A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 23

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 23

The candidate, it is implied, is a Court nominee; the screen is used

to conceal the true movers of the wires, who are at the back of the

canvasser; their reflection is shown in the mirror behind, above

the console-table, on which bags of money are in readiness to be

used for bribery. The wooden shoes symbolize a threatened relapse

to slavery. The screen is to typify the seven years of the last

parliament--the first of the septennial parliaments; the year 1716 is

marked “Septennial Act”--“Part of the Succession Act repealed;”--1720

registers the “South Sea Act,”--“Act to indemnify South Sea Villains;”

and 1721 the “Quarantine Act, _cum multis aliis_;” the other years are

blanks. The accompanying verses explain the meaning intended to be

conveyed by the principal figures. The personage bribed is the mayor of

the place. These functionaries for a long time held the elections in

their power, and were amenable to corrupt treatment; in fact, they were

expected to make the bargain most advantageous for the court of livery

or aldermen, in whom the votes were generally vested. Hence the old

saying, “Money makes the mayor to go.”

 

“Here’s a minion sent down to a corporate town,

In hopes to be newly elected;

By his prodigal show, you may easily know

To the Court he is truly affected.

 

“He ’as a knave by the hand, who has power to command

All the votes in the corporation;

Shoves a sum in his pocket, the D----l cries ‘Take it,

’Tis all for the good of the nation!’

 

“The wife, standing by, looks a little awry

At the candidate’s way of addressing;

But a priest stepping in avers bribery no sin,

Since money’s a family blessing.

 

“Say the boys, ‘Ye sad rogues, here are French wooden brogues,

To reward your vile treacherous knavery;

For such traitors as you are the rascally crew

That betray the whole kingdom to slavery.’”

 

The elections of 1727, in spite of the exertions of Bolingbroke and

Pulteney in the _Craftsman_, and the intrigues of the former with the

Duchess of Kendal, mistress of George I., were a disappointment to the

Tories and “patriots,” _i.e._ Jacobites. On the death of George I.

their prospects were even less promising. Queen Caroline, the consort

of George II., was the steadfast friend of Walpole, and although the

Bolingbroke faction paid their court to the mistress of the new king,

as they had done in the last reign to that of his predecessor, they

gained nothing by their motion, as George II. was governed by his wife

in political questions. The hopes placed by the Tories in the elections

were altogether frustrated; in the parliament chosen in 1727 the

ministerial majority was greater than before, and their opponents were

reduced to vent their mortification in strictures against the bribery,

corruption, undue influence, and those secret intrigues in which they

were themselves such adepts.

 

Of the few caricatures to which this contest gave rise that best known

is entitled “Ready Money the Prevailing Candidate; or the Humours

of an Election;” and even in this the satirical allusions appear to

have a general rather than a specific application. This picture,

like most of the caricatures of the time, is slightly allegorical;

the scene is evidently the outskirts of a town; colossal statues of

“Folly” and “Justice” are shown at either side. As the title implies,

bribery is the motive power of the entire action. In the centre is

a figure with his back to the spectator; the rear of this person’s

coat is covered with pockets, into which those interested in the

work of buying votes are dropping money; the recipient is declaring,

“No bribery, but pockets are free.” Another gentleman, with his hat

raised in the air, is crying, “Sell not your country.” A whole body

of electors behind these plausible individuals are standing ready to

be bought; an agent is canvassing this group for their votes, with a

money-bag to meet their requirements. To the right, a man is kneeling

to secure a heap of pieces, which are lavishly scattered about, while

another person is stooping to press a well-filled bag of money upon

his acceptance as “a small acknowledgment.” One of the candidates,

handsomely attired, and with a feathered hat, is carried on a litter by

four bearers, much like “Chairing a member;” he has bags of money in

both hands, and his progress is marked by a shower of gold “for his

country’s service.” At the door of an inn stands a figure whose head is

supplemented with antlers--“He kissed my wife, he shall have my vote!”

“Folly” is personated by a male effigy, also emptying out money-bags

to his votaries: before his altar a candidate is kneeling amidst his

canvassing tickets; he is exclaiming, “Help me, Folly, or my cause is

lost.” In the foreground is the figure of an ancient philosopher, who

is made to say, “Let not thy right hand know what thy left does;” his

left hand is accommodatingly held behind his back, and this an agent

is filling with pieces. A person dressed like a Covenanter is crying,

“See here, see here!” The emblematical figure of “Justice,” blind, and

with her attributes of sword and scales, has her altar deserted. One

man is admonishing his neighbour to “Regard Justice;” the other, who

has a sack of unlawful treasure on his shoulder, replies, “We fell out:

I lost money by her.” A modishly dressed candidate, hat in hand, is

pressing a bag of money on another individual, who seems to have been

bribed already, but is willing to accept further emoluments--“’Twill

scarce pay, make it twenty more.”

