The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-13 00:00:00

We now approach the question on which it is idle to die-
vise from ourselves that so much indecision, jealousy, and
Apprehension has existed—the question of the town fran-
chise. We wish to remove that indecision, to allay that
jealousy, to banish that apprehension, and we think this
can best be done by a full exposure of the facts of the case.
'What is now, I may ask in the first place, the present state
of the town constituency ? The town constituencies in
the first year of the operation of the Reform Act of 1832
amounted to 282,000, of whom 63,000 were freemen, 44,000
pld-right voters, and 174,000 were £lO householders. Since
that period the freemen have fallen in numbers to 42,000 ;
the old-right voters to 9,000, being, as I may say, on their
.way to extinction—(hear, hear)—while the £lO house-
holders have risen to 463,000. The gross total of the con-
stituencies, therefore, is 514,000. That shows an increase
,since 1832 of 82 per cent. In the same period the popula-
tion of the towns has increased as follows: In 1831 it was
5,250,000 ; in 1865 it was 9,330,000, being an increase of 79
per cent. So that the growth of the constituencies in towns,
notwithstanding the vast augmentation of the wealth of the
country, has punctually but just exceeded the bare growth
of the population. (Hear, hear.) Now, that is an important
fact for the house to bear in mind. In counties the case was
different. There the growth of the constituencies was quite
as great, but the growth of the population muchance
less.
Well, now we eome to a point of very great import
and I think the house will be of opinion that the three
or four months which have been spent upon those re-
turns would not have been lain spent if they hd led to no
other result than to the particulars contained the blue-
book of Friday with respect to the representation of the
working classes in the present constituencies. The figures
ao they stand come out thus. I mentioned, I think, 512,000
as the town constituencies; but great pains have been
taken in the striking out of double entries, and I have no
doubt that, upon the whole, they have been struck out with
considerable precision. Then striking out the double en-
tries, it may be said that the net amount of the town con-

stituencies is now 489,000. The £lO voters of the working
classes are returned as 108,000, and the freemen and old-
right voters of the working classes as 20,000—making a
total of 128,000, and showing an apparent percentage of 26
per cent. of the present constituencies as belonging to the

Working classes. There will be, no doubt, some dispute

upon the soundness of our definition of the working man—
(hear)—and I am bound to say that our definition is a large

definition. I believe, however, it to be the best that can be
found. Ido not believe the term admits of an accurate de-

finition ; still, the only definition capable of being taken is
undoubtedly a liberal one. But you may possibly say that

10 per cent. or 20 per cent. of the persons hero included as
of the working classes are so considerably interested in shop
keeping through their wives and children, that they ought
not really to stand as working men. No doubt there is a
certain amount of detestable ground under that head ;

