66 "trust, as are most eminent for their probity, | Crown.He next comes to the qualifications demanded of the electors; and, from his account of this part of the constitution, it will be easily seen, what is now wanted in order to restore the spirit of that constitution." The true reason of requiring any qualification, with regard to property, in voters, is to exclude such per“sons as are in so mean a situation that they are esteemed to have no will of their own. If these persons had votes, they would be tempted to dispose of them under some undue influence or other. This would give a great, "an artful, or a wealthy man, a larger share "in elections than is consistent with general "liberty. If it were probable that every man would give his vote freely, and "without influence of any kind, then, upon the true theory and genuine principles of liberty, every member of the community, however poor, should have a mis-government should any way fall upon "it, the subjects of this kingdom are left with"out all manner of remedy. To the same purpose the PRESIDENT MONTESQUIEU, though I trust too hastily, presages; "that as Rome, Sparta, and Carthage have "lost their liberty and perished, so the "constitution of England will in time lose "its liberty, will perish: it will perish, "whenever the legislative power shall be"come more corrupt than the executive." "With regard to taxes: it is the antient, "indisputable privilege and right of the house of commons, that all grants of sub"sidies or parliamentary aids do begin in their house, and are first bestowed by "them; although their grants are not ef"fectual to all intents and purposes, until " 66 66 66 66 a vote in electing those delegates, to "whose charge is committed the disposal "of his property, his liberty, and his life. "But, since that can hardly be expected "in persons of indigent fortunes, or such "as are under the immediate dominion of others, all popular states have been oblig"ed to establish certain qualifications; they have the assent of the other two "branches of the legislature. The gene-"whereby some, who are suspected to "ral reason, given for this exclusive pri- "have no will of their own, are excluded "vilege of the house of commons, is, that " from voting, in order to set other indivithe supplies are raised upon the body of "duals, whose wills may be supposed inde"the people, and, therefore, it is proper" pendent, more thoroughly upon a level "that they alone should have a right of taxing" with each other." "themselves. This reason would be unan"swerable, if the commons taxed none but "The knights of the shires are to be themselves: but it is notorious, that a "chosen of people dwelling in the same very large share of property is in the "counties; whereof every man shall have possession of the house of lords; that a freehold to the value of forty shillings this property is equally taxable, and by the year within the county; which, "taxed, as the property of the commons; "by subsequent statutes, is to be clear of " and, therefore, the commons not being "all charges and deductions, except par"the sole persons taxed, this cannot be liamentary and parochial taxes. "the reason of their having the sole right knights of shires are the representatives "of raising and modelling the supply." of the landholders, or landed interest, of "The true reason, arising from the spirit" the kingdom, their electors must there"of our constitution, seems to be this: The "fore have estates in lands or tenements, "lords being a permanent and hereditary" within the county represented: these "body, created at pleasure by the king, "are supposed more liable to be influenced by the crown, and when once in"fluenced to continue so, than the commons, who are a temporary elective body, freely nominated by the people. It" lains, absolutely dependent upon their "would therefore be extremely dangerous, "to give them any power of framing new "taxes for the subject."- -That is to say, it would be extremely dangerous to give a power of taxing the people to any persons, liable to be under the influence of the 66 "As for the electors of citizens and bur- 66 "magistrate, which according to his no"tions, amount to a dissolution of the government, "if he employs the force, ""treasure and officers of the society to ""corrupt the representatives, or openly to 66 66 pre-engage the electors, and prescribe "" what manner of persons shall be chosen. ""For thus to regulate candidates and ""electors, and new model the ways of "" election, what is it," says he, "but to ""cut up the government by the roots, and 'poison the very fountain of public security.' Such, Gentlemen, is BLACKSTONE's de.scription of the Constitution of England, as far as relates to the composition of the House of Commons, and to the share which the People ought to have in the composing of that House. Let us, then, see how the fact squares with this description; let us ask ourselves, whether that which Blackstone says ought to be the state of things, in this respect, really is the state of things at this present time; or, in other words, whether we now have that constitution, which the friends of corruption accuse us of a desire to destroy.- -Have all men of property (except the peers) a voice in parliament, either personally or by their representatives?