The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-13 00:00:00

PRICE 5d

RIBERY AND CORRUPTION AT

L BEDS.

Never, ,we believe, has so much of vice been crowded
auto so short a period, in the borough of Leeds, as at
the recent borough election. The number of foul and
legradik,i influences which were brought into operation,
xere, we believe, perfectly unprecedented by anything
_hat has ever occurred in Leeds before. Bribery, in all
,ts • Protean shapes—often in its. own naked. and
hideous villanv, an undisguised attempt to barter con-
science, and often thinly veiled beneath the tran-
sparent pretence of bargaining—has prevailed to
.a unexampled extent. Intimidation, whether of
vaster over workmen, of landlord over tenant, or
customer over shopkeeper, has been unhesitatingly
•xerted. Never have the thousand influences whibh
;how how much in society, as at present orgonized,
me man is the helpless and pitiable slave of another,
`teen more palpably and •disgustingly displayed. Where
:hese could not be successfully employed, every kind
tf trick, deception, • and fraud, boundless lying -and
'iarefaced calumny, were . unscrupulously resorted to.
t is shocking to contemplate the demoralization
that must have been produced by this
,pandering to
the -worst vices •of the population. It is quite im-
iossible to trace the various channels through which
• iribery - and- corruption have- •rcached the -consciences
-if men,. or intimidation been brought to bear. Debtors
have been relieved from gaols, and the debts paid-at an
,:normous • expense, -as the price of their votes. Sick
.nen have been dragged from their beds -to the Tolling-
moths by doctors, who had preViou4 pronounced that
to leave'..their beds was- to hazard their lives ;.and return-
ing officers have gone to the back doors of polling booths
to meet such men. Tenants have been distrained, and
Norkmen thrown out of employment, with an utter reek-
,tssness of the heart-rending . misery that must be the
otisequence, for the avowed reason, that they voted
againSWlte..wishes of their landlortLor their employers.
Voriis OFFERED ix THE MARKET.—A man of the
name of Benjamin Binns, a hay-dealer on Quarry-hill,
who has always before voted for the Liberal candidates,
an the last occasion offered his vote to the Liberals if
they would give him 51. This was refused, and he
voted for Beckett and Jocelyn. Of course he got his
price from the Blues—the result plainly enough proves
that ; but it is impossible, of course, to say how
.nuch that price was, and by whom it was paid. We
;:now, howevar, from the statement of the man him-
self, that the Blues offered to find him the floor boards
for a house that he is building, which he declined,
not considering it sufficient. The following is another
case of a voter seeking a bribe :—A man of the name of
Cox, a pill-doctor, living in York-street, sent up to the.
Liberal Central Committee for 101. He has always be-
fore voted for the Liberal candidates. The money was
of course refused, and he voted for Beckett and Jocelyn.
There can be no doubt that a bribe was both offered and
accepted in this case, but as in almost all cases of suc-
cessful attempts of bribery, it is impossible to penetrate
the veil in which both the parties to the bargain are
anxious to envelope the villany they have committed.
Another voter, who was bad in his rent, also distinctly
and openly offered his vote for 101. It was refused, and
he also voted for the Tories.—Leeds Times.

