A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 3

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 3

a Peep behind the Curtain”--Wilkes a prisoner in the King’s

Bench--The Wilkes riots in St. George’s Fields--Southwark in

a state of siege--The military under arms--Wilkes’s address

from the King’s Bench Prison, “To the Gentlemen, Clergy, and

Freeholders of the County of Middlesex”--The mob demonstration

outside the King’s Bench on the opening of parliament--The

Riot Act read--The massacre of St. George’s Fields--The case

of William Allen, deliberately assassinated--“The Scotch

Victory; murder of Allen by a Grenadier.--St. George’s Fields,

1768”--The ministerial approval of the butcheries by the

soldiers--Justice Gillam--The circumstances of the riot--The

soldiers tried--The murderer shielded from justice; his escape,

and subsequent pension--Horne Tooke as a witness--He brings

the guilty to justice--The defence by the Government--“The

Operation,” 1768--“Murder screened and rewarded” 157

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

 

Death of Cooke, Tory member for Middlesex, 1768--A fresh

election--Serjeant Glynn, Wilkes’s advocate, a Radical

candidate for the vacant seat; opposed by Sir W. Beauchamp

Proctor--Proctor’s mob of hired ruffians--“The Hustings

at Brentford, Middlesex Election”, 1768--Prize-fighters

employed to terrorize the electors--Dastardly attack

on the hustings--Glynn’s “Letter to the Freeholders of

Middlesex”--Proctor’s repudiation of the charge of “hiring

banditti”--Horne Tooke’s “Philippic” to Proctor--The true

facts of the case--The circumstantial account given in the

_Oxford Magazine_--The rioters beaten off--Electioneering

manœuvres: summoning electors as jurymen--The bruisers

recognized--Broughton engaged as generalissimo of the

forces--An expensive contest--Glynn’s letter of acknowledgment

to his constituents--The “Parson of Brentford”--Poetical

tributes to Horne Tooke--Results of the injuries inflicted

by the hired ruffians: Death of Clarke--“The Present State

of Surgery; or, Modern Practice,” 1769--Trial of Clarke’s

murderers--The bruisers defended by the ministers--Found

guilty, and sentenced to transportation, but receive a royal

pardon and pensions for life--Partial conduct and verdict of

the College of Surgeons--“A Consultation of Surgeons”--The

petitions and remonstrances addressed to the Throne--Colonel

Luttrell sent to parliament, though not duly elected, to

represent Middlesex in place of Wilkes--An unconstitutional

vote of the Commons: “296 votes preferred to 1143”--Lord

Bacon on the lawful power of Parliaments--The Crown and its

advisers, and the odium attaching to their unconstitutional

proceedings--Servile addresses--The loyal address from the

“Essex Calves”--“The Essex Procession from Chelmsford to St.

James’s Market for the Good of the Common-Veal,” 1769--Charles

Dingley, “the projector”--The bogus city address--“The

Addressers”--The _fracas_ at the King’s Arms, Cornhill--A

battle-royal--“The Battle of Cornhill,” 1769--Administrative

bribes of preference “Lottery Tickets”--“The Inchanted

Castle; or, King’s Arms in an Uproar,” 1769--Walpole’s

account of the procession--“The Principal Merchants and

Traders assembled at the Merchant Seamen’s Office to sign

y^e Address”--“Epistle to the _North Briton_,” 1769--The

“Abhorrers” of Charles II.’s reign revived--The Administration

arraigned with their crimes--Address of the Quakers to James

II.--“The conduct of ninety-nine in a hundred of the people

of England ‘Abhorred’”--The loyal address forwarded to St.

James’s Palace--“The Battle of Temple Bar,”--The addressers

routed--“Sequel to the Battle of Temple Bar: Presentation of

the Loyal Address at St. James’s Palace,” 1769--The fight

at Palace Yard--“The Hearse,” and Lord Mountmorres--The

lost Address recovered--Account of the procession from the

_Political Register_--The _Town and Country Magazine_--A royal

proclamation against the rioters: _Gazette Extraordinary_--“The

Gotham Addressers: or, a Peep at the Hearse”--“A Dialogue

between the Two Heads on Temple Bar,” 1769 178

 

 

CHAPTER VIII.

