The success of two tory candidates at Marlborough in the general election of 1734 led to a petition to the Commons from the two defeated whig candidates, alleging corruption and malpractice by the winning side. The two tories had stood on the interest of the Bruce family, led by Charles, Lord Bruce. Bruce successfully organised a vast lobbying campaign against the petition. Most of the lobbyists were MPs, but a significant number were peers, or members of aristocratic families. Lists of lobbyists and those lobbied survive in the Ailesbury (Bruce) Manuscripts, enabling historians to reconstruct and evaluate the campaign. Bruce's lobbying is a fine example of aristocratic involvement in elections to the lower House, despite such interventions having been declared unparliamentary. His triumph damaged the political standing of the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole, who had previously declared his opposition to any candidate supported by Bruce in the borough. Bruce's lobbying also reveals extensive cross‐party co‐operation between both lobbyers and lobbied: his supporters included not only independent whigs, but many who usually voted with the ministry. This suggests that the classification of MPs in the early 18th century as either whig or tory is too simplistic and that there was more fluidity in party loyalty than has been suspected.

中文翻译：

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布鲁斯勋爵和 1735 年马尔堡选举请愿书：贵族游说下议院和对罗伯特·沃波尔爵士内阁的打击

马尔堡的两名保守党候选人在 1734 年大选中获胜，导致两名失败的辉格党候选人向下议院请愿，指控获胜方腐败和渎职。这两个保守党站在布鲁斯家族的利益上，由查尔斯，布鲁斯勋爵领导。布鲁斯成功地组织了一场反对请愿书的大规模游说活动。大多数说客是国会议员，但也有相当一部分是同龄人或贵族家庭成员。说客和游说者的名单在艾尔斯伯里 (布鲁斯) 手稿中幸存下来，使历史学家能够重建和评估这场运动。布鲁斯的游说是贵族参与下议院选举的一个很好的例子，尽管这种干预被宣布为非法。他的胜利损害了首相的政治地位，罗伯特·沃波尔爵士此前曾宣布反对布鲁斯在该行政区支持的任何候选人。布鲁斯的游说还揭示了游说者和游说者之间广泛的跨党派合作：他的支持者不仅包括独立的辉格党人，还包括许多通常与政府一起投票的人。这表明，将 18 世纪早期的国会议员分为辉格党或保守党过于简单化，而且政党忠诚度的流动性超出了人们的怀疑。