The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-10 00:00:00

"My borough ! 0, my ducats! 0, my borough !"

Sir Manasseh Lopez could not stand it. He laid
him down and died, leaving all the privileves and
difficulties appertaining to Westbury to his nephew,
Sir Ralph Franco Lopez, one of the present members
for Devonshire, in whose favour he had also obtained
a remainder of the baronetcy.
Sir Ralph Franco L ipsz was a man who poked
ahead. He saw how the wind blew and how the tide
was running. He knew perfectly well that the rotten
old ship Westbury would be run down mercilessly by
the steam frigate Reform unlees he put about quickly.
So, at the general election of 1831, he elected himself
for the seat, and, with a bold stroke of policy worthy
of better cause, declared that reform was inevitable
and that he should vote for it.
Was this done without "consideration?" Cer-
tainly not. Sir Ralph Lopez was not by any means
the man to ruin his own property and fortune,. Ile
knew very well what he was about, and it was not
long before the wisdom of his vote became apparent.
In the second Reform Bill the wiiigs sacrificed
Amersham with a population of 3,000 mercilessly ; but
Westbury with a population of 2,000 retained the
right of sending a representative to parliament. So
you see that there was jobbirg even under the
"Charter of our National Righte
When the Boundary Commissioners went down to
arrange the limits of the new borough of Westbury it
is evident that th►y found coneic'ereble diffi-
culty. They had their " instructions from govern-
ment," but it is clear from their report that they were
disgusted with the job. "The borough and town of
Westbury," they say, "lie in the centre of the parish
of Westbury. They formerly contained many manu-
factories of cloth, which are at present much dimi-
nished in number, and it is not improbable that none
may exist in a few years. The coal districts afford
sue& fauilities in working machinery by steam that
places deprived of such advantage of fuel cannot
comp.te with them in cheapness of production. The
whole amount of houses of 101. annual value in the
town and borough taken together do not exceed 222.
It to therefore recommended, in order to make up a
constituency, that the whole pariah of Westbury
should be included in the franchue, which will then
produce about 318 hon-es of 101. annual value. The
parish contains 12,000 acres!"
And this report was adopted by a reform ministry
and a reform parliament :—this report which demos
the preservation of Westbury as a borough as a job,
and advises that the consti'uency should be " made
up !" And yet it is in the face of such glaring facts,
that the people are told " the Reform Act is a final
mutate 1"

The recommendation to include all the perish of
Westbury in the boundary " in order to make up a con-
stituency " was not unacceptable to Sir Ralph Lopez,
whore landed estate flea near the town. It gave him a
preponderating influence in the representation rf
smell borough not unlikely to prove, under good
management, nearly as sour a seat as it was b. fore
the passing of the bill. In 1832, 185 vott ra ri g'stercal
tor Weetbury. Sir Raldh Lopez offered himself for
re-election ; and, as a reformer, he was unopposed.
Had Sir Ralph Loprz p•esected himself in any
other character than as a reformer, it is by no means
certain that he would have come in so easily.
Great as was his property and influence in
the new barough, there existed powerful elemeats
of oppoeiion to him In the first place there is a string
dissenting interest all through this part of Wiltshire,—
an interest so considerable that Sir Ralph Lopez, on
thediseolutionof 1834,thougbt it desirable to propjets
it by declaring himself " favourable to the removal of
all disabilities so far as they can be removed with safety
to the church and state." But, besides the dissent-
ing interest, there was another very formidable
nucleus of opposition. The Bou-dary Com nissioners„,
it will have been observed, referred to the
" manufac'ories of cloth," of which they say, in 1832,
"they are at present much diminished in number,"
adding, with a prescience which has proved too fatally
predictive, " in • few yeara it is nut improbable that
none may exist." At that time, and down to 1847,
the cloth manufacture of Westbury, solely in the
hands of one large firm, employed nearly 800 arti-
sans. Sir Ralph Lopez and all the tenants on his
estate probably did not afford employment to above
half the number. In so small a. place such an in-
fluence as this could not fail to be extremely
powerful.
However, Sir Ralph Lopez, in 1832, came in
without any opposition. During that parliament his
votes were not entirely satisfactory, but upon the
whole perhaps they were as good as could have been
expetted. In 1836, Sir Ralph was accordingly again

