The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-10 00:00:00

the functions which this House exercised, equalled by
none in modern times and scarcely by any
in ailment. In referring to ;.e.es preceedmge W 1 i
respect to the representation of that House, they found
that in 1781 Mr. Pitt brought forward a general motion,
which was supported by Mr. Fox, and in 1785 brought
forward a plan by which he proposed to lay aside a sum
to purchase 36 small boroughs, the Members for which he
proposed to supply by the additional representation of
counties. This plan was founded on an idea of Lord
Chatham. That plan, however, was rejected. In 1790
Mr. Flood brought forward a measure proposing an ad-
dition of 100 Members, and Mr. Pitt then declared, that
though he had not changed his opinion, he did not think
that a time for the discussion of the subject. In
1822 Lord Durham proposed to divide the country
into districts, but his plan was also rejected. In 1823
he hieneelf lied brought forward a proposition to take
100 Members from the small boroughs, one from each, and
to add of these 60 to the counties, and 40 to the boroughs,
The Noble Lord then detailed the various propositions
which preceded the passing of the Reform Act, and which
eventually formed the basis on which it was founded,
Those who supported the Reform Bill did not shrink
from asserting that there would still be a great number of
boroughs with a small population which would not, per-
haps, immediately rciiresent any particular interest, but
might be the means of returning Members who were
well qualified to inform the House on great questions. It
had been said that with respect to Schedule D they had
gone too far in disfranchising boroughs which were repre-
sented by an important class of Members. He (Lord
J. Russell) thought that if there were none but Mem-
bers for counties and for large cities arid towns, it
would be impossible to say the country
could be fairly represented.—(Hear, hear.)
For instance, none would be elected for counties except
those who were generally known for their long residence in
them, or for their connexion with them, and large cities
or other places would not return Members except
they represented the popular opinion of the day. Thu.
many valuable Members would be excluded, and the
c ,topleteness of the representation would be destroyed.
—(Hear, hear.) Other nations had endeavoured to
remedy this obvious inconvenience. The President of
the United States possessed a power for the formation of
an executive body, which was far beyond that
exercised by the Sovereign of this country. He
might utterly disregard the wishes of the Congress in
choosing his Ministers, because he could select persons
who represented any policy of which he approved.
Now the House of Commons exercised a control in that
respect over the Executive. He held, therefore, that
they would destroy the balance of the Constitu-
tion in this country if they were to say that none
but counties and large cities and towns should
have a voice in the representation.—(Hear, hear.)
Nothing but absolute necessity should induce them to
resort to the practice of disfranchisement. It appeared
to him, as he had stated more than once, that nothing
but such absolute necessity should induce them to
resort to an arbitrary disfranchisement; and what they
proposed, therefore, was simply to disfranchise only in
cases of proved corruption. The second Bill which he should
have to bring in would propose that there should be a
considerable change in the mode of inquiry into cases
of corruption.—(Hear, hear.) He owned he thought con-
siderable damage was done in this matter by the adoption
of the Grenville Act, which enabled parties to go before
a Committee with counsel and state their own case as
between A and B, and whether A and B succeeded it
was of little importance, as the question was no
linger a party dispute in which the House and
the public at large could take an interest.—
(Hear, hear.) At length, however, Mr. Sheppard
drew attention to the subject, and he obtained the
thanks of the House for having got rid of some
portion of the corruption which then prevailed;
but as these matters were now tried the inquiry
terminated with the success or defeat of either side.—
(Hear, hear.) There the inquiry finished, and no further
step was taken in the shape of an investigation for
the benefit of the whole community.—(Hear, hear.)
Now what he proposed to do was, that upon
an address of this House based upon any reason—it
might be a report of an Election Committee—it might
be the report of a Select Committee—or it might be
common fame and general repute—it should be law-
ful for the Crown to appoint a commission, which
commission should retort to the borough, and
have the same means of inquiry which had been lately
exercised with such success in the case of St. Albans.—
(Cheers.) By this mode he conceived they would
obtain evidence sufficient in many cases to
enable them to resort to disfranchisement.—(Hear,
hear.) Nur did ho think the other House of Parlia-
ment could complain of this, because before the
disfranchisement could take place they would
be asked to give their sanction to the step,
and have the same opportunities as this House of
forming an opinion upon its expediency.—(Hear, hear.)
