Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-08-07
ELECTIONS IN ENGLAND.
a DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGLISH
ELECTION METHODS.
How Candidates for the House of
Commons Get a Nomination.
Bribing Voters-The Canvass


Eng and and elections as they are con-
Quoted in this country are very different.
The differen; does not eX st so mu h in
the manner of voting, for both countries
have now the ballot, but the parapher
MALTA, the candidates and the general
way in which they go to work differ very
materially. The writer has b: en- through
several elections on the other side. and
he will endeavor to give short account
of how an embryo legislator who seeks
to support Mr.. Gladstone or the 'paper
Unionists' in the British House of Com.
mons "gets there"
The first thing man does is to seek
out good "agent." The Parliamentary
agent is the most important actor in the
p. opos e campaign. The woods in the
neighborhood of Westminster are full of
these agents, who have the electoral roll
of the various boroughs and counties at
their fingers ends To the agent lie i'm
parts his polit c., and by the agent he
is introduced to a committee of the
party" who, if he be Liberal, have
their headquarters at the Reform Club
in Pail Mall; Or. if he be IL Cons ervative,
to that which sits in tn Conservative
Club, in st. James SIR ct. By this com
mlttee he is put through his facings, and
the most Important question is: "Iow
much will you put upi' This money is
not for his own election expenses, but
goes into the gene al election fund of the
party, who use It to pay the expenses Of
men who have no money of TIER o wn,
but who are useful members of the Earty,
either as ump-speake:s or blind follow
er, Of their leaders into the division lobby.
A candidates personal expenditure un-
der the new rules rarely exceeds 5000.
although in large constituency the
expenses may run oyer $1,000, but the
sum, small as it is, is beyond the
purse of many of the briefess
barristcrs and impecunious journal
its, who are good 81 eakers and who
are sent down to oppose by the magic of
their tongue some rich nabob, who by
the magic of his doodle" hopes to cap
ture Il constituency. Here let it be SAID
that bribing in the way it is d ne here,
namely, by means of the cold, hard dol
lar lett in the hanging overcoat or con-
veniently dropped in a letter box, is now
almost unknown IN England. 1t is not SO
very many years ago since it was the Gus
to IL to buy political clu IS at so much per
head and so much for the boss. Every
one knew it was done, but, as both sides
did it, little was said about it, but with
the ballot new era was inaugulated,
and although indirect bribing is rs com
mon as sand in Il river, still the pill has
to be gilded and great care taken in adj
ministering it. He Elm comes the advan-
tage of having a good agent. Some of
the means taken indirectly to bride the
e.cc:ors are sometimes very amusing. A
few years ago Baron Grant, well known
tinancier of the Jay Gould type, vas
elected for Kidderminster. a town famous
throughout the world for its carpet manu-
factories. The Baron was afterN ard
! unseated for bribery that was unique in
its way, Rightly Judging that, in many
cases, the way to mans vote was
through the women, he gave a huge pic
mic to the inhabitants of the borough
| and at the picnic pre- ,cnted every woman
with new bonnet ribbons. This was af-
terward held to be bribery. At the last
| election but one the elected member for
! Sandwich was unseated. His modus
operandi was to hire men at $40 day
to place posts in the ground from which
to take they out again.
In all this bribing business the candi-
date must take care to be profoundly ig-
norant. All he has to do is to foot the
| agents bills and ask no disagreeable
| questions and he will be told no lies. If
an inqu ry is he'd and it can be proved
that he has had any guilty knowledge of
4, the bibing, then he Is not only SUI iect
to imprisonment, but he is also incapac-
itated from sitting In Parliament for
seven years On the other hand. if it is
done by his agent, without his knowl-
edge, then The only penalty is unseating
Sometimes a DO ough is so thoroughly
corrupt, every voter in the place having
j his price, that it is disGranchised. This
still happens, although English writers
will affirm that br.bing is unknown in
| England
Let us suppose that the cand date has
fully satisfied the ''party" with the
amount put up" the next thing is to
! find a constituency. In this delicate
matter the prospective constituency has
ve'y little to say. There are few
''pocket boroughs" yet remain ng that
have returnt d members of the same fam
q
! in, er!ered wi h, and the hunting ground
/ for the new candidate is generally soueh hit
for in some manufactu ing town in tie
: provinces" Strange as 1t may appear,
these places general y prefer to avail
/ themselves of the services of some I'M
! known "gen Imam from Lunnon" rather
! than known local light. The former is
taken on trust, and little is known for or
against him, except that he comes wei
recommended by the party managers in
/ London, whereas in the case of the local
man possibly too much is known. and
petty ciIues and j alonsies would
stand in his way. The next thing
| to be done art"r the constituency
his been selected and approved
| of is to hire local agents, and then rent
as many committee rooms as the law will
allow. In old days there was no limit to
the number of committee rooms, and
many doubtfGl voter was brought into
line by his house rent for the year being
: paid for the use of his front parlor as a
committee room This is now done
| away with, and the law only allows Il
certain number Then the ISIS ing of the
address to the electors is next in order,
and John Spruggins, ESQ.,, occupation,
maybe, pawnbroker, is duly launched as
candidate for the suffrages of the free
and enlightened electors of the borough
Of scarborough. After this we ha, e
! the usual canvassing-thlt is the same
| all the wor d over, although in Eng and
| if is UOnn into with for ,,oro o,+Lna:,,.,