The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-26 00:00:00

lation. It seems to us extremely desirable that communities
so populous and extensive should be made the basis of
an increased representation. By these means 14 members
will be given to boroughs. I now come to another part
of the important subject of distribution. The house
has acknowledged that the counties in England are in-
adequately represented. No one, I may add, has acknow-
ledged that to be the case more explicitly than Earl Russell
himself. I remember it was from this very place that he did
me the honour of stating that in one of his numerous Re-
form Bills ho had given increased representation to the
counties in consequence of the remarks which I had offered
on the subject. The result, too, of our deliberations year
after year, has, I think, convinced the house and the
country that it is important the counties should receive a
more adequate representation than they now possess. We
are about greatly to increase the representation of towns,
and we must bear in mind that in doing so we must diminish
in a considerable degree the representative power of some of
the smaller boroughs, which are generally supposed to furnish
an indirect compensation to the counties for their entirely in-
adequate representation. What wo propose, therefore, is that
we should take certain counties and divide them, giving in
each case a constituency composed, irrespe Live of the
boroughs, of a pure county population, numbering 100,000, to
the new members thus created. The counties to the division
of which we mean to ask the assent of the house are North

Lancashire, North Lincolnshire, West Kent, East Surrey,
Middlesex, South Staffordshire, and South Devon. We
shall, if these proposals are adopted, have 14 new members
for counties and 14 for boroughs, while the number of seats
with which we intend to ask the house to deal is 30. How
28 of these are to be appropriated I have just explained;
the remaining two we would dispose of as follows : —We
propose to carry out a scheme which was offered to the
consideration of the house in 1859, and which, though the
measure in which it was embraced was not passed, re-
ceived the entire approval of the house. I allude to our
proposal to divide South Lancashire, as well as to give a
member to Birkenhead. Although that proposal was not
then carried into effect, the vacancy created in certain
seats two or three years afterwards furnished tho house
with an opportunity of reconsidering the matter, and so
irresistible were tho claims of Birkenhead found to be
—those of South Lancashire being also very great
—that a compromise was made by giving a member to
Birkenhead and an additional member to South Lancashire.

We propose that South Lancashire should be divided, and
and this will make 29 members. We also propose that the
house should recognise the claims of London University.
(Hear, hear.) I have nowexplainedthe distribution of seats
proposed by Government. Fourteen members are given to
boroughs, and 1 earnestly hope and fervently believe that
Parliament will never have cause to regret the transference
of the franchise to the nes+, boroughs. Notwithstanding all
that has taken place, I believe that the real opinion of this
country is opposed to the practice of bribery at elections,
and I believe, too, that these communities will repudiate
such practices. I expect with confidence that their mein-
berg, on whatever side they may sit, will add to the honour
and utility of this house. (Hear.) There are, according to
the list I have read, 15 members given to the counties, and
they no doubt must be, considering their constituencies,
men of very great importance. The presumption, there-
fore, is that they will add to the strength and reputation
of the House of Commons. I may remark that in proposing
the division of Middlesex we are proposing a plan which
will at least give more peculiar representation to Kensing-
ton, Chelsea, Hammersmith, and the populous districts in
those neighbourhoods. Therefore, to the claims both of
the west and east of London, which are at present most
inadequately or not at all represented, the plan of the Go-
vernment will afford some satisfaction. We can only carry
this plan into effect by availing ourselves of the sevenseats
justly forfeited in the opinion of the whole house and the
country, and by appealing to the patriotism and public
spirit of some of the smaller boroughs in the country.
(Laughter.) The principle of this plan—a principle which
I trust will always be adopted in this house -is never
wholly to disfranchise, except on account of corruption,
and those boroughs, therefore, to which I now allude will
still remain Parliamentary boroughs; and we shall still
have the pleasure of listening in this house to tho hon. mem
hers who represent them. I will not trouble the house with
the names of these boroughs. (Great laughter and cries
of "Name.") Their names are on the table, and when 1
state the principle on which the Government propose to
appeal to them to curtail their superfluous representation
—(laughter)—every hon. member will then have it in his
power to ascertain what boroughs they aro. (Cries of
" Name !") That is not in the Resolutions, and to the
Resolutions I mean strictly to confine myself. All boroughs
under a population of 7,000 will be asked, in all courtesy,
by the house to spare one of their members. (Laughter.)
