Messrs. Ball and Palmer have been unseated for North Durham,
the miners who so strongly supported them having been declared by Baron Bramwell guilty of intimidation. The members, how- ever, were not disqualified, they hot having promoted the in- timidation. They were, therefore, unanimously selected as the Liberal candidates at the coming election, and £10,000 was sub- scribed in the room towards election expenses. Mr. Parry also has been unseated for Boston, and Mr. Ingram will be, if the Court of Common Pleas should agree that his alliance with Mr. Parry was sufficiently close. In this case, Mr. Parry's agents had clearly conciliated electors with bags of coal, intended to induce them to vote for him. An extraordinary number of people accepted the coal, but possibly rather as an attention than a bribe. It seems to be pretty clear that the Judges are extirpating bribery and checking intimidation, but it is also clear they are placing too much power in the hands of " agents." Any rich man could defeat any candidate by merely bribing one of the self-appointed agents to treat the electors lavishly. Anybody seems to be an agent who is acting, though only proprio motu, on a candidate's behalf. Lord Kensington has also been unseated for Haverfordwest, the Court of Common Pleas holding that his opponent, Mr. Davies, ought to have been nominated by the Sheriff, who refused to admit his name unless his expenses were prepaid. Prepayment was decided not to be needed, a decision which will materially affect the number of
candidates for large cities, and we should say, the pockets of the returning officers. The returning officer for Marylebone, for example, will have a pleasant time of it, the actual expenses being, we believe, nearly £800 per candidate.
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