friend had presented, and which, upon being read, the House had received; and the single question was, whether the petition contained sufficient matter, if taken to be true, to render it their duty, either in justice or in wise policy, to endeavour to remove what it complained of? He said "if taken to be true," because as the petitioners offered to verify it clause by clause, the House could not, without inquiry, or rather in the teeth of their own certain knowledge, vote it to be false Pitt), that the motion which, to his perfect satisfaction, was reprobated and ridiculed, was no other than the very motion which he himself first formally introduced, and made the first characteristic of his public life to originate and support. He must also bring it to the same right hon. gentleman's recollection, that the disturbances and revolutions of the world, and the progress of principles dangerous to monarchy which were now set up as reasons against all reformation, were by himself made the very basis of his own similar application to the What then did the petition assert? It House at the close of the American war. asserted that this House, which is invested At that time a mighty republic had just with the mighty authority of the repreformed itself on the other side of the At-sentatives of the whole people of Great lantic; but having been forced into that form by the corruptions which he sought to destroy (a principle equally applicable at this moment as then), that mighty revolution, and the agitations which accompanied it, instead of forming an objection, was made the very argument to support the necessity of regenerating our own constitution. Britain, were chosen by a number smaller than the subscribers to some of the petitions, which that day had been treated with neglect: it stated that this gross inequality was rendered more unequal by the disproportion of the bodies who elected: it asserted that elections were, and must, in spite of all laws, continue to be procured by notorious corruption; that He said he should not attempt to imi- peers of parliament, sent up to the other tate the hon. gentleman who spoke last in House from their influence in this, sent the subtlety of logical argument, or in by their mandates others to represent the eloquence of declamation, but must them; and that small as the numbers remark, that it would have been more wor- were, compared with the whole people thy of his talents to have fairly stated his who elected the majority of the House of hon. friend's propositions and arguments, Commons, they themselves were but noand then to have refuted them, than to minal electors, the majority of those who assume those which never were main- sat there being elected by the patronage tained. Did his hon. friend, for instance, of the crown and a few great men of the insist upon universal representation as an realm, by means of which the people had original and indispensable principle of this lost all share in our balanced constitution. or any other government? or did the peti- Those were the facts they stated, and the tion which he presented assert that prin- simple question was, whether the House ciple, or pray for its adoption? His hon. was prepared to say, in the face of the friend put the rights of mankind in gene- public, and to the people they represented, ral, and of the people of England in parti- What of all this? Be it so; let these cular upon truer and higher grounds: he things continue: for that would be their maintained that liberty, property, and language if they negatived the motion.security from all oppression, were the To that it had been answered, that those unalienable rights of mankind; that all theoretical defects, which the language of government existed for their benefit; and discontent had worked up into a libel that whatever representation, general or upon the present government, belonged particular, conduced the most to secure to its original constitution; that under it them, they had a right to institute for the country had improved from age to their protection.-But as they were not age, and arrived at its present prosperity assembled to form a government, but to and glory. He denied it. He said that support one already established, he dis- there was not in practice, which both sides claimed all resort to theory, and main had agreed to resort to, the smallest anatained his proposition as justified by prac-logy between the ancient and modern tical necessity. He would, therefore, House of Commons. He said that before recall the attention of the House to the the revolution, when the executive power motion before it. What was it? It was of the country was in all its ancient vigour, simply that they should take into their ruling by terror and the instruments of consideration the petition which his hon. authority, and whilst by the free spirit of the English people the Commons were only growing up in strength, and, by advancing upon the other branches of the government, were gradually bringing the constitution to what it now was, the defective representation of the people was a mere defect in theory, but of small account in practice: it was then of such immense importance to the people to struggle against the prerogative, that it was of little consequence who were the electors, if the people were but possessed of an organ where their authority could be deposited and act with force; the crown had not then the means of influence and corruption either amongst the electors or the elected, and particular districts of the nation were not then bought, in order to sell again at discretion, not merely those who had been bought, but the rest of the