date

16 Jan y. 1810 Parl y. Reform
16 Jan y. 1810

Parl y. Reform

4

4

But that it can have been that species of influence that it was his intention to present to view in that light is more than I am able to persuade myself. For the "possessions of property" are the things which on this same occasion he speaks of as being the agents or instruments by which the species of influence which he had in view is exercised, {and how it is that by these instruments any influence should be exercised by the [...?]} how of /as to/ these instruments the ways in which by means of them the will of one man exercises {an} influence and that with the most irresistible efficacy on the will of another man are plain to every body and in the course of these pages have /are/ over and over been brought to view: but whereas of these same instruments of any way in which by means of them the undertaking of one man can exercise influence on the understanding of any other no /{not any}/ intimation not any even the most distant intimation have I been able to find in the course of this speech.

That by the faculty it affords to a man of doing at pleasure good and even without fear of being punished for it, evil to multitudes of men in the character either of tenants or men having goods or labour to all a property of ,50,000 or ,100,000 a year will enable the possessor of it to exercise by his will influence on other wills in no small number is what every one sees without difficulty:
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  • Title: [16 Jan y. 1810 Parl y. Reform]
    Description: 16 Jan y. 1810

    Parl y. Reform

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    Now this position is one which to my view of the matter appears to be inconsistent with true morality: and /viz. as/ to involve in it, and if only by implication, yet by an implication altogether necessary, a defence /an adoption/ of the system of corruption in any the worst applications that can be made of it.

    The term influence I have already had occasion to speak of as susceptible of two very different applications, having the effect of dividing it into two species, in their conceptions as dissimilar to and in their effects as opposite to one another as any two species of acts /things/ that can be imagined: I mean influence of understanding on understanding, and influence of will on will.

    If {it were} the influence exercised by /of/ understanding over understanding if it were that which it was the intention of the Right Honorable Orator /this passage /doctrine// to present to view as that which may and must and ought to have by[?] predominating, in that case it would as little be in my inclination as in my power to depart/ find any reason for departing/ from it.
  • Title: [2 Jan y 1810 + Parl y. Reform]
    Description: 2 Jan y 1810 +

    Parl y. Reform

    {Influence}

    Ch.2.

    '.1.

    1

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    Ch.2. Of Influence - what proper, what sinister.

    Dialogue.

    '.1.

    Objector. In this there is /seems to be/ something plausible at least but in the mean time /after and from all this/, what are we to think of influence?

    In the case /station/ of Member of Parliament - in the station of parliamentary Elector in neither of these stations is there any room, understand any legitimate and proper room - for the exercise of influence?

    Author. O yes: room, aye /yes/ and legitimate and proper room - room for legitimate and proper and due influence, in abundance.

    For this purpose however, a distinction must at the very outset marked out /brought to view/: and by the help of this distinction, in what cases influence may rightly be termed legitimate and proper, in what others illegitimate and improper, not to mention as yet /here/ certain other epithets which there may be occasion for will be rendered manifest beyond dispute.

    The influence of which the impropriety has already been brought to view is the influence of will over or on will. whatsoever influence is exercised on the will of one man considered as acting in either of those stations - in the exercise of either of those public trusts - by the will of any other individual /person/, whether in the like station or in any other. Influence thus exercising itself may as the convenience of discourse requires, be designated by any one of a variety of epithets, viz. illegitimate, improper, as above, sinister, undue, not to speak as yet of corrupt or corruption, of which presently
  • Title: [16 Jan y 1810 Parl y. Reform]
    Description: 16 Jan y 1810

    Parl y. Reform

    '.1.

    2

    2

    Of the two positions that have presented themselves to my view in that light one is that "in the election of Members to serve in this House", the "Influence" which "the possessions of property .... have" is a legitimate influence": viz. such as a man has a "right" to exercise - such as a man " ought to have", and such as ought be "a predominating influence".

    Of the term rights, together with the /its/ attributive /adjunct/ legitimate here adjoined to it the intended import is seems to be put out of all doubt by the words ought to have. The object of them is to present {to view the more legal rights /sort of right /acts//, viz. the faculty of doing such acts as a man has a right to do has inasmuch as he can not be punished for the doing them /having done them/} to view the exercise of the sort of influence in question not merely in the character of an act which a man has a legal right to perform, inasmuch as he can not be punished for having performed it, but in the character of an act which in the event of his having performed he has not in so doing {infringed any moral obligation nor therefore incurred any just censure nor} done any thing which in consideration of its influence on the public welfare it were desirable that he should not have done /there is any sufficient reason for wishing that he had not done/.