DOI issue:
July to December, 1851
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16608#0225
214
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
In answer to numerous Inquiries, we are happy to sat, that Mr. Briggs is quite well, and at Brighton. He is taking
the OPPORTUNITY TO give his FAMILY A EEW BlDING lessons. We SHOULDN't wonder IE he WENT OUT with the harriers
in a Day or two.
ST. COPPOCK AND ST. ALBANS.
If the revelations made to the Commission inquiring into the purity
of election in the case of Bell and Carden disgust a clean mind with
the foulness of the borough of St. Albans; at least there is a com-
pensating comfort in the " horror " of the " solicitor and parliamentary
agent," St. Coppock. Soothing and beautiful, amidst matters of
irritation and disgust, was the evidence of our Saint {Punch cannot
but canonize him while yet in the flesh) James Coppock.
St. Coppock said :—
" If, instead of going through the register of voters, as Edwards had done, marking
the name of everyone who sold his vote, he were to go through the list of British
boroughs returning members to Parliament, beginning with Abingdon and ending
with Stafford, and if he were to put opposite the names of the respective members,
•bought his seat,'he should make a more extraordinary disclosure than that of Mr.
Edwards himself."
St. Stephen must have held his nose at this denounced corruption
of his children. But what follows is sustaining from its beauty, its
generous frankness. Here Coppock expands into the saint, with the
"melodious twang" of Aubrey's departing sprite:
" He stated this, to show the system, of which no man had a greater horror in the
kingdom than himself."
How wholesome comes St. Coppock's horror upon us—what a note
of melody, and whiff of violets from amidst the money-changing corrup-
tionists of St. Albans ! We tie a few flowers together, culled from St.
Coppock—sanctified as he is by his horror :
" £2500 was to be forthcoming provided Mr. Bell stood, and witness had heard that
*1500 was Sir Robert Carden'b limit. The third party in the borough wanted a can-
didate simply for the expenditure. The principle of ' bleed and bribe' had always
been the ruling principle. . . . Never had anything to do with the arrangement
or disposition of the money in these matters, and derived no advantage but a poli-
tical one."
Great is the capacity of the " but "—the political " but." No money
down ; but the future comprehensive " but; " as appears further on:—
"It was not unusual with him on similar occasions to recommend to Government
appointments, or to post people in his own office, on the principle of serving those who
bad served him."
St. Coppock, surviving his " horror " at bribery and corruption, to
reciprocate services bestowed!
" When Sir H. G. Ward stood for St. Albans, it cost him £2400. When he stood
for Sheffield, containing some thousands in population, it only cost him £150."
And here comes the remedy:—
" you cannot," said the witness, emphatically, " prevent this species ob
expenditure, until you allow the ballot, which would be the only pre-
ventive against Bribery."
Mr. Coppock has, it appears, been in practice as a parliamentary
agent, for twenty years ; and all the time in a condition of horror at the
wickedness, the human baseness, he has been doomed, by his fees, to
entertain. For twenty years he has bandied pitch, suffering twenty
years' horror at the defilement! Wonderful is the self-adaptability of
the human animal to circumstance. Men have entered ovens with
shoulders-of-mutton, and sucking pigs; coming out alive and well,
though perspiring somewhat, with the mutton deliriously browned, and
the pig in a complete armour of crackling.
Sir John Malcolm speaks of a man whose daily diet was a certain
allowance of corrosive sublimate; and the man ate, drank, and was
merry. And it now appears that, albeit horror may turn hair _ white
" in a single night,"—it may become nutriment to a man (especially if
spiced and seasoned with a political " but") for twenty years. What
seem the rigours of St. Stylites on his desert pillar—to St. Coppock
on the midnight bolster ? What the anguish of the self-inflicted
scourge to the poignant recollections of human baseness ! And yet man
(especially when a parliamentary agent) may be brought to flourish upon
horror, turning it by the alchemy of custom into gold—to sovereign
gold. _
The Crowns of Hungary and Austria.
It has been asked, " Where is the Crown of St. Stephen ? " Punch
is unable to say where: but of this, Punch is certain. Wherever it
may be, it is far better off than the Crown of Austria; for that (at
present) is on the head of a perjurer, named Francis-Joseph.