nation, whose interests were left in the hands of the small number which constituted the elective body. Whoever looked at the English history would perceive, that in the infancy of that House, and before the confirmation of its high privileges the Commons were uniformly bent on maintaining popular privileges, and formed a real and practical balance against the crown. There was no danger in those days that the representatives of the few would betray the interests of the many. The Crown and the Commons were sepa-prerogative, has grown up anew, with rated by fear and jealousy, and when the Commons got together, no matter how elected, they acted on that principle. This was so true, that even Charles and James, when the Commons were risen, were driven to the garbling of corporations: but since the revolution, and particularly since the creation of the immense revenues which had grown up since that time, a new order of things had arisen, and, as all governments stood in practice and not in theory, the English government might be said to be completely changed; corruption had taken the place of power, and therefore, although a House of Commons, elected in any way, having the people's authority, was sufficiently constituted to struggle against power, and although the defective state of the representation had, in that case, no operation, yet, when influence and corruption superseded authority, the popular branch of the constitution might be strictly said to be dissolved.-A small part of the nation was now in the habitual course of either selling the interests of the whole, or else their elective franchise was the absolute property of some individual, frequently of the Crown, who sold it for them, and the persons elected devoted themselves implicitly to the Crown for the emoluments which were carved out of the people's substance to feed them, by which that House had become a counsel of the Crown, and not an active balance against its power. He said those were no imaginations of his; they stood not only upon all history, but upon a modern authority which would be respected by the House, and, he knew, would be particularly bowed to by the hon. gentleman who had spoke last. A modern author of great eloquence, said Mr. Erskine, speaking of those changes in the English government, truly said, "The virtue, spirit, and essence of a House of Commons consists in its being the express image of the feelings of the! nation." It was not instituted to be a control upon the people, as of late it has been taught by a doctrine of the most pernicious tendency, but as a control for the people." And he therefore thus indignantly deplored its lapse from that character: "The distempers of monarchy were the great subjects of apprehension and redress in the last century; in this, the distempers of parliament. The power of the Crown, almost dead and rotten as much more strength, and far less odium, under the name of influence-an influence which operated without noise and violence; which converted the very antagonist into the instrument of power: which contained in itself a perpetual principle of growth and renovation; and which the distresses and the prosperity of the country equally tended to augment, was an admirable substitute for a prerogative that, being only the offspring of antiquated prejudices, had moulded in its original stamina irresistible principles of decay and dissolution. The ignorance of the people is a bottom but for a temporary system; but the interest of active men in the state is a foundation perpetual and infallible. "When the House of Commons was thus made to consider itself as the master of its constituents, there wanted but one thing to secure it against all possible future deviation towards popularity-an unlimited fund of money to be laid out according to the pleasure of the Court.*" That * Burke's Thoughts on the Cause of the present Discontents. He said, therefore, that if this House had then in substance represented the people, America at this moment would still have been an affectionate colony, or, if emancipated by the natural progressions of the world, she would now be spreading the roots of monarchy round and round the globe. They planted her in their better days, and gave her the image of their own constitution-her governors were kings, her councils the aristocracy, and her assemblies the commons; and she felt both pride and prosperity in the reflected greatness of this country. But all that mighty fabric our corruptions undermined and destroyed, and the reign of republicanism began from the abuse of monarchical establishment. This was the first stage of the proof, and the rest too palpably followed it. fund they all knew existed, augmenting itself alike by the distresses as by the prosperity of the country. But it might be said, had not the nation been equally prosperous under this new system of practice? He answered no. He maintained that the mighty agitations which now convulsed and desolated Europe, that the disastrous events of the moment which were opposed to the motion before the House, owed their very existence to the corruptions of the English government, which they sought to do away.-[Here a laugh from the other side of the House.] Mr. Erskine said, there was nothing so easy as that sort of answer. It would be, however, more decent and parliamentary to expose his mistakes by reasonings. He should listen to them with candour, and follow them if he was convinced; but till then he would continue to assert, that all the The effects of so distant a revolution, calamities which they deplored at that brought on by the corruption of our Eumoment had no other origin than the cor- ropean government, could not have comruption of the House of Commons: and municated itself so suddenly to Europe, if for the first part of the historical deduction other governments had not been equally he had authorities, some of which the corrupt.