betray, of a low vanity, and of a cruel, desperate, and unprincipled ambition. • Ut imperium evertant, libertatem præferunt, postquam evertere, ipsam aggrediuntur.'

"But, sir, without entering further into this most unpleasant part of the subject, on which I only touch defensively, and for fear I should be supposed to acquiesce in the justice of those imputations which I had passed over in silence, I shall proceed shortly to state the grounds upon which I shall oppose this motion.

"Every person that has attended at all to the history and progress of this question, must have remarked that there are two separate grounds upon which the plan has been rested,-that of right, and that of expediency. Since the failure of that great reform, called the French revolution, which proceeded almost entirely upon speculative principles, the doctrine of abstract right has been in a great measure abandoned. The tremendous example which that event exhibited to the world, has indisposed the minds of men towards a doctrine so fruitful in calamities and in crimes, nor, so far as I know, has it ever been directly and avowedly made the foundation of any argument in this house. The petitioners indeed proceed upon both grounds, but first and principally upon that of theory. They state some practical grievances; but by far the greater part of their objection to the present constitution of parliament is of a purely speculative kind; for when they have once shewn, in the sense, and generally in the very words, of that celebrated petition which was, prepared by my right honourable friend near me in the year 1793, and which has served as a text-book to all subsequent lecturers upon the same subject, when they have once shewn what nobody denies, that a very large majority of the house is returned by a

VOL. V. PART I.

very small minority of the people, and that the crown and the nobility exercise a very considerable influence in it, they think they have made out an unanswerable case, and that they have nothing more to do than to exercise their talent for invective, against the house itself and all its defenders. Sir, I shall not take up your time by going into the merits of this argument, because I am persuaded that there are but few indeed among those whom I have the honour to address with whom it will have much weight. To them it is unnecessary to prove that the House of Commons neither is, nor ever has been, nor ever ought to be, framed upon a purely democratical model, and that a certain influence, both of the crown and of the nobility, in an assembly which has in a manner absorbed the whole power of the state, is absolutely necessary, in order to save both from utter destruction; and that, consequently, the only question is, as to the degree of influence that ought to exist. All I wish is, that gentlemen should keep the nature, extent, and unavoidable operation of this principle, if it is once admitted, clearly before their eyes, and particularly to point it out to the attention of those who are inclined to adopt what is called a moderate reform, and who believe that the bulk of the reformers would be satisfied with any thing short of an utter subversion of the whole system.

"In the few words, therefore, with which I shall trouble the house, I shall consider this question in that point of view in which it has been considered by the honourable mover, and by all its most temperate and most judicious advocates, and by those who, from their character and talents, are most likely to influence public opinion, that is as a purely practical question; and I shall direct my attention to the arguments, not of those who think that

D

men have an abstract right to this or that particular mode of government, but of those who, without reference to any such doctrine, imagine, that the condition of the country would be ameliorated by a change in the representation. The course of reasoning which they have adopted is complete. ly different, much less alarming in appearance, much less revolting to the friends of our constitution, but quite as fallacious in its principles, and quite as mischievous in its tendency. They begin by grossly exaggerating the evils that exist under the present system; they ascribe them all to that system; and they conclude by recommending parliamentary reform as the safe, certain, easy remedy for them all. "Now, sir, in the first place, I must beg leave to remark, that the way in which the reformers have overstated the public grievances, affords no very favourable specimen either of the goodness of their cause, or of the temper in which they are disposed to discuss it. Indeed, some of the doctrines that one has heard upon this subject, exhibit the most remarkable instance with which I am acquainted of the power of a heated imagination in blinding men to facts, which every moment experience seems, in a manner, to force upon their attention. The more violent part of the reform ers have treated the constitution and government of this country, as if they were speaking of Spain, or Turkey, of the Divan or the Cortes; of a system so incurably vicious, that every thing was to be gained, and nothing to be lost, by a change. How the present order of things may appear when tried by any new test, or measured by any new standard of ideal excellence, I know not; but sure I am, that if it is compared with any thing that is, or with any thing that has been, it can only gain by the comparison. I know no better test of

