The Express.
London, England, 1849-09-04 00:00:00

OUR REPRESENTATIVE SYSTEM.

LEOMINSTER.
Every one who knows anything of electioneering
will shake his head at the name of Leominster. Many
who have been concerned in the system have came
enough to heave a sigh over it. There are few bo-
roughs in which a greater number of electioneerers
have been plundered. The oldest hands have been
bitten here. Members who have represeatecl the moat
corrupt constituencies have gone to Leominster to buy
themselves a seat, and, confident of knowing every-
thing, have themselves been sold. To number up the
political pigeons who have been plucked in this town
would be no eai.y task. It seems to have been cur-
ternary with club-men to resort to the place as they
would to a roulette-table—to play their stake, lose it
with the consciousness that they were cheated, but
nevertheless to treat the matter with indifference,
and submit without a murmur.
Leominster, before the Reform Bill, was a mot and
lot borough : its population 3,700, the number of
voters between 800 and 1,000. The price of a vote
was understood and fixed. It was tire guineas tor a
split vote, and ten for a plumper—money down, and
to mistake about it. From such conditions as them,
it resulted that the candidates must be tolerably reh.
Hence we fiud that the m tubers were generally
parties better known in the City than they were in
Herefordshire—men whose credit en 'Change was
unexceptionable, whatever might be their repute in
society political.
Leominster, however, is a poor place, and the
very nature of its constituency rendered it easy
for a local man to deal with them. At elec.
tions antecedent to the present century, the
successful candidates had generally been in-
troduced to the town by parties connected
with the old corporation. But, in 1796, there
'occurred a contest which resulted in the return of a
tory candidate by a majority of only one. TI is made
some parties in the town look about them, and one
of them very soon succeeded in making the town par-
tially his own, under extremely advantageous Mr-
cumetances.

The individual referred to was a banker at Leomin-
ster, of the name of Coleman. Mr. Coleman, as wo
may suppose, opened an account in his ledgers
with the borough of Leominster. lie did not
require, as most hankered°, 'deposit to be made with
him; on the contrary, he commenced the account by
items placed upon its debit side, well knowing that by
and bye the total would be morethan balanced. What
he did, in fact, wee this. Knowing the constituency
and their various necessities, he offered such as re-
quired it advances to the amount of ten guineas, with-
out any other security than their notes of hand,
payable at the next election. When the next
election came ho had in his attong box a suffi-
cient numb2r of these noes of hand to ensure
the return of any candidate he might bring forward.
Rarely did any man secure a corrupt constitceney so
easily or with so little cost.
Coliman's bank drew on Lubbock's. A country
banker is usually inclined to be on good terms with
his London agent; and probably this was the more
necessary when banking was comparatively a mono-
poly then now the business has been thrown open.
It is nut, therefore, surprising that the candidate Mr.
Coleman should have selezted for Leominster should
have been his own London agent, Sir John Will:all
Lubbock. In 1:402, Sir John was re turned at the
head of the poll. It was well for Leominster that
the ruling influence brought so good a man. The
town might have been sold much less to its own ad-
vantage.
Sir John Lubbock's money passed through Cole-
man's bank, and at each succeeding election Cole-
man's bank took care to wipe off with the heed-
money the advances on the notes of hand. This
system continued up to 1820, when Sir John
LubSeck, tired of politics and of Leominster, resigned
the seat in parliament. 'the borough, during the
time he held it. is believed to have cost him a con-
siderable sum of money. but Moser.. Culeinan'te book,
probably alone could fully show bow Meters. Lubbock
and Co.'s gold was sweated.
In 1820, Lord lintham, of whom we shall have
hereafter to speak, was first brought down to the town
by a solicitor who filled the office of town clerk. The
election of this year was rendered remarkable by en
occurrence very rare indeed in the annals of Leo-
minter election.. Besides Lord Hotham there were
two other candidates in the field,— Sir William
Cuniogham Fairlie, a Sc dch baronet, and Mr. John
Ilarcourt, who had represented Leominster in a pre-
vious parliament. On this nation Sir William
Fairlie was returned. He heti the seat six years, hit
to the infinite disgust of all concerned he never paid
his expetises."lhe voters were determined to take
care that euelt a thing should not occur again.
