POLITICAL HISTORY Onslow by the most conspicuous display of knowledge of Parliamentary law and practice, and by a courtesy and impartiality which are now taken for granted as the characteristics of the Speaker, but were not always exhibited before this time, established the Speakership where it now stands. Some reputed eminent statesmen have done less for the country. Himself incorruptible, he was in a position to see much of the prevailing corruption of the age in politics and to lament its results. In 1741, writing to Sir More Molyneux about a pending election in Haslemere, he says, ' God knows there is so much of it ' (i.e. electoral corruption) * almost everywhere that I dread the consequences of it with regard to the religion and morals of the nation. I say this to you as a man of virtue to whom I can disclose my heart without being liable to be laughed at.' 1 It was a danger, and not the less because most people laughed at it. The little Surrey boroughs were steeped in cor- ruption. The choice was between mere bribery and influence. The ' man of virtue ' of this letter owned Haslemere. Sir Robert Clayton, who is commemorated in Blechingley church as a patriotic Whig of Charles the Second's reign, bought Blechingley, and he and his family were members generally till it was alienated by sale in 1799." The Somers family owned Reigate. Sir Samuel Owfield, William Owfield, Sir John Thompson, Paul Docminique, William Currie, John Petrie were each M.P. for Gatton and all owners of it. The one of these three boroughs, Reigate, which survived the Reform Bill of 1832, had the misfortune of being found out, and was practically disfranchised for corruption before its final disappearance in 1867. Extreme corruption is not compatible with real public spirit. When at the beginning of the Seven Years' War the scandalous inca- pacity of the ministry of the day and the prevailing want of faith in the value or stability of our institutions had thrown the country into a panic fear of French invasion, an attempt was made to reorganize the militia in 1757. The ballot was to be employed and the price of exemption, if drawn, was 10, prohibitive to a poor man. A violent agitation arose against it. It was said that the regiments when raised would be sent on foreign service. Regular troops had actually to be sent into the southern counties to compel Englishmen to defend themselves at a time when we were bringing over Hanoverians and Hessians, and vainly begging the Dutch to lend us 6,000 men to protect a dynasty which had no enemy left worth consideration except itself and its ministers. The riot was great in Surrey. The mob was headed by a farmer named Worsfold armed with a partisan, which was said to have been wielded by his ancestor under Elizabeth, presumably in a better cause. The Speaker, the most eminent man in the county, was assailed by the mob in Guildford. They followed him to his own house, Ember Court, and threatened violence. The 'insurrection,' as Horace Walpole calls it, was only stayed by Onslow undertaking that no more steps should be 1 Loseley MSS. February 7, 1740-1.
- Blechingley made a distinguished exit in 1832 with Lord Palmerston as one of its members.
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