A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



went on in and out of Parliament. The three great orators of the period, 

 Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, and Mr. Gladstone (whose father was a Liverpool 

 merchant), were all either by birth, business, or political belief closely in 

 touch with Lancashire, and all warmly advocated a measure of reform. 



In 1859 Mr. DisraeU, as leader of the Commons in Lord Derby's minis- 

 try, had introduced what Mr. Bright, one of the most prominent advocates 

 for the extension of the franchise, stigmatized as the ' Fancy Franchises' Bill. 

 Lord John Russell moving and carrying as an amendment a further extension 

 than the government measure promised,"' the government appealed to the 

 country ; in May a new Parhament was summoned, in which the minis- 

 try were again defeated, and in June Lord Palmerston was again in office. 

 He was known to be adverse to any scheme of reform, yet to conciliate the 

 Manchester Radicals the Prime Minister offered a seat in the Cabinet, as 

 President of the Board of Trade, to Mr. Cobden, who had just been returned 

 member for Rochdale. Knowing that Lord Palmerston's principles were at 

 variance with his own, Mr. Cobden felt obhged to refuse it."'" Another 

 concession to the Liberals was the introduction of a reform measure by Lord 

 John Russell, which was warmly supported by Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, and 

 the Manchester and Radical party generally.'" But Lord Palmerston's cold 

 feeling on the subject proved fatal, and the Bill was withdrawn. 



No further attempts at reform were made in Lord Palmerston's lifetime, 

 but when, in i 865, Lord John Russell (since 1861 Earl Russell) became Premier, 

 with Mr. Gladstone as leader of the Commons, reform became a measure of 

 practical politics. Such a measure was become a vital necessity to Lanca- 

 shire. Interest in the question ebbed and flowed. In a debate of May, 1864, 

 Mr. Gladstone had, in a speech upon the Franchise, declared that the ' burden 

 of proof rested upon those who would exclude forty-nine fiftieths of the work- 

 ing classes from the Franchise,' and again, ' it is for them to show the un- 

 worthiness, the incapacity, and the misconduct of the working class.'"'' In 

 1865 Mr. Cobden, that gallant fighter for popular liberties, died, leaving 

 Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone as the joint inheritors of his mantle. For- 

 tunately for Lancashire, Mr. Gladstone now represented the southern division 

 of the shire."' Notwithstanding their joint efforts, the popular Franchise 

 Bill introduced by Mr. Gladstone was defeated by the Tory opposition, and 

 the resignation of the ministry followed. 



The popular interest in this Bill had been evinced by meetings all over 

 the north and particularly in Lancashire. In Manchester, Liverpool, and 

 Rochdale large demonstrations occurred in support of it.'^" 



The Conservative Party now took office with Lord Derby as Prime 

 Minister and Mr. Disraeli again as leader of the Commons. The popular 

 mind being fixed upon the subject of franchise extension and reform, the 

 Conservatives saw that their only course was to bring in a Bill, which, should 

 it fail to pass, would not bring any discredit on themselves, but would throw 

 the onus of defeat upon the Liberal Opposition. The Opposition, seeing 

 through these tactics, determined to support the Government Bill, but so to 

 amend it that it should result in the very measure they themselves had been 



*" Justin McCarthy, Hist, of Our Own Times, iii, chap. xl. »• Ibid. 220, 221. 



3ox, 7 

 254 



"^ Ibid. 255-6. ■ ' - ' ^ »« Ibid. 396-7. 



*" Ibid. 417. »w H. Cox, TheRtform ^i/ilf 0/ 1866 <»»^ 1879,42-3, 231. 