but suppose we deduct 20 per cent. on that account, the
result of these remarkable figures would be, that at least
21 per cent., or at most 26 per cent., of the present consti-
tuencies may be considered as belonging to the working
classes. (Hear, hear.) So far, I freely own, that is a larger
percentage than I had expected to find. (Opposition cheers.)
Still I am exceedingly glad of it, and I only wish it had
been larger still. (Hear, hear.) But I must observe upon
this infusion of the working classes in the present consti-
tuencies that, in the first place, it is exceedingly unequal.
(Hear, hear.) I have gone over roughly 200 boroughs, and
I think I have gathered together about 60 in which the
proportion of the working classes possessed of the franchise,
taken upon the whole, was not less than one-third. I
gathered thirty other boroughs, probably boroughs of
greater importance, and in those thirty boroughs I found
the proportion of the working-classes was not more than
ofie-tenth. (Hear, hear.) And this distribution is not only
unequal, but I must say myself, rather of a northerner,
that it is also least where it ought to be largest—that is in
the towns of the north. (Hear.) I will give you six towns
by way of example. In Oldham, with a constituency of
2,665, the working-classes are 315, or lin 8. In Halifax,
with a constituency of 1771, the working classes are 171 or
lin 10. In Stockport, with a constituency of 1,348, the
working classes are 124, or lin 11. In Bradford, with a
constituency of 5,189, the working-classes are 438, or 1 in
12. In Leeds, with a constituency of 7,217, the working-
classes are 523, or lin 14. And, last of all, there is a
town which deserves special mention, not only on ac-
count of the distinguished man by whom it was but
12 months ago 'represented, but for other reasons—l mean
the town of Rochdale, which probably has done more than
any other town in making good to practical minds a c.se
for some enfranchisement of the working classes. For it is
in Rochdale where that remarkablesystem, and at the first
sight I do nothesitate to say that most criticaland perilous
system obtained, of ousting the retail trader, and the work-
ing class taking into his own hands the business of its own
supply ; and where, through an extraordinary intelligence
and self-acting power, that system has been successfully
worked out, and made a source of the greatest comfort
and profit to the working class. (Hear, hear.) Now, what
is the case? Rochdale, with a constituency of 1,358, shows
an enfranchisement of the working class of 68, or 1 in 20.
(Hear, hear.)lf then the proportion of the working classes
to the whole constituencies is more satisfactory than we
might have supposed ; on the other hand, the distribution
is not less unsatisfactory. (Hear.) The case of Rochdale is
peculiar, for it so happens that a district which naturally
ought to belong to it is not included in it ; and that illus-
trates the necessity of including Some consideration of the
present state of boundaries in any complete review of
the representative system. Well, we are in very good
humour with ourselves, because we find that 21 or 26 per
cent. of the borough constituencies are of the working
class. But how was it in '32 ? (Hear, hear.) I have endea-
voured to make the best estimate in my power, and I ap-
prehend there cannot be the smallest doubt as to these pro-
positions. First of all, thatthe enfranchisement of thework-
ing classes, as it stood in '32, was not an excessive enfran-
chisement ; and, secondly, that the advance of the work-
ing classes since '32 in everything that can entitle men to
same share in the government of their country has been
a great and undeniable advance. (Cheers.) It is not de-
nied on any hand—whether we take the education in
schools—whether wo take conduct, obedience to the law
—whether we take self-command and the powOr of endur-
ance shown under difficulty and privation—(hoar)—
whether we take avidity for knowledge and self-im-
provement—applying any one of these tests, there can
be no doubt that if the working man was in some degree
fit to share in political privileges in '32, he has at any rate
attained some additional fitness for it now. (Hear, hear.)
In 1832 there were 63,000 freemen, and of these 34,000 were
of the working classes. Then there were the scot-and-lot
and the potwalloping, voters. I take only 6.0 per cent. of
these as belonging to the working classes, and in my opinion
that is a very moderate estimate. (Hear, hear.) That gives
us 27,000 under this head.- Next as to tie £lO occupiers
in 1832. Using the same figures and the same definition,
I assume the proportion of the working classes to have
been 15 per cent. of the whole, or 26,000. Adding these
together, I come to this result—that the total constituen-
cies in 1832 were 282,000, and that of these 87,090 were of
the working classes. That is to say, in 1832 they were 31
per cent. of the whole, and they are now but 26. (Cheers.)
It is not satisfactory on all points to deal with this question
as a matter of pure statistics ; still, if statistics prove any-
thing, I think the figures 1 have quoted prove that the pro-
portion of the working classes which ought to have been
increasing and growing, has been, on the contrary, di-
minishing ; and consequently that the time has arrived
when it would be right to do something to increase the
proportion. May I address one word to gentlemen oppo-
site ? There is no wile, there is no stratagem which can
lay hidden under what I say. Let them take the distri-
bution of the working class voters in different parts of the
constituencies, and they will derive immense consolation
from- it. Let them observe the effect of this working
class element upon the condition of political parties, be-
cause it is not denied that there is upon the benches oppo-
site a not unnatural, but still a very considerable, appre-
hension of the effect of a wide enfranchisement, or of any
new enfranchisement of the working classes in respect of
a diminutiBn of those parliamentary influences which,
most legitimately, these gentlemen regard as essential for
the well-being of the State. I will now mention a case,
called celebrated on the one side and notorious on the other
—I mean the metropolitan boroughs. How stands the pro-
portion of the working classes in these as compared with
the rest of the country ? England without the metropo-
litan boroughs has in its town constituencies 27,000 per
cent. of the working classes ; England in the metropolitan
bloroughs has only 23 per cent. of the working classes. Yet
apprehendi it is undoubted that if there be one section of
tuhrio,
sabers of this house who steadily, constantly, and
1.11% represent, not Liberalism alone, but a somewhat
advanced
Liberalism_Liberalism—(hear, hear)—and sometimes a philo-
sophicr.
herc,b(laug,hter)--it has been those who have
been sent up help
metropolitan boroughs. These
boroughs which
constituency
smallest proportion of the work-
ing classes in their
have at least been Conser-
vative the party sense of
that term in the representa-
tives they have sent to Parliament.
tribution of consolation to gentiet This is my small con-
gentlemen opposite. (Hear, hear.)
I have, Sir, stated that the Government, in approaching
the consideration of this question, naturta'll
ties the bill of 1860 as their starting point.y tookani !or coun-
asked, do you adopt the bill of 1860, sisipeci,„ I nay be
as it stood
for towns? I will now call the attention of the house
the discussions which took place in 1860. Although frX
we then spent ten nights in doing nothing, and a good deal
of irrelevant discussion took place iu comparing Our 0Z
. Ido not
institutions with those of other countries, yet some effec-
tive discussion occurred in the bill of that ye ar
think that if we had been permitted to have gone. to cons_
Polite° with that bill of 1860 we should have held it exactly
as it was, but not because in our view of the case it ad-
mitted too many persons to the franchise. For what was
our view of the case? My noble friend now at the head of
the Government, in introducing the bill on the Ist March,
computed that the effect of it would be to enfranchise 194,000
in boroughs, but that was in our belief the outside estimate.
And Sir G. Lewis, on the 23d April, stated the enfranchise-
ment of that bill at,160,000 in boroughs. My hon. friend
the member for Birmingham had taken it at about the same
amount, viz., from 160,000 to 170,000. I do not think any-
body who considers our borough representation ought to
bo remodelled would say that was an unreasonable or
very large enfranchisement, but it was an enfranchise-
ment which was badly distributed and imperfectly ad-