The general election of 1826 was brought about
not by any politico' exigercy, but by the natural de-
mise of the Septennial Parliament. Amongst a cor-
rupt conetituney an election of this sort is venally
preceded by a protracted canteen. T o eareEdittes Came
down to Leominster, who were quite willing arid abl to
gratify the electors in this re speed. Both were re-
markable men. The one was Mr. Binh, ef the " lucky
office," the other Mr. Rowland Stephenson, the banker.
Lord Hotham being safe, the contest lay between
these two candidates. It was conducted " regardle es
cf c xpe nse." For months previous to the election,
the constituency was placed upon a s stem of '• sub-
sist." Beef and bread wag served out twice a week
to every voter, ar.d all the public-howes
were thrown open, not only for beer, but
for what were called "canvassing ieuppe re." Cor-
ruption at this election was, in f et, atits highest
pitch in Leominster. Mr. fish alone spent nearly
12,0001. in one way or another. "We have never
Been such days as them since, air," said an °id scot
and lot voter; "the town was prosperous then,
surely." The price of a vote, in fact, would at that
time have risen to anything, but for a circumstance
that considerably affected the result. One of the
lest acts of the expiring parliament was to authorise
a new lottery. It was to be the last. Mr. Bish was
too deeply interested peculiarly in these state spe-
culations to fre go his share in the eeheme. Ile en-
tered into it earnestly, bat without foreseeing
the consequence. When the day of election
came, Mr. Stepheneon's friends took a legal objection
to Mr. Bish's nomination. lie was, they said, a
government contractor under the Lotteries' Act.
On the poll, Lord Hotham and Mr. Biel' nerd
returned, the .atter by a majority of nearly 100 over
Mr. Stephenson, who, relying on the validity of the
objection, spent as little as he could. The matter was
referred to a committee of the 'Lowe of Common,
who decided that a contract did exist, so Mr. Bish
was unseated and Mr. Stephenson declered the
member.

The poll at this elceion was as follows.—For Lied
Hotharn, 557; Thomas Bish, 115 ; Howland Stephen-
son, 251; Firdetick Cuthbert, 57. Who, it will be
asked, was Mr. Cuthbert ? Thereby hangs a little
tale, very illieniteive of Leuin'oeter elections.
We have spoken of " Pigeons." Mr. Cuthbert was a
bird of that unhappy clam As already mentioned,
the election bills of Sir William Faiths had not beat
paid. The solicitor who had acted for him was de-
cidedly in stew with the voters. Ile could only ex-
cuse himself with them by affirming that he was equally
out of pocket himself. The election of 1826 was
thought to be the Sting opportunity cf making
up the deficit. The attorney posted off to Loncle.n,
and met with Mr. Cuthbert, whom he persuaded to
come down "to fill Sir William F irlitt's glace."
When Mr. Cuthbert arrived " the Ittlo difficulty
about the bills" was mentionel to him. Ile was
given to uoderstand that it was "always usual"
for the incom'ng member to pay the arrears due to
his own party. Mr. Cuthbert was persuaded, with-
out much difficulty, to deposit a sum of mohey to
meet a demand which was "always usual." The
bait had taken. During the day or two which fol-
lowed he was skilfully played with; and ultimately
he was :ended, as we have seen, with 67 votes out of
upwards of 1,200. No sooner were the ?Ws
known, than all these to whom Sir William
Faidie was in arrear tent in their claims to Mr.
Cuthbert's agent. The y received a reply, exeeedingly
polite but by no meats satisfactory. It was to the
simple effect that as the amount in his hands was in-
adequate to sa•isry every demand, he meat rel,ect-
fully declined to attempt the liquidation of am ! The
electors of Leominet r were doubly " sold."

A circnmstar.c: occurred at ibis titre of h,lltits.
imporance to tJat town of Leonsincer. Ia thr panic
of 1826 Coleman's bank br...ke! Suck an occurrence
threaterel utter ruin to such a little place. Mr. Blab,
however, saw in this circumstance an opportunity of
establishing connexion with the town. He issued an py,1.%
• 1.
address to the elector, offering tr let them
ii 4" 411711.•
-r• ...',.
rk....
rd. . •,
.z.,
s

shillings in the ponud upon all the notes they bold
d Coleman's.
