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1150 THE LEADER. [Saturday
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THE PAELIAMENT OF THE WEEK. THE BRIBERY ...
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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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As The Preliminary Session Advances, The...
since the trade commenced . The instalments of gold , which continue to arrive in England , and also in New York , materially contribute to support prices , by a species of incessant dram-supply , and there is every prospect tha ^' thls cause of commercial activity will continue . In ffois respect our own country otfersa remarkable contrast to the present state of France . The commercial men of
that country are at present undergoing a mania not unlike our railway mania , the' object being with them , railways and joint-stock enterprises in general . Government has helped to stimulate this by its own projects of employment . But already some of the undertakings are bankrupt , and an unsound paroxysm of enterprise is likely to come to an end so soon as to embarrass the
new-Empire very seriously in its treasury . The intelligence from India is mystifying . After much delay General Godwin has advanced up the Rangoon , and has captured Prome in due form ; but there he stops . It is related of George the Fourth , that he could p rolong the swallowing of a glass of wine to an extraordinary length of enjoyment . General Godwin seems to be protracting his conquest with the same epicurean fond delay . Annexation is already anticipated , but the veteran is making the most of the preliminary war . The Duchess of Sutherland and certain ladies
collected round her by friendship , or by the pleasure of joining a party in Stafford House , came forward to speak as " the women of England , " and to preach to " the women of America" in the sense of Mrs . Beecher Stowe ' s book . The step is taken at the instigation of Lord Shaftesbury , but is generally regarded as a mistake . The ladies will probably go home . In the feminine world , the most notable event is a loss—Ada Byron has followed Miss Berry , nnd the only child of the poet is gone .
1150 The Leader. [Saturday
1150 THE LEADER . [ Saturday
The Paeliament Of The Week. The Bribery ...
THE PAELIAMENT OF THE WEEK . THE BRIBERY CHARGES AGAINST MAJOR ^ BERESFORD . The long looked-for statement respecting the Derby election , and the alleged sliarc of Major Beresford in that disgraceful transaction , was made on Monday night . Th « case was in the hands of Sir Alexander Cockburn , who stated it with great fulness and distinctness , in calling upon the House to take the petition from Derby into consideration . The petitioners alleged that at the late election for Derby , systematic bribery was resorted to for the purpose of procuring the return of one of the candidates ; and they further nil ego that the Right Honourable William Ueresford , a Major in the army , a Privy Councillor , the Secretary at War , now a member of this House , was a party to that bribery , and himself procured the agent by whom that bribery was carried into effect ; and they prayed the House to institute a full and searching inquiry into the matter of this
petition ; and they were the more earnest in that prayer because the right honourable gentleman accused was a member of her Majesty ' s Government . If these parties had been guilty of a foul conspiracy to injure the character of tin ? right honourable gentleman , and if they wished to support it by falsehood and conspiracy , as it bud been alleged , an inquiry would establish the- fact . These charges and counter charges rendered an inquiry necessary , and compelled him to state what he had been informed went the fiefs of the ease .
Tlio former members for Derby were opposed in July last by Mr . Ilorsfull , who wan connected wilh the borough by marriage only ; his wile ; being a relative of a fumily named ( . , who imd considerable influence in the borough , one being n , solicitor , another a wine merchant , and another the head of a iiCiidworkH . Derby was u stronghold ot" the Liberal parly ; but it wan rumoured the Conservatives intended to curry it , by the use of gold in July . And it readied I ho ears of "Mr . Mohh , the chairman of the Liberal candidates , Unit bribery machinery wan in motion during the election . How thin came about , fonnn n long story- . _ .
