where it could be granted without prejudice to others. The Council would lay before Parliament their rules of proceeding, the applications made to them, and the decisions thereon, with the grounds of such decisions. In administering this law, the Council would have the aid of, and would safely be guided by, public opinion, as it might be elicited by any discussion of their proceedings. The question would always be one purely of an administrative character, not affecting any political party, and one in which party feelings could hardly enter.
A corresponding provision should be made for relieving any constituency, local or corporate, of the necessity of making a separate return,—and thereby exonerating them from the additional charges which it would occasion,—upon a petition to her Majesty in Council, setting forth the decay or diminution of the numbers of such constituency, or other sufficient cause.
A self-acting law, of the kind which has been proposed, or some other of an equivalent effect, is absolutely necessary to provide for the fluctuations that are a consequence of the immense activity of modern life, unless Parliament is to be constantly engaged in the labour, and embarrassed by the jealousies, of a reformation of its own constitution.[1]
- ↑ In a note to the pamphlet in which the scheme of personal representation was first rudely suggested, the author referred to upwards of a hundred English towns, every one of which contained at the last census more than 4000 inhabitants. They were: Bedfordshire—Leighton-Buzzard, Luton. Berks—Newbury. Cambridgeshire—Ely, March, Whittlesea. Cheshire—Altringham, Birkenhead, Congleton, Crewe, Nantwich, Runcorn, Tranmere. Cornwall—Camborne, Falmouth, Penzance, Redruth. Cumberland—Maryport, Penrith, Wigton, Workington. Derbyshire—Belper, Chesterfield. Devon—Bideford, Brixham, Exmouth, Teignmouth, Torquay. Durham—Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Darlington, Hartlepool. Essex—Barking, Chelmsford, Halstead, Stratford. Hampshire—Cowes, Gosport. Hertfordshire—Bishop Stortford, Hitchin, Ware. Kent—Ashford, Dartford, Deal, Margate, Ramsgate, Sheemess, Tunbridge Wells. Lancashire—Accrington, Burnley, Chorley, Colne, Eccles, Haslingden, Leigh, Middleton, Ormskirk, Over Darwen, Prescot, Southport, Staleybridge, St. Helen's, Todmorden, Ulverstone.
