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Roman Catholic Relief and the Leicester Election of 1826
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 February 2009
Extract
“The election cry”, wrote the first Lord Colchester to his friend Lord Amherst, after the general election of 1826, “has been upon the Corn Laws, the Abolition of Slavery, and the Roman Catholic claims.” Not dissimilarly, the Annual Register reported that the subjects most canvassed in the election were the corn laws and Roman catholic emancipation. Croker found attention concentrated on what he called “the three C's”, corn, currency and catholics. On the other hand, Peel, observing more precisely, not merely recognised the widespread interest in the catholic question, but also was equally impressed by the importance in the various contests of personal and local rivalries. For parliamentary elections when contested were still, as in the eighteenth century, determined very largely by local loyalties, although national issues begin to play a larger part.
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References
page 199 note 1 C. Abbott, Ist Lord Colchester, Diary and Correspondence, iii (1861), 439.
page 199 note 2 Annual Register for the Year 1826 (1827), 169.
page 199 note 3 The Correspondence and Diaries of J. W. Croker, ed. Jennings, L. J. (1885), i, 321.Google Scholar
page 199 note 4 C. S. Parker, Sir Robert Peel (1891), 414.
page 199 note 5 See M. Roberts, The Whig Party, 1807–1812 (1939), chapter i; A. Aspinall, The Formation of Canning's Ministry, February to August 1827 (Camden Series, 1937), 1ii.
page 200 note 1 Spencer Walpole, A History of England from the Conclusion of the Great War in 1815, ii (ed. 1890), 286, 288, 308.
page 200 note 2 M. W. Patterson, Sir Francis Burdett and his Times (1931), ii, 548.
page 200 note 3 Walpole, op. cit., 312–13.
page 200 note 4 B.M. Add. MSS. (Huskisson Papers), 38747, fo. 78, Huskisson to Canning, 4 September 1825.
page 200 note 5 cf. A. Aspinall, Lord Brougham and the Whig Party (1927), 134.
page 200 note 6 Croker, Ibid.., 282.
page 201 note 1 B.M. Add. MSS., 38748, fo. 68.
page 201 note 2 R. Coupland, Wilberforce (1923), 367–9.
page 201 note 3 B.M. Add. MSS., 38747, fo. 80, Huskisson to Canning, 4 September 1825.
page 201 note 4 C. Abbott, Lord Colchester, Speeches on Catholic Emancipation (1828), 2.
page 201 note 5 Van Mildert, Speech in the House of Lords against Catholic Emancipation (7 May 1826) 3, 4.
page 201 note 6 cf. E. A. Knox, The Tractarian Movement (1933), 112.
page 202 note 1 J. Bennett, History of the Dissenters during the Thirty Years 1808–38 (1839), 61.
page 202 note 2 cf. D. Mathew, Catholicism in England, 1535–1935 (1936), 165, 187.
page 202 note 3 The Letters and Correspondence of John Henry Newman, ed. Anne Mozley, i (1891), 199.
page 202 note 4 G. Faber, Oxford Apostles (1933), 239–41.
page 202 note 5 Croker, i, 278–80; ii, 1–14.
page 202 note 6 Wrangham, F. W., A Letter addressed to the Clergy of the Archdeaconry of the East Riding on the Roman Catholic claims (Chester, 1829).Google Scholar It is interesting to observe that Wrangham received considerable preferment in the period 1825–9, becoming Archdeacon of the East Riding in Oct. 1828. Index Ecclesiasticus, ed. Foster, (Oxford, 1890).Google Scholar
page 203 note 1 The Chester Election of 1826 complete poll book also a collection of addresses, papers, squibs, etc., by the Editor of the Chronicle (Chester, 1826).Google Scholar
page 203 note 2 Historical Sketches of the Coventry Election in June 1826 (Coventry, 1826), 9.Google Scholar
page 203 note 3 First Report of the Municipal Corporation Commissioners (1835), Appendix, 1834.
page 203 note 4 Historical Sketches, 7–8.
page 204 note 1 The Black Book (1835), 80, criticises the meanness of the free seats in parish churches.
