The Express.
London, England, 1849-02-26 00:00:00

LEICESTERSHIRE FARMERS PETITIONING

FOR REFORM.

A special genetalineSiiiiiolths Leicestershire
Apiculture' Society, to consider tile propriety of petitioning
for the repeal of the malt tax, and the other burdens which
pries unequally upon agriculture, was held at the Bell Howl,
Leicester, on Saturday afternoon. There was a very numer-
ous attendance of farmers, some of whom had come from dia-
tent parts of the county to be present.
The chair was taken by the Bon. H. W. Wilson, one of
the rice-presidents, who announced that their noble presi-
dent, the Duke of Rutland, would have been present but for
ill health, but he had the pleasure of lc:owing that his
pain was in favour of the resolutions he had prepared to
submit to that meeting, and hoped the measures they were,
seeking would become the law of the land. After an ex•
tremely long addrew, in which the chairman dwelt upon the
malt-tax, the income-tax, the poor-rate, county-rate, and Bir
R. Peel's measures of 1848, as very unjust and burdensome
to the owners and occupiers of land, he submitted
a series of very long resolutions. The first expressed
alarm at " the renewed attack upon British industry," in
the attempt to repeal the navigation laws. The second de-
precated in strong terms the attempt to lay fresh burdens on
the county rate, as was proposed by the bill recently brought
in to parliament in reference to public roads ; and expressed
an opinion in favour of a national rate fir the relief of the
poor. The third was an exceedingly long one, and partook
of the character of a petition more than of a re °into:tn. It
designated the present laws of settlement as a grievous
burden—unjust and oppressive, and called foe their
abolition. It also proposed that every person should
be deemed settled wherever he became chargeable,
and concluded by declaring that " the malt-tax long since
condemned as unequal, impolitic, and unjust, is by free-trade
measures rendered still more destructive to agricultural
prosperity, when the farmer ha to contend with untaxed
corn and settle. While we freely admit that a sufficient
revenue must be raised, and distinctly express cur readiness
to maintain our natioaal credit unimpaired, and the
great defences of our country—the army and navy—
in all their efficiency, regard being had to the
strictest economy in every financial depsrtment, we firmly
but respectfully demand that the malt tax may be repealed,
and that• substitute, if necessary, may be found in a mode-
rate duty upon corn and cattle, and that the customs duties
may be increased upon tallow, wave grown swr, spirits,
silks, luxuries generally, and manufactured goods of every
description."
Mr. G. KILBY, of Queenibwough, opposed the latter
part of this resolution. He would ask for the repeal of the
malt tax, but would not suggest any other tax to make up
the Aefieleney it might create. Let the government be eve.
aosiloal. He saw no probability of a retuia t•

protective duties upon corn and pale. The
of parliament and of the country generally svere toeferVA
against them to have any chance of success. If they saw
for this they might at ones he met with the reply aim.
new system had not been in operation a mouth yet, sag lug
not had a trial. Let them wait until the manufacturers eAs‘
out for protection, and the Duke of Wellington, Sir It. Pea
and Eal Howe, altered their opinions on the bubject,
then he would join them in asking for the re-imp:shift c,/ those duties. He thought they were entitled to the
of the malt tax, as some compen.ation for the lass of thee 4
on eons.
Mr. BOYER also opposed suggesting any made ef aids.
inereased lands. He would have the fanners be hilly
solved to have the malt.tax repealed. end then they now
get It, and it would he throwing the government on rt.
trenchment.

The Her. N. MORGAN, Rector of Rearsby, gobs eat.
coned in the opinions of Mr. Boyer. Money was tack a
slippery thing that whatever government got hold of it, it
Irma down. The only way to get the tax off was by titres*.
went. Vest sums of public money wore spent in *way,
gene. Look at the colonies, look at the army, and look it
the nary. He (the speaker) once belonged to the navy, bat
is those days they were kept more in blue water than
harbour. He did net approve of having to 'Nod pogi,
money merely for the purpose of finding Out. kg Us
younger branches of the families of the nobility.
After tome further discussion, the nsolutiou, as repast
by the chairman, was agreed to by a large tosjority. A
petition, in accordance with th.t resolutions, was also age*
to, and numerously signed.

