On the day after the election the Town Clerk summons the parties who are chosen to the Town Hall, and they immediately proceed to take the necessary oaths to qualify them for their office. We have read with every school-boy of Hannibal swearing eternal enmity to the Romans, and the same benign spirit seems to attend us in the national aversion which we are so frequently called upon to express in rather grave terms against the descendants of the Pretender, who, in all probability, would long have forgotten their dormant claim, did we not so constantly recall them to their recollection. We have as little fear of these exiles being seated on the throne as we should of the descendants of King Harold so quietly set aside by William the Conqueror, or of Boadicea queen of the Iceni. We shall ever be ready to pay our cheerful, unceasing, and devoted homage to the memory of the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, and her protestant descendants, and pay our glad allegiance there,' but we cannot discover any necessity in the present day of disclaiming the Pope of Rome or any other foreign prince or potentate, nor do we see the necessity of the protestant church calling in the aid of oaths for the protection of possessions when properly acquired and properly appropriated. In obedience to the act of parliament in such cases made and provided,' the oaths are taken, and the Capital Burgesses proceed at once to business, and their first duty is to elect a Town Bailiff. This officer is not named in the charter, and is legally recognized for the first time in the act of parliament, which is commonly called the town act. It appears, on reference to the corporation records, that it is not absolutely

necessary to elect one of the Capital Burgesses to the office, for the appointment is regulated entirely by prescription or usage, and it appears that in the year 1564 one of the burgesses was called upon to act in that character.

The duties now required of the Town Bailiff are to call the Capital Burgesses together as occasion may require, and preside at their meetings, having the privilege of the casting vote in the event of their being equally divided in opinion on any question that comes before them, to convene meetings of the inhabitants on any public occasion, either on his own responsibility or in compliance with a requisition presented to him for that purpose, to receive the rents and the revenues, and pay the interest on the debts, discharge the annuities as they become due, in short the whole amount of the income and expenditure passes through his hands; and from the great addition that has lately been made to his labours by the additional revenues, and other important matters daily arising out of the increasing prosperity of the town, there frequently occurs a great difficulty in prevailing on persons to accept the office. In the year 1829 a gentleman was elected Town Bailiff by the other Capital Burgesses, but he declined to take upon himself the office on the plea of ill health, but as the same objection would have equally applied to his having in the first instance consented to become a Capital Burgess, and as the precedent, if allowed, might be attended with some considerable inconvenience, the opinion of Counsel was obtained as to the power possessed by the Capital Burgesses to compel a person when chosen to act as Town Bailiff;

but as the opinion expressed considerable doubt as to the compulsory power, another gentleman was prevailed upon to officiate, and thus any further discussion of the subject was set at rest. We have always been surprised that the Capital Burgesses do not pass a bye-law, which they are clearly entitled to do, making it compulsory, and imposing a fine on any party declining to take upon himself the appointment when elected, and we entertain but little doubt that the Court of King's Bench would enforce the performance of such a law.

When the Town Bailiff has consented to occupy the Chair of State, the officers are appointed, and the members of the Corporation on the fifth of November proceed to exercise the only personal privilege and luxury attendant on the office, and that is, of dining together, but at their own expense, and the Town Bailiff has the distinguished honor of contributing twice the amount of any other of his colleagues towards providing the banquet for the day.

For several years in succession the same parties were re-elected Capital Burgesses without opposition, and but little interest was taken in their proceedings. The members had hitherto been composed exclusively of persons professing the tenets and doctrines of the Church of England; but those who dissented from the establishment were daily increasing in numbers and importance, and having by their mercantile enterprise and trading industry become materially interested in the prosperity of the town and port, they naturally sought to have a voice in the direction of public affairs. Being of opinion also that the transactions of some members of the Corporation were not of the most liberal

cast, they were put in nomination at the annual election; they were, however, met by a most strenuous opposition; questions were repeatedly put to the candidates whether they had received the sacrament and complied with the provisions required by the Test and Corporation Acts, and every exertion was made to exclude the dissenters from participating in the management of public business. This town, which had hitherto been proverbial for its peacefulness and freedom from all party contests, was at once made the scene of commotion, and angry feelings were excited which it is to be feared are not yet altogether allayed. It was soon discovered that some of the parties who were so rancorous in opposition to the claim of the dissenters, had not themselves complied with the very provisions which were deemed an indispensable qualification for becoming a member of the Town Council, and which they were ever so ready to enforce; and we fear that the revolting scene was exhibited of persons frequenting the altar for the sole purpose of enabling them to act in the capacity of Capital Burgesses. Happily for the cause of true religion this qualification was soon relinquished, and the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, whatever may be the opinion of individuals as to the effects of that measure, at length prevented members of the established church from thus trifling with its most sacred ordinances, to entitle them to assume the civic robe of state.

It has been asserted that the electors are too numerous, and consist in a great measure of a class of persons incompetent to exercise the power of selecting proper parties to become Capital Burgesses, that persons are unwilling to allow their acts to be so scrutinized

and commented upon by such an extensive number of constituents, and that they are unwilling to go through the ordeal of a public election; but it may be observed that every good citizen is bound by the laws or contract on which society was originally established, to fulfil the duties of his station, and as far as possible to contribute to the advantage of that community from which he derives his own means of support. If respectable parties will but act conscientiously for the public good without being biased by sectarian or party feeling, and if they do not arrogate to themselves an infallibility of opinion on every public question, they will always find that the people will know how to value their services and tender them their support. We sincerely hope that the town is not altogether so void of the feelings of common patriotism as ever to suffer the extensive funds of the Corporation to be administered, and their important and increasing duties to be performed by persons who are not strictly possessed of the qualifications required by the charter.

In the early part of the year 1833, a committee was appointed by the House of Commons, to institute an enquiry into the municipal corporations of the kingdom, which committee proceeded to obtain information from the Mayors, Town Clerks, and other official functionaries of some of the principal towns. The Town Bailiff and Town Clerk of Wisbech were summoned to attend the committee; they produced the charter granted to the town, and recapitulated the various duties and operations of the Capital Burgesses, the mode of election, the publication of their accounts, with other important matters connected with the enquiry, and the

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