A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 2

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 2

CHAPTER III.

 

Electioneering on the accession of James II.--A parliament

summoned by James II.--The municipal charters restored in

the nature of bribes--Lord Bath, “the Prince Elector,” and

his progress in the west--Electioneering strategies--How Sir

Edward Evelyn was unjustly cozened out of his election--The

constitution of James II.’s Parliament--Inferior persons “of no

account whatever” chosen to sit in the Commons--The question

of supplies, the royal revenue, and prerogative--Assembling

of James II.’s parliament--The corrupt returns boldly

denounced--Violence at the elections--The abdication of

James II., and the “Convention Parliament”--Accession of

the Prince of Orange--Ballad “On the Calling of a Free

Parliament, Jan. 15, 1678-9”--Ballads on William III.’s

Parliament: “The Whigs’ Address to his Majesty,” 1689; “The

Patriots,” 1700--An election under William III., for the

City of London--“The Election, a Poem,” 1701; the electors,

the Guildhall, the candidates; Court-schemers _versus_

patriotic representatives; and “the liberties of the people”

_versus_ the “surrendered Charters”--Electioneering under

Queen Anne--The High Church party--“The University Ballad;

or, the Church’s Advice to her Two Daughters, Oxford and

Cambridge,” 1705--Whigs and “Tackers”--The Nonconformity

Bill--Mother Church promises to “wipe the Whigs’ nose”--The

“case of Ashby and White,” and the dispute thereon between the

Lords and Commons--Breaches of privilege--“Jacks,” “Tacks,”

and the “Occasional Conformity Bill”--Ballad: “The Old Tack

and the New,” 1712--The Act against bribery--Past-masters

of the art of electioneering--Thomas, Marquis of Wharton;

his election feats, and genius for canvassing-Election,

1705--“Dyer’s Letters”--Reception of a High Church “Tantivy”

candidate--Discomfiture of the “Sneakers”--Lord Woodstock’s

electioneering ruse at Southampton, 1705--“For the Queen and

Church, Packington”--Dean Swift on election disturbances

in Queen Anne’s reign--Sir Richard Steele’s mishap when a

candidate for election--Steele’s parliamentary career--“The

Englishman” and “The Crisis”--Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, an

accomplished hand at electioneering--Her _ruse_ against Lord

Grimston--“Love in a Hollow Tree”--Dr. Johnson on scandals

revived at election-time--Failure of the High Church party

to bring in the Chevalier--The accession of George I., and

the Tory discomfiture--“The Whigs’ answer to the Tories”--The

Jacobite and Hanoverian factions--Ballads upon “Nancy,” “the

Chevalier,” and George of Hanover, 1716--The disaffected and

their hatred to Sir Robert Walpole--Ballad: “King James’s

Declaration”--The abortive Jacobite rising in 1715--Ballad:

“The Right and True History of Perkin”--The end of Perkin’s

attempt. 56

 

 

CHAPTER IV.

 

Sir Robert Walpole “chaired” on his election for Castle

Rising, 1701--“Robin’s Progress”--Walpole in Parliament--His

offices--Impeached by the Commons for corruption on the death

of George, Prince of Denmark--Returned for King’s Lynn--Firmly

established in power on the accession of George I.--“A

Tory Bill of Costs for an Election in the West, 1715”--The

Septennial Act, 1716--The elections of 1721--Walpole’s

“universal salve”--“The Election carried by Bribery and the

Devil,” 1721--Municipal corruption--Ballad: “Here’s a Minion

sent down to a Corporate Town”--The elections of 1727--“Ready

Money, the Prevailing Candidate; or, the Humours of an

Election,” 1727--“No bribery, but pockets are free”--Ballad:

