It is curious to view the precise Wilberforce, as pictured by himself, entertaining at midnight suppers his constituents, the Hull freemen located in London, to the number of three hundred, at waterside public-houses round Wapping, and by his addresses to them “gaining confidence in public speaking.” As a young man, only just of age, Wilberforce successfully contested a seat for Hull. His entry to the senate cost him between £8000 and £9000, on his own showing.
“By long-established custom the single vote of a resident elector was rewarded with a donation of two guineas; four were paid for a plumper, and the expenses of a freeman’s journey from London averaged £10 apiece. The letter of the law was not broken, because the money was not paid until the last day on which election petitions could be presented.”
This early success of Wilberforce was won in opposition to the paramount influence of Lord Rockingham, and that of the Government, “always strong at a seaport;” but this contest sinks into insignificance beside Wilberforce’s later experiences. It was after the philanthropist had already represented the county of Yorkshire for twenty-three years that, on the unexpected dissolution in 1807, he found himself plunged in the most expensive contest on record, one in which it was alleged half a million of money was squandered, and which has been aptly designated the “Austerlitz of Electioneering.”
Wilberforce’s opponents were Lord Milton, backed by the powerful influence of his father, Earl Fitzwilliam, and with the active co-operation of the Duke of Norfolk; and the Hon. H. Lascelles, in promoting whose return his father, Lord Harewood, was “ready to spend his whole Barbados property.” When the great abolitionist arrived in York, he found his rivals had already marshalled their forces, retained all the law-agents, and engaged canvassers, houses of entertainment, and every species of conveyance in any considerable town. As Wilberforce assured his friends on the nomination day, when nearly every hand was uplifted in his favour, “he would never expose himself to the imputation of endeavouring to make a seat in the House of Commons subservient to the repair of a dilapidated fortune,” a vast subscription was set on foot to defray the expenses he incurred in standing, and, within a week, this fund reached £64,455. At the hustings, the high sheriff declared the majority in favour of Lord Milton and the Hon. H. Lascelles, whereupon a poll was demanded by Mr. Wilberforce, which commenced at once, and continued for fifteen days. The high sheriff presided in court, and the poll was taken at thirteen booths in York Castle yard. For the first few days Wilberforce stood so low that his professional adviser stated that “the sooner he resigned the better.” While the heavy purses had secured every mode of conveyance, even to “mourning coaches,” Wilberforce’s adherents were, at their own charges, slowly making their way to the poll.
“No carriages are to be procured,” says a letter from Hull, “but boats are proceeding up the river heavily laden with voters; farmers lend their waggons; even donkeys have the honour of carrying voters for Wilberforce, and hundreds are proceeding on foot. This is just as it should be. No money can convey all the voters, but if their feelings are roused his election is secure.”
“How did you come up?” they asked a countryman who had “plumped” for Wilberforce, and who denied having spent anything on his journey. “Sure enow I cam all’d way ahint Lord Milton’s carriage.” Vast hosts of mounted freeholders rode in bodies to York, and, when interrogated, “For what parties do you come?” the response was, “Wilberforce” to a man, and these continued to arrive both by day and night. The York Herald summarizes the excitement of the election:—
“Nothing since the days of the revolution has ever presented to the world such a scene as this great county for fifteen days and nights. Repose or rest have been unknown in it, except it was seen in a messenger asleep upon his post-horse, or in his carriage. Every day the roads in every direction to and from every remote part of the county have been covered with vehicles loaded with voters; and barouches, curricles, gigs, flying waggons, and military cars with eight horses, crowded sometimes with forty voters, have been scouring the country, leaving not the slightest chance for the quiet traveller to urge his humble journey, or find a chair at an inn to sit down upon.”
As Wilberforce’s majority increased, the “Miltonians” and “Lascellites” freely resorted to tricky manœuvres included among “election tactics.” Falsehoods about “coalitions” were circulated; it was asserted there was “an unholy alliance” between “Saint and Sinner”—Wilberforce and Harewood House; that the great slave abolitionist was in league with the “Nigger Driver,” otherwise Lord Harewood, the holder of the Barbados slave property. “Then,” says Wilberforce, “the mob-directing system—twenty bruisers sent for, Firby, Gully, and others.” It was the object of Milton’s “bravos” to drown Wilberforce’s refutations of the “Coalition” charge, and when he addressed the people, the mob interrupted his explanation. “Print what you have to say in a handbill, and let them read it, since they will not hear you,” cried a friend. “They read indeed!” said Wilberforce. “What, do you suppose that men who make such a noise as these fellows can read?” This sally won the heart of the crowd. To the other false rumours against him was added that of his own death; four days before the election closed he was attacked by an epidemic which disabled him from taking a further personal share in the struggle. Wilberforce stood at the head of the poll with 11,806 votes, Lord Milton was returned with 11,177, and Lascelles was defeated, with 10,989.
“Had I not been defrauded of promised votes, I should have had 20,000,” Wilberforce wrote to Hannah Moore. “However, it is unspeakable cause for thankfulness to come out of the battle ruined neither in health, character, or fortune.”
A large proportion of the subscriptions was returned. The motives which influenced Wilberforce to this arduous adventure are such as command the sympathies of those who prize constitutional freedom.