THE GREAT WESTMINSTER ELECTION OF 1784.
The excitement caused by Wilkes’s election for Middlesex in 1768
was forgotten in the great Westminster contest of 1784. Although on
each occasion the conflicts were in opposition to those ministerial
interests which enlisted the Crown, the courtiers, and the following
of placemen, state pensioners, with both branches of the service upon
the Tory side in antagonism to popular rights and the freedom of
election, in both instances of overstrained influence the Government
had to submit to the mortification of defeat. The circumstances
preceding the Westminster election were exceptional. The Fox and North
Coalition Administration had, by an overstrained exercise of the royal
prerogative, through a “back-stair” Court intrigue, and by defiantly
unconstitutional means on the part of the king, lost their hold on
power, temporarily--as they then supposed--but, as subsequent events
proved, beyond recall.
Fox had introduced his vast measure of reform for the reconstitution of
our Eastern Empire. Passed by the majority commanded by the Coalition
Ministry in the Commons, the Bill was--in direct deference to the
king’s written instructions, freely heralded about--thrown out on the
second reading in the Lords. Fox was feared by the king and the East
India Company alike; it was apprehended that the great “Carlo Khan”
was but beginning the work of revolution, and that all charters would
be in equal jeopardy if that of the East India House was allowed to
be revised. The wealth of the company was put into requisition to hurl
from power the ministers who dared to legislate for the administration
of the huge empire confided to their government; and the king chiefly
aimed at the dismissal of the great Whig chief, against whom an
unreasonable prejudice long continued to exist in the royal mind. On
Fox’s defeat it was left to Lord Temple to constitute an administration
which should satisfy the king; but although this juncture brought
William Pitt to the front, it was found impossible to carry on the
business of the country, the ministry, too weak to divide, being beaten
on every measure introduced by their rivals; finally, the opposition
majority carried the following damaging resolution by nineteen votes:--
“That it is the opinion of this House that the continuance of
the present ministry in power is an obstacle to the formation
of such an administration as is likely to have the confidence
of this House and the people.”
An address to the king in the same spirit was passed, and similar
motions and addresses were repeated until parliament was prorogued with
a discontented speech from the throne, and it was dissolved on the day
following, March 25, 1874; thus ending for the time this threatening
contest between the Crown and the most important part of the
legislature, and transferring the arena of conflict to the hustings.
By the royal will, Pitt, though only in his twenty-fifth year, was
established as Prime Minister of England, uniting in himself the
offices of first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer;
his colleagues being those already known as “the king’s friends,” or
youthful aspirants to power willing to tread in their steps. At the
elections, the opposition laboured under the disadvantage of leaving
the patronage of administration in the hands of their antagonists,
and though the contests were obstinate, the Court influence and the
king’s name, which was used openly in defiance of the privileges
of parliament, secured a majority of seats at once, confirming the
apprehensions of the Whig party, and fixing Pitt in security at the
pinnacle of power. Horace Walpole has pictured the feelings of the
day:--
“The Court struck a blow at the Ministers, but it was the gold
of the East India Company, that nest of monsters (which Fox’s
Bill was to demolish), that really conjured up the storm, and
has diffused it all over England. On the other hand Mr. Pitt
has braved the majority of the House of Commons, has dissolved
the existent one, and, I doubt, given a wound to that branch
of the legislature, which, if the tide does not turn, may be
very fatal to the constitution. The nation is intoxicated, and
has poured in addresses of thanks to the Crown for exerting
the prerogative _against_ the palladium of the people. The
first consequence will probably be, that the Court will have a
considerable majority upon the new Elections.”
The aversion to the late Coalition Ministry was turned to account by
the Court; the elections showed the opposition, so strong before the
dissolution, in a woeful minority; the great Whig families, Horace
Walpole wrote--
“have lost all credit in their own counties; nay, have been
tricked out of seats where the whole property was their own;
and, in some of those cases, a _Royal_ finger has too evidently
tampered, as well as singularly and revengefully towards Lord
North and Lord Hertford.... Such a proscription, however, must
have sown so deep resentment as it was not wise to provoke,
considering that permanent fortune is a jewel that in no Crown
is the most to be depended upon.”
The Westminster election of 1784 was an event of importance in the
political history of the last century; it was the only serious check
that the Court encountered in the attempt to return a subservient House
of Commons; and circumstances combined to render it the most remarkable
struggle of the kind that has been witnessed. The metropolis was kept
in a state of ebullition for weeks; the poll was opened on April
1st, and continued without intermission until May 17th. During this
time, Covent Garden and the Strand were the scenes of daily combats
between the rival mobs; the papers were filled with squibs of the most
personal nature, according to their respective sides in politics, and
hundreds of pictorial satires appeared on every incident, and embodying
all the successive stages of the struggle. Rowlandson, who entered
with spirit into the contest, chiefly in the Foxite interests, alone
produced on an average a fresh caricature every day; the best of these
are reproduced in the life of the caricaturist, and a selection of
these subjects, from the work in question, are given among the present
illustrations of the subject. The representatives of Westminster in the
previous parliament were Fox and Sir Brydges Rodney. Sir Cecil Wray,
lately a follower of the Whig party, had been nominated for the last
parliament by the Whig chief, but on this occasion Wray ungratefully
deserted his political leader, and was put forward as the ministerial
nominee. The king and Court had resolved to exert every influence to
cause Fox’s defeat on personal grounds. Admiral Lord Hood was also a
Court candidate, but it was Wray who was more especially held forth
as the antagonist of the “Man of the People.” The political apostate
was stigmatized as “Judas Iscariot, who betrayed his master.” Other
charges against him were certain proposals he is said to have made
for the suppression of Chelsea Hospital and a project for a tax upon
maid-servants; to these were added the general cries against his
supporters of attempting an undue elevation of the prerogative, and
also against the prevalent “back-stair” influence.
