1811 .] the Representation of the People in Parliament, <227 
l)v that means, no over-ruling interest or 
influence exists, except that of govern¬ 
ment.. The persons composing these 
«iilTerent classes may, in a secondary di¬ 
vision of the people, be so placed and 
considered, as to have opposite interests; 
but, in the grand and primary division of 
the whole people, namely, the rich and 
poor, they are but one order of the 
people, that is the rich. 
These two great classes, namely, the 
rich and the poor, are always opposed 
Co each other. The subordinate and se¬ 
condary classes of the people above-men¬ 
tioned, often concur in their views, and 
their interests often coincide; but the 
views and interests of the two primary 
classes never, or very rarely, do ; this is 
evident from the consideration— 
That the interests of the buyer and sel¬ 
ler are, in every case, opposite. It is the 
interest of the buyer to give as little for 
vvhat he buys, as he can get it for. It 
is the interest of the seller to get as much 
for what he sells as he can, , Every rich 
man is to be considered as the buyer, 
every poor man as the seller, of labour, 
it is for the interest of the rich man to 
get as much of the work of the poor man, 
and to give as little for it as he can ; or, 
in other words, to get as much of the 
produce of the labour, and to give the 
labourer as little of that produce as be 
can help; the less of the produce of his 
labour the labourer himself is permitted 
to consume, the more is left to his em¬ 
ployer to use and consume; or, in other 
^ords, the less of the time of the labourer 
that is employed in raising such coarse 
food, and furnishing such cioathing as he 
consumes, the more is left to be employed 
i'll the refined works which are consumed 
by the opulent; or, which is the same 
thing, the fewer hands are employed in 
the produce of coarse food and raiment 
for’the working people, the more hands 
fiiay be thrown into the refined manu¬ 
factures. The labourer, with respect to 
his employer, is precisely in the same 
.situation as the labouring horse or ox is 
with respect to the farmer ; the greater 
the produce of the labour of the ox, and 
the less of the produce of the farm he 
Consumes, the more is left to the farmer, 
or ultimately to the landlord, to take to 
himself,* 
Now the essence, or the malignity, if 
I may so call it, of corruption, consists 
in giving to a small part of the people too 
. * This subject is fully treated in an Essay 
»n the Effects of Civilization. 
great a share of that influence, or w’eight, 
in the legislative body, that ought to be 
equally distributed among the whole 
people; for it thus gives a power to a class 
of the people to favour their own inter¬ 
ests, to the prejudice of the whole people. 
According to the present system, th« 
persons of property and wealth ordy are 
represented ; the representatives exclu¬ 
sively are of that class, and their effect¬ 
ive and real constituents are of that class 
also exclusively. Of the class of the 
poor no member sits in the house, Nsr 
are any of the real and effective consti¬ 
tuents of that class ; the poor man never, 
or rarely ever, gives his vote free and 
uninfluenced: hence, the whole legisla¬ 
tive authority and power, and indeed 
the executive too, are in one class, and 
that containing comparatively, a very 
small part of the whole people ; and yet; 
the other class (tlie great bulk of the 
people) have surely some right.* Those 
that in the house do support them, in 
cases that materially affect their own in¬ 
terests, must be, if any such there be, 
men of uncommon degrees of disinterested 
virtue, and for the poor to depend on 
these rarse aves, is a very precarious si¬ 
tuation. 
In the late wranglings in the House, 
it was obvious to observe, that, though 
the different parties in it quarrel vehe¬ 
mently among themselves, who shall 
have the greatest share of this influence 
over the class of poor; yet they ail agree 
that it is those who possess property, that 
is themselves, who should and ought to 
possess this influence over the other class, 
in the direction of their votes; and by 
that means fill the‘ house w'ith members 
of their own class. There does not ap¬ 
pear to be the least design to abolish un¬ 
due influence or corruption ; on the con¬ 
trary, it seems the general endeavour to 
increase it. 
Now, when we consider that this in¬ 
fluence is a power assumed to dispose the 
rights and liberties of a helpless people, 
who can help regretting the degraded 
state of this great mass of, the people; 
whose rights and liberties, without their 
knowledge, are thus bargained for and 
sold, with as little scruple, and in the 
same manner, as the cattle in Smitbfield 
are sold ; and the poor subjects of these 
bargains and sales are as little acquainted 
la many enclosure Bills, the taking a 
rail from a mound, is made a capital crime. 
There are v.irlous otlier such instances, to 
secure private interests. 
with 
