left the management of the government
to him and his assoaciates (S534).

Two generations later another great change occurred. Watt's invention
of a really practical steam engine in 1785, together with the rapid
growth of manufacturing towns in the Midlands and the North of
England, brought on an "Industrial Revolution" (S563). A factory
population grew up, which found itself without any representation in
Parliament. The people of that section demanded that this serious
inequality be righted. Their persistent efforts compelled the passage
of the great Reform Bill of 1832. That measure (S582) broke up the
political monopoly hitherto enjoyed in large degree by the
landholders, and distributed much of the power among the middle
classes.

The next important change took place at the accession of Victoria
(1837). The principle was then finally established that the ruling
power of the government does not center in the Crown but in the
Cabinet (S534). Furthermore, it was settled that the Prime Minister
and his Cabinet are responsible solely to the House of Commons, which
in its turn is responsible only to the expressed will of the majority
of the nation (S587).

In the course of the next half century the Reform Bills of 1867 and
1884 extended the suffrage to the great majority of the population
(S600). A little more than twenty years later, in 1906, the combined
Liberal and Labor parties gained an overwhelming victory at the
polls. This secured the workingmen fifty-four seats in Parliament
(S628), whereas, up to that time, they had never had more than three
or four. It then became evident that a new power had entered the
House of Commons. From that date the nation has fully realized that
although England is a monarchy in name, yet it is a republic in fact.
The slow progress of time has at length given to the British people--
English, Scotch, Welsh, and Irish--the great gift of practical
liberty; but along with it, it has imposed that political
responsibility which is always the price which must be paid for the
maintenance of liberty.

633. Characteristics of English History; the Unity of the
English-Speaking Race; Conclusion.

This rapid and imperfect sketch shows what has been accomplished by
the people of Britain. Other European peoples may have developed
earlier, and made, perhaps, more rapid advances in certain forms of
civilization, but none have surpassed, nay, none have equaled, the
English-speak