elitained. Ha Mod neelest Sur Elbert Peel upo
the spe.ke rah*, boa ihmillog the sajoa ily against the
govemeasat bym am he eteel, the very next
night be suppersed the Meg MiUders on the addr. es,
and thenceforward Immins a unarmed conservative.
A: the dieselation of 1837, the Reform Club
thought Sir Ralph Lope &waved to be opposed in
Westbury, and they sceordincly seat down Mr. I. J.
Briscoe, formerly reptesentattu of Surrey, to give
hisg tam for kb key votes. Mr. &limos went down
WerAbory reittx no strum Dome of success, but
when he got there he found meal reason to rejoice
that he bad amegted the mission imposed upon him.
Sir Ralph Lopes, in truth, was very unpopelar. The
diameters were greatly dissatisfied with -Lira: Wipers.
Maltravers, the manufeetarees, were zealous is their
enmities to his re-election= and es the hoe. baronet
hither lived near the place, nor visited it more fre-
quently than he wild help, there was no personal re-
iard he him, so that the oily votes be could con-
fidently rely epos ware thuis of his own tenants and
of wens connected with him by emulation or some
sort d dependence. Still, Mr. Briscoe, as a stranger,
bad an uphill game to fight He fought it gallantly,
sod the result was his return by a majority of 2 :
98 of the scanty number of voters polling for Briscoe,
sad 98 for Lope.
Arendt 113 unexpected made Sir Ralph Lopez look
about him. It. adopted a practice too common in
small boroughs : he swamped the independent eon-
etitessey by manufacturing votes. In 1837 there
were about 200 electors on the register,
of whom 194 voted. This is the real eon-
shimmy of Wesibery. Bat in 1841 the con-
stituency was swollen to 291; nearly 100, in
het, had been added to the list. This wee
gamily to be managed in a borough of this sort. In
the first place, the landlord could subdivide bistenen-
else—which was done. In the next, he meld sear:
pieces of land to email meters, to give them a
greater nominal value—which was also done. The
day labourers upon the estate wete put into the cot-
tages me occupiers. The extent of the birough, com-
prisiog 12,000 -acres, and a poor agricultural popu-
lation, afforded plenty ot opportunity for
the st:cosesful working of such eobemea. The masa-
queue was that in 1841 Sir Ralph Lopes's h
was again paramount in Westbury, and, the heroes!'
woe nearly u much his own u it had been his vise-
rated uncles.
In 1841, Sir Ralph was accordingly elected u
opposed. Mr. Briscoe might probably have come for-
ward, but there wets circumstances., exclusive of the
certainty of defeat, whit h induct d him to de-1
cline. A church-rate dispute had caused some
dismission' amongst the liberals, which were *s-
haded et the time of the election; and there
bad also ban differences between Mr. Brito3e and his
ageys about the expenses ot working the borough
registration, &c., which had become a very serious
annual charge upon the member. Under these cir-
cumstances Mr. Briscoe gave up the seat altogether.
and it was not to be expectei that any one else wou!d
Dome forward.

Under the law as it now stand!, the only way of
meeting the abuse of vote manufacture is by retalia-
tion. The liberals of Westbury, having been taught
a lesson by the enemy, thought that they would try
to play the same game. Messrs. MsWavers and Ca.
had, in regard to personae Table of exercising the
franchise, quite ea much influence in their way
as Sir Ralph Lopez had in his. If Sr.
Ralph could confer the right of voting on
his farm-tenants and labsurers, Meagre. Maltravers
argued that they would colder it on the workpe4ple
uttbstr factorise. They accordingly set to work to
erect a number of new 101. hsu-ei close to their mills,
for the advantage of the artisans in their emplo3-
meet. A very large amount of money was invested
in this way. 'As occupiers of thn houses were placed
upon the register as fast as possible. There had been
18.5 electors in 1832, 194 in 1835, 200, or there-
abouts, in 1837 ; in 1841 there were 291 upon the
register, in 1847 no less than 334 !
It was now the tarn of Sir Ralph Lopes to ga out.
He was foiled with his own weapons. He had no
more chance in 1847 than Mr. Briscoe bad in 1811.

Messrs. MaPrayers and their party had the election
in their hands. It must be recorded, to their high
hector, that they made the best rue of their oppor-
tunity. Unlike bir Ralph Lopez' they d.d not force
themselves upon the borough. They set about to
obtain the best candidate the y could find, and after
consulting concerning want , they at lei.gtb, ou the
recommendation of very influential members of t'.e
progress party, fixed their choice on Mr. James Wil-
son, the editor of the' Economist."
A Mr. Phipps, a merchant of Liverpnel, who is
connected with a family in the neighbourhiurd,
presented himself in opposition to Mr. Wil-
son, but retired after a canvass which
proved to hire that he had no prospect of success. A
barrister at Warminster sessions happening to hear
of Mr. Phipps's retirement, thought the opening a
good one for a Mend who was anxious to get into
parliament. That Mead came down in the person of
Mr. Montague Higgins, better known as the author
of the letters bearing the signature of u Jacob
Omnium." Here were two literary men piticrl
against each other. Fur the credit of the pen, it
could bare been wished that the contest had been

conducted on pure literary principles. But our frirnd
Jac.:l), or rather his friends for him, resorted t.► the

tap. The quantity of hard els which was there-
upon drank an Westbury never before was equal!: d.
The statistical information of the Economist bad con-
fused the sentea of the voter. already : Jacob " fud-
dled them still further, Ferheps upon the principle
that—
_ . _

" WWI" electric flame
Sift, so swiftly purees,
As admit throcelt the frame
It sheets ham brimming gimes."

