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• Prefatory Note
• Introduction to the Speeches In Parliament
• Lord Brougham’s Sketch of Ricardo In Parliament [from Historical Sketches of Statesmen Who Flourished In the Time of George Iii, Second Series, By Henry Lord Brougham, London, Charles Knight, 1839, Pp. 188–191]
• Speeches In the House of Commons
• Session 1819
• Poor Rates Misapplication Bill 25 March 1819
• First Report From the Bank of England Committee— Cash Payments Bill 5 April 1819
• Mr. Lyttelton’s Motion Respecting State Lotteries 4 May 1819
• Sinking Fund 13 May 1819
• Poor Rates Misapplication Bill 17 May 1819
• Bank of England— Resumption of Cash Payments 24 May 1819
• Exchequer Bills 2 June 1819
• The Budget 9 June 1819
• Bank Advances Bill 16 June 1819
• Excise Duties Bill 18 June 1819
• Session 1819–1820
• Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill 6 December 1819
• Sir W. De Crespigny’s Motion Respecting Mr. Owen’s Plan116 December 1819
• Motion For Papers Respecting the Bank of England and Exchequer Bills 22 December 1819
• Petition of the Merchants of London Respecting Commercial Distress 24 December 1819
• Session 1820
• Commercial Restrictions—petition of the Merchants of London18 May 1820
• Agricultural Distress 12 May 1820
• Agricultural Distress 30 May 1820
• Irish Protecting Duties12 June 1820
• Loan—ways and Means 9 June 1820
• Bank of England Accounts 13 June 1820
• The Budget 19 June 1820
• Committee of Supply121 June 1820
• Cotton Weavers 28 June 1820
• The Coronation 3 July 1820
• Session 1821
• Supply—bank of Ireland 2 February 1821
• Trade of Birmingham— Petition of the Merchants 8 February 1821
• Corn Averages 26 February 1821
• State of the Revenue—repeal of the House and Window Duties 6 March 1821
• Mr. Gooch’s Motion For a Committee On Agricultural Distress 7 March 1821
• Bank Cash Payments Bill 19 March 1821
• Bank Cash Payments128 March 1821
• Public Accounts129 March 1821
• Agricultural Horses Tax 5 April 1821
• Timber Duties15 April 1821
• Bank Cash Payments Bill 9 April 1821
• Usury Laws 12 April 1821
• Bank Cash Payments Bill 13 April 1821
• Timber Duties Bill 16 April 1821
• Reform of Parliament 18 April 1821
• Poor Relief Bill 8 May 1821
• Ordnance Estimates131 May 1821
• The Budget 1 June 1821
• Ill-treatment of Horses Bill 1 June 1821
• Session 1822
• Address On the King’s Speech At the Opening of the Session 5 February 1822
• Mr. Brougham’s Motion On the Distressed State of the Country 11 February 1822
• Saving Banks 18 February 1822
• Motion For a Committee On the Agricultural Distress 18 February 1822
• Ways and Means222 February 1822
• Navy Five Per Cents 25 February 1822
• Agricultural Distress 5 March 1822
• Banks of England, and of Ireland 8 March 1822
• Distress In Canada 13 March 1822
• Motion Respecting the Simplifying and Better Arrangement of the Public Accounts 14 March 1822
• Mr. Curwen’s Motion Respecting the Duties On Tallow and Candles 20 March 1822
• Extra Post—petition of Mr. Burgess 2 April 1822
• Agricultural Distress 3 April 1822
• Agricultural Distress and the Financial and Other Measures For Its Relief 29 April 1822
• Naval and Military Pensions 1 May 1822
• Agricultural Distress Report 7 May 1822
• Absentees 16 May 1822
• Colonial Trade Bill 17 May 1822
• Navigation Bill 20 May 1822
• Naval and Military Pensions 24 May 1822
• Bank Charter 31 May 1822
• Naval and Military Pensions 3 June 1822
• Corn Importation Bill 3 June 1822
• Navigation Bill14 June 1822
• Mr. Western’s Motion Concerning the Resumption of Cash Payments 12 June 1822
• Labourers’ Wages 17 June 1822
• Irish Butter Trade 20 June 1822
• Warehousing Bill 21 June 1822
• The Budget 1 July 1822
• Mr. Western’s Motion Respecting the Altered State of the Currency 10 July 1822
• Proposed Resolutions
• Session 1823
• Foreign Trade of the Country 12 February 1823
• Bank Balances 18 February 1823
• Financial Situation of the Country 21 February 1823
• Agricultural Distress—surrey Petition 26 February 1823
• Mr. Whitmore’s Motion Respecting the Corn Laws 26 February 1823
• Mr. Maberly’s Motion For the Reduction of Taxation 28 February 1823
• National Debt Reduction Bill 6 March 1823
• Merchant Vessels Apprenticeship Bill 13 March 1823
• Mutiny Bill—foreign Relations 18 March 1823
• Coal Duties121 March 1823
• Warehousing Bill 21 March 1823
• Merchant Vessels Apprenticeship Bill 24 March 1823
• Petition From Mary Ann Carlile For Release From Imprisonment 26 March 1823
• Crown Debtors—contempt of Court 10 April 1823
• Military and Naval Pensions Bill 18 April 1823
• Merchant Vessels Apprenticeship Bill 18 April 1823
• Lord John Russell’s Motion For a Reform of Parliament 24 April 1823
• Scotch Linen Laws17 May 1823
• Tallow17 May 1823
• Spitalfields Silk Manufacture Acts—petition For the Repeal Thereof 9 May 1823
• Law of Principal and Factor—petition For an Alteration Thereof 12 May 1823
• Importation of Tallow—petition For an Additional Duty On 12 May 1823
• Beer Duties Bill 12 May 1823
• Silk Manufacture Bill 21 May 1823
• East and West India Sugars 22 May 1823
• Malt and Beer Tax 28 May 1823
• Wages of Manufacturers—use of Machinery 30 May 1823
• Irish Tithes Composition Bill 30 May 1823
• Reciprocity of Duties 6 June 1823
• Silk Manufacture Bill 9 June 1823
• Mr. Western’s Motion Respecting the Resumption of Cash Payments 11 June 1823
• Beer Duties Bill 13 June 1823
• Usury Laws Repeal Bill 17 June 1823
• Religious Opinions—petition of Ministers of the Christian Religion For Free Discussion 1 July 1823
• Ricardo’s Autograph Transcript of His Own Speech of 24 May 1819
• Evidence On the Usury Laws 1818
• Note On the Evidence On the Usury Laws
• Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Select Committee On the Usury Laws
• Evidence On the Resumption of Cash Payments 1819
• Notes On the Evidence On the Resumption of Cash Payments
• Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Secret Committee On the Expediency of the Bank Resuming Cash Payments
• Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Lords Committees Appointed a Secret Committee to Enquire Into the State of the Bank of England, With Reference to the Expediency of the Resumption of Cash Payments At the Period Now Fixed By Law
• Speeches On Various Occasions
• I: General Court of Proprietors of the Bank of England121 March 1811
• II: General Court of Proprietors of the Bank of England121 December 1815
• III: General Court of Proprietors of the Bank of England18 February 1816
• IV: General Court of Proprietors of the Bank of England118 March 1819
• V: Meeting On Mr. Owen’s Plan226 June 1819
• VI: Gloucester County Meeting130 December 1820
• VII: Meeting At Hereford In Honour of Joseph Hume17 December 1821
• VIII: Westminster Reform Dinner123 May 1822
• IX: General Court of the East India Company112 June 1822
• X: General Court of the East India Company119 March 1823
• XI: Westminster Reform Dinner123 May 1823
• Two Papers On Parliamentary Reform
• Note On Two Papers On Parliamentary Reform
• Observations On Parliamentary Reform1by the Latemr. Ricardo
• Defence of the Plan of Voting By Ballot1by the Latemr. Ricardo
• Appendices
• I: Draft of a Letter to a Newspaper On the Effects of Peel’s Bill
• II: Notes On Western’s ‘second Address to the Landowners’, 1822