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM
NORTHALLERTON.
Yoho ! yoho! "Over the hills and far mar'
Merry was the music in the long, wide street, within
Northallerton in the old days of coach-guards and
key-bugles. A dozen mails and long stages dashed
through daily : nor did they pass without stopping.
For their hungry insides and outs giant meals wee;
prepared at the hotels. A holocauet et' beef and
mutton, pyramids of tongues and lowly, mem,
negue and brandy-and-water, together with a epeeist
preparation for the coachman under the peculiar cue
of the landlady herself. In the etables of the chief
inn in Northallerton in those days, a hundred post.
horses waited patiently the oft-repeated cry, eteet,
on." In fact, as the half-way town on the read to
tween York and Newcastle, Northallerton hedge is.
portance now utterly lost to it. It was the halting.
place alike of the peer and the cede, r; and it
was as prosperous as a town so situated would be.
But all this prosperity has flown. The inns are now
half closed : the long street mournful and deserted,
To-day the railway omnibus is almost the only rebide
that wet a down, and as it goes along, nine times out
of ten without a passenger, the closed window abetters
creak and groan as if deploring the sad chugs that
the railway has effected.
Those who passed through Northallerton oa the
day fixed for " the nomination of two bargee.s to
serve in parliament " in the year 1831, may remeto
ber a strange scene that occurred there. The ton
had been long in the hands of two families, the Earls
of Ilarewood and the Piersea of Bedale. The repre.
sentatiyes returned in 1831 were the Hon. W. S.
Lascelles on the former interest, and Sir J. P. Btu
ford by favour of the latter. But on the
morning of this nomination a great excitement had
been occasioned. A couple of years previously then
had come to live at Otterington, a village some fore
miles from Northallerton, a Capt. 800 of the Boyd
Navy, a hearty, coarse, good-humoured "jolly ter'
of the school of 1790. Capt. Bees coaling iota th
town on the day in question, and finding a mob d
people hanging about, prom eded to harangue them
on the subject of reform. He found a willing ad
enthusiastic audience. As it was dry working .peal.
ing without wetting one's whistle (co thougk
Captain Boss), some barrels of ale were sent
for, and tapped at the Cross, in the centre d
the street. The usual results follzmed. Its
members of the unpopular party in the tows
were jeered at and hooted—the boys very speedily
took to pelting—acts of retaliation succeeded, and the
town before long became the scene of a riot. All Oau
was laid to the door of Capt. Bees ; but, as in those
days to head a reform riot was lather a popular poi-
aim than otherwise, Capt. BCB9 in no di gree got re.
primanded by the Admiralty, whilst with the people
at Northallerton he made himself, beyond doubt, the
most popular man of his day.
The electors of Northallerton at this time were the
holders of the burgage tenures in the town. The
burgage tenure was is very curious trembles, and, u
Northallerton afforded a peculiar example of it, it
not be amiss to explain its meaning. In feudal tune,
when towns sought anxiously the protection of some
neighbouring baron, many of their tenements were
held under the lord upon due performance of path.
cuter services. These services usually referred to the
equipment of the baron and his followers. Tie
armourer or the bowyer, the farrier or the glove.
maker, were the usual burgagere : there ere very few,
if any, instances, where the service had relation to
agriculture or military duty. This tenure, which vu
of Norman origin, prevailed greatly in the north of
England, where the towns required more than al-
nary protection from the incursions of border depro
deters. In Northallerton the burgage tenures were
numerous. The sitet of them are all in the ruin
street, intermingled with other dwellings which did
not possess the privilege. At the peried of the Ro
form Bill many of the tenements held upon thin
tenure, and consequently conferring the privilege oft
vote, were in a wretchedly decayed cooditia
Some were mere cow-houses or stables : others wees
underlet by the voter to poor persons upon cm-
dition of their keeping them in repair : some was
wholly uninhabited. Occasionally, the vote was eve
rated from the actual possession of the tenement bye
grant of a lease of the latter at a pepper-corn rent fir
999 years; in all cues, the right to vote, either.
served or made over with the tenement, wan ma.
dered as about 1001 in the purchase. The propriets-
ship of the burgage tenures was nearly equally divided
in 1831 between the families of Lascelles and Pin:
which accounts at once for the representation of ads
town being equally shared by these houses.
When the Reform Bill threw open Northalleren
in 1832, the feeling of the inhabitants was so ateeg
against the old burgage system and the old immixe
members, that the latter felt it necessary
.to
retire from the representation without saying
a word upon the subject. The family or
Pierse, however, thought that they might succeed
in bringing in a member of their own nominate
who was not opposed to the principle of recut
Mr. Henry Pierse, who, himself sat for the tows
some years, was, in some sort, a waig, although be
had allowed his tory son-in-law, Sir John P. Bet*
his
ford,
Wrightson, of Cusworth, who -Ld married e
afotiti!reth fill
form plTahcee' anPiersesa vote
accoirdinn the
glyrapuntks of
forwardthe
grand-niece of Mr. Henry Pierse, and who had sat an
a whig for Hull in the parliaments of 1830 and 1831.
Mr. Wrightson congratulated himself that he should
meet with no opposition from the Laso:lles intereatin
Northallerton whose candidate would not have stood
a shadow of chance. How often, in this world, do
we regard those things as advantages, which stet ill
fact, our greatest drawbacks. It was so in this instance.
Had Mr. Wrightson not been supported by the toriee
he would have come in triumphantly; as it wee be
was completely routed.
The people, whose excitement about reform had
been intense, finding a gentleman in the field epee
the old boroughmongering interest, of whom, person'
ally or politically, they knew very little, been
to suspect a trap. Before whom could they uff
their doubts and fears but before their ebempiool
Captain Boss ? That worthy tar blew great gal
when he heard their story. He " swore by Yee sod
nay" that they should not be taken in this pnvateeriug
sort of fashion. If no one else would fight for then:,
he would clear decks and man the guns himself So
hitching up his inexpressible., and turning s gold
fiercely, down he came to Northallerton and declared
eacaennideidasattoe,niiitohmthe the greatat of and stehleneighbourhood.
The idea of Capt. Boss, who was a mere bluets;
hog nobody, beating the united interest of Piers. lea,
Lascelles, Northallerton, seemed to the wisdom of
the " respectability of the country" so ezoeedingff
til jtohye gentryof thenoted,
of the
the
absurd, that even the young ladies tittered at the r:
posteroas ides. But the captain was brave, and rty
vowed reformation."
He fought the borough Nets
114 He proved himself a ?or
powerful opponent.
on the principle that he would have fought his .
and with the same British-sailer-like determiestol
not to strike. All the populace were with him, and
he got up the excitement to the highest
point. At length the Pierse party began reel 7f..
find that they were byno means safe. Thel
cordingly put out all their efforts. The count) f.
finance was brought to bear : the aristocrautii
pressed their determination " to pat down that Ls
Boot" tad they let their tradesmen )mow

