The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-27 00:00:00

bound to ask whether any Hon. Member could exileal
any good from the adoption of the proposition ? Wasitie
bribery so limited, and supported by individuals of 50)"...i
influence, that the conviction of one or two would do an!
thing also but c xcite sympathy for thorn on the supPosl'„r,
that the pros; eutiun had taken place, not for the r ,
p.ses of justice, but to make a show of hostility
First of all he was convinced that there, Ude.
great difficulty in the proposition now Ito
The Committee had prostrated no indivnsisli
with their names associated with certain evidence: sv" of
would enable the House to appreciate the certaintroj
conviction. What means had the Attorney-Gels tist
of calling thenbefore him and examining them 01,„/
agents could he employ ; or what means had he
going into those quarters for information which . 're,
enable him to prosecute the inquiry with success ? Wles
he was Attorney-General, he had cause to make inquiet
of a similar nature, and when he came to silt' S
evidence, he was satisfied there was not eP°6sgo
to sustain the prosecution. lie was convinced that,
Attorney-General would not have the means of I.!)
ing the investigation which the Right Hon. Gentleo7,
desired ; his proposition was too general to have ,le
practical effect. But even if the investigation eollick
made successfully, he would submit to the House,'Wb
ther it would be proper to direct such an inquiry 0 Is
moment, when no general measure had been br°-lie
forward for the purpose of suppressing bribery
thought that nothing could more tend to disp.tl,
the character of that House than the 1t1"";
ligation of one particular case at the •}3700
time.—(Hear, hear.) Any one who had been in to
!louse during the present session, must have beentiig
struck with tire exhibition of certain feelings and opill4
which, if quoted, would by no means tend to Pr°7,,,
the sincerity of that House if it adopted the pr2rg,
sition before it.—(Hear, hear, hear.) What had I,lg,
pencil ? Every Committee which had shown 171,
earnestness in prosecuting its inquiry' had a,
charged with indulging in a vindictive Vat
and had been held up as objects rather of censure Se
of approbation.—(Hear, hear.) Every witness-
had avoided answering questions which had
put to him had been the object of spur—
Everything which had opposed an obstacle to an ini
had been hailed with cheers, and when an indivt
had rendered himself obnoxious to censure , •
greatest anxiety was shown to save him from punishlP.
and a few hours' imprisonment was considered suit
i
He therefore trusted that the House would forb
reciting any prosecution in a general form, sod",
also trusted the House would not direct any. `Yt-efl
secution against individuals, until it had ad°l3o
some measure for setting itself right in the 00
mind, for showing its sincerity, by putting a stop to
monstrous evil. The remedy would be found, not in Ali
_
punishment of a few obscure individuals who had e°7l,:
witted bribery, but in the disgrace of those,, ssa
furnished them with the means. (Cheers.) fjll
these reasons, he deemed it inexpedient to order thr:
prosecutions. He considered the present was an °lsis
moment for this country. He could not but remelts
the expression of a celebrated constitutional writer, flg
the sign of the approaching ruin of this country Wn.i3
be when the constituencies should be found to be more eel
than the representatives; and although he was desirous to- sis
up to censure those who furnished the means of bribery. 1 ,
he could not but recollect that such had been the desire
5,
nifesred on the part of a large portion of the constituencie 5,
ceive bribes, that he could not come to any other coneln
than that the constituency itself was most corrupt.—(l7o
For these reasons he could not consent to the motion, nsf
considered that neither the public interest nor the cause fu.
. s lice would be advanced by its adoption.—( Cheers. )
tti ,
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL could not resist
ti
motion on the grounds propounded by his Hon. and Lea
bgy
Friend. He could net agree with him in thinking to
because brit ery had been extensively carried on at the ii
election, therefore the House ought to take no steps to el-4
down until some Legislative measure should have been Piro'
for that purpose. He thought it would be exceedinglso
judged in the House to hold out the idea that persons elbe i
lie permitted to bribe with impunity, by saying that,_,,,
House would not direct any prosecutions to be undertakes'
He admitted, however, that extensive bribery had b_'"
carried on at the last election, but he did not 19
with his Hon. and Learned Friend in opinion that et
feeling of a majority of the Members of that House syss,
favour of screening those who had been guilty of corrupt p
tices. They might be satisfied that there was no part,' theo
was not deeply interested in putting down such a system—so
could not, therefore, agree that the majority of Members 01 ;,4
House were not anxious to take steps to put down to the ersestfili
The question was, what was the best course to adopt ? „dye
regard to the motion of his Right Hon. Friend he .sir="--- sso
felt very serious objections to it, and he doubted saueb.ii
would produce the effect he anticipated. The usual, cgli, , if
was this : if a case were made out by a Committee .0.;.
