ndred and twenty-four
against sixty-nine.

A petition had been presented against the return for East Retford,
and the committee had reported that the sitting members were not duly
elected; that the election was void, and that bribery had been general
and notorious. Similar resolutions to those in the case of Penryn were
adopted, therefore, in regard to this borough. The house resolved that
no new writ should issue until the evidence should have been taken into
consideration; and the result of that consideration was, that leave
was given for a bill of disfranchisement. The session, however, closed
before any effective proceedings were taken for the disfranchisement of
either of these boroughs; but Manchester was generally looked to as a
recipient of the forfeited privileges of Penryn, and Birmingham was
held out as the place to which the franchise of East Retford would be
transferred.

During this session Lord Althorp obtained the appointment of a committee
to inquire into the mode of taking the poll at county elections; and
Colonel Davies obtained a similar one to inquire into the mode of
taking the polls at elections of cities and boroughs. The object of
this inquiry was to get rid, if possible, of the enormous expense of
electing, whether in county, city, or borough; for in many cases, as
matters stood, it was only men of large fortunes who could venture to
stand candidates. Lord Althorp likewise brought in and carried a bill
for the better prevention of corrupt practices at elections, and for
diminishing the expenses. His object was to prevent substantial
bribery from being perpetrated under the mask of giving employment,
and therefore to deprive all persons of the right to vote who should be
employed by a candidate at the election. It was notorious, he said, that
at elections different nominal offices were created, to be filled by
voters who were classed as plumpers, and received double the pay of
split votes. The provisions of the bill, however, were not to apply to
any real and fair agent of a candidate, but to those who went under the
spurious names of runners, flagmen, and musicians. On the suggestion of
Mr. Spring Rice it was further determined to prohibit the distribution
of riband and cockades. Both parts of the bill were opposed: the one
as being unjust, and the other as frivolous; but the bill passed into
a law. By its provision any person who, within six months before an
election, or during an election,