More would by this means be done to abolish bribery than by the disfranchisement of twenty boroughs.[1]
2. In order not to discourage exposure, the cost of the petition and Royal Commission should in no way be saddled on any of the guilty who are allowed to confess and are indemnified.[2] Again, I would not have any official attend the Petition Trial with a view to the immediate prosecution of those concerned in the bribery, as proposed by the Attorney-General's Bill. Either of these courses would infallibly shut the mouths of many essential witnesses, and would thus militate against the exposure which is our present object—our aim being to obtain evidence sufficient afterwards to convict the chief offenders.
3. So far we have been speaking of exposure of guilt—we now come to the question of Conviction. In order to obtain conviction and punishment, considerable alterations are required in the Appointment of Royal Commissioners, and in the Form of Procedure adopted by them. Disfranchisement being abolished, every successful petition—whether the Election Judges report that "corrupt practices extensively prevailed" or no—should be followed by a Royal Commission, in order that the inquiry into the corruption of the constituency—which is necessarily partial and imperfect before the Election Judges—should be continued and consummated. The present mode, however, of conducting these inquiries, while being well calculated for exposure and condonation of bribery and corruption, is better adapted for facilitating the escape of all concerned than for the conviction of any of the bribers. For instance, in seven corrupt boroughs vivisected by Royal Commissioners in 1880, nearly 8,000 persons were scheduled for bribery committed in 1880 and 1874, and, in the result, only twelve of these were left unprotected by certificate of indemnity! This miscarriage of justice is partly due to the fact, that, so long as disfranchisement remains, it is necessarily thought more important to direct the energies of the Commissioners to the
- ↑ For further enlargement of this argument, see the Nineteenth Century, November, 1880, "Bribery and Corruption."
- ↑ Any witnesses before the Election Judges or the Royal Commissioners, who are called and speak the truth, receive a certificate indemnifying them against further criminal or civil process—though not necessarily against disqualifications as to voting, etc.