House, and it were proved before that Committee that indiVelio,
had been guilty of bribery, the House, if satisfied 0f5„,41
charge, directed the Attorney-General to institute a pr°s7oo:
tion against those individuals. His Right Hon. Friend 1t.5,41
posed that the Attorney-General should read over the eeide's,-i
before the Ipswich Committee, and if satisfied with it, W in,s,,s;
tute a prosecution, But he did not know how the Attornerwo
neral could make such an investigation into this eTidetusei
he might read it, and form his judgment on it, but he could ~...,
send for witnesses, or take any steps for proving the trustw.e.iwk,
ness of the evidence. The consequence would be either that
must neglect the order of the House, or institute a pre;
thin en evidence unworthy of credit; and he considere4 soi
injudicious course for the House to institute a prosecution nip _
t vidence that left a chance of the escape of the Fart .
v precsea
objections to the motion were—that it was o'letrarsj :eau— Ito
dent, and that the Attorney-General would sod d upon hint. .Be
discharge the duty which would be
motion
1.,,,, Right finm=
~ould not, therefore, accede to the motion o'
bribery,Frieed, aalnthd,oaulgthhohueghashset.roarilgdlyhediwsaopuplrdova
him, would be ready to give their best assistance for its su
pression.
Lord J. RUSSELL said that he agreed very much in Wq
had fallen from the Hon. arid Learned Solicitor-General..;.'
roved
dd
leiof s
appeared to him that if the House complied with the motion'a
the Right Hon. Centleman opposite, they should either les, )
it to the Attorney-General to find out those cases in which ,pi
might think it advisable to prosecute parties, or they shoutfildt
tfhrieenpdsia7atirceouni);
reel the Solicitor to the Treasury to make further inslntrif„-.4
Now if they directed the Attorney-General to institute P7-ti
ceedings against parties iu consequence of the evidence' gt7l,,t,
before Election Committees, those prosecutions might be :01
successful, as it was admitted that the evidence so given be";
the Committees could not in many cases be relied on. ;4,1
House might thus find its credit diminished by having' eni
menced proceedings against parties which would have led to ;;;
result. In the next place, it appeared to him that if they wt:,
to direct the Solicitor to the Treasury to determine who wen;
the parties who should 'be prosecuted, such a course would.. °`,.,
,
liable to the objection that the party institntl.7,
the prosecutions might be suspected of partiality. I
asmuch as he was himself the partisan of a particular pa.,:
ii)
Even without saying (and he did not feel inclined to is!
sr,
that there would be any partiality in the exercise of that posr,
if it should be found that a prosecution was directed against.t
Liberal attorney or tradesman, and that a Tory attorney bi
tradesman had been left out, it was obvious that, though to, ;
thing might be done by chance, there would be charges of ro‘
ality, and that was sufficient ground that this power shoo d t_',„.)
be given. He did not agree that that House should at T;4#
admit that there was any favour existing in it towards brieas
and corruption—that its Members were unfit persons todi;jll
a prosecution in any case where they had hitherto dire!..J;',
prosecutions. If there were certain persons who appes's7ts
guilty of bribery, he was quite willing, as formerly, to voter',"
their prosecution. There was much danger in letting it o/
seen that they were not willing to prosecute in such an;jso
There had been occasions in which that House had shown soo
favour to parties examined before Election Committees.' 11,,
would state one which struck him with snrptise. 'sae'
)Lord J. Russell) was in the Ifouse when the Hon. and Lear_f;s,if
Member for Woodstock ( Mr. Thesiger) gave notice of e_sfd,
tion respecting the case of a particular individual, a'veini7,,i"
before an Election Committee, who was supposed to haver,,e,
fused to answer several questions put to him. The Chaireelsisi
of the Committee stated to the House that the Committr. '
thought it desirable to have the witness retained in' euetodi '',,
the following Monday (itbeing then Friday). He (Loral. IDSV
sell) had concluded that the House would agree; as was' 11 _.,7, ::,
in the opinion of the Committee thus expressed by their ClIsLS,!'
man. The Hon. and Learned Gentleman gave notice on,.
occasion that he would move at the next sitting of the - Berkd
'
for the liberation of the witness. It occurred to him (Lord
Russell) at the moment, to ask whether, by the nest sitting ',if
the House the Hon. and Learned Gentleman meant sistebOssersil,
day following, and he would have done so, but that he thong;
be would be considered as suspecting the Hon. and Learer,,i'
Gentleman of unfairness. However at a late hour of. -su" 4
night he (Lord John Russell) left the House, and he strO.
