The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-11-14

each instance have ranged all the way
| Maple. the great retail furniture dealer in
London. has had to remain content with
mere knighthood. although his contriou-
tons to the campaign fund of his party
have been almost as heavy as those which
secured a peerage for Lord Brassey while
the equally wealthy Nitrate King" the
| late Colonel North, are known to have
paid enormous sums to the campaign fund
of the Conservative party solely IN order TO
secure their admission to the Carlton Club,
| the principal Tory stronghold, the member
| ship in which, they We're convinced, would
add vastly to their social distinction.
THE QUEEN A PARTY THERETO.
Here in this country the assessments and
contributions for the campaign fund are
more or less sub rosa, and it is only occa-
sionally that they are brought to light
| through the indiscretion of the press. But
in England the Queen herself may be said
10 be more or less a party to the system.
| For each outgoing and incoming premier
submits TO her a list of candidates for hon
| ors and dignities which are admittedly re-
wards, not for services to the nation, but
merely 10 his party. and by the party its
campaign fund is meant No stronger evil
| dence need be given of the important part
| played by the campaign fund in English
parliamentary life than the fact that the
| present disorganiZed cOndiuon of the LIB
| eral party, and it's failure To take advantage
| of any of the opportunities offered by the
| mistakes of Lord Salisbury during the last
| year, both al home and abroad, are ascribed
~
| is due to the fact that since the withdrawal
! OF Lord Rosebery from the leadership of
| to the party fund have refused to contribute
| until he resumes the direction, taking the
! ground that Sir William Harcourt, as the
author OF those so-called death duties
which weigh SO heavily on all the rich is
dangerous man to follow, his leaningS be-
| ing mani1estly in the direction of socialism
and of hostility to property and capital.
1t is hardly necessary to point out that
the elections as now carried on in England
! have nothing whatever in common with
| those so graphically described by Charles
| Dickens in his immortal "PickWick Papers.
! The savage brawls, the rotten apples the
CABBAGE stalks, the carcasses of defunct
/ cats and dogs as We'll ancestral eggs,
| which We're formerly among the most pic
| turesque of English parliamentary elections,
are for the most part merely memories.
| Elections are no longer conducted on the
| hustings,i where the candidates appeared
| and presented themselves to the electors.
| In fact, hustings have been abolished, and
! instead of the former public registration of
/ votes at one single polling place, to which
| the oft-drunken voters were brought In car
| riages at the expense of the candidate, be-
| ing mobbed on the way. the voting is now
no longer verbal and public, but in writing
i and secret, While the polling places have
| been multiplied From this it will be seen
! that the elections in England are much like
/ those in this country. There is however,
one difference that in all cases where there
are charges of unfair dealing, of bribery, or
the returns, it is the Supreme Court and
! not Parliament, to which is intrusted the
| QutY or inquiry ana decision. rms measure
! is peculiarly efticacious. For ~ has served
| to invalidate several doubtful elections
| which might have escaped Just annulment
| through the camaderje or the Indifference of
| the House of Commons.
| ODDITIES OF ELECTION LAWS,
! 1t is a curious fact that while there are
many standard publications on the proce-
| dure of the House of Commons and on va
rious questions relating to the franchise
there is not a single work in existence
which contains an account of the curious
legislation relating to electoral bribery. In
| order to obtain any succinct notion of this
| part of British Jurisprudence it is necessary
not only to examine the statutes bearing
on the subject many of them consisting of
| fifty pages of printed matter apiece enacted
| in the years 1882, 1S41, 1852, 1854, 1858, 1868,
| 1863 1870 1872 1883, 1884 and 1885, but also
| to wade through the dreary pages of Han.
| sard's Parliamentary Debates, with a view
of discovering among the mass of verbosity
| contained therein some CLEAN of light which
may enable the mere vulgar mortal to
| fathom the dark depths of British legal
| phraseology. For in England all the re-
! forms that have taken place in this, as in
| other matters, have been DONE so to speak,
! by adding and grating to the existing laws,
| instead of uprooting the latter and creating
| an entirely new system. 1t is on this ac-
| count that 1T Is so necessary in England,
| in order to understand matters to study,
not only the present, but also what has
| gone before and led up to it.
| Among the many oddities of the English
election laws which will appear strange to
Americans are those which prohibit the cam
| didate from paying for the use of carriages
or horses and from defraying the railroad
| expenses for the conveyance of electors to
the polls; He is, however, at perfect lib
| erty to place his own carriages and horses,
| or those OF his friends, at the disposal of his
| constituents for the purpose OF course,
! this regulation is absolutely opposed to all
| democratic notions. For whereas the rich
candidate and his friends can place any
| number Of their private carriages at the
al IF ala saFrn rl.nw,o vol
ish the privilege of driving for once In gor-
| geous state equipages, the poor candidate
| any public conveyance for the transporta-
| ton of his voters to the polls. A curious
| exception is, however, made in favor of
| both in localities such as, for instance on
| the sea coast or on the banks of rivers,
! where the electors have to cross the water
| in order 70 reach the polling places; In
| cases such as these the candidate Is allowed
| to pay for the use of a boat.
| Then, too. any person who either himself
| or by proxy, either before, during or after
| the election, directly or indirectly gives,
| provides or pays for. either wholly or in
| part any meat drink, entertainment or
! provision TO or for persons entitled TO vote"
| commits an act of bribery sufficient to in
validate the election, for the candidate Is
responsible for all the actions of his Sgents
Thus ] can recall Mr.. Joseph Chamber
! lain relating to me on one occasion how his
| friend and chief lieutenant, Mr.. Jesse Col
lings had been unseated after having hesa
returned as member for Ipswich merely be-
cause Of his agents had promised to pay
the sum OF rs OU-lndJ Is say, ABOUT NJ
centS-for defrayng the cost of the rail-
road ticket to Ipswich Of single voter who
was temporarily absent from the borough.
The agent discovered afterward that he had
done wrong in Offering to defray the small
expense IL question. and accordingly
fused payment. The voter considerably
disguised, was loud in his complaints, which
came to the knowledge of Mr.. Coings's de-
feated opponent. who thereupon made pc
tition against the validity of Mr. Collings's
election on the ground of illegal practices
that is TO say. of corruption. The Supreme
Court judge before whom the case was
brought for trial deemed this single cir
cumstance sufficient cause to unseat Mr..
Ceilings.
Let me add. in conclusion, that it was
while discussing this subject with me some
years ago that Mr.. Chamberlain. the pres
ent secretary Of state for the colonies, in
formed me that his total expenses at the
previous general electiOns when ne was re-
turned as member for Birmingham, which
he described as "the most absolutely i'm
corrupt constituency of the United King
DOM amounted to $4,000.
DEsERTERS IN THE EVERGLADES.