It will be mended, and a reform of English Government will produce good to the Irish." These sentences were prophetic; and perhaps they are destined to be even more so.
With a view to presenting at one glance Shelley's position as a practical politician, I shall anticipate the course of a few years, and compare his Irish pamphlets with an essay published in 1817, under the title of "A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom".

He saw that the House of Commons did not represent the country; and acting upon his principle that government is the servant of the governed, he sought means for ascertaining the real will of the nation with regard to its Parliament, and for bringing the collective opinion of the population to bear upon its rulers.

The plan proposed was that a huge network of committees should be formed, and that by their means every individual man should be canvassed.

We find here the same method of advancing reform by peaceable associations as in Ireland.

How moderated were his own opinions with regard to the franchise, is proved by the following sentence:--"With respect to Universal Suffrage, I confess I consider its adoption, in the present unprepared state of public knowledge and feeling, a measure fraught with peril.