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224 declared himself to be opposed to any reduction in the price of corn and sugar. Viewing the division in this light it affords some curious results.

The votes of the English counties and universities were:—

The landowners represented their own pockets on this occasion. Talk of an 'appeal to the people' in reference to county representation! The appeal will be one to the tenants at will, and they will do as their lords bid them. The Marquis of Chandos' clause, unaccompanied by the ballot, in a country like England, where not one-tenth of the land is held on such leases as to make the tenants in any degree independent of the landlords, made a present of every county to the landowners, who, whether they be whig or tory, unite most cordially against every attempt to destroy, or even to alleviate, the mischievous effects of their monopoly. Ministers owe, therefore, the opposition of the counties to their own finality doctrines. Had they given protection to the voter they would have had great numbers of the tenantry on their side; but men will not run the risk of being turned out of their occupations, and of involving their families in immediate privations, perhaps in ruin, for a distant prospect of benefit to the community."

On Tuesday, June 22nd, her Majesty prorogued the Parliament in person. The brief speech contained the following paragraph:—" The paramount importance of the trade and industry of the country, and my anxiety that the exigencies of the public services should be provided for in the manner least burdensome to the community, have induced me to resort to the means which the constitution has entrusted to me, of ascertaining the sense of my people upon matters which so deeply concern their welfare." On the following day a royal proclamation declared the house dissolved.

The borough elections came first. The balance of representation in the Lancashire and Cheshire boroughs remained the same as in the previous Parliament, the gain to the progressives being one in Stockport, one in Bolton, and one in Preston and the gain to the obstructives being two in Wigan, and one in Blackburn. The boroughs