HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



165 



quence of which was, that it was 

 so much stripped of its most import- 

 ant provisions, that a number of 

 gentlemen who had supported the 

 bill in its first stages, disapproved 

 of it on the motion for the third 

 reading, June 12, as not calculated 

 to effect what they had first in 

 view ; they thought farther, that if 

 the bill was suffered to pass, it 

 would stand in the way of some- 

 thing better : and that on the 

 other hand, if it was thrown out, 

 something more effectual would be 

 substituted in its place. Nay, not 

 a few members were of opinion, 

 that by the enactments as they 

 came out of the hands of the com- 

 mittee, it had become a bill calcu- 

 lated to increase the very evils it 

 pretended to remedy. And the 

 following amendment, after the 

 third reading, was moved by lord 

 Folkstone as a proper preamble to 

 the bill : " A bill for more effectu- 

 ally preventing the sale of seats in 

 parhament for money ; and for 

 promoting a monopoly thereof to 

 the treasury, by means of patron- 

 age." On this singular motion the 

 House actually divided, for lord 

 Folkstone's amendment, 28 — for 

 the original title, 133. — After a di- 

 vision of the House, which was 

 very thin, the motion for reading 

 the bill a third time, was carried 

 by a small majority. Another di- 

 vision took place on the motion, 

 that " this bill do now pass," Ayes, 

 97 — Noes, 85. — It was also passed, 

 June 15, with but little opposi- 

 tion, in the House of Lords. 



House of Commons, June 15. — 

 Sir Francis Burdett rose to offer to 

 the House a plan of reform, not for 

 its immediate adoption, but its 

 future consideration. The course 

 he had to prescribe to himself was, 



to state the evils arising out of the 

 defective part of the representation 

 of the people in parliament, and 

 then to point out the remedy, which 

 was simple, perfectly applicable, 

 and not only consistent with the 

 interests and habits of the people, 

 and in unison with the laws and 

 constitution of the country, but the 

 constitution itself, having taken the 

 laws and the constitution for his 

 guide in preparing the measure he 

 had to propose. He at the same 

 time examined attentively all those 

 plans for carrying the same prin- 

 ciples into execution, which had 

 at different times been proposed ; 

 and, having avoided all those in- 

 tricacies, which he considered 

 as so many impediments in the 

 way, he had reduced it to a 

 plain and simple form ; the ex- 

 press image of the constitution 

 itself. His plan consisted in a 

 very few and very simple regula- 

 tions ; and, as the disease we now 

 laboured under had been caused 

 by the disunion of property and 

 political right, the remedy he 

 should propose would consist in 

 re-uniting them. For this purpose 

 he should propose : 



«' That freeholders and others, 

 subject to direct taxation in support 

 of the poor, the church, and the 

 state, be required to elect members 

 to serve in parliament. 



" That each county be subdivid- 

 ed according to its taxed male po- 

 pulation, and each subdivision re- 

 quired to elect one representative. 



" That the votes be taken in 

 each parish by the parish officers ; 

 and that all the elections should 

 be finished in one and the same 

 day. 



" That the parish officers make 

 the return to the sheriff's court, to 



be 



