The Sun.
London, England, 1831-03-02 00:00:00

that there are forty-seven boroughs of only 4,000 inha-
bitants, and these we shall deprive of the right of sending

more than one Member toParliament. —( Vehement cheers.)
We likewise propose that Weymouth, which now sends
four Members to this House, shall henceforth send hut two.

The abolition of sixty boroughs will occasion 119 vacan-

cies, to which are to be added forty-seven for the boroughs
allowed to send only one member, and two of which Wey-
mouth will be deprived, waking in the whole 168 vacan-

cies. That, I believe, is the ;hole extent to which Mi-

nisters propose to go.—(Cheers and some laughter.) But
as I have already said, we do not mean to allow that the re-

maining boroughs should be in the hands of select Corpo-
rations—that is to say, of a small number of persons to
the exclusion of the great body of . the inhabitants,

who have property and interest in the place. It
was a point of great difficulty to decide to whom
the franchise should be extended. In ancient times, I
believe, it will be found that every person • residing in
a borough who possessed an inhabited house in the
town, was competent to vote for Members of Par-
liament. But, at the same time, this was to the exclusion of
villeins and strangers, and therefore the electors formed a
partieuhir body in each toss n. They were possessed of
property, and they bore the charges, and of course
they were entitled to vote for the election Of
Members of Parliament. 1 say, Sir, that the great
object of this House is to get rid of those complicated
election questions which are daily coming before it, and
to give to the real property and the real householders of
the different cities and towns the right of voting for Mem-
bers of Par) ament.—( Hear, !mar.)
The SPEAKER here called " Order, order."—When
silence was obtained,

