Beacon Lights of History, Volume 10 | Page 5

franchise created astonishment, and was regarded

by the opponents as subversive of the British Constitution; and not
without reason, since it threw political power into the hands of the
middle classes instead of into those of the aristocracy.
Lord Russell's motion was, of course, bitterly opposed by the Tories.
The first man who arose to speak against it was Sir H. Inglis, member
of the university of Oxford,--a fine classical scholar, an accomplished
gentleman, and an honest man. He maintained that the proposed
alteration in the representation of the country was nothing less than
revolution. He eulogized the system of rotten boroughs, since it favored
the return to Parliament of young men of great abilities, who without
the patronage of nobles would fail in popular elections; and he cited the
cases of Pitt, Fox, Burke, Canning, Perceval, and others who
represented Appleby, Old Sarum, Wendover, and other places almost
without inhabitants. Sir Charles Wetherell, Mr. Croker, and Sir Robert
Peel, substantially took the same view; Lord Althorp, Mr. Hume,
O'Connell, and others supported the government. Amid intense
excitement, for everybody saw the momentous issues at stake, leave
was at length granted to Lord John Russell to bring in his bill. No less
than seventy-one persons in the course of seven nights spoke for or
against the measure. The Press, headed by the "Times," rendered great
assistance to the reform cause, while public meetings were everywhere
held and petitions sent to Parliament in favor of the measure. The voice
of the nation spoke in earnest and decided tones.
On the 21st of March, 1831, Lord John Russell moved the second
reading of the bill; but the majority for it was so small that ministers
were compelled to make modifications. After a stormy debate there was
a majority of seventy-eight against the government. The ministers,
undaunted, at once induced the king to dissolve Parliament, and an
appeal was made to the nation. A general election followed, which sent
up an overwhelming majority of Liberal members, while many of the
leading members of the last Parliament lost their places. On the 21st of
June the new Parliament was opened by the king in person. He was
received with the wildest enthusiasm by the populace, as he proceeded
in state to the House of Lords in his gilded carriage, drawn by eight
cream-colored horses. On the 24th of June Lord John Russell again

introduced his bill, this time in a bold, manly, and decisive manner, in
striking contrast with the almost suppliant tone which he assumed
before. On the 4th of July the question of the second reading was
brought forward. The discussion was carried on for three nights, and on
division the great majority of one hundred and thirty-six was with the
government. The only hope of the opposition was now in delay; and
factious divisions were made on every point possible as the bill went
through the committee. The opposition was most vexatious. Praed
made twenty-two speeches against the bill, Sugden eighteen, Pelham
twenty-eight, Peel forty-eight, Croker fifty-seven, and Wetherell
fifty-eight. Of course the greater part of these speeches were
inexpressibly wearisome, and ministers were condemned to sit and
listen to the stale arguments, which were all that the opposition could
make. Never before in a legislative body was there such an amount of
quibbling and higgling, and "speaking against time;" and it was not till
September 19 that the third reading came on, the obstructions in
committee having been so formidable and annoying. On the 22d of
September the bill finally passed in the House of Commons by a
majority of one hundred and six, after three months of stormy debate.
But the parliamentary battles were only partially fought; victory in the
end was certain, but was not yet obtained. It was necessary that the bill
should pass the House of Lords, where the opposition was
overwhelming.
On the very evening of September 22 the bill was carried to the Lords,
and Lords Althorp and Russell, with one hundred other members of the
Commons, entered the Upper House with their message. The Lord
Chancellor Brougham advanced to the bar with the usual formalities,
and received the bill from the hands of Lord John Russell. He then
resumed his seat on the woolsack, and communicated to the assembled
peers the nature of the message. Earl Grey moved that the bill be read a
first time, and the time was agreed to. On the 3d of October the premier
addressed the House in support of the bill,--a measure which he had
taken up in his youth, not so much from sympathy with the people as
from conviction of its imperative necessity. There was great majesty in
the manner of the patrician minister as he addressed his peers; his eye

sparkled with intelligence, and his noble brow