-It certainly was not affection for right hon.gentleman would not be disposed freedom, but to distress England, that to dispute. His illustrious father the embarked France in the American cause; earl of Chatham, maintained that a taxa- but as that detestable principle could not tion for revenue in America, the fatal be openly avowed, her press became free cause of the American quarrel and separ- in arguing the justice of the quarrel, and ation, was devised to supply the fountain she sent the prime of her army to support of corruption in that House; sir George it in the field. The consequences every Savile insisted upon it with indignation in body had seen. Her armies, after shedding his celebrated letter to his constituents; their blood in the resistance of monarchical and the celebrated author whose work he despotism and corruption, and enjoying had already cited, detailed all the melan- the triumph of republican resistance, recholy history in that too-prophetic speech turned home to France to see monarchy which he delivered in the beginning of in a still more odious and disgraceful form: that war. He knew the war was for a they soon applied the principles their golong time popular in the country, because vernment had taught them to the governit was their war, and the people unfortu- ment itself, and monarchy in France nately connected that House with them- passed away like an enchantment. Such selves, though there was no substantial was the power of opinion. He maintained, connexion. Had that House been in therefore, that no fact in history or potheory what it was in practice, the execu- litics, from the beginning of the world, was tive government merely, without an ima- more firmly supported, than that the proginary connexion with the people, how position (which some had affected to different would have been the event-laugh at) was strictly true; and that the jealousy would have prevented what confidence produced. It must be remembered, too, that since revenue was to be raised, which either England or America was by their authority to provide, they artfully created a powerful interest in the quarrel by American taxation: but, with all those advantages, the people saw the approaching calamity, and petitioned to avert it long, long before it was too late to have saved America to this country. corruptions of the English House of Commons, by resorting to taxation in America for the means of corruption, and carrying on the war to the final separation, had wholly and certainly produced all the changes which agitated the world at that moment. Mr. Erskine said, if the separation of America, and the consequent revolutions of Europe, might thus be traced to the causes he had assigned (and that they obvious. It obtruded itself upon the view from the bare consideration of the complaint. The complaint was, that the people had no control in the choice of their representatives; that they were either chosen amidst riot and confusion, and amidst bribery and corruption in the larger districts, or by the absolute authority of a few individuals in the smaller; that no private fortune, even if election were free, could bring up the electors to the poll at a county contest, or the absent freemen in those numerous cities where the election is in the corporation, or stand the expense of the final issue in that House. The principle of the remedy, therefore, must present itself to every mind alike, though different persons might differ in the details. It could be no other than to simplify and equalize the franchise of election, to make each body of electors too large for individual corruption, and the period of choice too short for temptation, and, by the subdivision of the places of election, to bring the electors together without confusion and within every man's reach. Surely this was practicable. arose from no other, every man's conscience told him to be true), how could it possibly be denied that the present system of English government had been practically mischievous, when but for those bitter fruits of their corruption they would have been free at this moment from a debt of one hundred and twenty millions, which crippled all their exertions, and have seen the nations around them, as well as the inhabitants of England, bowing to their constitution as the great type and example of happiness, instead of seeing (he was now speaking their own language) the first principles of government broken up, and the country involved in a war to prevent even the internal dissolution of her own constitution. There were some who, forced by their former opinions and practice to admit the existence of those evils and the advantage of some refor mation, yet objected to the generality of the motion, and the want of a specific object. He, on the contrary, thought that the generality of the application constituted at once its practicability and its safety. The petitioners recollected, as they ought to do, that they were not without a government which, with all its defects, was still worthy of their confidence and affection: they did not, therefore, step into their place to legislate for themselves, but looked up to their wisdom and authority to provide, as in other cases, for the common good. And it was truly said by an hon. gentleman, whose works he had already cited, that nothing would be more dangerous than for parliament to take advantage of the inartificial mode in