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I
THE
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE:
1816—1846.
BY HARRIET MARTINEAU.
VOL. II.
1830 — 1846.
LONDON:
CHARLES KNIGHT, 90, FLEET STREET.
1850.
Ofi
535
LONDON :
A. SWEETING, PRINTER, BARTLETT'S BUILDINGS.
CONTENTS
OF VOL. II.
BOOK IV.
1830.
PAGE
William IV 1
King's Message 2
Regency Question ib.
Manners of the Commons 3
Prorogation 4
Dissolution ib.
Sympathy with France ib.
Mr. Brougham 5
Yorkshire Election 6
New House ib.
Death of Mr. Huskisson ib,
O'Connell and the Viceroy 7
Repeal of the Union 8
Rick-burning 13
Anxieties of Parties 14
Opening of the Session 15
The Duke's Declaration 16
Alderman Key's Panic 18
Change of Ministry ib.
The Grey Ministry 20
Regency Bill 22
Official Salaries 23
State of Ireland ib.
The Cholera ib.
1831.
Popular Discontents 24
Prospect of Conflict ib.
Ministerial Declaration 26
Reform Bill brought forward ib.
Reception of the Bill 28
Debate 31
First Reading 32
Second Reading 33
Defeat of Ministers 34
True Crisis ib.
The Palace ib.
The Lords 36
The Commons 36
Prorogation 37
Dissolution.... 38
General Election 39
Popular Action ib.
PAGE
Riots 41
New House ib.
Second Reform BUI ib.
Committee 42
Bill passes the Commons ib.
First Reading in the Lords 43
Debate ib.
Lord Grey ib.
The Bishops ib.
The BUI lost 45
Prorogation 46
Vote of Confidence ..„....,. ib.
Riots at Derby ib.
At Nottingham ib.
At Bristol 47
Prevalence of Order 50
National Political Union 51
Metropolitan Union ib.
Question of a Creation of Peers 62
TheWaverers 53
Gravity of the Time ib.
Proclamation against Political Unions ... ib.
The Cholera ib.
The Unknown Tongues 64
Opening of the Session ib.
Third Reform Bill 55
1832.
Final Passage through the Commons ... 56
First Reading in the Lords ib.
Debate and Division ib.
Pressure from Without 57
Meetings and Petitions ib.
Newhall Hill Meeting 58
Defeat of Ministers 59
Resignation of Ministers 60
Address of the Commons 61
Attempt to form a Cabinet 62
Failure ib.
Agitation throughout the Country ib.
The Unions ib.
London Municipality 63
Soldiery and Police ib.
Lord Grey recalled 66
King's Appeal to the Peers ib.
Progress of the Bill 67
Its passage into Law ib.
IV
CONTENTS.
Position of the House of Lords 67
Substance of the Reform Bill 68
What the Bill is and is not 70
State of Public Interests ib.
The King ib.
The Administration 71
Aspects of the Time 72
The Cholera 73
The Poor Law ib.
Swan River Settlement 74
Slavery 75
Canada ib.
India ib.
Irish Church 76
Tithes ib.
Law Reform ib.
Education ib.
Bank ib.
Municipal Reform ib.
Strength of the Government 77
Weakness of the Government 78
Civil List 80
Pensions ib.
Regal Income 81
Pauperism 82
Confusion of Poverty with Pauperism ... 83
1832—34.
New Poor Law 84
Its Principles ib.
Its Machinery 85
Reception of the Measure 86
Its Passage 89
Its Operation ib.
Factory Children 90
1833.
Renewal of the Bank Charter 93
India Company's Charter 95
Negro Slavery 97
Abolition Movements 99
Negro Emancipation 101
First of August, 1834 102
1831—34.
Irish Church 105
Prosecution of O'Connell 106
Irish Outrage 108
Royal Notice.of Tithes no
First Act of 1832 HI
Second Act of 1832 112
Act of 1833 113
Tardy Truth about Tithes ib.
Proposed Act of 1834 114
Bill lost 115
Irish Ecclesiastical Commission ib.
Irish Census ,
PAGE
Reductions 116
Appropriation Doctrine ib.
Delays ib.
Appropriation refused 117
Irish Church Temporalities Bill passes ... ib.
Official Changes 118
Mr. Ward's critical Motion ib.
King's Declaration 119
Commission of Inquiry 121
Coercion Bill 122
Negotiation with Mr. O'Connell ib.
Mr. Littleton's Explanation 123
Resignation of Lord Althorp ib.
Of Lord Grey ib.
Lord Grey's Farewell 124
His Political Character 125
Religious Crisis 127
The Tractarians 128
The Evangelical Party 130
Death of Wilberforce 131
Of Hannah More ib.
Moderate Church Party 132
Opening of Universities to Dissenters ib.
The Church in Danger 134
Church Reform ib.
Lord Henley ib.
Dr. Arnold ib.
The Dissenters 135
Government Circular 136
Perplexities of Ministers ib.
Admission of Quakers to Parliament 137
Continued Exclusion of Jews ib.
Death of Robert Hall 133
Of Rowland Hill ib.
Of Charles Wesley ib.
Of Adam Clarke 139
Of Rammohun Roy ib.
Of Dr. Doyle '. i40
Schism in the Scotch Church ib.
Irving jb.
St. Simonism 141
Proposed Ecclesiastical Commission 142
Finance 143
First Budget 144
Statement of 1832 145
Statement of 1833 146
Assessed Taxes Movement 147
The House Tax ib.
Statement of 1834 143
Westminster Election 149
The Malt Tax ib.
Surplus of 1834 150
The Corn Laws ib.
Total Reductions ib.
Poor Law for Ireland ib.
Registry of Deeds 151
The Ballot
CONTENTS.
PAOB
Military Flogging 153
Impressment of Seamen ib.
Popular Discontents 154
Trades Unions ib.
Dorsetshire Labourers 155
Day of theTrades ib.
Changes in the Cabinet 156
Late Intrigues 157
Irish Tithes 158
The Lord Chancellor ib.
Lord Durham ib.
The Grey Banquet ib.
Prospect of new Parties 159
Dissolution of the Ministry 160
Retirement of Lord Brougham 161
Lord Lyndhurst succeeds ib.
Lord Brougham's Law Reforms ib.
Local Courts Bill ib.
Chancery Reform ib.
Retirement of Lord Spencer 163
1830—34.
Affairs of France 164
The Duke of Orleans ib.
The Charter 165
Louis Philippe accepts the Crown 166
Disquiet 167
Suicide of the Duke de Bourbon ib.
Disturbance in Paris ib.
Constitution of the Chambers 168
Abolition of Hereditary Peerage ib.
Electoral Law 169
Parties ib.
Press Prosecutions 170
Insurrections ib.
Fortification of Paris 171
Characteristics of the Reign ib.
Death of Lafayette 172
Separation of Belgium and Holland ib.
Prince Leopold King of Belgium 173
Brunswick ib.
Saxony ib.
Hesse Cassel ib.
Baden ib.
Switzerland 174
Italy ib.
Spain ib.
Death of the King ib.
Don Carlos ib.
Portugal ib.
Death of Don Pedro ib.
Marriage of the Queen ib.
Her Widowhood ib.
Egypt and Turkey ib.
Poland 175
Revolt ib.
Defeat of the Poles 176
Character of the Struggle ib.
Royalty in England 178
The Coronation of William IV ib.
The Princess Victoria ib.
Assault on the King 179
Popular Ignorance ib.
Riots ib.
Anatomy Bill 180
Medical Education 181
Criminal Trials 182
Steam in the East 183
Conveyanceof Mails ib.
Diving to Wrecks 184
The Drummond Light ib.
Polar Discovery 185
Islington Cattle Market ib.
Peterborough Cathedral ib.
New London Bridge 186
Education ib.
British Association Meetings ib.
Statistics of Suicide ib.
Duelling ib.
Loss of the Rothsay Castle 187
Fire at the Dublin Custom House ib.
Burning of the Houses of Parliament ... 188
Necrology 189
Political Deaths 189—192
Men of Science 192—194
Seamen and Travellers 194
Actors 195
Musicians 196
Architects ib.
Antiquarians ib.
Artists 197
Authors 198
Philanthropists 203
BOOK V.
1834-35.
The three Parties 204
The Duke's Offices 205
Position of Sir R. Peel ib.
New Cabinet 206
Dissolution of Parliament 207
Tamworth Manifesto ib.
The New Parliament 208
Temper of the Time ib.
Election of the Speaker 210
King's Speech ib.
Debate on the Malt Tax 212
Lord Londonderry's Appointment 213
Dissenters' Marriages 214
Ecclesiastical Commission 216
Ministerial Defeats 217
VI
CONTENTS.
PAUK
London University Charter 217
Conflicts in Parliament 218
Appropriation Question 219
Resignation of the Cabinet 221
1835—39.
Difficulties 222
The Melbourne Administration 223
Lord Melbourne ib.
Mr. Charles Grant 225
Lord John Russell ib.
Irish Administration 226
Two great Questions ib.
The Irish Church 227
Appropriation Question ib.
Church Rates 230
Surrender of the Appropriation Principle 232
Second great Question 234
Municipal Reform ib.
Corporation Commission ib.
Rise and History of Municipal Institutions 235
Report of Commissioners 237
Existing State of Things 238
Principle of the Case 239
Defects of the Reform 240
Substance of the Bill 241
The Bill in the Commons 244
In the Lords ib.
It becomes Law ib.
Ecclesiastical Commissions 246
Popular Ignorance ib.
Courtenay Delusion 247
Results of the Commission 248
Non-residence Act 249
Abolition of Sinecures ib.
Tithe Commutation Act 250
Popular Education ib.
Lord Brougham's Scheme 252
Ministerial Scheme ib.
Conduct of the Peers 257
Peerage Reform 258
Chartism 262
Radical Chartists 263
Tory Chartists 264
Hungering Chartists 265
Factious Chartists ib.
Orangeism 266
Duke of Cumberland 268
Col. Fairman ib.
Orange Peers 271
Plot 273
Action of Orangeism 274
Detection ib.
Committee of Inquiry 275
Mr. Hume's Resolutions ib.
Address to the King 276
Col. Fairman's Contumacy ib.
Proposed Prosecution
Death of Haywood
Address to the King
Dissolution of Orangeism
Ireland from 1835—40
Various Theories
Religious Rancour
Distrust of Law
Principle of Government
Political Corruption
Municipal Deterioration
Uncertainty of Subsistence
Fundamental Difficulty
Insecurity of Title to Land
Impartiality to Sects
Ribbonmen and Orangemen
Catholics in the Jury-box
National Education
Impartiality of Law
Decrease of Crime
The Viceroy's Clemency
Thomas Drummond
Reform of Constabulary
Of Magistracy
Prevention of Crime
Repression of Crime
Government by Functionaries or by
Apostles
The Queen
O'Connell
Father Mathew
Temperance Movement
The Franchise and Registration
Lord Stanley's Registration Bill
The Government Bill
Failure of both
Political Education
Municipal Reform
The Measure
Certainty of Maintenance ,
O'Connell on the Poor Law
Question of a Poor Law
History of the Measure
Its early Operation
Resign ation of Lord N ormanby
Whig Government of Ireland
1835—38.
Church and State 317
Church of Scotland 318
Severance not Dissent ib.
Patronage ib.
Dissent 319
Resort to Church Extension ib.
Commission of Inquiry 320
Teinds ib.
Bishops' Teinds 321
PAGE
277
ib.
ib.
278
279
280
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
281
282
ib.
283
ib.
285
ib.
286
287
288
ib.
291
ib.
ib.
ib.
ib.
292
ib.
294
295
297
298
299
302
ib.
ib.
305
309
ib.
311
312
314
315
ib.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Reports of Commission 321
Election Struggles 322
Impotence of the Church ib.
Government favours Church Extension... ib.
Incompetence of Parliament and Ministers 323
1835—37.
Agricultural Distress 325
Committee of Inquiry ib.
Result ib.
Finance 326
Duties ib.
Budget 327
Distress ib.
Joint Stock Banks 328
Committee of Inquiry 329
Acts ib.
National Registration 331
Marriage ib.
Births and Deaths 332
First Operation ib.
Imprisonment for Debt 333
Counsel for Felons ib.
Coroners' Powers ib.
New Houses of Parliament ib.
Admission of Ladies to Debates 835
Privilege of Parliament 330
Weakness of the Administration 337
Illness of the King 339
HisDeath 341
Accession of Queen Victoria ib.
Severance of Hanover from England 342
The Council ib.
William IV 343
His Funeral 344
Queen Victoria 345
Queen proclaimed 346
Continuance of the Melbourne Ministry . 347
Party Discontents 348
The Queen's Favour ib.
Radical Reform Party 351
1835—38.
Portents in Europe 354
France ib.
The Representation ib.
Free Trade Inquiry 355
Monster Trial 356
Plots 357
Strasburg Insurrection 358
Press Law ib.
Foreign Relations 359
Algeria 360
Release of State Prisoners ib.
Marriage of the Duke of Orleans 361
Of the Princess Marie ib.
Distress .. ib.
PAGE
Dissolution of the Chamber 362
Death of Talleyrand ib.
Spain ib.
Queen Regent ib.
Queen Isabella ib.
Carlist War 363
British Legion 364
Three young Queens 365
Portugal ib.
The English in Portugal 366
Portuguese Indigence ib.
Central Europe ib.
Zoll Verein 867
Austrian Commercial Treaty ib.
Russia 368
The Emperor at Warsaw ib.
Passage of the Dardanelles 369
Circassia ib.
Persia ib.
Cracow ib.
Death of the Emperor of Austria 370
Coronation of his successor ib.
Hanover 371
Proceedings of the King ib.
Denmark 373
Opening of a Constitution ib.
Swedenand Norway ib.
Holland and Belgium ib.
Young Germany 373
Switzerland ib.
Prince Louis Napoleon 374
Zillerthal Protestants ib.
Lutherans of Prussia ib.
Mixed Marriages ib.
The Pietists 375
Hungary ib.
1838—41.
Canada 376
Lord Durham ib.
Sketch of Canada as a British Colony ... 377
The Assembly of the Council 378
Stoppage of Official Salaries 379
Canada Resolutions ib.
Rebellion ib.
Gosford Commission ib.
Constitution of Lower Canada suspended 380
Lord Durham's Offices 381
His Powers 392
Executive Council 383
State of the Canadas ib.
Speedy Improvements ib.
Scheme of Federal Union of Colonies 384
Disposal of Prisoners 395
Ordinance of the 28th of June ib.
Approval at Home 395
Attacks by Opposition jb.
via
CONTENTS.
Lord Brougham's Declaratory Bill
Ministers succumb
Confused Result
Disallowance of the Ordinance
Retirement of Lord Glenelg
Reception of the News in Canada
Necessity of Resignation
The Prisoners
Proclamation
Report
Return of the Commission
Incidents
Lord Durham's Decline and Death ,.
His Character
Mr. Charles Buller
Lord Sydenham(Mr. C. Poulett Thomson)
Responsible Government
Union of the Canadas
Death of Lord Sydenham
His Character
Jamaica. The Planters
Imperial Agents
Lord Sligo
Sir Lionel Smith
Proposed Suspension of the Constitution...
Weakness of Ministers
Their Resignation
Bedchamber Question
Sir R. Peel summoned
Household Appointments
Restoration of the Whig Ministers
Election of a Speaker
New Jamaica Bill
Official Changes
Queen's Engagement
Her Marriage
Prince Albert's Annuity
Dark Times
Successive Harvests
Grinding of Corn in Bond
Discontents
Trade Unions
Factory Question
Chartism
National Convention
National Petition
John Frost
Riots
Rising at Newport ,
Origin of the Anti-corn-law League
Delegates
The Ministers
Motion for Inquiry refused
Consequences
Attacks on the Queen ,
Dockyard Fires
PAGE
386
387
ib.
ib.
388
ib.
ib.
389
ib.
390
ib.
ib.
391
ib.
392
ib.
893
ib.
394
ib
396
397
ib.
ib.
ib.
398
ib.
ib.
399
ib.
401
ib.
ib.
402
ib.
403
ib.
405
406
407
408
ib.
409
ib.
410
411
ib.
ib.
413
ib.
415
ib.
ib.
416
ib.
418
PAGE
Storms 418
Repeal Agitation ib.
Troubles in the East ib.
Birth of the Princess Royal ib.
1837—1841.
Criminal Law Commission 419
Restriction of the Punishment of Death... ib.
Results of the Commission 421
Infants' Custody Bill ib.
Lord Brougham on the position of Wives 422
Division in the Lords 423
Bill of 1839 made Law ib.
Post Office System 425
Rowland Hill 427
His Facts ib.
His Proposal ib.
History of the Movement 428
The Reform made Law 429
Immediate Results 430
Further Results 431
Privilege of Parliament 432
State of the Case ib.
The Sheriffs 433
The House ib.
The Court of Queen's Bench 434
Bill of Enactment 435
Unsatisfactory Conclusion 436
Imbecility of the Administration ib.
Queen's Speech ib.
Finance 437
Last Resort ib.
The Budget ; ib.
Fixed Corn Duty proposed 438
Defeat on the Sugar Duties ib.
Vote of Want of Confidence ib.
Dissolution of Parliament 439
1835—1841.
The Queen 440
At Guildhall ib.
The Coronation ib.
Her Marriage 441
Birth of Heir to the Throne ib.
State of the People ib.
Crime ib.
Times Testimonial 442
Game Laws. Lord Suffield ib.
Opium Eating ib.
Church Building and Bishoprics 443
Religious Intolerance ib.
Grace Darling ib.
Agricultural Associations . . . , 444
India Cotton 446
Niger Expedition ib.
CONTENT*.
IX
President Steamer 447
Royal Exchange burnt '. ib.
Other Fires 448
Balloons ib.
Thames Conservancy ib.
The Eglintoun Tournament 449
Mummy Inquest ib.
Trial of a Peer ib.
Suicides from the Monument 450
India Mails ib.
Acarus Crossii 451
Deaths 452
Men of Science 452, 453
Travellers 453, 454
Court Personages 455
Wealthy Personages , ib.
Politicians 456—460
Religious Philanthropists 460
Musicians ib.
Architects 461
Artists ib.
Actors 462
Men of Letters 463
Orientalists 464
Authors — light Literature 465 — 467
Historians 467
Philosophers 468 — 470
1841.
General Election 471
New Parliament 474
Queen's Speech ib.
The Address amended ib.
Queen's Household changed 475
Resignation of Ministers ib.
New Administration 477
Lord Aberdeen ib.
Sir James Graham 478
Lord Stanley ib.
Lord Wharncliffe ib.
Mr. Gladstone ib.
First Nights in Parliament 479
Prorogation 481
Policy of China 482
State of China 484
The Opium Question ib.
British Superintendents — Lord Napier ... 485
Political Relations in Abeyance 486
Opium Traffic prohibited 487
Negligence at Home ib.
Crisis 488
War ib.
Cluisan taken 490
Negotiation 491
Warfare ib.
Captain Elliot superseded 492
Sir Henry Pottinger ib.
PAGE
Capture of Ningpo 492
Treaty of Peace 493
Governor- General sent to China 494
Opium Compensation ib.
Sir Henry Pottinger's Testimony 495
India 496
Troubles ib.
North West Frontier ib.
Fear of Russia 497
Designs of Persia ib.
Rulers of Affghanistan 498
British Agency at Caubool 499
Herat 500
Explanations of Russia ib.
Lord Auckland's Declaration of War
against Affghanistan 501
Affghan Princes ib.
Scheme of Alliance 502
Ameers of Scinde ib.
Invasion of Affghanistan ib.
The Bolan Pass 503
Ghuznee ib.
Settlement at Caubool ib.
Khiva 504
Troubles of the British 505
Portents ib.
The Punjaub ib.
Recall of Lord Auckland 506
Lord Ellenborough ib.
The British at Caubool ib.
Rising at Caubool • 507
Murder of the Envoy 508
Retreat of the British ib.
Lady Sale. General Sale ib.
Relief from India ,.. 510
Murder of Shah Soojah ib.
Evacuation of Affghanistan ib.
Lord Ellenborough's Proclamation 511
Recall of Lord Ellenborough 512
Sir Henry Hardinge, Governor- General... ib.
Scinde in 1842 ib.
Battle of Meanee 513
Gwalior ib.
Wyburd, Stoddart, and Conolly 513, 514
Borneo 514
James Brooke ib.
Labuan ceded to Great Britain 615
1842-1843.
Condition and Fate of Parties 516
The Distress 520
Riots 522
Rebecca and her Children 523
Commission of Inquiry 526
South Wales Turnpike Act ib.
The Court ib.
I
Alarms 627
Murder of Mr. Drummond ib.
Opening of the Session of 1842 529
Secession of the Duke of Buckingham ... ib.
The Queen's Speech 530
The Corn Question ib.
The Ministerial Scheme ib.
Corn Bill of 1842 531
Its Reception 532
Bill becomes Law 533
Financial Statement ib.
Financial Scheme 536
Income Tax ib.
New Tariff 537
Passage of the Bill 542
Sugar Duties ib.
The Domestic View ib.
The Anti-Slavery View 543
Poor Law Renewal Act 544
Law of Literary Property ib.
Petitions for an Extension of Copyright... 546
Proposed Bills 547
Copyright Law of 1842 ib.
Election Compromises ib.
Mr. Roebuck 548
Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds ... 549
Proceedings in the House 550
Character of the Session ib.
Legislation for the Working Classes 551
Lord Howick's Distress Motion 552
Lord Ashley 553
Mines and Collieries Act ....• 554
Government Factory Bill 555
Education Clauses 556
Education Clauses withdrawn 558
Vacillation about the New Bill 559
Decision against the Ten Hour Clause ... ib.
Debate on Colonization 560
Early-closing Movement ib.
Case of Governesses ib.
Improvement of Dwellings 561
1841—1846.
Movements in Ireland 562
O'Connell's Proceedings ib.
" Monster Meetings" 565
Arbitration Courts 566
Anti-rent Movement 567
Irish Arms Act ib.
Clontarf Meeting 568
Arrest of Repeal Leaders 569
The Trials 570
The Verdict 572
The Sentence ib.
Appeal to the Lords ib.
Judgment reversed 573
PAGE
Demonstrations 574
O'Connell as a Landlord ib.
His Decline 575
His Death ib.
Industrial Improvements 576
Charitable Bequests Act ib.
Penal Acts Repeal 577
Viceroyalty discussed ib.
Endowment of Catholic Clergy 578
Maynooth Grant 579
New Colleges 580
The Devon Commission 581
Coercion Bill ib.
Bill lost 582
Threatenings of Famine ib.
1839—1844.
Church Patronage in Scotland 583
The Veto Law 584
The Auchterarder Case ib.
The Strathbogie Case 585
Position of the Church Party 586
Lord Aberdeen's Bill 587
The General Assembly 588
Its Memorial ib.
Reply of Government ib.
Quoad Sacra Ministers ib.
Petition of the Assembly ib.
Failure ib.
Preparations for Secession 589
The Secession ib.
Counter Proceedings 590
Act of Separation ib.
Spirit of the Movement ib.
The Religious World in England 591
Troubles in the Church 592
At Oxford 593
Tractarian Secession 595
Death of Dr. Arnold ib.
, Sydney Smith 596
Augmentation of Clergy 597
Colonial Bishoprics 598
Consolidation of Sees 599
Struggles of Government and Church ... 600
Dissenters' Chapels Bill 601
Relief to Jews 603
1842—1845.
Canada Corn Question 605
Confusion of Parties 606
Passage of the Bill ib.
Corn-law Debates ib.
Richard Cobden 607
The League 610
London Election 613
Anecdotes .. 614
CONTENTS.
League Registration 615
Freehold Land Scheme ib.
The Game Laws 616
Financial Statement, 1843 620
Of 1844 ib.
Sugar Duties 621
Mr. Miles's Motion ib.
Crisis of Parties 622
Reduction of the S£ per Cents 623
Bank Act of 1844 624
Railway Extension 628
Railway Legislation 629
Delivery of Plans 631
Gauge Question 632
Poor Law Amendments 683
Post-office Espionage ib.
Alien Act 635
Antagonism in Europe 637
Russia ib.
The Caucasus 638
Servia ib.
Cracow 639
Russian Jews ib.
The Czar and the Pope ib.
Gregory XVI 640
Portugal and Spain ib.
Switzerland 641
Hanover ib.
Sweden ib.
Turkey and Egypt ib.
Route to India 648
France ib.
War Spirit ib.
Right of Search 645
Death of the Duke of Orleans 646
Royal Visits ib.
Tahiti ib.
Spanish Question 648
Death of the Duke D'Augouleme 651
Boulogne Invasion ib.
Napoleon's Remains ib.
Algeria ib.
M. Guizot in 1842 652
American Relations 653
The Frontier ib.
Right of Search 654
"TheCreole" ib.
" Repeal" Sympathy 655
" Repudiation" ib.
Texas and Mexico 656
Boundary Question ib.
Oregon Question 657
India 659
Sikh Invasion ib.
The Sandwich Islands 660
Van Diemen's Land ib.
PAGE
South Australia 661
New Zealand 662
Canada 664
Compensation Question ib.
Fires' at Quebec 666
At St. John's ib.
At Hamburg ib.
At Smyrna ib.
At New York ib.
1845.
The Corn Question 667
Mr. Gladstone's Retirement 668
Financial Statement ib.
Agricultural Interests 670
Portents 671
Bad Weather 673
The Potato Rot ib.
The League 674
More Portents 675
Lord John Russell's Letter ib.
Cabinet Councils 676
Announcement of the ' Times' 677
Resignation of Ministers 678
Negotiation with Lord John Russell ib.
Return of Sir Robert Peel to Power 679
Death of Lord Wharncliffe ib.
Sir Robert Peel's Position ib.
1846.
Opening of the Session 681
Further Remission of Duties ib.
The Revenue prosperous ib.
The Corn Duties 682
Relief to Farmers ib.
The Issue ib.
The Minister 683
Nature of the Reform 685
Dissolution of the League ib.
Irish Life Bill ib.
Resignation of Ministers 686
The retiring Minister ib.
1841—1846.
Deaths.— Royal 687
Of Statesmen and Warriors 687—689
Of Artists 690—692
Men of Science 693, 694
Literary Men 695—699
Other Benefactors 699—701
Living Benefactors 701
George Stephenson 702
Barry ib.
Macready ib.
Turner . ib.
Xll
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Wordsworth 702
Joanna Baillie ib.
Rogers ib.
Alfred Tennyson ib.
Wilson 703
Jeffrey ib.
Thomas Macaulay ib.
Landor ib.
Hallam ib.
Carlyle ib.
Maria Edgeworth 704
Bulwer ib.
Dickens ib.
Punch 705
Herschel ib.
Faraday ib.
1815—1846.
National Advancement 707
Electric Telegraph ib.
PAGE
Sun-Painting 707
LordRosse's Telescope ib.
The Thames Tunnel 708
British Scientific Association ib.
Geology 709
Medicine ib.
Sanitary Improvement 710
Agricultural Associations 711
Prisons and Criminal Law ib.
Extinction of Slavery 712
Education ib.
Popular Music 713
Popular Art ib.
The Educator ib.
Methods of Charity 714
Duelling ib.
Political Morality ib.
What remains 715
The Labour Question ib.
Lists of Cabinet Ministers, from 1814 to
1846 , 717—7-21
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
DURING
THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
THE valetudinarian King was gone, with his moods and caprices: and 1830.
with him went all the considerations of expediency which had deter-
mined the political conduct of the year, on every side. It was not now
necessary to have the most peremptory man in the empire to hold its first
office, for the purpose of keeping its sovereign in order. There was no longer
an incessant appeal to the generosity of the three bodies in Opposition to
abstain from joining to throw out the Ministry. There need no longer be a
mere show of transacting business, while in reality nothing was done —
through the mechanical character of the Administration on the one hand, and
the desultory forbearance of the Opposition on the other. It was no longer
necessary that the country should be without a government in fact, while the
nation was kindling and stirring under the news from France, which became
more interesting every day. There was now a king who did not shut himself WILLIAM iv.
up with his discontents and his flatterers, but who walked in London streets
with his umbrella under his arm, and gave a frank and sailor-like greeting to
all old acquaintances, whoever they might be. There was no longer a King
who regarded every contravention of his prejudices as a personal injury ; but
one who sincerely and kindly desired the welfare of his people, without any
regard to his personal feelings. He gave an immediate and strong proof of
this by continuing the Duke of Wellington and his colleagues in power, not-
withstanding a well-understood personal disinclination, and from the pure
desire not to unsettle public affairs till the national will should have shown
itself in the elections. He had not been many days on the throne, when he
took the opportunity, at some public collation, of proposing the Duke of
Wellington's health, and declaring, in a manner more well meant than
dignified, that it was a mistake to suppose that he had any ill-feeling —
any feeling but of entire confidence in his good friend, the Duke of Wel-
lington. A steady man, of determined will, he certainly did require, as
head of his government, as every British sovereign must, in days when
VOL. n. B
2 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. sovereigns have little power, and scanty means of knowledge of the national
v — -v— ^^ mind and needs : and in this case, the sovereign was at no time a man of
ability, and often liable to attacks of incapacitating illness ; and he was sixty-
five years of age : but he was honest, unselfish, and earnestly desirous to do
his duty well : so that the steadiness of his Prime Minister was required, not
to control him, but to inform, and guide, and aid him in the fulfilment of his
function. There was in no direction any necessity for the Wellington Ministry
to remain in power, unless by the wish of the nation : and what the desire of
the nation was, the elections would soon show.