Against Fox was raised the odium of the coalition with Lord North,
and his attack on the East India Company’s charter was represented
as but the commencement of a general invasion of chartered rights of
corporate bodies. The Prince of Wales interested himself warmly in
favour of Fox, to the extreme provocation of the king and queen; it was
declared that the prince had canvassed in person, and that the members
of his household were actively engaged in promoting the success of
the Whig chief. The exertions of the Court were extraordinary; almost
hourly intelligence was conveyed to the king, who is said to have been
affected in the most evident manner by every change in the state of
the poll. Threats and promises were freely made in the royal name, the
old illegalities were revived, members of the king’s household claimed
votes, and on one occasion two hundred and eighty of the Guards were
sent in a body to give their votes as householders--an ill-advised
manœuvre, upon which, as Horace Walpole declared, his father, Sir
Robert, would not have dared to venture in the most quiet seasons. All
dependents on the Court were commanded to vote on the same side as the
soldiers. When Fox’s friends, the popular party, protested against this
unconstitutional interference, their opponents retaliated by charging
the Foxites with bribery, and with resorting to improper influences
of extravagant kinds. Beyond the unpopularity of relying upon Court
patronage and the imputations of “wearing two faces under a Hood,” and
being “a Greenwich pensioner,” Admiral Lord Hood escaped; the most
bitter party and personal attacks were made upon Wray. At the beginning
of the election, Hood had brought up a large contingent of sailors, or,
as the opposition alleged, chiefly hired ruffians dressed in sailors’
clothes; these desperadoes surrounded the hustings, and intimidated
Fox’s friends, and even hindered those who attempted to register
votes in favour of the Whig chief; they grew uproarious as the poll
progressed, and, parading the streets, assaulted Fox’s partisans, made
conspicuous by displaying his “true blue” favours; they also attacked
the Shakespeare Tavern, where his committee met, when, threatening to
wreck the house, they were beaten off by the inmates. After a reign of
terror, which was endured for four days without organized resistance,
the sailor mob encountered a rival faction--entitled the “honest mob”
by the opposition newspapers,--these were the hackney chairmen, a
numerous body, chiefly Irishmen, almost unanimous in their support of
Fox; these, with hearty will, basted the sailors, breaking heads and
fracturing bones in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. The sailors
thence proceeded to St. James’s, where the chairmen chiefly plied for
hire, to wreak vengeance on their chairs; but the Irishmen beat them
again and the Guards quelled the riot. The day following, both parties
were reinforced. The sailors, vowing vengeance, left the hustings to
intercept Fox on his way to Westminster to canvass; but he luckily
managed to elude them, and escaped into a private house. The sailor
mob returned to Covent Garden, where they encountered the “honest
mob,” the chairmen being joined by a multitude of butchers, brewers’
men, and others. A series of pitched battles ensued, the sailors were
defeated at each renewal of the fighting, and, finally, many of their
number being carried off to hospitals severely injured, the popular
rival mob was left in possession of the field. Special constables
were now introduced at the instance of the justices of the peace, who
were in the Court interest, to surround the places where Hood and
Wray’s committees met, and these behaved in a manner so hostile to
Fox’s party, going about impeding and insulting Liberal voters, and
shouting “No Fox,” that their presence provoked a fresh outbreak.
On the approach of the “honest mob,” heralded by the sounds of the
marrow-bones and cleavers, the insurrectionary signal, the constables
made an attack, in which one of their own body was knocked down and
killed by fellow-constables by mistake in the heat of the scuffle.
In Rowlandson’s pictorial versions of the different stages of this
famous election, the public were first excited against the Coalition
Ministry, lately thrown out of office as described. “They Quarter their
Arms” represents the contracting parties, Fox and Badger, united to
share the Treasury spoils, and battening on the victimized John Bull;
it was “money” which made the Coalition Wedding:--
“Come, we’re all rogues together,
The people must pay for the play;
Then let us make hay in fine weather,
And keep the cold winter away.”
The downfall of the Coalition was pictured as “Britannia Aroused;
or, the Coalition Ministers Destroyed,” in which Fox and North are
figuratively reaping the reward of iniquity.
[Illustration: THE COALITION WEDDING--THE FOX (C. J. FOX) AND THE
BADGER (LORD NORTH) QUARTER THEIR ARMS ON JOHN BULL. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“Now Fox, North, and Burke, each one is a brother,
So honest, they swear, there is not such another;
No longer they tell us we’re going to ruin,
The people they _serve_ in whatever they’re doing.”]
“Within the Senate, and without,
Our credit fails; th’ enlighten’d nation
The boasted Coalition scout,
And hunt us from th’ administration.
“Fox, let thy soul with _grace_ be fill’d:
Expect no other _call_ but mine;
With penitence I see thee thrill’d,
With new-born light I see thee shine.
“How spruce will North beneath thee sit!
With joy officiate as thy clerk!
Attune the hymn, renounce his wit,
And carol like the morning lark!”
[Illustration:
BRITANNIA AROUSED, OR THE COALITION MONSTERS DESTROYED. BY T.
ROWLANDSON.
“These were your Ministers.”]
The astute young premier, whose youth at this time was alleged as his
chief crime, began to bid for “loyal addresses,” and other servile
expressions, to condone the rash experiments recently attempted upon
the constitution. With this view he cultivated the citizens, and,
being presented with the “Freedom of the City,” he was entertained by
the Grocers’ Company as the son of that famous Earl of Chatham, the
greatest friend of the rights of the people; it was expected he would
be equally steadfast in defending popular freedom:--
“But Chatham, thank heaven! has left us a son;
When _he_ takes the helm, we are sure not undone;
The glory his father revived of the land,
And Britannia has taken Pitt by the hand.”
In “Master Billy’s Procession to Grocers’ Hall” the adulation of the
multitude is offered to the “charming youth,” who is declared to
be “very like his father;” the gold box is carried before, and the
voluntary slaves who are harnessed to his chariot are shouting for
“Pitt and Prerogative.”
Before the dissolution (March 25th), Pitt’s ministerial manœuvres were
already patent to all. The king had determined, with the obstinacy of
purpose which characterized the royal mind, that he would endure any
sacrifice rather than sanction the return of the members of the late
Coalition Ministry to power; in the face of this eventuality, he even
threatened, it is stated, to retire to Hanover, but, in the meanwhile,
no effort was spared to obviate this embarrassing emergency. Places
and pensions were freely employed as baits to detach followers of
Fox and North. A pictorial version of the situation, as given
by Rowlandson, represents the extensive “ratting” system and its
_modus operandi_, under the title of “The Apostate Jack Robinson, the
Political Rat-catcher. N.B. _Rats taken alive!_”
[Illustration: T. ROWLANDSON: MASTER BILLY’S PROCESSION TO GROCERS’
HALL--PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS--PITT PRESENTED WITH THE FREEDOM OF THE
CITY, 1784.
“The City interests and votes, young Pitt would fain obtain.
For Freedom of the City, too, he does not sue in vain;
So Master Billy goes in state a Grocer to be made,
‘A fig for Fox,’ the Premier cries, ‘I’ve pushed him out of trade.’”
[_Page 264._]
[Illustration: T. ROWLANDSON: THE APOSTATE JACK ROBINSON, THE POLITICAL
RAT-CATCHER. 1784.
[_Page 265._]
“Thus when Renegado sees a Rat
In the traps in the morning taken,
With pleasure he goes Master Pitt to pat,
And swears he will have his bacon.”
Jack Robinson, as “Rat-catcher to Great Britain,” is equipped for
his delicate task with a supply of baits, lures, and traps; round
his waist is the “Cestus of Corruption,” in his pocket is a small
aide-de-camp, who is made to exclaim, “We’ll ferret them out!” On
his back is a double trap, baited with coronets and places; he is
cautiously proceeding on all fours, along the Treasury floor, where
“vermin” are “preserved;” the rats to be captured are toying with the
gold laid down to attract them. To the nose of one veteran, whose face
resembles the spectacled visage of Edmund Burke, is held a large bait
of “pension,” which is regarded wistfully by other rats assembled.
Under the heading of “Rats of Note,” a placard on the wall announces
the list of political apostates who have been captured. No concealment
was attempted, for we find in the pages of the _Morning Post and Daily
Advertiser_, for February 10, 1784, an advertisement, under the simple
heading of “Jack Robinson,” with a woodcut representing a string of
rats, such as might preface a common rat-catcher’s announcement, giving
the names of twenty-two parliamentary rats already decoyed from their
party allegiance to go over to the good pickings the king was able to
hold out. This curious notification is repeated on the Treasury wall,
shown in Rowlandson’s pictorial view of the corruption abroad, as a
preparation for the coming elections.