These are in number 23, which, added to the seven for-
feited seats, show how the plans of the Government can be
carried into effect. It now becomes my duty to call the
attention of the house to other important Resolutions, which,
if sanctioned by the house will materially affect the ques-
tion of corruption, because they tend to terminate the ex-
penditure on a great scale in county elections. If the house
will agree to the three Resolutions which refer to the re-
gistration of county voters, to the manneriu which the voters
shall be polled, and to the mode by which voters a t a distance
may record their votes, the Government will introduce a
series of provisions iu their bill which will, I may say with
out exaggeration, entirely put an end to the vast expen-
diture now incurred in county elections. (Hear, hear.) if
you combine these three Resolutions with the provisions,
such as I have already indicated, of our bill against cor-
ruption, and with the course which we recommend Parlia-
ment to take in reference to those boroughs whose conduct
has recently been under the painful scrutiny of the
country, I think you will agree that a great blow will be
dealt against bribery and corruption in the election of
members to Parliament, which will afford a hope to the
country that those evils may possibly in time be entirely
suppressed. Therefore, I have great confidence that the
house will pass those Resolutions; and I undertake, on the
part of the Government, that if they are passed we will
bring forward a series of practical proposals which will be
easy of adoption and beneficial in operation. The regis-
tration of county voters will then bo assimilated to the
principle on which the registration of borough voters is
placed. The polling places will be increased. I will not
say that every parish will be a polling place, because there
may be some parishes with no voters, but we would have
polling places so frequent, and polling districts so limited,
that county elections might be carried on so economically
that it would be utterly impossible to incur the vast expen-
diture which even now occurs. If the Resolution with re-
spect to voting papers be adopted by Parliament, we have
reason to believe that that system may be acted on with
beneficial effects, and thus there will be an end of the im-
mense abuses arising out of bringing up voters from an im-
mense distance at a fabulous cost. I know not that I have
omitted noticing any Resolution before the house except
the last, on which it is almost unnecessary for me to make
any observation, because I have already on a previous occa-
sion referred to it. I will only say that I have learnt that
there exists some misapprehension of the remarks I made
with respect to a commission for settling the boundaries
of boroughs. I am told that it was understood from what
I said that freeholders in boroughs should no longer vote
for counties. No such idea ever occurred to my mind. There
is not in tho bill which I hope to introduce any attempt
to disfranchise any voter. We respect the resolution
which the house arrived at on a previous occasion, what-
ever my private opinion may be, and I always expressed it
frankly, to the effect that everyman should vote where his
qualification is. I am, however, satisfied to submit to the
decision of the house, and all I urged on the house was to
consider the question of defining the boundaries between
boroughs in a just and fair manner. The house will ob-
serve that on this head we recommend the issue of a Royal
Commission. If these Resolutions pass, and we are autho-
rised to bring in a bill, it is our intention that the Royal
Commission should issue immediately, and at once proceed
to act, whereas if the Commission were made a Parliamen-
tary Commission, and if we were bound up with the bill,
the Commission could not act until the passing of the bill.
I have now fulfilled my task. I told hon. members who
who made inquiries since the time when the Resolutions
were laid on the table that 1 had taken a note of them, and
that at the proper time I would explain to the house the
application which the Government recommend should be
given to the principles expressed in the Resolutions. I
trust that the house will candidly consider the observa-
tions I have made. It will be our duty on the passing of
the Resolutions to introduce a bill, and I think that its pro-
visions aro such as on the whole to satisfy public opinion
and the requirements of the case. It will add something
like one-third to the constituency, and cause a considera-
ble addition to the number of voters belonging to the
working classes. I hope, therefore, it will be fairly consi-
dered that they have resumed their ancient position in the
Parliamentary scheme of this country. At any rate, her
Majesty's Government have brought forward, I will not
call it an honest bill, because that epithet has been used so
often of late that it might lead to angry recrimination. (A
laugh.) But they have brought forward a sincere bill,
which they aro prepared to carry. (Cheers.) Moderate it
may be in spirit, but essentially practical, and which I
earnestly hope will be backed by the good feeling of an
united people. (Loud cheers.) I move, sir, that you do
now leave the chair. (Cheers.)
