i82o.] Close of the War to the Death of George III. 137 conciliate them by granting at least some step towards reform. So long as that House was constituted as at present it was, it could not, it ought not to, possess the confidence of the people." The debate in the Commons lasted over two evenings, those of the 23rd and 24th of November, and was particularly brilliant. It has been the custom to regard Burdett as a mere commonplace declaimer, but this was not the opinion entertained of him at the time, as an observation made by Sir Powell Buxton about this very discussion will show. He says, "We have had a wonderful debate ; really it has raised my idea of the capacity and ingenuity of the human mind. All the leaders spoke, and almost all outdid them- selves ; but Burdett stands first. His speech was absolutely the finest and the clearest and the fairest display of masterly understanding that ever I heard ; and, with shame I ought to confess it, he did not utter a sentence to which I could not agree. Canning was second ; if there be any difference between eloquence and sense, this was the difference between him and Burdett." * The eloquence was of little avail; the Tories were firm, and even some of the Whigs went with them, and ministers had a majority of 381 to 150, and no protest availed to prevent them from proceeding vigorously with the work of repression. They brought in and carried the infamous Six Acts, by which liberty of speech, liberty of the press, and liberty of meeting were practically destroyed, so far as legislature could effect that purpose.! The Whig leaders opposed these oppressive
- " Memoirs," edited by his son, p. 79. This tribute is the more striking
because its author had no political sympathy with Burdett. In a letter to his uncle, C. Buxton, written at the same date, he says, "I quite agree with you in reprobating the Radicals. I am persuaded that their object is the subversion of religion and the Constitution, and I shall be happy to vote for any measure by which the exertions of their leaders may be suppressed " (Ibid., p. 82). His great friend Gurney had just written to him, " Do not let thy independence of all party be the means of leading thee away from sound Whiggism " (Ibid., p. 79). t The Six Acts were 1. An Act to prevent delay in the administration of justice in cases of misdemeanour. 2. An Act to prevent the training of persons to the use of arms, etc. 3. An Act for the more effectual prevention and punishment of blasphemous and seditious libels.
