A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 55

A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering 55

Against Fox was raised the odium of the coalition with Lord North,

and his attack on the East India Company’s charter was represented

as but the commencement of a general invasion of chartered rights of

corporate bodies. The Prince of Wales interested himself warmly in

favour of Fox, to the extreme provocation of the king and queen; it was

declared that the prince had canvassed in person, and that the members

of his household were actively engaged in promoting the success of

the Whig chief. The exertions of the Court were extraordinary; almost

hourly intelligence was conveyed to the king, who is said to have been

affected in the most evident manner by every change in the state of

the poll. Threats and promises were freely made in the royal name, the

old illegalities were revived, members of the king’s household claimed

votes, and on one occasion two hundred and eighty of the Guards were

sent in a body to give their votes as householders--an ill-advised

manœuvre, upon which, as Horace Walpole declared, his father, Sir

Robert, would not have dared to venture in the most quiet seasons. All

dependents on the Court were commanded to vote on the same side as the

soldiers. When Fox’s friends, the popular party, protested against this

unconstitutional interference, their opponents retaliated by charging

the Foxites with bribery, and with resorting to improper influences

of extravagant kinds. Beyond the unpopularity of relying upon Court

patronage and the imputations of “wearing two faces under a Hood,” and

being “a Greenwich pensioner,” Admiral Lord Hood escaped; the most

bitter party and personal attacks were made upon Wray. At the beginning

of the election, Hood had brought up a large contingent of sailors, or,

as the opposition alleged, chiefly hired ruffians dressed in sailors’

clothes; these desperadoes surrounded the hustings, and intimidated

Fox’s friends, and even hindered those who attempted to register

votes in favour of the Whig chief; they grew uproarious as the poll

progressed, and, parading the streets, assaulted Fox’s partisans, made

conspicuous by displaying his “true blue” favours; they also attacked

the Shakespeare Tavern, where his committee met, when, threatening to

wreck the house, they were beaten off by the inmates. After a reign of

terror, which was endured for four days without organized resistance,

the sailor mob encountered a rival faction--entitled the “honest mob”

by the opposition newspapers,--these were the hackney chairmen, a

numerous body, chiefly Irishmen, almost unanimous in their support of

Fox; these, with hearty will, basted the sailors, breaking heads and

fracturing bones in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. The sailors

thence proceeded to St. James’s, where the chairmen chiefly plied for

hire, to wreak vengeance on their chairs; but the Irishmen beat them

again and the Guards quelled the riot. The day following, both parties

were reinforced. The sailors, vowing vengeance, left the hustings to

intercept Fox on his way to Westminster to canvass; but he luckily

managed to elude them, and escaped into a private house. The sailor

mob returned to Covent Garden, where they encountered the “honest

mob,” the chairmen being joined by a multitude of butchers, brewers’

men, and others. A series of pitched battles ensued, the sailors were

defeated at each renewal of the fighting, and, finally, many of their

number being carried off to hospitals severely injured, the popular

rival mob was left in possession of the field. Special constables

were now introduced at the instance of the justices of the peace, who

were in the Court interest, to surround the places where Hood and

Wray’s committees met, and these behaved in a manner so hostile to

Fox’s party, going about impeding and insulting Liberal voters, and

shouting “No Fox,” that their presence provoked a fresh outbreak.

On the approach of the “honest mob,” heralded by the sounds of the

marrow-bones and cleavers, the insurrectionary signal, the constables

made an attack, in which one of their own body was knocked down and

killed by fellow-constables by mistake in the heat of the scuffle.

 

In Rowlandson’s pictorial versions of the different stages of this

famous election, the public were first excited against the Coalition

Ministry, lately thrown out of office as described. “They Quarter their

Arms” represents the contracting parties, Fox and Badger, united to

share the Treasury spoils, and battening on the victimized John Bull;

it was “money” which made the Coalition Wedding:--

 

“Come, we’re all rogues together,

The people must pay for the play;

Then let us make hay in fine weather,

And keep the cold winter away.”

 

The downfall of the Coalition was pictured as “Britannia Aroused;

or, the Coalition Ministers Destroyed,” in which Fox and North are

figuratively reaping the reward of iniquity.

 

[Illustration: THE COALITION WEDDING--THE FOX (C. J. FOX) AND THE

BADGER (LORD NORTH) QUARTER THEIR ARMS ON JOHN BULL. BY T. ROWLANDSON.

 

“Now Fox, North, and Burke, each one is a brother,

So honest, they swear, there is not such another;

No longer they tell us we’re going to ruin,

The people they _serve_ in whatever they’re doing.”]

 

“Within the Senate, and without,

Our credit fails; th’ enlighten’d nation

The boasted Coalition scout,

And hunt us from th’ administration.

 

“Fox, let thy soul with _grace_ be fill’d:

Expect no other _call_ but mine;

With penitence I see thee thrill’d,

With new-born light I see thee shine.

 

“How spruce will North beneath thee sit!