—Is there a branch of the legislative power, which resides wholly in the peple? -Are the county members elected by the proprietors of the land? -Are the borough members elected by the mercantile or trading interests of the nation?————Are the members of the House of Commons persons most eminent for their probity, their fortitude, or their knowledge?. -Has there never, by any means, a misgovernment fallen upon that House ?— -Do the people really, by their representatives, tax themselves? -Is the qualification for voters such as to exclude persons in so mean a situation, that they are esteemed to have no will of their own, and are liable to be tempted to dispose of their votes under some undue influence or other?Is the income of forty shillings a year now sufficient to render the freeholder an independent man?Are placemen and pensioners excluded from seats in the House of Commons; or, do the people really acquire the right of choosing them anew after they have accepted of places?Are elections absolutely free, which Blackstone ayers to be essential to the very being of parliament?---And finally, is the force or treasure, or are the offices, of the society, never employed to corrupt the representatives, or openly to pre-engage com I conclude with what he says about the value of really free elections.- "It is "essential to the very being of parliament, "that elections should be absolutely free; "therefore, all undue influences upon the "electors are illegal, and strongly prohi"bited. For Mr. Locke ranks it among those breaches of trust in the executive the electors, and prescribe what manner of persons shall be chosen? IV. Leaving it to you, Gentlemen, to answer these questions, I shall now proceed to state certain undeniable facts, ap pertaining to this subject; and then I shall leave you to draw your own conciusion, and to decide the question, whether a Reform of the House of Commons, be, or be not necessary.The FIRST of these facts is, That, in the year 1793, a Petition was presented to the House of Commons, by CHARLES GREY, Esq. (now Earl Grey), | in which Petition it was, amongst other things, stated, that one hundred and fifty four individuals, did, by their patronage (or unlawful influence) send three hundred and seven Members to the House of Commons, forming, of course, a decided majority of the 558 Members of which the House then consisted, and that the petitioners were ready to prove this at the bar of the House.-SECOND: That, in the said Petition, the petitioners declared, that they had the most reasonable grounds to suspect, that no less than one hundred and fifty of the Members of the Commons' House, owed their elections entirely to the interference of Pers.THIRD: That the Statute Law declares, that Peers shall not interfere in the election of any Member of the Commons' House.- -FOURTH : That, for many years past, Seats in the House of Commons have been publicly advertised for sale.-FIFTH: That, on the 10th of December, 1779, the House of Commons passed a Resolution in these words: "That it is highly criminal for " any Minister or Ministers, or any other "Servant of the Crown in Great Britain, "directly or indirectly, to make use of the " power of his office, in order to influence "the election of Members of Parliament, and "that an attempt to exercise that influence "was an attack upon the dignity, the ho"nour and the independence of Parliament, "an infringement of the rights and the "liberties of the people, and an attempt to "sap the basis of our free and happy Con"stitution." -SIXTH: That, on the 25th of April iast, the following Resolutions were, by LORD ARCHIBALD HAMILTON, moved in the House of Commons: 1. "That it appears to the House, from the " evidence on the table, that Lord Visc. "Castlereagh, in the year 1805, shortly after he had quitted the situation of Pre"sident of the Board of Controul, an i "being a Privy Counsellor and Secretary "of State, did place at the disposal of Lord "Clancarty, a Member of the same Board, "the nomination to a Writership, in order "to facilitate his procuring a Seat in Parlia "ment.-2. That it was owing to a disa greement among the subordinate parties, « that this transaction did not take effect; and 3. That by this conduct Lord Castlereagh had been guilty of a gross "violation of his duty as a Servant of the Crown; an abuse of his patronage as "President of the Board of Controul: and "an attack upon the purity of that House," which Resolutions were rejected by the House.— SEVENTH That, upon the same day, and upon the same occasion, the House passed a Resolution in substance as follows:-"That while it was the "bonden duty of that House to maintain at "all times a jealous guard upon its purity, "and not to suffer any attempt upon its privileges to pass unnoticed, the attempt in the present instance (that "of Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Reding), "not having been carried into effect, that "House did not think it then necessary "to proceed to any criminatory Resolu "tions respecting the same." EIGHTH That, on the 11th of the present month of May, MR. MADOCKS made, in the House of Commons, a charge in substance as follows: "I affirm, then, that MR. DICK pur"chased a Seat in the House of Commons "for the borough of Cashel, through the 66 agency of the HONOURABLE HENRY "WELLESLEY, who