the Lords, he could not discover by what understood of new parliaments, for prorule of reason or law, they, who were rogations and adjournments were then only representatives, could enlarge, to unknown. Every long interruption of their own advantage, the authority dele- parliament has been attended with misgated to them; or, that by virtue of such chief and inconvenience to the people. delegated authority, they could destroy In the Declaration of Rights, at the revthe fundamental rights of their constitu- olution, it is asserted, as the undoubted tion. The house possesses no legislative right of the subject, that parliaments right but what it derives from the peo- should be held frequently; and the preple. Their trust is, therefore, a triennial amble of the bill declares, "That by the one, and if it is extended beyond the ancient laws and statutes of the realm strict legal duration, they cease, from frequent parliaments ought to be held, that moment, to be the trustees of the and that frequent new parliaments tend people, and become their own electors. very much to the happy union, and the From that instant they would assume an good agreement of the king and his peounwarrantable stretch of power, and ple." To establish the sovereign in the take upon themselves to create a new hearts of his subjects, this is the most constitution. Though it is a received sure and effectual way. Such frequent maxim in civil science, that the supreme appeals to the people generate confilegislature cannot be bound, yet, an ex- dence, and confidence is a great advance ception is necessarily implied, that it is towards agreement and affection. But restrained from subverting the founda- long parliaments are a violation of the tion on which it stands. The Triennial liberty of the people. They engender Act, which restored the freedom and fre- distrust between the prince and his subquency of parliaments, was a concession jects, who are thereby deprived of the made to the people by King William, in only remedy which they have against the midst of his difficulties. A standing those who either do not understand, or parliament, which this bill went to estab- through corruption wilfully betray the lish, has been said to resemble a standing sacred trust reposed in them. And this pool, the waters of which grow, for want remedy is, to choose better men in their of a fresh and free current, offensive and fetid; but the present parliament may be more justly compared to a torrent, which, in its furious and foaming course, desolates the land, bearing down all the land marks and ancient mounds which have been raised to confine it within its regular and accustomed banks.

places. The fate of this bill was predetermined, and passed by a majority of 264 against 121, although the whole body of the people had a right to protest against it, in behalf of themselves and their posterity.

RIGHT OF VOTING.

With respect to the different cities, Not septennial, but annual, parlia- towns, and boroughs, they exercise a vaments are derived from our ancient con- riety of separate and distinct privileges, stitution, and every departure from its scarcely capable of being classed in any principles has been attended with incon- methodical order, and still less of being venience and injury. As one of the ob- ascertained by the application of any jects of this bill was to prevent animosi- fixed principle. In the greater part of ties and divisions attending frequent them, indeed, the right of voting appears elections, and which are chiefly of a pri- to be vested in the freemen of bodies vate nature, and little affect the public, corporate; but under this general term, this bill has been found more calculated an infinite diversity of peculiar customs to inflame than to extinguish them. It is to be found. In some places, the is calculated, not to strengthen the hands number of votes is limited to a select of the executive powers, but to lessen its body not exceeding ten; in others, it is influence with foreign nations. Fre- extended to eight or ten thousand. In quent parliaments are coeval with the some places, the freeman must be a resiconstitution. In the reign of Edward dent inhabitant to entitle him to vote; the Third, it was enacted that parlia- in others, his presence is required only at ments should be holden every year once, an election. The right to the freedom and oftener if need be. This must be is also different in different boroughs,

and may, according to peculiar usage, be dreds and tythings in each county, the obtained by birth, servitude, marriage, system of representation may be renovatredemption, &c. &c. ed, and a reform obtained upon either of

