70 REFORM AND DEMOCRACY 



far larger measure than any other European 

 nation the liberty to organize and assemble 

 for peaceful discussion and to express opinions 

 in speech or print. Popular sentiment was 

 readily articulate. Doctrines much too radi 

 cal for the possibility of adoption were never 

 theless freely canvassed. The periodical press 

 was expanded and cheapened to correspond to 

 the widening of political interest and intelli 

 gence. In all these conditions there was a 

 fundamental bond of sympathy between Great 

 Britain and the United States. The progress 

 ive Radicals in England were conscious of this, 

 and systematically adduced American examples 

 in support of their demands for reforms. Across 

 the Atlantic the Americans, so far as they were 

 informed of British conditions, threw their sym 

 pathy with the Radicals. The Whig species 

 of reform aroused but a qualified enthusiasm 

 in the United States. It was Whig reform, how 

 ever, that was alone destined to be practically 

 feasible in Great Britain for many decades to 

 come. 



After 1832 the reformed Parliament, under 

 Whig control, continued the process of remov 

 ing inveterate abuses. With many of its great 

 est measures, such as Poor-Law reform and the 