acted for, and on behalf of, the Treasury: that, upon a recent question of the last importance, when "Mr. DICK had determined to vote according to his conscience, the noble "Lord, CASTLEREAGH, did intimate to that gentleman the necessity of either his voting with the government, or resigning his "seat in that House; and that Mr. Dick, sooner than vote against principle, did "make choice of the latter alternative, "and vacate his seat accordingly. To "this transaction I charge the Right Ho"nourable Gentleman, MR. PERCEVAL, as being privy and having connived at it. This "I will engage to prove by witnesses at your Bar, if the House will give me "leave to call them.". -NINTH That, at the end of a long Debate upon this subject, the question was taken upon a motion FOR AN INQUIRY into the matter; that there appears from the Report of the Proceedings, published in the papers, to have been 395 Members present; that, out of the 395, only 85 voted for the motion, which, of course, was lost, there being 310, out of the 395, who VOTED AGAINST THE MOTION FOR IN I am, Your friend, Botley, 24 May, 1809. WM. COBBETT. QUIRY.- -TENTH: That, in the year, tion; but, those of you, who may think 1802, this same Mr. PERCEVAL, being with me, that the present state of the rethen Attorney General, prosecuted PHILIP presentation is not consonant with those adHAMLIN, a Tinman of Plymouth, for mirable principles, will, I trust, be disposhaving committed the crime of offer-ed to follow me in my next Let er, into ing Mr. Addington £2,000, to give him an inquiry respecting what sort of Reform a place in the Custom House; that, upon it would be just and prudent to adopt. this occasion, Mr. Perceval demanded judgment upon the said Hamlin, for the sake of public justice; and that the Judge, after expatiating upon the "incalculable "mischief," to which such crimes must naturally lead, sentenced the said Hamlin "ELEMENTS OF REFORM.” to pay a fine of a hundred pounds to the THERE has been published, in London, king, and to be imprisoned for three ca- a pamphlet under this title, and under the lendar months.- -ELEVENTH: That in name of "MR. WILLIAM COBBETT," as the year 1805, Evidence was taken before the author. It consists of passages from a Committee of the House of Commons, my writings, against Reform and against and was laid before that House, proving Reformers; and, the object of it is, to that the late minister, PITT, had lent, counteract, by the publication of these without the consent or knowledge of Par-passages, the effect of what I am now liament, and without the consent or know-writing in favour of Reform.—That the ledge of any council of the king, £40,000 of the public money (without any interest paid to the public) to two members of the then House of Commons; and that, when this matter was brought before the House, in 1805, no censure whatever was passed on the said minister, but he was, by a bill of indemnity, secured from any punishment for having in such way employed the money of the public. TWELFTH: That, it appears from a Report, laid before the House of Commons, in the month of June last, in consequence of a motion made by Lord Cochrane, that there then were, in that House, seventy-eight Placemen and Pensioners, who, though part of what they receive is not stated, are, in the said Report, stated to receive 178,994 pounds a year out of the public money. Now, Gentlemen, to these facts, and to many, many others (others too numerous to state, even in the most brief manner), which might be added to them, I shall not subjoin a single word by way of comment. I wish to avoid every thing like high colouring; every thing like declamation; every thing calculated to rouse any angry passion in your breasts: I wish to avoid even persuasion; I wish to lay the state of the case fairly and clearly before you, and to leave the decision to the intelligence and the rectitude of your own minds. Those of you, who, notwithstanding what has been here stated, may be of opinion, that the present state of the representation in parliament is consonant with the principles of the Constitution of England, will of course, sce no justifiable cause for any reform in that representa compilers of such a work should include those passages from the different parts of my works, wherein I have candidly confessed the error, under which I wrote what they have selected for publication; that such persons should do this is not to be expected; nor is it to be expected from them to make even fair extracts as far as they go. They have, as might be reasonably expected, garbled every thing that they have touched.Bat, while I am very certain, that their publication will wholly fail of its object; while I am certain, that no one will think me bound to praise John Bowles now, because I praised him in 1800, when I must almost necessarily be, and when I really was, totally ignorant of what I have since learnt respecting the subject of his writings, as well as respecting his too evident motives; while I am certain, that no one, who has a grain of sense, will think me bound now to censure Sir Francis Burdett, because I did severely censure him at a time when I acted under a total misrepre sentation of his principles and his character; while I am certain, that no man of common sense, or common honesty, will