Late 18th century elections in Britain

Haven't blogged in a long time; intended to start again over the summer, but just haven't had the energy for it.  Have been wanting to start again for a couple of weeks or two.  Maybe I'll start to get back into it again now.  Although I've written that before and not followed through!

My research, this summer, has been about private and public goods provision in Peruvian municipalities, and the democratic dynamics that tend to drive greater or lesser public works spending around the Peruvian countryside.

One of my findings is an interesting interaction effect.  What I've found is that greater electoral competition is associated with greater spending in public works, but only when there are substantial checks and balances present in municipal governments.  These checks and balances, in Peru, consist of municipal council seats controlled by opposition parties.

My argument is, in effect, that all politicians would prefer to seek the support of voters by targeting reliable supporters with private goods than public goods, and only veto power by opposition groups will keep them from doing so.  After all, private goods are easier to provide to supporters while excluding non-supporters.  In the presence of a strong opposition, however, politicians will pursue the next best course; they will attempt to provide public goods to win support, even though non-supporters may experience some benefits of their policies. 

In Peru, "private goods provision" comes at election time, and generally consists of political hopefuls using private or state funds to buy seed, fertilizer, durable goods, food, and (most often) alcohol for their supporters.

For obvious reasons, then, I was struck by the following quote, which describes British elections to Parliament abound the end of the 18th century in The Pursuit of Glory, a history text I'm working through on Europe before 1815:

When a contest did take place, no holds were barred and no stratagem thought too base in the quest for victory.  Treating to food and drink, outright bribery and intimidation were all commonplace, greatly encouraged by the public ballot. 

...and later...

Among the innumberable anomalies that could be found, the practice of bringing back registered "freemen" of a borough for the vote, even if they had moved to other parts of the kingdom, deserves a mention.  When an officer of marines learnt that a number of sailors had been given special leave to return to their home town of Coventry to vote for the government candidate, he did his friend the Duke of Portland a good turn by having them hastily transferred to a ship outward bound to Guinea.  
 
Indeed, it rather sounds as if modern Peruvian elections are substantially cleaner than their 18th century British counterparts.