The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-29 00:00:00

',Raw.

defend reprobation arey 'person who would be found to
The seeh ti base and pitiful morality.—(Hear, hear.)
who *lbws was the great criminal.— (Ilear, hear.)
nuviv.` wtis the greater criminal—:the great man who went
.t_.,6,1t 'powr constituency, and, finding some man
a 's•ea.-W-Itla want, having a large family, offered him
te. sell his conscience end his countryeer,l-lear)—
4f the' esaor unfortunate wretch who yi'Cldeci to the
rtPtati•en held out by-hie base correptors ?—(Cheers.)
ilsee theist hare a high morality sad they would have a
3,Wirtuon A people; and let. them ate et sneer, and refine away,
rhea necessary resii ss 'eof the circumstances under
71ch the - were -lat• ceets'ing, or eny other vague and
ro,tmiled generalities, taiose practices which had taken
If they did the people would under-
tend them
> •
was a If they did nut think the giving of the
bribe
crime, the people would not think the
of it one ; and if they were content with bribery
gar tern h'eve no bribery laws—let them have no hypo-
V'sY nho-et it.—(l-7,ear, hear.) They had far too resseh
thae They passed from half-past four o'clock in the
1•,ill ir.g until early next morning discussing P. Bribery
notwithstirecting which, a eandidete wound gst down
.norrow to bribe a constituency.--festeers.) Dis
enise it as fee • would, cloak it as ;lee might, the
• ,
Was, that, as regarded bribery they bad hitherto been
a band of hypocrites-(Cheers.) H-r; had stated in his
'P4.lB"e°,. that e uses. of the geossest brilrery, flagrant breaches
the ordinary rules of law, heal escaped from detee-
!ll44Wit it had been the midi,- to him ? You are tell-
-414; us nothing new. Why do you melte such a fuss
'petit it -it is nothing blet what we all knew before.
into ts es Lobby, end every Member will laugh under
liour nose et you. Wheo the Committee was appointed,
st ivts nslestl, what will you do with your Committee ?
wish you joy 'IC the inquiry. The House would
••4' thrt wit him •everboard, it the Right Hon. Baronet
nt the het d of tl4e Govesumant had not stood by him.—
(91)Positi en cheers.) lie (Mr. Roebuck) was not in-
`-'illsll- to flatter., but the thanks of the country were due
L,)esi th'' Bight .1:lon. Baronet for his conduct on that ocea-
dial no-
osition cheers.) If this Right Hon. Baronet
notie done= so, he (Mr. Rosbuck) would never
37e -got this Committee.—:Continited cheering
1
';he Opposition.) He never should have got
`" "f tie Right Hon ronet had not stood by him; and
oee p•
43-f.„...1 Jet him. Baronet was deserving of the applause
ff-,„. "10 country for his conduct on that occasion.—(Loud
sieion cheers.) In spite of everything, they had
i31:11 enabled, by means of the inquiries instituted by
„,,itt Committee, to obtain a complete account and ex-
of a most base and degrading system. They
Sh"t• frl lay aside everything like personal consideration ;
Ith-individuals they had ,no concern ; they ought not
back to the past brit forward to the future. It
e,rglls 'necessary to refer to some of these eases—he did not
to them as matter of personal consideration, but as
4e..,1"14. trative of a system. An
..I.lchi. G eraleinan goes
•A`e'Asa to a borough with 5,0 r,/. in his pocket ; the
I'4o, n•tituency consist of 150, 'and he takes an and
-411 ant Friend with Rita, He wants no bribery—he
e
:fl( iws nothing at all about never intended it. His
s-iY''s are so delicate that he cannot see it ; his sensibility
• so acute, his see se of honour so nice, that he will not
14
rar a word aberst it. Elect me Member for the borough,
' says, but do not let me know the means by which 1
• kin elected ; there is I,oool.—there, take it—go away,
and let mekneey know nothing more until you let me
eellew that I am Member for Harwich.—(Cheers.) No
7tiAlbt such an Hon. Gentleman was correct in stating
int he knew nothing of any bribery. No doubt he might
'411.1' that he did not know it ; but he would ask,
(1d any one, as an ordinary man of business, not know
, I°l-1
What perpose it was intended to appropriate that
(leY? It wass as clear as the sun at noon-nay, that he
'Sae
• s, have known that that sum must have been put as into
'otitltiit pipe, 'through' which it descended into several
t.tilal• ler pipes, until it percolated through the whole con-
: Ittiteency.--('Oheers.) Who but must have known that
einp/..,yed in the grossest and, most debasing
bribery? ,e lion. Gentlemen goes through the streets,
he ayes his colours displayed ac beer-shops, he knows
• t'illing ab, eut it—no doubt he has his opinion that so
serge it sty n of money must have been employed in that
day,
but 'ae knows nothing about it. Doubtless, legally
-Seakinst he knew nothing about it ; but was not, that
kan
Jur A as wrong as if .he had gone more openly, more
Ay, more barefacedly, and bribed the constituency
with }As own hands? The late law suffered this state
t)tri j ngs, but the Act introduced last year by the Noble
• the Member for London, had had the effect of
ing to the detection and exposure of this system.
