Note 31 — ROBERT LOWE, VISCOUNT SHERBROOKE AGAINST THE REFORM ACT: HOUSE OF COMMONS, MAY 31, 1866.

Note 31, p. 275.—Another futile attempt of Lord John Russell—this Reform Act of 1860. The county franchise was to be based on so low a rental as £10; the borough franchise went down to £6. Lord Palmerston opposed the Bill; and the country was apathetic. In the House, the measure dragged a serpentine length of dull speechmaking. Nobody—not even the Liberals—took it very seriously; and with the Tories the Bill got to be a joke. Finally, on June 11, 1860, its sponsor withdrew it.