Violent demonstrations against the Peers.
This rash action of the peers brought about such a quarrel between the two Houses as has never been seen before or since, and nearly wrecked the old order of the English constitution. For the peers had never before dared to cross such a crushing majority as the Whigs then possessed in the Commons, backed by the public opinion of the nation. Riotous demonstrations in favour of Reform burst out all over the country, often accompanied by violence. At Bristol there was a wild rising, ending in the burning and pillaging of many buildings, public and private. In London a "National Union" of reformers was formed to bring pressure to bear on the Lords. At Birmingham a local Radical named Attwood formed an association of 200,000 members, who swore to march on London and use force if their cry of "The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill," was denied.
Strengthened by these demonstrations of popular sympathy, the ministers brought in their bill for the third time, and again sent it up to the Lords. The Upper House was seriously frightened by the turmoil in the country, and allowed the bill to pass its second reading. But the more fanatical Tories made a final rally and mutilated the bill in committee by postponing the clauses which disfranchised the rotten boroughs (May 7, 1832).
Wellington refuses to take office.
This brought England within a measurable distance of civil war. The ministry resigned, throwing on the king and the Lords the responsibility for anything that might occur. King William, in strict constitutional form, asked the Duke of Wellington to form a Tory cabinet. The duke unwillingly essayed the task; but the feeling of the majority of the Tories was so strongly in favour of leaving to the Whigs the responsibility of facing the crisis, that the duke threw up the cards, and acknowledged his inability to form a ministry. This was fortunate, for the Radicals had been organizing armed multitudes, and threatened open insurrection. But the eventful ten days during which war was in the air passed over, and the Grey cabinet came back to power.
The Reform Bill carried.
In the end of May the bill was sent up to the Lords for the third time. The king promised Lord Grey that if the bill was again rejected, he would create enough new Whig peers to carry it against any opposition. The House of Lords was made aware of this promise, and, to avoid forcing the king to this extremity, Wellington and one hundred Tory peers solemnly left their seats, and allowed the Act to pass by a considerable majority (June 4, 1832).
The redistribution of seats.
The details of the measure in its final shape deserve a word of notice. It disfranchised all the absolutely rotten boroughs, i.e. all places with less than 2000 inhabitants—which were no less than 56 in number. It took away one member each from 30 boroughs more, which had more than 2000 but less than 4000 residents. This gave 143 seats for distribution among the unrepresented or under-represented districts. Of these 65 were given to the counties and 78 to new boroughs. In the former case the county was broken up into two or more divisions, each returning two members. In the latter, five London boroughs [58] and twenty-two large places (such as Birmingham and Manchester) received two members each, while twenty-one considerable towns of the second rank got one member each.
The new borough and county franchise.