The record-union., 1894-03-08
POCKET BOROUGHS
How Seats in Parliament are Bought
and Sold.

and Sold.
When William Pitt first entered Parli-
ament it was as mem Der Tor seat con-
troiled absolutely by Sir James Lowther.
lie writes 10 his mother: "Appleby is the
place l am 10 represent, and the election
will be made probably in a week or ten
days without my having any trouble or
even visiting my constituents" Nat
uraIIy, the proprIetCrS OF seats soon
learned to traffic in them. Men bought
them and kept them for sale at election
times, sure OF a market. Chesterfield Of
tered q "borough-jobber," as he called
hlm, &, 800 for seat tor his son, but
learned that the price had gone up to
33,OO0, at least, and some seats sold for
$4,000. Old Sarum is famous. 1t was re-
duced to one house, and for q long time to
seven voters, who elected two members.
The constituency of Helston, where the
franchise was originally in a corporation,
at length dwindIed TO one elect0r, who
a little earlier, on petition for another
constituency, 1t was proved that 203 voters
out OF 2l0 had been bribed.
Major Cartwright, in his efforts to in
trOduce universal suffrage, gave statistics
Tor 1920 that showed that ninety seven
Lords practically owned 200 seats in the
House of Commons; ninety wealthy
1OI 1O- NlIO SIuhS Ol
ton pocket boroughS brought in the
house l37 MEMBERS" Ministerial patron
age furnished twenty more, so that 353
members OF the house were ''COrruptly or
tyrannlcally imposed on The Commons in
gross violation of the law, and to the pal
pable subversion of the Constitution"
Such evils could not, OF course. endure.
There must be either reform or complete
loss of freedom. The first great step was
taken In 1882, when the great reform bill
dlsfranchised fifty-six OF the worst of the
rotten boroughs, returning altogether III
members, lessened the representation of
thirty more ana gave votes to new con-
stltuencies either by splitting old ones or
by creating new ones that, like Manches-
ter, had grown up with no representa-
tive at all. This stopped the sale OF bor-
oughs, but it did not stop the venal vot-
ing.
In 1854 Corrupt Practices Act was
passed that served to make bribery more
dangerous, but which was still regularly
evaded. In 1868 q most important Act
provided that contested elections should
be settled by court and not by the
House, as had been customary hereto
fore, since it had been found that the ma
jority in the House would strengthen its
power rather than do justice. The chief
step against bribery, perhaps, was taken
Act, which, in general, is not materially
different from our new so-called Austral-
ian ballot Acts.
These acts, however, were not suffi-
cient, though they were good and neces-
sary as parts OF a system. According to
Sir Henry James, in a late article in the
Forum, corrupt practices, certainly
bribery and treating, remained in full
force in 1874. 1t was found that, though
the ballot was secret, ''where bribery had
been resorted to the votes very generally
followed the bribe." In the election of
1880, when the law had been in effect
eight years, and politicians had learned
to evade it successfully, sit became evil
dent" on trials Of petitions, that cor
rupt practices had IN no way dimin-
ished." In that year it was proved by
one election agent that he had bribed 1868
voters out of 2, ,764 that voted for his cam
dldate, and like cases were not rare, In
direct forms of bribery were common.
One campaign pole was bought for G25; it
took thirty men three days al high wages
to erect it; two reliefs of watches of six
men each stood sentry by it at se2 each,
etc.
In 1874, says prominent Conservative
of London, man took the trouble to dis
guise himself as a chimney-sweep, to
provide himself with supply of oranges,
each of which contained a sovereign, and
to crawl up the chimney In an appointed
room. The bribed voters were instructed
to enter the room, and an orange was
dropped to each from the chimney. AT
Birmingham the practice of giving q
voter glass of beer with a sovereign in
the bottom became SO common that it was
known as the "Birmingham trick. ."-J.
w. jerks in the Century.