(_Page_ 356.)
In the years 1751-2-3, the Lord Mayor was not appointed by rotation; Sir
G. Champion, the senior Alderman, being accused of a leaning towards
Spain. From 1754 to 1765 (inclusive) if there was in any year a contest,
yet in each case the senior Alderman nominated was chosen. From 1766 to
1775 (inclusive) there was in every year a departure from the order of
seniority. In 1776-8 the order of seniority was again observed; so that
two years before Johnson made his remark the irregularity had come to an
end. This information I owe to the kindness of Mr. Scott, the excellent
Chamberlain of the City. Sir George Champion had been passed over in the
year 1739 also. In an address to the Liverymen he says that 'the
disorders and great disturbance to the peace of the city, which in
former times had been occasioned by the over-eagerness of some, too
ambitious and impatient to obtain this great honour, had been quieted'
by the adoption of the order of seniority. _Gent. Mag_. 1739, p. 595.
Among the Lord Mayors from 1769-1775 (inclusive) we find Beckford,
Trecothick, Crosby, Townshend, Bull, Wilkes, and Sawbridge. 'Where did
Beckford and Trecothick learn English?' asked Johnson (_ante_, iii. 76).
Crosby, in the year of his mayoralty (1770-1), was committed to the
Tower by the House of Commons, for having himself committed to prison a
messenger of the House when attempting to arrest the printer of the
_London Evening Debates_, who was accused of a breach of privilege in
reporting the Debates (_Parl. Hist_. xvii. 155). Townshend in the same
year refused to pay the land-tax, on the plea that his county
(Middlesex) was no longer represented, as Wilkes's election had been
annulled (_Walpole's Letters_, v. 348). Bull in the House of Commons
violently attacked Lord North's ministry (_Parl. Hist_. xix. 980).
Sawbridge, year after year, brought into Parliament a bill for
shortening the duration of parliaments. During his Mayoralty he would
not suffer the pressgangs to enter the city. (Walpole's _Journal of the
Reign of George III_, ii. 84.)
Among the Aldermen the Court-party had a majority. In April 1769
Wilkes's eligibility for election as an Alderman was not allowed by a
majority of ten to six (Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of George III_,
iii. 360, and _Ann. Reg_. xii. 92). On his release from prison in April
1770 he was, however, admitted without a division (_ib_. xiii. 99).
When, in March 1770, the City presented an outspoken remonstrance to the
King, sixteen Aldermen protested against it (Walpole's _Letters_, v.
229). About this time there arose a great division in the popular party
in the City. According to Lord Albemarle, in his _Memoirs of
Rockingham_, ii. 209, from the period of this struggle 'the Whigs and
what are now called Radicals became two distinct sections of the Liberal
party.' Townshend, who in this followed the lead of Lord Shelburne,
headed the more moderate men against Wilkes. The result was that in 1771
each section running a candidate for the Mayoralty, a third man, Nash,
who was opposed to both, was returned (Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign
of George III_, iv. 345, and _Ann. Reg_. xiv. 146).
The Livery, for a time at least, was Wilkite. Wilkes's name was sent up
as Lord Mayor at the top of the list in 1772 and 1773, but he was in
each case passed over by the Court of Aldermen. It was not till 1774
that he was elected by a kind of 'Hobson's choice.' The Aldermen had to
choose between him and the retiring Lord Mayor, Bull. Walpole, writing
of Nov. 1776, says the new Lord Mayor 'invited the Ministers to his
feast, to which they had not been asked for seven years' (_Journal of
the Reign of George III_, ii. 84). See Boswell's _Hebrides_, _post_, v.
339.