But the infiuer.c3 which had been cotcentrated in
the bank, was mainly directed, after its stoppage,
into the bands of a whip solicitor at Leomin-
ster, who was connected with the Coleman', who
managed the affairs under the bankruptcy, end who
at that time stood at the head of the profession in the
town. When Rowland Stephenson absconded
In 1820, a Mr. Ward, of London, was re-
turned, through this solicitor's influence. Mr.
Ward only sat a few months. At the general
election of 1830, Mr. William Marshall, now
one of the members for East Cumberland, was
brought forward to reiplaee him. Mr. Marshall only sat
during the short parliament. At the election of 1831
the interest which supported him was transferred to a
Mr. Evans. of Hertford-et:est, May-fair, who in his
torn, abandoned the seat at the dissolution of 1832.
A sort of mystery hangs over the causes of these fre-
quent changes. It is acknowledged, however, that to
each of the sandidates the seat was uncommonly ex-
pensive. It must have been extraordinarily so to
have driven away Mr. Marshall. That gentleman
bad purchased a seat for Petersfield in 1826, which
could not have coat less than 4,0001., and in 1831, he
migrated from Leominster to Beverley, notoriously
one of the dearest markets in the kingeom.
The Leominster election of 1831 we must not by
any means pass over. It was one of the most sin-
gular in the history of this borough. The Mr. Evans,
u already noticed, was brought leeward by the whig
solicitor. Lord Hotham, who had been regularly to.
turned on the old corporation influence from 1820
was again a candidate supported by the same pasty.
But the reform excitement had extended itself to
Leominster. Lord Hotham, as a tory, woe
consequently most unpopular. Thom had always
been in this borough, as there is in most places
of the same clue, what is called a " third party." The
object cf this third pasty was to get up an opposition
whenever it was poseitle, in order to increase the
amount of plunder. she "third putt'" usually eared
very little about politica, though it was of wane their
Interest to go with the cause that was moat popular.
On this occasion "the third party" at Leominster pee-
sewed an ardent attachment to reform. They saw no
reason for electing Lord Hotham, even though he
bad paid so liberally on preceding occasions. They de-
termined, therefore, to get a third man; and they
wrote up to the Treasury to request that a candidate
should be sent down.
The Treasury replied formally to their communica-
tion, and suggested Mr. Henry Lytton Bulwer as a
fit and proper person. He had sat for Wilton in the
previous parliament, but was now ie want of a seat.
The "thud party," after a little inquiry as to his re-
sourer., thought Mr. Bulwer would suit them very
well, and they hourly and anxiously expected his ar-
rival.
Now, whether it was that Mr. Beleer was
afraid of Leominster, or that the whigs who sup-
ported Mr. Evans gave a hint to the Treasury
not to send a second man, or w Whir some
mistake occurred in London, or whatever else may
have transpired, certain it is that on the morning of
the nomination neither Mr. Bulwer nor any other
government candidate had arrived in Leonia-
star. "third party " were greatly disappointed.
They determined, however, to keep open the poll, is
order, if Mr. Bulwer did arrive, he might not find the
election concluded. For this pupae it was neon-
sary that they should have a candidate, and the first
thing to be dune was to find one.
In tho High street at that time there was a
little tallow-chandler's shop, kept by a person of the
name of Brayen, whose relatives were extremely
well to do in the neighbourhood of Leominster. Thomas
Brayen had always taken an active part on the liberal
aide, and it occurred to some one or another that ho
would b 3 a good man to start, first, because he would
make no cifficalty about the matter ; secondly, be-
cause he could speak from the hustlers ; and lastly,
because ho could produce a qualification if he was
called upon to exhibit one. Accordingly two or
three of the third party went down to the candle-
shop, where they Moony found Br iven dipping his
wicks into a tub of tallow. They told him their ob-
ject. In three minutes he had thrown aside his
apron, donned his best out-of-door coat, and was on
his way to the Town-hall as a candidate for the re-
presentation of this honourable borough.
