ministration presided over by the Duke of Wellington resigned on 16 Nov., and the whigs succeeded to power for the first time since 1806, with Earl Grey as premier. Though not in parliament, the office of paymaster-general of the forces was offered to Lord John (without a seat in the cabinet) and accepted; a vacancy being made at Tavistock, the electors returned him as one of their representatives on 27 Nov. Shortly afterwards Lord Durham and he, in concert with Sir James Graham and Lord Duncannon, were constituted a committee on behalf of the government to draft a measure of parliamentary reform. He was entrusted, although not a member of the cabinet, with the task of explaining the Government Reform Bill to the House of Commons, and of moving its first reading, which he did on 31 March 1831. His speech on this occasion formed an epoch in his career. His popularity throughout the country dates from its delivery.
After seven days' debate the bill was read a first time; on 22 March the second reading was carried by a majority of one; on 18 April the ministry were in a minority of eight on the debate in committee; after a second adverse vote they resigned; but, as their resignation was not accepted by the king, they appealed to the country. Lord John was the hero of the hour. When he went to Devonshire for re-election crowds flocked to see him, and Sydney Smith, in his humorous way, informed Lady Holland that ‘the people along the road were very much disappointed by his smallness. I told them he was much larger before the bill was thrown out, but was reduced by excessive anxiety about the people. This brought tears into their eyes’ (Memoir of Sydney Smith, ii. 321). The general election gave the reformers an increased majority. Lord John was re-elected for Tavistock (30 April), and he was also elected for the southern division of Devon (10 May), for which he decided to sit. Early in June he was admitted to the cabinet, still retaining the office of paymaster of the forces. On the 24th he introduced the Reform Bill for the second time; it passed through the commons on 22 Sept. On 7 Oct. it was rejected by the lords. On 12 Dec. he introduced it into the lower house for the third time. An adverse vote on 7 May 1832 in the House of Lords caused the resignation of himself and his colleagues; but as Sir Robert Peel could not form a ministry they were reinstated, and the Reform Bill was read a third time in the House of Lords on the 4th and received the royal assent on 7 June. Lord John's popularity was at its zenith. Even the radicals, who hated the whigs, were disposed to make an exception in his favour. Replying to Thomas Attwood, who had sent him an address from Birmingham, in which he was thanked and the opposition of the peers was denounced, he said: ‘It is impossible that the whisper of a faction should prevail against the voice of a nation.’ These words were repeated again and again, and they materially helped to weaken the resistance to the Reform Bill.
The first reformed parliament met on 29 Jan. 1833, when the government majority was 315. The ministry set to work to pass many important measures. On 25 Feb. 1834 Russell introduced into the House of Commons the Dissenters' Marriage Bill to enable dissenting ministers to celebrate marriages in places of worship licensed for that purpose, while retaining the publication of banns in church. But it failed to satisfy the dissenters, and was for the time laid aside (Erskine May, Const. Hist. iii. 190). But Ireland was, as usual, the chief difficulty, and on this subject there were serious dissensions in the cabinet. Russell had visited that country in the autumn of 1833, and came back opposed to the coercive measures of Stanley, then chief secretary. These differences became acute on the introduction of the Irish Tithe Bill in 1834, which failed to satisfy either O'Connell or the radicals. On the second reading of the bill Russell declared that the revenues of the Irish church were larger than was necessary for the religious and moral instruction of its members or for the stability of the church itself (Hansard, xxi. 620). This declaration made a great impression; it was quite at variance with the views of Stanley and the less advanced section of the cabinet. In Stanley's words, ‘Johnny had upset the coach!’ and Stanley, together with the Duke of Richmond, Lord Ripon, and Sir James Graham, resigned office. A few days later Russell stated that Irish church reform was the principle on which the existence of the government depended; and the vigour with which he defended this principle greatly strengthened his influence with the radicals. In July Lord Grey resigned, and was succeeded by Lord Melbourne; and in November Lord Althorp, the leader of the House of Commons, succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father. The vacant leadership was offered to Lord John Russell; the king, however, strongly objected, and took the occasion summarily to dismiss his ministry (15 Nov.)
Peel succeeded in forming an administration, parliament was dissolved, and the conservatives returned with largely increased numbers (273 to 380 liberals). Russell was now the recognised leader of the whigs