With joy officiate as thy clerk!

Attune the hymn, renounce his wit,

And carol like the morning lark!”

 

[Illustration:

 

BRITANNIA AROUSED, OR THE COALITION MONSTERS DESTROYED. BY T.

ROWLANDSON.

 

“These were your Ministers.”]

 

The astute young premier, whose youth at this time was alleged as his

chief crime, began to bid for “loyal addresses,” and other servile

__EXPRESSION__s, to condone the rash experiments recently attempted upon

the constitution. With this view he cultivated the citizens, and,

being presented with the “Freedom of the City,” he was entertained by

the Grocers’ Company as the son of that famous Earl of Chatham, the

greatest friend of the rights of the people; it was expected he would

be equally steadfast in defending popular freedom:--

 

“But Chatham, thank heaven! has left us a son;

When _he_ takes the helm, we are sure not undone;

The glory his father revived of the land,

And Britannia has taken Pitt by the hand.”

 

In “Master Billy’s Procession to Grocers’ Hall” the adulation of the

multitude is offered to the “charming youth,” who is declared to

be “very like his father;” the gold box is carried before, and the

voluntary slaves who are harnessed to his chariot are shouting for

“Pitt and Prerogative.”

 

Before the dissolution (March 25th), Pitt’s ministerial manœuvres were

already patent to all. The king had determined, with the obstinacy of

purpose which characterized the royal mind, that he would endure any

sacrifice rather than sanction the return of the members of the late

Coalition Ministry to power; in the face of this eventuality, he even

threatened, it is stated, to retire to Hanover, but, in the meanwhile,

no effort was spared to obviate this embarrassing emergency. Places

and pensions were freely employed as baits to detach followers of

Fox and North. A pictorial version of the situation, as given

by Rowlandson, represents the extensive “ratting” system and its

_modus operandi_, under the title of “The Apostate Jack Robinson, the

Political Rat-catcher. N.B. _Rats taken alive!_”

 

[Illustration: T. ROWLANDSON: MASTER BILLY’S PROCESSION TO GROCERS’

HALL--PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS--PITT PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM OF THE

CITY, 1784.

 

“The City interests and votes, young Pitt would fain obtain.

For Freedom of the City, too, he does not sue in vain;

So Master Billy goes in state a Grocer to be made,

‘A fig for Fox,’ the Premier cries, ‘I’ve pushed him out of trade.’”

 

[_Page 264._]

 

[Illustration: T. ROWLANDSON: THE APOSTATE JACK ROBINSON, THE POLITICAL

RAT-CATCHER. 1784.

 

[_Page 265._]

 

“Thus when Renegado sees a Rat

In the traps in the morning taken,

With pleasure he goes Master Pitt to pat,

And swears he will have his bacon.”

 

Jack Robinson, as “Rat-catcher to Great Britain,” is equipped for

his delicate task with a supply of baits, lures, and traps; round

his waist is the “Cestus of Corruption,” in his pocket is a small

aide-de-camp, who is made to exclaim, “We’ll ferret them out!” On

his back is a double trap, baited with coronets and places; he is

cautiously proceeding on all fours, along the Treasury floor, where

“vermin” are “preserved;” the rats to be captured are toying with the

gold laid down to attract them. To the nose of one veteran, whose face

resembles the spectacled visage of Edmund Burke, is held a large bait

of “pension,” which is regarded wistfully by other rats assembled.

Under the heading of “Rats of Note,” a placard on the wall announces

the list of political apostates who have been captured. No concealment

was attempted, for we find in the pages of the _Morning Post and Daily

Advertiser_, for February 10, 1784, an advertisement, under the simple

heading of “Jack Robinson,” with a woodcut representing a string of

rats, such as might preface a common rat-catcher’s announcement, giving

the names of twenty-two parliamentary rats already decoyed from their

party allegiance to go over to the good pickings the king was able to

hold out. This curious notification is repeated on the Treasury wall,

shown in Rowlandson’s pictorial view of the corruption abroad, as a

preparation for the coming elections.

 

The _dramatis personæ_ of the great performance at the Covent Garden

hustings are exhibited as “The Rival Candidates:” “Themistocles,” Lord

Hood; “Demosthenes,” Fox; “Judas Iscariot,” Sir Cecil Wray.

 

[Illustration: HONEST SAM HOUSE, THE PATRIOTIC PUBLICAN, CANVASSER FOR

FOX.]

 

One of the most enthusiastic partisans of Fox, and second only to his

fair friends, the ladies of the Whig aristocracy, in popular influence,

was “Honest Sam House,” the publican, remarkable for his oddity and

for his political zeal, who during the election not only canvassed

with admirable tact, but throughout the contest kept open house at his

own expense, and was honoured with the presence of many of the Whig

aristocracy.

 

“See the brave Sammy House, he’s as still as a mouse,

And does canvass with prudence so clever:

See what shoals with him flock, to poll for brave Fox,

Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever, for ever,

Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever!