THE NEW REFORM ILLUSTRATED.
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Run the eye down the list, and every possible variety of circumstances will be discovered. Calne is a close borough, in which there has not been a contest since the passing of the Reform Bill, and which, without a day's intermission, has returned to Parliament the heir apparent of the family which rules it. Knaresborough, in the next class, is an open borough, in which parties are equally divided, and which has never known an election without a contest and a change of Representatives. Ashburton, a little further down the list, has passed privately, since the Reform Act, from the influence of one landlord to that of another; while Harwich has been publicly bought and sold, and now, by the non-issue of its writ, is paying the penalty of a long series of political delinquencies. In the next class are towns—Liskeard and Cockermouth— in which corruption is unknown, and the former of which, at least, is as free from undue influence as the largest borough in the kingdom. But then, further on, there is Woodstock, in which no man dare call his soul his own; Petersfield, in which, if he calls his soul his own, he is very likely to suffer for it; Ripon, where no man has a soul—that is, a soul political; Totnes, where the people who have souls are counterbalanced by faggot voters, who are paid for forgetting that they have any. Again, there are boroughs in the list with very limited boundaries, such as Wells; and boroughs with very extended boundaries, such as Morpeth. There are places which were arranged in 1832 to suit the purposes of resident Whig families, such as Wycombe; and there are boroughs the boundaries of which were fixed purposely ‟to spite the Tories,” as, for instance, Ludlow. Among the 67 boroughs there are no two which present any thing like identity of political circumstance; and yet Lord John Russell’s universal panacea is to be applied alike to all. Christchurch, previously to the Reform Act, was a corporation borough, returning two Members, irrespective of family domination. The borough was widely extended; a large district, comprising all the adjacent villages, was taken in, and the consequence has been that it has fallen into the hands of the largest landowner. Malmesbury, another corporation borough, before the Reform Act, was extended in the same way, and with the same result. Droitwich is another illustration of the working of the same plan; Morpeth, another; and in Wareham, which was widely extended, purposely to nullify the Calcraft influence, the result has been to afford an opportunity to another large landed proprietor to make himself master of the town, and to dictate to it far more authoritatitely than ever was attempted by its former patron. Among the 67 boroughs to be enlarged is the borough of Beaumaris, which, it will be observed, has three contributory towns. Is Beaumaris free from nomination influence? Who is the largest proprietor in Anglesey? The Marquis of Anglesey. Who has represented Beaumaris unopposed, ever since the Reform Act passed? Mark the returns :—1832. Captain Frederick Paget. 1835. Captain Frederick Paget. 1837. Captain Frederick Paget. 1841. Captain Frederick Paget. At the General Election of 1847 there was a change. A change of principles? No. A change ot men? Scarcely. Judge for yourself :—1847. Lord George Augustus Frederick Paget. Far be it from us to say that the choice in any case was improper, or that any of these elections were unduly influenced. Without any imputation of this sort, it is enough for the argument to show, as this illustration does completely, that it is not the combination of petty places in one locality that will effectually ‟diffuse the representative influence.”—Times.