iverpool was a 'man of honest but narrow views,' and he probably would
have endorsed the cynical description of him as the 'keystone rather
than the capital' of his own Cabinet. Lord Castlereagh was at the
Foreign Office, Lord Sidmouth was Home Secretary, Mr. Vansittart
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Palmerston Secretary at War, and Mr.
Peel Secretary for Ireland. The political outlook on all sides was
gloomy and menacing. The absorbing subject in Parliament was war and the
sinews of war; whilst outside its walls hard-pressed taxpayers were
moodily speculating on the probable figures in the nation's 'glory
bill.' The two years' war with America was in progress. The battle
between the _Shannon_ and the _Chesapeake_ was still the talk of the
hour; but there seemed just then no prospect of peace. Napoleon still
struggled for the dictatorship of Europe, and Englishmen were wondering
to what extent they would have to share in the attempt to foil his
ambition. The Peninsular campaign was costly enough to the British
taxpayer; but his chagrin vanished--for the moment, at least--when
Wellington's victories appealed to his pride. Since the beginning of the
century the attention of Parliament and people had been directed mainly
to foreign affairs. Domestic legislation was at a standstill. With one
important exception--an Act for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade--scarcely any measure of note, apart from military matters and
international questions, had passed the House of Commons.

Parliamentary government, so far as it was supposed to be representative
of the people, was a delusion. The number of members returned by private
patronage for England and Wales amounted to more than three hundred. It
was publicly asserted, and not without an appeal to statistics, that one
hundred and fifty-four persons, great and small, actually returned no
less than three hundred and seven members to the House of Commons.
Representation in the boroughs was on a less worthy scale in the reign
of George III. than it had been in the days of the Plantagenets, and
whatever changes had been made in the franchise since the Tudors had
been to the advantage of the privileged rather than to that of the
people.

[Sidenote: FALLEN BOROUGHS AND FANCY PRICES]

Parliament was little more than an assembly of delegates sent by large
landowners. Ninety members were returned by forty-six places in which
there were less than fifty electors; and seventy members w