A mighty demonstration, reminding one of the old days of
the People's Charter, but probably exceeding any of those old demon- strations in magnitude, was made, in favour of universal suffrage and a redistribution of seats in proportion to population, on Newcastle Town Moor this day week. Eighty thousand men went in procession, and the pitmen of the two counties of Northumberland and Durham alone mustered 50,000. Including the spectators, the Daily News estimates the whole number on the moor at 200,000. It seems that the origin of the agitation was in the desire of the miners who had been-resi- dent outside the borough of Morpeth to get their names inserted on the Register when the boundaries of the borough were
extended, in order to vote for the agent of the Northern Miners, Mr. Thomas Burt, against Sir G. Grey. The resistance made to their claims irritated them, and led to the demand for universal suffrage as the only way of simplifying the electoral qualification. An assimilation of the borough and county fran- chise, the difference between which was the real cause of these disputes, cannot long be delayed ; but in the interest of the people themselves, it may be hoped that the change will not go further. Universal suffrage has never yet been worked without losing all cheek over the voter's qualification,—a far greater mischief to popular government than the restriction of the franchise to household suffrage. 'Vote early and vote often' is the unscru- pulous principle which really carries the day in populous districts voting by universal suffrage.
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