The case of Robert Balch of Bridgwater gent., sitting member of Parliament for the borough of Bridgwater, in the county of Sommerset, petitioned against by John Gardner of London merchant. This text is an enriched version of the TCP digital transcription B02603 of text R170971 in the English Short Title Catalog (Wing C973). Textual changes and metadata enrichments aim at making the text more computationally tractable, easier to read, and suitable for network-based collaborative curation by amateur and professional end users from many walks of life. The text has been tokenized and linguistically annotated with MorphAdorner. The annotation includes standard spellings that support the display of a text in a standardized format that preserves archaic forms ('loveth', 'seekest'). Textual changes aim at restoring the text the author or stationer meant to publish. This text has not been fully proofread Approx. 4 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 1 1-bit group-IV TIFF page image. EarlyPrint Project Evanston,IL, Notre Dame, IN, St. Louis, MO 2018 B02603 Wing C973 ESTC R170971 52211924 ocm 52211924 175493 2240898566

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Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. B02603) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 175493) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English Books, 1641-1700 ; 2739:3) The case of Robert Balch of Bridgwater gent., sitting member of Parliament for the borough of Bridgwater, in the county of Sommerset, petitioned against by John Gardner of London merchant. Balch, Robert. 1 sheet ([1] p.) s.n., [London : 1692] Caption title. Publication data suggested by Wing. Dated at end: To be heard before the Committee of Elections on Friday the 2nd of December, 1692. Reproduction of the original in the Lincoln's Inn Library. eng Balch, Robert -- Trials, litigation, etc. Gardner, John, 17th cent. -- Trials, litigation, etc. England and Wales. -- Parliament. -- House of Commons -- Contested elections -- Early works to 1800. Elections -- Corrupt practices -- England -- Bridgwater -- Early works to 1800. Bridgwater (England) -- Politics and government -- 17th century -- Early works to 1800. Broadsides -- England -- 17th century. eebo The case of Robert Balch of Bridgwater Gent. sitting member of Parliament for the borough of Bridgwater, in the county of Sommerset, petitioned agains [no entry] 1691 1 581 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A This text has no known defects that were recorded as gap elements at the time of transcription. 2008-03 Assigned for keying and markup 2008-04 Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2008-05 Sampled and proofread 2008-05 Text and markup reviewed and edited 2008-09 Batch review (QC) and XML conversion
THE CASE OF Robert Balch of Bridgwater Gent. sitting Member of Parliament for the Borough of Bridgwater , in the County of Sommerset , petitioned against by John Gardner of London Merchant .

THAT the said Borough of Bridgwater did for a long time , viz. from the latter end of the Reign of King James the I. elect and choose Members in Parliament by the Common Council consisting of twenty four till the year 1679.

That from that time the manner of Election of Members for the said Corporation hath been changed on a dispute between Sir Francis Roll and Colonel Ralph Stawell for the Right of Electon which was heard before a Committee of Parliament 1679. Where Sir Francis Roll , who was chosen by the Inhabitants paying Scot and Lot , was Voted duely Elected , that ever since that method of electing hath been used , viz. by the Voices of all the Inhabitants within the said Borough , that at the time of Election stands rated and paid on the Poors Book , and no other Votes allowed , nor never till now attempted , as can easily be made out by the Election of Sir Francis Roll , Colonel Stawell , Sir Halswell Tynt , Sir Francis Warr , and others .

That on the death of Mr. Bull the last Member , a Writ issued out for choosing another in his Room and Place , and due notice was publickly given of the time and place of execution of the said Writ , and the Court being assembled in the Guild-Hall , where Mr. Gardner the Petitioner was present ; the Mayor and Aldermen called for the Overseers of the Poor , ( one of whom was for the Petitioner , ) and appointed them , ( one with the Original Book , and the other with a Duplicate thereof ) to attend the Election at the High Cross to decide any difference that might arise on the Election .

That this Poors Book was made in the life time of Mr. Bull , and was no way altered nor any person added or diminished .

That accordingly the Election began , and a Poll prayed and taken by two indifferent persons agreed on .

That none but those who were and stood charged in the Poors Book , and had paid , attempted to Poll till towards the end of the Poll.

That the Petitioner ( who all along kept an account of the Number of the Voices and the Equallity ) finding that his number of Voices was inferiour to Mr. Balches , he thereupon procured some Persons who were not charged in the Poors Book to Poll for him , but were refused , on which he grounds his Petition .

That Proclamation was several times made , and the Books continued open for some considerable time after , and none qualified to Vote coming in , the Poll was shut up and adjourned back again to the Guild-Hall , where were two Persons of each side agreed upon to inspect the Poll , and on casting up the said Poll , the majority of Voices were found to be for the said Mr. Balch , who was thereupon declared and returned by the Mayor of the said Borough .

To be heard before the Committee of Elections on Friday the 2d . of December , 1692.