The daily gazette., 1881-07-12

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From the N. \, World ne ss
Kleetsral Representatives fin Eng
1Fis4" aiit Hi land. y f}sa
BY an average statesmen a bill for
assimilating the borough and county
franchise 10 England would be con-
sidered . good programme for one ses-
sion. Mr., Gladstone, however, is .
glutton Of work although the weight
Of years and the wear and tear Of dos
mestic and foreign broils have told on
him Of late, and In the next session he
not only hopes to put Hodge on q level
with the artisan but also to bring in
a bill for the redistribution of seats
based on the census just taken. The
result Of two Presidential elections has
shown Americans that the majority
cannot be sure in this country OF rul-
ing at all times. In England, al
though electoral commissions, Star
routes, Dorsey and other purely Amer
lean institutions are az yet unknown,
the representation Is based on such
arbitrary and illogical principles that
1t can never be said, except in the
case of great reactions as those Of 1874
and 1880, that the House Of Commons
truly represents the views Of the ma
jority. The Reform act of 1889 went
q long way towards the realization Of
the old Wing dream Of representation
by population. Nearly sixty rotten
boroughs were disfranchised and the
representation Of thirty moro was re-
duced from two members to one. B.
fsre that the Lords, owning estates
which included mythical constituent
cies, virtually cen rolled the represen-
tati0n in the Commons. In G1793 1t
was shown that seventy members were
returned by thirty.five places she ag~
grcgate population of which did mot
exceed 100 all told, that ninety were
returned by forty-six places with less
than fly electors each, and that thirty
seven were returned by nineteen
places averaging less than q hundred
electors. The Duke of Norfolk was
represented by eleven members in the
Commons, Lord Lonsdale by nine,
Lord Darlington by seven, the Duke
Of Rutland and the Marqress Of Buck
ingham by six each. In fact, seats In
the Commons, like seats in the upper
chamber, were held BY hereditary
right. The ac5 Of 1882 extinguished
the most no 5orious of these pocket
boroughs and gave repre- .ntatives to
the populous manufacturing towns
which had previously had no voice in
Parliament. Since then, although the
franchise was extended by Mr., Dis
raeli in 1887, nothing has been done
in the way Of readjusting the repre-
TO the extraordinary changes
which have taken place in the popuia-
tion Of boroughs and counties during
the last half century, and the anoma-
lies which have grown up are In their
way as monstrous as Cation and Old
Sarum. Thus while Chelsea with
81 900 registered electors returns two |
Bandon, County Cork, with |
only 480 electors returns one member. |
Dudley with Il, 600 electors only re-
tarns one member, and 90 does Dun
cannon with 20S voters. There are
two members for Lambeth with 90, 600 |
electors, and one for Ennis with 252.
p Portarlin9ton with 147 electors has
one member, Hackney with A, 900
electors has only two, The CITY of /
London with ~ 1000 electors returns
four members. Liverpool with 6S, 0OO |
returns only three. The 61, 600 cleo
tors Of Manchester have three repre-
and 1914 Kinsale fishermen
have one representative. tFinsbury
with %, 900 electors has two members.
New Ross with 267 has one. The
greatest anomalies exist in the Irish
boronghs, but the Irish counties, on
ther hand, are weighed out of sight by
the English boroughs. As the House
is now constituted, England and Wales
return 493 members, Scotland 90 and
ireland i06, the total number of seats
being 656. excluding, Of course, places
disfranchised for corrupt practices.
On the basis Of representation by pop
ulation, England and Wales would be-
entitled 70 only 476 members, while
Scotland would gain ten and ireland |
seven. On tho other, hand, If the |
representation were allotted in proper.
tion to the amount Of taxes paid By
each constituency, England and w ales
would have 614 members, Scotland 70
and Ireland 90. Scotland, II will be
observed, ID the only one of the three
which has = substantial
grievances; she u under-represented
both according to population and taxes.
The Scotch are by Q great majority
Liberals, their liberalism being po- I
litical Calyinism, but they do not
hesitate TO call the Premier's attention
10 their inadequate strength in Parlia-
ment At every convenient opporl unity.
Moreover, shade Of Butte ! there Ia now
no native-born 6cotchman in the
1t is ssfe, to say that Mr..
determination to take
charge at the next session of q repre-
bill is due In great measure
To his desire to propitiate the men of
Midlothian and their sturdy fellow
who are now, as they
have been since the Union, the salt Of
WhieOerv and iRadiUaliam. IL Lord |