GREAT BRITAIN. 



327 



in offering to Parliament a measure which 

 should be more decidedly liberal than that of 

 the Liberal party. Some of the members of the 

 Cabinet, wedded to their old party traditions, 

 could not see the propriety of such a step, and, 

 allowing them to resign, he procured the sub- 

 stitution of other ministers who would not 

 thwart his views. On the 18th of March, 

 1867, Mr. Disraeli introduced his Reform Bill. 

 Its provisions were decidedly more liberal than 

 those of the Russell-Gladstone bill of the pre- 

 vious year, and, though encumbered with some 

 features of doubtful policy, it was, on the 

 whole, received with considerable favor by the 

 House of Commons. It was, however, amend- 

 ed in many particulars, in some for the better, 

 in others for the worse. The Ministry accepted 

 many of these amendments, and when they 

 were such as they could not yield to,_ brought 

 the House to reason by a threat of dissolution 

 of Parliament. At length, after a protracted 

 contest, the Reform Bill passed the Commons 

 on the 15th of July, 1867. It was further 

 amended in the House of Lords, and passed as 

 amended August 6, 1867, and returned to the 

 Commons, where all the amendments except 

 one (that for the representation of minorities) 

 were rejected, the vote in the House of Com- 

 mons standing 253 to 204. On the 12th of 

 August the Lords agreed to the bill as finally 

 passed by the Commons, and on the 15th of 

 the month it received the royal assent and be- 

 came a law. The most important provisions 

 of this bill, which applied only to England and 

 Wales, were the following : 



" Occupation Franchise for Voters in Bor- 

 oughs. T&very man shall, on and after 1868,be en- 

 titled to be registered as a voter, and when regis- 

 tered, to vote for a member or members to serve 

 in Parliament for a borough, who is qualified as 

 follows : He must be of full age, and have on the 

 last day of July in any year, and during the 

 whole of the preceding twelve calendar months, 

 been an inhabitant occupier, as an owner or ten- 

 ant, of any dwelling-house within the borough, 

 and have during the time of such occupation 

 been rated as an ordinary occupier in respect of 

 the premises so occupied by him within the bor- 

 ough to all rates (if any) made for the relief 

 of the poor in respect to such premises ; and 

 have on or before the 20th day of July in the 

 same year paid an equal amount in the pound 

 to that payable by other ordinary occupiers 

 in respect to all poor-rates that have become 

 payable by him in respect of the said premises 

 up to the preceding 5th day of January. No 

 man under this section to be entitled to be re- 

 gistered as a voter by reason of his being a 

 joint occupier of any dwelling-house. 



"Lodger Franchise in Boroughs. Every man, 

 in and after 'l868, shall be entitled to be regis- 

 tered as a voter, and when registered, to vote 

 for a member or members to serve in Parlia- 

 ment for a borough, who is qualified as follows : 

 He must be of full age, and, as a lodger, have 

 occupied in the same borough, separately and 



as sole tenant for the twelve months preceding 

 the last day of July, in any year, the same 

 lodgings, such lodgings being part of one and 

 the same dwelling-house, and of a clear yearly 

 value, if let unfurnished, of ten pounds or up- 

 ward, and have resided in such lodgings during 

 the twelve months immediately preceding the 

 last day of July, and have claimed to be regis- 

 tered as a voter at the next ensuing registra- 

 tion of voters. 



'''Property Franchise in Counties. Every 

 man, in and after 1868, shall be entitled to be 

 registered as a voter, and when registered, to 

 vote for a member or members to serve in 

 Parliament for a county, who is qualified as 

 follows : He must be of full age, and not sub- 

 ject to any legal incapacity; and be seized at 

 law or in equity of any lands or tenements of 

 freehold, copyhold, or any other tenure what- 

 ever, for his own life, or for the life of another, 

 or for any lives whatsoever, pr for any larger 

 estate of the clear yearly value of not less 

 than five pounds over and above all rents and 

 charges payable out "of or in respect of the 

 same, or who is entitled, either as lessee or 

 assignee, to any lands or tenements of free- 

 hold, or of any other tenure whatever, for the 

 unexpired residue, whatever it may be, of any 

 term originally created for a period of not less 

 than sixty years, of the clear yearly value of 

 not less than five pounds over and above all 

 rents and charges payable out of or in respect 

 of the same. No person to be registered as a 

 voter under this section unless he shall have 

 complied with the provisions of the twenty- 

 sixth section of the act of the second year of 

 the reign of his Majesty William IV., chapter 

 45. (This is the Reform Act of 1832.) 



" Occupation Franchise in Counties, and Time 

 for paying Rates. Every man, in and after 

 1868, shall be entitled to be registered as a 

 voter, and when registered, to vote for a mem- 

 ber or members to serve in Parliament for a 

 county, who is qualified as follows: He must 

 be of full age, and have on the last day of July 

 in any year, and during the twelve months 

 preceding, been the occupier, as owner or ten- 

 ant, of lands or tenements within the county, 

 of the ratable value of twelve pounds or up- 

 ward ; and have during the time of such occu- 

 pation been rated in respect to the premises so 

 occupied by him to all rates (if any) made for 

 the relief of the poor in respect of the said 

 premises ; and have on or before the 20th day 

 of July in the same year paid all poor-rates 

 that have become payable by him in respect of 

 the said premises up to the preceding 5th day 

 of January." 



It was also provided by the act that the oc- 

 cupier, and not the owner, of any tenement in 

 boroughs, of the rental value specified in the 

 act, should be rated to the poor-rates, and that 

 where he had not previously been so rated, 

 he might deduct these rates from the rental. 

 Provision was also made in regard to composi- 

 tion of rates, the first registration of occupi- 