 

More petitions and remonstrances to the king--Petition

of the Livery of London--The king’s advisers denounced

by the citizens--An arraignment of ministerial crimes

and misdemeanours--Undue prerogative and its abuses--The

alienation of our colonies, and the consequent loss of

America--The king’s contemptuous reception of the city

petition--Disrespect shown to the corporation at the Court

of St. James’s--Threatening attitude of the military--An

unscrupulous and tyrannical ministry--A poetical petition--The

king visits the city petition with “severe censure”--A more

stringent remonstrance prepared--The violated “right of

election”--An unrepresentative parliament--“The true spirit

of parliaments”--“The constitution depraved”--The Coronation

Oath violated--The king’s answer, condemning the former

petition, and the city remonstrance--“Nero fiddled while

Rome was burning”--Further popular agitations--Horne Tooke’s

“Address to the Freeholders of the county of Middlesex”--“The

Middlesex Address, Remonstrance and Petition”--“Constitutional

liberties attacked in the most vital part”--“A self-elected

and irresponsible Parliament”--The petitions from Middlesex

and Kent received at St. James’s in silence--The Westminster

remonstrance--Corrupt administration of the House of

Commons--The king prayed to dissolve a parliament no longer

representing the people--The right of petitioning impeached

by the Commons--The king replies that “he will lay the

remonstrance before parliament”--“Making a man judge in his

own trial”--The undignified reception of the Westminster

remonstrance--Parliamentary counter-petitions at the

bidding of corrupt ministers--The city vote of thanks to

Lord Chatham, for his patriotic “zeal for the rights of the

people”--The king’s answer considered at a general assembly

of the citizens--Alderman Wilkes on the violation of the

rights of election and of the constitution--The recorder

characterises the remonstrance as a libel--The conduct of

ministers in the case of Colonel Luttrell’s election--A fuller

remonstrance from the city--The results of the Revolution of

1788 contravened--The king’s answer--Beckford requests leave

to reply--His dignified speech to the king--The king remains

silent--“Nero did _not_ fiddle while Rome was burning”--The

courtiers abashed--The king prorogues parliament with an

address approving of the conduct of both Houses--The citizens

eventually triumph in “the cause of Liberty and of the

Constitution”--Lord Chatham’s eulogium pronounced upon the

“patriotic spirit of the metropolis”--Beckford and Chatham,

the champions of popular rights--The national importance of

their conduct at this crisis of our history--Civic honours

paid to Beckford--His speech to the king inscribed on the

monument erected to his memory in the Guildhall--The corrupt

ministers cowed--An uncontested election for Westminster,

1770--Sir Robert Bernard’s nomination--His election, without

expense or disorder--Speeches of Sir J. Hussey Delaval and

Earl Mountmorres on the late conduct of the Government--The

advantages of leaving the people to the legitimate exercise of

their liberties, uninfluenced by the administrative interest,

corruption, and undue influence, the usual features at an

election. 207

 

 

CHAPTER IX.

 

“The Spendthrift Election,” Northampton, 1768--Expensive

contests, the defeated men appearing in the

_Gazette_--Colchester; Hampshire--Three noble patrons

adversaries at Northampton: the Earls of Halifax,

Northampton, and Spencer--Open-house at ancestral seats--The

“perdition of Horton”--The petition and scrutiny on the

Northampton election--The event referred to chance--Cost

of the contest--The results of the reckless expenditure

upon the fortunes of the patrons--Sir Francis Delaval at

Andover, 1768--His attorney’s bill: item, “to being Thrown

out of window, £500”--Reckoning without the host--An

hospitable entertainment--Returning thanks--The Mayor

_versus_ the Colonel--“Sir Jeffery Dunstan’s Address to

the Electors of Garratt,” 1774: a parody upon election

manifestoes-“Lord Shiner’s Appeal to the Electors of

Garratt”--Bribery at elections, and “controverted election

petitions”--Various methods of acquiring “Parliamentary

interest”--Boroughs cultivated for the market, like

other saleable commodities--Patronage--Buying up

burgage-tenures--Recognized prices of vot