Year: 1867

not only so small that they do not and can
not adequately represent the nation, but
from constituencies SO small as to be iRtiu-
snced by corruption and by all kinds of mo-
tives that are neither national nor patriotic.


Hear, hear. Ia our boroughs, for exam
pie, the numbers for the most part are very
email. There are. | think, 254 boroughs in
tbs United Kingdom bat there are only 81
VI them that Possess constituency Of 1000
electors and upwards and large and free
constituencies are. indeed. the exception =
In Scotland your borough constituencies,
though not generally very large, are larger
than those in England, and to your honor it
nrlst be said that they ave far more incor-
rupt than English constituencies. Cheers. !
In the counties, the freeholders Il Ose who
own land for cultivation, are constantly di
mlnishing in plumbers; and that portion Of
the constituencies which is not composed Of
freeholders is composed of tenant farmers,
the most dependent class of occu piers proba-
bly, in the nation. Cheers. But now let
me point to one or two facts which sho0ld
sink deep into the minds of all men, Out
of ever, hundred grown men in the United
Kingdom eighty four have no votes. Cries
of 9 Shame ~


Those eighty four might Just as well, for
all purposes Of Constitutional government,
30 far ss they are directly concerned-those
eighty four might as well live in Russia,
wher. there is no electoral system of gov
ernmert, or in those other countries, now
very few indeed, in which pariamcnts and
Representation are unknown. If it be the
fact tI-t c%iy sixteen men out of every hun
dred h~se votes, it is also the fact that those
sixtees are 80 arranged and placed that
the representation is in reality almost en-
tirely DESTROYED. Hear. hear If the
electors are fairly divided among all the
members there would be nearly two thou
sand electors to every member; but what Is
the state Of things? Why, that one third Of
the House Of Commons, or two hundred and
twenty members, are actually elected by
20. 900 votes. That is to say, that two hun
dred and twenty members of the House of
Commons are chosen by number Of men
rcattered over the country who are fewer by
almost onehalf than the numbers Of grown
men in the city of Glasgow alone. Cries of
shame And further, one half Of the
House Of Com mons is chosen by about $780,
600 electors, being only one seventh of the
whole number Of electors. and very much
below the number Of men who are to be
found in the cities Of Edinburg and Glas-
cow. Cries Of Shame ~ And if we
p
much interest, but which is generally Of so
little value-a general election Laughter =
we find and believe that not more than ten
in a hundred-not more than ten per cent.
OF the whole grown up male population of
the United Kingdom ever come to the poll
and give their votes for the election of new
Parliament. Hear hear Now, with re.
gnrd to a general election. Some of you
have read, and many of you know something
Of the cost and corruption Of general elec-
tiOn. | will give you one instance and one
proof of it. 1t has been nv opinion all
along that it was the duty of the Govern
ment of Lord Russell after the defeat of
their reform bill during the last session. to
have dissolved the Parliament. Hear,
hear | have no reason to disbelieve what
is asserted, that Lord Russell himself was
OF that opinion but a general election had
passed within the year, and another general
election was burden which members Of
Parliament did not wish TO bear. / was
speaking to a member of the Government on
thi. question about the time when the resig-
nation of the late Government was Just about
to be submitted to the Queen, and | was tell
ing him that | thought the true poicy-the
Constitutional policy-of the Government
was TO dissolve the Parliament. Hear.
hear. A portion of his answer was this
A member who sits on our side of the House
had spoken 20 him about it. He said t" Nv
election has already cost me f6,000."-
TCrcs of " Shame'l And he ad ed, Il
have besides f3, 900 more to pay" Laugh
ter.


lie said further, what was very reasona-
BILE, that this was heavy burden that it
was 2rievou, to be borne Laughter that
it put him to exceeding Inconvenience laugh
ter and that if Parliament were dissolved
he could not afford to fight his county or his
borough, as the case might be. but would be
obliged to retire from the field and leave the
contest if there should be contest. to some
one else. Laughter. You will believe,
then, that the Government were greatly
pressed by this consideration and this con
sideration, added, it may be, to others. in
duced them to resign office rather than to
dissolve Parliament. Thus you have proof,
that whereas general corruption and putrid-
ity are the destruction of most bodies which
they effect, the corruption of the present
Parliament was, and is, the cause of its pres
ent existence.


UNEQUAL DIVISION OF LAND.


| maintain, with the most perfect convic-
ton, that the House of Commons, represent
ing as it now does counties and boroughs,
such as | have described, does not represent
the intelligence and the justice of the nation,
but the prejudices, the privileges and the
.clfshness of a class. [Cheers. Now,
what are the results of this system of legis-
lation? Some of them have been touched
upon in that address which has been so kind
" presented to me. You refer to the law
affecting land Are you aware of fact
which saw stated the other day, in an essay
on this subiect-that half the land in Eng
land is in the possession of fewer than one
hundred and fifty men? Are you aware of
the fact that half the land in Scotland is in
the possession of not more than ten or twelve
men? Cries of ''Shame' ~ Are you
aware of the fact that the monopoly in land
in the United Kingdom is growing con-
stantly more and more close, and the result
of is this: The gradual extirpation of the
middle class as owners of land and the con
slant degradation of the tillers of the SOIL
Now, if the Clerk of the House of Commons,
were placed at Temple Bar, and if he had
orders to lay his hand upon the shoulder of
every well dressed and apparently clean
washed man who lad passed through that
ancient bar. r.ntil he had summoned 65S, and
if The Crown summoned those 65S TO be the
Parliament for the United Kingdom. my
honest conviction is, that you would have a
better Parliament than now exists. Loud
cheers. Now, this assertion will stagger
some timid and some good men but let me
explain myself to you. 1t would be Par