State of the Representation. acquainted that has ever been advanced in its defence, and we will soon show that it is the most weak and puerile imaginable. Granting that some four or half-dozen honest and clever men obtain seats in the house; we ask, is this as it ought to be? Is it right that an assenblage, which ought to be a congregation of the wisdom and virtue of the community, should only contain about one-hundredth part of men of real ability and good intentions? Persons of this description ought not merely to form an extremely small minority, they ought to form a majority; nay, the whole ought to be of this class. Certainly an assemblage where the legislative power resides, ought to be composed of men above the average, talent and virtue of society; it ought to be a filtration from the gross mass, and a concentration of all that is eminent in wisdom, virtue, and, patriotism. A But of what service are half a dozen, a score, or even a hundred unexceptionable characters in an assembly of more than six hundred? They can neither prevent bad nor carry good measures, Power there is neither in eloquence nor strength of reasoning, but in strength of voting; and unless they be superior in the number of votes, as well as in probity and intellect, they can render little service to the country. We conclude, therefore, that a few meritorious men being in the house can really be of no advantage, unless the majority were of that class; and this, we think, can only be obtained by extending the elective franchise to the great body of the people. Let us now come to the second position—namely, that the calamities of the country have resulted from non-representation. Some have been hardy enough to assert that the same measures would have been pursued and the situation of the country would have been nearly similar had the government resided in the people. They contend that the war-the fruitful source of all our woes in its commencement was popular. Granting, for a moment, that the people were favourable to the war at the beginning, and continued so for some time afterward, yet we contend that even this originated in the state of the representation. The voice of reason and truth were stiffed by the power of corruption. A panic was raised about property; the most ridiculous fears were excited about French liberty and French principles truth could no where make herself heard: all the outlets of information-the daily press, the periodical press, the bar, the pulpit, the senate-house-all were devoted to the Oligarchy: delusion and corruption triumplied; and the friends of truth, who vainly endeavoured to expose.. State of the Representation. the million of lies which inundated the country, were either banished, imprisoned, or expatriated. Hence arose the pretended popularity of the revolutionary war. The exclusion of the people from the government afforded their rulers the means of silencing truth, and deluding and moulding the nation to their own ruinous purposes. On no other supposition is it possible to account for the system so long tolerated in this country; for the accumulation of a debt of 800 millions -the degradation of one-fourth of the community into paupers—the expul sion of a genuine currency from circulation—and the growth of a population for which there is neither food nor employment. These evils are not the offspring of a day; they are the bitter fruit of years of misrule; and that government has been able to persist in its fatal career, can only be ascribed to its power of delusion, which prevented an energetic resistance to measures in their commencement, that, on the most obvious principles, contained the seeds of national misery and embarrassment. We come now to our last position—namely, without a reform no salutary measure can be carried, nor the condition of the people in the least ameliorated. This is almost a self-evident proposition, and scarcely needs proving. The House of Commons itself is the great grievance of the people, and the interests of a vast majority of its members are directly opposed to the measure by which their sufferings might be alleviated. Like those of the physician, their interests are not in effecting a speedy cure, but in protracting the disease of the patient. They have usurped the rights and thrive on the miseries of the people to restore the former or alleviate the latter would make the honourable members poor indeed. But how utterly destitute this assemblage is of all principle, justice, and sympathy with the sufferings of the people, it is only necessary to call to mind a few of their leading measures. After the impunity granted to Lord Castlereagh, when convicted of an attempt to purchase a seat with India patronage, and the bill of indemnity to the clergy, no sane person could have the least confidence either in the justice or constitutional principles of the House of Commons. The desire of the house to alleviate the sufferings of the people, by retrenchment, were sufficiently evinced last session, by keeping up the junior lords of the admiralty and the memorable grant to the Duke of York. The present session has evinced, still more decisively, its hopeless character. The country was writhing in agony from its privations: an unparalleled and wanton outrage had been committed on the laws: the State of the Representation. parliament met and