Nearly 1,50 W. wu spent in " guttliag and guz-
zling " at "Jacob Omnium's " expense. Neverthil.es
he wee beaten by a large majority for so small a cm-
stitueney—the numbers being—For Wilson, 170;
Higgins, 149. Majority, 21.
Mi. Wilson pledged himself to take up his reel-
deuce at Westbury, in the event of his obtaining his
election for the borough. He hue redeemed his pltdge,
and is now resident 11 ith bin family immediattly
adjacent to the town. But we are sorry to say there
is but a s'en.er prospect of his again representing
Westbury in parliament. Since the election of 1847
a seriousmisfortune has happened the borough.
The prediction of the Boundary :Commissioner. has
been too fatally verified. Westbury is left without a
single manufactory.
Thrown out of occupation by the unexpected sus-
pension of Messrs. Maltrevers's important works, the
poor population of Westbury were reduced a year or
two ago to the lut degree of distress.
To dock the "White Horse" was the only
occupation hft them. They gave him a new
flowing tail and corrected an imperfection in one of
his legs last year, and then, poor souls, no lees tine
300 families left the place principally to seek a liveli-
hood abroad.

At present, Wtstbnr7 is in a miserable state. Half
the houses ate closed, with no hopes of their being re-
tenanted. There is little or no empinyment of any
sort even for the people who remain. Beehives is
still carried on at Messrs. Maltravcre's works, but it

is a mtre shadow of that whieb is gone. Th&t the
trade may again spring from its ashes is the earnest
wish of all who have hid t Wings with the great
Westbury firm, but it et ems almost hoping against
hope to fatty that the Westbury cloth trade ever can
revive.

And now, what will our friends in Manchester say
to the reverses of a single firm not only reining a
whole population, but altering the entire political com-
plexion of a district ? Twenty firms might fail in
their borough without affecting the independence
of the conetstueney. Yet here a siogle reverse in
!mucus throws a representation into the hands of a
boromerlusoeger, who will at the next election, it is
said, introduce his own eon, just of age, to the seat
wide be is able to command by the votes of his
temente and their serfs.

Om such things be permitted to continue? The
pablic will surely answer " No." In a scheme of
mere Reseed reform, then, how is Westbury to be
dealt with ? There are three courses open. It might
either be disfranchised (which the state of the place
fully warrants), or it might be sneezed to the neigh-
bearing borough of Devises, or it might ba thrown
Jabs a district of borough' coediting of Trowbridge,
Westbury, and Warminster, three towns by no means
fbe apart. Trowbridge is a cloth 'manufacturing
11,01, with parochial per' cl 14,000.
sistera
is a thrivieg plea, with a population of
War-
MID. The tows et Was Mow has, lay, 2,ooo—total,
DMOO. An antrismisat wiii would mite time
Isins kr Pathwarsalia Puri" woulla
most Se was slabs fres Imo nada at a v 2

nstion influence on the pert of any single great pn-
prietor.
Westbury would be grateful for any eking,. It
groans and moans under tie present system. The
late reverses of the town ere indirectly a good deal
attributable to its eh ctioneering oontests. Money
that is locked up in backs and mortar is not imme-
diately available for manufacturing purposes ander
say otronmstancts, and in such a place as Westbury
the sale of house property would be far less easy than
elsewhere. This, and the bad 1444 existing in the
place, renders Westbury altogether anxious for a
change, let it CM. is whatever form or shape it may.
There is 0:a historical fact connected with West-
bury that must not be omitted. It has the unhappy
reputation of being the first town in which an act of
bribery was ever discovered to have been committed.
Blackstone records that in the 13th of Elisabeth. " one
Thomas Lodge, being a simple man, and of small
capacity to serve in Parliament, acknowledged he had
g.ven the returning officer and others of the borough
of Westbury 41. to be returned member, and was for
that premium elected but for this acne. (' this said
lewd and seandslow onsinp.) the town was amerced
in the sam of twenty pound..., the member was re-
=Ted, and the officer fined and imprisoned."
May it henceforward be, in the reign of Victoria,
with regard to bribery, are it thus was in the "good
old days of Queen Bine."