 He also became a strong advocate of such social reforms as labour unions and farm cooperatives.In "Considerations on Representative Government", he called for various reforms of Parliament and voting, especially proportional representation, the single transferable vote, and the extension of suffrage.In April 1868, he favoured in a Commons debate the retention of capital punishment for such crimes as aggravated murder; he termed its abolition "an effeminacy in the general mind of the country".