Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/46

32 1. Votes to be taken by ballot.

2. Churchwardens to declare poll to sheriff of county, who returns writ.

3. The annual session of Parliament to commence on the first Tuesday in November.

4. Session to end in April, or, if necessary, may be continued by Crown to first Tuesday in July.

5. Declaration by members.

6. All members to be paid.

7. All election causes to be decided by jury before judges of assize.

8. Every person competent to vote to be eligible for election.

This very pronounced scheme, having been considered, was, at a meeting on the 10th of July, ordered to be printed and sent to all the committees of counties, cities, and boroughs. It did not form the basis of any prolonged agitation, and was not, indeed, looked upon as the definite reform programme of the committee; for on the 3rd of November Sir George Saville was thanked for a declaration about Parliamentary reform, and requested to prepare a scheme and submit it to Parliament, and some months afterwards the Duke of Richmond was asked to publish his bill for universal suffrage and annual Parliaments. The remarkable thing is that proposals so extreme should have been accepted at all, and without opposition, by a committee of which Burke, Shelburne, and Townshend, as well as Wilkes, Sawbridge, and Beckford, were members.

At this time, however, the movement for reform, although rapidly coming to the front, was regarded rather as the subject of outside agitation, to be supported, indeed, by declaratory resolutions in both Houses, than as the immediate practical work of the Liberals in Parliament. The most pressing business was to bring the fatal war with America to a close; and that which seemed to offer the best prospect of useful result was the effort in favour of financial and economic