§ SIR ROBERT PEELI ask the permission of the House to say one word with reference to a statement made by me on Monday last; and, as the matter is of some importance to me personally, I am sure the House will kindly allow me to do so. I have been asked to represent a constituency of many thousands of working men, and, therefore, the matter is one of personal importance to myself. My right hon. Friend the President of the Local Government Board stated yesterday that I said in the House with regard to this Reform Bill that it dealt with 2,000,000 of the most ignorant and, therefore, inexpe- 1526 rienced people in this country, and he infers that I included the pick of the London artizans in that ignorant class. Now, it will be in the recollection of the House that I said that I had not only voted for the Bill of 1867—that not only was I ready to support any measure of legislation—but that I also said that I was prepared to give the electoral power to all those who by their industry, by their intelligence, and their character had a stake in the country. I am sure my right hon. Friend, who made some ungenerous remarks about me, cannot have meant to convey that I included the pick of the London artizans in the class to which I referred.
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEAs the right hon. Baronet has used the word "ungenerous" in reference to my remarks upon his speech, perhaps the House will permit me to explain that I had quoted the words of that speech from the best report of it I could find. The right hon. Baronet had certainly said that the Prime Minister proposed to enfranchise 2,000,000 of the most ignorant people in the country; and as the Prime Minister had stated that the 2,000,000 which the Bill proposed to enfranchise would include the pick of the artizans of London, I had drawn the natural inference from the right hon. baronet's words that he included the pick of the artizans of London in the 2,000,000 of the most ignorant people in the country whom it was proposed to enfranchise.