Sir S. Northcote, not having prospered much in Scotland, where
men's minds are tenacious, and where they have beaten their Peers for a half century past, has delivered two speeches at Newcastle. In the first, he quoted statistics to show that in certain electoral groups of districts 6,800 electors returned a Liberal Member, while it took 12,300 Conservatives, or, if the counties were left out,16,000 Conservatives, to return one, which made a deep impression. In the second speech he repeated and amplified his figures, and endeavoured to prove that the great constituencies had not their fair share of power, and that they are outvoted by the Liberal little boroughs. "A population of 418,000, with an assessment to the property-tax of £5,000,000, seat as many Members as a population of 3,500,000, with an assessment of £120,000,000," which is shocking. These figures, substantially correct, also made a great impression, which we hope will endure, for they all point to the necessity of a great Redistribution Bill. We wonder if Sir Stafford Northcote and Lord Salisbury really know on what road they are driving. They say they do not want equal electoral districts ; but every argument they put forward leads straight to that as the only just plan.
