§ Mr. Godsonsaid, he held a petition in his hand from Mr. Edward Pillbean Coxe, to which he requested the attention of the House, and which, if the statements of the petition were true, called aloud for the interference of the House. The petitioner, one of the freemen of Nottingham, stated, that he and others during the recent election, were supporters of the present hon. Member for that place, and that since that time attempts had been made to buy over himself and other parties to the other side, and for that purpose a meeting had been held by two persons who were named in the petition, and who requested the petitioner to receive a sum of money to the amount of 5l. at first, as part and parcel of the sum of 50l., which the petitioner was to receive for the purpose of endeavouring to get over certain persons to the Whig party, to which proposition he would not consent. He would not read the whole of the petition to the House, but the leading statements. The petitioner was next requested to go out of the way for a short time, from which he also dissented. He was then requested by the two persons whose names were mentioned in the petition, and who stated, that a great change had taken place in the views of their employers, to go under a fictitious name either to Bassetlaw, Newark, or Walsall, for the purpose of bribing the electors of those places during the ensuing general elections, for which service the petitioner should have 50l., and all his expenses paid at each of those places. The petitioner was informed at the same time, that their friends would so arrange matters with the returning officers, that the elections at Bassetlaw, Newark, and Walsall, should come off on different days. The petitioner then went on to state, that he received a portion of the money for the purpose of testing whether the parties were serious in making the offer, and went to London, directing that if anything more was to be done they should send him word to town. After his arrival in Lon- 965 don he received a letter enclosing a remittance of 20l., to the following effect:—
Dear Coxe, enclosed you will receive 20l. Not having received any supplies, I have forwarded this from my own private stock, and will forward the remaining 10l. in the course of a few days.The letter added, that everything was going on as favourably as could be expected, considering the limited means at the disposal of the parties. The petitioner brought these allegations under the notice of the House for the sake of showing his fellow-countrymen the iniquitous system of bribery put in operation for the purpose of securing the return of Whig Members to the House of Commons, and to show also the necessity of providing some efficacious measure to prevent such practices, and to detect and punish those who might be guilty of them. The petitioner particularly called the attention of the House to the singular fact, that two persons, whom he named, should offer and supply large sums of money, having no means or resources of their own whence to furnish them, a fact clearly showing that they were the agents of other more opulent parties, who were desirous of securing by bribery the return of Members for four different places. The petitioner humbly prayed that he might be permitted to prove at the Bar of the House the allegations which he made in his petition, and which he could establish beyond all contradiction, and that the House would institute a full, a fair, and an impartial inquiry into all the facts of the transactions to which he had ventured to direct the attention of the House, and adopt such measures as might be deemed expedient. The hon. Gentleman then moved, that the petition of Mr. Coxe be printed, and taken into consideration on Thursday, the 10th of June instant.
§ Ordered.