A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 60

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 60

“She smiles,

Infused with a Fortitude from Heaven.”--SHAKESPEARE, _The Tempest_.

 

“Let envy rail and disappointment rage,

Still Fox shall prove the wonder of the age!

 

“Triumph and Fame shall every step attend

His King’s best subject and his country’s friend!”

 

[_Page 285._]

 

The party rejoicings and festivities at the conclusion of this election

are felicitously related by Wraxall, who enjoyed the advantages of

himself participating in the scenes he pictures. “Still the Whigs were

not to be disappointed of their ovation. The exultation of those gay

times forms a strange contrast to the grim monotony of our own. Fox,

after being chaired in great pomp through the streets, was finally

carried into the court-yard of Carlton House. The Prince’s plume was

on his banners in acknowledgment of princely partisanship. A banner,

inscribed ‘Sacred to Female Patriotism,’ recorded the services of the

Duchess. The carriages of the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland, each

drawn by six horses, moved in procession, and Fox’s own carriage was

a pile of rejoicing Whiggism. On its boxes and traces, and where they

could, sat Colonel North, afterwards Lord Guilford; Adam, who but a

few years before wounded the patriot in a duel; and a whole cluster

of political friends, followers, and expectants. The prince came to

the balustrade before the house[64] to cheer him, with a crowd of

fashionable people. Fox finished the triumph by an harangue to the mob,

and they in return finished by a riot, an illumination, and breaking

Lord Temple’s windows.

 

“But the festivities were scarcely begun. The prince threw open his

showy apartments to the nobility, and gave them a brilliant _fête_

in the gardens, which happened to be at its height just when the

king was passing through St. James’s Park in state to open the new

parliament. The rival interests were within a brick wall of each other,

and their spirit could not have been more strangely contrasted than in

their occupations. But nights and days to those graceful pursuers of

pleasure and politics alike knew no intermission. On that very evening

the celebrated beautiful and witty Mrs. Crewe gave a brilliant rout,

in which ‘blue and buff’ were the universal costume of both sexes;

the buff and blue were the uniform of Washington and his troops, and

imprudently adopted by Fox to declare his hostility to the Government.

The prince himself appeared in the party colours. At supper, he toasted

the fair giver of the feast in the words ‘True Blue and Mrs. Crewe.’

The lady, not unskilfully, and with measureless applause, returned it

by another, ‘True Blue and all of you.’”

 

With the enforced termination of the polling at the fortieth day,

arrived the demand of Wray for a scrutiny, and the high bailiff’s

unjustifiable attitude, for which he subsequently suffered severely,

of declining to make a return, compelled Fox to look elsewhere for a

seat, or find no place in the coming parliament, where, as Walpole

said, could Fox have stood for every seat in the kingdom he would

have represented the entire return in his own person, such was his

influence and popularity. “The Departure,” (May 18, 1784), the day

succeeding the close of the poll, shows Fox leaving behind him the

palatial abode of his warm supporter, the Prince of Wales, and taking

leave of his delectable champions, the Duchess of Devonshire and

her sister, the fair Lady Duncannon, _en route_ for “Coventry” or

“Out-in-the-cold-shire.” Fox is observing on his retreat:--

 

“If that a scrutiny at last takes place,

I can’t tell how ’twill be, and please your Grace!”

 

Fox’s early ally, Burke, equipped as an outrider, is prepared to drive

his friend away from the scene of his triumphs; under Edmund’s arm

is a “plan of economy,” suggestive of necessary retrenchments in the

Whig camp.

 

[Illustration: DEFEAT OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY BALISSIMO CORBETTINO AND

HIS FAMED CECILIAN FORCES, ON THE PLAINS OF ST. MARTIN, ON THURSDAY,

THE 3RD DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1785, BY THE CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE AND HIS

CHOSEN BAND.

 

[_Page 287._]

 

Among the tactics of the Ministerialists may be reckoned the ominous

“scrutiny,” which was threatened directly Fox’s votes began to

outnumber those in favour of his rival, Wray. On Fox’s success this

intention was carried out, the returning officer acting partially

in order to connive at the manœuvre; a scrutiny being notoriously

a tedious, lengthy, and costly affair, and hence more vexations to

Fox than to the combined forces of his opponents. This circumstance

is illustrated by the caricaturist, nearly a twelvemonth later;

when the excitement of the protracted contest had cooled down, Fox

secured another victory over his adversaries, which is commemorated in

Rowlandson’s version of the affair (March 7, 1785), entitled:--

 

“Defeat of the high and mighty Balissimo Corbettino and

his famed Cecilian forces, on the plains of St. Martin, on

Thursday, the 3rd day of February, 1785, by the Champion of

the People and his chosen band, after a smart skirmish, which

lasted a considerable time, in which many men were lost on both

sides. But their great ally at length losing ground, desertions

took place, and notwithstanding their vast superiority in

numbers and weight of metal at the first onset, this increased

apace, altho’ often rallied by the ablest man in command, till

at length the forces gave way in all quarters, and they were

totally overthrown. This print is dedicated to the Electors of

the City and Liberty of Westminster, who have so nobly stood

forth and supported their champion upon this trying occasion,

by AN INDEPENDENT ELECTOR.”