The late King had died on the 26th of June. On the 29th, William IV.
KINO'S MESSAGE, sent down his first Message to Parliament — just after the unhappy King of
France had addressed his last words to his people, and while the elections
Hansard, xxv. 706. were proving that he had lost all. King William's Message, after adverting
to* the loss sustained by himself and the nation, declared his opinion that the
sooner the necessary new elections took place the better, and recommended
the Commons to make provision, without delay, for the maintenance of the
public service during the interval between the close of the present Session and
the meeting of the new Parliament.
This was veiy well, as far as it went ; but it struck every body on the instant
that there was an enormous omission. The King was childless ; and the
REGENCY QUES- Princess Victoria, who was to succeed him, if he died without heirs, was only
eleven years old. Without express provision, there is no recognition by the
law of the minority of a sovereign : and if the King should die before the
new parliament met, this child would be sovereign without control, unless
some provision were made for a regency. Something must be done about this,
many members of both Houses and of all parties said ; but they took a day
to consider how they should proceed. On this first day, they spoke merely on
that part of the Message which related to the death of the late King — the
Duke of Wellington's motion in reply being seconded by Lord Grey, and Sir
Robert Peel's by Mr. Brougham. All was thus far civility and harmony; a
civility and harmony which endured for that day only.
On the 30th, Lord Grey in the one House, and Lord Althorp in the other,
moved for the delay of a day in replying to the Message, in the understood hope
that the King would send down a request to parliament to consider the subject
of a regency. The grounds on which the Ministers resisted this proposition
were such as now excite astonishment. They talked of the excellence of the
King's health, of "not indulging in such gloomy forebodings," of this not
being a matter of pressing necessity, and of its being so important in its
nature that it should be left for the deliberation of a new parliament, instead
of being brought forward when the minds of members were occupied with
their approaching election conflicts : — the fact remaining clear to all men's
minds, that by an overturn of the King's carriage, or a fall of his horse, or
the slipping of his foot, or an attack of illness, the country might be plunged
into inextricable difficulty, from which the legislation of a day or two now
might save it. The Dukes of Newcastle and Richmond, Lords Wellesley and
Hansard, Xxv. 767. Londonderry, and even Lord Eldon, voted with Lord Grey, though the Duke
had said that he should regard a defeat as the signal for the dissolution of the
Ministry. The Ministry, however, obtained a majority of 44 in the House of
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 3
Peers, and of 46 in the Commons. The general conviction resulting from this 1830.
affair was that all compromise was now over; that the Duke was laying aside ^— - ^-»— -
his method of balancing the sections of Opposition against each other, and
intending to try his strength, while the Opposition no longer thought it
necessary to spare him. Mr. Brougham lost no time in taking out in full the
license which he had of late, on the whole, denied himself, and on this night,
used language and excited uproar which deprived the opponents of Parliamentary
Reform of their plea of the dignity and decorum of the House as then
constituted. Some one having complained of a " peculiar cry " (whether a baa, MANNERS OF THE
a bray, or a grunt, Hansard does not say) — a " peculiar cry which was heard
amidst the cheers of the House," Mr. Brougham observed that "by a
wonderful disposition of nature, every animal had its peculiar mode of
expressing itself; and he was too much of a philosopher to quarrel with any of
those modes." And presently after, he called up Sir Robert Peel to a personal Hansard, xxv.
altercation, by saying, after a reference to the Duke of Wellington, " Him I
accuse not. It is you I accuse — his flatterers — his mean, fawning parasites."
Such quarrels are always got rid of with more or less quibbling and ill grace ;
but it should be noted that they did occur before the great opening of the
representation which was now near at hand. Much was said by the enemies of
Parliamentary Reform of the vulgarity of manners which would certainly show
itself in the House when the manufacturing towns were represented : but at
this time it was the complaint of strangers who attended the debates, that not
only violence of language was occasionally very great, but that offensive noises —
the braying, baaing, crowing, mewing of animals — were ventured upon and
tolerated in the House to an extent which would not be thought of in any other
association assembled for grave purposes.
The King's answer to the Address contained no allusion to the subject of a
Regency ; nor did he make any reference to it in any form. The omission
was daring ; but nobody doubted that the Ministers pressed upon him, as
upon Parliament, the consideration of "a great present inconvenience" being
of more consequence than a " remote future risk : " and the King did not die Hansard, xxv.
during the recess, so as to put the fallacy to the proof. How much he thought
of dying during those weeks, and whether he felt like a family man who is
prevented by vexatious accidents from making his will, and who grows nervous
about his personal safety till the thing is done, there is no knowing : but the
matter was discussed with deep interest in the homes of the land — children
and adults wondering whether the little Princess was aware of her position
7— whether, if the King were now to die, she would have the sense to desire a
regency for some years, or whether she would choose to rule according to her
own pleasure; — and if so, what kind of persons she would select for her
ministers. There was another consideration uppermost in all minds, and largely
concerned in the question, though it could not be openly spoken of in Parlia-
ment. After the King's death, the Duke of Cumberland would be her eldest
uncle. He must succeed to the crown of Hanover, which descends only to male
heirs. Would he go to Hanover and stay there, and let England alone ?
To say that the Duke of Cumberland was unpopular throughout the empire
would be to use language too feeble for the fact. He was hated ; and hated
with that mixture of fear which belongs to total disesteem. It was widely felt
4 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boo* IV.
1830. that the Princess would not be safe, if unprotected by a regency on ascending
s— - ">"• — ' the throne in childhood : and it was generally believed that the nation would
not submit to any kind or degree of rule, governance, or influence, from the
Duke of Cumberland. This being the state of the Royal family, and the
warning condition of France being before all eyes, it was an act of extraordinary
rashness in the Ministry to insist on the dissolution of parliament before any
provision had been made for a Regency.
PROROGATION. It was carefully pointed out, when the King came down to prorogue parliament,
that he appeared to be in excellent health. There was something exhilarating
in the sight of a King, in excellent health, coming down with an open face
and frank demeanour to meet his parliament. He wore his admiral's uniform
Hansard xxv. under the royal robes. There was not much in his Speech ; for the session did
not supply much matter. The most important point was that with which the
Speech concluded ; an expression of his desire that, as parliament had declared
its will that civil distinctions on account of religious opinion should cease, his
subjects universally should join with him in promoting peace, and burying all
such differences in oblivion.
DISSOLUTION. The next day, July 24th, parliament was dissolved by proclamation ; and
in a few hours the bustle of the new elections began. In a few days, some of
them were actually decided : for the writs were made returnable on the 14th of
September.
The people of England, Scotland, and Ireland, met together in crowds
for other purposes than electing their representatives. By this time, the
SYMPATHY WI*H three days in Paris were over: the French people had thrown off the
FRANCE. Polignac tyranny, and the English were not slow to congratulate them.
Public meetings were held in counties and towns to prepare addresses for this
purpose, and a long file of deputations crossed the channel to present these
addresses in Paris. At these meetings, men spoke to each other, in high
exhilaration, of the bearing of these French events upon their own political
affairs. They pointed out to each other how the representation was the central
ground of struggle; and how victory there was total victory. They agreed
upon the powerlessness of Kings, Cabinets, and armies, when in opposition to
the popular will : and all who were in any degree on the liberal side in politics
saw that now was the time to secure that Reform of Parliament which was a
necessary condition of all other political reforms. That was a stirring time
in England. Again, the men of the towns went out early in the summer
mornings, or late at night, to meet the mails; and brought news to the
breakfast table, or to the eager listeners round the lamp, that Paris was in a state
of siege ; — that the Parisians had taken Paris ; — that the French King was
coming to England; that the Chambers had met at the appointed time, as
if no impediment had arisen ; — that the tricolour had been seen in the Thames,
and that the Duke of Wellington, riding along the wharves, had turned away
his head from the sight with unconcealed anger and mortification ; — that,
though the King had called the Duke his friend, it was clear that we could
not have an intimate of Prince Polignac for our Prime Minister; — that
almost the whole newspaper press of England was hostile to the present
administration ; — and, finally, that the men of Yorkshire had sent such a
requisition to Harry Brougham to become their representative as left scarcely a
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 5
doubt of his triumphant return ; — a portentous sign of the times, if such should 1830.
be the issue. v—*" ^~— ^
There is something very affecting to those who were of mature years at
that time in looking back upon these glories of the Hariy Brougham who MB. BROUGHAM.
was the hope and admiration of so large a portion of the liberal body in the
nation. As he himself said, he had now arrived at the pinnacle of his fame :
he had attained an honour which could never be paralleled. When he said
this, he did not contemplate decline ; nor did those who listened to him ; nor
did the liberal party generally. Those who did were some close observers
who had never had confidence in him, and who knew that sobriety of thought
and temperance of feeling were essential to success in a commanding position*
though they might not be much missed in one of struggle and antagonism.
These observers, who had seen that with all his zeal, his strong spirit of pugnacity,
his large views of popular rights and interests, Henry Brougham gave no
evidences of magnanimity, patience, moderation, and self-forgetfulness, felt
now, as throughout his course, that power would be too much for him, and
that his splendid talents were likely to become conspicuous disgraces. This
was what was soon to be tried : and in the interval, he stood, in these times
of popular excitement, the first man in England ; — called by the popular voice to
represent the first constituency in England, in a season when constituencies
and their chosen representatives were the most prominent objects in the
nation's eye. Mr. Brougham had been twenty-one years in public life: his
endowments were the most splendid conceivable, short of the inspiration of
genius ; and they had been, thus far, employed on behalf of popular interests.
Men thought of his knowledge and sagacity on colonial affairs — shown early in
his career: they thought of his brave and faithful advocacy of the Queen's
cause : they thought of his labours for popular enlightenment — of his furtherance
of Mechanics' Institutes, of the London University, and of the Society for the
Diffusion of Useful Knowledge : — they thought of his plans for the
reform of the law, and his labours in making justice accessible to the poor:
they thought of his mighty advocacy of the claims of the slave, and of his
thundering denunciations of oppression in that and every other relation; and
they reasonably regarded him as a great man, and the hope of his country.
It was so reasonable to regard him thus, that those who had misgivings were
ashamed of them, and concealed them so anxiously that it is certain that
Mr. Brougham had as fair a field as any man ever had for showing what he could
do. But, though those who knew him best concealed their doubts, the doubts
were there — doubts whether his celebrated oratory was not mainly factitious
— vehement and passionate, but not simple and heartfelt; — doubts whether
a temper of jealousy and irritability would not poison any work into which
it could find entrance; — doubts whether a vanity so restless and insatiable
must not speedily starve out the richest abilities; — doubts whether a habit
of speech so exaggerated, of statements so inaccurate, would not soon be
fatal to respect and confidence; — doubts about the perfect genuineness of his
popular sympathies — not charging him with hypocrisy, but suspecting that
the people were an object in his imagination, rather than an interest in his
heart — a temporary idol to him, as he was to them. These doubts made the
spectacle of Henry Brougham at the head of the representation of Great
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IY.
1830. Britain an interesting and anxious one to those who knew him well, whether
from personal intercourse or from a close study of his career. With all the
other liberals of England it was an occasion of unbounded triumph. He has
since publicly and repeatedly referred to this period as that of his highest
glory; and there are now none, probably, who do not agree with him. At
YORKSHIRE EIEC- this Yorkshire election, when four representatives were required, five candidates
came forward, and Mr. Brougham stood next to Lord Morpeth, who headed
the poll.
A very few days were enough to show the Ministers what they had to expect
NEW HOUSE. from the new House. The Tory magnates, whom they had offended by their
liberal measures, took this opportunity of revenging themselves, and returned
members opposed to them, who, though not liberals, served the purposes of the
liberals nearly as well as if they had been comrades. Two brothers and a
brother-in-law of Sir Robert Peel were thrown out. Mr. Hume came in for the
county of Middlesex, while the Duke of Newcastle was causing the return
of members hostile to the Ministry. Their faithful friend, the Duke of Rutland,
could not carry the county of Cambridge ; and Lord Ebrington was returned for
Devonshire. No cabinet Minister obtained a seat by anything like open and
popular election. Of the eighty-two county members, only twenty-eight were
avowedly on the ministerial side, while forty-seven were avowedly on the other
side. Of the twenty-eight members representing the greatest cities, three
were ministerialists, and twenty-four liberals. Such being the state of things
where the elections were open and popular, and the proprietors of close boroughs
being still steady anti-catholics, the fate of the Ministry was sealed, and
known to be so before the summer was over. Even the revolutions on the
continent, now following one another with a rapidity which, at a different time,
would have pressed all the Conservatives in England into close union, had
not at present that effect. The great soldier, the peremptory commander, the
Iron Duke, must be got rid of; and then, all good Conservatives would
join at once, and see what must be done to save the Church and the State.
The Ministry, on their part, hoped to effect some good understanding in the
interval betwixt August and November. In September, an event occurred
which seemed to open some prospect of this ; though the Ministers themselves
were too much touched and grieved at heart to think of such a result so soon as
some of their less interested adherents.
The first great English railway was completed, and the line from Liverpool to
Manchester was opened on Wednesday, the 15th of September. The Duke
of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and other great men, arrived to take part in
the ceremony, which was to have been succeeded by a banquet, at Manchester.
Mr. Huskisson was already on the spot, having arrived, as soon as the state of
his feeble health permitted it, to visit the constituency of Liverpool, who had
DEATH OF MR. elected him in his absence. Before the trains left Liverpool, a particular request
was made that none of the company would leave the carriages, and the printed
bills exhibited a caution to the same effect; but when the trains stopped at
Parkside, several of the party alighted, and a mutual friend of the Duke of
Wellington and Mr. Huskisson thought that this would be a good opportunity
for bringing them together, and putting an end to the coolness which had
existed between them since Mr. Huskisson's dismissal from the cabinet.
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 3
Both parties were willing and cordial. When the Duke saw Mr. Huskisson 1830.
approaching, he advanced and held out his hand ; and almost before the v— "• >^~— x
friendly grasp was loosened, some one took alarm at the approach of a
locomotive, and there was a general cry to those who were standing in the road,
" Get in, get in ! " If Mr. Huskisson had stood still beside the car, he would
have been safe. Whether, feeble and nervous from illness, he was attempting to
get round the open door of the car, in order to enter it, or whether he was
merely holding by it, appears not to be known. The event was that the open
door by which he held was struck by the locomotive, and threw down Mr.
Huskisson, who fell, with his leg doubled across the rail, so that the limb was
instantly crushed. He was at once aware that the accident was fatal, and he
died that night, at the parsonage at Eccles, where he was conveyed with all
skill and tenderness. The Ministers were in no spirits for further public
exhibition that day, and they would fain have withdrawn ; but it was repre-
sented to them how serious would be the public alarm in such a place as
Manchester ; how report would exaggerate the mischief if they were not seen j
and how fatal might even be the effect on future railway travelling of a false
panic that day ; and they consented to proceed. All was now gloom, and the
chief guests refused to leave the car at Manchester, or do more than the public
safety required.
It was not they who immediately began to consider what effect this mournful
death would have on their political position ; but, as was natural, there
were many who did. The " Canningites " would now merge into another
party. For some time there had been no sufficient peculiarity of doctrine or
principle to necessitate their forming a separate party ; and that they did stand
aloof, was owing to the state of feeling between the Duke and Mr. Huskisson.
That was all over now. There was no quarrel which survivors ought to keep
alive ; and it was hoped that the Grants and Lord Palmerston would strengthen
the Ministry in the Lower House. It was too late for this, however. The
Ministry had done, their utmost, and in vain, to exclude Mr. Charles Grant
from Inverness ; and Mr. Robert Grant had thrown out a brother of Sir Robert
Peel's at Norwich. The few remaining " Canningites " advanced towards
liberalism from this day. The only hope now was that the bringing forward
of the parliamentary reform question in revolutionary times would alarm all
but the extreme Liberals into union at the last moment.
Up to the last moment, indeed, matters looked gloomy enough. In October
the Viceroy of Ireland, Sir Henry Hardinge, issued a proclamation intended
to prevent the meeting of an Association for promoting the Repeal of the Annual Register,
Union. The prohibition was positive and comprehensive ; but British govern- 1830> Ch
ments, and British officials, did not yet know Daniel O'Connell; how impossible O'CONNELL AND
it was to restrain him by law in the prosecution of his enterprises, or to have T*
dealings with him, as between man and man. Daniel O'Connell issued his
proclamations forthwith, in which he arraigned " that paltry, contemptible,
little English soldier, that had the audacity to put his pitiful and contemptible
name to an atrocious Polignac proclamation;" and laid down the law about
obtaining the Repeal of the Union. He declared, as he continued to declare
to the end of his life, that the Repeal of the Union was just at hand, and that
" no power on earth could prevent it, except the folly or crimes of some of
8 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
1830. the Irish themselves." He proposed "that a society should be formed to meet
*—--~^~~ ' in Dublin, to be called the Association of Irish Volunteers ; the motto of the
journal, Oct. 23? society to be ' 1782/ over the word ' Resurgam.'* The members were to be
unarmed, open in all their proceedings, and to be active, in the first place, in
procuring petitions from every parish in Ireland in behalf of Repeal of the
Union. In the course of his speeches and proclamations on this matter, Mr.
O'Connell used language with regard to Sir H. Hardinge, for which he was
called to account by that gentleman. A recurrence to this fact seems to take
us back to a distant time indeed ; all modern recollections of O'Connell being
such as to attach an idea of ridicule to any person resenting his foulness of
language. On this occasion he behaved as disgracefully as possible, shuffling
about what expressions he did or did not use, and refusing to accept a challenge.
There cannot be a finer spectacle in our time than an honourable man refusing
to fight a duel from a conviction of the sin and folly of that kind of ordeal in
a Christian nation and a modern age. But then it is essential that he be an
honourable man, observing the Christian rule of doing as he would be done by,
and peaceable and inoffensive, as truly brave and considerate men always are.
It was far otherwise with O'Connell : he was the bully all over; the most foul-
mouthed railer of his time ; and, till men left off calling him to account, he always
fell back upon his conscientious objection to duelling. He indulged in offence,
and then made a merit of declining the penalty. As his sons grew up, he
permitted them, two or three times, to fight his duels for him ; but the public
cry of disgust and indignation was so strong, that he at length forbade his
sons to fight in his quarrels, and made a merit out of that. The correspond-
Annuai Register, ence on occasion of this offence to Sir H. Hardinge settles the matter for ever
—us. about O'Conneirs honour, and the possibility of having dealings with him, as
between man and man ; and it is referred to here as an evidence that all parties
who afterwards courted him, or allied themselves with him, more or less, for
whatever political purposes, were not entitled to complain when he betrayed,
insulted, and reviled them. That any terms should have been held with
O'Connell by governments, English public, or gentlemen, in or out of parliament,
after his present agitation for Repeal, and his published correspondence with
Sir H. Hardinge's aide, in October, 1830, is one of the moral disgraces of our
time. It shows that a man's abilities and political influence can secure to him
an impunity for bullying, cowardice, and falsehood, which would drive a man
of meaner talents and power from any society in the land. It is at this time
that we find first recorded that expression of O'ConnelFs which he used with
the utmost freedom of application, for the rest of his life. The administration
was " base, bloody, and brutal : " and henceforward every law, every cabinet,
every person, and every party, that he objected to was "base, bloody, and
brutal \" and it really appears as if every successive party to whom the epithets
were applied winced under them as if they had never been used before, or as if
they carried any weight.
REPEAL OF THE Our country and our time have, since this date, rung with the Irish cry of
" Repeal of the Union ! " and this seems the occasion on which to look and
see what it means. There are many in France and Germany, and a multitude
in America, who would be suprised that any question could be made as
to the meaning of that cry. They suppose the case to be plain enough ; that
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
«
England conquered Ireland,, and has ever since oppressed her ; draining her of 1830.
her produce, insulting her religion, heing indifferent to her discontents, and
careless of her woes. They suppose that the entire Irish people wish to he
wholly separated from England, and insist that a nation which desires to live
by itself, and to govern itself, should be allowed to do so. Of course, they
believe that the reason why England does not let Ireland go, is that the terri-
torial possession and its produce are of consequence to England. Such was the
story told by O'Connell to the world; though it is utterly impossible that he could
have believed it himself. He had too much warrant in history for some of his
complaints. It was true that Ireland had once been fiercely conquered and
cruelly oppressed ; that, till now, her Catholic population had been bitterly
insulted by exclusion from political rights on account of their faith ; that the
Church of seven-eighths of her people was still insulted by the presence of an
established episcopal Church, and endowed Protestant Meeting Houses ; and
that a large proportion of her people were in a condition of political discontent,
and intolerable social misery. Thus much was true ; but O'Connell, in his
addresses to the ignorant among his countrymen, and to the world abroad, never
failed to cast the blame of ancient tyranny on the existing generation ; never
failed to impute the purely social miseries of Ireland to political causes ; never
failed to suppress the fact that Ireland had any imperial rights at all, or to
throw contempt and ridicule on benefits which he could not ignore ; never held
forth to his countrymen the means of welfare which they had in their power,
if they would but use them ; and, above all, never made the slightest rational
attempt to show how the Repeal of the Union would cure their woes, and give
them peace and comfort. Any one who studies his speeches, as a series, may
see that he knew the truth, from the directions in which he levels his vitupe-
ration and his sarcasm. He certainly knew that the miserable tenure of land,
and multiplication of a destitute population, were the chief causes of the mise-
ries of Ireland, and that, as a natural consequence, the people would not work
and were prone to outrage. He certainly knew that these evils could not be
cured by a parliament sitting in Dublin. He certainly knew that the great
majority of the people of Ireland, including nearly all persons of education and
property, were averse to a Repeal of the Union, and did not choose that it
should take place. He certainly knew that such a complexity of interests had
grown up between England and Ireland during their imperial connexion as
made separation impossible, and that the interests of Great Britain would no
more permit her to have for an independent neighbour an insular nation in a
state of desperate and reckless misery (as Ireland would be if left to her own
turbulence and poverty), than her conscience would permit her to cast off from
her protection a people whom she had formerly helped to make miserable.
From O'Connell's speeches, during a course of years, it is clear that he well
knew all these things ; yet it was his custom to speak (when on Irish ground)
as if all the Irish desired Repeal — as if the Dublin parliament would truly
represent the Irish people ; as if Irish industry would thrive when commerce
with England should be stopped ; as if Repeal would give to every man for
his own the land he lived on ; as if Irish turbulence were merely the result of
English provocation ; and as if all had been well in Ireland till the British con-
nexion began, and would be immediately well again if that connexion could be
VOL. II. C
10 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. dissolved. As for the reasons why any man should plead such a cause in such
s — --v— - -" a way, they seem clear enough in this case. Among the ignorant of his own
countrymen, and uninformed foreigners, he obtained credence enough to give
him great power ; and this power sustained him in his chosen career as an
agitator in Ireland. Moreover, he believed, and truly, that it gave him great
importance in England; great power of annoyance to the government; great
power of obstruction in parliament ; a power of intimidation which he could
take up at any time when he had an object to gain for himself or his country.
He raised the Repeal cry whenever any benefit to Ireland was moved for, to
hasten it, as he thought ; and again, whenever it was granted, to save the
awkwardness of acknowledgment ; and he raised it in the autumn of every
year — unless some other cry was abroad which would spare this for once —
when the O'Connell Rent was to be collected. As for the question of Repeal
itself, let us see how it stands, apart from the prejudice which O'Connell con-
nected with it.
People had different opinions about what the effect would be in Ireland of
granting measures which had been too long delayed. When the Duke of
Wellington was proposing Catholic Emancipation, he said, at his own table,
Life of Lord sid. at a ministerial dinner, " It is a bad business; but we are aground." Lord
Sidmouth asked, " Does your Grace think, then, that this concession will
tranquillize Ireland?" " I can't tell. I hope it will," the Duke replied. He
shortly discovered and owned his mistake. The Duke was no philosopher, to
be sure ; but, if he had been, he would have seen that the union itself, though
working well on the whole, worked very slowly, because it had been too long
delayed. And this other great measure, being much too long delayed, could
not be expected to " tranquillize Ireland," so as to gratify the eyes of existing
Statesmen with the spectacle of tranquillity.
The slightest observation of Ireland, and the most superficial knowledge of
her history, must convince every one, that if she had been an independent
kingdom from 1782, or earlier, she would have been from that time in a state
of misery and ruin which could not have been allowed in any civilized quarter
of the world, either for her own sake or that of her neighbours. The civil wars
of her factions, and the hunger of her swarming multitudes, must presently
have destroyed her as a nation. If she had been up to this time an ally, or
self-governing province of Great Britain, instead of being incorporated with
her, her ruin could hardly have been less complete. In such a case, it is
impossible to prevent the weaker going to the .wall. It is impossible to pre-
vent more or less abuse of power by the stronger party, and to obviate the
jealousy or sycophancy of the leading men of the weaker, who make their own
people their prey. We have a picture of Scotland, before and after the Union,
which may enlighten us much in regard to the case of Ireland, though Scot-
land never was subject to the worst economical evils of Ireland; economical
evils which are the true cause of her miseries, and which can be remedied
only by her intimate connexion with a country of superior industrial condition
and habits.
Edinburgh Re. " If any one doubts," says an eminent Scotchman, " of the wretchedness of
view, Oct. 1B27. • J
an unequal and unincorporating alliance, of the degradation of being subject
to a provincial parliament and a distant king, and of the efficacy of a sub-
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 11
stantial union in curing all these evils, he is invited to look to the obvious 1830.
example of Scotland. When the crowns only were united, and the govern-
ments continued separate, the weaker country was the scene of the most atro-
cious cruelties, the most violent injustice, and the most degrading oppressions.
The prevailing religion of the people was proscribed and persecuted, with a
ferocity greater than has ever been systematically exercised, even in Ireland ;
her industry was crippled and depressed by unjust and intolerable restrictions,
her parliaments corrupted and overawed into the degraded instruments of a
distant court, and her nobility and gentry, cut off from all hope of distinction
by vindicating the rights, or promoting the interests, of their country at home,
were led to look up to the favour of her oppressors as the only remaining avenue
to power, and degenerated, for the most part, into a band of mercenary adven-
turers, the more considerable aspiring to the wretched honour of executing the
orders which were dictated from the South, and the rest acquiring gradually
those habits of subserviency and selfish submission, the traces of which are by
some supposed to be yet discernible in their descendants. The Revolution,
which rested almost entirely on the prevailing antipathy to Popery, required,
of course, the co-operation of all classes of Protestants ; and, by its success, the
Scottish Presbyterians were relieved, for a time, from their Episcopalian per-
secution. But it was not till after the Union that the nation was truly eman-
cipated, or lifted up from the abject condition of a dependant, at once sus-
pected and despised. The effects of that happy consolidation were not indeed
immediately apparent ; for the vices which had been generated by a century of
provincial misgovernment, the meannesses that had become habitual, the ani-
mosities that had so long been fostered, could not be cured at once by the mere
removal of their cause. The generation they had degraded must first be
allowed to die out, and more perhaps than one generation ; but the poison tree
was cut down, the fountain of bitter waters was sealed up, and symptoms of
returning vigour and happiness were perceived. Vestiges may still be traced,
perhaps, of our long degradation ; but for forty years back, the provinces of
Scotland have been, on the whole, but the Northern provinces of Great Britain.
There are no local oppressions, no national animosities. Life, and liberty, and
property, are as secure in Caithness as they are in Middlesex, industry as much
encouraged, and wealth still more rapidly progressive, while, not only different
religious opinions, but different religious establishments, subsist in the two
ends of the same island, in unbroken harmony, and only excite each other by
a friendly emulation to greater purity of life, and greater zeal for Christianity.
If this happy Union, however, had been delayed for another century ; if Scot-
land had been doomed to submit for a hundred years more to the provincial
tyranny of the Lauderdales, Rotheses, and Middletons, and to meet the cruel
persecutions which gratified the ferocity of her Dalzells and Drummonds,
and tarnished the glories of such men as Montrose and Dundee, with her
armed conventicles and covenanted saints militant ; to see her patriots exiled,
or bleeding on the scaffold ; her teachers silenced in her churches and schools,
and her courts of justice degraded or overawed into the instruments of a
cowardly oppression, — can any man doubt, not only that she would have pre-
sented, at this day, a scene of even greater misery and discord than Ireland did
in 1800 ; but that the corruptions and animosities by which she had been
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic IV.
