THE PETITION.
The time for hearing the petition at Percycross had at length come,
and the judge had gone down to that ancient borough. The day fixed
was Monday, the 27th, and Parliament had then been sitting for three
weeks. Mr. Griffenbottom had been as constant in his place as though
there had been no sword hanging over his head; but Sir Thomas had not
as yet even taken the oaths. He had made up his mind that he would
not even enter the house while this bar against him as a legislator
existed, and he had not as yet even been seen in the lobby. His
daughters, his colleague, Mr. Trigger, and Stemm had all expostulated
with him on the subject, assuring him that he should treat the
petition with the greatest contempt, at any rate till it should have
proved itself by its success to be a matter not contemptible; but to
these counsellors he gave no ear, and when he went down to give his
evidence before the judge at Percycross his seat had as yet availed
him nothing.
Mr. Griffenbottom had declared that he would not pay a shilling
towards the expense of the petition, maintaining that his own seat
was safe, and that any peril incurred had been so incurred simply
on behalf of Sir Thomas. Nothing, according to Mr. Griffenbottom's
views, could be more unjust than to expect that he should take any
part in the matter. Trigger, too, had endeavoured to impress this
upon Sir Thomas more than once or twice. But this had been all in
vain; and Sir Thomas, acting under the advice of his own attorney,
had at last compelled Mr. Griffenbottom to take his share in the
matter. Mr. Griffenbottom did not scruple to say that he was very
ill-used, and to hint that any unfair practices which might possibly
have prevailed during the last election at Percycross, had all been
adopted on behalf of Sir Thomas, and in conformity with Sir Thomas's
views. It will, therefore, be understood that the two members did
not go down to the borough in the best humour with each other. Mr.
Trigger still nominally acted for both; but it had been almost avowed
that Sir Thomas was to be treated as a Jonah, if by such treatment
any salvation might be had for the ship of which Griffenbottom was to
be regarded as the captain.
Mr. Westmacott was also in Percycross,--and so was Moggs, reinstated
in his old room at the Cordwainers' Arms. Moggs had not been
summoned, nor was his presence there required for any purpose
immediately connected with the inquiry to be made; but Purity and the
Rights of Labour may always be advocated; and when better than at a
moment in which the impurity of a borough is about to be made the
subject of public condemnation? And Moggs, moreover, had now rankling
in his bosom a second cause of enmity against the Tories of the
borough. Since the election he had learned that his rival, Ralph
Newton, was in some way connected with the sitting member, Sir
Thomas, and he laid upon Sir Thomas's back the weight of his full
displeasure in reference to the proposed marriage with Polly Neefit.
He had heard that Polly had raised some difficulty,--had, indeed,
rejected her aristocratic suitor, and was therefore not without hope;
but he had been positively assured by Neefit himself that the match
would be made, and was consequently armed with a double purpose in
his desire to drive Sir Thomas ignominiously out of Percycross.
Sir Thomas had had more than one interview with Serjeant Burnaby
and little Mr. Joram, than whom two more astute barristers in such
matters were not to be found at that time practising,--though perhaps
at that time the astuteness of the Serjeant was on the wane; while
that of Jacky Joram, as he was familiarly called, was daily rising
in repute. Sir Thomas himself, barrister and senior to these two
gentlemen, had endeavoured to hold his own with them, and to impress
on them the conviction that he had nothing to conceal; that he had
personally endeavoured, as best he knew how, to avoid corruption,
and that if there had been corruption on the part of his own agents,
he was himself ready to be a party in proclaiming it. But he found
himself to be absolutely ignored and put out of court by his own
counsel. They were gentlemen with whom professionally he had had no
intercourse, as he had practised at the Chancery, and they at the
Common Law Bar. But he had been Solicitor-General, and was a bencher
of his Inn, whereas Serjeant Burnaby was only a Serjeant, and Jacky
Joram still wore a stuff gown. Nevertheless, he found himself to be
"nowhere" in discussing with them the circumstances of the election.
Even Joram, whom he seemed to remember having seen only the other day
as an ugly shame-faced boy about the courts, treated him, not exactly
with indignity, but with patronising good-nature, listening with
an air of half-attention to what he said, and then not taking the
slightest heed of a word of it. Who does not know this transparent
pretence of courtesies, which of all discourtesies is the most
offensive? "Ah, just so, Sir Thomas; just so. And now, Mr. Trigger,
I suppose Mr. Puffer's account hasn't yet been settled." Any word
from Mr. Trigger was of infinitely greater value with Mr. Joram than
all Sir Thomas's protestations. Sir Thomas could not keep himself
from remembering that Jacky Joram's father was a cheesemonger at
Gloucester, who had married the widow of a Jew with a little money.
