SECESSION FROM PARLIAMENT.
In parliament the opposition gained no ground. On May 26, Grey again brought forward the question of reform, and this time propounded a scheme. He proposed that the counties should return 113 instead of 92 members, that they should be divided into districts each with one member, and that the franchise should be extended to leaseholders and copyholders, that in boroughs householders only should have votes, that polls should be held simultaneously, and that, if possible, no one should record more than one vote; that all landowners, traders, and "professors of science" should be qualified for a seat, and that parliaments should be triennial. Pitt declared that the country did not desire reform, and the motion was lost by 252 to 91. When parliament met in November, Fox and some of his chief supporters in both houses seceded, attending only on special occasions. Their conduct was unconstitutional and ill-advised. It is the duty of a member of parliament to attend its proceedings, and in the commons his attendance can be enforced. Secession is a betrayal of a public trust and a declaration against the constitution. In this case it was partial, and therefore specially futile. It caused a division among the little band of the opposition, and injured the seceders in the opinion of the country; their conduct was considered unpatriotic, and Fox's absence from parliament when the thanks of the house were voted to Duncan was particularly blamed. The secession of their leaders gave some whigs of less standing an opportunity of coming to the front. In Fox's absence the remnant of the opposition was led by Tierney, a clever financier and a brilliant speaker with a bitter tongue. From the beginning of the war constant motions had been made for peace with France. They were discontinued after 1797; for it was generally recognised that Pitt would gladly welcome peace. Wit came to the support of the government; Gillray bitterly caricatured Fox and the opposition, and in November the Anti-Jacobin began its brilliant mockery of democratic principles and politics. Its most telling verses were the work of Canning, who entered the ministry as under-secretary for foreign affairs in January, 1796. The threats of invasion roused the spirit of the country. Danger was no longer to be apprehended from English disloyalty; the nation was justly proud of the achievements of its navy and was full of loyalty and courage.
Pitt took advantage of this spirit. Parliament met on November 3, and he brought in his budget on the 24th. All hope of a speedy termination of the war ended with the rupture of the negotiations at Lille. He therefore declared that though it was impossible to raise the whole of the supplies in the year, it was the duty of the nation to contribute its full share towards the expenses of the war in order that posterity might not be burdened with an unfair accumulation of debt. The service of the year amounted to £25,500,000, and a deficiency of £19,000,000 had to be supplied. He proposed to borrow £12,000,000 and to raise £7,000,000 by taxation, chiefly by a measure generally known as trebling the assessed taxes, by which the amounts already charged in respect of these taxes were augmented on a scale graduated according to income. Praiseworthy as his effort was to keep down debt, his plan was open to serious objection. Assessed taxes are essentially an optional expense, in that they can be avoided by those who do not choose to incur them. Pitt's plan made the payments of the preceding year an arbitrary standard of taxation, increasing them by one quarter to treble and progressively to quadruple their amounts. This was really an income tax in disguise, with the special drawback that it forced those who reduced their style of living to pay on the basis of their former expenditure. Fox returned to parliament to oppose the bill, and in one division the minority numbered 75. Some feeling was excited against Pitt out of doors. When, on December 19, the king and queen went in state to St. Paul's to return thanks for the three great naval victories won by Howe over the French, St. Vincent over the Spaniards, and Duncan over the Dutch, Pitt was hooted by the London mob, and as he returned home was guarded by a party of horse. This outbreak of ill-temper was of no important significance. The nation was fully determined to support the government in its efforts to maintain the safety and honour of England.
FOOTNOTES:
[264] Dropmore Papers, iii., 25-30, 50.
[265] Influence of Sea Power upon the French Revolution, i., 178, 201.
[266] Dropmore Papers, iii., 261.
[267] Perregaux to Lord "Courton" [Auckland], July 16, 1796, Rose to Auckland, July 29, Auckland Corr., iii., 350-52; Pitt to Grenville, June 23, Dropmore Papers, iii., 214.
[268] Pelham to Duke of York, Sept. 22 and Dec. 26, 1796, and Jan. 4, 1797, Add. MS., 33,113; Beresford to Auckland, Jan. 28, 1797, Auckland Corr., iii., 375-77.
[269] Logs of the Great Sea Fights, i., 232, 239.