1830. desolated would have been found to have struck so deep root as still to encum-
ber the land, long after their seed had ceased to be scattered abroad on its
surface, and only to hold out the hope of their eradication after many years of
patient and painful exertion ? "
In the Irish case, England had indeed much, very much, to answer for in
not having immediately and strenuously given the fullest possible effect to the
Union ; in having continued the disabilities of the Catholics, and in still main-
taining a Church Establishment useless and hateful to seven-eighths of the
Irish people. But, by means of the Union, agriculture was improving in
Ireland, and manufactures were advancing every year. Throughout the North,
life, liberty, and property, were secure, to a degree never known before. The
whole island had begun to be governed by the wisdom and impartial rule of
the British government, instead of by turbulent native factions ; and now a
way was, however late, freely opened into the Imperial legislature. What a
benefactor would O'Connell have been to his country, if he had now used
patriotically the rights so hardly gained ! If he, and the Irish members he had
brought into the legislature with him, had used their imperial rights for the
thorough realization of the Union, their country might by this time have been,
not prosperous and peaceful and satisfied, for her troubles could not be annihi-
lated so speedily, but advancing towards such a condition. He, and he alone,
could control the impatient Irish temper ; he set himself diligently to exaspe-
rate it. He could have won the peasantry to industry and conscientious thrift :
he drew them off studiously from their labours to roam the country in attend-
ance on his political agitation. He could have united their wills and voices in
a calm and effectual remonstrance against their remaining wrongs, and demand
for rights yet due ; but he bade them spurn the benefits granted, and taught
them to put a foul construction on every act of the government and people of
which they were now a part, and trained them to a passionate contempt and
hatred of the law, which was all they had to look to for security and social
existence. To all this he added that worst and ultimate act of promising to
those who would believe him the Repeal, and the speedy Repeal, of the Union ;
well knowing that that repeal was rendered impossible by the united will and
judgment of England, Scotland, and the most enlightened and influential part
of Ireland. He promised a federal allegiance to the British sovereign who
would not receive such a partial and pernicious allegiance. He promised a
parliament in Dublin where parliaments had never been anything but assem-
blages of jobbers and faction leaders. He promised Irish laws, while corrupt-
ing the people out of any capacity for obedience to law at all. He promised
the exclusion of British commerce, while without British commerce the Irish
could not live. He promised every thing he could not perform, and that no sane
and shrewd man (and O'Connell was sane and shrewd) would have performed
if he could ; and every thing which could most effectually draw off the vast
multitudes of the Catholic peasantry of Ireland from the remedy of their social
hardships, from the duty to their own households, and their welfare in the
State. Whether he gained any objects by threatening and annoying the
governments of his day, we may see hereafter. Whether he and his compani-
ons in the legislature might not have gained more by honest political endea-
vours— gained more even in definite achievements, as well as in personal and
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 13
national character, and in British sympathy for Ireland — there can be no 1830.
question. Thus early, however, in the summer and autumn of 1830, O'Con-
nell exhibited the programme of his political course. One of the troubles of
the Wellington Ministry during this October was the state of Ireland, where
the magistrates of Tipperary were obliged to apply for military force, to put
down outrage ; where one Repeal Association after another was prohibited by
the Viceroy, the people believing their liberties assailed in each case ; and where
O'Connell (on all other occasions the partisan of the Bourbons) bade the
people look to the Revolutions of France and Belgium for examples what to
do, and counselled a run on the banks throughout Ireland, in order to show
government the danger of resisting their demands.
Nearer home, too, a strange new trouble was arising which it was extremely
difficult to cope with. A year or two before this time, English gentry had
been holding up hands and eyes at the atrocious barbarism of the peasantry in
the north of France, who burned corn ricks in the night. People observed to
one another on the awful state of stupidity and malice in which any society
must be sunk where such a crime could spread; — a crime so foolish — so
suicidal — as well as malicious ! What could induce a peasantry to destroy
their own food ? What a set of idiots they must be ! — But, as soon as the
dark long nights of October and November came on, the same thing was hap-
pening in our agricultural counties, and particularly in Kent. The mystery
appears never to have been completely explained. Here and there, perhaps,
was seen some skulker — some shabby stranger, wandering about in copses,
and behind inclosures, or hiding in sheds, or dropping into the public house,
all ear and no tongue, or patting farm-boys and girls on the back, and having
confidences with them. Such people were seen here and there; and there
were several instances in which young persons on trial for incendiarism accused
the principal witness of having enticed them to do the act, and then got the
reward by informing against them. But, if these things were true, they do
not account for the origin of the practice. There was considerable distress ;
but not nearly so pressing or threatening as during two or three preceding
years. There was — as there always is among an ignorant population — some
discontent with machinery ; but it did not appear that the farmers who used
machinery were more pursued by the incendiary than others. It was probably
from all these causes in turn, from some imported knowledge of what had
been done in France, and from that never-failing propensity in human nature,
by which extraordinary crimes — crimes which produce vast effect by a rapid
and easy act, gratifying the relish for power in an untrained mind — spread
like a fashion of a season : but, however it was, that autumn was a memorable
time to all who lived in the southern agricultural counties of England. The
farmers and their families had no comfort in their lives. All day they looked
with unavoidable suspicion upon the most ill-conditioned of their neighbours,
and on every stranger who came into the parish. All night, they were wake-
ful ; either acting as patrols, or looking out towards the stackyards, or listening
for the rumble of the fire engine. Those who were fully insured did not like
the idea of fire close to the dwelling-house ; and there were some serious
doubts about the stability of some of the Insurance Offices, under a pressure
for which 110 prudence could have provided. The farmers who were not
14 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. insured need not think of it ; for no offices would do new business, on any
* — •—>'—--•' terms that farmers could offer, during the rick-burning period. If a man,
weary with patrolling for three or four nights, hoped for a night's sleep, and
went, the last thing, to his rickyard, and explored every corner, and visited
every shed on his premises, he might find his chamber illuminated by his
burning ricks, by the time he could get upstairs. If the patrol, after a similar
search, looked round as they shut the gate, some one of them asked what that
blue speck in the air was ; and before he could be answered, a blue flame
would run, rocket-like, along the ridge of a stack, and down its sides, and in
one minute the farm-house windows would be glittering, and the sheds would
seem to come out into the yellow light, and the pond would be burnished, and
all darkness would be suddenly annihilated, except in the shadows cast by the
mounting and spreading flames. How it was done was never learned. Some
believed that a particular stack in a yard was previously wetted with some
liquid that would blaze up with a spark ; and so few persons were apprehended
in the very act, or under very strong suspicion, that it was a widely spread
belief that some kindling substance was directed upon the prepared stack
from a distance. Several persons declared, and were more or less believed,
that they saw the blue spark traverse the air and descend ; and now and then,
a long slender wire was said to be found among the ashes. A considerable
number of persons saw the fire begin before their very eyes, without being
able to discover traces of trespassers. This was naturally a time for malicious
or encroaching persons to send threatening letters ; and for foolish jesters to
play off practical jokes ; and for timid persons to take needless alarms ; and
for all the discontented to make the most of their grievances : and a dreary
season of apprehension indeed it was. It is memorable even to those who
lived in towns, and conducted no business, and had no enemies, and feared no
evil for themselves. It was a great shock to such to find themselves living in
a state of society where such things could be. In Kent, there were gibbets
^lu!£i.Regis™r' erected on Penenden Heath, and bodies swung there in the December winds : —
1830, Cnron. 201.
bodies of " boys about eighteen or nineteen years old, but looking much
younger ;" brothers, who had said to each other on arriving at the spot, and
seeing the gallows, " that looks an awful thing." And from Kent, the deadly
fashion spread into Hampshire, Wiltshire, Buckinghamshire, Sussex, and
Surrey. The military were harassed with fruitless marches, their nightly path
lighted by fires from behind, whichever way they turned. Large rewards were
offered — £500 for a single conviction; and these rewards were believed to
have been now and then obtained by the instigators, while the poor tools were
given over to destruction. A special commission was ordered to proceed into
the shires where this kind of outrage abounded ; and the subject was one of
several unwelcome topics in the King's Speech, in November.
S °F ^ne opening of this parliament was awaited throughout the country with
anxious expectation. In September, when tidings of new continental revolu-
tions were arriving, almost day by day, the funds fell ; and what Lord Eldon
and the Ministers called " London," — that is, the aristocracy with whom they
had intercourse, and who remained clustered together in the metropolis in a
very unusual manner — was in gloomy apprehension of the fall of the mo-
narchy;— not because there were any threatenings of the monarchy, public or
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 15
private, but because other monarchies were falling. The aristocracy shook 1830.
their heads over the free and easy sayings and doings of the new sailor-King. v — —>'——'
" I hear." wrote Lord Eldon, " that the condescensions of the King are begin- Life °f ^°rA E1-
i •, . T . i ,,.,.. don;iii. 1J7.
nmg to make him unpopular. In that station, such familiarity must produce
the destruction of respect. If the people don't continue to think a King
somewhat more than a man, they will soon find out that he is not an object
of that high respect which is absolutely necessary to the utility of his charac-
ter." It may be doubted whether any body in England was at that time
saying any thing more injurious to monarchy than this. Lord Eldon, how-
ever, did what he could towards preserving the monarchy by rebuking the
King for improper condescension. The anecdote is an interesting one, as
presenting both these old men — so perfectly unlike each other — in a favour-
able light. Lord Eldon went up with the Bishop of Bristol to present an Life of Lord E1-
f m . don, ill. 113.
address. As Lord Eldon was retiring, the King stopped him and said, " My
lord, political parties and feelings have run very high, and I am afraid I have
made observations upon your lordship which now . . . " — Here Lord Eldon
interrupted him, and said, " I entreat your Majesty's pardon — a subject must
not hear the language of apology from the lips of his sovereign ;" and then
the dutiful subject passed out from the presence of his rebuked King. If the
Tories were right in supposing the existence of the monarchy to depend in
any considerable degree on the personal reserve and dignity of the sovereign,
it was assuredly very unsafe under the open-hearted sailor-King.
This same " London" believed in October that, in consequence of the re-
moval of Mr. Huskisson, negotiations were going on between the Ministry
and " Palmerston and Co.," — the survivors of the " Canningites ;" but, on a
footing which yielded far too much to the requisitions of this remnant of a
party; — on the footing of pledges for some kind of Parliamentary Reform
(which could hardly have been true), some measure about tithes, and some
close dealing with the Civil List. Whether these reports had any foundation
or not, they are of importance to us now, as showing that the great Tory world
of London was prepared for some assertion of the necessity of these measures,
and would not have been surprised if they had been brought forward by the
Duke himself. — When night closed in on the 1st of November, nobody knew,
except those who were seated round the tables of the Ministers, what the dis-
closures of the Speech were to be next day. For five days, the swearing in
of members of parliament had been going on ; but the session was not opened
till the 2nd of November.
When the Speech was promulgated, it was found to be the most offensive OPENING OF THK
that had been uttered by any British monarch since the Revolution. Now,
indeed, unless it could presently be shown that the King had been made a
tool of by his Ministers, there might soon be some ground for the Tory appre-
hensions about the unpopularity of the sovereign. Except a surrender of the
Civil List to the consideration of parliament, and a recommendation to provide
a Regency, in case of his death, there was no topic which gratified the ex-
pectation of the people. There was much regret at the disturbed state of
Europe ; determination to uphold the treaties by which the political system of
Europe had been established ; indignation, contempt, and horror, about dis-
turbances in England and Ireland ; a pledge to use all the powers of law and
16 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. constitution to put down and punish such disturbance ; and a lecture on the
^~-~^~*~-^ supreme happiness of those who live under British institutions. — While men
Hansard, 3rd Se. ,. ,. ,,...,.,,. ,. , i • n i
nes, i. s. were gathering together in streets and public buildings to discuss this Speech,
the turbulent in exasperation at its insolence, and the thoughtful in regret at
THE DUKE-S DE. its hardness, the Prime Minister settled every thing — the fate of his govern -
CLARATION. J
ment, and the course of public affairs for years to come — by a few sentences in
the opening debate which made some people ask whether he had lost his
senses, while they revived the Tory party with hopes that some hidden re-
sources of power existed to justify the apparent rashness. In the debate on
the Address, the Duke of Wellington uttered that celebrated declaration
against Reform in Parliament which immediately overthrew his power at
home, and his reputation as a statesman throughout the world. His personal
friends have since accounted for the apparent madness of uttering those words
at that moment, by saying that it was a mistake owing to his deafness ; and
this is quoted as his own plea. A deafness had been long growing upon him
which had now become considerable ; and it was declared on his behalf that
if he had heard what had been said by men of his own party, and what was
passing on the benches behind him, he would not have made such a declara-
tion in that place and at that time, and without consultation with his colleagues.
But the plea goes for nothing in his defence. It does not disprove his igno-
rance— an ignorance extraordinary and culpable in a member of Administra-
tion — of the popular opinion and will : and it proves a most reprehensible
carelessness, want of concert with his colleagues, and want of deference for
their judgment, on a matter of supreme importance. The memorable sen-
tences were these — uttered with the coolness and confidence with which he
would have delivered a lecture on the British Constitution in a Mechanics'
Institute : —
w 3rd Se~ " The no^e Earl (Grey) had alluded to the propriety of effecting Parlia-
mentary Reform. . . . He had never heard or read of any measure, up to the
present moment, which could in any degree satisfy his mind that the state of
the representation could be improved, or be rendered more satisfactory to the
country at large than at the present moment. He would not, however, at
such an unseasonable time enter upon the subject, or excite discussion, but he
should not hesitate to declare unequivocally wrhat were his sentiments upon it.
He was fully convinced that the country possessed at the present moment a
legislature which answered all the good purposes of legislation, and this to a
greater degree than any legislature ever had answered in any country what-
ever. He would go further, and say, that the legislature and the system of
representation possessed the full and entire confidence of the country — de-
servedly possessed that confidence — and the discussions in the legislature had
a very great influence over the opinions of the country. He would go still
further, and say, that if at the present moment he had imposed upon him the
duty of forming a Legislature for any country, and particularly for a country
like this, in possession of great property of various descriptions, he did not
mean to assert that he could form such a Legislature as they possessed now,
for the nature of man was incapable of reaching such excellence at once ; but
his great endeavour would be, to form some description of legislature Avhich
would produce the same results. The representation of the people at present
CHAT. I.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 17
contained a large body of the property of the country, and in which the landed 1830.
interests had a preponderating influence. Under these circumstances, he was * '
not prepared to bring forward any measure of the description alluded to by
the noble lord. He was not only not prepared to bring forward any measure
of this nature, but he would at once declare that, as far as he was concerned,
as long as he held any station in the government of the country, he should
always feel it his duty to resist such measures when proposed by others."
On that same night, Mr. Brougham gave notice in the Commons of his
intention to bring forward, in a fortnight, the question of Parliamentary
Reform. The next day, the unrepresented men of Birmingham were telling
each other in the streets that the Prime Minister of the country had declared
that the representation could not be improved : and perhaps some traveller,
on his way from Marlborough to Salisbury, gazing as he passed on the little
mounds of Old Sarum, enclosing its few bare acres; where no living creature
dwelt, would think of the two members sitting in the Commons, to represent
this patch of ground, and would say to himself, with some amusement, that
the Prime Minister of the country had declared that the representation could
not be improved. There were thousands of inhabitants of Leeds and Man-
chester, sustaining hundreds of thousands of labourers — five to one of rural
labourers — who conferred ominously on the Minister's satisfaction, at the
preponderance of the landed interests in the legislature. While the ferment
was spreading and rising in the country, the liberal party in both Houses of
Parliament were looking in a spirit of calm and confident expectation upon
the struggles and difficulties of the rash and helpless administration. Some
members of the Cabinet took pains to intimate the next night after the Duke's
declaration, that he spoke for himself alone : — Sir George Murray OAvned him- Hansard, i. ica
self in favour of some moderate reform : — Sir Robert Peel would not declare
any opinion on a subject as yet wholly indefinite. In the Commons, Mr. Hansard, i. 175.
Tennyson conjured the country to await in quiet the downfall of the Duke,
which was now sure to happen, and by no means to let the Duke's opinion on
Reform go for more than any one man's opinion was worth : and in the Lords,
the Earl of Winchilsea proposed to lay before the King the opinion of parlia- Hansard, i. IDS.
ment in regard to the incapacity of his Ministers. It was as yet only the 4th
of November : but this was a season when hours told for days. In forty-eight
hours the Duke was in the embarrassment of another scrape, in which there
was so much of the ludicrous mixed up with what might have been very
serious, that the subject was ever a most exasperating one to the great soldier.
In justice to him, it must be remembered how his mind had been wrought
upon for some months past, in sympathy with his friend Polignac, in appre-
hension for that distribution of power in Europe which he had been concerned
in establishing ; and by the daily increasing disturbances in our rural districts
which exactly resembled those that preceded the revolution in France. It
must be remembered how little he really knew the people of England ; and
how, to a mind like his, the mere name of revolution suggests images of regi-
cide, and of every thing horrible ; — images which were, no doubt, in his mind
when he turned away as he was seen to do from the spectacle of the tricolour
floating in the Thames. These things mark him as unfit to be the Prime
Minister of England in 1830 ; but they soften the shame of the thought that
VOL. II. D
18 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. the high courage of the great soldier sank under a senseless alarm given by an
^— v alderman of London. This Alderman Key had been elected to serve the
PANIC!MAI r s office of Lord Mayor for the coming year ; and the King and Queen and the
Ministers were to dine with him at Guildhall on the 9th of November. On
the 6th, the alderman addressed a letter to the Prime Minister, the tone and
wording of which should have shown to any man of sense that it was not a
communication to be acted upon without large confirmation of its- statements.
Hansard, i. 251. This letter warned the Duke that a certain number of " desperate characters"
intended to make an attack upon him near the Hall ; and it plainly desired
that, as the civil force would not be enough for the Duke's protection, he
would not come without a strong military guard. The next night, Saturday,
Sir Robert Peel sent a letter to the Lord Mayor to state that their Majesties
declined visiting the city on the 9th. The Ministers pleaded that they had
received other letters, besides that from Alderman Key : and, but for this, the
case would have been much simplified ; for the poor man expressed, again and
Annual Register, again, the deepest contrition for his folly in writing as he had done, when he
saw how serious were the consequences of the act. — In the course of Sunday,
a deputation from the committee of the feast waited three times on the Minis-
ters ; and the Duke's declaration was that either the banquet must be postponed,
or a large military force must be put in possession of the city. The banquet
was postponed".
In the morning, the consternation in the city was extreme. No one knew
what was the matter ; but that there must be something terrible, there could
be no doubt. Some said that there was to be a 5th of November on the 9th :
some, that while their Majesties were dining, the gaspipes were to be cut,
Temple Bar blockaded, the royal personages made prisoners, and London
sacked. There was no nonsense that could not find belief on that fearful
Monday, though every body agreed that no sovereign had ever been more
popular than William IV., who had not done an ungracious thing, nor spoken
an ungracious word, except that Speech, a few days before, which everybody
knew to be solely the work of his Ministers. On that Monday morning, Consols
fell three per cent, in an hour and a half: careful citizens renewed the bolts and
bars of their doors, lined their shutters with iron plates , and laid in arms and
ammunition, in expectation of the sacking of London. Before the end of the
week, the most alarmed were laughing at the panic : but not only was the
mysterious panic a fearful thing at the moment, but the natural effects were
very vexatious. There was a good deal of desultory and unmeaning rioting,
by such disorderly citizens as thought that if they had the discredit, they might
as well have the fun. And, worse than this, an unfounded impression went
abroad through all the world, that it was not safe for the King of England to
pass through the streets of his own capital, to dine with its Chief Magistrate.
CHANOB OF MI. Day ty ^aJ now> it became only a question of weeks about when the Ad-
NISTRY. ministration would go out; — whether before the Christmas recess or after.
Before a single week from the panic, they were out. On the 15th, Sir Henry
Parnell made his promised motion for a Select Committee to examine the
accounts connected with the Civil List. The debate was not long, the Minis-
ters declaring that simplification and retrenchment had been carried as far as
was possible ; and the Opposition desiring to have it proved whether the
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 19
matter was so. On the division, the government were left in a minority of 1830
twenty-nine, in a House of 437 members. Mr. Hobhouse asked Sir Robert ^ — .—._ ->
Peel whether the Ministers would retain their seats after such a division ; but Hans"rd. *• 548-
he received no answer. He was about to press the question, when Mr.
Brougham proposed to wait till the next day for the answer and the appoint-
ment of the Committee just decided upon. The Committee, however, was
appointed at once : — the reply was waited for. The Ministers afterwards de-
clared that they might not have considered this division on the Civil List
reason enough for their resignation,-by itself; but that they considered with
it the probable result of Mr. Brougham's motion for Parliamentary Reform,
which was to be debated on the night after the Civil List question.
On that evening, the 16th, the Duke of Wellington came down to announce
to the Lords that his resignation of office had been presented and accepted, Hansard, i. 533.
and that he continued in his position only till his successor should have been
appointed. In the other House, Sir Robert Peel made the same declaration
on behalf of himself and all the other members of the administration.
Lord Althorp immediately requested Mr. Brougham to defer his motion on
Parliamentary Reform, which was too important to be debated while the
government of the country was in an unsettled state. Mr. Brougham ex-
pressed great reluctance, and threw the responsibility upon the House of
delaying the matter till the 25th, declaring that he would then bring it for- Hansard, i. scs.
ward, whatever might be the condition of circumstances, and whoever might
be his Majesty's Ministers. — No one had any doubt about who, in the main,
would be his Majesty's Ministers. It was well understood that the great day
was at hand when the British polity was to renew its youth and replenish its
life. Some who walked homewards from their parliamentary halls to their
own firesides, through the darkness of that November night, told each other
that a brighter sun than that of Midsummer was to arise to-morrow, encum-
bered and dimmed at first, probably, by clouds and vapours, but destined to
send down its vital warmth and light through long vistas of remote gene-
rations.
20 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. fTVHERE was no doubt in any quarter as to who would be the new Premier,
—^ ' -*- or what would be the general composition of the Ministry. The anti-
Catholic party was broken up and humbled. The demand of the people for a
liberal government was strong ; and there was no one to say that it should
TuvREY M'" not ^e obeyed. The King requested Lord Grey to form a government ; and
he agreed to do so on condition that Reform of Parliament should be made a
Cabinet question; a condition immediately granted. As the news spread
through the land, it excited a stronger sensation than men of a future time
O J O
could perhaps be easily made to understand. The interest felt for Lord Grey
Avas strong. Men remembered his advocacy of Reform of Parliament in the
last century; his patient and dignified assertion of the principle and ultimate
necessity of the case during a long course of years, obscure and unprosperous
for him ; and the deep melancholy of his unhappy speech against Canning,
three years before, when he spoke of his own political career as over, and his
political loneliness as complete. Now, with more years upon his honoured
head, he stood at the summit of affairs, empowered to achieve with his own
hand the great object of his life and time, and surrounded by comrades of his
own choice and appointment. This trait of the time interested the hearts of
hundreds of thousands: but to the millions there was something far more
exciting still. The year which was closing was called the year One of the
People's Cause.
It was now fifteen years since the Peace. Of these fifteen years, the first
seven had been dark and troubled xinder a discouraging and exasperating Tory
rule, during which, however, by virtue of the Peace, good things were pre-
paring for a coming time. During the last eight years, there had been vicissi-
tudes of fortune — some exultation and prosperity — more depression and dis-
tress, as regarded the material condition of the people : but the country had
been incomparably better governed. It was under this better government
that the people had learned striking and virtuous lessons about their own
power ; lessons which had prepared them to require wisely, and conduct mag-
nanimously, the greatest revolution in the history of their country.
It was in the leisure of the new peace that a multitude of minds had re-
ceived the idea, and made it their own, that the shortest and only safe way of
procuring all reforms and all good government was by making the representa-
tion as true as it could be made. This became the vital principle of the
political life of Great Britain as soon as the excitements of the war died away :
and it must long continue to be so. Among the many reasons which make
us now and for ever deprecate war, the chief is, and should ever be, that we
would not have the national mind and will called off from this great truth and
aim — that the first duty, and most unremitting obligation, of a people living
under a representative system is to make the representation true and perfect.
S. (>rr- fr i? Jn>n&'n. .
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 21
In this year One of the People's Cause, the people were ready; and they were 1830.
blessed with rulers who were willing to make a beginning so large and decided
as to secure the permanence of the work, as far as they carried it, and its
certain prosecution through future generations. It is nothing that they did
not foresee this further prosecution, nor believe it when it was foretold to
them. Great deeds naturally so fill the conceptions and sympathies of the
doers that they are — except a great philosopher here and there — Finality-
men : but those who are not so immediately engaged see further, and re-
member that sound political institutions are made perfect very slowly,
and by a succession of improvements. There were many, therefore, who in
that day of exultation saw more cause for rejoicing than did those who were
proudest of the immediate triumph. They saw in the Parliamentary Reform
of Lord Grey a noble beginning of a great work which it might take centuries
to perfect, and in every stage of which the national mind would renew its
strength, and gain fresh virtue and wisdom. They appreciated the greatness
of the first effort, by which the impediments to true representation were to be
removed, and some steps taken towards a recognition of the vast commercial
interests which had risen up in modern times : but they saw that the due
equalization of the landed and commercial interests, and the true proportion
of the representation of property and numbers could not be attained at a
stroke, and that much of the noble work of Parliamentary Reform must
remain to occupy and exalt future generations. The wisest and the most
eager, however, the oldest and the youngest, desired nothing more than what
they now saw — their nation, as a whole, demanding and achieving its own
self-improvement, instead of ringing bells and firing cannon about bloody
victories obtained in the cause of foreign governments.
It was news enough for one day that this great era was opening, and that
Lord Grey stood on the threshold. By the next day, the people were eager to
know who were to be his helpers. The newspapers could not give the list of
the Ministry fast enough. In reading rooms, and at the corners of streets,
merchants, bankers, and tradesmen, took down the nan^, and carried them to
their families, reading them to every one they met by the way ; while poor
men who could not write, carried them well enough in their heads ; for most
of the leading names were of men known to such of the labouring class as
understood their own interest in the great cause just coming on.
Next on the list to Lord Grey was Lord Althorp, as Chancellor of the
Exchequer. He was known as an advocate of the Ballot ; as having been
forward in questions of retrenchment and reform; and as being a man, if of no
eminent vigour, of great benevolence, and an enthusiastic love of justice. His
abilities as a statesman were now to be tried. Mr. Brougham's name came
next. He was to be Lord Chancellor. It was amusing to see how that
announcement was every where received with a laugh : in most cases, with a
laugh which he would not have objected to — a laugh of mingled surprise,
exultation, and amusement. The anti-reformers laughed scornfully — dwelling
upon certain declarations of his against taking office, and upon his incompe-
tency as an equity lawyer ; facts which he would not himself have disputed,
but which his party thought should be put aside by the pressure of the time.
To his worshippers there was something comic in the thought of his vitality
22 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. fixed down upon the Woolsack under the compression of the Chancellor's wig.
^-~-~~^^-^ Some expected a world of amusement in seeing how he got on in a position so
new; how the wild and mercurial Harry Brougham would comport himself
among the peers, and as the Head of the Law. Some expected from him the
realization of all that he had declared ought to be done by men in power : and
as the first and most certain boon, a scheme of National Education which he
would carry with all the power of his office and his pledged political character.
Others sighed while they smiled ; sighed to give up the popular member for
Yorkshire, and feared that his country had had the best of him. Lord Lans-
downe, the President of the Council, was held in a quiet general respect.
Lord Durham, the John George Lambton who had ever fought the people's
battle well, was hailed with great warmth. He was Lord Privy Seal. There
were some " Canningites," who were received with good will without much
expectation. Charles Grant, President of the Board of Control ; Lord Pal-
merston, Foreign Secretary; Lord Melbourne, Home Secretary; and Lord
Goderich, as Colonial Secretary. The only anti-Catholic and anti-reform
member of the cabinet was the Duke of Richmond, who was Postmaster-Ge-
neral. How he found himself there was a subject of speculation on all hands.
The other members of the Cabinet were Sir James Graham, at the Admiralty;
Lord Auckland, at the Mint and Board of Trade ; and Lords Holland and
Carlisle. Out of the Cabinet, there were the names, among others, of Lord
John Russell, pledged to Parliamentary Reform ; Mr. Charles Poulett Thom-
son, pledged to Repeal of the Corn-laws ; and Sir Thomas Denman and Sir
William Home as Attorney and Solicitor General. Lord Anglesey was again
Viceroy of Ireland, and Lord Plunket the Irish Lord Chancellor. The Chief
Secretary for Ireland was Mr. Stanley. Such was the government about to
conduct the great organic change in the British Constitution which the anti-
reformers were still resolved should never take place.
There was a suspension of business in Parliament while the re-election of
some of the ministers went on. One defeat was ludicrous enough. Mr. Stan-
ley, the heir of the house of Derby, was thrown out at Preston by Henry Hunt,
who was not yet, it thus appears, seen through by all his followers as by
Bamford.
REGENCY BILL. The first business to be proceeded with was the Regency Bill, which had
already been delayed too long. By this Bill it was provided, that in case of
the birth of a posthumous child of the King's, the Queen should be Regent
during the minority. In the other case, the Duchess of Kent was to be
Regent, if the Princess Victoria should come to the throne during her
Annual Register, minority, unless, indeed, the Duchess should marry a foreigner.
