Marginals revised 1819 June 8 + ┴ § 7

To Erskine

Lett. 6 E. Anti Reformist

§ 7.5. Spontaneity rely on

1

§.7. Expedient 5. Prescribing reliance on spontaneous self-reform by the House of Commons.

“Free spontaneous” self-reform on the part of /by/ Honourable House! There would be an Utopia indeed! A scene well worth the trouble /visiting/ though a man had to go as far as Armata for a peep at it should any such raree-shew be ever exhibited there for the entertainment of the Court But the time ....? Here again comes the question about the time – the time, shall it be when effects are produced without causes? No: that would be early: the earliest time that can be assigned is that which effects are produced by the whole imaginable force of obstacles: of obstacles of counter-acting causes – of counter-causes – which shall we say my Lord? for so new an idea does present a most imperious demand for a new name to speak of it by. No: when, after pausing for a moment to think of the new course into which he is entering, we see Father Thames wafting his waters as regularly from Richmond to Kingston, as now he does from Kingston to Richmond, then it is and not before that we shall begin to be upon the lookout for a reform of Honourable House, effected by “the free spontaneous act of Honourable House.

And then, my Lord, when it does come, on which side of the House is it to take its commencement? On the Whig side? Oh no: on that side Honourable Gentlemen though like Your Lordship (on p. 14) as much devoted to it as ever, - though, like Your Lordship, (on p. 30) in heart and soul devoted to it, – Honourable Gentlemen will not be yet prepared for it.