Short Essay on the Early Attempts for Constitutional Reforms in England before 1830

Several attempts were made to remove the defects in the parliamentary system in England before 1830. First of all, John Locke and Bolingbroke drew their attention to it.

In the last decades of the 18th century, Thomas Hardy, Horn Took, William Jones and Carles Fox made praiseworthy efforts in this respect. Several committees and associations were formed to expedite this movement for Parliamentary reforms.

Pitt the Younger tried his best to get the reform bill passed in the Parliament twice but he did not succeed in his effort. This movement was slowed down between 1793 to 1815 due to England’s involvement in the battle against France and Napoleon.

Conflict in Parliament

After the downfall of Napoleon in 1815 this movement again gained momentum. Brundett and John Russell led the reform movement and organised several reform associations. No effective step could be taken in this direction by 1822 as the king and Tory ministry were against such reforms.

After the July Revolution of 1830 and death of George IV, an appropriate atmosphere was created in the reign of William IV after formation of the ministry of Whigs. The Reform Committee under the president ship of Durham suggested the following:

1. Rotten boroughs should be deprived of the right of vote.

2. Proper arrangements for voting should be made in new and big towns.

3. Equal right of voting should be introduced in all the boroughs.

Lord Russell produced a reform bill before the parliament in 1831 on the recommendations of Durham Committee but it could not be passed in the second reading due to opposition of the House of Commons; hence the king dissolved the Parliament on the persuasion of Lord Grey.

In new elections the reformers got the upper hand and Whigs achieved majority of one hundred members. The reform bill was placed before the parliament in 1831 for the second time and the House of Commons passed it by an overwhelming majority.

But it could not be passed in the House of Lords. It created chaos in the country and rebellions occurred everywhere. People were demanding the Bill, the whole Bill and nothing but the Bill. Macaulay has remarked about it:

“It became apparent that in peace or convulsion, by the law or in spite of the law, through the Parliament must be carried.”

In such a chaotic condition John Russell produced the Reform Bill again before the Parliament after some amendment. The House of Commons passed it. A committee of the Lords asked for some amendments in the reform bill.

Lord Grey requested the king to make a great number of Whigs peers but the king did not pay heed to it; hence Grey resigned along with his ministry.

The Duke of Wellington of Tory party was invited to form his ministry but he failed; therefore, the king again requested Lord Grey to form a ministry. Grey was also authorised to make as many peers as were needed.

Tories failed to put any obstacle and they staged a walk jut at the time of the third reading of the reform bill. It was passed on 4, it June 1832. Thus the reform bill was passed and it took the shape of an Act. Marriot remarks about it:

“With the passage of the Bill, the death warrant of the lords was signed and the crown itself realised its own limits.”

G. M. Trevelyan also remarks about this Act:

“The people wrenched the modern Magna Charta from the government class.”