CHAP. 1832. 133. general were supporters of the contraction of the currency, the cheapening system, and free trade. It could not be otherwise, for they were all brought into the House by the interest of the millionaires either in land or money. The producing classes the millions dependent on industry, all who were making money-found themselves not only outvoted by those who had made it, but silenced by the eloquence which they had enlisted on their side. This was the unkindest cut of all, for it deprived suffering industry even of the last consolation of the unfortunatethat of being heard in their defence. These considerations at once explain the changes in Which ex- general opinion, and even, as it at first sight appears, in plains the changes of the national mind, during the progress of the reform movement, and the entire transposition of classes which during the had taken place at its conclusion. Every successive movement. election which took place from 1826 to 1832 exhibited an additional number of counties won over to the reform opinion reform interest, and of boroughs thrown open. These were considered, and celebrated at the time, as so many triumphs over the dominant oligarchy who had so long oppressed the nation: in reality, they were so many triumphs of the interests of production over those of realised wealth. The impulse given to the popular party by the success of the French Revolution of 1830 brought the two interests, now in open hostility, to an equality, as appeared in the majority of 1 in a House of 605 for leave to bring in the Reform Bill; and the rapid growth of the popular influence, during the two years of general suffering and ceaseless agitation which succeeded, gave the popular party so great a majority in the Parliament elected in April 1831, as enabled it to coerce both the Crown and the House of Peers, and effect by forcible means an entire change in the constitution. The counties were nearly unanimous in favour of reform, and against the old constitution - a marvellous change from the time when they uniformly returned members who were its staunchest supporters, but easily explained when XXIII. 1832. it is recollected that they depended on the interests of CHAP. agriculture, the greatest branch of production, which, with the exception of three years from 1822 to 1825, had been in a constant state of suffering since the contraction of the currency in 1819. 134. constitu some time own power. When the victory was gained, and the lower class of shopkeepers and householders within boroughs were in- The new vested with the absolute government of the empire, it encies were was not at first that they either felt their strength or of discoverbecame sensible of the power with which they had been ing their invested. The change effected by the admission of the newly enfranchised classes was so immense, that men at first could not believe in its reality. The nobleman in the vicinity of the borough, the capitalist within its bounds, was still the object of antiquated reverence and respect, after all real power had slipped from their hands. The new voters were a heterogeneous body, who had never before been united by any common bond, and many of whom were still subject to the old influences. Several elections required to intervene before they discovered their real strength, or were so united as to be able to exercise it with effect. But when questions affecting the pecuniary interests of the new electors were brought forward, their preponderance became manifest, and a sense of their strength made them ready to exercise it. Leaders were soon found, who, discarding and even opposing the aristocratic influences which had so long been all-powerful in the boroughs, boldly cultivated the affections and stood on the support of the class to whom the Reform Bill had given a majority. At length it was discovered where the real power lay, and the aristocratic leaders who had aided the people in forcing through the Reform Bill found to their dismay that they had cut away the branch on which they themselves sat, and put themselves into Schedule A as effectually as they had done their most obnoxious opponents. The producing classes both in town and country thought their ascendancy would be secured by the Reform Bill, XXIII. 1832. 135. take in the CHAP. and especially the £10 clause, which accordingly became the object of the most enthusiastic and general support by all the middle and working classes in the State. It Great mis- was mainly by their exertions that the bill, with that estimate of vital clause unchanged, was carried. The cry of "The the effect bill, the whole bill, and nothing but the bill!" proved, by form Bill. their aid, victorious. Above ninety out of the hundred and one county members were by their aid carried in the decisive election of April 1831 in the reform interest; and it was they, and the Scotch and Irish members, who formed the majority which outvoted the borough members and carried the bill. But never were expectations more fallacious than those which, from this great triumph, anticipated an addition to the legislative strength of the producing classes. It is true, the ascendancy of realised capital, which had gained possession of the majority of the close boroughs, was destroyed; but, on the other hand, a new interest, still more inimical to the interests of production, was installed in power, of which it has ever since retained possession. This was the buying and selling class the interest of shopkeepers, to whom the £10 clause gave the entire command of the majority of the House of Commons, and with it of the whole empire. 