hearted Duke of WELLINGTON), allowed to be conclusive and un-

as the superiority of the candidates of that party in individual answerable. wealth, or in funds contributed from the Tory subscription-purse, Have those persons, who conceive it possible that Earl GREY would form a presumption against them : and an examine- may return to office, forgotten his farewell speech in the House of tion of the means by which they actually carried many elec. Peers ? Let them reperuse the following passages of that well- tions, and endeavoured to carry others, will prove that they made considered and affecting oration. unsparing use of their power to corrupt and intimidate the middle "It is long since I have felt the difficulty of my situation so painfully increase, classes, and those just below the middle classes, who together and so much above any remaining strength or energy that I may still possess— form the mass of the Reforming party. It is also worthy of re- that certainly for sonic time I have entertained a deep wish to retire from office. mark, that the cry for the Ballot proceeds from the Reformers ; Both my late and my present colleagues know that this wish wee anxiously ex- while secret, that is independent voting, is dreaded by the Tories. pressed at the close of the last session. They know that it was then my most earnest desire to withdraw from office ; not from any disposition to shrink from In the Metropolis, as we stated three weeks ago, money was its laborious duties, but from a sense that my remaining energies, if they were given to the poorer householders for their votes. This Alderman ever equal to it, were no longer sufficient to enable me to discharge its duties." WOOD asserted of his own knowledge, on the hustings. But it

A little after, he said— would be rather too expensive an affair to corrupt the constituen-

" In March last, I completed my seventieth year; and at that period of cies of the Metropolitan districts to such an extent as to Mita- life, a man, though he might be able to discharge the duties of the office which time the elections materially. Accordingly, though it appears • i hold under ordinary and easy circumstances, yet, considering Me present that money was given, and though influence of every kind, in a condition of ajfizirs, I felt that the duties imposed on me were too much fur very great variety of ways, was used to defeat the Reformers, in my strenyth, and that I should therefore be justified in laying claim to retire- ment" no instance did success attend these efforts. It was not so in some

.

Again, mark this of the neighbouring counties; and we allude particularly to East

Surry, where money was successfully lavished, and even reputable ?I/_I may experience your Lordships' indulgence. I have stated every thing tradesmen and shopkeepers gained over by cash, as well as by candidly, I wish to disguise nothing; on the contrary, I desire to lay all before the threats of customers. Mr. S. PALMER referred to these and the House." similar practices in the following passage of his hustings speech If it should be said, in order to weaken the effect of the passages after the poll was close& we have quoted, that Earl GREY spoke under the pressure of " lie regretted to say, that much undue and unconstitutional influence had temporary low spirits, and that his words should not be deemed been exerted during the late election. However, they had returned one man binding on that account, we would refer to his reiterated statement who would advocate a measure which could alone defeat such machinations in future. ( Cheers and cries of " The Ballot !") Yes, he meant the Ballot ; to the same effect at the Edinburgh Dinner. The farewell speech and he had no hesitation in saying, that, if they had possessed the Ballot (luring in the House of Lords was delivered on the 9th of July ; the the late election, the result would have been very different. There was a class Edinburgh Gathering was on the 15th of September. Time had of persons in the community, to whom, as a sincere member of the Church of elapsed sufficient for reconsidering maturely his actual condition, England, he was anxious to look up with reverence and respect—he meant the physical, mental, and political. The proceedings on that day Clergy ; but, when persons invested with that holy office demeaned themselves in the disgraceful manner in which some clergymen of the county had behaved, were not calculated to depress, but on the contrary to flatter and during the elections, he must say that he could not help blushing for them. The inspirit him. But he firmly adhered to the same wise and well- instance he would relate was this—A Rector, named G. M. Palmer, meeting grounded opinion that he expressed in the House of Peers ; and Mr. Shearman, and seeing him with the colours of the Reform candidates, spoke as one whose political existence had virtually closed. Al- snatched them violently from his breast, and trampled them under his feet. He fading to the grand tribute of national respect he was then recciv- had also attempted to take away the colours from Mr. Shearman's brother ;

who told him, that, if he attempted it, he would immediately knock him down:

