176 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1822- the fact. Huskisson, on the 9th of May, obtained leave to bring in a bill to repeal the Spitalfields Acts, which gave magistrates the power to fix the wages of journeymen silk- workers. The measure was carried through the House of Commons ; but in the Lords, although it was supported by the Premier, it was strongly opposed by the Lord Chancellor, and rejected. In these various directions, we see that public opinion was making itself felt even in the Parliament which so indirectly, and to so limited an extent, represented the people. Outside, the fact was impressed more and more upon the popular mind, that whilst on many vital subjects alteration and reform were necessary, yet that substantial progress was hopeless without some change in the constitution of the legislature. This opinion had, during the recess, been ex- pressed by county meetings all over the country, and the proceedings in Parliament during the session of the year 1823 were calculated to give it both strength and courage. The Spanish question continued to engage attention and to embitter the relations between different sections of the Cabinet. The French army had marched without opposition through Spain, and had enabled the King to alter the con- stitution. This had been regarded with the utmost dislike by every Liberal politician in England. France, however, asserted the disinterested nature of her interference, and the British Government maintained its neutrality. There were two consequences of the invasion, however, which threatened to render this position untenable. One was the position of Portugal, to which country the reactionists of Spain looked with hatred, and they desired to inflict upon the constitution there the same injury which France had done to their own. But England was bound, no less by treaties than by inclina- tion, to preserve the independence of Portugal, and Canning had given notice that this duty would be performed at any cost. On the other side, the French were anxious to put down the revolutionary risings which had taken place in the South American colonies of Spain, and to restore them to the
