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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
> he > requirement of the lew oan he & *> readily ^ vadad by the creation of a fictitious ownership , as to make it a &ullity « ' The present qualification for a seat in the British House of Commons is notoriously evaded , and ha § , probably , never kept half a dozen men out of Parliament since it existed . If any have owed their exclusion to this cause , they have been just such as ought to have been admitted
in preference to any other ; such as were more scrupulously conscientious than the generality of their species . The regulation has therefore been positively injurious , in regard to any effect which it may have had in sifting one description of men from another ; while in attempting that object , it has given rise to perjury , or to something approaching to it , and thus done , what all restrictions which can be successfully evaded inevitably do , lowered public morality . When we first look at this
requirement , it appears to have something whimsical on its surface . The legislators who imposed it seem to say to the electors , "We have resolved that we will not suffer you to vote for any candidate , who is not in possession of freehold property worth three hundred pounds per annum . To have a representative in Parliament who had less than this amount of this particular description of property would be highly injurious , and we therefore will not permit him to sit , although you should be
imprudent enough to depute him . In other respects , we think you competent to use your own discretion . We , consequently , do not prohibit you from delegating a gambler , a drunkard , a fool , a seducer of innocence , an uneducated , illiterate , or ignorant interloper * a liar , or a swindler . If you can make up your minds to choose representatives of this character , you are at liberty to do so ; but we cannot intrust you with the perilous discretion of selecting a poor man , however virtuous or able , uor < ian we confide to you the dangerous privilege of fixing your choice © n ^ a man ,
however large his income may be , who possesses nothing but suclj evanescent property au leasehold estates , canals , rail-roads , public funds , manufactories , machinery , and ships . The danger which would arise from your choosing a virtuous and highly-gifted poor man , or the estimable owner of even immense personal property , so infinitely transcends that which would be the consequence of selecting the moat abandoned profligate , that , while we permit you to follow your inclination in the latter case , we mo 8 t rigorously prohibit you from exercising any option
in the former . " '—pp . 173—175 . A law , disqualifying men from sitting in the legislative assembly on account of possessing more than a certain amount of property , might be defended on better grounds than that which excludes individuals on account of their indigence . The possessors of extraordinary wealth have , In the first place , little sympathy with the great body of the people . Accustomed to command their gratifications , to have everything presented to them almost as the wish for it rises in their minds , and to view
their fellow-creatures as inferior beings , existing to contribute to their enjoyment , it is impossible for them to enter into the pains and pleasures of individuals hourly struggling in the world , some for a bare subsistence , and some for the preservation of their position in society . v But not only have eminently rich men little sympathy with others , but llioji art * deficient in another point—iu hahits . of intellectual exertion fuul Hjvi ^ WatMMi to real but * ine& * . Mental e fforts are not made without indueemppts ,, and . t ) i& easy jumper in , winch { hftjich may 8 tlq&hea are
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1835, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2645/page/34/
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