The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-15 00:00:00

quiry ought to be instituted, on the same ground as other
Inquiries had taken place. it was his intention, there-
fore, to vote for inquiry, and for the suspensi6n of the
writ for a limited time, till that inquiry should take
place. He thought, at the same time, that they ought
at once to determine what the nature of the inquiry
should be, and the constitution of the tribunal to con-
sider it.

Mr. O'CONNELL would leave the constitution of the
Committee to the Bight lion. Baronet.
Sir R PEEL—Oh, I'd rather not have it.
Sir C. LEMON was for the inquiry, and the suspen-
sion of the writ.

Sir R. INGLIS thought that it ought to be issued for
Belfast, even if they had a Committee of Inquiry. No
sufficient grounds had, in his opinion, been shown why,
in that instance, the great privilege of the subject should
be withheld.

Mr. REDINGTON thought that the writ should
not now be issued ; and he thought the Eight Hon.
Baronet had acted, on that occasion, in a manner which
did him great credit.—(Hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL said, that his lion. Friend oppo-
site stated that he wou!cl not suspend the writ unless the
Hanse was prepared to disfranchise the borough. Now
this seemed to him (Lord J. Russell) an extraordinary
position. It was natural that the Ilouse should institute
an inquiry in the first instance, and leave the seat 1:-.cant
in the mean time. The facts stated to the House were,
in his opinion, sufficient to justify such a course. The
remedy which.they would hereafter apply might be such
as to procure a better and a fairer system of election at
Belfast. It might be proved that a number of
witnesses were in the habit of receiving bribes
and they might purge the constituency of that part of their
body. The might devise other remedies for the evils which
now prevailed in the electoral s3stein in Ireland. They
might find, for instance, that too great a number of names
could poll in one booth only, and they might remove that in-
convenience. But all these things, and many others,
must be the result of the inquiry. They should not allow
a large borough to escape without any investigation into al-
leged corrupt practices, while they were ready to suspend the
writs in smaller constituencies. In large boroughs, as well
as in small ones, they were bound to take the course which
might be thought appropriate in each instance. He confessed
he regretted that a different course had been taken with re-
spect to some of the boroughs in Which corrupt practices were
complained of, and it appeared to him that it would have been
better to•have issued none of these writs in the first instance
until the different cases had all been considered. However, in
the present instance, he was quite satisfied with the course
taken by the Hight Hon Baronet, and he should certainly vote
with him.

Mr. F. SHAW in reply, said that he had no desire what-
ever to make this a party conflict. The Members themselves
denied that they had had any participation in the compromise.
They stated that no such compromise had been acted on, and
he believed what they stated. A compromise, as such, was not
wrong. If a compromise were entered into by Members of
that House for the purpose of avoiding an investigation into
bribery, then such a compromise was a gross breach of privi-
lege on the part of such Members, and should be visited as
sueh ; but here, such was not the case. He verily believed
that Mr. Johnson was a bona fide candidate, and that if the
writ were issued, there would be a severe contest,
and in all probability a fresh petition, and in con-
sequence, a fresh Committee. He had no doubt that
the refusal to defend the seat, was a mere matter of
calculation. The agents, no doubt, considered that
it would be less expensive to go to a new eleetion than to
defend the seat. In the Nottingham case the Members had
been declared duly elected. But that was not the case here.
The parties here were, he believed, bona fide candidates again,
and there would be a full opportunity of investigating the
matter before a tribunal constituted for that purpose. He did
not think there was any case made for the suspension of the
writ, because it was the established law that the writ should
issue until sufficient cause was shown why it should not, and
he did not think that sufficient cause was shown in the pre-
sent case. He knew very well, after what had fallen from his
Right Hon. Friend, what the result of a divi-ion would be.—
(Cheers.) He knew he would be in asmall minority--( Cheers)
—and he would not be willing to afford the gentleman oppo-
site a party triumph.—(Cheers.) His wish, therefore, was
riot to press the motion.—(" Divide, divide.") If it went
to a division, he should vote according to his own convictions,
but knowing what the result would be, he did not wish to
divide.—(" Divide, divide.") As the
.gentlemen around him
seemed to be anxious for a division, he would press the motion
The House then divided when there appeared,
For issuing the writ ...
Against it

73
170

Majority against issuing the writ
On our return to the gallery, we found
Mr. O'CONNELL stating (as we understood) that he
would name the members of his Committee to-morrow.

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