Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/140

 112 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. AUG. 7, 1020. It appears that Morpeth was under the immediate and absolute control of the Earl of Carlisle and that although several attempts had been made by the electors to surmount this influence, they had never been attended with success. At the general election of 1774 Francis Eyre and Thomas Charles Bigge were candidates in opposition to the Hon. William Byron, who was the cousin, and Peter Delme, who was the brother-in-law, to the Earl of Carlisle. On the day of election Byron and Delme had the majority of votes, but the populace by threats and violence compelled the returning officers to sign a return of Eyre instead of Byron. On petition by the latter, it was declared that Byron ought to have been returned as elected instead of Eyre, but leave was given to Eyre to petition against Byron's return within 14 days. This was done, the petition alleging bribery, partiality of the returning officers and other corrupt and illegal practices. The House was, however, prorogued before the petition came on to be heard, and the petition not having been renewed in the next session, the merits of the case were never investigated. The right of election at Morpeth was in the bailiffs and free burgesses. The bailiffs who were the returning officers, were clearly supporters of the Carlisle interest at the election of 1774, and there is very little doubt that those who held office in 1768 were supporters of the same interest. They had probably refused to admit, as free burgesses, certain persons claiming that right, who belonged to the opposite party, and on this refusal these persons had applied to the Court of King's Bench for writs of mandamus directed to the bailiffs to admit them as free burgesses. Hence the term " mandamus voters." On being served with the writs the bailiffs would have to make returns to them, and it is not unlikely that the election was over before any ques- tions arising oil the returns could be decided. The case may be illustrated from circum- stances which arose in connection with a disputed Election for the Borough of Clitheroe in 1693. It was alleged by one candidate of that election that the admission, as burgesses, of certain of his friends had been wrongfully prevented by one of the bailiffs, who was himself a supporter of the other side, and writs of mandamus were obtained on behalf of these persons to compel the bailiffs to admit them. What happened, according to the statement of such candidate's case, was as follows : " After Alias Mandamus's they [that is the opposite party] by surprise gain'd time till Christmas to make Returns, which might have been before the End of the last Term. The- Beturns have been concealed till within the last two Days, though daily enquir'd for ; and not being Filed, no advantage can be taken of the- false Returns." In fact the election took place on Nov. 30, 1693, long before the returns were due. The statement of the case for the other side refers to the persons on whose behalf the writs of mandamus had been obtained,, as "Mandamus men" is clearly a parallel term to the expression " Mandamus voters '* mentioned by your correspondent. WM. SELF-WEEKS. Westwood, Clitheroe. LATIN AS AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE. (12 S. vi. 202, 234, 261, 282, 300, 321 ; vii. 17). It may not be out of place to cite- threo examples of such an employment of Latin, dating from the eighteenth century. In 1722 Saint-Simon, then on special embassy to the court of Spain, visited Toledo. Here a ceremonial call was made- on him by two of the canons of the cathedral acting on behalf of the whole chapter. After the preliminaries, he relates, " Des que je fus convert, je me decouvris et. ouvris la bouche pour les remercier ; a Pinstant,. le Pimentel [the senior of the two], le chapeau & la main, se leva, s'inclina, me dit Domine sans m'avoir donne 1'instant d'articuler un seul mot, se rassit, se couvrit, et me fit une tres-belle harangue en fort beau latin, qui dura plus d'un, gros quart d'heure. Je ne puis exprimer ma surprise ni quel fut mon embarras : de repondre en frangois a un homme qui ne 1'entendoit pas,, quel moyen ? en latin, comment faire ? Toutefois, je pris mon parti, j'ecoutai de toutes mes oreilles,. et tandis qu' il parla, je batis ma reponse pour dire- quelque chose sur chaque point, et iinir par ce que j'imaginai de plus convenable pour le chapitre et pour les deputes, en particulier pour celui qui parloit. II finit par la meme reverence qui ayoit commence" son discours, et je voyois en nieme- ternps toute cette jeunesse [' Tout cequietoitavec moi, et beaucoup d'autres gens de la ville . .. . . les; neveux et les principaux officiers de 1'archeveque,*' who were in the room at the time] qui me regardoifc et riochoit de 1'embarras oil elle n'avoit pas torfc. de me croire. " Le Pimentel rassis, j'otai mon chapeau, je- me levai, je dis Domine ; en me rasseyant et me- couvrant, je jetai un coup d'ceil a cette jeunesse,. qui me parut stup^faite de mon efEronterie, & laquelle elle ne s'attendoit pas. Je derouillai mon latin comme je pus, on il y eut sans doute- bien de la cuisine et maints sole"cismes, mais- j'allai toujours, repondant point par point, puia