Our party continues to dwindle. Maude is hurrying home to his wife, Lincoln to his Oxford examinations. Lister and Ponsonby are on their way to the Hanseatic towns in search, as usual, of the picturesque. Cavendish, Dalkeith, Seymour, Ashley, and Sir Richard King are all that remain to come home with us by sea. Our voyage was without incident. Lovely weather most of the time till we were within sight of England, when we were uncomfortably tossed about. Cavendish had the jaundice, which he bore with resignation. Our most intimate companion was a seal,' which became quite tame, the sailors carrying him about in their arms. What good fellows they are! One of them died at Cronstadt, and his things were sold on board for his widow's benefit, his fellow sailors paying extravagant prices for them to give her greater assistance. We reached Spithead on October 17, and so ends my cursory account of this very pleasant episode in my life.

1 Bought by Sir Robert Peel at Hamburg.

ELECTIONS

1847-80

N the summer of 1847 Lord Bessborough died,

and his son, Lord Duncannon, who was member for Derby, succeeded to the peerage, thereby creating a vacancy in that borough. Up to that time some member of the Cavendish family had always held one of the seats, and my uncle on this occasion gave me his support. He wrote to me with regard to it:

"I am so very happy that you are pleased, and your letter has gratified me very much. It is quite true that you are the only person to whom I should consent to prolong that sort of interest with Derby."

All the workmen in the town were Chartists, and one of their body stood against me. The consequence was that at the nomination nearly every hand was held up in favour of my opponent. The Mayor, who was a Tory, but preferred even a Whig to a Chartist, sternly cried out, "Nonelectors, put down your hands!" They, taken by surprise, obeyed him, and there remained a sprinkling of hands in my favour. Thereupon he decided that I had got the show of hands. The

Chartists demanded a poll, but being unable to produce the requisite guarantee money, the Mayor declared me elected. I fancy his proceeding was illegal; at all events, as the Chartists could not be made to obey him, if they had kept their hands up, the show of hands could not have been declared in my favour.1

I returned to London and did not mind the abuse I met with in some quarters for my advanced opinions. All I know is that every measure I then promised to vote for, with one exception, has since become law.

A General Election occurred the next year, the Tories and Chartists in Derby having in the meantime agreed to exchange their votes. I stood with the old member, Mr. Strutt, and although it was a sharp fight we won. But alas! our triumph was short-lived. Our agent, following the usual course, had engaged voters as messengers. So little did he imagine that it was illegal that he paid for their services openly, and therefore, the evidence being clear, the House of Commons Committee the following year had no option but to unseat us. It was a hard case, as there was no treating and the election had been a pure one. Our joint expenses did not exceed eight hundred pounds, much less than what was in those days usually spent on elections. It was particularly vexatious for my colleague, whose seat was never in jeopardy; but

1 Nominations and shows of hands were soon afterwards done away with at elections, which made them much more peaceful.

1847-80]

ELECTION AT STOKE

239

He soon

he bore it with great good-humour. afterwards represented Nottingham, and in 1856 was created Lord Belper.

Mr.

At the General Election in 1852 I, in conjunction with Mr. Ricardo, opposed at Stoke-upon-Trent Alderman Copeland, the other sitting member. It was a hard fight. The Alderman had great influence in the Potteries, and was backed up by most of the other leading manufacturers. Minton, however, who was the principal one, was an exception and gave me his strenuous support. The Duke of Sutherland was also my well-wisher, and frequently during the contest wrote to me to ascertain how I was getting on. But his agent, Mr. Loch, shook his head and assured me, without convincing me, that some return to Protection was essential. The working-men had then no votes. In many streets the publicans were the only electors, but the working-men were enthusiastic for Free Trade, and won the election for us by threatening the publicans and shopkeepers to withdraw their custom unless they promised to vote for us. Their enthusiasm delighted me, whereupon my colleague observed that there was nothing like beer to create it. I had begged, however, that there should be no treating, and was much concerned to see how much drunkenness prevailed on the day of the poll. There was

some talk of a petition, but nothing came of it.

My colleague, who was a nephew of his namesake, the celebrated economist, was clever and amusing,

but not ill-described as "Louis Ricardo, so full of bravado." Five years later the Alderman had his revenge. He was returned at the head of the poll, leaving me a bad third. This was owing to the respective votes of Ricardo and myself about the Chinese War. I, unwillingly, voted for it, and Ricardo voted against it, thus causing a split in our party of which I was the victim, although I had given the popular vote. If I had stood independently I should have been returned, but it would have been by the help of the Tories.

The Alderman's first entry into political life had been a curious one. He sat in Parliament as the nominee of O'Connell for an Irish borough, and voted for Repeal. He was, I believe, the only Englishman who ever did so. But when he became member for Stoke he had grown into a full-blown Tory. In justice to him I may say that when I came in contact with him he stuck manfully to his principles, and did not, in order to catch votes, profess any which he did not believe in, a proceeding which appears every day

to become more common.

In the course of the following autumn a vacancy for the representation of Paisley occurred. I was persuaded to go there as a candidate. The late Commissioner Kerr, who was then a rising barrister, most kindly offered to accompany me and be my dry-nurse during my canvass. A Scotch gentleman, Mr. Lamont, who afterwards became well known in London, likewise came forward, professing the same