LORD BROUGHAMmoved the Second Reading of the Elections Bill, which had been sent up from the Commons. It was introduced by Mr. Butt, of the Western Circuit, and contained provisions which were most fit to be adopted for shortening the period between the Writs and the Election, reducing the time from sixteen and ten days, for counties, to ten and six days; and in boroughs, from eight and three days, to six and three—the present period being manifestly longer than was necessary, and the shortening both tending to lessen the expense, and somewhat to diminish illegal practices. Power was also given to the Queen in Council, subject to the course of proceeding there, to change the polling places on application of the magistrates at quarter-sessions. The time of polling at elections for the Universities was also most properly restricted to five days, in- 976 stead of fifteen, as it at present was—and the Vice Chancellor was authorised to appoint polling places, and deputy Vice Chancellors to take the poll. Thus far the Bill went, and no one could object to its provisions. But he had been urged by persons of respectability to make a material addition, by introducing clauses extending the University franchise to those having the degree of B.A. and B.C.L., from those having the degrees of M.A. and D.C.L., and also to enable Graduates, whose names had ceased to be on the boards, and who had thus lost the right of voting, to be registered upon payment of a moderate fee, instead of the annual sum now required to continue their right of voting. He inclined to think that these provisions would be very fit to be introduced, but not into a Bill like the present, confined to the time and mode of taking the poll—the rather as the Bill had come up from the House of Commons without any such extension of the franchise having been there considered. He entirely denied the exclusive privileges of that House to deal with the subject of Elections. Indeed he had once and again urged on their Lordships the duty of even originating measures on that subject; and shown remarkable instances in which the Lords had propounded and carried changes in the Election Law, as in some of the statutory provisions respecting bribery. But this was a course fit to be pursued rarely and with much discretion; and when an Election Bill had been passed on wholly different matters, it would be inadvisable for their Lordships to deal with the franchise in such a manner that their enactments must be rejected by the Commons, or passed by a vote agreeing to those amendments, without going through the usual stages of three readings and commitment. He took leave, in connexion with this subject, to urge upon the Government the necessity of most carefully and deliberately applying themselves to the important subject of revising the existing electoral Laws, as they had announced was their intention. The measures which they would have to frame must be directed both to rendering elections pure, by extirpating the corruption so widely complained of in all its branches, and to amending the possession of the franchise, as well as its distribution locally. The subject was of incalculable moment, and unfortunately its difficulty was equal to its importance. The consideration of one circumstance, how- 977 ever, gave him great comfort. We were happily no longer under the conflicting influence of extreme opinions and feelings among adverse classes. There was not now as heretofore, on the one hand, an unreasoning, unbending resistance to all change in our elective system; nor, on the other hand, a desire of change as unreflecting, a love of mere change as such without regard to improvement. Opinions on the whole subject were much more moderate, feelings far more temperate than in the days of the last controversy upon reform; and this be regarded as most fortunate for both the Government and Parliament in applying themselves to the consideration of the subject. He had great confidence in the discretion as well as the firmness of his noble Friends, who were about to grapple with it. He ventured to hope that they would not lose sight of one, in his view a cardinal point, the improvement of the representative body as well as of the elective body; for both effects would be produced, by giving the franchise to classes well qualified to vote with discrimination, and thus securing the representation of those classes by Members well qualified to act with intelligence.
§ Bill read 2a.