1830, p. 165. T , \,r „, , /.-IT.,
Lord Wynford proposed a grant of additional powers to the magistracy in the
Hansard, i. tiro, disturbed districts, where matters were going on from bad to worse ; but the
ministers declared that the existing powers of the law were sufficient, if duly
put in force ; but they did not conceal their opinion that a more active and
sensible set of men might be brought into the commission of the peace. How
serious was the aspect of the times we find by the gazetting of an Order in
chTonal209egisler> Council tnat tbe Archbishop of Canterbury should prepare a prayer for relief
from social disturbance ; which prayer was to be read in all the episcopal
churches and chapels of England and Scotland.
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 23
In the Commons a select committee was appointed, on the motion of the 1830.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to inquire what reductions could he made in the "-— -^ '
salaries and emoluments of offices held by members of either House of Parlia- OFFICIAL SALA.
» RIES.
ment, during the pleasure of the Crown. This was a graceful beginning of
the business of retrenchment by the ministers — this offer to reduce, in the first Hansard, i. 932.
place, their own salaries. As the new administration had much to do in pre-
paring during the recess the great measures to which they were pledged, they
moved for a long interval, and parliament was adjourned to the 3rd of Febru-
ary, 1831.
At the close of this year One of the People's Cause, there was as much dis- ^™TE OF IRE-
turbance in Ireland as if the government in London had been composed of the
rankest anti-Catholics. O'Connell set himself up against Lord Anglesey ;
organized insults to him on his arrival ; encouraged tumultuous processions
and meetings, by which he was himself to be thanked for his advocacy of
Repeal of the Union ; and put out addresses, in defiance and reply to the pro- f83"uehrong 'm'
clamations of the Viceroy, the whole tenour of which was to rouse the strong ~™-
passions of the Irish artisans and peasants against the government, the law*
and the imperial connexion, from which, at this juncture, so many benefits
might be expected. His interspersed exhortations were to observe the law ;
his influence went to excite that fever of the mind which is sure to throw off
law, sooner or later : and thus inauspiciously began the new reign of the popu-
lar Viceroy, Lord Anglesey.
By this time the dread of something more awful than Irish disturbance and THE CHOLERA.
Kentish rick-burning, was stealing into the heart of the nation. All reports
of the Asiatic Cholera which Englishmen had listened to, had been to their
ears and imaginations like the accounts which have come down to us of the
desolating plagues of the middle ages — something horrible to conceive of, but
nothing to be afraid of, as if it could ever reach us. But now it was known
— known by orders of the Privy Council — that the plague had spread from Annual Register,
. . J ,,. . 1830, Chron. 160.
Asia into Europe, and was travelling north-westwards, exactly in the direction
of our islands. All that was at present proposed was an attention to the
Quarantine laws ; but the imagination of the people naturally went further
than the letters of the Privy Council. If George IV. and the Wellington Mi-
nistry had lived through the year, its close would have been a season of almost
unequalled gloom. But the nation now had an honest-hearted and unselfish
King, a popular ministry, and a prospect of immeasurable political benefits.
So that it was in a mood, on the whole, of hope and joy that they saw the
expiration of the Year One of the People's Cause.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
CHAPTER III.
1831. fTTHE year 1831 opened gloomily. Those who believed that revolution was
v-— — ~- — ' -•- at hand, feared to wish one another a happy new year ; and the anxiety
ahout revolution was by no means confined to anti-reformers. Society was
already in a discontented and tumultuous state; its most ignorant portion being
acted upon at once by hardship at home and example from abroad ; and there
was every reason to expect a deadly struggle before Parliamentary Reform
could be carried. The ignorant and misled among the peasantry and artisans
looked upon the French and other revolutions as showing that men had only
to take affairs into their own hands, in order to obtain whatever they wanted ;
and, in their small way, they took matters into their own hands. Machine-
TENTSL.AR r>ISCON" breaking went on to such an extent, that men were tried for the offence in
groups of twelve or twenty at a time ; and the January nights were lighted up
by burning barns and ricks, as the preceding months had been. On the 3rd
of January, a Manchester manufacturer was murdered in a manner which gave
a shock to the whole kingdom. He left his father's house to go to the mill, in
the evening, when it was dark ; he was brought home dead within ten minutes,
shot through the heart in the lane, by one of three men who were lying in wait
for him. The significance of the case lay in the circumstance that it was a
murder from revenge, occasioned by a quarrel about the Trade Union. There
was fear lest the practice should spread ; lest every manufacturer who refused
to employ men belonging to a Trade Union (and there were many such) should
be liable to be picked off by an assassin, appointed by lot to be the instru-
ment of the vengeance of his Union. A reward of 10007. for the detection of
i83inchrongi8ter' tne murderer was offered by the Secretary of State, and another 10007. by the
father and family of the victim ; but no clue was obtained at the time, nor for
some years afterwards.
PROSPECT OF CON. _^_s for ^he dangers which might follow upon the action of government
on the great question, the coolest heads had the strongest sense of them. The
apprehensions of the anti-reformers were all about the consequences of the
Reform Bill, if carried. The apprehensions of the most thoughtful reformers
were of the perils attending its passage. On a superficial view it might
appear that the result was so certain that the way could not be much embar-
rassed ; but there was not only the anti-reforming aristocracy to be encountered
on the one hand, but large masses of malcontents on the other. In the esti-
mate of the anti-reform forces might be included — possibly, under certain cir-
cumstances— the sovereign ; certainly, the House of Peers ; — almost a whole
House of Peers, made desperate, not only by fear of loss of political power,
but by spoliation of what they considered their lawful, and a wholly inestima-
ble property : next, the aristocracy in the House of Commons and out of it
who had influence and property of the same kind at stake : and lastly, the
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 25
whole body of Toryism in England ; a party never small, and at this time 1831.
made particularly active and desperate by a sincere belief that the Constitution
was likely to be overthrown, and that the English nation would presently be
living under mob-rule. Large numbers of this party, who had not the remotest
interest in borough property, were as fierce against the Reform measure as the
peers themselves, from this tremendous fear. There was quite as much folly
among the lowest classes on the other side. The hungry and the despe-
rately ignorant, who are always eager for change because they may gain and
cannot lose, believed that Parliamentary Reform would feed and clothe them,
and bring work and good wages, and a removal of all the taxes. It was too
probable that a protracted opposition would raise these poor people in riot, and
turn the necessary revolution, from being a peaceable one, into an overthrow
of law and order. It is necessary to take note of this state of things, in order
to understand and appreciate the action of the middle classes during the two
following years.
While the Ministers were hard at work, preparing their mighty measure,
the middle classes were preparing for their support. The action of the non-
electors during this month of January was as powerful a satire on the then
existing system of representation as could have been displayed. The vast
populations of Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester, and countless hosts of
intelligent and enlightened tradesmen and artisans elsewhere, sent shoals of
petitions to parliament for a Reform of the House of Commons : and they did
something more effectual by forming Political Unions, or preparing for their
immediate formation, in case of need. This was the force which kept the
peace, and preserved us from disastrous revolution. These people knew what
they were about ; and they went calmly to their work. Of course, the anti-
reformers complained of compulsion — of extorted consent — of unconstitutional
forces being put in action. This was true ; since they themselves compelled
the compulsion, and called out the unconstitutional forces. There was no
question about the fact, but only about the justification of it. No one denies
that occasions may and do occur when the assertion of a nation's will against
either a corrupt government or a tyrannical party is virtuous, and absolutely
required by patriotic duty. The fearful and trying question is, when this
ought to be done, and how men are to recognise the true occasion when it
comes. There probably never was an occasion when the duty was more clear
than now. The sovereign and his ministers were on the side of the people :
and if the opposing party should prove disloyal to sovereign and people, for the
sake of their own political power and mercenary interests ; if they held out till
the one party or the other must yield, it was for the interest of peace, law,
order, loyalty, and the permanence of the Constitution, that the class most
concerned — the orderly middle class, who had the strongest conceivable
stake in the preservation of law and peace — should overstep the bounds of
custom, and occupy a debateable land of legality, in support of the majority of
~~tne government and the nation. They felt that they occupied the strong
central position whereby they upheld the patriotic government above them ; and
repressed the eager, untaught, and impoverished multitude below them ; and
they saw that whatever might best secure the completion of the act which
must now be carried through, they must do. They therefore prepared them-
VOL. II. E
2(5 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. selves for all consequences of their determination that Parliamentary Reform
should take place. Some formed themselves into Political Unions ; some held
themselves ready to do so, if need should arise : all made a more rapid pro-
gress in political knowledge and thought than they could perhaps have ante-
cedently supposed possible in the time ; when the period of struggle arrived,
they did their duty magnificently ; and their conduct stands for ever before
the world, a model of critical political action, and a ground of confidence in
the political welfare of England in all future times.
MINISTERIAL DE- "When the Houses re-assembled, on the 3rd of February, Lord Grey made
^ie exPecte(l declaration that a measure of Parliamentary Reform was in rea-
diness to be brought forward in the other House. He intimated that the work
had been laborious, and, in its first stages, difficult ; but that it had been the
desire of the Ministers to prepare a scheme " which should be effective, with-
out exceeding the bounds of a just and well-advised moderation;" and that
they had succeeded to their wish, the whole Government being unanimous in
their adoption of the measure as an exponent of their principle and aim. When
Lord John Russell afterwards brought the measure forward, he declared the
whole scheme to be Lord Grey's ; and there was assuredly no mind in England
which had more earnestly, or for more years, meditated the subject. The execu-
tion was universally understood to have been confided in chief to Lord Durham ;
and there was assuredly no heart more in the work, or more true to the principles
of popular freedom. The profoundest secrecy was observed as to the scope and
details of the measure, to the very last moment. It was of great consequence
that it should be so, in order that the eager friends and foes of the measure
should not rush into conflict on any misunderstanding or fragmentary know-
ledge. The very few persons who were necessarily admitted to the confidence
of the government felt this confidence to be a heavy burden. One, deeply en-
gaged, and hard-worked, said afterwards that he was almost afraid to sleep, lest
he should dream and speak of what his mind was full of. The great day of
I OUT disclosure was the 1st of March, when Lord John Russell had the honour —
though not a cabinet minister, but on account of his long advocacy of the cause
— of bringing forward the measure in the Commons. On that day, the friends
of the Ministry had dinner-parties, where the guests sat watching the clock,
and waiting for tidings. The Lord Chancellor had promised the hostess of one
of these parties that no one should be earlier served with the news than she ;
and anxiously she sat, at the head of her table, till the packet was brought in
which the Lord Chancellor had despatched, the moment he found that Lord
John Russell had begun his speech. As she read aloud, exclamations of sur-
prise at the scope of the scheme burst forth. And so it was, all over the king-
dom. During the recess, some of the liberal papers had conjured the people to
receive thankfully whatever measure the Ministers might offer, and be assured
that, however inadequate, they could not have more. Other papers had been
more true to their duty, exhorting the people to take nothing less than the whole
of what they demanded. If they understood their principle, and were earnest in
their demand, they ought not to yield an inch of their ground. It now appeared
that there was no faltering on the part of the Ministers ; no desire that the
people should surrender an inch of their ground. They knew that there could
be no half-and-half dealing with boroughmongery. It was a vice which must
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 27
be extinguished, and not an indulgence which might be gradually weakened. 1831.
By this Bill, the practice of boroughmongery was cut up by the roots. This v-— -v-«— ^
was the essential feature of the measure. Whether the further reforms advo-
cated were complete or inadequate, this opened the way to all else. " Like
Sinbad," as was said at the time, " we have first to dash from our shoulders f^icn^a"!5"
the ' Old Man of the Sea,' and afterwards to complete our deliverance." It
will afterwards appear how partial was the representation proposed to be given,
and how inadequate and faulty were the constructive arrangements. But there
were not two opinions at the time as to the Ministers having gone further than
anybody expected, and proposed a measure which could never be withdrawn
without a deadly struggle, nor stand without becoming a dividing line between
the old History of England and the new.
It was a great night — that night of the 1st of March, 1831 — when for the
first time a response was heard from within the vitiated House to the voice of
intelligence without. This House had long been the property or the tool of
powers and parties adverse to the general weal. While the world withoiit had
been growing wiser and more enlightened in political principle, this assembly
had made no progress, or had deteriorated, till the voice of general intelligence
had given it unmistakeable warning that it must either reform itself or succumb.
The last and effectual warning was the demand of an administration which
should invite the House of Commons to reform itself: and here, at least, on
this memorable night, was the response — the answering hail — for which the
stretched ear of the vigilant nation was listening, to the furthest boundary of
the empire. While the occasion appeared thus serious to those who brought
it about, there were listeners, and not a few, in the House that night who could
not receive Lord John Russell's exposition otherwise than as an audacious jest, d'one °;[ ^^ E1~
Others came away at the end, and said they could give no clear account of it ;
and that there was no need, as Ministers could have no other intention than to
render office untenable for those who must presently succeed them. Thus blind
were the anti-reformers, after all the long and threatening warnings they had
received. But a few hours opened their eyes. The morning newspapers
exhibited the scheme, with all its royal and ministerial sanctions : and that
which appeared a jest the night before was now pronounced a revolution.
The proper occasion for giving a specific account of the Reform Act will be
when its provisions were finally settled. It may suffice now to say that, in
the words of Lord Grey, " Representation, not Nomination, is the principle of
the Reform Bill : " that, in pursuance of this principle, sixty " rotten boroughs "
were deprived of the franchise ; and 168 borough seats were abolished. A few
small boroughs were retained — to the dissatisfaction of reformers generally —
for the purpose of admitting an order of members not likely to be returned for
large towns or counties, and providing for some little representation of the small-
borough class of citizens. The reformers were also sorry that fifty-four mem-
bers were given to counties which had hitherto been opposed to popular inter-
ests ; and the stopping short at the representation of the middle classes was
disapproved by a multitude in the middle and upper classes, as much as by the
excluded artisans themselves. Wise statesmen and observers know well that
the strongest Conservative power of a country like ours resides in the holders of
the smallest properties. However much the nobleman may be attached to his.
28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. broad lands, and his mansions and parks, and the middle-class manufacturer
^—~~<^~~-s or professional man to the station and provision he has secured for his family,
this attachment is weak, this stake is small, in comparison with those of the
artisan who tastes the first sweets of property in their full relish. He is the man
to contend to the last gasp for the institutions of his country, and for the law
and order which secure to him what he values so dearly. The commonest
complaint of all made by the restless and discontented spirits of any time is
that their former comrades become " spoiled" from the moment they rise into
the possession of any ease, property, or social advantage ; and they do truly
thus become " spoiled" for any revolutionary or disorderly purpose. By all to
Avhom this fact was clear it was thought a mistake to have stopped at the pro-
posed point in the communication of the franchise : but they knew that it was an
error which might and would be corrected in a future time, and were content
to wait. They saw how the clumsy ancient methods of conducting political
affairs, in the rough, as it were, at the bidding of a few individual wills, were
giving way to the more comprehensive, refined, and precise methods of govern-
ment by representation ; and that, when this new philosophical practice had
gone somewhat further, the value of the artisan class, as the nicest of political
barometers, would be practically acknowledged. To them, to their union of
popular intelligence and strong love of property, would rulers and all propertied
classes hereafter look far the first warnings of approaching disturbance, the
earliest breathings of Conservative caution : and to representatives of this class
will a welcome assuredly be given in the councils of the nation, as our political
procedure improves in elevation and refinement. The reduction of the number
of members of the Commons was not at first objected to on any hand. As Lord
Hansard, ii. 1071. John Russell observed, " it is to be considered that when this parliament is
reformed, there will not be so many members who enter parliament merely for
the sake of the name, and as a matter of style and fashion : " not so many, he
went on to say, who were travelling abroad during the whole session, or who
regarded the House as a pleasant lounge, and not an arduous field of duty.
The 168 displaced members were not therefore to be succeeded by an equal
number. There was to be a decrease of sixty-two, making the total number
of representatives 596. The parishes and suburbs of London were to send
eight new members, and the large towns in the provinces thirty-four ; all these
together not equalling the new county representation.
RECEPTION OF THE On the whole, it was concluded by the Reform party that the measure should
be received as most meritorious and sufficiently satisfactory, on account of its
bold dealing with corruption ; — of its making a complete clearance for further
action : but that it was not a measure of radical reform. As a contemporary
seven Adminis. observed, " The ground, limited as it is, which it is proposed to clear and
open to the popular influence, will suffice as the spot desired by Archimedes for
the plant of the power that must ultimately govern the whole system."
It was thus that the authors of the measure expected it to be received by
the Reform party. In the course of the debates on the Bill in the House of
Peers, Lord Sidmouth, who supposed Lord Grey to have been carried by cir-
i,ifeofix>rdsid- cumstances far beyond his original intentions, said to him, " I hope God will
forgive you on account of this Bill : I don't think I can." To which Lord
Grey replied, " Mark my words : within two years you will find that we have
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 29
become unpopular, for having brought forward the most aristocratic measure 1831.
that ever was proposed in parliament." Lord Al thorp did not conceal his ^— — ^— ^-^
opinion — he avowed it — that the Reform Bill was the most aristocratic Act
ever offered to the nation : and the wonder is who could doubt it while the
new county representation preponderated over the addition to the towns. The
inestimable virtue of the bill — that which made it the horror of the " borough-
market " men, as the Marquess of Blandford called them, was the destruction
of borough property by the substitution of election for nomination.
As for the reception of the measure by its enemies — we have seen that when
Lord John Russell opened the business, it was supposed to be a jest, or a fac-
tious mano3uvre. The staid Hansard, usually so strictly adhering to bare
reporting, here gives us a 'passing glimpse of the aspect of the House when
Lord John Russell read the list of boroughs proposed for disfranchisement.
In the course of his reading " he was frequently interrupted by shouts of
laughter, cries of ' hear, hear ! ' from members for these boroughs, and various
interlocutions across the table." And what was it that they were about to Hansard, u. 1077.
lose ? There was a man living, speaking and preaching in those days, who
could convey more wisdom in a jest, more pathos in a burlesque sketch, than
other men could impress through more ordinary forms ; and he has left a pic-
ture of the " borough-market" which, as the last and unsurpassed, ought to be Sydney smith's
. . Works, iii. 126.
put on permanent record : — - So far from its being a merely theoretical im-
provement, I put it to any man, who is himself embarked in a profession, or
has sons in the same situation, if the unfair influence of boroughmongers has
not perpetually thwarted him in his lawful career of ambition, and professional
emolument ? e I have been in three general engagements at sea,' said an old
sailor — ' I have been twice wounded ; — I commanded the boats when the
French frigate, the Astrolabe, was cut out so gallantly.' * Then you are made
a post-captain ? ' ' No : I was very near it ; but Lieutenant Thompson cut
me out, as I cut out the French frigate : his father is town-clerk of the borough
for which Lord F is member ; and there my chance was finished.' In the
same manner, all over England, you will find great scholars rotting on cura-
cies— brave captains starving in garrets — profound lawyers decayed and
mouldering in the Inns of Court, because the parsons, warriors, and advocates
of boroughmongers must be crammed to saturation, before there is a morsel of
bread for the man who does not sell his votes, and put his country up to auction :
and though this is of every-day occurrence, the "borough system, we are told, is
no practical evil." . . . . " But the thing I cannot, and will not bear, is this : —
what right has this Lord, or that Marquess, to buy ten seats in parliament, in
the shape of boroughs, and then to make laws to govern me ? And how are
these masses of power redistributed ? The eldest son of my Lord is just come
from Eton — he knows a good deal about ./Eneas and Dido, Apollo and Daphne
— and that is all : and to this boy his father gives a six-hundredth part of the
power of making laws, as he would give him a horse, or a double-barrelled
gun. Then Vellum, the steward, is put in — an admirable man; — he has raised
the estates — watched the progress of the family Road and Canal Bills — and
Vellum shall help to rule over the people of Israel. A neighbouring country
gentleman, Mr. Plumpkin, hunts with my Lord — opens him a gate or two,
while the hounds are running — dines with my Lord — agrees with my Lord —
30 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. wishes he could rival the Southdown sheep of my Lord — and upon Plumpkin
is conferred a portion of the government. Then there is a distant relation of
the same name, in the County Militia, with white teeth, who calls up the car-
riage at the Opera, and is always wishing O'Connell was hanged, drawn, and
quartered — then a barrister, who has written an article in the Quarterly, and
is very likely to speak, and refute M'Culloch ; and these five people, in whose
nomination I have no more agency than I have in the nomination of the toll-
keepers of the Bosphorus, are to make laws for me and my family — to put their
hands in my purse, and to sway the future destinies of this country ; and when
the neighbours step in, and beg permission to say a few words before these per-
sons are chosen, there is an universal cry of ruin, confusion, and destruction ; —
we have become a great people under Vellum and Plumpkin — under Vellum
and Plumpkin our ships have covered the ocean — under Vellum and Plumpkin
our armies have secured the strength of the Hills — to turn out Vellum and
Plumpkin is not Reform but Revolution."
In recognising the truth of this picture, and declaring that such a state of
things could not have endured much longer, we must remember the cost of
the breaking up to those who nobly volunteered to do it. The framers of the
Reform Bill were noblemen and gentlemen of high family, who were laying
down hereditary possessions of their own while requiring the same sacrifice
from others. The borough-wealth of the Russell family was known to be
enormous ; yet the Duke of Bedford cheered on Lord John Russell in his task.
If we read with tender admiration of loyal noblemen and gentry who brought
their wealth to the feet of an unprosperous sovereign, and made themselves
landless for the sake of their King, what must we feel at this great new spec-
tacle of the privileged classes divesting themselves of privilege for the sake of
the people — for the honour and integrity of the country? It was a great
deed : and posterity will ever declare it so. — It is objected by some that these
peers and gentlemen were well aware, and indeed openly avowed, that they
could not retain this kind of wealth, nor, perhaps, any other, if Reform of
Parliament were not granted : they apprehended a convulsion, and said so ;
declaring also that this was the reason why their reforms were made so prompt
and sweeping. This is quite true : but it is precisely this which shows how
superior these men were to the selfish greed which blinded the eyes of their
opponents. They had open minds, clear eyes, calm consciences, and hands at
the service of their country; and they therefore saw things in their true light,
and turned the pressure of an irresistible necessity into a noble occasion of
self-sacrifice, and disinterested care for the public weal ; while the opposite
order of borough-holders saw nothing, believed nothing, knew nothing, and
declared nothing, but that they would not part with their hereditary property
and influence. When they protested that to take away their borough property
was " to destroy the aristocracy," they passed a severer satire upon their order
than could have been invented by any enemy. If the aristocracy of England
could not subsist but upon a rotten-borough foundation, it was indeed a differ-
ent order from that which the world had, for many centuries, supposed : but no
one could look upon the dignified head of the Prime Minister, or the coun-
tenances of his self-sacrificing comrades in the House of Peers, without feeling
that the world was right, and that those who said any thing so derogatory to
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 31
the aristocratic tenure in England were basely and sordidly wrong. Lord 1831.
Eldon was one of these ; and in his speech at the Pitt Club, supposing that
point granted, he went on to his view of the consequences ; in the course of
which we find him, Avho ought to have known better, falling into the vulgar
error of the aristocracy of supposing only one class of society to exist below
that wealthy one with which they are compelled by their affairs to have
business. Lord Eldon, like others who must know better, included under one
head — " the lower classes" — every body below the wealthiest bankers — manu-
facturers, tradesmen, artisans, labourers, and paupers ; as we now and then
hear fine people confusing the claims of great capitalists and humble cottagers,
announcements in Town Hall meetings and gossip in servants' halls. Lord
Eldon must have known, but he seems to have forgotten, that there is a large
proportion of society, composed of the ignorant and hopeless classes, lying
below the rank from which he rose ; yet this is the representation he gives
of the happy state of the English people which was to be broken up by
the Reform Bill, through its destruction of the aristocracy. " The aristocracy
once destroyed," he declared to his brother Pittites, " the best supporters of
the lower classes would be swept away. In using the term ' lower classes' he
meant nothing offensive. How could he do so ? He himself had been one of
the lower classes. He gloried in the fact ; and it was noble and delightful to
know that the humblest in the realm might, by a life of industry, propriety,
and good moral and religious conduct, rise to eminence. All could not become
eminent in public life — that was impossible ; — but every man might arrive at
honour, independence, and competence."
What ? — every man ? — he whose early years are spent in opening and shut-
ting a door in a coal pit ; who does not know his own name, and never heard
of God ? — or any one of thousands of hand-loom weavers, who swallow opium
on Saturday nights, to deaden the pains of hunger on Sundays ? — or the Dor-
setshire labourer, whose only prospect is that his eight shillings a week may be
reduced to seven, and the seven to six, but never that his wages may rise ?
May " every man" of these arrive at honour, independence, and competence ?
Truly, Lord Eldon did his best to prove how sorely these " lower classes"
needed some kind of representation in parliament, or at least the admission
of some who might make known their existence and their claims.
The debate which followed the introduction of the Reform Bill extended DEBATE.
over seven nights, between seventy and eighty members delivering their views
in the course of that time. The adversaries of the measure argued on grounds
more contradictory than are often exhibited, even on great occasions like the
present. Some cried out that democracy was henceforth in the ascendant,
while others were full of indignation that the qualification was raised, and so
many poor freemen disfranchised. Some complained of the qualification as
too low, and others as too high. Some insinuated pity for the sovereign, as
overborne by factious Ministers ; others were disgusted at the parade of the
King's sanction, and intimated that it was nothing to them what the King
thought. Of all .the objections uttered, none rose higher in matter or tone
than a deprecation of change in a country which had been so great under the
old laws ; and a remonstrance against lessening the proportionate power of
the House of Lords.
32 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. On the side of the measure, there was a brief statement of objections on
^— — v~-~^ the score of deficiency ; but an agreement to work cordially for the Bill as it
was offered, in the hope of supplying its deficiencies afterwards. Many would
have desired an extension of the franchise downwards, as well as upwards and
laterally, as was now provided by the removal of many restrictions. Yet
more had hoped for the Ballot, to purify the elections, and for a shortening of
the duration of parliaments. But all agreed to relinquish their minor objects
for the time, to secure the overthrow of borough-corruption : and the great
cry was agreed upon which from that hour rang through the land for above a
year — " The Bill — the whole Bill — and nothing but the Bill."
There was to be no division on the first reading. Neither party seemed dis-
posed to bring the matter to any test so soon : the Ministers apprehending
being left in a minority, and their opponents not being yet combined for an
FIRST READING, organized resistance. The Bill was read a first time on the 14th of March.
And now began the great stir among the middle classes which kept the
country for nearly two years in a state which was called revolutionary, and
with justice ; but which showed with how little disturbance of the public
peace that prodigious growth of political sentiment can take place which is
the resulting benefit of a principled revolution. At each stage of the business
there was some disorder, and much noble manifestation of intelligence and
will. Illuminations were called for foolishly, at times, and windows broken —
especially at Edinburgh, in the course of this spring. Lists of placemen and
pensioners, containing incorrect items and invidious statements, were handed
about at a season when it was dangerous to inflame the popular mind against
an aristocracy already too much vituperated. Many of the newspapers were
not only violent on their own side, but overbore all rights of opinion on the
other as insufferably as the rankest of the Tory journals : and, naturally enough,
a multitude of the ignorant believed that all the taxes would be taken off, and
that every man would have the independence and competence that Lord Eldon
talked about, if the Reform Bill passed, and regarded accordingly those who
stood between them and the Bill. These were the sins and follies of the time :
and it is marvellous that they were no worse.
Some will ask even now, and many would have asked at the time, whether
the determination of the Political Unions to march on London, in case of
need, was not the chief sin and folly of the time. We think not, while feeling
strong sympathy with those who come to an opposite conclusion. In judging
of the right and wrong of a case so critical, every thing depends on the
evidence that exists as to what the principles and powers of the opposing par-
ties really were. This evidence we shall find disclosed in the history of the
next year. Meantime, in the March and April of 1831, the great middle
class, by whose intelligence and determination the Bill must be carried, be-
lieved that occasion might arise for their refusing to pay taxes, and for their
marching upon London, to support the King, the Administration, and the bulk
of the nation, against a small class of unyielding and interested persons. The
Political Unions made known the numbers they could muster, the Chairman
of the Birmingham Union declaring that they could send forth two armies,
each fully worth that which had won Waterloo. On the coast of Sussex, ten
thousand men declared themselves ready to march, at any moment : Northum-
C'IIAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 33
berland was prepared in like manner : Yorkshire was up and awake ; and in 1831.
short, it might be said that the nation was ready to go up to London, if wanted. v— ' ~"~- — '
When the mighty processions of the Unions marched to their meeting-grounds,
the anti-reformers observed with a shudder that the towns were at the mercy
of these mobs. The towns were at their mercy; but they were not
mobs : and never were the good citizens more safe. The cry was vehement
that the measure was to be carried by intimidation: and this was true.
