selves upon the confidence and support | peril, under existing circumstances, in not of our sovereign, the House, and the country." going far enough as in going too far; that it was desirable that the subject should be The first question which occupied the dealt with broadly, boldly, and for the time attention of the cabinet was parliamentary being finally, and that consequently they reform. A committee, composed of Lord must be prepared to yield and even to risk Durham, Lord Duncannon, Lord John a good deal rather than disappoint the Russell, and Sir James Graham, drew up highly-raised expectations of the people. the government scheme. Of this scheme Besides, the state of the nation at that Lord John Russell and Lord Durham were moment was such as required strong measthe chief authors. Lord Durham was of ures of some sort. The popular discontent opinion that the country should be divided | had for the moment been allayed, but a into electoral districts. Lord John Russell disappointment of the hopes that had been proposed that fifty of the smallest bor- raised would soon cause it to revive, and oughs should be altogether disfranchised, therefore it was evident that either the and that fifty more should in future re- causes of their dissatisfaction must be return one member instead of two; that moved, or a lamentable and continually the seats thus gained should be trans- widening estrangement must take place beferred to counties and large towns; and tween the government and the governed." that the qualification for voting should be the payment of a certain rental, the amount | of which was subsequently fixed at £10. Lord John Russell's plan was adopted by the committee, but in deference to the opinion of Lord Durham it was so far modified that instead of the arbitrary number of fifty being selected for disfranchisement or semidisfranchisement, it was resolved that all towns which by the census of 1821 had fewer than 2,000 inhabitants should be disfranchised entirely, and that all towns having a population of between 2,000 and 4,000 persons should be disfranchised partially. To this modification Lord John Russell assented, though not without some misgivings, which were abundantly justified by the event. The plan agreed on by the committee was submitted to the cabinet, by whom it was received not only with unanimity, but with enthusiasm. "Many of them, if we may judge by the opinions they had previously expressed on the subject," writes Mr. Molesworth, "must have regarded the proposed measure as excessively violent and pregnant with danger. But they probably felt that there was quite as much "History of the Reform Bill of 1832," by W. N. Molesworth. VOL. I. While this scheme was being drawn up Parliament was not sitting. It had been prorogued to February 3, 1831, and Earl Grey candidly admitted that he dreaded the meeting of the Houses when the "perilous" question of parliamentary reform was to be discussed. William IV. was informed of every detail which the cabinet was considering, and between him and the prime minister there was the fullest confidence. "His Majesty," writes Sir Herbert Taylor, the king's private secretary, to Earl Grey,† "is not surprised that your lordship should approach it [the Reform Bill] with dread; that you should feel all its difficulties: nor is his Majesty blind or indifferent to public feeling, or to public expectation; but he believes these to be overrated by those who are such strenuous advocates for the measure of parliamentary reform-so eagerly bent upon carrying it as to overlook all the objections and difficulties to which it is liable, and the danger attendant upon its agitation when there is so much of excitement and revolutionary feeling abroad, and when the general "The Correspondence of the late Earl Grey with his Majesty King William IV., and with Sir Herbert Taylor," edited by Henry Earl Grey (two vols.; John Murray). I have to express my sincere thanks to Earl Grey for permission to make extracts from this correspondence. 73 that it cannot be resisted without the greatest danger of leaving the government in a situation in which it would be deprived of all authority and strength. Under this impression I must naturally feel the greatest anxiety on a subject which it is plain that his Majesty contemplates with so much apprehension and uneasiness. I am sensible, moreover, of all the disadvantage of entering upon the discussion of such a question in a moment of so much difficulty and danger. It has often been my wish to find the means of postponing it. But the result of all my consideration has been, that an attempt to do so would be fatal to the character of the government, and would lead to its dissolution under circumstances still more disastrous than those which would follow such a result if his Majesty were unfortunately compelled, by a sense of duty, to withhold his assent from the measure which may be submitted to him by his ministers." state of the country, its domestic and foreign | vinced that public opinion is so strongly contingencies, require a strong government, directed to this question, and so general, and one that shall not be placed at the mercy of individuals whose professed object it is to reduce the power of any government and its resources. His Majesty is satisfied that your lordship feels all this, and he is yet more satisfied that no one can be more strongly opposed in sentiment, in principle, in judgment, and firm solicitude for the preservation of the constitutional monarchy of this country, and for its welfare and security, to the wild and mischievous projects of the Radicals. His Majesty rests his confidence in your lordship. He looks to you for the exertion of those high qualities which have secured to you that confidence in rescuing him from the difficulties in which his Majesty may be placed by the agitation of this perilous question, and his Majesty authorizes me to assure you that you will find him disposed to give a reasonable and dispassionate consideration to what you may have to propose, and anxious not to embarrass you by objections which can be considered frivolous or captious, or to arise from any other feeling than that which a correct sense of his duty must suggest to him.” The scheme drawn up by Lord John Russell and amended by Lord Durham had received the approval of the cabinet, yet Lord Grey was fearful that the king might consider it too "extensive." "I fear he may think," writes the prime minister to Sir H. Taylor, "the view I take of such a measure as may be proposed with advantage on the subject of parliamentary reform too extensive. I have already expressed my opinion that any measure for this