Mr. Disraeli had hardly finished, when Mr. Gladstone sprang up
with the eagerness he always displays when battle is at last joined, and in a vehemently aggressive speech denounced the plan which, detailed three days before to Lord Derby's supporters, had now at last reached them "the mere mob of the House of Commons." He rejected Mr. Disraeli's calculation of the effect of the fancy franchises, believed that his "Household Suffrage," instead of enfranchising 237,000 men, would only enfranchise 140,000; showed that the number of compounders would vary in every parish according to the discretion of parochial officers, but should "regard it as a great advantage if the limit of franchise down- wards were to cease at the same point as the personal liability to rates." He argued that in places like Thetford and Wilton Mr. Dis- raeli's Bill would give votes to agricultural labourers, and thus force on the "enfranchisement of peasants ; " declared his "implacable hostility" to the dual vote ; exposed the absurdity of a qualifica- tion by payment of direct taxes, which would admit every man who wore powder; declared a lodger franchise essential; and ended With a doubt whether Household Suffrage without Mr. Disraeli's guarantees might not be too wide a nrasure. .Mr. Gladstone was loudly cheered during his speech, but when he sat down the im- pression among his feebler supporters was that he had gone too far ahead of them,—that the engine, though well on the rails, had left some of the trucks behind.
