164 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



extravagance to suppose it. If 

 once the house began with reform- 

 ing, they could never stop ; if once 

 they made any change to please 

 the people, the people would go 

 on ; they would never know when 

 they had enough ; and therefore 

 he would oppose the general prin- 

 ciples of reform. 



The Chancellor of the Exche- 

 quer said, that whatever he might 

 think respecting the inconvenience 

 of any change at the present mo- 

 ment, he had no hesitation in 

 giving it as his opinion, that there 

 could not be any inconvenience 

 in discussing any project of re- 

 form. What was said to be the 

 growing sentiment of the country 

 respecting reform had arisen from 

 the silence of parliament, and the 

 only effectual mode of putting an 

 end to the delusion practised upon 

 the public was, to take up the dis- 

 cussion of such subjects in that 

 house, and not leave them to be 

 discussed in popular meetings and 

 inflammatory papers, out of doors. 

 On these grounds, he should al- 

 low the bill to go to a second 

 reading, but without giving any 

 pledge to support it. — To Mr. 

 Bathurst it appeared, that his 

 friend Mr. Windham had taken 

 the alarm at the idea of reform 

 too soon. If the practice com- 

 plained of, namely, that the in- 

 fluence which individuals had in 

 the return of members to that 

 house had been transferred to 

 others for a pecuniary considera- 

 tion, was wrong: it was no reason 

 to urge against the adoption of a 

 remedy, that it might lead to the 

 adoption of still further measures. 

 The bill proposed by Mr. Curwen 

 was a mere act of regulation, and 

 had no connexion whatever with 

 ♦ 



the wore difficult and dangerous 

 question of parliamentary reform. 

 The arguments urged against this 

 bill would have been advanced 

 with equal propriety against the 

 Grenviile act, and all the other 

 acts for regulating the conduct of 

 parliament, passed since the Re- 

 volution ; nay, he contended that 

 the present question had less re- 

 ference to parliamentary reform 

 than any of the other acts to which 

 he had alluded. — Mr. Ponsonby 

 too observed, that the measure 

 proposed was simply an act of re- 

 gulation. Mr. Curwen expressed 

 his obligations for the qualified 

 support of Mr. Bathurst ; but 

 he would not admit that he was, 

 in the smallest degree, obliged 

 to the chancellor of the exche- 

 quer, and he wondered that this 

 right honourable gentleman did 

 not oppose the bringing in of 

 the bill, when he had plainly 

 intimated his design to oppose it 

 in its progress. Was it for the 

 purpose of putting him (Mr. Cur- 

 wen) in a situation of difficulty, 

 and thereby to show his inability ? 

 He knew that he had great diffi- 

 culties to encounter ; but he trust- 

 ed that, with the assistance of the 

 house, he should be able to sur- 

 mount them. The question being 

 put, the motion was carried ; and 

 Mr. Ponsonby, Sir A. Pigot, Sir S. 

 Romilly,Lord Folkstone,Mr.Wind- 

 ham, and other members, were or- 

 dered to join Mr. Curwen, for the 

 purpose of preparing and bringing 

 in the bill. 



In the progress of this bill 

 through the different stages, many 

 clauses proposed by Mr. Curwen 

 w^ere struck out, and many others 

 proposed by the chancellor of the 

 exchequer inserted ; the conse- 

 quence 



