The Online Library of Liberty

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• Errata—vol. III.
• Defence of Usury; Showing the Impolicy of the Present Legal Restraints On the Terms of Pecuniary Bargains; In Letters to a Friend.
• Letter I.: Introduction.
• Letter II.: Reasons For Restraint—prevention of Usury.
• Letter III.: Reasons For Restraint—prevention of Prodigality.
• Letter IV.: Reasons For Restraint—protection of Indigence.
• Letter V.: Reasons For Restraint—protection of Simplicity.
• Letter VI.: Mischiefs of the Anti-usurious Laws.
• Letter VII.: Efficacy of Anti-usurious Laws.
• Letter VIII.: Virtual Usury Allowed.
• Letter IX.: Blackstone Considered.
• Letter X.: Grounds of the Prejudices Against Usury.
• Letter XI.: Compound Interest.
• Letter XII.: Maintenance and Champerty.
• Letter XIII.: To Dr. Smith, On Projects In Arts, &c.
• A Manual of Political Economy: Now First Edited From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham.
• Chapter I.: Introduction. *
• Chapter II.: Analytical Survey of the Field of Political Economy.
• Chapter III.: Of Wealth.
• Chapter IV.: Of Population.
• Chapter V.: Of Finance.
• Chapter VI.: Operation of a Sinking Fund On the Production of Wealth.
• Chapter VII.: Noscenda.
• Observations On the Restrictive and Prohibitory Commercial System; Especially With a Reference to the Decree of the Spanish Cortes of July 1820.
• Preface.: Observations, &c.
• Section I.: Nature of the Prohibitory System.
• Section II.: Mischiefs of the Prohibitory System.
• Section III.: Causes of the Prohibitory System.
• A Plan For Saving All Trouble and Expense In the Transfer of Stock, and For Enabling the Proprietors to Receive Their Dividends Without Powers of Attorney, Or Attendance At the Bank of England, By the Conversion of Stock Into Note Annuities.
• Introduction.
• Chapter I.: Plan For the Creation, Emission, Payment, and Eventual Extension, of a Proposed New Species of Government Paper, Under the Name of Annuity Notes.
• Chapter II.: Form of an Annuity Note. (see Table II.)
• Chapter III.: Comparison of the Proposed, With the Existing Government Securities, &c.
• Chapter IV.: Grounds of Expectation, In Regard to the Proposed Measure.
• Chapter V.: Financial Advantages.
• Chapter VI.: Advantage By Addition to National Capital.
• Chapter VII.: Advantage By Addition to Commercial Security.
• Chapter VIII.: Particular Interests Concerned.
• Chapter IX.: Rise of Prices—how to Obviate.
• Chapter X.: Reduction of Interest—proposed Mode Compared With Mr. Pelham’s.
• Chapter XI.: Moral Advantages.
• Chapter XII.: Constitutional Advantages.
• Chapter XIII.: Recapitulation and Conclusion.
• Appendix A.: Government Ought to Have the Monopoly of Paper Money, As Well As of Metallic Money.
• Appendix B.: Paper Money—causes Why Not Circulated By Government Without Interest, As Well As By Individuals.
• General View of a Complete Code of Laws.
• Chapter I.: General Division.
• Chapter II.: Relations Between the Laws Concerning Offences, Rights, Obligations, and Services.
• Chapter III.: Relation Between the Penal and Civil Code.
• Chapter IV.: Of Method.
• Chapter V.: Plan of the Penal Code.
• Chapter VI.: Of the Division of Offences.
• Chapter VIII. Titles of the Penal Code.
• Chapter IX.: First General Title of the Civil Code, * of Things.
• Chapter X.: Second General Title of the Civil Code. of Places.
• Chapter XI.: Third General Title of the Civil Code. of Times.
• Chapter XII.: Fourth General Title of the Civil Code. of Services.
• Chapter XIII.: Fifth General Title of the Civil Code. of Obligations.
• Chapter XIV.: Sixth General Title of the Civil Code. of Rights.
• Chapter XV.: Seventh General Title of the Civil Code. of Collative and Ablative Events.
• Chapter XVI.: Eighth General Title of the Civil Code. of Contracts.
• Chapter XVII.: Ninth General Title of the Civil Code. of the Domestic and Civil States.
• Chapter XVIII.: Tenth General Title of the Civil Code. of Persons Capable of Acquiring and of Contracting.
• Chapter XIX.: Of the Particular Titles of the Civil Code.
• Chapter XX.: Of Elementary Political Powers.
• Chapter XXI.: Of Elementary Political Powers— Subject Continued.
• Chapter XXII.: Plan of the Political Code.
• Chapter XXIII.: Plan of the International Code.
• Chapter XXIV.: Plan of the Maritime Code.
• Chapter XXV.: Plan of the Military Code.
