petition being presented; and that having been my conduct, I think I ought not to be questioned respecting any rumours which are said to prevail, although I know not whether they do or not. I have heard Where of those rumours from the hon. Member, but not from any one else. the hon. Member picked up these rumours I cannot tell; but I think I ought not to be taunted with them, because I have proposed a Bill which deals with the cases of certain boroughs, of the merits of which I *knew nothing. [Colonel'SIBTHORP: Oh, oh!] I have no personal feeling against any of the Members for the boroughs in the schedule. Let me assure the hon. and gallant Member for Lincoln that I have no per sonal feeling against him. I hope that he and his posterity may continue to represent Lincoln as long as his ancestors have represented it. I have brought forward this Bill on public grounds; and I do not feel called upon to place the city of London in the schedule merely because an hon. Member gets up and says that there are certain rumours afloat affecting the character of the Prime Minister's constituency. | Colebrooke, Sir T. E. List of the NOES. Bennet, P. Miles, W. Mullings, J. R. Newdegate, C. N. Urquhart, D. TELLERS. Sibthorp, Col. Hobhouse, T. B. Lincoln to stand part of the Schedule. On the question that the borough of Aylesbury be inserted, MR. HUDSON said, he could readily believe that the noble Lord was unacquainted with any corrupt practices at the last election for London; the noble Lord was the last person who would be allowed to know anything about the matter. The Chairman of the noble Lord's Committee also declared that he had nothing to do with bribery. Doubtless he had not. The Committee-room was the last place in LORD NUGENT, as one of the reprewhich bribery was carried on; that busi-sentatives of the borough, said, he and ness was always transacted by the out- those by whom he was returned courted door agents. The noble Lord's memory inquiry in the most full and searching manfailed him when he said that he was the ner. Indeed, he thought that every Memchampion of free trade at the first election ber who had been returned purely to that for London; he was then a protectionist, House was bound to call for inquiry when... and advocated an 8s. duty against the ever there was an allegation of corrupsliding-scale. The noble Lord subsequently tion. became a free-trader along with the right hon. Member for Tamworth, the one giving up the fixed duty and the other the sliding-scale. Committee divided on the question that Lincoln stand part of the Schedule :Ayes 69; Noes 13: Majority 56. MR. DICK, as one of the representatives of Aylesbury also courted the most searching inquiry. MR. DISRAELI said, he had listened with perfect astonishment to the speeches of both of the representatives of the principal towns of the county which he (Mr. Disraeli) had the honour to represent. As to that maudlin sensibility which said that an impeachment under any circumstances was entitled to an inquiry, he could not at all sympathise or agree with it; and knowing the amount of real business they had to transact, and the great difficulty they experienced in getting through the busi D 66 ness brought before that House, he en- | purity should be established by an inquisitirely protested against the principle laid tion-that he on the one side, representing down by the noble Lord, one of the Mem- the Liberal interest, should come there and bers for Aylesbury, upon this subject. He denounce his constituents; and that the did not care whether his conduct were to other hon. Gentleman, who was supposed be impeached in that House or elsewhere; to represent the "illiberal" party, should all he desired was, if a charge were made, come there in order to place himself in a and if an inquiry was to follow, that clean position in the House of Commons, that inquiry should be one attended with and could find no other mode more convepublic advantage. With regard to the nient than that of holding up his own conborough of Aylesbury, he could speak stituents to public reprobation? He did with perfect frankness; he did not repre- not know whether the hon. Gentleman sent it; and whether it was disfranchised meant again to appear on the hustings at or not was to him a matter of perfect Aylesbury, and wished his speech that indifference. As regarded most of those night to serve him as a letter of recommenwho lived in the town, they were gene- dation; or, whether, on a subsequent occarally electors of what were called 'lib- sion, he meant to support electoral diseral principals; and, therefore, being tricts; but that was the only way which supporters of Liberalism, and opponents he (Mr. Disraeli) could possibly account for of liberty, they generally opposed him. But, in former days, the Aylesbury people generally were even then exposed to exaggerated charges of corruption-corruption that was not more characteristic of constituencies than of other classes in the community-a corruption rather the result of a different moral tone from that which at present prevailed. And how did the Legislature interfere with the state of things in Aylesbury in old times? Why, seventy years ago they opened the borough to the hundreds-they made the suffrages of that borough devolve upon a larger district-in fact, the area of Aylesbury was turned into a small county; and he spoke on his honour as a gentleman when he stated his belief that corruption was unknown in Aylesbury and its district, and that its electors were as pure as those of any county in England. He did not believe that such a thing