194 THROUGH THREEFOLD TENSION 



each other than at the time of the Treaty of 

 Ghent. Both peoples had been moving to 

 ward democracy. The Americans found little 

 to obstruct their swift and steady advance. 

 The British moved sluggishly on among the 

 obstacles of century-old institutions and preju 

 dices, and made certain, if less than rapid, 

 progress. England could not show in 1860, as 

 the United States could, manhood suffrage, one- 

 year terms for important executive officers, or 

 an elective judiciary. On the other hand, the 

 Tory aristocracy that had controlled British 

 policy in 1814 had passed from power forever. 

 The Whig nobles were giving way, as a con 

 trolling political force, to the liberal and radical 

 elements of their party, hot from Birmingham 

 and Manchester. Though &quot;the Dukes&quot; contin 

 ued to figure in the&quot; councils of .the party, its 

 vital energy centred elsewhere, and was nour 

 ished on projects touching the suffrage, the 

 church, education, and landlords, that could be 

 realized only after Palmerston and Russell had 

 passed from the political stage and left Glad 

 stone to transform the Whig into the Liberal 

 Party. The ideas that were thus approaching 

 their triumph in Great Britain were ideas that 

 America claimed as peculiarly its own. They 