this only made matters 'am The rikini_Letbral-
don to which the people bad been sollsansd leiers
bad driven them to desperation. They set inensnos
and interest et edam. Roche may lishennahnt
dis strength of the }spiv feeEmg by the fast that
when the old tory member, wished to te.p their
election ball no women in the town could be found to
attend! This feeling was re-excited by the circum-
stances of Capt. }Lae position. With a resolution
amounting almost to that which is the effect of dee-
perstiou, the people determined "to carry the Cap-
tain," and they did so to the wonder of the neigh-
bourhood by a majority of 108 to 97.
As you may easily perceive, when Captain Boss
went up In lAndoe. t, enter, as he Galled it, on hie
now command, ke found the Hoop of Commons a
very different ship to that he had expected. He tried to
sit out the tremendous long yarns that they spun there,
but it usually ended in his falling to sleep on a back
bench, or stretchiog himself out at length in the gal-
lery. The deep-rea lead which he, mentally, threw
oat in a long debate, never reached soundings but
omee or twice, and then only brought up "sand and
shells." of which he could make little or nothing. He
would t. y oo.asionsily to takethe bearingsof the minis-
ter's position, but though a pretty good band at an obser-
vadat generally, he could make nothing out of this.
The forms of the house were an awful puzzle to him,
and whoa the dirisinn bell sounded—or, as he used to
say, " all hands were piped "—which gangway he
eaght to go out et, whetier be was an " aye" or a
"no "—which on the " amendment," and which the
" original motion "—were points on which he never
could arrive at a derision. Hs was consequently
obliged to hoist a bine l'eter fora pilot two or three
times a bight t sometime-site was even driven to hang
out a signal et distress. Captain Boss, in fact, could
turn a ship, or otter a ship, or light a skip as wall as
toy mar, but the working of the vessel of the state he
did not understand. In fact, the worthy Captain
was at can to a gre.tse extent than he ever had bean
in his life before—at see, too, without a compels or a
chart.