purpose to be useful must be effectual. Anything that was not so would only leave a feeling of discontent, which would press for further concessions. The great desideratum therefore is, to make an arrangement on which we can stand, announcing our determination not to go beyond it. But to gain such a position our ground must be well and strongly taken. I am myself con The measure was now to be criticised. On the first day of March Lord John Russell, who had been selected by the prime minister for this important duty, rose up to introduce his first Reform Bill. As we have already given the gist of its clauses we need not enter into the details. of the speech, especially as we shall have to allude to them on a subsequent occasion. Sufficient for us to say that the bill encountered the most violent opposition. It was considered by a hostile majority as republican at the basis, and as destructive of all property and right. "This plan,” they cried, "of cutting off the boroughs and diminishing the number of members has not even the merit of originality; for it is almost the same in form, in substance, and in principle as the Radical system of reform which was introduced by the regicides when they established a commonwealth in England." Still, after a long debate, leave was given to bring in the bill, and the criticism of its clauses was considered as almost the only topic worthy of discussion throughout | weigh without prejudice all that should be the country. Arrayed against the measure submitted to him. He was satisfied that were the peers, the clergy, the majority the question had, in all its bearings, been of the landed gentry, and the majority fairly brought before him; that, to be of the upper classes generally; but the effectual, and to prevent its continuing a great mass of the people were in favour of source and subject of constant agitation, it it, and with the masses was "the vigorous, ought to be introduced upon the principle robust, and progressive, though generally recommended by your lordship; and his untrained, thought of the country." At this Majesty gave to it a deliberate and welltime the king was daily posted up as to considered sanction, accompanied by obthe state of affairs, and the correspondence servations on some of the details which it that passed between him and his ministers embraced; and, above all, by a declaration is full of the subject. Upon the introduc- that, having done so, he would not shrink tion of the measure his Majesty was san- from the avowal and the assertion of that guine as to the bill becoming law; then as sanction and support. No pledge has ever the opposition to it deepened in intensity been more religiously kept and redeemed, he was less jubilant. nor has a word ever escaped his Majesty which could weaken its effect." "His Majesty rejoices," writes the king to his chief adviser, "to learn from Earl Grey that, according to all the information that has reached him, the measure has been received with general approbation out of doors, and that it has had the effect of checking the cry in favour of the ballot, universal suffrage, and annual Parliaments, to which his Majesty had so distinctly declared that he never would consent. He earnestly hopes with Earl Grey that this important measure may tend to the peace and prosperity of his people, which have been the objects of his earnest solicitude since Providence has committed them to his rule." "The king," again writes his Majesty, "looks with anxiety to such a termination of the present struggle on the Reform Bill as shall avert the danger which your lordship justly apprehends from the effects upon the country of a successful opposition to it. His Majesty has not ceased to be steady and consistent upon this subject. He had wished, as your lordship wished, that the introduction and the agitation of this 'perilous' question could have been avoided at this period; but being satisfied, by the reasoning submitted to him, of the paramount objections to its postponement, his Majesty entered into the consideration of it with a determination to On the evening of the 21st of March the second reading of the bill was moved by Lord John Russell. A brief debate ensued, as both parties were wearied with the prolonged discussion the measure had given rise to, and were anxious to test their respective strength. On a division the second reading of the bill was carried by a majority of one. It was felt by all that though victory was nominally with the government the Opposition had triumphed, and that the foes of the bill could do what they pleased with it in committee. Aware of this fact Earl Grey was discussing at this time the advisability of resorting to a dissolution, but to such an alternative the king was most averse, and the subject dropped. When the bill was brought into committee Lord John Russell inserted certain modifications as to the disfranchising clauses to propitiate the House, but the House declined to be propitiated. It was suggested that the bill should be withdrawn; then General Gascoigne moved, "That it is the opinion of this House that the total number of knights, citizens, and burgesses returned to Parliament for that part of the united kingdom of England and Wales ought not to be diminished.” This motion was to be the first of a series by which it was intended to interfere with the progress of the committee, and which if | inspire confidence at home and abroad. agreed to would be fatal to the bill. Earl He feels deeply the mischiefs which must Grey was not in ignorance of the gravity of result, the danger which may arise, from the situation. He thus writes to the king: the frequent change of men and measures; "Earl Grey thinks that it would not be and these considerations have induced him right for him to conceal from your Majesty to abandon his objections to much which, that the decision upon this question, con- in less perilous times, might in his opinion sidering the manner in which it has been have justified his adopting and pursuing a brought forward, must necessarily have so different course. important an effect with regard to the future success of the bill as to require, in the event of its being adverse, the immediate and anxious consideration of your Majesty's servants with a view to their future proceedings." The motion of General Gascoigne was carried by a majority of eight. Earl Grey now saw that in the face of the Opposition in the House of Commons it was impossible for him to pass a reform bill. He therefore recommended a dissolution, and set to work to combat the royal prejudices. A correspondence ensued between the king and his minister, and ultimately the arguments of Earl Grey