Book excerpt: Excerpt from History of the Whig Ministry of 1830, Vol. 1: To the Passing of the Reform Bill Peculiar circumstances gave the Whigs in 1832 a power which has seldom been acquired by any political party in this country. The mode in which that power was obtained - the manner in which it was exercised, cannot but be a subject of interesting inquiry and speculation to every succeeding generation of Englishmen. The Reform Act gave to the party by which it was proposed, the extraordinary power of which I speak. When, in 1832, that measure became law, the Whig administration had the whole force of the State in their hands - were also almost without rivals in the House of Commons - and enjoyed the unlimited confidence of the nation. In the present volumes, I purpose giving, as far as I am able, a history of the events attending their advent to office, and the passing of the Reform Bill. The remaining portion of my work, if I live to write it, will describe the fortunes and conduct of this once formidable administration until it was finally dismissed by the King in 1834. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.