as a bribe was offered, much less accepted, amongst the electors of Aylesbury. Was it not, then, monstrous, because of the mere imputation of a charge of treating, created by the accidental vote of a Committee, they should seriously be called upon to put in the Bill the name of a borough of that kind--an old English constituency, which he was certain was as pure as they could ever make any borough, even if they had recourse to the ballot, which was passed the other night by the House, or to any other means they could possibly devise-was it, he asked, not perfectly monstrous that a Bill of pains and penalties should be passed in that manner upon a constituency of that character; and that its two representatives, the one being a Liberal nominally, who, from a principle of morbid sentimentality, required that his it. The noble Lord (Lord Nugent) was the victim of a too pellucid sentimentality. As the representative of the county of Buckingham, he utterly protested against the speeches of the two representatives of Aylesbury, and must say that they would not be justified by their constituents in the course they had taken. He appealed to the evidence which had been published: it presented not the shadow of what any man could admit to constitute a reasonable ground for an inquiry; and, as one of the Members of the district, he said this, without any reserve or equivocation, and without any desire by saying it to please the electors-that was not his object; he was sure he could not gain the support, whatever he might say, of the electors of Aylesbury; and from his knowledge of the people of that borough, he solemnly protested against this legislation of cant, and against this holding up of the constituency to public reprobation. LORD NUGENT rose to vindicate himself against the not very intolerable charge of the hon. Member who had last spoken, and who impeached the few words which he had taken the liberty of offering. Whatever motives the hon. Gentleman might choose to ascribe to him in the part he had taken that evening, he begged to say that he did not wish the inquiry to be instituted merely because the last election of the borough had been impugned; but because the tribunal appointed by that House to try these matters had reported that in the case of one of the Members, facts had been proved of a nature to disqualify him from sitting as the representative of Aylesbury. Therefore a prima facie case for inquiry had been made out, and a strong case had been shown against, at all events, | Why, what was the nature of the evidence a portion of the constituents; and there- before the Committee? It was stated in fore, in order to relieve the constituency the report that the last election was the from the shadow of an imputation, he purest, the quietest, and altogether the courted investigation, and he only trusted best conducted election for that borough the inquiry into the conduct of that bo- which had ever occurred; and the Judge rough, as well as of all the other boroughs who sat at the assizes for the district, in the schedule, would be made with the shortly after it had taken place, compligreatest rigour and severity; otherwise, if mented the mayor of the borough upon they were not rigidly and strictly prose- this gratifying circumstance. And what cuted, they would do much more harm than had the Committee reported to the House they ever would do good. "To temper on the subject? Why, that the practice, justice with mercy" in such cases, as an which was one of long standing in the bohon. Member had entreated, would be to rough, had prevailed at the last election, commit an act of injustice to the public. of giving a printed ticket to each voter after he had polled, entitling him to five shillings' worth of refreshment; but it was not proved that these tickets had been MR. Q. DICK defended himself from the uncalled-for attack made upon him by the hon. Member for Buckinghamshire. He had merely stated that he cordially assent-issued with the knowledge or at the exed to the Bill being made applicable to Aylesbury because he wished to see the constituency freed from the charges made against it, and he firmly believed it would come out unscathed from the ordeal of the proposed inquiry. Borough of Aylesbury inserted. Upon the question that Bodmin be placed in the Schedule, MR. WYLD said, that no maudlin sentimentality should prevent him from standing up in defence of the honour and integrity of the borough which he represented. There were special reasons why the framers of the Bill should not have included Bodmin within it; and he would briefly allude to them. But he would first remark, that a series of boroughs had been placed in that schedule by the Solicitor General, and now at the eleventh hour the Solicitor General came down and inserted the name of Bodmin and other boroughs represented by Gentlemen who had for so many months given Government their best support. He might ask, was this the consideration which the Government showed to Gentlemen who had supported the present Administration all the Session? And was it in this way Government showed its disinterested spirit by including Bodmin among the list of boroughs in the Bill? He never cared for any fear, favour, or affection, and would act independently, whatever Government might be in power. On the part of the borough, he had made no objection to the strictest possible investigation; but it was unjustly stigmatised by being placed in that Bill, of which the preamble set forth that "corrupt practices had prevailed in certain boroughs," which was altogether unsubstantiated