Mr. LOWE rose, and wis received with cheers. He
said—The right hon. gentleman concluded his speech by
telling us that the Government had brought in a bill that
would realise very beneficial results. Ilad that statement
been accurate, I would not have troubled the house
with a single remark on this occasion. It is just be-
cause the speech does not conclude with asking leave to
bring in a bill, but concludes with a motion asking the
house to go into committee on resolutions, which is avery
different thing, that I feel bound to trespass on the atten-
tion of the house. (Hear, hear.) I am not so presump-
tuousr
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the Government and the constitutional practice of this
assembly in the course we are now urged to adopt. I can
imagine that there may be reasons connected with party
which may make it difficult for other members, whose

opinions weuld have more weight and from whom these
observations would come more properly, to offer them. But
being unfortunately, and I hope not for a long time, uncon-
connected with party—(laughter)—l, at any rate, have the
advantage that I can speak out what I think, and say what
I believe ought to be said by some one in this house, but
which I am afraid won't bo said except by some outcast
like myself. (Laughter and cheers.) I wish to speak with
all good humour of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; but,
in order to explain what I mean, I must do the most un-
gracious thing—take a little retrospect of his conduct
during the last fortnight. This day fortnight he made a
speech of two hours and a quarter, in which unlike his
speech of to night, of an hour and a quarter, in which he
has told us everything, he told us nothing at all. (Hear.)
I listened with the utmost attention, but only derived the
impression that ho was exceedingly anxious to sharpen as
much as possible the difference between town and country,
and that he was excessively anxious that the house should
understand that the Government had come to the resolu-
tion that, come what may of any measure they may intro-
duce, it was obsolete to think that the Government could
go out on a Reform Bill. (Laughter.) As for the rest, I
understood nothing—neither why the resolutions were
brought in, nor what they were, nor what they were to
do. He did not in his first speech even allude to one re-
solution, which I believe, up to a very recent period, was
destined to play a prominent part in these proceedings,
that on plurality of votes ; nor did he mention voting
papers, but allowed us to remain in ignorance for twelve
hours, until we saw them in the papers next morning.
The effect has been very unfortunate, because an oppor-
tunity was wasted, and we have spent the last fort-
night, which ought to have been devoted to considering
the plan of the Government, in puzzling our heads to find
out what the plan was. And I expect the Government
themselves have been engaged in the same occupation-
(Laughter and cheers.) It is impossible that we can to-
night debate upon a plan wo have only just heard. Indeed,
I maintain that the plan of the Government is really not
before the house. It is like a balloon in the air—we have
no contact with it. We are engaged with a set of resolu-
tions that have no more to do with the plan than Squire
Thornhill's three famous postulates, upon which he insisted
before ho would argue with Moses Primrose whether the
clergy ought to receive tithes. He insisted that Moses
Primrose should grant that the whole is greater than a
part ; that whatever is, is ; and that the three angles of a
triangle are equal. (Laughter.) The delay is very much
to be regretted, because I believe the house is really in
earnest in wishing to come to a conclusion on the measure,
and it is very much the fault of the right hon gentleman.
First wo had a speech which told us nothing ; then we had
the resolutions, which told us very little more; and, in the
third place, the reason given by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer why the resolutions were proposed. I could
not conceive why. I know why the Indian resolutions,
nine years ago, were brought forward- -they were the
heads of a bill, perfectly precise and accurate ; and when
the house agreed to them the Government had only to
clothe them in appropriate language. The first said that
a Secretary of State should be appointed for India; that to
him should be transferred all the powers then held by the
Board of Control and by the Court of Directors. I call that
something like a resolution. (Cheers.) It might have
been a clause in an Act of Parliament in itself. If the
Government had proceeded in that way on this occasion—
though I am not partial to proceeding by resolution--it
would have been captious to object. These are the most
empty generalities I over saw. They are abstract propo-
sitions, which may be said to be either true or false.
They only derive their meaning when applied to details,
which are withheld. They are abstract; the thing
we have to deal with is concrete. In England
it is our plan not to deal with vague general prin-
ciples that a very philosophical mind may abstract
from a number of details, but to look at the circum-
stances as a whole. In that way, for hundreds of years,
we have formed our opinions on matters of legislation.
But these resolutions do not imply the measure opened
to-night, and would hardly connect us to ono of the
right hon. gentleman's statements. Resolutions are
to exclude and include; but these do not. They prove
what is perfectly notorious, that there have been changes
in the opinions of the Government during the last fort-
night. It is notorious, also, that whatever difficulty they
have found, they have found no difficulty in making their
opinions fit into these resolutions. (Hear, hear.) They
are not a framework, but an elastic band. (Laughter.)
