The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-12 00:00:00

have failed. He would now, with the leave of the house,
call their attention to the principles on which he thought
that the Reform Bill which the Government was under-
stood to be preparing should be founded.
The Earl of DERBY—I must rise to order. The noble
lord has taken to commenting upon what has been said
in other places ; but I must object to his offering remarks
to your lordships on the supposed principles of a bill which
is not yet introduced into the other house, and which it is
absolutely impossible to discuss.
Earl RUSSELL thought he had a perfect right to com-
ment on the principles on which he thought that such a
Reform Bill as would besatisfactory to the country should
be founded. It has been often said that the only principle
on which it is possible to base a measure that will be both
permanent and satisfactory to the country is a return to
the old scot and lot franchise. But although that might
have been the principle of the franchise in old times, as it
was declared to have been by a committee of the House of
Commons which satin the 17th century, it will be difficult
to fit it to the state of society as it now exists. In the 17th
century those who paid scot and lot voters were the sub-
, stantial burghers of the towns—those upon whom taxa-

tion fell, and who were called upon to defend the coun-
try in case of invasion. But the state of society now,
and for some time past, has been very different. In
London eiere will be scarcely any extension of the
numbers of voters in consequence of changing the suf-
frage from a £lO occupation franchise to a household
franchise ; while, on the other hand, a large number of
persons who reside in lodgings, and who are well qua-
lified to exercise the franchise,• will still be ex-
cluded. Then there are a large class of persons in the
country who are what are called compound householders.
Their rates are paid by the landlord, and not by the tenant,
and therefore they have no vote. Now, any enfranchise-
ment that does not admit lodgers in London and compound
householders in the country would be very unsatisfactory,
and therefore both classes must be admitted, if Parliament
wishes to settle this question for any considerable period.
But then it is said that a lodger franchise, fixed at a cer-
tain amount, will not be permanent, because the figure of
the qualification may be altered from time to time. But if
you admit all lodgers, you will have as nearly as possible
that residential manhood suffrage which is advocated by
the Reform League and by Mr. Potter. He doubted, there-
fore, whether the principle of the 17th century can now bo
safely acted on; and how can that be permanent which is
not adapted to the existing state of society ? The Reform
Act has now been in operation 35 or 36 years ; to it we
owe the reform of our municipal corporations, the Dis-
senters' Marriage Act, and the establishment of free trade ;
and it is doubtful whether any other measure will lead to
more beneficial results. It is, however, necessary to ex-
tend the franchise more largely to the working classes.
But, while it is requisite to admit the best of those classes
to the franchise, we do not require such a change as will
swamp the middle classes and deprive them of all power in
the country, and he (Earl Russell) should be sorry to see
legislation on such a basis.
The Earl of DERBY—I have listened with unfeigned
astonishment to the speech of the noble earl. I came down
expecting that he was about to ask for information which
should enable your lordships to discuss the measure which
at no distant period the Government intend to introduce
into the other house of Parliament. But he has not
vouchsafed us a single word with reference to the re-
solutions which he has placed on the paper. Ho has
indulged in autobiographical reminiscences which are no
doubt interesting to your lordships, and aro certainly in-
teresting to the noble earl himself. He has gone back to
the 17th century and to the times of the Reform Bill, and
ha has given us a history of the various failures of bills in-
troduced by various Ministers since 1851. But with regard
to the returns which he is about to move for, he has not
said a word. Now, lam not about to follow him into the
statement he has made with respect to the conduct of the
Government during the present session, nor will I discuss
the merits of the Chandos clause or of the £lO house-
holders. There is no question that the Reform Act intro-
duced to the franchise a large number of the working class
who did not previously possess it. But the statement
to which the noble earl referred was to the effect that while
the Reform Act enfranchised a large number of the work-
classes, it also excluded front the constituencies of many
boroughs a considerable portion of the working classes
who exercised their right of voting under the different
franchises which that bill abolished. I think that a mis-
take was made in abolishing those franchises, which cer-
tainly gave a degree of variety to the electoral holy, and
the noble earl admits that since 1832 there has from this
cause been a decrease of working-class voters to the num-
ber of 58,000. The noble earl supposes that it is the in-
tention of the bill about to be introduced to restore some
of those franchises to the working classes. He has given
us a sketch of what should not be introduced into a Reform
Bill. It would be contrary to my duty to follow him or
to enter into a discussion of abstract principles in refe-
rence to a forthcoming measure. I,shall not therefore say a
single word about the noble earl's speech, but confine my-
self to his resolution. The noble earl then proceeded to cri-
ticise the terms of returns moved for by Earl Russell, and
(after some explanations from the latter noble earl) he pro-
posed that the motion for the two latter returns .hould be
amended so as to embrace the information required.
Earl RUSSELL agreed to this proposition, and
The address, as amended, was agreed to.
The house adjourned at twenty minutes before seven
o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS—LAST EVENING.
Th© SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW WRIT.

A new writ, on the motion of Mr. Brand, was ordered
to be issued for Boston, in the room of Mr. Staniland, who
has accepted the office of steward of the manor of North-
stead.