The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-21 00:00:00

of Commons. In Fraser's Election Cases, in the case
of the borough of Cirencester, there was another definition
of the right which the people of England could stand upon.
It was that "every male person of full age, and not subject
to any legal incapacity, and who should occupy any house
or dwelling, the same being bond fide used for the purposes
of a residence, &c.," should have the right of voting. He
(Mr. Hume) stated those opinions, because there were
many persons who opposed that very ground had endea-
voured to obtain that very right. Another Parliamentary
authority was that given by the Committee appointed in the
be
eo nsitxe frmacotn,t
months
where s wastent i
nlaid down
gthh aptt
etvhieo
upsel
yr s ot no
shouldeefdc t
oi oun ,a
sand
ctehs es a pas mlevnht a of
trial
et
ne
wa na
sd t
ht aso sine se
aniansgn oo wtf
the ridicule which they so often heard thrown upon the
working people when theydemanded the franchise ?-(Hear.)
Why, it was a decision of the House of Commons itself,
and-he (Mr. Hume) was not to blame if he agreed with
such opinions as he had quoted. He would next quote that
u ofda classes,
ue
txnthooahtsnoul etertqnr v auuteddnycale
elections
of Sir T. Smith, who in the time of Elizabeth said that
" every Englishman was supposed to be present in Parlia-
ment, from the Prince to the lowest person in the country,
and that the consent of Parliament was taken to be every
Englishman's consent." Now, how could they take the Acts
of Parliament to be done with every man's consent, when
five out of every six were precluded from their share in the
representation?-( Hear, hear.) It was important to keep
that in view, to show that it was not a favour they were ask-
ing, but a right which had been acknowledged in former
times. Lord Brougham had brought in a Bill 'in 1836 to
extend the suffrage, and he recommended that all persons
rated to the relief of the poor and all owners of property
rated to the parish, and all such persons having had their
holdings for twelve months before the election, should bs
eeonwfNuf
ehs
orraaaebi
attendance
hee,wne
te:Lhrhraaeoai
ntgrct
:heel
toval called dpe
tlTnohtvnheehbve e
ibecrt reeeesrieduca-
tionaltotawaenoLkiyn:
entitled to the suffrage. But there were other classes to which
classes
ser
e w e
questioncc oon als whosetmi t
ouontpsi
about
went always
betfoorethe
favour House of
wasen
election, thinking that the more free the elections were, the
more free would be the consideration of the interests of the
country. And he added, that in many boroughs the election
still remained popular. He (Mr. Hume) need hardly re-
mind the House of the Toting by scot and lot, which they all
knew was an ancient practice, which existed until, he would
admit, it became an encroachment upon the rights of the
people at large. But up to the present hour the great
number of non-represented were deprived of that which the
rules of the constitution fairly gave them. The Society
of the Friends of the People, on the 30th of May, 179 i,
Mr. W. Smith in the chair, came to the following resolution :
-" That it is undoubtedly desirable, for many reasons,
that the collective body of qualified electors shall be as
numerous as possible. To reach the numbers, by whom the
power ought to be exercised, it mast be distributed equally
and impartially over the whole surface of the king-
dom. What we want is a free House of Commons and
a real reformation. Any measure of reform which does nor
really give and effectually secure that object, is more than
unprofitable, and the efforts to obtain it more than thrown
away." The Hampden Club, in 1814, proposed that every
t.