II having been so far successful in one attempt, should
3,1 `'3l not go still further ? He believed that the Bribery
pull passed last night, shorn though it was of its most
Vlicient clauSes through the somewhat over-technical
l(!ieel a,
lilenrgsiof his Hon. and Learned Friend the Solicitor-
would have a beneficial effect. But if they
went on in the course they were now pursuing without
.making an • change,bribery, which the Hon. Member
for
• Oxford said he did not consider as so very great a
be6arirdihti ING
:ten
did uot-rni, if
LIS appealed to Hon. Members who had
such were his words. He had said that he
• teritninarTard bribery as die concentrated essence of
all
igt.t,ttr a
sii.l3•l—istbat he did'uot look upon bribery as being
murder.
-II • ROLBLCK was obliged to the Hon. Gentleman
for his explanation,' He was sure the Hon. Gentleman
• 'would give him credit for not having any desire to inis-
l'ePresent,what fell from the Hon. Member. He (Mr.
410 e buck) mu ;t have an inaccurate recollection of what
he had lreard. But he still felt that there was
• '
sort of eurning given to the statement, of the Hon.
euentlevin of which- he (Mr. Roebuck) could not
aPProvv. It was not the concentrated essence of crime
it was not equal to murder'. Thatwp
.:soct Of
ciiitterated'pliraiOblegy which went sof ilia
t 111•4; L.
.we b to depreciate the value of we pun ?Rs ,pesteLpett
•',.rt.tbery. He d.d not like that
,ItAiiti4,s suW4'
T • ~1,"lion WitS, Was this bribery a thingeto- 44-Atmlown,
',Was it not ?—was it mischicYYPAlW thaii4osztarifility,-
r Wits it not ? If it wern•enischievansdeeitiviebotrieigue
„ •
Y, let them see if they could putitiellinveAtarefilji(3
iet them use such exaggerated langetigsaeiell 130y0
Jost quoted. Was it a matter to jtalfe' inlet eelfini•
stdProiio fur the purpose of remedying iets''VetNas
the
-,why.,112kt..
" simple reasonable view of it. 1
",44 'farrago of leuguage launched against
.hihrTe Ilehy
.should they not rather join together ;and endwour to
Put aoi,Vn the practice ? There was ono argument used
"11 thii subject to which., he
_gave. every possible atten-
il,'n—he meant the argument advanced by, thoscwho us-
Signed :as a reason for retiring from"i6'-oritest the
4,,lle'rinotts expense to which they woald be subjected,, But
o4st should not draw ••off others .from the -inquiry.
1e would refer to the five boroughs to which his inquiry
• Vctended to •• explain his views on the question—k' show
deterred
it was fear of diebovery, -not fear of expense, that
persons frompursuing the contest. At one of
,these eases the pare having learned from his agent that
ribery would be proved, paid 2,000 L to get rid of the
44quiry' and f,he "agent employed was so strongly
Pressed with the danger of the inquiry, that he added
°•"---(Heare hear)--eso that at the present moment
2
,„,:;.500/. had ieen paid to get rid of the inquiry.—(Hear.)
as it not, he would ask, a remarkable thing that a
person s the Hon. Member for Reading should agree
Pay 2,( s)o1. upon that which was not certain ? This
Towed that the inquiry was dreaded ; the thing
',f(tded was the inquiry, and nothing else—
t"ear, hear)—rind it was as clear as the sun at
4')n.day that there was something behind hand
1, Which all were afraid. Was it not, therefore,
fr • would ask, the duty of the House to come
(i'*.vard and say that it was determined that in all such
!ipses as he had mentioned, it would deem the proceedings
ee had described as a gross violation of the rights of the
I:e°Ple, tend a gross breach of the privileges of the House?
be would take the case.of Lewes, there the party
0-40 Ives placed at the head of the poll, was, at first, far
"°l`e in the list. Now, how, he would ask, was such a
chi age of ? Why, one witness stated that it was
4,°re by shuttlecocking the votes. Was that, he would
the way to deal with the franchise, and was
`e Rouse prepared to give such a measure its sanction ?
