spirit, the essence of the House of
Commons," once declared Edmund Burke, "consists in its being the
express image of the nation." In the eighteenth century, however, when
this assertion was made, the House of Commons was, in point of fact,
far from constituting such an "image." Until, indeed, the nineteenth
century was well advanced the nominally popular parliamentary branch
was in reality representative, not of the mass of the nation, but (p. 078)
of the aristocratic and governing elements, at best of the well-to-do
middle classes; and a correct appreciation of the composition and
character of the chamber as it to-day exists requires some allusion to
the process by which its democratization was accomplished. In
1832--the year of the first great Reform Act--the House of Commons
consisted of 658 members, of whom 186 represented the forty counties
and 472 sat for two hundred three boroughs. The apportionment of both
county and borough members was haphazard and grossly inequitable. In
the Unites States, and in many European countries, it is required by
constitutional provision that following a decennial census there shall
be a reapportionment of seats in the popular legislative chamber, the
purpose being, of course, to preserve substantial equality among the
electoral constituencies and, ultimately, an essential parity of
political power among the voters. At no time, however, has there been
in Great Britain either legislation or the semblance of a tradition in
respect to this matter. Reapportionment has taken place only partially
and at irregular intervals, and at but a few times in the history of
the nation have constituencies represented at Westminster been even
approximately equal. Save that, in 1707, forty-five members were added
to represent Scotland and, in 1801, one hundred to sit for Ireland,
the identity of the constituencies represented in the Commons
continued all but unchanged from the reign of Charles II. to the
reform of 1832.

*82. Need of a Redistribution of Seats.*--The population changes, in
respect to both growth and distribution, falling within this extended
period were, however, enormous. In 1689 the population of England and
Wales was not in excess of 5,500,000. The census of 1831 revealed in
these countries a population of 14,000,000. In the seventeenth and
earlier eighteenth centuries the great mass of the English people
lived in the south and east. Liverpool was but an insignificant town,
Manche