ABSTRACT
First published in The Examiner, II, 18 June 1809, pp. 385–6. Hunt wrote this piece at a moment when reform of Parliament seemed imminent. The government had been rocked by the Duke of York scandal. An inquiry into the patronage system of the East India company, presented in early March, revealed that in 1805 Castlereagh had granted Lord Clancarty a writership to help him win a seat in Parliament. The press made it clear that a majority of seats in the Commons were controlled by borough-mongers, peers, or the treasury. A meeting on 1 May 1809 at the Crown and Anchor had brought together more than 680 advocates of Reform. In March, Canning proclaimed the Portland ministry unable to govern, and it seemed as if the government would fall. For other pieces on reform, see headnote above, p. 90.
