tial, were at hand. 'Look at England before the Reform Bill, and
look at it now,' wrote Mr. Froude in 1874. 'Its population almost
doubled; its commerce quadrupled; every individual in the kingdom lifted
to a high level of comfort and intelligence--the speed quickening every
year; the advance so enormous, the increase so splendid, that language
turns to rhetoric in describing it.' When due allowance is made for the
rhetoric of such a description--for alas! the 'high level of comfort'
for every individual in the kingdom is still unattained--the substantial
truth of such a statement cannot be gainsaid. When the battle was
fought, Lord John was generous enough to say that the success of the
Reform Bill in the House of Commons was due mainly to the confidence
felt in the integrity and sound judgment of Lord Althorp. At the same
time he never concealed his conviction that it was the multitude outside
who made the measure resistless.

FOOTNOTES:

[6] _Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll_, 1818-1838. Edited, with a
brief Memoir, by the Hon. Algernon Bourke. Pp. 272-273.

[7] Flood's Reform proposals were made in 1790. His idea was to augment
the House of Commons by one hundred members, to be elected by the
resident householders of every county.

[8] _Life of George Grote_, by Mrs. Grote, p. 80.

CHAPTER V

THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

1833-1838

The turn of the tide with the Whigs--The two voices in the
Cabinet--Lord John and Ireland--Althorp and the Poor Law--The
Melbourne Administration on the rocks--Peel in power--The question
of Irish tithes--Marriage of Lord John--Grievances of
Nonconformists--Lord Melbourne's influence over the Queen--Lord
Durham's mission to Canada--Personal sorrow.

HIGH-WATER mark was reached with the Whigs in the spring of 1833, and
before the tide turned, two years later, Lord Grey and his colleagues
had, in various directions, done much to justify the hopes of their
followers. The result of the General Election in the previous December
was seen when the first Reformed Parliament assembled at Westminster, on
January 29, 1833. Lord Althorp, as Leader of the House of Commons, found
himself with 485 members at his back, whilst Sir Robert Peel confronted
him with about 170 stalwart Tories. After all, the disparity was hardly
as great as it looked, for it was a mixed multitude which followed
Althorp, and in its ranks were the elements of conflict and even of
re