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March 10, ¦ 186:0.1 TheLeader-and Saturd...
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THE SLAUGHTER IX eOLLTERIES. ¦\"¥TliATEV...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The .Briber Caught. _ T He Briber Has At...
The Berwick electors were . first heard , and " a special : jury of the county found that the Conuirittce ' s report was a libel , but they only awarded one shilling damages to a Mr . "Wilson . The Union consented that in the other five cases verdicts for forty shillings to carry costs should be recorded . Xext day , the action against one of the six for penalties was "heard . , A
shockingly clear case of corruption was proved against Mr . D . A . La ^ Vb , and the almost same jurymen found a verdict for the penalty of £ 100 . The ' Northern RefoTin Union pleaded that their report was no libel . Their counsel , Mr . Temple , argued that it was only a fair comment upon a public matter . The libelled Mr . TTilsox was put into the box , his counsel well knowing that , as the defendants had not "justified , " he could not be eross . exaniined as to any bribery . Technically , the truth may be a libel . But when ' the parties reversed- their positions , the Berwick counsel did not dare to tender Mr . Lamb for cross-examination , and so the story of the bribery is uncontradicted . Matthew Middlemass swore , that L . vmb had paid him £ 3 , and told him to go and vote for Majoiubanks . The three sovereigns
Middlemass showed to AYaite , one of Mr . Hodgson * s supporters . Mr . Lamb sat behind his counsel and heard this evidence ; and , as he did not offer to gainsay it , we are bound to believe it , The defence really offered was , ' that there was ho proof when the writ for -the ' election was received by the returning- officer , nor when proclamation was made , or tliat the copy of the return was certified as required by the Act ! Yet , if ' Mr . Lamb had been plaintiff on the previous day , lie would have received damages for a libel ! . "
The difficulties in proving bribery are multiplied by law . A private ' person , bringing an action for the penalty * lays himself open to the imputation of being " a common informer . " ^ It is " oiilv a public association , having no personal interest in the result / that enn . undertake the disagreeable task of proving what Mr . Justice Hill very properly called ' ¦ ' a crime . " Security for costs lias to be given ; artel if the association , issues a report to itsi constituents , " simplyinforming them of what has been discovered , they iiiust also pay the costs of an action of libel . Then witnesses disappear from the scene , or become strangely obtuse as to what reallv took . place . Sp ite of all such impediments ,. Messrs . Coaven , Reed , and Oilmore have triumphed , and have read not Berwick only ; but every corrupt borough , and every corrupt elector , a lesson * in a dose which they arc prepared to repeat at the Summer Assizes .
And it is only in la \ v that a cure for bribery is to be found . Public opinion can do nothing ; for if bribery be exposed , and bribers published , it is a libel ; if verbally reported from mouth to mouth , a slander . No other than . tl \ e expensive process of a trial enn accomplish the purity of constituencies . Fortunately , Berwick is cared for ; - but it is to be regretted that there is no impersonal agency in the neighbourhoods of Bcverloy , "W ' akefield , Gloucester , and Dover . Associations , however , might soon bis
established . A score of determined electors might do more than twenty committees at Westminster . The Northern . Reform Unioii has pointed out tile way of action ; it only requires to bo resolutely followed . And so long ns electors permit their neighbours' votes to 1 >« bought and sold , so long shall we have candidates willing to buy ; amljust so long shall we have candidates not worth having . But by the process of purgation which the Uliiou has discovered , we destroy the vote of the hrihor as well ns the bribed , and we reduce the unscrupulous partisan to u
politicrd nonentity . It is impossible not to admire tho unshrinking fortitude which Mr . Gowjsn and his colleagues have displayed . -Ordinary men , not so much possessed by a disinterested purpose , would have shrunk from n shower df actions for libel . Regardless of inconvenience , local malevolence , and almost' ruinous costs , they have struggled on to a victory , their reward for which only onn be a consciousness that /// ry / ' first proved that the law enn rench the political corruption which supposed itself safe'from other than sontimental correction .
Let Berwick beware . It has a local tradition , explanatory of its singular topographical sandwich position between England and Scotland , which runs as follows : " When the Devil took the Son of man into the mountain , and showed him nil the kingdoms of tho worldnt one time , his Sntnnlc majesty put his thumb upon Berwick , which operation excluded tho borough from association with cither of the kingdoms . ' Wo do not mean to say tlint tho political corruption of Berwick urguos a closer connect iomvilh the Princo of Darkness than with tho Ih'ity of Mammon , hut we may remind Berwick that a continuance in corruption inny induce Parliament to dissolve tho connection ' between tho ' . Borough of Berwick and tho Constitution 61 ' the ronlm . Certainly , if Middlcsborough and Ilnrtlepool enn establish their right to bo represented , wo shall not bo puzzled where to look for n dead city pf the North to bo offered as n sacrifice .
March 10, ¦ 186:0.1 Theleader-And Saturd...
March 10 , ¦ 186 : 0 . 1 TheLeader-and Saturdayi Analyst . 227
The Slaughter Ix Eollteries. ¦\"¥Tliatev...
