Of what use were cheap papers to a population which could not ...

Of what use were cheap papers to a population which could not read them? The passion for an educated people, which united all reformers and gives a lasting nobility to

the tortuous career of Brougham,'

was frustrated by the absence of any foundation on which to build, and the Mechanics' Institutes from which so much was hoped sank into play-centers for serious clerks.

The Philosophical Radicals had their solution. As usual, it was entirely right, and, as usual, it was entirely impracticable.

In dealing with the difficulties of Victorian administration it is necessary to remember that hardly anyone had yet thought of the county as an administrative unit, except for its ancient functions of justice and highways.

Twice in the thirties a Radical Bill for the creation of elected County Boards fluttered for an evening in the unfriendly air and died. There was the Imperial Government: there were the boroughs.

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