After this very trenchant expression of opinion, Sir Charles Dilke
made a speech in which he pointed out how wisely the Government had acted in dealing first and separately with the Franchise Bill. " Why," he said, and said most truly, "if we had brought in the very Redistributiou. Bill which is now before us, as the Tories wished to have it, without the certainty of the Franchise Act coming into operation, it would not have been passed, and the Franchise Bill itself would have been destroyed." The real effect of bringing-in the Franchise Bill first, and getting the autumn demonstrations in its favour, was that the Tories came to desire an excuse for passing the Fran- chise Bill, and therefore became reasonable about Redistribution. But if pressure to pass the Franchise Bill had not first been put upon them, they never would have been reasonable about Redistribution.
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