Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/203

 1827.] Death of Castlereagh to Canning's Premiership. 189 other for Somersetshire, but rather by way of protest or demonstration than with any hope of success. One new member was returned who became an active Radical, and was afterwards a leader of the extreme section of Chartists. This was T. S. Buncombe, who obtained a seat for Hertford, and was at once received as an important friend to the cause of Parliamentary reform. He was a curious instance of the sources from which for the time the Radical ranks could alone be recruited. Vehement in his desire to extend the political power of the people, his advocacy did not arise from any personal connection with them, either by descent or associa- tion. A member of an old county family, himself an officer in the Guards, and accustomed to all the habits and modes of thought which such surroundings would be likely to form, he was able to obtain a seat in spite of opinions which kept out Cartwright and Cobbett, and other old and earnest reformers. He remained to the end an exceptional man, always what was called a social swell, yet always a thorough and consistent Radical. That his services were less valuable towards the end of his career than was expected by some of his friends, was owing more to the effects of his imprudent social and private life than to any alteration of his political opinions or inten- tions. What could be done by the election was to place before the country the measures which a truly Liberal policy would pro- mote, so that the public mind might gradually prepare itself for action when the time came. Of these subjects, those which were most insisted upon during the contest were the corn laws and Catholic emancipation.* The discussions brought immediate loss rather than gain to the Liberal side of the House. The Radicals, it is true, suffered no defeat, Burdett and Hobhouse being again returned for Westminster, Wilson for Southwark, and Hume for Aberdeen ; but the Whigs met with some serious reverses, the Bedford interest especially receiving a decided check, and some of the northern counties rallying to the Ministry. The fact was that the appeal of the
 * " Annual Register," 1826, pp. 169, et seq.