I have some farther Thoughts to communicate, which, I promise my self, will be found
agreeable to the Honest Intention of your Paper.
MY Worthy Friend seems unacquainted with the Methods that were used
to pass the Bills against the Bishop of Rochester and Mr. Kelly; The Zeal which appears in most Parts of his Letter, would make it
necessary for me, in Gratitude, to lay the Whole of the Evidence for and against the Bishop of
Rochester before him, were that at present Convenient, as well for his
Satisfaction, as for the Justification of the Nineteen Bishops, who, I presume,
would neither be afraid or ashamed to see that publish'd: Such an Opinion I entertain of their
Steadiness and Firm Adherence to what they profess!
THE Letter from Lincolns-Inn, dated June the
17th, came safe to Hand; and the Author returns his Thanks for the kind Advice given him in it:
But assures his Friend, That he don't fear the Power of the Persons he mentions, any more than he doubts their Malice.
2. The True Briton No. 9 (1 July 1723) Introduction
The True Briton No. 9 addresses the controversy surrounding the
recent election for sheriffs in the City. As the Daily Journal (25 June
1723) announced: “Notwithstanding the great Appearance for Sir Richard Hopkins
and Mr. Feast, the others were declared.... The D--- of W------ appear'd Yesterday at
Guildhall, holding up his Hat with some Livery-Men for Sir
John Williams and Richard Lockwood, Esq;.” Despite the efforts of the Walpole government
on behalf of Hopkins and Feast, the Liverymen prevailed with their candidates; and the author
of
TB No. 9 defends the winners from the aspersions printed in various
advertisements during the election campaign. Since the sheriffs have the responsibility for
selecting jurymen, Wharton quotes the dire warning from the
Daily Post
(26 June 1723): “
you cannot but desire, that Juries, who have, in some
Degree, the Disposal of your Lives, your Liberties, and your Properties, should be impanelled
fairly and
indifferently, and free from Byass and Prejudice.” He points out that Williams and
Lockwood, being “Eminent
Turkey-Merchants, and great Proprietors
in the Publick Funds,” are not likely to be enemies of constitutional
government as their libellers had claimed. “But this Calumny proceeds from the Old
Method, that has been the Constant Maxim of One Party, to brand every Subject with
Jacobitism, who opposes their Measures in the least Instance.”
Wharton ends by reminding his readers that the majority of the jury that found the Jacobite
conspirator Christopher Layer guilty of treason were Tories.
For his part, the author of the letter signed “A.B.” and appended to this
article on the election stresses the illegal and violent methods used by the supporters of
Hopkins and Feast. Basically, it protests against the barely disguised attempt by the Walpole
government to curb the freedom of the City to elect its own representatives. Only a year later
that attempt finally succeeded when Wharton over-reached himself politically after the death of
Felix
Feast and Walpole moved in for the kill. By December 1724 Walpole succeeded in persuading some
prominent aldermen to cut back on their historically democratic election process; and a bill
passed early the next year gave the aldermen veto power and stripped three thousand poorer
liverymen of their right to vote (Plumb, 2:109).
Other than generally attacking Walpole's infringement on the historical rights of the City,
this letter may be connected to Richardson in more particular ways. The printer's first
employer, the Tory Archibald Hutcheson, was the staunchest defender of free elections; and one
item that issued from the Salisbury Court shop (Sale, p. 180) only two years before the
appearance of this letter was even in the same rhetorical form of questions while attacking his
opponent in the House of Commons: Some Queries proposed to Sir Thomas Crosse
to be Answer'd, for the Satisfaction of the Electors of the City and Liberties of
Westminster.
[1] Just as Hutcheson was attacking the
corruptions of a national election, so A.B. in
TB No. 9 is protesting
the government's interference with the City's election of its representatives.
Wharton's vigorous defense of the City's ancient rights and privileges, to the extent of his
becoming a member of the Wax Chandlers' Company, goes far in explaining Richardson's interest
in this mercurial Tory aristocrat.
Text
AS I was concluding this Paper, I receiv'd the following Letter.
