Vlll PREFACE. 



readily as the first period of the peace was a time 

 of trial in England, since it brought a change of 

 existence, and every change of existence is a trial 

 for a country as for a family. 



These continental opinions fermented only gra- 

 dually, but from 1815 to 1830 they acquired con- 

 tinually increasing force, and led astray the best 

 minds. The revolution of 1830 caused them to 

 break out ; the aristocratic party, which governed 

 the country, was attacked with an unexampled 

 violence in England. All the principles of the go- 

 vernment were called in question, or rather were 

 treated with reprobation. The clamour of the de- 

 mocratic party demanded a parliamentary reform, 

 and it was obtained. The old parliament was dis- 

 solved, and new forms of election created a new 

 one. From the earliest times, each successive 

 parliament received at most but a fifth part of 

 new members, so that, of the 658 members of the 

 House of Commons, there never were more than 

 115 or 130 members changed at each election; 

 but in 1832 there were above 200, all taken from 

 the democratic party, and these, added to the old 

 opposition, formed a majority, although a doubtful 

 and wavering one. 



In the state of agitation in which the minds of 

 the people were, the ancient usages could no longer 

 suffice ; everything was questioned, and everything 