THE SLAUGHTER IX eOLLTERIES . ¦\ " ¥ TliATEVEil may be the' changes' which speculative opinion VV . is destined to undergo , it will redound to . the eternal honour of the religion of this generation , that it laboured with energy and success to effect the introduction of Christian principles into the relations of social life , that it has bravely defended the cause of the poor and desolate , and raised millions of lovr estate from a position of degradation to one ¦ which , whatever its defects and calamities , is illuminated by the sunli ght of charity , and warmed by the genial rays of fraternal love . We have , indeed , a . Herculean task before us , to redress the wrongs which bad Taws , imperfect arrangements , the dominion of ignorance and
the greed of gain inflict upon numerous portions of society ; but no class , and no individual , is beyond the reach of the ' active sympathy of philanthropic religionists ; and , even in the basest , criminal , the mere fact of humanity is a sufficient tie to linkhiui with the best and proudest in the land , and secure for him a readiness to consider how the means of reformation and happiness may be placed within his reach . " We have entirely passed out of that stage in which the misery of the poor eould be ? viewed with complaceiicy , and the . task of Government summed up" in the falsely conceived duty of keeping the masses in wretchedness and order , for the bench ' tof the luckily born and nurtured few . The
great principle to which Bentjiam , ' borrowing from FrainkLix , devoted a laborious life to expound , is now universally rccogv nised ; and forms of polity and methods- of government stand acquitted or condemned in ' proportion as they succeiid ; oi * fail to promote the '" greatest happiness of the greatest 'number ,- " and make the good old term " Commonwealth '' , literally applicable tp our modern state . For a time , political economy had to wa ^ e war with uneducated and sentimental -benevolence ; but , although tlie science is still perverted by a-few into am engine for grinding the faces-of the poor , the ruling classes arc becoming better acquainted with its principles and its limitations , and more able to make it the minister of beneficent progress , ' and-not
the coadjutor of the selfishness of capital lor ' , the oppression oi the labouring class . . . ^ The doctrine of leaving adults to make precisely what , bargains they please , however unjust in principle and detrimental- to tho public interest , has been beaten down by the inherent strength of honest . emotions , and the Legislature has again and again stepped in to secure the weaker party against loss of health or infringement of rights to which * lie was exposed by the mere operation of commercial principles . In-jnany cases sueh State aid should he ; regarded-ns-provisional , - and it ought to cease as soon as the protected persons are able to talce cure of themselves ; " but there are certain axioms in strict conformity with the ; rules of common , law that ought never to ' be placed in abcyanc : by any technical defect in legislative machinery . -Xo one has a right to use his to others
own liberty or employ his property so . as injure ; and the doctrine that " no injury is done to him who consents , " is utterly inapplicable to the consent wning from misery , or extorted ' from ignorance , and which consent , according to . the rules of sound morals , ought never to have boon . given at all . There may be a doubt as to the haul way of enforcing the duties of property upon the master bukyrs of London ; biit when they carry on their trade in dark , damp , and fetid collars ^ working * their unhap ]) y \ ietims for uuhcard-of hours , and ruining their Iioullh to sue ) ') uu extent that medical examination , nmtly discovers a sound ' jounit ' viuan baker , no consent on the part of the . sufferer ought 1 o debar him from the . right to redress ; and he is morally ns much entitled to damages for a shattered . constitution , as he . i » U-jrul-ly , under Lord Camimjkll's Act , for broken limbs
in ' a railway collision . . Xo capitalist has a ri ^ ht to carry on his tm . de in a Juggernaut fashion , and drive ! his car of wealth over tho inunglcd bodies of the working class ; and whenever a workman is kiljcd or injuml because his cni )) loyor neglects any known and reasonable- means of rendering the occupation safe , hu or his roprcsentntives aro entitled to a cheap and easy method of obtaining preiuiinrv recompense for the damage tliut lin ^ hwn done . Trade would nnf , bo injured by enforcing its monil obligations . W , | jcii a nmnufautun : is unlMtultJiy'it is badly managed , and lurgrr jiroHtn iniglil , bu nuulc by tin . ' application of greater science jiud brlU-. r skill .
)! , is a monstrous wrong iiud unuilfv , tlint niuii w . hohaiipun to work in ignoranLlv managed j ) ursuits aliouhJ Jos . " hull' tlirip lives as u penalty for i ' ho (! in ]) loyor ' n violafioiiH of chmmcal , pliy « iologicnl , or moolumicnl Ihwh ; or that hiujIi a lmsim-su as diggmy oouls should bo eight or ten ' times as dangerous art the average pursuits of tht ) ooinmuuily ; nearly all thcisxlni danger being t . id p lain uiul palpable fault of , t 1 io capitalists ,, for whoso pro / it tho business is curried on . , Tho torrilic explosion wliidi has just occurred at J * iirm « o-i may , at least , sorvu to call attention to the doplorablr j ) Oaition ol the xjollicrs as » cUjss , uud it ia to bo hoped that llio causes ot
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10031860/page/7/
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