March 5th.—Contains the following notice of Mr. Palmer’s Fancy Dress Ball:—
MR. PALMER’S FANCY BALL.
In our notice of this amusement at the late Festival, we recollect to have said—“The ice has been broken, the pleasure has been felt, and we shall be mistaken if the next effort be not more successful.” This prediction, intended at the time to be applied to future festivals, we did not expect to be so soon, so completely, or so successfully fulfilled, as in the instance we now have the pleasure to record. This entertainment was given at the Town Hall on Tuesday evening last, in celebration of the attainment of his majority by Mr. S. Palmer, the grandson of the late Danby Palmer, Esq., whose extended private connections and still wider mercantile pursuits have bequeathed to his grandson a more numerous portion of friends than it is the lot of most persons to enjoy at an early period of life. The invitations were sent out with such hospitality, the preparations were on so munificent a scale, that the spirit of the donor seemed to diffuse itself not only to all those who were about to be present, but to all the inhabitants of the borough. The novelty, the continued arrivals, the firing of cannon, the banners floating at the Town Hall, and in various parts of the town, the gay appearance of the ships in the harbour, most of which were decorated with pennons, as were several vessels in the Roads—all aided in keeping alive the expectation, so that in the evening the Quay, around the hall, was crowded with persons anxious to see the company—so anxious, indeed, that the carriage windows were assailed by men and women jumping up to get a peep at the interior. The company began to assemble about half-past eight, and on entering the ball room were announced by name, and received by Mr. Palmer and his mother and Miss A. Burton (to whom, we understand, Mr. Palmer is about to be united.) These ladies appeared in very elegant Court dresses, and Mr. Palmer in a full-dress Court suit. Till ten o’clock the company continued to arrive, at which hour Mr. Palmer opened the Ball by leading off a country dance with Miss A. Burton. We never saw a similar entertainment combining so great a variety of character. The brilliancy of the colours and the constant succession of costumes, the reliefs, the contrasts, and the varying shades, reminded us forcibly of those beautiful combinations formed by the kaleidoscope, of which, visually, this scene may be said to have been an animated representation. On the one side of a quadrille was to be seen the gawdy Spaniard, leading with haughty dignity the lively Mrs. Ford of the Elizabethian age; while behind him stood pondering o’er the fleeting vanity of this world the solitary Friar; opposite ranged the joyous Sailor, indulging his mirth at the expense of the courtly dignity of his fair partner. At one end was the Old Gentleman of two centuries since, in all the gravity and politeness of that age, leading forth some sprightly Tyrolese; while at the other was a Chinese Mandarin, paired off with a black-eyed Gipsy; a little further, and the Scotchman promenaded with the brilliant Circassian; the Frieselander with the simply-dressed Quakeress; the Queen of Scots with the bronze and fierce Turk; the reckless Massaroni with the lively Mrs. Page; the dark Colombian with the prim lady of an hundred years ago; the Forester with the Flower Girl; the haughty Knight Templar with the simple Swiss Peasant; the chivalrous Pole with the heavy Russian; the youthful Ivanhoe with a French Peasant; and to crown the diversity, Day and Night were to be seen at once, arm and arm with a Chimney Sweep.
April 14th.—The Preston (Capt. Woodthorpe), with passengers, for Prince Edward’s Island and Quebec, had been towed down the Harbour.
May 5th.—This number contains the following account of the Borough Election, consequent upon the rejection of a Reform Bill:—
The Mayor, in opening the proceedings, said that the electors were met to exercise an important trust, that of electing two persons to represent the Borough—a trust at all times of the greatest responsibility, but certainly never more so than at the present eventful crisis. Determined as he was to act with strict justice, and with that fairness and impartiality which were the best ornaments of the office he had the honour to hold, he entreated that the contest in which they were now about to be engaged might be conducted on both sides with that order and decorum that forbearance and moderation due from gentlemen to gentlemen, and from man to man. (Cheers.)
Mr. B. Dowson, in a brief but emphatic address, put in nomination the Hon. George Anson, this was seconded by R. Palmer Kemp, Esq.
T. Clowes, Esq., then proposed, in an address replete with sterling sense and strength, C. E. Rumbold, Esq., seconded by J. Shelley, Esq., who adverted to the circumstance of Mr. Colville being a merchant connected with the West Indian Trade and a supporter of colonial slavery.
I. Preston, Esq., jun., and — White, Esq., nominated A. Colville, Esq., and J. Lacon, Esq., jun., and Mr. J. Laws nominated W. Bliss, Esq.
Col. Anson and Mr. Rumbold addressed the electors at considerable length, pointing out the merits of the measure they supported, during which they were enthusiastically cheered.
Mr. Colville also spoke at length, amid much tumult, during which he was interrupted by loud yells of various kinds—attacking the Bill for its disfranchising nature, and defending colonial slavery.
Mr. Bliss had not arrived at that time.
A poll was determined and immediately opened and continued till five o’clock on that and the following day, when the numbers were announced by the Committee of Anson and Rumbold to be—
| For Col. Anson | 748 |
| Mr. Rumbold | 748 |
| Mr. Colville | 503 |
| Mr. Bliss | 497 |
The poll was adjourned till Monday.
On Sunday morning, however, Messrs. Colville and Bliss left the town, or, as our correspondent writes, “May Day became more than commonly exhilarating, by the agreeable information quickly diffused through the town, that the enemies of freedom and of the Constitution had fled, happy in evading and escaping from merited punishment, so irritated were the minds of the lower class of society against these obtruders, without a shadow of claim to their suffrages, that, by their flight on Sunday morning, they probably escaped an ablution in the waters of the beautiful river Yare.”
On Monday the books opened, and at the close the final numbers were—
| For Col. Anson | 903 |
| Mr. Rumbold | 903 |
| Mr. Colville | 547 |
| Mr. Bliss | 541 |
This vexatious contest, for it was vexatious, inasmuch as it was opposed to the general wish of the inhabitants, as not the slightest chance of success prevailed from the commencement, and the only object of which was to extract money from the purses of the two Members, terminated, not only in the triumphant defeat of the Boroughmongers, but by affording a lesson to the Charles Street Society in London, whose only object is to continue corruption, by the means of corruption, a proof that true independence and love of country is far beyond the purchase of the greatest wealth. But the friends of Reform at Yarmouth have set a noble example of consistency, for they have commenced among themselves one of the modes which the Reform Bill will enforce. They have determined to raise among themselves a sum sufficient to defray the legal expenses of the election, and to return their well-tried Members as unhurt in their finances as they are independent in principal, and by this mark of gratitude and esteem to repay the obligations which the inhabitants of Yarmouth in common with the country at large owe to the supporters of the Reform Bill—£1,750—has already been raised. We say to the rest of the nation, “Go thou and do likewise.”
The Chairing of the Members had taken place amid the most enthusiastic cheers.
May 19th.—The thanks of the Yarmouth District Committee for saving lives from shipwreck was voted to Lieut. Harmer, R.N., on saving the crew of the schooner Fleece, which had been wrecked on the Scroby Sand on the 14th inst.