A History of Parliamentary Elections and Electioneering in the Old Days. Joseph Grego
Nay some committed to the Tower,
Impeach’d! Who then but must resent, To see a British parliament, With all the power of Arms and Laws, So zealously oppose my Cause, Pay Dutch, raise English troops and seamen, And may, perhaps, bring more from Bremen. Can my good subjects bear this still, And thus be sav’d against their will? However, if you’ll still consent, To damn that thing call’d Parliament, Burn Magna Charta, bring confusion On all things since the Revolution, Be governed by no other measure, But our own sovereign will and pleasure, I’ll pardon all, and what I’ve promis’d, grant ye, All ‘Oaths of Coronation’ non obstante.”
Whatever prospects the Pretender and his good friends the Tories might have cherished on the accession of George I., were abruptly put to flight after the abortive rising in 1715; this ill-advised attempt, and the consequences of its utter failure, are wittily set forth in the ballad:—
“THE RIGHT AND TRUE HISTORY OF PERKIN.
“Ye Whigs, and eke you Tories, give ear to what I sing; For it is about the Chevalier, that silly would-be King! He boasts of his nobility, and when his race began, Though his arms they are two trowels and his Crest a warming-pan. When first he came to Scotland, in ‘Our Dear Sister’s’ reign, He look’d, but did not like the Land, and so went home again. Soon after, ‘Our Dear Sister’ did make a peace with France, And then the Perkinites did laugh to see the Devil dance. And then to please the growling Whigs, who Perkin could not brook, That slim young man was sent to graze as far as Bar-le-Duc. But yet when D’Aumont hither came, to tie the League full close, Young Perkin tarry’d in Lorrain, or came to Som’set House. The Lords then did Address the Queen to do what she deny’d, Until Sir Patrick and the Prigg were safe on t’other side. Then came a proclamation out, to give five thousand pound To any one who Perkin took upon the English ground. Soon after Semper Eadem38 this Mortal life departs Which thing almost broke Chevalier’s, and Bona Fides’s hearts. Then Royal George of Hanover to happy Britain comes, With joyful noise upon the Thames, of trumpets, and of drums. The trait’rous Tory Tools then did cringe to seek for grace, And swore to be most loyal lads, if they were kept in place. But when the leaders found the King their Treason did espy, Away with speed they fled to France, the traitor’s sanctuary. This made the High-priest cry aloud—the Danger of the Church, Because those pillars from her slipt, and left her in the lurch. Then Bungay39 and his gang, harangu’d the senseless mob to win ’em; And rous’d ’em up to serve the Lord; as tho’ the De’il was in ’em. They ‘listed thieves, and jail birds, and rogues of ev’ry town, The Ladies chaste of Drury Lane, and the w—— of Babylon. Depending on this pious crew of ‘Non-Resisting’ Saints, They thought by plund’ring of the Whigs to make up all their wants. Then to begin the show—Lord Mar—that never was upright, To summon all his Bag-pipe-men, to Scotland took his flight. He sent his baillie Jockey round to summon all his clans, With a concert of Bag-pipes—it should been Warming-pans! He told ’em they might all for mighty Honours look, For he that was before a Lord, was now become a Duke. They all (he said) should great men be, which was the way to win ’em. So he got an army of captains all, and scarce a soldier in ’em. And finding of his numbers great, he sent a brigadier, To join a band of Fox-Hunters, that were near Lancashire. These march’d into Preston town, the women for to frighten, And there they show’d their talent lay, in marching, not in fighting. They challeng’d Gen’ral Carpenter to run with them a race, And troth they beat him out and out, he could not keep ’em pace. But Wills with expeditious march these foot-pads did surround, And then they look’d like harmless sheep coop’d up within a pound. Then Forster got a posset, and gave his priest the Tythe, But posset could not make the priest nor general look blithe. Then Forster and his perjur’d crew surrender prisoners, And show’d they were no Whigs, for they did not delight in wars. Then as they march’d to London, Oh! ’twas a gallant show, The Whigs bid the music play ‘Traitors all a-row.’ About this time the said Lord Mar (depending on his number) March’d up against the brave Argyle, and thought to bring him under. But tho’ he had full four to one (which you may say is odds) Of Highland Loons dress’d dreadfully, with Bonnets, Dirks, and plads. Yet bold Argyle, with Britons brave, engag’d him near Dunblane, And soon with loss made him retire much faster than he came. Then Mar sent to the Chevalier, to hasten o’er to Scoon, And said, ‘He should not want a crown, tho’ the Ale-wives pawn’d their spoon.’ But Mar’s design was plainly, when next they went to fight, Only to show a dismal thing which would like Death’s-head fright. At length the pale-fac’d Hero came, and like an Owler lands, Indeed he had much reason, for the goods were contrabands. As soon as he arrived, a Scottish ague took him, And tho’ he swallow’d Jesuit’s Bark, Good Lady! how it shook him. The non-resisting Damsels believ’d the omen bad, When at first speech the Baby cried, which made his Council mad. But when he heard Argyle approach’d with army in array, As Perkin came in like a thief, so again he stole away. So there’s an end of Perkin, and thus I end my Lays, With God preserve our Glorious George, and all his royal race!”
CHAPTER IV.
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