The Shaftesbury arrangements for presenting voters with packets of twenty guineas were outdone by the electors of Shoreham, who combined and resolved themselves into a joint-stock company, that they themselves might derive the advantage from their borough which in other cases was monopolized by the patrons, or holders of bailiwicks. The suffrages being originally in the mayor and burgesses, these electors, with a forethought superior to their generation, organized themselves into a compact league, or caucus, for electioneering purposes; but _not_ with the intention of resisting and keeping out corrupt practices: the nature of this compact was disclosed during the hearing of the petition of Thomas Rumbold, on the election of a member in place of Sir Samuel Cornish deceased, and is set down in the _Journals_ of the House (vol. 33), 1770-1. It appeared that the petitioner was duly elected, those who voted for him, to the number of eighty-seven, taking the bribery oath; as to the other candidates, thirty-seven votes were given for Purling and four for James; but the returning officer placed queries against the names of seventy-six of the petitioner Rumbold’s voters, and immediately on the close of the poll declared Purling duly elected. The fourth plea related that in this borough of Shoreham had subsisted for many years a body which had assumed the name of the “Christian Society,” though its organization was quite outside the diffusion of benevolence or Christianity; none but electors for representatives in parliament were admitted into the society, but the great majority of those who had votes were enrolled. A clerk was employed, and a meeting-place provided, where regular monthly and frequent occasional meetings were held, upon which gatherings a flag was hoisted to give notice to the members. About 1767, the members of the society entered into articles for raising and distributing small sums of money for charitable uses, these articles being designed to cover the real intention of the institution. The principal purpose of their meetings was for what they denominated _burgessing business_. An oath of secrecy was administered to all the members, who farther entered into a bond, under a penalty of five hundred pounds, to bring them all together with regard to _burgessing_; but otherwise the conditions of the bond were not allowed to appear. Upon any vacancy in the representation of the borough, the society always appointed a committee to _treat with the candidates for the purchase of the seat_, and the committees were constantly instructed _to get the most money and make the best bargain they could_; the society had no other purpose in view, and had no standing committee. On a false report of the death of the sitting member, Sir Samuel Cornish, the society was called together by the signal of the flag. On that meeting, which was numerously attended, the members declared that _they would support the