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them have we others to supply their place? I should be glad if you will turn this over in your mind, and let me know what you, think of it,|Yours gratefully,
Joseph Planta.”

Lawsuit, Harman v Planta (much excitement) "Stick to Party"

Could there (argued the Serjt.) be anything more friendly? Could there be a more perfect identification of interests between the Radical and the Tory The letter did not say What am I to do, but what are we to do? They must infer from letters written in this tone that the management of Planta’s election had.been entrusted to Harman. The next letter was

"4 Mount street, London, April 8. 1887
Dear Mr, Harman,
- If you will send our friend, Felix Jarratt early some morning to Mr Manser, at Winchelsea, he will see him and talk to him fully on affairs. I wish you would send me up at any time the list of the committee I gave you after you have taken a copy of it, There is no news here; things are in STATU QUO.

— Yours thankfully, Joseph Planta"

It was for the expense of preparing the lists (resumed the advocate) that Harman sought to recover £2 14s; a reasonable sum enough, he having five clerks doing nothing else for three days. Next for letter No, 3. -

"April 25, 1837.
—Dear Mr. _Harman,—
I feel much obliged to you for your two letters about Lewes and the success of Mr, Fitzroy, which I took down to our friends at Pall Mall, The termination of that contest will be a precedent for us, though I trust we shall have longer numbers, I am glad you saw so much of Mr, Fitzroy, Mr. Darby, and the committee; and especially as my name served you in good stead

— Yours gratefully, Joseph Planta"

Now (said Sérjt. Shee), how could Mr, Planta’s letter stand Harman in good stead if Planta had not authorised him to use it; and what had the Right Hon. Privy Councillor to do with the humble tailor of Hastings except to further his own election! The letter continued: —

Our good friend Amoore seems to have some idea of a single-banded contest, after all, through Mr Elphinstone being invited to Liverpool I do not see how this invitation can produce a vacancy now, for there is really no present vacancy, and all that Mr. E.’s Friends can do is to invite him at a general election. However, I shall be fully on the alert, and I think Mr, E. shall not steal a march upon us; in this matter. . . . We are sure to return to Fairlight, please God. on Saturday next, and shall hope soon afterwards to see you.

— Yours faithfully, Joseph Planta."

Here is another letter:—

"Fairlight Place, May 2, 1837.
—Dear Mr. Harman,—
We got down here last night, as Roper will have told you, and I am obliged to you for postponing our committee until tomorrow evening for that gives me time to look over my papers, and put things a little to rights before I go into Hastings. Let me ask it as a favour that you attend the committee, in order that I may find you altogether as I left you, and that we may carry on our good work in the same spirit in which we began it. Is Col. Gant now at St. Leonards? I hope he is, and that he will attend to-morrow evening, for who better for the chair in the absence of our excellent friend, Mr. Graeme? In the earnest hope of shaking hands with you to-morrow evening.

— I am, dear Mr. Harman, yours gratefully,
J. Planta "

He (the learned Serjt.) thought it was_a reasonable expectation for Planta’s fidelity and gratitude to have lasted beyond the period of his successful return for Hastings. The jury had already been told that down to the day of such election, Mr. Harman had the sole management of Mr. Planta’s cause, no professional agent having been employed. Mr. Harman had therefore saved Mr. Planta much expense, It was not till almost the day before the election that Mr. Fuller appeared, and then he set all the committee by the ears. Harman and others were so disgusted that for a time they withdrew. It was now Harman’s bounden duty to bring this action, to teach Mr Planta that parsimony was not always economy. - Serjt. Shee then examined his witnesses, and elicited the following statements:—