prevailed. As William IV. had so frequently and openly declared that he was averse to a dissolution, and had so distinctly informed his ministers that he was not prepared to dissolve the newly-elected Parliament in order to enable a reform bill to be carried, he felt bound to give his reasons fully for his change of opinion. "He owes it to his own character," he writes to Earl Grey, "he owes it to his claim to consistency, to state fairly and without reserve the considerations which have upon due reflection led him to waive his objections to a dissolution, or rather to subscribe to it as the lesser of two evils. The king does not deny that in his general view of the situation and of the interests of this country, of its foreign relations, and of the influence of the state of the Continent, by reaction, upon the tranquillity and the prosperity of this country, he attaches the greatest, and an almost paramount, importance to the stability of his government, and to the maintenance of a fixed system of policy which shall Upon this principle his Majesty had, upon his accession to the throne, made no change in his councils; he gave his strenuous support to the Duke of Wellington's administration, and he sincerely regretted its dissolution. Upon the same principle he determined to give his utmost support to the administration which Earl Grey was then called upon to form, and he cannot be said to have departed from that determination. His Majesty has more than once admitted that Earl Grey and his colleagues undertook this arduous task at a period of unexampled difficulty; he has more than once declared that they have executed their duties in a manner which entitled them to his unqualified confidence and approbation; and he would not have discharged his own duty if he had not hesitated to give occasion to another change, and to their removal from his councils, by refusing to accede to a proposal which, in their opinion, was essential towards enabling them to carry into effect a measure which they were avowedly pledged to bring forward, and which, as was notorious to the whole country, had been a prominent feature of the principles on which they had accepted office. "The king does not disguise from Earl Grey and his confidential servants, that this apprehension of a frequent change of government, so detrimental to the general interests of the country, has had a principal share in producing his determination to yield to the proposed measure of a dissolution of Parliament; and that, upon this occasion, he had considered very seriously whether the state of parties and the feeling of the country offered a fair prospect of making any permanent arrangement which | its original shape, but to introduce such might relieve him from the necessity of modifications as, without producing any conceding that which is so repugnant to his essential departure from the principle of feelings; and that he is satisfied, from the the measure, shall be calculated to conciliate best attention he has been able to give to the opponents of the bill, and to reconcile the subject, that he would not be justified the general opinion and feeling of the in resorting to an alternative which, in his country to it. He considers the framers of opinion, would not have secured him for the bill to be pledged to those modifications many months against an event, the dread of it which Earl Grey has stated to his of which could alone have induced him to Majesty in detail that they were prepared contemplate an arrangement so much at to introduce, and that he was willing to variance with the feelings he entertains admit; and his Majesty conceives also that towards his present government, nor indeed every attention should be paid to the prohave secured him against the recurrence of duction of correct returns of population, in the alternative. order to remove the objections which have justly been made to the inaccuracy of calculations founded upon the census of 1821, which has, in many instances, been shown to be defective, and therefore inapplicable." His Majesty has deemed it due to himself to make this candid declaration, and he trusts that Earl Grey and his other confidential servants will not view it as betraying any diminution of the confidence which he has not ceased to repose in them, or of his sense of their valuable services. The king having thus been induced to change his mind was not allowed to have time to draw back. In the opinion of Earl Grey it was absolutely necessary that the House should at once be dissolved. The king was begged to go down in person and dissolve Parliament. He hesitated, refused, and then at last consented. "My lords and gentlemen," he said to the peers and assembled commoners in his speech from the "The king cannot close this letter without reminding Earl Grey, that one of his objections to a dissolution was that, in the present temper of the people, those who should offer themselves for their representatives might be called upon to pledge themselves to the support of proceedings greatly exceeding any measure of reform contem-throne, "I have come to meet you for plated by his government, or to which the king could have been induced, under the pressure of any circumstances, to give his sanction; and his Majesty having waived his general objections, expects that he may rely with confidence upon his government for the most strenuous and firm resistance and opposition to any attempt to introduce and carry measures which would extend the principle of the present Reform Bill, or which should have the effect of impairing the influence and dignity of the crown, and of curtailing the constitutional rights of the monarchy. His Majesty, indeed, considers that, if the result of a general election should give to his government a decided preponderance in the House of Commons, advantage should be taken of it, not to re-establish the bill in the purpose of proroguing this Parliament with a view to its immediate dissolution. I have been induced to resort to this measure for the purpose of ascertaining the sense of my people, in the way in which it can be most constitutionally and authentically expressed, on the expediency of making such changes in the representation as circumstances may appear to require, and which, founded on the acknowledged principles of the constitution, may tend at once to uphold the just rights and prerogatives of the crown, and to give security to the liberties of the people." The appeal to the country was a signal triumph for the reformers. The issue of the contest was never for one moment in doubt. The nation was enthusiastic for the bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill, |