§ Sir Harry Verneypresented a petition from the borough of Buckingham, complaining, that a noble proprietor of land included in the present limits of the borough had erected buildings of small value since the Reform Act, whereby he had obtained a command over a considerable number of votes. The hon. Baronet 723 observed, that if a large landed proprietor possessing, as in this instance, 5,000 acres out of 18,000, could, under the Reform Act, erect tenements of small value in a borough, for the purpose of obtaining a command over votes, he would be enabled to swamp the place, and reduce it to a nomination borough. The hon. Baronet read some questions put by the revising barristers, and the answers, to show that the buildings were not necessary, and were erected for no other purpose than to confer votes.
§ Sir Thomas Fremantlesaid, that the evil complained of by the petitioners, who had been advocates for the Reform Bill, with which they were now dissatisfied, had arisen from seven large agricultural parishes having been added to the borough. No doubt buildings had been erected in some few instances, for the purpose of creating votes; but if that had been done on one side, it might be done on the other. If only five or six such buildings had been erected by a person possessing 5,000 acres of land, the evil could not be very great. He did not think it requisite to enter into the merits of the case.
Mr. Tennysonsaid, that he had always protested against that part of the Reform Bill, which added considerable districts to the smaller towns. It was evident, that the effect of such an arrangement must be to overwhelm the towns with the constituency of the neighbouring districts. In his opinion, in every case in which there could not be found in the borough a sufficient number to form a town constituency, the borough so deficient ought to have been put into Schedule A. In the case now before the House, it appeared, that there were 18,000 acres in the immediate neighbourhood of Buckingham that belonged to a noble Duke, against whom it was alleged that he had caused certain buildings to be erected on this his property, for the purpose of creating votes. That such advantages would be taken might have been expected. He had no doubt it would he discovered, that this was a practice which had been resorted to to a very great extent throughout the country. He might even say, that the Reform Bill, by adding the large districts to the towns, intended such an increase of the constituency. What other effect could it be said to contemplate, when, according to its provisions, the erection of any cow-house, or other ignoble building, 724 on property of a certain value, would give the occupier the qualification necessary to constitute him an elector? The effect of the Bill was an increase of the constituency precisely in the way described by the hon. Baronet (Sir Thomas Fremantle); if one individual made votes on the one side, no doubt some other individual would also make votes on the contrary side. He, however, begged to observe, that he could not be furnished with a better argument than that which arose out of the practice now complained of, in support of the proposition, which it was his intention shortly to submit to the House; and he trusted, that when the time came for him to make his Motion, that it would receive the support of the hon. Baronet (Sir Harry Verney) on the other side of the House, who complained of the creation of a dependent constituency. The Reform Bill was to his mind far from effecting all that it ought; and many who were its supporters compromised their opinions, anxious to secure a measure from which, at all events, a great deal of good was naturally expected. He, with such a view, had, he must declare, compromised his opinions with regard to the voters' qualification; that of scot-and-lot appearing to him to be the simplest, and the freest from objection. He was formerly opposed to the Ballot, but more recent experience had made a convert of him to the principle of Ballot; and he had reason to believe, that he was but one of many others who had been similarly converted.
§ Mr. Henry L. Bulwerreally did not see how the House could possibly interfere, by way of enactment, to prevent persons from erecting buildings upon their land. The only way in which the House could counteract the evil of a creation of dependent constituencies was, by passing a measure to establish the Vote by Ballot. This was the sure method of getting rid of all the improperly preponderating influences.
Colonel Evansadmitted, that the mere fact of building houses on property was what could not be objected to; but the building of houses for the express purpose of creating votes was as certainly a deviation from the object and spirit of the Reform Bill, and a revival, to that extent, of a species of the ancient corruption. The object of the Reform Act was to prevent the building of houses, for the purpose of overcoming the free and open constituencies. If they took a large district; and 725 in that district found a great landed possessor, who seized the opportunity, by creating votes, of outnumbering the independent voters, and thus of increasing his own political weight and importance, such a course was evidently a counteraction of the intention of the Legislature. This petition he held to be a very important one. It was the first, he dared to say, of several that would be brought before the House on similar grounds. He was sure the House would feel, that it was very desirable to correct the defect complained of with so much justice. In many cases, the addition of a large district, in which one or two individuals had considerable possessions, to the town constituencies, had been attended with the most injurious consequences. The borough for which he had formerly been returned (Rye) used to be an open borough; had it not been, he would never have been its Member, for he possessed no influence there derived from property; but six or seven parishes having been added to the town by the Reform Act, it ceased to be free, as it was previously; and he had, consequently, been sent to the right-about. He repeated, that the only effectual mode of counter-acting such improper influences was to apply the Ballot.
§ Petition to lie on the Table.