REFORM OF PARLIAMENT
18 April 1821

On 17 April Mr. Lambton moved for a committee of the whole House, ‘to consider the state of the representation of the people in Parliament.’ He said that he had prepared a bill extending the franchise to all householders and certain classes of leaseholders, and limiting the duration of parliaments to three years. The debate was continued on the following day.

Mr. Ricardo observed, that the subject of reform was the most important question which could come before that House. He was anxious, therefore, to declare his opinion with reference to it. He agreed with the hon. member for Durham,1 that it was quite necessary the House of Commons should truly represent the people. It was not necessary for him to have the proof of the recent votes of the House to be convinced that the people at present were not represented. From the manner in which that House was constituted, he was quite certain before of that fact. He would, therefore, embrace any plan which was likely to give the country an efficient representation, and should consequently support the measure now proposed. There was only one thing respecting it which he regretted; and here he was sure that what he was about to declare would be very unpopular in the House: he regretted that his hon. friend did not propose the introduction of voting by ballot, which he thought would be a greater security for the full and fair representation of the people than any extension of the elective franchise. The people would then vote for the man whom they should consider as best calculated to support their interest, without any fear of the overwhelming influence of their superiors. It might be said, that if this were to take place, the effect would be, that in time the people would get rid of the Lords. He denied that this would be the effect. The people would never, when left to their own free and unbiassed choice, be anxious to get rid of that which they considered the instrument of their good government; and unless gentlemen were prepared to assert that the Lords were an instrument of bad government, which he believed nobody would assert, they could not entertain any rational fear that the people would be anxious to get rid of them.1

The House divided on the motion: Ayes, 43; Noes, 55. Ricardo voted for the motion.

[1 ]Mr. Lambton.

[1 ]Cp. the same argument, in nearly the same words, in James Mill’s article ‘Government’, Sect. ix (Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica); also below, p. 286 and VII, 320.