TIIE LATE SIR BENJAMIN
STEPHENSON, G.C.H.,

SOMETIME SU RVEYOR- GENERAL OF THE BOARD OF
WORRS, AND LATE ONE OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF

WOODS AND FORESTS.
(From the British Queen.)
_ • _

Sir Benjamin. Stephenson, in his early days, was an
officer in a foreign service, and was first publicly known
in England as Colonel Stephenson, right-hand-man and
Master of the Household to Queen Charlotte, whose good
graces and patronage he acquired and maintained by
the two cardinal virtues in her eyes, of taking snuff and
stinginess. His most laborious duties were performed
at Windsor, during the custody of George the Third
by his amiable consort ; and so well did he strive to gain,
the favour of his loyal Mistress, that it was a common
saying in the household, the worthy Colonel " was never
content unless he extracted three legs from a duck." In
fact, to enlarge the well-paid privy purse of his mistress,
there was nothing too small in the expenditure of the
Castle that could escape his vigilant eye. For years he
might be considered the King of Windsor, and his
power at Court was immense, so much so that the
records of the time will show, that when on the
evening that the lamented Princess Charlotte
quitted Buckingham Palace to be united to Prince
Leopold at Carlton house, she was conducted
from. the drawing-room to • the carriage, following
her Royal grandmother, by Colonel Stephenson.
Stephenson was always allowed to be a brave officer,
and as vigilance is said to be a necessary qualification
to curry out a good general's plans, perhaps no man
ever looked farther. - Age crept upon the Queen,
and, as is always the case about the Court, some
good place must be, found or made to provide for
a faithful servant when patronage ceases. 'Wyatt--
James Wyatt—the great_ . Wysttke..-oSlOSAiorc,cieneral
of the hoard of Works, ilepOted this, life,. and a
regeneration of . that department was made by Par-
liament, under the auspices of - those eminent
statesmen, the .-Earl of Liverpool and. Nick Van.'
sittart,- now Lord _Bexley, and the salary enjoyed try
poor Wyatt of tinol. per annum, was, ..by Act of
Parliament. raised to future Surveyors-General to
1,500/. There were three candidates for the office
of the Head of the Architects of England ; Smirke,
who was pr:vately employed by Lord Liverpool,
old Soane, who fancied himself the greatest architect
in the world, and whose only claim to such was spoiling
all the good and clever work of Sir Robert Taylor at the
Bank of England, and our worthy Colonel ; and such
was the overwhelming interest of the Queen, that Col.
Stephenson, after the office had been kept in abey-
ance twelve months, in consequence of the intrigues of
the three candidates,. was appointed. A Colonel in a fo-
reign service, whose whole duties at Windsor and Lon-
don, had been the regulating and examining the kitchen
department, appointed, at three times the salary, to succeed
James Wyatt ! In accordance with our opening,
let us here thrown in a few anecdotes of Wyatt.
Wyatt, perhaps, take him " all in all," was as emi
nent an architect as ever lived. There is scarcely a
nobleman's seat in the country, that does not carry the
mark of his hand, and the Universities also' testify his
abilities. Notwithstanding the immense sums that
passed through Wyatt's hands, his natural indolence, and
love of women and gaming, caused him to die in great
distress : but such was his power of conversation, his
sweetness of temper, and. gentlemanly manners, that he
was universally beloved. He was a great favourite with
George the Third and Queen Charlotte, and when his
Majesty was building the palace at Kew, which Wyatt
superintended, he was frequently the only guest of their
Majesties of an afternoon, who admitted him to unre-
served conversation. To show the natural indolence of
Wyatt, the following anecdote is told :-He was profes-
sionally engaged in some distant part of the country,
and some works at Windsor Castle were stopped for his,
directions, and the King having learned the cause, di-
rected the clerk of the works to proceed express to-
' Wyatt, and to command the instant attendance, at Wind•
sor, of his Surveyor-General. Mr. Matthews. the clerk
of the works, who had been appointed by Wyatt, and of
whom he had a very high opinion, proceeded as fast as
four horses could take him to Wyatt, and having kept .
the horses as relays back, conveyed to him his Majesty's
commands. Wyatt, instantly, with Matthews, started'
for Windsor, and in due course arrived within about'
three stages, when during the changing of horses, he
entered the inn for the purpose of getting some refresh.
ment. It should here be remarked, that as some people.
have a deadly antipathy to some things from their birth,
so Wyatt had as equal a longing for, and enjoyment of,
a pork-ehop ; and having espied a most delicious loin
hanging in the larder, directed that a couple should be
got ready immediately. When Matthews announced cieladll7tihniget
horse ready, he was met by the reply they must
until he had finished the pork-chops o
done, and further met with some good sherry, he, as was
his custom, took a nap, Matthews, impatient, went into
the room, awoke the Surveyor-General, and pl eaded his
Majesty's displeasure for their immediate departure- It
Nm
was of no use. " Matthews," says Wyatt
pork-
chops were the best I ever tasted ; the'' "those
vd
I have ordered the loin to reserved fore mgyosodelf:
andi
an
from hence do nut stir until I have finished it." Ile
kept his word and the
King waiting, for fhe didhT)t arrive
in Windsor until the
enjoy-
ment,ensuing of his two first chops, and having
having finished rom is
theloin. In corroboration of this anecdote, the King and
Queen, one. Sunday eveni 11 • wa..img on the terrace at
Windsor, in convers • -ation with the Earl of PeMbroke,
whose seat of Wilton Wyatt was embellishing, and with
whom he was an especial favourite, his Majesty observed,
" Pembroke ! Pembroke ! her Ma'e,commanded my
j sty
Surveyor-General yesterday to attend her at three o'clock.
What time—what time do you think he came 2" Lord
Pembroke ventured to reply, to screen his friend, that
" probably Wyatt's numerous engagements might compel
him, very reluctantly, to disobey her Majesty by being
half an .hour after his time." " Why," said the King,
smiling, " he never came at all ; he never came at all."

• '
DECKETT'S Notes."—The election just
over has been one of the dearest elections for the Tories,
that has ever taken place in Leeds. From facts within
our knowledge, we are convinced that it cannot have
costa farthing less than 4,0001. The number_ of notes
from Beckett's bank at present flying about I.eeds, is,
we believe, quite unprecedented. Numbers of the poorer
classes of voters have, during the last few days, been pay-
ing up long arrears of rent in "Beckett's notes," also
long-standing accounts in " Beckett's notes ;" and many
are now living as they never lived before, and all upon
" Beckett's notes." It is quite possible that Mr. Wil-
liam Beckett may have paid a great deal more for the
honour of representing_ Leeds. than it is really worth.
As it is, we have ver- strong suspicions that he has gone
into Parliament with. filthy hands.—Leeds Times.
On Saturday Morning last, as Mr. James
Groves, a market gardener from Pinvin, was proceeding down
Red-hill, on the L indon-roul, with a cart load of vegetables
and fruit, the bark chain broke, which caused the shafts of the
cart to fall considerably, and the horse took fright and started
off at full speed towards Worcester, which threw poor Groves
from the fore part of the cart where he was sitting. It appears
he held by the cart for two or three seconds, when he was seen
to fall head first, and, the wheel passing over his head, he died
instantly. An inquest was hi ld on the-body the same day at
the Carpenter's Arms, • and a verdict of " Accidental Death'
returned. , Groves was a very steady man,thirtypei ght yearsof
age, and has left a -We and -Gll6 child.