• Chapter XXVI.: Plan of the Ecclesiastical Code.
• Chapter XXVII.: Plan of Remuneratory Laws.
• Chapter XXVIII.: Of Political Economy.
• Chapter XXIX.: Plan of the Financial Code.
• Chapter XXX.: Plan of Procedure Code.
• Chapter XXXI.: Of the Integrality of the Code of Laws.
• Chapter XXXII.: Of Purity In the Composition of a Code of Laws.
• Chapter XXXIII.: Of the Style of the Laws.
• Chapter XXXIV.: Of the Interpretation, Conservation, and Improvement of a Code.
• Pannomial Fragments.
• Chapter I.: General Observations.
• Chapter II.: Consideranda.
• Chapter III.: Expositions.
• Chapter IV.: Axioms.
• Nomography; Or the Art of Inditing Laws: Now First Published From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham.
• Chapter I.: The Subject Stated.
• Chapter II.: Relations.
• Chapter III.: Proper End In View.
• Chapter IV.: Imperfections Primary.
• Chapter V.: Explanations Relative to the Imperfections of the Second Order.
• Chapter VI.: Of Remedies. *
• Chapter VII.: Of Language.
• Chapter VIII.: Of the Perfections of Which the Legislative Style Is Susceptible.
• Chapter IX.: Of Forms of Enactment.
• Appendix. Logical Arrangements, Or Instruments of Invention and Discovery
• Equity Dispatch Court Proposal; Containing a Plan For the Speedy and Unexpensive Termination of the Suits Now Depending In Equity Courts. With the Form of a Petition, and Some Account of a Proposed Bill For That Purpose
• Section I.: Purpose Explained. Jeremy Bentham to the Honest and Afflicted Among Equity Suitors.
• Section II.: Equity Suitors’ Petition For Dispatch Court. to the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, —
• Section III.: Dispatch Court Bill—some Account of It.
• Section IV.: Information Requisite From Petitioning Suitors.
• Equity Dispatch Court Bill: Being a Bill For the Institution of an Experimental Judicatory Under the Name of the Court of Dispatch, For Exemplifying In Practice the Manner In Which the Proposed Summary May Be Substituted to the So Called Regular Sy
• Editor’s Note.
• Preface.
• Preamble.
• Part I.—: Judiciary.
• Section I.: Judge Located, How.
• Section II.: Remuneration.
• Section III.: Registrar, &c.
• Section IV.: Eleemosynary Advocate.
• Section V.: Judges’, &c. Deputes.
• Section VI.: Judge’s Powers—exemptions—checks.
• Section VII.: Prehensors and Messengers.
• Section VIII.: Consignees; * Or Say, In-trust-holders.
• Section IX.: Grounds of Decision For the Dispatch Court Judge.
• Section X. ‡: Suits’ Comparative Suitableness; and Order of Cognizance.
• Section XI.: Auxiliary Judges and Accountants.
• Section XII.: Sittings, Times Of.
• Part II.—: Procedure.
• Section XIII.: Definitions. *
• Section XIV.: Examination of Solicitors.
• Section XV.: Initiatory Examination of Parties, &c.
• Section XVI.: Appropriate Intercourse, Constant and Universal, Secured.
• Section XVII.: Mutual Security For Forthcomingness of Persons and Things. ‡
• Section XVIII.: Evidence-procuring Money, How Provided.
• Section XIX.: Subsequential Evidence, How Elicited.
• Section XX.: Execution, How Performed.
• Section XXI.: Equity Court Costs, How Disposed Of.
• Section XXII.: Dispatch Court Costs, How Disposed Of.
• Section XXIII.: Eventual Retrotransference of a Suit to the Equity Court.
• Section XXIV.: Expense of the Court, How Provided For.
• Supplemental Sections:—
• Section I. Or XXV.: Bankruptcy and Insolvency.
• Section II. Or XXVI.: Henceforward Dispatch Court.
• Schedules to the Bill.
• Plan of Parliamentary Reform, In the Form of a Catechism, With Reasons For Each Article: With an Introduction, Showing the Necessity of Radical, and the Inadequacy of Moderate, Reform.
• Introduction.
• Section I.: History of the Ensuing Tract—alarming State of the Country and the Constitution.
• Section II.: Most Prominent Present Grievance, Gareisoning France.
• Section III.: Causes of the Above and All Other Mischiefs:—particular Interests Monarchical and Aristocratical, Adverse to the Universal—their Ascendency.
• Section IV.: Sole Remedy In Principle—democratic Ascendency.
• Section V.: Remedy In Detail: Radical Parliamentary Reform: Elementary Arrangements In This Edition of It—their Necessity.
• Section VI.: Differences Between This and the Original Editions of Radical Reform.
• Section VII.: Virtual Universality of Suffrage Further Considered.
• Section VIII.: Virtual Universality of Suffrage—its Undangerousness.
