Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/108

 94 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1807- bers of that party were willing enough to make suggestions which, when in office, they were not so ready to adopt, but which the Radical section had to take up, agitate for, and ultimately carry out. Amongst subjects of this kind was that of national education. The Parliamentary discussion of this great question may be said to have been begun in 1807, and with the hope of success which was to be long deferred. On the 6th of August in that year Whitbread brought in a bill for the education of the poor by establishing schools in all the parishes of England. To the surprise, no doubt, of its author, this passed through all its stages in the House of Commons. There was no chance of such a measure being carried by the Peers, and it was at once thrown out, Lord Eldon being, of course, the chief and most violent of its opponents. It was said, and generally believed, that the bill was only allowed to pass the Commons because of the certainty of its rejection in the Lords. The year 1808 was marked by no political activity. The debates on the Orders in Council occupied much of the time of Parliament, and the war and its consequences took up the remainder. In the following year there was more general activity, especially on the part of what was called the extreme opposition section. The earlier part of the session was occupied by the consideration of the charges against the Duke of York, which led to his retirement from the position of commander-in-chief. The inquiry or, as it might well be called, the prosecution of the royal culprit was commenced at the instance of Mr. G. L. Wardle, a militia officer, who had been at one time a Tory, and having left that party, had not stopped short at Whiggism, but had joined Sir F. Burdett and the Radicals. The remainder of the session from the beginning of May was devoted almost entirely to a series of discussions on Parliamentary reform, in which Whigs and Radicals seemed to be in competition for leadership on the subject. The campaign was opened by W. A. Madocks, who on the 5th of May brought a charge of electoral corruption against two