§ The EARL of SHAFTESBURYpresented a Bill to amend the Laws which 1411 regulate the mode of voting for Members of Parliament for cities and boroughs in England and Wales; and said he was anxious to say a few words in explanation, because the subject might be considered as rather a novel one, as, perhaps, in some respects were the time and place of introduction. Every one, whatever might be his station in life, was interested, and deeply interested, in the repression of bribery, corruption, and all the other vices which at present disgraced our elective system. Late events had specially developed the existence of these abuses, and had given, he thought, special cause to every one to use his best endeavours in devising and proposing a remedy. His attention had been called to these evils, and it had struck him that the mode of voting practised by our local boards of health, and also under the poor-law, might be adapted to Parliamentary elections, and would strike at the root of the existing evils; that if the plan of voting papers were adopted, we should have all the advantages of open voting without the ordinarily attendant evils of polling booths and processions, and that these general results would follow: First, that there would be a general abatement of intimidation by violence at the polling booths and in the streets; secondly, that there would be no necessity, and, consequently, no pretext whatever, for treating and refreshment; and any one who had looked at the reports of the Election Committees which had recently sat must be convinced that there was no more fearful means of corruption than the system of treating. Thirdly, there would be then no plea for bribery under the name of travelling expenses, another great source of corruption; and there would be no plea for any payments as compensation for loss of time. Again, there would be no holding back of votes until late in the day to enhance their price. Then, there would be a greater number of persons who would record their votes than at present. Many presons, especially the weak and timid, were now kept away from the poll, and it very often happened that those who were thus kept away were by far the best voters in the whole community. Under the system proposed by this Bill, all these persons would be enabled to vote. Then, in order to limit the expenses of elections, and to give them a legal character, he suggested that there should be an officer having the power to demand security from the candidates; and he proposed that the returning officer, 1412 having taken such security, should be the person to superintend and sanction all expenses, and that no other expenses should be considered legal except those which took place between a candidate and his own agents. The practicability of carrying out this Bill depended, of course, upon the details contained in it, and those details had been very carefully considered. The mean sure would offer no impediment to those constitutional public gatherings at the day of nomination and election which prevailed under the present system: these would remain untouched. It might be said that some slight difficulties had occurred under the poor-law system of voting. That was true, but this might be ascribed to the very inferior position and pay of the per-sons employed as collectors, and to the total want of safeguards in the collection and subsequent examination of the voting papers. Under the Bill which he now begged leave to introduce, all those safeguards had been provided. He should add, that the measure was, at present, confined only to cities and boroughs, because the evils complained of were not so prevalent in counties; but it could be easily extended to counties as soon as the proper machinery could be provided. He now ventured to lay this Bill upon the table of the House, and he did believe that, if adopted, it would go very far indeed to repress the great evils now complained of in our elective system; and would take away a great number of the pretexts under which bribery had been so extensively used.
§ The EARL of ABERDEENconsidered, that the subject to which the measure of the noble Earl referred was one of very great importance; but the custom in that House was to abstain from giving any opinion on any measure, or entering into discussion of its merits, until it came before their Lordships for a second reading. Therefore he must refrain for the present from giving any opinion on the Bill of the noble Lord.
LORD BROUGHAMcould not avoid expressing his great gratification that his noble Friend had turned his attention to this subject. He was unable, however, to make out whether the noble Earl proposed that the votes should be taken in secret, or whether he merely suggested an arrangement by which votes were to be taken at the residence of the constituents—thus avoiding the necessity of bringing them to the poll. [The Earl of SHAFTESBURY intimated that the latter was the intention of 1413 the Bill.] It certainly was true that it was not in accordance with the practice of their Lordships' House to permit any noble Peer to indulge in an explanatory statement on the occasion of the first reading of a Bill, such a statement being reserved with the second reading. But then exceptions were allowed to that rule in all cases of Law Bills, it being considered highly desirable that the provisions of such measures should be fully understood throughout the country before they came to be discussed by their Lordships.
§ Bill read 1a
§ House adjourned to Monday next.