even if it were not fatal. She was, however, pronounced to be out of danger in a few days. About a fortnight after the accident, Mr. North addressed a letter to the editor of the Brighton Guardian, from Suffolk street, London, in which he wrote - "Sir, - In your paper of the 1st inst. you ask where was I at the division which took place on the 20th ultimo? The accident to my wife happened on the day previous to that of the division you speak of, which division was a most important one. I did, however, vote on that division, and with the promoters of the bill, as against Mr. Follett's amendment." To this letter was appended by the editore a frank and fair explanation of the misconception, which arose through Mr. North's name having been omitted from the Division lists. Here, then, Mr. North was able to score a point in his own favour yet he was again complained of, a few weeks later, for an adverse vote which is was said he had recorded. "It wanted but this," remarked the journal already named, "to seal the fate of Mr. North in this borough. His resignation would now give great satisfaction, for his conduct but ill accords with the pledges he gave as to the Irish Church." From what followed, it would almost seem as though the offending Member had made up his mind from that time to act upon the suggestion, and to afford the Radical section of the constituency the satisfaction so much desired. He did very little after that to provoke hostile criticism during the remaining existence of that Parliament, and when a new one was necessitated by the death of William IV., he simply declined to contest the election. As a politician of the Whig school, Mr. North was for reforms or a moderately progressive order; and he held, as it were, the balance between those who desired sweeping changes and those who would have none. But in this position, whilst he was accused by the advanced Liberals of playing into the hands of the Tories, he was also suspected by his family and their Conservative connections of departing from the "good old ways" and of desiring to lead a large number of his supporters into a path whither it was not their wont to go. With the best possible intentions, then, this honourable man found himself in a position of extreme difficulty. Desiring to discharge his duties conscientiously, and to conciliate as far as possible conflicting interests, he yet felt that to be sent to Parliament as a mere delegate would not only cause him to forfeit the independent action which at the outset he had claimed the right to exercise, but would also fetter the intelligence which he had hoped had been deemed a qualification for his election. If in those days there was one man more than another who could lead a party, slowly bur surely, out of old traditions into new luminosities, that man probably was Mr. North; and, feeling as he doubtlessly did, that in consequence of his own election, with Mr. Elphinstone for a colleague, the Conservative candidates had been kept low on the poll, the honourable member must necessarily have chafed under the unmerited castigation to which we was afterwards subjected. If, therefore, at the next election, his "resignation" afforded satisfaction to the Radicals, he must have been more than mortal not to have felt a secret satisfaction in finding that his own withdrawal from the contest had been greatly instrumental in reversing the order of voting, whereby a Conservative was returned at the head of the poll, and with 403 votes instead of the 159 which were recorded for him on the previous occasion. Of this reversion I may have more to say at the proper time. Meanwhile it may not be out of place to note that the relations and aspirations of other persons were freely discussed and that the political principles of Mr. Brisco were again rigidly questioned. He had represented himself to some of the St. Leonards voters as a Liberal and a Reformer, whilst it was well-known that the Conservatives in that part of the borough were his chief supporters. In consequence of this, an elector sent the following letter to Mr. Brisco's brother Wastel. - "Sir, - previous to the last election, yourself and your brother canvassed this town as professed Reformers, and I heard you assert that you and your family had always advocated and supported Liberal principles; and when on the hustings you were both accused of Toryism by Mr. Elphinstone, you declared that charge was false. Now, sir, I would ask you if the signature to the ultra-Tory petition hawked about the town, Wastel Brisco, Magistrate of the Eastern Division of Sussex, if your sign manual? If that be not a forgery, will a Brisco ever again have the hardihood to present himself on the hustings of this borough?"
As might have been imagined, this letter was never answered; yet the trick of calling Mr. Brisco a Liberal, whie he was all the time a confirmed Tory, was again resorted to; and, save that he was liberal with his money, no practical proof of his Liberal views could be produced. But just at that time there was some disagreement among the Brisco party as to the expenses of the dinner given to their champion, as well as the amount of individual responsibility for the same. A Mr. James Harman - who will figure more hereafter - was publicly advised after this fashion:- "Let not our ci-devant Radical friend Harman suffer his irritability to get the better of his sober judgment. He was the getter-up of the dinner to Mr. Brisco, and he ought therefore to hold himself responsible for the reasonable expenses incurred."
I turn again to matters in more immediate connection with the Corporation. On the 15th of January, applications were made by George Clarke Jones and John Gill, also by the newly formed Literary Society for the hire or purchase of the Condemned Hole, at that time leased to the Commissioners of Customs. The Corporation declined to entertain the applications, preferring to allow the lease to run out. At the same time it was ordered that a committee, with the pierwarden's assistance, prepare regulations for placing rope-shops eastward of the Tamarisk Steps, and that such fishermen as desired sites thereat, not exceeding 8 feet square, be charged 2s per year. The same committees were invested with power to remove rope-shops to such eastward position, and to place the pig pounds still further east. This order had the effect of removing the swine and their habitations altogether.
On the 9th of April, the Mayor reported his having attended the Brotherhood and Guestling at Hythe on March 10th, to consider if any and what steps should be taken against the Corporation of Winchelsea for neglecting to return Commissioners to the said Brotherhood and Guestling. It was the opinion of a majority that so many difficulties appeared to accompany the enforcement of a fine that the meeting did not feel justified in resorting to legal measures, and that it was expedient to postpone the same until sanctioned by another Brotherhood to be held on receipt of the Speaker's next letter.
In applying the apprenticeship clause of Saunders Charity, it was ordered that Benjamin Newton's eyesight being not good enough for the shoemaking business to which he had been apprenticed, he be transferred to Mr. John Russell, a baker. Also that a similar premium (£11.15s) be paid to George Knight, a cordwainer, for taking the widow Ann Phillips as an apprentice. It was further ordered that £20 be paid towards the erection of an oast house on Saunder's farm.
An application having been made by Wm. Ridley, George Tutt, Wm. Breach, Philip Kent and Stephen Kent for leases of stonebeds between the East Well and the east groyne, it was resolved that the space be kept for the fishery, and that the beach under the cliff be levelled.
As supporting the aphorism that "troubles never come singly" a second difficulty with the Premier Cinque Ports Limbs occurred during the year, the Corporation of Pevensey having refused to continue the annual composition payment of £3 6s 8d. It was therefore ordered to make a more formal demand.
The Castle Workhouse and Contiguous Ground - Additional Events
On the 16th of July, an appointed committee recommended that the beautiful entrance to the town be further improved by filling up the slough, turfing and planting the same, and enclosing it with a dwarf wall and iron palisading at an estimated cost of £278, and that the Corporation give a subscription of £150 towards the work. Also, that a wooden hutch to the cost £50 be made at the Bourne's mouth. A plan for the ornamental -