adult male, contributing to the support of the poor, should
tonsict eoaine
odnitrssn'
stated
They
dfieyowaycubna
ywddt certificates
rerhhdoe
have the franchise, and that club improved upon the old
borough decision, by requiring payment of taxes. After all
these opinions, he asked the House whether they were not
really aggreisors when they excluded so many from their
rights, and whether they were not the parties who were
driving the people to commit breaches of the peace?-
(Hear, hear.) He wished to hear reasons why they should
not render the basis of their constitutional power broader
than it was at present, and why such a course was not
likely to make their institutions more stable. He had
brought with him tables, which belled prepared, as he had
upon a former occasion, showing the condition of the repre-
sentation in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The popula-
tion of Great Britain, as appeared from the returns laid
upon the table of the House, was, in 1841, 15,000,000 ; of
Wales, 911,000; and Scotland, 2,500,000. Making the
total population of Great Britain, 16,411,000. The males
above 20 years of age were 4,000,009, and of that number
only 944,000 were registered as electors. If they took oft
the doubly-registered electors he (Mr. Hurne) did not be-
lieve there would be more than 850,600 bona fide electors
Now, that being the can, he asked whether it was possible
that all the great number excluded without being guilty of
crime from the franchise, could be other than dissatisfied? It
was so great an inequality, so great, so monstrous, that com-
mon sense was shocked at it. He would cite one or two ex-
amples of counties and boroughs to illustrate the working of
the inequality. He would take three English counties first
-Huntingdonshire, Rutlandshire, and 1V estmoreland. The
male adults amounted to 26,400 in these counties. The elec-
tors registered were 9,000. They returned six Members of
Parliament. Middlesex, Lancashire, and Yorkshire returned
six Members also. Their male adult population above 20
years of age, was 316,000. Their registered electors
were 73,000. Consequently those 73,000 electors and
316,000 adult males were met and equalised in
Parliament by the 9,000 electors and 26,000 adults
in the three former counties. In the borough of the Tower
Hamlets there were 40,000, whilst Harwich, with its 190
electors, balanced it. Was that anything like justice?
Instead of that being a House of Commons fully and fairly
representing the people, it was brought together by means
grossly unjust, and the interests of the community were
placed in great danger by such a system. In the six
boroughs of Harwich, Chippenham, Knaresborough, Rich-
mond (Yorkshire), Totnes, and Thetford, the electors were
1,805 out of a population of 28,000 adult males, and they re-
turned twelve Members, the same number that were returned
by Westminster, the Tower Hamlets, Liverpool, Finsbury,
Marylebone, and Manchester, with a population of
1,500,000, and the influence of these six boroughs was pre-
cisely balanced in Parliament by the six former. But a
greater evil was this-that in the large towns something of
public spirit existed, and they were counterbalanced by those
small boroughs that were at the mercy of a few individuals.
Now, with respect to the condition of the constituency of
Scotland, he found that the three counties of Banffshire,
Selkirkettire, and Peeblesbire, with only 2,173 electors, re-
turned as many Members as Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire, and
Lanarkshire, with a population of nearly 800,000, and with
more than 10,000 electors. He could mention other similar
instances of a like kind, but he did not wish to trouble the
House by doing so. Turning to Ireland, the anomaly of
the present system was still inure apparent. He held in
his hand a publication from the pen of a late distinguished
Member of that House-the late Mr. O'Connell-in which a
contrast was drawn between the state of the elective fran-
chise in Ireland and in this country. The writer took very
naturally what appeared to him to be the most favourable
contrast for Ireland, and he justly complained of the mise-
rable deficiency of the electors in Ireland compared with
the population. Thus, the county of Carlow, with a
population of 86,000 inhabitants, had only 1,700 electors ;
Kildare, with a population of 114,488, had but 1,200
registered electors ; Leitrim, with a population of
155,000, had but 1,434 electors ; Kerry, with
237,000 inhabitants, had 1,240 electors ; and Mayo, with
306,000 inhabitant 4, had only 1,300 'electors. Thus it
appeared that Rutland, with less than 20,000 inhabitants,
had more electors than two Irish counties, containing
together between 700,000 and 800,000 inhabitants.-(Hear,
hear.) He went on to ask, as he (Mr. Hume) thought very
properly, was that fairness ? was it justice? And he then
proceeded to compare the two counties of Londonderry and
Westmoreland. The former county, with 297,000 inhabi-
tants, had but 2,172 electors, while Westmoreland, with
only 42,000 inhabitants, had 4,592 electors, so that London-
derry, with an excess of population of 255,000, had less
electors than Westmoreland by 2,420.-(Hear, hear.) Again,
he compared Downshire, haaing a population of 337,000 and
2,330 electors, with Westmoreland, and he found that though
Downshire had an excess of population in the ratio of 6 to 1,
Westmoreland had an excess of electors to the number of
2,262. In the same manner he went on to Galway, and then
to Cork, where there was a population of 720,000, being 14
times that of Westmoreland, and yet Westmoreland had an
excess of electors over Cork of 550.-(Hear, hear.) All
these were irregularities calling for the attention of the
House, and which ought to compel them to do justice with-
out further delay, seeing, as they must do, that peace, con-
tentment, anti public order could only be secured by putting
an end to such inequality and injustice. In the Irish
boroughs the unfairness of the present arrangement was
very strongly apparent. Thus, in the six boroughs of Lis-
burn, Portarlington, Tralee, Ennis, Dungannon, and Kin-
sale, there were only 1,097 electors, while Cork, Dublin, and
Limerick, with over 14,000 electors, returned only the same
number of representatives. In the one case there was one
Member for every 180 electors, and in the other there was
but one Member for every 2,423 electors.-(Hear, hear.)
