16 MARCH 1867, Page 2

Mr. T. B. Potter has taken occasion to republish Mr.

Cobden's letter to him of 22nd March, 1865, recommending the splitting up of constituencies in order to give minorities a chance. We discussed the plan last week, but we givi here the words of a pro- posal which may yet be important :—" I would give only one vote to each elector, and one representative to each constituency. Thus, if the metropolis, for example, were entitled with a fair distribu- tion of electoral power to forty votes, I would divide it into forty districts or wards, each to return one member, and in this way every class and every variety of opinion would have a chance of a fair representation. Belgravia, Marylebone, St. James's, St. Giles's, Whitechapel, Spitalfielda, &c., would each and all have their members."