TIIE UPSHOT OF TIIE IPSWICH BfllflF V.
that bribery had not been Fined aeaitist nsts. awl KELLY, 15 evideoce of this. The Ct:nonittee %vete ilwere IC the difficulties in the way of making g Itlet of bribery, THE Ipswich Election Committee are supposed Ii I r
prejudice o,esfinst the sitting 7tIembers. Thsir ort, owing to the wilful ebsence of' the I nina cpal tn's if the sitting Members in the dirty %York of the oh Linen 4cili the did not think proper to delay their exeulpana YVIlliVt, wlmielm I /ivy have since reversed. We are not calling in gine:tie:1 the teelmical cor- rectness of their proceedings, but all de to the Iliest rceolutien of the Committee to show that the iwtiti 'news had no toifair ad- vantage from the political prejudieu.t of the parties wit.) Late decided in their favour.
The faet is, that tlw bribery at Ipswieb was to., barefaced. Mr. KELLY :•cilt to Norwidi for a conliden■ ill and experienee.1 et-ont in corrupting voters. Ile could not Lose a;tplicil to any parties more likely to furnish him withI
La. . 11t.-,retticnt le2 shall those who managed the eleetioe of Lte,1 NT :Atli,
SCARLEIT. Thv agsnt came, an 1 (1•_:■i%L.;;Ig small parcels of money to the riders, a :.0 wets. to be He was alto present at the consultatients of Mr. Esney :hid his solicitors, w ith the persons who were to s core the I urn of Mr. KELLY, even if it cost sane thousand:i. That gentleman was willing to go to almost any expense, to commit any iolriageine,d of the election-laws, in order to obtain his scat. Vlmal was his motive !Or all this exertion ? A vehement desire to serve his country in Parliament ?—No : Mts. KELLY would be so much vexed if he was beaten !—that was the reason avowed by Mr. KELLY to his tools at Ipswich.
When the investigation before the Committee commeeced, all
the bribers were sent out of the country by Mr. KELLY's agent, and supported abroad at his expense. Feeling secure in their absence, Mr. KELLY talked confidently: and was roost indigosut at the charge of bribery. Ile threatened one of the witnosses who ac- cused the sitting Members of corruption, with a prosecution for a conspiracy. Ile acted the part of an independent and virtuous Member of the Legislature, upon whose character for purity none but the most inveterate slanderers would venture to cast a spot.
At length, PILGRIM, the dreaded witness, was secured. Mr. KELLY, who had lamented PILGRIM'S absence as tending to create suspicion against himself, was urgent in his application to the Connuittee not to go into the question of bribery. IV Lea he thought the evidence was not to be had, he was eager for its pro- duction : when the witness was at hand, and ready to speak, he was for stopping his mouth. Most unwillingly were the solicitors and leading agents of Mr. KELLY forced to confirm the material points of PILGRIM'S evi- dence. Never was a case mnre satisfactorily proved. Yet when 'Mr. KELLY came to address the Connnittee, he had the assurance
to deplore his inability to give evidence in his own cause. Ile sigted for a "court of honour," in At hich he might purge himself of the foul charge of bribery. The degree of credit which the Committee attached to these solemn protestations, may be seen from time first special resolution of the Committee- " That Robert Adam numbs and Fitzroy Kelly, Days., were, by their friends and agents, guiltymf bribery and corruption at the late election for the borough of Ipswich ; sod that Arthur Bat Cook, J. Ii. Anent, John Pilgrim, and others, were guilty of bribery at the said election."
Finding himself thus beaten, disgraced, and stigmatized as a
briber, Mr. KELLY endeavoured to avoid the additional ignominy of being called upon to answer for the language be had used and the tone he had assumed when addressing the Committee. How does he manage this? He commissions his friend, Mr. JOHNJERVIS, to inform the House of Commons, that "lie appeared merely as an advocate, and wished it to be distinctly understood that he only addressed the Committee in that capacity ;" whereupon that zealous Reformer, Mr. 1'. M. STuwAirr, declared that he had always understood that to be the case. The Morning Chronicle has pleasantly exposed the trickery of this pretence-- " Mr. Kelly the client d.-ew up, ao we suppose, a brief containing state- ments involving a material departure froo truth, of which Mr. Kelly the bar- rister availed himself. Mr. Kelly the elicit appears to have been a sad dog - but Mr. Kelly the bat mister deserves cret0 for the unflinching manlier a which he stood by his employer. It would lia:re been an admirable consiumua- tam of the whole, if Mr. Kelly, the late sitting lajember fur I swieb, had really instructed Mr. Kelly, the barrister, to !insecure Cornmuld for petjurv, as he thii.aieoeil to do; and if the puni diluent due to el See had been inflicted on Cornmuhl, 37r. Kelly, the late sit! ii member, hewing all the time that Inc was an innocent man. As a harrl,ter, Mr. Kelly ma v deserve all the praise bestowed upon him ; but Mr. Kelly, the late sitting 31'emr:ber, seems, from the illbtilleti0114 given by him to his prZfessioual adveoie, to keve had very peculiar notions of morality."
The paid agents of Mr. KELLY are to be taken into custody, and will receive some punitbment for their misdenn .anours ; but we t ith Mr. ROEBUCK, whether the prime movers in the un- lawful deings at Ipsw ieh—t he late sitting Members—are t escape ? They will escape with the loss ef character, and a good round stint in cash- By the decision of the Committee, we are happy to say, the expenses a both sides will fall upon them. But it is a grievous
defect in the administration of justice, that punishment of another description does not await them in the criminal courts.
Let Messieurs the Tories take warning by the result of the Ipswich investigation. 'rhe persons who have been removed from the House of Commons on account of their malepractives are not such insignificant members of their party as the Setedard would repre- sent th, m to be. A DuNDAS alio importance in the Tory ranks !-
us ill LILA be believed in North or South Britaiu. Nu—the late Members for Ipswich were well-known Tories: they went to work Ii) gain their election in true Tory fashion: they endeavoured to baffle the inquiries of the Committee, in a manner which would not have discredited a nominee or a relative of Lord or the Marquis or SA LISBVRY. Yet with all their cunning, all their hardihood, all their wealth, and all their iathistry, they have been defeated and stigmatized as unworthy to sa iii the House of Commons. This result, while it will deter predent Tories from pursuing the system of bribery adopted at Ipse tohm, ought to encourage the Reformers to use every exertion, evea in the existing defective state of election laws, to bring eor- ruptionists to justice and to punishment.
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