166 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



be held for that purpose at stated 

 periods. 



"And that parliamentsbebrought 

 back to a constitutional duration." 



The benefits that would imme- 

 diately follow the adoption of this 

 system of reform and economy 

 were incalculable.* Though Sir 

 Francis Burdett was not one of 

 those who would apply a sponge 

 to the debt of the nation, yet he 

 was firmly persuaded, that a re- 

 formed House of Commons would 

 introduce such a system of econo- 

 my in both the collection and ex- 

 penditure of the public revenue, 

 as would give instant ease to the 

 subject, and would finally, and at 

 no very distant period, by a due 

 application of national resources to 

 national objects, and to these alone, 

 free the people from that enor- 

 mous load of debt, and consequent- 

 ly taxation, under which the na- 

 tion was weighed down. 



Three descriptions of persons, 

 Sir F. Burdett admitted, would 

 have great cause to complain of 

 this reform ; the boroughmongers, 

 the lawyers, and the kmg's printer. 

 The whole of the cause then was, 

 which was to be preferred, the in- 

 terest of the empire, or the in- 

 terest of the boroughmongers, 

 the lawyers, and the king's prin- 

 ters. The honourable baronet con- 

 cluded a long and lively speech 

 with moving, " That this House 

 will early in the next session of 

 parliament take into consideration 

 the necessity of a reform in the re- 

 presentation." 



The Chancellor of the Exche- 



quer was really at a loss to know 

 what the honourable baronet pro- 

 posed to himself. He had said, that 

 all he wanted was to be found on 

 the statute law of the land. But 

 what could he find there that could 

 destroy the ordinary practice of 

 the constitution ? The right of 

 originating taxation belonged to 

 that House at present by the 

 practice of the constitution, al- 

 though not confirmed by an ex- 

 press statute. Was the honour- 

 able baronet content to get rid of 

 this too among other things ? Why 

 should perjury be more difficult 

 under the plan proposed than it 

 was at present ? The truth was, 

 that such a plan could never pro- 

 duce the expected effects, unless 

 the honourable baronet could alter 

 not onlj' our political constitution, 

 but the frame of the human mind ; 

 unless he could at once get rid of 

 human prejudices and human pas- 

 sions. — Sir James Hall allowed that 

 the motives of the honourable baro- 

 net might be good, but his con- 

 duct, he thought, extremely dan- 

 gerous. The plan which he had 

 stated amounted to complete and 

 radical revolution ; the first savage 

 in the world would certainly have 

 thought an attempt to cut down 

 the tree which afforded him pro- 

 tection from the weather, a great 

 insult. It would be the ruin of 

 a ship if you took away her 

 ballast ; the ballast of the British 

 state vessel might be sometimes 

 too heavy ; but on the whole she 

 proceeded very well in her course, 

 and even the rotten boroughs might 



ultimately 



• This pkn of Sir Francis Burdett coincides very nearly with that proposed 

 thirty years ago in the House of Lords by the late Duke of' Richmond. At that 

 period many detailed plans of reform were offered by ditferent members to parlia- 

 ment, besides the general sketches thrown out in the speeches of the various ad- 

 vocates for reform. 