In Derby then ! resided an attorney named Flowker , who , after the election of 1 H 17 , hud almost Hinglehaudod unseated Mchhi-h . Strut ! , and ( ilovver , on petition . Tho cost of this whs upwards of «<)<>/ ., and that sum the Tory party had newer repaid him . So when tho time for another election recurred , Flewkor declined to act for Mr . Hornl ' iill , though greatly importuned to do no . At , length , a Mr . Itudford took him in hand , told him that money wotdd l > o employed " to do tho trick ; " that a stranger wuh already at the " County Tavern , and begged him to go and see that nil was rijrht . Flewkor wen ! , and saw Morgan-- " Mr . J . Morgan , of Chester " - but he found that Mr . Morgan came from Slirewnbury , not Chester ; and that he had in bin possession a letter ' uddroHHed to Mr . . Frail of Shrewsbury , tho hand-writing of which JPlowter know quit *
IB « v * Jt -lift well , and he exclaimed , Qh , this is the writing of Major Beresford . I know ^ Wie writing perfectly well ; and see here is W . B ., Carlfom Club . ' * ' "After this , Flewker saw Radford , and told' * 2 um all was right ; that Morgan was the right sort of ' ¥ nan 5 and tnat lie W 3 S to have 100 Z # P * tile job . Thern & rfc service Mr . Flewkfe * was asked to per * forni was to go to Nottingham amd kecuje tHe servfceS'bf one Hibbertf , Who had a gang of Mien tinder him there . Flewker went and secured Hibbert ; Wti when there he told a Mr . Cok ' wh ' at wafe brewing at Derby ; and Mr . Cox got' an introduction W Mr . Moss ; 'the Liberal chairman , fend set out t 6 r Derby , whither " Siewkeir' had returned . Flewker again " saw" Eadford , and had ' another interview with Morgan . As there was some fear that the County Tavern would be watched by a house opposite , Badford was shown , that Morgan ' s room had two doors and two staircases—one back and one front . While Flewker was there , the money was brought by a man whom he had seen at Cox ' s , the wine merchant ; and Will or " Spring Bice" brought the lists of voters considered likely to take a bribe . The next day , the polling day , Flewker was again with Morgan ; when Morgan told him to go to Eadford and tell him to send some more " horsenails . " Badford was in bed when he took the message , but a servant brought down word that the horsenails should be sent ; and afterwards Badford told Flewker that the horsenails had been sent . Matters were now ripe . Flewker told everything to Cox of Nottingham—no relation to the Derby Coxes—Cox told Mr . Moss ; Mr . Moss sent a police serjeant and three men to the County Tavern ; by aid of the pass , they entered Morgan's room , and arrested him , his gold , and his voting-lists ; and a letter was found on him , addressed to Sir . Frail , of Shrewsbury , written as follows :
" A good and safe man , with judgment and quickness , is wanted immediately at Derby . I suppose that you cannot leave your own place ; if not , send some one whom you can trust in your place . Let him go to Derby on receiving this , and find the County Tavern , in the centre of the town . Send his card to Cox , Brothers , and Co ., lead works , as coming from Chester . That will be enough . Yours , W . B . —Monday . " ^ Morgan made no secret of the business he had been engaged in . Derby , he said , was a poor place ; voters were shabby fellows ; two voters in Shrewsbury would cost twice as much as twenty of them . So it was clear that the business of Morgan at Derby was bribery . Now came the question—how far is Major Beresford to
be considered accessory to this bribery r It had been sworn that the hand-writing was his , and he had never denied it ; the envelope tore the impress of the seal of the Carlton Club . Morgan , on whose person it was found , had minutely complied with the directions it contained . He had started for Derby within an hour after its arrival at Shrewsbury ; he had gone to the County Tavern ; he had sent his card to Cox Brothers and Co . This letter could not have been written then without concert among the parties . And why was a safe man sent to Derbywere there no safe men in the town ? The fact is , that in bribery cases strangers , because less easily detected , are always called in . Then there was the false address . That could not have been given for any legitimate purpose . Taking all these circumstances , he would put a case : — " Take the case of a man who was apprehended flagrante
