General Election-Gains of the Whig Party-Return of Sir Samuel Romilly for Westminster-His Death, and that of Warren Hastings, and of Sir Philip Francis.

THE general election of 1818 was contested | Cavendish for Derbyshire, the Marquis of with unusual keenness and acrimony on Tavistock for Bedfordshire, and Viscount both sides. The unpopularity of the Mini- Ebrington for Devon. Whigs were returned stry excited the hopes and stimulated the also for Cambridgeshire, Bucks, Berks, exertions of the Opposition, and they con- Cheshire, Herts, Hereford, &c., and for tested every seat where they had any Bristol and other large towns. The minisapparent chance of success. The Govern- terial candidates were defeated in Southment and the great borough-mongers held wark. The contest for the city of London between them more than one-half of the terminated in the rejection of Sir William entire seats in the House of Commons, so Curtis, a staunch ministerialist, who had that there was no contest possible in a represented the city for nearly thirty years, moiety of the constituencies; but there was and the return of four Whigs, with Alderno lack of candidates for the remainder. man Wood at their head, who had been the 'It is said,' wrote Charles Greville, Clerk only Whig among the former members. of the Council, in his celebrated 'Diary,' Brougham made a vigorous attempt to 'that there will be a hundred contests, wrest the county of Westmoreland from and that Government will lose twenty or the Lowthers, who had long reigned supthirty members.' There were, in fact, 115 reme there. The late members, Viscount contested elections, and the number would Lowther, Lord Lonsdale's eldest son, and his have been much greater but for the pre- uncle, the Hon. Col. Lowther, offered themcarious health of the aged king, whose selves for re-election, and were supported death, which might be soon expected, would by all the other large landed proprietors, necessarily cause another dissolution at no with the exception of the earl of Thanet, distant day. The gains to the Whig party who had inherited the estates of the ancient in these elections were much larger than had family of the Cliffords, now extinct in the been anticipated. In the rotten boroughs, male line. The independent candidate was of course, the weightiest purse carried vigorously supported by the smaller freethe day; but the large towns and the holders and the 'Statesmen,' who farmed most important and populous counties their paternal acres.' But the whole returned a strong body of Liberals. Lord official power of the county was unscruMilton was returned for Yorkshire, Lord pulously put forth against him, and hunLyttleton's son for Worcestershire, Paul dreds of faggot votes' were created on the Methuen for Wilts, Earl Gower and Mr. Lowther estates while the election was proLittleton for Staffordshire, T. W. Beaumont ceeding; and though Brougham's speeches for Northumberland, Coke of Holkham for produced a great effect on the multitudes Norfolk, Lord Althorp for North Hants, who assembled to hear the eloquent orator George Byng for Middlesex, Lord Stanley expose and denounce the thraldom in which for Lancashire, the Hon. C. A. Pelham for the county had been held by one territorial Lincolnshire, E. B. Portman for Dorset, magnate, and he was at the head of the Lord Morpeth for Cumberland, Mr. Lamb- poll on the evening of the first day, he was ton for Durham county, Lord George compelled to retire on the fourth day of the

contest, when he had polled only 889 votes | no vanity of mine, and, whatever be the against Colonel Lowther's 1157.

result, it will contribute in no degree to my happiness.' The Government candidate was Sir Murray Maxwell, a distinguished naval officer. Henry Hunt, a presumptuous, vain, and ignorant demagogue of broken fortune, and profligate habits, also offered himself, with no expectation of being elected, but merely that he might have an opportunity of making violent speeches and abusing the men he once extolled.' Old Major Cartwright was also put up by 'some absurd Radical reformers, without any hope or even wish of his own.'

