The Press.
London, England, 1854-02-18 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

which was made in this house during the time he was
Chancellor of the Exchequer. It appears to me that that
argument is founded in fairness and justice. (Hear, hear.)
We should propose, however, to take population generally
as the rule, but to be applied with some modification. We
take, in the first place, the West Riding of the county of
York, which has nearly 800,M)0 inhabitants, besides the
inhabitants of the towns which are represented ; and iiwei
take also the county of Lancaster, which has, l think, n
its southern division about 500,000 inhabitants. We pro-
pose to divide these two divisions of the counties, but to
each of the divisions we propose to give three members.
Proceeding with the counties and towns, we propose to
give an additional member to each county ur each town
which has more than 100,000 inhabitants. (Hear, hear,
hear.) But then we propose that, in giving their votes in
these cases where members are to be returned, the electors
should vote as they do at present, only for two candidates
out of the three. The consequence of this alteration
would be to give to the West Riding of the county of York
four additional members, and four to the southern division
of Lancashire. There would then be, I think, 38 mem-
bers for the other counties, making 4(1 altogether. With
respect to towns having more than 100,0011 inhabitants,
there are nine which come within this category, without
including those which are metropolitan boroughs, for we
have considered the metropolitan boroughs as forming
parts of one great city, and not as separate cities an. d
towns. (Hear, hear, hear.) There would be, as I said,
eight towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants, to which
one additional member would be given, and to Salford,
containing upwards of 80,000 inhabitants, one member
would also be given, being an addition of nine for towns
which now return members. We propose also that one
member be given to three towns which are not at present
represented : they are Birkenhead, Staleybridge, and Burn-
ley. (Cries of " Oh, oh !" from the Opposition benches.)
Each of these towns contains shout 20,000 inhabitants.
We then propose to give effect to that proposition which
has often been asked in this house, that Kensington and
Chelsea should be made into a distinct borough, to which
two members should be allotted. (Hear, hear.) There is
another kind of representation which has been often
spoken of, and to which we propose at least to give some
parts of the seats which will be at our disposal. The first
which I shall mention of this kind are the inns of court.
( Laughter, and expressions of dissent from both sides of the
house.) I know that some honourable gentlemen think
that alreadythere are a sufficient number of lawyers in the
house—(renewed laughter)—but my persuasion is that
there would be a great benefit, when we put the represen-
tation in the position in which we propose to place it, that
we should have two of the most eminent lawyers in the
country returned to this house ; and I believe that while
of course lawyers will have as good a chance if not better
than other candidates—(a laugh )—the lawyers connected
with the inns of court would take pride in choosing two of
the most eminent men in their profession to represent
them in Parliament. (Hear, hear.) I cannot but think,
and I trust the house will concur with me, that it is of
great importance to have some of the most eminent law.
yens in the country possessing seats in this house, and
able to prevent, by their advice, honourable members from
being misled by the legal doctrines emanating from those
honourable members who may not have had so much ex-
perience or attained to so much eminence in the profes-
sion as themselves. We propose also to give one member
to the University of London. (Hear, hear.) I consider,
as the two great Universities of Oxford and Cambridge are
so much connected with the Church, that it is but fair that
a university open to the whole country should have the
power also of sending members to the house."
While discussing this branch of the subject the noble
lord admitted his belief that much reason could be
found in the arguments adduced on behalf of the
representation of minorities. There were many
instances where an electorate of several hundreds,
or even thousands, found themselves very narrowly
surpassed by their opponents, and justly complained
that their votes were swamped and their opinions
unrepresented. By way of partial remedy for this
injustice, though without appearing to consider it a
vital element in his measure, Lord J. Russell pro-
posed, in cases where three members were returned
for any district, to give every elector only two votes.
By this contrivance he calculated that whenever in
such localities the minority of votes on any side did
not fall below two-fifths of the number of their an
tagonists they could, if they pleased, return one
member out of the three, and thus obtain a propor-
tionate weight in the house and upon divisions.
Passing on to the third point, the electoral qualifica-
tion, Lord J. Russell, with many reasons for the step
in every instance, proceeded to indicate his intention
of proposing that the privilege of voting should be
granted under the following conditions :

" We propose on the present occasion that there should
be several franchises, which should be common to coun-
ties and towns; that a person having any of these qualifi-
cations should vote in the place in which he resides, and
should exercise his vote there, whether he be resident in a
county or borough returning a member to Parliament.
The first of these qualifications which we propose is 1001.
a year of salary derived from any employment, whether
public or private. (Hear, hear.) The amowat:of salary
stated must, however, be received half-yearly or quarterly,
in order that this franchise may not include those persons
who are paid by weekly wages. The next franchise which
we propose is one of 101. a year derived from dividends
from property either in the funds or in Bank Stock, or in
East India Company's Stock. (Hear.) The third is some-
what similar, though rather higher than that which I pro-
posed two years since—viz., a forty-shilling payment either
of income tax or assessed taxes within the year. Those who