which the people express their wishes, or to take post upon their silence. If we should be able, by dexterity, power, or intrigue, to disappoint the expectations of our 'constituents, what will it avail us? We 'shall never be strong or artful enough to parry or to put by the irresistible demands of our situation, which calls upon us with a voice which will be heard. If all the nation are not equally forward to 'press this duty upon us, yet be assured that they all equally expect we should 'perform it. The respectful silence of those who wait upon your pleasure ought to be as powerful with you as the call of those who require your service as their right. It is not wise to force the people to speak out more plainly what they 'plainly mean.' But though no specific remedy was called for, the general nature of it was [VOL. XXX.] With regard to the time, against which so much had been objected, it appeared to him, that ifever there was one season more critically favourable than another for the object, it was at that very moment. When, indeed, the arbitrary monarchy of France was falling down by the exertions of a great people, and nothing was seen but virtuous exertion and exultation, it might be admitted that in such a conjuncture men might run before the mark, and confound principles together which had no connexion. Such was the alleged, but not the proved, state of England when his hon. friend gave notice last year of his motion-the objection then had, therefore, at least, a plausible, though not a just, foundation. But, good God! said Mr. Erskine, how different, on the admission of the objectors to the times, was the state of the country at the present moment-starting back with horror at the crimes and calamities of France, and seemingly forgetting all distresses in an enthusiasm for their own government! Surely common sense proclaimed that to be the hour of reformas tion, more especially when it was left to themselves to originate and to fashion it. So far from being urged on by the people to go too far, they trod like men who feared that the ground would break under them, and could hardly be brought up to the point which their understandings dic[3 H] tated. Let them seize, therefore, that happy and providential crisis to do, with popularity and safety, what to save their country must be done at last: let them exhibit to the world the vessel of the English state riding amidst the storms of the world, held by her three equal anchors, which keep her motionless and in safety by drawing her equally in their different directions-This was the way to perpetuate the love of monarchy. If they really thought that a spirit of discontent walked abroad, and menaced the safety of government, let them make haste to lay it, by rendering government respectable. If they wished to expose and to discountenance the visions and theories of the day, and to prevent their practical effects, let them exhibit to the people of England, in practice, the real genuine constitution of their fathers, and give them the happiness which flows from its administration. This was the cure for sedition, and the road to content. He should not farther detain the House at that late hour. turally guard his own prerogatives, the peers would watch over their privileges, and it was to be hoped that the House of Commons would devote itself in an especial manner, to secure the well-being of the people. The Commons should not wait, to be instructed and excited by their constituents to promote their interests, but they should fore-run them in every thing. If there was danger, it ought to be discovered, and guarded against in the first instance, by the representative body. If disorders prevailed in the constitution, it belonged to them to apply the remedy; or if palliatives were necessary, they were the most proper to apply them. The reform of parliament should proceed from the parliament itself, if a reform was necessary. He declined entering into the question, whether that House required any amendment in the state of its representation: if he were called upon to speak his sentiments, he should not hesitate to say that it did require it, but it was of the utmost moment to consider whether this was the fit time for it. Many things might be proper under particular circumstances which would be highly improper in a different situation. This was Mr. Pitt said, he wished the question a season of war, alarm, and internal disto be as speedily decided as possible; but quietude; men's passions were inflamed, as from unavoidable circumstances the and the best disposed were not in a temdebate had begun at a very late hour, and per to agitate great changes. He did not many gentlemen were desirous of deliver-allude to the affairs of France; whatever ing their sentiments upon it, he should have no objection to adjourn the debate. The question of adjournment being put, the House divided: Ayes, 181; Noes, 109. Several gentlemen rose to speak, and several called out adjourn. Upon which Mr. Stanley moved, That the debate be adjourned till to-morrow. YEAS, { NOES, Tellers. Mr. Cawthorne -} -} 18 181 109 Sir William Young 10 May 7. The House having resumed the adjourned debate, Mr. Stanley, who yesterday moved the adjournment, rose to state, that he conceived the subject to be of the greatest consequence, and made his motion in order to afford an opportunity to every member of delivering his sentiments. The constitution, consisting of three branches, was, he said, admirably adapted to promote the liberty and happiness of the nation, but they had each their distinct provinces. The chief magistrate would na their principles were, he knew that Eng- |