Thus it appeared that there was nothing like fairness or
equality in the state of the representation either in England,
Scotland, or Ireland. He had received a letter that morning
from a gentleman residing in Rochester, in which he alluded
to the injustice of giving two Members each to such towns
as. Rochester and Maidstone, while Woolwich, Gravesend,
and other important towns were left without representatives.
-(The Hon. Member read the passage, and then continued.)
He thought that he would best consult the feelings of the
House by not dwelling at greater length on these details,
but he could assure them that these were only instances
selected from many others of a_similar kind which he had
near him.-(Hear, hear.) That being the case, what did
he ask the House to do? He asked them to change
the system, to open the door to those who were excluded,
and to equalize the distribution of the electors whom they
had so arranged. If Hon. Members would take his advice,
he would strongly recommend them to consult a pamphlet
which had lately appeared from the pen of Alexander
Mackay, barrister-at-law, and entitled " Electoral Districts ;
or, the apportiQuasent of the Representation. of the Country
on the basis of its Population."-(Hear, hear.) It was an
inquiry into the working of the Reform Bill, and though he
had prepared his own analysis to submit to the House, he
felt bound to say that the analysis given by Mr. Mackay
was so much stronger and so much more accurate, that he
had no hesitation in referring Hon. Members to it in prefer-
ence. They would find in that publication an analysis of
the House and of the country, prepared in the most com-
plete manner possible, but he would only delay the
House by reading 'a very few extracts from its In
speaking of the boroughs, Mr. Mackay said -
" Let us now look more directly into the House of Com-
mons, and see how different interests and populations are
balanced in that assembly. The following 22 boroughs,
Andover, Ashburton, Arundel, Bodmin, Bury St. Edmunds,
Chippenham, Devizes, Dorchester, Evesham, Harwich,
Honiton, Huntingdon, Knaresborough, Leominster, Ludlow,
Lyme Regis, Lymington, Maldon, Marlborough, Richmond
(cYhoesrtkesrh,imrei)i, Totnes, and Thetford, the aggregate population
of which is but a fraction above 100,000, have 42 represen-
tatives in the House of Commons-that is to say, one
Member4arieutrsifho
,urr
yeuevi
seeutbrmboylnii
nne2s. 2,390 persons. The following 20 cities
and boroughs, London, Liverpool, Leeds, Lambeth, Man-
-9reot,uoorno
persons. Thus,
Members, t
eFc:ori nrskbß, rrßyine,
iintagshta Sheffield,
IBSvoreuirsththoawim,
Glasgow,aprtko,nT, ower
Greenwich, with an'aggregate population of 3 780 000 also
eairnletg one ghao the Mepmo
.s, as compared to thatg of thepbuerllaattfiteoern;
group ithirty-seven, they balance each other in the Loaefebsgto'hiuesentl aeftoe'urivrsmee ;eye:
In the same manner Mr. Mackay went on very properly to
analyse the state of the electoral body in boroughs. In 1831,
the Noble Lord pledged himself that every borough should
have at least 300 electors, and that that number would, he
trusted, be increased gradually to a large amount, but it ap-
peared that there were fifteen boroughs with
not more than
150 electors, and that there were 56 Members of that House
returned by 10,000 electors, while ten times that amount of
electors elsewhere only returned one-half that number of re-
presentatives.-(llear, hear.) With such facts before them,
he would say that no man who gave an honest opinion on the
subject could arise from a perusal of that analysis without
feeling that the time had arrived when such an anomalous
state of things should ,be put an end to.-(Hear, hear.)
