The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-13 00:00:00

SOUTHWARK ELECTION.

t
y
n
se
orYrs
of his
au,,ld.ificatiteon.,,wtotics
has
: sotghaponngge
exceed
ratiel:
oue e einlener
cm:
e.,;.
FIFTH DAY.
o
gy
n
n
tion
ws
dncnqilq Borough.
aauooiuudxsT hitteet aa vigourel
yd:
qt e
fe i,eeol,ebtgrwe,
yonbuisoiin7ooytwtienitih,near excitement
euestpyeinle set:s"secm;eitp:l:Tr
icett
oc to diiirrtdut
eelo;ep
ern:
rn.atenir.
upnd:fithenothing
respective
boo
tvecaagrotatpblahr
itsrtlt
eceist
uxie to
close_"
dtitoe
sit
ellooe
sesaytber iloffrt
appear
:hne
of ealiejelearainuei
re
y
n
th
do
in
se
he
rs.
was
ng
of
Wilson
then - addressed i
the electors.
bihtssoe
di
t,rliwoilnu2o
ei.lemsi
atheist
rtiaumehi
rddeewhi
1.1 la.afirne,;:usdnea dpolop
hundred, while others tl.ink they double that number, in come.
n
)
tbheiisndgayminippp(irlti(rt
oifr
aw,eietoxici
re except htejne iseitblo-:adradet
harangued the multitude on the propriety of every man giving
unbiassed vote; but the most choice flower, of his diet° 'll were diplayed in ievectives against Mr. Polhill's Committenee which le charged in good set terms with bribery and co?' rution, and which of course elicited the most enthusiastic tip.
planse from the circumjacent auditors. A paper was sir
sal
the crowd, purporting to be an explanation of the charg eled
bribery, which was brought cn Saturday last, by Sir R. Wilson,e—
against Mr. Polhill or his Committee. This paper elated that
a man named Bryant (who is not an elector) made :cep'?
some gentlemen composing a Committee in St. Geo,
have his hackney chariot employed, he said he could being *a
twelve votes, and if he did not, he would not require to he publ-
for his cheriot ; and that Mr. John Day not Mr. Thomas Dsitei
clerk employed by one of Mr. Polltill's agents, wrote the letter without soy authority, hut that it was never in the possession on . Mr. Carter, or any individual of the General Committee. Bryantr
is now working his chariot for Alt Polhill. This, ft was observed
in the papers, was "the truth, arid nothing but the truth." At toad
o'clock the Canoidates took their usual station on the h
Sir Robert Wilson and Mr. Calvert were received with tlnsdne,';
enthusiasiie chests, and Mr. Polhill with partial applaieseli
hisses. The High Bailiflthen declared the at to of the Pollute se:
Charles Calvert, Esq. 1736 Efivraid Polhill, Ese 1251
cSir .AreLavVtil
son to repeat his thanks to his friends for their continued exertions
in his favour; the state of the poll had hem just announced t
them ; there appeared for himself 1736 ; for his Gallant Friend, Si:
e wash
tßoeojau
dbeeke Mr.
0r
g Pos Wilson,
osl
Iyilll6rna:q4eudann dbt iyoeunteh
those
ert.wwPoho,
they had all heard of the hundred voters, which on Saturday last they
ort.
had promised to bring to the poll, to recruit the fallen, drooptn,"„
numbers of Mr. Polhill. What, he would ask, had become of e a
gmracjaotrtiotyinwchaienlial a?nosolurvgnauunrtsiontgulyisappprorum
ticing
disrespectful to Mr. Polhill; he only followed the example of those
who, in his to: t rat with Mr. Barclay, called him the little brewer.
The thirdcandidate (he would not use the obnoxious epiteer) had,
after all his boasting, on that day's poll, a majority of two. The,,
carriage_loads of electors had dwindled down to two, and such he
could assure he electors, would be the case, with all his vauntirgs
(as he had early predicted) from beginning to end. A differeett of
upit ion exired as to the number of electors who had not yet polled.
Whatever the number of those electors might be, he thought,
from what had already been seen of the feelings of the elective,
that he and his Gallant Friend had every reason to expect a fair
proportion of those electors, equal to what they had hitherto re.
ceived ; and in the same view he conceived that Mr. Polhill's el.
pectnions of success ought to be proportionably diminished.
