RIOTS IN BRISTOL.

367

to be called out. At Nottingham the castle, which was the property of the unpopular Duke of Newcastle, was burnt to the ground; and at Loughborough the disturbances were alarming and protracted. A revolution would probably have ensued had not the Ministers, at the King's request, made known their determination not to resign. On the 20th of October, Parliament was prorogued, the King in his speech intimating that Reform would again be brought forward in the coming session. A few days later, the city of Bristol was the scene of an alarming outbreak on the occasion of the public entry of the Recorder, Sir Charles Wetherell, who had made himself notorious by the violence of his opposition to the Reform Bill. Through the incompetence of the magistrates, a mob of five or six hundred rioters, most of them under twenty years of age, got possession of the city, and set fire to the Bridewell, the Jail, the Bishop's Palace, the Custom House, and Queen's Square. After the mischief was done, the military appeared, and riding into the midst of the rioters, sabred all they could get at; after which they re-captured the gaol, and the municipal authorities taking courage, order was gradually restored. The outbreak, as was afterwards made clear, had little to do with Reform, and was not the work of Reformers. It had an unfavourable effect, however, upon the fortunes of the cause; and from this time the King no longer went heartily with his Ministers, but harassed them greatly by his indecision. Yet they needed all the support he could give them: for it was their hard duty to stand in the breach between the violent of both parties; to urge forward

368

THE THIRD REFORM BILL.

Reform with calmness, patience, and resolution, and yet to repress the vehemence of many of its advocates. Men were talking lightly of a large creation of peers, in order to overbear the resistance of the hostile majority of the House of Lords; forgetful that to thoughtful statesmen, the reform of one branch of the legislature at the expense of the other, must always seem a hazardous proceeding, and one to be adopted only in the last resort.

Parliament re-assembled on the 6th of December; and on the 12th, a revised Reform Bill was submitted to the House of Commons by Lord John Russell. It preserved the old number of members (658), with some modification of the allotment to Ireland and Scotland; retained the ten pound franchise for towns; respected the rights of the existing free burgesses all over the kingdom; extinguished fifty-six close boroughs, and deprived thirty minor boroughs of one member each. No division took place on the first reading. The second reading was opposed by Sir Robert Peel, who argued strongly against the measure, and predicted that, if successful, it would subvert the established order. He concluded thus:

"I will continue my opposition to the last, believing, as I do, that this is the first step not directly to revolu tion, but to a series of changes which will affect the property and totally transmute the character of the mixed constitution of this realm. I will oppose it to the last, convinced that, although my opposition will be unavailing, it will not be fruitless, because the opposition now made will become a bar to further concessions

A PROSPEROUS VOYAGE.

369

hereafter. If the whole House were now to join in giving way, it will have less power to resist future changes. On this ground I take my stand; not opposed to any well-considered reform of any of our institutions that need reform, but opposed to this reform in our constitution, because it tends to root up the feelings of respect the feelings of habitual reverence and attachment, which are the only sure foundations of a Government. I will oppose to the last the undue encroachments of that democratic spirit to which we are advised to yield without resistance. We may make it supreme. We may establish a republic-full of energy -splendid in talent; but, in my conscience, I believe fatal to our real liberty, our security, and our peace!"

The second reading was carried by 326 votes against 162; a fact which should have taught the House of Lords the impolicy of further resistance. The Christmas recess followed. On the 17th of January, 1832, Parliament met again, and on the 20th the Commons. went into Committee on the Bill. The old dilatory tactics were again adopted, but, as they could not be prolonged for ever, the Bill came on for the third reading on the 19th of March. Recommended by a majority of 116, in a House of 594 members, it went up to the Lords on the 26th of March; was read a first time pro formâ; and entered upon the ordeal of the second reading on the 9th of April. The debate extended over the nights from the 9th to the 13th, and the division was taken at dawn on the 14th. "The lights had grown yellower and dimmer in the fresh daylight, the faces of the wearied legislators had appeared more and

VOL. II.

24

370

THE BILL IN THE LORDS.

more haggard and heated; and at last, the slanting rays of the morning sun shone full in upon the woolsack, as the keen eyes of the Chancellor shot their glances, as wakeful as ever, from under the great wig. The attendance of strangers was as full as it had been twelve hours before; for it was not a scene which men would miss for the sake of food and sleep." The division gave Ministers a majority of nine (184 to 175); several of the Bishops having voted for the Bill, and many former opponents having learned the necessity of concession.*

* Lord Jeffrey furnishes an account of this debate:-" As," he says, "I did not get to bed till near eight this morning (and was out again at eleven) after fourteen hours' starving in the Lords, you cannot expect a long or a lively letter from me. You will see we had a majority of nine, being one more than anybody can account for. The debate was not very brilliant, but got, in its latter stage, excessively interesting. The Chancellor more tranquil, and less offensive, than usual, but not at all languid, and in very good voice throughout, chiefly correcting false representations, dispelling vain terrors, and assuaging and soothing. Lyndhurst's by far the cleverest and most dangerous speech against us in the debate, and very well spoken. Lord Grey's reply on the whole admirable; in tone and spirit perfect, and, considering his age and the time, really astonishing. He spoke near one hour and a half, after five o'clock, from the kindling dawn into full sun-light, and I think with great effect. The aspect of the House was very striking through the whole night, very full, and, on the whole, still and solemn. The whole throne and the space around it clustered over with 100 members of our House, and the space below the bar nearly filled with 200 more, ranged in a standing row of three deep along the bar, another sitting on the ground against the wall, and the space between covered with moving and sitting figures in all directions, with twenty or thirty clambering on the railings and perched up by the doorways. Between four and five, when the daylight began to shed its blue beams across the red candle-light, the scene was very picturesque, from the singular grouping of forty or fifty of us sprawling on the floor, awake and asleep, in all imaginable attitudes, and with all sorts of expres

"MRS. PARTINGTON."

371

Much "pressure from without" was applied to the Peers during the Easter Recess. Petitions were sent up by every large town in the country; monster meetings were held; the Political Unions renewed their agitation. At a gathering at Taunton one of the speakers was Sydney Smith; and it was on this occasion that he made use of an illustration which has since become familiar as a household word. That the Lords could long prevent a Reform of Parliament he declared to be the most absurd notion that ever entered into human imagination. Their resistance reminded him, he said, of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. "In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town-the tide rose to an incredible height-the waves rushed in upon the houses, and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Partington's spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the conflict was unequal. The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have meddled

sions and wrappings . . . The candles had been renewed before dawn, and blazed on after the sun came fairly in at the high windows, and produced a strange but rather grand effect, on the red draperies and furniture and dusky tapestry on the walls."-LORD COCKBURN's of Lord Jeffrey,' pp. 323, 324, (ed. 1872).

Life