not exempt from the taint of bribery. "It
is," say the Commissioners, "the chronic
disease of the place."

It is not surprising to find that election
petitions are no novelties to the inhabitants
of this pleasant Somersetshire town. So
far back as 1692 the proceedings of its
constituency afforded matter for inquiry. In
1781, in 1803, and 1808 petitions were
tried. From that date, although bribery
was rampant, no inquiry was held up to the
date of the Reform Bill of 1832. Since
that time four petitions have been presented,
and two tried, in each case to the
discomfiture of the members whose conduct
was cause of complaint. When it is considered
that since 1832 Bridgwater has
been the scene of thirteen elections, all
undoubtedly corrupt, this number of petitions
may appear small. But the fact is that
everybody was so tarred with the corrupt
brush that nobody dared to stir up the local
mud. Clean hands were never common
with Bridgwater electors.

The earlier elections reported on by the
Commissioners are chiefly noticeable for
the enormous sums of money lavished
upon them. In 1832, an expenditure of
two thousand pounds sufficed to frighten
the Conservatives from going to the poll,
and the two Liberals were elected on the
show of hands. This triumph was celebrated
by some light–hearted but perhaps
slightly blasphemous burlesquing of the
Church service, and by assault and battery
on the person of an unpopular Tory
editor. The proceedings were wound up
by the acquittal of the rioters by a suborned
jury, and, considering that there was no
polling, this election is a very pretty
specimen in its way. The money spent
on this occasion was merely a drop in
the ocean by the side of the expenditure at
the general election 1834–5. That was
something like an election! Four candidates
solicited the suffrages of four hundred
electors the constituency appears to have
been reduced that year, for some reason not
explained, to that number. One of the old
Liberal members presented himself for re–
election, and allied with him was a gentleman
described as a wealthy stranger from
London. This wealthy stranger made no secret
of the means by which, if necessary, he
intended to achieve success. Remonstrated
with for contesting on Liberal principles
a borough in which certain of his
Conservative relatives took a strong interest,
the stranger, whose wealth was equalled by
his candour, cleared the ground in the
following explicit manner: "Let there be no
misunderstanding between us. I have determined
to have my election, cost what it
will." The privilege of writing M.P. after
his name cost this gentleman about eight
or ten thousand pounds. The Conservative
expenditure is calculated to have been about
as much, although one of the then candidates
doubts whether he spent more than
two thousand pounds—discreetly observing
that at so great a distance of time he declines
to pledge himself to the literal exactness
of this statement. Conservative candidate
number two states his expenditure
at three thousand pounds. So, at the
lowest computation, thirteen thousand
pounds were required to bribe four hundred
voters.

Shortly after this election, the passing of
the Municipal Corporations' Reform Act
gave the Bridgwater Liberals the opportunity
of filling the Town Council and
the various posts in its gift with staunch
members of their own party. Not only
were vacancies filled by Liberals, but
Tories were summarily ejected from their
posts to make room for members of the
more powerful party. It is true that this
proceeding caused heavy charges to the
borough in the way of the compensations
by which these illegal evictions were salved
over; but that, probably, mattered little in
a borough where thirteen thousand pounds
were spent in one election. The bribers in
chief on the Liberal side were not neglected
in the distribution of good things. The
list of the appointments conferred upon one
of them is curious. Tester of the weighing
machines, weight constable, borough jailer,
superintendent of borough police, bailiff to
the local county courts, keeper of the
Recorder's Court Hall; these offices, together
with minor appointments, fell to the lot of
one Mr. Robert Bussell. Various members
of this gentleman's family were, at various
times, provided for in a similar way. It
is sad to learn, that gratitude is not one
of Mr. Robert Bussell's strong points. A
"loan" from a Conservative candidate to
the tune of five hundred pounds was, the
Commissioners tell us, too much for him.
He changed his party and his vote from
that time: it does not appear that he resigned
his offices.

In 1837 there was another election, the
gentleman of the eight or ten thousand
pounds accepting the Chiltern Hundreds
in order to contest Westminster against the
late Sir Francis Burdett, and a Conservative
was this time elected.