CORRUPT BOROUGHS.
As is usual in the first session of a new parliament, the reports of election-committees disclosed scenes of gross bribery. Samples of corruption were brought before the house by Colonel Maberly and Mr. Sykes from the boroughs of Northampton and Leicester.
Enormous sums had been abstracted from corporation funds for the purpose of defraying the expenses of candidates for the boroughs. Colonel Maberly moved, with reference to the borough of Northampton, that a select committee be appointed to take into consideration the petition which had been presented to the house, complaining of the conduct of the corporation. The attorney-general, in reply, said, that if the case were really as it had been stated, and if the corporation had been guilty of the breach of trust mentioned, then there was an undoubted remedy in the court of chancery, and he argued that this was the ordinary and legal mode of obtaining redress in such cases. The motions, however, was supported by Messrs. Spring Rice, II. Gurney, and Abercromby, with Lords Althorp and Russell, on the ground that there was more in the case than the mere misapplication of funds. They argued that the purpose to which the funds had been misapplied directly affected the privileges and constitution of the house of commons; that the house would degrade itself if it sanctioned the attorney-general’s going before any court, whether of law or of equity, to obtain the decision of that court on the propriety or power of the house to interfere in cases of this nature, and that the case was a fitting one to be investigated by a committee. The application of money for such purposes found an advocate in Mr. Peel, who asked, that if corporation funds should not be spent for any other than corporation purposes, what was to be said of that of London, which had recently voted £1000 to the Greeks? The real question before the house was, that supposing the corporation to have power to apply its funds to other than charitable purposes, had it a right to appropriate them to such a purpose as paying the legitimate expenses incurred in forwarding the election of a particular member of parliament? This was a question which merited deep consideration. Might a peer subscribe one, two, or five thousand pounds towards defraying such expenses?—might not a corporation do so too? He would not advise them to do it; but he was not prepared to say that in doing it they were acting illegally, or would be guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house of commons. He should suggest that a select committee be appointed simply to inquire into the payment, or engagements for payment, of any sum for electioneering purposes, made by the corporation of Northampton at the last election, which suggestion was adopted. Concerning the borough of Leicester, Mr. Sykes moved that a select committee should be appointed “to take into consideration the petition from the borough of Leicester, to examine witnesses, and to report to the house thereon.” This motion was opposed by Messrs. C. Wynn and Peel, as a manifest attempt to evade the provisions of the Grenville Act, which might forthwith be repealed if motions of this nature were sanctioned. The petitioners, it was said, had taken legal advice on the subject, and finding that they had no case, they allowed the time limited by that act to elapse, and now demanded the special interference of the house. They found this mode of procedure more convenient than the former, under which they would have had to find security for costs in the event of the petition turning out to be frivolous, and would have been obliged at least to maintain their own witnesses. It was inconvenient, unjust, and degrading to the character of the house, it was asserted, to descend into the politics of borough elections, and that applications like this ought to be resisted. On the other hand, Sir Francis Burdett argued that if the petition were rejected, it would be viewed as indicating a want of that constitutional jealousy which should induce them to open their doors widely, instead of shutting them abruptly to complaints of this nature. The house, he said, was imperatively called on to investigate the circumstances connected with the offence. On a division, however, the motion was lost by a majority of ninety-two to sixty-eight.
