  | CHAPTER I. | | PAGE | | The assembling of parliaments—Synopsis of parliamentary history—Orders for the attendance of members—Qualifications for the franchise: burgesses, burgage-tenures, scot and lot, pot-wallopers, faggot-votes, splitting—Disqualifications: alms, charity, “faggots,” “occasionality”—Election of knights of the shire, and burgesses—Outlines of an election in the Middle Ages—Queen Elizabeth and her faithful Commons—An early instance of buying a seat in the Commons—Returns vested in the municipal corporations; “Money makes the mayor to go”—Privileges of parliament—“Knights girt with a sword”—Inferior standing of the citizens and burgesses sent to Parliament—Reluctance of early constituencies to sending representatives to parliament—Paid members—Members chosen and nominated by the “great families”—The Earl of Essex nominating his partisans and servants—Exemption from sending representatives to the Commons esteemed a privilege—The growth of legislative and electoral independence—The beginning of “contested elections”—Coercion at elections—Lords-lieutenant calling out the train-bands for purposes of intimidation—Early violence—NugÆ AntiquÆ; the election of a Harrington for Bath, 1658-9; the present of a horse to paid members—The method of election for counties, cities, and boroughs—Relations of representatives with their constituents—The “wages” of members of parliament—“Extracts from the Proceedings of Lynn Regis”—An account rendered to the burgesses—The civil wars—Peers returned for the Commons in the Long Parliament after the abolition of the House of Lords. | 1 | | CHAPTER II. | | Influence of administration under Charles I.—Ballad on the Commonwealth—House of Commons: “A General Sale of Rebellious Household Stuff”—The Parliament under the Restoration—Pepys and Prynne on the choosing of “knights of the shire”—Burgesses sent up at the discretion of the sheriffs—The king’s writ—Evils attending the cessation of wages to parliamentary representatives—Andrew Marvell’s ballad on a venal House of Commons—The parliament waiting on the king—Charles II. and his Commons—“Royal Resolutions,” and disrespect for the Commons—The Earl of Rochester on Charles II.’s parliament—Interference in elections—Independence of legislators versus paid members—The Peers as “born legislators and councillors”—“The Pensioner Parliament” coincident with the remission of salaries to members of the Commons—“An Historical Poem,” by Andrew Marvell—Andrew Marvell as a paid member; his kindly relations with his Hull constituents—Writ for recovering arrears of parliamentary wages—Uncertainty of calling another parliament—The Duke of Buckingham’s intrigues with the Roundheads; his “Litany”—Degradation of parliament—Parody of the king’s speech—Relations of Charles II. and his Commons—Summary of Charles II.’s parliaments—Petitioners, addressers, and Abhorrers—The right of petitioning the throne—The Convention Parliament—The Long Cavalier Parliament—The Pensioner Parliament and the statute against corruption—“The Chequer Inn”—“The Parliament House to be let”—The Habeas Corpus Parliament—The country preparing for Charles II.’s fourth parliament—Election ballads: “The Poll,”—Origin of the factions of Whigs and Tories—Whig and Tory ballads—“A Tory in a Whig’s Coat”—“A Litany from Geneva,” in answer to “A Litany from St. Omer”—The Oxford Parliament of eight days—“The Statesman’s Almanack”—A group of parliamentary election ballads, 1679-80—Ballad on the Essex petitions—The Earl of Shaftesbury’s “Protestant Association”—“A Hymn exalting the Mobile to Loyalty”—The Buckingham ballad—Bribery by Sir Richard “Timber” Temple—The Wiltshire ballad—“Old Sarum”—Petitions against prerogative—The royal pretensions to absolute monarchy—The “Tantivies,” or upholders of absolute kingly rights over Church and State—“Plain Dealing; or, a Dialogue between Humphrey and Roger, as they were returning home from choosing Knights of the Shire to sit in Parliament, 1681;” “Hercules Rideing”—“A Speech without-doors, made by a Plebeian to his Noble Friends”—Philippe de Comines on the British Constitution—On freedom of speech—A true Commonwealth—The excited state of parties at the summoning of the Oxford Parliament, 1681—Ballads on the Oxford Parliament—The impeachment of Fitz-Harris, and the proposal of the opposition to exclude the Duke of York from the “Protestant succession”—Squabble on privilege between the Peers and Commons—The Oxford Parliament dismissed, after eight days, on this pretence—“The Ghost of the Late Parliament to the New One to meet at Oxford”—“On Parliament removing from London to Oxford”—“On his Majesty’s dissolving the late Parliament at Oxford”—A “Weeked” Parliament. | 22 | | CHAPTER III. | | Electioneering on the accession of James II.—A parliament summoned by James II.