Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/320

 306 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1837- As thus adopted by the Commons, the bill fixed the qualifi- cation for voting at 10 in the larger, and 8 in the smaller, boroughs, and it limited the rights of freemen. The second reading in the Lords was carried with the consent of Welling- ton by a large majority ; but on the 2Qth of June, in committee, Lyndhurst carried amendments which made the qualification in the small towns 10 instead of 8, and preserved and perpetuated all the rights of freemen. Thus amended the bill was read a third time, and passed on the 3ist of July, and went to the Commons. At first the House would not accept the amendments ; but, as Lyndhurst would not give way, the Government had to do so, and on the loth of August the bill received the royal assent. It was an unmistakable defeat and humiliation to the ministers, that after six years of contest they were unable to obtain what they believed to be justice for the people of Ireland. There has been little encouragement to the Irish to accept willingly a continuance of that union, under which they are subject to a Parliament in which the Whigs have been unable, and the Tories unwilling, to confer what they know to be their rights. Radicals could not hold power on such terms ; to them justice to Ireland would form an essential condition of existence. The most interesting events of the session were the debates on the corn laws, which gave evidence of the growing feeling in the country in favour of repeal, whilst they illustrated still further the weakness and want of unity in the Ministry. On the 1st of April Mr. Villiers brought forward his third annual motion on the subject. The debate was twice adjourned, but late on the third day, when Warburton moved another adjournment, and many of the supporters of the motion were absent, a division was pressed for and the adjournment refused by 245 to 129. Thereupon Warburton moved the adjournment of the House, which being carried the original motion became a dropped order, and Villiers was enabled to introduce it again. This he did on the 26th of May, when he was met by a scene of violence and disturbance