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The Passing of the Great Reform Bill
Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.
498 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1914
About the author
J.R.M. Butler
18 books2 followersSir James Ramsay Montagu Butler, OBE, was a British politician and academic. He served as Member of Parliament for Cambridge University 1922-23 and was Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University 1947-54. He served in both world wars and edited the official History of the Second World War.
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May 26, 2024
This is one of the best books on the First Parliamentary Reform (I add "one of" only in case there are some others I haven't read), providing both a detailed background and accurate details.
One significant merit is that the author summarized various opinions and efforts related to the parliamentary reform from 1769 to 1829, which helped me understand the general attitudes of different groups towards this topic. The reform was an accumulating result of decades of struggle, including the establishment of societies and reform motions, either moderate or radical, brought by individuals. In addition to the political background, the author also depicted how the Industrial Revolution promoted the demand and necessity of reform. This part is both an explanation and a defense of reform, stressing the tremendous changes in British society.
For the details of the passing of the Reform Bill, the author stated more than clearly and generally did justice to the figures involved. I'm especially thankful for its account of the public meetings or riots outside the parliament, a part that I was unfamiliar with before. The part related to ideas and opinions is also valuable, describing the ideological reasons for or against the reform. This book invokes more of my reflections on parliamentary reform. For instance, after reading it, I began to think more about the proposal of peer creation, a suggestion by more radical Whigs to obtain a majority in the Upper House. This proposal, though not realized, sounded even obnoxious to me, as I thought it was an abuse of the monarch's power and would set a dangerous precedent.
One trivial little flaw is that I hope the author might be more discreet when speculating what would have happened if the Bill hadn't passed since it was for sure that no Whig and only a tiny fraction of Radicals would "sanction a fighting policy."
One significant merit is that the author summarized various opinions and efforts related to the parliamentary reform from 1769 to 1829, which helped me understand the general attitudes of different groups towards this topic. The reform was an accumulating result of decades of struggle, including the establishment of societies and reform motions, either moderate or radical, brought by individuals. In addition to the political background, the author also depicted how the Industrial Revolution promoted the demand and necessity of reform. This part is both an explanation and a defense of reform, stressing the tremendous changes in British society.
For the details of the passing of the Reform Bill, the author stated more than clearly and generally did justice to the figures involved. I'm especially thankful for its account of the public meetings or riots outside the parliament, a part that I was unfamiliar with before. The part related to ideas and opinions is also valuable, describing the ideological reasons for or against the reform. This book invokes more of my reflections on parliamentary reform. For instance, after reading it, I began to think more about the proposal of peer creation, a suggestion by more radical Whigs to obtain a majority in the Upper House. This proposal, though not realized, sounded even obnoxious to me, as I thought it was an abuse of the monarch's power and would set a dangerous precedent.
One trivial little flaw is that I hope the author might be more discreet when speculating what would have happened if the Bill hadn't passed since it was for sure that no Whig and only a tiny fraction of Radicals would "sanction a fighting policy."
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