mg, he said— upon which the Reverend gentleman desisted. Another instance was that of " Gentlemen, there is another reflection, personally affecting Inc, which pre- the clergyman of a parish, also named G. M. Palmer, who seeing one of his gents itself, and which is perhaps to me the most gratifying of all. This tradesman of the name of Clark with the Reform colours in who, bat, told him to honour is not paid to a Minister newly raised to power, in the vigour of his send in his bill, and he would never deal with him again for a single fir- age, with a long career of active and useful service before him, and hailed as thing's worth. They need not travel far from Croydon to find many other the expected author of benefits not yet accomplished : it is paid to one who has gentlemen who had acted in a like disgraceful manner." descended—I will not say/dim—from power—to one whose official lift has In West Kent, according to Mr. Law HonnEs, gross intimida- ended, and whose lung Parliamentary career is hastening to its final close—

tion was resorted to by the Tories.

when the past is &flare his country for its judgment, and when the future, so In South Essex, the influence of the landowners was strenuously

booths all day; and the voters, many of them, were brought up with as little appearance a will on their parts as cattle in going to a slaughter-house."

In Cumberland, the Lowther interest was, as usual, strained to the utmost. In Westmoreland it has been long predominant. The tenantry know by experience, that neither the old Earl, nor his

son the Vice-President of the Board of Trade, are men who will

listen to such nonsense as freedom of election and independent In Derbyshire, the affair seems to be one of arrangement among the grandees. Mr. ARKWRIGHT thought it folly to stand, as soon as e Duke of DEVONSHIRE declared against him ; and the suc- would seem that the usual practices prevailed at the late election ; and that the influence of the Corporation, aided by the free use of money, will at any time insure the return of a Tory, Whig, or BRIBERY AND INTIMIDATION OF ELECTORS: Radical candidate. The representation of this populous city is, CASE FOR A NATIONAL INQUEST. strictly speaking, in the market at every election. Soit is at Liver-

peured, that by means of a society called the Operative Society, and the distribution of public charities so as to answer Tory elec- tion purposes, upwards of 1500 voters were regularly kept in pay. We then urged the necessity of new measures for the prevention skf bribery and undue influence. " It is impossible (we observed) to say how soon we may be called upon to elect a new House of Commons; and then the impunity with which the corruptionists of Norwich and Bristol have escaped, will have a baneful in- fluence on the exertions of the honest and independent portion of the different constituencies throughout the country." The cor- rupt voters must not escape again; and again we urge upon Par- liament the necessity of a speedy reform of this fatal evil. In Hull, Mr. M. D. Hiss was defeated by the msst infamous means. The Leeds Mercury states that eighty-two -sublichouses were opened; and Mr. HUTT, on the hustings, avowed his know- ledge of the bribery that had been practised. A similar course was adopted to oust Colonel TomteNs from Bolton, and to procure the return of Mr. KEAltSLEY for Wigan. The Liropool Mercury supplies the following account of Tory proceedings in Rochdale.

" For weeks previous to the day of election, gin-shops in abundance were gratuitously opened to the Conservative mob, and scenes of drunkenness, not to be described, were of daily and hourly occurrence. Mr. Fenton' the Liberal candidate is, it seems, a patron of the Temperance Societies;andthose who opposed Lim used to parade, or rather reel about the streets, with flags inscribed No Temperance '—a motto which they faithfully observed ; the consequence of which has been the death of the several of the Tory party, who have paid the forfeit of their excesses."

In this way was the boasted reaction in the North of England brought about.

Our readers are already aware, that in Yarmouth, Ipswich, Maidstone, and Worcester, the Tory Members are in danger of

losing their .seats, owing to the open bribery of themselves or their supporters. Mr. HARV.::Y retired from Colchester, avowedly be- cause the connexion with that place was too expensive for him to support. In Salisbury, the second Liberal candidate was forced to yield to the manifest use of unlawful influence ; and in Dover there seems to have been no concealment as to the base means by which an election is to be gained. Mr. LUSH1NGT0N was not elected without great sacrifices on the part of the inde- pendent voters of Ashburton. Mr. HoessEY PALMER was a formidable competitor. In the Western Times, we find the fol- lowing letter from a freeman, describing some of the methods taken to secure the election of that gentleman : " I am a freeman of Ashburton ; and at the late (or last) election, I, ac- cording to the dictates of my conscience, voted for Mr. Lushington. A few days since, I was at Chuilleigh, and passing the house of Mr. Robert Reed, I believe a Lieutenant in the Navy, I was accosted by him—, Wilson, I know how you voted ; you would have done well to have voted on the other side ; let me know what I owe you, and I will pay you off, and never deal with you again.' This is in consequence of my having so voted ; and I consider it but Justice to myself, as a tradesman, that this should be made known, that as a tradesman' and having voted conscientiously, I ought not to suffer for it. / was ofiered 30/. by one of Mr. Palmer's flaTly the day before the election, if I would We a letter to London, which I refused. "JOHN WILSON, Brushmaker, Ashburton. " Jan. 14, 1833."