The question was whether, in this singular case, the intimidation was
Avrong. The Ministers were vehemently accused of resorting to popular aid,
and making use of all possible supports for the carrying their measure, in
violation of all established etiquette. Lord Eldon thought them extremely
vulgar, it is evident. The truth was that the popular aid resorted to them ;
and that they did consider the times too grave for etiquette, and the matter in
hand far too serious to be let drop, when a momentary vacillation on their part
would bring on immediate popular convulsion. So, they did declare in public —
at the Lord Mayor's Easter dinner — what Lord Eldon thought " perfectly -Life of Lord El-
unconstitutional" — that they had the King's confidence and good wishes :
they did wait in silence to see whether it would become necessary for the Poli-
tical Unions to act : and they did not retire from office when left with a
majority of only one, but bore with all taunts and sneers, and preferred a
neglect of propriety and precedent to a desertion of the cause to which they
had pledged their fidelity. We cannot reckon any of these things, though
irregular and portentous, among the sins and follies of the time, but rather
among its noblest features. — Among these we should reckon also a public
Declaration against the Bill, put forth by several hundreds of merchants,
bankers, and eminent citizens of London : a Declaration which, though julyTss^pll"'
proved mistaken in its view, was in its diction and manner calm, loyal, and
courageous. If the opposition of the anti-reformers generally had been more
of this character, there would have been less marshalling of Political Unions.
Some of the experienced old Conservatives thought it one of the sins and
follies of the time that their own party made no preparation for combined
action against the Bill. It was on the second reading that the Ministers had SECOND READING.
been left with a majority of one, in the fullest House ever known to have Hansard, m. 804.
divided — the numbers being, besides the Speaker and the four Tellers, 302 to
301, making a House of 608. The Ministers did not resign on this ; and the
people illuminated because they did not. The Easter holidays were at hand ;
and immediately after, the Bill was to be considered in Committee. These
Easter holidays were the time when, as the experienced old Conservatives
thought, their party should have been organizing for opposition : but the party
were very confident that it was quite unnecessary to take such trouble. The
late vote had shown that the Whigs could not carry their measure. They
were, their opponents declared, a factious set, who vulgarly staid in office as
long as possible, and were preparing all possible trouble for their successors :
but they were now proved too weak in the Commons to be formidable to the
Lords. " All will be lost," Lord Eldon wrote in this interval, " by the conn- ^ife of. ^^ E1-
' * don, in. 125.
dence with which people act, and with which they persuade themselves that
all will be safe. Lord Sidmouth, on the day in which the second reading of
VOL. II. F
34 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
1831. the Bill was carried, spoke to me of the majority by which it would undoubt-
' — -^— — •" edly be lost and negatived. And now the few, very few individuals here whom
I see, speak of the rejection of the Bill, as if it was certainly to be rejected,
though no two persons agree as to what shall be the course of the measures
by which its rejection can be accomplished."
DETEAT op Ml- On the 18th of April, the Commons went into Committee on the Reform
Bill ; and on the 19th, Ministers were defeated on the point of reducing the
number of members in the House. General Gascoyne moved that the numbers
Hansard, ill. less, should not be reduced ; and he obtained a majority of eight over Ministers.
On the 21st, or rather on the morning of the 22nd, there was another defeat,
which brought matters to a crisis. The Opposition, after losing much time in
talking about any thing but the question before the House, refused to go into
the consideration of a question o'f Supply. They moved and carried an ad-
journment against the Chancellor of the Exchequer, leaving Ministers in a mi-
Hansard, in. 1805. nority of 22. This act of the Opposition was looked upon, by some stretch of
construction, as a refusal of the Supplies. In the morning, the Ministers
offered their resignations to the King : but he would not accept them. He
desired that they should go on with the Reform Bill, and get it carried as well
as they could ; but, unfortunately, though very naturally, he objected to the
first measure which they considered essential — the dissolution of the new
parliament, now in the midst of its first session.
TROE CRISIS. Though other parts of that mighty struggle might appear more imposing,
more dangerous, more awful, in the eyes of common observers, the real crisis
lay within the compass of this day — the 22nd of April. The Ministers them-
selves said so afterwards. When, in a subsequent season, the very ground
shook with the tread of multitudes, and the broad heaven echoed with their
shouts, and the peers quaked in their House, and the world seemed to the
timid to be turned upside down, the Ministers were calm and secure : they
knew the event to be determined, and could calculate its very date : whereas
now, on this 22nd of April, they found themselves standing on a fearful
Mohammedan bridge — on the sharp edge of chance, with abysses of revolution
on either hand. The people were not aware of the exigency; and the Minis-
ters were not, for the moment, aided by pressure from without. The doubt —
the critical doubt — was whether the King could be persuaded to dissolve the
parliament.
The probable necessity of this course, and the King's repugnance to it, had
been discussed throughout London for some days, and especially on the pre-
ceding day. The Administration and the cause were injured by the under-
stood difficulty with the sovereign ; and it was in a manner perfectly unprece-
dented that Lord Wharncliffe, on the night of the 21st, had asked Lord Grey
Hansard, iii. 1741. in the House whether Ministers had advised the King to dissolve parliament.
On Lord Grey declining to answer the question, Lord WharnclifFe gave notice
that he should move to-morrow an address to the King, remonstrating against
such a proposed exertion of the royal prerogative. — After what happened in
the other House at a later hour, there was nothing to be done but to enforce
upon the King the alternative of losing his Ministers or dissolving parlia-
THE PALACE. ment ; and the next morning, Lord Grey went to the palace for the purpose
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 35
of procuring a decision of the matter. He and a colleague or two walked 1831.
quietly and separately across the Park, to avoid exciting notice. For some — *~^~ — -
hours there appeared little chance of a decision ; but at length the perplexed
sovereign began to see his way. He was yielding — had yielded — but with
strong expressions of reluctance, when that reluctance was suddenly changed
into alacrity by the news which was brought him of the tone used in the
House of Lords about the impossibility that he would actually dissolve parlia-
ment, undoubted as was his constitutional power to do so. — What ! did they
dare to meddle with his prerogative ? the King exclaimed : he would presently
show them what he could and would do. He had given his promise ; and now
he would lose no time : he would go instantly — that very moment — and dis-
solve parliament by his own voice. — " As soon as the royal carriages could be
got ready," his Ministers agreed. " Never mind the carriages ; send for a
hackney coach," replied the King : — a saying which spread over the kingdom,
and much enhanced his popularity for the moment.
Lord Durham ran down to the gate, and found but one carriage waiting ; —
the Lord Chancellor's. He gave orders to drive fast to Lord Albemarle's —
the Master of the Horse. Lord Albemarle was at his late breakfast, but
started up on the entrance of Lord Durham, asking what was the matter.
" You must have the King's carriages ready instantly." — " The King's car-
riages ! Very well : — I will just finish my breakfast." — " Finish your break-
fast ! Not you ! You must not lose a moment. The King ought to be at
the House." — "Lord bless me! is there a revolution?" — "Not at this
moment; but there will be if you stay to finish your breakfast." — So the tea
and roll were left, and the royal carriages drove up to the palace in an incre-
dibly short time. — The King was ready and impatient, and walked with an
unusually brisk step. And so did the royal horses, in their passage through
the streets, as was observed by the curious and anxious gazers.
Meantime, the scenes which were taking place in the two Houses were such
as could never be forgotten by those who witnessed, or who afterwards heard
any authentic account of them.
The peers assembled in unusual numbers at two o'clock to hear Lord THE LORDS-
Wharncliife's motion for an address to his Majesty, praying that his Ma-
jesty would be graciously pleased not to exercise his undoubted prerogative
of dissolving parliament ; every one of them being in more or less expectation
that his lordship's speech might be rendered unavailing by some notification
from the throne, though few or none probably anticipated such a scene as took
place.
Almost immediately, the Lord Chancellor left the woolsack. Could he be
gone to meet the King ? — Lord Shaftesbury was called to the chair, and Lord
Wharncliffe rose. As soon as he had opened his lips, the Duke of Richmond,
a member of the Administration, called some of their lordships to order, re-
questing that, as bound by the rules, they would be seated in their proper Hansard, iii. isoe.
places. This looked as if the King was coming. Their lordships were angry;
several rose to order at the same time, and said some sharp things as to who
or what was most disorderly; so that the Duke of Richmond moved for the
Standing Order to be read, that no offensive language should be used in that
3(> HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. House. In the midst of this lordly wrangling, and of a confusion of voices
^— ^^— • -' rising into cries, Boom ! came the sound of cannon which announced that
the King was on the way ! — Some of the peeresses had by this time entered,
to witness the spectacle of the prorogation. For a few minutes, something
like order was restored, and Lord Wharncliffe read his proposed Address,
which was as strong a remonstrance, as near an approach to interference with
the royal prerogative, as might be expected from the occasion. — The Lord
Chancellor re-entered the House, and, without waiting for a pause, said, with
Hansard, iii. 1807. strong emphasis, " I never yet heard that the Crown ought not to dissolve
parliament whenever it thought fit, particularly at a moment when the House
of Commons had thought fit to take the extreme and unprecedented step of
refusing the Supplies." — Before he could be further heard for the cries of
" Hear, hear!" shouts were intermingled of " The King! the King!" and the
Lord Chancellor again rushed out of the House, rendering it necessary for
Lord Shaftesbury to resume the chair. Every moment now added to the
confusion. The hubbub, heard beyond the House, reached the ear of the
King — reached his heart, and roused in him the strong spirit of regality.
The peers grew violent, and the peeresses alarmed. Several of these high-
born ladies, who had probably never seen exhibitions of vulgar wrath before,
rose together, and looked about them, when they beheld their lordships below
pushing and hustling, and shaking their hands in each others' faces.
Lord Mansfield at length made himself heard ; and he spoke strongly of
the "most awful predicament" of the King and the country, and on the
conduct of Ministers in " conspiring together against the safety of the State,
Hansard, iii. 1808. and of making the sovereign the instrument of his own destruction ;" words
which naturally caused great confusion. He was proceeding when the shout
again arose " The King! the King!" and a commanding voice was heard over
all, solemnly uttering " God save the King !" Lord Mansfield proceeded,
however. The great doors on the right side of the throne flew open : still his
lordship proceeded. Lord Durham, the first in the procession, appeared on
the threshold, carrying the crown on its cushion : still his lordship proceeded.
The King appeared on the threshold ; and his lordship was still proceeding,
when the peers on either side and behind laid hands on him, and compelled
him to silence, while his countenance was convulsed with agitation.
The King had a flush on his cheek, and an unusual brightness in his eye.
He walked rapidly and firmly, and ascended the steps of the throne with a
kind of eagerness. He bowed right and left, and desired their lordships to be
seated while the Commons were summoned. For a little time it appeared
doubtful whether even the oil of anointing would calm the tossing waves of
strife : but, after all, the peers were quiet sooner than the Commons.
THE COMMONS. That House too was crowded, expectant, eager, and passionate. Sir
— isS?1'"1'1811 Richard Vyvy an was the spokesman of the Opposition; and a very strong
one. A question of order arose, as to whether Sir Richard Vyvyan was or
was not keeping within the fair bounds of his subject — which was a Reform
petition ; whereas he was speaking on " dissolution or no dissolution." The
Speaker appears to have been agitated from the beginning : and there were
several members who were 4not collected enough to receive his decisions with
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 37
the usual deference. Honourable members turned upon each other, growing 1831.
contradictious, sharp, angry — even abusive. Lord John Russell attempted to ^— •~v~* — '
make himself heard, but in vain : — his was no voice to pierce through such a
tumult. The Speaker was in a state of visible emotion. Sir Richard Vy vyan,
however, regained a hearing ; but, as soon as he was once more in full flow,
Boom ! came the cannon which told that the King was on his way ; and the
roar drowned the conclusion of the sentence. Not a word more was heard for
the cheers, the cries — and even shouts of laughter — all put down together, at
regular intervals, by the discharges of artillery. At one moment, Sir Robert
Peel, Lord Althorp, and Sir Francis Burdett, were all using the most vehement
action of command and supplication in dumb show, and their friends were
labouring in vain to procure a hearing for them. The Speaker himself stood
silenced by the tumult, till the cries took more and more the sound of " Shame !
shame !" and more eyes were fixed upon him till he could have made himself
heard, if he had not been too much moved to speak. When he recovered
voice, he decided that Sir Robert Peel was entitled to address the House.
With occasional uproar, this was permitted ; and Sir Robert Peel was still
speaking when the Usher of the Black Rod appeared at the Bar, to summon
the Commons to his Majesty's presence. Sir Robert Peel continued to speak,
loudly and vehemently, after the appearance of the Usher of the Black Rod :
and it was only by main force, by pulling him down by the skirts of his coat,
that those near him could compel him to take his seat.
The hundred members who accompanied the Speaker to the presence of the
King rushed in " very tumultuously." There is an interest in the mutual
addresses of Sovereign and People in a crisis like this which is not felt in
ordinary times ; and the words of the Speaker first, and then of the King,
were listened to with extreme eagerness.
The Speaker said : " May it please your Majesty, we your Majesty's most Hansard. '»• 181°-
faithful Commons approach your Majesty with profound respect ; — and, Sire,
in no period of our history, have the Commons House of Parliament more
faithfully responded to the real feelings and interests of your Majesty's loyal,
dutiful, and affectionate people ; while it has been their earnest desire to sup-
port the dignity and honour of the Crown, upon which depend the greatness,
the happiness, and the prosperity, of this country."
The King spoke in a firm, cheerful, and dignified tone and manner. The
speech, which besides referred only to money-matters and economy, and to
our state of peace with foreign powers — began and ended thus : — " I have come
to meet you for the purpose of proroguing this parliament, with a view to its
immediate dissolution. I have been induced to resort to this measure, for the PROROGATION.
purpose of ascertaining the sense of my people, in the way in which it can be
most constitutionally and most authentically expressed, on the expediency of
making such changes in the Representation as circumstances may appear to
require, and which, founded upon the acknowledged principles of the Consti-
tution, may tend at once to uphold the just rights and prerogatives of the
Crown, and to give security to the liberties of the People In resolving
to recur to the sense of My People, in the present circumstances of the country,
I have been influenced only by a paternal anxiety for the contentment and
38 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. happiness of my subjects, to promote which, I rely with confidence on your
v~— — v— —• " continued and zealous assistance."
" It is over ! " said those to each other who understood the crisis better than
it was apprehended by the nation at large. "All is over!" whispered the
anti-reformers to each other. The members of both Houses went home that
April afternoon hoarse, heated, exhausted — conscious that such a scene had
never been witnessed within the walls of parliament since Cromwell's days.
The Ministers went home, to take some rest, knowing that all was safe : — that
is, that to the people was now fairly committed the People's Cause.
DISSOLUTION. A proclamation, declaring the dissolution of the parliament, appeared next
day: and the new writs were made returnable on the 14th of June.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 39
CHAPTER IV.
People thoroughly understood that their cause was now consigned to 1831.
their own hands. In all preceding " revolutions" — to adopt the term ^— — — -"
used by the anti-reformers — they had acted, when they acted at all, under the GENERAL ELEC-
direction of a small upper class who thought and understood for them, and used TION'
them as instruments. Now, the thinkers and leaders were of every class, and
the multitude acted, not only under orders, but in concert. If for every noble-
man and legislator who desired Parliamentary Reform for distinct political
reasons there were hundreds of middle-class men, for every hundred middle-
class men there were tens of thousands of the working classes who had an
interest, an opinion and a will in the matter which made them, instead of mere
instruments, political agents. The whole countless multitude of reformers had
laid hold of the principle that the most secure and the shortest way of obtain-
ing what they wanted was to obtain representation. This was a broad, clear
truth which every man could understand, and on which every earnest man was
disposed to act as men are wont to act on clear and broad truths : and the non-
electors felt themselves called upon to put forth such power as they had, as a
means to obtaining the power which they claimed. The elections were, to a
wonderful extent, carried by the non-electors, by means of their irresistible
power over those who had the suffrage. Times were indeed changed since the
century when Leeds and Manchester had, for a short time, been allowed to
send members to parliament in Cromwell's days, and had then again been
quietly disfranchised, almost without a murmur on any hand. In those old
days, these populous towns had been admitted to the representation because
legislators, looking abroad from their point of survey, saw that in reason they
ought to be. They were to be represented now because the inhabitants them-
selves demanded it, for reasons which it was their turn to propound. For some
time they had been preparing to enforce their demand : and the first obvious
occasion for action was now, when a House of Commons was to be returned
whose special business it was to reform itself.
The great unrepresented towns were co-operated with all over the country — POPULAR ACTION.
even in rural hamlets, and scattered farm-steads. In such places, half a dozen
labourers would club their earnings to buy a weekly newspaper (these costing
sevenpence, at first price) on the second day ; and the one who could read best
read aloud the whole of the debates after the memorable 1st of March, to his
companions, as they crowded round him in a shed, by the light of a single tallow
candle. Rural artisans walked miles after working hours to the nearest towns,
to learn what was posted up on the walls, and said in public houses. By the
time the elections were to take place, tens of thousands of working men knew
something more than the mere names of Russell, Grey, and Brougham, and
their leading opponents : — they knew their ways of thinking and speaking,
40 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. their aims and their plans; and this was an inestimable help in showing such
political students what to do. It is true, lew of these novices were very wise
on their great subject, and a multitude were ignorant and prejudiced : — some
wished for foreign war, and some for civil war, as a vent for their own pugna-
city : — some were for persecuting their neighbours who differed from them : —
and others drew glorious pictures of the wealth they should all enjoy when
every man had a vote, and had voted away all the taxes : but even the most
ignorant and unreasonable were in a better condition than before — more able
to understand reason — more fit to be influenced by their wiser neighbours —
better qualified to trust the authors and influential promoters of the great
measure. As for the higher orders of non-electors, the intelligent men of the
towns — by combining their lights, they easily saw what to do. They combined
their will, their knowledge, and their manifest force, in Political Unions, whence
they sent forth will, knowledge, and influence, over wide districts of the land.
And the electors, seeing the importance of the crisis — the unspeakable import-
ance that it should be well conducted — joined these Unions, and by their
weight of character, intelligence, and station, preserved them from much folly
and aimless effort, kept up the self-respect and sobriety of the best of the non-
electors, and curbed the violence of the worst. Wealthy capitalists, eminent
bankers, members of the late parliament, and country gentlemen, agreed over
their wine that they ought to join the Political Union of the district, and went
the next morning to enrol themselves. When face to face in their meetings
with their neighbours of lower degree, they taught and learned much : — new
openings for action appeared ; — daily opportunities offered for spreading know-
ledge, proposing sound views, and discountenancing violence. They were
startled by sudden apparitions of men of minds superior to their own — men of
genius and heroism — rising up from the most depressed ranks of non-electors ;
and they, in their turn, were found to be imbued with that respect for men as
men which is the result of superior education, but which the poor and depressed
too often conceive not to exist among the idle independent, whom they are apt
to call the proud. Such was the preparation going forward throughout the
country while the ministers were at their work in London ; — the rapid social
education of all ranks, which may be regarded as another of the ever-springing
blessings of the Peace, and by which the great transition from the old to the
new parliamentary system was rendered safe. That the amount of violence
was no greater than it was remained, and still remains, a matter of astonish-
ment to the anti-reform party, and was a blessing scarcely hoped for on the
other side. After the Three Days in Paris, in the preceding July, thoughtful
Englishmen asked each other with anxiety, whether it was conceivable that
their own countrymen would behave, in a similar crisis, with such chivalrous
honour and such enlightened moderation as the French populace. The
question was not now precisely answered, because the crisis was not similar —
the British King and his Ministers being on the side of the people, and the
conflict being only with a portion of the aristocracy of birth and wealth : but
there was enough of intelligence and moral nobleness in the march of the
English movement to inspire Englishmen with a stronger mutual respect and a
brighter political hope than they had ever entertained before.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 41
Such, evidence as there was at present, was window-breaking on illumination 1831.
nights, and bustlings and threatenings in the streets, at the election time, v — -~~ *
which compelled some anti-reform candidates and their agents to hide them-
selves. A few scattered instances of this kind of disturbance occurred in
England ; and in Scotland the riots were really formidable. The anti-reformers
there carried all before them, from their possessing almost a monopoly of poli-
tical power. These election days and illumination nights are the occasions
when brawlers and thieves come forth to indulge their passions and reap their
harvest : and in Edinburgh and London they made use of their opportunity,
to the discredit of the popular cause. On the dissolution of parliament, the
Lord Mayor sanctioned the illumination of London : and the windows of the RlOTS-
Duke of Wellington, Mr. Baring, and other leading anti -reformers, were
broken. After the Edinburgh election, the Lord Provost was attacked on the
North Bridge, and with difficulty rescued by the military. We happen to know
what was thought on the occasion by a reformer noted for his radicalism : " As Auto-biography of
dash went the stones," he says, " smash fell the glass, and crash came the *57-s.r "
window-frames, from nine o'clock to near midnight, reflection arose and asked
seriously and severely what this meant: — was it reform? was it popular
liberty ? Many thousands of others who were there must have asked them-
selves the same questions The reform newspapers were content to say
that the riots reflected no discredit on reformers ; the rioters were only ' the
blackguards of the town.' .... I believe that there is now one problem
solved by experience which was hidden in futurity then — namely, that the
greater the number of men enfranchised, the smaller is the number of ' black-
guards.' "
The election cry was " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the
Bill :" and the result was that such an assemblage of reformers was returned
that their opponents styled them a company of pledged delegates, and no true
House of Commons. And it was certain that such a thing as they called a NEW HOUSE OF
true House of Commons they would never more see. Out of eighty-two
county members only six were opposed to the Bill. Yorkshire sent four Annual Register,
reformers ; and so did London. General Gascoyne was driven from Liver- 1831> 15
pool, Sir Richard Vyvyan from Cornwall, Sir Edward Knatchbull from Kent,
and Mr. Bankes from Dorsetshire. The Duke of Newcastle could, this time,
do nothing with his " own." The most remarkable defeat of the Ministerial
party, but one which was sure to happen, was at Cambridge University, where
Lord Palmerston and Mr. Cavendish were driven out by Mr. Goulburn and
Mr. W. Peel.
After re-electing the Speaker, and hearing from the King's own lips a re-
commendation to undertake the Reform of their House, the Commons went to
work again. The Bill was introduced on the 24th of June ; but the second
reading stood over till the 4th of July, that the Scotch and Irish Reform Bills SECOND REFORM
might be brought in. The debate lasted three nights, when a division was B'LI"
taken on the second reading, which gave the Ministers a majority of 136 in a
House of 598 members. Hansard, iv. QOG.
It was clear that the Ministers were so strong that they were sure of their
own way in this House : but the strain upon the temper and patience of the
large majority was greater than they would have supported in a meaner cause.
VOL. II. G
42 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox IV.
1831. When we remember that the minority sincerely believed that they were now
^— — ^~«— ' witnessing the last days of the Constitution, we cannot wonder at their deter-
mination to avail themselves of all the forms of the House, and of every pass-
ing incident, to delay the destruction of the country. They avowed their
purpose, and they adhered to it with unflinching obstinacy. The House went
COMMITTEE. into Committee on the 12th of July ; and it was at once evident that every
borough was to be contended for, every population return questioned, every
point debated on which an argument could be hung; and this, not on
account of the merits of the case, but merely to protract the time, and leave
room for " Fate, or Providence, or something," to interfere. If at midnight,
in the hot glare of the lamps, any member dropped asleep, a piqued orator would
make that a cause of delay, that he might be properly attended to to-morrow :
and another time, the House would sit till the summer sunshine was glittering on
the breakfast tables of the citizens, the Opposition hoping to wear out the vigi-
lance of the proposers of the Bill. The people grew angry, and the newspapers
spoke their wrath. It was all very well, they said, to insist on the fullest dis-
cussion of every principle : but to wrangle for every item, after the principle
had been settled — to do this with the avowed object of awaiting accidents, and
in defiance of the declared will of the nation at large, was an insolence and
obstruction not to be borne. When, towards the end of the month, people
began to ask when and how this was to end, the Ministers moved that the
Reform business should take precedence of all other ; and it was arranged that
the discussion should proceed from five o'clock every day. Before August
came in, however, signs appeared of an unappeased discontent on the part of
the non-electors, who dreaded lest the heats of August in town and the
attractions of that month in the Scotch moors should draw off their champions
from their duty : and it became known in the House that a conference had
taken place between the Political Unions of Birmingham, Manchester, and
Glasgow, in order to agree how long they would wait. The majority in the
House thought it right to intimate such facts, to prove the danger of the times.
The minority called it stifling discussion by threats, and considered whether
they could not be a little slower still, in assertion of their constitutional right of
debate. Weeks passed on: the summer heats rose to their height, and
declined: the days shortened: Hon. members, haggard and nervous, worn
with eight hours per night of skirmishing and wrangling, pined for fresh air
and country quietness ; and still every borough, and every population statement
was contested. It was the 7th of September before the Committee reported.
On the 13th and two following days the Report was considered, when only a
few verbal amendments were proposed. The final debate occupied the even-
Hansard, VH. 464. ings of the 19th, 20th, and 21st of September ; and at its close, the Bill passed
™'EE COMMONS!** the Commons by a majority of 109 ; the numbers for and against being 345 to
236. Both London and the country had grown tired of waiting, and had
somewhat relaxed their attention when they found that the members might be
relied on for remaining at their posts : but on this occasion, all were as eager
as ever. The House was surrounded by crowds, who caught up the cheers
within on the announcement of the majority ; — cheers which were renewed so
perseveringly that it seemed as if the members had no thoughts of going home.
There was little sleep in London that night. The cheering ran along the
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 43
streets, and was caught up again and again till morning. Such of the peers 1831.
as were in town, awaiting their share of the business, which was now immc- v— — >•
diately to begin, must have heard the shouting, the whole night through. It
is certain that it was the deliberate intention of the greater number of them to
throw out the Bill very speedily. If the acclamations of that night did not
raise a doubt as to the duty and safety of their course, they must have been in
a mood unlike that of ordinary men, meditating in the watches of the night.
Before daylight, the news was on its way into the country ; and wherever it
spread, it floated the flags, and woke up the bells, and filled the air with
shouts and music. In the midst of this, however, the older and graver men
turned to each other with the question, — " What will the Lords do ? " Lord
Grey's speech in opening the debate in the House of Peers shows to those
who read it now that he had a precise foresight of what the Lords would do,
and particularly the Bishops. Lord Al thorp, attended by a hundred of the
Commons, carried up the Bill to the Peers, the day after it had passed the xuESLfRDAsDIN<s IN
Lower House : but the debate took place on the question of the second reading
— extending over five nights — from the 3rd to the 7th of October. It was an Hansard, vh. 923
exceedingly fine debate, as might have been expected from its nature. Not DEBATE.
only did the accomplishments of the noble speakers come into play, but they
had never before spoken on a subject which concerned them so nearly, which
they at once so thoroughly understood and so deeply felt ; and their minds
were roused and exercised accordingly. No position could be more dignified
than that of Lord Grey. He was safe from the taunt under which the Duke LORD GREY.
of Wellington had winced, and under which many a minister has since winced
— that he was the slave of popular clamour ; for he could point back to the
year 1786, when he voted with Mr. Pitt for shortening the duration of par-
liaments ; and to a time before the old French revolution, when he voted for
Mr. Flood's measure of Parliamentary Reform. Standing on this high ground
of principled consistency, the venerable statesman was at liberty from all self-
regards to be as great in his bearing as his measure was in its import. And
truly great he was. From this day, for many months he was subject to a series
of provocations which must often have worn his frame and sickened his
spirit : but he never stooped to anger or impatience. His conscience calm and
clear, his judgment settled, his knowledge and his powers concentrated in his
measure, he could maintain his stand above the passions which were agitating
other men. And he did maintain it, through all the personal fatigue and mental
weariness of months. Through the vacillations of the King above him, and the
raging and malice of the Peers around him, and the surging of the mob far
below him, for which he was made responsible, he preserved an unbroken yet
genial calmness which made observers feel and say that among the various
causes of emotion of that time, they knew nothing so moving as the greatness
of Lord Grey. On this opening night of the debate — the 3rd of October — he
stood, by virtue of his experience and the meditation of half a century, like a
seer, showing the issues of such procedure, on the one hand or the other, as
their Lordships might adopt. Among his other warnings, that to the Bishops THE BISHOPS.
stands out conspicuously and prophetically. " Let me respectfully entreat
those Right Reverend Prelates," he said, after an acknowledgment of their Hansard, v-n. 007
deserts and dignities, " to consider, that if this Bill should be rejected by a
44 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. narrow majority of the lay peers, which I have reason to hope will not be
v-— — >^— — ' the case ; but if it should, and that its fate should thus, within a few votes,
be decided by the votes of the heads of the Church, wrhat will then be their
situation with the country. Those Right Reverend Prelates have shown that
they were not indifferent or inattentive to the signs of the times They
appear to have felt that the eyes of the country are upon them ; that it is
necessary for them to set their house in order, and prepare to meet the coming
storm They are the ministers of peace; earnestly do I hope that the result
of their votes will be such as may tend to the tranquillity, to the peace, and hap-
piness of the country." If the JBishops were aware that the eyes of the people
were upon them, they seem to have been ignorant or thoughtless of one of the
reasons why. The people, down to the very lowest of the populace, were willing
to bear more on this question from the most aristocratic of the lay peers than
from any of the spiritual peers. There was no man anywhere so ignorant as
not to see that much allowance was to be made for noblemen of ancient line-
age, called on to part with hereditary borough property, and with political
influence which became more valuable from one session of parliament to
another. The Bishops had no plea for such allowance — commoners by birth
as they were, having no interest in borough property, and no hereditary asso-
ciations making war against present exigencies. If they really approved of our
representative system, they should naturally desire its purification : and the
whole people looked to see whether they did or not. If they did, they would
show themselves indeed shepherds of the flock : if not, they ,must be regarded
as the humble servants of the hereditary aristocracy ; and their Church would
be distrusted in proportion to the worldliness of her prelates. They did their
utmost to ruin themselves and their Church. One Bishop alone — the Bishop
of Norwich — voted in favour of the Bill. Twenty-one — exactly enough to turn
the scale — voted against the Bill : the majority by which it was thrown out
HanEard,viii.34o. being 41. It was proclaimed over the whole kingdom, and it will never be
forgotten, that it was the Bishops who threw out the Reform Bill. News-
papers in mourning edges told this, in the course of a day or two, to every
listener in the land. Every schoolboy knew it : every beggar could cast it in
the teeth of footmen in purple liveries on the steps of great houses. For many
months — till some time after the Reform Bill became the law of the land — it
was not safe for a Bishop to appear in public in any article of sacerdotal dress.