the excellence of a constitution, than the happiness of the people that live under it. In estimating that happiness in any country, one is naturally led to compare it with other countries, and with itself at other periods; and if, upon examination, we find, that for the last century it has gone on increasing in prosperity; if the last twenty years, notwithstanding the pressure of continual war, have been years of the most rapid, visible, and essential improvement; if, turning ourselves towards other countries du ring the same period, we find them torn by anarchy, crushed by despotism, or desolated by foreign conquest, we shall not, I think, be inclined to come to any very hasty conclusion against that order of things under which we have exclusively enjoyed so many blessings; we shall perhaps be still less inclined to do so, when we call to mind that some of those nations, the internal condition of which we now regard, and justly regard, with wonder and compassion, have been made the subject of some political experiments, conducted by as able hands as any that are likely to be employed in the business of reform here, and from which as much good was as confidently predicted, as any man can now venture to anticipate from a change in the constitution of England. Sir, I do not mean to insult the good taste, and waste the time of the house, by declamations upon the excellence of our constitution, or the happiness of the people; I merely wish them to keep in mind, that the object of reform is not, because it cannot be, to restore us to any state of happiness from which we have fallen, nor to place us upon a level with wiser and happier nations; but that what these gentlemen pretend to accomplish, and that for which they wish us to place every thing upon the cast of a single die, is to elevate us to a state of poli.

tical purity and excellence, of which we at least know thus much, that it never existed, nor does exist, in this or in any other nation upon earth. At the same time I am not disposed to carry the argument that arises out of this circumstance farther than it will fairly go. I am perfectly aware that it is bad reasoning to say, that because we have a good constitution now, because the people are tolerably happy, and because, on the whole, we are better off than our neighbours, therefore no attempt ought to be made to improve the constitution, or to render the people still happier. The history of our own country would be a sufficient refutation of such a doctrine. There was a time, for instance, before the constitution of England had attained to that pitch of excellence to which it was afterwards carried, when with the royal power still undefined, with the courts of Star Chamber and High Commission still existing; in spite of all these blemishes, our constitution was better than that of any other country in Europe. Yet that neither did prevent, nor ought it to have prevented, all those glorious efforts for its amelioration which have rendered it superior to any form of government that ever existed in the world. Nor do I even contend, that excellent as it now is, it has attained to the utmost possible pitch of perfection, or, in other words, that we enjoy all the happiness that positive institutions can confer. But as often as we hear those exaggerated and mischievous statements of the public grievances, which, by appealing to the prejudices and passions of the multitude, tend to disgust them with the whole existing order of things, so of ten must we be permitted to remind them of their real condition. Whether or not the constitution of this country has defects, which it is possible to remedy, is another consideration; but this much is certain, that we enjoy a

measure of tranquillity and happiness unknown to any other country in this stormy and disastrous age; that we have hardly tasted that cup of bitterness which has been drank to the very dregs by the rest of the civilized world; in short, that we are in a state in which much can be taken away from the stock of public happiness, and in which little can be added to it; a state, therefore, in which we may well pause before we adopt any great, radical, and uncertain change.

**

"I say we ought to pause only, because all that I contend is, that the actual excellence of our constitution, and the happiness of the people that live under it, affords a prima facie case in favour of things as they are, against things as they may be. And I am the more anxious to be clearly understood upon this point, because it is one upon which the argument against reform has been most frequently and most successfully misrepresented. It has been a very common accusation against us to say, that we are actuated almost entirely by one great leading principle-the dread of innovation; a principle, in the extent in which it has been stated, most absurd, and which the friends to the measure have accordingly been at great pains to ridicule and to refute. Now, sir, though I by no means deny that there are persons who do entertain this general dislike to every species of change, and who must, of course, concur with us in opposing so great a change as parliamentary reform; and though I am no more disposed to reject their aid than the moderate reformers appear disposed to reject the aid of those that carry their views upon this subject to the most alarming extent, yet I must beg leave to insist, that this is no doctrine of mine, nor one of which we stand at all in need as the foundation of our argument. In almost all those principles that have been so frequently and so triumphantly stated in de

fence of innovation, I completely coneur. I am perfectly aware, that what ever is institution now, was innova tion once; and therefore, that to object generally to innovation is to object to art, to science, to law, to every thing that has dignified, and to every thing that has adorned mankind, and not least of all to that very constitution which I am most anxious to up hold. All I would ask, is, not that innovation should be considered as an evil in itself, but merely that it should not be considered as a good in itself; that, before we adopt any change, we should reflect,calmly and dispassionate ly, what is the real amount of the evil which it is designed to remove; and, in the next place, how far it is calculated to remove it, without substituting some greater evil in its stead. So fár, I trust, I shall carry along with, me the opinion of all sound-judging men, and that without being consider ed as an alarmist or a bigotted and indiscriminate enemy to every species of change, I may be allowed to consider the actual prosperity of the country, (so far as it goes,) not indeed as a conclusive argument against reform, but as a circumstance which renders the necessity of that measure less ur gent, and the advantages of it more questionable.

