One hundred years ago
Lord Salisbury, while speaking with doubt of the possibility of suppressing Irish boycotting, pledged himself, if the law did not suffice, to ask Parliament to extend it; but he made one unfortunate mistake. He, without the slightest ne- cessity, virtually bound his party to defend the particularly absurd scheme for the reorganisation of London put forward by the City Corporation. That scheme redivides London into nine Municipal boroughs, with a central body for limited purposes — a sort of glorified Board of Works. We should prefer to that a scheme for leaving the Corporation intact, extending its au- thority over all London, and making every householder a Liveryman. That would be bad enough, but, at least, it would give us unity; in truth, any scheme which is not revolutionary is useless. Spectator, 14 November 1885
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