ievement of his career.
Free Trade, by liberating commerce from the bondage under which it
groaned, gave food to starving multitudes, redressed a flagrant and
tyrannical abuse of power, shielded a kingdom from the throes of
revolution, and added a new and magical impetus to material progress in
every quarter of the globe. The commercial treaty with France, by
establishing mercantile sympathy and intercourse between two of the most
powerful nations of the world, carried forward the work which Free Trade
had begun, and, by bringing into play community of interests, helped to
give peace a sure foundation.

Parliament met on January 24, and in the Speech from the Throne a Reform
Bill was promised. It was brought forward by Lord John Russell on March
1--the twenty-ninth anniversary of a red-letter day in his life, the
introduction of the first Reform Bill. He proposed to reduce the county
franchise to 10_l._ qualification, and the borough to 6_l._; one member
was to be taken from each borough with a population of less than seven
thousand, and in this way twenty-five seats were obtained for
redistribution. Political power was to be given where the people were
congregated, and Lord John's scheme of re-distribution gave two seats to
the West Riding, and one each to thirty other counties or divisions, and
five to boroughs hitherto unrepresented. The claims of Manchester,
Liverpool, Birmingham, and Leeds were recognised by the proposal to add
another representative in each case; and the claims of culture were not
forgotten, for a member was given to London University. Gallio-like,
Lord Palmerston cared for none of these things, and he made no attempt
to conceal his indifference. One-half of the Cabinet appear to have
shared his distaste for the measure, and two or three of them regarded
it with aversion. If Cobden or Bright had been in the Cabinet, affairs
might have taken a different course; as it was, Lord John and Mr.
Gladstone stood almost alone.

The Radicals, though gaining ground in the country, were numerically
weak in the House of Commons, and the measure fell to the ground between
the opposition of the Tories and the faint praise with which it was
damned by the Whigs. Even Lord John was forced to confess that the
apathy of the country was undeniable. A more sweeping measure would have
had a better chance, but so long as Lord Palmerston was at the head of
affairs it was idle to expect it. Lord John recognised the inevit