Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and SpeechesBurke, Edmund
General
Thoughts on the Present Discontents, and Speeches
Burke, Edmund
Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1789
To this I answer, that experience is full against them. This is no new
thing; we have had triennial parliaments; at no period of time were seats
more eagerly contested. The expenses of elections ran higher, taking the
state of all charges, than they do now. The expense of entertainments
was such, that an Act, equally severe and ineffectual, was made against
it; every monument of the time bears witness of the expense, and most of
the Acts against corruption in elections were then made; all the writers
talked of it and lamented it. Will any one think that a corporation will
be contented with a bowl of punch, or a piece of beef the less, because
elections are every three, instead of every seven years? Will they
change their wine for ale, because they are to get more ale three years
hence? Do not think it. Will they make fewer demands for the advantages
of patronage in favours and offices, because their member is brought more
under their power? We have not only our own historical experience in
England upon this subject, but we have the experience co-existing with us
in Ireland, where, since their Parliament has been shortened, the expense
of elections has been so far from being lowered that it has been very
near doubled. Formerly they sat for the king's life; the ordinary charge
of a seat in Parliament was then 1,500 pounds. They now sit eight years,
four sessions: it is now 2,500 pounds and upwards. The spirit of
emulation has also been extremely increased, and all who are acquainted
with the tone of that country have no doubt that the spirit is still
growing, that new candidates will take the field, that the contests will
be more violent, and the expenses of elections larger than ever.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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