Chapter IV (1)

ELECTIONEERING AND PARTY TACTICS UNDER GEORGE I. AND II.

A fair representation of a chairing scene is given as the second of a series of eight plates which, under the title of “Robin’s Progress,” satirically delineates the career of Sir Robert Walpole. The newly elected member is seated, tranquilly enough, in a capacious arm-chair, raised aloft by his supporters; there are a few “bludgeon-men” among his followers. Hats are thrown into the air, and a general sense of satisfaction is shown to prevail. One of the party, evidently a person of influence, is made to exclaim, “No bribery, no corruption!” A group of more distrustful persons is pictured in the foreground; an elector observes, “I wish we mayn’t be deceived,” while his confederate is declaring, “I smell a rat!” Whatever “undue influence” might have been hinted on this occasion, Walpole had not at that early date (1701) developed the arts of corruption and electioneering, then synonymous; his proficiency in these branches was of later growth. Although not strictly a contemporaneous picture of the event, the engraving which represents the chairing of Sir Robert Walpole on his election for Castle Rising, Norfolk, in 1701, is the earliest of our election illustrations as regards the date of the incident depicted. Walpole, in succession to his father, sat for Castle Rising, in the last two short parliaments which preceded the death of William III., and at once distinguished himself as an active and able ally of the Whig party, then holding the power of administration. In 1702, he was chosen member for King’s Lynn, and represented that borough in several successive parliaments. After, with the interest of George, Prince of Denmark, filling the posts of secretary at war, 1708, and treasurer of the navy, 1709, the Tory advisers of the latter part of Queen Anne’s reign dismissed Walpole from all his posts. The Commons in 1711 voting him guilty of a high breach of trust and notorious corruption in his office as secretary at war, it was resolved to expel him from the House, and that he should be committed to the Tower. Under this vindictive persecution, he was, by his party, regarded as a martyr to the cause, nor does there appear sufficient proof to justify this severity. Encouraged by Walpole’s energetic tactics, his constituents remained firm, and he was re-elected by the burgesses of Lynn in 1713-14, and, though the House declared the return void, yet the electors persisted in their choice, and Walpole took a decided part against the queen’s Tory ministry, until “the turn of the wheel,” which raised the Elector of Hanover on the English throne as Queen Anne’s successor, threw back the power of administration into the hands of Walpole and the Whigs, and once more reduced the Tories to vent their mortification in unscrupulous attacks and misrepresentations, while they were themselves exerting all their abilities for the subversion of the House of Hanover and the restoration of the exiled Stuarts. The bitterness of party warfare was mostly manifested at election times. A burlesque “Bill of Costs” was printed in the _Flying Post_ (Jan. 27, 1715), “for a late Tory election in the West,” in which part of the country the Tory interest was strongest:--

(Dr. Newton’s Collection.)]

£ _s._ _d._
_Imprimis_, for bespeaking and collecting a mob 20 0 0
_Item_, for many suits of knots for their heads 30 0 0
For scores of huzza-men 40 0 0
For roarers of the word “Church” 40 0 0
For a set of “No Roundhead” roarers 40 0 0
For several gallons of Tory punch on church tombstones 30 0 0
For a majority of clubs and brandy-bottles 20 0 0
For bell-ringers, fiddlers, and porters 10 0 0
For a set of coffee-house praters 40 0 0
For extraordinary expense for cloths and lac’d hats on
show days, to dazzle the mob 50 0 0
For Dissenters’ damners 40 0 0
For demolishing two houses 200 0 0
For committing two riots 200 0 0
For secret encouragement to the rioters 40 0 0
For a dozen of perjury men 100 0 0
For packing and carriage paid to Gloucester 50 0 0
For breaking windows 20 0 0
For a gang of alderman-abusers 40 0 0
For a set of notorious lyars 50 0 0
For pot-ale 100 0 0
For law, and charges in the King’s Bench 300 0 0
--------------
£1460 0 0
===============

It will be observed in this “bill” that bribery is not put down as one of the prominent features of an election at this period; violence was, as yet, found to be more effective than corruption.

In March, 1721, when the first of the succession of triennial parliaments dissolved, the country was already in a state of fermentation at the prospect of the coming contest. Violence was now utilized in new methods, such as beating off voters of opposition candidates; while hostile electors were surrounded by mobs hired for the purpose, and cut off from the polling-booths; and in some cases voters were carried off forcibly, and locked up until the election was over.

In country boroughs much agitation was manifested, and in several places, such as Coventry, formidable riots took place.

The metropolis shared the general excitement. It was on this occasion that the Westminster contest began to be regarded as of the first consequence, it being a point of ambition with the rival parties to return their candidates for this constituency, the results of which conflict were expected to exercise an influence upon other places. The election for this city set in uproariously in 1721, and, as the progress of these electioneering memorials will demonstrate, it continued the same throughout its history, even when in other places the elections were tranquil and uneventful.

The Tories did not allow Walpole to triumph without a struggle for the ascendency, although, by his foresight, and a lavish employment of his universal salve--gold, he managed to diminish the influence both of his opponents and of the mobocracy; and in the new House the Government secured a powerful majority, leaving the Tory organs, towards the close of the elections, when the results were no longer doubtful, to vent their spleen in political squibs and caricatures. Thus, on the 31st of March, the _Post Boy_ announces two satirical prints--one, “Britannia stript by a Villain, to which is added, the True Phiz of a Late Member,” which seems to have disappeared completely; and the other, “The Prevailing Candidate; or the Election carried by Bribery and the D----l;” which, according to all accounts, is the earliest existing contemporary caricature upon the subject of electioneering; and is, moreover, one of the best examples of these productions as published in the reign of George I.

