Chapter X

The Great Westminster election of 1784--Wilkes’s famous
election contest for Middlesex dwarfed by comparison-State
of political excitement--Relations of parties in the
Commons--Fox’s India Bill--“Carlo Khan”--Downfall of the
Coalition Ministry--Pitt made premier by the will of the
king--“Back-stair influence,” and Court intrigues--“The
royal finger”--Hostility of the East India Company against
Fox--An administration called to power with a working
minority--Defeated on division--Vote of want of confidence--The
House dissolved--The great election campaign--“The storm
conjured up”--The popular aversion to the late Coalition
Ministers shown at the hustings--“The royal prerogative exerted
against the palladium of the people”--Horace Walpole on the
situation--The Whig losses all over England--Fox’s contest for
Westminster--A forty days’ poll--The metropolis in a state of
ebullition--Party cries--The streets a scene of combat--The
rival mobs--The Guards--Hood’s sailors; their violent
partisanship and reckless attacks--The “honest mob”--Fox’s
narrow escape--The Irish chairmen beat the sailor-mob--A
series of pitched battles--Partial behaviour of the special
constables--Their interference and violence--Flood of ballads
and political squibs--Rowlandson’s caricatures on the
contest--The odium revived against the late Coalition Ministry;
turned to political account by the Court party--“The Coalition
Wedding: the Fox and the Badger quarter their Arms”--“Britannia
aroused; or, the Coalition Monsters destroyed”--Pitt’s election
manœuvres; his bidding for the favour of the citizens--Pitt
presented with the freedom of the city--“Master Billy’s
Procession to Grocers’ Hall”--The king threatens to retire
to Hanover in the event of a defeat--Ministerial wiles--Bids
of place and pension--Extensive “ratting”--“The Apostate
Jack Robinson, the Political Rat-catcher. N.B. Rats taken
alive!”--“The Rival Candidates: Fox, Hood, and Wray”--Rival
canvassers--“Honest Sam House, the Patriotic publican”--The
hustings, Covent Garden--The “prerogative standard”--“Major
Cartwright, the Drum-Major of Sedition”--“The Hanoverian
Horse and the British Lion”--“Fox, the Incurable”--Fair
canvassers--The ladies of the Whig aristocracy a bevy of
beauty; the Duchess of Devonshire, the Countess of Duncannon,
the Duchess of Portland, Lady Carlisle, etc.--“The Devonshire,
or Most Approved Manner of securing Votes”--“A Kiss for a
Vote”--Tory lady canvassers: Lady Salisbury, the Hon. Mrs.
Hobart--“Madame Blubber, the Ærostatic Dilly”--Walpole’s
account of the canvassing--Fox’s favour with the fair--The
Duchess of Devonshire’s exertions on behalf of the Whig
chief--Earl Stanhope on “Fox’s Martyrs”--His account of
the contested election--Pitt’s letters on the Westminster
election, to Wilberforce, and James Grenville--Pitt’s account
of the country elections--His anxiety about Westminster--Earl
Stanhope’s summary of the Westminster election--Ballads on
the contest--“The Duchess Acquitted; or, the True Cause of
the Majority on the Westminster Election”--Tory libels on the
Duchess of Devonshire--“The Wit’s Last Stake; or, the Cobbling
Voters and Abject Canvassers”--“The Poll”--Animadversions
against Sir Cecil Wray--“Lords of the Bedchamber”--“The
Westminster Watchman”--A flood of _jeux d’esprit_--“On undue
influence”--“A concise Description of Covent Garden at the
Westminster election”--“Stanzas in Season”--The Prince of Wales
a zealous partisan of Fox--“Lady Beauchamp, Lady Carlisle, and
Lady Derby at the Hustings”--Poetical tributes--The Duchess
of Devonshire saves the Whig cause at Westminster--“On the
Duchess of Devonshire and Lady Duncannon canvassing for
Fox”--“On a certain Duchess”--Horace Walpole’s nieces, the
Ladies Waldegrave, “the three Sister Graces,” canvassing
for Fox--“Epigram on the Duchess of Devonshire”--“Impromptu
on her Grace of Devon”--“Ode to the Duchess”--“The Paradox
of the Times”--A new Song, “Fox and Freedom”--The downfall
of Wray--“The Case is Altered”--Bringing in outlying
voters--“Procession to the Hustings after a Successful
Canvass”--“Every Man has his Hobby-Horse”--Fox carried into the
House by the duchess--_Exit_ Sir Cecil Wray!--“For the Benefit
of the Champion--a Catch.” “No Renegado!” Wray defeated--“The
Westminster Deserter drumm’d out of the Regiment”--Apotheosis
of the fair champion--“Liberty and Fame introducing Female
Patriotism (the Duchess of Devonshire) to Britannia”--The
close of the poll--Wray demands a scrutiny--Partial and
illegal conduct of the high bailiff as returning-officer--Fox
triumphant--The ovation--The chairing procession--Two days
of festivities--The reception at Devonshire House--The
Prince of Wales’s rejoicings--The fête at Carlton
Palace--Rival interests--Mrs. Crewe’s rout--The tedious and
prolonged progress of the scrutiny--Fox for Kirkwall--“The
Departure”--Fox recovers damages against the high bailiff
for illegality in refusing to make a return--The affair only
settled a year later--“Defeat of the High and Mighty Balissimo
Corbettino and his Famed Cecilian Forces, on the Plains of
St. Martin,” 1785--Corbett ordered by the court to make his
return--Cast in damages--Fox’s final majority 257