 

Rowlandson has pictured the rival combatants at the head of their

learned forces. Fox’s lawyers are triumphant, and armed with such legal

weapons as “Eloquence,” “Truth,” “Perseverance,” and “Law;” the Whig

chief, in person, is dealing vengeance upon the disconcerted figures

of his antagonists, Wray and Corbett. Fox had successfully prosecuted

his action and recovered heavy damages against the bailiff, who, as

a courtier, had made himself the tool of the Ministerialists. Fox

is defended by his buckler, “Majority 38;” he is wielding the keen

sword of “Justice;” a laurel crown is placed on the chieftain’s brow

by a celestial messenger, who is charged with the decision of the

Law Court--“It is ordered that Thomas Corbett, Esq., do immediately

return.” Fox is declaring:--

 

“The wrath of my indignation is kindled, and I will pursue them

with a mighty hand and outstretched arm until justice is done

to those who have so nobly supported me.”

 

Sir Cecil Wray’s defence of “Ingratitude” is a sorry shield for the

protection of himself or of his fallen ally; his sword is broken; in

despair he cries, “My knees wax feeble, and I sink beneath the weight

of my own apostasy.” The high bailiff is cast down; he confesses,

“My conscience is now at peace.” Another supporter of the returning

officer is exclaiming, “Help, help! our chief is fallen. O conscience,

support me!” Corbett’s lawyers have turned their abashed backs on their

client and his cause: “Nor law, nor conscience, nor the aid of potent

Ministers, can e’er support the contest ’gainst such a chief!” “Our

support is gone, and we are fallen into a Pitt; yea, even into a deep

Pitt!”--the premier having been unable to protect the guilty against

the consequences of their act.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XI.

 

REMARKABLE ELECTIONS AND POLITICAL MEETINGS, 1788 TO 1807.

 

 

We have seen Admiral Lord Hood’s energetic canvass at the great

Westminster election, when, with the powerful assistance of the Court,

he fought the Whigs, but failed to hinder Fox’s election. In spite

of the victory gained in 1784 by their opponents, four years later

the ministerialists and the “king’s friends” were again forced into

a fresh contest on the same field, and more ignominiously defeated;

the popular Lord Hood, their chosen champion, having in July, 1788,

been appointed to a seat at the Admiralty Board, as a recognition of

his services to Government, a fresh election was necessary for the

city of Westminster. The Whigs were still to the front, and Lord John

Townshend came forward and canvassed in that interest, with such strong

support from the Opposition that the ministers now experienced a more

inglorious reverse, their candidate being unseated, although recourse

was had to every expedient, lawful or otherwise, that could promote

the return of Hood, the Government nominee. After the close of the

poll, which showed Lord John Townshend with 6392 votes, to Lord Hood’s

5569, thus giving two Whig members for Westminster, Gillray exposed the

corrupt practices of the Court agents in the caricature, published on

August 14, 1788, entitled, “Election Troops Bringing in their Accounts

to the Pay-Table.” The premier is seen behind the bars of the Treasury

gates; the undisguised and direct applications of his quondam allies

are so compromising that it is inexpedient to admit the claimants, or

acknowledge an acquaintance with such disreputable connections; but

a saving compromise is suggested. Pitt is made to plausibly protest,

“I know nothing of you, my friends. Lord Hood pays all the expenses

himself;” then, in a whisper, “Hush! go to the back-door in Great

George Street, under the Rose.” Sir George Rose was Pitt’s secretary

and _factotum_; he is chiefly seen in the contemporary satires as

associated with what was called “back-stairs influence,” of which he

may be accepted as chamberlain; his scene of operations was generally

represented as the “back-door of the Treasury,” where he diplomatically

carried out the stratagems of the premier--especially, as in the

present instance--in the indirect recognition of secret services.

 

[Illustration: ELECTION TROOPS BRINGING THEIR ACCOUNTS TO THE PAY

TABLE, WESTMINSTER. 1788.

 

BY JAMES GILLRAY.]

 

Foremost in the rank of election troops is the modish Major Topham,

a conspicuous personage in his day, who frequently appears in the

caricatures of the time; his notoriety was due to the _World_,

a society newspaper of the last century, of which the major was

proprietor, editor, and fashionable gossip-monger. Topham has brought

a copy of his organ to prove the active support he had lent the

Government during the Westminster contest, and is the first to present

his bill “for puffs and squibs, and for abusing the Opposition.”

 

[Illustration: AN INDEPENDENT ELECTOR.]

 

A ragged newsboy from the _Star_ has also brought his journal and a

claim for payment “for changing sides, for hiring ballad-singers, and

Grub Street writers.” As usual, some scenes of a desperate character

had marked the election, and three downright bullies, giant troopers

of the Guards, with ensanguined bayonets as evidence of their late

employment, demand pay “for the attack in Bow Street;” a publican

brings in a reckoning “for eating and drinking for jackass boys;”

ballad-singers have come to claim “five shillings a day” for their

professional services; a cobbler, with Hood’s cockade, presents a

modest bill “for voting three times” as “an independent elector;”

a clothesman of the Hebrew persuasion is clamouring for money “for

perjury, and procuring Jew voters;” and a body of Hood’s sailors,

armed with formidable cudgels, are come for payment “for kicking

up a row,”--as in the election of 1784, Hood’s boisterous sailors

were brought up to the hustings to support their admiral, and were

particularly violent and reckless in their zeal for the cause,