n from
circumstances, are solicitous for their amendment, yet resist the
attempt; under the argument that, when once we have presumed to touch
the constitution in one point, the awe which had heretofore kept us back
from the daring enterprise of innovation might abate, and there was no
foreseeing to what alarming lengths we might progressively go under the
mask of reformation." In support of his bill, Pitt argued that the plan
which he proposed was coincident with the spirit of those changes which
had taken place in the exercise of the elective franchise from the
earliest ages, and not in the least allied to the spirit of innovation;
that so far back as the reign of Edward the First the franchise of
election had been constantly fluctuating; that as one borough decayed
and another flourished, the first was abolished and the second was
invested with the right; that even the representation of counties had
not been uniform; and that James the First in his proclamation for
calling his first parliament, directed that the sheriffs should not
call upon such boroughs as were ruined and decayed, to send members to
parliament. But no arguments could prevail; and Pitt, having made no use
of his ministerial influence to bring over converts to his scheme, was
doomed to suffer a signal defeat; the bill was thrown out by two hundred
and forty-eight against one hundred and seventy-four; and the premier
never ventured to bring the subject before the house again. Nay, in
a few years he even became a determined opponent of all change or
amendment in the representation. It is from this cause, chiefly, that
he is suspected of insincerity at this period: but his bosom friend,
Wilberforce, at least deemed him sincere upon the subject, for he writes
with reference to it in his diary, that Pitt had a "noble patriotic
heart;" a sentiment to which a previous private conversation gave rise.
It is in the closet, when man unbosoms himself to a friend, that his
real intentions are best discovered. No conclusion can, indeed, be drawn
upon the matter of Pitt's sincerity from his subsequent opposition to
parliamentary reform, for many causes may have operated upon his mind
to lead him to change his line of conduct. He may have opposed it out of
deference to his majesty, or he may, after some years' experience, have
seen that the machine, as then constituted, worked better under his
auspices than he had anticipated. Man is a creature of change: to-morrow
h