Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/388

 374 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1846- was a proof of the necessity of union between all sections of Liberals. The same lesson, too, was enforced by the result of another direct appeal in favour of protection on the I4th of May, when Grantley Berkeley moved for a committee of the whole House to consider the corn laws, and he was defeated by 298 to 184. The uncertain nature of the tenure on which they held power convinced an increasing number of Liberals of the necessity for some Parliamentary reform which should give to what they believed to be the wishes of the majority of the people, a more direct constitutional expression. The Radicals, therefore, obtained larger votes than before on this subject. The most important of these occasions was when Hume, on the 28th of February, again moved for leave to bring in a bill, similar to that for which he had asked in the previous year, to provide for household suffrage, vote by ballot, triennial parliaments, and redistribution. The motion, which was seconded by Sir Joshua Walmsley, led but to a short debate, in the course of which Russell said, that although he negatived the motion, he did not therefore hold that the existing limits of the franchise must be permanently main- tained. On a division, there appeared for the motion 96; against it, 242. As compared with the vote of 1849, this was an increase of fourteen supporters, and a decrease of twenty- six opponents. A still better result was obtained on the resolution in favour of the ballot, introduced by H. Berkeley, 121 voting for it, and 176 against. On the 9th of July Locke King moved for leave to bring in a bill to assimilate the county to the borough franchise, for which he obtained one hundred votes, the majority against it being fifty-nine. All these motions, and the reception they met with, proved the continuance of activity amongst the Radicals, and the growth of opinion in the Liberal party generally. Nor was this favourable condition affected by the fact that when O'Connor, on the 1 2th of July, proposed a resolution in favour of the Charter, the House was counted out. The efforts to promote economy were continued. Without