A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 41

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 41

The contest had been an expensive one; it was declared that Proctor

and his party had been canvassing for six months; and, as an instance

of the cost attending the election of a knight of the shire, it is

set down as worthy of remark that the ribbons for hats alone, _i.e._

“favours,” to distinguish Glynn’s friends, cost four hundred pounds;

the outlay of the Court candidate must have been excessively heavy.

 

“The populace in general, and the people of Brentford in

particular, were very desirous to chair Mr. Serjeant Glynn

after the sheriffs had declared his election; but he very

politely entreated them to decline it, which, after much

solicitation, they complied with.”

 

In the letter of acknowledgment addressed to his supporters in the

county of Middlesex, the serjeant declares--

 

“As my private advantage and honour were by no means the

motives of your exertions in my behalf, so neither shall

they be the objects of my actions. I consider the choice

you have made of me for your representative as the most

authentic declaration of your abhorrence of those arbitrary

and oppressive measures which have too long disgraced the

administration of these kingdoms, and which, if pursued, cannot

fail to destroy our most excellent constitution.

 

“I hope that your example will lead other counties also to

assert their independence, and that the sacred flame of

liberty, which always ascends, will reach at length the higher

orders of this nation, and warm them likewise to a disdain of

offering or accepting the wages of corruption.”

 

John Horne Tooke was only second to the successful candidate in the

eulogiums showered on his name and conduct at this emergency. A

portrait of “the parson of Brentford” was published, representing him

in his clerical guise, at full length, seated in his study at a table,

with his right arm resting on his “Treatise on Enclosing Commons,

addressed to Sir Jno. Gibbins,” an essay which brought him an unusually

handsome acknowledgment; in his other hand is a reference to his

late correspondence with the defeated ministerial candidate--a paper

inscribed, “Mobs made after the Court Fashion, by B. Proctor, Milliner

of Brentford.”

 

Parson Horne wears a singular wig, with the sides in what has been

described as a “cornuted”[52] roll,--as peculiar as that affected by

his friend Wilkes, to whom he bears a further resemblance from the

obliquity of his eyes, his right eye having been blind, and fixed in

its orbit.

 

The “Parson of Brentford” appears in the _Oxford Magazine_; it is

evident that Horne’s parliamentary aspirations were talked of at this

time, for opposite to the portrait is printed an “Extempore,--on the

report that a certain Clergyman has a view on a seat in the House of

Commons.”

 

“And is it true, and can it be?

Does Freedom so inflame him?

Exalt the _Horne_ of Liberty;

No minister shall tame him.

Grant Heaven, we see it prove no jest,

But find, ere next November,

The man who makes a Patriot priest,

Become a Righteous Member.”

 

A copy of verses, with a quotation, “Templum Libertatis,” due to the

pen of _Phileleutheros Oxoniensis_, confronts the copperplate portrait

of Parson Horne:--

 

 

“TO THE REV. JOHN HORNE, MINISTER OF BRENTFORD.

 

“O, sent by Heav’n in these dishonest days

In ev’ry breast to kindle Freedom’s blaze,

To snatch the cov’ring from the statesman’s heart,

And awful truths, without a fear, impart!

Tho’ ministerial thunders round thee roll,

They roll in vain, nor shock thy manly soul:

Thy country’s rights thy midnight labours claim,

And with a Sidney’s join thy honour’d name.

Superior thou to every threat shalt rise,

And from the hands of rapine wrest her prize.

Thy pen shall Vice in all her wiles reveal,

And trembling Graftons[53] shall its vengeance feel.

Nor shall the murd’rer, foe to man and God,

Tho’ sav’d by power, escape thy painful rod;

Nor shall corruption, unmolested stand,

Sap all our rights, and sink a venal land;

True to thy conscience, to thy country true,

Thou shalt detect and dash her conquests too.

Proctor shalt, blushing, all his failings own,

Sigh o’er his loss, and o’er his triumphs groan;

His hir’d assassins fill his breast with shame,

And trembling own the terror of thy name.

Proceed, great Sir, in Freedom’s glorious cause,

O! save thy country and thy country’s laws!

The wiles of Statesmen without fear disclose,

And be a foe to all thy country’s foes.

So shall thy friend,[54] who in confinement sighs,

Smile in his pains, and great in suffr’ing rise:

In health, an honest patriot own in thee,

And, dying, joy to leave his country FREE.”