• Section IX.: Freedom of Suffrage Further Explained—seductive Influence—its Forms, Instruments, &c.
• Section X.: Bribery and Terrorism Compared.
• Section XI.: Purchase of Seats—in What Cases Mischievous—in What Beneficial.
• Section XII.: Secresy of Suffrage—its Importance Further Developed.
• Section XIII.: Exclusion of Placemen, &c. From the Right of Voting—mischievousness and Profligacy of the Opposite Arrangement.
• Section XIV.: Universal Constancy of Attendance—its Importance.
• Section XV.: Representatives—impermanence of Their Situation—its Importance:—objections—their Groundlessness.
• Section XVI.: Moderate Reform—its Arrangements—their Inadequacy.
• Section XVII.: Trienniality Inadequate;—annuality Necessary.
• Section XVIII.: Interests Adverse to Adequate Reform—support Given By Them to Moderate, to the Exclusion of Radical: Tories—whigs—people’s Men.
• Catechism of Parliamentary Reform; Or, Outline of a Plan of Parliamentary Reform; In the Form of Question and Answer; With Reasons to Each Article.
• Section I.: Ends to Be Aimed At On the Occasion of Parliamentary Reform.
• Section II.: Means, Conducive Towards These Ends.
• Section III.: Means—their Uses, With Reference to Their Respective Ends.
• Section IV.: Means Conducive to Aptitude In Members: I. Placemen Not to Vote, Nor to Be Seated By Election.
• Section V.: Means, &c. Continued.—ii. Placemen Seated By the King, With Speech and Motion, Without Vote.
• Section VI.: Means, &c. Continued.—iii. Elections Frequent—annual.
• Section VII.: Means, &c. Continued.—iv. Speeches Authentically and Promptly Published.
• Section VIII.: Means, &c. Continued.—v. Attendance, Punctual and General, Secured.
• Section IX.: Inconveniences Incident to Elections, and Election Judicature.
• Section X.: Election Inconveniences—means For Their Removal.
• Section XI.: Collateral Advantages, Referable to the Situations of Electors, Placemen, Lords, &c.
• A Sketch of the Various Proposals For a Constitutional Reform In the Representation of the People, Introduced Into the Parliament of Great Britain, From 1770 to 1812.
• Radical Reform Bill, With Extracts From the Reasons.
• Preliminary Explanations.
• Title of the Proposed Act.
• Preamble.
• Section 1.—: Seats and Districts.
• Section 2.—: Electors, Who.
• Section 3.—: Eligible, Who.
• Section 4.—: Election Offices.
• Section 5.: Election Apparatus.
• Section 6.—: Promulgation of Recommendations In Favour of Proposed Members.
• Section 7.—: Voters’ Titles Pre-established.
• Section 8.—: Election, How.
• Section 9.: Election Districts and Polling Districts, How Marked Out.
• Section 10.—: Vote-making Habitations, How Defined.
• Section 11.—: Members’ Continuance.
• Section 12.—: Vacancies Supplied.
• Section 13.—: Security For the House Against Disturbance By Members. †
• Section 14.—: Indisposition of Speakers Obviated.
• Appendix, Including General Explanations.
• Radicalism Not Dangerous. Extracted From the Mss. of Jeremy Bentham. *
• Part I.—: Introduction.
• Section I.: Radical Reform Bill Recapitulated.
• Section II.: Persuasion of the Dangerousness of Radicalism—cause of It, and of the Vituperative Expression Given to It.
• Section III.: Terms of the Accusation,—speeches From the Throne, 16 Th July and 21 St November 1819.
• Section IV.: The Accusation In General Terms—counter-averment.
• Section V.: Plan of This Defence.
• Part II.—: Deference From the General Nature of the Case.
• Section I.: Conditions Necessary to a Man’s Embarking In Such a Design.
• Section VII.: Concurrence In Any Other Extensive Plan of Spoliation Impossible.
• Section VIII.: Concurrence of Any Constituted Authorities Impossible.
• Section IX.: Accomplishment Impossible—design Impossible.
• Section X.: The Talked-of Spunge No Proof of the Design.
• Part III.—: Defence From Experience In the Case of the United States.
• Part IV.: Defence From Particular Experience In the Case of Ireland: Years 1777 Or 1778, to 1783.
• Section I.: Analogy Between This and the Previous Case.
• Section II.: Democratic Ascendency, How Produced.
• Section III.: Fruit of Democratic Ascendency a Golden Age.
• Section IV.: Coincidence of Its Characters With Those of Radicalism.
• Section VI.: Extinction of Democratic Ascendency and Reform—restoration of Monarchico-aristocratical Ascendency, and Its Consequences.
• Conclusion.

