The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-14 00:00:00

(LEFT SITTING.)

DARTMOUTH ELECTION
PETITION -(THIS DAY).
The Committee appointed to investigate the allegations con-
tained in the petition against the return of Mr. Somes for the
borough of Dartmouth, sat this day, and proceeded to hear
counsels' statement and evidence. The counsel f;r the peti-
tioner, Mr. Moffat, -were Mr. Sergeant Wrangham, Mr.
Sergeant Kingl.tke, and Mr. Uttrcham ; those for Mr. Somes
were,. Messrs. Talbot, Forsyth, and Colborne.
The necessary forms having been gene' through, and .the
usual resolutions adopted.
Mr. Sergeant Wa_mictuAsr opened the case for the
• petitioner.- lle-coniended that Mr. Somers was ineligible to
.hottl-1 seat in the House of Commons, inasmuch as he was a
Government contractor, and that notices to that effect had been
served in the usual way. Mr. Somes had been returned by a
majority of 7—that was to say, 125 voted for, and 118 against
him ; but notices bad been served upon persons to the amount
of 40, so that there was no defect in that part •f the proceedings.
The grOund on which the petitictier contended he had a right
to be the sitting Member was clear and simple; it was
this : that any person connected in any way with a contract
under the Government for the public service should be ineli-
gible to serve as a Member of Parliament ; and this was
• founded upon an Act of the Legislature passed in the year
1782, the section of which, bearing upon this case, be would
now read. The Learned Counsel then read the sec-
tion, which stated, in substance., that in order the
better to 'secure the freedom of election and the
independence of Parliament, any person, directly 'or
indirectly, connected in any way with Government contract.,
either fur the benefit of himself or others, should be ineligible
to hold the place e f a Member of Parliament; and that,
if he should be elected, he would be liable to a fine
of five hundred pounds per day fOr every day that he should
s;t in Parliament under these circumstances. The Learned
Counsel then went en to say, he had been instructed to state
that evidence e ould be produced to prove that Mr. Somes,
before, and at, not after, the time of his election, was the owner
of certain ships employed by the Admiralty for the conveyance
of troops, and transports, and stores; and that no subsequent
transfer of the Hon. Member's property in those ships, or no
transfer of it at the time of the election or immediately
'riot to it, could save him from the disqualification unless he
was in a position to show that .such transfer was a bona fide
transaction. The Learned Counsel having spoken at great
length, concluded by calling
Mr. Richard Fall, the Register of the Custom-house, who
proved that. Mr. Somes had transferred shares
.which he
held in certain ships, to wit, the General Palmer,
the Nautilus, the Pestenjee Bomanjee' the Princess
Ro3 al, S;r George Seymour, Java, Laßelle Alliance, and the
Cadette, on and up to the 17th of December, 1814 (a short
time prior to the election), to his nephew, and other persons ;
and that there were other ships, his shares in which he had eis-
toted of, now at sea.

• Mr. john James, clerk in the Admiralty-office, proved the
execution of the charter-party of each ship, the departments
they were engaged in, and the sums paid for their services.
Some additional corroborative evidence having been gone
into, the Committee at Four o'clock adjourned till to•morrow
at Eleven,