The contest at Westminster excited still greater interest, not only in London, but throughout the whole country, than any other election struggle that took place at this time. That celebrated borough had been represented in the late Parliament by Lord Cochrane and Sir Francis Burdett; but the great sea-captain was about to take the command of the naval forces of Chili, in South America, and declined to offer himself for re-election. A little committee of tradesmen,' who had persuaded themselves that they were all powerful in West- The election began on the 18th of June. minster, and fancied that they could bring The show of hands was in favour of Romilly in any man whom they thought fit to pro- and Hunt. The former was at the head of pose as a colleague to Sir Francis Burdett, the poll on the first day, and kept that resolved to bring forward the Hon. Douglas position throughout. The committee of Kinnaird, a brother of Lord Kinnaird's, Burdett and Kinnaird, much to their diswith whose name, up till that moment, the credit, published violent hand-bills against constituency was wholly unacquainted. Mr. Romilly, in which they accused him of Kinnaird, like Sir Francis, was the advocate being 'a lawyer, one of the Whig faction, of universal suffrage, annual parliaments, and a person who sat on a committee and the ballot. The Whig party in West- against the much injured Princess of Wales.' minster addressed a requisition, very in- Finding, however, that Burdett, at the close fluentially signed, to Sir Samuel Romilly, of the poll on the third day, had received to allow himself to be put in nomination, little more than a third of the votes given at the same time requesting him to abstain for Sir Murray Maxwell, who stood second, from all personal attendance, trouble, and and that they were seriously endangering expense, and assuring him that they re- his election by canvassing for Kinnaird in quired from him no pledge, since the opposition to Romilly, they determined to uniform tenor of his life, his known attach- withdraw that gentleman as a candidate, ment to the Constitution, his zealous and and to canvass for Burdett alone, using unremitting efforts for the amelioration of every exertion to place him at the head of the laws, the correction of abuses, and the the poll. But in this they failed, though support of the cause of freedom, justice, on the fifth day they succeeded in placing and humanity, wherever assailed, were a him two votes above Maxwell. The poll sure pledge to them of his qualifications to was kept open fifteen days, and at the close represent them in Parliament. Romilly, the numbers were, for Romilly 5339, for notwithstanding that he had refused press- Burdett 5238, for Maxwell 4808, and 84 for ing invitations from Liverpool, Coventry, Hunt, who 'under every sort of disgrace Chester, Hull, Huntingdonshire, and Gla- had continued a candidate to the end, some morganshire, assuring him that if he days polling one or two votes, and some would come forward his success at any days none.' Major Cartwright withdrew of these places was certain, and that the at the end of the third day, having polled expense would be inconsiderable, thought only sixty-five votes. Covent Garden durit his duty to accept the Westminster requi- ing the election was a scene of almost sition; though, as he truly said, 'it gratifies incessant confusion and riots. Captain

when it was the secure asylum of those who were endeavouring to escape in foreign countries from religious or political persecution. These are the thanks which the electors of Westminster are entitled to expect; and when the time shall come that I shall have to render to you an account of the trust you have committed to me, I trust in God that I shall be able to show that I have discharged it honestly and faithfully.'

Maxwell was grossly insulted by the popu- | station which it held amongst nations lace each day as he appeared on the ground; and on the evening of the fifth day, as he was retiring from the hustings, he was attacked by some ruffians, and was so severely injured that he was not able again to appear in public while the contest lasted. On one of the days of the election the Riot Act had to be read and the military called out. While the struggle was proceeding, Romilly attended daily in the Court of Chancery, and went on with his business there as quietly as if there had been no election in the kingdom.' But at its close he thanked the electors in a brief but powerful speech-the last which this great law reformer and noble-minded patriot ever delivered. At the close of it he said, 'I am sensible that the thanks which it will become me to give, and which will be worthy of you to receive, are thanks not to be expressed in words, but in actions; not in this place, but within the walls of the House of Commons. The representative of Westminster should express his thanks by a faithful discharge of the sacred duties which you have imposed upon him; by a constant and vigilant attention to the public interests; by being a faithful guardian of the people's interest and a bold asserter of their rights; by resenting all attacks, whether open or insidious, which may be made upon the liberty of the press, the trial by jury, and the Habeas Corpusthe great security of all our liberties; by defeating all attempts to substitute in place of that Government of law and justice to which Englishmen have been accustomed, a Government supported by spies and informers; by endeavouring to restrain the lavish and improvident expenditure of public money; by opposing all new and oppressive taxes; by endeavouring to procure the abolition of useless and burthensome offices, a more equal representation of the people in Parliament, and a shorter duration of the Parliament's existence; by being the friend of religious as well as of civil liberty; by seeking to restore this country to the proud

