CHAPTER V. 
FROM THE GREAT REFORM BILL TO THE CRIMEAN WAR, 
1822-4. 
THE passage of Lord Grey’s Reform Bill is the central point of 
the political history of the nineteenth century. Never again 
Fearsex- for more than fifty years were men’s passions to 
cited by the run so high; the unrest caused by the Chartist 
Rekonn Bill agitation in 1838-48 was a mere nothing compared 
to the excitement in 1830-32. "The only time that can be 
compared to those troubled years is the short period in 1886, 
when Mr. Gladstone’s Home Rule Bill was in the air, and the 
Liberal party was bursting asunder, "This later struggle only 
occupied a few months, but Lord Grey’s battle with the Tories 
had covered nearly three years. If protracted a little longer, 
it would probably have led to the abolition of the House of 
Lords and many other sudden and destructive changes. "To 
some people the time-honoured constitution of England seemed 
in danger ; they prophesied that the Radicals would sweep the 
Whigs in their train, and carry universal suffrage, vote by 
ballot, and the whole programme of complete democracy the 
moment that the great bill had passed. "There were even 
persons who made wagers that the United Kingdom would 
cease to be a monarchy before ten years were out, 
Nuthing could have been more ill-frounded than these fears :