The remaining rights of voting are of these principles. Such a number of the a still more complicated description. hundreds as would have a right to choose Burgageholds, leaseholds, and freeholds, one member of parliament might be asscot and lot inhabitants, householders, sociated into a district for that purpose, inhabitants at large, potwallopers, and and the poll be taken in each hundred commonalty, each in different boroughs before the constable on the same day prevail, and create endless misunder- and hour all over Great Britain and Irestandings and litigation. This arises land. All disputes about the right of from the difficulty which is daily found voting would thus be removed; every in defining and settling the legal import man would be known and recognized in of those numerous distinctions which, in his own hundred. All expense of carsome places, commit the choice of two rying electors from one end of the kingmembers to as many inhabitants as ev- dom to another to vote would be preery house can contain; in others, to the vented; and all the confusion, tumult, possessor of a spot of ground, where and riot attending the present mode of neither houses nor inhabitants have been election would be avoided. No individseen for years; and which, in many in- ual at present possessing the right of votstances have even baffled the wisdom of ing would be disqualified, and every parliament to determine who are entitled man having a claim to that privilege to vote, or what constitutes their right.

would be restored to it. By thus dividTo restore the ancient right of election, ing the counties into single districts, the as it was exercised in the tythings of the absurdity and inconvenience of choosing respective hundreds in each county by two persons, very often of opposite printhe householders in numerical divisions, ciples, to represent the same place, would would at once correct all the existing likewise be avoided. Such agents, inabuses, and establish a representation stead of uniting to serve their principles, of the people perfectly fair and equal. can only be employed in counteracting It would extinguish all contentions about each other, if they act at all, and finally elective rights, and save millions of mon- leave their constituents, without an effecey wasted in expensive contests. The tive voice in parliament. elective franchise ought to be common and personal; and, if not exercised by This town is as independent as any in all, which, by the earliest writs of Ed- England. The Duke of Bedford and ward the First, we find to have been the Mr. Whitbread possess an interest arising constitutional right of the people, the from great landed property, and deservqualification should be so moderate, that ed popularity, but not that arbitrary and there might be no condition in life in unconstitutional command which is atwhich it should not be in the power of tached to the proprietor of a borough, or every individual to acquire it by labour, the owner of six or seven burgage teby industry, or by talent.

BEDFORD.

nures, conveyed on the morning of an election to a few select friends, or to the menial servants of the patron, which we shall be obliged to notice as they come under our review. The more dangerous influence of corruption has never pervaded this town.

If, in the end, this should furnish an election, as we believe it would do, for the whole United Kingdom, by nearly a million and a half of heads of families, enough would be done to guard the rights of property on one hand, and to satisfy the national claims of personal representation on the other; and, if a constituent power so formed, so extend- This borough is not under the influed, and so limited, be not sufficient to ence of a patron; but corruption has create a free and independent house of long obtained in it a systematic establishcommons, the case is desperate; the ob- ment. The price of a vote is forty ject can never be obtained. guineas; and the character, or the political principles, of a candidate are never

By the re-establishment of the hun

WALLINGFORD.

very severely scrutinized where such a custom prevails,

BUCKINGHAM.

This town, although it gives name to the county, is of the utmost insignificance, and comes exactly under the description of a rotten borough. It possessed great opulence, and was the county town, where the assizes were held, until, by the partiality of Lord Chief Justice Baldwin, who bought the manor in the reign of Henry VIII. the county gaol, assizes, and county business were removed to Aylesbury. The corporation consists entirely of the friends and dependants of the Marquis of Buckingham, who has the sole and absolute disposal of the borough.

WENDOVER.

at the revolution, ever since the reign of Charles II. This influence is created and preserved by securing the corpora tion, which does not appear to be immeculate, for more than a century, and by obtaining a lease from the crown of a number of tenements in this city. The members of the corporation, letting these from year to year only, as his lordship's agents, to electors at low rents, operate so far on their fears and necessities as to con trol their independence.

The noblemen who possess political influence in this county are the Duke of Bedford, Duke of Northumberland, Duke of Leeds, Earl of Darlington, Earl of Mount Edgecombe, Viscount Falmouth, Lord Clinton, Lord Elliott, Lord Grenville, and Lord De Dunstanville; but their weight arises more from the control

This is one of that class of excrescences in the constitution, as they were termed by the great Earl of Chatham, they possess over the insignificant and called a proprietary borough. It being the sole and entire property of Lord Carrington, and its elective franchises are transferable in the market like any other goods and chattels.

