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tended to revive in his favour all the former flat- BOOK tering prepossessions of those who viewed the late proceedings in parliament with inexpressible regret and astonishment.

1785.

ultimate

On the 18th of April (1785) Mr. Pitt brought Mr. Pitt's forward his final plan for a reform in the repre- plan of parliamentary sentation, in some degree varying from his pre- reform. ceding attempts, and in all respects guarded, temperate, and judicious. "He rose (he said) with hopes infinitely more sanguine than he had ventured to entertain at any former period. There never was a moment when the minds of men were more enlightened on this interesting topic, or more prepared for its discussion. He declared his present plan of reform to be perfectly coincident with the spirit of those changes which had taken place in the exercise of the elective franchise from the earliest ages, and not in the least allied to the spirit of innovation. So far back as the reign of Edward I. before which the component orders of the representative body could not be distinctly traced, the franchise of election had been constantly fluctuating. As one borough decayed and another flourished, the first was abolished and the second invested with the right. Even the representation of the counties had not been uniform. King James I. in his first proclamation for calling a parliament, directed that the sheriffs should not call upon such decayed and ruined boroughs to

BOOK send members to that parliament. For this dis

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cretion, as vested in the crown, he was certainly no advocate; but he wished to establish a permanent rule to operate like the discretion out of which the constitution had sprung-that the principle on which it was founded should be rescued from the accident and caprice in which it was unhappily involved. He wished to bring forward a plan that should be complete, gradual, and permanent-a plan that not only corrected the inequalities of the present system, but which would be competent to preserve the purity it restored, and give to the constitution not only consistency, but, if possible, iminortality. Without a parliamentary reform (said this too prophetic statesman) the nation will be plunged into new wars; without a parliamentary reform you cannot be safe against bad ministers, nor can even good ministers be of use to you."—It was his design that the actual number of the house of commons should be preserved inviolate. His immediate object was to select a certain number of the decayed and rotten boroughs, the right of representation attached to thirty-six of which should be transferred to the counties, in such proportions as the wisdom of parliament might prescribe; and, that all unnecessary harshness might be avoided, he recommended the appropriation of a fund of one million to be applied to

the purchasing of the franchise of such boroughs, BOOK

their voluntary application to parliament. When this was effected, he proposed to extend the bill to the purchasing the franchise of other boroughs, besides the original thirty-six; and to transfer the right of returning members to large towns, hitherto unrepresented, upon their petitioning parliament to be indulged with this privilege."

The other most important particulars of Mr. Pitt's plan were the admitting of copyholders to an equality with freeholders, and the extending the franchise in populous towns, where the electors were few, to the inhabitants in general. The result of this plan was to give one hundred members to the popular interest in the kingdom, and to extend the right of election to one hundred thousand persons, who, by the existing provisions of the law, were excluded from it. This was a very wise and excellently digested plan, which did great honour to the framer; and the eloquence, ability, and vigour, with which it was supported, left no reasonable ground of doubt as to the sincerity with which it was brought forward.

The most important animadversion in the course of the debate to which this motion gave rise was made by Mr. Fox, who, justly remarking" that government was not a property, but a trust," strongly objected to the idea of purchasing

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BOOK franchises of boroughs which from their insignificance were no longer entitled to send members to parliament-"whatever was given for constitutional purposes should be resumed when those purposes were no longer answered." With this and some other less important exceptions, Mr. Fox bestowed upon the plan of the minister a very just and liberal tribute of praise; and it yet remains a doubt, whether, upon the ground of expediency, Mr. Pitt was not fully justified in proposing that regulation which the more unaccommodating and decided policy of Mr. Fox disdained to approve.

On the other hand, the whole plan was reprobated and ridiculed by Mr. Powys, as "the mere knight-errantry of a political Quixote. It was an example, a precedent, an incitement, to the wildest and most paradoxical nostrums that speculative theorists could devise. They got by it what Archimedes wanted-a foundation for their inventions-a fulcrum from which they could throw the parliament and constitution of England into the air. He could not contemplate it with any degree of patience. He should not treat it, therefore, with the ceremony of calling for the order of the day; but as its purposes were so hostile to the constitution, so menacing and unqualified, he would meet the question in front by giving it a direct and unequivocal contradiction. It cannot

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be supposed owing to the superior force of such BOOK arguments as these, that on a division, after a long 1785. protracted debate, the bill was rejected by a majority of 248 to 174 voices.

In consequence of the very able reports present- Beneficial regulations ed from time to time by the commissioners of ac- of office counts appointed by act of parliament, Mr. Pitt, in the course of the present session, brought in three several bills, for the better auditing and examining the public accounts, and for the regulation and reform of the public offices, which passed both houses with much applause, and no material opposition. The balances of the Navy and Ordnance offices were by these bills ordered, as those of the pay master of the forces by a former regulation, to be paid into the Bank. The antient mode of proceeding by the auditors of the Imprest was abolished as wholly frivolous and nugatory, though the perquisites of the auditors were estimated at no less than 34,000l. annually in times of peace, and during the war they had risen to a height incredibly enormous. A new and efficient commission of examination and control was instituted; many of the inferior departments of office, or heads of service, were consolidated; and the whole now assumed the appearance of a regular and rational system.

The remaining part of the floating arrear of debt, consisting of navy bills and ordnance deben

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