CHAPTER 11. 



Elections at the Time of the Reform Bill of 1S32 — Aylesbury 

 Contests — " Potwallers " and the Ancient Franchise — Bribery 

 and Treating — The Chiltern Hundreds — Anecdotes about Sir 

 Richard Bethell : his Election Contests and Expulsion from 

 the Conservativ^e Club — A " Tie " between Smith and Wcnt- 

 worth — jMy Hunt Breakfast — How Arkwright made his 

 Fortune — Lord Nugent's Election Fights — Winthrop Praed — 

 A'oters and Refreshments : Curious Account-keeping — Amer- 

 sham Elections and the Reward for the Fair. 



From my earliest bo}'hood I have taken great interest 

 in the politics of the day. During the trying period of 

 1831-32, when the Reform mania was raging, we boys at 

 school took sides, following for the most part the opinion 

 of our fathers. I found myself as a Tory in a miserable 

 minority, for the wave of revolution and reform passed 

 over England just as it did in France, although without 

 the violence and bloodshed which characterizes political 

 crises with our brethren across the Channel. Still, the 

 upheaving of the masses showed itself in tlie agrarian 

 outrages and the "Swing" riots, and when the first 

 Reform Bill was thrown out in the House of Lords, a 

 torrent of violent abuse burst forth, and at the General 

 Election which ensued party spirit ran high ; the cry of 

 " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," was 

 the rallying-cry of the Reform party, of the Whigs led 



