1793. CHAP. their preservation. Now the case is totally different. XIII. The French Revolution has entirely changed, not only the expedience of such a measure, but the class of men by whom, and the objects for which, it is supported. Since that great convulsion arose, I have observed arising in this country a small, but not contemptible party, whose object is very different from moderate reform—who aspire to nothing less than to introduce the French principles, with all their horrors. In such circumstances, all the practical good to be expected from reform has disappeared, and the dangers to be apprehended from the adoption of any considerable change have augmented tenfold. Upon this ground, even had I rated as high as ever the advantages of reform, I would rather have abandoned my project than incurred such a danger. It is evident now, that the question is not, whether a moderate reform is to be conceded, but whether admission is to be afforded to the point of the wedge, which, when driven home, will rend asunder and dissolve the empire. "From whom do the petitions for reform now come? Is it from the friends of the British constitution; from those whose character and principles warrant the belief that their object is to renovate, not destroy, our institutions? No; they all come from the societies affiliated in this country for the purpose of spreading the Jacobin principles; from the avowed and ardent admirers of the French Republic; from the correspondents and imitators of the National Assembly; from men in whom all the horrors which that Assembly has engendered, and all the blood it has caused to flow, cannot awaken any distrust of these principles. We must be blind indeed if we do not perceive what is the real object of innovation supported by such a party. In France, at the same time, they invariably mention parliamentary reform as the medium by which all their revolutionary projects are to be forwarded in this country, and speak of a change in our representation as but a step to the formation of a British Convention, and the total destruction of all our civil and religious in- CHAP. stitutions. “Is it, then, to a party small in number, but dangerous from character, that we are to concede the first step on the ladder of innovation? Are we to disregard entirely the immense majority of loyal citizens, who are too sensible of the blessings they enjoy to risk them by such a change? What is the question really at issue. It is not whether the constituencies of Cornwall and Scotland are really such as ideal perfection would approve it is the same which is now at issue with the whole of Europe, who are contending for the cause of order, justice, humanity, and religion, in opposition to anarchy, injustice, cruelty, and infidelity. The undue ascendency given to property in these districts, is the check to the otherwise perilous influence of numbers in the larger boroughs. Are we, at such a moment, in order to please a few individuals, to incur perils such as those we are now witnessing? This would, indeed, resemble the conduct of those who, at the moment when the citadel was besieged, should proceed to the discussion of points of difference, instead of providing the means of defence. "I see no probability at this time of a temperate reform; I see no guarantee for it either in the temper of the times, or the character, habits, or views of those by whom it is supported. So far from satisfying them, it would only produce a craving for further concessions: they desire not the reform which they now advocate for itself, but as a stepping-stone to ulterior objects which they dare not avow, till their power of carrying them into effect is by this first acquisition secured. Knowing what these ulterior designs are seeing the unspeakable horrors which they have introduced in that country where they have been carried into full effect, it is our duty to resist to the uttermost the first steps in the progress. The The government which acts otherwise ceases to be a government; it unties the bands which knit together society; it forfeits the XIII. 1793. CHAP. 1793. reverence and obedience of its subjects; it gives up those whom it ought to protect to the daggers of the Marseillais, and the assassins of Paris. The government of the multitude, to which reform is but a step, is not the ruling of the few by the many, but of the many by the few: with 1 Parl. Hist. this difference, that the few at the head of affairs in such a state, are the most ambitious, reckless, and worthless of the community."1* xxx. 808, 902. Parliamen tary Reform. Arguments by which it was support ed in 1831. Fortunately for England, and for the cause of freedom throughout the world, these arguments prevailed in the House of Commons. The motion for reform, brought forward by Mr Grey, was negatived by a majority of * It is curious, on a subject of such vital importance to England as Parliamentary Reform, to contrast these arguments with those urged for and against the same measure in the memorable discussions of 1830 and 1831. A summary of these is here subjoined, taken from the speeches of Sir Robert Peel, Mr Croker, Lord Lyndhurst, Mr Stanley, and Lord-Advocate Jeffrey, as an instructive illustration of the progress of the human mind during the intervening period. On the popular side, it was urged that the British constitution had gradually departed from the principles on which it was originally established, and on which alone stability could be expected for it in future: that by the decline of the population in some boroughs, and the vast increase of inhabitants in once rural districts, a large proportion of the members of the House of Commons had come to be returned by a few great families, while the majority of the people were totally unrepresented; that such a state of things was an insupportable grievance to the bulk of the citizens, and could not fail, while it continued, to nourish perpetual discord between the holders of political influence and all the other classes of society; that an oligarchy, at all times an invidious form of government, was peculiarly so at the present time, when the public mind was inflamed by the successful result of the late Revolution in France; that, by admitting a larger number to a share of political rights, the foundations of government would be laid on a broader basis, and a phalanx secured who would at all times resist the extension of their privileges to a lower class, and be found the firmest supporters of social order; that it was altogether chimerical to suppose that there could be the slightest danger in extending the elective suffrage to a numerous body of voters, as the people were so habituated to political rights, and so enlightened by education, that they were as capable of exercising such franchise as their superiors; that unless political institutions were enlarged with the increase of those who shared their protection, they would be outgrown by the multitude, and burst from the expansive force of intelligence and numbers; that the true and legitimate influence of property could never be extinguished, and would only receive a wider sphere for its exertions by the increase of the circle to which the franchise was extended; that all revolutions had been occasioned by the obstinate adherence to old institutions, at a time when the state of society required their alteration; that timely concession was the only way to prevent convulsion, and in the present excited state of the public mind, if it was any longer delayed, the barriers of authority CHAP. 1793. 