Lord Howickobserved, that in consequence of a return for the county of Galway, or rather something described as a return for that county, he felt it his duty to bring the subject before the house. The sheriff of Galway had thought proper to return, in compliance with the exigency of the writ, merely that the election was not concluded, and that he should keep it open until all the electors in the county should be polled. This mode of proceeding, the noble lord conceived the house must feel to be as highly irregular as the return to be unsatisfactory, and of course it required investigation. He therefore moved, that the deputy clerk of the crown should appear at the bar to-morrow, with the last return for the county of Galway, and when this return should be laid on the table, the noble lord stated it to be his intention to move on an early day, that the subject should be taken into farther consideration, and that the sheriff of Galway should be called to the bar.
§ Mr. Corrytook occasion to observe, that there was no law in Ireland, as in this country, to limit the continuance of elections in any other respect than that prescribed by the exigency of the writ, and that the case alluded to by the noble lord, was not without precedent in that country. He remembered an instance where a returning officer had made a special return of the same nature; and possibly the sheriff of Galway might have acted upon the same precedent. Upon this point however, he could not venture to speak with precision, as he was wholly unacquainted with the circumstances of the Galway election; but he thought it necessary, for the information of the noble lord and for the animadversion of the house, to state the precedent to which he had alluded.
Lord Howicksaid, he was aware of the fact stated by the right hon. gent., that the law for limiting the duration of Elections in this country did not exist in Ireland, and suggested for the consideration of the 227 house, whether it would not be proper to extend the law upon this subject to that part of the united kingdom. With regard to the precedent alluded to by the right hon. gent., he should be sorry to preclude the sheriff of the county of Galway from pleading the sanction of any precedent or usage that prevailed in Ireland upon this subject. But yet he was rather disinclined to think that any such precedent or usage could vindicate the return complained of, because the difficulties which were stated to have led to the return, could have been easily guarded against by a proper exercise of the discretion vested in the sheriff by law.—The motion was agreed to, and lord Howick stated, that he would fix upon to-morrow fortnight for the farther consideration of this case, as, within that time, all the proceedings would most probably be at an end, and the sheriff of Galway would be conveniently enabled to attend the house.