.thwas wise for the House to consider in the first place
e great interests of the nation—the interests of the
voters ; and in the nett place, as representing the peo-
'shey ought to consider such proceedings on the part
•Any one as a gross infringement of their privileges.
a .0 woull ask the House to consider for a moment the
•10,, "•nger to the character of that House from the exposure
had been made of the mode in which Members
ere elected. The Hon. Member for Pontefract, whom
• in„ (t did not see in his place, had said that his (Mr. Roe-
'''nUck's) object was to bring that Houie into contebmt.
/ ':Nowr that wits not his object. His object was to rin pg
into contempt a bad system. He did not care whether
• 4,at House was or was not affected by that proceeding
the House was implicated in a bad system could
"4'4.
not help it. Re would ask the House what the world
-a, • would think when they found men, in private life, .of wri-
er hieriiished honour on both sides—men who might be
kristed with untold gold, going down, and for mere party
Turposei, in the heat of party politics. debesing, debauch-
ing, destroying the whole constituency; and not a whole
Solistituency alone, but a whole town ; promoting
drunkenness, crime, confusion, terror, end every species cif
lallirnorality, under the sacred name of making laws for the
' iPeople The evil had come to a crisis; and it could -be
.'tuflered to continue, for it would bring the *use:into
• tempt with the people. If they hoped to do any P'sseki for the
Nttion it must be by ruling the minds of thk, pew,
•
1413 them to love the institutions under whit tyle'
lived. Beat
their love for the institutions of the count and lead-
.s, would be converted
t 0 hatred, if, after the scenes which '.,ad been described, after
'he terrible secrets which had bee
..1 evolved by this Committee,
e House did not feel it inctreeeees on them to do something
ee
:ewe than indulge in a sue er and a laugh at the painful expo-
-we which had been ,;.de. He thought he had now
tap
ei),L,' enough, thou, he had avoided, as much as pos-
thy:, going into a" dissection of the evidence, believing
" all his ch'...ges had been proved; bust he thought he had
enough 'tor his justification in bringing forward this ques-
fa ,nt and. m support of the two propositions which he had sub-
in
t, to the House. He now asked whether it would be wise,
e- eee peculiar circumstances of the case, to issue a writ for. any
r • ' 'er the five towns first submitted to the corisideration of the
srmrnittee, before they had further safeguards for the protec-
-45% of-the voters? He put it in that form designedly. He
not want to protect the candidates, they could protect them-
' - • e'ves; but he wanted to protect the voters against that system
• Rbichwas employed for the purpose of debasing the constituencies.
R 4, ,
,t was there to protect the voters of Nottingham from the
'lie scenes described in the present evidence? Let them get
till state of things, and then they might issue a writ, but
' then he would call on them to pause. He alluded to the
iead•
niers with which the inquiry of the Committee had been
el.' 'll ;sect by the different parties, with one exception (we believe the
19.44,ernber fur Reading, but the Member fur Bath was very indis-
..4ll.4'l"), and he believed that the recusant gentleman was quite
guilty as the rest. He concluded by moving the following
resolutions:—"That the compromises of election petition. as
iir"ught to the knowledge of this House by the Report of" the
Select Committee on election proceedings, must, if for the
ulture the be allowed to rass without punishment or censure,
tend to bring this House into contempt with the people, and
y serunesly to diminish its power and authority. That
ill
1h 'nett practices are heieby declared 19 be a violation of the
otties of the people, and a breach of the privileges of this
, °nu!, which it will in all future cases strictly inquire into and
Yeely punish. 'f hat is in the late elections for Her-
' w et, •
tinglianeLo,yes, Reading, Falmouth and Penryn, and
''''tdroirt, the present laws have been found insufficient to pro.