delicto in the perpetration of a crime ; and that that man was found to be in possession of a letter directing him to the very place where the crime was committed , directing him what he was to do when he got there , and putting him into communication with persons who wore supposed to havo an interest in the crime being done , and further directing him to assume a disguise—would not those who committed the criminal for trial naturally put to themselves the question whether the party who wrote the letter was not an accessory to the crime ? would it not . bo their duty to say that such a document , unanswered and unexplained , would be cogent and weig hty evidence to prove the complicity of the writer in guilt ? Mark ; ho said , if the letter was unanswered and unexplained . Heaven forbid ho should say that this case did not admit of an answer . All he said was that this was a case which
demanded inquiry . " At this point ho would leave the case , hod not Major Berosford declared that tho facts brought to light were the result of a base conspiracy , supported by falsehood and perjury . It was said that tho letter signed " W . B ., " although genuine , wus written respecting an election prior to 1852 ; and if that were ho , be agreed that it would bo unfair imd ungenorouH to visit it upon him now . Was this so p lie had made inquiry , and found , from tho evidence , that it could not have applied to any eloetion
prior to 1 H 52 . For he had a correspondence m his possession , which had paused betweoti Mr . Flewker and Mr . Heresford , which conclusively proved that Mr . HercHlbrd did not , interfere in tho election of 1847 ; and that , until 1848 , Mr . Frail was unknown at Shrewsbury . The letters related to the petition got , up by Flewker against tho return of Strutt and Uower . The first , " thought it a good thing to unseat Mr . Htrutt for Derby , " promised UKtl . in aid of that Mervico . Tho next two wore written in February , 1848 , one of which were as follows : —
" Disau Sik , —1 have an agent who is skilled in all election matters I " laughter 1 , and understands every manner of Hehomo wnjh regard to petitions [ renewed laughter ] . He will bo in Dorby next Monday , and will bring an introduction from me . You may trunt him most implicitly , and you will get HOme very undid bints probably from him respecting your petition . " Yours truly , " Wn . T-iA M UiiiurcBKoiin . " 77 , Pall-mall , Feb . 25 . " Tho " agent" here spoken of ih " Mr . Frail , " as we learn from tho next letter written on the Hiurio day . Ho that beyond a doubt Mr . Frail was a total stranger to Derby up to 1 K'L 8 . lie now proponed to show tho relations that arose between Mr . Frail and tho leading agents and partisans of the Conservative * in the borough . Tho right lion , ironlloman write * on tho JJrd of . March . : —
" Dea . b Sib , —I have endeavoured to see Mr rvi ^ i but I fikid he ifl * J ke country hunting , probalbW ^ ' AtherstoW ^ A to hiS whenever * h Xes ^ to town . I haye ^ Biten Mr . Frail , who givesTmeTL ^ account of the case tfliat < San be made out against theirt ting Member * . ; TtWe requested him to give you evSv assistance xa his bdwer , and attend to anything that tK Derby party desirV to be d " one . I shall be happy to assisr Vou also when the committee sits . [ What this meant he ( Sir A . Cockburn ) did not altogether know . ] The areat tnatter to be lookedto is to collect funds , and to keep the case quiet till it is brought before the committee « 77 , Pru mX ' rUly > " * BE —*
-The next letter was from Mr . Frail himself ; and it was important , because it showed , having once obtained footing , upon what terms of intimacy he became with the partisans at Derby . The letter was written from Carlisle [ great laughter , and cries of " hear , hear" ] . It appeared that there was an election then going on for the ancient city of Carlisle ; an election petition was presented against one of the members for that city , which was successful and there was an election to fill the vacant seat . Mr . FraiL it appeared , was sent down , and if not by the direction at least with the concurrence of the right honourable gentleman , to lend his assistance in the election for Carlisle * and from thence he wrote the following letter to Mi . Flewker : —
