Then aroaord Randolph Churchill, who devoted the greater part of
his speech to a most violent flagellation of Mr. Gorst, for the excellent manifesto of the night previous ; but he con- cluded by exhorting the Government to present to Parliament a Redistribution Bill founded chiefly on the principle of popu- lation and an approximate equalisation of electoral districts. Of the other Conservative speeches, Mr. Gibson's was much more hostile in tone ; while Mr. Chaplin's was, as usual, full of bitterness and animosity. Mr. Goschen attempted to show the Conservative Party that they would do well to close with the Prime Minister's overtures, and, by putting the Franchise Bill beyond danger, to place the House of Commons in a position to proceed with the Redistribution Bill. Sir Stafford Northcote, however, gave no sign of any disposition to advise his party in the Upper House to proceed with the Franchise Bill, without having been previously satisfied with the contents of the Redistribution Bill, and he declined to give any information as to what kind of a Redistribution Bill his party desired. Lord Hartington, in summing-up the debate, showed that the Conservatives demanded satisfac- tion as to the contents of a measure concerning which their own wishes were altogether divided, Sir Richard Cross desiring one kind of measure, and Lord Randolph Churchill clamouring for one of a totally different character; and remarked that if the Government had already formulated its Redistribution Bill, that Bill would certainly have been made the excuse by one or other section of the Conservative Party for an indefinite delay of the Franchise Bill. The division showed, for the Second Reading 372, against 232,—majority, 140, in a House numbering, with the Speaker and four tellers, 609 Members.
