Nevertheless, weaker and weaker as the Whigs steadily
grew before their final overthrow, torn as they were by
internal dissensions, and deserted by many of the more
capable and progressive of their supporters, it must be
recorded to their credit that the nine years which
followed the reform of Parliament in 1832 laid the
legislative foundation of the polity which modern
England enjoys. The Melbourne Government bears
no very exalted reputation in our history. But it
governed Ireland successfully; it settled the tithe
question in England and Ireland, and reformed the
municipal corporations in both countries; it established
the penny post, and laid the foundations of a system
of national education; it witnessed a demise of the
Crown, and through its chief it gave instruction to the
youthful queen "in the great constitutional lessons, to
which for half a century her majesty has been the
first of our sovereigns to give an effect at once con-
spicuous and complete." But its finance down to 1839
was, according to the authority just quoted, namely,
Mr. Gladstone, "intolerably bad." In 1840 some
attempt was made to stem the tide of deficit by an
increase of taxation, and in 1841 the Whigs at last
began to see that free trade must be reckoned with.
They proposed certain readjustments of taxation, which
involved in principle a revolution in financial policy.
But their power was spent and their budget was de-
feated. They accepted defeat and abandoned their
proposals. But Peel by this time was ready to take
their place. He brought forward a direct vote of want
of confidence, and carried it by a majority of one. A
dissolution ensued, and in the elections which followed

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