The p3ll in those days might be kept open for a
fortnight. There was consequently no hurry. The
first day the election began languidly enough. Evans
took the lead, and Brayen just kept. sufficiently ahead
of Lord llotham to sustain the sprite of his party.
By that day's port the third part wrote up again to the
Treasury. Nobody came dawn. Lord Ilothani thought
himself secure of beating Mr. Brayen, and consequently
refrained from bribing. The pat ipl", however, were
not willing to lose their" privilege in this way. They
saw, they said, no reason for voting for Lord Hotham,
if Lard Hotham did not assist them. So one alter
another they went up and polled for their fellow
townsman. Oa the third day a letter was received
in Leominster from the Treasury announcing that Mr.
Bulwer had gone to Coventry, and that they bad Co
one else to send. Mr. Britten was at this time
in a good position. The contest, toe, had excited
mach opposition to Lord 'Latham. "'Dun it !" said
one of the third party, " at any rate, if we can't get a
candidate from London, we can keep out Lord H 't-
hem ; —let us all go up and poll for Bnayen." Teo
thing was no sooner proposed than it was accom-
plished. Lord Hotham was too far in swear to pick
up either by fair means or by foal, and on
the fourth day he found that it was useless
to protract the poll any longer, and he consequently
resigned, leaving Mr. Evans and Mr. Bray en to be re-
turne4. The numbers on this occasion were—for
Evans, 563 ; Brayen, 433; Hotham, 362.
Such was the result of an election, the first upon
recor I in the town of Leominster in which any man
had come in without promising to ray for it. It is a
pity that the candidate so fortneately electrd
was not competent to take advent rge of the
position into which accident had elevated
him. But, on ° his arrival in London, Mr.
Brayen found himself out of his element. He did not
understand the ways of the House of Commons. The
confinement was irksome to httn ; he pined after the
little shop in the High-street, and wondered how the
dips were selling. It was not long, consequently,
before Mr. Brayen made up his mind to get rid of his
seat on the back benches and return to his mote con-
genial stool behind the counter. The difficulty was,
how to do it advantageously. Had Mr. Navin
only been a little skilled in arts political,
ho doubtless might have managed it at the Treasury
or elsewhere very materially to his own interests.
But "the honourable member" did not understand
these thinr, and the consequence was that the bar-
gain he made was a petty one.
There was in those days a sort of society in London,
of which Sr De Lacy Evans and others were pro-
moters, which had for its object to throw open the
representation of Cinque Ports and other places in
which the franchise was supposed rightfully to
belong to the inhabitants at large. More was said
concerning this society in an article on "The Repre-
sentative System of Hastings." One of the meet
active men concerned in it was a Mr. William Fraser,
a barrlster, whose name has since been brought Wore
the public in connexion with a celebrated trim. con.
case—Frazer verses Baggelley. Mr. Frazer went
down to Itythe at the general election of
1831, in conjunction with Mr. (now Sir) Fitzrey
Kelly, for th purpose of attempting to throw open
that borough in the same way that Rye had been
contested. But the Hythe members were whigs;
the people were not dissatisfied with them, and they
were wholly unacquainted with Metiers. Kelly and
Frazer. Those gen•lemen, consequently, frund them-
selves unsuccessful on the poll, not only as re-
garded the votes of the burgesses, but as
regarded the suffrages of the people. Not only,
therefore, were they beaten, but they failed to
secure the opportunity they wanted of raising the
legal question before the House of Commons.
Mr. Frazer, however, was not disinclined to obtain,
if he could get it, a seat in parliament In the course of
his London experiences he had fallen in with Mr. Bra-
yen, and that gentleman now offered to take hint down
to, and bring him in for, Leominster upon certain con-
ditions. Those conditions were pecuniary. They
were acceded to. The object simply was to cover the
expenses which " the third party" and their candidate
had been put to, and whin:, were reasonably fixed at
something more than 3001.