The candidate, it is implied, is a Court nominee; the screen is used to conceal the true movers of the wires, who are at the back of the canvasser; their reflection is shown in the mirror behind, above the console-table, on which bags of money are in readiness to be used for bribery. The wooden shoes symbolize a threatened relapse to slavery. The screen is to typify the seven years of the last parliament--the first of the septennial parliaments; the year 1716 is marked “Septennial Act”--“Part of the Succession Act repealed;”--1720 registers the “South Sea Act,”--“Act to indemnify South Sea Villains;” and 1721 the “Quarantine Act, _cum multis aliis_;” the other years are blanks. The accompanying verses explain the meaning intended to be conveyed by the principal figures. The personage bribed is the mayor of the place. These functionaries for a long time held the elections in their power, and were amenable to corrupt treatment; in fact, they were expected to make the bargain most advantageous for the court of livery or aldermen, in whom the votes were generally vested. Hence the old saying, “Money makes the mayor to go.”

“Here’s a minion sent down to a corporate town,
In hopes to be newly elected;
By his prodigal show, you may easily know
To the Court he is truly affected.

“He ’as a knave by the hand, who has power to command
All the votes in the corporation;
Shoves a sum in his pocket, the D----l cries ‘Take it,
’Tis all for the good of the nation!’

“The wife, standing by, looks a little awry
At the candidate’s way of addressing;
But a priest stepping in avers bribery no sin,
Since money’s a family blessing.

“Say the boys, ‘Ye sad rogues, here are French wooden brogues,
To reward your vile treacherous knavery;
For such traitors as you are the rascally crew
That betray the whole kingdom to slavery.’”

The elections of 1727, in spite of the exertions of Bolingbroke and Pulteney in the _Craftsman_, and the intrigues of the former with the Duchess of Kendal, mistress of George I., were a disappointment to the Tories and “patriots,” _i.e._ Jacobites. On the death of George I. their prospects were even less promising. Queen Caroline, the consort of George II., was the steadfast friend of Walpole, and although the Bolingbroke faction paid their court to the mistress of the new king, as they had done in the last reign to that of his predecessor, they gained nothing by their motion, as George II. was governed by his wife in political questions. The hopes placed by the Tories in the elections were altogether frustrated; in the parliament chosen in 1727 the ministerial majority was greater than before, and their opponents were reduced to vent their mortification in strictures against the bribery, corruption, undue influence, and those secret intrigues in which they were themselves such adepts.

Of the few caricatures to which this contest gave rise that best known is entitled “Ready Money the Prevailing Candidate; or the Humours of an Election;” and even in this the satirical allusions appear to have a general rather than a specific application. This picture, like most of the caricatures of the time, is slightly allegorical; the scene is evidently the outskirts of a town; colossal statues of “Folly” and “Justice” are shown at either side. As the title implies, bribery is the motive power of the entire action. In the centre is a figure with his back to the spectator; the rear of this person’s coat is covered with pockets, into which those interested in the work of buying votes are dropping money; the recipient is declaring, “No bribery, but pockets are free.” Another gentleman, with his hat raised in the air, is crying, “Sell not your country.” A whole body of electors behind these plausible individuals are standing ready to be bought; an agent is canvassing this group for their votes, with a money-bag to meet their requirements. To the right, a man is kneeling to secure a heap of pieces, which are lavishly scattered about, while another person is stooping to press a well-filled bag of money upon his acceptance as “a small acknowledgment.” One of the candidates, handsomely attired, and with a feathered hat, is carried on a litter by four bearers, much like “Chairing a member;” he has bags of money in both hands, and his progress is marked by a shower of gold “for his country’s service.” At the door of an inn stands a figure whose head is supplemented with antlers--“He kissed my wife, he shall have my vote!” “Folly” is personated by a male effigy, also emptying out money-bags to his votaries: before his altar a candidate is kneeling amidst his canvassing tickets; he is exclaiming, “Help me, Folly, or my cause is lost.” In the foreground is the figure of an ancient philosopher, who is made to say, “Let not thy right hand know what thy left does;” his left hand is accommodatingly held behind his back, and this an agent is filling with pieces. A person dressed like a Covenanter is crying, “See here, see here!” The emblematical figure of “Justice,” blind, and with her attributes of sword and scales, has her altar deserted. One man is admonishing his neighbour to “Regard Justice;” the other, who has a sack of unlawful treasure on his shoulder, replies, “We fell out: I lost money by her.” A modishly dressed candidate, hat in hand, is pressing a bag of money on another individual, who seems to have been bribed already, but is willing to accept further emoluments--“’Twill scarce pay, make it twenty more.”

(O citizens, citizens, you must first seek for wealth, for virtue after money - Horace)

READY MONEY, THE PREVAILING CANDIDATE; OR, THE HUMOURS OF AN ELECTION. (Dr. Newton’s Collection.)

[_Page 84._]

A copy of verses sets forth the morality of this plate:--

“The Laws against Bribery provision may make,
Yet means will be found both to give and to take;
While charms are in flattery, and power in gold,
Men will be corrupted and Liberty sold.
When a candidate interest is making for votes,
How cringing he seems to the arrantest sots!
‘Dear Sir, how d’ye do? I am joyful to see ye!
How fares your good spouse? and how goes the world wi’ ye?
Can I serve you in anything? Faith, Sir, I’ll do’t
If you’ll be so kind as to give me your vote.
Pray do me the honour an evening to pass
In smoking a pipe and in taking a glass!’
Away to the tavern they quickly retire,
The ploughman’s ‘Hail-fellow-well-met’ with the Squire;
Of his company proud, he ‘huzzas’ and he drinks,
And himself a great man of importance he thinks:
He struts with the gold newly put in his breeches,
And dreams of vast favours and mountains of riches.
But as soon as the day of Election is over,
His woeful mistake he begins to discover;
The Squire is a Member--the rustic who chose him
Is now quite neglected--he no longer knows him.
Then Britons! betray not a sordid vile spirit
Contemn gilded baits, and elect men of merit.”

