at he was, the chief
of a dissolute and high spirited gentry, with the artificial ringlets
clustering in fashionable profusion round his shoulders, and a mingled
expression of voluptuousness and disdain in his eye and on his lip, the
likenesses of him which still remain enable us to imagine. It was not,
the haughty Cavalier said, his wish that the Parliament should withhold
from the crown the means of carrying on the government. But was there
indeed a Parliament? Were there not on the benches many men who had, as
all the world knew, no right to sit there, many men whose elections
were tainted by corruption, many men forced by intimidation on reluctant
voters, and many men returned by corporations which had no legal
existence? Had not constituent bodies been remodelled, in defiance
of royal charters and of immemorial prescription? Had not returning
officers been everywhere the unscrupulous agents of the Court? Seeing
that the very principle of representation had been thus systematically
attacked, he knew not how to call the throng of gentlemen which he saw
around him by the honourable name of a House of Commons. Yet never was
there a time when it more concerned the public weal that the character
of Parliament should stand high. Great dangers impended over the
ecclesiastical and civil constitution of the realm. It was matter of
vulgar notoriety, it was matter which required no proof, that the Test
Act, the rampart of religion, and the Habeas Corpus Act, the rampart
of liberty, were marked out for destruction. "Before we proceed to
legislate on questions so momentous, let us at least ascertain whether
we really are a legislature. Let our first proceeding be to enquire into
the manner in which the elections have been conducted. And let us look
to it that the enquiry be impartial. For, if the nation shall find that
no redress is to be obtained by peaceful methods, we may perhaps ere
long suffer the justice which we refuse to do." He concluded by
moving that, before any supply was granted, the House would take into
consideration petitions against returns, and that no member whose right
to sit was disputed should be allowed to vote.

Not a cheer was heard. Not a member ventured to second the motion.
Indeed, Seymour had said much that no other man could have said with
impunity. The proposition fell to the ground, and was not even entered
on the journals. But a mighty effect had been produced. Barillon
informed his master that m