§ Mr. Serjeant Onslow presented a Petition of John Joyce, of Galway, banker and freeholder, John French, Madden, of Galway, freeholder, John Moore, of Galway, merchant, freeman, and freeholder, Thomas Blakeny, of Galway, freeman, on behalf of themselves and others, being persons entitled to vote in the election of a member to serve in parliament for the said town and county of the said town, setting forth,
§ "That, on the 15th day of June last, the select committee appointed to try and determine the merits of the Petition of Valentine Blake, of Menlo, in the county of the town of Galway, esq. and of the Petition of John Joyce, Patrick M. Lynch, John Lynch, Alexander Nicholas Browne, James Finn, and John French Madden, complaining of an undue election and return for the said town, reported to the House, that it appeared to the Committee, that the merits of the Petitions did in part depend upon the right of election, and therefore the committee required the counsel for the several parties to deliver to the clerk of the committee statements in writing of the right of election for which they respectively contended; and that, in consequence thereof, the counsel for the petitioner Valentine Blake, esq. and also for the several other petitioners, delivered in a statement as follows: 'That the right of election in and for the town and county of the town of Galway is in the freeholders of the said town and county of the town of Galway, and in the free burgesses and freemen thereof, such freemen having been resident in the said town and county of the town, or the liberties thereof, at the time of their election to their freedom, and also at the time of their voting;' and that the counsel for the sitting member, the hon. Frederick Ponsonby, delivered in a statement as follows: 'That the right of election in and for the town and county of the town of Galway, is in the freeholders of the said 122 town and county of the town of Galway, and in the freemen of the corporation of the said town;' and that, upon the statement delivered in by the counsel for the said several petitioners, the committee had determined that the right of election, as set forth in the said statement, is not the right of election for the town and county of the town of Galway; and that, upon the statement delivered in by the counsel for the sitting member, the committee had determined that the right of election, as set forth in the said statement, is the right of election for the said town and county of the town of Galway; and that the petitioners are advised that the right of election, so determined by the said select committee, is not the right of election for the said borough; and that the petitioners are prepared to prove that no person is entitled to vote in the election of a member to serve in parliament for the said town of Galway, as a free burgess or freeman thereof, who was not bona fide a resident in the said town and county of the town, or the liberties thereof, at the time of their election to their freedom of the said town; and that the right of election of a member to serve in parliament in and for the said town of Galway is in the freeholders of the said town and county of the town of Galway, and in the free burgesses and freemen thereof, such freemen having been resident in the said town and county of the town, or liberties thereof, at the time of their election to their freedom; and that the petitioners, therefore, are not satisfied with the resolution of the said select committee, and are desirous of having the benefit of the several statutes in that case made and provided, for the purpose of preventing the judgment of the said select committee from becoming final and conclusive against the interests of the petitioners, which will be materially affected thereby, inasmuch as persons having no right to become freemen of the said town of Galway, or to vote in the election of a member to serve in parliament for the said town of Galway and county of the said town, will, under the resolution of the said select committee, claim to have a right to vote in such election, to the great prejudice of the freeholders of the county of the said town, and of the free burgesses and freemen legally elected, and having a right to vote in such election; and praying the House, that they may be admitted as parties, according to the form of the statutes in such 123 case made and provided, to oppose the right of election, in favour of which the said select committee have so reported, and that the petitioners may have such other relief in the premises as to the House shall seem meet, and the justice and nature of the case may require.
§ Ordered, That the said Petition be taken into consideration upon Tuesday the 15th day of February next; at three o'clock in the afternoon; and, That Mr. Speaker do issue his warrant or warrants for such person, papers, and records, as shall be thought, necessary by the several parties, on the hearing of the matter of the said Petition.