The _dramatis personæ_ of the great performance at the Covent Garden
hustings are exhibited as “The Rival Candidates:” “Themistocles,” Lord
Hood; “Demosthenes,” Fox; “Judas Iscariot,” Sir Cecil Wray.
[Illustration: HONEST SAM HOUSE, THE PATRIOTIC PUBLICAN, CANVASSER FOR
FOX.]
One of the most enthusiastic partisans of Fox, and second only to his
fair friends, the ladies of the Whig aristocracy, in popular influence,
was “Honest Sam House,” the publican, remarkable for his oddity and
for his political zeal, who during the election not only canvassed
with admirable tact, but throughout the contest kept open house at his
own expense, and was honoured with the presence of many of the Whig
aristocracy.
“See the brave Sammy House, he’s as still as a mouse,
And does canvass with prudence so clever:
See what shoals with him flock, to poll for brave Fox,
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever, for ever,
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever!
“Brave bald-headed Sam, all must own is the man,
Who does canvass for brave Fox so clever;
His aversion, I say, is to _small beer and Wray_!
May his bald head be honour’d for ever, for ever!
May his bald head be honour’d for ever!”
The fact that the public was being treated to the excitement of perhaps
the most momentous and embittered, if not the hardest-fought election
on record, is shown in Rowlandson’s version of the Covent Garden
Hustings, round which is assembled a crowd of persons who are being
addressed from the platform, whereon stands one of the ministerial
candidates, Admiral Lord Hood, who is made to announce his intention
of carrying “two faces under a Hood!” This caricature is a pointed
comment upon the Court manœuvres, and exposes those royal tactics
which had already demoralized the allies of the defunct Coalition
Ministry. Major John Cartwright--the consistent and energetic advocate
of reform, of which he was one of the most valorous pioneers--is made
the mouth-piece of the artist’s satirical strictures, while endorsing
those views held by “The Drum-Major of Sedition” (March 29, 1784), as
the liberty-loving major, who remained conspicuous in the foremost
ranks of reformers all his days, was entitled by his adversaries. A
strongly ironical tendency characterizes the speech, which may be
regarded as a tolerably pungent electioneering squib:--
[Illustration:
_Themistocles._
Lord Hood.
_Demosthenes._
Charles James Fox.
_Judas Iscariot._
Sir Cecil Wray.
T. ROWLANDSON: THE RIVAL CANDIDATES--GREAT WESTMINSTER ELECTION. 1784.
“The gallant Lord Hood to his country is dear,
His voters, like Charlie’s, make excellent cheer;
But who has been able to taste _the small beer_
Of Sir Cecil Wray?
“In vain all the arts of the Court are let loose,
The electors of Westminster never will choose
To run down a Fox, and set up a _Goose_
Like Sir Cecil Wray.”
[_Page 266._]
[Illustration: MAJOR CARTWRIGHT, THE DRUM-MAJOR OF SEDITION.]
“All gentlemen and other electors for Westminster who are
ready and willing to surrender their rights and those of their
fellow-citizens to secret influence and the Lords of the
Bedchamber, let them repair to the prerogative standard, lately
erected at the Cannon Coffee House, where they shall be kindly
received--until their services are no longer wanted. This,
gentlemen, is the last time of asking, as we are determined
to abolish the power of the House of Commons, and in future
be governed by Prerogative, as they are in France and Turkey.
Gentlemen, the ambition of the enemy is now evident. Has he
not, within these few days past, stole the Great Seal of
England” (this had actually occurred, the great seal being
mysteriously carried off on the eve of the dissolution, which
had to be postponed until another seal could be made to
replace the missing instrument) “while the Chancellor[62] was
taking a bottle with a female favourite, as all great men do?
I am informed, gentlemen, that the enemy now assumes Regal
Authority, and, by virtue of the Great Seal (which he stole),
is creating of Peers and granting of pensions. A most shameful
abuse, gentlemen, of that instrument. If you assist us to
pull down the House of Commons, every person who hears me has
a chance of becoming a great man, if he is happy enough to hit
the fancy of Lord Bute and of Mr. Jenkinson.[63] Huzza! God
save the King!”
Pitt’s valour, then deemed intemperate, in taking up the reins of
office by “the royal will,” and thereby jockeying the discomfited
ex-Coalition Ministry, is commented upon by Rowlandson in the course
of his numerous caricatures on the great Westminster election. “The
Hanoverian Horse and the British Lion; a scene in a new play, lately
acted at Westminster with distinguished applause. Act ii., scene
last” (March 31, 1784), is a version intended to be prophetic of the
end, a view then warranted by circumstances, but one falsified by
the results of the general election, which consolidated the power
in Pitt’s hands, and completely left the opposition “out in the
cold!” a surprise by no means anticipated at the date of the cartoon
in question. The Parliament-house is shown as the arena of this
constitutional tournament, and the faithful Commons are victimized by
the aggressive tendencies of Pitt’s steed; the White Horse of Hanover
is trampling upon “Magna Charta,” the “Bill of Rights,” and mangling
the “Constitution.” Pitt, a remarkably light and boyish jockey, is
exciting the brute, who is neighing, “Pre-ro-ro-ro-ro-rogative” with
vicious energy. The youthful premier is enjoying the capers of his
mount: “Bravo! go it again; I love to ride a mettle steed. Send the
vagabonds packing.” The heels of the White Horse are effectually
scaring the members and making a clearance. The British Lion has
descended from his familiar post as a supporter of the royal ’scutcheon
over the Speaker’s chair; in the vacant space lately occupied by the
British Lion is the announcement, “We shall resume our situation here
at pleasure.--Leo Rex.” The sturdy figure of the Whig Chief is safely
mounted upon the British Lion, who is keeping a watchful eye upon
his Hanoverian rival, while protesting, “If this horse is not tamed,
he will soon be absolute king of our forest.” Fox has entered on the
scene of conflict, armed for the encounter with bit, bridle, and a
stout riding-whip, to tame and control the uproarious White Horse; he
is volunteering advice to his upstart rival, “Prithee, Billy, dismount
before ye get a fall--and let some abler jockey take your seat!” Fox
was reckoning without his “Martyrs,” which the results of the election
were destined to create on an unprecedented scale, as this review will
show. The reverse was shortly to be realized, as set down pictorially
by Rowlandson. The poll was opened April 1, and three days later
appeared a version of Fox as “The Incurable,” in a strait-waistcoat,
and with straw in his hair, singing:--
“My lodging is on the cold ground, and very hard is my case,
But that which grieves me most of all is the losing of my place.”
[Illustration: T. ROWLANDSON: THE HANOVERIAN HORSE AND THE BRITISH
LION. MARCH, 1784.
[_Page 268._]
The royal physician, Dr. Munro, is examining the patient through
his eye-glass, and attesting, “As I have not the least hope of his
recovery, let him be removed amongst the Incurables.”
“Dazzled with hope, he could not see the cheat
Of aiming with impatience to be great.
With wild ambition in his heart, we find,
Farewell content and quiet of his mind;
For glittering clouds he left the solid shore,
And wonted happiness returns no more.”