The Sherborne Journal alludes in the following paragraph to some very creditable practices of a clergyman in the West of ngland; which may serve as a specimen merely of what has been going on in various parts of the country.

" In a Western borough (neither Honiton nor Bridport), the Minister of one of the parishes has declined the services of several of the choir. No reason is assigned, although it is pretty well understood by the parishioners. The fathers of the discarded voted for the Reform candidate ! Several others, on learning the cause, indignantly left the orchestra. A zealous Sunday school teacher also, who gave his services gratuitously, has received a note from his pastor, announcing that his services at the Church school will be henceforth dispensed with. He also voted for the Reform candidate !"

It appears that some of the tradesmen of Windsor, employed by the Court, had the audacity to vote against the Court candi- date, Sir JOHN ELLEY. The Berkshire Chronicle thus very in- telligibly intimates what the consequences of such conduct are likely to be. " We confess, the votes of some people for this man (the 'Whig, Sir J. De Beauvoir) astonish us. For instance, Mr. Cockill, the innkeeper, gains a good annual sum by the custom he derives from some of the subordinate parts of the Royal Household ; and Mr. Hughes, the butcher, supplies some part of the same Household with meat, to such an amount, that the absence of the Court makes a weekly difference to him, unless we have been incorrectly informed, of eight sheep and one bullock. Now, we don't mean to say that Mr. Hughes was bound to vote for a man who claimed his suffrage as an upholder of the King's Ministry ; but we must take the liberty to doubt whether Mr. Hughes understood, or had considered sufficiently, the probable consequences of his rote."

These examples are but a few out of many. Enough has been said to show that all over England, in counties, cities, anti boroughs, new and old, shameless corruption in one shape or another has prevailed to an immense extent. In some parts of Wales also, especially in the counties of Denbigh, Carmarthen, and Radnor, fie influence of the landlords was exerted as far ash would go to prevent the free exercise 'ofthe elective franchise.

If the attempts to intimidate and bribe voters have not been so successful in Scotland as in England, it is not for want of liberality or seal on the parts of the landed gentry in the Tory cause. Mr. Ginsost CRAIG, at the close of the contest for Edinburgh County, complained in the following terms of the means used to defeat him.

" You, gentlemen, are aware of the immense influence in this county which -has been working against me ; and you are aware that not the most scrupulous use has been made of that influence. I must touch lightly on this subject. I regret that any such course should have been pursued, because it only tends to create a breach between the different classes of society, and to smother some feeliegs, and endanger others, which will break forth at some future period with greater viomee. I must also protest against that system of demoralisation which has been pursued throughout the county in the canvass against me : publichouses base been opened in almost every village, and night after night scenes of inteinperarwe have been exhibited which could not be withheld but with feelings of pity and disgust."

We mentioned in a law number, the attempt to carry off one of GIBSON CRAIG'S voters in a cart, on the first day of polling, and the manner in which it was defeated. A somewhat similar trick was played on one of Mr. FERGUSON'S supporters in Haddington- shire ; but without success, as appears from the story in the Dum- fries Times. " Peter Dougall, residing in Prestoupans, a pledged voter for Mr. Ferguson, was forcibly taken from his house by Mr. Hope's agents, at an early hour on Friday. morning (the first polling-day), and carried tiist to Dalkeith, and, after removals, was left in chalge of four siren at a publichouse somewhere near the Pentland llills. Dougall not being a member of the Temperance Society, par- took freely of the In andy which was as freely bestowed upon him ; but unhap- pily for his Tory benefactors, the " barley hive" caused him to vociferate his real sentiments, which was ,, Ferguson for ever." This created suspicion ; and the circumstance getting wind, a resolute Whig farmer in the neighbourhood determined on a rescue ; and, with the assistance of a friend, bore down all op- position, carried off the prize, and by the aid of a gig and afterwards a post- chaise and four, presented Mr. Ferguseo's man at the pull on Saturday."

