The National Register.
London, England, 1808-05-23 00:00:00

MAY 30.

frequently induced to make that beneficial which in itself ap-
pears pregraint only with mischief, and mischief too of the most
fatal and horrible description. For some of the powerful pro-
prietors there are, who amid all their magnificence are in con-
stant need of ready. money : and theseare glad to dispose of their
boroughs to any body who is willing to buy theta. Now it
seems rather a paradoxical thing to assert : but the fact is that
the most independent then in the whole House of Commons are
for the most part the members for the rotten Boroughs : for
they have paid so much unieey for their commodity : they
wanted the importance or the conveniences that a sent in Parlia-
ment titfords, and they have bought that importance and those
conveniences for five or six thonsaud pounds. These men ate
dependent upon no creature. They are under no of►ligation to
the great man who returned them, for he was paid for his goods.
'!hey are under no necessity of obeying the fictions rabble of a
ciamtv, " the inconstant multitude, who like not in their
,jtalg-
" mem, but their eyes :" for their contitutents are few and un-
important, the Mayors and Corporations of petty towns, people
who know nothing and care nothing about politics, and whose
concern with party goes scarcely beyond the knowledge of the
separate interests that agitate two or three greatfamilies,distin-
guished by red, or blue, or orange yockades. What is the natural
consequence ? Why, that the members are more likely to vote
freely. Certainly there are many of them who arc willing to
favour the schemes of Government : but of every political body it
is fair and right that government should be assisted by somewhat
more than half : and even if the proportion of these borough
members who support goveynment be in the ratio of three-
fourths to one-fourth of those who befriend opposition, while
Covernment has a proportion of seven-eighths among the county
and city members, who approach, in their mode of election,
Pinch nearer to what is called a pure organization of Parlia-
mentary representatives, even then the borough members are
upon the whole a more respectable body than any other set 0:
men in the [louse of Commons.

But the boroughs that are not sold by the great men whose
influence reigns in them, are also attended with great advantages
to the state : advantages which alone vs ould, in our opinion, he
sufficient completely to counterbalance all the mischiefs that the
clamourous friends of cotwitutional purity are so perpetually
and so factiously deprecating. These great men, having
boroughs in their hands, are desirous sometimes of turning those
boroughs to the increase of their reputation rather than of their
wealth. Now every great man, from the time of Illtecenas to
the present day, has loved the credit of patronizing genius,
though all great men have had not liberality enough to pay the
due price for that credit. But those who prefer honour to mo-
ney, or rather those who have already money enough, and want a
little honour to grace it, are glad to gain, by the reflection of the
talents of *others, that lustre which perhaps they cannot shed from
their own fires : and accordingly they put men into Parliament
who,e genius may be capable of exalting and publishing pa-
tronage. But for this system, we could hardly ever hope to see
any man of talent in Parliament : for nobody who was not ex-
tremely powerful could expect to obtain the suffrages of his
couutrymen, if the full proportion of his countrymen had a
right to vote at the election. Even for any one of the counties,
where, according to the present system of election, every per.
son possessing; a forty shilling freehold has a right to vote, how
dithcult would it be fur any man to gain a seat who had not
great estates or family interest in that county ! And how much
must this difficulty be increased, if, as the Burdettites wish, each
individual, whatever his property, were equally permitted to
vote ! Surely, if the whole country were placed upon this foot-
rng,the House of Commons most necessarily become a mere meet
mg of great merchants and country gentlemen. Now, among
these country gentlemen it is not likely that we should Mid quite
so many men of talent, as we dad in the same number of Mem-
bers constituting the Houses of Commons that are now orga-
Fur it is nut likely that six or seven hundred per-
sons, picked out of the rich and landed gentlemen of the country,
would afford quite so much genius as six or seem hundred inell
picked out of every class and denomination of the country. lk-
sides, it cannot be denied, that at the present day the Merchants
and country Gentlemen are by no means the independent persons
they were formerly. They are now much attached to the
rown : and there Li scrxrely one of them that is pat looking up
to a Peerage, a Baronetage, a Colonelcy, a Lord Lieutenancy,
or a County Receivership, if not actually to a place or a pen-
£llll. It is very well known. that the persons who have a p.ood
deal, arenot the persons that want least and when we recollect
how rapidly honours have lately been accumulated on rich Mcr-
cr•rel Aldermen, Backers, County Members, and other pee-

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