Both the Tory and the Liberal papers assure us—though the
Pall Mall of last night reported some scare on the subject—that the negotiations on the Redistribution Bill have come to a success- ful end, and that no difference of principle remains, though there are still details on which the Liberal and the Tory Chiefs are not agreed. It seems pretty certain that Mr. Gladstone will be able on Monday to explain the principles of a Bill acceptable alike to the Government and to the Leaders of the Opposition. It is understood that the single-seat principle will have a very large extension ; that the double-barrelled constituencies will remain wherever the numbers of the constituency are large enough to justify the retention of two Members ; but that the new seats created will be, in most cases, constituencies with single seats. The subject of the number of representatives to be returned by Ireland has also been much discussed ; but it is not known at what solution the negotiators have arrived. Possibly it may be left open to the decision of the House of Commons. What is certainly known is, that the Bill will be a very much larger one than could possibly have been risked by a Liberal Government acting without any concert with the Opposition.
