READJUSTMENT OP BOROUGH CONSTITUENCIES.
18th May 1860.
Sin—The suggestion has been made, that, in case the report of the Com- mission on the Berwick election should show its electors to be not " inde- pendent," but corrupt, the borough might be disfranchised, and the electors divided between the counties of England and Scotland in which the town is situate ; where, in larger constituencies, their corrupt tendencies would be lost.
Such a measure might be well extended. If it be too late—which it may not yet be—to enlarge the schedule of disfranchised boroughs in the Reform Bill, there are yet several towns in a similar situation to Berwick, whose disfranchisement would place additional seats in Parliament at the disposal of the Ministry. There is, at the present time, this great advantage in the plan—that, while the representative in the House of Commons would be transferred to a different and larger constituency, the borough would alone be disfranchised, and not the electors ; for the 101. borough voters would, under the Reform Bill, at once be entered as voters on the county register. So excellent an opportunity as the present for readjusting the allotment of Members will probably not re-occur till universal suffrage be established : quod procul absit—at least, while the quality and quantity of education in the country remain unaltered. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, A. W. W.
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