__,
quently found that at one o'clock in the morning a motion se'reri
agreed to that the House should adjoufn to Saturday instead Rd?
Monday. The witness was accordingly ordered on Satur:
to be liberated. Nothing he thought could be met:s' i
grossly partial than such eonduct.—( Hear.) If . ail
( Lord J. ti assell) had been the Chairman of the Committleieill, i
lie should have felt that the House was not prepared to stipPnSi',
the Committee against any witness who had refused- to rft"
evidence against bribery. He thought his Hon. and Lesetrykl:
Friend was justified in saying that there had been a disiositsissvp
in certain cases to screen witnesses who refused to gve 87000/
dente.—(Cheers and counter-cheers.) He participated'l
the opinions of Isis Hon. and Learned Friend with regard t0r:,19;
motion before the House, and he agreed with him, and'tsrh.i.e
Solicitor-General likewise, in the hope that there was 0i1:47075'
ides a desire to pat an end to bribery.—( Cheers.) s:SAIS'
Mr. THESIGER said he was astonished at the eouriew"
_j
Noble Lord had pursued—( Cheers )—on a motion upon ato rr
different subject —( Cheers)—without giving the slightest notio i.
te
—(Loud Opposition cheers.) The Noble Lord thought ai:
to advert to the circumstances of a former debate: .50
a most irregular course (Cries of " Oh, 0h,")1464,
debate in which he took occasion to explain, as_S 'sl
thought satisfactorily to the House—(No, no)—his 'coal "?
duct with regard to the motion he made for the release wf.
skijcs4
witness who had been illegally detained in prison. The NoOei's
Lord not being in his place, and not having heard the exelle
tion which he gave, it was necessary, rather for the satistacti!
of the Noble Lord, and not for the House itself, to explain this If
course he pursued on that occasion. The Noble Lord was 11,,)4
taken in supposing that the Committee directed that, ta,'ol
witness was to be detained in prison until Monday.
„'"er si
Committee only directed that the witness should be eonslnSrbe .s 3
to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms, and that it should
reported to the House that the witness had been guilty of Sift :,t'
pressing certain documents. he having been served by a Warr;-, ~
to produce them; and not bringing them before the Corninittiv
the matter wa..F, adjourned on the que,tion respecting the !Ovid:.
of the warrant, and he entertained a strong opinion on the subie ~,, s
He therefore thought it his duty to come down to the
si!°,°.), st
prepared with a notice for the release of the witness.—( oe""si. , st
He asked whether the usual adjournment of the House fro
,j
Friday till Monday was to be moved, and his Right Hon. Frkie.ji ,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer told him it was; upon i"1
he ( Mr. Thessig4) said that it was his intentiop to prop]
that the House should meet on Saturday. He intended t° ut ..'
so when the House was full, but his Right Hon. Friend t?
s. s
hint not to move the adjournment at that time, as it would lie
terfere with a question he was anxious to bring before s'us 2 .
Houie. That was the reason of hit deferring the motion__,.s " - :.
he gave notice to every Member on his side of the Norse.- . .'
(Loud Opposition cheers)—of his intention, and his L'ib4l'.4'
Friend the Member for Cirencester, told many Memberson
eloit.
other side that it was his intention to oppose the atilour.su/11, slie't'sfi
tiii Monday. Ho thought it rather hard, therefore, °toe '''', $
Noble Lord should at this late pariod come forward and oupsesis',#ll
him with having been guilty of surreptitiously brio ins' tel,%; 0
ward this motion, and of unfair conduct towards the n°„"--sP'ett
Inlet) vdiindgtrtuhset
tandajtotuhrenAmroebniteLunoidderwtohuelsdeheaivrectreesntangecneesr.—( 7,410010: j
sosf
ow ell q t
net to have taken this opportunity of making this charge 00000 ii/
hies, but would, at all events, have attended to the eXelsesnoal, se
which he had to gibe of his conduct, and which be Inig_sse,n' ...? 'ld,
received from Hon. Members on that side of the 111"—sseiese'cat,
( Hear, hear.) He had not intended to make any Obserr not hi' es'
on the motion before the House, but having been calleduto it')
by the Noble Lord, he must confess that it struck bins . .0-
would be very inconvenient Indeed for the House to direct r