The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-28 00:00:00

ELECTION COMMITTEES.
(THIS DAY.)
BELFAST.
The Committee for conducting the Belfast inquiry met
this morning at one o'clock. The committee-room was
not opened till two, when it appeared that it had been
decided to admit the public, as in the case of the South-

ampton inquiry.
The Committee consists of Mr. Liddell, Mr. Cripps,
Mr. Protheroe, Sir B. Hall, Viscount Ebrington, Mr.
Shawe, Mr. East, and Mr. Dennison.
Mr. Emerson Tennent was present, and took notes of
the proceedings.
The first witness called was Mr. R. Gordon, who stated
that he was a burgess of Belfast, but not a registered
elector. He knew Mr. Dunbar intimately ;he did
not stand as a candidate at the last election.
He could not tell whether his reasons for not standing 1
were connected with any pecuniary arrangement, pend-
ing the last petition. He was in London by accident, and
was present at an interview between Mr. Campbell and
Mr. M'Neil, but had no authority to act. It was on the
Wednesday. morning that the Committee was to meet.
He had no communication with Mr. Bates as to his
(witness) taking any parties the compromise, but he had a
good deal of conversation about the petition. The conver-
sation between Mr. M'Neil and Mr. Campbell, referred to
a former one, at which witness was not present. It began
by Mr. Campbell stating that he must have a thousand
pounds ; Mr. Campbell was acting in behalf of the
Liberal and petitioning party. The reply of Mr. M'Neil
was, that if the petition went on it would cost both par-
ties a great deal of money, and that it was a pity some
arrangement had not been made. The thousand pounds
was demanded to cover the expenses, as he had been
600/. out of pocket, and was sure that he owed 6001.,
more. The 4001. more was required to defray
the expenses of the petition. If the matter was left to
arbitration whether a thousand pounds should be paid
or six hundred pounds, it was understood that Mr.
M'Neil and Mr. Campbell should do their utmost to
prevent a contest.
Mr. M'Ncil was called. Was a Director of the
Northern Banking Company. He was not aware that
the Conservative Fund was lodged in the Bank. He did
not know anything more of the Conservative Fund at the
la..t election, except that he subscribed 250/. to it him-
self. He did not pay it into the Bank, but handed it
over to Mr. S. Thompson. There were other subscrip-
tions. He believed Mr. Gordon, the last witness, was also
a subscriber. A Mr. Fenton also subscribed. He could not
recollect the particular sums and names, the whole
amount he had heard was about 4,0001.; he did not

know whether through the medium of the Bank, they
could get at the amount cif names, as he could not tell
whether Mr. Thompson kept it in the Bank
in his: own name or not. He was in Lon-
don at the time the petitton was pending, on other
business, and interfered to make an arrangement,
but not a c6ropromise. He did not think that a com-
promise where the petitioner had his prayer granted in
full. The proposition of the arrangement passed from
himself to Mr. Campbell. He first suggested that the
Conservatives should resign and go to a new election,
and that himself and Mr. Campbell should use their in-
fluence to prevent a contest, as they had had five in the last
ten years, and had spent ten thousand pounds on the
last petition, when they unseated Lord Belfast and Mr.
Gibson. Mr. Camphell regretted that such an arrange-
ment had not been proposed before they left Belfast.
He and Mr. Campbell came to no agreement) that
day ; he asked for money, demanding a thousand
pounds. He did not agree to that, and the next morn-
ing Mr. Campbell called at his rooms and represented
that a great expense had been gone to in bringing wit-
nesses to London, and that it would cost as much more
to get them back again, which might have been avoided
had the arrangement been concluded at Belfast. Wit-
ness thought that there was some justice in the
representation, especially as the presenting the peti
tion would only obtain the petitioners a void elec-
tion. He agreed to let it be a void election, and
on condition that there should be no contest at the
ensuing election, he agreed to pay Mr. M'Neil 6001.
lie had not paid that sum, as he considered one of the
conditions was that the election should be gone into. The
arrangement was made on the day the petition was tried.
lie had heard that there had been bribery on both sides,
but did not know any instance of it. No proof was to
be offered on the petition of bribery or personation.
They got the opinion of Mr. Austin as to the validity
of the election, and it was unfavourable, four of the
deputy returning-officers being under age, which
was of itself sufficient to vitiate the election.

Bribery was alleged in the petition, but no evi-
dence was taken on it, though Mr. Campbell
told'him he was prepared with evidence on all the points
in the petition. There was no threat held out of start-
ing other candidates. He believed that Mr. Dunbar's
motive for declining to stand was a personal, not a
pecuniary, one. Mr. Johnson subscribed, he be-
lieved, 1,000/. to the fund, but Mr. Emerson Ten-
nent did not give a farthing. He was not an elector,
and did not vote. He did not know that any
Conservative Committee was appointed ; he had attended
meetings of ten, twelve, or twenty persons at a time, but
he did not consider himself a member of the Committee.
He did not read the case submitted to M. Austin, but
saw his opinion ; that opinion was given to the oppo-
site party, and they got a copY! -,f it. Mr. Aus.ia
was counsel for the opposite party. The opiniou
applied to every allegation of bribery, personation,
and every sin under the sun usually put into an election
petition. The point which he thought they should not
be able to fight against, and on which he acted, was
the obstruction that took place to the polling in
one of the booths, and the juniority of the Re-
turning Officers. The arrangement was never put
in writing. The list of deputies was made
up by Mr. Vernon, he Returning-officer, and shown to
both parties, by ;horn they were approved. He was
influenced by the state of the constituency, to propose
the arrangement ; the list of voters contained 5,000
names, but he did not believe that the bona fide voters
were more than 2,000. The difference arose from a great
number of persons within the last eight years having
removed two or three times, and appearing on the list
two, three, or even more times over. Under the Reform
Bill, also, a large number of low persons had been put
on the registry, who ought not to have been put
there. The state of the town, during an elec-
tion, was extremely riotous and disorderly, and
this, and the state of the constituency, was what induced
him to propose the arrangement. He had not yet paid
6001.; but, if he had done so, he was quite sure that his
party would pay him again. He considered the 6001.
was merely to reimburse the other party for the expense
they had been at in bringing witnesses from Belfast.
While the arrangement was pending between him and
Mr. Campbell, Mr. Gordon and Mr. Ross were the only-
persons he communicated with. He did not communicate
with them at all till after the petition was decided, and
then he did not state the particulars, but merely said he
had every reason to hope that there would be no contest
at the next election. He believed there might be some
persons at Befast who were dissatisfied with the result
of the arrangement, such as those who had cars to hire,
and those who were disappointed of what they might
have expected to get.