As Mr. Gladstone has promised that the Government will pre-
pare a Bill for the redistribution of seats, and lay it on the table of the House after the second reading is passed, in case it should pass, we may call the attention of the Government to the claim of the University of London to two of the seats at its disposal. At a meeting of the Convocation of the University, last Wednes- . day week, it was pointed out that the claim of this University to representation had been conceded by Lord Derby and Lord John Russell in 1852, by Lord Aberdeen in 1854, again by Lord Derby
in 1859, and by Lord Palmerston in 1860. The claim rests partly on a pledge given at the establishment of the Uni- versity that it should have in every respect equal privileges to the old Universities, and partly on the intrinsic reasonableness of establishing such a constituency. There are now no less than 1,700 graduates of full age, and of all creeds and professions, belonging to the University of London, and before any election under a new electoral law is likely to take place its constituency would be 2,000. The constituency would therefore be a select constituency, and in some respects one such as scarcely exists elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The other Universities are learned constituencies of a uniform creed ; the University of London would be a learned constituency containing Roman Catholics, every denomination of Dissenters, and large numbers also of the Church of England, — in short, a constituency of unsectarian learning. After the ad- mission of its claim by three distinct Governments—Tory, Liberal, and Conservative-Liberal, we cannot doubt that two seats will be accorded to the University of London in that political chateau d'Espagnc of the Government's—the Redistribution of Seats Bill.
