1818 April 16

Parl. Reform Bill

Reasons

§ 9. Election Districts

II Mathematical first

2

5

If in relation to the three kingdoms there existed any such thing as a compleat collection of maps each of them exhibiting a County with the divisions and subdivisions of it down to Parishes, in this case it might seem, at any rate at a first glance that a mass of documents of this description might suffice, and save the expence which in the shape of time and money would be necessarily absorbed by a /an entire/ mathematical survey to be made for this particular purpose.

But to the first place no such complete, nor any thing approaching to it is as yet in existence: not even in England, still less in Scotland, and still far less still in Ireland. In the next place /So far from it/, scarcely even scarcely even in and for England is so much as a single County to be found of which any Map is extant, framed in such sort as to exhibit the boundary-lines by which the Parishes or any of them are distinguished: the names of the Parishes, yes: but not the bounds of them: the names of the Parishes, yes: of some of them and perhaps of most of them: but no assurance extant that those of which the names are thus visible compose all of them taken together the whole number of the Parishes. As to the causes of this omission /deficiency/ they are sufficiently apparent: in any demarcation that could be made of the Parishes, a determination of /relative to/ legal titles, and all the law question that belongs to such titles would be /necessarily have been/ involved: but among the objects of the operation by which those maps were produced, no such object as that of making or settling legal arrangements /making out legal titles/ has ever been or could very well have been included.