Lord JOHN RUSSELL proceeded—We do not intend,
Sir, to alter the remaining boroughs, but we intend to
alter the elective franchise. Souse of them now, Sir,
are in the hands of select corporations ; scitne of
them are in the nomination of individuals. This
we intend to provide against, and to give the
franchise to prisons possessing interest and property
in these boroughs.—(Hear, hear.)—l am aware, Sir, it
is difficult to know to what extent we ought to go.
In ancient times, every person residing in a borough
and inhabiting a house was competent to rote, ex-
cluding only, as I observed before, villeins and strangers.
This was the plan we at first proposed, but on
consideration we found it confined the privilege very touch
in some boroughs, for we ascertained that in some boroughs
there were not snore than ten, in others not
more than seven, in others not more than three, and in
sense only one, rated at twenty pounds per annum.—
(Hear, hear.) This, therefore, would be confining, in-
stead of, as is our object, extending the elective franchise.
We therefore propose, Sir, that the elective franchise
should be extended to all those who pay
rent of 101. per annum, whether they oc-
cupy such premises or otherwise.—(Hear, hear.)—This
plan will be carried into effect under certain condi-
tions to he het-fatter enumerated.—(Hear.)—We do not
intend to deprive the present resident electors of their
right to vote, but experience has taught that the
right of voting being extended to nun-residents
has led to such manifest and. manifold evils,
that we are determined they shall no leneer retain
their votes.—(Lnuil cries of " bear, heer."j—Some voters
will come under one elves and some under another,
but it is not our intention to deprive any one of the
elective franchise during his life. I have said that all
those occupying houses of 101. a year will be entitled to a
vote ; we propose to extend the privilege of voting to all
copyhold property of the value of 101. a year for
Mienliers of a county, us also all householders. All
leaseholders of Al years, which have not been renewed
within two years, are to have the privilege of voting
in towns, and ell leaseholders of twenty yearn, where
the property is worth 30/. per annum, are to hare the
privilege of voting at county elections.—( Hear, Lear.)
It will be sewn Sir, by this statement, thee we hare
thought it expedient to disfranchise 168 seate.--(Hear.)
But it is not our intention to fill them all up again.
(Loud cries of " hear, hear," which lamed for several mi-
nutes.)—lt is our opinion, Sir, that the number of
members of this House is inconveniently large. Any
Member who recellects this House, before the Union
with Ireland, at which time a hundred Members were
aided, which I will not say was a great evii—sny Member
who recollects this, and how business was conducted before
that time. will also recollect hoar much more readily it
was conducted. It is well known that many Members
obtained a seat in the House from motives entirely of
aosbition and the honour it conferred.—(llear, hear.)
Every one knew that many did nut attend at all, or if they
did, it was only a manifest convenience to those who tu, k
part in the public business. It was a well known tact
that many Members have been absent for two or three
ears together, and other instances were on record
where the Member after his election had never
even attended to take the oath..—( Hear. )—Some Members
only came down to rote away the public money. We
therefore propose to make a reduction, and fur the conve-
nience of business ,0 cut eft several Members.—(Loud cries
of "No.") We propose that seven large towns, now unre-
presented, shall serail two Members each.--(Hear.) We
propose that twenty other towns, not represented, shall
send one Member esch.—(Hear.)—The seven towns
which are to send two Members each, are the following :
Manchester and Salford Wolverhampton, Billiton,
Birmingham and Aston and Sedgeley
Leeds Sheffield
Greenwich, Deptford, and Sunderland and the Wear-
mouths.
The following were the names of the towns, each of
wit'ch, i t was proposed, should send one Member to Par-
liament
Brighton Kendal
Blackburne Bolton
Wolverhampton Stockport
Macclesfield Dudley
South Shields and Westoe Tynemouth and North
Warrington Shields
Huddersfield Cheltenham
Halifax Bradford
Gateshead Frome
Whitehaven, Workington, 1 NVakefield
kiayrington 1 Kidderminster.
It is well hnowa that a great portion of the mettopolie and
its neighbourhood, amounting in population to 800,000
or 900,900, is scarcely at all represented, and we propose
to give eight Members to those who are thus unrepresented
by dividieg them into the following districts
Districts. Population.
Tower Hamlets •.:53,0V0
llolborn .18,000
Finsbury ... 162,000
Lambeth..
By thiiie mons, Sir, we make four divisions of
the metropolis arid its suburbs, to each of which wej
give two Memberi. I ant ante, Sir, that whin the
wealth anti population of the parish of .Marylebone
is considered, it will not be thought that we ate going
fully entitled to
if I as
too tat; horoogh of 130-
loud laughter.)---Our
nest far,h
wr
gsayMembersc l til
e'aa thatt
ae
ar parishan z t
and
neet object, Sir, is to enable larger counties to send
mere repeceentatives. I cannot think, Sir, there will be
the least 4ectio.l to this proposition ; for this is a plan
of Reform that was prop;s4 in the days of Earl Chatham, •
end had been advocated ever Since, 7....fothilig can be snore
that large counties in which there an im-
oiense Itaztt_fiiiituring population, such as Staffordshire
others,--nothing
.ez.:4l he more fair than that such coun-
ties should have aeditio7.4 Members. The Bill I shall
beg leave to introduce will geve ewe? .;:dditional Members
to each of twenty-seven counties, Yilkere lha inhabitants
eeneed 150,000. Everybody will exeect tit Xorkehire,
divided lotd three ridings--the East, West, and N0rti0,....
should have two Nernhere for each riding ; and the other
counties to which this r4itional privilege will be given
Are the following
:--
1 nester Wilts Salop
1)e t')' Warwick -
Durham Cumberland lion
Gloucester Northampton Nottingham
Lancaster Surrey
Notfolk Der.= Northumberland
Bomerset Essex Leicester
Surlolkt. Kent" Ot.e.harupton
Yorkanire Lincoln
I now, Sir, proceed to another part of my measure. It Ia
to prevent the great expeoce at elections where the poll is
protracted. We propose the taking of the poll in dif-
ferent parts of the country, and that all electors, either for
counties or towns, shall be registered.—( Hear. )—The ma-
chinery of thie plan will he very simple, at the same time
very necessaiy in order to obtain -the names of voters. At.
a certain period of the year the.clitirchwartlens and over-eels
of the .parish will be compelled to produce a list of all
those occupvizg houses of 10:. a year. They will ,be oh-
Heed to mike a reteirn to an officer to be appointed,
who will hear all objections and ad:udge. When this is gone
through, on the lot of December in every year the list
be published, anti every person whose name is on the.
list will have a right to vete, without being usked
any other question than what is necessary to
prove his indenti ty. —( Hear, bear. )—This list
will be accessilde to all. I think this regu-
lation will save much en:pence. and time in deciding
on disputed votes. Ana evil which we propose to
r seedy is the duration of polls. We therefure intend
that booths shall be e, ected in different parts of the
county, which materially lower the expence.
We consider the machinery of our plan so simple that in
all towns the pnll nosy be taken in one day. But
considering the disturbance that exists during contested
election., we propose to extend it to two oar, or, if
necessary, to four.—(Hear, hear, hear.)— In counties
it will necessarily he somewhat different, We propose