SATURDAY,'

now pay the income tax will be entitled to the vote, and,
when they lose the vote in consequence of this part of the
qualification ceasing, they will receive as a compensation for
their loss the benefit of having got rid of the tax. ( Laughter. )
We propose that all graduates of any university in the.
United Kingdom—suitable means being, of course, devised
for compelling persons claiming this franchise to prove
their right—shall have the right of voting, because they
may be fairly considered as being persons of education and
intelligence. We propose that any person having a de-
posit of 501. in the savings bank—(cheers)—and having
had that deposit for not less than three years, shall be en-
titled to vote. (Renewed cheers.) I think if the term were
fixed at less than three years there would be very consider.
able danger of fictitious votes being created. (Hear, hear.)
But, where bond fide holders of a sum of 501. in the savings
bank can be found, I think the house will agree with me
that such a depositor has given such a proof of his pru-
dence and prosperity as should entitle him to take part in
elections for members of Parliament. (Cheers.) I now
come to those franchises which belong exclusively to
counties and to cities and boroughs. With respect to
counties, it may be recollected that, at the time of the in.
troduction of the Reform Bill, the Government did not pros
pose to depart in principle from the general provision of
our constitution—that, while occupation gave the right of
voting in cities and boroughs, tenure should give the right
of voting in counties. The forty-shilling freeholders,
were added to by copyholders and others who had, in feet,
smaller properties; but, with the exception of leaseholders
holding for twenty-one years, it was not at first proposed
to vary the nature of the right of voting for counties. But,
in the course of the progress of the Reform Bill through
Parliament, amendments were proposed and carried, by
which all fifty-pound copyholders obtained the right of
voting in counties. I sin far from making any objection to
that class of fifty-pound copyholders, but it will be seen
that it entirely changed the character and nature of the
county franchise as it had previously existed, and it cer-
tainly tended to diminish the power of that class which I
have always considered as the best and most independent
in this country—the forty-shilling freeholders. When that
principle was departed from, great opposition was mani-
fested, and many reasons were assigned why the occupy
tion franchise' should not be extended further. I believe
that such an extension would not add considerably to the
numbers of electors in towns sending members to Parlia-
ment. At the same time I think it would be a very great
advantage if those who live in towns which have not the
right of sending members to Parliament should yet have in
the counties in which they reside some voice in the county
elections. We propose, therefore, to adopt the principle
embodied in that motion which has more than once been
made in this house, that the ten-pound occupier should
have the right of voting at county elections. (Cheers from
the Ministerial side.) With respect to this alteration of
the franchise, we propose to check an abuse which has
prevailed to some extent, founded on the words of the act
any building or any lands occupied therewith.' Avail
ing themselves of this phraseology of the act, persons have
run up sheds of the value of not half-a-crown a year, and
made up the rest of the qualification by land, thereby
creating a species of voter on whom it was not intended to
confer the franchise. We propose that in this respect the
county right of voting, with the exception of houses being
of no value, shall consist in the voter living or residing in
it, but that in all other cases the building must be at least
of the value of 51. (Laughter.) Of course I mean Si. a
year. Suppose the house and land to be valued and rated
at a value of U. or 2/., provided the voter resides in that
house, he will be entitled to the franchise. But if the right
to vote should be claimed in respect to any other building
on the land, other than the house in which the voter re-
sides—it may be a cattle-shed or other erection of that
kind—then this check shall apply, viz., that the building
must be of the value of 5/. a year. (Hear, hear.) This,
therefore, is the franchise which we propose to give in
counties for voters, and the house will see that it has a very
considerable bearing upon that question of the increase of
members which I have stated we intend to propose for
some counties. Out of the whole number of members
which I have stated, we propose that 46 should be
added to the counties ; but, as these counties will
hereafter include all ten-pound householders, it is
obvious that the representation of the counties will
be less of a special character than it has hitherto
been. (Ironical cheers from the Opposition benches.)
It appears to me desirable that this should be so, because it
seems to me that all these endeavours to run down the
agricultural interest, or to run down the manufacturing in-
terest, are perfectly foolish and absurd, and that there could be
nobetter representation than thatwhich takes into consider-
ation the whole of the great interests of this country
—(cheers)—and which considers them all as contributing
to the glory and prosperity of a great country. ( Cheers.) Now
I come to the question of the franchise for the boroughs.
It certainly appears to me that in making a ten-pound
franchise we did not make a sufficient provision for the ad
mission of the working classes into the right of voting.
(Hear, hear.) In the consequences which have followed
that act I am prepared to maintain an opinion which I
still think the right one. I think it was most desirable
that the middle classes of this country should have a great
influence upon its fortunes ; but, at the some time, looking
at the character of the working classes of this country—
seeing how much the wealth of this country depends upon
them—(chars)—l think we ought to endeavour to give
them a higher position in respect to election of members
of Parliament than that which they now occupy. (Hear.)
Now, I do not shrink from saying that I think that the ex-
tension of the franchise, as I proposed it two years since,
to five-pound householders, was not too large in its extent.
But at the same time I must own that that proposition ha
been productive of great objections, and that it was gene
rally considered as carrying the franchise too low, and that
it would not obtain that intelligence and independence
which it was desirable to secure. Yielding to some extent
to the force of that opinion, I propose to take the limit