Excerpt from A Century of Empire, 1801-1900, Vol. 2 of 3 The House of Commons had affirmed by large majorities that its authority was derived from a corrupt source and that it was in no true sense representative of the people. The Reform Act had swept away its foundation, substituting a broader one whereon to build a new chamber of a genuine character. Nevertheless, time must be had to prepare the new registers, and there were urgent matters that would brook no delay in settlement. 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.