But to the reformers of the times the ultimate solution of the constitutional problem was something far less present than the programme of reform, which was being handed on from leader to leader with scarcely an item altered since the time when the genius of C. Gracchus had given it birth. It contained agrarian laws, measures for corn distribution and for colonies beyond the sea, means for relieving social distress and the plethora of the great capital, and at times it admitted—the most pressing need of all—proposals for remedying the iniquitous relations that the law permitted to exist between debtor and creditor. A new and unexpected development was given to the activities of the party by the introduction into their programme of proposals for enfranchising the Italians. This was a measure that, like so many others in popular programmes, was a creation of the demagogue and was profoundly distasteful to his followers. Its acceptance by the Liberals (_populares_) was a pure accident—one due to the desire of breaking a formidable weapon employed by the Whig opposition, who, like Scipio Aemilianus, had adopted the somewhat dangerous policy of playing off Italian rights against those of the city proletariate. But, as belief usually follows acceptance, there is some reason for regarding the franchise question as, at least finally, a plank in the democratic programme. In the multiform efforts of the discontented we can also discern the spasmodic attempt to create a competent central military authority for Rome, as the only means of securing corn, commerce, and the empire.