miles of the place.”  Lord John Russell had considered, he said, “whether this franchise should be limited to those paying a certain amount of rates; to the ten-pound householders, for instance, to whom the parliamentary franchise was confined;” but he decided on proposing to extend it to all rate-payers, because, according to the established principle, to the known and recognized principle of the constitution, it is right that those who contribute their money should have a voice in the election of the persons by whom the money is expended.  The old modes of acquiring the freedom of a corporation, such as birth, apprenticeship, etc., were to be abolished, as also were all exclusive rights of trade, vested rights, however, being preserved.  The next point to be decided was the composition of the corporation which these rate-payers were to elect, and the ministerial proposal was that each corporation should consist of a mayor, aldermen, and councillors, possessing a certain amount of property as a qualification, and varying in number according to the population of the borough; the larger towns being also divided into wards, with a certain number of common-councilmen and aldermen to be chosen in each ward.  The mayor was to be a yearly officer; of the aldermen and councillors a certain number were to retire each year, being, however, capable of re-election.  The mayor was to be elected by the councils, and was to be a magistrate during his year of office.  And the body thus constituted was to have the entire government of the borough; of its police, its charities, and generally, and most especially, of the raising and expenditure of its funds,[239] which had been too often dealt with in a manner not only wasteful, but profligate.  Cases had been brought forward in which “corporations had been incurring debts year by year, while the members were actually dividing among themselves the proceeds of the loans they raised.”  The revenue derived from charitable estates had been “no less scandalously mismanaged.”  And the bill provided for the appointment of finance committees, trustees, auditors, and a regular publication of all the accounts, as the only efficient remedy and preventive of such abuses.  The whole police of the town and administration of justice was also to be completely under the control of the council; and for the appointment of magistrates the council was to have the power of recommending to the crown those whom they thought fit to receive the commission of the peace; and in the large towns it should have power also to provide a salary for stipendiary magistrates.  Another clause provided that towns which could not as yet be included in the bill, since they had never been incorporated, might obtain charters of incorporation by petition to the Privy Council.