A realistic version of the hustings appeared under the title of “The Kentish Election, 1734.” The locality of the gathering here represented is probably Maidstone in Kent. A large open space on the outskirts of the town is the scene of action. The candidates and their numerous supporters are raised above the multitude, and standing on the hustings. Round this erection is a great crowd of electors, many of whom are on horseback.

In the foreground, a mounted clergyman is at the head of a procession of his flock, all wearing favours in their hats, and professing themselves supporters of the “Protestant Interest,” _i.e._ Whigs; two of them carry staves and books; the “gauges” in their hands seem to indicate that they are gaugers or excisemen, _i.e._ placemen: it must be noted that the chief grievance against Walpole and his administration at this time was the attempt to tax tobacco and wines. The Opposition party-cry is “No Excise,” with the names of “Vane and Dering,” the successful candidates, in whose honour, with that of the “Country Interest,” _i.e._ Tories, which they had pledged themselves to promote, the followers of their party wear sprigs of oak in their hats--a memorial of the Restoration of the Stuarts. The party-cry of their antagonists is for “King and Country,” and “Middlesex and Oxenden.” Sir George Oxenden had voted for the Government and in favour of the Excise Bill; he sat for Maidstone before the dissolution, April, 1734. The Earl of Middlesex was not a member of the former Parliament. These gentlemen finally threw up the poll, the victory of their opponents being assured, May 16, 1734. Of the successful candidates, Viscount Vane and Sir Edward Dering, the former had voted against the Excise Bill, and the latter was absent on the division. Something in the way of influencing suffrages seems to have been done on a large scale by Viscount Vane. Two hogsheads of French brandy were sent down to his seat in Kent (according to the _Daily Post_), together with sixty dozen of knives and forks, in preparation for the entertainment his lordship offered the freeholders. _The Grub Street Journal_ devotes some attention to the treats with which the successful candidates regaled their constituents at an early stage of their canvass, and these hospitalities were returned in kind.

“At a meeting lately at the _Swan Tavern_ in Cornhill, of about 100 substantial worthy citizens of London, freeholders of the County of Kent, the Right Hon. the Lord Vane and Sir Edw. Dering, Bart., candidates in the Country Interest, were entertained in an elegant manner by the freeholders,” etc. It is further stated that “these candidates were met at about two miles from Westerham, in Kent, by 300 freeholders on horseback, and dined at the _George Inn_, where healths were drunk to the glorious 205”--this being the number of members whose votes placed the Government in a minority upon the Excise Bill. Nor was wanting what later statesmen have termed “the fine old English Institution” of parading the Minister in effigy.

“The populace, to show their zeal on this occasion, dressed
up a figure of a certain Excise gentleman (Sir Robert Walpole
to wit) with blue paper round his shoulders (intended for the
riband of the Garter, always alluded to with spite by the prime
minister’s adversaries), a pipe in his mouth (Tobacco Bill),
and several Florence flasks about his neck (referring to the
proposed duty on wines), then mounted him upon a mule, and led
him round the town in procession.” (_The Grub Street Journal._)

On the same authority (No. 230), under date Wednesday, May 23, 1734, is announced the sudden demise of the leading candidate: “On Monday, about five in the afternoon, the Right Hon. the Lord Visc. Vane dropt down dead of an apoplexy, just as he was taking leave of a gentleman, at his seat at Fairlawn in Kent” (_Daily Post_).

An early design upon bribery at elections is attributed to Hogarth. This plate was produced during the canvass in 1734, just twenty years before the commencement of the famous “Election” series by the same artist. The print is a small etching, and represents Sir Robert Fagg, an old baronet, seated on horseback, holding a purse in one hand, and offering a bribe of money to a young woman who is standing by his horse’s head; on her arm is a basket of eggs; she is laughing at the canvasser. Sir Robert Fagg was member for Steyning, Sussex. Concerning the baronet it is written, in “The Art of Politicks”--

“Leave you of mighty Interest to brag,
And poll two voices like _Sir Robert Fagg_.”

“The Humours of a Country Election,” of which the first version appeared in 1734, beyond the light it offers upon the subject in question, is curious and interesting, as Mr. F. G. Stephens is inclined to suggest[40] that Hogarth may have borrowed the idea of illustrating the chief incidents of an election from the “Humours” therein described. The plate is in three divisions, and forms the frontispiece to the collection of songs published under the title of “the Humours of a Country Election” in 1734, at which time there was a general election; it was republished in 1741,[41] under similar circumstances. The print is sufficiently described by the original advertisement, inserted at the time of its publication in the _Grub Street Journal_ (No. 233), June 13, 1734. “_This Day is publish’d_ (Price One Shilling), Neatly printed, and _stitched in blue paper_, ‘The Humours of a Country Election.’”

“Being mounted in their best array,
Upon a steed, and who but they?
And follow’d by a world of tall lads
That merry ditties, frolics and ballads,
Did ride with many a Good-morrow,
Crying, Hey for our Town, thro’ the Borough.”

(_Hudibras._)

“A motley mixture! in long wigs, in bags,
In silks, in crapes, in Garters, and in rags;
From Drawing-rooms, from Colleges, from Garrets,
On horse, on foot, in Hacks, in gilded Chariots.”

(_Grub Street Journal_, No. 268. Also in the Poems Edition.)

“With a curious frontispiece explanatory of the same in the following particulars:--

“I. The candidate welcomed into the town by music and electors on horseback, attended by a mob of men, women, and children. The candidates saluting the women, and amongst them a poor cobbler’s wife, to whose child they very courteously offer to stand God-father. II. The candidates are very complaisant to a country clown, and offering presents (a bag marked 50_l._) to the wife and children. The candidates making an entertainment for the electors and their wives, to whom they show great respect; at the upper end of the table the parson of the parish sitting, his clerk standing by him. III. The place of electing and polling, with mob attending. The members elect carried in procession in chairs, upon men’s shoulders, with music playing before them; attended by a mob of men, women, and children huzzaing them. To which is added the character of a Trimmer in verse, &c.”