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
In answer to numerous Inquiries, we are happy to sat, that Mr. Briggs is quite well, and at Brighton. He is taking
the OPPORTUNITY TO give his FAMILY A EEW BlDING lessons. We SHOULDN't wonder IE he WENT OUT with the harriers
in a Day or two.
ST. COPPOCK AND ST. ALBANS.
If the revelations made to the Commission inquiring into the purity
of election in the case of Bell and Carden disgust a clean mind with
the foulness of the borough of St. Albans; at least there is a com-
pensating comfort in the " horror " of the " solicitor and parliamentary
agent," St. Coppock. Soothing and beautiful, amidst matters of
irritation and disgust, was the evidence of our Saint {Punch cannot
but canonize him while yet in the flesh) James Coppock.
St. Coppock said :—
" If, instead of going through the register of voters, as Edwards had done, marking
the name of everyone who sold his vote, he were to go through the list of British
boroughs returning members to Parliament, beginning with Abingdon and ending
with Stafford, and if he were to put opposite the names of the respective members,
•bought his seat,'he should make a more extraordinary disclosure than that of Mr.
Edwards himself."
St. Stephen must have held his nose at this denounced corruption
of his children. But what follows is sustaining from its beauty, its
generous frankness. Here Coppock expands into the saint, with the
"melodious twang" of Aubrey's departing sprite:
" He stated this, to show the system, of which no man had a greater horror in the
kingdom than himself."
How wholesome comes St. Coppock's horror upon us—what a note
of melody, and whiff of violets from amidst the money-changing corrup-
tionists of St. Albans ! We tie a few flowers together, culled from St.
Coppock—sanctified as he is by his horror :
" £2500 was to be forthcoming provided Mr. Bell stood, and witness had heard that
*1500 was Sir Robert Carden'b limit. The third party in the borough wanted a can-
didate simply for the expenditure. The principle of ' bleed and bribe' had always
been the ruling principle. . . . Never had anything to do with the arrangement
or disposition of the money in these matters, and derived no advantage but a poli-
tical one."
Great is the capacity of the " but "—the political " but." No money
down ; but the future comprehensive " but; " as appears further on:—
"It was not unusual with him on similar occasions to recommend to Government
appointments, or to post people in his own office, on the principle of serving those who
bad served him."
St. Coppock, surviving his " horror " at bribery and corruption, to
reciprocate services bestowed!
" When Sir H. G. Ward stood for St. Albans, it cost him £2400. When he stood
for Sheffield, containing some thousands in population, it only cost him £150."
And here comes the remedy:—
" you cannot," said the witness, emphatically, " prevent this species ob
expenditure, until you allow the ballot, which would be the only pre-
ventive against Bribery."
Mr. Coppock has, it appears, been in practice as a parliamentary
agent, for twenty years ; and all the time in a condition of horror at the
wickedness, the human baseness, he has been doomed, by his fees, to
entertain. For twenty years he has bandied pitch, suffering twenty
years' horror at the defilement! Wonderful is the self-adaptability of
the human animal to circumstance. Men have entered ovens with
shoulders-of-mutton, and sucking pigs; coming out alive and well,
though perspiring somewhat, with the mutton deliriously browned, and
the pig in a complete armour of crackling.
Sir John Malcolm speaks of a man whose daily diet was a certain
allowance of corrosive sublimate; and the man ate, drank, and was
merry. And it now appears that, albeit horror may turn hair _ white
" in a single night,"—it may become nutriment to a man (especially if
spiced and seasoned with a political " but") for twenty years. What
seem the rigours of St. Stylites on his desert pillar—to St. Coppock
on the midnight bolster ? What the anguish of the self-inflicted
scourge to the poignant recollections of human baseness ! And yet man
(especially when a parliamentary agent) may be brought to flourish upon
horror, turning it by the alchemy of custom into gold—to sovereign
gold. _
The Crowns of Hungary and Austria.
It has been asked, " Where is the Crown of St. Stephen ? " Punch
is unable to say where: but of this, Punch is certain. Wherever it
may be, it is far better off than the Crown of Austria; for that (at
present) is on the head of a perjurer, named Francis-Joseph.