separated, but instead of bringing the delinquents of the 16th of August to justice, they were rewarded; and, instead of any attempt to alleviate their sufferings, they were not even alluded to; but new laws were enacted, subversive of every ancient right, and the object of which was not only to prevent the people being made acquainted with the causes of their privations, but to deprive them of the liberty of assembling to petition for their removal. yon 2092047q We shall now conclude these observations on the subject of reform. We have said nothing about any specific plan of reform Our opinion is, that a "Radical Reform" of the House of Commons is the only species of Reform commensurate with the evil. But, while we shall continue to insist that this is the only just and efficient reform, we think that any other plan of Reform, though it come short of what the people have a right to expect, and what is necessary to the salvation of the country, ought to be supported The great object of Reformers is to obtain as extensive an union as possible among all those who think that a reform, of some sort at least, is the only panacea. The only thing that can delay the triumph of the people, is by their suffering any differences of opinion to divide their force before they come in contact with the common enemy of ALL reform, and the supporters of every description of abuse. We shall now give a summary of the most important changes which have taken place in the representative system, from the time of the Saxons to the present period. Under the Saxons it has been satisfactorily established, that not only the Wittena-gemote, or legislative body, but every executive officer, from the tithingman to the elderman, or chief magistrate of a county, was elected by the respective hundreds, annually assembled in the county court. In like manner all ecclesiastical offices were derived from the people, and the dignities of bishops and abbots conferred by the great council of the nation.* The commons continued to retain some portion of its ancient power even under the tyranny of the Norman kings. The Conqueror assembled a parliament in the year 1070, composed of twelve representatives returned out of every county. This parliament confirmed the laws of Edward the Confessor, which the king bound himself to keep, but neglected his engagement. Writs, dated the 49th Henry III. summoning knights, citizens, and burgesses to parliament, are still extant. As to the right of suffrage, it **See Oldfield's Representative History of Great Britain, vol. i. p. 87. State of the Representation. appears to have been general in all housekeepers paying taxes, or as it is now termed scot and lot; this right continued till the disfranchising statute of Henry VI. when the right of voting for the county members was limited to electors possessing freehold property of forty shillings annual value. In the reign of Edward I. commenced the practice of discontinuing, restoring, and omitting different boroughs in the representation; by which means many large towns and populous places have been deprived of the right of returning members altogether. The following tables, principally extracted from the Appendix to the last volume of Mr. Oldfield's Representative History, will show the changes that have taken place in this respect; also, the number of parliaments held in each reign, and the duration of each parliament. A List of those Places which formerly sent Members to Parliament and now do not. * Both Leeds and Manchester returned members during the commonwealth. The representative for Leeds was Adam Bayns, Esq.; the representative for Manchester, Charles Worsley, Esq. All the rotten boroughs were omitted in the representation during the protectorship of Cromwell. As ministers have intimated an intention of extending the elective franchise to some populous town in preference to Grampound, and as Leeds has been mentioned as the place on which this mighty boon is to be bestowed, it seems that town may claim the gift from ancient usage. State of the Representation. In all sixty-eight boroughs, which sent members to parliament in different reigns, and which are now deprived of that right. Besides these, Mr. Oldfield has given a list of ninety-seven other boroughs which have charters, and most probably sent members at some former period since the reign of Edward I. but which are now disfranchised. From the reign of Edward I. to that of Charles II. boroughs have been created and annihilated at the caprice of each successive monarch. The boroughmongers are ever and anon declaiming on the perils of change and innovation; in the boroughrepresentation there has been innovation and change with a vengeance; and we may ask the enemies of reform, whether the constitution would receive a greater injury from the disfranchisement of Old Sarum, Gatton, and Midhurst, than it has sustained from the disqualification of Leeds or Manchester? It surely becomes necessary to abolish the existing rotten boroughs; or, according to the argument of our opponents, to make the constitution complete, by restoring the one-hundred-and-sixty-four which have been discontinued. The following Table shows the Number of Parliaments held in each Reign, from 27th Edward I. A.D. 1299, to the end of the Reign of George II. showing also the respective length of each Reign. |