Those who listened to these noble patriotic sentiments little thought that the orator would never enter upon the duties which he described in such glowing terms, and that before Parliament met his career would be closed. In a brief note appended to Romilly's diary it is stated, 'Lady Romilly died on the 29th October, 1818. The husband survived but for three days the wife, whom he had loved with a devotion to which her virtues and her happy influence on the usefulness of his life gave her so just a claim. His anxiety during her illness preyed upon his mind and affected his health; and the shock occasioned by her death led to that event which brought his life to a close on the 2nd of November, 1818, in the sixty-second year of his age. This melancholy termination of a career so eminently useful, as well as honourable and illustrious, produced a profound sensation throughout the country; for no man of his day was more esteemed or more universally beloved than Romilly. Even those who, like Lord Eldon, were diametrically opposed to his political principles deeply lamented his loss. When the chancellor came into court next morning, says his biographer, he was 'obviously much affected. As he took his seat he was much struck by the sight of the vacant place within the bar which Romilly was accustomed to occupy. His eyes filled with tears; "I cannot stay here," he exclaimed, and rising in great agitation broke up his court.'

'Few persons,' says Lord Brougham, have ever attained celebrity of name and exalted station in any country or in any

age, with such unsullied purity of character | Farnborough), that he never was out of his as this equally eminent and excellent person. place while Romilly spoke without finding He was a person of the most natural and that he had cause to lament his absence; simple manners, and one in whom the it was the confession of all who were kindliest charities and warmest feelings of admitted to his private society that they human nature were blended in the largest forgot the lawyer, the orator, and the measure with that firmness of purpose and patriot, and had never been aware, while unrelaxed sincerity of principle, in almost gazing on him with admiration, how much all other men found to be little compatible more he really deserved that tribute than with the attributes of a gentle nature and he appeared to do when seen from afar.' the feelings of a tender heart. As his prac- Several other men of great eminence tice, so his authority at the bar and with the passed away in the course of this year. bench was unexampled, and his success in Warren Hastings, the celebrated GovernorParliament was great and progressive. . . . General of Bengal, died on the 22nd of The friend of public virtue and the advo- August in his eighty-sixth year, having cate of human improvement will mourn survived the termination of his memorable still more sorrowfully over his urn than trial no less than a quarter of a century. the admirers of genius or those who are No one will deny him the possession of dazzled by political triumphs. For no one rare talents both for command and adcould know Romilly and doubt that as he ministration, and he was unquestionably only valued his own success and his own the ablest of all the great men to whom powers in the belief that they might con- the destinies of our empire in the East duce to the good of mankind, so each have been intrusted. He preserved and augmentation of his authority, each step of extended an empire,' says Lord Macaulay; his progress, must have been attended with 'he founded a polity; he administered some triumph in the cause of humanity and government and war with more than the justice. In his private life and capacity of Richelieu, and patronized learnpersonal habits he exhibited a model for ing with the judicious liberality of Cosmo.' imitation and an object of unqualified But it must be admitted that he was not esteem. In his family and in society, either a righteous or a merciful man. His where it was his delight and the only principles were lax, and he had little reward of his unremitting labours to un-respect for the rights or sympathy for the bend, he was amiable, simple, natural, sufferings of others. Three months later, cheerful. The vast resources of his Sir Philip Francis, the inveterate enemy memory; the astonishing economy of time, by which he was enabled to read almost every work of interest that came from the press of either France or England; the perfect correctness of his taste; his freedom from affectation; the wisdom of not being above doing ordinary things in the ordinary way-all conspired to render his society peculiarly attractive, and would have made it courted even had his eminence in higher matters been far less conspicuous. While it was the saying of one political adversary, the most experienced and correct observer among all the parliamentary men of his time (Mr. Charles Long, afterwards Lord

of Hastings, followed him to the grave at the age of seventy-eight, having survived for half a century the publication of the famous 'Letters of Junius,' of which he is commonly believed to be the author. Lord Ellenborough, who, as Mr. Law, was leading counsel for Hastings during his impeachment, died on the 13th of December in his sixty-ninth year. The death of Queen Charlotte, on the 17th of November, was an event of no political importance; but it led to a good deal of unbecoming and unpleasant discussion, when Parliament met, respecting the arrangements for the care of the king's person.