Star.
London, England, 1829-10-07 00:00:00

tinning a circuit r. and the borders of be township, through the
lordship of Balderton, over the Beacon Hill till it again reaches tl
river; thus forming a girdle completely round the town of the
most fertile land, which, with the exception of two considerablo
portions that are now let to influential families in the town, is
divided nut into closes of from two to live acres each, awl let out
into one, two, or three lots to different electors within the borough,
according to the extent of their influence and real in promoting the
political views of the Duke within the borough; a part of which
closes are again sublet, creating a similar influence in favour of the
Duke's nominee. To such as are unacquainted with the situa-
tion and circumstances of Newark, the extraordinaty power
acquired by the Duke from possession of these Crown lands,
would appear incredible; but their immediate contiguity to the
densely inhabited part of the town, renders a portion almost India.
pensable to every merchant, tradesman, and shopkeeper ; parti-
cularly so where the staple products. as in Newark, are meal and
malt.. In regard therefore to the possession of property so useful
and so valuable, the power created by the fear of losing it on the
one hand, and the desire of acquiring it on the other, affords a
powerful and almost irresistible temptation to the prostitution of
the elective franchise. so long as the power of dispose, is allowed
to remain in the hands of a Nobleman, who, viewing the property
of the Crown as if it were his own paternal estate, say-, 's Have I
not a Tight to do what I will with mine own ?" and oho con-
siders the privilege of controuling election' one of "the inherent
rights" which belong to it. Within the circle or belt of Crown
land surrounding the town as before mentioned, the Duke of New-
castle possesses property to some extent, consisting of both land
and houses. This property is held from year to ye.r, without
lease, the tenants of which, u, an unisrstanding, which has
grown up from communications with the Duke's agents, that they
would not be disturbed in their occupations, hive considerably nal'
proved it. The Duke by this means has acqqited the power of
fining the tenants for their integrity in voting, tar greater th.e, the
usual and wholesale influence which property can confer.
liming stand •the description of property for which the Duke
so ttiumphantly claims the might of •• d ' g what he wid will his
own." we have proceeded to see what the degree of influence it
conferred, and the principle by which he appeals to hove heat
guided in applying this maxim upon the present occasion.
In the first place., such his been the overwhelming power
created by the fear of losing their respective portions of the ('town
land, that 136 of the Duke's ininiediate tettant. of that deip, ton
of property voted for the Duke's nominee, without taking actot.ht
of subletting+, the numbers of which we are nut enabled to useer-
tain in the abort space allowed for the making of our report. At
the same time, only tour of such tenants had the courage to vote
for Mr. Sergeant Wilde, and each of them has been rewarded for
his integrity by the receipt of a notice to quit. The principle on
which his Grace the Duke of Newcastle has exercised his sup-
posed rights in regard to his own private property may be in-
ferred from two eases now before us, in both of which the tenants
had expended more than the value of the freehold upon subat 111;131
erections, for the purposes of business, on the property, in the full
reliance upon the honour of his Grace, and the assurance of his
agents, that their possession would not be distuibcd, and in the
event of their quitting the premises, that a suitable allowance
would be made for the iniprovements.--whereas these gentlemen
have both received notice to quit. in one of the.e cases, a rival
tradesman is promised to be rewarded fur voting for Mr. Sadler,
by the possession of the premises, so that he should have the
advantage of his rival's shop and his customers; and the other
gentleman has but too much reason to believe, that the Duke
is only waiting for the expiration of the notice to reward a
mote pliant disposition with the full benefit of his refract," y

