Chapter XLV: Section 64: No person shall offer or receive any money, or other

thing, by way of gift, fee or reward, for giving, or refusing to
give, a vote for electing members of the General Assembly, or any
officer chosen at an electors’ meeting, nor promise, procure, or in
any way confer, any gratuity, reward or preferment, for any vote
given or to be given, in any election; and every person guilty of
so doing shall forfeit the sum of $17, one-half to him who shall
prosecute to effect, and the other half to the treasury of the town
where the offence is committed, and every person who shall be
convicted a second time of a like offence shall be disfranchised.

That section commends itself to the obedience of every law-abiding voter, and I shall be the last to consent to its violation.

P. T. B.

When Congress met, I was surprised to see by the newspapers that the seat of my opponent was to be contested on account of alleged bribery, fraud and corruption in securing his election. This was the first intimation that I had ever received of such an intention, and I was never, at any time before or afterwards, consulted upon the subject. The movement proved to have originated with neighbors and townsmen of the successful candidate, who claimed to be able to prove that he had paid large sums of money to purchase votes. They also claimed that they had proof that men were brought from an adjoining State to vote, and that in the office of the successful candidate naturalization papers were forged to enable foreigners to vote upon them. But, I repeat, I took no part nor lot in the matter, but concluded that if I had been defeated by fraud, mine was the real success.