The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-06 00:00:00

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM

HEREFORD.
The City of Hereford bas the advantage of an es-
sentially liberal constituency. Since the Reform
Bill it has only on one occasion been represented by
a tory, and he came in by the influence of corruption, '
and was expelled when he would bribe no longer.
To a great extent Hereford is indebted for the inde-
pendence, it has been enabled to preserve to the
spirit and energy of a single individual. We need
scarcely say that we refer to the estimable Colonel
E. B. Clive, who represented this city in parliament
for nearly 20 years.
Col. Clive's connexion with Hereford commenced in
1828, when he came forward to rescue the electorate
from the domination of a close corporation. The in-
fluence of that body had, for many year., enabled
them to return one of the members fur the city. At
the time referred to, Viscount Eastnor was their no-
minee. The corporation, however, fancied that it
would be in their power to bring in a second man,
and Mr. Blakemore, an iron master, now representing
the City of Wells, was induced to offer himeelf as a
candidate, in coojunction with Lord Eastnor.
It required no ordinary amount of courage and ex-
penditure to defeat this attempt upon the indepen-
dence of the city. The franchise was then vested in
some 1,250 freemen, resident and non-resident. To
bring the non-residents from London and other parts
to this distant county was sure to occasion an enor-
mous outlay. Colonel Clive, however, threw himself
gallantly into the breech. A tremendous struggle
ensued. The poll was kept open 14 days, the fell
time allowed by law ; upwards of 12,0001. was ex-
pended by the Whigs and as much more by the conser-
vatives in bringing down and maintaining voters ; but
nlimately Colonel Clive defeated his opponent& and the
corporation, the numbers at the cl ems being—for Lord
Runner, 687; Colonel Clive, 453 ; Mr. Blakemore,
438. Majority for Clive, 15.
With a majority so narrow, it is probable that the
tories would have considered themselves justified in
trying the chances again at the general election fol-
lowing. That election occurred, however, in 1830,
and it happened that in that year Mr. Blakemore was
High Sheriff of the coun.y, and consequeutlyunable
stand
to for Hereford. He offered himse If in that
year Lr the county of Nene, but was unable to obtain
his return. At the election of 1831 the tide of popu-
larity set too strongly in favour of the whip, to afford
a tory any chance; so it occurred on both these occa-
sion, that Lord Esstnor and Mr. Clive came in with-
out further opposition of any sort.
The Reform Bill annihilated the vote, of the non-
residents, and the influence of the old corporation of
the city. The liberals bad s cured a second candi-
date in the poison of Mr. Itobert Biddulph, the
backer, of Charteg-crost, whose family belong to this
county, and whose father had contested Hertfordshire
in the independent interest some years previously. A
circumstance occurred, however, at this time which
had nearly thrown Hereford into the hands of the
tories. The registration had b:en entrusted by the
liberals to a city solicitor, who had appointed a clot k
in his office expressly to attend to it. At the
critical moment this clerk, who had signed all
the liberal objections, at se on ded. It was pretty clearly
established afterwards that he bad been inveigled
away by some tories in the town, who looked to the
success of a menceuvre of this kind as their only
chance of succeeding at the first reform election. The
fade were not discovered in time to adm't of any re-
paration of the defeat ; but this only served to make
the triumph over toryism, which was subsequently
obtained, infinitely more ffective and complete.
Upon the strength of the defective registration the
tories again brought forward Mr. Blakemore. They
found, however, that the trick they had practised in
hones to bring him in was likely very meterially to I
contribute to his defeat. The liberals, deeply incensed,'
were determined to keep him out. They raised the
spirit of the town, and every available roan polled,
with zeal and pre mptitude. There were only five
votes lest in plumping on the liberal side, and, at the
close, it appeared that the tories were beaten by an
unexpectedly large majority—the numbers being:
for Clive, 392; Buidulph, 380; and fur Blakemore,
only 245.
In 1833 another °attest took place, between the
Fame parties, which was attended by the same result,
though the whig majority was much diminished.
This was the last occasion on which Mr. Rlakenewe
coutested Hereford. Very shortly after he obtained
a snug seat Lr the little constituency of Wells.
At the general election of 1837, the Ilerefurd twice
brought forward another candidate. This was a Mr.
Highford Ilu r, of Clayton-hall, a county gentleman
of some pos•essions, who was taken in hand by the
hiei tory interest of Hereford. There happened at
this time to be a Protestant Conservative Association in
the city, of which the dean, Dr. Merewether, was vies-
president. This association published an address wilt
reference to tie election, which address Dr. Mere-
wether signed. It had probably very little effect on
the election, but it had very great effect on Dr. Mere-
wether's fortunes.

