PURITY OF ELECTION.
TO TUE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Norwich, 21st August 1832.
SIR—The time is now conic when we may hope, with seine success, to at- tack political profligacy when connected with the return of members to serve in Parliament. When elections were a farce, and representatives recognized as their constituents stone walls, posts, or pigsties, corruption was almost their necessary appendage, and a bribed elector, or a bribing candidate, could hardly be expected to blush ; but if we now find a large constituency suds candidate catering upon the business of an election as a mere matter of bargain and sale, and discarding an honest and fzithful member merdy because he does not choose to be aparty to so disgraceful a transaction, the affair deserves to be exposed to the contempt and scorn of the public. Such is the case with the city of Nor- wich. Time was when it could boast of as honest and well-principled a set of electors as any place in the kingdom,—When, without bribe or reward, a large proportion of its resideut freemen withstood WINDHAM when armed with the power and purse of the Treasury, and compelled him to find success in a majority obtained solely by the votes of non-resident electors. For many years both parties in this city have been labouring with extraordinary unanimity, although always divided on every other subject, to undermine, to damp, to extinguish every principle of honesty and every independent feeling in the electors. They have taught them to e a vote as a mere marketable commodity ; and at their yearly municipal elections, every species of corrupt influence has been openly resorted to. Will you believe it, that the seat of justice is habitually ascended by such means ?—that money is openly paid at the polling-booth for votes—that gangs of venal slaves have put themselves up for sale to the best bidder—tbat individuals have sold themselves by the pound weight—that herds of human beings have been kept (technically, cooped) in drunkenness for weeks previous to an election—that the charities of the city have been prostituted to these detestable purposes, and that the guardians of the poor have been accus- tomed to reward their respective electioneering dependents out of the poor-rates? Probably I shall scarcely be credited by you or your readers in saying that such
i is the accustomed mode n which the municipal elections of Norwich are con- ducted ; yet it is but ton true : and custom has so far lowered the tone of poli- tical and moral feeling there, that inen, otherwise of high character and mental cultivation, scruple not a guilty participation in such disgraceful practices.
At the elections for members to serve in Parliament, it has been, for some years, the practice to pay every Norwich elector who was disposed to receive it, a ..uinea for his vote, after the time for presenting a petition against the return ILI expired. So long as the contest was with the Boronghmongers, and the terms "election" and corruption" were associated in every one's miud, this practice was justified on the plea of necessity • but now that the choice of repre- sentatives is the people's own affair, it can only be continued from some disgrace- ful or selfish motive ; and he who is aiding or abetting it by act or deed, is a traitor tr. ,-.1,Ted cause of Reform. Yet such is the conduct of its pretended fi :ends at Norwich. They have announced to their present member, Mr. R. GRANT, that he has no chance of succeeding there but by paying the accus- tomed bribe; and as he, being a Reformer, has most consistently and properly re- fused to buy a seat in a Reformed Parliament, the connexion between .him and his present constituents will terminate with the present one. Yet these men affect to be Reformers : they elected Mr. GRANT with a specific understanding that he was to support Parliamentary Reform; they bawl, they clamour, they flourish, and talk big of their attachment to the cause. Mere woids—empty words which cost nothing, they give in plenty; but a vote, being worth one pound one, they will not part with butat its accustomed price. And this baseness is fiisi, cherished, and fostered, by those who affect to be the leaders of the Liberal party. If a candidate, whatever his character, services, or talents, were to offer himself for this city on the principle of purity of election, both Whigs and Tories would unite to hoot him through the streets. Be it remembered, too, that a large class of the new electors owe their political existence to the constant and perse- vering exertions of Mr. R. GRANT, and those who, with him, carried the Re- form Bill through the House of Commons. And yet these very men have the base ingratitude to demand payment for the exercise of that franchise .which he has assisted to confer upon them ; and this without a solitary exception. Not a single elector has had the honesty and consistency to sav' I supported Mr. Grant because he pledged himself to the support of the Reform Bill: he has re- • deemed his pledge to the very letter, and therefore I am bound bv.honour, by prin- ciple, by consistency, to vote for him again.' No—" The Reform Bill may be a very good thing, but a guinea is better : Mr. Grant will not give nte a guinea; somebody else will, and for him will I vote." This is the language of the Nor-. wieh electors; and for such men a more proper and fitting representative cannot be found than a political adventurer or a time-serving lawyer.
But let not these electionmongers imagine that they will go on receiving the wages of corruption with impunity. A reformed House of Commons will deal very. differently both with bribers and bribees than a corrupt one. I give them fair notice, that their movements on both sides (and without the slightest refe- rence to the colour of their cockades) are strictly watched awl accurately noted ; and tint every means which the law allows will be applied to unseat the candi- date (of either parly) and to disfranchise the elector who shall give or receive a bribe for his vote.
A LOOKER ON AND :NO ELECTOR.
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