“A new Year’s Gift (for the year 1741) to the Electors of Great Britain,” contains the information that “The Oath imposed upon Electors--the only preservative of public Liberty from the secret and fatal attacks of Bribery and Corruption,” was as follows:--

“‘I, ---- ----, do swear, I have not received, or had myself,
or any person whatsoever, in Trust for me, or for my Use and
Benefit, directly or indirectly, any sum or sums of money,
Office, Place, or employment, gift, or reward, or any promise,
or security for any money, office, employment, or gift, in
order to give my vote at this Election, and that I have not
been polled before at this Election,

‘So Help me God.’

“Let every man of common sense judge whether an oath so
wisely framed and strictly worded can possibly admit of any
equivocation, to cover the base villainy of taking a bribe
to his country’s ruin; and what shall we think of those men
who dare tempt others to the breach of a duty so sacred!
Ought they not to be stoned, or hooted out of society, as the
destroyers of public Faith, Virtue, Religion, and Liberty?
Do not such agents for the Devil compass his ends most
effectually, by seducing men from the indispensable duties they
owe to God and their country, to themselves and their posterity?

[_Page 90._]

“Wisely, therefore, hath that good Law annexed the shameful
penalties of the pillory to the breach of that Sacred Oath,
with a large Fine of Five Hundred Pounds; and justly excluded
all base perjurers from the most valuable Rights and Privileges
of _Englishmen_, in the following paragraphs:--

“‘And be it enacted, That whosoever shall be convicted of false
swearing, shall incur and suffer the Pains and Penalties as in
a case of wilful and corrupt Perjury.

“And whosoever shall receive or take any money or other reward,
by way of Gift, Loan, or other device, or agree or contract
for any Money, Gift, Office, or Reward whatsoever, to give his
vote, shall for every such offence forfeit the sum of Five
Hundred Pounds, and be _for ever_ disabled to vote in any
Election of any Member to Parliament, and be for ever disabled
to hold any public office.’

“Will any man, pretending to common honesty, thus basely
forfeit his Birthright, his most glorious privilege as an
Englishman, by a shameful perjury for the Lucre of a Bribe?
Can such a Bribe make him and his posterity happy in the midst
of his country’s ruin, and the just contempt and abhorrence of
all his neighbours? No, surely: but when the small wages of
his iniquity are spent, he must, like the Traitor Judas, hang
himself, or starve to death; because no man can either pity, or
deal with such a perjured abandoned wretch.

“Artful corruptors of the present times may flatter weak minds
with hopes of being admitted to vote without taking the Oath;
but it is a vain delusion; since the Law allows the _Candidates
or any two of the Electors_ to put the Oath to whomsoever they
please; and surely there are at least _Two Honest Men_ in every
Borough of the Kingdom, who will think it their duty to bring
Corruption to the Test of this just and necessary Oath, to the
eternal infamy of all Corruptors, and the Corrupted.”

The oath thus explicitly explained was in sober earnest administered by the lawyers retained in the respective interests, as illustrated by Hogarth in his “Polling Booth,” 1754. It is rather alarming to think of the huge amount of perjury which has followed electioneering. The general elections of the spring of 1741 were a trying ordeal for Walpole; all the well-worn clamours were revived, the “Convention” was once more torn to shreds, and fresh attacks upon the “excise projects” were turned to bitter political account. Amidst a shower of squibs, both literary and pictorial, we find the caricature, “Dedicated to the worthy Electors of Great Britain,” of “The Devil upon Two Sticks,” in which Walpole, as the “Asmodeus” of the situation, is represented as being supported upon the shoulders of two of his bought-majority to ford the “Slough of Despond,” already crossed by some of his followers, who, though in safety on the bank, bear evident marks of the dirty ordeal through which they have been compelled to struggle upon “Robin’s” account. Britannia and her patriotic friends(?) remain high and dry on the other shore; below the satire appears a pointed indication of the unpopular Walpolians, as “Members who voted for the Excise and against the Convention.”

THE DEVIL ON TWO STICKS. 1741.]

“A Satire on Election Proceedings” was given to the public in pictorial guise on the occasion of the appeal to the constituencies in May, 1741; the specific part of this squib was aimed at Walpole’s unpopular taxes and similar enactments, and the whole was dedicated to “Mayors and Corporations in general.” A dying elector--who, from the evidence of a paper inscribed “£50,” and seen in his pocket, has sold himself to party--is in the hands of a ministerial candidate and the personage of Evil; who are, between them, dragging the moribund and venal voter towards a precipice, “the Brink of Despotism, poverty, and destruction, inevitable if such courses are continued.” The candidate or agent is apparently heedless of the precipice at his feet; he is waving his hat in exultation, and shouting, “A vote, a vote, a dead vote for us!” The devil, who is the deepest of the party, is asserting with plausibility, “I’ll have the Majority, I warrant you!” His pocket contains the measures which had destroyed Walpole’s popularity and at that time foreshadowed his fall--fancifully supposed to have had their suggestion in the brain of the arch-fiend himself: “Standing Army,” “Lotteries,” “Cyder” (tax), “Stamp Act,” “Bribes,” and “Address.” The demon is expelling “False reports against the City of London--all wind”--patriotism having at that era its head-quarters in the corporation; his hoof has trampled upon the shield of Britannia, crushed down by “Press-warrants,” “Council of Satan,” and the ministerial policy--“Neglect the seamen till the moment they are wanted, lest my beloved press-warrants should be forgot--my friends shall boldly call them lawful.” Walpole, whose tenure of office notoriously depended on the results of the elections in progress when this violent squib was launched, is further indicated in “The Foundation _we_ go upon;” “_we_” being by implication the prime minister and the devil; the foot of the latter rests upon these “Ways and means--Public Money, Promises, Titles, Contracts, Pensions, Preferments, Places--and by threatening to displace,” etc., besides current coin for corruption. A further instance of Walpole’s disfavour is embodied in a paper concerning the army: “My Majority shall vote for a numerous Land Force in time of Peace; to be established with a double proportion of officers!--the best proof of my influence:”--the source of that vaunted influence is shown in a bag of money, marked “Sinking Fund,” from whence pours the stream of corruption--in the shape of broad pieces--upon which the prime minister placed a reliance he did not attempt to disguise, but, on the contrary, of which he cynically boasted.

