division,
as he could not be certain of having a seat in the next parliament, and
the numbers on each side being equal, the speaker gave his casting vote
in favour of the resolutions.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.

On the 27th of April Lord John Russell again brought forward the
question of parliamentary reform. The resolution he proposed was "that
the present state of the representation of this country in parliament
requires the most serious consideration of this house." In his speech on
this occasion he laid down two premises: first, "that it was a matter of
paramount importance to adapt every government to the wants and wishes,
the prejudices and existing circumstances of the country for which
it was intended; and that the people of this country had arrived at a
degree of knowledge, intelligence, and wealth, which made them a people
more worthy than had ever before existed of being entrusted with
the privilege of electing their representatives, and more capable of
exercising it with advantage." From these premises he concluded that the
house of commons as it existed at present, was badly constituted; for
instead of being chosen by the more numerous, the more intelligent,
and the mora wealthy class, it was elected by the minority, the less
intelligent, and the less wealthy. As therefore the elective franchise,
instead of remaining in the hands of the many, had become the property
of a few, and as such a discrepancy between the condition of the
people, and the constitution of the government had unhappily come into
existence, calamities would one day or other ensue, unless the state of
the representation were amended, from which neither the constitution nor
the country would ever recover. After noticing the objections commonly
urged against the necessity of reform, the noble mover continued, that,
of two modes of reform which it was customary to propose, the one a
total reconstruction, and the other a partial renovation of the house of
commons, the latter appeared to him of the soundest principle, and the
best suited to the condition of the country. The principal feature of
his plan, he explained, would be, to restrict a hundred of the smaller
boroughs to one member instead of allowing them two, and to give
the number of representatives thus subtracted from them to towns of
importance unrepresented. These details, however, he said, would be
matter of future deliberation. The object he had in view was, in the
words of