gh all its stages in the House of Lords, not without
some angry and vehement discussions, during which personal
recriminations were made that would have been considered disorderly at
the meeting of a parish vestry. One noble lord denounced the conduct
of Lord Grey as atrocious, and even the stately Lord Grey was roused to
so much anger by this expression that he forgot his habitual
self-control and dignity and replied that he flung back the noble
lord's atrocious words with the utmost scorn and contempt.

The Bill passed its third reading in the House of Lords on June 4,
1832, and received the royal assent on June 7. The royal assent,
however, was somewhat ungraciously given. King William declined to
give his assent in person, a performance which, at the time, seemed to
be expected from him, and it was signified only by the medium of a
formal committee. The Bill, however, was passed, the third Reform Bill
that had been introduced since Lord Grey had come into office. The
Reform Bills for Ireland and Scotland which had gone through their
stages in the House of Commons immediately after the Bills relating to
England and Wales were then carried through the House of Lords. The
great triumph was accomplished.

It is not without historical interest to notice the fact that a long
discussion sprang up at this time and was revived again and again,
during many successive years, with regard to certain words used by Lord
John Russell in expressing his satisfaction at the passing of the
Reform Bill. He was endeavoring to calm the apprehensions of timid
{182} people throughout the country who feared that the whole time of
Parliament would thenceforward be taken up with the passing of new and
newer Reform Bills, and he declared that the Government of which he was
a member had no intention but that the Reform Act should be a final
measure. It might have seemed clear to any reasonable mind that Lord
John had no idea of proclaiming his faith in the absolute finality of
any measure passed, or to be passed, by human statesmanship, but was
merely expressing the confident belief of his colleagues and himself
that the Bill they had passed would satisfy the needs and the demands
of the existing generation. At the time, however, a storm of
remonstrance from the more advanced Liberals broke around Lord John
Russell's head, and he was charged with having declared that the Reform
Act was meant to be a measure for all times, and that he a