Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/153

1 820.] Close of the War to the Death of George III. 139 this session. On the 3<3th of November the Marquis of Lansdowne moved in the House of Lords for a committee to inquire into the state of the country, and in supporting that motion Lord Grey said, " Could he be suspected of any attachment to the principles of the Radical reformers ? Was he not aware that those persons called Radical reformers were decided enemies to the Whigs ; that he himself was pointed out by some as their greatest, if not their principal, enemy ? " We have seen what the amount of excitement was in the country, and the extent of reform which the public feeling demanded ; we have seen also the answer which the Tory Government gave to the popular request ; and we have now to see what the Whigs were prepared to offer. On the 1 4th of December Lord John Russell proposed his resolutions. They were four in number, and were to the following effect : 1. Boroughs in which gross and notorious bribery and corruption were proved to prevail, to be disfranchised ; those electors not guilty to have votes for the county in which the boroughs were situated. 2. Members so taken away to be given to great towns having not less than 15,000 population, or to the largest counties. 3. That it was the duty of the House to consider of further means to detect and prevent corruption. 4. That Grampound should be at once disfranchised. These very moderate proposals were introduced in a speech of at least equal moderation. " It is impossible," said Lord John, " not to see that there are two parties dividing the country, both greatly exasperated, and both going to extremes ; the one making unlimited demands, and the other meeting them with total and peremptory denial ; the one ready to encounter any hazard for unknown benefits, the other ready to sacrifice for present security those privileges which our ancestors thought cheaply purchased with their blood." What- ever may have been the effect upon public feeling, neither the speech nor the resolutions alarmed the Government Lord Castlereagh complimented the speaker upon the tone