A hundred years had now elapsed since George III. ascended the throne.
It had been a period full of transactions of great importance,
developing the constitution in such a manner and to such an extent as to
make a change in its character but little inferior to those which had
been produced by the contests of the preceding century. One principal
result of the Revolution of 1688 has been described as having been the
placing of the political power of the state chiefly in the hands of the
aristocracy. The Reform Bill of 1832, which has been sometimes called a
"second Revolution," transferred that power to the middle classes.[317]
And what may be called the logical sequence of the later measures is the
contrary of that which was designed to flow from the earlier ones. The
changes which were effected in 1688 were intended to promote, and were
believed to have insured, stability; to have established institutions of
a permanent character, as far as human affairs can be invested with
permanency. And down to the death of George II. the policy of succeeding
ministers, of whom Walpole may be taken as the type, as he was
unquestionably the most able, aimed chiefly at keeping things as they
were. _Quieta non movere_. The Peerage Bill, proposed by a
Prime-minister thirty years after the Revolution, was but an exaggerated
instance of the perseverance with which that object was kept in view.
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