The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-04 00:00:00

ABSTRACT OF ELECTION PRO-
CEEDINGS, OR THE PRINCIPAL POINTS
THEREON, SELECTED FROM THE EVI-
DENCE ADDUCED BEFORE THE COMPRO-
MISE COMMITTEE.

Having perused the evidence in question, we have
marked for selection all such items as in any way
tend to develope the practices of this abominable
system, and if out of so bulky an evidence the points
that are able to be gleaned are not very numerous,
they are at least curious and characteristic.
HARWICH.

PARTIES BRlBED.—According to the evidence of
Mr. James Currie, Parliamentary Agent, one sum of
1001. was here distributed in bribes among persons
occupying small houses, or what are called 101. voters,
most of them small trades-people ; and many of those
who in this place, which is very decayed, live by
dredging for stone, which is used fbr Roman cement.
—(Ev. 271-273.)
From the evidence of the same party, it appeared
from his notes that thirty-three persons were bribed,
each of whom had large sums paid to him, many of
them 501. and 100/., and some more.—(Ev. 297,
301-2.)
Mr. Richard Mosse, Agent of Mr. Attwood, ad-
mitted that on going down to Harwich on the eve of
the election, he found there were ten open to bribery
(309), and that Mr. Attwood held out the elec-
tioneering hone to the inhabitants "to reduce the
Church-rates,' and, in similar electioneering fashion,
to take shares in their railway to the extent of
10,000l.—(Ev. 309, 340-44.)
NOTTINGHAM.

SYSTEM OF BASKET-MONEY.----MOSt of the wit-
nesses gave evidence on this point; but as the clearest,
perhaps, was Mr. Fladgate's, we shall quote his words.
—(374.) The custom of basket-money in Notting-
ham is that of giving money previous to large bribes.
For four or five weeks previous to any election, the
people go round to the candidates, or their agents, to
ask them for this "basket-money." They will go to
some inn, or some house appointed for the purpose,
where they will receive from 10s. to 20s. or 305.,
which they call by the above name, from the fact of
its being given on the Saturday, on which day the
market is held, and it is supposed that this money is
spent in buying provisions for the week. Many
hundreds, if not thousands, observed the witness, could
have been proved to have received this retaining fee
from agents, or parties supposed to be agents.—(374.)
ABDUCTION OF VOTERS.—MaIIy of the voters, ac-
cording to the same witness, were made drunk, and
taken in that state to different places in the neigh-
bourhood, and then to places far off: a party of 20
to Gravesend : about 300 were carried off in this way
during the last election to different parts of the world:
Gravesend was in the above case instanced, as a place
so far distant from Nottingham that it particularly
marks the system upon which, some parties in Not-
tingham acted.—(374-5.) The estimate of the num-
ber of bribed for this borough was 2,000 out of a con-
stituency of 5,000.—(397.) Upwards of 150 con-
fessed their own bribing.—(4l6.)
THE PRACTICE OF " THUMBING."—This is prac-
tised in the same borough. Thumbing is an opera-
tion performed by some of the manufacturers of the
place, to induce the workmen to vote as they think
proper ; its plain signification is "getting a man under
your thumb."—(s7l.)
A NIGHT'S BRIBERY.—From the evidence of the
Earl of Lincoln it appeared that while the Tory party
had full belief in a majority of 300 over night, there
was a majority of 400 or 500 against them.—(s7l.)
NATURE OF THE PARTIES BRIBED.—From the
evidence of Sir G. Larpent he believed that the per-
sons bribed in that borough were in a very low situa-
tion in life, many of them the former old burgesses
of the place, or freemen of the place, who had been in
the practice of receiving a small sum, and that the
excitement arising from the two contested elections
for that borough, had raised the sum usually given,
from being at first a sort of douceur, into the charac-
ter of bribery.—(736.)
" RUNNERS " AND THEIR PAY.--•At the election
in 1837, according to the statement of Mr. Thomas
Wakefield, the agent, there was at that time consi-
derable distress, and numbers of men were employed
upon Maperley Plains, partly by subscription and
partly by the parish; those men were canvassed, and
were immediately taken into employ 'as runners
and assistant canvassers, and they received on
the Saturday three shillings a-day, or something
of that kind. That being done by the one
party, they immediately came to the others, of course,
and said, " We are offered employment as runners,
and unless we can be employed by you, we are so
poor that we must take advantage of it," and that of
course led to the same iiroceedings by the other
party : then one man told another, and so the thing
began to spread, till a great number on each side
were taken into employ as runners.—(B6l.)
THE " LAMBS " OP NOTTINGHAM.—Mr. Charles
Parkes and other witnesses gave accounts of these
attaches of elections. " Lambs" are men of abandoned
character, who are employed to intimidate voters
and to abduct them.—(s67). They were first em-
ployed (595) by Mr. Walter at his first election, and
during the last they were employed to join in several
conspiracies to maltreat Sir John Cam Hobhouse, in
Rarticular, who by reference to passage 680 of the
eport, stood in eminent danger of his life from these
ruffians.

