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those with whom I have hitherto acted, it will be to me a matter of the most serious concern. I have always been, and still am, a sincere and zealous friend to civil and religious free dom, and I have therefore been anxious that the conduct of affairs should be entrusted to persons resting upon some more solid and constitutional basis of power than mere court favour, and that some check should be given to the influence of the crown, so increased with our increasing establishments, and with these objects in view I have been naturally led to concur, for the most part, with those that opposed the ministers of the crown. But if these objects, the attainment of which I do not despair of under the existing order of things, are to be pursued by means of a change in the constitution of the country, if we are to put every thing at stake in order to remedy a partial grievance, why then, sir, I can only say, that "non hæc in fœdera veni," I have made no such engagement, I will embark in no such design, I will subscribe to none of these new articles of faith, borrowed from the Gallican church, to be added to our ancient creed. The "Borough System," as it is invidiously called, existed very nearly in its present form in what are justly consider ed as the best times. Perhaps the nature of liberty may be a great deal better understood now than it was by our ancestors, and it may be idle to appeal to the authority of statesmen who flourished a hundred years ago, For my own part, however, I am not ambitious to live and die under a better constitution than that which was bequeathed to us by those great men that brought about the Revolution of 1688. These men were neither ignorant of the foundation upon which their rights rested, nor timid or lukewarm in asserting them; they were men capable of proceeding to the

VOL. V. PART I.

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boldest deeds upon the most enlightened principles, and who had not hesitated, in defence of their civil and religious liberties, to hurl their sovereign from his throne, and begin a new era in the history of their country. And yet, sir, when the authors and supporters of that measure had accomplished their object, when Lord Halifax, and Lord Somers, and Lord Godolphin, and Lord Sunderland, the Cavendishes, and the Russells, when all the great families, and all the most illustrious individuals, who acted upon what were then called Whig principles, imagined, vainly (as it has been lately discovered,) and foolishly imagined, that they had reared a fabric under which they and their posterity might live to happiness and to glory, the people of England were just as imperfectly represented in parliament as they are now. In those days, as well as in these, the elective franchise was vested in decayed towns and in small corporations; and, as far as it can be ascertained, as many persons owed their seats to individual influence as at the present moment, and yet no person appears so much as to have pretended that these anomalies_were in their nature grievances, or that it was necessary to render the House of Commons a purely democratical assembly in order to preserve the liberties of the people. Be it right or be it wrong, this doctrine is not of ancient date, as some persons idly pretend, and without the least colour of authority from history or tradition, but is the mere offspring of the age in which we live. Whether or not it is to prevail, whether the present order of things draws to a close, or whether, notwithstanding some unfavourable appearances, the same good sense and good fortune, which have conducted the people of England to that pinnacle of prosperity on which they now stand, will be sufficient to

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avert their minds from these delusive phantoms of imaginary happiness and unattainable perfection, I am as yet unable to foresee; I am willing to hope for the best; but there are symptoms in the publie mind and in the conduct of some of our most eminent public men, that make me tremble for the worst. ""

Allusions were made in the course of the debate to the number of placemen and pensioners in the house, to whose votes the triumphs of ministers over their opponents were of course ascribed. These reflections drew a short reply from Mr Perceval, of which the following passage places this famous topic of declamation in a very luminous point of view. "He had no objection to the lists of the majority and minority being dissected. If this were done in order to leave none who were biassed by interest in favour of government, all the placemen would be at once struck off as a

dead weight. But if they struck off from the list all who were in possession of places on the one side, he hoped they would not object to strike off all who were in expectation of places on the other. And they would give him leave to couple with this consideration a request that it might be remembered, that a place could be possessed but by one, but it could be expected by more than one. Let them then take away those who possessed places on the one side, and who expected them on the other, and he would be perfectly willing to go to a division with the rest." Besides its intrinsic merit, this passage will not be without interest to many readers; the words were among the last which were spoken by Mr Perceval in the House of Commons. The speech, of which this forms a part, was pronounced on Friday the 8th May, 1812, and on Monday the 11th this great and virtuous man was assassinated.

CHAP. III.

Returns under the Population Act laid before Parliament. Barrack Estimates. Debates on some recent Appointments. Mr Creevey's Motion respecting the Tellership of the Exchequer. Sinecure Office Bill. The Budget. Finance Resolutions.

THE increase of population has, in general, been considered by statesmen as a great advantage in itself, and an unequivocal symptom of the prosperity and happiness of the state. The researches of an able and original writer of the present day have thrown new lights on the subject; they have shewn that a proposition which was once almost universally received, must be taken under important limitations; that the increase of population is not in itself a positive good, but may in some cases be a very strong symptom of misgovernment, and that it is only when the means of subsistence are increased in the same ratio with the numbers of the people, that the rapid growth of population ought to be desired. The general principle which pervades the Essay on Population must command the assent of all who are capable of understanding the subject; but, like many other excellent principles, it is often forgotten amid the complication of details, and the variety of aspects which every great political question presents in its application to practice. But when we find that population has been increasing, while the comforts of the great body of the people have, at the same time, been improved; that the losses inevitably sustained in a course

of protracted warfare have not been felt, but that the energies of the country have risen superior to the difficulties with which it has been surrounded, the advantages of an increased population are at once unquestionable and unmixed; and the reasons for congratulating the country on such a state of things may be deduced from the most enlarged and liberal principles of political philosophy. Such was, in fact, the state of England, after twenty years of general warfare, in which she took so great a part and made so conspicuous a figure.