page 204 note 2 I have dealt with this question more fully in my book, The Corporation of Leicester, 1689–1836 (1939), 108–12.
page 204 note 3 cf. E. L. Woodward, The Age of Reform, 1815–70 (1938), 493. In putting forward this comment, I am of course aware that the suggestion does not by any means exhaust the significance of the Tractarian movement.
page 205 note 1 As shown in the Catholic Militia Bill of 1807; Roberts, op. cit., 15–16.
page 205 note 2 Walpole, op. cit., 377–9; Bennett, op. cit., 88; cf. A. Lincoln, English Dissent, 1763–1800 (1938), 236–7.
page 205 note 3 Bennett, Ibid..
page 205 note 4 A. Herman Thomas, History of the Great Meeting, Leicester (1908), 60.
page 205 note 5 cf. S. and B. Webb, English Local Government, i (1906), 158–9, 165. Some account of these contests will be found in my Corporation of Leicester, 1689–1836, 33–5, 43–7.
page 205 note 6 cf. Hansard, New Series, xix, 1745. I have discussed the term “ independence ” in relation to Leicester in Greaves, op. cit., 97, 106.
page 205 note 7 T. Carew, Historical Account of Rights of Elections (1755), 321.
page 206 note 1 See C. J. Billson, Leicester Memoirs (1924), 19.
page 206 note 2 Leicester Journal, 12 June 1818; 9 October 1819.
page 206 note 3 See The Black Book, i (1820), 436; ii (1823), 182. Alphabetical List of Members of Parliament, how they voted on 14 great questions, 1821–2.
page 206 note 4 Leicester Journal, 29 May 1819; 25 January 1820.
page 206 note 5 loc. Cit., 12 June 1818.
page 206 note 6 loc. Cit., 3 March 1820; Mansfield actually considered retiring on the ground that he did not feel sure of the united support of the corporation.
page 206 note 7 The defeat of the corporation candidates in 1768 had been due, as the published poll book shows, largely to dissensions in the corporation itself. Greaves, op. cit., 103–4.
page 207 note 1 The corporation had petitioned the legislature against catholic relief in 1821 and 1822; Leicester Corporation, MS. Hall Books, 11 April 1821, 22 May 1822.
page 207 note 2 Leicester Journal, 25 January 1822.
page 207 note 3 Leicester Cathedral MS., S. Martin's vestry book, no. 21, April 1824.
page 208 note 1 Leicester Corporation, MS. Hall Books, 18 December 1822.
page 208 note 2 Ibid., 30 December 1822.
page 208 note 3 Ibid., 20 January 1823.
page 208 note 4 Ibid., 3 September 1824.
page 208 note 5 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910; Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1210–11; R. Read, Modern Leicester (1881), 232 ff.: The Times, 15 September 1827, 3 a.
page 208 note 6 MS. Hall Books, 3 September 1824.
page 209 note 1 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 2005.
page 209 note 2 An Alphabetical List of the Burgesses & Freeholders who polled for two Burgesses to represent Nottingham June 1826 (Nottingham, 1826) contains thirty–seven Leicester names as polling for the two whig candidates, including the Rev. Charles Berry (p. 9) and Thomas Paget (p. 4). There were thirteen “ plumpers ” for Wright, the tory candidate.
page 209 note 3 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1835.
page 209 note 4 Ibid., 1833.
page 209 note 5 The Times, 21 June 1826, 3 a; Read, op. cit., 232; H. Hartopp, Register of the Freemen of the Borough of Leicester, ii (1933), pp. xii–xiii.
page 209 note 6 3 George III, c. 15. Freemen by birth, marriage and servitude were not affected by the act. For the origin of this “ Durham Act ”, see E. A. Porritt, The Unreformed House of Commons (1903), i, 65.
page 209 note 7 Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1201.
page 210 note 1 M. Bateson, Records of the Borough of Leicester, iii (1905), 363.
page 210 note 2 MS. Hall Books, 30 August 1825.