The most active and successful of Fox’s canvassers was undoubtedly the
Duchess of Devonshire, who, by the influence of her personal charms
and her winning affability, succeeded in procuring for the Whig chief
votes which would never have otherwise been polled in his favour. It
was of the beautiful and winsome Georgiana Spencer, that Hannay said
the Spencers had laid the world under further obligations by sending
forth a second “Fairy Queen,” and it was the Westminster Election of
1784 which first brought into celebrity this gay and graceful leader
of fashion, who, by universal suffrage, was the Queen of the Foxites.
In the earlier stages Fox was behind both his opponents, and although
Cecil Wray had only a small majority, Fox was at his last gasp. The
story is told in Wraxall’s “Posthumous Memoirs” by an eye-witness of
the incidents:--
[Illustration: THE DEVONSHIRE, OR MOST APPROVED MANNER OF SECURING
VOTES. 1784. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“However courtiers take offence,
And cits and prudes may join, Sir,
Beauty will ever influence
The free and generous mind, Sir.
“Fair DEVON, like the rising sun,
Proceeds in her full glory,
Whilst Madam’s duller orb must own
The Duchess moves before her.”]
“The party were driven to new resources, and the Duchess
of Devonshire restored the fates of the Whig champion. The
progress of the canvass thenceforward is amusing. The entire
of the voters for Westminster having been exhausted, the
only hope was in exciting the suburbs. The Duchess instantly
ordered out her equipage, and with her sister, the Countess of
Duncannon, drove, polling list in hand, to the houses of the
voters. Entreaties, ridicule, civilities, influence of all
kinds were lavished on these rough legislators; and the novelty
of being solicited by two women of rank and remarkable fashion,
took the popular taste universally. The immediate result was,
that they gallantly came to the poll, and Fox, who had been a
hundred behind Sir Cecil, speedily left him a hundred behind
in return. An imperfect attempt was made on the hostile side
to oppose this new species of warfare by similar captivation,
and Lady Salisbury was moved to awake the dying fortunes of the
Government candidate. But the effort failed; it was imitation,
it was too late; and the Duchess was six-and-twenty, and Lady
Salisbury thirty-four! These are reasons enough, and more than
enough for the rejection of any man from the hustings.”
“A certain lady I won’t name
Must take an active part, sir,
To show that DEVON’S beauteous dame
Should not engage each heart, sir.
“She canvass’d all, both great and small,
And thundered at each door, sir;
She rummaged every shop and stall--
The Duchess had been before her.”
The Tories were furious at the success of the duchess, who, attended
by several beauties of the Whig aristocracy, and, among others, by
the fascinating Lady Carlisle, carried all before her; another rival
canvasser, in addition to the “Diana of Hatfield,” was set up in the
person of the Hon. Mrs. Hobart, Lady Buckinghamshire, of “Pic-nic”
fame, who, though “fat and fair,” was under “forty,” and remarkably
volatile, but, being of portly figure, this dashing lady, a connection
of Pitt’s, was by the opposition nicknamed “Madame Blubber,” and the
caricaturists, who represent her as canvassing for Hood and Wray, with
a weighty purse by way of inducement, make the electors on whom she
has tried her persuasive powers unanimous in asserting “I’m engaged
to the Duchess.” Mrs. Hobart was, however, looked upon as a rival of
the gracious Georgiana, and many satirical shafts, both by verse and
picture, were launched at her full-blown charms. Balloons, as novelties
at that time, were exciting a share of attention, and Madame Blubber as
the “Ærostatic Dilly,” was, as a balloon “launched at Richmond Park,”
shown in mid-air, convoying to the hustings outlying and dependent
voters.
“Tho’ in every street
All the voters you meet
The Duchess knows best how to court them,
Yet for outlying votes
In my petticoats,
I’ve found out a way to transport them!
“Eight trips in this way,
For Hood and for Wray,
I’ll make poll sixteen in one day.
Dear Wray, don’t despair,
My supplies by the air
Shall recover our losses on Monday!”
Walpole wrote under date, April 13th:--
“Mr. Fox has all the popularity in Westminster; and, indeed,
is so amiable and winning that, could he have stood in person
all over England, I question whether he would not have carried
the parliament. The beldams hate him; but most of the pretty
women in England are indefatigable in making interest for him;
the Duchess of Devonshire in particular. I am ashamed to say
how coarsely she has been received by some worse than tars. But
nothing has shocked me so much as what I heard this morning. At
Dover, they roasted a poor _fox_ alive by the most diabolical
allegory--a savage meanness that an Iroquois could not have
committed!” “During her canvass the Duchess made no scruple of
visiting the humblest of the electors, dazzling and enchanting
them by the fascination of her manner, the power of her beauty
and the influence of her high rank, and sometimes carrying off
to the hustings the meanest mechanic in her own carriage.”
“The Duchess of Devonshire,” writes Lord Cornwallis, on the
19th of April, “is indefatigable in her canvass for Fox. She
was in the most blackguard houses in Long Acre by eight o’clock
this morning.”
The fact of the duchess having purchased the vote of an impracticable
butcher by a kiss is said to be unquestionable. It was on one of these
occasions that the well-known compliment is said to have been made her
by an Irish mechanic, “_I could light my pipe at your eyes_.”
Of great beauty and unconquerable spirit, she tried all her powers of
persuasion on the shopkeepers of Westminster, as Earl Stanhope declares
in his “Life of Pitt”:--
“Other ladies, who could not rival her beauty, might at least
follow her example. Scarce a street or alley which they did not
canvass on behalf of him whom they persisted in calling the
‘Man of the People,’ at the very moment when the popular voice
was declaring against him.”
Pitt and his royal patron were, however, exerting every method to
secure the downfall of the redoubtable “Carlo Khan.” Up to the third
day of the polling, “Fox was in a minority, notwithstanding the immense
exertions that were made on his behalf. The Ministerial Party,”
according to the statement of their own historians, “were sanguine in
the hope of wresting from him the greatest and most enlightened, as
it was then considered, of all the represented boroughs of England.”
Pitt’s proud spirit was roused at the obstinacy of the contest, and,
unlike his more magnanimous if not greater rival, he lost patience
with his opponents; in a strain of acrimonious pleasantry he wrote
to Wilberforce, “Westminster goes on well in spite of the Duchess of
Devonshire and the other _Women of the People_, but when the poll will
close is uncertain;” this was on the seventh day of the poll, and Pitt
then little dreamt of its running for forty days uninterruptedly. By
the 23rd of April, the premier was evidently losing temper, and the
strain of electioneering was becoming tenser, as appears from a letter
written to his cousin, James Grenville, afterwards Lord Glastonbury:--
“MY DEAR SIR,
“Admiral Hood tells me he left Lord Nugent at Bath, disposed
to come to town if a vote at Westminster should be material. I
think from the state of the poll it may be very much so. There
is no doubt, I believe, of final success on a scrutiny, if we
are driven to it; but it is a great object to us to carry the
return for both in the first instance, and on every account
as great an object to Fox to prevent it. It is uncertain
how long the poll will continue, but pretty clear it cannot
be over till after Monday. If you will have the goodness to
state these circumstances to Lord Nugent, and encourage his
good designs, we shall be very much obliged to you; and still
more, should neither health nor particular engagements detain
you, if, besides prevailing upon him, you could give your own
personal assistance. At all events I hope you will forgive
my troubling you, and allow for the importunity of a hardened
electioneerer.... Mainwaring and Wilkes are considerably ahead
in Middlesex, and Lord Grimston has come in, instead of Halsey,
for Herts.”
