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12 what he said was heard. He expressed his belief that the able and unanswerable speech of the right hon. Member for Tamworth, when it went forth to the country, would convince the people that the clause under consideration was one of the most flagrant pieces of injustice ever planned. He adverted to the fact of the Attorney General having said that freemen generally passed three-fourths of their lives in jail, and said that the hon. and learned Member would have hesitated long before he had made such an assertion on the hustings at Stafford. He designated the clause in question as an underhanded attempt, which it was disgraceful for a British Minister to make, to violate a solemn compact.

Mr defended the freemen from the attacks which had been made upon them. The noble Member for Stroud had behaved ungratefully to the body of men to whom he was obliged to fly in time of need. There were seated near the noble Lord persons who equalled him in inconsistency, for after having been clamouring all their lives for universal suffrage, they took the first opportunity which presented itself to limit the existing constituency. He believed that of the hon. gentlemen opposite half had not read the bill, and the other half did not understand it. When he supported the Reform Act he little thought that it would lead to such consequences as seemed about to befal the country.

[The gallery was then cleared for a division, when the numbers were— The announcement of the result was received with faint cheering from the ministerial side of the House.]