1-150-299 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The New Russell Six-Pounder', 1860. At the beginning of March 1860, Lord John Russell, Foreign Secretary in Palmerston's Cabinet, introduced a Government proposal for parliamentary reform. It was planned to reduce the borough franchise to £6 which would have the effect of increasing the number of potential voters to an unprecedented 634,000. This was seen as a milestone on the way to Household Suffrage, and from there to Universal Suffrage. This is illustrated by Russell, lighting the fuse of a six pound cannon with the target flags fluttering in the breeze behind him. From Punch, or the London Charivari, March 31, 1860.