The Chartist movement (S591) which speedily began (1838) seemed to justify their apprehension.  But the dreaded revolt never came; the evils of the times were gradually alleviated and, in some cases, cured.  Confidence slowly took the place of distrust and fear.  When, in June (1897), the Queen’s “Diamond Jubilee” procession moved from Buckingham Palace to St. Paul’s, and thence through some of the poorest quarters of London, none of the dense mass that filled the streets cheered more lustily than those who must always earn their daily bread by their daily toil.

The explanation of that change was to be found in the progress of good government, the extension of popular rights, and the advance of material improvements.  Let us consider these changes in their natural order.

608.  Further Extension of the Right to Vote, 1832-1894.[2]

We have already described the far-reaching effects of the Reform Bill (S582) of 1832, which, on the one hand, put an end to many “rotten boroughs,” and on the other, granted representation in Parliament to a number of large towns hitherto without a voice in that body.  Three years later (1835) came the Municipal Reform Act.  It placed the government of towns, with the exception of London,[1] in the hands of the taxpayers who lived in them.

[2] See Summary of Constitutional History in the Appendix, p.xxvi, S31. [1] The ancient city of London, or London proper, is a district covering about a square mile, and was once enclosed in walls; it is still governed by a lord mayor, court of aldermen, and a common council elected mainly by members of the “city” companies, representing the medieval trade guilds (S274).  The metropolis outside the “city” is governed by the London County Council and a number of associate bodies, among which are the councils of twenty-eight metropolitan boroughs.

This radical measure put a stop to the arbitrary and corrupt management which had existed when the town officers elected themselves and held their positions for life (S599).  Futhermore, it prevented parliamentary candidates from buying up the entire municipal vote,—­a thing which frequently happened so long as the towns were under the absolute control of a few individuals.

A generation passed before the next important step was taken.  Then, as we have seen, the enactment of the Second Reform Bill (1867) (S600) doubled the number of voters in England.  The next year an act reduced the property qualification for the right to vote in Scotland and Ireland; thus the ballot was largely increased throughout the United Kingdom.

The Third Reform Act (1884) (S600) granted the right to vote for members of Parliament to more than two million persons, chiefly to the farm laborers and other workingmen.  Since that date, whether the Liberals or the Conservatives[2] have been in power, “the country,” as Professor Gardiner says, “has been under democratic influence.”