which this system has made such men useless, or worse than
useless, to the country of which their talents were the ornament,
and might, in happier circumstances, have been the salvation?
Ariel, the beautiful and kindly Ariel, doing the bidding of the
loathsome and malignant Sycorax, is but a faint type of genius
enslaved by the spells, and employed in the drudgery of
corruption--

"A spirit too delicate
To act those earthy and abhorred commands."

We cannot do a greater service to men of real merit than by
destroying that which has been called their refuge, which is
their house of bondage; by taking from them the patronage of the
great, and giving to them in its stead the respect and confidence
of the people. The bill now before us will, I believe, produce
that happy effect. It facilitates the canvass; it reduces the
expense of legal agency; it shortens the poll; above all, it
disfranchises the outvoters. It is not easy to calculate the
precise extent to which these changes will diminish the cost of
elections. I have attempted, however, to obtain some information
on this subject. I have applied to a gentleman of great
experience in affairs of this kind, a gentleman who, at the last
three general elections, managed the finances of the popular
party in one of the largest boroughs in the kingdom. He tells
me, that at the general election of 1826, when that borough was
contested, the expenses of the popular candidate amounted to
eighteen thousand pounds; and that, by the best estimate which
can now be made, the borough may, under the reformed system, be
as effectually contested for one tenth part of that sum. In the