and, at the conclusion of the debate, he carried part of the company home to Richmond Buildings, and treated them with a supper and chainpagne. I have lately heard the able and ami able ex-recorder of Bombay dwell with rapture on his entertainments at that period, and describe them in classic and appropriate language, as the

"Noctes cœnæque Deorum."

The memorable events that occurred towards the close of the colonial contest, appeared to present a favourable opportunity to Mr. Horne, and all those with whom he was connected in politics, to achieve the grand object of their association. Lord North was now tottering on the brink of destruction; and the means by which he had conducted a bloody, ruinous, and expensive war, in notorious opposition to the wishes of the people, had become a subject not only of investigation but reproach. This, therefore, was deemed a propitious moment for effecting a grand national object, intimately connected not only with the representation, but also with the revenues and liberties of this country. The humiliation incident to an unfortunate war, the murmurs of the people, the distresses of the manufacturers, and the unpopularity of the mi

nistry, all tended to inspire hope. Fortunately, too, the cause was advocated by Mr. William Pitt; and the splendid talents, and plighted faith of this youthful orator, together with the general bias of the nation, seemed to render success probable, if not certain, at no very distant period.

The idea of amending, by restoring the constitution to its first principles, is of no very remote origin, having been first conceived within the last half century. We do not hear of any complaints of an inefficient representation during the disputes between Charles I and his subjects; there is not a single allusion of this kind in the Petition of Rights, or in the Act of Settlement. No trace of it indeed is to be found anterior to the present reign, when the long contest with Mr. Wilkes, and the impolitic dispute with the colonies, appear to have given birth, as well as strength and consistency, to this doctrine.

The truth is, that the crown was formerly opposed by the landed aristocracy, who engrossed and exercised the elective franchise in a manner not displeasing, and, consequently, not odious to the people. The great cry, both before and even after the civil war, was for " frequent" and "free parliaments;" frequent, because they

formed a constant bulwark against the oppression of the execntive power; and free, that the members might be exempt from violence of all kinds in respect to their proceedings.

In process of time, however, influence was substituted for force, and proved infinitely more successful. Notwithstanding the arts of Clifford, the supposed father of modern corruption, during the time of Charles II, the parliaments of that reign obtained many great and salutary advantages for the community at large; and in the succeeding one, by a singular union of whigs and tories, originating chiefly in political principles on the one side, and religious partialities on the other, the Revolution was at length happily effected.

This great event, however, did not produce any radical change in the constitution of the house of commons, for no complaints appear to have been then made on this subject; and the great grievance of that day, so frequently alluded to under the name of long parliaments, was fully and amply redressed by the triennial act.

After the accession of George I, the existence of a pretender to the throne, the alarm of an invasion, and some trifling symptoms of popular disaffection, furnished either the cause or the pretext for reverting to practices worthy of times

less free and less fortunate. Accordingly, a project of an extraordinary nature was formed, and a house of commons, which had been elected only for three years, by joining in a vote for lengthening the duration of their own power, gave birth to the septennial act.

But, although that measure occasioned many bold and serious remonstrances, the minority in parliament, and the people in general, appear to have confined their complaints to this alone. Even during the long administration of sir Robert Walpole, we perceive the accusations of his adversariés strictly limited to the corruption. of individuals; the abuse of the elective franchise, by the return of members on the part of obscure and dependent boroughs, was not then urged as a general charge against him; and as for the demand of a transfer of representation, from decayed to new and populous towns, this could not possibly have been made, for Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, and Wolverhampton, the creations of modern industry, were then but petty and insignificant hamlets.

At length, the political disputes, which took place during the early part of the present reign, gave birth to discussions of a new kind; and the idea of a reform in parliament, appears to have originated with the first earl of Chatham,

who, in 1770, expressed a wish, in the house of peers, "that, instead of depriving a county of its representatives, as in the case of Middlesex, one or more members might be added to the representation of each, in order to operate as a balance, against the weight of several venal and corrupt boroughs." This, however, happened to be mentioned incidentally, for it was not until six years after that a direct application to this effect actually took place. Accordingly, in 1776, Mr. alderman Wilkes moved, "that leave be given to bring in a bill, for a just and equal representation of the people of England in parlia ment," which appears to have been then a hopeless measure, as it was not pressed even to a division.

In 1782, this question, as has been already observed, was renewed by Mr. William Pitt, who supported the plan sketched out by his father, with a kind of hereditary enthusiasm; and, instead of dabbling in wild and delusive theories, confined himself solely to plain and practicable measures.

Mr. Horne, who had always admired the energy, talents, and statesman-like qualities of the father, now devoted himself to the cause espoused by the son. His pen, his tongue, his purse, were all employed in forwarding this plan.