Mr. Burr, as we have said, came to Hereford pre-
pared to win. It wee known from eircumaisoces that
had occurred in 1833 that there were a body of voters
in the town prepared to vote for msney. Mr. Bid-
dulph, antecedently to the election, made known to
his committee, that amongst this or any other class of
voters he would not spend a single sixpence beyond
the legal and constitutional expenses. The other side.
perhaps, were richer; and they certainly were much
less sciupulone. 3,0001. was expended by Mr. Barr in
this contest, and he got in by a majority of 10, the
numbers being for Clive, 444 ; Burr, 430 ; Biddulph,
420. This election might have given rise to a peti-
tion,
but Mr. Biddulph would not be at the expense
connected with it. He bade farewell to public life
and Hereford, and left the toners to make the most of
their ill-won triumph.
Very shortly after this election the Bishop of Here-
ford, Dr. Grey, died. It devolved upon Lord Mel-
bourne to make the new appointment to the see.
Dean Merewether went up to London to beg
urgently that it might be coeferred upon him. He
had been premis.d a bishopric, be said, by Ring
William the Fourth ; he had never been opposed to
the reform party, in times peat, end in future he was
quite willing be anything the premier wished if he
would only grant him the desire of his heart. Lord
Melbourne, always kind and goodaatnred, was pre-
possessed by Mr. Dean's manner, and inclined to
regard the claims he advanced with some considera-
tion. It occurred to him, however, to consult a gen-
tleman connected with Hereford concerning Dr. Me
rewether and his views, religious and political. With
respect to the first, the gentleman in qnesti:in left the
noble viscount to judge for himself; with regard to
the second, he forwarded to him for his information
a copy of a Herefordshire county newspaper, contain-
ing the address of the Protestant Conservative Asso-
ciation, signed "John Merewether, D.D., Dean and
Vice-President." The present Archbishop of York
obtained the mitre, and " John Merewether, D.D.,
Vice-President," remained a dean.
T..e next general election occurred in 1841. Mr.
Biddulph having ceased to be a candidate, the liberals
had to obtain a second man. Throurh the introduc-
tion of Sir Josiah Goes', Mr. H. W. Hobhonse, a
banker at Bath, was brought to Hereford. Mr. Burr,
who had bled so freely previously, was on this occa-
sion not prepared, or not disposed to bleed again.
The numbers polled very clearly demonstrated what
was the relative strength of the party which supported
him with bribery and without it. In 1837
he had 430 votes; in 1841 he only obtained
308, whilst his opponents polled for Clive 531, end
for Hobhouse 500. To show that there was no exten-
sive bribery on the other side on this occasion, it is
stated that their gross expenses were 1,5001.; a great
part of which has hales, front some peculiar circum-
stances, on the party in the town.
Bat we must proceed to mooed the 'bare taken by
the dean in this Hereford election. We have already
narrated how he lost one bishopric. We have now to
tell how he lost his chance of obtaining another. It
may be imagined that his disappointment in
1837 did not make him more friendly to the
whige. In '4l, inch d, there was no good reason why
he Aionld support them, for it was clear thst the
next vacant bishopric would fall into the gift of Sir
Robert PeeL What could the Dean of Hereford do
better, under such circumstances, than support the
conservative candidate to the utmost of his power
far more energetically than he had ever doze be-
fore ?

There was at this time in Hereford a hatter of the
name of Bannister. He had awn who was a Proba-
tioner in the Choir of Hereford C►thedral. Here is a
copy of an affidavit which he made before the magis-
trates of Hereford on the 24th of June, 1841.
William Banister, of theiparish of St. Peter, in the city
of Hereford, hatter, saith, that on Monday week last, or on

