Mr. Bryce in speaking of the constitutional changes that had occurred within the period of Mr. Gladstone's political career, said that it had been a time of wide and momentous change, both economic and political. Among the political changes the most remarkable was the democratization of the constitution by the acts of 1867 and 1885 which extended the parliamentary franchise. Of these the former, that of 1867 though not carried by Mr. Gladstone, but by the Tory ministry of 1867, was really due to the bill brought in by Mr. Gladstone in 1866 when Lord Russel was prime minister and lost in the house of commons. It went rather further than Mr. Gladstone himself had proposed. The latter measure was carried by Mr. Gladstone as prime minister in 1884-1885. Both franchise acts were accompanied by redistribution acts extinguishing small constituencies and rearranging seats according to population.