REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 61 



productive activities and British trade heavily 

 declined. Prices fell; complications in the cur 

 rency, due to the suspension of specie payments, 

 aggravated the troubles; bad harvests recurred 

 at unfortunate intervals; and the great change 

 in progress in the methods of manufacturing, 

 owing to the introduction of machinery, con 

 tributed in its turn a quota of evil. The gen 

 eral result was unsettlement, discontent, and 

 from time to time severe distress among the 

 working classes, both agricultural and indus 

 trial. Into the field thus well prepared came 

 agitators of the political type, Radicals, preach 

 ing the doctrines of the French and Americans, 

 and demanding universal suffrage, voting by 

 ballot, and other reforms of a sort to shock the 

 Tories beyond expression. 



To the governing classes these popular move 

 ments were but a manifestation of the subver 

 sive spirit that had animated the French Revo 

 lution and was still troubling the Continental 

 rulers. In 1819, after a fatal conflict between 

 the people and the military at Manchester, 

 Parliament enacted the &quot;Six Acts,&quot; which im 

 posed severe restrictions on the press and on 

 the holding of public meetings. These were 

 the methods of suppressing political opposition 



