0l. householders are to vote for the county. In the towns, these two
classes are, for the most part, shopkeepers.

I am convinced that there are no less than 4000 or 5000 such inhabitants
of towns in Hampshire, who will have votes for the county, as well as
the freeholders. Now, of whom does this class of electors consist? As I
before stated, they are shopkeepers--respectable shopkeepers--in the
towns. I beg to ask, are they fit persons to be the only electors to
return county members to a Parliament, which Parliament is to govern the
affairs of this great nation, consisting of 100,000,000 of subjects, and
so many various relations, foreign, domestic, colonial, commercial, and
manufacturing? Men of the description I have mentioned, with their
prejudices and peculiar interests, however respectable as a body, cannot
be fit to be the only electors of members of the House of Commons. But,
I beg to say that, however respectable this, or any other class of
electors may be, there is a strong reason against any uniformity of
system in the representation of the country. I have heard already of the
establishment, in this town, of a committee formed for the purpose of
recommending candidates for the representation to the different towns
throughout the country. I confess, I do not believe that this committee
has been established more than a few days; but I beg to say that, taking
into consideration the means of combinations, and the facilities of
communications in the country, such a body is dangerous. I know that
such committees, in other countries, have been found to be effectual in
putting down the Government. And I ask whether you should allow such a
uniform system of election--it matters not in whose hands it is
placed--that a committee, sitting in London, shall have the power to
dictate what members shall be returned for Leeds, or for Manchester, for
instance? I wish to know what security noble Lords have for their seats
in this House, if such a committee as this should exist at the first
general election of a reformed Parliament? But, my Lords, these are not
all the objections which I entertain to this measure; I have others,
founded upon facts, which I know to have existed in other countries. I
was in France when the law of election was passed, in the year 1817; and
this circumstance deserves your Lordships' attention, because the
situation of the two countries is not dissimilar. At that period there
were, in each department