William Amoore was out of business, but lived in Hastings, he believed the Conservative party was broken up. [Laughter]. He voted for Planta; recollected him coming to Hastings on Feb. 17th; saw him next morning. Harman came into the room; no others were present; the committee was named, and Harman put the names down [Mr. Platt, “Was that charged for?”] They were together for two hours; heard no stipulation about Reform Bill; he himself proposed to have no clergymen on committee. The canvass commenced on Feb. 18, and continued till July. North and Elphinstone were then Members; North was not declared to be a Conservative; he was rather a Whig; The Pinks were supporters of Elphinstone. Planta’s committee were anxious to get Pink votes as well as others. Met once a week on an average, and had no paid secretary. Harman brought some canvassing books to the Hastings Arms, but used them pretty much for himself. He (Amoore) was at the meeting in the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms; the writ had been issued; Planta was there; plenty of punch on the table, and those gentlemen who did not like it had what they chose instead. It was an agreement at the outset that Planta was to be put to no expense for public-house drinking, and at every meeting he (Amoore) attended every man paid for what he drank. He himself supplied a bowl of punch. There might have been 100 persons present. He had seen Harman canvassing, but he knew nothing of his going either to Pevensey or to Lewes. At the Swan meeting Harman was present, when it was agreed that as far as public-house treating went Planta was to be put to no expense. He (Amoore) had not sent in a bill for his bowl of punch ; never dreamt of such a thing; nor had he sent in any account for canvassing. He gave all the time he could, and Harman did no more than any other committeeman. Witness had heard that Harman went to Lewes, but had not heard that he walked back and dined on eggs. Harman was a tailor then, but now he was a publican. Did not know he was called "Jim Crow Harman." There was a jollification in Planta’s house and grounds after the election. Witness was there did not remember any song about "Bobby Peel" and "Jump Jim Crow."

John Mac-Vicar, in his examination, spoke to the following effect: - In 1837 I worked for Harman, at Hastings, and on Feb. 18th, after a conversation between Amoore and my employer. I was sent to Mr. Sutherland Graeme, chairman of Planta’s committee. Next day I and others’ (Harman, schoolmaster Banks, and carpenter Edwards) were engaged in making out lists for the election. We worked all Saturday, part of Sunday and Monday, and at nights. Harman supplied us with grog and food, the expense of which would be covered by £2 or £3. I fetched one or two books from Southall’s by Harman's order. On the day of election there was a polling place at St. Leonards, where I was engaged all that day.

Frederick Waters.—I am a gunsmith, and recollect Harman coming to me on a Sunday, after church, and. setting me to work on some books. There were 3 or 4 registers, some small ledgers and some stationery. I did most of my work at home.

I was only at Harman’s six hours on the Sunday, during which I had two glasses of rum-and-water. Mr. Fuller paid me £5 for my services after the election. I canvassed, made out books, and called the committee together. I had promised to vote for Planta. I considered the management of the election lay between Harman and Wingfield. I went to the Sussex Tap with Planta’s footman, who delivered a message to Harman. The latter ordered some punch, and I saw it drunk by Planta’s voters. That was long before the election. There was a disagreement between Harman and the committee about March, and then he absented himself.

Edward Pierce being sworn, said - I am a book-keeper; remember being engaged by Harman to make out lists from the printed registers, which occupied me 1 ½ days and a night. If Planta had engaged me I should have charged 40s., but as it was Harman I took a pair of trousers, worth about 15s. The breeches were long enough, but as to pattern, they were like a highlander’s petticoats.

Mrs. Jemima French, landlady of Sussex Tap, recollected a meeting of Planta’s voters at her house in May, when Harman sat where a chairman ought to sit, spoke a great deal, paid 20s. for punch, and had his health drunk. Mr, Shepherd also paid £1 for punch. They nearly all talked at the same time, but they understood one another.

Joseph Binns Hart, professor of music, was present with about fifty others when Mr. Planta first came down, and on the next Monday morning saw Harman give Roper £1 to purchase registers with at the Town Clerk’s office. He brought nine, and we then went out canvassing. The election has cost Mr. Planta money, but it was agreed from the first that it should cost him nothing. I was present at the St. Leonards meeting, where there were about 200 persons. I spent £3 of my own money on punch, besides what was given me by other committeemen. Mr. Fuller paid for some ribbons ordered by the committee. The previous election cost Planta a large sum of money, and it was distinctly agreed, by Harman as well as the rest, that he should be put to no expense this time. Whenever I was with him he always said: "Mind, every man pays for his own."

