A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 26

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 26

Sir Charles Wager, 3686.

Lord Sundon, 3533.

Admiral Vernon, 3290.

Charles Edwin, 3161.

 

At this stage of the proceedings, when the independent candidates

claimed to have many votes in reserve, while the ministers had

exhausted every subterfuge and all their resources, Lord Sundon very

injudiciously appealed to an armed intervention, forcibly closed the

poll, and ordered a body of grenadiers to surround the hustings, and

prevent any further voting; while the high bailiff countenanced

these high-handed illegalities, and made his return accordingly. This

proceeding ruined the chances of the Government in this contest of

1741: a petition was presented against the return of Wager and Sundon,

and, although Walpole fought with all his influence, the subject

was made a party question; in the new session, a warm contest arose

in the Commons, which reassembled June 25, 1741, and the return of

the sitting members was decided against by a majority of four, the

numbers told being 220 to 216. The circumstance of “the election

being declared void,” is alluded to in a letter from Horace Walpole

to Sir H. Mann, December 10, 1741: “Mr. Pulteney presented an immense

piece of parchment, which he said he could but just lift; and was the

Westminster Petition, and is to be heard next Tuesday, when we shall

all have our brains knocked out by the mob.” A new election ensued;

Charles Edwin and Lord Perceval were returned without opposition.

Vernon had been chosen for several places, and had already taken his

seat for Ipswich. The admiral was regarded by the populace as a hero of

the first water, whose victories, though for the honour of his country,

were thorns in the side of the Administration, the members of which

were accused of taking bribes from the enemy. The bards compared Vernon

to Cincinnatus:--

 

“Let Rome no more with ostentation show

Her so long-fam’d dictator from the plough;

Great Britain, rival of the Roman name,

In arts, in elegance, in martial fame,

Can, from the plough, her Cincinnatus fellow,

And show a Vernon storming Porto Bello.”

 

The admiral is further alluded to in another engraving produced upon

this same election--“The Funeral of Independency,” where the mourning

procession is passing a tavern with the loyal sign of the Crown and

Anchor. Among other episodes is a man on a donkey, who is galloping

“post to Ipswich 10_s._ 6_d._”--in allusion to Vernon’s return for

that place; while another man is apostrophizing the rider, “Thou art as

tedious as the law.”

 

The sequel of the memorable Westminster election of 1741 is pictured

in “The Triumph of Justice” (Dec. 1741), an engraving of a satirical

character, in which the late events, the triumph of opposition headed

by the Prince of Wales, and the discomfiture of the Administration,

are figured in allegorical guise. Walpole’s earthly career is assumed

to be finished by the defeat in the Commons, who voted by a majority

of four against the election of that minister’s placemen; and he is

hurried to the tomb. A sarcophagus is displayed whereon a Satyr, with

hour-glass and scythe, usurps the post of symbolical Time; on the base

of the monument is inscribed “Hic Jacet;” in front is a medallion of

the statesmen supposed to be departed, with the legend:--“_Padera

Robertas Ord: Perisci--tidis Eques_;” the supporting “weepers” are

the disqualified members,--they bear a band inscribed “Our Hopes are

gone, the Election’s lost.” Sir Charles Wager, as representing the

admiralty, is leaning on a broken anchor. Lord Sundon has beside him a

coin, two keys, a loaf, some mice (one of which is caught in a trap),

in allusion to the treasury “loaves and fishes,” parasites, etc. On

the ground, across the reverse of Walpole’s medallion, which bears the

legend “_Regit dictus Animos_,” are a sceptre and three bludgeons,

“_Boroughs_” and “_Bruisers_,” both used for electioneering purposes,

to which a plate marked “Covent Garden” further alludes.

 

Above the clouds, and surrounded by an angelic host, is seated the

Prince of Wales, the _deus ex machina_ of Walpole’s defeat; his sceptre

is a bludgeon, and he is pointing to an orator, who is presumably

denouncing “the king’s party,” whose power is broken. Beside the heir

apparent is a female divinity, balancing the scales of justice above

the figure of Edwin. At the prince’s feet is seen “the glorious 220,”

the number of votes recorded by the opposition, disqualifying Wager

and Sundon, and in favour of a new election for Westminster. The

British crown, decorated with palms and laurels, caps the design;

which is inscribed, on a riband beneath, “_To the Independent Electors

of Westminster_.” A further allegorical engraving, appropriately

due to Jo. Mynde, exhibits and commemorates the final stage in this

contest, where the Court was defeated and the opposition scored a

complete triumph; this version, which consists of a design and a

petition, engraved on the same plate, is entitled, “The Banner of

Liberty, displayed in the Petition of the Inhabitants of Westminster,

with the Coat of Arms of the Glorious two hundred and twenty-two who

voted in favour of the Petitioners.” The emblematical design displays

the tutelary guardian of Westminster, a female figure, seated on the

ground in deep dejection; her hand is resting on the armorial shield

of Charles Edwin, which is placed before that of Lord Perceval (Earl

of Egmont); the arms of Westminster are engraved on a stone, and the

shield of Admiral Vernon also appears. The goddess of Liberty has

arrived on the scene, she has summarily put “Slavery” to flight, and

while she is assisting the guardian of the liberties of Westminster to

rise, the muskets of the soldiery are trampled under foot, in allusion

to the bold and impolitic step of ordering grenadiers to close the

poll, resorted to at the previous election by Lord Sundon, to the

damage of his patron Walpole. In the Commons it was suggested to indict

the soldiers who had the temerity to interfere with “the rights of

election.”

 

 

“THE INDEPENDENT WESTMINSTER ELECTORS’ TOAST.[42]

 

IN MEMORY OF THE GLORIOUS TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY.

 

_To the Tune of ‘Come, let us prepare,’ etc._

 

 

1.

 

“My _Westminster_ Friends,

Now we’ve gained our Ends,

Here’s a Health, and I’m sure ’twon’t repent ye:

With Gratitude think,

To the Health let us drink

Of the Glorious _Two hundred and Twenty_.

 

 

2.

 

“Come Honestly on,

Give your votes as you’ve done,

When you voted for EDWIN and VERNON;

Like Britons be bold,

Laugh at Power and Gold,

Else slavery comes, and will spare none.

 

 

3.

 

“The army so grand,

For the good of the Land,

That is annually chose our protectors,

A new Trade have got,

And without _Scott or Lot_;

Are now all become our Electors.

 

 

4.

 

“The Justices, too,

Will soon have their due,

As well as that Rogue the _High Bailey_;

Tho’ ye strut and look big,

With your Sword and Tye-wig,

The Parliament soon will to jail wi’ ye.

 

 

5.

 

“Brave _Edwin_ for you

Did all he could do,

As at the last Poll ye remember,

Now all of ye shou’d

To him be as good,

And choose him once more for your member.

 

 

6.

 

“An _honest good_ Lord

To find out, how hard,

At this time, let any man think, Sir!

Yet all do agree

Lord Perceval’s he,

Then EDWIN and PERCEVAL drink, sir.

 

 

7.

 

“Besides his brave spirit,

My Lord has this merit

With us; that Bob hates him to death, Sir,

He has sworn Zounds and Blood

That my Lord never shou’d

Be a member, as long as he’d breath, Sir.

 

 

8.

 

“Then under his nose

These brave men we will choose,

To show we don’t fear, but despise him.

We’ll laugh and we’ll flout

At the rabble at Court,