§ Mr. John Maxwell, chairman, brought up the report of the Dublin Election Committee, which he read to the House as follows: —
That Daniel O'Connell, esq., was not duly elected a citizen to serve in this present Parliament for the city of Dublin.That Edward Southwell Ruthven, esq., was not duly elected a citizen to serve in this present Parliament for the city of Dublin.That George Alexander Hamilton, esq., is duly elected, and ought to have been returned a citizen to serve in this present Parliament for the city of Dublin.That John Beattie West, esq., is duly elected, and ought to have been returned to serve in this present Parliament for the city of Dublin.That the petition of Robert King, John Mallet, and others, in the opinion of this Committee, is not frivolous or vexatious, and that the opposition to the said petition does not appear to the Committee to be frivolous or vexatious.That these resolutions be forthwith re-ported to the House.915 The hon. Gentleman then stated that he had been directed to make the following special report to the House:—The Committee feel it to be their duty especially to report to the House that eight persons, viz.—Matthew Madden, George Os-borne, Patrick Finnucane, O. Richards, John Forsyth, Charles Dempsey, James Baldwin, and Andrew Hutchinson, were struck off the poll, as having voted from corrupt expectation, and having subsequently received money. But the Committee is unanimously of opinion that there is no evidence that Messrs. West and Hamilton, for whom they voted, were either directly or indirectly implicated in such corrupt practices.The Committee further consider it their duty to make known to the House that they have found a very general irregularity to prevail in the assessment and collection of municipal taxes in the city of Dublin, and that from the absence of all public notice of their imposition, the uncertainty attending their collection, and the liability of payment attached in many instances to various occupiers of the same premises, the exercise of their franchise is frequently subject to difficulties, which the Committee cannot believe was contemplated by the Legislature.