1793* on parliamentary reform. ajt 



they thought would be the properest to represent 

 all the commons of England, and then obliged such 

 places to send them up and maintain them^ as ap- 

 peared at the time most able so lO do ; a hardfhip 

 much repined at by the ancient inhabitants of the 

 appointed spot, who thought it highly unjust to be 

 forced to choose and pay members to represent the 

 whule commons, without receiving any particular 

 and local advantages in return ; as they had not 

 yet discovered the value of a vote, now so well 

 known i which may be one little collateral reason 

 for some people vviihing to get a few more of them. 

 Nay, I am disposed to think that the five hundred 

 and fifty-eight members when in parliament afsembled, 

 still represent the whole island, and the place that' 

 chooses them not a jot more than any other*. If this 

 was not the case in a trading country, where the 

 interest and commercial views of the towns, are as 

 various as their situations, we fliould see the cham- 

 pion of Bristol pitted in parliament against the 

 champion of Liverpool, and the agents of one set of 

 manufacturers, waging a war of words with the 

 agents of another. 



However, leaving the subject of reprensetation in 

 the able hands who make so capital a use of it, to stir 

 yp a change in our happy constitution, I Ihall fi- 



* In confiriTiation of this opinion we have heard of the most popu- 

 lar and patriotic members, both in Britain and Ireland, telling their 

 constituents on the hustings, that u'.iey could not engage to follov^r 

 their instruct'uus, but to act to the best of their judgement for the 

 pubj|ic good, a^ was their real duty. 



