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    groaned for the two last centuries . Their abominable Inquisition must be -destroyed , its nonsense about the incarnation will not degrade the people , its ridiculous idols will be overturned , its monks and priests will be turned into honest and industrious subjects , and its

    allegiance to the holy see will vapish . Whether this is done by a cortez or by a Buonaparte the result will be happy for Spain ; and a nation that will not improve itself deserves to be placed into the hands of others who will not permit such abominations .

    Every thing is at rest between the governor and assembly of J amaica , the military general having been properly made to beiid before the assembly . There could be no doubt of this being the end of the affairs , as we are not yet under a military government . Our hopes rerespecting North America are baffled , for it is now ascertained that the treaty U not to be ratified , as the ambassador

    on our side went contrary to his instructions . It is expected , however , that means will be found to reconcile the differences , and a state of outward amity at least will be restored . The parliament , by its mutilation of Mr . Curwen * s bill , shewed its ideas of the nature of reform , and in the House of Commons it gave occasion for many debates : but a chief feature in it was the occasion it gave for many severe reflections on Sir F . Burdett and

    his party , which , though a very small party , may be called the third party , and produce hereafter many important changes in favour of the people . Sir F . Burdett wished to pledge the House to take the subject of the representation into consideration next session , and he introduced a motion for this purpose ;

    and in the course of his speech , after having shewn , in a clear manner , the eviL of the present borough-mongering system , and the tyranny it exercised over both king and people , he laid down the plan which he proposed to remedy

    them . I hi ; plan he did not present as absolutely perfect , but as holding out sufficient objects for future discus ion , from which might be extracted whatever the occasion required . His plan was this ; that ail freeholders , copyholders , and householders , paying direct taxation to the support of the s . tate , the church , and the poor , should have a v < tte , a division of the country into districts , of which each should have irs

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    member ; all the elections to take place in one day , ^ and the votes to be collected in the parishes , and the shortening of the duration of parliaments . No person to be excluded from voting , not even the exciseman . These steps appeared to the worthy baronet quite suf 1 - ficient , and calculated to satisfy the people , to preserve the crown , and to restore the balance of the constitution .

    —The motion was opposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer , who treated it with great levity , seeing no need for reform , and deny in < r that the people wished for it . Mr . Maddocks supported the motion , and wished for a real and efficient representation , approving very highly the extending of the

    right of voting to householders , as they were for the most part fathers of families . He ridiculed , with just severity , the giving to an old wall , or a fewstones , the privilege of sending members to pailiament , and asserted his readiness to prove that five thousand pounds had been paid to the Treasury for a seat , by Mr . Dick , who was

    induced to resign , on account of the difference of opinion between hinwnd the Treasury on the subject of the Duke of York . Sir B . Williams opposed the motion , and Sir J . Hall thought that it would tend to a complete revolution , and that the rotten boroughs might do good . Mr flutchinson applauded Sir F . for his noble and manly speech , and declared his conviction ihut there was

    a crying necessity for reform , after the avowal in the ? House that seats were bought and sold . Mr . Western had always been for reform , and was for the pledge . Mr . Barham was averse to

    the pledge , but approved the speech of the mover . Sir T . Turt ^ on did not concur in every part of the proposed pkin , and was not fund of pledges , yet he thought that" the representation ought to be taken into consideration , a * id should

    vote for the question , if it cume to a division . The enemies to reform put him in mind of squire Western , iu Tom . Jo nes , who swore that he would be d—d if lie went to church if one point in the Liturgy was amended . Mr .

    Tracey asserted that the people , from one end of the kingdom to the othci t wished tor reform ; that it had been kept down only by the arts of its adversaries , in linking it with the French revolution and the cry of no popery , Without pled ing" himself to the plan ,

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    State of Public Affairs . 349

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1809, page 349, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1737/page/47/