The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-02 00:00:00

GREAT YARMOL"rII.

Mr. PHILLIPS, the chairman of the Great Yarmouth
election petition committee brought up the report, which
stated that the committee were of opinion that the sitting
members had been duly elected, although several cases of
bribery had been established against private individuals.
THE BREACH OF PRIVILEGE—MR. J. P.
HENNESSY. _ _

The SPEAKER announced the receipt of a letter from
Mr. Hennessy, the member for the King's County, apolo-
gising for his non-attendance at the committee on which
he was appointed, which the hon. member stated arose en-
tirely from forgetfulness, and not from any disrespect to the
house.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The following bills were read a third time and passed :
Blackburn. Gas, Silverdale and Newcastle Railway, and
West Middlesex Water.

DUBLI NI CORPORATION WATER BILL.
Mr. MAGUIRE, in moving the second reading of this
bill, observed that it was intended to supply a great social
want to the inhabitants of Dublin. There were 24,000
houses in that city, only 12,000 of which were sup-
plied with water, which was furnished at a low pres-
sure and was inadequate to meet domestic requirements.
A discussion ensued, which terminated in the motion for
the second reading being postponed for a week.

PETITIONS.
Several petitions were presented for and against the
budget, against the Highways Bill, in favour of the repeal
of the duty on paper, against the reduction of the wine
duties without a corresponding reduction of the duty on
malt, &c.
PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION.
Lord J. RUSSELL presented a number of petitions
praying for a re-distribution of Parliamentary seats, and the
adoption of vote by ballot in the election of members to
serve in the House of Commons.
Mr. BRIGHT presented petitions from different parts of
England and Scotland to the same effect.

THE ALLEGED AUSTRO-RUSSIAN TREATY.
In reply to Mr. STEUART,
Lord J. RUSSELL said that the English Minister at
Vienna denied the existence of any such treaty.
THE REFORM BILL.
Lord J. RUSSELL (amid some loud cries of " Hear,
hear," from the Ministerial benches) then rose to ask leave
to bring in a bill to amend the representation of the people
of England and Wales. He said—Before I enter into the
subject it is necessary for me to make a disclaimer. I wish
to disclaim entirely any intention, by the measure I ask
leave to introduce, to frame a new constitution ; I disclaim
any wish to alter the constitution of this house. I should
feel totally unable to propose anything that would stand iu
the place of the glorious constitution of this country. And
if I propose a bill to amend the representation of the people,
it is not as a confession that the Reform Act of 1832 has
failed ; it is rather because that act has succeeded. I do not
think that any act was ever passed by this house that has
had more complete ruccess, or with which so few faults
have been found ; and when I compare the present state of
this country with what was its state some years before the
Reform Act I cannot but congratulate this house that by
that measure so much discontent has been allayed and so
much satisfaction been given. I 110 not allude to our ma-
terial wealth, or the great increase that has taken place in
our prosperity, because that progress may be attributed to
other causes. But it is that the people since 1832 have been
more generally satisfied with the institutions under which
they live. (Hear, hear.) If I compare the year 1820
with the year 1860 I remember that in the former year Lord
Castlereagh had introduced measures which ho himself de-
signated as measures of severe repression; they were mea-
sures intended to restrain the press, to prevent public meet-
ings in the open air, with other, restrictions of the same
kind. They were thought net ~nary by the Government
of that day ; and I think the system of government then
pursued may have required them: But looking at the state
of the country in 1860 I find a generally prevailing spirit of
loyalty to our institutions—a spirit that wishes to preserve
and extend, not to destroy them. With this preface I pro-
ceed to say what we propose to do, in some degree at least, to
supply the omissions and remedy the defects of the Reform
Act. There is one point that has more than once
attracted the attention of the house, and on which it has
clearly pronounced its, decision. It is the franchise in
counties. During the progress of the Reform Act through
this house it was decided that freehold and leasehold tenures
should no longer give the sole title to a county vote ; but
that an occupation, merely, of the annual value of £5O
should also confer on the occupier the right of voting. That
claim havillg been sanctioned by Parliament, those who
since that time have looked into the subject, with the view
of amending the law, have very naturally said, " If an oc-
cupation merely is to give a title to a vote, it should no
longer be restricted to a £5O holding ; the occupier of a
£2O or £lO holding is as fully entitled to a vote as the occu-
pier of a value of 150." That view of the question has
been more than once adopted ; in principle it was adopted
by the late Government. In the bill I now introduce we
propose to add to the county franchise an occupation fran-
chise of £lO a-year. (Hear.) But we propose also to take
further securities than were taken in the bill of last year,
that this shall be a bone lids franchise. (Hoar, hear.) It
is obvious that under the plan of a £lO holding the land
might be covered with small occupations that could not be
called beneficial holdings. We propose that where land is
attached to a dwellinghouso no sum shall be required as
value in respect of the dwellinghouse, but where there shall
be on the land any building other than a dwellinghouse a
sum not less than £5 shall be required as the value on such
building. I now proceed to the consideration of a question
which has occasioned far more disputes, which gave rise
last year to warm debate in this house, and with respect to
which various opinions were expressed—l mean the ques-
tion of lowering the borough franchise. It appeared to me,
I must confess, that the late Mr. Hume had good reason
to complain some time after the Iteform Bill of 1832 had
come into operation that a £lO franchise in boroughs dre.w
too arbitrary a line ; that a number of persrs were in
consequence of the line being so drawn deprived of the
right of voting who might fairly enjoy the privilege,
ivilege,
and that in that respect an injury was done to our
system of Parliamentary representation. The longer
the time that has elapsed the more distinctly have I per-
ceived that that complaint was founded in justice. It has
been said that the franchise in boroughs was in 1832 pur-
posely framed to exclude the working classes from the right
of voting ; but to a statement such as that I cannot sub-
scribe, although I am ready to admit that it was framed with
the view generally of giving weight to the middle classes in
this country, whose information and character appeared to
us at the time to entitle them to obtain that vast accession
of power which they then received. I own, however, that
I think it would be a great evil if we were to continue much
longer to exclude from our representative system that large
number of the working classes who, by their knowledge,
their character, and their other qualifications, are fitted to
exercise the franchise freely and independently. (Her*?
hear.) It appears to us, then, that the constitution would
derive additional strength from the fact that a certain num-
ber of those working men best qualified for the privilege
were admitted to the franchise, and that a greater value
would thereby be set on the benefits which the constitution
confers. (Hear, hoar.) lam aware that it is said there
has been no agitation on this subject; that we have seen
manifested with respect to it nothing of that eagerness which
took possession of all classes of men at the period of the
Reform Act, and that we ought net, therefore, until some-
thing like a successful agitation is set on foot to proceed to
extend the franchise. That, sir, however, is not the sort of
political doctrine which I have been taught. (Cheers.) I
khnavowe,nemmthaxeicmonotrf Mr.ary,b eßenurakcecuvertiothmerdestpoercetgartod teharelv;erlel:
formation as being both deep and wise, I have not
failed to perceive that in those instances in which just
demands have been refused, as in the case of the
Catholic question, the country has been on the eve of
having its peace disturbed and insurrection excited because
Parliament had obstinately refused to accede to thole de-

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