stitution; and Burke objected to the
alteration which it would make in the representation of interests by
increasing the influence of the country gentlemen. Pitt allowed that the
scheme of purchase was a "tender part"; it was, he said, "a necessary
evil if any reform was to take place". Leave to bring in the bill was
refused by 248 to 174. Pitt had not yet secured an organised majority.
Connexion and influence had not wholly given way to a system of parties
founded on general agreement on political questions. There is no reason
to suppose that the king broke his promise to Pitt, but his dislike of
reform must have been well known, and probably had much weight. Pitt
made no more attempts at parliamentary reform, and for the next seven
years the question was of little importance in English politics.

[Sidenote: _REFORM DEMANDED IN IRELAND._]

The chief conflict of the session was fought over Pitt's scheme for
establishing free-trade with Ireland. An agitation for parliamentary
reform in Ireland brought into prominence a spirit of discontent. The
Irish parliament did not represent even the protestant population; the
house of lords was composed of a large number of bishops, generally
subservient to the crown, and of lay lords, many of them lately ennobled
for political service; the house of commons of 300 members, scarcely a
third of them elected by the people. Flood urged reform on a strictly
protestant basis, and the cause of reform was supported by a convention
of volunteers assembled at Dublin under Lord Charlemont. The Bishop of
Derry, Lord Bristol, a vain and half-crazy prelate, advocated the
admission of catholics to the franchise, and tried to excite the
volunteers, who were then no longer exclusively protestant, and were
recruited from the rabble, to extort reform from parliament by force. He
attended parliament with an escort of volunteers and in regal state, and
appeared in a purple coat and volunteer cap fiercely cocked. His
seditious behaviour, the claim made for the catholics, and the violence
of the democratic party caused a division among the volunteers and among
the advocates of reform generally. Charlemont and Flood himself checked
the violent party in the convention, which was dissolved peacefully.
Flood's motions for reform were rejected, and the volunteer movement
lost political importance. Pitt regarded parliamentary reform in Ireland
as certain if it were adopted in England, and was prepared to welcom