Beneath is a coat of arms, a favourite figure with the satirists, as if designed for the sign of a tavern; the bearings are, 1. A fox running away with a goose. 2. “Checquy,” _i.e._, as in the sign of the Chequers; the words, “Time-servers Intire;” behind appear a bottle and two glasses, tobacco-pipes, and bribes. “£100, £50, £40, £2,”--to suit all appetites; on a riband above the shield is the legend:--“Votes are sold for Wine and Gold.” The crest of the card would be a suitable escutcheon for Hogarth’s comprehensive election satires which appeared in the contest of 1754.

Another coat of arms, also aimed at the credit of the prime minister, was reissued as appropriate to this season:--“To the glory of the Rt. Honble. Sir Robert Walpole,” “A great Britt.,” alluding to the motto of “S(ir) R(obert) W(alpole)’s Arms,” supplies an ironical and explanatory text:--

“There is another Device at the Base, the _Arch_, in the shape
of a _Coat of Arms_, which is bound round with a _Garter_,
and hath these words inscribed upon it:--_Honi soit qui Mal
y pense_; ‘Evil be to him, that evil thinks.’ What is most
remarkable in this _Coat_ is, that it bears _three axes_ on one
side, and that the crest is a _Man’s Head_, with a strange sort
of _Cap_, which hath a Ducal Coronet at the bottom by way of
Border;”

--thus suggesting that Walpole deserved decapitation, while the ballads of the day were all for finding a gibbet for “false Bob.” As to the print itself, it is said:--

“I am glad to hear that it hath already met with the
approbation and encouragement of a _very great Family_; and I
hope shortly to see it displayed in the richest colours upon
Fans, and wrought into _Screens_ and _Hangings_ for the use and
ornament of the Palace of Norfolk;”

--referring to Houghton Hall, the seat of Sir Robert Walpole, a residence well known to fame.

The popular interest excited by the Westminster contest generally seemed to make that election the most prominent in every appeal to the country. On the dissolution of parliament, April 28, 1741, when the fate of Walpole’s Administration was known to depend upon the aggregate return of his nominees, the ministers expected to bring in their friends who had previously sat for Westminster; the first great opposition to the Government had its rise there, where the Court was supposed to possess an unbounded influence. In the “Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole” the circumstances of the contest are thus summarized:--

“The representatives in the last Parliament were Sir Charles
Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty; and Lord Sundon, a Lord
of the Treasury; and it was supposed they would have been
rechosen, as usual, without opposition. But Lord Sundon was
very unpopular; he had been raised from a low condition to
an Irish Peerage through the interest of his wife, who had
been favourite bed-chamber woman to Queen Catherine, wife
of George II. The other candidate, Sir Charles Wager, was
unexceptionable, both in his public and private character; but
his attachment to the Minister was a sufficient objection.
Some electors of Westminster proposed, very unexpectedly,
Admiral Vernon, then in the height of his popularity, and
Charles Edwin, a private gentleman of considerable fortune.
The opposition, at first despised, became formidable; and Sir
Charles Wager being summoned to convoy the King to Holland,
the management of the election was entrusted to ignorant
vestrymen and violent justices. The majority of the electors
were decidedly in favour of the Ministerial candidate; but Lord
Sundon was imprudently advised to close the poll, to order
a party of Guards to attend, and, while the military power
surrounded the hustings, the High Bailiff returned him and Sir
Charles Wager. This imprudent conduct highly exasperated the
populace, the Guards were insulted, Sundon was attacked, and
narrowly escaped with life. The example of the opposition at
Westminster diffused a general spirit throughout the kingdom,
and violent contests were excited in all quarters. Large
sums of money for supporting the expenses were subscribed by
Pulteney, the Duchess of Marlborough, and the Prince of Wales,
who contracted great debts on this memorable occasion, and
the managers of the opposition employed this money with great
advantage.”

This account, by W. Coxe, epitomizes the situation. George (Bubb) Dodington was active on this occasion, directing the manœuvres of the Leicester House faction, on behalf of the heir to the throne, in opposition to the ministers of his father, the king. Naturally the view taken by Walpole’s biographer is favourable to that minister, who was at this time looked upon as the under-hand enemy of his country. He was accused of favouring Spain and France; and the taking of Porto Bello by Admiral Vernon, which was not, after all, a brilliant affair, but chiefly due to the cowardice of its defenders, was regarded as quite as much of a victory over the prime minister as over England’s foes. These sentiments characterize the spirit abroad on the Westminster contest of 1741, which gave rise to many songs, broadsides, and pictorial satires uniformly unfavourable to the minister and his adherents.

The kind of influence or coercion brought to bear is described in an “Address to the Independent and Worthy Electors,” which was issued by the “patriotic party,” May 5th:--

“Notwithstanding the extraordinary methods used by some of the
Burgesses of the Westminster Court, the select vestries of
several of the parishes, and the High Constable; who has in his
own name, and by his own power, taken upon him to summon the
inhabitants to give their Poll _against_ Admiral Vernon and Mr.
Edwin; we have been already so successful in our endeavours to
retrieve the _independency_ of this City and Liberty, in the
Election for the next Parliament, that the old members have but
a very inconsiderable majority (if any) of Good Votes against

The Glorious ADMIRAL VERNON,
And CHARLES EDWIN, Esq.,

who stand upon the Country Interest.

