A silver salver has been presented to Lord Houghton by
his friends in Pontefract, in recognition of his services as member for the borough when Mr. Monckton Milnes. In reply Lord Hough- ton delivered a singularly genial speech defending small boroughs, which gave seats to men who, like himself, "had a difficulty in believing their own side entirely in the right and the other entirely in the wrong." He could not have sat so long for a large constituency, and he thought it advantageous that men of his temperament and character should be in Parliament. He believed that the tendency among men of .independent means and thought was to shrink from Parliamentary life, and to abolish the small boroughs would be greatly to increase it. Of course it would, and not only that, but it would strike away the last chance for young men who are not eldest sons, and diminish the variety of Parliament by excluding whole classes. Even as it is the representation in England is growing daily more uniform, the successful men of business with heavy balances and no capacity for statesmanship crowding in cverywhere.
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