in proper time;
but at this moment he has got all the press on his side, and
people are resolved to give him credit for good intentions.
Brougham has captivated the Archbishop of Canterbury by offering
to give livings to any deserving clergyman he would recommend to
him. I met him at dinner yesterday in the greatest spirits,
elated and not altered by his new dignity. He is full of projects
of reform in the administration of justice, and talks of
remodelling the Privy Council as a Court of Appeal, which would
be of great use.

December 2nd, 1830 {p.078}

[Page Head: LIVERPOOL ELECTION.]

Yesterday a levee and Council and Recorder's report. Clanricarde
and Robert Grosvenor[1] sworn in.

[1] [Afterwards Lord Ebury.]

The Liverpool election, which is just over, was, considering the
present state of things, a remarkable contest. It is said to have
cost near L100,000 to the two parties, and to have exhibited a
scene of bribery and corruption perfectly unparalleled; no
concealment or even semblance of decency was observed; the price
of tallies and of votes rose, like stock, as the demand
increased, and single votes fetched from L15 to L100 apiece. They
voted by tallies; as each tally voted for one or the other
candidate they were furnished with a receipt for their votes,
with which they went to the committee, when through a hole in the
wall the receipt was handed in, and through another the
stipulated sum handed out; and this scene of iniquity has been
exhibited at a period when the cry for Reform is echoed from one
end of the country to the other, and in the case of a man
(Denison) who stood on the principle of Reform. Nobody yet knows
whence the money for Denison comes (the Ewarts are enormously
rich), but it will be still more remarkable if he should pay it
himself, when he is poor, careful of money, and was going to
India the other day in order to save L12,000 or L15,000. If
anybody had gone down at the eleventh hour and polled one good
vote, he would have beaten both candidates and disfranchised the
borough. As it is, it is probable the matter will be taken up and
the borough disfranchised. The right of voting is as bad as
possible in the freemen, who are the lowest rabble of the town
and, as it appears, a parcel of venal wretches. Here comes the
difficulty of Reform, for how is it possible to reform the
electors?

December 5th, 1830 {p.079}

The country is getting quieter, but though the immediate