Therefore, Gentlemen, now is the time for completing what we
have so successfully begun; since it is certain that almost
the _whole_ of the Interest on the other side is already near
poll’d, and not one-fourth of ours. And considering the great
and perhaps decisive turn that the Election of this City and
Liberty may give to the Elections all over the kingdom, it is
hoped that no man who has a regard for the Liberties of his
Country, and the Independency of Parliament, will lie by or
remain neuter upon this occasion.

Therefore your Votes and Interest in favour of

ADMIRAL VERNON, and
CHARLES EDWIN, Esq.,

who have no other views than the good of their country and the
prosperity of this ancient City and Liberty.”

The contest thus stood: the king, Duke of Cumberland, and the ministers,--with all their patronage, but overburdened with unpopularity, especially as regarded certain acts touching the navy, the standing army, and excise and other new taxes disliked by most,--supporting candidates looked upon with disfavour, on the one side; opposed by the Prince of Wales and his active friends of the “patriotic party,” with a popular naval commander and “a friend of his country” as candidates, and the voice of the multitude, on the other; the arena being the hustings at Covent Garden, supposed to be regarded expectantly by all the constituencies in the country.

[_Page 97._]

A pictorial version of the scene of the Westminster Election, 1741, dedicated “to the brave Admiral Vernon and his worthy colleague, Charles Edwin, Esq.,” appeared with a copy of verses “To the Independent and Worthy Electors of this Ancient City of Westminster.” The candidates are exhibited before the front of Covent Garden Church; in the pediment is shown a dial, with the motto which at that time caught the eye of the moving crowd, “So Passes Ye Glory of Ye World.” Seated at a table in the portico beneath, are the poll clerks, with the returning officer casting up the votes: one clerk is directing a list to be set down in the “Poll Book” for “Vernon and Edwin;” while the representative of the other side says, “Few for my Lord.” Vernon’s ships, and the benefit of increased commerce in the shape of bales of merchandise, are shown in the distance; the favoured admiral himself, with laced cocked hat and a staff in his right hand, is declaring, “For the Glory of Britain, down with the Spaniards.” In front of the platform, and next the popular favourite, stands Charles Edwin, who is declaring his sentiments to be for “My King and my Country.” The candidates of the opposition are received with enthusiasm: “Vernon for ever, no dribbers here;” “Edwin at home, Vernon abroad,” is shouted by the persons to the left of the picture. The results of the election were undetermined when this engraving appeared, so the engraver has anticipated the ultimate results of the petition, and made the ministerial candidates unsuccessful. Sir Charles Wager, in a dejected state, is exclaiming, “I don’t know where to put up next.” Lord Sundon, represented as a mere “fribble,” is in conference with Justice De Veil, who had a large share in the control of the Westminster election, and being in the Government pay and a powerful partisan, was, together with the returning officer, on these accounts the object of popular indignation. Lord Sundon is declaring for “The Excise and another place:” the duties on “cyder” and fermented liquors gave extreme offence to the multitude. The magistrate is made to exclaim, “I, Justice De Veil, say so, and will justify it.” The good folks on the right are hissing, and crying, “No pensioners!” A female is pronouncing for the gallant admiral, “Vernon among the women to a man;” and a voter is denouncing “Spithead Lights,”--in reference to the reviews and home displays of the Admiralty, represented by Sir Charles Wager.

Below the design are the lines--

“O, put it to the public voice
To make a free and worthy choice;
Excluding such as would in shame
The Commonwealth. Let whom we name
Have Wisdom, Foresight, Fortitude,
Be more with Faith than Place endu’d,
Whatever great one it offend;
And from the embraced Truth not bend.
These neither practised force, nor forms,
Nor did they leave the helm in storms;
These men were truly Magistrates;
And such they are make happy states.”

Towards the close, the state of the poll stood thus:--

Sir Charles Wager, 3686.
Lord Sundon, 3533.
Admiral Vernon, 3290.
Charles Edwin, 3161.

At this stage of the proceedings, when the independent candidates claimed to have many votes in reserve, while the ministers had exhausted every subterfuge and all their resources, Lord Sundon very injudiciously appealed to an armed intervention, forcibly closed the poll, and ordered a body of grenadiers to surround the hustings, and prevent any further voting; while the high bailiff countenanced these high-handed illegalities, and made his return accordingly. This proceeding ruined the chances of the Government in this contest of 1741: a petition was presented against the return of Wager and Sundon, and, although Walpole fought with all his influence, the subject was made a party question; in the new session, a warm contest arose in the Commons, which reassembled June 25, 1741, and the return of the sitting members was decided against by a majority of four, the numbers told being 220 to 216. The circumstance of “the election being declared void,” is alluded to in a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir H. Mann, December 10, 1741: “Mr. Pulteney presented an immense piece of parchment, which he said he could but just lift; and was the Westminster Petition, and is to be heard next Tuesday, when we shall all have our brains knocked out by the mob.” A new election ensued; Charles Edwin and Lord Perceval were returned without opposition. Vernon had been chosen for several places, and had already taken his seat for Ipswich. The admiral was regarded by the populace as a hero of the first water, whose victories, though for the honour of his country, were thorns in the side of the Administration, the members of which were accused of taking bribes from the enemy. The bards compared Vernon to Cincinnatus:--

“Let Rome no more with ostentation show
Her so long-fam’d dictator from the plough;
Great Britain, rival of the Roman name,
In arts, in elegance, in martial fame,
Can, from the plough, her Cincinnatus fellow,
And show a Vernon storming Porto Bello.”

The admiral is further alluded to in another engraving produced upon this same election--“The Funeral of Independency,” where the mourning procession is passing a tavern with the loyal sign of the Crown and Anchor. Among other episodes is a man on a donkey, who is galloping “post to Ipswich 10_s._ 6_d._”--in allusion to Vernon’s return for that place; while another man is apostrophizing the rider, “Thou art as tedious as the law.”