PRACTICES OF THE " LAMBS."—In addition to the

intimidation mentioned above, their occupations other-
wise consisted in the abduction of voters, many of
them being cooped up in the neighbourhood ' • some
in the houses of the neighbouring gentry, and after-
wards the rioting and employment of " lambs" to go
about the town, to fight and break the windows of the
various political opponents.—(sBB). There were no
" lambs" at the first election on the part of Sir G.
Larpent. The employment of a vast number of men,
organised as they now are, is a new practice at Not-
tinham, commencing at the April election.—(s9o.)
COMMONNESS OF BRlBERY:—Bribery, according to
Mr. Thomas 'Wakefield (871-2-5) was so open, that
every body said it was done, but when it came to be
inquired into, it, was not known ; people even con-
sidered that there was nothing wrong in it ; it seemed
to be as much a matter of course as any thing else :
the machinery by which it was done was this ;—a cer-
tain sum of money was sent to each ward, and that
was again sent to some particular individual, and
through his hands It passed to the voters.
A BOROUGH " RISING IN PRICE."—The system of
voters being bid over by the opposite party appears
(evidence of Mr. Hannay, 9700-2) to have gradually
grown up within these few last years at Nottingham..
The party witness belonged to had tried to get the
borough of Nottingham for many years past, but were,
generally unsuccessful. They tried the purity system,
but that was very derogatory to the feelings of
the constituency. After that they put forward as a
candidate a gentleman very popular in the neigh-
bourhood, and a very humane and benevolent cha-
racter. That failed on account of funds, and there
was no chance till they got Mr. Walter. Then the
effective or money system was adopted, and from that
time to this the borough has got "very dear," "very
costly," and has risen "very much in price."
" COOPING" AT NOTTINGHAM.—Numbers of voters,
or rather several parties, were "cooped," not in Not-
tingham, but in houses ten or twelve miles from Not-
tingham. Lord Rancliffe's was one with seventeen :
and Lord Melbourne's gardens, at Melbourne, with
more than twenty. Trugsby-brook was a third with
twenty, Matlock was a fourth with twenty, and
a farm-house at a place called Haugh was a
fifth, with about the same number. In Lord Mel-

bourne's gardens, they were kept in the gardens
during the day-time, for three or four days previous
to the election, and they slept as they best might at
the public-houses in the neighbourhood. They were
driven to the gardens in the morning, and kept there
all day, and made drunk, and so taken care of at
night.—(376-387.)

LEWES.
BRIBERY SOCIETIES.—In this borough there are
two clubs, which appear to be very available at elec-
tion seasons. On one side was commenced a few
years ago, " The Bundle of Sticks Society," which
was a very formidable weapon in the hands of the Libe-
rals. The Tories determined to counteract it;
their society was the " Constitutional Pruning
Society," which arose in this way ;—the Hon. Mr.
Fitzroy, in one of his speeches, alluded to the attacks
which the Liberals were making on the bulwarks
of the Constitution ; and he said that the difference

between the Reformers and the other party was, that
where they would apply the axe, he would apply the
pruning-knife. This tickled their fancy, and they
formed a society under that name.
PUTTING TUE TOWN IN A STATE OF SIEGE.—
One very expensive part of the Lewes election (evi-
dence of the Hon. Henry Fitzroy, 1178-9) was
putting the town in a state of siege, which was forced
to be done to prevent carrying off voters. It becomes
very expensive the watching such a town as that,
with so many cross roads, to prevent one's voters
being carried off; it is a most expensive item in the
election.

DEER, TOBACCO, AND HOT SUPPERS.—The Hon.
H. Fitzroy (1183) asserted that he had confined all
his voters to beer and tobacco; but unfortunately
they (that is, the opposite party) began at the last
election a new system, that of allowing punch and
wine and hot suppers ; this forced Mr. Fitzroy to do
likewise, and give his parties punch, hot slippers, and
wine. Voters also were abducted and cooped up at
Brighton.--(1353.)
"BuLLLYING " AT LEWES.—As soon as a con-
tested election makes its appearance, it is the custom
at Lewes, for certain individuals to come to demand
what they call being put on : that is, they are to do
something or nothing, and sometimes as " bullies " to
track some unwise, foolish voter, who is early led away;
the number of these is 70 or 80 on each side. Some

voters were much tormented by these bullies ; they
were not permitted to walk about the streets without
being tracked and hunted, and their toes trodden on,