r
parts. Consequently it has been held--and the more we consider the
subject the more true and just appears to be the conclusion--that
if you deal with the matter you must deal with it comprehensively.
You must not only consider borough constituencies, you must consider
county constituencies: and when persons rise up and urge their
claims to be introduced into the constituent body, even if you think
there is a plausible claim substantiated on their part, you are
bound in policy and justice to consider also the claims of other
bodies not in possession of the franchise, but whose right to
consideration may be equally great. And so clear is it when you
come to the distribution of power that you must consider the subject
in all its bearings, that even honorable gentlemen who have taken
part in this debate have not been able to avoid the question of what
they call the redistribution of seats--a very important part of
the distribution of power. It is easy for the honorable member for
Liskeard, for example, to rise and say, in supporting this measure
for the increase of the borough franchise, that it is impossible any
longer to conceal the anomalies of our system in regard to the
distribution of seats. "Is it not monstrous," he asks, "that Calne,
with 173 voters, should return a member, while Glasgow returns only
two, with a constituency of 20,000?" Well, it may be equally
monstrous that Liskeard should return one member, and that
Birkenhead should only make a similar return. The distribution of
seats, as any one must know who has ever considered the subject
deeply and with a sense of responsibility towards the country, is
one of the most profound and difficult questions that can be brought
before the house. It is all very well to treat it in an easy,
offhand manner; but how are you to reconcile the case of North
Cheshire, of North Durham, of West Kent, and many other counties,
where you find four or six great towns, with a population, perhaps,
of 100,000, returning six members to this house, while the rest of
the population of the county, though equal in amount, returns only
two members? How are you to meet the case of the representation of
South Lancashire in reference to its boroughs? Why, those are more
anomalous than the case of Calne.

Then there is the question of Scotland. With a population hardly
equal to that of the metropolis, and with wealth greatly inferior--
probably not more than two-thirds of the am