Section 4.—

Election Offices.

Art. I. For conducting the business of elections, by sub-district clerks and district clerks, under the direction of an Election-Master-General, the following offices are hereby ordained:—

Art. II. In every election sub-district, there shall be a Polling Office.

Therein are delivered in, one by one, the votes appertaining to the same sub-district.

Of the office-bearer, the official name is—Clerk of the Election Sub-District Office, or Polling Office, Clerk of the Polls, or Poll-Clerk in and for that sub-district. For his functions, see Sections 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Art. III. In every election district, there shall be a District Election Office.

Therein, from each polling office within the district, is delivered in the accounts of the numbers of the votes therein given for the several proposed members. Of the office-bearer, the official name is—Clerk of the Election District Office, or Election Clerk in and for that district. For his functions, see Sections 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.

Art. IV. The election-office of the district may be under the same roof with the polling-office of any sub-district.

The conduct of the business may be in the hands of the same person.*

Art. V. An office, under the name of the National Election Office, shall be attached to the House of Commons.

Of the office-bearer, the official name is—Master of the National Election Office, or Election-Master-general, or Election Master.†

His functions are as follows:—

1. To issue out election-writs for the receipt of votes.

2. To receive the returns made in obedience to such writs.

3. To direct and superintend the conduct of all persons in the offices of polling and district clerks.

Art. VI. The Election-Master-general is to be appointed by the Crown, at the recommendation of the Keeper of the Great Seal.

He will be at pleasure removable by the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Art. VII. The Election-Master-general appoints the several district election-clerks, and the several poll-clerks.

For special cause assigned, he has power to remove at any time any district election-clerk, any polling-clerk, or any of their respective deputies or assistants.

Of his order for this purpose, an attested copy shall, on the day on which the original is transmitted, be delivered in at the office of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Art. VIII. By death, or sudden indisposition of office-bearers, the business might, but for due provision, be delayed or frustrated: so likewise by unexpected increase in quantity in some parts of the business: for remedy it is thus ordained:—

In every sub-district, the poll-clerk has power to appoint, and revoke at pleasure, a deputy.

Every such deputy, as well as his principal, has power to appoint any number of assistants: their powers, subject to his authority, are the same as his.

Except in case of special exception, every provision, in which mention is made of the principal, shall be understood to extend to his deputies and his and their assistants.

The person appointing is, in each case, responsible for the conduct of the person whom he appoints.

Art. IX. In the case of a district office, like power and responsibility, as per Art. VIII. for providing eventual deputies and assistants.

Art. X. If, at any time, in any district, there should not be any person capable of acting as poll-clerk, the district-clerk has power to appoint a person, who, during the vacancy, shall perform the functions of the vacant office.

