Alpha Book

The founding of four newspapers furthered the reform movement. They
took it upon themselves to report parliamentary debates, and along with
information they spread discontent. Their activity was somewhat
checked, however, by the operation of the old laws which punished
libelous attacks on the king with imprisonment or exile, and also by a
stamp duty of 2-1/2d. a sheet (1789).
[Sidenote: Charles James Fox]
Under the new influence a number of Whigs became advocates of reform.
George III had outdone them at corruption; they now sought to
reestablish their own power and Parliament's by advocating reform. Of
these Whigs, Charles James Fox (1749-1806) was the most prominent. Fox
had been taught to gamble by his father and took to it readily. Cards
and horse-racing kept him in constant bankruptcy; many of his nights
were spent in debauchery and his mornings in bed; and his close
association with the rakish heir to the throne was the scandal of
London. In spite of his eloquence and ability, the loose manner of his
life militated against the success of Fox as a reformer.


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