In 1844, Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel addresses the British Parliament regarding the Colonial Reform Act, startling his Conservative colleagues by offering support for it.

Arguing from his experiences in police reform, he observes that the ability of the government to maintain control without excessive use of physical force depends on public support, and "public support itself depends upon the public's sense that it has options for redress of grievances short of defying established authorities".

Peel observes that both the general colonial revolt of the 1770s and the Southern rebellion of 1838-'41 arose from a sense on the part of those involved that, without representation, they had no such options; as evidence, he reminds his listeners that one of the key slogans of the first rebellion was 'No taxation without representation.'