Pitt further alludes to W. W. Grenville, his cousin, “the kissing young
gentleman” who visited Cowper in the course of his canvass, “I have
not yet heard the event of Bucks, but William was safe, and, by the
first day’s poll, Aubrey’s prospect seems very good.” John Aubrey was
returned second, and William Grenville was at the head of the poll.
Fox’s prospects were gradually improved as concerned his own seat at
Westminster; but the slaughter amongst his followers was altogether
unexampled, the muster-roll of “Fox’s Martyrs” grew ominously longer as
each election was determined. On the twenty-third day of the polling at
Covent Garden the Whig chief passed Sir Cecil Wray, and continued to
advance until the fortieth, when, by law, the contest closed. On the
17th of May, the poll stood--Lord Hood, 6,694; Fox, 6,237; Sir Cecil
Wray, 5,998.
“There was,” writes Earl Stanhope, “strong reason, however,
to suspect many fraudulent practices in the previous days,
since it seemed clear that the total number of votes recorded
was considerably beyond the number of persons entitled
to the franchise. For this reason Sir Cecil Wray at once
demanded a scrutiny, and the High Bailiff--illegally, as Fox
contended--granted the request. But further still, the High
Bailiff, Mr. Corbett, who was no friend to Fox, refused to
make any legal return until this scrutiny should be decided.
Thus Westminster was left for the present destitute of
Representatives, and Fox would have been without a seat in the
new Parliament but for the friendship of Sir Thomas Dundas,
through which he had been already returned the member for the
close boroughs of Kirkwall.”
Gallant Whig poetasters were rapturous in their praises of the fair
canvassers who were making such havoc in the Tory ranks.
[Illustration: THE WIT’S LAST STAKE; OR, THE COBBLING VOTER AND ABJECT
CANVASSERS. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“Dear Charles, whose eloquence I prize,
To whom my every vote is due,
What shall we now, alas! devise
To cheer our faint desponding crew?
“Well have we fought the hard campaign,
And battled it with all our force:
But self-esteem alone we gain,
Outrun and jockey’d in the course.”
[_Page 275._]
“THE DUCHESS ACQUITTED; OR, THE TRUE CAUSE OF THE MAJORITY ON THE
WESTMINSTER ELECTION.
“Some strive to wound the virtuous name
Of Devonshire’s, Duncannon’s fame,
That beauteous peerless pair;
And all the toiling earnest throng,
Let’s celebrate in tuneful song,
The brunette and the fair.
When charms conspire, and join their aid,
What mortal man is not afraid,
Who can unmov’d remain?
What heart is safe, whose vote secure,
When urg’d by the resistless pow’r
Of Venus and her train?
Let Slander, with her haggard eye,
No more blaspheme with hideous cry,
Th’ indefatigable dame.
’Twas Venus in disguise, ’tis said,
These efforts thro’ the town display’d,
And her’s alone the blame.
Than beauty’s force and mighty pow’r,
Than charms exerted ev’ry hour,
What greater cause of fear?
Firm resolution melts away,
At beauty’s so superior sway,
And Falsehood seems as fair.
The heart that still retain’d Love’s fire,
Unchill’d by age, warm with desire,
Could not resist their sway;
’Twas this rais’d Fox’s numbers higher,
This did the tardy votes inspire--
Ah! poor Sir Cecil Wray!”
The Tories in their annoyance resorted to libels of the most ungallant
and ungenerous order; they accused the duchess of wholesale bribery,
and reported that she had in one instance bought the vote of a butcher
with a kiss, a rumour which was immediately seized by the whimsical
wits for the basis of endless exaggerations. “The Devonshire, or Most
Approved Method of Securing Votes” embodies the butcher episode. The
practice of claiming some slight service, rewarded at election times
with extravagant liberality, as a subterfuge for bribery, is shown
in the duchess engaging an elector to put a stitch in her shoe, and
illustrated as “The Wit’s Last Stake; or, the Cobbling Voter and Abject
Canvassers.”
Besides “The Devonshire, or Most Approved Method of Securing Votes,”
two caricatures appeared on the 12th of April from Rowlandson’s
prolific graver: one, exhibiting the struggle between the fair
canvassers arrayed in rivalry at Covent Garden hustings, under the
symbol of “The Poll:” a balancing plank, whereon the beauteous
Georgiana “Devon’s Queen,” is elevated high in the air, while her
stouter rival, the Hon. Mrs. Hobart (Lady Buckinghamshire), is
overweighing her extremely. Above the heads of the group, which
includes the rival candidates, Fox, Hood, and Wray, flutters a placard,
“The Rival Candidates, a Farce.” Against Wray was revived, in allusion
to the Court patronage under which he was fighting, the well-worn cry
of “Slavery and wooden shoes,” and much stress was laid on the extreme
measure of polling the Guards as householders; in reference to the two
hundred and eighty votes given by soldiers at one time in a body--an
astounding manœuvre, which shocked constitutional minds--appeared the
placard:--
“All Horse Guards, Grenadier Guards, Foot Guards, and
Black-Guards, that have not polled for the destruction of
Chelsea Hospital and the Tax on Maidservants are desired to
meet at the _Gutter Hole_, opposite the Horse Guards, where
they will have a full bumper of _knock-me-down_ and plenty of
_soap-suds_, before they go to the poll for Sir Cecil Wray
or eat. N.B.--Those who have no shoes or stockings may come
without, _there being a quantity of wooden shoes provided for
them_.”
A further presentment of the famous canvassing duchess, whose
prominence at the great Westminster election of 1784 gave her such
universal and lasting celebrity, is offered by Rowlandson in a fanciful
domestic interior at Devonshire House, where the favoured candidate,
Fox, and his staunch and invaluable ally, “brave Sammy House,” are
introduced as “Lords of the Bedchamber” (April 14, 1784). In the
caricaturist’s highly imaginary version, the duchess is entertaining
the pair with a cup of tea in her boudoir; above her hangs the Reynolds
portrait of her liege-lord. Sam House, in his publican’s jacket,
otherwise attired in that neat costume which became historical, is
stirring the cup “that cheers but not inebriates” with an air of
supreme contentment, while Fox is patting, in friendly familiarity, the
no less remarkable completely bald head of his indefatigable supporter
by way of encouragement.
[Illustration: Sam House. Fox. Duchess of Devonshire.
LORDS OF THE BEDCHAMBER. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
[_Page 276._]
[Illustration: Fox. Hood. Wray.
THE WESTMINSTER WATCHMAN. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
[_Page 277._]
The third plate, “The Westminster Watchman,” is inscribed--
“To the Independent Electors of Westminster, this Print of
their staunch old watchman, the guardian of their rights and
privileges, is dedicated by a grateful Elector. N.B.--Beware of
Counterfeits, as the Greenwich and Chelsea Watchmen are upon
the look-out!”