Mr. Mackay, ,remarked that, " There is in England one
county Member for every 3,290 electors ; Wales, 2,700 •
Scotland, 1,633 ; Ireland, 1,078 ; d E I ng au , one borough Mem-
ber for every 1,045 ; Wales, 785 ; Scotland, 1,280 ; Ireland,
1,684." He did not mean tosuppose that by any plan which
he could propose they would ensure absolute equality, but
they might arrive at something like equality; and it should
be recollected that in Other countries, where the representa-
tion was based upon populatiog. a revision of the electoral
districts was made every ten or twelve years. On this part
• of the question there was a very strong comment in the

pamphlet from which he had been quoting, and it was the
last with which he would trouble the House:—" Of the bo-
roughs with the number of electors represented by each
Member below the average--are Honiton, which is $22
below it ; Totnes, 875 ; Lymington, 893 ; Harwich, 858 ;
Richmond (Yorkshire), 904, and Thetford, 933. The differ-
ence between the two extremes, Westminster and Thetford,
the former having one Member for every 7.286 electors, and
the latter one for every 107, is 7,179. The two boroughs
are equal in Parliament, although the electoral body of
the one is 1.48 per cent., or one sixty-seventh that of
the former. Again, the aggregate electoral body of
London and the metropolitan boroughs is 83,062,
returning amongst them sixteen Members. The
aggregate electoral body of the boroughs of Bridgnorth,
Honiton, Harwich, Thetford, Stafford, Richmond (York-
shire), Totnes, and Lvmington is 3,766, also returning
amongst them sixteen Members. In the former, the average
number of electors returning one Member is 5,191, in the
latter it is 235 ; from which it appears that one voter in the
latter is equivalent in the electoral scale to twenty-two in the
former." Thus the whole influence to London was neutra-
lised by the Members of these eight boroughs, who got into
(Laughter.)b
is_ Test,
the House, as they all knew, with very little trouble, though
he would say, was
not a fair
(Hear, Lear.) But before stet-
lantg somethe e a
courses expense.—
ee u.
ti
s
which he would recommend them to pursue,
he might observe that tip suffrage was at the present
time on no fixed principle. Honourable Members might
not be aware that though they had a 10/. suffrage as the
standard for boroughs, and a 40s. franchise, if they pleased
to call it so, in the counties, yet many would be surprised to
hear that there were altogether no less than eighty-five dif•
ferent suffrages at pre,ent in existence. It was impossible to
tell
and expense which this variety
franchise gave rise to. What they
ought
the suffrage as simple, as general,
andas
uncertainty
easily t
the
doobtained,
confusiontoofthe
and e
and
aer delay
easily
defended as possible. It
was at present narrow, complicated, difficult to be preserved,
and
attended with great expense, not only of money but of
time. He would counsel the House to adopt some uniform
system of suffrage for the counties, and one for the
boroughs, but first he would state what were the
various suffrages that now existed. (The Honourable
Member read a list of several denominations of the
franchise, but said that the entire number would
e under d
u; r i
t occupy too much time in going through.) They were
' taken down by a barrister who had made the subject
his study. This much he would say, that many per-
sonse°me
because of
thesethey
headsw, who
dhnaodtachrieoghste toto
availthe
themselvesfrnchis
did not wish to go to the trouble and expense of registra-
tion.—(Hear, hear.) Now what was the result of this state
of inequality? Why, that the people of this country did
not believe that that House represented the public.—(Hear,
hear.) They found votes and proceedings agreed to that
were altogether at variance with the interests of the people.
They found that class interests and the interests connected
with the aristocracy were always in favour, to the exclusion
of the interests of the people. They found that the agri-
cultural interests were in a great measure freed from taxa-
tion, and it was no wonder that it should be so, seeing that
until a few years ago no English Member could sit in that
House without having 3001. a year in land. In Ireland it
was, he believed, the same thing; but in Scotland they had,
and still have, a better order cf things. A working
man could be elected as a Member of Parliament for
Scotland as well as the wealthiest landholder in the
country, and why should it not be so, if his fellow-electors
bad confidence in him ? It appeared to him, there-
fore, that in every point of view the absurdity of the present
state of the representation, and the confusion to which it
gave rise, were all owing to their own neglect in applying
the remedy which they had it in their power to employ. He
would submit that the time had come when they ought to
effect the changes that were desirable. He would not speak
now of the great increase of taxation which had been allowed
to spring up under the present system. and which the coun-
try believed to be imposed for the benefit of certain classes.