This is not an isolated case. It was by such tricks, but more especially by the creation of parchment votes, by minute sub- divisions of freeholds, and by intimidating their poorer tenants, that the Tories gained a preponderance, in some counties, that never could have been obtained by fair means. In Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire, the Duke of Bees:sem-es tenantry was consider- ably augmentedfor the occasion. In Fifeshire, it would seem that nearly every landowner exerted himself against Captain WEMYSS. On the other hand, it is said, that the more ardent and indiscreet supporters of that gentleman used some of the Tory voters very roughly ; which, if true, is the more blameworthy, because it was notorious that the poor fellows could not disobey their masters, and did violence to their own consciences in supporting Colonel LINDSAY. The Tories complain that " MAULE'S mob" in Perth- shire ill-treated their friends; and the Perthshire Courier men- tions a circumstance that would be disgraceful even to a mob,— we hope it is a Tory invention.

" Among the many instances of personal violence offered to individuals in consequence of their not submitting to the dictation of the mob, a scene took place at the polling at Dunkeld, which was sufficient of itself to bring disgrace upon the popular side in the late contest. The aged and most respected clergy- man of Caputh, left the polling-booth accompanied by the venerable Principal Baird, of Forneth, whose qualification lies in this district; and when passing through the streets together, were brutally attacked by Maule's mob, who bad during the whole day been wreaking their vengeance on all whom they could not intimidate from going to the poll. The aged clergymen, whose personal ap- pearance, independent of their profession and characters, was such as would have soothed the savage breast,' stood helpless and unprotected, while the as- setters of the independence of the county hustled and pelted them with mud and missiles."

The charge of intimidation by the mob, with which the Tories usually meet that of bribery and corruption against themselves, is certainly in most cases untrue; for the late elections have been remarkable, throughout England and Scotland, for the absence of cases of personal violence by the people. It will be remembered that not a 'single charge was preferred at the Police-offices for offences arising out of the elections in all the districts of London.

In Ireland, elections seem generally to be desperate struggles on the part of the middling and lower classes of voters against the influence of the landowners and gentry, both in towns and in the country. Bribery is also profusely employed; and were it not for the incessant exertions of the priests, whose position renders them formidable opponents of the Tories, it seems obvious that the Aristocracy would completely overwhelm the constituencies, and Ireland would become one vast rotten borough. It is almost needless to go into details to substantiate a fact so well known as the extensive use of bribery and intimidation (the latter unques- tionably by both parties) in Ireland. A few instances may, how- ever, be mentioned. The Mayo Telegraph says- " On Sunday last, his Grace the most Reverend Doctor WHale preached in the parish-chapel of this town on the heinous offence of bribery. His Grace called on those who had been so deptaved as to take a bribe for their votes attire late election, to avow it, and bring the money they had received to their parish- priest. It affords us pleasure to bear his Grace's admonition had a salutary efs feet; as several persons have come forward admitting their guilt, and have given the price of their iniquity to be distributed in charity. We have seen some of the notes. They are of the Bank of Westport; and two of them 5/. each, are endorsed by an officiating clerk in that bank. . . . . 9 . Sums of money to a considerable amount are to be distributed at the various chapels of this county on Sunday next—in Castlebar, Westport, Newport, Bal- lina, &c. These sums are the bribes received by certain freeholders from persona representing themselves to be agents of Mr. John Denis Browne, to induce them to give their vote to that candidate ; which sums are now placed in the hands of the Catholic clergy, for the purpose already stated."