When he stood forward in the year 1807, as a candidate to re pre.
sent the Borough, he was but 190 behind Mr. Thornton; but u 1•1
friends told him that there was not a chance of sumo'', he did not
persevere turther in the contest. It was consequently a fair .afe.
renee that if he, being but 190 behind his opponent, thought it
useless to persevere, Mr. Polhill could not bring up, at that stage
of the election, tt e great minority in which he e en store:.
He did not mean to waif that Gentleman to retire from the coo.
test, but he thought sat doing so he would only act as an tmiourable
man ought ,0 do.
Sri ROBERT WILSON then came forward. He said that Mr.
Polhill on Saturday exhibited a placard, in which he stated that the
title began to flow against him (Sir Robert), and as he had a tea.
jority of two on this day's polling, he would not in all probability
tail to inform the electors that there was a double tide against him
tonlay, but the result would determine. There was an old saying,
" that all's well that ends well," and in the end they would int
Mr. Polhill in the back ground, and notwithstandingthe malignant
obstinacy of his perseverance, they would hear the craven cry of
that faction which was few in numbers and weak in influence. It
was no longer a party ; they were abandoned by every man of re.
Tenability : a party did indeed give him support in compli.
meat to Mr. Barclay, and no man was more worthy of such COIISi.
derrion than that gentleman; but that party disclaimed pellet:li-
-1 n; a d were no longer to be teen on the hustings in layout of Mr.
P. lh IL they were too respectable to lend themselves to such prin.
Lipkin It was no longer a contest against principle, but against
the purse of the adversary. These friends of trade and commerce
would, indeed, be industrious to obtain the repeal of the duty on
an article in which they were interested ; but he did not think they
,hewed the i selves friends to the trade of the bordugh of South-
wark by pr r cling a contest without any rational hopes of success.
to the evide it injury of business. The Borough WAS a scene of
riot, which it never had been before; 150 police were every night
paraded through the streets to preserve the peace, and Mr. Polhill
w.ote to the Secneary of State for the Home Department for adM.
tionsl force, as if the people of the Borough were not themselves
sufficient to preserve order and tranquillity. (Cries of " Shame."
Some of Mr. Polhill's said, it was to keep down the Irish.) Ha
told Air. Poliiiil on Saturday, that if lie could tied any two gentle.
men who were not interested in the system of spoliation, who would
declare that he had any chance of success, he ought to persevere;
but in the present state of the poll, lie thought it was not the
part of an honourable opponent to continue the contest. Ha
considered the contest to be continued only to gratify the malignant
feelings of a faction, and looked upon Alr. Polhill as identified
with all the malignity and culpability of their conduct. They had
enenavoured to explain the letter which he had produced on Satur.
day, and refer it to a coachman's job. it was indeed a job, rot
only to drive the animals which were harnessed to the vehicle, but
a job to drive electors to the polL But d.n what they would, they
could never remove the seal from the bon-11. When Alr. Polhill was
about to advert to that subject, he turned round to the reporters,
and asked. " What shall I say to the letter ?" He himself heard
him use the words in his speech on Saturday. He also adverted :o
3lr. Fox, and, with a strange familiarity, called him " Cher.
ley." He was at a loss for a considerable time to divine to
whom he adverted. He could not suppose that Mr. Polhill was
ever on those terms of familiarity with that distinguished Staten.
man to warrant those expressions of " hail fellow, well met !" A t
one time he thought he was speaking of" Charley over the water."
because he knew lie was a " Pretender" (a laugh) ; and when he
avowed having raised the cry of " No popery," lie thought the
Pope himself could not be far distant from a person who stood so
much in need of " indulgences." (Laughter, and marks of dn-
a; probation.) A man who acted as Mr. Polhill had done, de-
served the severest taunts of sarcasm with which an opponent could
visit him. Like the Vicar of Bray, he thought there was no Ad-
ministration like the ptesent ; but he was at a loss to discover with
what part of its measures Mr. Polhill identified himself ; was it
wi h any of its disjo need members, or with all its component part:?
