About ten o’clock, the Duke and Lord Exham returned. The large lofty rooms, with their moving throngs of splendidly attired men and women, were yet crowded; but their atmosphere was charged with an electric tension, generated by the unusual pitch to which every one’s thoughts, and feelings, and words were set. Many were almost hysterical; some had subsided into mere waiting, conscious of requiring all their strength for simple endurance of the suspense; others, more hopeful, were restless and watching,–but all alike became instantly and breathlessly silent as the two men appeared. For a moment no one spoke; then the Duke of Wellington asked, with an assumption of cheerfulness, “What news? Has the Bill been read?”
“It has been read,” answered Richmoor. “Lord John Russell introduced it in a speech lasting more than two hours.”
“And pray what are its provisions.”
“This infamous Bill proposes that every borough of less than two thousand inhabitants shall lose the right to send a member to Parliament.”
“What a scandalous robbery of our privileges!” ejaculated some one of the listeners.
“It is nothing else!” answered the Duke. “It robs me of the gift of seven boroughs.”
“What excuse did he make for such an act?”
“He supposed the case of a stranger, coming to England to investigate our method of representation, being taken to a green mound, and told that green mound sent two members to Parliament; or to a stone wall with three niches in it, and told that those three niches sent two members to Parliament; or to a green park with no signs of human habitation, and told that green park sent two members to Parliament; and then pictured the amazement of the stranger at this condition of things. ‘But,’ he cried, ‘how much greater would be his amazement if he were then taken to large and populous cities, full of industry, enterprise, and intelligence, and containing vast magazines of every kind of manufactures, and was then told that these cities did not send a single man to represent their rights and their necessities in the great national council.’ It was really a very effective passage.”
“We have heard that argument before; it is stale and unprofitable,” said the Duchess.
“Listen! This Bill proposes to give every man paying taxes for houses of the yearly value of ten pounds and upward–a vote.”