242. XIII. 1793. apprehended lay nearer home than the conquests of the CHAP. Republicans; it was not foreign subjugation so much as domestic revolution which was dreaded, if a pacific intercourse were any longer maintained with France. "Croyezmoi," said the Empress Catherine to Ségur, in 1789, "une guerre seule peut changer la direction des esprits en France, les réunir, donner un but plus utile aux passions, et réveiller le vrai patriotisme."1* In this observation 1 Segur, iii. is contained the true secret, and the best vindication of the Revolutionary war. The passions were excited; democratic ambition was awakened; the desire of power, under the name of reform, was rapidly gaining ground among the middle ranks, and the institutions of the country were threatened with an overthrow as violent as that which had recently taken place in the French monarchy. In these circumstances, the only mode of checking the evil was by engaging in a foreign contest, by drawing off the ardent spirits into active service, and, in lieu of the modern desire for innovation, rousing the ancient gallantry of the British people. When passion, whether in the political body or in the individual, is once roused, it is in vain, during the paroxysm, to combat it with the weapons of reason. A man in love is proverbially inaccessible to argument, and a nation heated in the pursuit of political power is as incapable of listening either to the deductions of the understanding, or the lessons of experience. The only way in such times of averting the evil, is by presenting some new object of pursuit, which is not only attractive to the thinking few, but to the unthinking many; by counteracting one passion by the growth of another, and summoning to the support of truth not only the armour of reason, but the fire of imagination. Great as has been the burden, enormous the waste, prodigal the expenditure of the war, “Believe me, a war alone can change the direction of men's minds in France, reunite them, give a more useful aim to the passions, and awaken true patriotism." XIII. 1793. CHAP. the evils thence arising are trifling in comparison of what would have ensued had a revolution taken place. Such an event, its advocates themselves confess, can only benefit future generations by the destruction of the present; its horrors, in a country such as England, where three-fourths of the whole population depend upon the wages of labour, and would be directly deprived of bread by the destruction of capital, would have exceeded any thing yet experienced in modern times.1 1 Segur, iii. 251. Ann. Reg. 1793, 172. 8. Debate in parliament on parlia mentary Reform. Another question, which strongly agitated the English people at this juncture, was that of reform in parliament, which the popular party deemed it a favourable opportunity to urge, when a considerable part of the nation was so vehemently excited by the triumph of revolution in France. In the House of Commons, it was argued by Mr Grey and Mr Erskine, "That the state of the national representation, especially in Scotland as compared with Cornwall, was so unequal, that no rational argument could be advanced in support of it. A majority of the House of Commons is returned by less than fifteen thousand electors, which is not more than a two-hundredth part of the male adults of the kingdom: this franchise, limited as it is, legally recurs only once in seven years: the total representation for Scotland was only one greater than that for Cornwall alone: twenty members were returned by thirty-five places where the right of voting was vested in burgage or similar tenures, and the elections were notoriously a matter of mere form: ninety more are chosen by forty-six places, where the right of voting is confined to less than fifty persons each: thirty-seven by nineteen places, in which the number of voters is under one hundred; fifty-two by twenty-six places, in none of which the voters exceed two hundred thirty in Scotland, by counties having less than two hundred and fifty votes ; and fifteen by Scotch boroughs not containing one hundred and twenty-five each. In this way two hundred XIII. 1793. and ninety-four members, a majority of the House of CHAP. Commons, are chosen by a nominal and fictitious system, under which the people have hardly any choice in their election. 9. and Mr Ers kine's argu ment for it. "In addition to this, the elective franchise is so various, complicated, and grotesque, that endless litigation and Mr Grey confusion arise from its practical operation. Religious opinions create an incapacity to vote in all Papists, and in thirty boroughs Protestant dissenters are, by the Test and Corporation laws, excluded from the franchise ; copyholders, how wealthy soever, are universally excluded; and from the recent returns, it appears that no less than 939,000 householders in England alone had no voice in the representation. In Scotland, matters are still worse, the great mass of the people being altogether excluded from any voice in the legislature, and the members chosen by twenty-five hundred persons, great part of whom have only fictitious or parchment votes. In fine, one hundred and fifty-four