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THE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION IN TRURO, A.D. 1832. 

 By p. JENNINGS. 



No event is more prominent in the parliamentary annals of 

 Truro than the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832 5 it completely- 

 changed the current of local politics, and was fraught with results 

 most beneficent in their character, and far-reaching in their 

 consequences. Until now, the electorate consisted of only twenty- 

 four persons 3 but by the passing of this Bill, it was increased to 

 three hundred and ninety-two — more than sixteen times the 

 original number. 



Much bitter controversy, extending over a number of years, 

 preceded this great reform, and two parties naturally arose, one 

 strenuously opposed to any change, the other ardently longing for a 

 more equitable distribution of political power. The majority of the 

 corporation and their friends were included in the former party, 

 and they remained faithful to the House of Boscawen, and to the 

 traditions of the past ; the other, led by such men as Dr. Taunton, 

 Edmund Turner, Humphry Willyams, and Anthony Plummer, 

 was by far the more popular, and in it was found the majority of 

 the inhabitants who could afford to be independent of Lord 

 Falmouth and his supporters. Each party had its newspaper, and 

 between them they managed to keep the town in a very lively state 

 during these stirring times. 



An open rupture occurred at the election of 1830, when the 

 inhabitants paying scot and lot contested the right of the limited 

 burgesses to elect the representatives. The excitement occasioned 

 by this election was intense ; every man became a partisan, and 

 even staid and respectable people were as ready to enforce their 

 arguments by blows as by legitimate discussion. As was doubtless 

 anticipated, the case was decided in favour of the ancient institutionj 

 but this result, together with the general anxiety respecting the 

 progress of the Bill, added fuel to the fire, and throughout 1831 

 the town was kept in a state of constant turmoil. 



For many months the fate of the Bill hung in the balance 3 the 

 Government vigorously resisted the Opposition in the Commons, 

 but the Lords were determined to throw it out. Their influence 



