ed to make modifications. After a stormy debate there was a
majority of seventy-eight against the government. The ministers,
undaunted, at once induced the king to dissolve Parliament, and an
appeal was made to the nation. A general election followed, which sent
up an overwhelming majority of Liberal members, while many of the
leading members of the last Parliament lost their places. On the 21st of
June the new Parliament was opened by the king in person. He was
received with the wildest enthusiasm by the populace, as he proceeded in
state to the House of Lords in his gilded carriage, drawn by eight
cream-colored horses. On the 24th of June Lord John Russell again
introduced his bill, this time in a bold, manly, and decisive manner, in
striking contrast with the almost suppliant tone which he assumed
before. On the 4th of July the question of the second reading was
brought forward. The discussion was carried on for three nights, and on
division the great majority of one hundred and thirty-six was with the
government. The only hope of the opposition was now in delay; and
factious divisions were made on every point possible as the bill went
through the committee. The opposition was most vexatious. Praed made
twenty-two speeches against the bill, Sugden eighteen, Pelham
twenty-eight, Peel forty-eight, Croker fifty-seven, and Wetherell
fifty-eight. Of course the greater part of these speeches were
inexpressibly wearisome, and ministers were condemned to sit and listen
to the stale arguments, which were all that the opposition could make.
Never before in a legislative body was there such an amount of quibbling
and higgling, and "speaking against time;" and it was not till September
19 that the third reading came on, the obstructions in committee having
been so formidable and annoying. On the 22d of September the bill
finally passed in the House of Commons by a majority of one hundred and
six, after three months of stormy debate.

But the parliamentary battles were only partially fought; victory in the
end was certain, but was not yet obtained. It was necessary that the
bill should pass the House of Lords, where the opposition was
overwhelming.

On the very evening of September 22 the bill was carried to the Lords,
and Lords Althorp and Russell, with one hundred other members of the
Commons, entered the Upper House with their message. The Lord Chancellor
Brougham advanced to the bar with the usual formalities, and received