A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 67

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 67

In the days when candidates paid their electors’ travelling expenses

(and these ranged high, averaging, for example, from London to Hull,

ten pounds apiece for freemen, the recognized tariff), curious

manœuvres were resorted to by the “other side;” one of these was to

buy off the persons who had the responsibility of delivering these

expensive cargoes safe and in good voting order at the end of their

expedition. Among these anecdotes, it is related that, when those

Berwick freemen who happened to reside in the metropolis--

 

“were going down by sea, the skippers, to whose tender mercy

they were committed, used to be bribed, and have been known in

consequence to carry them over to Norway!”

 

This is the forerunner of the Ipswich story, that the Ipswich freemen,

under precisely similar conditions, have occasionally found themselves

in Holland; while, on the authority of R. Southey, it had also occurred

to electors to find themselves delivered at a port in the Netherlands.

The notorious Andrew Robinson Bowes, who was famous for being

undeterred by scruples, once stood for Newcastle. A cargo of Newcastle

freemen were shipped from London for his opponent, and the master was

bribed by Bowes to carry them to Ostend, where they remained till the

election was over.

 

The majesty of the people is adequately represented from a humoristic

standpoint by Pugin and Rowlandson, as it might have appeared on its

septennial returns in the boisterous eighteenth century. In the view of

the most celebrated polling-place of the kingdom, one of the candidates

has secured the ears of the adjacent crowd:--

 

“A man, when once he’s safely chose,

May laugh at all his furious foes,

Nor think of former evil:

Yet good has its attendant ill;

A _seat_ is no bad thing--but still

A _contest_ is the devil.”

 

Possibly the voices will follow; a show of hands is offered with

hearty goodwill; but, put to the test of the poll-book, it would

seem that, for the most part, the audience is voteless. However, the

polling-places may be recognized, like cattle pens, in front of the

hustings, with the attendant officials under the supervision of the

high bailiff of Westminster as returning officer. The flags indicate

the respective parishes of the district, such as St. Margaret’s, St.

James’s, St. Martin in the Fields, etc. Pugin is responsible for the

literal exactitude with which the locality is represented; his drawing

may be accepted as a faithful view of the customary arrangement of

the Covent Garden hustings at the time of the Westminster elections:

while Rowlandson has added the life and zest of the subject from actual

observation. With the history of the famous contests held on this spot

before us, it is noteworthy that the artist has given prominence to

one well-known feature, characteristic of Westminster elections for

nearly a century, the nomination of an influential naval officer in

the Court interest, whose supporters, backed up by a contingent of

loyal jack-tars, produced a due effect on the opposition. Rowlandson

was quite at home in the scene: he has reproduced the bludgeon-boys,

ballad-singers, professional pugilists, marrow-bone-and-cleaver “rough

music,” and those vendors of cakes, nuts, fruit, and such small wares

as were in request at such times; these itinerant traders found at

elections a large mart for their commodities, but the business was at

such times conducted at some personal risk, the baskets being overset,

the contents scattered, and the owners roughly handled in the course

of the attacks, counter-charges, and other party-manœuvres which

diversified the proceedings in the vicinity of the hustings.

 

G. Cruikshank supplied a frontispiece to Fairburn’s “Electors of

Westminster,” 1810--a copy of the “Speaker’s Warrant for the Commitment

of Sir Francis Burdett to the Tower,” with a burlesque portrait of that

privileged functionary, the Speaker, in an enormous wig, surmounted by

a miniature hat; the Right Hon. Charles Abbott was further caricatured

by the artist as “The Little Man in the Big Wig”--_vide_ “Fuller’s

Earth reanimated.”

 

A burlesque, by George Cruikshank, upon one of the candidates for the

City appeared in 1812, under the title of “The Election Hunter;” it

consists of a broadside, commencing:--

 

“I’ve just learned, by the porter who stands at my door,

That your old friend, Sir Charles, means to offer no more.”

 

G. Cruikshank has supplied the pictorial embellishments. Sir Claudius

Hunter, the canvassing candidate, is standing in the stirrups of his

famous charger, “White Surrey,” mounted on the platform, attended by

masked horsemen, and squired by a dilapidated knight in armour, who

has evidently seen overmuch service. The candidate is thus addressing

the civic constituency: “Gentleman, I earnestly solicit your vote and

interest for me and my horse.” This appeal the electors receive with

derision, “No, no; you may saddle White Surrey for Cheapside if you

like, but not for the House,” “Off, off,” etc.

 

This electioneering squib was probably preceded by another, also

designed by G. Cruikshank (published April 10, 1812). In this version,

entitled, “Saddle White Surrey for Cheapside to-morrow--W. Lon. Mil.