 

As in the previous election, there was a charge of murder, which arose

out of the irregularities then committed, and two Irish chairmen, Balfe

and McQuirk, were tried for the death of Mr. George Clarke, “a young

gentleman of the law, whom curiosity had brought to Brentford at the

late election.” References to this incident are given in the satirical

prints and magazines, together with the usual report of the trial of

the malefactors. “The Present State of Surgery; or, Modern Practice”

(Dec. 14, 1768), appeared in the _Universal Magazine_, vol. v. (April,

1769). This engraving shows Mr. Clarke, whose skull was fatally

injured by a blow from a bludgeon, placed between two doctors, who are

examining his head: one, a surgeon, is declaring, “If the fever does

not kill him, contusions and fractures are nothing;” the other is of

opinion, “A court plaister will remove the disorder.” One of a group of

surgeons is inquiring of the senior, “Shall we apply the trepan, sir?”

“A Glyster” is proposed as likely to “evacuate the broken pieces of

bone.” The authors of the mischief, or some of the Irish bludgeon men,

are standing by, and discussing the case: “The doctor says a broken

skull’s nothing if they can but cure the fever.” His companion replies,

“Thank God, we need not fear being knock’d on the head then!” A

bystander is remarking, “I catch’d a fever from a bludgeon at Brentford

myself”--many persons besides Clarke having complained of maltreatment

during these riots. “Ay, they were deadly wise at the Election time,”

is the opinion of another. A spectator ejaculates, “I wish those Irish

dogs had kept the distemper to themselves--it’s worse than the Itch!” a

double-barrelled allusion to the two trials for wilful murder which had

arisen out of the successive Middlesex elections--the Irish chairmen

who were the cause of Clarke’s death, and the Scotch soldiers who

killed Allen. The contusion proved fatal; after languishing a few days

the unfortunate young gentleman succumbed.

 

The trial of the two chairmen, Balfe and McQuirk, came on at the Old

Bailey, January 14, 1769, and though the prisoners were provided

with an array of learned counsellors, to the number of five, for

their defence, they were pronounced “guilty,” and sentenced to

transportation. An appeal was made to arrest judgment, but it was

overruled, and the sentences ordered to be executed. Court influence,

in the interval, procured a respite, and the men ultimately received

a royal pardon, signed by Lord Rochford, secretary of state, which

produced severe animadversions; see “Junius to the Duke of Grafton,”

and the notes to this letter by John Wade (Edin. 1850). In the

_Political Register_ (IV.) is a copy of the document setting Balfe

and McQuirk free. Meanwhile the College of Surgeons was consulted, to

exonerate the guilty, to the dissatisfaction of the public.

 

“It is said that on a late chirurgical examination, there was

the greatest privacy imaginable supported; not only several

young surgeons (who, being advertised of the meeting, went

there for the sake of instruction) were denied admittance, but

there were two sentinels on the outside of the door to prevent

any person from listening. Strange inquisitorial proceedings!”

 

On Monday, the master, wardens, and examiners of the Surgeons’ Company,

ten in number, of whom five had appointments under administration,

the president being one, and consequently holding the casting-vote

(three of the committee actually held at that time appointments of

“sergeant-surgeon” to the king, and another was surgeon to the Dowager

Princess of Wales, his mother), met at their hall in the Old Bailey, in

pursuance of a letter from the Earl of Rochford, one of His Majesty’s

principal secretaries of state, desiring their opinion in relation to

a doubt that had arisen whether the blow which Mr. Clarke received at

the election at Brentford was the cause of his death; and the above

gentlemen, after examining the surgeons, apothecary, and several

others (_in camera_, as alleged), returned an answer the same evening

to his lordship, giving it as their unanimous opinion, that the blow

was not the cause of Mr. Clarke’s death. A satirical print, given in

the _Oxford Magazine_ as “A Consultation of Surgeons” (Feb. 27, 1769),

exhibits the supposititious explanation of the inquiry and verdict.

The surgeons are grouped round a table, on which are pens and ink. The

president is pointing to the decision of the conclave, set down to

order for Lord Rochford--“It does not appear that he died----” At the

same time a large and well-filled bag of money, held up temptingly in

the president’s right hand, appears the most conclusive evidence before

the corporation. The chairman observes, “This [the money] convinces

me that Clarke did not die of the wound he received at Brentford.”