parish church of St. Mary Northgate, in
•
Canterbury, on Sunday last, the ltev. Vicar pub.
lisped the bans of marriage between two couple for
the third time, in the usual manner, after these.cond lesson, and immediately after the parties (two
P 4 °ldlers belonging t-o the First Dragoon Guard.,
recently stationed in this city, with two young
women) presented themselves at the altar, and
were accordingly unized in the silken bawls of
wedlock amidst the blushes and sigbings of many
young and antiquati.d maidens then present at
this unexpected ceremony.—(lient Herald.)

EXTRAORDINA kV ELEPHANTS,

The following copy of an official letter (rani
an officer commanding the Ramghur battalion lu
Bengal, to the magistrate of the division, was
published in the newspapers in 1817. The date
of the letter, however, is April 10, 1810. The
republication of it at this moment may not be
considered uninteresting :
" I have the honour to state to you, that on
the 24th instant, at midnight, I received informa-
Lion, that two elephants of an uncommon size had
made theiv appearance within a few hundred
yards of the cantonments, and close to a village,
the inhabitants of which were in the greatest'
alarm. I lost no time in dispatching all the public"
and private elephants of the station in pursuit of
them, and at day-break of the (-25th was informs
ed, that their very superior size, and apparent
fierceness, had rendered all attempts for their
seizure unavailing, and that the most expe-
rienced driver was dangerously wounded, the
elephant on which he rode having been struck to
the ground by one of the wild ones, which, with
its companion, had afterwards retreated to a
sugar plantationladjoining the village of Jusipoar:
I immediately ordered out the guns of this place
but very desirous, in the first instance, to try
every means of catching them, I assembled the
inhabitants of this neighbourhood, with the assis‘
tance of Rajah Ragnnut Sing, and caused two
deep pits to be prepared on the edge of the stigat
cane plantation, in which our elephants and. Imo'
ple, with the utmost difficulty, contrived to retain
these animals during the day, When the 019 •
were reported ready, we repaired to the spot, and
they were, with much difficulty, driven /Mb
them, but unfortunately, one of the pits did` nOt
prove sufficiently deep, and the elephant that
escaped from it (in the presence of many witnesses)
assisted his companion out with his trunk ; both
were, however, brought back with much trouble to
the sugar cane plantation; and no particular in,
stance of vice or fierceness having appeared in the
course of the day, I was anxious to make another
trial to catch them. The pioneers,therefore, set to
work to deepen the old, and prepare new holes,
against day-break, when I proposed making the
final attempt. A t 4 o'clock of the morning, yester-
day, however, they burst through all my guards,
and making for a village three miles distant, en-
tered with so much rapidity, that the horsemen%
who galloped in front of then), had not time to
apprise the inhabitants of their danger; and 1.1.1:
from limb, a child trodden to death
gret to say, that one poor man was torn lun
,and two wo•
men wounded. Their destruction was now bei
come absolutely necessary, and, as they appearet
to show no inclination to quit the village/ we
gained time to bring up the four-pounders, from,
abundance of grape each ;
which they soon received several round shot, sou
the largest of the twO
was even brought to tth.
ground by a round shot
in the head, but after remaining there a tiner:
ter of an hour, a pparently lifeless, he go'
up as vigorous as ever, and the desperation
of both exceeded all description they made
repeated charges within nearly one hundred
yards of the guns, and had it not beenfor
the Sr;
the uncommon steadiness and bravery of
tillerymen (who more than once turned
them 00'
by shot in the head when within a few yards of
them), many casualties must have happened. We
Were oow obliged to desist for want of mai"
d
be obtained, the elephants quitted the
cow tion and shot ; and before a fresh supply
Dud, though streaming with blood from hundred
wounds, proceeded, with a rapidity of • which I
had no idea, to Hazarabang. They were at
length brought up by the horsemen and our ele•
phants, when within a very short space of 11
crowder (bazaar), and ultimately, village,
after many re-
newa Is of the most formidable attacks on the gulls,
they gave up the contest with their lives, Nine
teen four-pound shot have already been taken
out of their bodies, and I imagine that eight
or ten more will be found. I have been thus
particular, both because I think the transaction
worthy of being ecorded and also from a hope,
that you will concur with me in the propriety .°f
an application to government for a compensation
-
for the damage sutrered by the owners of the
villages of Jusipoor and Ored, from the destruci.
tion of much grain, &c. I enclose a correct urea'
surement of one of the elephants which will be
rend with surpise. I am of opinion they roust
here escaped from liydrz)bad, or some part of the
Decent), for I have never heard of or seen animals
of this size in this part of India.

I have the honour to be,
E. R., Captain,
Commanding the Rantithur Battalion'
Hazarbaug, 29th Sept. 1810.

Ft. I„",_`
Length, from the end of the trunk to the end of the tall "
0
Height . .
8
H 17 !found the body . 0
Length, from the crown of the head to beneath the
The other Elephant rather smaller.'