THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FURTHER ILLUSTRATED.

TO TILE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.

7, Upper Gloucester Street, NovemberS, 1830.

Sin—I feel so persuaded that the cause of Reform will be materially benefited by your plan of the " Anatomy " of the Commons House, that I consider it a bounden duty to render you every assistance in complet- ing it. - I can entertain no hopes of your ever arriving at any thing like cor- rectness as to the number of voters, resident and non-resident, of the larger towns. There is no document to appeal to,—the voters are al- ways so varying, as the right of elective franchise is held by such dif- ferent tenures, and may be so easily forfeited- or increased : but you may exhibit extremely well the anomalies that exist, and which work so well for the aristocracy and the oligarchy, and so injuriously against the in- terests of the people. Almost every book which has treated on the mat- ter will lead you into error, if you attempt to copy it—beginning with that formed by the Society of the Friends of the People, until the last recent publication. You must therefore rely more upon the communi- cations of individuals possessed of local information ; many of whom will, I trust, be contributors.

Of corporations, which are limited, you may be able to obtain a most accurate report ; such as the city of Bath, where the elective franchise is vested in a Mayor, Aldermen, and freemen, to the number only of thirty—and self-elected. These worthies are the representatives of a population amounting to at least 50,000 souls. They were and are still composed principally of medical men, some lawyers, some innkeepers, and a few independent gentlemen, relations or connexions. The Earl of WEYMOUTH, of bottle notoriety, one of the happy noblemen who exhibited in the Cabinet during George the Third's bloody crusade against the liberties of America, from the contiguity of his seat of Longleat, established a connexion in this city, and a THYNNE has been constantly returned ever since ; livings, and some other goodly patronage, having been obtained for the sons and brothers of the worthy electors. The Lord Chief Justice PRATT, Lord CAMDEN—who sought relief of the gout from the waters of this city—so ingratiated himself with the faculty, that they returned his son, Viscount BAYIIAM, the present Marquis CAMDEN, as their representative ; and they have carried their attachment to his grandson, the Earl of BRECKNOCH ; but who has lately been superseded by General PALMER, son of an old citizen, who, from his social qualities, and the many services which he had ren- dered to his native town, had obtained their suffrages.

I shall attempt to give you, defectively enough perhaps, the history of some of the proprietors of boroughs.

Old Sarum has the greatest notoriety, and must stand first. This imaginary borough—for only trifling vestiges of any house now remain— was the property of THOMAS PITT, a cousin of the first Earl of CHAT- HAM, and who, by its possession, and giving his patronage to the Minister, raised himself to the Peerage by the title of Lord CAMELFORD. The history of his son, the late Lord, is too recent to require any notice. He was pleased to sell it, and the purchase was hardly completed at his -decease. His heir, the present Lord GRENVILLE, in right of his wife was desirous of stopping the sale to the present Earl CALEDON ; who had made a fortune as Governor of the Cape, and who gave some 60,0001. or 70,0001. for a small estate, and the power of returning two representatives ,of the people. His cousins, enriched in the East Indies, are now his re- presentatives.

Cation follows. This was the property of an East Indian, or East In- dia Director, Sir GEORGE COLERROOKE ; but after his failure from his famous-saltpetre speculation, it wassold to satisfy his creditors, and bought by another East Indian, Sir MARK WOOD ; who returned himself and sold the other seat—the price varying from 35001. to 40001, and latterly 50004 as secure seats, without trouble, rose in the market. Since the death of Sir MARE- WooD, and his heir coming of age, it is reported that it has agent passed into other hands, and that my Lord MONSON is now its possessor. Five dependents from the body of electors. Westbury is pretty prominent. This was the property of the late Earl of ABINGDON ; who, being greatly embarrassed, was obliged to

dispose of his Wiltshire property. The whole estate, with the borough of Westbury, came to the hammer. It was offered to Sir MANAsseir

LOPEZ, who inherited large sums of money amassed by his father in

the West Indies ; but he thought the purchase too large for him, having recently bought a great estate in Devonshire. The estate was there.

fore, by Lord ABINGDON'S lawyer, sold off in parcels, and produced more than the sum asked for the whole, leaving the borough with a very small quantity of land on hand. It so happened that Lord ABINGDON'S

man of business was also Mr. Lorzz's ; and he insisted upon his pur- chasing it for some thirty odd thousand pounds. This purchase has given him a baronetcy; and at one period in Mr. PITT 'S time, with

other borough dealing, he had the prospect of a peerage before him, but

which, from some untoward disclosure, ended in fine and imprisonment in the King's Bench. Sir MANASSEH LOPEZ has been his own repre-

sentative--or he has made his nephew so—or he has made some rich

banker—or some creature of the Minister, or a Minister himself in un- toward circumstances. The right of franchise here is in burgage tenure, of houses built within the limits of the borough ; all of which Sir MA. NASSER is the proprietor, and also lord of the manor. He takes care the number of houses shall be very few, and only held so as to serve his purposes of returning members.

Newton, in the Isle of Wight, has not so much as a remnant of an habitation—the plough goes over the whole ; and when the farcical cere-

mony of an election takes place by creatures of the proprietors, victuals, tables, and chairs, are conveyed there by the worthy steward, a solicitor, from Newport. The joint property of Lord YARBOROUGH and Sir BARRINGTON.

