Mr. James' Lowther, who generally says what all Conserva- tives
think, and are afraid to say, speaking on Saturday at Marske-by-the-Sea, made a remarkable admission. He had, he said, always upheld the admission of the rural voters to the franchise, but on conditions, for he would be .no party to the- " degradation " of the franchise. "This sham reform ignores the great doctrine that taxation and representation must be coextensive." He recommended that the principle adopted in electing guardians—viz., that every rich man should' have four or five votes to the poor man's one—should be adopted also in electing representatives. "Neither the town nor the county ought to be allowed to swamp. the property of the community." Mr. Lowther, in fact, is straightforward, and says openly that he wants the rich to rule. As the English people and the march of events have decided otherwise, that is not worth discussing, except as far as. the moral right of Dives to enslave Lazarus is involved ; but there are two consequences of Mr. Lowther's proposition upon which we should like to hear his opinion. As every man pays taxes,. and if he smokes very heavy taxes, the basis of Mr. Lowther's scheme must be universal suffrage. And as property is the test of political capacity, any Peer who is ruined must be made a pariah. Does Mr. Lowther accept those conclusions P He can surely not allege on his theory that a penniless Peer should, retain power equivalent to that of 5,000 voters, or Members- of the House of Commons, which is in the present position, say, of Lord St. Leonards.
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