. Life and times of William E. Gladstone : an account of his ancestry and boyhood, his career at Eton and Oxford, his entrance into public life, his rise to leadership and fame, his genius as statesman and author, and his influence on the progress of the nineteenth century. was ever more bitterly opposed. The House of Commons restedupon a foundation thoroughly corrupt and absurd; but conservatismupheld the existing system. The population of England had now fluctu-ated from the land side to the great manufacturing cities. Populous com-munities had sprung up where none had existed before. Indust
. Life and times of William E. Gladstone : an account of his ancestry and boyhood, his career at Eton and Oxford, his entrance into public life, his rise to leadership and fame, his genius as statesman and author, and his influence on the progress of the nineteenth century. was ever more bitterly opposed. The House of Commons restedupon a foundation thoroughly corrupt and absurd; but conservatismupheld the existing system. The population of England had now fluctu-ated from the land side to the great manufacturing cities. Populous com-munities had sprung up where none had existed before. Industry had under-eone orreat changes. The House of Commons no lontjer represented theactual England, but the old England of a mythical past. Tremendouscities now flourished, and because they were of recent growth were unrep-resented in Parliament. Such were Liverpool and Manchester and Leeds,whose teeming thousands of people had no voice in the House of Com-mons. But the ancient boroughs, however depopulated, kept their rightsof representation. Nothing could be more preposterous than the systemwhich had supervened. Conservative England continued to declare thather ancient boroughs, such as Gratton and Old Sarum, thotigh kavhig not TRAVEL AND ENTRA^CE INTO PARLIAMENT. 63. WILLIAM IV. 64 LlIE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM E. GLADSTOXE. a single house, must be represented by two members in the Commons;for it had once been so, and nothing must be changed! The conchtion became so monstrous that intelHgent manufacturersand citizens and Whiof statesmen began to agitate for a reform. Theresult was a political revolt. The ministry of the Duke of Wellington wasoverthrown, and a new ministry was formed under Earl Grey in Novem-ber of 1830. This revolution preceded the Reform Bill, so-called, whichwas not presented until the ist of March, 1S31. The agitation shook GreatBritain to the center. The last months of 1830-31 witnessed a crisis moreserious than anything which had been known since the revolutio
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