The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-14 00:00:00

THE NEW REDIATEIBUTION SCHEME.

If we admit the justice of the principles upon
which the government have proceeded, the Times thinks
we cannot quarrel with the manner in which these princi-
ples have been carried out. The suggestion that the Uni-
versity of Durham should be coupled with that of London,
which would be as reasonable as to join together Maynooth
and a free kirk college, is as amazing as it must be short-
lived; but, with an exception or two, no serious objection
can be taken to the government plan on the ground that
the boroughs chosen have been improperly °elected. It is
the propriety of the principles followed which seems
doubtful to the Times. The whole force of the enfran-
chisement of boroughs is directed to the aim of subtracting
the influence of towns from county constituencies, while
the claims of such places as Manchester and Liverpool,
Leeds and Birmingham, Bradford and Bristol, to additional
members are neglected. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
acknowledged he was not sanguine enough to hope that the
redistribution clauses would escape criticism, or even
"some imputations made in the freedom of parliamentary
criticism." The meaning of this is apparent. An elaborate
exposition of the ereat industries carried on in the counties
to be subdivided, of their agricultural, mineral, and manu-
facturing wealth, cannot conceal or alter the well-
known character of county representation, and must
simply call attention to that view of the pro-
posed changes which Mr. Disraeli is most anxious
should not become the subject of minute discussion.
The Times proceeds to urge that the government would
act wisely in encouraging Mr. L►ing's amendment
conferring additional representation on six or seven of the
largest cities, so that it may be prepared to introduce
the cumulative vote, any opposition to which on the part
of the conservative government appears to our contempo-
rary inexplicable except by " a suggestion of infatuation."
This second scheme, the Daily News says, may afford
the basis for legislation, but the chances are exceedingly
slight that the proposals will be accepted without consi-
derable modifications. The disproportion which Mr. Dis-
raeli introduces between the county and borough represen-
tation deserves close and critical examination ; but in the
case of most of the arrangements criticism may advan-
tageously be postponed until the details which will give
effect to them are before the public. On the way in
which the lines of separation are drawn within
the counties which Mr. Disraeli proposes to divide the
fairness of his proposal will In a great measure depend.
The suggestion thrown out casu►lly and dubiously by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer as to the expediency of group-
ing the University of London and the University of Dur-
ham is not likely to be accepted by the House of Commons,
and will not, we trust, be repeated. The two universities
are founded on diametrically opposite principles—the one
being an ecclesiastical and the other an entirely secular in-
stitution. Mr. Disraeli makes no provision fur the seven
additional members which he is pledged to assign to Scot-
land. He alleged last night that these must not be ob-
tained at the cost of the representation of England, but
that is not involved in the matter. The disfranchisement
or grouping of the smallest of our petty boroughs suggests
the source on which not onlySootland, but the great towns
of England—such as Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester,
Liverpool, and others—must draw for that additional re-
presentation which is their duo.

The Herald says the new scheme is a very good one, and
that the impression which it made upon the house—a sin-
gularly thin one—appeared very favourable.
The Standard thinks the adoption of the plan • matter
of certainty, but it condemns the proposal to associate the
University of Durham with that of London. To combine
them in one constituency is to produce an utterly unnatural
and incongruous combination—a sort of political Barnum's
mermaid—which cannot possibly act a. • living whole.
But this blot of the scheme the Standard says evidently
did not originate with the ministry.
The Tdegraph desires to suspend judgment on the main
propositions until the schedules are produced ; bearing in
mind that it is just possible for converted tones to neutral-
ise the effect of a popular suffrage by a curious plan of
redistribution.

The Star complains of the immense addition to the
parliamentary power of the counties. The house is bound
nos to pass so small a measure of redistribution along with
with so extensive a measure of enfranchisement. There is
danger in it : danger of unpopularity, of discontent, of con-
tinued agitation. Mr. Cardwell', speech of but night had
the true ring in it, and the Star hopes it ill the signal for a
short, sharp, and victorious onslaught on the small borough
interest which the government are determined to protect.