Increased taxes were imposed on account of the army, the
navy, the colonies, but he would only say on this subject at
present, that his own opinion was that one-third of the whole
amount expended for these purposes might be very easily
saved.—(Hear, hear.) After the Reform Bill, and while
[lon. Gentlemen were on their good conduct before the coun-
try, the national expenditure had been brought down by seven
or eight millions; but whcn the public became careless, the
taxes were again gradually increased to the present enor-
mous amount. He would wish that Hon. Members
would look over a return that had been moved for
by the Hon. Member for Liverpool (Mr. Cardwell). They
would see how the taxation had gradually risen to
the enormous amount of nearly sixty millions annually
in a time of peace. Was it possible that under such a
state of things the people of England—writhing under the
injustice of being refused their civil rights, and of being at
' the same time taxed to that vast extent—could be con-
tented? They were not content, and they ought not to be
content; and only that those who had the suffrage were re-
gardless of their duty, they would have taken care what
class of men they sent as their representatives to that House.
He did not see the Right Honourable Baronet the Member
for Tamworth in his place; but he held in his hand
a statement made by that Right Honourable Gentle-
men at the time that Parliament disfranchised the 40s.
freeholders of Ireland. The Right Honourable Baronet
stated on that occasion, in speaking of the franchise, " No
doubt it is a vested right; but it is a right which differs in
its character from the rights of property and other private
rights. It is a pubic trust, given for public purposes, to be
touched, no doubt, with great caution and reluctance ;
but still which we are competent; to touch if the public
interest manifestly demands the sacrifice." That was the
language held when 340,000 freeholders were struck off the
roll in Ireland. Now he was anxious to see no man's money
taken out of his pocket without his consent. It was contrary
to the constitution and contrary to justice to do so, and what
was contrary to the constitution and to justice could not, and
ought not long to continue. The people were now, he was
glad to see, alive to the importance of this subject. But let
them bear in mind that every voice in that House was a
voice sent against them to keep up the present extravagant
system, and it was their own fault if they did not come for-
ward and perform their duty. Under the Reform Bill of
1832 they had the undoubted benefit, that whereas the bo-
roughmongers filled the House before the Reform Bill, di-
viding it into Whigs and Tories, who always formed two
factions, influenced only by their individual inter-
ests, the electors had now the power of making
what selection they pleased. He had often heard
it said, by way of regret, that the Reform Bill was likely
to destroy the influence of the Crown. Why, the very
contrary was the fact. The King of England could not do
anything as he pleased before the Reform Bill. He could
not choose even his own Ministers, except as the two fac-
tions of the aristocracy decided.—(Hear, hear.) But now,
if the 101. householders were but honest, if they fulfilled
what the Right Honourable Baronet called the trust given
to them honestly and fearlessly, they might at the next
election take care to place in that House men who would
act up to the demands of the interests and necessities of the
people,and this could be done in the constitutional mode, is
which only it ought to be accomplished. At the same time he
hoped that the electors would not do anything to impede the
great extension of the suffrage which he believed necessary
for the welfare of the country. They had heard complaints
against the Radical Reformers or Chartists. They had
heard complaints of their disturbances; and he was sorry to
say that for the last ten years they had interfered with the
progress of almost every public meeting, and had thus, in
fact, destroyed one of the most important elements in
the Constitution—freedom of opinion. He had always
objected to them on this ground, because he thought that
whatever might be their owa views they ought not to inter-
fere with the expression of opinion by others. But at the
same time, when he looked back to the causes of discontent
which prevailed, and to the manner in which their petitions
had been treated in that House, he could not feel astonish-
ment if they were dissatisfied and unsettled. When he remem-
bered the reception of the petitions that had been presented
by his friend Mr. Duncombe again and again, he could not
wonder that they should have adopted the mode of family
petitions that had been recently acted upon. Mr. Livesey,
of. Preston, was, he believed, the first man who suggested the
plan of having the name, address, and occupation of the peti-
tioner inserted. Under the Act of Charles the Second it was
said to be illegal to send a petition signed by more than 20
persons. He had himself presented lately a number of
petitions, each signed by less than that number, and he
thought that in the present state of things persons were
wise in sending petitions bearing only a small number of
signatures. But to return : he thouglit it was unnecessary
for him to say more in order to satisfy the House of the
inequality of the present system, of the great proportion of
the population that it excluded,and of the necessary dissatis-
faction which prevailed throughout the country.—(Hear.