Fox is standing firm, with his cap of “Liberty;” and the lamp of
“Truth” is shedding its light around, the Whig chief is unmoved by the
storm of “ministerial thunderbolts;” a trusty dog, “Vigilance,” is by
his side; the “Counterfeits” are shuffling off, Hood for Greenwich, and
Wray for Chelsea.
The ballads, epigrams, and poetical _jeux d’esprit_ to which the
circumstances of this famous contest gave birth are sufficiently
numerous to fill a volume. The rhymsters on both sides were evidently
resolved to do their best: many of the lyrics and “squibs” are worthy
of preservation; they are as a rule far above the average compositions
evoked upon similar occasions. The tuneful songster, Captain Morris,
wrote many of the most graceful and witty “impromptus” and verses. The
bards of “Opposition” were severe upon the Court influence exerted
against Fox’s cause, and justly exposed some of the manœuvres resorted
to by Pitt’s adherents.
“To the will of the Court we are told to consent,
And never to do as we please, Sir;
If we vote against FOX we’re forgiven our rent,
Or else we must forfeit our lease, Sir.
Thus of freedom and rights poor electors they chouse,
Such slaves and such fools we are grown, Sir,
We must vote a Rogue into the Parliament House,
Or else be turned out of our own, Sir.”
It was the old story of intimidation, undue influence, and coercion, as
practised at the Westminster elections for the best part of a century.
The scene of the hustings is thus sketched:--
“A CONCISE DESCRIPTION OF COVENT GARDEN AT THE PRESENT WESTMINSTER
ELECTION.
“A paradise for fools and knaves;
A hell for constables and slaves;
A booth for mountebanks and beavers;
A shop for marrow-bones and cleavers;
A stage for bulls and Irish chairmen;
A pit for Foxes, for to rear ’em:
In short, such are most glorious places(?)
For Duchesses to show their faces!”
Allusions to the machinations of “the King’s Friends” were abundant:--
“STANZAS IN SEASON.
“It would not do! Black Thurlow’s frown
And Billy’s prudence gain’d the prize;
’Tis Beauty must redeem the crown,
And Fox must reign thro’ Devon’s eyes.
She saw, she conquer’d; Wray shrunk back;
Court mandates we no more obey;
Majorities no more they pack,
And Fox and Freedom win the day!
Who can deny when beauty sues?
And where’s the tongue can blame her Grace;
Not timid slavery can refuse:
Her life’s as spotless as her face.”
The countenance shown to Fox by the youthful rank, fashion, and
wealth of the day excited the bitterness of Tory rhymsters. The
active partisanship of the Prince of Wales was a source of caustic
recrimination and envy:--
“Since Britain’s great Prince condescends to evince
His concern in your future election,
How happy each Cobbler, Butcher, Smith, and Pot-wobbler,
Who shall merit the Royal protection!
“For goodness consider the rank of the bidder,
Who offers so much for your plumpers:
What’s the Nation or Pitt, to the Prince and Tom Tit!
Dash such stuff--and to Fox fill your bumpers.”
Arrayed on the Whig chief’s side was all the beauty and grace of fair
and fascinating wives and daughters of the Whig aristocracy, a bevy of
lovely political Circes, whose enchantments were all potent:--
“ON SEEING LADY BEAUCHAMP, LADY CARLISLE, AND LADY DERBY IN THEIR
CARRIAGES, ON MR. FOX’S SIDE OF THE HUSTINGS.
“The gentle Beauchamp, and the fair Carlisle,
Around their favour’d Fox expectant wait;
And Derby’s lip suspends the ready smile,
To ask ‘the Poll?’ and ‘what is Charles’s fate?’
“But say, ye _belles_, whose beauty all admit,
Do you in politics dispute the prize;
Or do ye near the Hustings proudly sit,
To take the _suffrage_ of admiring eyes?“
The Duchess of Devonshire was idolized by enthusiastic Whigs, who
hailed in her the salvation of the cause:--
“Let Pitt and Wray dislike the fair,
Decry our Devon’s matchless merit;
A braver, kinder soul we wear,
And love her _beauty_, love her _spirit_.
Let distant times and ages know,
When Temple would have made us slaves,
’Tis thus we ward the fatal blow,
’Tis Fox that beats--’tis Devon saves!”
“ON SEEING THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE, LADY DUNCANNON, ETC., CANVASSING
FOR MR. FOX.
“Sure Heav’n approves of Fox’s cause
(Tho’ slaves at Court abhor him);
To vote for Fox, then, who can pause,
Since _angels_ canvass for him.”
“ON A CERTAIN DUCHESS.
“Her mien like Cytherea’s dove,
Her lips like Hybla’s honey;
Who would not give a vote for love,
Unless he wanted money?”
Walpole’s lovely nieces, the three Ladies Waldegrave, added the
influence of their charms to those of the winsome Georgiana, and were
gallantly apostrophized with “Devon’s Queen:”--
“Fair DEVON all good English hearts must approve,
And the WALDGRAVES (God bless their sweet faces),
The Duchess she looks like the sweet Queen of love
And they like the three Sister Graces.”
The influence of this novel captivation upon the hearts of those so
happy as to be admitted to the electoral franchise acted like magic:--
“There’s Devonshire’s Duchess, all beauty and grace,
Each morning so early she shows her sweet face;
Tho’ ever so envious, all must her extol,
Then rouse up your spirits, and come to the poll.”
“EPIGRAM ON THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE.
“Array’d in matchless beauty, Devon’s fair
In Fox’s favour takes a zealous part,
But oh! where’er the pilferer comes--beware!
She supplicates a vote, and steals a heart.”
The compliments poured forth at the altar of this fair divinity were
not alone addressed to the beauty of her face, the grace of her
person, the excellence of her heart, and her captivating manners,--her
intellectual charms also secured due recognition:--
“IMPROMPTU ON HER GRACE OF DEVONSHIRE.
“Whilst Devon’s Duchess for Fox takes a part,
Whilst she asks for your _vote_, she engages your heart;
Can beauty alone such influence sway?
Can the fairest of fair make all mortals obey?--
Oh no; for her empire is over the mind,
And _beauty_ with _reason_ in her is combin’d.”
[Illustration: Fox.
Wray.
Hood.
THE CASE IS ALTERED. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
[_Page 281._]
Although every concession was made to the empire of Beauty, many of
the verses were slyly sarcastic, while some of the caricatures were
strongly coloured by the uncompromising coarseness of the age:--
“ODE TO THE DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE.
“Hail, Duchess! first of womankind,
Far, far you leave your sex behind,
With you none can compare;
For who but you, from street to street,
Would run about a vote to get,
Thrice, thrice bewitching fair!
Each day you visit every shop,
Into each house your head you pop,
Nor do you act the prude;
For ev’ry man salutes your Grace,
Some kiss your hand, and some your face,
And some are rather rude.”
“THE PARADOX OF THE TIMES.
“See modest Duchesses, no longer nice
In Virtue’s honour, haunt the sinks of Vice;
In Freedom’s cause, the guilty bribe convey,
And perjur’d wretches piously betray:
Seduced by Devon, and the Paphian crew,
What cannot Venus and the Graces do?--
Devon, not Fox, obtains the glorious prize,
Not public merit, but resistless eyes.”
As an antidote to the bitterness there was, however, a surfeit of
“sweets:”--
“A NEW SONG, TO THE TUNE OF ‘LET THE TOAST PASS.’
