CHAP. XXII. INFLUENCE OF THE CROWN. Men are naturally propense to corruption; and if he, whose will and interest it is to corrupt them, be furnished with the means, he will never fail to do it. Power, honours, riches, and the pleasures that attend them, are the baits by which men are drawn to prefer a personal interest before the public good; and the number of those who covet them is so great, that he who abounds in them will be able to gain so many to his service as shall be sufficient to subdue the rest. It is hard to find a tyranny in the world that has not been introduced this way. ALGERNON SIDNEY, THE celebrated resolution of 1780, "That the influence of the Crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished," may seem to carry its own refutation along with it. A House of Commons that can vote a resolution so hostile to the crown, it may be said, can have little reason to dread its influence. This objec law. tion, however, would be more specious than solid. The influence of the crown acts by slow, but continual pressure; the opinion of the people by sudden impulse. Thus a series of measures injurious to the interests and honour of the country are persisted in for a long time by mere force of authority and the private advantages which individuals acquire by supporting the system. In government, more than any thing else, possession is nine points of the At length the evil is carried beyond bearing: the people see they have been misled and benighted, and determine to dismiss their guides. But even then the holders of power have innumerable means of softening, perhaps of totally averting their disgrace, and they proceed for some time longer conducting the nation through fresh morasses, and involving the state in new and greater perils. Thus it was in 1780, when the party who had carried the abstract resolution before mentioned, found themselves in a minority a few weeks after, when they attempted to deduce from it a practical result. It was in the reign of Charles II. that the plan of influencing the members of the Lower House by gifts and favours of the crown was first systematically framed. The name of "Pensioner Parliament," given to the House of Commons which sate for seventeen years without dissolution, is a sufficient index of the general opinion concerning it. Many of the poorer members sold their vote for a very small gratuity. Offices and favours were granted to the speakers most worth buying; the rest were glad of a sum of money. The trifling sum of 12,000l. was allowed by Lord Clifford for the purpose of buying members. This was increased by Lord Danby. By the report of a committee of secrecy appointed in 1678, it appears that many members received money or favours of one kind or another for their votes. There can be no doubt that the practice was continued during the reign of William. Sir John Trevor was convicted, when Speaker, of receiving bribes from the City of London, to procure the passing of the Orphans' Bill. Mr. Hungerford was expelled for the same offence. These facts show how unjust it is to charge Walpole with having been the first who governed England by corruption. That he carried corruption to a great extent can hardly be doubted. He did it with an openness and a coarseness which created great scandal, and which, perhaps, was more pernicious than the vice itself. He is said to have affirmed that he did not care who made members of parliament, so long as he was allowed to deal with them when they were made. Perhaps these stories were unfounded; but they threw discredit on the government. At the time of Lord North's administration the influence of the Crown was exerted in the most profuse, most shameful, and most degrading manner. The friends and favourites of the minister were allowed to have a share in the loan, which they sold the moment after at a gain of ten per cent.* Mr. Fox, in his speeches, more than once accuses Lord North of having devoted * Rose's Influence of the Crown. ان 900,000l. of a loan to conciliate votes. It is remarkable that Mr. Fox allows at the same time, that it is natural that a minister, in making a loan, should favour his own friends, and that it is not to be expected any minister will ever act otherwise. He does not venture to blame Lord North for this practice, but only for the abuse of it. Some members of parliament actually received at that time a sum of money to induce them to vote. Every office of government was a scene of confusion, waste, and prodigality, admirably adapted for the interests of all who wished to enrich themselves at the expence of honour, patriotism, and conscience. A cry for reform in the expenditure, louder than that which had overturned Walpole, was raised; and produced the resolution mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. The wish of the people extended to parliamentary as well as economical reform. Mr. Pitt skilfully made himself the organ of both, and on the strength of his professions obtained that credit from the people which was denied to the party who, after a long and unpopular opposition to the American war, had lost the fruits of their |