poor and virtuous without that _éclat_ or dignity which attends men in
higher situations.

But admit it were true that the great mass of the electors were too vast
an object for court influence to grasp or extend to, and that in despair
they must abandon it; he must be very ignorant of the state of every
popular interest, who does not know that in all the corporations, all
the open boroughs, indeed in every district of the kingdom, there is
some leading man, some agitator, some wealthy merchant or considerable
manufacturer, some active attorney, some popular preacher, some
money-lender, _&c., &c.,_ who is followed by the whole flock. This is
the style of all free countries.

Multum in Fabiâ valet hic, valet ille Velinâ;
Cuilibet hic fasces dabit, eripietque curule.

These spirits, each of which informs and governs his own little orb, are
neither so many, nor so little powerful, nor so incorruptible, but that
a minister may, as he does frequently, find means of gaining them, and
through, them all their followers. To establish, therefore, a very
general influence among electors will no more be found an impracticable
project than to gain an undue influence over members of Parliament.
Therefore I am apprehensive that this bill, though it shifts the place
of the disorder, does by no means relieve the Constitution. I went
through almost every contested election in the beginning of this
Parliament, and acted as a manager in very many of them; by which,
though as at a school of pretty severe and rugged discipline, I came to
have some degree of instruction concerning the means by which
Parliamentary interests are in general procured and supported.