He proposed that the seats now vacant from disfran-
chisement should be filled up by conferring upon Bir-
kenhead and Burnley the right of returning a Member
each, but if they disfranchised St. Albans there would
still be two vacancies, and those would also have to be
provided for.--(Hear, hear.) He had now to state
what they proposed to do by this Bill with regard to the
extension of the franchise.—(Hear, hear.) It appeared
to him that there were grounds upon which they could
safely concede a considerable extension of the right of
voting to many of the cities and boroughs of the United
Kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) At the time of the Reform
Bill, in limiting the right of voting to householders of
101. each, ho thought they did quite right, although the
limitation was placed rather higher than was absolutely
necessary; but that was a time when there was a great
wish already for reform; and it was, therefore,
felt that too much caution could not be used
in the extension to be conceded.—(Llear, hear-)
There was another ground which had great influence
upon his mind, and that was the growing intelligence
and education of the people.—(Hear, hear.) This he
could prove, if it were necessary, by the increase in the
sale of newspapers and books, and by the great
number of schools which had been established since 1831;
but he thought that the experience of every one was suf-
ficient to induce them to concur in the truth of this fact,
that the franchise of 1831 might be safely extended at
the present time. It was proposed, instead of fixing the
right to vote in those persons paying 101. rated value, to
extend it to Si. In looking at the general returns he
should say that the proportion of householders
paying from el. to 101. compared with those paying
101. and upwards, was as 6 to 10, aad it would be seen
teat when they proposed to lower the franchise to Si.
they would add a very great number of persons to those
at present entitled to vote. He was persuaded that the
franchise might be safely entrusted to those persons—
(Hear, hear)—and he was confident that they were a
class in whose hands our institutions would be safe.
(Cheers.) The Noble Lord then proceeded to say—
With regard to counties, I do not propose to change
that which has been the general constitution of this
House, that the representation of counties should be
placed on a different basis from that of cities and bo-
roughs. The greatest change that was made in this re-
spect at the time of the Reform Act was a change
which was introduced by a Nobleman then a Member of
this House, and now of the other House of Parliament—
the Duke of Buckingham. That which we proposed
went ou the principle of tenure-40e. freeholds, copy-
hold tenure, and leases of a certain duration—not losing
sight of the original difference between county Members
and borough Members, the one being founded upon
tenure and the other upon occupation. But the propo-
sition of that Noble Lord, which was sanctioned by a
majority of this House, gave to occupiers ratedon a
rental of 30/. a year a right to vote. I think —indeedl
thought so at that time—that we may fairly lower the
franchise to that which entitles a man to sit on
a jury.
persons
Among the jury qualifications is
ison o that
201. a
occupying property of the ratablej
is u slue of
ries. I think
year are qualified to serve on
that a person who qualified
to serve on a
jury cannot be an unfit person to bo entrusted
with the elective qualification. (Cheers.) Besides this
right of voting, we propose to reduce the amount with
respect to copyholdcrs and long leaseholders, from 101. to
5/. There is another rig
ht of young which I have to
mention, and which we propose should be given indis-
criminately to persons residing either in a county or a
borough—that is to say, if they reside in a county with-
out the limits of a borough they may vote for the
county, and if within the limits of the borough they
may vote for the borough—such persons paying direct
taxes in the shape of assessed taxes, or paying income-
tax to the amount of 40s. a year.— (Hear, hear.) We
do not propose that persons paying licences should have
the right of voting, because we think it might be liable to
abuse. With regard to persons who pay 40s. a year in
direct taxes, we propose that the right of voting should
be given to them. Now, the reason on which this par-
ticular franchise is founded is the objection which has
been constantly made, and not without cause, that while
persons having freehold property and others occupying
leasehold property are possessed of the franchise, there
are great numbers of well educated men—(Hear, hear)
—who, not having that particular species of property,
are debarre d from the right of voting. We hope,
therefore, by this proposition to enable them to have
votes, and thus to contribute to the representation of
the country.—(Cheers.) Having stated the extension
of the franchise within the existing limits, I come now,