the Tuesday, I was asked by Mr. Clive to vote for him, and I
promised him directly; and On that day (Turailey), I was
canvassed by Mr. Rebhan'', het I did net promise him. Oa
the next day Dr. Twiallson (now Lord Bay and Bele),
asked me for my vote f r Mr. Hobbouee, and I thee pro-
mised to vote for Mr. II hhonee. Yesterday, the Dean of
Hereford called on me, antl•taid, " Yon bare a vote ?" and
I said, " Yee, I have ;" and after talking to me on the sub-
ject of the awn laws, be said, " Have you not a son. a
probationer in the choir r. And I rtid, " Yes, ',lr." Ho
then asked me to give a vote to Mr. Barr. I told him I bad
promised the other two candidates, arid that I had done so
because I did not consider it would interfere with my boy.
He said, "I saw your wife yesterd, and told her that
your am was not elected, and you wi find it will not do
unless you support Mr. Barr, the conservative can-
didate. I replied, • I should be very sorry to do anything
to injure Any eon, and if I am com Felled by you to vote, I
shall give Mr. Burr one vote, and leave the other in the
bands of my employer," The dean replied, "If yen give
nne vote to Mr. Burr, of coons yon will give the other to
Mr. Clive, and not aMr. Hubhonso, who is a stranger to
the pleas ;•• the dean at the same time stated to me that Ito
held a situation tinder the Queen, and that he had left Lon-
don purposely to vote a plumper for Mr. Burr, and to use
what influence he had for him.
This was William Bannister's statement. Upon
seeing it, Mr. Hobhouse immediately wrote upon the
subject to Dr. Twisleton, who happened then to be
the canon in residence. Dr. Twisleton replied to him
like a clergyman and a gentleman. He informed
him that he had seen Bannister, and had assured him
that " the interests of his eon should not suffer at the
hands of the dean and chapter for the vote he was
conscientiously desirous to give." He added:
I should truly be ashamed tr bele, g to any dean and
ehapter, who were likely to visit with vengeance no a son
the rencientioua vote which a father had given, and I think
lan undertake to say that such will not be the case.
The declaration of Bannister, and the letter of the
canon in residence, having been laid before " the
Very Reverend the Dean," the Very Reverend the
Dean wrote Mr. Hobhome a long letter thereupon,
in which he stated, first, that Bannister's statement
was " grossly false, as he could prove in many men-
tal particulars," and in which, sect die, be ad-
monished "Canon Twisleton" alter the codemptuous
Manner following:
This part of the matter is entirely irrelevant to that re-
lating to Canon Twialeton's interference. The declaration
made on hie part was entirely gratuitous, and wholly unau-
thorised by the body to which he his been very recently ad-
mitted, end consequently was not only not binding can any
one of them, but had the effect of misleading the prr.on to
whom it related, and who was represented to have filt him-
self to have been so misled, being desirous of adopting a
different course.

Mr. Hubhonse rejoired to this:
All I ask is, that Mr. Bannister, an elector of this city, be
permitted to exercise his elective franchise accorling to his
known prioeipin and actual wishes, without prejudiee to
his son's pro.pects front the dean and chapter, of whose in-
terference he is apprehensive, in consequence of what he un-
derstands you to have said to him. Perhaps you will think
it right to give me a decided answer, one way or the other,
to this question.
You will of course reputli As Dr. Twisleton's sentiments an
behalf of the De►n and Chapter as you think proper.
Then there followed a sarcastic hit so delicate and
yet so keen that it might almnit have come from poor
Lord Mt lbourne himself:

I have casually said that you might be neural in the pre-
sent nontest ' • and as many common friends and other parties
in Hertford hare described you to me as not rpposed to the
reform party, you will, I trust, pardon my =steles in this
Topton.
On, Renn Dickson Hampden, Regius Professor and
Bishop of Hereford, if in the wear 1811 you had only
had a vision cf the interior or Baer Church in 1818,
what would you not have done to have
checked this correspondence? And, oh, John
Merewether, " dean and vice-president," if
you could only have foreseen who would be
in office when the see of Hereford next fell vacant,
would you not have burnt your right hand off ere you
had permit'ed it to write a line about Bill Bannister,
the radical hatter, whose vote you thus endeavoured
ins ft easily to coerce ?
The Dean of Heref‘rd remains a dean. The Dean
of Hereford will die a dein. No churchman in his
day has played a bolder game, nor is there one who
has placed himself in check more Incite ntly or in-
upportunely. But farewell to the dean ; he deserves
and meets no pity,
The unfortunate failure of Hobhouse's Bath bank
occur, ed within a few months a'ter this election. Mr.
Pulsforti, a relative of Mr. Hayte es, was reaom-
mended by the Reform Club, and brought forward to
supply the vacancy. The torit s found a candidate in
Mr. Edward Griffi,h, of Lugwardinci, a county neighs-
two, but he had none of " the essential elements" of
en c?se, and was beaten by nearly 150 vote s.
In 1845 Mr. E. B. Clive, the old and faithful friend
of Hereford, paid the debt of nature. Sir Robert
Price, a former member for the county, was elected
without opposition to succeed him. It was about this
time that some unhappy circumstances occurred
which incapacitated Mr. Polsfoid from attending to
his public duties. In anticipation of a general elec-
tion, a son of Colon 1 Clive presented himself to the
electors. His return was supposed to be certain, but
a somewhat singular circumstance prevented it.
Mr. Clive had been one of the magis-
trates at our me'ropolittn police courts. Just
before the parliament war. dioolved, he had
obtained promotion to a jud.erhip in a county court.
It was discovered, just at the right time, that this
later appointment would operate to incapacitate the
person holding it fur any seat in parliament. Mr.
(live was consequently obliged to resign, much, we
need not say, to his own regret, and still more to the
regret of the Hereford eh Mors.
One or two candidates presented themselves
after this : amongst others Mr. Sergeant
Glover, who made some sad mistakes, and
ultimately left the city. The candidate whom
the liberals at last .elected was a Mr. Chit
ford, chairman of the Herefordshire Quarter See-
, sions, Deputy Lieutenant, and, u he himself informs
us, Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the Mon-
mouthshire Militia, In this tremendous personage we
believe it has been found that the men of Hereford
have made a sad mistake. In fact, neither of the
present representatives in any way exhibits the feel-
ings of the city. Hereford is in advance of
whig-
grey ; Messrs. Price and Cliff and bring up the very
rear of the lagging ministerialist&