as far as Bodmin was concerned. pense either of the sitting Member or his agents. These tickets, even if they had been given by the sitting Member, would come under the category of what the noble Lord at the head of the Government and the right hon. Member for Tamworth had termed" proper hospitality," in contradiction to "corrupt treating;" these 5s. tickets had actually been subscribed for by a large proportion of the electors of the borough themselves, to be given to their poorer brethren, who had to come a distance of sixteen or seventeen miles to record their votes. One of these 5s. tickets was all that a labouring man received to procure refreshments for himself and his wife after a long journey. This was all that was proved against Bodmin; and yet it was to be placed among the boroughs introduced into that Bill. Why, if such trifles were to be called proofs of corrupt influence, the efficacy of the measure would be totally destroyed-the thing would be made perfectly ridiculous. He could not account for such a proceeding, unless it were that certain persons wanted to tamper with the constitution, and were seeking covertly to carry out their designs by first making the people dissatisfied with the present mode of voting. He protested against the ancient and respectable borough of Bodmin, which was proved to be innocent of corrupt practices, being placed in disgraceful companionship with boroughs which had been proved to be guilty of them. The SOLICITOR GENERAL said, it appeared by the evidence that refreshment tickets had been issued to the voters of Bodmin by the friends of both candidates. An hon. Member called his attention to the fact, and asked why that borough had not been included in the Bill? Bodmin was consequently at once included in the list. Considering what the House had done in the other cases, he thought that, notwithstanding what had fallen from the hon. Member for Bodmin, it would be unjust to make an exception in favour of that borough. MR. DISRAELI: I consider the hon. Member for Bodmin to be very ill treated. The Solicitor General has given the House his reasons for inserting the borough of Bodmin; and I think the Solicitor General ought to be ashamed for giving such reasons. He admits that he knows nothing of the case of Bodmin-that he has not read the evidence nor the special report. This seems to me to be a canting, lying, hypocritical Bill. The whole thing is miserable and hypocritical, and not really founded upon fact. "I confess," said the Solicitor General, "that this is a very weak case. Why, does any one doubt that it is a very weak case? There are other things besides the Bill. The whole thing is weak from the beginning to the ending. I do not much fear, Sir, that the reputation of Parliament is endangered by the investigation that has already taken place; but what I do fear for the reputation of Parliament is the intellectual gauge which is given by these measures as to the remedial agency which is to put an end to practices which we all disapprove of. If this is your machinery, and these are the men who are to prevent organic changes, then I think indeed the constitutional future of this country is gloomy. Anything more ridiculous in conception or feeble in execution I never witnessed. If the hon. Member for Bodmin divides the House, he shall certainly have my support. MR. LACY said, that he never was so surprised in his life as he was on Saturday, on returning from the sea-side, to which he had taken a sick relative, at finding that Bodmin was to be placed in the schedule. Never had so foul a charge been made against a borough that had deserved it less. The report stated that the treating was without the knowledge of the sitting Member. The Solicitor General, however, in arguing upon it afterwards, said it did not matter whether it was done by the principal or agents. Now, in Bodmin it was neither the one nor the other. He (Mr. Lacy) had not got the evidence; but he presumed his solicitor had. The thing had already been disagreeable enough with out his reading the evidence. It had cost him about 1,000l.; and he was still open to be asked by every booby that he met, if it was not yet settled. He had been bothered and plagued merely because an hon. Member, like a schoolboy, had said, “Tom is as bad as I am; why don't you put Bodmin down?" The Solicitor General had no objection to put Bodmin down, not having read one word of the evidence. In his case, it was proved that six gentlemen clubbed together to pay for eighty tickets. One refused to pay, and the other five had to defray the expense. He himself never heard of it until three weeks after the election, and yet he was to be put into such a Bill as that. He should move that Bodmin be expunged from the schedule. The SOLICITOR GENERAL said, that in inserting Bodmin, he had only followed the general rule in regard to all those cases in which special reports were made. However small the amount given to voters at elections, it was evidently given for the purpose of influencing their votes; and such was a case for inquiry by the House of Commons. MR. BANKES: The Solicitor General had admitted that this was a very weak case; and he (Mr. Bankes) wished to know whether, on a weak case, the House would consent to put Bodmin in the Bill? As the hon. Member for Buckinghamshire (Mr. Disraeli) had truly and eloquently said, if they passed this Bill, they would succeed in bringing upon that House the ridicule of the country. MR. G. TURNER said, the Solicitor General had admitted that he had not read the evidence in the case of the Bodmin