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ELECTION COMMITTEES. 



ELECTRIC. 



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ELECTION COMM 1TTKES. The trial of charge* alleged on peti- 

 tion in reupccl of the election of a rn.-rnW c.f (larlunient, or the return 

 made in snob CMM> to the Speaker's writ, used to be hod before th. 

 iUrlf, and of counv, beeatne the ocounun of party mawrurre and con- 

 tit : but in the year 1770, the itatate, known as the On nrillo Act, 

 bad the effect of leading all such petition* to be tried by a aeleot 

 committee of memben ohonn upon a plan which, in robstance, con- 

 tinued in foree till the year 1839. The impartiality and justice of the 

 yitem adopted (n the latter year met with general approval, and 

 continue* with alight modification to be in the main the same that is 

 now applied in the ca*> of oontrorerted elections by the 11 ft 12 Viet. 

 a ML 



The chief feature* of the existing system for the appointment of 

 such tribunals are these : The Speaker at the beginning of the session 

 of parliament, by his warrant, appoints from the members of the 

 hoote, nix gentlemen willing to serre, who have not been petitioned 

 against, and are not themselves petitioners against any election, and 

 these, if not objected to within three days from tin- time of the 

 warrant being laid on the table of the house, become " the general 

 committee of elections" for the session. Four memben form a quorum, 

 and no business may be validly transacted by a smaller number. This 

 committee may be dissolved upon their own report, that more than 

 two of their number are absent, or that there is irreconcilable differ- 

 ence of opinion among them, or upon resolution of the house for that 

 purpose. Meanwhile, they are each sworn at the table " truly and 

 faithfully to perform the duties belonging to a member of the Raid 

 committee, to the best of his judgment and ability, without fear or 

 favour," and to the committee thus formed are referred all election 

 petition), the Speaker keeping them duly informed of the state of the 

 recngnisanoes entered into by the petitioners, and of deaths, vacancies, 

 or declarations on the part of members of their intention not to defend 

 their Keats. 



The duty of this general committee ia to appoint the committees 

 for the trial of controverted elections, called therefrom " election com- 

 mittees,'* taking the petitions in their order from the list submitted to 

 them, and selecting the committee from the panels framed iu the 

 following manner : 



First, from the list of the house are struck the names of members 

 exempted from sen-ing on election committees, because they are more 

 than sixty years of age, or because they are in high office under the 

 cmwn, or for such other special reason as may satisfy the house ; and 

 also, the names of members disqualified, either because they have 

 petitioned against a return, or are themselves the objects of such 

 1-titions. 



Secondly, from the list, after it has been thus summoned, the 

 general committee select " the chairmen's panel," consisting of eighteen, 

 or a smaller number of members, to act as chairmen of election com- 

 mittees for the remainder of the session, unless discharged from their 

 duty by the house. Vacancies created iu that or in any other way 

 being immediately filled by new appointments. 



Thirdly, the residue of the general list of members is divided equally 

 into five panels, which take order, as first panel, and so on according 

 to a ballot conducted by the clerk at the table of the house. From 

 these are to be chosen the members to constitute the election com- 

 mittees, and each panel in its own order is then, for the week, the 

 panel that is liable to furnish members for such tribunals. 



The general committee of elections having determined the time for 

 appointing a committee to try the controverted election next in order, 

 give 14 days' notice of the day so fixed by them. Six days before the 

 time so fixed, the parties petitioning are required to give in a list of 

 the voters objected to, and also of the several heads of objections on 

 which they mean to rely in support of their petition. On the day 

 fixed for the appointment of members, the general committee is 

 attended by the parties and their agents ; they are furnished with the 

 names of the chairman and the four members chosen to try the matter 

 of their petition, and with this list they withdraw for half an hour to 

 consider what objections, if any, they have to any of the names that 

 are upon it. It is a rule of the house that no member may nerve on 

 an election committee who has voted at the election itself, or ia the 

 person on whose behalf the seat is claimed, or ia related either to the 

 sitting member or the person on whose behalf the seat is claimed, by 

 kindred or affinity in the first or second degree, according to the 

 Canon law. At the expiration of the half hour, or as Boon after as 

 nuits the convenience of the general committee, they return to state 

 their objections to the list of names, and if four members of the 

 general committee agree that the objections are well founded, the 

 partial withdraw and the committee proceed anew to select other 

 name* for any of the four which have been struck out ; or if it be the 

 chairman that is objected to, the gentlemen forming the chairmen's 

 panel proceed to a new election : and the same right of objecting to 

 the new lift may again be exercised by the parties who are called 

 together Mitt qwA'u* to signify their assent or dissent accordingly. 



When an unoly nnimlttee has been obtained, the mem- 



bers of it have notice from the committee-clerk in writing forthwith, 

 the committee il reported to the house, and the members are bound, 

 under peril of censure or of being committed to the custody of the 

 Serjeant at Arms for default, to attend in their places in the house on 

 the next sitting day at or before four o'clock, in order to be sworn at 



the table " we and tnily to try the matter of the petition referred to 

 them, and a true judgment to give according to the evidence." 



