ere returned
by thirty-five places containing scarcely any electors at all. Places
such as Old Sarum--consisting of a mound and a few ruins--returned two
members; whilst Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham, in spite of their
great populations, and in spite, too, of keen political intelligence and
far-reaching commercial activity, were not yet judged worthy of the
least voice in affairs. At Gatton the right of election lay in the hands
of freeholders and householders paying scot and lot; but the only
elector was Lord Monson, who returned two members. Many of the boroughs
were bought at a fancy price by men ambitious to enter Parliament--a
method which seems, however, to have had the advantage of economy when
the cost of some of the elections is taken into account. An election for
Northampton cost the two candidates 30,000_l._ each, whilst Lord Milton
and Mr. Lascelles, in 1807, spent between them 200,000_l._ at a
contested election for the county of York.

Bribery and corruption were of course practised wholesale, and publicans
fleeced politicians and made fortunes out of the pockets of aspirants
for Westminster. In the 'People's Book' an instance is cited of the way
some borough elections were 'managed.' 'The patron of a large town in
Ireland, finding, on the approach of an election, that opposition was to
be made to his interest, marched a regiment of soldiers into the place
from Loughrea, where they were quartered, and caused them to be elected
freemen. These military freemen then voted for his friend, who was, of
course, returned!' Inequality, inadequacy, unreality, corruption--these
were the leading traits of the House of Commons. The House of Commons no
more represented the people of the United Kingdom than the parish
council of Little Peddleton mirrors the mind of Europe.

The statute-book was disfigured by excessive penalities. Men were put in
the pillory for perjury, libel, and the like. Forgers, robbers,
incendiaries, poachers, and mutilators of cattle were sent to the
gallows. Ignorance and brutality prevailed amongst large sections of the
people both in town and country, and the privileged classes, in spite of
vulgar ostentation and the parade of fine manners, set them an evil
example in both directions. Yet, though the Church of England had no
vision of the needs of the people and no voice for their wrongs, the
great wave of religious life which had followed the preaching of
Whitfield and Wesley had not spent