CHAPTER XI.

Another Westminster election, 1788--Lord Hood appointed to the Admiralty Board, 1788--A fresh contest--Lord John Townshend, a candidate in the Whig interest--Defeat of Lord Hood--Two Whig members for Westminster--Mob violence, the Guards, Hood’s sailors--Ministerial support--“Election Troops bringing their Accounts to the Pay-table” (Treasury Gate), 1788, by J. Gillray--“An Independent Elector”--Helston, Cornwall, 1790--Lady canvassers--A violent “eccentric”--“Proof of the Refined Feelings of an Amiable Character, lately a Candidate for a Certain Ancient City,” by J. Gillray--“The ‘Marplot’ of his Own Party”--Abuses of patronage--Traditions of boroughmongering--Accumulations of seats and parliamentary interests--Cartwright’s tables of pocket boroughs--Pitt’s early patron, Sir James Lowther--“The tyrant of the North”--“Pacific Entrance of Earl Wolf (Lord Lonsdale) into Blackhaven,” 1792--Great distress prevalent throughout the country, in 1795; its effect on political agitation--Political clubs clamour for parliamentary reform--The king and his advisers in disfavour--Revolutionary societies and the “Seditions Bill”--Gillray’s caricatures--“Meetings of Political Citizens at Copenhagen House,” 1795--Whig agitation against the threatened incursions on the “liberty of the subject”--“The Majesty of the People”--“A Hackney Meeting,” 1796--A threatened constitutional struggle averted by a dissolution of parliament, 1796--Pitt’s tactics--“The Dissolution; or, the State Alchymist producing an Ætherial Representation,” 1796--Mr. Hull’s costly electioneering experience at Maidstone, 1796--Horne Tooke unsuccessful at Westminster, 1790 and 1796--Fox and the favour of the mobocracy--“The Hustings, Covent Garden,” 1796--Electioneering squibs--The _Anti-Jacobin_ and the member for Southwark--Canning’s lines on George Tierney, “The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-grinder,” 1797--Grey’s reform measure first moved in 1797--Defeat of the Whigs, and their temporary abstention from the debates--Increased political agitation out of doors--Great reform meetings--Medal commemorative of the gathering at Warwick--“Loyal Medal,” a parody of the “Greathead” patriotic medal--The secession of “the party”--Horne Tooke as a political agitator--The Brentford Parson’s pamphlets--Horne Tooke a political portrait painter, and the _Anti-Jacobin_--“Two Pair of Portraits, dedicated to the Unbiased Electors of Great Britain,” 1798--Meeting on the twentieth anniversary of Fox’s membership for Westminster--The Whig chief’s speech to his constituents--“The Worn-out Patriot; or, the Last Dying-Speech of the Westminster Representative at the Shakespeare Tavern,” 1800--Horne Tooke seated for “Old Sarum”--The opposition to his membership led by Temple--Lord Camelford’s nominees--“Political Amusements for Young Gentlemen; or, the Brentford Shuttlecock,” 1801--“Horne Tooke as the ‘Shuttlecock’”--Unexpected honours thrust upon Captain Barlow at Coventry, 1802--Middlesex Election for 1804--The Brentford Hustings--“A Long Pull, a Strong Pull, and a Pull All Together;” Sir Francis Burdett drawn to the poll--“The Governor in his Glory,” 1804--The Westminster election, 1806--The Radical Reformers--“Triumphal Procession of Little Paull”--“The Highflying Candidate mounting from a Blanket,” 1806--The coalition between Hood and Sheridan--Paull tossed at the hustings--Burdett for Middlesex--“Posting to the Election; or, a Scene on the Road to Brentford,” 1806--William Cobbett “A Radical Drummer,” 1806--“Coalition Candidates,” Hood and Sheridan--Sheridan disconcerted--“View of the Hustings in Covent Garden, Westminster Election,” 1806--“Who suffers?”--The general election, 1807--A split in the Radical camp--Differences between Burdett and Paull--“Patriots deciding a Point of Honour; or, the Exact representation of the Celebrated Rencontre which took place at Coombe Wood, between Little Paull the Tailor and Sir Francis Goose,” 1807--“The Poll of the Westminster Election,” 1807--“the Republican Goose at the Top, etc.”--Horne Tooke and Sir Francis Burdett--“The Head of the Poll; or, the Wimbledon Showman,” 1807--“The Chelmsford Petition; Patriots addressing the Essex Calves” 289