“The King is going downhill as before, but seems to be a long time in the descent.  All kinds of intrigues are going on about change of Ministry, and all kinds of hopes and fears afloat.  Nothing is more improbable than that I should be made a Bishop, and, if I ever had the opportunity, I am now, when far removed from it, decidedly of opinion that it would be the greatest act of folly and absurdity to accept it—­to live with foolish people, to do foolish and formal things all day, to hold my tongue, or to twist it into conversation unnatural to me.”

King George IV. died on the 26th of June.  The accession of William IV., who was supposed to have some tendencies towards Whiggism, greatly stimulated the demand for Parliamentary Reform; and the revolution in France, which dethroned Charles X., gave a strong impetus to the democratic forces in England.  Parliament was dissolved on the 24th of July.  On the 14th of August Charles Greville wrote, “The elections are still going against the Government, and the signs of the times are all for reform and retrenchment, and against slavery.”  In writing to congratulate a young Roman Catholic who had been elected for Carlisle, Sydney Smith said—­

“I rejoice in the temple which has been reared to Toleration; and I am proud that I worked as a bricklayer’s labourer at it—­without pay, and with the enmity and abuse of those who were unfavourable to its construction."[98]

The new Parliament met on the 26th of October.  On the 2nd of November, in the debate on the Address, the Duke of Wellington made a vehement declaration against Reform.  This was the signal for an immense outcry.  There were mobs and riots everywhere.  The King’s projected visit to the City on Lord Mayor’s Day was abandoned.  The Tory Government were beaten on a motion relating to the new Civil List.  “Never was any Administration so completely and so suddenly destroyed; and, I believe, entirely by the Duke’s declaration.”  Lord Grey[99] became Prime Minister, as the head of a Whig administration pledged to Reform.  Soon afterwards Sydney Smith wrote to a friend—­

    “I think Lord Grey will give me some preferment if he stays in long
    enough; but the upper parsons live vindictively, and evince their
    aversion to a Whig Ministry by an improved health.”

The Reform Bill was brought in on the 1st of March 1831.  Sydney thought it “a magnificent measure, as wise as it is bold.”  Meetings of Reformers were held all over the country to support it.  Such a meeting was held at Taunton on the 9th of March, and the Rector of Combe Florey attended and spoke.