The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-14 00:00:00

ITOCAE OF COMMONS.--MoNDaw, Maw 13.

Ir. he if"' ,r. of Com mom' a new writ wax moved
for Sotherlandshire, in the room of Sir David
pandas, %rho has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds.
fir. 4. MILL gave notice of his intention, on
the 2lst instant, to move for leave to bring in a
bill to ,establish municipalities in the various dis-
tricts of th.. metropolis ; also to establish a federal
municipality for the whole of the metropolis.
I. erl ST.. LF.Y. in reply to a question from Mr.
Dosengx, stated that for a long time a correspon-
had been carried on with the authorities of
the Verie•nelan republic respecting their breach
of the engm,•ements entered into with subjects of
this country ; that that correspondence was
eminently unsatisfactory ; but whether any steps
iehuuld be taken to enforce the fuliilment of these
engagements was a question of extreme gravity. and
yeah steps should only be taken as a last resource.

In reply to another 'question,
Lord STANLBY stated that at the meeting of the I
Luxemburg Conference on Saturday evening •
treaty was signed, and when it was ratified it would
be laid on the table of the house.
The CHANHILLOR of the EXI•HEQUER informed
the house that Mr. Walpole had been induced by
ill health and the pressure of business in his de-
partment to resign his office. His services, how-
ever, would not be lost to the country. When the
arrangements were completed his successor would
state the course proposed to be adopted with re-
spect to the Royal Parka Bill.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then moved
for leave to bring in a bill to amend the representa-
tion of the people in Scotland. The subject, he
said, divided itself into two main divisions—one as
regarded the franchise, and the other as regarded
the distribution of seats. The borough franchise
reposed for Scotland was, with such difference as
the different state of the law rendered necessary,
the same as that proposed for England. It was
founded on the same principle—namely, the
performance of public duties, and the test
al the performance of those duties was the
payment of rates. There was no compounding for
rates in Scotland, and in consequence every house-
holder would have a vote. The right hon. gentle-
man then digressed from his subject, and referred
to th,• state of the discussion on the English bill.
The ,tovernment, he said, accepted the vote on
Thug. day night as a guarantee by the house of the
Filicy of the government with regard to the
borough franchise, and (amid the laughter of the
opposition) he expressed a hope that there would
be no attempt indirectly to upset that vote from
the principle laid down. He added that he re-
gretted to find from recent speeches which had
been made elsewhere by "'pouters ofl stale sedi-
tion" and "obsolete incendiaries," who had come
up to do honour to a man who would do honour to
any aide of the house, that political agitation
was to be removed from the country to London,
whether to obtain manhood suffrage or a St. rating
franchise he did not know. Reverting to the bill,
be said he proposed that the franchise in
counties should be reduced in Scotland to
the same scale exactly as was proposed
for England, and the property franchises
eintonched in England were untouched in
ileotland. With regard to the second division
of the subject, the distribution of seats, he stated
that by the Reform Act of 1832 eight members
were added to the representation of Scotland,
making 53. He proposed to increase that number
by seven. Of these two would be given to the
Scotch universities, one being given to the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh combined with that of St.
Andrew's, and the other to the University of
Glasgow combined with that of Aberdeen. Then
they proposed to give three additional members to
counties—one each to Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and
Aberdeenshire, and as no county in Scotland had
more than one member it was proposed to divide
those counties. Then with regard to the burghs
it was proposed to give one additional member to
Glasgow, the city being divided, North Glasgow
having two members and South Glasgow one.
Then they proposed to dissolve the two groups of
burghs called the Falkirk district and the Kilmar-
nock district, re-arranging them and adding other
towns, the principle being that throughout Scot-
land every town with 8,000 inhabitants should be
a burgh ; and one new group, called the Hamilton
group, would be created, which would have one
member. This made up the seven members. Ad-
ditions would also be made to the Ayr burghs and
the Haddington burghs.
Mr. MONCEZIVT said in Scotland the poor rate
was levied one-half on the tenant and one-half on
the landlord, and it was not the practice to take
the poor rate from tenants below 41. He thought
that the householders of England had a right to
complain that they were not to be treated as well
as the householders of Scotland. With regard to
the county franchise, he hoped that residence
would be required, in order to prevent the manu-
facture of faggot votes, which had gone on so long
in Scotland.

Sir J. FainiussoN defended the provisions of
the bill.
Mr. W. E. BAXTER believed it would be unwise
to extend the franchise in Scotland below the 41.
line, and advocated the claims of Dundee to an ad-
ditional member.

Mr. G. Derr hoped that the question of reform
would be settled soon, for there was no knowing
what demands might be made.
Mr. B. COCHRANE approved of the extension of
the borough franchise in Scotland.
Mr. LAINO accepted the borough franchise pro-
posed. He did not see why the 40a. freehold fran-
chise should not be extended to the Scotch
counties.

Sir E. Counutoow e suggested that some of the
smaller counties should be put together.
Mr. Boovieus thought the house would hardly
be prepared to support the proposition for elimi-
nating from the counties all towns having a pope
bition of 6,000. He objected to the proposed
grouping of the burghs, and said he hoped the
house would insist on lowering the proprietary
franchise in the counties.

Mr. hl'lsswitir believed the borough franchise
proposed would work well, but the new county fran-
chise was most objectionable. It would admit the
cotter farmers who were a most dependent class.
lint the worst feature of the bill was that which
took from the counties all towns with a population
of •,000. The result would be greatly to increase
the influence of the landlords. Altogether the bill
was unjust in principle.
Mr. GLADSTONIS called attention to an omission
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had not
stated where the new members were to come from
The plan for the representation of England was
settled, and unless it were intended to take some
from Ireland he supposed it was intended to in-
crease the number of members of the house.
But that was a constitutional question which