Neither Wand the slightest chance of being re-
turned again, unless, indeed, circumstances greatly
alter, or their parliamentary conduct ie materially
changed.
There has been one source of corruption amongst
the constituency of Hereford to which, b lore con-
cluding, it is necessary to allude. The city is blest
with a great variety of charities, of every conceivable
sort and kind. Some of these are administered
by the dean and chapter, some by trustees,
a few are paroc'eial, but a very large num-
ber are in the gift of the corporation.
Now it has been found at elections that the poorer
voters have been greatly influenced by the hopes and
expectations certain parties held out to them of either
obtaining for themselves or for their friends the ad-
vantage of these charities. Much ill-feeling was
thereby excited; so much so, that at length it was
found:necessary to agree upon a scheme whereby the
right of nominating to some of the foundations has
been equally divided between the whigs and twin,
each administering the charity alternately. It was
the only way, it seemed, to meet the evil.
Of Hereford generally we are bound to speak with
much respect. The constituency is large, liberal, and
enlightened. The bass electioneering practices are
confined to a comparative few. These practices have
never been resorted to by the independent party.
To poll within a huldred of the liberals the tories
of this city must boy or subsidise the poorer voters.
There are two circumstances that probably will deter
them from attempting such a thing again ; first of all
the coat, and next the prospect of conviction. This
is one of the constituenc ea in which the Treating
Act of 1841 has operated beneficially.

CaErsrow HownctimrsAL Socurry.—Trtz CUP
MM.—The autumnal show of the Chepstow Rerticultural
firchey took place on Tuesday, and it being " The Cap
Day," on which occasion three measly. silver cups are
awarded by the tremors to the best growers of dahliss,
fuchsias, sad roses, an unusually large concourse of spectators
were attracted to this beautiful little town. From an early
hour of the moaning strangers continued to pour in from
the adjacent villages, as well as from Newport, Cardiff.
Monmouth, liar/ford, Bristol, Bath, and other towns sad
cities. The competition at this show being thrown open to
all England in gener.aly very spirited, while the prizes being
of some considerable value grower+ are induced to come from
distant parts of Monmouthshire sod the neighbouring ocean..
Lin to exhibit specimens of their culture. For the conveni-
entre of parties residing in Bath.Cbippenbam, and the districts
adjoining, the Great Western Railway Company ran special
railway trains, while st•ara•packets plied from Bristol C ,e vj
1.
diff, &e., sad steamed up the beautiful " sil ~ «. e f 1",,,.- go,
adorned with colours and erowded by living freigh ,tt ' '''''''-',.;., 0"
exhibition of fruits and flowers took plans amid the i e
#
of the ands missile by permistion of the Duke of ;„,„6, ~i ,(4-`
The three silver cups were won b the folloaing • • • '
At_.,,
—Factsias :W. Brice, Erg., Clifton; Dahlias: ..,4;• ),•:°>l
Drummond, Bath ; Rom; Messrs. Curds and Co., .14••••••
Nursery, near Bristol. : , L. 4.
"4(4'4 v