242 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1833- has since become the subject of national endeavour, has been the occasion of party strife, and has led to the formation and destruction of Ministries. First we must look at the measures which the Government proposed and carried. For the rapid success of these they were indebted to the public spirit which had carried the Reform Act and elected the new Parliament. So evidently was this influence at work that some of the most important of the proposals were forced on them from outside their own ranks. This was the case with the Acts which abolished two sorts of slavery, that of the factory children at home, and that of the negroes in the colonies. Human life and human rights were acquiring a higher place in the consideration of statesmen. The cause of religious liberty received an impetus, the effect of which has-never been exhausted, by the discussions attending the passing of the Irish Church Bill.* Besides these things, the Bank Charter had been revised, and the government of the great Indian Empire had been reconstructed. In addition there had been a committee appointed to inquire into municipal corporations, the first step towards the great reform in local government which was subsequently effected. This was in reality an enormous amount of work to have been accomplished in a single session, and one in which much time had been unhappily spent over the Irish Coercion Bill, and it has since been regarded as a great achievement f which was made possible only by the political enthusiasm of the time. Yet neither the public feeling nor that of the Radicals was satisfied with what had been done, and the Ministry rather declined in popularity from what was left undone, than gained in credit by that which was effected. The dissatisfaction of the popular party was caused to some extent by positive acts of the Government, especially
- "*' The germ of that principle upon which, thirty-five years later, the dises-
tablishment of the Protestant Church in Ireland was based, dates from 1833."- " Personal life of George Grote," p. 86. t " No previous Administration had ever accomplished so many reforms as the Grey Cabinet had effected in a year." Spencer Walpole's " History of England from 1815," vol. iii. p. 209.
