allowing each freeholder to vote only for two members although four was
to be the number returned. Some measure should be taken to make the vote
and views of a large minority known in the legislature."

This form of voting was proposed by Lord Aberdeen's Government in the
Parliamentary Representation Bill of 1854. In this Bill it was proposed
to give a third member to 38 counties and divisions of counties (in
addition to the seven counties which already possessed that privilege),
and also to eight boroughs. Lord John Russell, in introducing the
measure, made a powerful plea on behalf of the representation of
minorities in each of these constituencies, but the Crimean War rendered
further consideration of the Bill impossible. The system was, however,
applied to thirteen constituencies by the Representation of the People
Act of 1867. It was not provided for in the Bill as submitted by the
Government, nor was it supported by the leader of the Opposition. Its
introduction was due to the action of Lord Cairns, who, on 30 July 1867,
carried in the House of Lords, with the support of Lord Russell and Lord
Spencer, the following amendment:--

"At a contested election for any county or borough represented by three
members, no person shall vote for more than two candidates." A further
amendment applicable to the City of London, which returned four members,
was also carried. The system remained in force until the Redistribution
Act of 1885, when three-member constituencies were abolished. "There is
nothing," said Lord Cairns, in the course of a memorable speech, "so
irksome to those who form the minority of one of these large
constituencies as to find that from the mere force of numbers they are
virtually excluded from the exercise of any political power, that it is
in vain for them to attempt to take any part in public affairs, that the
election must always go in one direction, and that they have no