The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-29 00:00:00

for its incoherent conciliation. (Laughter.) He stated that
they had changed their opinions since List year. (Loud
and derisive cheers from the Opposition.) The party
then in power brought forward a plan for the
reconstruction of that house. (Hear, hear.) They
on that side of the house thought it was im-
perfect; they opposed it, and now they brought forward
that measure with which they had been called upon to
proceed, and which contained characteristics which
the other did not possess. (Hear, bear.) If the
proposal of the honourable member for Stroud was
agreed to it would shake and disturb everything that had
been already settled. (Hear, hear.) It was an attempt to
undo by a sidewind what was against the spirit of their
legislation, and therefore its object would be to weaken
the provisions of the bill.
Mr. GLADSTONE strongly criticised the course the
Government had pursued with respect to the bill, and said,
in his opinion, the framework of the bill upon which they
were then engaged was consistent with the acts of her Ma-
jesty's Government on farmer occasions (Hear, hear.) The
right hon. gentleman then referred to the changes that
had taken place in the Cabinet since the subject of Reform
had been under consideration, and contended that
consistency, as far as the majority of the
Cabinet was concerned, evidently had been at a discount.
lle agreed with the hon. member for Birmingham, and
for these reasons. Ile thought it would unsettle and en-
danger a measure which promised to be the greatest public
benefit that had been accomplished for a long time.
Mr. P. SCROPE said after the debate that had taken
place he would withdraw his amendment. The great
cause of non-success appeared to him to be that he was
too late.
The amendment was then by leave withdrawn.
Mr. GREGORY said after what had taken place he
should not bring forward his amendment.
The committee then proceeded to consider clause 5,
which embraced the educational franchise.
An amendment was brought forward by Mr. POWELL
entitling the holder of a certificate of having passed a local
examination to the privilege of voting.
Mr. BOIIVERIE altogether disapproved of the amend-
ment in the strongest manner. He did not think that
Parliament would delegate the power of granting votes to
ono or two gentlemen, however respectable, who might be
deputed by any university to conduct the local examina-
tion of school boys, and in the event of their coining
up to the mark, giving them a certificate which was to
confer the privilege of voting for a member of Parliament
for life. The hon. and learned member for Richmond (Sir
R. Palmer) intended to take the sense of the house on the
whole clause, therefore he !thought it would be better to
come to some conclusion whether the clause should remain
n the bill Mole they went into a long discussion as to its

provisions.
Mr. FAWCETT hoped the Chancellor of the Exchequer
would stand firm with respect to the enactments of this
clause. The proposals for disfranchisement, he
regretted to say, had invariably come from his (Mr.
Fawcett's) side of the house, and it was only by the Coura-
geous manner in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
had conducted the bill that they had been successfully
assisted.
Sir R. PALMER said the motives and purposes for
which those franchises wore introduced having been got
rid of by the withdrawal of the dual vote, he could not
see for what purpose they were retained, and, therefore,
he intended to move that clause be entirely struck out of
the bill.
After a discussion, the Chancellor of the Exchequer

withdrew the clause.
The sitting of the house was shortly afterwards ad
journed until 9 o'clock.

THE EVENING SITTING.—A "COUNT OUT
The house resumed its sitting at nine o'clock, when an
hon. member moved that it bo counted. There were very
few,perhaps not half a dozen members, present at the time.
The glass was reversed, and the sands began their down-
ward course, the hon. members the while coming in slowly
When the sands had entirely trickled down, the Speaker
asked the hon. member if ho intended to persevere with
his motion, and receiving an affirmative, he said he
had not quite taken the chair when the honourable
member made the motion. Ho therefore wished to
know whether the hon. member was prepared to
repeat his motion, and again receiving an answer in the
affirmative, he took his hat, and counting slowly, told
off 37 members, among whom was tho Chancellor (..f the
Exchequer, who, with a few members of the Government,
entered the house while "the count" was being made.
The right lon. gentleman looked anxious, and Colonel
French was most uneasy, running out of and into the
house and out again, crying out to hon. members, who
stood in groups talking in the lobby, " Come in, come
in." But strangely enough, the Speaker, who counted
slowly, paused, and an unprecedented occurrence
in the annals of " counts " commenced counting
again and with still more tardy utterance of
, ,
the numbers, "one, two, three, four," ac., and
emphatic dotting of his hat. As ho fan his eye
here and there over the benches, he this time counted 38
members. Still the Speaker kept his place in the chair for
a few moments, Ministers kept their seats on the Ministe-
rial bench, and hon. members looked at each other in doubt
and amazement to know what the tenacity of place meant,
and whether a third "count" was about to be made. The
Speaker, however, rose and left the chair, and hon. mem-
bers, many of whom, evidently glad of the release, began
to depart ; and thus ended the reassembling of a house
evidently jaded after the first day's long sitting. Hon.
members manifestly had no taste for an evening sitting
commencing at nine o'clock.