-1209.], 
and), who wete thus enabled to decide all 
questions in the name of the whole people of 
Great Britain.” 
4. That this meeting believes individual 
patronage in boroughs has increased since 
1795—that the representation of Scotland 
fs extremely influenced and unfree—that there 
are great defects in that of Ireland—and that 
in the English Boroughs called open, the 
yeturns are for the most part obtained for mo- 
ney; wherefore, upon the whole, it is the 
pinion of this meeting, that a great majority 
of the members of the Common’s House are 
so returned, that the nation is not constitution- 
ally represented; while yet it is taxed to 
support an expenditure of seventy millions 
sterling a year. > 
5. Thatin the act (commonly called the act of 
settlement) which placed the House of Bruns- 
wick on the Throne of these realms, it was 
asserted and recognized as the constitutional 
principle, that no person, who ‘¢ hag an office 
er place of profit under the King, or receives 
a pension from-_the Crown, shall be capable 
of serving as a member of the House of 
Commons,” 
6. That it appears by a report laid on the 
table of the House of Commons, in June last, 
that 78 of its members are in the regular re- 
eeipt under the Crown of 178,994l, a- year. 
7. That in 1782 it was declared by Mr. 
Pitt, inthe House of Commons, that ‘‘ seven 
or eight members of that house were sent 
there by the Nabobs of Arcot, and that a 
Foreign State, in enmity to this country, 
might procure a party to act for it under the 
mask and character of members of that 
House. 
8. That such a state of representation is a 
national grievance. ; 
§. That in every department of the State, 
into which inquiry has been made, scandalous 
eorruptions and abuses have been detected. 
10. That the exclusion of the public voice 
from all influence in, and the consequent 
eorruption of, the Government of the Con- 
tinental States, have been the causes of their 
subjugation. : 
11. That so long as the people shall not be 
fairly represeated, corruption will increase ; 
our debts and taxes will accumulate; cur 
resources will be dissipated ; the native ener- 
py of the people will be depressed; and the 
country deprived of its best defence against 
foreign foes. 
12. That to remedy the great and glaring 
evils of which we complain, jt is not neces- 
sary to have recourse to theoretical specula- 
tions, or dangerous experiments in govern- 
ment, -but to recur to the principles handed 
down to us by the wisdom and virtue of our 
forefathers. ’ 
_ 13. That the remedy is to be found, and 
to be found only, ina full and fair represen- 
tation uf the people in the Commons Hause 
of Parliament; a remedy equally necessary 
to the safety of the Fhrone, and the happi- 
Bess and independence of the country. 
State of Public Affairs in May. 
nothing but the truth. 
505 
14. That we therefore recommend to every 
town, city, and county, to take the state of the 
representation into consideration, and urgent - 
ly, but temperately, to apply to parliament to 
adopt such measures as shall secure to the 
nation the reality and us of representation. 
Mr. Mavpocks in supporting these’ re- 
solutions stated, that he believed they 
contained the truth, the whole truth, and 
He had made 
out a short abstract of the state of the 
representation in the House of Commons, 
There were 26 burgage tenures, that 
were private property, which returned 
52 members; there were 51 boroughs, 
the voters, in each of which did not, on 
the average, exceed 50 in number; which 
boroughs returned 100 members ; 23 bo- 
roughs, in each of which the number of 
voters did not exceed 100, returned 45 — 
members; 25 boroughs in each of which 
the voters did not exceed 200, returned 
56 members. At the end of the list 
there were two unfortunate boroughs, the 
voters of which did not exceed 200, who 
returned four members; 257 members 
being precisely a majority of the leading 
members of the House of Commons of 
England, were returned by 11 375 voters. 
They had thus taken aview of numbers, 
from which he begged to divert their ate 
tention to the subject of influence. In 
the year 1793, it was stated that 71 
Peers and the Treasury returned 126 
members. In the calculation of the 
Friends of the People, m 1795S, no cal- 
culation could be taken of subsequent 
events, which have creatly altered tle 
state and extent of influence with respect 
to. the representation in the House of 
Commons. Since 1793, 18 Peers had 
‘been created, who have influence over 
39 Members, (Loud c®es of Infumous }) 
Shameful /) besides which six Baronets 
created since that time, have influence 
over 11 members. Altogether without 
the Baronets, there wete 206 members 
influenced by Peers and the Treasury. 
The English Peers made in the present 
reign, returned 141 members, and the 
Irish Peers made during the same period, 
upwards of 50. There were upwards of 
200 members influenced by Peers created 
during the present reign, besides the in- 
fluence they have in counties ; for he had 
only been talking of boroughs. © The 
counties of Bucks, York, and Cambridge, 
were now represenied by the sous of 
Peers. He hoped the people would 
search to the bottom -of-the principles ot 
the Boreugh- Faction. The Borough- 
mongers in the House of Comnions, to 
the number of 91, returned 139 mem- 
bers. 