 

[Illustration: O Cives! Cives! quærenda Pecunia primum est Virtus post

Nummos.

 

(O citizens, citizens, you must first seek for wealth, for virtue after

money - Horace)

 

READY MONEY, THE PREVAILING CANDIDATE; OR, THE HUMOURS OF AN

ELECTION. (Dr. Newton’s Collection.)

 

[_Page 84._]

 

A copy of verses sets forth the morality of this plate:--

 

“The Laws against Bribery provision may make,

Yet means will be found both to give and to take;

While charms are in flattery, and power in gold,

Men will be corrupted and Liberty sold.

When a candidate interest is making for votes,

How cringing he seems to the arrantest sots!

‘Dear Sir, how d’ye do? I am joyful to see ye!

How fares your good spouse? and how goes the world wi’ ye?

Can I serve you in anything? Faith, Sir, I’ll do’t

If you’ll be so kind as to give me your vote.

Pray do me the honour an evening to pass

In smoking a pipe and in taking a glass!’

Away to the tavern they quickly retire,

The ploughman’s ‘Hail-fellow-well-met’ with the Squire;

Of his company proud, he ‘huzzas’ and he drinks,

And himself a great man of importance he thinks:

He struts with the gold newly put in his breeches,

And dreams of vast favours and mountains of riches.

But as soon as the day of Election is over,

His woeful mistake he begins to discover;

The Squire is a Member--the rustic who chose him

Is now quite neglected--he no longer knows him.

Then Britons! betray not a sordid vile spirit

Contemn gilded baits, and elect men of merit.”

 

[Illustration: THE KENTISH ELECTION, 1734.]

 

A realistic version of the hustings appeared under the title of “The

Kentish Election, 1734.” The locality of the gathering here represented

is probably Maidstone in Kent. A large open space on the outskirts of

the town is the scene of action. The candidates and their numerous

supporters are raised above the multitude, and standing on the

hustings. Round this erection is a great crowd of electors, many of

whom are on horseback.

 

In the foreground, a mounted clergyman is at the head of a procession

of his flock, all wearing favours in their hats, and professing

themselves supporters of the “Protestant Interest,” _i.e._ Whigs;

two of them carry staves and books; the “gauges” in their hands seem

to indicate that they are gaugers or excisemen, _i.e._ placemen:

it must be noted that the chief grievance against Walpole and his

administration at this time was the attempt to tax tobacco and wines.

The Opposition party-cry is “No Excise,” with the names of “Vane and

Dering,” the successful candidates, in whose honour, with that of the

“Country Interest,” _i.e._ Tories, which they had pledged themselves

to promote, the followers of their party wear sprigs of oak in their

hats--a memorial of the Restoration of the Stuarts. The party-cry

of their antagonists is for “King and Country,” and “Middlesex and

Oxenden.” Sir George Oxenden had voted for the Government and in favour

of the Excise Bill; he sat for Maidstone before the dissolution, April,

1734. The Earl of Middlesex was not a member of the former Parliament.

These gentlemen finally threw up the poll, the victory of their

opponents being assured, May 16, 1734. Of the successful candidates,

Viscount Vane and Sir Edward Dering, the former had voted against the

Excise Bill, and the latter was absent on the division. Something in

the way of influencing suffrages seems to have been done on a large

scale by Viscount Vane. Two hogsheads of French brandy were sent down

to his seat in Kent (according to the _Daily Post_), together with

sixty dozen of knives and forks, in preparation for the entertainment

his lordship offered the freeholders. _The Grub Street Journal_ devotes

some attention to the treats with which the successful candidates

regaled their constituents at an early stage of their canvass, and

these hospitalities were returned in kind.

 

“At a meeting lately at the _Swan Tavern_ in Cornhill, of about 100

substantial worthy citizens of London, freeholders of the County

of Kent, the Right Hon. the Lord Vane and Sir Edw. Dering, Bart.,

candidates in the Country Interest, were entertained in an elegant

manner by the freeholders,” etc. It is further stated that “these

candidates were met at about two miles from Westerham, in Kent, by 300

freeholders on horseback, and dined at the _George Inn_, where healths

were drunk to the glorious 205”--this being the number of members whose