A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 75

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 75

Lords Althorp and Russell are acting as the chorus:--

 

“Round about the cauldron go,

In the Constitution throw.”

 

The king is unexpectedly surprising the incantation. He is dumbfounded;

the charm is already active, and away flies his crown. He is girt with

a scarf, “Repentance,” and apostrophizes his reform friends:--

 

“Filthy Hags!

Infected be the air whereon they ride,

And damn’d all those that trust them.”

 

“A _Tale_ of a Tub--and the Moral of the _Tail_!” (June 13, 1831) is

another view of the critical juncture, as it was then assumed to be.

The old constitutional ship is left for the whale-boat. The monster

is in such dangerous proximity that a dash from its tail--while

splashing “popular spray” over its would-be captors--threatens a

fatal catastrophe. Lord Althorp has thrown over a pretty considerable

tub, “Vested Interests and Chartered Rights;” “There,” he is made to

exclaim, “amiable monster! In order to please you, we have thrown you

all! Should you require more, you must only take ourselves.” Lord

Grey is steering; Lords Brougham, Holland, and Durham have the oars.

The king, wearing his naval uniform, is trying to keep the crown from

falling overboard; he is evidently apprehensive of the worst: “But

why approach so near the tail--the good-natured monster may, without

meaning any harm, upset us all in one of his gambols!” The man at the

helm is reassuring his chief: “My reasons for steering are pretty

plain, tho’ fortunately for me some people don’t see them. It is by

flattering the tail, that I command the head!” Lord Brougham, “the

schoolmaster abroad,” is imparting this useful piece of knowledge: “It

has been discovered in the march of Intellect, that the _Tail_ often

outstrips the _Head_!” Wellington and Peel have stuck to the ship; the

latter is still of opinion that he ought to have made an effort to

retain his post: “Yet I can’t but think we might have succeeded in

amusing it for a long time with a very small _Keg_.” Wellington is less

confident: “I tell you, Bob, the Monster is not to be satisfied!”

 

Other allusions of a seasonable character were also produced by Doyle,

apropos of the tendency of the epoch. One of the best is selected among

many, “Varnishing--a Sign (of _the Times_)” (June 1, 1831). The sign

of the King’s Head is undergoing renovation; Lord Brougham, in his

chancellor’s robes, is mounted on a ladder, and employed in touching up

the royal countenance with a pot of varnish. “I think that, considering

I was not bred to the trade, I am not a bad hand at bedaubing a King.

After all, to produce effect, I find there is nothing like plenty of

varnish.” Lord Grey, from an open window, is surveying with marked

satisfaction his colleague’s work. “Canning used to talk about a Red

Lion; but I say that, in our reforming times, there is no such sign for

a (re) publican as a King’s Head, although a Star and Garter is not to

be despised!”

 

The somewhat well-worn subject of the hustings is also treated

pictorially amongst the cartoons which appeared during the elections.

One version is entitled, “The _Rival_ Mount-O’-_Bankes_; or, the

Dorsetshire Juggler” (May 25, 1831). The scene of the hustings is again

travestied as a fair. “Bankes and Co.’s Old-Established Booth” is left

quite deserted; a pillar of the Church is the solitary patron. “If our

friends don’t come up faster, we may shut up shop,” says the showman;

while his assistant is declaring, in allusion to the success of the

rival show, “This Juggler is juggling all our customers away from us!”

The “Nonpareil Juggler” has, in fact, monopolized all the custom. Lord

Grey is the showman; he is holding forth his programme to the numerous

patrons: “The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill of the

Performance of the Nonpareil Calcraft.” The showman, “Grey, Licensed

Dealer in Curiosities,” is pointing to a glowing picture of

the entertainment to be seen within--Calcraft, in the very act of

swallowing a lengthy speech dead against the principles of the reform

party as represented by Lord Grey; he is described as “Lately exhibited

in the metropolis by Monsieur Villainton, with unheard-of success.” The

customers are thus exhorted:--

 

[Illustration: King William IV.

 

Lord Brougham.

 

Lord Grey.

 

VARNISHING--A SIGN (OF “THE TIMES”). JUNE 1, 1831. BY J. DOYLE (HB).

 

[_Page 370._]

 

[Illustration: THE RIVAL MOUNT-O’-_Bankes_; OR, THE

DORSETSHIRE JUGGLER. MAY 25, 1831. BY J. DOYLE (HB).