Upon these terms Mr. Frazer was taken down to
Leominster and introduced to the electorate. But
within a few hones after Mr. Brame' resignation
Lord Hotham also entered into the field. The popu-
lar IsW was is Mr. Fraser's favour ; but Lord
Hotha /mow exactly the depth and ferrous of

popular feeling in the to en of Leominlier. As one of '
the Herefordshire papers had it, ho "pa:tithe electors
those attentions they required." Mr. Frazer neither
expected to be called upon, nor was he prepared, for
such acts of politeness. The consequence was, that
despite Mr. Frazee, popularity and spembes, Lord
Hotham obtained his return by a majority of 20—
the numbers being for Hotham 346; Frazer, 326.
This was the last election under the old system.
The Reform Act enlarged the borough of Leomin-
ster by extending the right of voting to the whole
parish. As the ea constituency, however, was soot
and lot, it did not increase the number of voters, nor
change the characteristics of the election qstem in the
town. Two or three candidates came down in 1832
to offer to supply the vacancy occasioned by Mr.
Evans's retirement. The old member, Mr. Bien, was
the moat popular. He made arrangements which
proved satisfactory with the h gal agenti in the place,
sad ultimately Lord Hotham and Mr. Blab were re-
turned without a contest, both paying the usual head
money to the voters.
In 1835 the town had the honour of being can-
vassed by Sir James Weir Hog who finding the
ground pre-occupied went afterwards to Beverley.
In consequence of his retirement Lord Hotham and
Mr. Birk gain obtained their seats without a con-
test. On this occasion Lord Hotham paid the head
money—Mr. Bish did not.
Mr. Biah's " extraordinary defalcation" determined
"the independent voters" not to support him again.
They looked out for a new candidate, and obtained
from the Reform Club Mr. Greenaway. a gentleman
possessed of property in Gloacestershire, and a
connexion of Mr. Hurst s, formerly member for Hor-
sham. Mr. Blab, in his retiring address to the
electors, protested against this gentleman's introduc-
tion in the following terms :
The information I have received from parties on whom I
place reliance has induced me to come to the dettnnination
of not again seeking at your hands the honour of which I
have so justly telt proud. lam told that while I have been
attending to your interests in giving my feeble aid to such
measures as promised the amelioration of grievances of which
many dyes emplaned, you have been seeking for others
upon whoa to confer the honour of which I
was ambitious, and that you have now two new
candidates who have obtained from you liberal
' promises of support. For the cause of Reform I have mai-
deed mach, end I will not now peril it as regards your
borough, by entering into a contest which, if I aid so,
might have the effect of giving the representation of Leonia-
, star to two members opposed to its principles. I own I am
surprised at those who professed themselves to be my friends
and Reformers, should be eager to enlist in support of a
new undidate, however Mani his prafessione. From him,
es t ye, you can have but promises—from me you leave had
deed,.

The second tory candidate to whom Mr. Bish re-
ferred in this add-ses came forward as the representa-
tive of an entirely new interest. Six miles from liro-
minster on the road to Hereford lies the beautiful
estate of Ampton-court, formerly possessed by the
Earls of Essex. In 1810 this estate, on which at that
time there were said to be a million of
ask trees, was purchased by Sir Richard
Arkwright for no less a sum than 245,0001.
The Arapton property, through which the public
road pules five miles in a straight line, comes up
into the parish of Leominster and includes (levers'
farms within its bounds. As the scot and lot voters
died out, and the constituency became smaller,
the influence of this property became more
powerfully felt. In 1835, Sir James Wigram, now
Vice-Chancellor, wanted a seat in the House of
Common,. He Dime down to Leominster avowedly
upon the influence of his relation, Mr. Arkwright.
The canvass between the three candidates, Hotham,
Greenaway,and Wigram, proved extremely close; and
it is said throughout to have been conducted most
corruptly. All the candidate: went to the poll, but it
was found as the day advanced that Mr. Wigram's in-
fluence endangered the position of Lord Hotham. Mr.
Wigram's friends consequently gave way. Whether
they were induced to do so, as has been sa,d, under
an arrangement as to future diction., or
wbether Mr. Wigram paid a spontaneous tribute to
Lord Hotham's merit, and long-standing as the re-
presentative for Leominster, wo cannot profess to say.
Certain we believe it to be that Mr. Witram might
have come in had he pleased, but that in that case
Lord Hotham in all probability would have been
thrown out. In consequence of the way this
election was worked, the numbers at the close of the
poll were—for Hotham, 395; Greenaway, 364 ;
Wigram, 266.
