Reform movement, so long delayed by the great
wars, had been gathering force again. Events in France, where Charles X
was driven from the throne and Louis Philippe proclaimed as
Citizen-king, gave it additional impetus. The famous lawyer Brougham was
thundering against the Government in Parliament, while throughout the
country the platforms from which Radical orators declaimed were
surrounded by eager throngs. The history of the movement cannot be told
here. Its chief actors were the Whigs, who on Wellington's resignation
formed a Government under Earl Grey at the end of 1830. Peel was
fighting a losing fight and he did not show his usual judgement or cool
temper. He opposed the Reform Bill to the last: he was haranguing
violently against it when Black Rod arrived to summon the Commons to the
presence of the King. William IV came down in person, at the instance of
the Whig ministers, to dissolve Parliament and so to stay all
proceedings by which, in the as yet unreformed Parliament, the Bill
might have been defeated. In the General Election of 1831 the Whigs
carried all before them, and in July, when Lord Grey carried the second
reading, he could command a majority of 136. Even then it took three
months of stubborn fighting to vanquish the Tory opposition in the House
of Commons. When the Peers rejected the Bill, the question was raised
whether a Tory Government could be formed; but Peel, however he might
dislike the Bill, could recognize facts, and his refusal to co-operate
in defying public opinion was decisive. Lord Grey returned to office
fortified by the King's promise to make any number of new peers, if
required; and the influence of Wellington was effective in dissuading
the Upper House from further futile resistance. Again Peel had shown his
good sense in accepting the situation. So far as he was concerned, there
was no talk of repeal. He explicitly said that he regarded the question
as 'finally and irrevocably disposed of', and he set to work to adapt
his policy to the new situation.

It might well seem a desperate one for the Tories. Here were three
hundred new members, most of whom had just received their seats from the
Whigs against the direct opposition of their rivals. Gratitude and
self-interest impelled them to support the Whig party; and its leaders,
who had for nearly fifty years been out in the cold shade of opposition,
might count on a long spell of power, especially as the Canningites,
stronger in