The following is from the Belfast Northern Whig. " Mr. Carew O'Dwyer, the newly-elected Member for Drogheda, stated at a public meeting in that place, on the 21st ultimo, that the most undisguised and unwarrantable intimidation was resorted to in Carlow to secure the defeat a Mr. Vigors, the Reform candidate. He says, that the landlords and agents stood by whilst the tenants were voting, for the purpose of overawing the electois ; and that in some cases even open menaces were utteted. Its one instance," says he, after the tenant had taken the oaths which he was required to swear, and was laying down the book, the landlord snatched it up, and swore, by the contents of that same book, I will turn you out of your land the first opportunity.' In another instance, the agent of one of the Candidates, after a tenant had polled againt his landlord and in favour of the People, exclaimed, ' Mark the consequence of that vote!'" Mr. WALLACE and Mr. BLACKNEY, the late Members for Car- low County, declined contesting the representation at the recent election, for the very sufficient reasons thus stated by Mr. WAL:i LACE himself- "I was Waft& by men who were incapable of misleading eve, that tll hours of the night, isa well as in the face of day, large bodies of thetailitary and police forte were employed under the command of the candidates opposed to us, or that of their agents, assuming the functions of magistracy, to make their way into the houses of electors who had filled your ranks apon the last election, and voted with you and the country—to drag those electors from their homes and families, and to confine them in temporary prisons prepared for their reception, nail they should be brought up in custody to the hustings . . .Arrests of voters for tithe debts were resorted to, and men were seized in the very act of entering the booths to vote: men also coming up in tallies to vote were in some instances dragged away by force, and could not be brought back."

Among the non-resident freemen who voted illegally for the city of Cork, and thus gave a temporary triumph to the Tories, the Northern Whig states that there were forty-one Protestant

parsons.

The fury of both parties in Armagh was dreadful. The North- ern Whig, quoting a trustworthy correspondent, says- " There was no mob in town, until the Orange party, or ' Verner's and Jack. son's men,' arrived. On their return, they did not leave a house, for two miles, which they did not destroy, as much as they could ! This led to retaliation on the part of the Catholics; who beat some of the aggressors. On the fol- lowing morning, the Orangemen were called together by the ringing of the church-hells of ALI and Loughall ; and a more fatal collision was apprehended. Fortunately matters turned out differently for the time ; but the strongest ap- prehensions are entertained lest much additional destruction and bloodshed may yet take place. In the city of Armagh, a great demand for gunpowder shows that alarming preparations are making throughout the county. A Magistrate's certificate or signature is required before gunpowder can be obtained: In some instances this has been refused ; but in others, the authorities are represented as being less scrupulous. It is chiefly, if not altogether, the Orange party who are supplying themselves with powder."

The threats of " Death's heads and cross-bones" are child's play to this. By the way, it would seem as if the most had been made of this foolish expression of O'CONNELL ; for the Tories are obliged to confess, that even in Kerry, where the Agitator exerted himself most strenuously, there was not a single outrage com- mitted, and that " mental terrorism" was alone employed to beat the Tory Lord of the Admiralty.

This long catalogue of evil practices at the Elections might be extended without *difficulty ; but more are not wanted to prove their vast number and extent. It is principally in this way that the Tories have increased their numbers ; and unless some effectual remedy is applied, some means taken to prevent the recurrence of such profligate proceedings, the new constituencies will before very long become as rotten as the old ones, and the Reform Act little better than a mockery. The Tory writers in Blackwood's Magazine exult in the success of the exertions of their party. They say, truly, that much has been gained, whatever may be the im- mediate result as regards the stability of the 'WELLINGTON-PEEL Cabinet. At the next election they expect to gain more. The ph n is gradually to break down the independence of constituen- cies. Now, the Reformers must unite before it is too late, to frus- trate this nefarious design. The instinct of self-preservation will surely prompt them to make some vigorous efforts for this end, and without delay. It is a subject that demands immediate at- tention. Not a week should pass over the meeting of Parliament without steps being taken, in the first instance, to institute an in- quiry into the manner in which the late elections have been con- ducted. It should not be a party proceeding, undertaken with a view to unseat particular Members, but a Grand National Inquest, for the purpose of devising means for preserving and promoting the free exercise of the elective franchise. The Committee ap- pointed for this purpose should have the fullest powers to get at facts ; and it should be their duty to report the best plan they can agree upon to the House, for the prevention of bribery, intimida- tion, and unlawful interference in elections.

Those Members who, with the knowledge of what has been going on during the late struggle, refuse to take means to prevent a repetition of such profligacy and tyranny, should be marked as patrons of and gainers by corruption, for the rest of their lives. It is a question on which an honest man cannot doubt : no friend to decency, morality, public or private virtue, can hesitate for an instant.