1832.] The " New Bill" ] I 



can never be brought forward without exciting the deepest interest 

 in the country ; and we trust the period never will arrive, when the 

 people of England shall be so callous and careless of their constitution, 

 as not to manifest the greatest anxiety in its changes. The agitation of 

 the popular mind is not in England what it would be in other states: it 

 is not the symptom of a profound and general discontent, and the fore- 

 runner of violent commotions. It animates all parts of the state, and is 

 to be considered only as the beneficial vicissitude of the seasons. The 

 governing power being dependant on the nation, is often thwarted ; but 

 so long as it continues to deserve the affection of the people, it can 

 never be endangered. * Others again object to the " Bill " merely 

 because it is a " concession to the people's demands/' and fancy that if 

 they grant reform, more will be demanded afterwards. L'appetit vient 

 en mangeant seems the motto of the alarmists ; but if the appetite, when 

 acquired, is not to be satiated by a moderate meal, surely a fast cannot 

 decrease it. This however has always been the unmeaning cry against 

 all changes ; and it is curious, that a similar cry was raised against 

 the septennial parliaments when first established in 1717* viz. that they 

 would encroach still farther, f We have not however in the present 

 session heard the blustering and hectoring tirades against concession 

 to the demands of the people as if an act of justice was a proof of 

 cowardice. It is a singular theory, that people must not have reform, 

 because, convinced of its necessity, they ask for it. There is no doubt, 

 however, that timely concession to the demands of a nation, is often 

 the preventive of serious commotions ; thus Charles I., by conceding 

 the Petition of Right, maintained his seat on the throne eleven years, 

 and had he not given his subjects fresh provocation, would doubtless 

 have retained it, and spared the country the horror of convulsion. 



Having thus glanced at the preliminary objections, we may now 

 proceed to examine the provisions of the Bill. " The two great pillars 

 of the Bill," to use Lord John Russell's words, "are the disfranchise- 

 ment clause of schedule A, and the 10/. qualification clause/' The 

 number of boroughs in schedule A is 56, as before, but some change 

 has been made in the places. Schedule C now comprehends 22 mem- 

 bers, instead of 12 ; and schedule D, of the towns which are now to re- 

 turn two members, instead of one, contains 1 1 towns. The number of 

 members remains the same as at present. 



The disfranchisement called forth from Sir R. Inglis, on Saturday 

 night, some of his usual lamentations on the "wrongs of the freemen." 

 Supposing they have had the right from the first period of legal me- 

 mory, to the reign of Richard I., and that in consequence, they can claim 

 their suffrage as a common-law right, they forget that the power of is- 

 suing or withholding writs for elections, was vested in the monarch J, till 

 the time of Charles II., 1676, when the last instance of the exercise of 

 that power occurred in granting Newark the right of two representatives. 

 Public opinion has prevented even the mention of such another stretch 



* De Lolme on the Constitution. 



f Parh Hist, 7; 292. 



$ In the 23rd of dEward I. there were 74 knights and nearly 260 deputies, but 

 the number varied. Henry VIII. added 33 ; Edward VI. created 14 boroughs, 

 and restored 10; Mary added 21 members, Elizabeth, 60, and James, 27. Many 

 towns resigned the right, on account of having to support their members. 