Regt. [West London Militia Regiment], General Orders,” Sir Claudius,

mounted on his steed, is making, like a true knight-errant, a quixotic

charge upon his constituents, preceded by the woeful man-in-armour,

like Sancho Panza, on an ass; he is charging the throng with his lance.

A groom behind Sir Claudius is exclaiming, “This is our High-bred

Hunter!”

 

In 1812, G. Cruikshank found fresh exercise for his etching-needle on

another electioneering cartoon--“The Borough Candidates,” published

October 1812. Suggestions of Gillray will be identified in this plate,

for the artist is dealing with Charles Calvert, the brewer, who was

elected for Southwark with H. Thornton, in opposition to W. J. Burdett;

the new member is seated astride a barrel of his own brewing, the

“stingo” is pouring forth from spigot and vent-peg. The discomfited

candidates are figured on either side; while the heads of the brewer’s

constituents appear in front.

 

Elections happily brought both food and occupation to the caricaturists

and satirists, as it has been shown. Incidents connected with this

subject evidently caught the popular taste, for we find Cruikshank

making the most of the mere title, in association with the etching of a

somewhat commonplace presentment of a country assembly-room, conveying

no flattering impression of the provincial grace and deportment of the

period; this was published in 1813--as “An Election Ball:” the floor is

occupied by knock-kneed dancers doddering through figures, while the

master of the ceremonies is shouting his instructions to the leader of

the band, elevated in an orchestra overhead.

 

The artist evidently found this topic remunerative, for in 1819

he produced a smaller version of “An Election Ball”--a similar

subject, with the arrangement of the room reversed; a country

dance is proceeding with “hands across;” the clumsy master of the

ceremonies, who is pigeon-toed, stands viewing the scene with evident

gratification. This plate reappeared, with a new publisher’s name, in

1835 (republished by Thomas McLean, Haymarket).

 

[Illustration: Hunt.

 

Burdett.

 

Cartwright.

 

Sir S. Romilly.

 

Sir M. Maxwell.

 

THE FREEDOM OF ELECTION; OR, HUNT-ING FOR POPULARITY, AND PLUMPERS FOR

MAXWELL. 1818. BY G. AND R. CRUIKSHANK.]

 

Both Robert and George Cruikshank were working away on the popular

side of the Westminster election contest, June 18, 1818. “The Freedom

of Election; or, HUNTING for Popularity, and Plumpers for

MAXWELL,” published June 22, 1818, owes its origin to this

combination of talent. In the caricature, the candidates and their

most prominent supporters are mounted on the Covent Garden hustings,

of which a front view is given. Hunt stands hat in hand (he and Sir

Francis Burdett sport “favours”); the Radical reformer is backed by

his colours, his flag proclaims “Universal Suffrage and Liberty;”

the standard is surmounted by a cap of liberty. Hunt is making a

characteristically downright appeal to his audience:--

 

“I am a plain Englishman. I approve of the conduct of Sir

Murray Maxwell in coming forward as he has done. Why should

you send Sir Samuel Romilly to Parliament? He can find his way

into the Den of Corruption. You know the hero of the Tower,

as well as I do--who ran out at the back door when his friends

were waiting for him at the front. _I_ have hoisted the Cap of

Liberty!”

 

The followers of the speaker are shouting, “Hunt for ever! no

Sovereigns, no Regents, no Churches, no Lawyers! Universal Plunder

for ever! No Sham Patriots. Hunt and Liberty. Hunt and Revolution.”

Sir Francis Burdett comes next, beside the Hon. Douglas Kinnaird and

Major Cartwright; these candidates are variously received. “Burdett

for ever!--No Weathercocks. No Coalition. The Spenceans for ever!

Napoleon for ever! Burdett for ever! No Spafields Rioters.” “Kinnaird

for ever!” “Cartwright for ever! No old woman in Parliament.” Sir

Samuel Romilly is standing beside the poll on which the results of the

first day’s votings are recorded. The cries for “Romilly and Justice,”

“Romilly and Reform,” indicate a popular candidate. Sir Murray Maxwell

is a prominent figure, and is represented in the full swing of his

eloquence; like Hunt, he is disposed to be a courteous opponent:--

 

“Gentlemen,--Mr. Hunt is anxious you should hear me now. I am

certain you will hear him presently with pleasure. I am certain

my cause is as popular as his; for I see many pretty girls

pressing forward to hear me. Of all the days in the year, none

appear more favourable for a British officer to receive your

support than the anniversary of Waterloo.”

 

“Maxwell and the British Navy! Let every man do his duty!” is

shouted; while hostile voices cry, “No Maxwell--no Captain Flog-’em.”

A notice-board, capped by the crown, sets forth the merits of this