think me bound to deprecate a Reform of Parliament now, because I did deprecate it at a time when I had never known that seats were advertised for sale, and when I had never seen, or dreamt of the possibility of, any thing like what has now come to light and has been proved respecting the House of Commons; while I am certain that the nation, who, with far better opportunities of knowing the truth, were full as much deceived as I was, and whose change of opinion has kept pace with mine, will not think me now bound to applaud a system of politics, war, and finance, of which it was terrified into an approbation ten years ago, and all the mischiefs of which we have since seen exposed; while I am certain, that none but very weak persons indeed will think any man bound to praise any thing after he has discovered it to be unworthy of the praise that he once bestowed on it; while I am certain of all this, I cannot refrain from observing how favourable a symptom this publication is to the cause of Reform; how strong an indication it is of the fear, which the friends of corruption entertain, of the effects of that discussion, upon which they perceive me to have seriously entered. In America, my opponents, who were very numerous, and who had far greater talents than the persons, with whom I have now to contend, were driven to a somewhat similar expedient. The public, after having been surfeited with their pamphlets against me, would read no more; when, what did these opponents do? Why, what has now been done here: they published pamphlets under my name, and then, for a time at least, they found them sell. There were several booksellers at a time living upon my name; actually buying bread and cheese with it. I used to urge the injustice of their not giving me a share; and, really, I think, that the gentlemen here are liable to the same charge; for, not one of them has offered me the smallest acknowledgment. If the public will not read books unless they have my name to them, I think it is but just, that I should have some small part in the gains. I shall be content with less than a Dutch-Commissioner's profit; but something I certainly ought to have. That those, with whom this pamphlet originates, wish, by the publication, to injure the cause of Reform there can be little doubt; and, I think, that there can be as little, that they are, in this effort, counteracting their own wish. For, in the first place, their flying to my former opinions as affording a contrast to those which I now entertain, upon this subject, is a pretty good proof that they have neither fact nor argument, whereon to meet me upon the merits of the case. In the next place, the errors, which they expose, and which have, long ago, been distinctly confessed by me, only serve to show, in the strongest possible light, how completely I was deceived, and, thereby, to form an apology for the change of opinion in others. All we want is, as Major Cartwright has said, discussion; discussion is what these gentlemen are assisting with all their might; and, if they have but a moderate share of discernment, I should think that the great sale, which their pamphlet is said to have, must leave upon their minds the mortifying conviction of the popularity of the "Elements of Reform, by Mr. Wm. Cobbett;" for, from this title, it is not a work against, but in favour of Reform, that the public think they are buying. They think it is a new work; a work containing what I have written at the present time; and by adopting such a title and taking my name, the publishers themselves confess, that that matter and that name stand high in the public estimation. The publishers are very cau tious, in their advertisements, to let fall nothing hostile to me; because they know, that by so doing they would injure their sale; and, it is truly curious to see the COURIER and even the MORNING POST trumpeting forth the praises of a Work on Reform, " by Mr. Wm. Cobbett," the effect of which must be this: that all those, who do not read the pamphlet, will look upon those papers as having become converts to my doctrine; while on the other hand, the pamphlet will have no effect at all upon those who do read it, because they have already read my confession of the errors, which it contains. -The doctrine of consistency, as now in vogue, is the most absurd that ever was broached. It teaches, that, if you once think well of any person or thing, you must always think well of that person or thing, whatever changes may take place either in them, or in the state of your information respecting them. For instance, if you praise a man to-day, and, to-morrow, receive proof of his having long been a thief, you must still continue to praise him. Where is the man, who has not changed his opinions of men as well as of things? Those who write every day, or every week, must express what they think at the time; but, if new sources of information open to them, they must express what they then think, and not with any regard to what they have given as their opinion before. But, how would this doctrine suit my opponents, if I were to attempt to hold them to. If I am to say, to some of the friends of corruption, you used to praise me, and why do you "not praise me now?" They would, doubtless, answer: "Oh! but, you "then wrote to please us; and now you |