—The municipal charters restored in the nature of bribes—Lord Bath, “the Prince Elector,” and his progress in the west—Electioneering strategies—How Sir Edward Evelyn was unjustly cozened out of his election—The constitution of James II.’s Parliament—Inferior persons “of no account whatever” chosen to sit in the Commons—The question of supplies, the royal revenue, and prerogative—Assembling of James II.’s parliament—The corrupt returns boldly denounced—Violence at the elections—The abdication of James II., and the “Convention Parliament”—Accession of the Prince of Orange—Ballad “On the Calling of a Free Parliament, Jan. 15, 1678-9”—Ballads on William III.’s Parliament: “The Whigs’ Address to his Majesty,” 1689; “The Patriots,” 1700—An election under William III., for the City of London—“The Election, a Poem,” 1701; the electors, the Guildhall, the candidates; Court-schemers versus patriotic representatives; and “the liberties of the people” versus the “surrendered Charters”—Electioneering under Queen Anne—The High Church party—“The University Ballad; or, the Church’s Advice to her Two Daughters, Oxford and Cambridge,” 1705—Whigs and “Tackers”—The Nonconformity Bill—Mother Church promises to “wipe the Whigs’ nose”—The “case of Ashby and White,” and the dispute thereon between the Lords and Commons—Breaches of privilege—“Jacks,” “Tacks,” and the “Occasional Conformity Bill”—Ballad: “The Old Tack and the New,” 1712—The Act against bribery—Past-masters of the art of electioneering—Thomas, Marquis of Wharton; his election feats, and genius for canvassing-Election, 1705—“Dyer’s Letters”—Reception of a High Church “Tantivy” candidate—Discomfiture of the “Sneakers”—Lord Woodstock’s electioneering ruse at Southampton, 1705—“For the Queen and Church, Packington”—Dean Swift on election disturbances in Queen
pon 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 votes—The Ilchester tariff—“Dispensers of seats”—Lord Chesterfield’s experience of borough-jobbing—The seven electors of Old Sarum—Typical sinks of corruption—Boroughbridge, Yorkshire—“The last of the Boroughbridges”—A solitary franchise-holder; one man returning two representatives—The bribery scrutiny, Hindon, 1774—203 bribed electors out of a constituency of 210—Wholesale corruption—Bribing candidates committed to the King’s Bench—A fine of “a thousand marks”—Boroughmongering at Milborne Port—Lord North’s agent—A wholesale purchase of “bailiwicks”—Supineness of the Commons and ministerial influence—Corrupt bargains ignored by the House—Illegal interference of peers and lords of parliament in elections; Westminster election, 1774—“Money, meat, drink, entertainment or provision”—The partiality of persons in power manifested at “election bribery commissions”—The “king’s menial servants disqualified”—“Direct solicitation of the peers”—Worcester, 1774, wholesale swearing-in of electors as special constables—Convenient formula for defeating evidence of bribery before the House—High-Sheriffs returning themselves, Abingdon, 1774—The instance of Sir Edward Coke—“The sheriff in no respect the returning officer for boroughs”—The election made void by the sheriff returning himself—Morpeth, 1774—An election determined by main force—The candidate forcibly returning “himself and friend”—A “bribing” candidate preferred to a “main-force” candidate—Petersfield, Hants—The Shaftesbury “Punch,”—Pantomimic method of distributing bribes—The mysterious “Glenbucket”—Sudbury, 1780—A wager on the result of a controverted petition—A mayor insisting upon carrying on an election all night—The Shaftesbury “Punch” outdone by the Shoreham “Christian Society”—A well-organized scheme for “burgessing business”—The “Society” a “heap of bribery”—Stafford, 1780; The price paid by R. B. Sheridan for his seat—Tom Sheridan a candidate for Stafford, on his father’s retirement, 1806—The successful candidate for Stafford presented with a new hat at the hustings, by a subscription of his constituents—“A Mob-Reformer,” 1780—The first entry into public life of William Pitt—“The spirit of the country in 1780”—Pitt seated for Appleby, one of Sir James Lowther’s pocket-boroughs—Pitt’s early political friends: the Duke of Rutland and Lord Euston—Pitt’s letter to his mother, Lady Chatham, on his coming election—No necessity to visit constituencies—Choice of seats offered to the young premier, 1784—Nominated for the City of London—Invited to stand for Bath, represented by his late father Earl Chatham—Pitt returned for the University of Cambridge, 1784, which he represented till his death—The dissolution delayed by the theft of the Great Seal from the Chancellor’s residence, 1784—Pitt’s letter to Wilberforce on the coming elections—Pitt “a hardened electioneerer”—The war carried into the great Whig strongholds—The subscription to forward Wilberforce’s return for Yorkshire—Earl Stanhope on “Fox’s Martyrs”—Fox’s courage under adversity—Wilkes returned as the ministerial representative for Middlesex—Wilkes’s “address to the electors”—“The Back-stairs Scoured”—“The boldest of bilks”—“Reconciliation of the Two Kings of Brentford,” 1784—“The New Coalition,” 1784—Charles James Fox’s first entry into public life—Returned for Midhurst, 1769—His first speech on the Wilkes case—Wilkes at a levÉe: he denounces to the king his friend Glynn as a “Wilkite”—Canvass of Pitt’s friends—The poet Cowper’s description of Pitt’s cousin, the Hon. W. W. Grenville, seeking for suffrages—The amenities of canvassing in the old days: saluting the ladies and maids—A most loving, kissing, kind-hearted gentleman—W. W. Grenville and John Aubrey returned for Buckinghamshire, 1784 | 226 | | 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 manoeuvres; 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
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