Twenty times Sir Thomas made up his mind to retire from the business
altogether; but he always found himself unable to do so. When he
mentioned the idea, Griffenbottom flung up his hands in dismay at
such treachery on the part of an ally,--such treachery and such
cowardice! What!--had not he, Sir Thomas, forced him, Griffenbottom,
into all this ruinous expenditure? And now to talk of throwing up the
sponge! It was in vain that Sir Thomas explained that he had forced
nobody into it. It was manifestly the case that he had refused to go
on with it by himself, and on this Mr. Griffenbottom and Mr. Trigger
insisted so often and with so much strength that Sir Thomas felt
himself compelled to stand to his guns, bad as he believed those guns
to be.
If Sir Thomas meant to retreat, why had he not retreated when a
proposition to that effect was made to him at his own chambers? Of
all the weak, vacillating, ill-conditioned men that Mr. Griffenbottom
had ever been concerned with, Sir Thomas Underwood was the weakest,
most vacillating, and most ill-conditioned. To have to sit in the
same boat with such a man was the greatest misfortune that had ever
befallen Mr. Griffenbottom in public life. Mr. Griffenbottom did not
exactly say these hard things in the hearing of Sir Thomas, but he
so said them that they became the common property of the Jorams,
Triggers, Spiveycombs, and Spicers; and were repeated piecemeal to
the unhappy second member.
He had secured for himself a separate sitting-room at the "Percy
Standard," thinking that thus he would have the advantage of being
alone; but every one connected with his party came in and out of his
room as though it had been specially selected as a chamber for public
purposes. Even Griffenbottom came into it to have interviews there
with Trigger, although at the moment Griffenbottom and Sir Thomas
were not considered to be on speaking terms. Griffenbottom in these
matters seemed to have the hide of a rhinoceros. He had chosen to
quarrel with Sir Thomas. He had declared that he would not speak to a
colleague whose Parliamentary ideas and habits were so repulsive to
him. He had said quite aloud, that Trigger had never made a greater
mistake in his life than in bringing Sir Thomas to the borough, and
that, let the petition go as it would, Sir Thomas should never be
returned for the borough again. He had spoken all these things,
almost in the hearing of Sir Thomas. And yet he would come to Sir
Thomas's private room, and sit there half the morning with a cigar in
his mouth! Mr. Pile would come in, and make most unpleasant speeches.
Mr. Spicer called continually, with his own ideas about the borough.
The thing could be still saved if enough money were spent. If Mr.
Givantake were properly handled, and Mr. O'Blather duly provided for,
the two witnesses upon whom the thing really hung would not be found
in Percycross when called upon to-morrow. That was Mr. Spicer's idea;
and he was very eager to communicate it to Serjeant Burnaby. Trigger,
in his energy, told Mr. Spicer to go and be ----. All this occurred
in Sir Thomas's private room. And then Mr. Pabsby was there
constantly, till he at last was turned out by Trigger. In his agony,
Sir Thomas asked for another sitting-room; but was informed that the
house was full. The room intended for the two members was occupied
by Griffenbottom; but nobody ever suggested that the party might
meet there when Sir Thomas's vain request was made for further
accommodation. Griffenbottom went on with his cigar, and Mr. Pile
sat picking his teeth before the fire, and making unpleasant little
speeches.
The judge, who had hurried into Percycross from another town, and who
opened the commission on the Monday evening, did not really begin
his work till the Tuesday morning. Jacky Joram had declared that the
inquiry would last three days, he having pledged himself to be at
another town early on the following Friday. Serjeant Burnaby, whose
future services were not in such immediate demand, was of opinion
that they would not get out of Percycross till Saturday night. Judge
Crumbie, who was to try the case, and who had been trying similar
cases ever since Christmas, was not due at his next town till the
Monday; but it was understood by everybody that he intended if
possible to spend his Saturday and Sunday in the bosom of his family.
Trigger, however, had magnificent ideas. "I believe we shall carry
them into the middle of next week," he said, "if they choose to
go on with it." Trigger thoroughly enjoyed the petition; and even
Griffenbottom, who was no longer troubled by gout, and was not now
obliged to walk about the borough, did not seem to dislike it. But to
poor Sir Thomas it was indeed a purgatory.