The election committee meet by order of the house at a time fixed, 

 within four-ami twenty bourn of their being sworn to proceed with the 

 bunneen of their appointment, and they continue to meet daily, except 

 on Smulnyx, Christmas, and Good Friday ; having no power to adjourn 

 for more than twenty-four honri at a time without leave obtained from 

 thr IMUM for special reason, or to permit the absence of any 

 their number. If one of them should nevertheless absent himself 

 without the leave of the house, his sickness, if that in tli .-..uml, 

 must be verified to the house upon affidavit of his medical attendant ; 

 or if it is for any other cause, that too must be verified upon oath, 

 otherwise the defaulting member may be ordered into custody, or 

 censured as the house thinks fit. The committee cannot proceed to 

 business any day until their number is complete, and if it remains 

 incomplete for an hour they must adjourn, and report the cause of it 

 to the house ; and the committee, if reduced to less than three mem- 

 bers for three successive sitting days, in ipo facto dissolved, and their 

 proceedings are void. The general committee in that case appoint a 

 new committee to try the petition. It is always, however, in the 

 power of the parties before it to consent to go on with a committee 

 deficient in numbers, even when reduced to one. 



These committees take evidence on oath, hear the parties by counsel, 

 decide by a majority, the chairman always voting, and having a casting 

 vote in case of an equal division, and their final decision is reported to 

 the house upon the following questions: Whether the ix'titioners or 

 the sitting members, or either of them, be duly returned or elected f 

 or, Whether the election be void ? or, Whether a new writ ought to 

 !--;; I 



A special report upon the case, or any particular feature of it, or 

 person connected with it, such as may be the foundation of ulterior 

 proceedings, that is, by way of criminal prosecution, or ecu 

 inquiry, should the house deem it desirable, may be adopted by thorn 

 in iiddition to their report on the mam question before them. Until 

 they have reported, and so become fiincti officio, even a proroi 

 though it may suspend their proceedings, does not dissolve the 

 committee. 



ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT. Under Colt- 

 Moss, HorsE OF, this subject has been treated generally ; but we may 

 add here that recently several statutes have been passed directed to 

 obtaining what is called " purity of election." The merely formal pro- 

 ceedings are still token under the original Reform Acts ; but in order to 

 restrain bribery, treating, and intimidation, the returning officers are 

 now required annually to appoint clcrtiun auditors, through whom alone 

 can accounts in respect of the election be paid by the cand: 

 Stringent provisions have been made for inquiring into charges of 

 corrupt practices, by committees of the house, sworn to the perform- 

 ance of then- duties. Bribery, if proved, involves the disquali: 

 of the elector, and the unseating of the member chosen, if the charge 

 is brought home to him. The candidate is required to appoint his 

 own agents, in writing, so that they may be known ; and to send all 

 accounts and a note of all his disbursements to the election auditor ; 

 which, when audited and paid through the auditor, are to be published 

 in the local newspapers. It may be added here, howrvrr, that both the 

 method of proceeding at elections, and the principles which ought to 

 guide legislation on that subject are at present quite undetermined, 

 the recent Acts of Parliament being only of temporary operation and 

 of an experimental character. (Blackstone's 'Commentaries,' Mr. 

 Kerr's edition, vol. i. p. 166.) 



ELECTORS. [COMMONS, HOUSE OP.] 



ELECT1UC. Substances capable of producing electricity by friction 

 were, in the infancy of electrical science, arranged in a class in the order 

 of their supposed susceptibility to excitement, and were called / 

 or Idio-clcctria ; while a large number of bodies, including all the 

 metals, were supposed to be unexcitable by friction, and wen- 

 called Anelectrict or Nonelectric*. Whi-n, however, the eVrtric con- 

 ducting power of bodies became known, it was seen that an uninsulated 

 rod of metal, for example, could not be excited permanently, on a 

 of the electricity being conducted away as fast as it was formed. By 

 furnishing the metal with a rod of glass, it was found to be capable of 

 excitation by friction, and of retaining its charge, just as a tube of 

 glass would do. In this way it was ascertained that all solids were 

 capable of being electrified by friction, although in different degrees, 

 and such lists as the following were constructed to represent the order 

 of excitability the most excitable coming first : 



LIST OP ELECTRICS. 



Shell-lac, amber, brimstone, jet. 

 Resins, pitch, wax. 



Uums, camphor, caoutchouc, gutta-percha. 

 Gun-cotton, collodion paper. 

 Glass, and all vitreous and vitrified substances. 

 The diamond, agate, and most precious stones. 

 Tourmaline, and other crystalline, transparent, argillaceous, and 

 siliceous gems and stones. 

 Bituminous substances. 



Silk, dry animal furs and skins, hair, wool, feathers, paper, porcelain 

 Turpentine, and various oils and fatty fluids. 



