well as future contracts. Immediately afterwards, the Rockingham ministry coming into office, adopted a measure so consonant with their own policy; and, under such auspices, it was at length passed. It was another legislative condemnation of corrupt influences in Parliament. Abuses condenined ment. In weighing the evidence of parliamentary corruption, which is accessible to us, allowance must be made for the hostility of many of by Parlia the witnesses. Charges were made against the government of the day, by its bitterest opponents; and may have been exaggerated by the hard colouring of party. But they were made by men of high character and political eminence; and so generally was their truth acknowledged, that every abuse complained of was ultimately condemned by Parliament. Were all the measures for restraining corruption and undue influence groundless? Were the evils sought to be corrected imaginary? The historian can desire no better evidence of contemporary evils than the judgment of successive Parliaments, pronounced again and again, and ratified by posterity. The wisdom of the legislature averted 2 The bill contained an exception in favour of persons subscribing to a public loan. It was said, however, that the loan was a more dangerous engine of influence than contracts, and ultimately the exception was omitted, it being generally understood that a separate bill should be brought in for that purpose,' which, however, was never done. This matter, as stated in the debates, is exceedingly obscure and inconsistent, and scarcely to be relied upon, though it was frequently adverted to, in decussing the question of Baron Rothschild's disability in 1855. 2 In painting the public vices of his age, Cowper did not omit to etigmatise, as it deserved, its political corruption. 'But when a country (one that I could name), the ruin of the constitution, which the philosophical Montesquieu had predicted, when he said, 'Il périra, lorsque la puissance legislative sera plus corrompue que l'exécutrice." State of society early in the reign Such was the state of society in the first years of the reign of George III. that the vices of the government received little correction of Geo. III. from public opinion. A corrupt system of government represented but too faithfully, the prevalent corruption of society. Men of the highest rank openly rioted in drunkenness, gambling, and debauchery: the clergy were indifferent to religion : the middle classes were coarse, ignorant, and sensual; and the lower classes brutalised by neglect, poverty, and evil examples. The tastes and habits of the age were low: its moral and intellectual standard was debased. All classes were wanting in refinement, and nearly all in education. Here were abounding materials for venal senators, greedy place-hunters, and corrupt electors. How popular prin ciples were kept alive. Having viewed the imperfections of the representative system, and the various forms of corruption by which the constitution was. formerly disfigured, we pause to inquire how popular principles, statesmanship, and public 1 Livre xi. c. 6. Lord Bolingbroke wrote in the same spirit:Whenever the people of Britain become so degenerate and base, as to be induced by corruption, for they are no longer in danger of being awed by prerogative, to choose persons to represent them in Parliament, whom they have found by experience to be under an influence arising from private interest, dependents on a court, and the creatures of a minister; or others that are unknown to the people that elect them, and having no recommendation but that which they carry in their purses: then may the enemies of our constitution boast, that they have got the better of it, and that it is no longer able to preserve itself, nor to defend liberty.'-Works, iii. 274. virtue were kept alive, amid such adverse influences?' The country was great and glorious; and its history, -though stained with many blots,-is such as Englishmen may justly contemplate with pride. The people, if enjoying less freedom than in later times, were yet the freest people in the world. Their laws, if inferior to modern jurisprudence, did not fall short of the enlightenment of the age, in which Parliament designed them. How are these contrasts to be explained and reconciled? How were the people saved from misgovernment? What were the antidotes to the baneful abuses which prevailed? In the first place, parliamentary government attracted the ablest men to the service of the state. Whether they owed their seats to the patronage of a peer, to the purchase of a borough, or to the suffrages of their fellow-countrymen, they equally enlightened Parliament by their eloquence, and guided the national councils by their statesmanship. In the next place, the representation,— limited and anomalous as it was,-comprised some popular elements; and the House of Commons, in the worst times, still professed its responsibility to the people, and was not insensible to public opinion. Nor can it be denied that the small class, by whom the majority of the House of Commons was returned, were the most instructed and enlightened in the country; and as Englishmen, were generally true to principles of freedom. Of all ingenious instruments of despotism,' said Sydney Smith, I most commend a popular assembly where the majority are paid and hired, and a few bold and able mer, by their brave speeches, make the people believe they are free.'-Mem., ii. 214. 6 Two other causes, which exercised a wholesome restraint upon Parliament and the governing class, are to be found in the divisions of party,-finely called by Sir Bulwer Lytton the sinews of freedom,' -and the growing influence of the press. However prone the ruling party may sometimes have been to repress liberty, the party in opposition were forced to rely upon popular principles; and pledged to maintain them, at least for a time, when they succeeded to power. Party again supplied, in some degree, the place of intelligent public opinion. As yet the great body of the people had neither knowledge nor influence: but those who enjoyed political power, were encouraged by their rivalries and ambition, not less than by their patriotism, to embrace those principles of good government, which steadily made their way in our laws and institutions. Had all parties combined against popular rights, nothing short of another revolution could have overthrown them. But as they were divided and opposed, the people obtained extended liberties, before they were in a position to wrest them from their rulers, by means of a free representation. Meanwhile the press was gradually creating a more elevated public opinion, to which all parties were obliged to defer. It was long, however, before that great political agent performed its office worthily. Before the press can be instructive, there must be enlightenment, and public spirit among the people : it takes its colour from society, and reflects its prevailing vices. Hence, while flagrant abuses in the government were tolerated by a corrupt society, the press was venal,-teeming with scurrilous libels and factious falsehoods, in the interests of rival parties, -and disfigured by all the faults of a depraved political morality. Let us be thankful that prin ciples of liberty and public virtue were so strong, as constantly to advance in society, in the press, and in the government of the country. ments for mentary The glaring defects and vices of the representative system, which have now been exposed,-the restricted and unequal franchise, the bribery Arguof a limited electoral body, and the corrup- Parliation of the representatives themselves, Reform. formed the strongest arguments for parliamentary reform. Some of them had been partially corrected; and some had been ineffectually exposed and denounced; but the chief evil of all demanded a bolder and more hazardous remedy. The theory of an equal representation,-at no time very perfect,had, in the course of ages, been entirely subverted. Decayed boroughs, without inhabitants,—the absolute property of noblemen,-and populous towns without electors, returned members to the House of Commons but great manufacturing cities, distinguished by their industry, wealth, and intelligence, were without representatives. Schemes for partially rectifying these inequalities were proposed at various times, by states- Lord Chatmen of very different opinions. Lord scheme of ham's reform, Chatham was the first to advocate reform. 1770. Speaking, in 1766, of the borough representation, he called it 'the rotten part of our constitution ;' and said it cannot continue a century. If it does |