Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/497

 1867.] Death of Palmer ston to Reform Act Conclusion. 483 franchises went, the two years' residence was altered to one year, voting papers were discarded, the county franchise quali- fication was lowered from 15 to 12 occupancy, and the system of redistribution was very largely extended. One triumph the political pedants enabled the Tory Peers to obtain, against even the wishes of the leader of the House of Com- mons : the three-cornered voting process was established, whereby, in all important divisions affecting the existence of Governments and the policy of the nation, Manchester, with 53,000 electors, can give one clear vote, and Tiverton, with 1400 electors, gives two votes. With all its merits and short- comings the bill was passed, and it received the royal assent on the 1 5th of August. The operation of the Reform Act of 1867 made an im- portant alteration in the position and power of the Radical party. The gains which have accrued to the Liberals since 1868 have been made in the borough constituencies, where alone the Radical feelings of the people can obtain expression. There is now, both in Parliament and in the Cabinet, an absolute equality, if not in numbers, at least in influence, between the Radical and the Whig sections of the Liberal party. This improved state of things is the result not of any sudden impulse, but of the natural development and growth of the political life of the country. It is true that the later stages of that development have appeared to be more rapid than some of the earlier ones, but they are just as natural for all that. The action of general laws can often be best traced in the history of individuals, and the career of Mr. Gladstone illustrates the progress of Radicalism in its later phases. Step by step he has gone on giving effect to Liberal principles, and increasing his knowledge of, and therefore his trust in, the masses of his countrymen. That the present Premier is ready to work in perfect harmony with his Radical colleagues, and to allow them their legitimate influence in the councils of the nation, need not be said. Only on such conditions would Mr. Bright have become a member of Mr. Gladstone's first Cabinet, or Mr. Chamberlain or Sir Charles Dilke of his second.