26 DECEMBER 1891, Page 3

The Home-rule papers are very indignant when it is con-

tended, as Mr. Jesse Collings, for instance, with almost all the Unionists contends, that Irish Home-rule has got such a big front seat in the Gladstonian programme, that nothing else is likely to find room ; and the Pall Mall Gazette replies that at Newcastle the reform termed for shortness "One man, one vote," was given precedence even over Irish Home-rule. We only hope that if the Gladstonians win the General Election, they will stick to that order of precedence. We venture to say that "One man, one vote," cannot be passed without raising the whole question of the relative Parliamentary weight of different constituencies. There is no fairness in the principle "One man, one vote," unless we go on to the principle "One vote, one unit of political influence ;" whereas at present a voter for the City of Cork has twice the political influence of a voter for the City of London, while a voter for the town of Kilkenny has four times the influence of a voter in Bir- mingham or Liverpool.