election. Yet he called upon the House to perform a judicial duty. He doubted whether the noble Lord opposite (Lord J. Russell) was contributing much to the cause of purity of election by proposing to meet a great evil by punishing constituencies for giving 5s. refreshments to poor voters. He thought the best course for the House would be to sanction a provision in the Bill allowing a reasonable amount of refreshment to the electors. The SOLICITOR GENERAL had been urged to put Bodmin and Bolton in the Bill by Members on the other side of the House. He was perfectly willing to withdraw the names of Bodmin and Bolton from the Bill, if such was the pleasure of the House. MR. HENLEY said, the further they went into this Bill the more extraordinary it seemed, and the more difficult it was to reconcile its provisions with common sense. There seemed to be no principle acted upon in the selection of the boroughs to be inserted in the Bill-they were kicked into the Bill and kicked out again on mere ca price. The Solicitor General ought to show why he would not exempt Bolton and Bodmin, and put in Aylesbury and Lincoln. Was there no better justification for all the penalties and inquisition which this measure provided than such whimsical notions? He thought they were going on in a course which must end by covering the authors of this Bill with ridicule, and disgusting the whole constituency of England. MR. DISRAELI: Sir, I want to know what it is that the Government really intend doing with this Bill. It seems very strange that they should consent to withdraw two boroughs from the Bill, in consequence of a very slight debate. The Solicitor General, when he spoke first, favoured us with what he called the principle of the Bill, and said it was based upon the report of the Committees. The Solicitor General, when he spoke last, favonred us with another principle of the Bill, namely, the suggestion of the hon. Gentleman the Member for Bodmin (Mr. Wyld), whose plaintive appeal he could not forget. The hon. Member said, with great feeling, is this the return you are going to make to me for my continued support to the Government? if so, there is no encouragement whatever for hon. Gentlemen about me to support the Government, nor for me to remain its supporter. His speech was what Quintilian calls the irony of rhetoric-he made an appeal which I am sure no Secretary to the Treasury could misunderstand. The effect was great-the appeal was at once responded to. The hon. Gentleman was successful, not only for himself, but for a more distinguished Gentleman, the name of whose borough was also set down in that fatal schedule. The learned Doctor the Member for Bolton, has, through that appeal, also escaped. I can well understand the astonishing efficacy of this most telling little speech. The hon. Gentleman sits on the favoured side of the House. But the learned Doctor (Bowring) disclaims against being excepted. He saw in a moment the innocence and inexperience of the hon. Member for Bodmin-he saw instinctively that his appeal would tell, and, feeling that, took a high ground. He called for investigation. He confessed that some of the Bolton electors were corrupt and profligate. I have not the slightest doubt of it. I never knew an election in which the candidates did not say that those who voted against them were corrupt and profligate; nor a beaten candidate that did not say the whole constituency was the basest in the united kingdom, although there was not a shilling expended. I believe there is no subject about which so much monstrous exaggeration is resorted to as this one of bribery. The Solicitor General, the servant of the Crown, has surely selected the best evidence, and made out the best case; and yet Her Majesty's Solicitor General brings forward a Bill of pains and penalties, and asks the House to sanction it. Upon what grounds? Why is this measure for purifying the constituencies of England brought forward? Why is this stigma affixed upon some of our old boroughs and upon whole constituencies? Listen to Her Majesty's Solicitor General. After an election in one borough, it had been proved, horribile dictu! that a man and his wife, who had come many miles to vote, had accepted a five-shilling ticket for refreshments from the friends of one of the candidates. Now, this is a culled instance this is a chosen casee-this is the best testimony which the Solicitor General of the Crown can produce, in order to call upon the House of Commons to disfranchise a constituency of this country. I confess, Sir (I admit that it is a great fault on my part), that although anxious to discharge my duty as a Member of this House, that I have not yet read this Bill through. I have sufficient experience to know, that at the end of July or the beginning of August there is always some strange, newfangled scheme introduced before the Legislature by the Government, who, like skilful actors, wish that the last scene of the melodrama should be the most brilliant, and that the curtain should not fall until the blue lights and rosy flashes have gratified the imagination, if not the understanding, of the spectators. A poor elector and his wife get 5s. for refreshment they purchase a slice of roast mutton and a glass of brandy and water, which are as much as 5s. at election times would purchase, provisions being twice as dear then as it any other period. Are these people to be summoned, and brought perhaps ten miles to be examined upon this fiveshilling refreshment? This is the evidence upon which the Solicitor General is to carry out his Bribery and Corrupt Prac |