Page:Thomas Hare - The Election of Representatives, parliamentary and municipal.djvu/271

 into smaller constituencies; but after this has been done so far as this is likely to be sought, there will no doubt still remain counties, cities, and towns, the inhabitants of which will not desire or consent to any division. Liverpool, for example, would probably insist upon remaining—and there is no reason why it would not remain—an entire and undivided constituency. It now contains 17,333 voters, and is increasing in magnitude. The electors of Liverpool, even if the quota were largely increased, might still be sufficient in number to return seven or eight members. It is impossible to foresee the extent of the changes, or the development which any of the great centres of population may undergo. Under a system in which political weight is perpetually regulated by the magnitude and importance of the community, there is no reason for preserving an arbitrary limit prescribed under an obsolete condition of things, and the nominal representation may be determined by, and correspond with, the real position of the electors.

The operation of this law will be explained by supposing that in North Cheshire, after an extended franchise, there should be 11,000 voters, and that the quota be 2,000. The number of electors, divided by the quota, gives a quotient of five, and a fractional number, which will make it the duty of the sheriff to return five, and one for the fractional number,