It is true that according to the terms of this report the borough limit
of population was raised to 25,000, and the rotten boroughs which for
"historical reasons" Mr. Balfour had been loth to disfranchise, were to
be swept away, but so far as we are concerned the results would have
been much the same, for under its provisions Ireland would have suffered
a net loss of 23 seats.

O'Connell pointed out to the Corporation of Dublin in 1843 far greater
inconsistencies than can be indicated to-day. The population of Wales at
that day was 800,000, that of County of Cork was more than 700,000, but
the former was represented by 28 members and the latter by two; and
further, he was able to point to five English counties with a total
population of less than a million having 20 members to represent them,
while five Irish counties with a population of over two millions
returned only ten members.

If it is the mere passion for a representation proportionate to
population which is evinced, it is remarkable that it has only arisen
since the time at which it began to tell against Ireland, that when the
boot was on the other leg there was no suggestion of redistribution on
the part of Conservatives. The truth is that for Unionists the idea of
paring the claws of the Irish Party offers a tempting prospect. Our
position in the matter is quite plain: so long as Great Britain insists
on maintaining the Act of Union she must do so consistently in the sense
that it is a contract, albeit secured by chicanery, to the breach of any
term of which the consent of the party which it trammelled at least is
necessary. It will be answered that the Disestablishment of the Irish
Church made a breach in a clause of as binding a solemnity as that which
guaranteed 100 members in the Imperial Parliament "for ever." The
difference is that in that case the consent of the two parties was given
by their representatives in the House of Commons, and the consent and
the sanction which it entails will never be secured--even possibly from
Ulster Orangemen--to a proposal for the curtailment of representation in
the Imperial Parliament under the present system of government.

We do not pretend for one moment that according to the rule of three we
are not represented in the House of Commons by a number of members
greater than that to which our population at the present moment would,
taking the three kingdoms as whole, entitle us, but one must point out
that the syste