The right hon. gentleman has proposed:a £6 rating fran-
chise for boroughs, £2O for counties, and other and col-
lateral franchises. The first four resolutions do not help
us to those propositions at all, but they depend on the four
resolutions. They tell nothing, prove nothing, and do no-
thing, whether we pass them or leave them. Even if they
were before us, we could strike them out, and put in the
right honourable gentleman's proposition instead. He
makes a statement of one set of things, over which state-
ment the house has no jurisdiction, and then proposes and
asks the house to vote upon another. The right hon.
gentleman said on Friday he was going, in pursuance of
the practice of Parliament, to explain tho intentions of
Government, with a view to understanding these resolu-
tions. I should like to know where he finds such a prac-
tice of Parliament. When has Parliament— which, with
all its faults, is a business-like body—ever hit on such a
scheme as this? There is no precedent for such a course ;
and I rack my braius in vain to find a reason. We seem to
be living under a system of what High Churchmen used
to call "development." There wore discipline arcane, sup-
posed to reside in the Church, by virtue of which reasons
could be found in the most convenient manner, when
wanted. In the development of this doctrine the right
hon. gentleman said, in answer to the noble lord the mem-
ber for Huntingdonshire, that he would tell us why he in-
troduced the measure by resolution. The right hon. gen-
tleman said in effect the Government were firmly resolved,
and had made up their minds that, whatever happened,
they were not to go out about Parliamentary Reform. And
why ? Because both Whigs and Tories had tried their
hands and failed conspicuously. The right hon. gentle-
man contended as an irresistible argument that no Govern-
ment hereafter should be turned out on the matter of Re-
form, and he drew a collateral inference, which was
equally weighty, and tended to much the same con-
clusion, that for the same reason no party spirit ought
to exist on the question of Reform at all—that Par-
liament ought to be divested of it, as though it were
a thing as easily got rid of as one's clothes. Having ad-
vanced so far in his argument, ho weut a step further. His
Parliamentary experience suggested to him that the
way Government had been defeated on Reform was by
abstract resolutions, which might be proposed by some
evil-minded person. So he said, "We have introduced
these abstract resolutions to the house, in order that other
persons may not move them against us when we bring in a
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an
doubt he has read the fairy tale of the prince of whom it
was foretold that he would be killed by some sharp instru-
ment, in consequence of which the king ordered every
instrument to be banished from his dominions ; but not-
withstanding this his fate was accomplished, and the prince
was killed by the sharp point of a spindle. And I think
that if the Government is to be turned out—if the right way
to perform that process is through the agency of abstract
resolutions—it would not be thirteen or thirty abstract re-
solutions that would save them, for some ingenious man
would bo sure to find out something from the recesses of
his brain that would effectually accomplish the work.
But to go back to the right hon. gentleman's argument.
Why is it an irresistible reason, because Whigs and Tories
have alike failed on this question, that the right hon.
gentleman and his colleagues should enjoy absolute impu-
nity ? Why are they to have the mark of Cain set upon
them, that nobody may kill them? (Loud laughter.) I
should have thought just the contrary; that where per-
sons had tried on both sides and failed in an adventure
of this kind, it was a very good reason why you should
not relax the penalties attendant upon such an attempt.
Because if people with large majorities have tried these
things and did not succeed—if people who are united in
their views have tried these things and did not succeed—
I do not MI that it is the business of this house to relax
those parliamentary safeguards which are such necessary
accompaniments of responsible government. If men un-
dertake such matters without having the strength, or per-
haps the union, to carry them through, I think we should
leave them to their own discretion. We ought certainly
not to discourage them ; but, of all things in the world
I can fancy nothing more unreasonable than to relax those
safeguards in the case of that measure which is of the
highest possible importance to us and to our posterity,
which ought to be entered upon with the greatest delibe-
ration, and for securing a proper decision on which we
want every assistance that calmness, experience, wisdom,
and moderation can give us. I should have argued the
matter precisely the contrary. As to divesting ourselves
of party spirit, if it is an optional thing, let us get rid of
it altogether. 'l'ho constitution of this country is founded
on the principle that party spirit is inherent in the minds
of public men; and with true English instinct, instead of
saying,"We will assume what is false, that men are not
actuated by these motives," the wise men who framed our
constitution said, " We will take human nature as wo find
it, and as we cannot eitidicato those evils, we will neut-
ralise them by setting one set of evil principles against
another—the party spirit of the Opposition against the
party spirit of the Government—and out of the csllision
of the two something may be worked out for the good of
the country." I think nothing is so undesirable as that
these safeguards should be relaxed in this instance. So
far from the reasons of the right hon. gentleman carrying
conviction to my mind, they did precisely the contrary.
We aro bound to adhere to all the safeguards we have to
protect us against ourselves in arriving at a right con-
clusion in a matter of this kind. Let us look at the con-
stitutional view of the question. It was the happy ob-