404	A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY
dom was broadening from precedent to precedent. It was
the age during which the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 had
taken -place in the continent of Europe. In England it was
marked by a series of long needed reforms. Constitutionally
there were the Parliamentary Reform Acts of 1832, 1867,
and 1884, by which the political franchise was extended
down to the urban and rural workers. In other directions
it brought religious toleration (Catholic Emancipation Act),
Poor Laws for the relief of the distressed, education for
the masses, criminal law reform, factory legislation, Public
Health Acts, attempts to conciliate Ireland (Home Rule
Bills), the abolition of slavery, the extinction of the East
India Company with its sequel of political and social reform
in India, the development of the Press, local self-govern-
ment, and Self-Government for the Dominions.
England has been to the Modern World what Athens was
to the Ancient. Ideas, movements, and happenings in that
Island sooner or later reflected themselves in the rest of
the world. England achieved parliamentary Democracy and
all other countries have been striving ever since to emulate
her example. England started the Industrial Revolution
and the whole world is still being transformed to her pattern,
England grew Imperialist and turned to Federalism for find-
ing liberty in union, and nations are still trying to walk
in her footsteps. Just as Rome and Christianity gave unity
to Christian Europe during the Middle Ages, so England
and Science have imparted unity to Western Civilisation in
later times. Hence the very large claim of England on our
attention in dealing with the Expansion of Europe. Fuller
and deeper implications of this theme will be brought out
in the succeeding chapters.