d to
represent the will of the people.

Lord John Russell explained that the chief evils with which the
Government had to deal were three in number. The first was the
nomination of members of Parliament by individual patrons. The second
was the nomination of members by close corporations. The third was the
{141} enormous expense of elections, which was principally caused by
the open bribery and corruption which had almost become a recognized
accompaniment of every contest. He proposed to deal with the first
evil by abolishing altogether the representation of the nominal
constituencies, the constituencies that had no resident inhabitant, the
boroughs which at some distant time had had houses and inmates, but of
which now only the faintest traces were visible to the eye of the
traveller--like, for instance, the extinct communities of whose
existence some faint memorial evidence might be traced on Salisbury
Plain. The Census last taken, that of 1821, the Government had
resolved to accept as a basis of operations, and Lord John Russell
proposed that every borough which, at that date, had less than 3000
inhabitants should cease any longer to send a member to the House of
Commons. All boroughs that had not more than 4000 inhabitants should
send in future only one member each to Parliament. The principle of
nomination by individuals or by corporations was to come to an end.
The "fancy franchises" were to be got rid of altogether. In the
boroughs every householder paying rates on houses of the yearly value
of ten pounds and upwards was entitled to have a vote.

The Government, however, proposed to deal mercifully, so far as
possible, with the existing interests of voters, although the process
of extinction was summary and complete with regard to the so-called
rights of patrons and of corporations. For instance, resident voters,
under the old qualifications, were to be allowed to retain their right
during their lives, but with the lapse of each life the qualification
expired and the owner of such a vote could have no successor. When
dealing with the counties Lord John Russell announced that copyholders
to the value of ten pounds a year and leaseholders for not less than
twenty-one years at an annual rent of fifty pounds and upwards were to
have the franchise. The abolition of the small boroughs and the
uninhabited constituencies would reduce the number of members in the
House of Commons by 168, and Lord John Russell