The Salisbury ministry was implementing a number of Radical reforms that pleased Chamberlain. Between 1888 and 1889, democratic County Councils were established in Great Britain. By 1891, measures for the provision of smallholdings had been made, and the extension of free, compulsory education to the entire country. Chamberlain wrote that "I have in the last five years seen more progress made with the practical application of my political programme than in all my previous life. I owe this result entirely to my former opponents, and all the opposition has come from my former friends."