“To Fox and to Freedom we give our support,
Every Englishman feels it his duty,
When their cause is attack’d by the pow’r of the Court,
And defended by Virtue and Beauty.”
The turn of affairs which placed Fox in a majority over Sir Cecil
Wray, who for some time was in advance of the Whig chief, is summed up
by Rowlandson, amongst other caricaturists, as “The Case is altered”
(April 29, 1784). The election had nearly another three weeks to
run, but already the satirists were forecasting the result. Fox, be
it remembered, had other resources in reserve, and, at the close
of the poll, when Wray demanded a scrutiny, and the high bailiff
illegally declined to make his return, he was seated for Kirkwall.
In the caricaturist’s version, the election has already settled
Wray’s chances, and Fox is magnanimously driving off his defeated
opponent, and late dependent, to Lincoln: the ministerial candidate
is travelling, “without drums or trumpets,” smuggled away from the
exciting platform of the hustings, in the “Lincolnshire caravan for
paupers;” he is buried in self-contemplation,--“I always was a poor
dog, but now I am worse than ever.” The generous Fox, charioteering
his renegade _protégé_, is volunteering, “I will drive you to Lincoln,
where you may superintend the _small beer_ and _brickdust_.” Lord
Hood’s majority was safe at the head of the poll,--for no reason which
history has made manifest; he is pictured as suddenly surprising the
degrading pauper-conveyance, and, in compassion for his late colleague,
is exclaiming, much moved at these reverses, “Alas, poor Wray!”
[Illustration:
EVERY MAN HAS HIS HOBBY-HORSE--FOX AND THE DUCHESS OF
DEVONSHIRE. #/ ]
The doings of the Duchess of Devonshire, her sister, Lady Duncannon,
and their fair following of female canvassers are pictorially treated
by the caricaturist in his version of “The Procession to the Hustings
after a Successful Canvass,” in which a select group of outlying
voters, secured after much exertion, are seen conducted in triumph,
and with “rough music,” to the polling-place. The circumstance that,
chiefly owing to the opportune assistance of the Duchess, Fox was
placed second on the poll was commemorated in “Every Man has his
Hobby-horse.” Fox may truly be said to have been carried into the House
of Commons by his fair coadjutor.
[Illustration: THE PROCESSION TO THE HUSTINGS AFTER A SUCCESSFUL
CANVASS. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“Come, haste to the Hustings, all honest Electors,
No menace, no brib’ry shall keep us away:
Of Freedom and Fox be for ever protectors,
We scorn to desert them, like Sir Cecil Wray.
“Then come, ev’ry free, ev’ry generous soul,
That loves a fine girl and a fine flowing bowl,
Come here in a body, and all of you poll
’Gainst Sir Cecil Wray.
“For had he to women been ever a friend,
Nor by taxing _them_ tried our old taxes to mend,
Yet so _stingy_ he is, that none can contend
For Sir Cecil Wray.”
[_Page 282._]
The fact that Wray--who, as a double “Renegado,” shortly rejoined the
Whigs--appears to have gained but scant sympathy, was defeated and done
for, is turned to satirical account in a travestied view of Fox, North,
and the Duchess--the latter wearing a foxtail in her hat--“For the
Benefit of the Champion.--A Catch, to be performed at the New Theatre,
Covent Garden. For admission apply to the Duchess. N.B.--_Gratis_ to
those who wear large tails;” the lady is pointing to a headstone put up
in memory of “Poor Cecil Wray, Dead and turned to Clay.”
[Illustration: Duchess of Devonshire.
Charles James Fox.
Lord North.
FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CHAMPION--A CATCH. DEFEAT OF THE MINISTERIAL
CANDIDATE, SIR CECIL WRAY, WESTMINSTER ELECTION. 1784. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“_Oh! help Judas, lest he fall into the Pitt of Ingratitude!!!_
“The _prayers_ of all bad Christians, Heathens, Infidels, and
Devil’s Agents, are most earnestly requested for their dear
friend JUDAS ISCARIOT, Knight of the _back-stairs_,
lying at the period of political dissolution, having received
a dreadful wound from the exertions of the lovers of liberty
and the constitution, in the poll of the last ten days at the
Hustings, nigh unto the Place of Cabbages.” #/ ]
The fate of Wray, with Fox reinstated in his seat for Westminster, and
the concluding election scenes at Covent Garden are figured in “The
Westminster Deserter Drumm’d out of the Regiment.” Sam House, with
his perfectly bald head, and dressed in the clean and natty nankeen
jacket and trousers, his invariable wear summer and winter, is drumming
Wray off the stage: “May all Deserters feel Public Resentment”--is
the sentiment of both the indignant Chelsea veterans and buxom
maid-servants to whom Wray’s projects had given mortal offence. “The
Man of the People” is planting the standard of Liberty and Britannia,
and acknowledging his gratitude to his supporters with simple
fervour--“Friends and fellow-citizens, I cannot find words to express
my feelings to you on the victory.”
Finally, as an apotheosis of the fair champion who had contributed
most of all to the success and glory of the triumph over the Court,
Rowlandson etched the allegorical picture of “Liberty and Fame
introducing Female Patriotism to Britannia.”
At the close of the poll, Fox was 235 votes ahead of Wray, but, as
related, the high bailiff, Corbett, acting partially, refused to return
him on the plea that a scrutiny had been demanded; Fox was also a
candidate for Kirkwall, so that, in case of defeat at Westminster he
might still have a seat.
At the end of the election there was an immense crowd collected for
the chairing of Fox. A classic car was prepared, an improvement on
the perilous glory of being hoisted on the shoulders of excited
chairmen, or, worse still, lifted on those of volunteers--intoxicated
alike with enthusiasm and drinking toasts. The Whig chief mounted
his triumphal chariot; a multitudinous procession following, closed
by the state-carriages of the Duchesses of Portland and Devonshire,
drawn by six horses each. Fox descended from the car at Devonshire
House, where was erected a temporary scaffolding, on which was raised
a bevy of notabilities, including the Prince of Wales, with the Duke
and Duchess of Devonshire, to whose exertions Fox owed a debt of
gratitude. A commemorative dinner was given at Willis’s Rooms, where
Fox made a glowing speech on the subject of the election. The Prince
of Wales, after attending the king at a review at Ascot, rode up St.
James’s Street in his uniform, and was received with acclamations, in
acknowledgment of his partisanship for the Whig chief, whose favours
he wore,--and ended his day of triumph by dining at Devonshire House,
where he appeared wearing Fox’s colours (the Washington uniform), and
with a laurel branch in token of victory.
[Illustration: Sir Cecil Wray.
Sam House.
Charles James Fox.
THE WESTMINSTER DESERTER DRUMMED OUT OF THE REGIMENT. DEFEAT OF SIR
CECIL WRAY. HUSTINGS, COVENT GARDEN, WESTMINSTER ELECTION. 1784. BY T.
ROWLANDSON.
“Sir Cecil, be aisy, I won’t be unshivil
Now the Man of the Paple is chose in your stead;
From swate Covent Garden you’re flung to the Divil,
By Jabers, Sir Cecil, you’ve bodder’d your head.
