ster a village, and Birmingham a sand-hill. But the industrial
revolution had the effect of bringing coal, iron, and water-power into
enormous demand, and after 1775 the industrial center, and likewise
the population center, of the country was shifted rapidly toward the
north. In the hitherto almost uninhabited valleys of Lancashire and
Yorkshire sprang up a multitude of factory towns and cities. In
Parliament these fast-growing populations were either glaringly
under-represented or not represented at all. In 1831 the ten
southernmost counties of England contained a population of 3,260,000
and returned to Parliament 235 members.[107] At the same time the six
northernmost counties contained a population of 3,594,000, but (p. 079)
returned only 68 members. Cornwall, with 300,000 inhabitants, had 42
representatives; Lancashire, with 1,330,000, had 14. Among towns,
Birmingham and Manchester, each with upwards of 100,000 people, and
Leeds and Sheffield, each with 50,000, had no representation whatever.
On the other hand, boroughs were entitled to representation which
contained ridiculously scant populations, or even no population at
all. Gatto, in Surrey, was a park; Old Sarum, in Wiltshire, was a
deserted hill; the remains of what once was Dunwich were under the
waves of the North Sea. Bosseney, in Cornwall, was a hamlet of three
cottages, eight of whose nine electors belonged to a single family.
But Bosseney sent two members to the House of Commons.

[Footnote 107: That is to say, the quota of members
mentioned was returned by the counties and by the
boroughs contained geographically within them.]

*83. County and Borough Franchise in 1831.*--Not only was there, thus,
the most glaring lack of adjustment of parliamentary representation to
the distribution of population; where the right of representation
existed, the franchise arrangements under which members were elected
were hopelessly heterogeneous and illiberal. Originally, as has been
pointed out,[108] the representatives of the counties were chosen in
the county court by all persons who were entitled to attend and to
take part in the proceedings of that body. In 1429, during the reign
of Henry VI., an act was passed ostensibly to prevent riotous and
disorderly elections, wherein it was stipulated that county electors
should thereafter comprise only such male residents of the county as
possessed free land or