Page:Haiti- Her History and Her Detractors.djvu/355

Rh find employment; as a result of this state of things public meetings were held, but were considered seditious and dispersed by force. Freedom of speech, liberty of the press, and the rights of persons to assemble in a body were restricted. These measures resulted in the conspiracy known as "Cato Street plot," the leaders of which were either executed or banished. Nevertheless, these agitations did not prevent the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from carrying out very great reforms. Religious toleration was established and the creed of a man was no longer a bar to public office; henceforth Dissenters were eligible to all municipal or corporate offices, and Catholics were no longer excluded from sitting in Parliament (1829). And in order to force the House of Lords to abolish the rotten boroughs the people, during the reign of William IV (1830-1837), resorted to riots. At Nottingham the mob burnt and pillaged the castle of the Duke of Newcastle, who was known to be one of the leading opponents of the reform. The Reform bill which gave to the country over half a million more voters was ultimately passed in 1832. Up to that time the election of a member of Parliament very often occasioned great disturbances; the small towns found themselves infested with "drunken ruffians" who assaulted their opponents, going so far as to confine prominent citizens, setting them at liberty only after the elections were over. Peaceful men were in this way so intimidated that in many instances they abstained from voting. The Reform bill, however, did not grant the right of voting to the peasants; a certain class only of these were admitted to the franchise in 1884, owing to the energy of a laborer, Joseph Arch. Voting by secret ballot was adopted only in 1872. It was not until the year 1888 that persons of all denominations were eligible to become members of Parliament.

It thus took the English people nineteen centuries of constant struggles and untiring efforts to acquire true electoral freedom; and they do not yet enjoy universal