“To be sure, much avail to you all your fine spaiches,
’Tis nought but palaver, my honey, my dear,
While all Charley’s voters stick to him like laiches,
A friend to our liberties and our small beer.
“_The Irish Chairmen to Sir Cecil Wray._”
[_Page 284._]
[Illustration: LIBERTY AND FAME INTRODUCING FEMALE PATRIOTISM (DUCHESS
OF DEVONSHIRE) TO BRITANNIA. 1784. BY T. ROWLANDSON.
“She smiles,
Infused with a Fortitude from Heaven.”--SHAKESPEARE, _The Tempest_.
“Let envy rail and disappointment rage,
Still Fox shall prove the wonder of the age!
“Triumph and Fame shall every step attend
His King’s best subject and his country’s friend!”
[_Page 285._]
The party rejoicings and festivities at the conclusion of this election
are felicitously related by Wraxall, who enjoyed the advantages of
himself participating in the scenes he pictures. “Still the Whigs were
not to be disappointed of their ovation. The exultation of those gay
times forms a strange contrast to the grim monotony of our own. Fox,
after being chaired in great pomp through the streets, was finally
carried into the court-yard of Carlton House. The Prince’s plume was
on his banners in acknowledgment of princely partisanship. A banner,
inscribed ‘Sacred to Female Patriotism,’ recorded the services of the
Duchess. The carriages of the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland, each
drawn by six horses, moved in procession, and Fox’s own carriage was
a pile of rejoicing Whiggism. On its boxes and traces, and where they
could, sat Colonel North, afterwards Lord Guilford; Adam, who but a
few years before wounded the patriot in a duel; and a whole cluster
of political friends, followers, and expectants. The prince came to
the balustrade before the house[64] to cheer him, with a crowd of
fashionable people. Fox finished the triumph by an harangue to the mob,
and they in return finished by a riot, an illumination, and breaking
Lord Temple’s windows.
“But the festivities were scarcely begun. The prince threw open his
showy apartments to the nobility, and gave them a brilliant _fête_
in the gardens, which happened to be at its height just when the
king was passing through St. James’s Park in state to open the new
parliament. The rival interests were within a brick wall of each other,
and their spirit could not have been more strangely contrasted than in
their occupations. But nights and days to those graceful pursuers of
pleasure and politics alike knew no intermission. On that very evening
the celebrated beautiful and witty Mrs. Crewe gave a brilliant rout,
in which ‘blue and buff’ were the universal costume of both sexes;
the buff and blue were the uniform of Washington and his troops, and
imprudently adopted by Fox to declare his hostility to the Government.
The prince himself appeared in the party colours. At supper, he toasted
the fair giver of the feast in the words ‘True Blue and Mrs. Crewe.’
The lady, not unskilfully, and with measureless applause, returned it
by another, ‘True Blue and all of you.’”
With the enforced termination of the polling at the fortieth day,
arrived the demand of Wray for a scrutiny, and the high bailiff’s
unjustifiable attitude, for which he subsequently suffered severely,
of declining to make a return, compelled Fox to look elsewhere for a
seat, or find no place in the coming parliament, where, as Walpole
said, could Fox have stood for every seat in the kingdom he would
have represented the entire return in his own person, such was his
influence and popularity. “The Departure,” (May 18, 1784), the day
succeeding the close of the poll, shows Fox leaving behind him the
palatial abode of his warm supporter, the Prince of Wales, and taking
leave of his delectable champions, the Duchess of Devonshire and
her sister, the fair Lady Duncannon, _en route_ for “Coventry” or
“Out-in-the-cold-shire.” Fox is observing on his retreat:--
“If that a scrutiny at last takes place,
I can’t tell how ’twill be, and please your Grace!”
Fox’s early ally, Burke, equipped as an outrider, is prepared to drive
his friend away from the scene of his triumphs; under Edmund’s arm
is a “plan of economy,” suggestive of necessary retrenchments in the
Whig camp.
[Illustration: DEFEAT OF THE HIGH AND MIGHTY BALISSIMO CORBETTINO AND
HIS FAMED CECILIAN FORCES, ON THE PLAINS OF ST. MARTIN, ON THURSDAY,
THE 3RD DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1785, BY THE CHAMPION OF THE PEOPLE AND HIS
CHOSEN BAND.
[_Page 287._]
Among the tactics of the Ministerialists may be reckoned the ominous
“scrutiny,” which was threatened directly Fox’s votes began to
outnumber those in favour of his rival, Wray. On Fox’s success this
intention was carried out, the returning officer acting partially
in order to connive at the manœuvre; a scrutiny being notoriously
a tedious, lengthy, and costly affair, and hence more vexations to
Fox than to the combined forces of his opponents. This circumstance
is illustrated by the caricaturist, nearly a twelvemonth later;
when the excitement of the protracted contest had cooled down, Fox
secured another victory over his adversaries, which is commemorated in
Rowlandson’s version of the affair (March 7, 1785), entitled:--
“Defeat of the high and mighty Balissimo Corbettino and
his famed Cecilian forces, on the plains of St. Martin, on
Thursday, the 3rd day of February, 1785, by the Champion of
the People and his chosen band, after a smart skirmish, which
lasted a considerable time, in which many men were lost on both
sides. But their great ally at length losing ground, desertions
took place, and notwithstanding their vast superiority in
numbers and weight of metal at the first onset, this increased
apace, altho’ often rallied by the ablest man in command, till
at length the forces gave way in all quarters, and they were
totally overthrown. This print is dedicated to the Electors of
the City and Liberty of Westminster, who have so nobly stood
forth and supported their champion upon this trying occasion,
by AN INDEPENDENT ELECTOR.”
Rowlandson has pictured the rival combatants at the head of their
learned forces. Fox’s lawyers are triumphant, and armed with such legal
weapons as “Eloquence,” “Truth,” “Perseverance,” and “Law;” the Whig
chief, in person, is dealing vengeance upon the disconcerted figures
of his antagonists, Wray and Corbett. Fox had successfully prosecuted
his action and recovered heavy damages against the bailiff, who, as
a courtier, had made himself the tool of the Ministerialists. Fox
is defended by his buckler, “Majority 38;” he is wielding the keen
sword of “Justice;” a laurel crown is placed on the chieftain’s brow
by a celestial messenger, who is charged with the decision of the
Law Court--“It is ordered that Thomas Corbett, Esq., do immediately
return.” Fox is declaring:--
“The wrath of my indignation is kindled, and I will pursue them
with a mighty hand and outstretched arm until justice is done
to those who have so nobly supported me.”
Sir Cecil Wray’s defence of “Ingratitude” is a sorry shield for the
protection of himself or of his fallen ally; his sword is broken; in
despair he cries, “My knees wax feeble, and I sink beneath the weight
of my own apostasy.” The high bailiff is cast down; he confesses,
“My conscience is now at peace.” Another supporter of the returning
officer is exclaiming, “Help, help! our chief is fallen. O conscience,
support me!” Corbett’s lawyers have turned their abashed backs on their
client and his cause: “Nor law, nor conscience, nor the aid of potent
Ministers, can e’er support the contest ’gainst such a chief!” “Our
support is gone, and we are fallen into a Pitt; yea, even into a deep
Pitt!”--the premier having been unable to protect the guilty against
the consequences of their act.