Passed by the House of Lords, it then receives the assent of the Crown—the latter now a mere formality.
Note 24, p. [235].—How crying the need of reform had been before the great Reform Act of 1832, a glance at the previous state of England will show. It was only in name that England was ruled by a representative government. A majority of the House of Commons were actually the creatures of the peers, or of other personages high in power. Like Church livings, the great lords had seats in the Commons to dispense. Some seats were openly for sale. The value of the two seats of the town of Gatton, which had only seven electors, was commonly estimated at £100,000. At a time when such cities as Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham were actually without representation in Parliament, the paper borough of Old Sarum, which had no inhabitant at all, had two members accredited to it. Scotland was even worse off. One example of the conditions there will suffice. The county of Bute contained but one voter, who—irresistibly suggestive of Mr. Gilbert’s Pooh-Bah—at elections was at once chairman, proposer and seconder of his own return, recorder of the successful vote, and unanimously elected candidate! The criminal absurdity of these matters, so completely patent, long before 1832 had stirred the people and even some of the statesmen of England. Among those who had written or spoken for reform were the great Chatham, and the younger Pitt; so too had felt John Wilkes and Sir James Mackintosh. And then came the French Revolution, which England hailed as the harbinger of her own reforms. When the French had won so swiftly the battle for freedom, what could not the English do? All the world knows how, in the days of the guillotine and the Terror, these English illusions faded. Forthwith, and for nearly a generation of men, England’s whole energies were turned from her domestic troubles to crush the child of that Revolution in which she had thought to see the breaking of a new day. Napoleon at last conquered, all the old social unrest swept back. But against the reformers there were arrayed all the conservative elements of a most conservative country,—the classes and professions, and a Government confirmed in tenure by the victories of a Titanic war. It was a long struggle. Again did the example of France, in her expulsion of the Bourbons in 1830, give renewed heart across the Channel. As has so often happened, the people found their successful leader in the class which contained their natural opponents. Not even the prestige of the Duke of Wellington, still the national hero, and head of the anti-reformers, could avail against Earl Grey, the man of the hour, who at last won for his country real reform.
In his “Nineteenth Century” (p. 109, London, 1880), Mr. Mackenzie tells what the Act of 1832 had done: “The Reform Act bestowed the privilege of the franchise in towns upon occupants who paid a rental of ten pounds; in counties, upon those who paid a rental of forty pounds. In England, fifty-six burghs with a population under two thousand, and returning one hundred and eleven members, were disfranchised; thirty burghs with a population under four thousand, and returning each two members, were reduced to one member. Twenty new burghs received each one member; twenty-two received each two members; the county members were raised from ninety-four to one hundred and fifty-nine. Scotland received an addition of eight burgh members.”
A great step had been taken. Briefly, there had been abolished the monopoly of government which the aristocracy and landed gentry had enjoyed; and the middle classes had been admitted to a share of things. But the right of the working people to representation was still ignored. It was not in reason that agitations to secure this representation should not continue. At intervals from the reform year until 1866, the unrest that had not yet been allayed found vent in many measures, of which the more notable are the Bills of 1852–54, introduced by Lord John Russell; that of 1859, a Conservative Bill, introduced by Disraeli; and that of 1860, again proposed by Lord John Russell. All were unsuccessful.
Note 25, p. [243].—The House of Commons draws its members from counties, boroughs (or burghs), and the universities. County members are understood to represent the country population and their interests; borough members, the cities and towns. The members from the universities are few. The Reform Act of 1867, passed the year after this speech, thus allotted the representation to the House of Commons (Amos, “Primer,” etc., p. 24):
| England and Wales. | |||
| 52 | Counties | 187 | Members. |
| 197 | Boroughs | 295 | ” |
| 3 | Universities | 5 | ” |
| 487 | ” | ||
| Scotland. | |||
| 32 | Counties | 32 | Members. |
| 22 | Boroughs | 26 | ” |
| 4 | Universities | 2 | ” |
| 60 | ” | ||
| Ireland. | |||
| 32 | Counties | 64 | Members. |
| 33 | Boroughs | 39 | ” |
| 1 | University | 2 | ” |
| 105 | ” | ||
Note 26, p. [245].—Lord John Russell.
Note 27, p. [265].—Dryden: “The Medal,” ll. 119–122.
Note 28, p. [268].—That is, the suffrage to be extended to all householders and heads of families. Under the Act of 1867, the suffrage was also extended, in boroughs, to the “resident occupier of lodgings of the yearly value of £10 at least if let unfurnished.”
Note 29, p. [270].—Lines 807–810 from Dryden’s “Absalom and Achitophel,” Part I. The first line is loosely quoted. The text is really—