squandered,
became more and more manifest as the history of the past slipped into
oblivion. The corporators came to regard themselves as members of a
club, legally warranted in dividing the lands and goods of the same
among themselves whensoever such a division should seem profitable. Even
where the constitution of the corporation was not close by charter, the
franchise tended to become restricted to an ever-dwindling electorate,
as the old methods for the extension of the municipal franchise by other
means than inheritance died out of use. At Ipswich in 1833 the "freemen"
numbered only one fifty-fifth of the population. If the electorate was
increased, it was increased by the wholesale admission to the freedom of
voters willing to vote as directed by the corporation at parliamentary
elections. The growth of corruption in the boroughs continued unchecked
until the era of the Reform Bill. Several boroughs had by that time
become insolvent, and some had recourse to their member of parliament to
eke out their revenues. In Buckingham the mayor received the whole town
revenue without rendering account; sometimes, however, heavy charges
fell upon the officers. Before the Reform era dissatisfaction with the
corporations was mainly shown by the number of local acts of parliament
which placed under the authority of special commissioners a variety of
administrative details, which if the corporation had not been suspected
would certainly have been assigned to its care. The trust offered
another convenient means of escape from difficulty, and in some towns
out of the trust was developed a system of municipal administration
where there was no recognized corporation. Thus at Peterborough the
feoffees who had succeeded to the control of certain ancient charities
constituted a form of town council with very restricted powers. In the
17th century Sheffield was brought under the act "to redress the
misemployment of lands given to charitable uses," and the municipal
administration of what had been a borough passed into the hands of the
trustees of the Burgery or town trust.

The many special authorities created under act of parliament led to much
confusion, conflict and overlapping, and increased the need for a
general reform. The reform of the boroughs was treated as part of the
question of parliamentary reform. In 1832 the exclusive privileges of
the corporations in parliamentary elections having been abolished and
male occupiers enfran