Insults followed if apron or hat showed themselves in the streets. And the
Bench gained nothing by yielding at last, because every body knew they could
not help it. While they imputed their yielding to a love of peace, they could
not complain if the people assigned it to a lack of courage. Whether the
deficiency was of sagacity, or knowledge, or independence, or principle, it did
more to injure the Church throughout the empire than all hostility of Catho-
lics and Dissenters together. Among the twenty-two anti-reform voters in the
Lords, on the final reading, a few months after this, there is no Bishop's name.
Not the less for this was it every where still repeated that it was the Bishops
that threw out the Reform Bill, till no child old enough to understand the
words could ever forget them.
The peers were not tempting fate in blindness. They knew what was said
and thought of them, and what was threatened in case of their refusal to surrender
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 45
their borough interests. They were aware, if they read the newspapers, that 1831.
there was a change in the form of the popular question which every man had
been asking his neighbour. Instead of the question, " What will the Lords
do ?" men were now asking, " What must be done with the Lords ?" and the
journals, having taken for granted that four hundred peers were not to stand
in the way of an essential improvement desired by king and people, were
beginning to discuss whether the king or the people should take the peers in
hand : — whether, as this was understood to mean, the king should create so
many new peers as to obtain a majority for the Bill, or the people should refuse
to pay taxes till they had obtained a better representation. If the Lords did
not read the newspapers — and Lord Grey gave great and general offence, in
the midst of his popularity, by declaring that he did not— they had other means
of information. On the day of the loss of the Bill, Lord Elclon wrote, before ^ of Lord EI.
going to the work of mischief, " Making new peers to pass it has been much
talked of; but, unless our calculation of numbers is erroneous, and most
grossly so, audacity itself could not venture to attempt a sufficient supply of
new Peers." Again, on the 5th of October, a remarkable scene had taken
place in the House of Lords, before entering on the topic of the night. During
the debate, more and more peeresses attended every evening, bringing their
daughters and relations, for whom seats were placed below the bar. Instead Hansard, vii. isos
of two or three ladies, quietly listening behind a curtain, there was now an
assemblage on rows of chairs, smiling, frowning, fidgetting, indicating their
agitation in every way short of clapping and groaning. The space about the
throne was thronged with listening foreigners and members of the other House :
and on this evening, the conspicuous figure of the intelligent Hindoo, Ham-
mohun-Roy, was in the midst of the group, his spreading turban attracting
many eyes, and his mobile countenance varying with every turn of the dis-
cussion. All these, and a very full House of Peers, were present when evidence
was brought forward of what the people were thinking of doing with the
Peers, in case of too obstinate a stand for the rotten boroughs. On occasion of
the presentation of petitions, information was given of something ominous
which had taken place at a meeting of 100,000 people at Birmingham. After Hansard, v». 1323.
one orator there had, quite unconstitutionally, asked repeatedly and signifi-
cantly, the question whether the Lords would " dare " to reject the Bill,
another had declared his intention to pay no taxes till the Bill should have
passed; and his declaration had been received with loud cheers. On his
desiring those who agreed with him to hold up their hands, a countless
multitude of hands was held up : and on his asking for a sign of dissent, not a
single hand was held up. While all the Peers who spoke upon this news,
from Lord Chancellor Brougham to his predecessor Lord Eldon, denounced
such proceedings as unconstitutional, no peer could, from that hour, be sup-
posed ignorant of what he was doing in driving the people and the sovereign
to one or the other of these methods of procuring a law which all but a small
fraction of society desired and chose to obtain. Yet, on the 7th, they threw
out the Bill, by a majority in which they gloried, as being much larger than THE BILL LOST.
the ministers had anticipated. Their expectation was that all would now go
well. Lord Grey had declared, that by this measure the Administration would
stand or fall. The measure having been lost, the Administration must fall.
46 . HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. After relating how the final debate lasted till between six and seven in the
morning, Lord Eldon wrote, " The fate of the Bill, therefore, is decided. . . .
The night was made interesting by the anxieties of all present. Perhaps
fortunately the mob would not on the outside wait so long as it was before
Lords left the inside of the House." Their lordships got home unmolested that
autumn morning, and awaited joyfully the tidings of the fall of the Adminis-
tration. But they had far other news to hear. The King meant to prorogue
parliament immediately, in order to a speedy re-assembling, and going over
of the whole matter again.
raouooATioit. This was a prospect full of weariness and anxiety to every body. As for
the King, he came down to the House on the 20th of October, in temper and
spirits as yet apparently unchanged ; and his Speech manifested the unrelaxed
nansaru, viii. 928. resolution of his Ministers. It earnestly recommended the careful preserva-
tion of tranquillity throughout the country, during the suspense in which the
great question was held. As for the peers, some believed, and with too much
excuse, that the hour of revolution was really come. " Our day here yester-
day was tremendously alarming," Lord Eldon had written a week before this
time. Many windows had been broken, several peers insulted in the streets,
and Lord Londonderry struck insensible from his horse, by the blow of a stone.
Life of Loni EL Lord Eldon, while writing of " the immense mob of Reformers," admits that
don, iii. 153.
there was " hardly a decent looking man among them :" and it was indeed
the case that the excitement of the time had called out all the disorderly part
of society into view and action. Not only the ignorant and violent desirers
of Parliamentary Reform, but thieves and vagabonds made use of the opportu-
nity to stir up the passions under whose cover they might pursue their aims
of plunder. This was made clear by the presence of well-known London
faces, not only at the window-breaking at the West end, but in the mobs
at Derby and Bristol, where the most serious damage was done to the
Reform cause. " Every where," Lord Eldon said, " the mischief is occa-
sioned by strangers from other parts coming to do mischief." The fact
was clear : only — Lord Eldon called these strangers " reformers," while the
police called them " the swell mob." Disastrous indeed was the injury
they did.
The great body of reformers stood firm and calm, because the government
did so. The House of Commons had immediately followed up the rejection
Hansard, viii. ass. of the Bill by a vote of confidence in Ministers which removed all fear of
VOTE OF CONFI- *
DENCE. their resigning : and calm patience was certain to carry the great objects of
the time. But then came these incendiaries, stirring up riots in Derby
and Nottingham first, and afterwards at Bristol — not only discrediting the
Reform cause, but doing a yet more terrible mischief by perplexing and alarm-
ing the King. The King remained to all appearance firm till after the pro-
rogation of Parliament, the Derby and Nottingham riots having meantime
occurred : but the more fearful affair at Bristol shook his decision and his
courage; and it is understood that from that date, the work of his Ministers
was more arduous than before.
RIOTS AT DERBY. At Derby, some rioters were consigned to jail for window-breaking : and
i83",uchrotTiGir.' the jail was carried by the mob, the prisoners released, and several lives lost
AT NOTTINGHAM, after the arrival of the military. — At Nottingham, the Castle was burnt —
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 47
avowedly because it was the property of the Duke of Newcastle. To all to 1831.
whom the name and fame of the devoted Lucy Hutchinson and her spouse — ^
are dear, this event was a mournful one : hut the walls remain, and the beauty
of the site eannot be impaired while any part of the building meets the eye.
The Duke recovered £21,000 from the county, as damages, and certainly Annual Register,
,,. T, . , 1832, Chron. 108.
appeared to suiter much less under the event than his respectable neighbours
of the Reform party. He evidently enjoyed his martyrdom.
The Bristol mobs have always been noted for their brutality : and the out-
break now was such as to amaze and confound the whole kingdom. It will
ever remain a national disgrace that such materials existed in such quantity
for London rogues to operate upon. Nothing like these Bristol riots had
happened since the Birmingham riots in 1791.
London rogues could have had no such power as in this case if the political
and moral state of Bristol had not been bad. Its political state was disgrace-
ful. The venality of its elections was notorious. It had a close corporation,
between whom and the citizens there was no community of feeling on muni-
cipal subjects. The lower parts of the city were the harbourage of probably
a worse sea-port populace than any other place in England, while the police
was ineffective and demoralized. There was no city in which a greater
amount of savagery lay beneath a society proud, exclusive, and mutually
repellent, rather than enlightened and accustomed to social co-operation.
These are circumstances which go far to account for the Bristol riots being so
fearfully bad as they were. Of this city, Sir Charles Wetherell — then at the
height of his unpopularity as a vigorous opponent of the Reform Bill — was
Recorder ; and there he had to go, in the last days of October, in his judicial
capacity. Strenuous efforts had been made to exhibit before the eyes of the
Bristol people the difference between the political and judicial functions of
their Recorder, and to show them that to receive the Judge with respect was
not to countenance his political course : yet the symptoms of discontent were Montniy Reposi-
such as to induce the Mayor, Mr. Pinney, to apply to the Home Office for tory> v- 843-852
military aid. Lord Melbourne sent down some troops of horse, which were
quartered within reach, in the neighbourhood of the city. It was an unfortu-
nate circumstance that, owing to the want of a common interest between the
citizens and the corporation, scarcely any gentlemen offered their services as
special constables but such as were accustomed to consider the lower classes
with contempt as a troublesome rabble, and rather relished an occasion for
defying and humbling them. Such was the preparation made in the face of
the fact that Sir Charles Wetherell could not be induced to relinquish his
public entry, though warned of danger by the magistrates themselves ; and
of the other important fact that the London rogues driven from the metropolis
by the new police were known to be infesting every place where there was
hope of confusion and spoil.
On Saturday, October 29th, Sir Charles Wetherell entered Bristol in pomp :
and before he reached the Mansion House at noon, he must have been pretty
well convinced, by the hootings and throwing of stones, that he had better
have foregone the procession. For some hours, the special constables and the
noisy mob in front of the Mansion House exchanged discourtesies of an em-
43 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. phatic character : but there was no actual violence till night. At night, the
^— — ~- — — - Mansion House was attacked ; and the Riot Act was read ; hut the military
i83""chronf ml' were not brought down, as they ought to have been, to clear the streets.
The Mayor had " religious scruples," and was " humane ;" and his indecision
was not overborne by any aid from his brother magistrates. When the mili-
tary were brought in, it was after violence had been committed, and when the
passions of the mob were much excited. Sir Charles Wetherell escaped from
the city that night. During the dark hours, sounds were heard provocative of
further riot ; — shouts in the streets, and the hammering of workmen who
were boarding up the lower windows of the Mansion House and the neigh-
bouring dwellings. — On the Sunday morning, the rioters broke into the
Mansion House, without opposition: and from the time they got into the
cellars, all went wrong. Hungry wretches and boys broke the necks of the
bottles, and Queen Square was strewed with the bodies of the dead drunk.
The soldiers were left without orders ; and their officers without that sanction
of the magistracy in the absence of which they could not act, but only parade ;
and in this parading, some of the soldiers naturally lost their tempers, and
spoke and made gestures on their own account which did not tend to the soothing
of the mob. This mob never consisted of more than five or six hundred ;
and twenty thousand orderly persons attended the churches and chapels that
day, to whom no appeal on behalf of peace and the law was made. At a
word through the pastors from the magistrates, indicating how they should
act, the heads of these families could easily have co-operated to secure the
protection of the city. The mob declared openly what they were going to
do ; and they went to work unchecked — armed with staves and bludgeons
from the quays, and with iron palisades from the Mansion House — to break
open and burn the Bridewell, the Jail, the Bishop's palace, the Custom House,
and Queen's Square. They gave half an hour's notice to the inhabitants of
each house in the Square, which they then set fire to in regular succession,
till two sides, each measuring 550 feet, lay in smoking ruins. The bodies of
the drunken were seen roasting in the fire. The greater number of the rioters
were believed to be under twenty years of age : and some were mere children —
some Sunday scholars, hitherto well-conducted : and it may be questioned
whether one in ten knew any thing of the Reform Bill, or the offences of Sir
Charles Wetherell. — On the Monday morning, after all actual riot seemed to
be over, the soldiery at last made two slaughterous charges. More horse
arrived, and a considerable body of foot soldiers ; and the constabulary became
active ; and from that time, the city was in a more orderly state than the
residents were accustomed to see it.
The inhabitants at large were not disposed to acquiesce quietly in the dis-
grace of their city. Public meetings were held, to petition the government to
make inquiry into the causes and circumstances of the disturbances, the
petitioners emphatically declaring their opinion, " that Bristol owed all the
calamities they deplored to the system under the predominance of which they
had taken place." The magistrates were brought to trial ; and so was Colonel
Brereton, who was understood to be in command of the whole of the military.
The result of that court-martial caused more emotion throughout the king-
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 49
dom than all the slaughtering and burning, and the subsequent executions 1831.
which marked that fearful season. ' ""• — "
It was a year before the trial of the magistrates was entered upon. The re- p?io3o°r> 1332>
suit was the acquittal of the mayor, and the consequent relinquishment of the
prosecution of his brother magistrates. While every one saw that great
blame rested somewhere, no one was disposed to make a victim of a citizen
who found himself, at a time of extreme emergency, in the midst of a system
which rendered a proper discharge of his duty impossible. All agreed that
Bristol must no longer be misgoverned ; but no one desired to punish the one
man, or the three or five men in whose term of office the existing corruption
and inefficiency were made manifest by a sort of accident. Instead of com-
plaining that Mr. Pinney and the other aldermen escaped, men mourned that
Colonel Brereton had not lain under the same conditions of impunity.
The magistrates believed that they had done their part in desiring that the
commanders of the military would act according to their discretion. Colonel
Brereton believed that, before he could act, he must have a more express
sanction from the magistracy than he could obtain. Between them, nothing
was done. The Mayor was not the only " humane" man. Colonel Brereton
also was " humane." He saw a crowd of boys and women, with a smaller
proportion of men, collected without apparent aim, and in a mood to be di-
verted, as he thought, from serious mischief. While inwardly chafing at
being left without authority — not empowered to do any thing but ride about —
he rode in among them, made use of his popularity, spoke to them, and let
them shake hands with him. This would have been well, if all had ended Annual Rpgisur,
well. But the event decided the case against him. He knew how unfavour-
ably these acts would tell on his trial. Full of keen sensibilities, nothing in
him was more keen than his sense of professional honour. He sank under the
conflict between his civil and professional conscience. He was crushed in
the collision between the natural and the conventional systems of social and
military duty in which he found himself entangled. He had been too much
of the man to make war, without overruling authorization, on the misguided
and defenceless ; and he found himself too much of the soldier to endure con-
ventional dishonour. His trial began on the 9th of the next January. For
four days, he struggled on in increasing agony of mind. On the night of the
12th, he, for the first time, omitted his visit at bedtime to the chamber of his
children — his two young motherless daughters : he was heard walking for
hours about his room : and when the court assembled in the morning, it was
to hear that the prisoner had shot himself through the heart. — The whole Annual Register,
series of events at Bristol became more and more disconnected in the general 1832>
mind with the subject of the Reform Bill, as facts came out which showed
that other proximate causes of disturbance would have, no doubt, wrought
the same effects, sooner or later, as well as the one which chanced to occur.
The question which did, from that time, lie deep down in thoughtful minds
was, how long our Christian profession and our heathen practice — our social
and military combinations — were to be supposed compatible, after a man who
united in himself the virtues of both had been driven to suicide by their
contrariety.
It is necessary to note tho social disturbances which followed upon the re-
VOL. II. H
50 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. jection of the second Reform Bill: but it is no less necessary to point out
that the turbulence of this, as of all seasons, is easy to observe, while no
account can be given which can represent to the imagination the prevailing
calmness and order of the time. Calmness and order present no salient point
for narrative and description : but their existence must not therefore be over-
looked. A truly heroic state of self-discipline and obedience to law prevailed
over the land, while in particular spots the turbulent were able to excite the
giddy and the ignorant to riot. The nation was steadily rising to its most
heroic mood ; that mood in which, the next year, it carried through the sub-
lime enterprise which no man, in the darkest moment, had any thought of
surrendering.
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 51
CHAPTER V.
THE preparations for the renewal of the struggle for Parliamentary Reform 1831.
began immediately after the prorogation, and were of a very serious cha- % -~ v^~ "
racter on every hand. As might be expected from the protraction of the
quarrel, each party went further in its own direction ; and the King, whose
station was in the middle, became occasionally irresolute, through anxiety —
an anxiety which plainly affected his health.
On the 31st of October, the London Political Union held an important ^TU^POUTI~
meeting which was so fully attended that the multitude adjourned to Lincoln's
Inn Fields. The object of the day was to decree and organize a National
Union, the provincial associations to be connected with it as branches, sending
delegates to the central Board. Thus far, all had gone well, as regarded these
Unions. The administration had not been obliged to recognise their existence,
while undoubtedly very glad of the fact. Whether their existence was constitu-
tional was one of the two great questions of the day. Hitherto, the government
were not obliged to discuss it, in public or private, or to give any opinion ; for
till now, the Unions had done nothing objectionable. Now, however, the diffi-
culty began. The less informed and more violent members of the London
Union insisted upon demanding Universal Suffrage, and other matters not in- Auto-biography of
. a Working Man,
eluded in the Bill, while the wiser majority chose to adhere to their watchword, P- 240.
" The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill." The minority seceded,
and constituted a Metropolitan Union of their own, whose avowed object was METROPOLITAN
* . . UNION.
to defeat the Ministerial measure, in order to obtain a more thorough opening
of the representation. In their advertisements, they declared all hereditary
privileges and all distinction of ranks to be unnatural and vicious ; and invited
the working men throughout the country to come up to their grand meeting at
White Conduit House, on the 7th of November, declaring that such a display
of strength must carry all before it. The government brought soldiery round
the Metropolis, had an army of special constables sworn in — all in a quiet way
— and as quietly communicated with the Union leaders. On the 5th, the
Hatton Garden magistrates informed these leaders that their proposed pro- Annual Register,
ceedings were illegal. A deputation begged admission to the presence of the
Home Secretary. Lord Melbourne saw them, and quietly pointed out to them
which passages of their address were seditious, if not treasonable, involving
in the guilt of treason all persons who attended their meeting for the purpose
of promoting the objects proposed. The leaders at once abandoned their
design. The ministers were blamed for letting them go, and taking no notice
of the seditious advertisement : but no one who, at this distance of time, com-
pares the Melbourne and the Sidmouth days can doubt that the forbearance
was as wise as it was kind. What the offenders needed was better knowledge,
not penal restraint, as their conduct in disbanding plainly showed. The peace
52 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. of society lost nothing, and the influence of the government gained much, by
v~— — ^» — ' the ministers showing themselves willing to enlighten rather than to punish
ignorance, and to reserve their penalties (where circumstances allowed it) for
wilful and obstinate violations of the law. The affair, however, alarmed the
sovereign and the more timid of the aristocracy who had hitherto supported the
Reform measure.
At the same time, Lord Grey was beset by deputations from all ranks and
classes, urging the shortening of the recess to the utmost, and the expediting
the measure by all possible means; and especially by inducing the King to
create peers in sufficient numbers to secure the immediate passage of the Bill
through the House of Lords. All the interests of the kingdom were suffering
under suspense and disappointment, and the popular indignation against the
obstructive peers was growing dangerous. This proposition of a creation of
peers was the other great question of the day.
CREATION w A And seldom or never has there been a question more serious. Men saw now
PEERS. fa^ fae wor(j « revolution," so often in the mouths of the anti-reformers,
might prove to be not so inapplicable as had been supposed : that, if the peers
should not come immediately and voluntarily, and by the light of their own
convictions, into harmony with the other two powers of the government, it
would prove true that, as they were themselves saying, " the balance of the
Constitution was destroyed." Was it not already so ? it was asked. Unless
a miraculous enlightenment was to be looked for between October and Decem-
ber, was there any alternative but civil war, and, in some way or another,
overbearing the Lords ? Civil war was out of the question for such a handful
of obstructives. The King, Commons, and People, could not be kept waiting-
much longer for the few who showed no sign of yielding ; and it would be the
best kindness to all parties to get the obstructives out-voted, by an exertion of
that kingly power whose existence nobody disputed, however undesirable might
be its frequent exercise. From day to day was this consideration urged upon
the Premier, who never made any reply to it. It was not a time when men
saw the full import of what they asked ; nor was this a subject on which the
Prime Minister could open his lips to deputations. He must have felt, like
every responsible and every thoughtful man, that no more serious and mourn-
ful enterprise could be proposed to any minister than to destroy the essential
character of any one of the three component parts of the government ; and
that, if such a destruction should prove to be a necessary condition of the requi-
site purification of another, it was the very hardest and most fearful of con-
ditions. Men were talking lightly, all over the kingdom, of the necessity of
swamping the opposition of the peers : they were angry, and with reason, with
the living men who made the difficulty ; and nobody contradicted them when
they said that the extinction of the wisdom of these particular men in the
national counsels would be no great loss : but they did not consider that the
existing Roden and Newcastle, and Eldon and R-olle, were not the great insti-
tution of the British House of Lords, whose function shone back through the
history of a thousand years, and might shine onwards through a thousand years
more, if the ignorance and selfishness of its existing majority could be overcome
on the present occasion by a long patience and a large forbearance. Lord
Grey was the last man to degrade his "order," if the necessity could by any
CHAP. V.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 53
means be avoided. It was his first object to carry the Reform of the Commons ; 1831.
but it would well nigh have broken his heart to be compelled to do it through v-— - — •— -'
the degradation of the Lords. At this time, while, from his silence, multitudes
believed what they wished, and confidently expected a large creation of peers,
it is now known that he had not yet proposed any such measure to the King.
One consequence of the prevalence of an expectation of a batch of new peers
was the parting off from the obstructive Lords of a large number who were
called the Waverers. There is always such a set of people in such times ; and THE WAVERERS.
greatly do they always embarrass the calculations of the best informed. These
kept the issue in uncertainty up to the last moment. On the one part were
the honest and enlightened peers who saw that the end of borough-corruption
was come. On the other part were the honest and unenlightened, or the
selfish who would not have our institutions touched on any pretence whatever;
and between them now stood the Waverers, hoping to keep things as they were,
but disposed to yield voluntarily, if they could not conquer, rather than be put
down by an incursion of numbers.
There was something unusually solemn in the meeting of parliament on the £IRBJ£ITV OF T1IB
6th of December. It may surprise men now, and it will surprise men more
hereafter, to remark the tone of awe-struck expectation in which men of sober
mind, of cheerful temper, and even of historical learning (that powerful anti-
dote to temporary alarms), spoke and wrote of the winter of 1831-2. A govern-
ment proclamation, issued on the 22nd of November, with the aim of putting
down Political Unions, was found to be as ineffectual as such proclamations PROCLAMATION
. - AGAINST POLITI-
always are against associations which can change their rules and forms at CAL UNIONS.
pleasure. It appeared strange that the ministers should now begin to make
war upon the Unions, when their policy hitherto had been to let them alone :
a policy befitting men able to learn by the experience of their predecessors in the
case of the Catholic Association. There was a general feeling of disappoint-
ment, as at an inconsistency, when the proclamation appeared. It has since
become known that the Administration acted under another will than their
own in this matter. In December, Lord Eldon had an interview with the
Duke of Wellington, of which he wrote, " I sat with him near an hour, in Life of Lord EI.
1 • 1 • • T j7 .t 7 J. J. 4. don> "'• 163>
deep conversation and most interesting. Letters that he wrote to a great
personage produced the proclamation against the Unions. But if parliament
will not interfere further, the proclamation will be of little use — I think, of no
use." It was certainly, at present, of no use. The National Union immedi-
ately put out its assertion that the proclamation did not apply to it, nor to the Annual Roister,
great majority of Unions then in existence. So there sat the monstrous
offspring of this strange time, vigilant, far spreading, intelligent, and of incal-
culable force — a power believed in its season to be greater than that of King,
Lords, and Commons: there it sat, watching them all, and ready to take up
any duty which any one of them let drop, and force it back into the most
reluctant hands. — A dark demon was, at the same time, brooding over the
land. It chills one's heart now to read the Cholera proclamations and orders THE CHOLERA.
of that year, and the suggestions of Boards of Health, to which men looked for
comfort, but from which they received much alarm. Men were not then able
to conceive of a mild plague : and what they had heard of the Cholera carried
back their imaginations to the plagues of the middle ages. Among many dis-
54 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. mal recommendations from authority, therefore, we find one which it almost
^~~^^~^-^ made the public ill to read of: — that, when the sick could not be carried to
cholera hospitals, their abodes should be watched and guarded, to prevent
communication — that the word " SICK " should be conspicuously painted on
the front of the dwelling, while there were patients there, and the word
oTt.lo'ni8C3°iuncil> "CAUTION" for some weeks afterwards. Men began to think of the nightly
bell and dead cart, and of grass growing in the streets, and received with panic
the news of the actual appearance of the disease in various parts of the island
at the same time. In the truthful spirit of history, it must be told that a
large and thoughtful class of society were deeply moved and impressed at this
time by what was taking place in Edward Irving's chapel and sect. Men and
TONG^N°WN women were declared to have the gift of Unknown Tongues ; and the mani-
festations of the power (whatever in the vast range of the nervous powers of
Man it might be) were truly awe-striking. Some laughed then, as many
laugh now : but it may be doubted whether any thoughtful person could laugh
in face of the facts. We have the testimony of a man who could never be
listened to without respect, of a man whose heart and mind were not only
naturally cheerful, but anchored on a cheerful faith — as to what was the aspect
of that season to such men as himself. In reply to some question about the
nofdf 302 1r~ Ii'vingite gift, Dr. Arnold writes, " If the thing be real, I should take it merely
as a sign of the coming of the day of the Lord — the only use, as far as I can
make out, that ever was derived from the gift of tongues. I do not see that it
was ever made a vehicle of instruction, or ever superseded the study of tongues,
but that it was merely a sign of the power of God, a man being for the time
transformed into a mere instrument to utter sounds which he himself under-
stood not However, whether this be a real sign or no, I believe that
' the day of the Lord ' is coming, i. e., the termination of one of the great
cuwvee" (ages) " of the human race, whether the final one of all or not: that I
believe no created being knows or can know. The termination of the Jewish
aicjv in the first century, and of the Roman a.iwv in the fifth and sixth, were
each marked by the same concurrence of calamities, wars, tumults, pestilences,
earthquakes, &c., all marking the time of one of God's peculiar seasons of
visitation." . . . . " My sense of the evil of the times, and to what prospects
I am bringing up my children, is overwhelmingly bitter. All the moral and
physical world appears so exactly to announce the coming of the * great day
of the Lord,' i. e., a period of fearful visitation, to terminate the existing
state of things — whether to terminate the whole existence of the human race,
neither man nor angel knows — that no entireness of private happiness can
possibly close my mind against the sense of it." Thus could the thoughtful —
active in the duties of life — feel at this time : and when men of business pro-
posed to each other any of the ordinary enterprises of their calling, they were
sure to encounter looks of surprise, and be asked how any thing could be done
while the Cholera and the Reform Bill engrossed men's minds. At the same
time, London was overhung with heavy fogs ; and that sense of indisposition
was prevalent — that vague restlessness and depression — which are observable in
the seasons when cholera manifests itself. When the King went down to the
OPENING OF THE House, to open the session on the 6th of December, it was observed that he
H^Iard ix. i. did not look well; and the topics of the speech — the disputed Bill, the pesti-
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 55
Icnce, the distress, the riots — were not the most cheerful. It was under such 1831.
influences as these that parties came together in parliament, for what all knew * — ~-^ — ""
to be the final struggle on the controversy of the time.
On the 12th of December, Lord John Russell moved for leave to bring in a l»™ UEFORM
new Reform Bill. It was to be not less efficient than the last, and the few Hansard, ix. isc.
alterations made tended to render it more so. There was now also a new
census — that of the year then closing — so that the census of 1821, with all the
difficulties which hung about it, might be dismissed. The Bill was read a first
time. The debate on the second reading began on Friday the 16th, and was
continued the next evening, concluding early in the morning of Sunday the
18th, when the majority was 162 in a House of 486. The majority was a very Hansard, ix. 540.
large one ; and ministers might rest on that during the Christmas recess : but
the spirit of opposition to reform in general, and to this Bill in particular, was
growing more fierce from day to day.