tenanie improvements
In respect to the Duke's houses at Newark, the rule by which
he and his agents have given their notices shows but too plainly
their definition of " the inherent rights of property," as, without
one single exception, as we believe, every tenant of the Duke.
who voted for 11r. Sergeant Wilde, has received notices to quit ;
while not one of Mr. Sadler's, nr rather the Duke's, voters, has
r. centred one. In Balderton Gate, where the Duke has several
huuses, only one of the Duke's tenants voted for the Sergeant,
and he has received a discharge. Not to weary the patience at
the. Meeting by referring to every street, we nerd only observe,
in Clinton-street, all the tenants now renut. g there who voted
for Mr. Sergeant Wilde (:our in number), have received notices
to quit ; and none of the others who voted for Mr. Sadler. In
Constautinopte sod Cotton-square the same. In Depot-yard,
out of twelve now residing there, who polled at the last election,
all the seven who voted for Mr Sergeant Wilde have received no-
tice to quit and not one of the reniai ll it tg five who polled for the
Duke's eominee. In lien and Chickens-yard, a similarly marked
distinction is observable ,as also in Mil-gate, Lincolmrow, Water-
lane, Tomlinson's-row, and Tallent's-row, &c. &c. In Slaughter-
House-lane, the only person who voted for the Sergeant Is Thomas
Dell, who has received a notice to quit,notwithstanding that be re•
sided in the same house six years before it was purchased by the
present Duke's Grandfather, and nutwithstandmg that he is now
77 years of age, 52 of which he has lived in the same house, never
having been, during that time, a day behind with hi■ rent, and
owing none until next Michaelmas day (old style). Ile has always
borne a good character, and lived out of that time 24 year. with
one master, and 20 yeas with another, and against him there has
been no worse imputation than that of having, on the last election,
voted for Mr. Sergeant Wild,
We are happy, for the honour of the Borough. to have to report
that there dues tint exilic the least pretence for the proceeding of
the Duke, on account of the backwardness on the part of the dis-
charged truants in the payment of their rents; they were princi-
pally old, respectable, and well-paying tenants : in most of the
cases, no lent whatever will be due until the ieth instant, and, in
the remaining instances, nut more than one half year's rent, which
will be duly paid.
With the preceding statement of facts we had intended to con-
chide our report, but the extraordinary assertions contained in his
Grace's letter to our Chairman. compels us to further explanations.
unless we were to allow the inhabitants of Newark to labour untie'
the unmerited imputation of ingratitude to his Grace.
We confidently appeal to the experience of our fellow townsmen
for the truth of our assertion, that we are not indebted to hi.
Grace the Duke of Newcastle for soy of those act• of beneficence
to the poor, or utility and liberality to the town, tor which, in his
letter, he takes credit ; on the contrary, the arbitrary and exclu-
sive principle by which the letting of his property has been go.
veined. has impeded the march of improvement, checked the pr.•-
grew of wealth, and confined (for election purposes) within narrow
and inconvenient limits, a town which, front its local situation, the
fertility of the surrounding country. and its proximity to the bat
markets, is well calculated to become, and despite of every impe-
diment, is, to a considerable extent, the granary and storehouse
of a large porton of the manufacturing districts. The acts of hr
nevolence adverted to in his Grace's letter are, like himself, entirely
unknown to the inhabitants : he neither contributes to their Ow-
. rules, nor does he promote their trade ; he hiss in their recollec-
tions only from the periodical visitation of his rent collectors, asul
in the rare case of defalcation in tent, it is exacted with the -art.t •
est severity ; particularly so if the unfortunate efaulter is wiper--
ted of holding sentiments adverse to the Duke's political influence
in the borough. dhe Duke has also long been accustomed to pro- •
vide the town with Members of Parliament, which, from the power
the Crown lands have given him, be has been enabled to get
elected, and, although they have uonunally represented the town,
they have ever been sensible to the promution of its in.tere•ts, hold-
ing their seat but to swell the number of his Grace's claims upon
the Minister of the day, fot the advancement of his own persenal
and family Mutest; and so completely have such reembeir been
the I.uppete of the Duke, that, at his pleasure, lie has displaced
aed replaced then► without notice to, or the knowledge of, these
to whom they were nominally indebted for their elevation. Had
I the conduct of the Duke been such is in his letter he is pleased t-•
represent it to he, his propetty and virtues weidd have been surely
sufficient to collier influence within the borough equal to every just
aid rational expectation, without attempting to at ..goon his tenams
into a compliance with his will, by the present undisguised atten•pt
to reduce the town to the degraded condition of a tot:et•

borough.
We repel the supposition that those tenants of the Duke %eh
voted for Mr. Sergeant Wilde, held their property upon
conditions of giving to bit Grace the disposition of their Vott
s.
a Contract which, in every case. would subject both parties to ct:
mina) punishment, and if proved extensively to exist, would subject
the borough to disfratichis-meat for general corruption.
But the Committee call upon the inhabitants or the bortinii, tit
all parties, to repel the intiutation, resist the present attcmpt to
enslave them, and to join hand and bears in asset tins the hoooeit
tat
the inhabitants, and the independence of the beitoogb.
(Signed) SAMUEL DRISTOWIL and Others.
Mr. T. Gttsos again came forward, and said that previous to hi.
moving a resolution, he wished to say that be had been an inhabi-
tant of Newark for upward. of So years, and during that long time .i
tenant of his Grace. l.le row came forward because 5 red.hut
had been,as he thought, unfairly fired at him first, because he tea.
a Whig, although up to a recent period be had not procl.itated
his sentiments in public,—an error of silence of which be trusted
be should not in future prove gmity. It waiskilown that be was
a tenant of his Grace the Duke ut Newcastle for a part of hi.
crown property on which he had gone to loin: expense in makisig
erections of different kinds. To quit this tenement he had now
received three notices, because, as his Grace said. be was at iiberty
to do what be pleased with hi. own. True, be was, to a certain
extent ; but be thought the DOW. power over his own was limi-
ted like any other man's, and that. he was restricted when be at-
tempted to do other personsan injury—(Hear) The Duke bad
declared an unwillingness to oppress any body, yet what was it
but oppression to eject tenants because they voted according to
their consciences? It was bit policy at one time to support ilia