Chapter XI

Another Westminster election, 1788--Lord Hood appointed
to the Admiralty Board, 1788--A fresh contest--Lord John
Townshend, a candidate in the Whig interest--Defeat of Lord
Hood--Two Whig members for Westminster--Mob violence, the
Guards, Hood’s sailors--Ministerial support--“Election Troops
bringing their Accounts to the Pay-table” (Treasury Gate),
1788, by J. Gillray--“An Independent Elector”--Helston,
Cornwall, 1790--Lady canvassers--A violent “eccentric”--“Proof
of the Refined Feelings of an Amiable Character, lately a
Candidate for a Certain Ancient City,” by J. Gillray--“The
‘Marplot’ of his Own Party”--Abuses of patronage--Traditions
of boroughmongering--Accumulations of seats and parliamentary
interests--Cartwright’s tables of pocket boroughs--Pitt’s early
patron, Sir James Lowther--“The tyrant of the North”--“Pacific
Entrance of Earl Wolf (Lord Lonsdale) into Blackhaven,”
1792--Great distress prevalent throughout the country, in
1795; its effect on political agitation--Political clubs
clamour for parliamentary reform--The king and his advisers
in disfavour--Revolutionary societies and the “Seditions
Bill”--Gillray’s caricatures--“Meetings of Political Citizens
at Copenhagen House,” 1795--Whig agitation against the
threatened incursions on the “liberty of the subject”--“The
Majesty of the People”--“A Hackney Meeting,” 1796--A threatened
constitutional struggle averted by a dissolution of parliament,
1796--Pitt’s tactics--“The Dissolution; or, the State Alchymist
producing an Ætherial Representation,” 1796--Mr. Hull’s
costly electioneering experience at Maidstone, 1796--Horne
Tooke unsuccessful at Westminster, 1790 and 1796--Fox and
the favour of the mobocracy--“The Hustings, Covent Garden,”
1796--Electioneering squibs--The _Anti-Jacobin_ and the
member for Southwark--Canning’s lines on George Tierney,
“The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-grinder,” 1797--Grey’s
reform measure first moved in 1797--Defeat of the Whigs,
and their temporary abstention from the debates--Increased
political agitation out of doors--Great reform meetings--Medal
commemorative of the gathering at Warwick--“Loyal Medal,” a
parody of the “Greathead” patriotic medal--The secession of
“the party”--Horne Tooke as a political agitator--The Brentford
Parson’s pamphlets--Horne Tooke a political portrait painter,
and the _Anti-Jacobin_--“Two Pair of Portraits, dedicated to
the Unbiased Electors of Great Britain,” 1798--Meeting on the
twentieth anniversary of Fox’s membership for Westminster--The
Whig chief’s speech to his constituents--“The Worn-out Patriot;
or, the Last Dying-Speech of the Westminster Representative
at the Shakespeare Tavern,” 1800--Horne Tooke seated for “Old
Sarum”--The opposition to his membership led by Temple--Lord
Camelford’s nominees--“Political Amusements for Young
Gentlemen; or, the Brentford Shuttlecock,” 1801--“Horne Tooke
as the ‘Shuttlecock’”--Unexpected honours thrust upon Captain
Barlow at Coventry, 1802--Middlesex Election for 1804--The
Brentford Hustings--“A Long Pull, a Strong Pull, and a Pull
All Together;” Sir Francis Burdett drawn to the poll--“The
Governor in his Glory,” 1804--The Westminster election,
1806--The Radical Reformers--“Triumphal Procession of Little
Paull”--“The Highflying Candidate mounting from a Blanket,”
1806--The coalition between Hood and Sheridan--Paull tossed
at the hustings--Burdett for Middlesex--“Posting to the
Election; or, a Scene on the Road to Brentford,” 1806--William
Cobbett “A Radical Drummer,” 1806--“Coalition Candidates,”
Hood and Sheridan--Sheridan disconcerted--“View of the
Hustings in Covent Garden, Westminster Election,” 1806--“Who
suffers?”--The general election, 1807--A split in the Radical
camp--Differences between Burdett and Paull--“Patriots deciding
a Point of Honour; or, the Exact representation of the
Celebrated Rencontre which took place at Coombe Wood, between
Little Paull the Tailor and Sir Francis Goose,” 1807--“The Poll
of the Westminster Election,” 1807--“the Republican Goose at
the Top, etc.”--Horne Tooke and Sir Francis Burdett--“The Head
of the Poll; or, the Wimbledon Showman,” 1807--“The Chelmsford
Petition; Patriots addressing the Essex Calves” 289