minee of Lord
Rockingham's. Gibbon sat in the House for some years under patronage.
Gladstone first became a member by presentation to a pocket borough, and
later spoke in praise of this method of bringing young men of promise into
Parliament. John Wilson Croker estimated that of six hundred and
fifty-eight members of the House of Commons at the end of the eighteenth
century, two hundred and seventy-six were returned by patrons. Men of more
independence of mind who could afford to buy seats did so, and many of the
reformers--including Burdett, Romilly and Hume--thus sat in the House.

MANUFACTURING CENTRES UNREPRESENTED IN PARLIAMENT

It was not so much that the landowning aristocracy were over-represented in
Parliament by their control of so many pocket boroughs, as that great
manufacturing centres were entirely unrepresented. The middle-class
manufacturers had no means of making their influence felt in the unreformed
House of Commons, for towns of such importance as Leeds, Manchester and
Birmingham sent no representatives to Parliament. This meant that
Parliament was out of touch with all the industrial life of the nation, and
that nothing was done till after the Reform Act in the way of serious
industrial legislation.

35 constituencies with hardly any voters at all returned 75 members
46 constituencies with less than 50 voters in each returned 90 "
19 constituencies with less than 100 voters in each returned 37 "
26 constituencies with less than 200 voters in each returned 52 "
84 male electors in other constituencies returned 157 "

The Reform Act of 1832 changed all this. It disfranchised all boroughs with
less than 2,000 inhabitants--fifty-six in all; allowed one member only to
boroughs with between 2,000 and 4,000; gave representatives to Manchester,
Birmingham, Leeds, and to several other large manufacturing towns and
London boroughs; extended the county franchise to leaseholders and L50
tenants at will; and settled the borough franchise on a uniform
qualification of occupation in a house of L10 rateable value. It also fixed
two days, instead of fifteen, as the limit for county elections, and one
day for boroughs.

THE PASSAGE OF THE GREAT REFORM BILL

The Reform Bill was not carried without much rioting in the country, and
some loss of life.

The Duke of Wellington was at the head of the Tory Ministry in 1830; and
though he declared in face of an Opposition that was