5. The slave trade still went on, and slaves were still employed in our colonies; Roman Catholics were still at a serious disadvantage on account of their religion; children were permitted to work in mines and factories, however young, and even to climb chimneys for the purpose of sweeping them; crimes like stealing a sheep or a horse were punishable by hanging; trade was in fetters--scarcely was a thing imported duty free, even wheat from abroad was heavily taxed. 6. For a nation to be free the law must be supreme, and the people must have a share in making it through their representatives. Yet, a century ago, such large towns as Leeds, Manchester, and Birmingham, sent no members to Parliament at all; whilst old decayed boroughs sent two. And the franchise, or right to vote at Parliamentary Elections, was limited to a privileged few. Thus one class of the people made the laws which all were expected to obey. These blots were removed by three Reform Bills, which were passed at intervals of twenty or thirty years. 7. It is worth observing from this example how gradual have been the changes made in our Constitution, or system of government. We seem to have learnt the lesson that true freedom can only be obtained when it is allowed to grow, when time is given for it to strike its roots deep in the life of the people. For the enjoyment of real freedom the law must be adapted to the wishes as well as the needs of the governed; that is to say, it must be moulded by public opinion, and the two must grow together so as to fit in with each other. 8. This is the secret of the ready obedience paid to the law by English people in general. Nothing so strikes a foreigner, on entering "the land of the free," as this willing submission to authority, especially as exemplified in the crowded streets of London, where all drivers instantly obey the policeman whose duty it is to direct the traffic. The coachman may have a prince or a duke in his carriage. It makes no difference. He must wait his turn. All alike willingly obey the officer in authority because he acts without fear or favour, with a single eye to the public convenience. Here we have a typical instance of the close connection that exists between _law_, _order_, and _liberty_, those three watchwords of every true Briton throughout the empire. The British are a law-abiding nation, because they join in making their laws, and as a practical people realise the fact that without obedience to law there can be no order, and without order no enjoyment of liberty.