The sitting members were of course accused, both as regarded
themselves and their agents, of every crime known in electioneering
tactics. Votes had been personated. Votes had been bought. Votes
had been obtained by undue influence on the part of masters and
landlords, and there had been treating of the most pernicious and
corrupt description. As to the personating of votes, that according
to Mr. Trigger, had been merely introduced as a pleasant commencing
fiction common in Parliamentary petitions. There had been nothing
of the kind, and nobody supposed that there had, and it did not
signify. Of undue influence,--what purists choose to call undue
influence,--there had of course been plenty. It was not likely that
masters paying thousands a year in wages were going to let these men
vote against themselves. But this influence was so much a matter
of course that it could not be proved to the injury of the sitting
members. Such at least was Mr. Trigger's opinion. Mr. Spicer might
have been a little imprudent with his men; but no case could be
brought up in which a man had been injured. Undue influence at
Percycross was--"gammon." So said Mr. Trigger, and Jacky Joram agreed
with Mr. Trigger. Serjeant Burnaby rubbed his hands, and would give
no opinion till he had heard the evidence. That votes had been bought
during the day of the election there was no doubt on earth. On this
matter great secrecy prevailed, and Sir Thomas could not get a word
spoken in his own hearing. It was admitted, however, that votes had
been bought. There were a dozen men, perhaps more than a dozen,
who would prove that one Glump had paid them ten shillings a piece
between one and two on the day of the election. There was a general
belief that perhaps over a hundred had been bought at that rate. But
Trigger was ready to swear that he did not know whence Glump had got
the money, and Glump himself was,--nobody knew where Glump was, but
strange whispers respecting Glump were floating about the borough.
Trigger was disposed to believe that they, on their side, could prove
that Glump had really been employed by Westmacott's people to vitiate
the election. He was quite sure that nothing could connect Glump
with him as an agent on behalf of Griffenbottom and Underwood. So
Mr. Trigger asserted with the greatest confidence; but what was in
the bottom of Mr. Trigger's mind on this subject no one pretended
to know. As for Glump himself he was a man who would certainly
take payment from anybody for any dirty work. It was the general
impression through the borough that Glump had on this occasion been
hired by Trigger, and Trigger certainly enjoyed the prestige which
was thus conferred upon him.
As to the treating,--there could be no doubt about that. There had
been treating. The idea of conducting an election at Percycross
without beer seemed to be absurd to every male and female
Percycrossian. Of course the publicans would open their taps and then
send in their bills for beer to the electioneering agents. There was
a prevailing feeling that any interference with so ancient a practice
was not only un-English, but unjust also;--that it was beyond the
power of Parliament to enforce any law so abominable and unnatural.
Trigger was of opinion that though there had been a great deal
of beer, no attempt would be made to prove that votes had been
influenced by treating. There had been beer on both sides, and
Trigger hoped sincerely that there might always be beer on both sides
as long as Percycross was a borough.
Sir Thomas found that his chance of success was now spoken of in a
tone very different from that which had been used when the matter
was discussed in his own chamber. He had been then told that it was
hardly possible that he should keep his seat;--and he had in fact
been asked to resign it. Though sick enough of Percycross, this
he would not do in the manner then proposed to him. Now he was
encouraged in the fight;--but the encouragement was of a nature which
gave him no hope, which robbed him even of the wish to have a hope.
It was all dirt from beginning to end. Whatever might be the verdict
of the judge,--from the judge the verdict was now to come,--he should
still believe that nothing short of absolute disfranchisement would
meet the merits of the case.
The accusation with regard to the personation of votes was
abandoned,--Serjeant Burnaby expressing the most extreme disgust that
any such charge should have been made without foundation,--although
he himself at the borough which he had last left had brought forward
the same charge on behalf of his then clients, and had abandoned it
in the same way. Then the whole of the remaining hours of the Tuesday
and half the Wednesday were passed in showing that Messrs. Spicer,
Spiveycomb, and Roodylands had forced their own men to vote blue. Mr.
Spicer had dismissed one man and Mr. Spiveycomb two men; but both
these gentlemen swore that the men dismissed were not worth their
salt, and had been sent adrift upon the world by no means on account
of their politics. True: they had all voted for Moggs; but then they
had done that simply to spite their late master. On the middle of
Wednesday, when the matter of intimidation had been completed,--the
result still lying in the bosom of Baron Crumbie,--Mr. Trigger
thought that things were looking up. That was the report which he
brought to Mr. Griffenbottom, who was smoking his midday cigar in
Sir Thomas's arm-chair, while Sir Thomas was endeavouring to master
the first book of Lord Verulam's later treatise "De dignitate
scientiarum," seated in a cane-bottomed chair in a very small
bed-room up-stairs.
