The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-02-27 00:00:00

VOTE BY BA LLOT.

Lord MEEdocti.N'F., in presenting a petition in favour of the
ballot, said that it had been ac•cilinparried by a letter, setting
forth that the petitioners had been converted to the ballot in
consequence of the intimidation of property. He confessed that
the uncertainty of the measure, and the novelty of its principle
as applicable to this country, alarined him, and prevented him
from adopting it, believing, as he did, that it would not remedy'
the evils complained of.
LordßaouGn AM said, that certain it was that the alleged
exercise of undue influence, and of the existence of intimida-
tion to an extent that was almost destructive of the beneficial
use of the franchise, had of late years caused the ballot to in-
crease in populneitv. It had found new favour and new advo-
cates a:nong the people. k was, hoWever, a question that de-
manded much and serious consideration. He entirely agreed
with his noble friend ' in Opinion that it would be most unsafe to
adopt the principle merely because it had been tried in other
countries, without most anxiously considering and marking the
peculiar circumstances connected with those countries. If the
system were adopted without such inquiry, it assumed that the
two experiments, that in the country where it was first tried,
and that in which it was about to be introduced, proceeded on
the same terms and under the same circumstances: It did not
follow, because the ballot succeeded in another country, that
it should he tried here. It must stand upon other gimlet-cis.
The Duke of WEtArisiwraN should not have felt it necessary
to say one word on this subject if the noble viscount had not
alluded to the letter of the gentleman who had sent him the pe-
iition, and, in doing so, thought
.proper to cast on one par-
ri,o:ar party the blame of adopting those measures which the
noble viscount so much deprecated. Now, he firmly believed
th,ta the consequence of certain transactions of recent years had'
been ta'render the possession of political power by individuals
in different parts of the country—in all parts of the country—
infinitely nuire desirable that ti it was before. Corporations had
acquired' great interests—individuals had acquired great info-
ence—irud there was no doubt that all those interests and all
that influence -had been exerted pi obtain political power:
( Hear, hear.)
,That was the fact. Every one must see it, for
it had passed in the view of them all, and could not be denied.
He did not impute any thing to the noble viscount, or'to any
other periOtt, but he must say that with respect to official in-
fluence, with respect to the exercise of influence of every descrip-
tion, they had within the last 7 years gone back a full century.
He could say, upon his. honour, that things were not now as he re-
collected them in his time, nor even as they were 10 years ago.
The noble lord said that noble lords_ and gentlemen of property
exercised • • • rice over their tenants' in an improper.
manner - .1 e 'on his werd that he knew of no such
thing. ail lOWA,. ; 12 deal about the eXercise or influence
(-14
of he: aiiitiAai". (ttea r,. hear.) He had .heard (treat
dkerliiieir _tieVlif- a d ihat priestly influence, that the
exer,
_c7e'b .. t4tifiali h. n that 'the getting up of riots, existed
.311-004450- ;Iry hbyurin. country (Hear, hear.)
/I
,I.: 4. ,'-;.= •,**7.i.-- .';." • ').
L,,: 44 - .::•,, ,p',',,:;
•-, h. i-: . .;* '4" •-•-: to. . . .
•