page 210 note 3 Read, op. cit., 222. For Evans's support of reforming measures, see The Black Book, i (1820), 154; this notes that he did not vote for the repeal of the Six Acts; nor did Pares. Hansard, N.S., vii, 140; viii, 288, 1288; xiii, 298; xv, 715.
page 210 note 4 Leicester Journal, 12 May 1826; W. Gardiner, Music and Friends (1838), ii, 627–8.
page 211 note 1 Leicester Journal, 12 May 1826.
page 211 note 2 Ibid., 26 May 1826.
page 211 note 3 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910.
page 211 note 4 Gardiner, op. cit., ii, 627–8.
page 211 note 5 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910–11; Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1202.
page 211 note 6 Leicester Journal, 16 June 1826.
page 212 note 1 The Times, 15 June 1826; Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1204. In making this arrangement, the corporation assumed that there would be few plumpers for their own candidates, an assumption not altogether borne out by the poll book.
page 212 note 2 Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1204.
page 212 note 3 The Black Book, ii (1823), 151.
page 212 note 4 Read, op. cit., 247.
page 212 note 5 The Times, 17 June 1826, 4 b.
page 212 note 6 Ibid., 19 June 1826, 3 c; 20 June, 2 e.
page 213 note 1 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1913.
page 213 note 2 Poll Book (Leicester, 1826).
page 213 note 3 The Times, 17 June 1826, 4 b; Leicester Journal, 16 June 1826.
page 213 note 4 The Times, 15 June, 2 c; 19 June, 3 c; Leicester Journal, 16 June 1826. Read, op. cit., 238–9.
page 213 note 5 Read, op. cit., 225.
page 213 note 6 Ibid., 244–6.
page 214 note 1 Hastings, 2,773; Cave, 2,678; Evans, 2,063; Denman, 1,011.
page 214 note 3 The Times, 26 June 1826, 2 f.
page 214 note 3 Leicester Journal, 26 June 1826, 2 f.
page 214 note 4 S. Walpole, op. cit., ii, 213–4. But cf. the comment of Huskisson to Canning, 16 October 1826: “The Catholic Question is becoming every day more formidable.” Add. MSS., 38748, fo. 183.
page 214 note 5 Letter to the duke of Montrose, 20 April 1828. Wellington, Dispatches and Correspondence, iv (1871), 411.
page 215 note 1 MS. Hall Books, 5 September 1826.
page 215 note 2 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910–11, text of the agreement.
page 215 note 3 Leicester Journal, 24 August 1827. cf. Hansard, N.S., xix, 1300. Slightly larger figures are given in the Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1911.
page 215 note 4 MS. Hall Books, 12 September 1827.
page 215 note 5 Ibid., 27 August 1828; present of plate to the arbitrator.
page 215 note 6 Hansard, NS., xix, 1746.
page 216 note 1 Leicester Journal, 31 August 1827; Hansard, N.S., xix, 1300.
page 216 note 2 Ibid.
page 216 note 3 Gardiner, op. cit., iii, 13–14.
page 216 note 4 Leicester Chronicle, 25 August 1827.
page 216 note 5 MS. Hall Books, 21 March, 27 August 1828.
page 216 note 6 Ibid., 17 September 1827.
page 216 note 7 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1902.
page 216 note 8 MS. Hall Books, 24 March 1829.
page 217 note 1 MS. Council Minutes, Report of Finance Committee, January 1836.
page 217 note 2 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910; Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1204; H. Hartopp, op. cit., ii, p. xiii, gives 445 honorary freemen voters in this election.
page 217 note 3 The Times, 21 June 1826, 3 a.
page 217 note 4 Hansard, N.S., xx, 358.
page 217 note 5 The poll book shows a clear but small majority of town votes for the corporation candidates: Hastings, 1,211; Cave, 1,105; Evans, 1,098; Denman, 953. Other votes were as follows:—
See also Hartopp, loc. Cit.
page 217 note 6 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1912–13.
page 218 note 1 MS. Hall Books, 21 March 1828; 9 George IV, c. 17.
page 218 note 2 cf. R. Peel, Memoirs, i (1857), 284–310.