Poor Capt. Bon ! This was not his only vexation.
Without intending any harm, but, u you may well
believe, Irma pure jollity of character, he had caused
the 'op to flow right easily in Northallerton at and
after his election. His committee undertook to get in
the bills and send him the account. It came a• last :
rum to-al 7304 ! A very small amount comparatively
for a seat in parliament, but a aao,t tremendous
stunner for a poet captain ikeln half-pay. The diffi-
culty may be early appreciated. Capt. Boss paid—
he was the sort of man who would pay every farthinz
—but he did not pay without difficulty, and he could
not pay without that diffizulty being known. He
complained, too, a good deal, and this alienated many
against whom, in truth, there was no reasonable
ground of compltiut. The fact was, Capt. Boas was
out of his element. His °unfitly nts soon discovered
the fact. It was highly honourable to them to have
elected him meter all toe cirenmstances, but his elec-
tion was a =leak,.
The next general election was in 1835. In the
interval the family iefluences at Northallerton had
not been :die. The Pierre and Lucelles properties
in the borough had been " worked" effectually. A
cue is known in which three good front houses, with
gardens, were let at 101. each to tenant voters, who
sub-let them at from 401. to 501. each. There
were numerous instances of this sat; in fact,
any man who could vote right, could get
house property 'Karel to him pretty much
on his own terms, it being well understood that the
real consideration was the vote and not the money
rent. In consequence of this circumstance, and what
has been before detailed, Capt. Boss found himself
beaten on the long tack, and so far to leeward in 1835
that he was Lila to " .03 about," and give up the chalet,
altegethee. Mr. Wrightson was now elected. He
came in searcely with the consent of the liberal party,
but they were obliged to succumb to the force of
circumst oxen
Capt. Bose had no sooner been thoroughly beaten
by the ouliined fleets as he would my, of Lascelles
and Piece, than that state of things occurred which
is always to be expected where the interests in com-
bination ere of a rival character. Mr. Wrightson
voted conscientiously with the whip; the }firewood
family acted with the tories. At the election in 1837,
Mr. Edwin Lescelles, the present member for Ripon,
came down to Northallerton to try the strength of the
family iufluence. He canvassed, but the old feeling
so far survived that he found he had very little
chance, and accordingly he left the town. In IFI4I,
however, the position of public affairs was far more
favourahle to him. Northallerton is in the centre of
an ugriultural district. Toe great question of the
day was corn law repeal, and Air. Wrightson bad
voted in its favour. The Pieties, too, had disposed
of a portion of their town property, whilst that of the
Harewood family remained intact. Mr. Lamella
now came forward, determined to make a gallant
fight for the representation. The contest which
ensued was severe and acrimonious. The Lascelles
party had the county interest in their favour, the pre-
ponderance in respect of property, and all the feeling
on the snbject of the corn law. Mr. Wrightson,
on his side, had also one or two points of van-
tage : the residence and popularity of Miss Pierse,
the family influence with the tradespeople, the advan-
tage of being in possession of the seat, and of having
held it without offending anybody during two em cee-
sive earliaments. Besides this, the old spirit of 1832
wee not entirely dead, and many of Captain Bas's old
mew now consented to be rated A B's in the books of
the good ship Wrightson. Mr. Wrightson, more-
over, had, as Captain Boss would have said, plenty of
shot in the locker. His ammunition was needed. Oa
both aides the expenditure in electioneering excesses
was, for a small place like Northallerton, lavish. There
was a met amount of treating. Bribery, to an
Went, there was not, and, indeed,
three could not be in this town but, as an
takeemat nye, " the undecided were influenced," and
there were one or two rather discreditable instances of
kidnapping and bottling. If these things ma le laid
boshto thecharge of bosh parties, there is also, in aides to
each of them, to be recorded that, as farm weep
individually concerned_, they kesht the hsremik in
the best spirit. Mr. Lessen's is remembered there to
this hour rather for the get tiemeallhe suavity of his
demeanour than for his Isle enpseditere. It was
cert.inly no lack of personal psteimiq that nem-
aimed his defeat. He washes.= en tbe pelt by 14 votes,
the numbers beteg—kr Wrightson, 128; 'micelle*,
114. The expenses of the two parties are estimated
at 6,0004 :are them 201. an elector, and more than
• guinea per hied kr all the population.
Four years after, it being evident that their election
inflame:swag gone, and it being probable that the value
of houses in Noethallerton would speedily decline, the
Labelle. family sold t'ee whole of their house property
in this town in lots to the highest bidder. It was
the wisest thing they could do. Having once depre-
ciated the rents fee e • purposes, it was
dillealt, and in the face of a dem trade it would
probably have been impossible, to have raised them to
a proper leveL The Pines property is also much
diminished, so that, probably, similar combinations and
conflicts to those we have recorded never can again
mom in the borough of Neethillenon.
What will be its future fats if it is permitted to re-
main a borough, as at pment, it is kt to predi-
cate. We commend the ems to Mr. Attwood, of Har-
wich and Lyme Regis, and many other notorious
places. Uncorrupted, the majority of voters are,
no doubt, liberals, but who knows what John Att-
wood's purse would do ? There is a Bereeford,
moreover, in the case—a name to which Mr. Attwood
is much attached. A son of Sir J. P. Beresford is
heir presumptive to the Pierse estates. He is said to
be a tory, and the party in Northallerton build up
their hopes on that assumption. From their neigh-
bourhood to the town the Piersee always will have
Maumee hen—and they are now almost the only
family who have.

