The privileges it possessed proved to it a curse,
for if there were voters in it sufficiently independent
to think differently from the patron, he tore down
their dwellings. After the last election but one
Sir Christopher Hawkins swept away numerous
cottages from his land, so as to reduce the number
of voters, not because they were recalcitrant, but
because all demanded payment for their votes ; and
to diminish the voters, as he did, from eighty to
three meant a corresponding reduction in election
expenses. At the election of 1831 there was no
voting at all. The steward invited some two dozen
individuals to dine with him in the inn ; of these
three only were nominated to vote. A worm-eaten
chair was thrust on the balcony of the inn, and the
nominee of the patron was declared chosen and
chaired.
Immediately after this election the same patron, Sir Christopher Hawkins, pulled down twelve more houses; amongst these a handsome mansion opposite the town hall, that had been erected by Lord Falmouth in 1780, when he was dominant in the borough, and all the stonework was carried away for the construction of Lord Falmouth's new house at Tregothnan.
In the penultimate election there were but thirteen electors, who were nominated by the patron. But even these were not altogether submissive. A stranger came amongst them, and by large promises induced most of them to agree to vote for him as second representative. Dread of their patron, however, in the end proved too strong, and they returned
