As no other ratepayer seemed to discover any flaw in these statements, I ventured to suggest that, as no one amongst us had seen the Bill, we ought not to sanction it without any opportunity of examination, and that it would be better to lose a Session than do so. I therefore begged to move an adjournment; this was seconded by a ratepayer, but not put to the meeting. The Bill was accepted in the name of the ratepayers by a vote of 47, the Parliamentary agent who directed the proceedings most courteously assuring me that ‘there would be ample time to object to the Bill in London.’ Of course, I knew, and many of the poorer ratepayers present knew, that it would be too late to consider the Bill after it was accepted in our names; but I was struck with the inability of those present to formulate their objections, although much dissatisfaction manifested itself in the meeting. Entire ignorance (in which I fully shared) also existed as to what steps to take in such a case. Had I insisted, as I ought to have done, upon the motion for adjournment being put, it would probably have been rejected by a small majority. But I was utterly ignorant of what was right to do in such a strange position, and it seemed almost unladylike for me alone to oppose the Mayor and Town Council, with their Parliamentary Committee and legal advisers, particularly as it was insisted that opposition meant distrust of the Council, whereas I thought simply of my duty as a ratepayer. I did not know then, and no one present seemed to know, that any ratepayer has a right to demand a poll; and, if insisted on, it must have been allowed. In this case the few pounds it would have cost the town would have been well expended, in delaying what proved to be an exceedingly bad and retrograde Bill. But nothing has struck me more in this singular experience than the utter ignorance of all our otherwise intelligent burgesses as to the steps by which their municipal rights may be guarded, either in the borough or in London. This ignorance seems to arise from the inattention and habit of indifference to municipal duties produced, not only by the pressure of private affairs, but by exclusive absorption in party politics.