By consent the question of treating came next. Heaven and earth were
being moved to find Glump. When the proposition was made that the
treating should come before the bribery Trigger stated in court that
he was himself doing his very best to find the man. There might yet
be a hope, though, alas, the hope was becoming slighter every hour.
His own idea was that Glump had been sent away to Holland by,--well,
he did not care to name the parties by whom he believed that Glump
had been expatriated. However, there might be a chance. The counsel
on the other side remarked that there might, indeed, be a chance.
Baron Crumbie expressed a hope that Mr. Glump might make his
appearance,--for the sake of the borough, which might otherwise fare
badly; and then the great beer question was discussed for two entire
days.
There was no doubt about the beer. Trigger, who was examined after
some half-score of publicans, said openly that thirsty Conservative
souls had been allowed to slake their drought at the joint expense
of the Conservative party in the borough,--as thirsty Liberal souls
had been encouraged to do on the other side. When reminded that any
malpractice in that direction on the part of a beaten candidate could
not affect the status of the elected members, he replied that all
the beer consumed in Percycross during the election had not, to the
best of his belief, affected a vote. The Percycrossians were not men
to vote this way or that because of beer! He would not believe it
even in regard to a Liberal Percycrossian. It might be so in other
boroughs, but of other boroughs he knew absolutely nothing. Who paid
for the beer? Mr. Trigger at once acknowledged that it was paid for
out of the general funds provided for the election. Who provided
those funds? There was not a small amount of fencing on this point,
during the course of which Mr. Joram snapped very sharply and very
frequently at the counsel on the other side,--hoping thereby somewhat
to change the issue. But at last there came out these two facts,
that there was a general fund, to which all Conservatives might
subscribe, and that the only known subscribers to this fund were
Mr. Griffenbottom, Sir Thomas Underwood, and old Mr. Pile, who had
given a £10 note,--apparently with the view of proving that there
was a fund. It was agreed on all hands that treating had been
substantiated; but it was remarked by some that Baron Crumbie had
not been hard upon treating in other boroughs. After all, the result
would depend upon what the Baron thought about Mr. Glump. It might be
that he would recommend further inquiry, under a special commission,
into the practices of the borough, because of the Glump iniquities,
and that he should, nevertheless, leave the seats to the sitting
members. That seemed to be Mr. Trigger's belief on the evening of the
Thursday, as he took his brandy and water in Sir Thomas's private
sitting-room.
There is nothing in the world so brisk as the ways and manners of
lawyers when in any great case they come to that portion of it which
they know to be the real bone of the limb and kernel of the nut. The
doctor is very brisk when after a dozen moderately dyspeptic patients
he comes on some unfortunate gentleman whose gastric apparatus
is gone altogether. The parson is very brisk when he reaches the
minatory clause in his sermon. The minister is very brisk when he
asks the House for a vote, telling his hoped-for followers that this
special point is absolutely essential to his government. Unless he
can carry this, he and all those hanging on to him must vacate their
places. The horse-dealer is very brisk when, after four or five
indifferent lots, he bids his man bring out from the stable the
last thorough-bred that he bought, and the very best that he ever
put his eye on. But the briskness of none of these is equal to the
briskness of the barrister who has just got into his hands for
cross-examination him whom we may call the centre witness of a great
case. He plumes himself like a bullfinch going to sing. He spreads
himself like a peacock on a lawn. He perks himself like a sparrow on
a paling. He crows amidst his attorneys and all the satellites of
the court like a cock among his hens. He puts his hands this way and
that, settling even the sunbeams as they enter, lest a moat should
disturb his intellect or dull the edge of his subtlety. There is a
modesty in his eye, a quiescence in his lips, a repose in his limbs,
under which lie half-concealed,--not at all concealed from those
who have often watched him at his work,--the glance, the tone, the
spring, which are to tear that unfortunate witness into pieces,
without infringing any one of those conventional rules which
have been laid down for the guidance of successful well-mannered
barristers.
