The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-12-20 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM

(From the Oxford Herald.)
The borough of Andover still continues to send Members
to Parliament—here is the mode in which the elective fran-
chise is there exercised ; it occurs in the examination on
Lord Huntingtower's Bankruptcy.
" Mr. Nias—What was your second transaction with the
bankrupt? My second transaction •
the 29th of June, 1841, for electioneer,

th his lordship was

when his lordship was a minor. His lordship wished them
to raise £l,OOO, which I had authority to get on any
terms. This sum I knew was necessary from other sources
to secure his lordship's return. I came to London from An-
dover, and procured £BOO in £5 notes. It was to make a
great show, which effect it really had. I handed those to his
lordship up stairs. The notes, which were called the physic
they wanted, having been exhibited to some of the worthy
electors, there was of course a considerable sensation.
(Laughter.) I mention this to show that his lordship could
hardly be expected to account fully on such a transaction as
that; it was like water running through a sieve. The notes,
as I have said, having been exhibited to some of the worthy
electors, I was carried into the room to be introduced to his
committee, taking care to shake up the physic, as it was
called." (Loud laughter. The vein of merriment exhibited
by the witness created merriment.)

" Mr. James.—To be well sliaken before taken, I sup-
pose?—Yes, precisely so; and it had great effect upon the
electors." (Increased laughter.)
The facetious and moral money-lender has di _r
purity of the electors of Andover with a very vivid pens..
but even his talent was scarcely sufficient to display the con-
duct of Lord William Paget in its proper colours. Lord
William Paget went down to Andover with his friend Lord
Huntingtower, a minor. If we are to believe the latter and
his agent, Mr. Douglas, be was, if returned to parliament,
to be merely the place-keeper of Lord Huntingtower until he
came of age. Lord William Paget was returned, and, as we
learn from the same authorities, by the force of bribes, sup-
plied by monies raised upon the credit of his friend Lord
Huntingtower, by Lord Huntingtower's friend Douglas.
All that Lord William contributed to this electioneering en-
terprise was his name—the value of which is something like
a cypher, divided by cypher, or an indefinite quantity. Mr.
Douglas says—

" Lord Huntingtower and Lord William Paget had en-
tered into an agreement that if the four bills of £l,OOO each
upon which they both were liable, and which were given at
Andover for the purposes of the election, could be taken up
and returned by Lord Huutingtower to Lord William Paget.
that then Lord William Paget would resign his seat in parlia-
ment for the purpose of Lord Huntingtower's being re-
turned. To accomplish this, I discounted the bills I then
had of his Lordship's, which I had drawn upon him, and are
more particularly mentioned in the agreement of the 17th of
July, and paid the 41,000, and delivered the same over to
his lordship."
At a subsequent stage of the yroceedings—

" Mr. Jam-es asked. Lord Hsuntingto;er if Lord William
Paget had ever been called upon to resign his seat for An-
dover. His lordship stated in the affirmative. A requisition,
signed by 100 of the electors, had been presented to him, but
he refused. When the deputation waited upon Lord William
Paget, he insulted them, and refused to resign. He did not
intend to do that, he said. There was also a private agree-
ment between them as gentlemen, but that was not re-
garded."

Alas, for the characters of Andover and Lord William !

MAGNANIMITY OF A NEW YORK EDITOR

We copy the following ridiculous expo
York Morning Herald:—
" COL. WEBB—His CONDITION OF MIND IN PRISON.—
We arc afraid that our old friend and fellow-sufferer, Col.
Webb, of the regular army, is hardly in the right frame of
mind to receive an act of kindness, mercy, or pardon. 'Phe
Rev. Dr. Anthon should by all means visit him, for since
his confinement he has exhibited some strange aberrations of
temper. _

ir from the New

"let us unfold our budget.
" As soon as the colonel was imprisoned, nctwithstanding
all he has said and done against us, I felt softened to the
heart at his melancholy condition—wounded and in prison
on such an affair. 1 accordingly got up a petition on Sunday
last, and by Monday night had it signed by 500 as respecta-
ble names as there are in New York. I sent it up to the
governor as fast as possible, so as to throw my little mite of
sympathy into his case, and aid his pardon and liberation as
much as possible. _

" In addition to all this, I sent a note to Mr. Gilbert
Davis, corner of William and Pine streets, who keeps a
famous wine-cellar there—ordering half a dozen of cham-
pagne to be sent to Webb's apartments in the Tombs—also
a similar order to Henriques, 51, William-street, an equally
famous cigar store, to send a box of his best regalias. The
following contains the order for the latter :