I know of no expense that Harman was put to beyond what other committeemen had to bear. I found my own books for my own district, and others did the same. I charged Mr. Planta nothing, and I know of no other committeeman who did, except Mr. Harman. He has a large family, but I never heard he has 16 children. I do a great deal more fiddling than Harman does stitching. he does no work himself, but makes his men do it.

Chas. H. Southall was a librarian and stationer at St. Leonards, and found an entry of 8s. in his book against Harman, which amount had been paid, but by whom he did not knew.

Mr. Platt then addressed the jury for the defence. He was astonished, he said, at the magniloquent way in which the learned Serjeant eulogized the ancient politics of his client, and which that client, in February, 1837, put aside for the connection of a party more likely to succeed on that occasion than his own. He need not tell the jury how many people who were loud on the subject of politics would yet sacrifice a little consistency to be on the winning side; and he dared to say such was the case with Mr. Harman, the tailor, who, anticipating the return of a Conservative for Hastings, at once joined that party, although he had before opposed it. Perhaps it was his tailoring trade that qualified him for a turncoat. Anyhow, he changed his former habits, not to join the Whig, who was somewhat allied to the Radical, but to go over at once to the Tory. His learned friend told them that all this took place at a meeting where "the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill" was avowed by Mr. Planta to be his modified creed; but Mr. Amoore, as a witness, had heard not a word of this avowal. He further said that without any invitation from Mr. Planta or himself, in walked Mr. Harman where they were sitting, and agreed to coalesce with his former opponents. It was notorious that on a previous occasion Planta had been put to an unwarrantable cost, and as an inducement for him to again declare himself a candidate, it was decided that he should not be put to a shilling expense before the day of nomination. It was when Mr. Hart explained this that the learned Serjt. began to talk about fiddling to distract the attention of the jury. Certainly the tailor had fiddled, and to some purpose, if it were true that he had 16 children. [Laughter]. Referring to Harman’s claim, it was found that every item was long before the nomination day. The first item was a charge for 45 registers. Mr. Amoore thought there were 6 or 7, another witness saw only 3; but his learned friend said Roper was sent for 9, and did not get so many, Why was not Roper called to prove the number? Was it feared that Roper would bring a rope to hang the plaintiff? There was not a tittle of evidence that plaintiff had purchased 45 registers for Planta; no evidence, in fact, of his having had more than three. The next charge was £8 15s. for ledgers and stationery, but the first three items in that bill were had before Mr. Planta had even seen Mr. Harman, Then came "remuneration to clerks, £2," but that charge, on being sifted, ended in the party paid by Harman taking it out in 16s. worth of breeches. The next item was £1 for a journey to canvass electors at Pevensey, but where was the proof that he ever went to Pevensey? Then came a charge of £2 15s. for a journey to Lewes; upon what evidence did his friend rely to prove that journey? [Had Serjt. Shee known the fact that the writer of this history was one of the bandsmen at the Lewes election, he, the said bandsman, might have been asked to say something to that question] or if he did undertake the journey, what proof there that it was undertaken at the desire of Mr. Planta? Did not the jury think that Harman came to Lewes to take his chance in the way of eating and drinking at such a time of revelry? In a letter, Mr. Planta requested Mr. Harman, if he saw Mr, Amoore to be so good as to tell him go-and-so; but if Harman were the paid agent of Planta, would not the latter have told him to do it? One did not usually request a servant to obey one’s wishes as a favour. Then, again, what evidence was there that Harman had had Planta’s authority for incurring aa expense of £1 15s. for treating electors at the Sussex Tap? The landlady proved that Mr. Shepherd, as well as Mr. Harman, paid for some bowls of Punch, and he was just as much an agent as Harman was. Not was there any evidence that Planta had authorised Harman to spend 25 15s. on refreshments at the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms, or that be had even incurred such an expense. Mr. Hart proved that everything was paid by members of the committee out of their own pockets. It was for the jury to say whether, upon the evidence before them, they could come to the conclusion that the money now sought to be recovered by Mr. Harman was either wholly or in part paid by the authority of Mr. Planta, for unless they came to that conclusion it was impossible to find a verdict for the plaintiff.