 

[_Page 371._]

 

“Valk up, gemmen, valk up! Here you may see the most wonderful

Juggler, _who eats his own words!_ not at all in the usual way

practised by pretenders to the ‘Craft, and which is now become

almost as common a trick as swallowing the sword, but in a

manner the most extraordinary and unparalleled! He likewise

plays off many strange antics, quite peculiar to himself and

most curious and amusing to behold. I aver, gemmen, I challenge

the universal world to produce such a show as this here Juggler

makes of himself!”

 

The crowds are flowing in,--says one, “I am tired of Bankes’s Booth,

besides, this _promises_ more amusement;” and another, “I like novelty,

so here goes.”[70]

 

Doyle has given a clever embodiment of a current political situation,

borrowed from the illustrious humourist, his predecessor: “LINEal

Descent of the Crown.” See Hogarth’s works, “Four Prints of an

Election” (June 23, 1832). A modernized version of the sign of the

“Crown” is dependent from a beam; Lord Grey, with his face to the

building, is seated upon that portion of the support which he is

hacking lustily with a sickle, marked “Bill.” Cobbett, Hume, and

O’Connell are tugging away at the rope which is to accomplish the

downfall. The former exclaims, “If we act in union, we’ll soon bring it

to our own level.” Hunt remarks, “I fear his exalted seat will turn his

head.” O’Connell is encouraging the dangerous exertions of the Reform

chief: “Ply the Bill well there, Grey, and it will soon be all down.”

 

A reference to the possible effects of changed politics upon the

suffrages of constituencies is slyly conveyed by HB’s sketch of “The

Cast-off Cloak.” Sir John Hobhouse is standing at the entrance of

the War Office; he has removed the red-lined cloak of “Radicalism,”

which he is thrusting on his old colleague, Sir Francis Burdett: “Pray

relieve me of this, Burdett. I shall find it a great incumbrance in

a _warm_ place like this.” The reply of the veteran Sir Francis is

more politic: “Ay, but don’t forget that you have an engagement in

Covent Garden.[71] You may find the atmosphere rather _cool_ in that

quarter.” Burdett’s own political convictions were to undergo as sudden

a transmutation, as HB has illustrated a few years later.

 

As it was felt by the Conservative party that the king, by whose

instrumentality the important measure of reform was alone carried,

was bound on an enterprise of which the results were doubtful, and,

according to their apprehensions, desperate, they tenaciously fought

for the inviolability of corruption.

 

“With nigh two hundred Tories bold,

All men of the old light,

Who knew full well, but would not own,

They were not in the right.

 

* * * * *

 

“And long before this time they had

Been lab’ring in vain,

And fencing round their borough towns

That must be sieged and ta’en.”

 

(_New Chevy Chase._)

 

According to Doyle’s new version of “Mazeppa” (August 7, 1832), the

king is bound and tied to “Reform,” represented as “the wild horse of

the steppes,” surrounded by wolves, some of whom bear Tory visages,

among which the face of the Duke of Wellington is easily identified.

Horse and rider are overleaping the barrier of “Vested Interests,”

while beneath the courser rushes the “Revolutionary Torrent,” whose

volume is increasing. The success of this spirited version induced the

designer to publish a second plate (September 25th), presenting

the sequel. It is evident in this--which exhibits the wild horse,

and Mazeppa, his rider, extended on the plains, but apparently

uninjured--that the threatening vortex of the “Revolutionary Torrent”

has been passed, and neither has been swamped; but the king is landed

in the midst of the herd of wild steeds, weirdly careering round the

prostrate pair are the rest of the tribe, on whose heads appear the

faces of the leading advocates of reform--Lord Brougham, Lord Grey,

Duke of Richmond, Lord John Russell, Lord Althorp, Sir James Graham,

etc.

 

[Illustration: MAZEPPA--“AGAIN HE URGES ON HIS WILD CAREER.” AUG. 7,

1832. BY J. DOYLE (HB).

 

[_Page 372._

 

“Freemen’s votes and grants by Charter,

First-born rights in every quarter,

Law and Justice, Church and King,

These the glorious spoils I bring.”]

 

The new parliament only sat from June 14, 1831, to December 3, 1832.

Towards the close of the session (November 22, 1832) it was hinted

that ministers were not altogether too happy, and they had flown to

stimulants to promote a fictitious confidence. “Ministers and (in)

their Cups!” is the title; each has a presentation gold cup in his

hand, and a punch-bowl is in the centre of the table. The Ministers are

half-seas-over; Grey is singing “Here’s Comfort when we Fret;” Russell

is joining in the chorus. Althorp declares, “I am quite overpowered;”

and Brougham, who has further been presented with a gold toddy-ladle,

is crying, “Ah, this is now the greatest consolation we have left. I

wish some one would give poor Palmy a cup!”