Lord Hotham expressed great dissatisfaction that
after representing Leominster for the space of twenty
years, and paying so heavily u he had done to secure
the representation of the town, to should be interfered
with by a new interest, which had done noticing at
any previous period to promote the principles
he represented. However, there wc.s no help for it.
The Arkwright influence was too powerful to be com-
bated, and the noble lord was obliged to look out
for another scat, which he ultimately steered ie the
East Riding of York. Thus, for the third time within
10 years, Leominster may be said to have transferred
a member to the pare constituency of Beverley.
It was at the general election of 1841 that Lord
Hotham withdrew. Mc. Greenaway and Sir James
Wigram were then elected without any oppseition.
The latter, however, only sat three month•. In
October, 1811, he was elevated to the vice-chancellor-
ship by the administration of Sir Robert Peel, and
when the new writ was moved for in the February
following, Mr. George Arkwright, one of the present
members for Leominster, succeeded to the seat.

In April,lBls, Mr. Greenaway, the liberal member
for Leominster, accepted the Cailtern Hundreds.
The cause of this gentleman's resignation is a mys-
tery. Various reports have been circulated on the
subject, and some of them appeared to receive a cer-
tain amount of confirmation from attendant circum-
stances. Mr. Henry Barkly was sent down to the
borough by the Carlton Club. He pat himself into
new hands at Leominster, selecting agents who had
not previously been very influential. The solicitor
who always had acted for the whip, did not act in
ion to him. It
e seemed as if there was a
lrr opw.tleose somewhere, bat no one knew what or
where it was.
In the course of the Anti-Corn Law agitation, the
league had sent agents down to Leominster, and had
endeavoured to agitate the district against the corn
laws. They succeeded to the extent of creating a
party in the borough, consisting of some forty or fifty
independent voters, who have ever since be: n staunch
upholders of radical opinions. On the ooeasion
of this vacancy, the league determined to
send a candidate to Leominster. They nomi-
nated Mr. James Harvey, a merchant of
Liverpool, who came down and canvassed. Sin-
gularly enough, the whigs in London exerted them-
selves very strenuously to get this candidate out of the
field. And they succeeded. Mr. Henry Barkly was
thus so fortunate as to come in unopposed, and at the
general election of 1817 Messrs. Arkwright and
Barkly were re-elected again without any opposition.
On Mr. Barkty receiving the governorship of
British Guiana from Earl Grey in the early part of
the present year, there was, as many will remember,
a remarkable election for this borough. The candi-
dates who canvassed the constituency were Mr.
E. Peel, Sir Robert's second son, Sir E. Bulwer
Lytton, and Mr. Phillimore. The first was brought
forward by the solicitors who had acted for Mr.
Barkly. Sir E. Lytton retained the old wbig agent.
Mr. Phillimore came down as the candidate in the
interest of the radical party, created, as we have
before mentioned, by the instructions of the league.
At this election the principles of the two powerful
parties of the day appeared to have been changed.
Mr. Peel presented himself as the advocate of free
trade in its most extended sense. Sir E. Lytton, or.
the other hand, coquetted with the protectionics.
Now, herein the hon. baronet made a grievous error,
not only politically but locally. The League bad
taught the people of Leominster free-trade doctrines.
It had happened, whilst they were agitating, that
the price cf corn was extremely Wall, and that great
distress ensiled in Leominster. The farmers of
the district were charged with re-grating; and
singular to state, in consequence of the scarcity occi.-
aior.ed by their " holding on," the inland town of
Leominster, situated in the heart of a rich agricul-
tural district, was absolutely at one time supplied
with American wheat from Liverpool. The people
had not forgotten these things ; and, consequently.
when Sir R. Lytton's whig address was drawn with
paragraph in it Avowable to protecti,,n, that boo.
baronet maze to be regarded with very much dis-
favour and suspicion.
