MELBOURNE, William Lamb, Viscount (1779-1848). Prime Minister 1834 and 1835-41.
"A CANDIDATE . . . DRIVEN OUT OF A TOWN BY POPULAR VIOLENCE"
Autograph Letter Signed ("Melbourne") as Home Secretary in Earl Grey's Whig government, to "My dear George", concerning unrest in the Lancashire town of Clitheroe and considering whether the magistrates were justified in calling in troops to deal with disturbances.
3 pages 4to, Penshanger, 5 October 1832.
A long, hasty, and at times virtually illegible letter, written at a time of great social unrest, four months after the passing of the Great Reform Bill. Melbourne had evidently received widely differing accounts of what had happened.
". . . it apears . . . that there was such a riot as justified the Magistrates, in the absence of all Civil force, in sending for the troops, & that also that [sic] no unneccessary violence was used by the troops, when they entered the town with the Magistrates . . . it appears to me to involve a question of importance & difficulty, & which I am afraid we shall be often called upon to solve during the coming electins viz - Whether a Candidate, who is driven out of a town by popular Violence, is to be forced in again by a Military escort. In this case, as the election was neither in progress nor immediate, I am of opinion that they should not upon this ground or for this purpose have returned into Clithero . . . I should be inclined to leave all Parties to their legal remedies giving no opinion . . ."
Traces of guard at the right edge of the blank fourth page, as well as some contemporary scribbled illegible notes, perhaps by the recipient
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