Art. XI. By incapacity, negligence, or disaffection, on the part of a poll-clerk, the business might be inconveniently delayed or frustrated, before the election-master-general could have time to appoint another in his stead. For remedy, it is thus ordained:—

The district-clerk has power, on his responsibility, in case of necessity, to appoint a person to officiate in place of any such poll-clerk, until the determination of the election-master shall have been made known.

If, for want of such temporary appointment, any such delay or frustration shall ensue, he is responsible for this default, as if it were his own.

An instrument of appointment, signed by him, shall for this purpose be delivered in at the polling-office.

On or before the signature of it, a copy, accompanied with a brief intimation of the cause, shall be transmitted by post to the election-master, at the national election-office.

Another copy shall be entered in the register of the district-office.

Art. XII. In the case of the national election-office, like power and responsibility, as per Article VIII. for providing eventual deputies and assistants.

On the decease of an election-master-general, the business of his office shall, by such deputies and assistants, be carried on, until a successor to the office shall have been appointed.

Art. XIII. By reason of death, or other accident, it might happen, that, in a district-office, for want of a person authorised by the election-master-general, the business shall be at a stand, and the completion of the election process in this district, within the appointed time, become impracticable. For remedy, it is thus ordained:—

In case of necessity, the chairman of the magistrates of the county in which the district-office is situated, has power to appoint a person to perform the business, until an appointment from the election-master-general shall arrive. Poll-Clerk Substitute by necessity shall be the name of office of the person so appointed.

So, in default of such temporary appointment, any justice of the peace, whichsoever shall soonest reach the office.

Art. XIV. In no instance, to any deputy, assistant, or substitute, as above, shall any remuneration be given at the public expense.

To the principal it belongs to afford compensation for labour, of the demand for which any deficiency on his part has been the cause.

In case of vacancy in the office of the principal, any remuneration, given to any subsidiary functionary as above, shall be taken out of the pay allotted to the office.

Art. XV. For the more clear, correct, complete, incontestable, and lasting preservation of the evidence of such transactions as shall have place in virtue of this act, and thereby securing the eventual responsibility of all persons concerned,* it is thus ordained:—

On the occasion of every act which the office-bearer performs, he shall make entry thereof in the proper register-book of his office, attested either by his name at length, or by the first letters thereof, together with the place, and the time as expressed by the year, month, and day of the month.

He shall moreover state the capacity in which he acts, whether as principal, deputy, assistant, or substitute by necessity; as likewise, if he be not the principal, the office of the principal for whom he acts.

On the occasion of every act which he performs, in presence of an individual, having interest therein, as proposed voter, or agent for a proposed voter, or otherwise—he shall make mention of the name and residence of such individual, as declared by him.

He shall moreover add to the designation of the day, as above, the hour of the day; namely, the last hour that has been completed; and shall, if required, add the minute.

To every instrument in which he bears a part, he shall, before it passes out of his hands, annex his attestation; including name of office, proper name, place, and time, as above.

Art. XVI. For the more effectual prevention of mis-entry through fraud or error, it is thus ordained:—

In no entry made in the register of any office ordained by this act, shall any word or portion of a word be, on any occasion, or in any manner, obliterated to such effect as to be illegible.

In so far as error is discovered, or supposed to be discovered, the course shall be to draw a plainly perceptible line along the length of the word, or part of a word, meant to be condemned.

For the designation of the person by whom the correction is made, his name, or the first letters thereof, shall in the margin be subjoined by him.†

[* ]By this clause, the expense of 650 officers may be saved. In a town district, there would, probably, be no need of polling offices, other than the district election office.

[† ]Analogous denominations are Post-Master-general, and Pay-Master-general.

[* ]On the first opening of this or any other extensive system of reform, opposition from persons of all classes in all quarters ought to be expected, and, as effectually as possible, provided for. In some of the offices, disaffection to the reform, and consequent betraying of trust: out of office, from high and low, opposition and artifice in every imaginable shape. The late proceedings at Manchester were not necessary to prove the truth of this observation; but they may help to render the public mind sensible of it.

Fraud.] Every man invested with power in any shape, from the lowest to the highest, will occasionally be disposed to abuse it: to abuse it in every way that can be imagined. By this maxim should every line be guided in this, and every other constitutional code. Whoever contests the truth of it, be sure that it is for the purpose of committing or supporting some abuse. By this maxim the scribe of every monarch is actually guided in the penning of a penal code. In speaking of the power that will be abused,—in a penal code, say, natural power—in a constitutional code, say, political power;—there lies the only difference.