The House met again on the 17th of January, and on the 20th went into
Committee on the Bill. It is amusing to read the complaints of the anti- Hansard, ix.eai.
reformers about being hurried in Committee — as if the provisions of the Bill
were perfectly new to them. Some changes had been introduced since the
long summer nights, of which so many had been spent in the discussion of
the measure, and these (due mainly to the use of the new census) were consi-
dered with all possible dilatoriness. By no arts of delay, however, could the
minority of the Committee protract its sittings beyond the 9th of March.
The Report was considered on the 14th. When, on the 19th, the third
reading was moved for, Lord Mahon, seconded by Sir John Malcolm, made
the last effort employed in the House of Commons against the Bill. He
moved that it should be read that day six months; and a debate of three
nights ensued — worn out as all now felt the subject to be. Worn out as all
felt the subject to be, there was a freshness given to it by the thought that
must have been in every considerate mind, that here the people's representa-
tives were ending their preparations for a great new period ; — that they had
done their share, and must now await the doubtful event — the one party
expecting revolution if the Bill did become law, and the other if it did not.
All felt assured that they should not have to discuss a fourth Bill, and that
the issue now rested finally with the Lords. At such a moment, the words
of the leaders are weighed with a strong interest. " At this, the last stage of
the Reform Bill," said Lord Mahon, "on the brink of the most momentous Hansard, xi. 414.
decision to which, not only this House, but, I believe, any legislative assembly
in any country, ever came — when the real alternative at issue is no longer —
between Reform or no Reform, but between a moderate Reform on the one
hand, and a revolutionary Reform on the other — at such a moment, it is with
feelings of no ordinary difficulty that I venture to address you." — Lord John
Russell's closing declaration, when the last division had yielded a majority of
116, in a House of 594, was this : "With respect to the expectations of the Hansard, xi. TSO.
government, he would say that in proposing this measure they had not acted
lightly, but after much consideration which had induced them to think a year
ago, that a measure of this kind was necessary, if they meant to stand between
the abuses which they wished to correct, and the convulsions which they
desired to avoid. He was convinced that if parliament should refuse to enter-
56 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. tain a measure of this nature, they would place in collision that party which,
v— — -N " on the one hand, opposed' all Reform in the Commons House of Parliament,
and that which, on the other, desired a Reform extending to universal suffrage.
The consequence of this would be, that much blood would be shed in the
struggle between the contending parties, and he was perfectly persuaded that
the British Constitution would perish in the conflict. — I move, Sir, that this
Hansard, xt. 855. j^i <jo pass." It passed : and then " the next question, ' That this be the
title of the Bill — A Bill to amend the Representation of the people of England
and Wales,' was carried by acclamation. — Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp
FINAL PASSAGE were ordered to carry the Bill to the Lords, and to request the concurrence of
THROUGH THE •
COMMONS. their lordships to the same."
Hansard, xi. 858. *?
When they discharged their errand, three days afterwards — on Monday,
March 26th — they were attended by a large number of members of their own
THESLo*REo-D'NG 'N H°use- The first reading in the Lords took place immediately; and the
second, which was to be a period of critical debate, was fixed for the 5th of
April, but, for reasons of convenience, did not begin till the 9th. — Already,
on this first night, there was a defection of waverers from the late majority —
several peers intimating their intention of voting the Bill into Committee,
some in hopes that it might be improved there into something good, and others
Hansard, xi. SGI, because there was now less danger in passing the Bill than in refusing it.
This conduct, after the anti-reformers had strained every nerve to bring up
before the King's face all the opposition that could be aroused throughout the
British islands — Lord Roden having presented at the levee on the 28th of
Autobiography of February a petition against Reform signed by 230,000 Irish Protestants — dis-
P. 24i. ' couraged some members of their Lordships' House, and exasperated others ;
so that the conflict of passions within the House was almost as fierce as
between their House and the Unions. — The Duke of Buckingham did what
he could to accommodate matters all round by promising that, if their Lord-
ships would throw out the Bill on the second reading, he would himself imme-
diately bring in a Reform Bill, by which representatives should be given to
Hansard, xii. i. all the large towns, and some consolidation of boroughs be effected, Absurd
as was the supposition that the country would give up its own Bill for one
from the Duke of Buckingham, the incident is worth noting as a proof that
the high Conservatives were giving way — were surrendering their main argu-
ments of antiquarian analogy — and becoming eager to avow themselves
reformers.
The deepest anxiety that had yet been felt was about the division on the
question of the second reading in the Lords. The staunch Tories saw that it
was " too clear," as Lord Eldon said, that their own party would split on this
question, and that then it was to be feared the Bill would pass. The Reform
Lords saw that another triumph of their opponents would be the doom of
their House ; while they were by no means sure that the Bill would pass even
in case of victory now ; for the event would be determined by the waverers,
who could not be depended on at the last moment. The debate extended
over the nights from the 9th to the 13th of April. It was bright morning on
AN° Dl khe 14th when the votes were taken. The lights had grown yellower and
dimmer in the fresh daylight, the faces of the wearied legislators had appeared
more and more haggard and heated ; and at last, the slanting rays of the
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 57
morning sun shone full in upon the woolsack, as the keen eyes of the Chan- 1832.
cellor shot their glances, as wakeful as ever, from urider the great wig. The v— ~- '
attendance of strangers was as full as it had been twelve hours before ; for it
was not a scene which men would miss for the sake of food and sleep. It
was a quarter past seven on Friday morning, when the House adjourned, after
yielding a majority of nine to the Administration. Hansard, xu. 454.
In a few hours, lists were handed about which showed how the minority of ,A""ual Register,
** I Xi!j, p. 140.
forty-one of six months before had been changed into a majority of nine. Seven-
teen peers had turned round. Twelve who had been absent before, now voted
for the Bill : and ten who had voted against it before, now absented them-
selves. Among the twelve were the Archbishop of York, and the Bishops of
London, St. David's, Worcester, and Chester. Among the ten was the Bishop
of Peterborough. It was the bishops who saved the Bill this time : but their
deed did not restore the credit their order had lost in October.
The Easter recess, which postponed the meeting of the Houses till the 7th
of May, now afforded time for the people to apply that " pressure from without" ^HOU"E FR°M
which might be necessary to prevent the waverers from spoiling the Bill in
Committee. This " pressure from without" was spoken of by the peers with
an abhorrence and contempt in which it is impossible for any one who appre-
ciates their function not to sympathize. But they had brought it upon them-
selves ; and now they must bear it. The Birmingham Political Union met MEETINGS AND
on the 27th of April, and invited all the Unions of the counties of Warwick,
Worcester, and Stafford, to congregate at Newhall Hill in Birmingham on the
day of the reassembling of parliament. Monster meetings were held in all
the large towns, and monster petitions sent to the King to yield to the neces-
sity for creating more peers. The Edinburgh meeting, 60,000 strong, was
held before the windows of Charles X. at Holyrood : and there he saw the spectator, issu,
spectacle of an orderly assemblage met to express their concord with their
sovereign, and their determination to aid him in obtaining for them the rights
to which he was able to see that time had given birth. The cheering of that
multitude for " King William, the father of his country," must have gone to
the exile's heart. The petitions to the King and the Lords from Liverpool,
Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paisley, Dundee, and indeed
from every populous place in the land, were in exactly the same strain, and
nearly in the same words. That from Birmingham implored the peers " not
to drive to despair a high-minded, generous, and fearless people, or to urge
them on, by a rejection of their claims, to demands of a much more extensive
nature, but rather to pass the Reform Bill into a law, unimpaired in any of its
great parts and provisions." The National Union, on the 3rd of May, spoke
out plainly enough. Its petition informed the Lords, that if they denied or
impaired the Bill, " there was reason to expect that the payment of taxes
would cease, that other obligations of society would be disregarded, and that
the ultimate consequence might be the utter extinction of the privileged
orders." Among the serious and solemn petitions which it is a duty to place
upon record, there was a fable put forth which should stand beside them, as
having done as much for the great cause as any or all of them. It has passed
into a proverb ; but its original delivery should be registered, for the benefit
VOL. II. I
58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. of a far future. At a meeting at Taunton, a clergyman, who felt himself
equally at home and free to speak the truth among peers and cottagers — after
declaring in regard to the Bishops that he " could not hut blush to have seen
so many dignitaries of the Church arrayed against the wishes and happiness
w«to, KM. of the Pe°Ple/' we.nt on to say, " As for the possibility of the House of Lords
preventing ere long a Reform of Parliament, I hold it to be the most absurd
notion that ever entered into human imagination. I do not mean to be dis-
respectful, but the attempt of the Lords to stop the progress of Reform reminds
me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and of the conduct of the
excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set
in a great flood upon that town — the tide rose to an incredible height — the
waves rushed in upon the houses, and every thing was threatened with destruc-
tion. In the midst of this sublime and terrible storm, Dame Partington,
who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and
pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea water, and vigorously
pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused. Mrs. Parting-
ton's spirit was up ; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal.
The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or
a puddle, but she should not have meddled with a tempest. Gentlemen — be
at your ease — be quiet and steady. You will beat Mrs. Partington."
The congregation of the Unions at Birmingham on the 7th of May com-
NEWHALL HILL posed the largest meeting believed to have been ever held in Great Britain.
spectator 1832, The numbers did not fall short of 150,000. The hustings were erected at
the bottom of the slope of Newhall Hill, in a position so favourable that the
voices of most of the speakers reached to the outskirts of the great assem-
blage, and to the throngs on the roofs of the surrounding houses. The Unions
poured in upon the ground in one wide unbroken stream till the gazers were
almost ready to ask one another whether this was not a convention of the
nation itself. At the sound of the bugle from the hustings, silence was in-
stantly produced ; and Mr. Attwood, the Chairman, announced to the assem-
blage the object of the meeting ; — to avow the unabated interest and resolute
will of the people in the cause of Reform, and their determination to support
their excellent King and his patriotic Ministers in carrying forward their
great measure into law. — While the Chairman was speaking, the Bromsgrove
Union, which arrived late, was seen approaching from afar. Their assembled
brethren greeted them with the Union Hymn — deserving of record from being
then familiar to every child in the land. It never was so sung before, nor
after ; for now, a hundred thousand voices pealed it forth in music which has
never died away in the hearts of those who heard it. Seventy-four members
of the Society of Friends — men of education, who had just joined the Union
on principle — might now know something of the power of music. A dif-
ferent order of men, who could not be on the ground — some soldiers of
the Scots Greys who had quietly joined the Union — must have listened
from within their barracks with a longing to be on the hill. The Duke of
Wellington was reckoning on their services to finish the business, after
all : but the Hymn seems to tell that the warlike intentions were wholly
on one side.
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 50
1832.
UNION HYMN. ^— — —
" Lo ! we answer ! see, we come,
Quick at Freedom's holy call.
We come ! we come ! we come ! we come !
To do the glorious work of all :
And hark ! we raise from sea to sea
The sacred watchword Liberty !
God is our guide ! from field, from wave,
From plough, from anvil, and from loom,
We come, our country's rights to save,
And speak a tyrant faction's doom.
And hark! we raise from sea to sea
The sacred watchword Liberty !
God is our guide ! no swords we draw,
We kindle not war's battle fires ;
By union, justice, reason, law,
We claim the birthright of our sires.
We raise the watchword Liberty !
We will, we will, we will be free !"
Spirit-stirring as this was, a more solemn manifestation followed; — the
Plighting of their Faith by these hundred thousand earnest men. " Here,"
said one of the speakers, Mr. Salt, " I call upon you to repeat, with head
uncovered, and in the face of heaven and the God of justice and mercy, the
following words after me." Every man bared his head, and, with the true
Anglo-Saxon spirit swelling at his heart, uttered, slowly, one by one, as they
were given forth, these words : " With unbroken faith, through every peril
and privation, we here devote ourselves and our children to our country's
cause."
On this same 7th of May, the Duke of Wellington was beginning to see
how the hope of such multitudes as this was likely to be foiled, and relying
confidently on the Scots Greys in their barracks for putting down this parti-
cular multitude, if it should prove troublesome. Mrs. Partington was going
to her cupboard, to bring out her mop. — On this same 7th of May, the Lords,
on reassembling after Easter, went immediately into Committee on the Bill ;
and, as their first act, overthrew the Administration. Before the echoes of
the Hymn had well died away at Birmingham, before the tears were well
dried which the Plighting of the Faith had brought upon many cheeks, the
Lords in London had decided, by a majority of thirty-five against Ministers, DEFEAT OF MI.
NISTERS
and on the motion of Lord Lyndhurst, to postpone the disfranchising clauses, Hansard, xii. 724.
going first to the consideration of the new franchises. When Lord Grey
moved to have the business stand over till the 10th, he was taunted with a
desire to delay the Bill. Lord Ellenborough " could assure the noble earl and
their lordships that, from the side of the House on which he sat, there was
no wish whatever to interpose any delay to the adjustment of the measure." Hansard, xn. 728.
He went on to intimate that he was ready to proceed with a very large mea-
sure of Reform. As, however, he had given no notice of any reforming
60 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. intentions, and as the Ministers found themselves in a minority of thirty-five
v— ~v-" — " on the very first clause, Lord Grey persisted in asking for and obtaining an
interval of three days.
Within those three days it became known that the division on the Monday
night, the 7th, was the result of an intrigue which had been going on for
many months. The King's personal intercourses had been throughout with
some of the highest Conservatives in the country, rather than with his Minis-
ters and their connexions. He was old, and very dependent on the ladies of
his family : he was no statesman ; and he had no knowledge of the mind and
condition of the people, except through those who surrounded him. His wife,
some of his daughters (the children of Mrs. Jordan), and his sisters, were opposed
Spectator, 1832, to the new measure, and were kept in constant alarm by their conservative
friends; and they fed the King's mind with apprehensions which unfitted
him for the discharge of his duty towards his Ministers and his people. Lord
Wharncliffe, as representative of the anti-reforming lords, had engaged to
Lord Grey at the beginning of the winter that the Bill should be carried
through the second reading if no new peers were made ; and accordingly the
King was not asked to create peers. That the whole business was to be over-
thrown in Committee, and when, was certainly known in Edinburgh before-
. hand, when the Ministers themselves were in the dark as to what was likely
spectator, 1832, to napperi- Orders had also been issued from the Horse Guards for all the
p. 42!).
officers on furlough to join their regiments before this critical week; and every
preparation that could be made by the Duke of Wellington for putting down
risings of the people was made. During this week, orders were sent down to
the barracks at Birmingham that the Scots Greys should be daily and nightly
Autobiography of booted and saddled, with ball cartridge ready for use at a moment's notice.
a Working Man, . . ,
P. 244. The Conservatives were determined that there should be a revolution rather
than that the Reform Bill should pass.
The people were, however, too strong and too determined to render a revo-
lution necessary. They were indignant on behalf of the ill-used Ministers ;
indignant at the weakness of the King; indignant at the meddling of the
royal ladies ; and in the last degree indignant at the intrigues of the Tory
leaders : but they knew their strength to be so great that they had only to
put it forth peaceably to subdue the adverse faction by a manifestation of
will, instead of by force of arms. A nobler scene was never enacted by any
nation than that of the nine days' waiting while the country was without a
government.
On the morning of Tuesday, the 8th, a Cabinet Council was held, when it
was determined to request from the King a creation of Peers sufficient to carry
the Bill. The two highest officers of the realm, the Prime Minister and the
Lord Chancellor, went to Windsor, to make this request. As none of the
three persons present were likely to report what passed in this interview, it
Morning chroni- cannot be spoken of with any certainty : but a morning paper which pro-
fessed to have information, declared that the King wept, and lamented that
he must sacrifice his Ministers to his wife, his sisters, and his children. The
Ministers tendered their resignations. On Wednesday morning, a special
RESIGNATION OF messenger brought a letter from the King, accepting the resignations of
the Cabinet. The King came to town the same morning, to hold a levee ;
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 61
and lie then formally received the resignations of the whole Administration, 1832.
with those of their friends in the Royal Household. The Whigs made a com- * — — ^~— -^
plete clearance, leaving not a single official, of any rank, about the King.
They had done with the business ; and they left a clear field for the anti-
reformers. The Duke of Wellington afterwards spoke of his fruitless enter-
prise of the next nine days as an act of gallant devotedness, in which he was
willing to sacrifice himself rather than desert his sovereign in an hour of per-
plexity and distress. It might be so : and the Duke might easily be too much
feared, and too much respected, by the intriguers to be invited to their counsels :
but the blame of the royal perplexity and distress should rest where it is due.
It was not the King who was deceived and deserted, but his Ministers. The
honour and fidelity were all on their side : and, if the Duke of Wellington
went in to the rescue, it was on the appeal of a sovereign who had weakly
deserted his faithful advisers and servants, and given himself into the hands
of persons no less weak, who had brought him into a difficulty from which
they could not rescue him. If he had refused to aid his sovereign, the Duke
said, he " should have been ashamed to show his face in the streets." He Hansard, xii. 997.
endeavoured rather " to assist the King in the distressing circumstances in
which he was placed ;" meaning, however, by these " distressing circum-
stances," the advice of Lord Grey to create Peers, and not the position of
humiliation, in regard to Lord Grey, in which a clique of helpless advisers had
placed the sovereign. On the Wednesday evening, the Ministers announced to
the two Houses their relinquishment of the government of the country; and on
the Thursday, the Commons, on the motion of Lord Ebrington, addressed the Hansard, xii. 787.
King, deploring the retirement of the late administration, and imploring his £™**SNSS OF THB
Majesty to take none for his advisers who would not carry the Reform
measure unimpaired, and without delay. It was on this occasion that Mr.
Baring declared himself " entirely ignorant of the cause which had led to the
extraordinary resignation;" a statement which first occasioned loud laughter,
and then called up Lord Althorp to make an explanation which was listened
to in breathless silence, as he spoke with the calmest deliberation and the
strongest emphasis. The moment he had uttered the words, there was " a
burst of cheering, by far the most enthusiastic, universal, and long continued, Times News-
ever witnessed within the walls of parliament." Lord Althorp's words were, iss"'
" I have no objection to state — that the advice which we thought it our duty Hansard, xii. 805.
to offer to his Majesty was, that he should create a number of peers sufficient to
enable us to carry the Reform Bill through the other House of Parliament in
an efficient form." The same advice was now tendered to the King by the
Commons in the Address passed this night; and he did not feel himself
at liberty to neglect it, even while placing himself in the hands of anti-
reformers. " His Majesty insisted," declared the Duke of Wellington, a week
later, " that some extensive measure of Reform (I use his Majesty's own words) Hansard, xu. 095.
should be carried." But the Duke was opposed to all Parliamentary Reform.
What was to be done ? The Duke proposed a compromise. He proposed to
set aside the question of an " unconstitutional " creation of peers by granting
a measure of Reform " moderate " enough to be passed by the Lords. He
could not himself take office in any administration which would undertake
even this : but he would rescue the Sovereign from his difficulties by making
'E
62 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. up a Cabinet for him — taking measures meantime for the safety of the country.
* - ^ — -" Such was the extraordinary task which the great soldier undertook with the
idea of serving his King and country : and very hard he worked to fulfil his
AcTn^™1'011*1 duty. For nve days ne went about from door to door among his Tory friends:
but from first to last, in vain. He had Lord Lyndhurst, the active spirit of
the whole transaction, to help him : but there was no anti-reformer except
Lord Lyndhurst who could be found to undertake to carry " a large measure
FAILURE. of Reform;" and on the 15th, the Duke was compelled to announce to the
Hansard, xii. 999. King tliSit all j^ attempted negotiations had failed.
During this interval, the nation was as busy as the Duke. As the news of
the division on the night of the 7th spread through the country, men found
themselves unable to give their minds to their affairs till the suspense should
be relieved. The mail roads were sprinkled over for miles with people who
were on the watch for news from London ; and the passengers on the lops of
the coaches shouted the tidings, or threw down handbills to tell that the
Ministry had resigned. Then was there such mourning throughout England
as had not been known for many years. Men forsook their business to meet
and consult what they should do. In some places, the bells tolled : in others
they were muffled. In many towns, black crape was hung over the signs of
the King's Head : and there was talk of busts of Queen Adelaide being seen
with a halter round the neck. These vain shows, however, did not suit the
temper of earnest and efficient reformers, who did something better than
mourn and threaten. While they went to their serious work, there was much
for the mere observer to note and remember ; — the full streets — for every body
was abroad, from a desire for news, and because it was difficiilt to sit still at
home ; — the wistful faces of little children, who saw that something fearful
was going on, but could not understand what ; — and, above all, the close
watching of the soldiery, wherever there were barracks; for the prevalent
expectation now was, from the intimacy between the Duke of Wellington and
the King, that a military control was to be attempted. It has since become
certain that there were just grounds for this apprehension.
THE UNIONS. The Political Unions met early and continually. The National Union
declared itself in permanent session : 1500 new members — all men of sub-
stance — entered it in one day. Its watchword was, " Peace, Order, Obedi-
ence to the Law." It'passed a resolution, " That whoever advises a dissolution
of parliament is a public enemy." As soon as the news reached Manchester,
a petition to the House of Commons was prepared, praying the House to grant
no Supply till the Bill was passed unimpaired : and this petition had received
Hansard, xii. 877. in four hours the signatures of 25,000 persons, and was despatched to London
in the hands of three eminent citizens. This petition was the first of a large
number which, within a few days, urged the same demand upon the House.
The Bolton petition was signed by 20,300 within two or three hours. After
reading the Manchester petition to the House, Mr. John Wood, who presented
Hansard, xii. 878. it, declared, " The whole of the north of England, the deputation from Man-
chester informed him, was in a state which it was impossible to describe.
Dismay, and above all, indignation, prevailed every where. He believed, how-
ever, if the House did its duty, that the country might yet be saved : if it
would not, he believed the people knew their duty ; and if the House
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. G3
would not stop the Supplies, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whoever he 1832.
might be, would very soon find that his coffers were unreplenished. Whether — —v—~-
sxich a line of conduct might be right or wrong, it was not for him to argue
then ; but it was his duty, as a Reformer, to state his firm conviction, that if
a Borough-mongeriiig faction should prevail, the people would take the most
effectual mode of stopping the Supplies by telling the tax collector to call upon
them when the Reform Bill had passed into a law." So much of this kind of
statement was offered in the House, the petitions against votes of Supply were
presented and received with such hearty concurrence, that it became a question
every where what the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst could possibly
propose to do with the House of Commons. The present House would cer-
tainly never yield up the Reform measure; and if, as was reported and
believed, the present parliament was to be immediately dissolved, there could
be no doubt that the people would return an overwhelming majority of Reform
members in the new elections.
The Common Council of the City of London were among the petitioners to LONDON MUNICI-
• r PAI.ITY.
parliament to refuse the Supplies ; they declared that all concerned in stopping
the passage of the Reform Bill were enemies to their country ; and they appointed
a permanent committee, to sit from day to day, till the measure should be se- Annual Register,
cured. The Livery of London, assembled in Common Hall, adopted exactly the
same course. There can be no doubt that both bodies held themselves ready to
communicate and co-operate with the political unions which were expected to
march up to London, in case of a prolongation of the struggle. Some of the
smaller unions discussed plans of marching peaceably to the metropolis, and
bivouacking in the squares — there to wait till the Reform Bill should become
law. The great Birmingham Union, now 200,000 strong, was to encamp on
Hampstead Heath, or perhaps Penenden Heath, in order to incorporate with
it bodies coming from the south. On the movements of this Birmingham
Union, which had so lately uttered its sublime vow under the open sky, all
eyes were now turned : and there is reason to believe that what passed at Bir-
mingham immediately determined the issue of this mighty contention.
Declarations began to appear in the Tory newspapers that all reports of the SOLDIERY AND
disaffection of the Scots Greys at Birmingham were mere fabrications of the
Reformers ; and that it was a gross and scandalous falsehood that the Duke of
Wellington could not rely upon the soldiery. These declarations immediately
showed men that such things had been said, and that the reports were con-
sidered of importance ; and most people believed that they were true. Reve-
lations have since been made which show that there was much truth in them.
There had been talk of " cold iron" on the Tory side, for some days ; and the
Duke of Wellington had been understood to stand pledged since the 9th, " to spectator, 1332,
quiet the country in ten days ;" and an attempt at military government for p'
the time was almost universally looked for. What the Duke's intentions were
precisely is not known, and perhaps it will never be known ; but circumstances
have been revealed which show that his reliance at first was more or less on
the soldiery ; and that he was informed of the vain nature of his reliance im-
mediately before he gave up his enterprise. The earliest hours of his negotiation
were employed in sending out feelers of the disposition of the new police ; and
Colonel Rowan's report was unsatisfactory. From two of the divisions the
64 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. answer was, that if it was intended for the police to act against the people,
^— -v-— -^ they could not be relied on. There were some among the soldiery who re-
ported of themselves to the same effect with the least possible delay, not even
waiting to be questioned ; and from a passage in a speech of a relative of the
Duke of Wellington's on the 16th, it appears that the disinclination to oppose
the people was concluded to be prevalent in the army. In the last preceding
struggle, in October, the Duke of Wellington had said to Mr. Potter, of Man-
chester, who represented the determination of the working classes to have
Reform, " the people of England are very quiet if they are left alone ; and if
they won't, there is a way to make them." In the opinion of his relative,
Mr. Wellesley, member for Essex, he was now, on the 16th of May, finding
spectator, 1832, j^ggif mistaken. Mr. Wellesley "was sorry he had shown so much ignorance
of the character of the British people, in supposing that they were not fit to
be trusted with those liberties to which we, as Reformers, say they are wor-
thily entitled. He had told him so often ; and he was astonished that a man
of such intelligent mind — a man who had led them on through blood and
battle, through danger to victory — should have so mistaken the character of
the British people, as to suppose that the red coat could change the character
of the man, or to imagine that the soldier was not a citizen." Some of the
yeomanry corps resigned during the critical interval ; that of Ware being in
such haste to declare themselves on the side of the people, that they assembled
immediately on hearing of the retirement of the Whig ministry, and informed
Sp462at°r> 1832> the Marquess of Salisbury of their resignations by sending them at midnight
to Hatfield House. Of all the forces in the kingdom, the soldiery at Birming-
ham fixed the most attention, because Birmingham was the foremost place in
public observation ; because the Duke must be able to rely on the soldiery
stationed there at such a time, if on any ; and because of the reports afloat that
the Scots Greys would refuse to act against the people, if called upon.
The officers of the Birmingham Union knew that certain of the Scots
Greys were on the Union books. Letters were found in the streets of the
town, which declared in temperate language that the Greys would do their
duty if called on to repress riot, or any kind of outrage, but that they would
not act if called on to put down a peaceable public meeting, or to hinder the
conveyance to London of any petition, by any number of peaceable persons.
Some of these letters contained the strongest entreaties to the people of Bir-
mingham to keep the peace, that they might not compel their sympathizing
friends among the Greys to act against them. Letters containing similar
avowals were sent to the King, to the Duke of Wellington, and to Lord Hill
Autobiography of at the War Office. We know this on the testimony of a private of the regi-
a Working Man, . , - , -. , , .
p. 246. ment, who avows himself a party in these proceedings, and who gives us the
Autobiography of following clear and impressive account of his own view of the position in
P. 24<£ '" '' which he and his comrades stood ; a view which he knew to be shared by
many of his comrades, and which he took care should be well understood by
the Duke of Wellington : " The duty of soldiers to protect property and
suppress riots expressed then were the opinions which I have since expressed.
To write, or say, or think, that in any case we were not to do what we were
ordered was a grave offence, nothing short of mutiny. I was aware of that
grave fact. I remonstrated with the soldiers who had joined the Political
CHAP. VJ DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 65
Union, and succeeded in persuading them to recall their adhesion to it. With 1832.
the same regard to my own safety, I never went near the Political Union.
Had the time and the circumstances come for us to act according to our
design and judgment, and not according to orders, it would have been an
occasion great enough to risk all that we were risking. It would have heen a
national necessity. We would have either been shot dead, or triumphant with
a nation's thanks upon our heads. For either alternative we were prepared."
This state of preparation being made known at head-quarters on the one
hand, and by the whole people of Birmingham and the Midland Counties
through the newspapers on the other, all plans of military coercion in that
neighbourhood were clearly frustrated.
The first probation of these soldiers was on the Sunday after the Newhall
Hill meeting. At all times hitherto the barrack yard had been the resort of
people who liked " to see the Greys :" and on the preceding Sunday, " there
were upwards of 5,000 people within the gates, most of them well dressed
artisans, all wearing ribbons of light blue knotted in their breasts, indicating Autobiography of
0 ° . . _ a Working Man,
that they were members of the political union. On the next Sunday, the p- 244.
scene was different indeed. The gates were closed ; the soldiers were marched
to prayers in the forenoon, and their occupation for the rest of the day was
rough-sharpening their swords on the grindstone. This was at the time that
they were kept supplied with ball cartridge, and booted and saddled day and
night. They were kept so close within their walls at present, that they did
not know with any precision what was going forward : but their impression
was — and the impression soon became a rumour — that the Birmingham Union
was to march for London that night, and that the Greys were to bar its pro-
gress. The doubt and dread were not lessened by the nature of their work.