11. by the 282 to 41. The threats of revolution immediately subsided; the impending convulsions disappeared; and a measure, which it was confidently predicted would for ever alienate the higher from the lower orders, was suc- It is rejected ceeded by a degree of unanimity between them, in the House of most difficult times, such as had never before been wit- Commons. nessed in the British empire. And thus, at the very time that the French nobility, by yielding to the demand for concession, and surrendering all their privileges, 1793, p.153advanced the Revolution in that country, the British Hist.xxx. aristocracy, by steadily resisting innovation, prevented it 925. in theirs a memorable example to succeeding ages, of would be broken through, and all the horrors of the French Revolution brought upon the state. 1 Ann. Reg. 165. Parl. p. 787, 923 On the other hand, it was contended by the aristocratic party, that the present was not a motion for the reform of a real grievance, which was at all times Arguments entitled to the most serious attention, but for an increase of political power to against it. the lower orders, which was to be conceded or resisted according to its obvious tendency to preserve or subvert the balance of the constitution; that it was totally different from Mr Pitt's previous proposals of reform, which went to remove an admitted evil in a period of tranquillity; whereas the present motion was founded on a concession to French principles and democratic ambition, at a time of unexampled excitement: that it was evident that the popular party was already sufficiently strong, from the tenor of the acts which had been passed since the Revolution, which went rather to enlarge than abridge the liberty of the subject; that any further concession, therefore, would necessarily have the effect of overloading the balance on the popular side, and endangering the monarchical institutions of the state; that it was in vain to refer to early times for a precedent in support of a greater extension of the elective franchise, since the state of society was then essentially different from what it now is; that the power of the sword was then vested in the feudal barons, and the country was overspread with their armed retainers; whereas now the progress of wealth, and the invention of fire-arms, had destroyed this formidable power, while the increase of manufactures had augmented to a very great degree that of the middle ranks, and the diffusion of knowledge had increased tenfold their practical infiuence: that it might be quite safe to require representatives for all the boroughs, when the commons were a humble class in the state, and began their petitions with the words, "For God's sake, and as an act of mercy," while it would be highly dangerous to adopt a similar course, when the numbers of that class exceeded that of the agriculturists, and their wealth overbalanced that of all the other orders in the state; that the example of the Long Parliament sufficiently demonstrated that concession to popular clamours only led to fresh demands, and conducted, by an irresistible progress, to anarchy and revolution; that the fatal consequences which had formerly attended the duplication of the Tiers Etat, the parliamentary reform of France, was a signal example of the effects of that concession to democratic ambition which was now so loudly called for; that the King there yielded up all the prerogatives of his crown, and the nobles had made a voluntary surrenVOL. III. B XIII. 1793. CHAP. the effect of firmness and decision on the part of parliament in stilling the violence of popular agitation, and checking the growth of democratic ambition; and a proof how different the clamour of the press, of public meetings, and popular orators, often is from the sober judgment of a really free people. 12. correspon As the agitation of the Jacobin clubs, however, still Bills against continued, and societies, in imitation of the parent instidence with tution in Paris, were rapidly forming in all the great France, and towns of the kingdom, a bill against correspondence with for sedition France was passed by parliament, notwithstanding the utmost resistance by the Opposition, and prosecutions prosecutions and treason. der of their whole titles, rights, and privileges, and the consequence was, that the commons became irresistible, and the one was brought to an ignominious death, and the others were rewarded by exile, confiscation, and the scaffold; that the rotten boroughs, so much the object of invective, were, in truth, the most important part of the British constitution, and that which alone had, contrary to all former experience, so long maintained the balance of the three estates, because they gave a direct influence to property in the legislature, and enabled the increasing wealth of the aristocracy to maintain its ground against the growing influence of the commons; that an inlet was thus provided to parliament for men of talent, which had proved the means of introduction to our greatest statemen, and which, if closed, would degrade its character, and convert the representatives of the people into the mere supporters of separate interests; that it was in vain to expect, in the present period of excitement, and with the example of successful revolt in France, that wealth could permanently influence the lower orders, or maintain its ground, if deprived of this constitutional channel in the House of Commons; that reform, therefore, would necessarily lead to revolution, and what revolution led to, need not be told to those who had witnessed the Reign of Terror; that the hope of attaching a large portion of the lower orders, by the extension of the elective franchise, however specious in theory, would prove fallacious in practice, because they would soon find that their votes, from their great multiplication, were of no value; that they had been deceived by the name of a privilege of no real service, and that the only way to obtain any practical benefit from their exertions, was to league with the humblest classes for a general spoliation of the higher; that this was the natural tendency of the lower orders in all wealthy states, because union with the higher afforded no immediate advantage, whereas a league with those lower than themselves gave the prospect of a division of property, and liberation from burdens, and was, in an especial manner, to be apprehended in Britain at this time, because the public burdens were so excessive, property so unequally divided, and the example of a successful division of estates in France so recent; that a reform in parliament, unlike all other ameliorations, was to the last degree dangerous, because it was the voluntary surrender of legislative power to the lower orders, which could never be recovered, and a false step, once taken, was irretrievable; that, supposing there were some defects in the constitution indefensible in theory, it could not be disputed that, in practice, it had proved the best protection to the rights and |