Whenever interest, or prejudice, or passion, prompt, they, on whom the execution of the law depends, will, constantly or occasionally, to the utmost of their power, render it ineffectual, or exceed or misapply the powers of it.

Complain of the delinquents: the law is bepraised; you are referred for redress to the delinquents themselves, or those who are in league with them: and you are punished, or it is inferred at least that you ought to be punished, for calumny against the ministers of justice. N. B. Under the constitution as it stands, all ministers of justice of the highest order, are in league with the official delinquents of the higher orders. Situation forms the league of itself; it does so without need of any the least concert between individual and individual.

Think of grand juries, whose actings being secret, cannot by possibility be otherwise than right.

Think of a coroner, who, lest a jury should give a verdict of murder, will not suffer it to continue its sittings, till a House of Commons, interested in giving impunity, have had time to give it.

Think of Lord Sidmouth, who, to prevent abuse in a prison, renders the interior of it invisible, to all those who have not express leave, either from himself, or from some person in intimate connexion with him, for seeing it. Inquire whether this is not actually the case with the Millbank Penitentiary-house. Think of the slow tortures, with death for better concealment at the end of them, that might, in any prison, be inflicted by such means.

[† ]Question. Power adequate to the carrying of the plan into effect, why thus lodge the whole of it in a single hand, the election-master-general’s?

Reasons.—Security against failure. Rule:—Be the plan what it may, leave not in any one adverse hand the faculty of defeating it.

Be the plan what it may, every person whose concurrence is ultimately necessary to the carrying it into effect, has a virtual negative upon it. To insure such concurrence, nothing short of a power of removal, in the hands of a person well affected to the business, can be sufficient. Punishment, in any the greatest quantity, that on any such occasion can be employed,—punishment in the form of law,—never can, in any such case, be to be depended upon. By plausible pretence, by subtraction of evidence, or by a variety of other means, it may be evaded, or (what comes to the same thing) expected to be evaded: at the worst, indemnification against it may be received, or expected.

No person who, by whatsoever cause,—simister interest, interest-begotten prejudice, authority-begotten prejudice, or original intellectual weakness,—is likely to be rendered adverse, or determinately indifferent, to the production of the effect, should, therefore, be left in possession of any such negative.

If, as here, the production of the effect is placed within the power of one person—that person well affected to the business—the danger of failure is thus reduced to its minimum. To this one add any number of others, whose concurrence is thus made or left necessary: by every one so added, the danger of failure is increased.

If so it be, that, for this all-commanding situation, not so much as a single individual, competent, and at the same time well affected to the business, is to be found,—accomplishment is, on this supposition, hopeless: on the other hand, suppose one such individual, though there be no more than one, whom the system has either found or rendered well affected to it,—the requisite power, as above, being also given to him,—accomplishment may thus be rendered morally sure.

At the recommendation of the election-master-general are moreover appointed the commissioners of survey and demarcation, as per Section 9, and by him they are removable. And thus all the functions necessary are put under the guidance of one will.

In the Duke of Richmond’s Radical Reform bill, the division of the election districts—this first step in the whole course—was allotted to the twelve judges. As well might it have been allotted to the twelve Cæsars. Their time was, even in those days, fully occupied. For this strange mathematico-political function to have been executed by them, well or ill, within any limited time, the concurrence of every one of them would have been necessary: for, by any one, on one pretence or other, or even without pretence, every requisite operation might, during an indefinite length of time, have been delayed. On the part of no one of them, could any such concurrence have reasonably been expected.

After that which would never have been done, had been done, the business was to go, all over the country, to grand jurors: and, for the occasion, every man who had ever been was to be one. No obligation was there upon any one individual to do any one thing in it: if a man who could and would do something were found, no responsibility was there upon him for anything he did.

The election-master-general is an individual. In the hands of an individual, not in those of any board, should any such all-sufficient and indispensably necessary power be lodged. Every board is a screen; and if, to the remembrance of a proposition of such practical and unquestionable importance, the play upon words is subservient, let it not be despised. Under the system of corruption the uses of a board are manifold:—1. To afford a screen to abuse in every shape. What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business: what is everybody’s fault is nobody’s fault: by each one the fault is shifted off upon the rest. So many members, so many confederates, all of whom—they and their connexions—join in affording support and protection to whatever misdeeds in any shape are committed by any one of them. 2. To afford a pretext for multiplication of offices; to each of which is attached its mass of emolument: so many needless offices, so many sources of waste, so many instruments of corruption. 3. If, upon occasion, any such desire should have place, as that of seeing the business miscarry, to secure the production of the so-desired effect.

