Page:A Few Plain Observations Upon the End and Means of Political Reform.djvu/30

 With respect to the extent of the new qualification required, I should propose that in Boroughs it should amount to at least £.10 per annum in freehold, or £.40 per annum on lease; and in the neighbouring hundreds the double of that amount.—By this regulation the numbers of electors would be so extended, and include such a description of persons, as to render it almost impossible that the influence of bribery should be co-extensively prevalent; and the landed interest would be restored to their due weight, in the exercise of their elective franchise.

I have endeavoured to point out some of the direct advantages which might be expected from a Reform upon these principles; among which I conceive the just preponderance which it would give to the natural interest of the Country, the landholders and yeomanry, to form a principal