He appr lel of many measures which had been adopted by that
Adminisitati n, and he had supported them in every plan which
they projected fur the improvement of the country, or the advance.
ment of commerce; but though Mr. Polhill could not refer to his
oten exertions, he thought he should derive merit from those of his
father; he though: that though he was himself untried, the pone.
c II career of his father should certify for him. If, however, he pre-
sented himself to the anti-reformers, as he had declared himself a
ft lend to triennial Parliaments, that party would disclaim him ; and
if he went among the Bishops,where he had before sent him,on the
ground of being a martyr, they would reject hint as an associate,
because his father was a Unitarian. Could his father speak, could
hill voice be heard from the grave, he would advise him. instead of
being a candidate for the borough of Southwark, to vote for
him (Sir Robert Wilson), because he had been on all occa-
sions a friend to all denominations of Dissenters. He hoped
they would give Mr. Polhill a hearing, and he would, to-
-171.11[31V, have an opportunity of commenting on the sooech he
mieht then address to them. He begged they would do him jus-
tice, but ju it e fair y and justly between the candidates. Ile had
laced himself upon his trial' he had come to that tribunel to be
'flirty tried • he had demanded a fu I trial, and he hoped they
could let hilts h ve it. An elector had &evened to his conduct in
taking raft in t e internal politics ( f Spain in the year 1813; hehad
addressed a tettir to Mr. Iletherston, who had proposed vim as a
fit person to represent them in Parliament, and who had guaranteed
that his political conduct would never disgrace 'Le trust cosy might
repeee in him by electing him. lie theught lie was the most
fit person to address that letter to. The Gallant Knight here read
the letter, in which he stated that he took part in the struggle in
Spain, because he was a friend of freedom ; he did not du so for
the purpose of fomenting or pereetuating discord in that country,
but forwarding the political happiness of the people of Spain, and
because he was convinced that in taking that resolution he was ac-
ing in unison with the feeling of his constituents. He assured tile
electors that it was not from any personal consideration that he did
not resign his seat; he trusted that the letter he had read would
convince them that t)e was ao honest man, and appealed to the past
conduct of himself and hill Honourable olleagne, that in the per-
formanee of their Partumentary dtities they had never abused the
trust reposed in them or tarnished their honour. Ile thanked them
efor teifedmhsattot-ini
vociferous graves
tgrt dive:
fullorer.,waanrdd trusted tiw
at
sO
assailedtheir
b y
the
root
more than an occasiouul word. As far as these interruptions would
ey had
urrow
allow us, we understood him to say that he had ahead, polled
taiatterelnheailesdi4itys.‘asies. which rendered it impassible to catch
1,200 Totem, most of which were plumper% ; lie had no wish to
atpinlroedtwraisgacitiveteshoeificoitahntettemhs: frrerocsntuja
bipe,ipeoruper
non
tahlnrosfetwteglhhiont:,humid
thpluiteltt iheniiemate
Lmiitn,n.pnol i anu
t w
He aiio_adnle
eliarieed with having used the exclamation of " No Popery:"
might have done so, but why did he use the words ? Sir Hebert_
Wilson had said there was no room for him but on the bench of
Bishops, that was strongly impressed on his mind; he fcli
asleep, and very naturally dreamt he was a Hisho . He could
nut
xsay how long he might have remained under the elusion, had not
the sound of the cap and bells awoke him. The mitre was then
too heavy for ids head. and, in dayaciog it. he might have es-
claimed, " No Popery !" lie had meted to Mr. Fox. He did
not mention his name, because he had so often changed sides ; hot
he would never imitate his 'example and dam his criaara• Ou

every important question, should he be returned as their Represen-
tative, he would consult the opinions of his constituents, and be
guided by them. Three hundred and sixty electors had been polled
that day.
Mr. Cxuerav here observed, that there were only 131 for him
(Mr. Polhill)
Mr. Polon r. continued—lle could rent, in the present state of
the poll, think of retiring; they would find him true game. fle was
determined t continue the contest while axi ;gle elector remained
unpolled. The support of the electors hail not diminished, but had,
on the contrary, inetessed. Ile thanked them for their exertions,
and hoped they would persevere in al good a cause.
The poll was adjourned to nine o'clock this day (Tuesday), and
the assembly dispersed.