powerful and wealthy individuals can deter- 1 Parl. Hist. mine the returns in no less than three hundred and seven 796. seats, being a majority of the whole Commons of England.1 "We are always told, when this question is introduced into parliament, that the present juncture is not the proper season for bringing forward the measure. Nothing, however, can be more obvious, than that this excuse is now totally unfounded. The burst of loyalty on the breaking out of the war, of which the government so loudly boast, demonstrates the groundless nature of any such apprehension at this time. If ever there was any danger to this country from the propagation of French principles, that danger unquestionably is at an end; for no set of men, who have not actually lost their senses, would ever propose the French Revolution as a model for imitation. No argument from the present situation of France, therefore, can be drawn against the adoption of a rational reform in this country. The greatest statesmen whom this country has ever produced, have advocated the xxx. 789, CHAP. 1793. cause which we now bring forward. It had been supported by Mr Locke, Sir William Blackstone, Sir George Saville, and the present Chief Baron and Chief Justice. It had the countenance, in his earlier years, of Mr Pitt himself; it had been advocated by the Duke of Richmond ; and by an authority greater than either, that of the King himself, in his speech 24th May 1784, wherein his majesty says, that he should ever be ready to concur in supporting, in their just balance, the rights and privileges of every branch of the Legislature.' "The present state of the representation is so monstrous that it cannot, on general principles, be supported by any rational man. Who can defend a system which enables one English county to return as many members as the whole kingdom of Scotland? and allows representatives to be sent from many places where hardly a house now remains? If there was any one principle more strongly inculcated than another at the Revolution, it was, that the election of the House of Commons should be free. One of the grounds assigned at that period for the dethronement of James was, that he had violated the freedom of election; another, that a man ought not to be governed by laws in the framing of which he had not a voice, or to pay taxes to which he had not consented in the same way. Is not the present state of things a direct departure from both these principles? At the Revolution, too, the necessity of short parliaments was asserted; and is not the theory and practice of the constitution now a direct infringement of this principle? Can there be a more complete mockery than the system of representation in Scotland, where a nobleman's steward goes down to a borough with ten or twelve pieces of parchment in his hand, and, having assembled round a table ten or twelve of his master's dependents, secures the return. Mr Pitt had brought forward a motion for an addition of one hundred to the county members; and in the commencement of every session, it is entered on the journals of the XIII. 1793. House, That it is a high infringement of the liberties CHAP. and privileges of the Commons of England for any Lord of Parliament, or Lord-Lieutenant, to concern themselves in the election of members for parliament.' Better far at once to repeal such resolutions, and openly proclaim our servility, than allow them to remain there, when the 807. practice was so totally at variance with them."1 Parl. Hist. xxx. 799, 10. Mr Pitt, Mr son. To this it was replied by Mr Pitt, Mr Burke, and Mr Jenkinson-"The liberty of a country depends on its Answers of government, and very little experience must be sufficient Burke, and to demonstrate that different countries require different Mr Jenkininstitutions. The real test of their practical influence is to be found in their effects. Judging by this standard, what opinion must we form of the British constitution? Is not property secure? Is not the administration of justice pure? Have we not arrived at a pitch of prosperity under it, unparalleled in any other age or country? And what have been the fruits of the speculations of those who, disregarding the lessons of experience, have aimed at the establishment of institutions framed with a view to theoretical perfection? The turbulent faction and unsettled despotism of democracy. The spots of the sun do not diminish its splendour. In considering the merits of the constitution, its working upon the whole is to be considered the question is not, whether certain parts of it, if they stood alone, are defensible, but whether the whole machine is not admirable: not whether defects exist, but whether experience has not proved that these defects so far counteract each other, as to render it to the last degree perilous to interfere with the venerable fabric. "I myself," said Mr Pitt, once brought forward a motion for reform, and I am desirous of stating the reasons which induce me now to oppose it. I did so during a period of profound peace, when no speck appeared in the political horizon, and when the opportunity appeared favourable for amending our institutions, with a view to |