ations for members, and adoption of the secret
ballot.[113] The revolution in France and the prolonged contest with
Napoleon stayed the reform movement, but after 1815 agitation was
actively renewed. The economic and social ills of the nation in the
decade following the restoration of peace were many, and the idea took
hold widely that only through a reconstitution of Parliament could
adequate measures of amelioration be attained. The disposition of the
Tory governments of the period was to resist the popular demand, or,
at the most, to concede changes which would not affect the
aristocratic character of the parliamentary chambers. But the
reformers refused to be diverted from their fundamental object, and in
the end the forces of tradition, conservatism, and vested interest
were obliged to give way.[114]

[Footnote 112: Treatises of Government, II., Chap.
13, Sec. 157.]

[Footnote 113: It is of interest to observe that
every one of the demands enumerated found a place
half a century later among the "six points" of the
Chartists. See pp. 82-83. A bill embodying the
proposed reforms was introduced by the Duke of
Richmond in 1780, but met with small favor. A
second society--The Friends of the People--was
formed in 1792 to promote the cause.]

[Footnote 114: The reform movement prior to 1832 is
admirably sketched in May and Holland,
Constitutional History of England, I., 264-280. See
also G. L. Dickinson, The Development of Parliament
during the Nineteenth Century (London, 1895), Chap.
1; J. H. Rose, The Rise and Growth of Democracy in
Great Britain (London, 1897), Chap. 1; C. B. R.
Kent, The English Radicals (London, 1899), Chaps.
1-2; and W. P. Hall, British Radicalism, 1791-1797
(New York, 1912).]

*86. The Reform Act of 1832.*--The first notable triumph was the
enactment of the Reform Bill of 1832. The changes wrought by this
memorable piece of legislation were two-fold, the first relating to
the distribution of seats in Parliament, the second to the extension
of the franchise. The number of Scottish members was increased from 45
to 54; that