136. of the House gained by the shopkeepers. To understand how this came about, it is only necessary Command to recollect that by the Reform Bill nearly two-thirds of Commons of the House of Commons was composed of members for boroughs. Experience has now ascertained what at the time was far from being anticipated that twothirds of the constituents of this majority were persons occupying premises, for the most part shops, rented from £10 to £20 a-year.* Here, then, is the governing class * The Author is enabled to speak with confidence on this point, from having presided for twenty years in the Registration Court of Lanarkshire, which includes Glasgow, and where there have never been less than two thousand, sometimes as many as six thousand, claims for enrolment in each year. From his own observation, as well as the opinion of the most experienced agents whom he consulted on the point, he arrived at the conclusion that the majority of every urban constituency is to be found among persons paying a rent for houses or shops, or the two together, between £10 and £20, and a decided majority below £25. But in order to make sure of the point, he has examined XXIII. 1832. of the British empire under the new constitution, and in CHAP. their ascendancy is to be found the real spring which has ever since directed the whole policy of Great Britain, both external and internal. The injustice of giving this class the command of the State is obvious, from the consideration that it is a minority both in number and value. The classes in the United Empire dependent on agriculture, according to the last census, were just equal to the manufacturing, each being ten and a half millions; and the land pays £3,500,000 out of the £5,300,000 of the income-tax, yet its representatives in England are only 159 to 341 for boroughs, and in the whole empire 253 to 405. This effect was not generally anticipated at the time, the attention of men being mainly directed to the democratic tendency of the much-agitated change. But even at the outset there were not awanting those who prognosticated this result from the bill, and predicted the virtual disfranchisement of all other classes, and effective establishment of the class government of the shopkeeping interest, from the alteration; and the prediction has been so completely verified to the letter that all other consequences of the Reform Bill sink into insignificance in comparison. All the subsequent changes in the legislation, commercial policy, and foreign measures of the British government since that time, which have given rise to such vehement feuds his note book of cases enrolled this year (1834), and he finds that they stood thus for the burgh of Glasgow: Total claims, Enrolled on rents between £10 and £20, Rejected, As Glasgow contains within itself a larger number of warehouses, manufactories, and shops at very high rents-varying from £5 to £1500 a-year-than any other town, except the metropolis, in the empire, this may be considered as proof positive, that over the whole country the majority enrolled on rents below £20 is still more decided. There is no other record but the revising barrister's or registering sheriff's notes of cases which will show where the real majority of the voters is to be found. The returns of houses paying the tax beginning at £20 will throw no light on the subject, for the great majority of voters in towns are enrolled on shops which pay no tax; and even the rating to poor-rates is not a test to be relied on, as it is often made under the real value, and in many boroughs there are no police or other local burdens at all. XXIII. 1832. 137. Errors on both sides contest. CHAP. amongst ourselves, and such unbounded astonishment in foreign countries, have arisen from this change in the dominant class in the House of Commons. The proof of this is decisive. The leaders of the Conservatives-that is, the party of Protection-have been twice since in possession of power, once in 1841 and once in 1852; but on both occasions they have been forced to abandon what they formerly maintained on the first, from an alleged change of opinion on the part of Sir Robert Peel; on the last, from no similar change, but the ascertained strength of their opponents, elected by the trading constituencies. It will belong to the future volumes of this history to trace the consequences of the entire transference of power during the in the British Islands from the producing to the buying and selling class, upon the whole policy of the empiredomestic, colonial, and foreign-and its effects upon the destinies of the empire and of the world. In the mean time, it is material to signalise the faults on both sides committed during the course of the contest, and the errors in the formation of the constitution which were acted upon, and have produced effects now irremediable. Such a survey will give much occasion for regret in public measures, and much ground for forgiveness to individual men. The more that the operation of general causes is unfolded, the less ground does there appear for censure of particular persons; and of many who have stood forth as leaders in the strife shall we be led to say, in the words of the philosopher, "He has dashed with his oar to hasten the cataract; he has waved with his fan to give speed to the winds. " 1 1 Ferguson, Essay on Civil Society. 138. early fault servatives. The Conservatives, or Protectionists as they were afterGreat and wards called, committed a grievous mistake, and they of the Con- were guilty, politically speaking, of a great sin, in exerting their influence to prevent the extension of the right of returning members to the great manufacturing towns and districts. The demand for them on the part of the inhabitants of these great hives of industry and workshops of wealth was just and reasonable; its concession |