???tent the educational test that Mr. North would like to have for his extension of the franchise. And this political education must have been largely due to the cheap press; for, be it remembered that it was the first general election that had ever been when the the great mass of the people were kept well informed by a press that was within their reach.
Parliamentary Prospects.
When the returns had been fully made, Lord Palmerston's majority was variously estimated at from 40 to 70; but all such estimates must have been extremely vague until a party question in the House itself should indicate the strength of the rival forces. Political parties had a very different relative position to that which they occupied when "George the Third was King". Then the two designations, Whig and Tory sufficed to marshal the opposing parties, but at the time of this election there were Whigs, Radicals, Conservatives, Ultra Tories, Liberals, Liberal-Conservatives, Peelites, Russelites, Advanced Liberals, Palmerstonians, &c. But dividing them into the four most definite parties, there appeared to be 263 Palmerstonians, 227 Denbyites, 111 Reformers, and 53 Liberal Conservatives, together making the orthodox number of 654. When Lord Palmerston reckoned up his supporters according to their conduct immediately preceding the dissolution or to their hustings speeches, he must have been satisfied with the result of the election. His majority (probably fifty) supposing his policy to be Liberal, was as large as the Whigs secured at the first election under the Reform Bill, when Messrs. North and Warre were returned for Hastings. The moot question was would Lord Palmerston go with the times in the path of judicious reform and retrenchment, or would he, relying on his nominal majority, be regardless of the requirements of the country? No one could attentively observe the political signs without coming to the conclusion that there was a very general desire for widening the foundation of the franchise. The Liberal press had long been advocating the modification of the Reform Bill of 1832, and the Conservative press discerned the cloud in the distance that was likely to burst in a conflicting storm.
The Election of Speaker.
Lord Palmerston commenced his renewal of power by a show of Liberalism in making a Liberal member his protege for the important and lucrative office of Speaker. This was Mr. Denison, who was one of the two gentlemen who represented Hastings in 1827. The candidature of the gentle, supported by the Premier, had -