Luggershall was part property of the EVERETTS and of the cele- brated wit GEORGE SELWYN ; who would not leave it to the well- known TOMMY TOWNSIIEND, his nephew, whom he hated. His share of this borough was sold, and fell into the hands of the late Sir JAMES GRAHAM, a successful solicitor from the North, and agent of the Earl of LONSDALE ; who, besides making a large fortune, made himself a baronet; and bequeathed his wealth, his honour, and his share of the borough, to his heir, the present *JAMES SANDFORD GRAHAM, Bart. who now represents it. Most of the houses of this borough have fallen into ruin ; but a door-way gives the right of voting.

Weobly, the property of the Marquis of BATH, is but a hamlet in Herefordshire ; the houses of which are deserted, but at a period near to an election, when beds are placed in them, and the menials of the noble Marquis are seen to arrive to occupy them some night or two previous ; and we find my Lord WILLIAM and my Lord HENRY THYNNE, his sons, returned as the representatives. Beeralston, the property of the Earl BEVERLY; a hamlet in Devon- shire. At the last election, such was the security felt, that no electors, however few, were summoned to the farce of election, but merely the returning officer and his clerk attended. However, this return is to be questioned by a Committee• of the House ; and we will say no more on it.

Then comes the property of another PERCY, the Duke of NOR. THumBERLAND—Launceston and Newport, separated by a small bridge. The former has a corporation, but solely subject to the nomination of the Duke, and under his immediate control. At Newport, which is no other than a suburb, we believe, his agent is the returning officer and solitary voter. It is well known that the late Duke made his members change sides and back again twice in one sessionts-for a riband and a regiment of cavalry. The present Duke returns, as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, its loquacious Solicitor-General, who had no hopes of securing a seat for any place in his own country. Bletchingley, in Kent, is another proprietary village : it became the property of a rich citizen of London, who was Lord Mayor, and made a baronet—a Sir ROBERT CLAYTON. It remained some time in his family, and was disposed of by his descendant, the late Sir RICHARD CLAYTON, who had no male heir. He regularly disposed of the seats for pecuniary consideration. It passed from his hands into those of the Welsh Judge RENRICIC of Surry Magistracy and cottage-persecuting notoriety. With him the highest bidder had the seats : he sold this borough to the father or representatives of Mr. RUSSELL, the present member for the county of Durham ; whose grandfather raised himself from a working collier to be r ne of the greatest coal-mine proprietors and landholders of that Palatinate.

Callington was the property of my Lord CLINTON. It was sold by him to the great merchant, Mr. ALEXANDER BARING; who also pus... chased a large estate in Suffolk of Lord PETRE, which with manage- ment enabled him to return a member for the borough of Thetford. The Duke of GRAFTON and Mr. BARING amicably divide Thetford between them.

Truro is confined to a small corporation, under the control of Lord FALMOUTH; whose father, an indolent personage, is said to have given up one seat to the Corporation, on the provision that its members were not to invite themselves to dine at Tregothnan whenever his Lordship killed a fat buck or had noble guests to visit him. The present Lord has resumed his full honours, and now returns both the members. He fully exercised his authority on the Catholic question.

Buckingham and St. Maws the property of the Duke, have aldermen and freemen, the relatives and dependents of his Grace, and so few that he need not fear any hostility ; so he names whom he pleases.

Marlow, held by hurgage-tenure, passed with the estate of Temple House from LEE ANTHONY to OWEN WILLIAMS; whose father's fortune was made from the accidental discovery of the Paris Copper Mines, in Anglesea. His right has been somewhat disturbed by Mr. MoaRzsoN, the rich haberdasher of Fore Street, who has purchased a plot of land within the borough, on which he might construct houses, giving the right of voting, provided he could be induced to make such an outlay. Colonel CLAYTON has also crept in as the proprietor of some houses.

St. Ives, a Cornish borough, the property of the late horotighroonger and jobber, Sir CHRISTOPHER HAwinss—recently purchased by Mr. LONG WELLESLEY for a large sum. The lord of the manorhere enjoys the right of tithe on the pilchard fishery. This right is said only to be threatened to be enforced at the approach of an election—the poor fisher- men giving their votes, then obtain a release. A solicitor of this poor fishing port had so molested Sir Czantsx0PHER that he badbeen enabled to return himself. At the last election, Mr. WEDDsaanir was trium.

phant as to both members, returning himself and the reported mortgagee, Mr. MORRISON.

I have still such a list before me of Properly and Influence Represm. ration, that I must now stop, before you, your readers, and myself, are wearied.

I must now beg to say, that in my list of CATHOLICS returned for IRELAND, I gave that insulted and oppressed country two more than she really has. Mr. LEADER, member for the City of Kilkenny, is a Pro. testant, and of a very old Protestant family; but not less the friend of liberty and of his country. Mr. FRENCH, of Roscommon, is also a Pro- testant ; he was the representative of Roscommon previous to the act of Emancipation, and always voted for it, and independently.

I am, Sir, your humble servant,

LESLIE GROVE JONES.