§ Dr. Bowringpresented a Petition from Preston, signed by 4,500 inhabitants of that place, complaining of events which happened there during the last election, of the scenes of outrage and violence which were 1267 committed by the partisans of the sitting Members, and of the bribery which was unblushingly practised, and imploring the house to interfere for the purpose of preventing the recurrence of similar malpractices. He believed that the Petition was calculated to promote the advance of a Question which of late years had made great progress in the public mind—he alluded to the Question of the Ballot. He was one of the few persons who many years ago had advocated the Ballot as the best security for the honesty of the elective body. Certain he was, that wherever there was wealth it would be employed to seduce, and wherever there was power, it would be employed to coerce, the honesty of voters, and this was a remarkable example of the manner in which wealth and power combined, had been used to obstruct the conscientious voters of Preston. The allegations of the petition were so important, that he was particularly desirous to call the attention of the House to them. He had himself been an eye-witness of many of the facts of which the petition contained a statement. On the 8th of last January, having been requested by a great number of the electors to stand as a candidate for the representation of that borough, he had gone thither, not with an intention of accepting their offer, for he was then engaged elsewhere, but with the intention of ascertaining the state of things in the place. He found the town in complete possession of a body of men wearing blue and yellow caps. On going to the hustings, representations were made to the Mayor, that if it were permitted these men to parade the town with this distinguishing dress it must inevitably lead to violence and outrage. The Mayor, however, would not listen to these representations. On the following day these men broke out into the most violent excesses: many houses were attacked, the windows were broken, and the furniture in them destroyed; and in consequence there were presented at the last March assizes against these persons indictments, upon which thirteen of them were found guilty, and sentenced to be imprisoned for different terms, varying from six to twelve months. Regarding some of the persons who where then found guilty, the learned judge who tried them said that it was fortunate for them that they had not been indicted for capital offences, and reminded them that they were indebted for that lenity entirely to the 1268 mercy of the prosecutors. The hon. Member then read the allegations of the petition, which were in conformity with his speech. After the statement which the House had just heard, it would be no surprise to the hon. Gentleman to hear that the prayer of the petition was, that the House would be pleased to pass a law preventing the occurrence of bribery and intimidation at elections, and that it would grant the Ballot as a security to electors. The petitioners also prayed for such a reform in our Municipal Corporations as would relieve the Mayors of borough towns from their present duties, and as would restore to the people the right of which they had been deprived,—namely, the right of electing their own magistrates. He had given notice to the sitting Members of his intention to present this petition. He was afraid that not only intimidation and violence, but that corruption also, had been carried on to a large extent in the borough of Preston at the last Election. He had received this card (holding one up to the House) from a voter who had received it for his suffrage at the last Election, but the man's conscience smote him, after he had performed his part of the contract, and he had not the courage to present the card, which would have entitled him to receive the price of his corruption. The hon. Gentleman concluded by moving that this petition be referred to the Committee sitting to inquire into the best means of preventing bribery and intimidation at elections.
§ Petition referred accordingly.