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    proved " themselves ; for some , at least , of the result must be ascribed to their intelligent co-operation . Nor will that co-operation fail those who shall attempt to do them further good of the same description . May we not hope , then , that something will be promptly done

    to abate the great remaining nuisance of elections—undue influence ? Unless there be , the good which has been produced will be lamentably overshadowed by the mischief that remains . Of direct and gross bribery , there has probably been much less on the late occasion than heretofore . The most flagrant

    instances are those of Liverpool and Norwich . In both those places the poorer classes of electors have been systematically debauched by those who should have been their leaders , guides , friends , and instructors . On their heads be the guilt and the disgrace . To us it is as wonderful as it is painful , that there should be men , enlightened , liberal , and respectable—men , whose lips will curl

    in scorn at the bare mention of unions ; those political associa-(tions which , by the friendly feeling and confidence ( unhappily so much wanted ) which they tend to generate between those who think and those who toil f and , by the instruction which readingrooms and public discussions may afford on the true interests of the many , and the way in which those interests are affected by legislation , would produce the best and purest constituency ; while these same men will talk of the purchase and repurchase of votes with as much nonchalance as of any transfer in their ledger . They take no shame to themselves for that which reflects on them the foulest shame . For there are three parties in these enormities ,

    of which they are the most culpable . The poor wretch who is bribed , and on whom falls the heaviest storm of public condemnation , is , in our view , the least of all to be condemned . He sees that his franchise is a privilege , arbitrarily bestowed ; that it has hitherto been independent of property , and is still of mental or moral qualification for its exercise ; he is little able to balance the pretensions of rival candidates , both , perhaps-, appealing to

    his prejudices , and alike personally unknown to him ; lie sees that his superiors in station and information , if they do not actually receive money , yet consult some private interest or feeling in the party they espouse ; he is harassed with threats and promises by those on whom he is dependent for the means of support ; he knows that , to pay and take , in some way or other , has been the

    long custom of candidates and voters ; and what wonder that the blind and aimless party-spirit , which is all the semblance of patriotism that any one has endeavoured to instil into him , is bartered away for a sum equivalent to the wages of many weeks ? Elections must be much purer before we lose a right to say to the higher classes , 4 Let him that is without sin cast the first stone ' at the * base freemen * of Norwich and Liverpool .

    Of all the above palliatives , that of custom alone can be made on behalf of the bribing candidate . Against this plea must be put his

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    42 The Elections .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1833, page 42, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2606/page/42/