Serjeant Burnaby, though astute, was not specially brisk by nature;
but on this Friday morning Mr. Joram was very brisk indeed. There
was a certain Mr. Cavity, who had acted as agent for Westmacott, and
who,--if anybody on the Westmacott side had been so guilty,--had been
guilty in the matter of Glump's absence. Perhaps we should not do
justice to Mr. Joram's acuteness were we to imagine him as believing
that Glump was absent under other influence than that used on behalf
of the conservative side; but there were subsidiary points on which
Mr. Cavity might be made to tell tales. Of course there had been
extensive bribery for years past in Percycross on the liberal as well
as on the conservative side, and Mr. Joram thought that he could make
Mr. Cavity tell a tale. And then, too, he could be very brisk in that
affair of Glump. He was pretty nearly sure that Mr. Glump could not
be connected by evidence with either of the sitting members or with
any of their agents. He would prove that Glump was neutral ground,
and that as such his services could not be traced to his friend, Mr.
Trigger. Mr. Joram on this occasion was very brisk indeed.
A score of men were brought up, ignorant, half-dumb, heavy-browed
men, all dressed in the amphibious garb of out-o'-door town
labourers,--of whom there exists a class of hybrids between the rural
labourer and the artizan,--each one of whom acknowledged that after
noon on the election day he received ten shillings, with instructions
to vote for Griffenbottom and Underwood. And they did vote for
Griffenbottom and Underwood. At all elections in Percycross they had,
as they now openly acknowledged, waited till about the same hour on
the day of election, and then somebody had bought their votes for
somebody. On this occasion the purchase had been made by Mr. Glump.
There was a small empty house up a little alley in the town, to which
there was a back door opening on a vacant space in the town known
as Grinder's Green. They entered this house by one door, leaving it
by the other, and as they passed through, Glump gave to each man
half a sovereign with instructions, entering their names in a small
book;--and then they went in a body and voted for Griffenbottom and
Underwood. Each of the twenty knew nearly all the other twenty, but
none of them knew any other men who had been paid by Glump. Of course
none of them had the slightest knowledge of Glump's present abode.
It was proved that at the last election Glump had acted for the
Liberals; but it was also proved that at the election before he had
been active in bribing for the Conservatives. Very many things were
proved,--if a thing be proved when supported by testimony on oath.
Trigger proved that twenty votes alone could have been of no
service, and would not certainly have been purchased in a manner so
detrimental. According to Trigger's views it was as clear as daylight
that Glump had not been paid by them. When asked whether he would
cause Mr. Glump to be repaid that sum of ten pounds, should Mr. Glump
send in any bill to that effect, he simply stated that Mr. Glump
would certainly send no such bill to him. He was then asked whether
it might not be possible that the money should be repaid by Messrs.
Griffenbottom and Underwood through his hands, reaching Glump again
by means of a further middleman. Mr. Trigger acknowledged that were
such a claim made upon him by any known agent of his party, he would
endeavour to pass the ten pounds through the accounts, as he thought
that there should be a certain feeling of honour in these things;
but he did not for a moment think that any one acting with him would
have dealings with Glump. On the Saturday morning, when the case was
still going on, to the great detriment of Baron Grumble's domestic
happiness, Glump had not yet been caught. It seemed that the man
had no wife, no relative, no friend. The woman at whose house he
lodged declared that he often went and came after this fashion. The
respect with which Glump's name was mentioned, as his persistency in
disobeying the law and his capability for intrigue were thus proved,
was so great, that it was a pity he could not have been there to
enjoy it. For the hour he was a great man in Percycross,--and the
greater because Baron Crumbie did not cease to threaten him with
terrible penalties.
Much other bribery was alleged, but none other was distinctly brought
home to the agents of the sitting members. As to bringing bribery
home to Mr. Griffenbottom himself;--that appeared to be out of the
question. Nobody seemed even to wish to do that. The judge, as it
appeared, did not contemplate any result so grave and terrible as
that. There was a band of freemen of whom it was proved that they had
all been treated with most excessive liberality by the corporation of
the town; and it was proved, also, that a majority of the corporation
were supporters of Mr. Griffenbottom. A large number of votes
had been so secured. Such, at least, was the charge made by the
petitioners. But this allegation Jacky Joram laughed to scorn. The
corporation, of course, used the charities and privileges of the town
as they thought right; and the men voted,--as they thought right. The
only cases of bribery absolutely proved were those manipulated by
Glump, and nothing had been adduced clearly connecting Glump and
the Griffenbottomites. Mr. Trigger was in ecstasies; but Mr. Joram
somewhat repressed him by referring to these oracular words which had
fallen from the Baron in respect to the corporation. "A corporation
may be guilty as well as an individual," the Baron had said. Jacky
Joram had been very eager in assenting to the Baron, but in asserting
at the same time that the bribery must be proved. "It won't be
assumed, my lord, that a corporation has bribed because it has
political sympathies." "It should have none," said the Baron. "Human
nature is human nature, my lord,--even in corporations," said Jacky
Joram. This took place just before luncheon,--which was made a solemn
meal on all sides, as the judge had declared his intention of sitting
till midnight, if necessary.
