Feb. 17th.—At the Council meeting Mr. W. Laws proposed, and Mr. T. M. Baker seconded, Mr. I. Preston, junr.’s appointment as Clerk of the Peace, and Mr. J. W. Foreman proposed, and Mr. J. Bracey seconded, Mr. H. R. Harmer for that office.
The voting was—For Mr. Preston: The Mayor and Messrs. J. T. Bracey, Laws, Mabson, Teasdel, Purdy, Nightingale, Bly, Barnby, Norman, Preston (Isaac junr.), Baker, Wright, George, Woolverton, Burton, Ferrier, Todd, Veale, Fenner, Gooda, and W. Hammond (22),
And for Mr. Harmer: Messrs. Bunn, Harmer, Youell, William Danby-Palmer, Worship, Hilton, Neave, Nuthall, Fyson, Barber, Tomlinson, Foreman, do Caux, F. Danby-Palmer, Scott, J. Bracey, Stone, Woodger, Combe and Baumgartner (20).
Mr. Attwood declined to vote. After the voting the following “scene” took place between the Mayor and Mr. Harmer:—
Mr. Harmer said he had come forward as a candidate, considering his long connection with the party entitled him to their support. He could not let that opportunity pass without expressing his thanks to those gentleman who had accorded him their votes. He could but think if the Mayor had fought a ‘manly and open game’—(cries of ‘no, no,’ and uproar)—and postponed his canvassing from the Saturday to the Monday, he should have been in a very different position there that day. (Renewed cheers and uproar.) He believed he should have had most of those promises which the Mayor had obtained on the Sunday. (Cries of ‘no, no,’ and general uproar.) He felt certain that a great many of his friends in the Council whom he had known many years, and who had been induced to vote against him, were sorry for it, and had only been led to do so by the promise given the Mayor on Sunday. (Cries and groans and general tumult in the gallery.) He met an old friend the other day, and on asking him for his vote, he replied, ‘I am very sorry I cannot give it you, as I promised the Mayor on Sunday—(cheers and laughter)—but you have my sympathy, and I hope you may win.’ He (Mr. Harmer) could not help replying, ‘Hang your sympathy; give me your vote.’
The Mayor said he could not let Mr. Harmer’s remarks upon himself pass without comment. Coming home quietly from church on the Sunday morning referred to following the mace-bearers, Mr. Harmer came up to him and canvassed him for the Clerkship of the Peace, Mr. Cufaude not being then dead. (Hear, hear, and uproar.) He told Mr. Harmer that Mr. Cufaude was not dead and (he might as well tell them all that passed), said he hoped to God he might live till after March, so that they (the Conservatives) might have the opportunity of fighting the Guardians. (Cheers and counter cheers.) In walking down to the Station-house he said to Mr. Harmer, if that should be the case, and they should get a majority at the Board of Guardians, Mr. Harmer could go in for the Clerk of the Guardians, and he (the Mayor) for the Clerk of the Peace,—(loud laughter)—and that they could work together. Mr. Harmer replied by saying that he should go in for both appointments—(cheers and laughter)—and he (the Mayor) replied that he could not do so, but if he (the Mayor) won one, he would support Mr. Harmer in the other, and if Mr. Harmer was successful in one, he could give him his help in trying to obtain the other appointment for his son. (Hear, hear.) In the afternoon of that day Mr. Cufaude died, and as he knew Mr. Harmer was canvassing, did they think he was such a fool as to let him outstep him. (Cheers and uproar.)
Mr. Harmer rose to reply, but the confusion became so great owing to the shouting and recrimination, backed up by the adherents of the respective parties in the gallery, that scarcely anything could be heard amid the din of words. During a temporary lull in the storm,
Mr. Harmer, who was still speaking excitedly, was understood to say that he did not go between the bark and the tree, but that he wished to tell the whole truth about the conversation between him and the Mayor. He asked the Mayor how Mr. Cufaude was, and he replied that he was very bad indeed, and not expected to live. (At this juncture of Mr. Harmer’s reply several of the Councillors vacated their seats, and left the room, and the disorder which had calmed down a little again broke out. Mr. Harmer, thus interrupted, stopped in his speech, but in response to cries of ‘go on, go on,’ from the public, he turned himself to the gallery, and addressing the occupants of that place, continued his remarks.) He said he observed to the Mayor—‘In case anything happens, what do you intend to do?’ The Mayor replied ‘If my son comes forward I must support him,’ to which he (Mr. Harmer) replied ‘very naturally, too.’ He then told the Mayor that he should be a candidate for the Clerkship of the Peace, and as they walked down Regent-street the Mayor remarked to him, ‘If we can only keep the poor fellow alive till after the next election of Guardians, then we must all put our hands into our pockets and turn them (the Liberals) out.’ (Cries of ‘Shame,’ ‘Bribery,’ and general uproar.) The Mayor then said ‘I will propose that you shall be Clerk of the Peace and Isaac, Clerk of the Guardians.’ (Cheers and laughter.) His answer to that generous proposition was, ‘I shall not stand that; I shall expect the better berth of the two.’ (Renewed laughter, and cries of ‘Go in Harmer.’) The Mayor said ‘Well, after all, perhaps Isaac would rather have the Clerkship of the Peace, as there is not much to do, and as he is going to be married, and will be very well off, he won’t want it.’ (Loud laughter.)
Here the confusion became so great that nothing could be heard, and as by this time the majority of the Councillors had dispersed, the proceedings closed amid wild uproar.
Feb. 24th.—Mr. Henry E. Buxton had been elected Commodore and Mr. I. Preston, jun., Vice-Commodore of the Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club. Mr. T. M. Read was building a new yacht at Beccles.
Feb. 28th.—Mr. I. Preston, jun., the newly-elected Clerk of the Peace, had entertained the Recorder and Bar at the Sessions.
In the Market Ward, Mr. R. Dumbleton and Mr. J. Garratt had been candidates for the seat vacated by Mr. Preston, when the former gentleman was elected by a majority of 191.
April 6th.—Mr. C. S. D. Steward and Captain Gilbertson had been re-appointed Churchwardens, and Messrs. Ellis, Skoulding, Lay and Pestell, Overseers.
April 3rd.—Nathaniel Palmer, Esq., Recorder, had died at Coltishall, aged 79; it was stated that “The deceased was at one period of his career a prominent member of the Whig party, and was generally known as ‘Orator Palmer.’ He acted with the other members of the Palmer family and their cousins—the Stewards and Hurrys—and was with them instrumental in opening the borough of Great Yarmouth in 1818.”