Of course, never could any such expectation be entertained, as that of seeing any such plan as this carried successfully into effect, on any other supposition than that of the existence of a Prime Minister well affected to the business. Here then is one well-adapted mind necessary: that of an election-master-general of his choice, another: and now, for effectual accomplishment, these two concurrent minds would, in these two situations, be sufficient. Even with little aid from the great body of the people,—as for the most abject slavery, so for the perfection of liberty,—the quantity of the matter of corruption in the hands of a British prime minister would suffice.a

In the present practice, the sort of business, for the management of which the election master’s office is instituted by this bill, is divided between two offices: that called the office of the Messenger of the Great Seal, for sending out the orders called writs, in pursuance of which the elections are to be made: that called the office of the Clerk of the Crown, for receiving the several answers called returns, in which it is stated what has been done in pursuance of these writs. In neither instance does the name of the office give any the slightest intimation of the nature of the business. The man who sends out these letters knows nothing about the answers; the man who receives the answers knows nothing about the letters; neither the one man nor the other know anything about what has been done in pursuance of the letters. Complication abundant; darkness visible; depredation the necessary and notorious fruit of it: depredation sanctioned and unsanctioned, regular and irregular, limited and unlimited: candidates contending for undue preference: officers bribed and giving it. Under the notion or pretence of excluding the corruption, legislators botching, time after time, in the usual style: 53 Geo. III. chap. 89, the date of the last botch: such is the mode, in which that correspondence is carried on by which Honourable House is filled. Object in filling it, mode in which it is filled, correspondence by which it is filled—is it not all of a piece?

[† ]Question. Power adequate to the carrying of the plan into effect, why thus lodge the whole of it in a single hand, the election-master-general’s?

Reasons.—Security against failure. Rule:—Be the plan what it may, leave not in any one adverse hand the faculty of defeating it.

Be the plan what it may, every person whose concurrence is ultimately necessary to the carrying it into effect, has a virtual negative upon it. To insure such concurrence, nothing short of a power of removal, in the hands of a person well affected to the business, can be sufficient. Punishment, in any the greatest quantity, that on any such occasion can be employed,—punishment in the form of law,—never can, in any such case, be to be depended upon. By plausible pretence, by subtraction of evidence, or by a variety of other means, it may be evaded, or (what comes to the same thing) expected to be evaded: at the worst, indemnification against it may be received, or expected.

No person who, by whatsoever cause,—simister interest, interest-begotten prejudice, authority-begotten prejudice, or original intellectual weakness,—is likely to be rendered adverse, or determinately indifferent, to the production of the effect, should, therefore, be left in possession of any such negative.

If, as here, the production of the effect is placed within the power of one person—that person well affected to the business—the danger of failure is thus reduced to its minimum. To this one add any number of others, whose concurrence is thus made or left necessary: by every one so added, the danger of failure is increased.

If so it be, that, for this all-commanding situation, not so much as a single individual, competent, and at the same time well affected to the business, is to be found,—accomplishment is, on this supposition, hopeless: on the other hand, suppose one such individual, though there be no more than one, whom the system has either found or rendered well affected to it,—the requisite power, as above, being also given to him,—accomplishment may thus be rendered morally sure.

At the recommendation of the election-master-general are moreover appointed the commissioners of survey and demarcation, as per Section 9, and by him they are removable. And thus all the functions necessary are put under the guidance of one will.

In the Duke of Richmond’s Radical Reform bill, the division of the election districts—this first step in the whole course—was allotted to the twelve judges. As well might it have been allotted to the twelve Cæsars. Their time was, even in those days, fully occupied. For this strange mathematico-political function to have been executed by them, well or ill, within any limited time, the concurrence of every one of them would have been necessary: for, by any one, on one pretence or other, or even without pretence, every requisite operation might, during an indefinite length of time, have been delayed. On the part of no one of them, could any such concurrence have reasonably been expected.