Immediately after the solemn meal Mr. Griffenbottom was examined.
It had been the declared purpose of the other side to turn Mr.
Griffenbottom inside out. Mr. Griffenbottom and his conduct had on
various former occasions been the subject of parliamentary petitions
under the old form; but on such occasions the chief delinquent
himself was never examined. Now Mr. Griffenbottom would be made to
tell all that he knew, not only of his present, but of his past,
iniquities. And yet Mr. Griffenbottom told very little; and it
certainly did seem to the bystanders, that even the opposing counsel,
even the judge on the bench, abstained from their prey because
he was a member of Parliament. It was notorious to all the world
that Griffenbottom had debased the borough; had so used its venal
tendencies as to make that systematic which had before been too
frequent indeed, but yet not systematized; that he had trained the
rising generation of Percycross politicians to believe in political
corruption;--and yet he escaped that utter turning inside out of
which men had spoken.
The borough had cost him a great deal of money certainly; but as far
as he knew the money had been spent legally. It had at least always
been his intention before an election was commenced that nothing
illegal should be done. He had no doubt always afterwards paid sums
of money the use of which he did not quite understand, and as to some
of which he could not but fear that it had been doubtfully applied.
The final accounts as to the last election had not reached him, but
he did not expect to be charged with improper expenses. There no
doubt would be something for beer, but that was unavoidable. As to
Mr. Glump he knew literally nothing of the man,--nor had he wanted
any such man's assistance. Twenty votes indeed! Let them look at his
place upon the poll. There had been a time in the day when twenty
votes this way or that might be necessary to Sir Thomas. He had been
told that it was so. On the day of the election his own position
on the poll had been so certain to him, that he should not have
cared,--that is, for himself,--had he heard that Glump was buying
votes against him. He considered it to be quite out of the question
that Glump should have bought votes for him,--with any purpose of
serving him. And so Mr. Griffenbottom escaped from the adverse
counsel and from the judge.
There was very little in the examination of Sir Thomas Underwood to
interest any one. No one really suspected him of corrupt practices.
In all such cases the singular part of the matter is that everybody,
those who are concerned and those who are not concerned, really know
the whole truth which is to be investigated; and yet, that which
everybody knows cannot be substantiated. There were not five men in
court who were not certain that Griffenbottom was corrupt, and that
Sir Thomas was not; that the borough was rotten as a six-months-old
egg; that Glump had acted under one of Trigger's aides-de-camp; that
intimidation was the law of the borough; and that beer was used so
that men drunk might not fear that which sober they had not the
courage to encounter. All this was known to everybody; and yet, up
to the last, it was thought by many in Percycross that corruption,
acknowledged, transparent, egregious corruption, would prevail even
in the presence of a judge. Mr. Trigger believed it to the last.
But it was not so thought by the Jacky Jorams or by the Serjeant
Burnabys. They made their final speeches,--the leading lawyer on each
side, but they knew well what was coming. At half-past seven, for to
so late an hour had the work been continued, the judge retired to
get a cup of tea, and returned at eight to give his award. It was as
follows:--
As to the personation of votes, there should have been no allegation
made. In regard to the charge of intimidation it appeared that the
system prevailed to such an extent as to make it clear to him that
Percycross was unfit to return representatives to Parliament. In the
matter of treating he was not quite prepared to say that had no other
charge been made he should have declared this election void, but of
that also there had been sufficient to make him feel it to be his
duty to recommend to the Speaker of the House of Commons that further
inquiry should be made as to the practices of the borough. And as
to direct bribery, though he was not prepared to say that he could
connect the agents of the members with what had been done,--and
certainly he could not connect either of the two members
themselves,--still, quite enough had been proved to make it
imperative upon him to declare the election void. This he should
do in his report to the Speaker, and should also advise that a
commission be held with the view of ascertaining whether the
privilege of returning members of Parliament should remain with the
borough. With Griffenbottom he dealt as tenderly as he did with Sir
Thomas, sending them both forth to the world, unseated indeed, but as
innocent, injured men.
There was a night train up to London at 10 P.M., by which on that
evening Sir Thomas Underwood travelled, shaking off from his feet as
he entered the carriage the dust of that most iniquitous borough.