" Carlisle , Saturday . " My deae Sie , —I have only just received your letters this day . I am much engaged with the election ; it will be over on Tuesday , and I hope to he in London on Wednesday . I have written to London for you ; arrangements must be made for the lodgings of your witnesses & c . This shall be attended to without delay . If you can get Andrews and Alexander do , if not , Byles . " Messrs . Andrews and Alexander were t \^ very distinguished members of the parliamentary bar . His friend Mr . Sergeant Bylea , was one of the most distinguished members of Westminster-hall ; but perhaps he was better known to honourable gentlemen opposite as the author of some profound lucubrations on political economy , generally known by the title of Fallacies of Free Trade
[ laughter , and Conservative cries of " hear , hear . " ] But the most significant part of the letter was yet to come . The letter was signed at the bottom , " Fraii , " but immediately above that signature there was written , " Yours sincerely , Wm . Nixson , " and it was dated from the King ' s Arms Hotel , Carlisle , which showed , he thought , that Mr . Frail had gone under the name of Nixson at Carlisle , when he was attending to electioneering matters there ; and there was a postscript , "My best wishes to Mr . Hibbert as Thompson , not Johnson . " It was evident from the P . S . that this gentleman also had been undergoing a change in his patronymic , and that Mr . Flewker had written the disguise Johnson instead of Thompson , which Mr . Frail takes this opportunity of correcting . The next letter was from the right honourable gentleman himself : —
" Deae Sie , —Mr . Frail has been out of town on very important business for four or five days , and that is the reason why you have not heard from him . I do not think that he has got your letter . 1 think he will be able to get to Derby on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning , but not before . I havo sent to speak to a gentleman from Derby , and will give him any direction I can that may be serviceable I regret that Frail is out of town . "Yours truly , "W . Beeespoed . " Saturday , , ( 1848 . )" Sir Alexander Cockburn then showed from these facts ,
that the letter did not appl y to the election in 1848 , which took place after the unseating of Strutt and Gowor . For in 1848 , therejyas nothing doing at Shrewsbury to keep Mr . Frail " in his own place ; " and , besides , tho election of 1848 took place on Friday and Saturday , and Frail actually appeared at Derby on the Thursday previous , and found nothing to do . But in 1852 thore was a contest at Shrewsbury as well as at Derby , and in tho same week ; Mr . Frail , therefore , was " too much occupied at home to leave his own place . " But how could tho letter have been forthcoming in 1862 , if it had applied to matters in
1848 , unless there had been a great , vilo , and abominaujo conspiracy C I To waa not thero to defend Mr . 1 lowker ; if Mr . Flewkor had conspired , how many more must havo conspired with him to make a conspiracy—Frail , Morgan , Badford , the Coxes , Mr . Moss , and many morn . nux Frail was faithful to his party—honourable members opposite could vouch for that—Morgan -was as devoted to Frail aa Frail was devoted to the Conservative party . " there was a conspiracy , Low came a letter directed tol ' ra in tho haridw of Morgan F There' was one little fact wtuca proved that Flewker could not havo given tho lotter w Morgan at Derby . On the buck of the letter wore somo words in pencil , and those words were tho nainoN ol "
stations where Morgan , in coming from Shrewsbury . Derby would have to change carriages ; they wore , r > w » - ford / Lichfield , Burton-on-Trent , Derby . " Sir Aloxanclex proceeded to accumulate proofs that tho letter wuHwrnw'i in 1 H 6 U . Morgan , on bi « arrival , wafl instantly taken hand by tho Coxch , by Badford , and all tho loading men . When Morgan was arrested , he was defended by two m eitors from Shrewsbury ; and when he was bailojl ¦ "" J' iis bail wero two innkeepers from the hiuihi town . l'l > ° HltiU-. iiw . nl of facts could they entertain a bebel Uiai w had been a conspiracy ? I / there had boon , let , Uuiai a be punished ; but if the law had boon broken by _ n h ™ ^ man high in position , it was necessary , whilst , iIU J . punishing poor voters , that that infraction should not ,
overlooked . , - He moved the appointment of a Committee to quire into the petition with reference to the pr ings of Major HoreHford nt the election . VahdB On belialf of Major Beresford , Sir J ohn YARD * ItUM . uit assented to the appointment of the Conu Mr . Wohtlky expressed Home fear font the pio - » might bo mode n procodont , mid eceiaed to M » " *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1852, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04121852/page/2/
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