Lord Halifax on Monday introduced his resolution affirming , the wish
of the Lords for further redistribution. He took advan- tage of his opportunity to express, as a man who had contested fifteen elections, his perfect contentment with Household Suffrage, but described the little boroughs as biota on the representative system. He pointed out the well known disparities between popula- tion and representation, deprecated any increase to the numbers of the Commons, held that great counties ought to have third mem- bers as well as great boroughs, and approved the representation of minorities. His speech was sensible, but wanting in originality and. very vague, but Lord Russell, who supported him, was distinct enough. He wanted about 62 seats to be distributed, in the propor- tion of 42 to the counties and 20 to the boroughs, and clearly dis- trusted the Householders. The underlying idea of both speeches is evidently this,—" The Tories must join us, and if we can multiply county seats, the old Whigs will again be strong." The Govern- ment reply was feeble in the extreme, Lord Derby being ill, and the Tories having no other peer in the Cabinet with any preten- sion to debating power. Lord Malmesbury talked of the danger of "tampering with the work of so many months," and one of the Dukes, Buckingham, said a few words about the indiscretion of differing from the Commons, but the Cabinet relied on their majority. Lord Halifax was beaten by 100 to 59.
