Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham were absolutely unrepresented. Yet
such was the case. The motion for transferring the franchise of East
Retford to Birmingham having been lost, Lord John Russell, on the 23rd
of February, brought the matter of the great unrepresented
constituencies before parliament by moving for leave to bring in a bill
"to enable Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham to return members to the
House of Commons." It seems scarcely credible to us now-a-days, that
this reasonable motion was _negatived_ by 188 to 140.

On the 28th of May, O'Connell brought in a wilder scheme. He moved for
leave to bring in a bill to establish triennial parliaments, universal
suffrage, and vote by ballot; the simple foundation of his system being
that every man who pays a tax or is liable to serve in the militia is
entitled to have a voice in the representation of the country. Only
thirteen members were found to join him in a house of 332. Lord John
Russell, who took advantage of this motion to introduce certain
resolutions of his own, embracing a wider scheme of reform than that
included in his former programme, could not consent to any part of
O'Connell's scheme. Dismissing the subject of triennial parliaments as a
subject of comparative unimportance, and passing on to the other
propositions, universal suffrage and vote by ballot, he contended that
both were incompatible with the principles of the English Constitution.
Mr. Brougham, while he thought that the duration of parliaments might be
shortened with considerable advantage, provided that other measures for
removing improper influence were adopted, declared himself both against
universal suffrage and against vote by ballot; and he entered into a
full statement of the grounds on which he held that the secresy of
voting supposed to be attained by the ballot would produce most
mischievous consequences without securing the object which it professed
to have in view. The resolutions moved by Lord John Russell (after
O'Connell's motion had been negatived) were as follows: (1) "That it was
expedient the number of representatives in the House should be
increased;" (2) "That it was expedient to give members to the large and
manufacturing towns, and additional members to counties of great wealth
and population." Under the second of the resolutions, it was proposed to
divide large and populous counties, such as Yorkshire for instance, into
two divisions, and to give to each of them t