The two Towns in Opposition over the Proposed Railway - Parliamentary Election
The public meeting at St. Leonards on the 20th of February having decided to favour the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway in preference to the Tenterden, Rye and Hastings route, a second public meeting was held (this time at Hastings), at which the Mayor (Dr. MacCabe) presided. Ex}}cuses for non-attendance were read from the Borough Members (Planta and Hollond), the first on the score of illness, and the second through “inability.” These gentlemen had been previously requested by the St. Leonards Commissioners (of which Board they had both been members, and one still held office) to support in Parliament the Bill for the Brighton line. They therefore knew of the rivalry of the two towns; and they also knew of the Duke of Wellington’s desire, for military eventualities, to have railways round the coasts. In not attending the Hastings meetings the Borough Members doubtless thought discretion the better part of valor. The Mayor having expressed his disappointment, Mr. North moved and Mr. Steines seconded,
“That a railway communication between London and Hastings is desirable, and likely to prove highly advantageous to the borough and its neighborhood.”
This being carried. Mr. Fearon said he represented the “Hastings, Rye and Tenterden Railway,” and also the Board of Directors of the South-Eastern Company, of which latter board there were four members present; namely, Major-Gen. Hodgson, Mr. Hankie, Mr. Lewis Cubitt and Mr. Stewart. They were, he said, going to take the line in their own hands, and were determined to back it with all their strength, Mr. Lucas-Shadwell then moved, and Mr. Ginner seconded,
“That this meeting having had under consideration the two lines of railway projected between London and Hastings, and now before Parliament, the one having its terminus in the parish of St. Mary-in-the-Castle, and the other in St. Leonards, of opinion that the Hastings, Rye and Tenterden Railway, as being the nearest to London and passing through the most populous district, is the best adapted to meet our interests“
It was moved by Mr. Langham, and seconded by Mr. Phillips,
“ That this meeting pledges itself to support the Hastings, Rye and Tenterden Railway, as opposed to the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings line, by all the means in its power.“
Then commenced the real tug of war. In the densely crowded hall, there were persons from the western part of the borough who had no objection to a railway communication with Hastings in addition to the one projected to St. Leonards. Some of them, indeed, rejoiced in the prospect of having two lines instead of one coming to different parts of the borough; but when Mr. Langham’s strongly-worded motion was made, “as against,” &c., signs and expressions of dissent were used by those who were present from the districts within and without, the St. Leonards Archway. They were told, however, by Mr. Langham that they had no locus standi, for although living in the borough, they were out of the township of Hastings, and were not of those who signed the requisition for the meeting.
This ruling was practically remembered, some years later, in retaliation, when a forcible but unsuccessful attempt was made to bring a portion of the said district under the designation "Hastings".
In consequence of serious illness, Sir Joseph Planta virtually resigned his seat in Parliament by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds, and as shown in the preceding chapter, Robert Ross Rowan Moore, Esq., and Musgrave Brisco, Esq., were candidates for the vacant seat.
The former gentleman addressed large and enthusiastic meetings in the Pelham Arcade every evening for an entire week, assisted on one occasion by Mr, John Bright, while the latter candidate held meetings at the Swan Hotel, at which the principal speakers were Dr. Sleigh, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Feavor and Mr. T. B. Baker. On the 27th of March the nomination took place on a specially-erected hustings on the Priory Brook estate, afterwards the Recreation Ground, Mr. Brisco’s carriage was drawn by four greys, preceded by two outriders, and all gorgeously decorated with orange and white satin and silk Mr. Moore and his party displaved no colours, they being determined to make an innovation in the respect in electioneering proceedings.
There was a third candidate in the person of Dr. Sleigh, but his nomination was regarded as a mere feint. Dr. MacCabe, as the then Mayor of Hastings, was the returning officer, and in commencing the proceedings at the hustings, he expressed his wish to the assembled throng that, as they had that day amongst them several strangers from a distance, the people of Hastings would set an example by their respectful and orderly conduct.
