RESOLUTIONS AGAINST BRIBERY, ETC.
The result of the elections showed that the first reformed parliament had no small quantity of bribery to deal with. The prevention of this evil, therefore, was an object which a reformed house of commons was especially bound to secure. On the 6th of February, Lord John Russell moved the same resolutions which had been adopted by the preceding house, and which diminished obstacles that stood in the way of effectually questioning a corrupt election. According to the resolutions which had hitherto been adopted as the standing orders of the house on this subject, the return of a member could be questioned only within fourteen days after the assembling of parliament, or after his return, if the house were then sitting; and it was the practice of persons who made use of bribery to secure their elections, not to make any payments till that period was passed, in order to avoid the penalties attached to such conduct. In the hope of checking this evil, Lord John Russell moved, “That all persons who question any future return of members to serve in parliament upon any allegation of bribery or corruption, and who shall in their petition specifically allege any payment of money or other reward to have been made by any member, or on his account, or with his privity, since the time of such return, in pursuance of, or in furtherance of, such bribery and corruption, may question the same at any time within twenty-eight days from the time of such payment; or if this house be not sitting at the expiration of the said twenty-eight days, then within fourteen days after the day when the house shall next meet.” This resolution was agreed to, many members regretting that it did not go further, and maintaining that a bribery-oath should be administered to the members as well as to the electors. Subsequently petitions were received from Liverpool, Warwick, Stafford, Hertford, Londonderry, Carrickfergus, and Newry; and in all these cases it was proved that gross bribery had been resorted to at the elections. Writs were suspended for Warwick, and bills were brought in for the disfranchisement of Stafford, Hertford, and Carrickfergus, while several individuals were ordered to be criminally prosecuted. As the session was drawing to a close, the bills were not persevered in before its termination. An attempt was made by Mr. Grote, one of the members for the city of London, to establish voting by ballot; that alone, in his estimation, being the only means of securing purity of election. This, however, was negatived, after a long and earnest discussion, by two hundred and eleven against one hundred and six. Another discussion relative to the constitution arose on a motion by Mr. Tennyson, for leave to bring in a bill to shorten the duration of parliaments. In support of his motion, Mr. Tennyson enforced the ordinary topics, that the septennial act had been passed to meet a temporary emergency; that it had originally been an exception from the rules of the constitution; that the consequence of it had been general corruption both among the electors and the representatives; and that it rendered the members too independent of their constituents, and in so far defeated the object of a representative government, and prevented the operation of the public opinion. There was a difference of opinion, he said, as to the number of years which ought to be fixed for the duration of parliaments, some being in favour of five, others of four, and others of three years. He thought they were bound to consult the general wishes of the people, and it appeared to him that they were in favour of triennial parliaments. At the same time, in the bill which he proposed to bring in, he intended to leave the term of future parliaments unfixed, so that it might form a subject of debate in committee. His bill contained two clauses, one to repeal the septennial act, and the other to determine the period of each parliament’s existence. The resistance of the proposition was left to ministers themselves, and Lord Althorp’s mode of getting rid of it was by moving the previous question. He was ready to acknowledge, he said, this was a question which he would support, if parliament were in the same situation as heretofore; but things were now changed, and he believed that the feelings and opinions of the people were fairly represented in that house. He did not think, therefore, that the same necessity existed for abridging the duration of parliaments, as before the passing of the reform bill. The motion was supported by Messrs. Cobbett, Kennedy, Shiel, and other members, and opposed by Lord John Eussell and Mr. Stanley. On a division, the previous question was carried by a majority of forty-nine, two hundred and thirteen having voted for it, and one hundred and sixty-four for the motion.