as they already stood; but that
leaseholders of fifty pounds a year, under leases of twenty years,
would be added to them. Clergymen likewise were to vote, if they were
freeholders to the extent of fifty pounds; and householders who occupied
a house let at the yearly rent of ten pounds per annum. The machinery of
the bill was to be nearly the same with that proposed for England; and
the necessary result of the measure would be to take the franchise out.
of the hands of the corporations, who had hitherto monopolised it; and
Mr. Stanley thought that no one could deny its propriety. The English
bill, he said, in continuation, made no change in the election of the
members for the universities; but an alteration was to be made in regard
to the University of Dublin. In future it was to return two members
instead of one; and the number of electors was to be increased by
bringing back the right of voting to what it had originally been.
At Oxford and Cambridge the masters of arts had always voted; but in
Dublin, a subsequent charter having excluded scholars from receiving
their _stipendia_ after the expiry of the five years, it had been held
by a forced construction that they lost their right to vote for the
university-member after the same period, though they still continued
to be scholars. The present bill would restore the original right, by
extending their academic franchise to all persons who at any time had
been scholars of the university, provided they placed their names on the
books, as claimants of the right, within six months after the passing of
the act. Mr. O'Connell admitted that the bill would prove a great boon
to Ireland, and would produce an effective constituency; but there were
parts of it which he hoped would be altered. In the first place, he
thought that a greater number of members ought to be given to Ireland.
He objected, likewise, to the arrangement concerning the university,
because it still left to the franchise an exclusive character; no Roman
Catholic could vote there, because he could not become a scholar of a
Protestant university; scholarships, therefore, ought to be thrown open
to all classes of the community. Nor did the Irish counties receive
justice. Many counties in England, because their population extended to
200,000, were to receive two members each, while in Ireland there
were twelve counties, with a population above that point, whose
representation was not to be increased. In reply to the