Major Jeffries, of St. Leonards, in proposing Mr. Brisco, alluded to the long residence of that gentleman, and enlarged upon the advantages of having a wealthy and charitable resident to represent them. in Parliament.
Mr. Francis Smith, banker, of Hastings, seconded the nomination, and spoke of Mr Brisco as a gentleman possessing an unimpeachable private character, large estates and great benevolence.
Mr. B. Smith, M.P. for Norwich, and a frequent resident at Hastings, proposed Mr. Robert Ross Rowan Moore as a candidate who came not amongst’ them with the recommendation of large landed estates and for themselves he (Mr. S.) might say they were not there to elect a man for his property or his private charity, but one who would take a comprehensive view of the various circumstances affecting the interests of the country. They wanted a man of powerful intellect, and one who would make a vigorous search for those measures which would tend: to the happiness of all; one who, with the grasp of: a commanding mind, would point out where aid was most required, and from what sources prosperity” could be best extracted. The population of England was about 27 millions; and did Mr. Brisco propose to support this vast number by his estates and benevolence, of which so much had been said? Would he give them all a little piece of land in humble imitation of the Irish system? Mr. Brisco began life as a Tory; in 1835 he called himself a Liberal and a Reformer, and expressed his indignation at any imputation to the contrary. Now, however, in his printed address, Mr. Brisco describes himself as a Conservative, and he (Mr, Smith) would like to know what that gentleman's polities really were.
Mr. J. D. Thwaites, in seconding the nomination of Mr. Moore, contended that their duty was to elect. a representative not for his landed estates and his mansions, but to use the privileges conferred upon them by the Reform Bill in their widest and truest sense.
Mr. Anthony Harvey, in proposing Dr. Sleigh [as a pseudo candidate], could not obtain a hearing, the same difficulty being experienced by Mr. Hugh Penfold, who seconded Dr. Sleigh’s nomination.
Mr. Brisco, in a speech not tedious for its length, said he stood there in consequence of a numerously signed requisition. His sentiments were too well known to require explanation, but he would support Her Majesty’s Government, and would exert himself to advance the prosperity of Hastings. He was sure that the Corn-laws were proper, and that if protection were not afforded to agriculture the revenue must be ruined. Allowing that he was once a moderate Reformer, the times had since changed, the Moderate-reformer being not what the Anticorn-law-league Radical was now.
Mr. Moore addressed the electors at great length, and with an eloquence that rivetted the attention of friends and foes alike. In that long, elocutional, statistical, and thoroughly argumentative speech, the Liberal candidate combatted the idea that a man was to be sent to Parliament merely because he was benevolent and hospitable. As a stranger he himself had no local interest but that which the cause he pleaded gave him. He asked for their suffrages in favor(sic) of Free Trade, the arguments in support of which he had, night after night, laid before crowded audiences. The decline of that country might safely be foretold whose people trusted in protection afforded by restrictive laws. There were 10,000,000 of people in these islands who subsisted on oatmeal and potatoes. He sought to raise those people to a better position, and he deemed it possible to do it by admitting wheat from Europe and America without taking a single customer from the British farmer.
He would pay for it with the produce of labor(sic), and thus cause a greater demand for labor(sic), and consequently an increase in the rate of wages. The speaker then explained how that was to be done,and although several attempts were made to break the force of his arguments, he dexterously parried the assaults of his opponents and turned their objections to his advantage. He said he rather liked the impatience which they occasionally exhibited, for although he was a young man, he was an old debater, and it would be impossible to turn him from his arguments or to put him out of temper. Referring to Dr. Sleigh’s candidature, he said he would put it to Mr. Brisco as a man of honour, whether it was creditabie to put forth a candidate who was not intended to go to the poll. He (Mr. Moore) had been a week among them, and they would know whether he had not conducted the contest in the fairest manner. He came as a -