The proper way to deal with North*Horton, how-
ever, would be to +mite it in electoral combination
with the town of Thirak. Singly, it cannot show a
shadow of a claim to return a member to the Home
of COlllOlOllll In Population Northallerton has not
6,000 souls ; in votes, not 300. Its only trade—the
wedges trade—ia lost to it for ever. In the district
included in the borough there are one or two lima
manufactories, and that is all the means Northaller►
ton can boast of employing even its scanty
lion. A hundred villages are just as math est=
the franchise; in point of wealth, ranch more so.
By uniting Northallerton and Think, and thereby
doubling the eenetiteeneY, the independence of the
voters would be 'scared, and the prevailing inh-
umes is both Mina neutralised, The arrange-
ment would not be useeeeptable to the
of either place. Think and Northallarton are rtt
apart : their interest' are is 00•1•011 and the public

feeling d their people meek the Nam The arrange-
ment would afford the parliamrnt an opportunity of
giving_ a member to the town of Stockton-
_

ipsurilass, a phut airing !daily in importance, having
a pardslisa gyrator than that of Northallertou
and Musk another. and yet unrepresented in the
Commons House of Parliament We will venture to
say that this measure would ha universally accept-
able.

As an historical fact, we mast not omit to mention
that the first Ite!orm Bill left Northallerton un-
touched! Had that bill passed, unmodified, this place
would abs.,lutely have sent two members to legislate
for the United Kingdom. No cloub', in that case, the
families of Pierre and Doodles would to this hour
have divided the representation, and we never should
have had the episode of pliant Capt. Boss. " Peace
be to his sidles !"