The history of England, from the accession of James the Second . one large and flourishing townwhich had not already as many members as it could, with any show ofreason, claim. Almost all therefore that was taken from the smallboroughs must have been given to the counties ; and there can be nodoubt that ^\•hatever tended to raise the counties and to depress thetowns must on the whole have tended to raise the Tories and to depressthe Whigs. From the commencement of our civil troubles the townshad been on the side of freedom and progress, the country gentlemenand the country clergymen on the sid
The history of England, from the accession of James the Second . one large and flourishing townwhich had not already as many members as it could, with any show ofreason, claim. Almost all therefore that was taken from the smallboroughs must have been given to the counties ; and there can be nodoubt that ^\•hatever tended to raise the counties and to depress thetowns must on the whole have tended to raise the Tories and to depressthe Whigs. From the commencement of our civil troubles the townshad been on the side of freedom and progress, the country gentlemenand the country clergymen on the side of authority and therefore a reform bill, disfranchising many of the smallest con-stituent bodies and giving additional members to many of the largestconstituent bodies, had become law soon after the Revolution, there canbe little doubt that a decided majority of the House of Commons wouldhave consisted of rustic baronets and squires, high Churchmen, high^ Wesley was struck with this anomaly in 1745. See his Journal. ^ Pepys, June 10. O o o o 1-1 2290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND chap, xix Tories, and half Jacobites. With such a 1 louse of Comnions it isalmost certain that there wouUl have been a [)ersecution of the Dis-senters : it is not eas\ to understand how there could ha\e been apeaceful union with Scotland; and it is not ini[)n)bal)lc that there wouldliave been a restoration of the Stuarts. Those parts of cjur constitutiontherefore which, in recent times, politicians of the liberal school havegenerall} considered as blemishes, were, five generations ago, regardedwith complacenc)- by the men who were most zealous for ci\il andreligious freedom. But, while Whigs and Tories agreed in wishing to maintain theexistiivjf rijhts of election, both Whigs and Tories were forced to admitthat the relation between the elector and the representative was notwhat it ought to be. Before the civil wars the House of Commons hadenjo)ed the fullest confidence of the nation. A
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