and L. C. Sanders, History of England during the
Reign of Victoria (London, 1907). Three
biographical works are of special service: S.
Walpole, Life of Lord John Russell, 2 vols.
(London, 1889); J. Morley, Life of William E.
Gladstone, 3 vols. (London, 1903); and W. F.
Monypenny, Life of Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of
Beaconsfield, vols. 1-2 (London and New York,
1910-1912).]

III. THE FRANCHISE AND THE ELECTORAL QUESTIONS OF TO-DAY

*91. The Franchise as It Is.*--By the measures of 1884 and 1885 the
House of Commons was placed upon a broadly democratic basis. Both
measures stand to-day upon the statute-books, and neither has been
amended in any important particular. With respect to the existing
franchises there are two preponderating facts. One of them is that
individuals, as such, do not possess the privilege of voting; on the
contrary, the possession of the privilege is determined all but
invariably in relation to the ownership or occupation of property. The
other is that the franchise system, while substantially uniform
throughout the kingdom, is none the less the most complicated in
Europe. There are three important franchises which are universal and
two which are not. In the first group are included: (1) occupancy, as
owner or tenant, of land or tenement of a clear yearly value of L10;
(2) occupancy, as owner or tenant, of a dwelling-house, or part of a
house used as a separate dwelling, without regard to its value; (p. 087)
and (3) occupancy of lodgings of the value, unfurnished, of L10 a
year. The two franchises which are not universal are (1) ownership of
land of forty shillings yearly value or occupation of land under
certain other specified conditions--this being applicable only to
counties and, to a small extent, to boroughs which are counties in
themselves; and (2) residence of freemen in those towns in which they
had a right to vote prior to 1832. The conditions and exceptions by
which these various franchises are attended are so numerous that few
people in England save lawyers make a pretense of knowing them all,
and the volume of litigation which arises from the attempted
distinction between "householder" and "lodger," and from other
technicalities of the subject, is enormous. Voters must be twenty-one
years of age, and there are several co