It is represented at Leominster, and apparently
with moan ilegres of truth, that Sir E. Lytton was an-
to the electoratein charging them as a body with
hanging back last January, solely with a view to
obtain bribes. It iiriaid that, personally, he made no
favourable improwlort oil a constituency that was poll-

tically inclined to support a thorough liberal; and
that the people declined to pledge their votes
until they hat better res.ton to be sale-
titsl restketing the ssrt of man that was brought
forward to obtain them. It is due to the Leominster
people to give this—their own—explanation upon Sir
Edward Lytton's statement. Sir Edward, they say,
left them :a a splenetic humour—angry, apparently,
that they had not better appreciated the merits which
he tliost they ought to have discovered in him.
The Leominster people elected Mr. Peel, and the
election, as things go, must to considered a pare elec-
tioo. Nothing was spent or piid in bribery, or treat-
ing in any way or shape whatever. There were, how-
ever, considerable payments for legal assistance, and
the cue of Leominster Words a proper opportunity of
saying something regarding charges of that sort.
These payments of one hundred or two hundred
guineas to an attorney are neither more nor leas than
legalised bribes. In a town like Leominster where
the con-titnency is small tad poor, they are bribes of
the very worst kind ; for they are bribes tot only to
secure the interest of the attorney with his friends,
but to secure his influence over those with whom he
bas professioaal relations.
The old soot and lot voters of Leominster have been
dying off of late years rapidly. As they have
died away, the constituency has become less accessi-
ble by open or by covert bribe, but it has become
more under the influence of family and of individuals.
And this accounts for what may have been gathered
from the foregoing statements—namely, that from
1837 to the present time the electoral system
of this town has been undergoing a gradual
change. Formerly every election was a pitched bsttle.
Now there is rarely even a skirmish. Formerly
the money was diffused through tint whole town.
Now one large payment to an agent is all that is re-
quired. Formerly the elections turned on the amount
and security of payment by each candidate. Now the
electors watch to see what lawyer is employed, and
to consider how he may annoy them if they vote
against his man. Bribery, though a scandalous and
debasing practice, is not one half so scandalous or so
degrading as electioneering intimidation : and of all
descriptions of intimidation, Oat low wretched sort of
coercion which is unscrupulously exercised by a
pettifoggicg practitioner in a swill borough, is by
far the worst. _ _ _

The ballot would protect the voter against this, end
the electors of Leominster are consequently beginning
to look ardently fur that security. Until they have
it, this constituency will probably remain much in the
same eosition as at preeent—one seat filled by a mem-
ber of the family of Arkwright, the other by the no-
minee (without reference to politics) of the majority
of the Leominster attorneys.
There is only one other point of view in which Leo-
minster remains to be considered—namely, as regards
its right to send members to parliament at all. The
town is altogether a poor, dull place. It has no re-
sident gentry whatever. Its traffic is confined to
dealings with the farmers rotted about, and its market
is by no means large. Formerly there was a consi-
derable trade in wool carried on here, but
that is much reduced. You may form some
idea of the state of Leominster by walk-
ing through the street leading from its market-
place. It contains perhaps some thirty houses,
of which six or seven of the very beet are closed.
Access to the town is by no means easy. A coach
, passes through once a day on its road from Hereford
Ito Shrewsbury, and there is another, either daily or
every other day, passing througl. from Worcester to
Bington. These are the only means of communica-
tion with Leominster. As regards population the
parish was taken at 4,900 at the census of 1841. It
certrinly has not increased since. The moral condition
of the people may be judged of from the report of
their Hector, who publicly declared in a newspaper
that a more depraved set he never met with in his
pastoral experience. But perhaps the best test of the
claim Leominster has to return members to parlia-
ment is to be found in the rateable value of its pro-
perty. The whole property within the borough of
Leominster is rated to the poor at only 12,085/. 15s.
a year. Why, if this affurd anything approaching a
test of the real value of the property of the place, the
amount expended in bribery and treating at one of
the old Leominster elections ought to have boeght
the whole borough, and we might almost say all the
bag and baggage in it.
_ _ _

The number of 101. houses in Leominster does not
exceed 200. To this number, therefore, the tonrti-
tueney will ultimately be limited, uoleas a new mea-
sure of reform shall sweep away the abuse which left
a place of this sort the privilege of returning as many
members to parliament as the greatest cities of the
British empire—the metropolis alone excepted.