The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-08-01 00:00:00

t they have contrived to delay the
passing of the measure until, by a sessional order of
the House of Lords, it is' oo late for further progress
this session. The principal features of the bill
appear to be a restriction upon expenses, all of
which are to be paid 'through a legally appointed
)fficer, forbidding all allowances for refreshments,
and calling for a declaration from each
that he has .-,-:pended no other money
the officer, excepting, ex-
nd contributions to liocal
This Clause has, however, -been de-
stage of the Bill. If the
common affairs of human life could 'be con-
ducted on abstract principles, and acts of Parlia-
ment be made go stringent as to be 'beyond the
possibility -of evasion, we might understand that
some good resi?lt would be likely 'to -arise from
such laboured ,elaborateness of restrictions. But
as human mature.is constituted, we ,iiew the inge-
nious fabric as a monster delusion 'upon popular
credulity, deSigned to compass a certain end, by
affording the sole advantages obtained by elec-
tioneering 'tactics to pettifogging 'attorneys and
unscrupulous agents. The memberwas to be called
upon to /make a declaration that he had paid
nothing towards the expenses of his election except
the amount legally allowed, but lad was to forbid
zealous friends to the cause from'fioing that which
the carnliilate is debarred from'? If electors and
election-Clubs will join in noisy demonstrations,
and prolifie refreshments for 'themselves out of
the common fund, what restriction will be afforded
by debarring the candidate from contributing to
the outlay P In many elections the expenses are
borne bythe zealous friends of ,'the cause, without
calling•upon the candidate, and'no effort of legisla-
tive ingenuity can make the member responsible
for the acts of his friends, without committing a
far greator injustice than these-Election Reformers
profess,to remedy. Let us imagine, also, certain
members of the Irish Brigade—who have shown
that they have no regard for the-solemn obligations
of an oath—called upon to make a declaration that
their election has cost them ,no more than legal
expenses, for which, indeed, ;their poverty might
induce 'the belief, but will thedeclaration include
allusionlo the far more deadly weapons of priestly
intimidatior, mobs of armed ruffians incited by
denunciations from Romish altars, and the other
means by which freedom of election is practically
demonstrated in Ireland P We would rather see
a return to the old system, where the Tory candi-
date was .attended to the hustings by troops of
supporters, headed with a baud like an orchestra,
and the calours of Church and State gaily flaunting
in the sun, where treating was no bribery, because
practised openly, and had at least a colourable title
to the distinction of being considered hospitality.
If some exeesses were committed, they were at
least as excusable, and far more honest, than the
mean and pitiful evasions by which modern
Liberals seek to gain their ends, and the lying
promises by which they cheat their ignorant dupes
into a support of 'their pretensions. From the
days of Jack Cade, who promised his followers
that seven halfpenny loaves should be sold for a
penny, the three.looped pot should have ten hoops,
and he would make it felony to drink small beer,
Radicals have ever practised upon the unthinking
masses with similar delusions, varied to suit the
taste of the times ; and simulating virtuoas indig-

lember

than that paid throe

penses for
charities.

ristration

feated in the last

nation at substantial enjoyments being preferred
to empty promises, they seek to keep the market
to themselves by deckling theirs to be the only
current coin. We are no apologists for bribery,
which might be almost, if not altogether, prevented
by disfranchising the voter, and the cases, if any
.existed, might be gone into before the revising
barrister at the time of registration ; but it is .a
mere morbid pretence of purity to seek to impose
a restriction on eating and drinking, as though
sueh means could prove any inducements to elec-
tors to transfer their support from one candidate
to another. We will take the instance of our own
borough, where the Conservative candidates have
been attended to the hustings by a procession,
consisting of thousands, decorated with ribbons,
bearing innumerable flags and banners, and accom-
panied by bands of music, where refreshments have
been liberally supplied, and where working-men
have been paid the wages which they lost by
having a holiday, and we defy the most unscru-
pulous political opponent, the most bigoted
clamourer for purity of election—which means
Radical triumph—to point to one single instance
of a vote being given for the Conservatives which
but for such display and such alleged treating
would have been given for a Radical candidate.
The cry got up against corruption at elections is a
miserable mockery of common sense, and only not
resisted because the majority seem deficient in
moral courage to avow openly that which they
really believe to be defensible. We have no such
scruples. We are not willing that the battle of
the Constitution should be so fought as to give all
the advantage to the Radicals ; and, as the exten-
sion of the franchise, which was a Radical act, has
conferred electoral privileges on many who, like
children, are " pleased with a rattle, tickled with
a straw," we contend that it is quite as lawful,
quite as honest, quite as constitutional, to lead
them in the right way by the arguments which
are intelligible, as it is to leave them to be gulled
by Radical agitators, who would sell their country
to destruction, and their constituents to ruin, for
their own personal aggrandisement. There is
nothing new in all this. Jack Cade was a type of
the class. In the reign of Charles I. the Radicals
got the upper hand, murdered their King, and
substituted a reign of terror. In our own days,
the Radicals are the supporters of Romish super-
stition and priestcraft, under the wretched pretence
of civil and religious liberty, which has often been
made a cloak for the foulest crimes ; and this new-
found zeal for purity of election is only another
phase of the same evil spirit which would transfer
the government of the country from its legitimate
leaders into the hands of cold-blooded political
economists and the political agitators of the Man-
chester school.