In February, 1884, Mr. Gladstone introduced the Government Franchise
Bill in the House of Commons. It was a great measure and proposed to
complete the work of parliamentary reform by conferring the suffrage
upon every person in the United Kingdom who was the head of a household.
Mr. Gladstone said that the results of the bill would be to add to the
English constituency upwards of 1,300,000 voters; to the Scotch
constituency over 200,000 voters; and to the Irish constituency over
400,000 voters; which would add to the aggregate constituency of the
United Kingdom, which was then 3,000,000 voters, 2,000,000 more, or
nearly twice as many as were added in 1832. The Premier appealed for
union on this great reform, and observed: "Let us hold firmly together,
and success will crown our efforts. You will, as much as any former
Parliament that has conferred great legislative benefits on the nation,
have your reward, and read your history in a nation's eyes; for you will
have deserved all the benefits you will have conferred. You will have
made a strong nation stronger still--stronger in union without, and
stronger against its foes (if and when it has any foes) within; stronger
in union between class and class, and in rallying all classes and
portions of the community in one solid compact mass round the ancient
Throne which it has loved so well, and round the Constitution, now to be
more than ever free and more than ever powerful.
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