§ MR. EDWIN JAMESSir, there is a feeling in the country that there is no sincere desire on the part of the Government to proceed with the Bill for the Amendment of the Representation of the People; and I do not wonder at it, for appearances are certainly a little against them. Parliament met on the 24th of January, and I think as early as the 25th the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Stroud (Mr. Horsman) and myself, both suggested to the Government that any delay in the introduction of the Reform Bill might be subject to misconstruction. The noble Lord the Member for the City of London then announced that he would introduce the Bill on the 20th of February. He was again asked on both sides of the House on the subject; and then he said he would postpone the Bill from the 20th of February to the 1st of March, which he said was an auspicious day for the introduction of such a measure. The Bill was introduced by the noble Lord on the 1st of March, in a speech which did not give him much trouble to make:—indeed, it could not well 1116 have been otherwise, for there was not much to say upon the Bill on the table. The noble Lord made a short and able statement—not a longer statement than it would take a country gentleman to make in introducing a Bill for the diversion of a footpath. The second reading was agreed to on the 3rd of May, and the Committee on the Bill is postponed to the 4th of June; and yet we find that Her Majesty's Government are constantly bringing in Bills to which this great and important question is to give place. We find the Highways Bill constantly set down among the Orders of the Day, and the repeal of Sir John Barnard's Act constantly taking the place of this great measure—we find a Bill called in mockery the City of London Corporation Reform Bill, which is an official curiosity—we find all these Bills taking the place of the Bill introduced by Her Majesty's Government for reforming the representation of the people. I think, therefore, I am justified in asking the noble Lord whether he sincerely means to proceed with the Bill in Committee on the 4th of June, in order that Members may be able to apply themselves to the details of the Bill, so as to make it a great measure worthy of the House and the country. I beg to put the following question to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs:—Whether it is the intention of the Government to proceed continuously with the Reform Bill, the consideration of which in Committee has been postponed till the 4th June, so as to afford to the other Branch of the Legislature the opportunity of passing into Law that Bill during the present Session?