be

"Before, however, I quit the subject of innovation, I must beg gentlemen to bear in mind, and it is a consideration most, material in forming a correct opinion upon this great question of reform, that whatever may the result of the experiment we are called upon to make, be it good or be it bad, it is in its nature final. If, when this fundamental change in the government of the country has been adopted, instead of its being attended by those beneficial and splendid consequences, which the promoters of it now so confidently anticipate, we should discover upon actual trial, that the share, both of freedom and happi

ness, which we had enjoyed under the old, rotten, corrupt constitution England, was greater than any that we had been able to realize under the newer and purer system, still, however much we might wish it, and however bitterly we might repent of our folly and precipitation, still we should seek in vain to re-establish the ancient order of things, and we might wait through whole ages of turbulence and calamity, till a combination of circumstances, too fortunate, perhaps, to occur twice in the history of any nation, should have restored us to those speculative defects, which afford matter for the invectives of mistaken, factious, and visionary men, and to those practical advantages which diffuse happiness over millions. They call upon us, sir, to put off from shore in search of what, they tell us, is a more genial climate and a more fertile soil; but if we do so, let us at least not forget, that it is under this inexorable condition, that we shall never return, even if, upon our arrival, we find that this promised land of theirs is cursed with irremediable barrenness and perpetual storms. Therefore, if there is any person, I will not say, who thinks that this experiment will fail, but who doubts of its success, and who, doubting of its success, is not of opinion, that any failure is preferable to a longer endurance of the present evils, him I think I may fairly call to give his most strenuous opposition to these projects.

upon

"But, sir, fortunate as our situation undoubtedly is in itself, and still more fortunate when compared with that of other countries, still it must be confessed, nor do I at all disguise from myself in the consideration of this question, that there are circumstances in that situation which calculated to excite anxiety and alarm. Persons may differ in their estimate of grievances and dangers, but that grievances and danger do exist, it is im

are

possible to deny; and it is therefore for us to consider, how far that change in the government of the country which is now proposed, is calculated to afford to us ease and security.

1

"Sir, the great evil, as I apprehend, and that which is the root of all the present discontents, is excessive taxation, which taxation has arisen from the war. Now, sir, I happen to be one of those who think that the war was undertaken originally upon insufficient grounds, and that many opportunities have been lost at which it might have been terminated with out danger or disgrace; and I have always regarded the continuance of it (up to a very late period) as the capital mistake of every cabinet by which this country has been governed for the last eighteen or nineteen years. But, sir, I am utterly at a loss to understand how the war could have been prevented by a change in the constitution of parliament. That, indeed, might have been said with truth, if it had been begun and continued by the executive government, in conjunction with this house, and against the will of the nation. But, sir, be it right, or be it wrong, a question which this is not the proper occasion to discuss, this war always has been, and still is, the war of the people.

"But then, sir, it has been said, that though national ambition would still occasion wars, those wars might be managed with greater regard to economy, and that infinite waste and profusion which now prevail in every department, might be prevented by the vigilance of representatives, whose interests were more closely united with those of the people. And this, sir, is the opinion which most deserves consideration, since it is undoubtedly to it, right or wrong, that the cause of parliamentary reform now owes the greater number of its proselytes. For some years past, the subject of pecuniary abuses has be

come so popular, that it has almost entirely overwhelmed every other consideration. The great question of peace and war; those questions that arise out of the management of the war; those that relate to the character and conduct of ministers; all these things have, in a manner, lost their interest, whilst the public mind has been absorbed in economical details. When more millions were wasted in one year upon the most absurd and most disastrous enterprises, than all the plans of economy that human in genuity can devise, or human integrity can execute, could save in ten, the people of England comforted themselves in the hope of reducing the petty perquisites of a few miserable offices; and they looked with coldblooded indifference upon the loss of whole armies sacrificed to the incapacity of their government, a few months after they had been employed in canonizing the authors of discoveries about female influence in the disposal of a commission.

"It is evident, that the utterly disproportionate share of attention which these objects have occupied, that this low and inadequate state of the public mind, is owing to the grossest and most malignant misrepresentation, both as to the amount of abuses and as to their cause. Persons have not been wanting ill-informed enough or ill-intentioned enough to tell the people that a great part of the burthens under which they labour are the result of peculation; and yet when the authors of all these clamours have been put to the proof, all they have been able to produce has been vague declamation, unwarranted suspicion, and the repeated enumeration of the few instances which the most vigilant attention has been able to detect. That abuses do exist I am far from meaning to deny; indeed it would be absurd to suppose, that a revenue, so vast as ours, raised by such compli