“The Laws against Bribery Provision may make”--“The Kentish

Election, 1734”--“The Country Interest” _versus_ “the

Protestant Interest”--Vane and Dering _versus_ Middlesex

and Oxenden--Vane’s treat to his electors--Walpole paraded

in effigy--Hogarth’s design on the election of 1734: Sir

Robert Fagg--“The Humours of a Country Election,” 1734--The

first suggestion for Hogarth’s series of four election

prints--Plays, operas, and poems on elections--The oath

imposed upon electors--“A New-year’s Gift to the Electors of

Great Britain,” 1741--“The flood of corruption”--Walpole, as

“The Devil upon Two Sticks,” carried through the “Slough of

Despond,” 1741--“A Satire on Election Proceedings,” dedicated

to “Mayors and Corporations in general,” 1741--Walpole’s

lease of power threatened--Satirical version of Walpole’s

“Coat of Arms”--The Westminster election of 1741--Wager and

Sundon _versus_ Vernon and Edwin--A patriotic “Address to the

Independent and Worthy Electors” of Westminster, 1741--Royal

canvassers--“Scene at the Westminster Election,” 1741--Lord

Sundon calls in the grenadiers to close the poll--The

Westminster Petition, 1741--A new election--Wager and Sundon

unseated; Edwin and Percival returned--Admiral Vernon and

Porto Bello--“The Funeral of Independency,” 1741--“The Triumph

of Justice,” 1741--Walpole defeated--“The Banner of Liberty

displayed,” 1741--A ministerial mortification--Ballads upon

the Westminster election of 1741--“The Independent Westminster

Electors’ Toast”--“The Downfall of Sundon and Wager”--“The

Independent Westminster Choice”--“The True English-Boys’

Song to Vernon’s Glory”--Triumph of the “Country party” or

“Patriots”--“The Body of Independent Electors of Westminster”

constituted into a society--Their anniversary dinners--A

dinner-ticket, 1744--The Stuart rising of 1745--Lord

Lovat’s trial--Meeting of “The Independent Electors of the

City and Liberty of Westminster” at Vintners’ Hall, March,

1747--Jacobite toasts--“The Spy detected:” ejectment of a

ministerial spy from Vintners’ Hall--The state of parties

at the Westminster election, 1747--Earl Gower and his son,

Lord Trentham--Falling-off of the Independent party--Trentham

and Warren _versus_ Clarges and Dyke--“The Two-Shilling

Butcher,” 1747--The Duke of Cumberland and the Prince of Wales

as rival canvassers--The Duke of Bedford’s support of Lord

Trentham--“The Jaco-Independo-Rebello-Plaido”--“The Humours of

the Westminster Election; or, the Scald Miserable Independent

Electors in the Suds,” 1747--Jacobite vagaries--“Great

Britain’s Union; or, the Litchfield Races,” 1747--The

Jacobite rebellion--Political animosities carried on to the

race-course--Alternate Whig and Tory race meetings--The Duke

of Bedford horsewhipped at the Litchfield races on Whittington

Heath--Ballad on the _fracas_: “The Lords’ Lamentation; or,

the Whittington Defeat,” 1747--Trentham _versus_ Vandeput,

1749--The _fracas_ at the Haymarket Theatre--Frenchified Lord

Trentham’s deadly attack on his own electors--Gallic valour

and the Admiralty Board--Ballad: “Peg Trim Tram in the Suds;

or, No French Strollers,” 1749--“Britannia Disturbed, or an

Invasion by French Vagrants, addressed to the Worthy Electors

of the City of Westminster,” 1749--Violence and bribery--“Aux

Electeurs très dignes de Westminster”--The Duke of Bedford’s

oppression and injustice to his tenants--Hogarth’s print of “A

Country Inn-yard at the Time of an Election,” 1747--The Hon.

John Child--“No Old Baby.” 78

 

 

CHAPTER V.

 

The Pelham Administration--Corruption rife--“The Duke of

Newcastle as the Complete Vermin-Catcher of Great Britain;

or, the Old Trap new baited,” 1754--Ministerial bribes

and baits--Boroughmongering--“Dissection of a Dead Member

(of Parliament)”--A mass of corruption--Henry Pelham’s

measures--The Jews’ Naturalization Bill, 1753--Death of

Pelham--“His Arrival at his Country Retirement and Reception,”

1754--Pelham’s reception across the Styx--The elections of

1754--Humours of canvassing--The election for the City of

London: “The Liveryman’s Levee,” 1754--“The City Up and Down;

or, the Candidates Pois’d,” 1754--City candidates: Sir John

Barnard, Slingsby Bethell, William Beckford, Sir Richard Glyn,

Sir Robert Ladbroke, Sir Crispe Gascoyne, and Sir William

Calvert--Sir Sampson Gideon, the loan contractor, and “The

Jews’ Naturalization Bill”--“A Stir in the City; or, Some

Folks at Guildhall,” 1754--Ballad on the City election at the

Guildhall--“The Parliamentary Race; or, the City Jockies,”

1754--Ballad on “The Parliamentary Race for the City”--The

London and Oxfordshire elections--“All the World in a Hurry;

or, the Road from London to Oxford,” 1754--Ballad on “The

London Election”--The Oxford Election; Candidates: Wenham and

Dashwood _versus_ Turner and Parker--Ballad on the Oxford

election--The four election pictures by William Hogarth

having reference to the county election for Oxfordshire,

1754--“The Election Entertainment”--Humours of an election