tect the voters from the mischievous tetn,ptoi4ing of bribery, it
be ordered that Mr. Speaker 'do issihe no Whit for any election of •
Members for the said towns, till further legislative enactments
have been adopted to protect the purity of elections."
Mr. C. RUSSELL said that as long as his 'conduct we.t.
tinder consideration he had abstained from making ahy obser- •
vations, When the Honourable Mt:AM tdr Bath
thought proper to interrogate as to otirtain fritsactiots (6 •
which be was pleased to affix the epiittet of eorrOpt, tie had
refused to answer the question, bettanse he hdlieVed it was the
only course he could adopt comisferitly Wit?: his 'own inde-
pendence; the Speaker too had decided that the Member for
Bath had neither right nor pre&traent to put' the question. He
had offered no opposition lit the appointment of the Committee
as he had no wish to shrink from investigation, but be Kira
now enter his solemn protest 'against this unjust and unpre-
cedented proceeding. ile felt it to he his ditty to his consti-
tuents to resit any resolutions that might be founded upon
them. He objected to the Hon. Member for Bath, as an unfit
Perv:ai to be entrusted with such an enquiry from his strong
predetermined opinions ; he having declared that he would fix
and crucify them before the pe....ple. Had not the Hon. Mem-
ber tor Bath, also, sold his, Parliamentary services for move} ?
5' No, no," from Mr. Roebuck.) -Did he mean to deny it ?
Mr. ROEBUCK—Certainly, I do.
Mr. RUSSELL—It was universally believed that he had
done so. _

Mr. ROEBUCK said whoever had to'd the Hon. Member
so had told him a falsehood.
Mr:'RUSSELI. said it was universally 1 e'ic ved that the
Hon. Member for Bath had s.:ltl his Parhamen:ary snviees to
the Canadian rebels. -
Mr. ROEBUCK said the best answer to that was that he
was not in the House when Canada was in rebellion.

The SPEAKER said the Hon. Meintinr for Reading inns:
withdraw the expressions he had used.

who are too noisy and too unreasonable to• uo toYthing
to the cause they espouse, but injure it, 'wevent the
holding of public meetings, except at the las% of great
disturbance. With full tnowledge, therefor. %, of the
sentiments of the mass of the people in those pl, acts, it is
perhaps very likely no stronger expression will b g"iven;
and this Sir R. Peel may, perhaps, interpret as .11 sign of
their acquiescence. He will woefully deceive hi, itself.—
(Hear.) Two bramelies of a public sentiment, het -tile in
the highest degree to the principles of his Goren, ment,
hold each other in check simply as to the noier they
make. Still they not only exist, but under that very
silence they are fermenting and ripening for
sults which will make him tremble.—(Loud cheers.. )
In this, as in other cases, just when he has dressed hist:
speeches, and with his dangerous facility
ainoef d tting
single facts for large conclusions, he has ghi pus
de-
bates, and stopped for a moment the mouths of his op-
' pundits, a state of things in this neighbourhood will
burst upon him which will upset all, and shoo; him up
once more as a Minister of mere words..--(Cheevs.) Mr.
Chapman concluded his important and impressive speech
amidst Much .applause.
The Rev. Mr. BONNER, of Bilston, s•dt", that befit e he
came to London he had thought that in this metropt.
lis
was concentrated all that. was patriotic, and noble. en)
good. ; but his experience, short as at was, convinced hies
that it also centained much that was foal, base, and de-
grading. He bad attended two meetings in Lencrou„
which were assembled to hear the statternents of the De-
legates respecting the distress of the country and its
principal cause ; and he never saw in his life such con-
duct as was adopted by those who interrupted the meet-
ings But he thought he could -see in the countenances
of those men the channels through which ran the secrot
service money of the Government.—(Cheers.)' 1),9 did
net believe that they injured the cause of the Leaeitue•
and they certainly did not serve that of the Cbartieta.—
(Hear, hear.) He had seen in the Morning Chronict::
an assertion that it was false to say that the unemployed
men in Bilston were seizing food by force. But he had!
received communications from Bilston, which be would
read to the meeting, and which showed that the men
were seizing provisions by force, and obtaining money
by force, and he expected that he would shortly have to
communicate to the Conference the announcement of ai
still more fearful state of things. The Rev. Gentleman
then read the following letters, which produced a deep
impression on the meeting. He begged to say that he
. bad nut solicited this information, and that the letters
were written to him without any previous communicant
`with his friends upon the subject :
_