The sequel of the memorable Westminster election of 1741 is pictured in “The Triumph of Justice” (Dec. 1741), an engraving of a satirical character, in which the late events, the triumph of opposition headed by the Prince of Wales, and the discomfiture of the Administration, are figured in allegorical guise. Walpole’s earthly career is assumed to be finished by the defeat in the Commons, who voted by a majority of four against the election of that minister’s placemen; and he is hurried to the tomb. A sarcophagus is displayed whereon a Satyr, with hour-glass and scythe, usurps the post of symbolical Time; on the base of the monument is inscribed “Hic Jacet;” in front is a medallion of the statesmen supposed to be departed, with the legend:--“_Padera Robertas Ord: Perisci--tidis Eques_;” the supporting “weepers” are the disqualified members,--they bear a band inscribed “Our Hopes are gone, the Election’s lost.” Sir Charles Wager, as representing the admiralty, is leaning on a broken anchor. Lord Sundon has beside him a coin, two keys, a loaf, some mice (one of which is caught in a trap), in allusion to the treasury “loaves and fishes,” parasites, etc. On the ground, across the reverse of Walpole’s medallion, which bears the legend “_Regit dictus Animos_,” are a sceptre and three bludgeons, “_Boroughs_” and “_Bruisers_,” both used for electioneering purposes, to which a plate marked “Covent Garden” further alludes.

Above the clouds, and surrounded by an angelic host, is seated the Prince of Wales, the _deus ex machina_ of Walpole’s defeat; his sceptre is a bludgeon, and he is pointing to an orator, who is presumably denouncing “the king’s party,” whose power is broken. Beside the heir apparent is a female divinity, balancing the scales of justice above the figure of Edwin. At the prince’s feet is seen “the glorious 220,” the number of votes recorded by the opposition, disqualifying Wager and Sundon, and in favour of a new election for Westminster. The British crown, decorated with palms and laurels, caps the design; which is inscribed, on a riband beneath, “_To the Independent Electors of Westminster_.” A further allegorical engraving, appropriately due to Jo. Mynde, exhibits and commemorates the final stage in this contest, where the Court was defeated and the opposition scored a complete triumph; this version, which consists of a design and a petition, engraved on the same plate, is entitled, “The Banner of Liberty, displayed in the Petition of the Inhabitants of Westminster, with the Coat of Arms of the Glorious two hundred and twenty-two who voted in favour of the Petitioners.” The emblematical design displays the tutelary guardian of Westminster, a female figure, seated on the ground in deep dejection; her hand is resting on the armorial shield of Charles Edwin, which is placed before that of Lord Perceval (Earl of Egmont); the arms of Westminster are engraved on a stone, and the shield of Admiral Vernon also appears. The goddess of Liberty has arrived on the scene, she has summarily put “Slavery” to flight, and while she is assisting the guardian of the liberties of Westminster to rise, the muskets of the soldiery are trampled under foot, in allusion to the bold and impolitic step of ordering grenadiers to close the poll, resorted to at the previous election by Lord Sundon, to the damage of his patron Walpole. In the Commons it was suggested to indict the soldiers who had the temerity to interfere with “the rights of election.”

“THE INDEPENDENT WESTMINSTER ELECTORS’ TOAST.[42]

IN MEMORY OF THE GLORIOUS TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY.

_To the Tune of ‘Come, let us prepare,’ etc._

1.

“My _Westminster_ Friends,
Now we’ve gained our Ends,
Here’s a Health, and I’m sure ’twon’t repent ye:
With Gratitude think,
To the Health let us drink
Of the Glorious _Two hundred and Twenty_.

2.

“Come Honestly on,
Give your votes as you’ve done,
When you voted for EDWIN and VERNON;
Like Britons be bold,
Laugh at Power and Gold,
Else slavery comes, and will spare none.

3.

“The army so grand,
For the good of the Land,
That is annually chose our protectors,
A new Trade have got,
And without _Scott or Lot_;
Are now all become our Electors.

4.

“The Justices, too,
Will soon have their due,
As well as that Rogue the _High Bailey_;
Tho’ ye strut and look big,
With your Sword and Tye-wig,
The Parliament soon will to jail wi’ ye.

5.

“Brave _Edwin_ for you
Did all he could do,
As at the last Poll ye remember,
Now all of ye shou’d
To him be as good,
And choose him once more for your member.

6.

“An _honest good_ Lord
To find out, how hard,
At this time, let any man think, Sir!
Yet all do agree
Lord Perceval’s he,
Then EDWIN and PERCEVAL drink, sir.

7.

“Besides his brave spirit,
My Lord has this merit
With us; that Bob hates him to death, Sir,
He has sworn Zounds and Blood
That my Lord never shou’d
Be a member, as long as he’d breath, Sir.

8.

“Then under his nose
These brave men we will choose,
To show we don’t fear, but despise him.
We’ll laugh and we’ll flout
At the rabble at Court,
Who, for what they can get, idolize him.

9.

“The Parliament just
And firm to their trust,
Have giv’n you another Election;
Then your Liberty use,
These honest men choose,
And rely on their steady protection.

10.

“VERNON’S self will rejoice,
When he hears of our choice,
And is told how we’ve routed the Old-ones;
Then join Hand-in-Hand,
To each other firm stand,
For Success always follows the Bold-ones.

11.

“But if any more
Bob shou’d do as before,
Or by Fraud or by Violence cheat you,
In numbers then go
And demolish your foe--
Ye’re Fools if again he defeat you.”

Other verses appear in a version with a woodcut heading of a party of jolly citizens toping and toasting healths:--

“Your High Constable rout,
Your Vestrymen out,
Ye Burgesses, Stumps, and High Bailey;
Tho’ _Robert_ assist,
We ne’er will desist,
No Power nor Help shall avail ye.

“But Vernon no more
You can serve as before,
He is chosen for several places;
Then choose in his room
A brave man who will come
And use the Court tools to their faces.

