done by her Majesty with six days' notice, and the writs were therefore immediately issued. Then came additional excitement to the borough of Hastings, and the people who had witnessed so many important events and public demonstrations were again warmed into enthusiasm until a sort of political climax was ultimately reached.
Rival Rate Collectors - Death of William IV - Archery Meeting
But if all was harmonious rivalry on the 24th of May, that harmony was considerably disturbed three weeks later, when in consequence of an order from the Poor-Law Commissioners for the Board of Guardians to elect a competent person as rate-collector, a rivalry of a different character immediately manifested itself. Among the candidates for the office were two men whose claims were urged in a party spirit which may be fitly described as Church versus Dissent, Tory versus Radical, and Hastings versus St. Leonards. The principals in this contest have long since passed away; yet, for conceivable, if not for obvious, reasons, I judge it prudent to withhold their names. As, however, I must adopt some mode by which to recognize the competitors, I will call them Whig and Tory. The Whig-Dissenter had been in business at St. Leonards, and had failed therein, because, as his friends declared, he had a large family to provide for, had lived in a time of commercial depression, and could not prevent his neighbours from making their purchases at Hastings. The Tory-Churchman, it was alleged, had no incumbrance, was nephew to a churchwarden and poor-law guardian and was in receipt of good wages. For the former to oppose the latter was announced by the latter's supporters to be a most disgraceful proceeding. But so evenly divided were the Guardians on the question that when the votes were taken the numbers polled for each candidate were just alike. The chairman then gave the casting vote, and the Liberal-Dissenter was elected. Not satisfied with this decision, Mr. Anthony Harvey, another Tory-Churchman, wrote to the Government board, who refused to ratify the choice. At this the Whig-Dissenters re-kindled their fire of indignation, and some of them had the boldness to declare that an honest man had been crushed by a dishonest clique. But subsequent events did not justify the allegation. The Whig-Dissenter became a rate-collector, and in the exercise of his calling he was eventually found to be a defaulter to a considerable amount; whilst his original opponent - the "avaricious" Tory-Churchman - also obtained a similar appointment, which he filled for many years to the satisfaction of all parties, and ultimately died, greatly respected.
It was at this time (the first or second week in June) that Lady Elizabeth Dutton engaged for a period of six weeks the new house at the corner of Seymour place, now known as Adelaide House, Grand parade. It was then more commonly called Waghorne's Marine Mansion, and it obtained its present appellation when the Dowager Queen Adelaide had been its occupant, which was immediately after the tenancy of Lady Dutton.
His Majesty William IV. expired at Windsor shortly after 2 a.m. of June 20th, and this nationally important event immediately revived one of my earliest reminiscences - the demise of his father, GEORGE III., which took place seventeen years before, on a Sunday in January. The dissolution of the "Sailor-King" was hereabouts made known by passengers and parcels which arrived by the London coaches. The death of the King was marked by the inhabitants of both towns with the usual signs of mourning; and, as the visitors for the time of year were unusually numerous there was a great demand for the London papers. It was in June, 1830, that WILLIAM IV. ascended the throne so that at his death it wanted six days to complete the seventh year of his reign. Small as was that number of years as compared with the long reign of his father and the - at present - sixty years' of his niece it was a period fraught with immense consequences to the country. With strong conservative proclivities, there can be no doubt that His Majesty commenced his rule with the desire to preserve as far as was in his power, the institutions of the country as they existed at the time of his accession. The unceasing demands for constitutional changes were, however, too strong for him; and after losing his Conservative Administration, he was obliged to yield to the representations of Lords Grey and Brougham, and thus to give-in his reluctant adherence to the sweeping provisions of the Reform Bill. Personally, no doubt, the aged monarch acted towards his people with the desire to do that which he conceived to be right; and although the sympathy between himself and the majority of his subjects was not always of the most cordial kind, a general respect was paid to his memory as soon as his spirit had entered the region of eternity, where "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil."
Long before he became King, Prince William was considered by Lord Nelson to have been superior in his profession to two thirds of the officers on the navy list. He passed through the several gradations of Midshipman, Lieutenant, Captain and Rear-admiral-of-the-blue; and when he announced to Don Juan de Langara that the latter's boat was ready to take him back to his own ship after his great defeat by Admiral Rodney, the Don exclaimed, "Well may England be mistress of the ocean when her King's sons are thus employed in her service.
The 17th of August was the 51st birthday anniversary of the Duchess of Kent, and this occurrence was celebrated at St. Leonards with a grand archery meeting, followed by a dinner and a ball. In those days of loyal demonstrations and fashionable reunions the prize-meetings of the St. Leonards toxophilites were of a gay and enthusiastic character, and were sometimes attended by no fewer than from four-hundred to five-hundred persons. One of such meetings was that of 1837, and as neither St. Leonards nor Hastings could boast of a local newspaper at that time, the following report, with emendations by the present writer, may help my readers to imagine what those meetings were like, whilst the meeting itself may be thus made to put forth a claim to be numbered among the numerous demonstrations of that eventful year. The Brighton Guardian proceeds to say :-
"We owe it to St. Leonards that we never witnessed a more gratifying scene, nor one which we believe to be so likely to conduce to the benefit of the neighborhood. It afforded a proof of what can be accomplished by public spirit when properly directed. The ruling maxim of the St. Leonards property-holders has not been that of sparing either labour or expense in providing for their patrons the best accommodation and the most refined amusements. The Archery Grounds on the occasion of competing for the grand annual prizes was literally thronged. Wherever the eye wandered it encountered faces beaming with hilarity; and, indeed, the picturesque and romantic appearance of the spot, together -