page 218 note 3 MS. Hall Books, 2 February 1829; cf. for a more educated expression of the horror felt at the Act 10 George IV, c. 7, written years later, in 1843, W. Palmer, Narrative of Events connected with the “ Tracts for the Times ” (edition 1883), 96, where Palmer speaks of “ the fatal year 1829 ”.
page 218 note 4 Hansard, N.S., xx, 358, 701.
page 218 note 5 Ibid., 1634.
page 218 note 6 S. and B. Webb, op. cit., iii, 478–9, 479, n. 2.
page 219 note 1 W. Gardiner, op. cit., ii, 628. Gardiner profoundly admired Evans.
page 219 note 2 Leicester Chronicle, 24 March 1827. Hansard, N.S., xvi, 1198, 1216.
page 219 note 3 MS. Hall Books, 20 March 1827. Thanks of the Hall to the members for the town, and to one of the county members, and to others “ who so ably vindicated the Corporation from the aspersions cast upon them in the late Petition to the House of Commons ”.
page 219 note 4 The New Parliament, appendix to the Black Book, 21 October 1826, p. 24.
page 219 note 5 Commons Journals, lxxxii, 480.
page 219 note 6 Lords Journals, lix, 403.
page 219 note 7 Hansard, N.S., xvii, 1379.
page 219 note 8 Ibid., xix, 1297. Commons Journals, lxxxii, 422, 425.
page 219 note 9 Commons Journals, lxxxii, 519. For the text of the bill of 1827 and 1828, see Public Bills, 1826–7, ii no.280 321, PP. I. II: Public Bills, 1828, ii, no. 419, p. 209.
page 219 note 10 Lords Journals, lx, 634.
page 219 note 11 e.g. Hansard, N.S., xix, 702; xx, 390–1; Commons Journals, lxi, 415.
page 219 note 12 Leicester Journal, 4 February 1831. Evans was returned as member for Leicester, along with Hastings. Commons Journals, lxxxvi, 264. Reintroduced in June: Ibid., 551.
page 220 note 1 Public Bills, 1830–1, i, 450; 1831, i, 340. 2 & 3 William IV, c. 69, s. iii. “ And be it further enacted that all conveyances, mortgages, leases or other assurances or dispositions of lands tenements or here ditaments belonging to or vested in or held in trust for any municipal corporation, made or executed for the purpose of securing satisfying or compensating any expenses debts payments or disbursements, liabilities or engagements incurred … contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act … shall be utterly void.”
page 220 note 2 Commons Journals, lxxxvii, 17.
page 220 note 3 Ibid., 542.
page 220 note 4 Hansard, 3rd Series, xiv, 425. cf. F. Palgrave, Corporate Reform (1833). 65–6.
page 220 note 5 The Times, 15 December 1832.
page 220 note 6 Bennett, op. cit., 83. Municipal Corporations Report (1835) furnishes illustration of this; e.g. Kidderminster, p. 1682; Northampton, p. 1976; Shrewsbury, p. 2021.
page 221 note 1 C. Seymour, Electoral Reform in England and Wales (1915), 84. 2 William IV, c. 45, s. xxxii.
page 221 note 2 2 William IV, c. 45, ss. xliv–lvii; numerous references in the Leicester press.
page 221 note 3 cf. S. C. Carpenter, Church and People, 1788–1888 (1933), 52–4.
page 221 note 4 Leicester Journal, 11 November 1831.
page 221 note 5 The Times, 15 September 1827.
page 221 note 6 Centenary Book of the Great Meeting, 1783–1883, 7–9. In the early days of the new corporation this chapel produced so many mayors and other civic officials as to be called the “ mayors' nest ”.
page 222 note 1 Bennett, op. cit., 83.
page 222 note 2 Municipal Corporations Report (1835), 1910–14.
page 222 note 3 S. and B. Webb, op. cit., iii (1908), 475.
page 222 note 4 S. Maccoby, English Radicalism, 1832–1852 (1935); the phrase about external pressure is from a speech of Earl Grey in 1834, cited on page 7 of this book.