A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



exerted towards a measure of justice and of relief, which was finally obtained 

 in 1829. 



A marked change had gradually come over party politics. The closing 

 years of George IV and the opening years of William IV witnessed the rise 

 of our modern political parties. At the opening of the nineteenth century 

 the old names of Whig and Tory still remained, but the principles of those 

 who bore the names had not so much changed as become exchanged, the Tory 

 party, formerly High Church, having become almost as evangelical as the 

 Presbyterians themselves, and being animated by exactly the same bigoted 

 hatred of the Roman Catholics as was formerly the peculiar characteristic of 

 the Whigs ! The Whigs on the other hand, who had formerly been their 

 greatest persecutors, led the demand for emancipation, and advancing still 

 further from their former oligarchical seclusion, they also headed the popular 

 demand for the extension of the franchise. Some of the more old-fashioned 

 Whigs, who disapproved of these new-fangled theories, sought refuge in 

 the Tory ranks, and became known as ' Peelites.' 



All political creeds being thus thrown into the melting-pot, out of the 

 crucible came forth the modern poHtical parties which, since the opening of 

 the nineteenth century, have been styled Liberal and Conservative, an extreme 

 section of the Liberals being styled Radicals, and another section Socialists. 

 These last-mentioned sections were becoming more especially prominent in 

 Lancashire. The accession of William IV in 1830 was hailed with joy by 

 the Lancashire Reformers, as the king was supposed to favour the extension 

 of the Parliamentary franchise. As this was a proposal closely affecting 

 Lancashire it will be helpful to notice briefly the state of the representation 

 at this time. There were, as is well known, two knights elected for the 

 shire. Cromwell summoned three to the Parliament of 1653, but two was 

 the usual number. The so-called royal boroughs that were from old time 

 entitled to send members to Parliament were Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool, 

 and Wigan, two members each, but Queen Elizabeth, in the first year of her 

 reign, added to them the boroughs of Newton and Clitheroe. Meanwhile 

 some of these towns, such as Newton, Clitheroe, and Lancaster, had decayed 

 both in population and in commercial importance, while other places such as 

 Manchester, Bolton, Blackburn, Rochdale, and other manufacturing centres, 

 had sprung into populous and industrial eminence, and yet had no parlia- 

 mentary representation. Manchester had indeed been rewarded by Cromwell 

 for its parliamentary zeal by being summoned to send a member to the 

 Parliament of 1654. They returned the Major-General Worsley already 

 referred to as the military governor of the county."' But, as might have 

 been expected, Charles II did not renew the privilege, and though the town 

 yearly increased in industrial and county importance it was even in the year 

 1830 totally without representation for its vast wealth and population. 



In the spring of 1830, just before the late king's death. Lord John 

 Russell had been defeated in a proposal to enfranchise the three great 

 industrial centres, Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds."' The matter, 

 however, was not allowed to drop. In the end of the year Earl Grey took 

 office. Petitions were sent to Parliament during 18 30-1 from all parts of 

 England, and many from Lancashire. Preston petitioned in 1830 ; a peti- 



"' See above, p. 240. "' Molesworth, Hist, of the Reform Bill of li 12, p. 53. 



250 



