Baillie & Roberts, but which had no more effect than had the one against the returned members of Hastings. A memorial was also presented to the Duke of Wellington, as Lord Warden, signed by the inhabitants of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea, Romney and Hythe setting forth the chartered rights and privileges of the Cinque Ports, which were still to a great extent retained by Dover, Sandwich and Seaford. In this memorial, it was shown that Hastings had 730 ratepayers and only 17 voters, Rye had 300 of the former and 18 of the latter, Winchelsea had 80 ratepayers and 9 voters, Romney had 180 ratepayers and 9 voters, and Hythe had 210 ratepayers and 17 voters. As the Duke practically declined to "watch over and guard" the interests of the Cinque Ports of which he was Warden, and cared not to bester(sic) himself for the ancient town of which he had been a Parliamentary Representative, whilst evincing no friendship to Col. Evans who had helped him to win his battles both in India and the peninsula, the aggrieved inhabitants then, whilst congratulating King William IV. on his accession, begged of him to consider their claims, but all to no effect.
Yet the ball that had been set rolling, continued to be kicked nearer to the enemy's camp until in the following year it exploded like a bomb and after spreading devastation far and near, there came in its train the great measure of Reform. Another dinner was given to Col Evans for having shown hiself as valorous in politics as in war, the banquet on this occasion being prepared at the George Hotel on the 19th of October. He was again met at a considerable distance from the town by a large concourse of people, with banners on which were suitable mottoes, whilst the churc bells were rung and guns dischargd. Fireworks were also exhibited in the evening and tar barrels were set ablaze.
On the following day, Daniel Dawes, Esq., who had been one at the dinner, applied to the Master Sessions at Winchelsea to be admitted a freeman, but was told by Col. Brown, one of the jurats, that it was not convenient. The rejoinder was that the day would probably soon come when the magistrates would be obliged to make it convenient.
Rye at that time, was but little less free from the contrabandist traffic than Hastings, although the conflicts were not so disastrously fatal. One night in December, Mr. Chatterton, the Tide Surveyor, seized the smack Jane and 70 tubs of spirits, and on another date, the smack Dolphin was taken with 6 cwt. of tobacco on board. It was presumably, the first-named of these vessels to which the following lines had reference:-
Col. Evans built a smack,
And gave it to Jack Foster,
Who went to France to get some tubs,
But, coming home, he lost her
I turn now again to matters more exclusively to Hastings. I have already alluded to the Gas Works as having been commenced in 1830, and it may be added that as I had frequent opportunities of watching the then novel construction, I was a little astonished at the rapid progress of development. The time for the completion of the contract was said to be Feb. 1st, 1831, but when December had arrived, there seemed to be a prospect of seeing the town lighted a month earlier than promised.
The Bourne-street Theatre which was opened in 1825 by Mr. Brooke, and continued on and off with but little success, was re-opened, during the autumn of 1830 by Mr. Edwards, after it had undergone re-decoration; but Mr. Edwards, at the close of the season found, to his dismay, that the receipts did not balance the outgoings.
Corporation sales and leases of the Stone-beach waste-land
In administering the Saunders Charity for the year, the Corporation apprenticed Thomas, the son of widow Farroll to William Ransom, a printer, and Willliamson, the son of Francess Child to John Wheeler, a confectioner. The Corporation also ap-