After that which would never have been done, had been done, the business was to go, all over the country, to grand jurors: and, for the occasion, every man who had ever been was to be one. No obligation was there upon any one individual to do any one thing in it: if a man who could and would do something were found, no responsibility was there upon him for anything he did.

The election-master-general is an individual. In the hands of an individual, not in those of any board, should any such all-sufficient and indispensably necessary power be lodged. Every board is a screen; and if, to the remembrance of a proposition of such practical and unquestionable importance, the play upon words is subservient, let it not be despised. Under the system of corruption the uses of a board are manifold:—1. To afford a screen to abuse in every shape. What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business: what is everybody’s fault is nobody’s fault: by each one the fault is shifted off upon the rest. So many members, so many confederates, all of whom—they and their connexions—join in affording support and protection to whatever misdeeds in any shape are committed by any one of them. 2. To afford a pretext for multiplication of offices; to each of which is attached its mass of emolument: so many needless offices, so many sources of waste, so many instruments of corruption. 3. If, upon occasion, any such desire should have place, as that of seeing the business miscarry, to secure the production of the so-desired effect.

Of course, never could any such expectation be entertained, as that of seeing any such plan as this carried successfully into effect, on any other supposition than that of the existence of a Prime Minister well affected to the business. Here then is one well-adapted mind necessary: that of an election-master-general of his choice, another: and now, for effectual accomplishment, these two concurrent minds would, in these two situations, be sufficient. Even with little aid from the great body of the people,—as for the most abject slavery, so for the perfection of liberty,—the quantity of the matter of corruption in the hands of a British prime minister would suffice.a

In the present practice, the sort of business, for the management of which the election master’s office is instituted by this bill, is divided between two offices: that called the office of the Messenger of the Great Seal, for sending out the orders called writs, in pursuance of which the elections are to be made: that called the office of the Clerk of the Crown, for receiving the several answers called returns, in which it is stated what has been done in pursuance of these writs. In neither instance does the name of the office give any the slightest intimation of the nature of the business. The man who sends out these letters knows nothing about the answers; the man who receives the answers knows nothing about the letters; neither the one man nor the other know anything about what has been done in pursuance of the letters. Complication abundant; darkness visible; depredation the necessary and notorious fruit of it: depredation sanctioned and unsanctioned, regular and irregular, limited and unlimited: candidates contending for undue preference: officers bribed and giving it. Under the notion or pretence of excluding the corruption, legislators botching, time after time, in the usual style: 53 Geo. III. chap. 89, the date of the last botch: such is the mode, in which that correspondence is carried on by which Honourable House is filled. Object in filling it, mode in which it is filled, correspondence by which it is filled—is it not all of a piece?

[a]British Prime Minister? Upon this occasion, what then shall we say of Ireland? Answer—Nothing: upon this occasion, as upon thousands and millions of other occasions, the learned person, whoever he was, that drew the Irish Union Act, followed by so many pre-eminently learned persons who gave their sanction to it, has not left it possible. King of Great Britain and Ireland?—yes: this we are commanded to say—British and Irish King?—no: this we cannot say: constructed as the language is, the form given to the name of the United Kingdom will not allow of it. English king—there is: British king, and in him a Scottish king—there is: Irish king—there is none. English and Scottish interest taken together—you can speak of: for you can say British interests—Irish interests, in conjunction with English and Scottish, you cannot so much as speak of. On no occasion, in the grammatical form of an adjective, can the United Kingdom be spoken of, but Ireland must be left out: left by the writer or speaker unmentioned: left by the reader or hearer unthought of. Such was the skill, or such the good-will, of Pitt the Second and his scribes.But Ireland, where have been her eyes all the while? How long will she be content to remain thus an outcast? Since the Union, scarce has a day passed that I have not been plagued with the continually recurring necessity of thus dealing by her as if she were unheeded.One word would supply the remedy: for the United Kingdom, a name, by which, as England and Scotland are by Britain, all these nations would be brought to view. A word that would do this I have had in mind and on paper these thirteen or fourteen years. But by those to whom good taste, that is, their own whim, is everything, the welfare of mankind nothing, so sure as it were fit for the purpose, so sure would it be scorned:—and of such is the corporation of the ruling few composed.That, in this instance, language should have no influence on conduct, is not possible. For in what instance is not conduct a slave to language?