In summing up the case the learned Judge said the jury would first satisfy themselves that there was authority from defendant to plaintiff to spend money on his account, and to do this they must take into account the general custom on such occasions. Supposing the case to be as stated by Mr. Hart there certainly was no authority given to plaintiff to spend money; but Mr. Amoore'’s evidence did not go so far. It was for the jury therefore to decide whether the limitation of expenditure applied only to treating, Plaintiff certainly seemed to have exerted himself more than anyone else; his circumstances were also perhaps not so good as those of many other committee-men, and consequently be could not afford to spend so much,

After a short consultation the jury found a verdict for plaintiff, but setting the damages at £15 instead of £24 68. 6d.

Thus ended the trial between the Rt. Hon. Joseph Planta and his pseudo-agent, who had once been his political opponent, and was now again his bitter antagonist. It was a trial that had long been a topic for political quidnuncs, and one, as may be supposed, upon which speculation was rife as to its results. It was not the only trial that Mr Harman's defection from the Liberal ranks had caused him to be engaged in. In chapter XX, time 1888, I have described his assault upon Mr. Morley, and the trial which ensued, the latter resulting in an apology and the payment of £15. In the same chapter is the copy of a long letter by Mr. George Wingfield, in answer to one by Mr. Harman, re. Mr. Planta’s expenses. Those who have not already read the account of the election and the great Conservative banquet preceding it, together with Mr. Sutherland Grame’s address, and the general political situation in 1837, will find them in chapter XVIII.

Not only did the trial of Harman versus, Planta create at the time a fruitful topic for gossip among political coteries, but, as may be imagined, it also led to not a little of newspaper correspondence. The long letter of Mr. Wingfield’s, already inserted as an extract from the Brighton Guardian, is a sufficient exposure of the so-called "Jim Crow" tactics of Mr. Harman, whilst, the following letter, quoted from the Dover Chronicle, will convey to the reader the views entertained on the other sides by a Liberal Elector. "Permit me," remarks the writer in his opening sentence— :

"Permit me, through the medium of your valuable columns to address a few words to the Liberal Electors of the Borough of Hastings. The Right Honourable Joseph Planta in one of his letters to dear Mr. Harman, puts a question to his dear hand-shaking friend, which now that we have got hold of it, lets a very pretty little cat out of the bag. Putting a certain case, he says, "How shall we stand then, and where will our numerous Pink Voters be? Here we have a secret known to our Sam Slicks long ago;— here we have a key to the Tory success in Hastings, -to what placed Sir Joseph Surface in the seat of Mr. North, a far better and more honest man in political and public life, and, at the least, no humbug in private life. "Where will our numerous Pink voters be?"

Sir, it is a melancholy fact that, while in Hastings the Tories hold together, and you will find but few instances in the poll books of a Tory giving his second vote to the Liberal candidate.)there are voters under the Pink garb who give one vote to the party to whose political principles they profess to attach themselves, while they keep the other to trade with; and that other is given to the Tory, to please customers on that side of the question. And now we learn the ungrateful truth that such cases are numerous, "our numerous Pink voters." In apology for this, I know I shall be told of Tory intimidation and coercion, and of the absence yet of that without which the Franchise to the poor man is worse than a dead letter - the protection of the Ballot. There is too much truth in this to be found in many parts of the country: for instance, it is but too true in Lewis: but I do not think we have arrived at that yet in Hastings, I think that they who would raise that plea here, will cry out rather before they are hurt, Perhaps it’s no use crying out after; but Englishmen should show a little pluck before they give in. The men of Lewes can give them instances of the ruin of whole families before they would succumb to the hated faction, But I am travelling thirty miles from home, ‘"Where will our numerous Pink voters be?" Never again, I sincerely hope, coquetting with the Tories, Mr. Planta’s doom is sealed after the present Parliament; but the Liberals must never lose sight of the fact, that the Tories, however desperate their chance, will be fully prepared with a candidate. On the -