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[129b-619]
12 March 1817
Plan Cat
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Introd
§.9. Freedom of suffrage
X. Abolish bribery laws &c.
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But seats which by the power of terrorism are vested in the hands of great landholders may for any length of time continue in the hands of persons who during that whole time been in a state of pecuniary pressure in his instance a lucrative situation may be a matter /an object/ of urgent concupiscence whether to enable him to pay interest or principal of a mortgage lying on his Estate, or to make provision for sons or other dependent relatives, of the male sex, or to buy husbands for daughters or other dependent relatives of the female sex not to speak of other dependants at large whose interest is connected with his by some tie not unless by accident as that which is constituted by genealogical relationship.
Be this as it may, no imaginable sufficient reason can be assigned why the man by whom at an open market a seat is purchased, though it were as a drove of cattle + are purchased should be more surely engaged in the habit of undue obsequiousness as towards C – r General and C o than the man by whom a seat is obtained in the way in which it is most commonly obtained when not obtained by bribery, viz. by terrorism whether it be vote-compelling or competition excluding or –subduing terrorism in farms of a landholder or his nominee
+ Quote the specter[?]
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Title: [[129b-415] 20 Mar. 1817 Plan]Description: [129b-415] 20 Mar. 1817 Plan Cat 2 o Note (a) Introd §.10. Seat Traffic 11. Absorption 2 Quere[?] as to futurity purchased into. Castlereaghs[?] cuts[?] the next presentation, improbable[?] as to the advowson. Seats /Advowsons/ bought by Tories may be expected to continue. But, no certainty here The stack of the […?] suffice and will always suffice to add to the scramblers as long[?] as there can be need of. On this occasion the difference between the case of the next presentation and the case of the advowson must not be out of mind. Principally be terrorism – by the power exercised by the constraint over the dealer – Some seats the Treasury has been said to have the advowson of: of the advowson the purchase does not seem well adapted to the situation of the C – r General. Of himself and by himself few indeed are the businesses that can be carried on by him: and this is not of the number: what in this way is done for his use must be done by other hands. Of himself he is indeed a corporation sole. But as yet no Minister is a corporation sole: Neither is the Treasury nor any other Board a corporation aggregate To the purpose here in question viz. the possession of land or burgage tenements. True it is that here and there a seat may be found so circumstanced that of the votes by which it is filled the majority are in general at his disposal. But the power by which this effect is secured is principally the sort of power by which a great influence rules his dealers. Under these circumstances, the representative by whom whether as proprietor of the advowson, nominee of such proprietor, or by purchase made of the next presentation or by him /one/ whose nominee he is the sort of person on whom with most convenience the situation of Corrupter General enables him to operate in the way of influence: and as in this case, by a /the/ sort of persuader[?] which there has already been sent frequent occasion to bring to view, effect may be and is produced without action, hence so it is that by a mode at once so commodious, so sure, and so all comprehensive, all need of resorting to modes less commodious is /may be regarded as/ superseded.
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Title: [[129b-403] 15 March 1817 Plan]Description: [129b-403] 15 March 1817 Plan Cat 2 o Introd §.80. {Bribery & Forgery} Seat Traffic 2 Inserendum? according to the laws of Honourable House’s honour not only an Honourable man but a Right Honourable one his nominee would of course have been at the least an Honourable man i.e. in the language of Bishops and their brothers a conscientious one: and /whereupon/ as the vane is guided in its direction by the wind the conscience of Lord Castlereagh’s nominee would have been less conscientious than Lord Barrington’s, by the King’s, i.e. by the Prince Regent’s conscience. Suppose then as above the nominee of Lord Clancarty would have voted according to his own conscience; and to this add the further supposition that by this conscience of his, his votes, with or without his occasional speeches would with never[?] a less frequency have employed itself /themselves/ in swelling the numbers of the opposers of misrule; here, as above, from the incongruous disposition made of the seat in favour of other hands and those less proper sitting parts, here would have been a public mischief. But On the other hand, suppose /let/ the direction taken by the votes of Lord Clancarty nominee coinciding /{to} coincide/ on each occasion /would have on each occasion coincided/ with the direction taken by Lord Castlereagh’s nominee, on this supposition the enormity /mischievousness/ of this branch of traffick evaporates. In the sale of cattle upon the usual terms /in the common mode/ whether it be “in a stall” or “at a fair” there appears not to /there is not commonly understood to/ be any thing against conscience: as little in the supposition in question can I find of any thing against conscience in that other /higher/ branch of traffick which has for its subject a seat in Honourable House.
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Title: [[129b-402] 15 March 1817 Plan]Description: [129b-402] 15 March 1817 Plan Cat 2 o Introd §.18[?]. {Bribery & Forgery} Seat Traffic 1 Superseded? VIII. Seat-Traffic Now as to Seat-traffic, a species of which and no more than a species is Borough-mongering: for in the hands of the terrorist, a County seat may be as marketable a commodity as a Borough. Supposing them both satisfied of its being good for the peace of the Country & the prosperity of the Empire, what should hinder the Fitzwilliamss and the Lascelless from selling the Yorkshire seats any more than Lord Grenville the New Sarum Seats or Sir Mark Wood the Gatton Seat or Seats? When in it, the man who is in the seat what will he do in it? Look back to the two appropriate cardinal virtues as to dependence and independence what will be his condition and conduct? /lot?/ Duly dependent, by the supposition he can not be: Duly independent, he may be if he pleases. Well then, if he proves duly independent, then is every thing as it should be: if on the other hand he be not duly independent, then comes the question – in comparison with the man by whom the seat would otherwise have been filled will /would/ he or will he not be de- less /be more/ independent? if yes then indeed the state of the case is so much the worse: but if no then there is no harm done by or from the changes /then does no evil ensue/ {Now} In the first place then suppose in both cases the sitting part by which the seat is filled a dependent one. The story about Lord Castlereagh and Lord Clancarty + suppose it for supposition sake a true one. Quoth the Minister to the Non-Minister, give me for a nominee of mine the next presentation with a resignation of the seat you have the disposal of, the seat viz | |: [+2] I will get /obtain/ a Writership from {one of my worthy friends the East India Directors} /them/ and give it to a nominee of thine /yours/: the bargain struck or not struck I forget which: no matter. Now suppose that but for this bargain the nominee of Lord Clancarty would have voted according to his own conscience, in this case, the bargain struck, here would have been not improbably a public mischief: for, if /supposing/ the law the moral law of Honourable House be such as see pr | | by Honourable House above stated by Charles Fox, who has some notion of these things Lord Castlereagh being not This example not genuine[?] enough. Postpone the case[?] of a seat at the disposal of the Crown. + [2] apply to those exquisite judges of merit who have the time[?] of and fortunes fifty million of seats at their disposal, and never dispose of them but as rewards to merit
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