§ Sir James Macdonaldpresented a Petition from Lord Porchester and Mr. Ogle, and also from several voters for Petersfield, complaining of the return of Sir William Jolliffe, and his brother, Mr. Gilbert Jolliffe. The Petition stated, that the returning officer is nominated by the Leet Jury, a body carefully selected by the steward of the Court, from the friends and dependants of the Lord of the Manor, Mr. Jolliffe; that the returning officer at the last election was a tenant of Mr. Jolliffe's, and his assessor an attorney from Croydon, in Surrey, who acted as Mayor in 1826, at the request of Mr. Jolliffe; that by the partial, illegal, and arbitrary conduct of the Mayor and his Assessor, Lord Porchester and Mr. Ogle were deprived of the votes of many bona fide electors upon the most frivolous objections—such as that they were not in possession of their title-deeds, although they offered attested copies, and proved 565 that Mr. Jolliffe held the original deeds as the owner of the largest part of the property held under the same title, and although they had bona fide paid the purchase-money, and been in possession and received the rents for several years; that the Mayor admitted many persons to vote in Messrs. Jolliffe's interest, who were not bona fide freeholders, and particularly that, although it was admitted by the Mayor that persons had polled at former elections for Mr. Jolliffe, who held only faggot votes, and although the vote of Samuel Twyford, Esq., who had voted at former elections, was rejected, because it was evident, from the manner in which he answered the questions of the opposing counsel, that he had never paid any consideration for his freehold, and was possessed of no real interest in it, but had merely accepted a fraudulent and collusive conveyance from Mr. Jolliffe to qualify him to vote in his interest, the Mayor afterwards, in defiance of reason and justice, admitted persons to vote for the Jolliffe candidates who refused to answer the same questions that had been put to Mr. Twyford, merely because they had voted at former elections. The Petitioners also charge the Members with having procured their election by bribery and treating.
§ Petition ordered to be taken into consideration January 4th.