“Lord Perceval here
Will shortly declare,
Who fears neither Wager nor Sundon,
But hates all the tribe
Who take pension or bribe,
By which we brave boys are all undone.”

A second ballad bears a strong resemblance to the foregoing; one or two verses only are selected:--

“THE INDEPENDENT WESTMINSTER CHOICE, OR, PERCEVAL AND EDWIN.

_To the Tune of ‘The Free Masons.’_

“Ye Westminster Boys, unite and rejoice,
Be steady, and make no defection;
For if you stand true, you are not too few
To carry your glorious election.

* * * * *

“Thus, while Vernon shall ride on America’s tide,
And by arms bring the Spanish Dons under;
His friend shall stand here, this noble young Peer,
And rattle old Bob with his thunder.

“You may now firmly hope, your ruin to stop,
When Vernon abroad guards the nation:
And this noblemen true, match’d by none or by few,
Shall expose all Court Tricks and Evasion.

“Thus shall PERCEVAL brave, your Liberties save,
And with EDWIN in Senate defend you:
These men they were giv’n, a present from Heav’n,
Reject not what Heaven does send you.”

Another spirited ballad, on the same theme, and also to the tune of “_Come, let us prepare_,” appeared as “A New Song,” with a woodcut heading of a maiden and matron drinking tea at the sign of the Crown and Orange-Tree. A second version of the same ballad was published as:--

“THE TRUE ENGLISH-BOYS’ SONG TO VERNON’S GLORY.

OCCASIONED BY THE BIRTHDAY OF THAT BRAVE ADMIRAL.

_To be sung round the Bonfires of London and Westminster._

“Ye Westminster Boys, All sing and rejoice,
Your friends in the House will not fail ye,
We’ll the soldiers indict, And set matters right,
In spite of that Rogue the High Bailey.

“Let us raise our Bonfires As high as the spires,
And ring ev’ry Bell in the Steeple;
All the Art we defy, Of the whole Ministry,
To run VERNON down with the people.

“Stand round, and appear, All ye Hearts of Oak here,
And set the proud _Don_ at defiance,
To VERNON let’s drink, who made Spain and France slink,
And BOB, who’s with both in Alliance.

“A true lad won’t flinch, Now we’re at this sad pinch,
But old England, on VERNON rely on,
For this honest Fellow, who took _Porto Bello_,
Shall find BOB a Gibbet to die on.

“Stop not VERNON’S career, Thro’ Folly and Fear,
Lest the _French_, or the _Spaniards_ should beat ye;
Nor let _Don Geraldino_, Busy _Horace_, or _Keen_ O
Bamboozle you with a new Treaty.

“This time then be bold, Be not bought and sold,
Nor let _Monsieur’s_ old Tricks still seduce ye,
Like our Forefathers try, Or to conquer or die,
Ere _France_ to a province reduce ye.

“_Hessian_ Troops are all sham, The Neutrality damn,
The _Convention_, and ev’ry Vagary;
The money they’ve got, All is now gone to pot,
And so is the Queen of Hungary.

“But send Ships and Food, TO VERNON, that’s good,
For unless Heaven feed him with _Manna_,
His designs they’ll defeat, For without men and meat,
How can he e’er take the _Havanna_.

“Besides, let us send, a true militant Friend,
Nor longer be Bob’s, or Spain’s dupe a;
They there would agree,--Both by Land and by Sea,
And soon be the masters of Cuba.”

The managers of what was called the “Country party” consisted of those who entitled themselves “patriots,” and were active in promoting the “good cause.” The victory which in 1741 unseated Wager and Sundon, and moreover inflicted so heavy a blow upon Walpole’s influence that he lost his corrupt majority, and subsequently retired from the struggle, was annually commemorated by an association of members of the constituency which had been the first to assert its independence. An invitation was issued to the voters to meet together to celebrate this anniversary; a copperplate, neatly engraved, surmounted by an allegorical design, and surrounded by an elegant frame or border, formed the ticket:--

“The Independent Electors of Westminster
Are desired to meet at Vintners’ Hall, Thames Street,
On Friday, the 15 Feb. 1744,

At 3 o’clock, to Dine together, in order to Commemorate their
Success on the 22nd of December, 1741, and further to promote
the same Public Spirit.

GEORGE DODINGTON, Esq. } { LORD GEORGE GRAHAM.
CHARLES EDWIN, Esq. } Stewards { GEORGE GRENVILLE, Esq.
THOMAS GORE, Esq. } { SIR JOHN PHILLIPS, Bart.

Pray Pay the Bearer 5 shil^s.”

The design which heads this dinner-ticket represents Hercules and Britannia driving away the Harpies presumed to have been preying upon corruption; the Goddess of Liberty, with the British lion by her side, is trampling on prostrate venality,--two figures, with bags of money and a heap of gold, cast down ignominiously.

“The Body of Independent Electors of Westminster” was evidently constituted into a society, at first exclusively for the furtherance of patriotic views, but, as the Court party alleged in 1745, to spread Jacobite sentiments. The excitement evoked by the rising of the Scottish clans and proclamation of the Young Pretender in 1745 was still at its height; the gaols were filled with Scotch rebels, and the famous trial of Lord Lovat, which only commenced on the 9th of March, was absorbing popular attention to the extinction of everything but Jacobite plots, both real and feigned. As the patriotic party had long been in antagonism with the Court, whose ministers had been defeated through this influence, and the dissolution of Parliament was impending, those in office neglected no opportunity of bringing the so-called “friends of the people” into evil repute. On the assumption that all weapons are lawful in electioneering warfare, much political capital was manufactured out of the Pretender’s _fiasco_; and the Scottish Rebellion was seized as an opportunity to stigmatize all persons of integrity, and those who were declared enemies of the corrupt Administration then in power, as Jacobites and sympathizers with the rebels.