ABSTRACT
While the Reform Bill was in progress and in jeopardy, little else was thought of; except, indeed, the new plague which had come to overcloud all hearts, and to attract to itself some of the terror which would otherwise have been given entire to the apprehension of coming revolution. To appreciate their position, irrespective of the Reform Bill, this chapter briefly aims to survey the state and prospects of the country when Lord Grey and his friends came into power. The state of the rural districts was fearful at the time of the accession of the Grey Administration. Everybody knew about the rick-burning and machine-breaking; and the thoughtless and narrow-minded called for soldiery and police, stringent laws and severe punishments. Lord Grey’s Administration was strong in political character. All its members had been not only liberal while in opposition, but consistent for a long course of years in contending for the precise objects which they now came into power for the purpose of achieving.