hear.) The remedy which he would now propose was
quite a constitutional one. He was about submitting to the
House the following propositions :—" That this House, as
at present constituted, does not fairly represent the popula-
tion, the property, or the industry of the country, whence
has arisen great and increasing discontent in the minds of
a large portion of the people; and it is therefore expedient,
with a view to amend the national representation, that the
elective franchise shall be so extended as to include house.
holders ; that votes shall be taken by ballot; that the dura-
tion of Parliaments shall not exceed three years ; and that the
apportionment of Members to population shall be made more
equal." Great anxiety existed in the country on the sub-
ject of this motion. He had many applications made to
him to know what he meant by household suffrage, and
here he begged to remark that a word had been acci-
dently omitted in the resolution, as his intention was to in-
clude all householders. Not wishing to create any alarm he
drew a distinction between the vagrant and the man who
ought to have a vote, and adopting the opinion given by
Whitelock and others, and very lately by Lord Brougham,
his definition was as follows. He might remark. in the first.
instance, that the Committee who had met and had asked
him to bring forward this motion, had all given different in-
terpretations to the the term household voter. The defini-
tion which he would suggest if the House allowed him to
bring in a Bill on the subject was this—" that every male
person of full age, and not subject to any mental or legal in-
capacity, who shall have occupied a house or part of a house
who shall for twelve months, and w all have been rated to the
entitled to be re gis , and
poor as an elector, shall be
te
tied
twelve monttered hs from
shall be entitled to
vote
shall have a right to be rated
that period ; and every lod
ouch
to the poor, and after ser
-ch rating and such residence for
twelve months he shall in like manner be entitled to be
_
There would be no difficulty in
registered as an elector."
carrying out this object-
The apparatus all existed. In
every parish there were ratings to the poor, and persons who
kept accounts of those ratings-
All that was wanted was to
have so much of residence as should separate and distinguish
the steady inhabitant, who was entitled to a vote, from the
entitledto one. He knew that this
proposition would exclude
vagrant, who was nota
certain portion of the population,
but at the same time it would include a great many, and be a
strong inducement to a great many more, who would remain
12 months for the sake of being
registered. in their residence for
of any difficulty that g
registered. He was not awareexisted.
By the present law every Louse was rated to the poor, and
the Act conferring this suffrage would provide that every man
who so desired might, upon entering upon the occupation of
portion, part of a house, have a right to be rated fora
what-
ever it might be, of the poor-rate assessed upon that house.
bothof which
were impor-
tant,Thus registration and residence,.line would be drawn between
would be secured, and a
the mere vagrant and the worthy and educated man who was
of the
nature excluded from the suffrage merely
on account
nature of his occupa • tion It might be argued that this proposal
did not keep up the distinction between personal rights and
too
property. He did not wish todraw that distinction
tight, but he must say that by the law as it stood too much
attention had been paid
and •
to bricks and mortar, too little
to brains—(Hear, hear, and alaugh )—and the time had now
come when common sense should prevail. He submitted to
course to pursue would be, to also-
the House that the proper
and su •
lish all qualifications now existing in boroughs, _
c. bsti-
tute this simple and intelligible principle, by a large
portion of the people now excluded would be admitted. The
would admit
Noble Lord and some others might say that it
toe many—(Hear, hear)—but that was not his opinion.
The more were admitted the better the chance of a free
and a fair expression of opinion, and of doing
away with bribery and other influences which had
been brought to bear. He would tell Hon. Members who
might not have had the experience of the working men
which he had had. that he had held his position in that
House, and been protected for some 12 or 14 years during
the worst of times, by the virtue and honesty of the working
Dien of Montroee, and the Ave burghs had kept him in that