GREAT MARLOW.

decayed boroughs, than over the county. These noblemen send no less than twe.ty-five out of forty-two members for rotten boroughs within its limits. The Duke of Bedford has transferred his interest in the borough of Camelford to the Earl of This borough is the sole property of Darlington, and the Duke of Leeds is in Owen Williams, esq. of Temple, near danger of losing Helstone, as a bill has this place, one of its present members, passed the House of Commons, and is who purchased one moiety of it about now before the Lords, to extend the twenty years since of the present Sir right of election to the hundred, in conWilliam Clayton, and the other of Sir sequence of the corporation having, for John Borlase Warren. It is one of those many years, sold the representation to many boroughs which can boast of no the highest bidder. privilege except that of voting at the will of a superior.

AMERSHAM.

The county is as independent as any in England, and the gentlemen appear determined to keep it so.

ST. MICHAEL'S.

This borough was the joint property of Lord Viscount Falmouth and Sir Francis Basset, between whom a strong contest for superiority arose at the general

This borough, which includes in its. limits no more than one half of the place which bears the above name, is wholly the property of Thomas Tyrrwhitt Drake, esq. of Shardeloes, near this place. Sir William Drake, bart. bought election in 1784. it of the Earl of Bedford in the reign of Charles II. It is one of those towns which admit of no opposition; for none can be made where no political will is enjoyed, and where the privilege of franchise is only the necessity of obedience.

CHESTER.

Since then, Sir Christopher Hawkins has purchased Sir Francis Basset's property. Sir Francis has been created a peer by the title of Lord De Dunstan ville, and this wretched borough is become the joint property of Lord Falmouth and Sir Christopher Hawkins, or whom each sends a member.

HELSTON.

Although the number of electors is above 1000, its representation has been entirely at the disposal of Earl Grosvenor, At the general election, 1812, a petiwhose family have possessed the same tion of certain electors against the return influence, except in one or two instances of William Horne, esq, and Hugh Ham

EAST AND WEST LOOE.

mersley, stating, that they were elected borough, it is a proof they were not alunder the influence of the Duke of Leeds, ways immaculate. who allowed the corporation an annual sum of money, on condition of their re- The little boroughs of East and West turning to parliament two members un- Looe are separated by a small creek of der the nomination of his Grace. This the sea, over which there is a wooden being fully proved in evidence, a special bridge. This place is called also Portreport of this corrupt practice was made pigham, by which name it is distinguishby the committee to the House of Com- ed in holding courts. Neither of these mons, upon which a motion was made, places can boast of much antiquity, that the attorney-general be ordered to having no parish church belonging to prosecute his Grace George William either of them. In this wretched hamFrederic, Duke of Leeds, for the said let, called West Looe, alias Portpigham, corrupt practices, which passed in the there is not so much as a chapel, though negative by a majority of three votes. the miserable hovel which is now, by A bill was then brought into the House way of derision, we suppose, called the of Commons to extend the right of voting guildhall, was said to have been a chapel, for members of parliament for the bo- which seems likely, because the tower rough of Helston, to the freeholders of was lately standing. This contemptible the hundred in which it is situated; this hamlet, composed of a few fishermen's bill has passed unanimously three times huts, has, like Mitchell, Bossinney, and through the House of Commons, but, by St. Mawes, in this county, the privilege some unaccountable neglect, has been suf- of sending to Parliament two members fered to remain on the table of the House each. of Lords till the two last sessions were ended, and now lies before their lordships for enactment.

TREGONY.

GRAMPOUND.

This borough is part of the manor of Tybestre, belonging to the duchy of Cornwall, of which the corporation holds This is an inconsiderable village, with its charter on paying a fee-farm rent of out trade, commerce, or manufacture. 12. 11s. 4d. per annum. It is in the The elective influence was some time true sense of the word a Cornish bocontested between Lord Falmouth and rough, where the electors, who are fortySir Francis Basset, as were the boroughs two in number, dispose of their suffrages of Mitchell and Truro; but the parties as they are directed by their patron, having agreed to send one member each without having the least knowledge of for the former, Lord Falmouth, who was the representative they send to Parlialord of the great part of the soil in this ment, his character, or qualification: borough, sold his property, and with it nor is his name even communicated to transferred his interest to Sir Francis these constituents, till the curtain is Basset, conditionally that Sir Francis drawn up for the attorney to perform the should withdraw his opposition, and farce of election. transfer his interest in Truro to his lord

DERBY.

ship. Matters being thus satisfactorily The mayor, aldermen, brothers, and arranged, Sir Francis disposed of the whole to Mr. Barwell, the nabob, who afterwards sold it again to the Earl of Darlington.