A comparative statement of the population of the several counties of Great Britain in the years 1801 and 1811, together with the returns under the act passed in the last session of parliament, were laid before the House of Commons. It may be proper to mention here, that no regular census had been taken of the population of England, Scotland, and Wales, until the year 1801, when Mr Abbot's bill was passed, which was followed up in the last session by Mr Rose's act, under which the late enumeration was completed. When the accounts were presented, Mr Rose made some excellent remarks on this important subject.-From the papers on the table,

it appeared, that, in the course of the last ten years, viz. since the census of 1801, an increase of population, to the amount of more than one million and a half, had taken place. In England that increase appeared to be in a ratio of fourteen per centum, in Wales twelve, and in Scotland thirteen. This increase of population exhibited an extent and duration unexampled in the history of the country: and what was still more surprising, the increase of the males had been as great as that of the females. The total population of England, Scotland, and Wales, in 1801, was 10,472,048 ; it now amounted to 11,911,644, making an increase of 1,439,596 persons actually resident in the country; which, added to 170,000 serving in the army and navy abroad, made a total amount of 1,609,498. It is a singular proof of the energies of the country, that the population should have increased so fast, when the drain of men for the army, navy, and mercantile service is considered. It might be said, that at a period when the country exhibited such an increased population, employ ment for the lower orders had diminished; but in the manufacturing counties, and there only, had a temporary failure occurred. Every where else, the demand for labour kept pace with the increase of the population.-But taking the whole circumstances of the country into consideration, it was of great importance to the empire that the population exhibited this progressive increase. Some persons were of opinion, that the apparent increase in the present census arose, in some measure, from the imperfect execution of the former act; but the census of 1801, which was entrusted to the same persons who were employed on the present occasion, was very nearly correct. A subject of very grave importance stood connected with this increase of population-the facility of supplying

the people with food. The high price of provisions at home, and the uncer tainty of a supply of grain from other countries, called upon the legislature to devise means to enable the country to sustain its population independently of foreign aid. The amount of the importations of grain was placed in a clear point of view by an account produced about the same time with the returns of the population. By that account it appeared, that during eleven years, from 1775 to 1786, the average quantity of grain imported annually was 564,413 quarters; from 1787 to 1798, 1,136,101 quarters; and from 1799 to 1810, including three years of scarcity, 1,471,003 quarters. The average prices were 30s. per quar ter, in the first period, 40s. in the se cond, and 60s. in the third. During the last year not less than 4,271,000l. went out of the country for the suste nance of the inhabitants-a matter of most serious importance to the public interest. By another account, it ap peared that the consumption of wheat and flour imported from foreign countries, had been progressively increa sing from 1775 to the present time. In 1810, the quantity imported was 693,000 quarters, which clearly proved that the increase in the consumption of wheat was greater than that which had taken place in all the other kinds of grain; and that those who did not formerly consume wheat, now made it a principal part of their food. To meet the growing wants of the population, without having recourse to foreign countries, formed one of the great objects of an en lightened legislation. The inclosure of commons and waste lands had been carried to a great extent; but had not kept pace with the necessities of the country. All the lands fit for the growth of barley, oats, &c. Mr Rose observed, should be continued under that species of tillage; and every en

couragement should be given to the planting of potatoes, which would grow in soils unfit for the cultivation of grain. The fisheries constitute another important source of supply; although it is a singular circumstance that in a maritime country, such as this, fish is rarely to be seen, except at the tables of the rich, the poor receiving little or no benefit from so nutritious an aliment. There may be some prejudices against it; but the exertions of gentlemen in the different districts of the country, if rightly directed, might remove them. Mr Rose concluded, by remarking, that every encouragement was due to any plan which promised to introduce a variety of nutritious food amongst the lower orders, to save a sum of 3,500,000l. annually to the country, increase its agriculture, and, by extending its fisheries, employ 100,000 persons in that way, which, more than any other, tended to uphold the naval greatness of the empire.

In a committee of supply, Mr Wharton moved that a sum, not exceeding 554,4411. be granted for the expenses of the barrack department for the current year.-In the proposed grant, a sum of 138,0001, was included as the estimated expense of a new barrack to be built in the Regent's Park, for the second regiment of Life Guards; and various smaller sums for new buildings of the same kind to be erected at Liverpool, Bristol, and Brighton. Strong objections were made to some of these grants: in consequence of which, a debate of a very singular character arose, of which it would be impossible to offer an abridgement without doing injustice to all the speakers. Mr Whitbread seized the opportunity for attacking the government; and with the ebullitions of his patriotism, mixed some personal reflections on the character of the chief minister. The mildness and dignity

of this eminent man formed a fine contrast to the violence of him who aspired to be his antagonist.-In answer to some objections which had been started by preceding speakers, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said, "that there was a real necessity for erecting new barracks for the Life Guards. Government had been ac tually ejected from the possession of the present ones, and was obliged to make a new agreement with the lessor, paying an annual addition of 9501. for the convenience of remaining in them two or three years longer till others were built. The system of having the men diffused over the metropolis, away from their horses and accoutrements, he thought a very re prehensible one. What might have been the consequences, had such a system been in practice during the late disturbances? Might not the men have been intercepted by the mob from reaching their stables, and the peace of the capital have been most seriously endangered?-The honourable gentle. man imagined, that it would be a work of bad taste, but he could assure him, that he was not conscious of any unnecessary expense. With respect to the barracks at Bristol, it would be hard to ascertain what sort of building it should be which was to last during the war, if that was a principle of limitation which the house would be inclined to adopt. If a barrack was to be built there, considering the extent and population of the town, considering also the accommodation it would afford to the military passing to and from Ireland, he thought it should not be built upon any parsimonious scale. The money that was thrown away under this denomination of expenditure, was chiefly applied to the purchase of temporary barracks, which were now in want of repair. As to Liverpool, it was considered to be a great inconvenience that there should be no bar

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