iberalised leader of the
Tories. Had that negotiation led to the result which was originally
intended by those interested, the Riots of Paris would not have
occasioned the Reform of London.

It is a great delusion to believe that revolutions are ever effected by
a nation. It is a faction, and generally a small one, that overthrows a
dynasty or remodels a constitution. A small party, stung by a long
exile from power, and desperate of success except by desperate means,
invariably has recourse to a _coup-d'etat_. An oligarchical party is
necessarily not numerous. Its members in general attempt, by noble
lineage or vast possessions, to compensate for their poverty of numbers.
The Whigs, in 1830, found themselves by accident in place, but under
very peculiar circumstances. They were in place but not in power. In
each estate of the realm a majority was arrayed against them. An appeal
to the Commons of England, that constituency which, in its elements,
had undergone no alteration since the time of Elizabeth, either by the
influence of the legislature or the action of time--that constituency
which had elected Pym, and Selden, and Hampden, as well as Somers,
Walpole, and Pulteney--an appeal to this constituency, it was generally
acknowledged, would be fatal to the Whigs, and therefore they determined
to reconstruct it. This is the origin of the recent parliamentary
reform: the Whigs, in place without being in power, resolved as usual
upon a coup-d'etat, and looked about for a stalking-horse. In general
the difficult task had devolved upon them of having to accomplish their
concealed purpose while apparently achieving some public object. Thus
they had carried the Septennial Act on the plea of preserving England
from popery, though their real object was to prolong the existence of
the first House of Commons in which they could command a majority.

But in the present instance they became sincerely parliamentary
reformers, for by parliamentary reform they could alone subsist; and all
their art was dedicated so to contrive, that in this reformation their
own interest should secure an irresistible predominance.

But how was an oligarchical party to predominate in popular elections?
Here was the difficulty. The Whigs had no resources from their own
limited ranks to feed the muster of the popular levies. They were
obliged to look about for allies wherewith to form their new popular
estate. Any estate of the Commons modelled on any equ