again, Mr. Baines steadily supported the
reasonable and the right. He aided in his
quarter of the world to get the "Bill" washed
out of the Augean Parliament. In 1822 he
assisted at one of the great Yorkshire
Parliamentary Reform Meetings which helped to
produce the subsequent success of the Reform
Bill; he also exerted himself in the
Education movement. Nor did he wholly neglect—
like too many public men—his own affairs; for
he privately cultivated land with the energy
which he brought to all his undertakings;
snatching several patches of the wet,
unpromising Chat Moss from useless boggism, and
converting it into productive soil. During
1824—1826, occurred the great commercial
panic which ruined so many houses—among
others the Constables and Ballantynes of
Edinburgh, whose fall involved Sir Walter
Scott in bankruptcy.

The distress of that time hastened the
Reform Movement. "Classic Canning" died
in 1827, and the Wellington and Peel Government,
which succeeded, was opposed to Catholic
Emancipation and progress generally. But
through the exertions of Lord John Russell,
the Test and Corporation Acts were first
repealed, and soon afterwards Government
had to give way on the Catholic question also.

The death of George the Fourth and the
accession of William the Fourth caused a
general election in 1830. At this crisis, the
"Leeds Mercury" suggested the election of
Henry Brougham for the Riding; a measure
which, more than any other, showed how
Reform was advancing towards victory; for,
one of the most decided features of the ancien
régime was the superstition of "county-family"-
ship. The county families were opposed to the
introduction of a stranger; the right of
representation being their private property, of
course! Against this, Brougham's return was
the most emphatic protest; for Brougham was
then the uncompromising man of the people.

Between this election and the meeting of
Parliament occurred the French Revolution
of 1830, when Charles the Tenth was blown
from his throne in an ignominious manner by
a popular explosion. Parliament met; the
Duke of Wellington resigned; Earl Grey was
sent for by the King, and Brougham took his
seat in his Cabinet as Lord Chancellor, with
the titles of Brougham and Vaux. This
administration now went to work to construct the
plan of Reform which was brought before the
Commons by Lord John Russell on the 1st of
March, 1831. The country at once went into a
Reform furor. The second reading was only
carried by a majority of one; and a hostile
amendment was successful in committee by a
majority of eight. There was a dissolution,
and the new Parliament showed a majority
in favour of the second reading of three
hundred and sixty-seven to two hundred and
thirty-one. The Bill passed through the House
under the management of Lord Althorp. But
the troubles of the Reform party began all
over again in the Lords. While the tide of
feeling was roaring round this obstacle,
Parliament was prorogued, and convened again
in January, 1832. There was now a loud cry
to "swamp the House of Lords," as the
process of creating a new batch of peers was
called. The King objected to this. Ministers
resigned, and the Duke of Wellington could
not form an administration. These factious
delays caused immense excitement through
the country. At last, the King recalled Earl
Grey—the opponents of the Bill in the Lords
yielded—and the measure received the Royal
Assent on the 7th of June. Through all the
struggle, Mr. Baines was hard at work in the
Reform cause in his own section of the country.
As it was certainly for, so it was mainly by
such men as Edward Baines that the great
change was made.

The Reform Bill enabled Leeds among
other places to send two members to Parliament;
and the town did itself the honour
of choosing for one of them Mr. Macaulay,
then the flower of all the "rising men."

That a reformer, and one of brilliant qualities,
should have been returned for the great
manufacturing town of his own district, and
the scene of his own labours, was, it would
seem, considered by Mr. Baines as the summit
of his aims. His greatest political work
was done. But he could not be idle, and he
turned to literature—literature illustrative of
his own sphere of action—and he eagerly set
about a "History of the County of Lancaster."
But in a short time he found that
his political race was by no means run. It
had yet to be crowned with its fitting reward.
Mr. Macaulay got a splendid Indian appointment,
and there was a vacancy for a Leeds
member. Instantly the Liberal electors thought
of Mr. Baines. The way in which he received
the proposal was characteristic. The modest,
sensible middle-class man, could he be fit for
such an honour?—to go as member to a House
which had, for so many years, been filled with
imperial Wentworths and sublime Lascelles!
Certainly, most Englishmen kneel as
tranquilly as a camel to take up anybody who
desires to mount him; but Mr. Barnes, after
a show of some sincere but coy reluctance,
consented, was returned, and took his seat in
February, 1834.

His Parliamentary career was a very quiet,
hard-working one. He generally supported
the Whig Government, but kept himself
independent. He was constantly attending
committees; appears regularly to have got
up the immense public-document-stuff of
the day with a digestive faculty commonly
attributed to an ostrich; and listened
patiently to the most long-winded
constituents. In everything we find him homely
and unaffected; he goes to dine at Lord
Brougham's, and meets five peers—writes
home, "there is no affectation of rank or
dignity. The most perfect freedom, I may-
say equality, prevails." How modestly the