BOSSIGNY.

capital burgesses, who form the com mon council, are all in the interest of the Duke of Devonshire, and Edward Coke, esq. who, from their consequence and fortune, possess also great influence To point out how this little body of in the borough. They attach their internine self-appointed electors is acted upon est to their patrons by the exercise of is rather difficult. As eight of them be- that power which they assume of maklong to one family, it may easily be con- ing honorary freemen, or, as they are ceived how they keep the secret; but, most usually termed, in this and every as it has been proved before the House other place, faggots. These are made of Commons, that the Duchy Court was from among such persons as have neither once robbed by a candidate to bribe this the claim of birth, servitude, or resi4N MON. MAG. No. 986.

dence. By virtue of this power the About seventy of them reside in Loncorporation can, at any time, create a don, and are continually upon the hunt number of freemen from among the for candidates, under pretence that one Duke of Devonshire's tenants, and those of their members are ill, or about to of Mr. Coke, in various parts of the accept a place, or to be created a peer, county, who will consequently out-num- so that a vacancy is expected, and the ber the legal freemen of the borough; person applied to is sure to be chosen, and these honorary freemen, who want if he will but give a dinner or a supper no qualification but the fiat of the cor- to the burgesses residing in London, and poration, and the having been one whole a few guineas to each by way of a reyear invested with their nominal fran- taining fee. chise, agreeably to the letter of the Durham Act, are qualified to come into the town on the day of election, and to ease the inhabitant freemen of all the inconveniences of a contest, by choosing their members for them.

PLYMOUTH.

This town, together with Stonehouse and Plymouth Dock adjoining, contain a population of more than sixty thousand; and yet the number of voters do not exceed two hundred! The right of voting in this borough was, on the 9th of June, 1660, resolved to be in the mayor and commonalty; but, on the 17th of January, 1739, it was determined, that the word commonalty therein mentioned, extended only to the freemen of the said borough.

KHAMPTON.

The right of election in this borough not having received any determination under the amended Grenville Act, is still open to litigation, and is disputed between the freemen and freeholders, particularly such as are called faggots.

These honest electors had once the fortune to have a candidate as slippery as themselves: he distributed drafts for large sums payable in London; treated the voters with dinners and entertainments; and went off a day or two before the election, leaving his agents, managers, and the unfortunate landlord, who was an innocent man, (having neither a vote nor any concern in the election,) all unpaid, as were his drafts upon London, which he had the folly to believe would secure his election.

HONITON.

The members for this borough are geThis borough was the property of the nerally strangers, who are sought out by late Duke of Bedford, and the present individuals properly instructed, or recEarl Spencer, who sold it to Richard ommended by the treasury. Previous Bateman Robson, esq. and his brother to a vacancy, these dealers in corruption the late Mr. Holland the architect: it endeavour to find a candidate suited to was by them again sold, we understand, for sixty thousand pounds, to Mr. Albany Saville, the present proprietor.

BARNSTAPLE.

their purpose, as rich and unexceptionable as possible, who, depositing a certain sum of money, is sure of having every art and effort exerted in his favour. Thus bribery commences and continues in proportion to the activity of the agents of a third candidate.

If any one borough in the country is more corrupt than another, it is this. The expences of a candidate at a contested election here, is from ten to thirteen thousand pounds. The right of voting is in the corporation, and about four hundred burgesses, not more than a fourth part of whom reside in the town. The rest are distributed in London, Bristol, the East and West Indies, Botany Bay, and all over the world. enced by these or other private consider

The mode pursued is that of giving to each vote from five to fifty guineas, according to the emergency of the contest; and to their wives, meat, clothes, &c.; and also by opening inns, for which purpose a considerable number are permitted to exist. The number of votes influ