The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-02 00:00:00

EAST CUMBERLAND ELECTION.
DISGRACEFUL OUTRAGES.

We are sorry (rays the Carlisle Journal) to he
obliged to record, in reference to the Rest Cumberland
election, just concluded, a Aeries of outrages of • most dis-
graceful character, which occurred last week in the village
of Lavendale, and in which, we grieve to say, a clergyman
of the church of England and • student at the Durham
University are prominently implicated. Leetsdale is •
mall village, with some 100 inhabitants, lying in the north-
west of the parish of Irthington, and distant some 7 miles
frees Carlisle, and 4 from Brampton. In the village
sad neighbourhood there see probably a dozen county
voters, one of whom, Edward Fonter, a small pro-
prietor, has the misfortune, u it may be deemed by
some, to stand almost alone as • supporter of the him
muse ; and to that rircumstanee is to be attributed the de-
struetion of his property, under the circumstances which
we Ann proceed to relate. Our statement, it may be ne-
e, say, is not derived from mere gossip, but from
taken upon oath, which we have had an oppor-
tufty of perusing, and which we shall reproduce in sub-
lessee, without any attempt at exaggeration or colouring.
It appears that, about 15 years ego, Edward Forster built
• neat cottage on his anciently enclosed land, adjoining a
piece of waste common, which was at that time swampy and
overgrown with elder bushes. Ile took in a petition of the
waste, stubbed up the brushwood, drained the land, and laid
upon it a quantity of soil from one of his fields. After
considerable outlay in reclaiming it, it breams productive
land; it was planted with fruit trees and vegetables of
various kinds; and the swampy waste was converted into as
useful and neat a garden as any cottager in Cumberland
could boast of. The village of Leetsdale and the neigh-
liourhood would seem, hoverer, to rejoce in not a few reel-
dents who envied Mr. Punter the enjoyment of his little
homestead, bumble though it was. They bad been guilty
of acts of petty annoyance towards him on many occasions;
and when, last week, he voted for the Blue candidates, in
opposition to their wishes, cud to a scini.promise to support
the opposite side—given in order to rid himself of their im-
portunities—they appear to have deter:Diced to wreak sig-
nal vengeance upon him.
Oa Monday, the 13th instant, the first day of the polling,
Mr. Forster and his neighbour, Mr. Harrison, of Old Wall,
recorded their votes (Jr Mr. Howard and Mr. Marshall, in
the Brampton polling booth, after which they quietly re-
turned home. On Tuesday evening, immediately after the
final close of the poll, they were sitting together, enjoyiag
a neighbourly chat, in Forster's house when Isaac Phil-
lips, of Lavendale, accompanied by another man, came up
to the gate of the garden above alluded to, and, lifting it
and the wicket off their hinges, threw them into the brook
which runs hard by. Phillips then went up to the cottage,
and after shouting out at the inmates of the cottage, in a
very abusive manner, went away. Forster, who was not a
stranger to freaks of this kind, took the gates out of the brook
and quietly repLseel them. Shortly afterwards Phillips re-
turned anti repeated the outrage—tearing down the gate
and wicket, and again launching a volley of abase against
Forster and Harrison, after which he took his departure
and did not make his appearance again that sight.
On the following morning (Wednesday), whilst Forster
was working by the side of the brook, which was outside
his garden, he as startled by the sudden arrival of several
men who came up to him at • quick step, and apparent) y in
a very excited state. The party consisted of the Rev.
Richard Mulcaster, of.areystoke, who is a voter in the
parish; Mr. Richard Mulmater, junior, a student at Dur-
ham College, who some time ago took the degree of ,8.A.;
Mr. Thomas Law, • yeoman and farmer; Mr. Isaac Phil-
lips, and many others. Mulcaster the student was armed with
a double-barrelled gun, loaded and capped. Muleaster the par •
son, Law, and Philips carried pickaxes; and others of the
party spades. Fonter, perceiving that they were medi-
tating violence, appealed to them, saying, 0 Surely you will
not destroy the gates." The answer, accompanied with a
violent oath, was, that they would cut down both , and the
throat was instantly followed by a furious onslaught by the
whole party on the large rate, which was smashed to
pieces in a few seconds. Forster, in the meantime, whilst
their attention was thus directed, succeeded in carrying of
the wicket, and, fearing personal violence, Lied inside his
cottage and concealed htmeelf. The mob then, having
cleared the way, rushed into the garden, end whilst Mul-
easter, the student, stood guard, with his gun half raised,
Mulcaster, the person, and his companions, fell vigothusly to
work to destroy the beans, potatoes, sad other crops—
pulling down a mound cf earth, which protected them—
hewing down the fruit trees—tearing up the thorns—and
laying waste a great portion of the ground. After exhaust-
ing their strength, they returned to the village—parson,
etudent, and all—and repairing to the public-house, began'
to make preparations for renewing the attack with reia. I
tenements. Mulcaster acted as recruiting sergeant. He
sallied out into the village, and after much coaxing and'
some threatening, prevailed upon two labourers, who were
returning home to dinner from their work, to juin them.
For their services they were to receive ss. worth of drink,
sad Is. ed. each in money. The men servants of
Law and Phillips were also premed into the ser-
vice, and, thus reinforced, the whole party, about
• dozen in num or (except Isaac Phillips, who
was said to have gone to Brampton, to seek
professional advice), returned to the garden—inviting
the villagers to go and help themselves to the produce—and
renewed their violence with additional energy. Oa return-
ing to the public house, they were joined by Isaac Phillips
who again took command of his "devoted crew," and they
a second tine returned to the garden and completed the
work of destruction—destroying such articles of crockery

and furniture as Forster had left outside the
One by one they were thrown info the air, and
smashed, in their descent, with sticks, amidst loud
yells, and challenges to Forster to come out if he
dared. Forster not coming forth, they proceeded to pull
down a .d.ght of step. leading to the granary above the
dwelling, after which they went away.
The garden of Thomas Harrison, a quiet, ur.offinding
man, living on his own property, and following the occupa-
tion of a tailor, was on Thursday morning attacked in a
similar manner by the same parties; but we need not enter
further into details. Nor shall we comment upon them,
as neat week they will be the subji et of legal investigation
at the assizes, the aggrieved parties having determined to
institute criminal proceedings against the chief 'mon in the
outrages.