A severer fate menaced some of the Cornish boroughs. Two of them appeared so pre-eminent in dishonesty, that the most determined advocates of the old system could not ward off retributive justice. A petition against the return for Penryn had been presented, and although corrupt practices could not be traced to the sitting members, yet the committee reported that the most gross and shameful bribery had prevailed. Mr. Legh Keck, chairman of the committee, was compelled by a sense of duty to move the following resolutions:—“That it appears to this house that the most notorious bribery and corruption were practised at the last election of members to serve in parliament for the borough of Penryn, and that such practices were not new or casual in the borough, the attention of the house having been called to similar practices in the years 1807 and 1819. That the said bribery and corruption deserved the most serious consideration of parliament. That leave be given to bring in a bill for the more effectual preventing of bribery and corruption in that borough.” These resolutions were agreed to; the sitting members for Penryn only raising their voices against it, and a bill was ordered to be brought in in accordance with the third resolution. This bill having been read a second time, the house proceeded to examine further evidence in proof of the corruption. In that evidence there was much of mere belief, and much prevarication on the part of some of the witnesses; but the house came to the conclusion that a clear case of bribery and corruption had been established. The grand point, therefore, to consider was, the punishment to be inflicted, or the remedy to be applied. On that subject there was a diversity of opinions. Mr. Keck proposed the extension of the franchise to the hundreds, while Lord John Russell contended that the borough, like that of Grampound, should be disfranchised altogether. He moved as an amendment, “that the borough of Penryn shall be excluded hereafter from returning burgesses to serve in parliament.” The original motion was supported by the ministry, who contended that though enough had been proved to call for the interference of the house, yet there was not sufficient to induce it to proceed to total disfranchisement. Mr. Canning remarked, that he thought it clear that a verdict of “guilty” must be given; but he did not think such a degree of guilt was established as would warrant the extinction of that which in its blameless exercise was a valuable possession, and the taking it entirely away from those who had exercised it innocently because others had abused it. He protested, however, against its being supposed that, in such a case as Grampound, he should feel any difficulty in erecting a new representation in lieu of that which might be taken away; and in giving his vote for the original motion, he would give it with reference to this particular case, avoiding the general question, and the general principles on which it was to be considered. The amendment was supported by Lords Althorp and Milton; by Messrs. Ferguson, Hobhouse, and Brougham; and by Sir John Newport. Such a case, they argued, had been made out that it would be an injustice to the constitution and to the principles on which the house had acted towards other places if Penryn were not disfranchised, and the right transferred elsewhere. The transfer of its privileges, they said, to the adjoining hundreds, would merely bestow them on a few wealthy individuals. On a division the amendment was carried by a majority of one hundred and twenty-four against sixty-nine.
A petition had been presented against the return for East Retford, and the committee had reported that the sitting members were not duly elected; that the election was void, and that bribery had been general and notorious. Similar resolutions to those in the case of Penryn were adopted, therefore, in regard to this borough. The house resolved that no new writ should issue until the evidence should have been taken into consideration; and the result of that consideration was, that leave was given for a bill of disfranchisement. The session, however, closed before any effective proceedings were taken for the disfranchisement of either of these boroughs; but Manchester was generally looked to as a recipient of the forfeited privileges of Penryn, and Birmingham was held out as the place to which the franchise of East Retford would be transferred.
During this session Lord Althorp obtained the appointment of a committee to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at county elections; and Colonel Davies obtained a similar one to inquire into the mode of taking the polls at elections of cities and boroughs. The object of this inquiry was to get rid, if possible, of the enormous expense of electing, whether in county, city, or borough; for in many cases, as matters stood, it was only men of large fortunes who could venture to stand candidates. Lord Althorp likewise brought in and carried a bill for the better prevention of corrupt practices at elections, and for diminishing the expenses. His object was to prevent substantial bribery from being perpetrated under the mask of giving employment, and therefore to deprive all persons of the right to vote who should be employed by a candidate at the election. It was notorious, he said, that at elections different nominal offices were created, to be filled by voters who were classed as plumpers, and received double the pay of split votes. The provisions of the bill, however, were not to apply to any real and fair agent of a candidate, but to those who went under the spurious names of runners, flagmen, and musicians. On the suggestion of Mr. Spring Rice it was further determined to prohibit the distribution of riband and cockades. Both parts of the bill were opposed: the one as being unjust, and the other as frivolous; but the bill passed into a law. By its provision any person who, within six months before an election, or during an election, or within fourteen days after it, shall have been employed in the election as counsel, agent, attorney, poll-clerk, flagman, or in any other capacity, and shall have received in consideration of such employment any fee, place, or office, shall be incapable of voting at such elections; and that a penalty of £10 for each offence shall be inflicted upon every candidate, who, after the test of the writ, or if parliament be sitting, after the seat has become vacant, shall directly or indirectly give to any voter or inhabitant any cockade, riband, or any other mark of distinction. On the whole, therefore, a great step was taken this session towards the purification of elections; a branding mark, at least, was set upon shameless corruption.