Welsh Journals

Writing to congratulate Pryse Pryse on his recent victory, he tells how he secured three votes for him at Newcastle Emlyn and how grateful he would be if Mr. Pryse could secure a post in the Customs and Excise for a young acquaintance of his who went along with the writer to solicit Mr. Pryse's help 'a few days before the com- pletion of your election'. Interspersed with the references to the need for helping such a fine young man are such sentences as 'If any similar occasion will take place this summer or at any other period in the country, you may rely upon my finding 30 voters if not more'. As early as 1849 we find references to threatened evictions in the county if tenants should fail to vote according to the dictates of their landlord. A small batch of letters in the Gogerddan Papers records the respective points of view of Pryse Pryse and Edward Cr. Lloyd Hall, of Newcastle Emlyn. The earliest letter is dated 14 January and intimates that the writer has 'determined to remain neuter in the present contest and only act professionally in it for either side that may first require my services'. His father's tenants, he states, are to vote just as they please, and he is to take care that they are not to be 'bullied or cajoled'. On 18 January Edw. Lloyd Hall again wrote to Pryse Pryse, informing him that some of his father's tenants 'who also hold premises under Lloyd of Coedmore' had complained that 'they have been threatened by some of Lloyd's other tenants that they will be turned out of their holdings if they do not vote for you', but he is assur- ing them that they have nothing to fear from either side. The argument is pursued in the letters written immediately preceding the poll, and finally Edw. Cr. Lloyd Hall, who had been retained for the election by J. S. Harford, gives his opinion that according to 'the state of the canvass Books as delivered to me my calcul- ations give Mr. Harford at least a majority here of 5. I have told him so & publicly stated it & it must be made. I directed my bailiff to tell all ye tenants of my father that I did not care how they voted but that I shod be exceedingly annoyed if ye result of ye Poll did not show ye majority I have stated just the same as I feel annoyed whenever I lose a case for a Client in ye other Courts of law. If my bailiff has used any threats it is against my orders The point which Mr. Hall wished to stress was that he did not care 'two buttons' how his father's tenants voted, so long as they did not falsify his 'professional calcul- ations' by voting contrary to the manner in which they had proposed to the can- vassers. This is further confirmed in a printed letter (included with the corres- pondence) in both English and Welsh, which, written after the elections, reads thus: Emlyn Cottage, 10 Feb., 1849. Half-past 4, P.M. To Benjamin Jones- Have the goodness to tell Thomas Rees, that his two sons will be sufficient to finish my work at Cilgwyn, and therefore that he need not attend there again, as I have lost my confidence in him. Let the Masons' Work be done by either John Morris, or John Jones, Pontkerry, David Morris, the younger, or the man of Pantgwyndulas, and any other mason who voted, or abstained