, 1876-04-16

The English Pecksnif6an Journals and Or
gans of the dunkey clubs, continue to des.
cant upon the decline Of public morals il
the United States, to the great de1sctation Of
| snobdom. Even tho London Times, which
deals with all topics with a broader range
and better comprehension than any other
British paper, has fallen, to some extent, into
the like vein, and finds it necessary to assure
its readers that the American people are
I honest at the core; and, altogether, deal of
printers ink is wasted and good white paper
spoiled in Her Majestys realm in pointing
out the fostering corruption in our public
affairs Of which the people Of this country
are setting about purging the: body polite.
incidentally, however, the scent of the Brit
ish papers for corruption at long range ia
disturbed by the reeking rottenneEs under
theirown nostrils, and coming down from lofty
critical heights, to which they mounted
for our benefit and their own awful waru~
ing, the English newspapers are CON-
| PEELED to make mention. Of the
plague-spots in their own political system.
Thus it comes that the press Of all England
is occupied with discussion Of the corrup-
ton Of the ballot in that country, as COM
pared with which the rascalities Of the TWEED
Ring in New York, and even the exploits of
our own THonNToN, of the House Of David,
and his fellows, were mild offenses. The tes-
timony taken by the Royal Commission as to
the elective corruption at Norwich discloses
what may be assumed to be the condition of
affairs in many other large towns. The in
yestigation was brought about by the fact
that for years the election there has been fol-
lowed by contest and unseating of the men,
ber returned to tho House Of Commons, and
the Commission was appointed to find out
what was the matter OF Norwich.
Upon elaborate investigation it Was found
that the corruption, like the common law,
dates back to the time when the memory of
man Eunneth not to the contrary. There
was, in short, no record of time when
voters did not sell their votes, and every free
man for generations had looked forward to
the increase Of his income, upon his arrival
at the legal age, by peddling his vote. In
Norwich there wers, until the Reform act Of
1867, but about II, 600 voters, s,-freemen, Free
holders, and householders; but that act, under
the f10 rental clause, added nearly ten
Thousand to the number Of householding
voters. It was, according to the report,
simply the addition Of so many purchasable
voters to the whole number before upon the
market. The new voters, who for long
years had been excluded from the electoral
franchise, and with envy had beheld how
their more favored neighbors drove pros
porous trade in sale Of their votes, in slang
phrase, upon acquiring the ballot, went in
to make up for lost time. The effect Of the
competition in corruption was to reduce the
market quotation for votes. That brought
about more shameless pedding of them to
find the highest bidders, and the voters Of
all classes, it was proved, are now in the
habit Of besieging the political committees
and managers for money on every and any
prete1t. The Commission finds that there
are not less than between three and four
thousand voters in the town who are regular
II brihed on one side or the other at every
election, and whose votes can only be Ee-
cured by purchaaa- It is concluded that