date

18 June 1811 Parl. Reform On
18 June 1811

Parl. Reform

On S.C. N o 3

7

Such, in M r S.C.’s view of them are his opposition: a body of men who the service they render /he sees rendered/ consisting more in profession than in action, do not in his estimation appear to stand quite so high as their high charactered and consequential rivals.

In my view of them the misfortune here is - that in the bosoms of these watchmen the same sinister interest as you /we/ have seen operating on their unfortunate rivals - the same sinister interest coupled with correspondent though not equal power keeps operating /working/ as we have seen operating on those of their more fortunate /fortune-favoured/ rivals: the same interest coupled with corresponding power: and in consequence of the action /operation/ of that sinister interest and that power, the same ends pursued and by correspondent means.

Between the one and the other where then lies /wherein then consists/ the difference? Answer that as to means, what the one have in possession, the other have but in prospect, and as to ends, what /those which/ the one pursue at a loss the others pursue at a greater distance.
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  • Title: [18 June 1811 Parl. Reform On]
    Description: 18 June 1811

    Parl. Reform

    On S.C. N o 3

    6

     Add community of interest and consequent community of […?]

    {Thus in my view of the case /matter/ /of it/ - stands the case /matter/ so far as concerns such of these persons of the first character and consequence as are in or in league with administration at and for the time being.}

    But in addition to these excellent persons, as against whom, according to the description given of these by S.C. every thing in the way of which should be either mischievous or useless “(besides the check which one House of Parliament has over the other” (a sort of check which by S.C. himself is upon this occasion not inaptly put into a parenthesis) “we are never without an opposition” (it seems /says he/) “to keep {(please to observe to keep not that do keep}) “a constant watch over the Ministers, and who being themselves candidates for power can only hope to obtain it by professing more purity of principle than their rivals, and are themselves as narrowly watched by their rivals as when they change situations.”
  • Title: [18 June 1811 Parl. Reform On]
    Description: 18 June 1811

    Parl. Reform

    On S.C. N o 3

    8

    As to aims[?] it is the interest of each party to oppose the others one but so it is when in power, to organize new ones.

    As to the means, they consist the chief of them in the nullity of the influence of the people, the effect of the abuses in the Representation, and in the quantity of unnecessary warfare.

    As to those grand points Administration and Opposition - In and Outs - the interest is the same: line of conduct pursued is accordingly the same.

    Under the existing order of things, the country - with all that there in is is a possession of a certain set of Borough Holders and County-holders considered and disposed of, not as an object of trust but as a subject of property: the Borough seats and the County seats being divided between the two sides of the board, the ups and the downs - in proportion variable and varying indeed, but still /even/ in some proportion or other, so /thus/ divided.

    Propose to impair the value of this property, propose to restore it to the footing of a trust - to that footing on which even by the acknowledgement of S.C. himself it originally stood in former times - propose any thing of this tendency, peace is immediately established between these moderate and placable adversaries: peace with unity neverfailing union against the common enemy - the people. Make a stand is the cry on one side - make a stand is the echo on the other: within doors none but amicable rivals: it is without doors only that any real adversaries any permanent and unchangeable /perpetual and total/ opposition of interests is to be found /without doors stand the only and the real enemies: meaning by enemies not those who are disposed to be such, but such whose destiny /lot/ /fate/ is to be treated as such/.
  • Title: [18 June 1811 Parl. Reform On]
    Description: 18 June 1811

    Parl. Reform

    On S.C. N o 3

    5

    Exactly opposite is the interest of S.C.’s “658 men of the first character and consequence (with a very few exceptions) in the country, or at any rate what comes to the same thing of the only part of them /those /all/ among them/ who can find motive for that constancy of /any adequate degree of constancy in/ attendance on which the general result depends.

    It is their interest that, to the utmost amount that the people will endure, pensions without public service, pensions for […?] mischief to the public for service done to men in power at the expence and to the injury of the public should continually be bestowed, sinecures that to the utmost possible /endurable/ amount in respect of the numbers as well as quantity of emolument attached to each, sincerity[?], unless places and overpaid places should be preserved /created/ and upon every favourable occasion created - that as well in the shape of money as in every other shape, benefits at the expence of the people should be heaped up upon those whose study it is by well-applied obsequiousness to render themselves useful and /or agreable to men in power:

    and that to this end waste not only of honours, dignities and so forth but of public money should continually have place to the utmost amount that the people can be brought to endure, and above all, as being that source of waste in comparison of which all others put together was as nothing, that unnecessary, ever unnecessary either if not from its very commencement, as to its continuance be {and frequently as possible} kindled, and as long as possible kept up.