The purpose of rough-sharpening the swords " was to make them inflict a
ragged wound. Not since before the battle of Waterloo had the swords of the
Greys undergone the same process. Old soldiers spoke of it, and told the
young ones. Few words were spoken. We had made more noise, and pro-
bably looked less solemn, at prayers in the morning, than we did now grinding
our swords. It was the Lord's day, and we were ivorking"
The Union did not start for London that night. It had to hold a meeting
the next day. There were then 200,000 persons present. They resolved to pay
no taxes till the Bill was passed; and they carried a Declaration of unappeas- spectator, 1332,
able opposition to the faction which had misled the King, and of reasons why
the nation should demand the removal of the Duke of Wellington from the
royal counsels. This declaration was to have been signed (after legal revision)
by all the Unionists in the kingdom : but it was not wanted — any more than
the jagged swords of the Greys. The Birmingham Union met again on the
Wednesday for purposes of thanksgiving.
The debating of the newspapers, and of all assemblages of people, in public
and private, as to whether it was or was not true that the army was not to be
relied on, was fatal to all reliance on the army, and would have been, if every
soldier in the kingdom had been precisely of the Duke's way of thinking. It
must have been an extreme surprise to the great Captain to find already that
if the people would not be quiet, there was not a way to make them so against
their will. So it proved, however ; and the end of it was that if the Duke
VOL. II. K
66 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. would not be quiet, the people had found a way to make him so. On the
^^~~~ ' second day after the grinding of swords — on Tuesday, the 15th — Lords Grey
CALLED. and Althorp intimated to the two Houses the joyful news that communications
Hansard, xii. 982. were renewed between the sovereign and themselves which rendered it expe-
dient to adjourn till Thursday. The words were scarcely uttered before there
was a rush from the Houses, to spread the tidings. There was no electric
telegraph then : but the news flew as by electric agency. By breakfast time
the next morning, placards were up in the streets of Birmingham ; and pre-
sently the people thronged to Newhall Hill, after bringing Mr. Attwood into
the town. As by an impulse of the moment, a minister present was asked to
offer thanksgiving ; and that prayer — that devout expression of gratitude for
their bloodless victory, and their privileges as exulting freemen, was felt by
the throng to be a fitting sequel to their last week's solemn vow.
It must be some days before the facts could become perfectly known, or the
future certainly anticipated : but men felt secure enough of the result to begin
to return to their business. There had been a run on the Bank of England
opGcta.tor, 1 oj2j
p- <65. to the extent of above £1,000,000 in small sums. Now, this began to flow
back again : the weaver stepped into his loom : the blacksmith blew up the
fire of his forge : the husbandmen parted off into the fields ; and the mer-
chants of London ceased to crowd the footways of Lombard-street all day long.
In forty-eight hours more there was a rumour in London that by some
means unknown the peers had been induced to yield. What the conjuration
was which brought about such a marvel was not understood at present ; except
that some unusual exertion of his personal influence had been made by the
King. That the good behaviour of the peers was not absolutely assured
seemed to be shown by the care with which Lord Grey and his colleagues
evaded the question whether they had received any pledge about a creation of
peers. By acute observers it was supposed that some method of warning or
persuasion had been used by the King : and that he held himself ready, in
case of its failure, to create peers, to the extent necessary for carrying the Bill.
This proved to be the truth. The first expedient was successful : and it is
entertaining now to see, on looking back to that date, how credit is taken by
don6 ifi'm* E'~ *ke I^ds who now yielded to this final appeal for having " saved the Peerage,
with what else was left of the Constitution." The final appeal to the Lords —
TO THE PEERBSAL tne ^as* Practical acknowledgment of their free will, was in the form of the
following circular letter, dated from St. James's Palace, May 17th, 1832 : —
iss™ p! ^87.ister' f( My dear Lord, — I am honoured with his Majesty's commands to acquaint
your lordship, that all difficulties to the arrangements in progress will be
obviated by a declaration in the House to-night from a sufficient number of
peers, that, in consequence of the present state of affairs, they have come to
the resolution of dropping their further opposition to the Reform Bill, so that
it may pass without delay, and as nearly as possible in its present shape. I
have the honour, &c. HERBERT TAYLOR."
This, which was called the King's letter to the waverers, removed all diffi-
culties. It was dated on the Thursday ; and on that night the Duke of Wel-
lington made his explanation of the transactions of the preceding week, retiring
from the House when he had finished, and absenting himself during all the
PROGRESS OF THE
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 67
remaining discussions of the Reform Bill. About 100 peers went out with 1832.
him, and absented themselves in like manner. On the next Monday, the 21st,
the peers resumed the discussion of the Bill in committee — the Duke of New- BILL.
castle protesting against their assuming such an appearance of free will as this,
and desiring that they would read through the whole Bill at once, and pass it
as quickly as possible — as men acting under open compulsion. The first
division took place the next night, on the question of the separate represen-
tation of the Tower Hamlets, when the anti-reformers exhibited their largest
minority — 36 to 91. But this disheartened them ; and on the next night only
15 were present. On Thursday, the 24th, 23* were present. On Wednesday,
the 30th, the disfranchising sections of the Bill were gone through — the ten-
derest points where all was painful. These sections were read through with
little discussion, and no real opposition ; and on the same night the Committee
finished its business. On the 1st of June the Report was received, eighteen
peers recording their dissent in a protest. On the 4th, Lord Grey was ill ; but
he went down to the House to move the third reading of his Bill. Unfit for
exertion as he was, he was called up by an attack on the Administration from
Lord Harrowby. When he sat down, it was suddenly, from inability to stand
and speak; but his last words on Parliamentary Reform, though not designed Hansard, xia. 368.
to be the last, were a fitting close to the testimony of his whole political life :
" He trusted that those who augured unfavourably of the Bill would live to
see all their ominous forebodings falsified, and that, after the angry feelings of
the day had passed away, the measure would be found to be, in the best sense
of the word, conservative of the Constitution." The majority were 106; the
minority 22. The question ' that the Bill do pass ' was put and carried ; and Hansard, xiu. 374.
then a great number of congratulating peers gathered about the venerable
Minister who had so majestically conducted to fruition a measure which he had
advocated before many of the existing generation of legislators were born, and
through long years of discouragement, which ordinary men would have taken
for hopelessness. The Commons next day agreed to the few amendments pro-
posed by the Lords, which left untouched the disfranchising and enfranchising
clauses ; and on Thursday, June 7th, the Reform Bill became law — the Royal £ASWPASSAGE INTO
assent being given by a commission consisting of the Lord Chancellor, the
Marquesses of Lansdowne and Wellesley, and Lords Grey, Holland, and
Durham. spectator, 1832«
p. J-J.
It is not to be supposed that when Lord Grey received the congratulations
of his friends, there was no melancholy mingled with his satisfaction ; or that
he had no sympathy with the stoutest of his opponents. The provocation
caused by the long resistance of the Peers to a necessary change might natu-
rally blind the people at large to a portion of their case, and might urge the *
most lordly of the Ministers themselves into a state of popular feeling at
which they might afterwards stand surprised. But Lord Grey was too
much of a man, too much of a scholar, too much of a peer, not to feel and
remember that, by the passage of this Act, the ancient glory of the House of POSITION OF THE
his Order was declared to have departed. The change could not be prevented.
It was rendered so imperative by time that the course of wisdom was clear —
to acquiesce in the change, and to obtain the utmost possible good out of the
attendant circumstances. But, however anxious to put an end to the abuses
68 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. of borough corruption and the interference of peers with popular represen-
v "~ — ' tation, such a man as Lord Grey could not but remember the ancient days
when the lords of the realm were the parliament of the realm — when there
was no middle class, and the peers were the protectors of such popular interests
as existed then ; — he could not but remember the majesty of his House during
the centuries when the popular element was advancing and expanding ; and
though that House had of late fallen from its dignity — become adulterated in
its quality, and disgraced by too much of ignorance and sordidness in its self-
will and its claims — it still was the British House of Peers which was now
overborne and humbled, and made conscious that it existed no longer as a
vital part of the English Constitution, but for the sake of decorum and ex-
pediency. It was natural for the people — the large majority of whom contem-
plate the present and the future in all their interests — to enjoy the signal proof
now given of the continuous rise and expansion of the popular element in the
nation ; but the most that could be expected from Lord Grey was to perceive
and provide for the fact in the noblest and the amplest manner. His associ-
ations were too much concerned with the past to admit of his rejoicing with an
unmingled joy. Many of us who rejoiced without drawback at the time, and
held the strongest opinions of the folly and selfishness of the Tory peers, can
now see that they really were much to be pitied : that it was true that " the
balance of the Constitution was destroyed ;" and that the change was some-
thing audacious and unheard of. In as far as these things were true, the Con-
servative Peers had a claim to the sympathy of all thoughtful persons in their
regrets. Their fault and folly lay — that fault and folly which deprived them
of popular sympathy — in supposing that the operations of time could be re-
sisted, and their own position maintained, by a mere refusal to give way. They
lost more than they need have done by a foolish and ungracious resistance,
which served but to complete and to proclaim their humiliation. It is a fact
not to be denied, that, as the kingly power had before descended to a seat lower
than that of parliament, the House of Peers now took rank in the government
below the Commons. It will ever stand in history that the House of Commons
became the true governing power in Great Britain in 1832, and that from that
date the other powers existed, not by their own strength, but by a general
agreement founded on considerations as well of broad utility, as of decorum
and ancient affection. In as far as the House of Peers was now proved to be
destined henceforward (as the Royal function had for some time been) to exist
only by consent of the people at large, it might be truly said that the Consti-
tution was destroyed ; and the Prime Minister who had conducted the process
could not be insensible, even in the moment of his triumph, to the seriousness
11 and antiquarian melancholy of the fact, however convinced he might be of the
historical glories which were to arise out of it.
By the Reform Bill, as passed, the representative system of the British Islands
FoiitDict. 1. 585. became this.
SUBSTANCE OF In England, the county constituencies, which had before been fifty-two,
THE REFORM ' ' J ...
BlLL- returning ninety-four members, were now increased by the division of counties
to eighty-two constituencies, returning 159 members. In Ireland there was
no change. In Scotland, the number of constituencies and members remained
as before, but some shifting took place to secure a more equitable representa-
CHAP. V.]
DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
69
tion. The great increase in the county representation is the chief of those
features which would soon cause the measure to be called (as Lords Grey and
Althorp predicted) " the most aristocratic measure that ever passed the House
of Commons."
All boroughs whose population was, according to the census of 1831, under
2000 were disfranchised. Fifty-six English boroughs, which before returned
111 members, were thus extinguished as constituencies. Such boroughs as
had a population under 4000, and had hitherto returned two representa-
tives, were now to have one. These being thirty in number, thirty members
were thus reduced. The united boroughs of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
were now to send two members instead of four : and thus was the total reduc-
tion of 143 old borough members provided for.
As the total number of representatives was not to be altered (as decided by
the House of Commons), the 143 were to be distributed over new or newly-
arranged constituencies. New and large constituencies in England and Wales
received 63. The Metropolitan districts and other boroughs with a population
of 25,000 and upwards were now to return two members each ; and these took
up 22 more. The remaining 21 were to be returned by 21 boroughs whose
population amounted to 12,000 and upwards. In Ireland, the increase of the
representation was only from 35 to 39 members ; with an additional member
given to Dublin University. In Scotland, there was much redistribution of the
franchise, and change in the formation of constituencies : and the number of
town representatives was raised from 15 to 23.
There was much changing of boundaries where a population had grown up
outside the old limits, and fixing of limits to the boroughs which had a large
new population.
Improvements were made in the practice of issuing writs for new elections,
and in the conduct of elections, by the ordaining of convenient polling dis-
tricts, and the shortening of the time of polling in contested elections. The
term of fifteen polling days in county elections was shortened to two in
England, Wales, and Scotland, and five in Ireland : and instead of the old
process of scrutiny, which occasioned endless delays and vexations, there was
to be henceforward only a comparison of the voter's statement as to name and
qualification with his description in the register.
In the great matter of the qualification of voters it was thought impossible
to avoid compromise ; and some provisions therefore exist which every body
understands must be got rid of sooner or later. The old " freemen " were
permitted to remain among the qualified, the condition of residence being
imposed, and all being excluded who had been made freemen since March
1831, the fact being notorious that a multitude of such voters had been
created by the corporations, for the sake of defeating the Reform measure.
The new borough franchise rested on the basis of inhabitancy. Inhabitants
of abodes (whose various kinds are specified) of the yearly value of 10/., become
electors, provided they comply with all conditions of registration, payment of
rates and taxes, and length of residence. The privileges of out-voters were
abolished entirely, the elector being able to vote only in the place where he
resides, or where he has property in land or houses of the required amount.
In Ireland great changes were occasioned by this fixing of the franchise, as the
1832.
70 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. corporations there had been excessively corrupt in the use of the large powers
of which they were now deprived. In Scotland, the franchise was at once,
and for the first time, put into the hands of the true constituency, while the
town councils were deprived of the powers which they had grossly ahused.
As for the county franchise — it was extended by admitting copyholders and
leaseholders, and even, under some circumstances, occupiers, to the franchise
which was before confined to freeholders, to the value of 40s. ; while free-
holders were prevented from voting in both county and borough elections.
The most unfortunate part of the Bill was that clause proposed by the Mar-
quess of Chandos, by which tenants-at-will in the counties, occupying at a
yearly value of 50/., have the franchise. By this provision, the power of the
great landed proprietors over their tenantry is perpetuated ; and hence arises a
greater frustration of the purposes of the Act than from all other errors and
faults together. The county franchise in Ireland was so resettled in 1829 as
to be little affected by the present Act, such alteration as there was being the
admission of certain copyholders, leaseholders, and occupiers. By the new
arrangements, the county constituency in Scotland was much enlarged.
As for the qualification of the representative, disabilities on account of pro-
fession (as the clerical), and the holding of modern offices under the crown,
and of situations of government emolument, remained much as before. Disabi-
lities on account of religious opinion had been already almost entirely abrogated.
The qualification for an English, Welsh, and Irish member remained as before
in regard to property ; viz., a clear estate of 6001. a year for a county seat, and
of 300/. a year for a city or borough seat. The property qualifications were
I not extended to Scotland at the time of the Union ; nor were they by the new
Act. A qualification was formerly required for a Scottish elector which is
not necessary for a Scottish representative now.
WHAT THE BILL Such was the Reform Act of 1832, by which the landed interests were
brought down some little way from a supremacy which had once been natural
and just, but which had now become insufferably tyrannical and corrupt. As
the manufacturing and commercial classes had long been rising in numbers,
property, and enlightenment, it was time for them to be obtaining a propor-
tionate influence in the government. By this Act they did not obtain their
due influence: but they gained much; and the way was cleared for more.
Great as was the gain thus far, there was a yet mightier benefit in the proof
that the will of the People, when sufficiently intelligent and united, could
avail to modify the government through the forces of reason and resolution,
without violence. This point ascertained, and the benefit secured, all subsided
taS^nl0*1* into quiet. Trade and manufactures began immediately to prosper; credit
was firm, and the majority of the nation were in high hope of what might be
expected from a government which had begun its reforms so nobly, and pro-
mised many more. There were some, and not a very few, who declared that
the sun of England had set for ever : but yet nobody could see that it was
growing dark. Men in general thought that if they had ever walked in broad
daylight, it was now.
THE KINO. The King was presently pitied and pardoned, as an old man, called late to
the throne — more amiable than enlightened, and entangled between public
duty and private affections which had been brought by the fault of others into
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 71
contrariety : but, as was fitting, he never recovered his original popularity. 1832.
When the Reform Bill was once secure, men no more carried a black flag, s-— ~v-— -
with the inscription, " Put not your trust in princes ;" nor a crown stuffed
with straw, with the inscription " Ichabod ;" but neither did they rend the
clouds again with cheers for their " King William, the father of his country."
There was no longer any thing to fear from him : but men saw that neither
was there any thing to hope from him : and he was thenceforth treated with
a mere decorum, which had in it full as much of compassion as of respect.
As for his Ministers, they were idols, aloft in a shrine. THE;ADMINISTRA.
f it ' T1ON.
T1ON.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
CHAPTER VI.
1832. "YTTHILE the Reform Bill was in progress and in jeopardy, little else was
> — ""^ " * » thought of — except, indeed, the new plague which had come to overcloud
ASPECTS OF THE . r ° .
TIME. all hearts, and to attract to itself some of the terror which would otherwise
have been given entire to the apprehension of coming revolution. There
were many in those days who would have been intensely grateful to know,
first, that the Cholera would have departed by a certain day, leaving them and
their families in safety : and next, that revolution — by which they understood
the overthrow of the whole social fabric — would not happen in their life time.
If they could have been assured of these two immunities, they would have
been quite happy, would have believed their way was clear for life, and that
affairs would remain in their existing state, as long as their own generation
had any concern with them. Very different from this view was that taken by
braver spirits, with that truer vision given by courage and enlightenment.
Mfe, i. 29i. « The truth is," wrote Dr. Arnold, in April 1831, " that we are arrived at one
of those periods in the progress of society when the constitution naturally
undergoes a change, just as it did two centuries ago. It was impossible then
for the King to keep down the higher part of the middle classes ; it is impos-
sible now to keep down the middle and lower parts of them. . . . One would
think that people who talk against change were literally as well as metaphori-
cally blind, and really did not see that every thing in themselves and around
them is changing every hour by the necessary laws of its being." — " There is
Life, i. 28i. nothing so revolutionary, because there is nothing so unnatural and so convul-
sive to society, as the strain to keep things fixed, when all the world is by
the very law of its creation in eternal progress ; and the cause of all the evils
of the world may be traced to that natural but most deadly error of human
indolence and corruption, that our business is to preserve and not to improve."
Such was the view taken, and maintained at first with some consistency, by
the Ministry which came into power in November, 1830. They saw that a
new period had arrived, from which great changes must take their date.
Th^y saw what opposition would be raised by those who feared change ; and
what difficulties by a host of sufferers from existing evils, or unreasonable
works, iii. 133. expectants of impossible good. They could laugh when Sydney Smith said,
in a speech on the Reform Bill, " All young ladies will imagine, as soon as
this Bill is carried, that they will be instantly married. Schoolboys believe
that gerunds and supines will be abolished, and that currant tarts must ulti-
mately come down in price ; the corporal and sergeant are sure of double pay ;
bad poets will expect a demand for their epics ; fools will be disappointed, as
they always are :" — Ministers might laugh at the expectations of the fools and
school-children; but they were aware that a multitude of evils which must
be redressed now and obviated for the future must be dealt with in another
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. "73
manner than the sufferers themselves had any idea of, or were at all likely to 1832.
approve. Not only had they to carry through some arduous work in which " " "^ — '
they were supported by the demand arid the sympathy of a majority of the
nation : they had also much to do which was not less imperatively demanded ;
but in doing which they must adopt methods which their supporters had to
be taught to understand. — To appreciate their position, irrespective of the
Reform Bill, let us briefly survey the state and prospects of the country when
Lord Grey and his friends came into power.
The much-dreaded Cholera proved the smallest of the prominent evils of the THE CHOLERA.
time. Its first assault was the most violent ; and then it attacked few but
the vicious, the diseased, and the feeble ; and it carried off in the whole fewer
victims than many an epidemic, before and since, which has run its course
very quietly. Before its disappearance from the United Kingdom, in fifteen
months, the average of deaths was one in 3^ of those attacked : and the total ^tera Retum-
number of deaths in and near London was declared to be 5,275. No return
was obtained of the number in the kingdom. When it is remembered how
many deaths happened in the noisome places of our towns, and in damp
nooks of wretched country villages ; and in the pauper haunts of Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and among the hungering Irish, it is clear that the disease
could hardly work any appreciable effect in the open places, and among the
comfortable classes of the kingdom. If a person of rank, or substance, or in
healthy middle age, was attacked here and there, it was spoken of as a remark-
able circumstance ; and the Cholera soon came to be regarded as a visitation
on the vicious and the poor. Happily the preparations which depended on
the apprehensions or the benevolence of the rich were made before that change
in the aspect of the new plague; — the cleansing and white-washing — the
gifts of clothing and food : and the impression was made 011 all thoughtful
minds that improved knowledge and care on the subject of health were the
cause of our comparative impunity under the visitation of this plague, and
that a still improved knowledge and care were the requisites to a complete
impunity hereafter. Though our progress from that day to this has been
slower than it ought to have been, the awakening of society in England to
the duty of care of the Public Health must date from the visitation of the
Cholera in 1831-2.
The state of the rural districts was fearful at the time of the accession of
the Grey administration. Every body knew about the rick-burning and
machine-breaking ; and the thoughtless and narrow-minded called for soldiery
and police, stringent laws and severe punishments. More thoughtful persons,
however, looked also at the condition of the agricultural interest generally —
the complaints of distress, renewed from year to year, the increase of pauperism
and poor rates, and the growth of crime, as well as of misery; and they saw
that the evil was one which stringent laws and severe punishments could not
cure, nor even reach. They saw that the real mischief lay in the antiquated
and corrupted Poor-law which they knew to be what it was declared to be by THE POOR LAW.*
a French commission sent over to inquire into its operation — " the great poli-
tical gangrene of England, which it was equally dangerous to meddle with
and to let alone." Under this system, in its union with the Corn Laws, the
condition and prospects of the country were truly such as to make sagacious
VOL. II. L
74
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK IV.
1832.
SWAN KIVER SET.
TLEMENT.
statesmen tremble. No previous administration had understood the mischief
in all its extent and its bearings ; but the facts were that while rents were
nominally very high, no landowner was sure of his income ; that the farmers
were subject to fluctuations in their receipts which discouraged all pru-
dence and self-education for their business; that land was badly tilled, or
actually going out of cultivation ; that the quality of labour was deteriorating
incessantly, from the practice of paying wages more and more out of the
rates ; that the labourers were becoming more and more reckless and demoral-
ized, as they came to form a huge pauper class ; that the honest and inde-
pendent of their order were drawn down faster and faster into pauperism ;
that the class of small shopkeepers were becoming, in increasing numbers,
unable to pay rates, and compelled, instead, to apply for relief; that country
parishes were exhibiting themselves, with less and less shame, as scenes of
unprincipled jobbing and scandalous vice, where every one who could thrust
his hand into the public purse, where the honest and independent became the
victims of the knavish and reckless, where the unchaste might prosper while
the chaste must starve, where the capitalists of the parish must sink under
the coalition between the magistracy and the paupers ; and where ruin im-
pended over all. The amount of money expended for the relief of the poor
in England and Wales had risen in half a century from under two millions
to above seven millions per annum : and this vast expenditure went to
increase instead of to relieve the pauperism of the country. Here was this
enormous tax, becoming ruinous by annual increase, less production from the
land, less industry among the labourers, more vice, more misery, a great race
of illegitimate children growing up, riots by day, fires by night, the stout
heart of England sinking, and likely to be soon broken ; and all from the
existence of a Poor-law system for whose repeal or alteration there was no
popular demand, while it was certain that every item of it would be clutched
fast to the last moment by parties and persons the most difficult to deal with
from their lack of either enlightenment or public principle. Next to the
Reform question, the gravest which presented itself to the handling of the
new Ministry was undoubtedly that of the Poor Law.
If it was proposed to lighten the pressure upon the poor-rate by the resource
of Emigration, the question was, how was it to be done ? — where were the
people to go ? The true principles of colonization were on the eve of being
announced ; but they were not yet understood ; and there was the story of the
Swan River settlement, new and disheartening, within every man's knowledge.
The Swan River settlement dates from 1829 as a British colony. The
accounts given of the district (on the western coast of New Holland) by
Captain Stirling, who became its first governor, caused the grandest expecta-
tions. And the fault of the failure did not lie in any deception about the
natural advantages of the place. The fault was in ignorance of the first
principles of colonization. Vast tracts of land were sold or granted to indivi-
duals. The colony was to be exempted, as a favour, from any importation of
convicts. The settlers were to be allowed 200 acres of land for every labour-
ing man, woman, or child above ten years of age, that they should import into
the colony: and forty acres of land were given (up to the end of 1830) for
every amount of £3 imported into the settlement in any shape. Thus land
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 75'
superabounded in proportion to capital : and the capital brought in, though so 1832.
scanty in proportion to the land, abounded in proportion to the labour. The
richest of the colonists could obtain no labourers ; and they sat down upon
their lands, surrounded by their rotting goods, their useless tools, and the
frames of houses which there were no hands to erect — without shelter, and
certain soon to be without food, if more labour could not be obtained. Instead
of more, there was daily less, as the few labourers who were on the spot made
use of their first exorbitant earnings to possess themselves of enough of the
cheap land to make them their own masters. Now it appeared that the secret
of the success of other settlements, pitied for their liability to convict immi-
gration, was in their convict labour : and the Swan River colonists petitioned
the government at home to send them convicts to save them from destruction.
Some of the settlers wandered away, as they could find opportunity, to other
colonies, stript of every thing, or carrying the mere wrecks of their expensive
outfit, and declaring of the famous Swan River district, " it is a country to
break one's heart :" and people at home heard such tales of perplexity and
disaster as shook the popular confidence in Emigration as a resoiirce, and
might well make the government hesitate in regarding it as a remedy, in any
degree, for the intolerable pressure upon the poor-rate.
And what was the state of older colonies ? The moral sense of the nation SLAVER*.
must be met in regard to the abolition of Slavery. From the time of the issue
of the famous Circular in Canning's day — from the time that the cause of the
negro had been taken up by the powers at home — it was certain that a radical
change must take place in the relation between the proprietors of men and
their legal human property : and none who saw what a vast universe of morals
lies above and beyond the range of the law, could for a moment doubt what
that change would be. But there were enough of men, as there are in every
community, who see nothing above and beyond the existing law, to make the
process of change appear in anticipation very difficult and hazardous. Those
interested in human proprietorship would perhaps no longer try to push Clarkson
into the dock at Liverpool, or even dare to murder missionaries at such a distance
as Demerara : but they had to be reminded that laws could be altered or
abolished, and taught that eternal principles exist which compel the destruc-
tion of bad laws : and unwilling pupils like these are very slow at learning
their lesson. This mighty work, of the abolition of Slavery, lay clear before
the eyes of the Ministers, needing to be done, and soon. Another colony in
the West — Canada — was in an unsatisfactory state : but the call for reform CAN*»A-
there appeared to be less pressing than it really was : and no adequate atten-
tion was given to it for yet a few years. As for our great Indian dependencies, I.VDU.
there was no option about attending to them and their needs, for the Com-
pany's charter was about to expire : but it was a question of mighty import-
ance to future ages, as well as of vital consequence to many millions of living
men, what the terms of the great East India proprietorship or administration
should be from this time forward : whether the new doctrine of commercial
freedom should spread to the nations of the East by our practice of it there,
or whether any of the time-hallowed monopolies of the most, majestic of
Merchant Companies should be contended for against the rising popular will.
Nearer home, there was that difficulty, without limit as to depth and extent,
76 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
the state of Ireland. The form in which the spirit of outrage now showed
itself was opposition to the Church. It had become impossible to collect
IRISH CHURCH, tithe in Ireland ; and men saw that to collect tithe in Ireland would never be
possible again. Here was the insulted Church to be vindicated (for there was
as yet no debate whether to maintain it), and, at all events, the starving Irish
clergy to be succoured, many of whom had pawned or sold their furniture and
clothes, and were working like labourers to raise potatoes to feed their children,
or were thankful for the gift of a meal of porridge for their families from a
neighbour. In England too, in places where the clergymen were strict about
TITHE*. their dues, an imitation of Irish methods of dealing with tithe-collectors began
to be heard of; and the affair was becoming urgent. Chancery reform, and
many improvements in our judicial system besides were needed and demanded.
LAW REFORM. The severity of our Criminal Law had been for many years condemned ; and
one relaxation after another had been procured : but much more remained to
be done thaii had yet been effected. The infliction of punishment was still
perniciously uncertain, from the law ordaining severer penalties than the
tribunals chose to inflict ; and a complete revision of the Criminal Law, in
order to bring it into harmony with the spirit of a new age, was a great work
EDUCATION pressing to be done. There was another noble task — new, beneficent, but not
on that account the less urgently necessary — for which the nation looked con-
fidently to the new administration, and especially to the Henry Brougham who
was so deeply pledged to the cause : — the work of preparing a National System
of Education lay before the new rulers. The struggle and success of the
people in the Reform question was a plea for it : the growing evils of the
Poor-law system were a plea for it : — the hope of the operative classes,
and the despair of the rick-burners and the machine-breakers, were pleas
for it. But these pleas, and all others, were in vain. It was not that
. Henry Brougham, during his four years of power, made efforts which were
defeated, as efforts on behalf of Education have been since, by sectarian or
other differences : it was not here that the disappointment lay ; but in Henry
Brougham never approaching the subject at all, during his four years of
power. This affair lay before the new administration, when they came into
office, with the others just enumerated ; and it was the greatest of them all.
It alone was left untouched, and must be omitted in the narrative of what was
done between 1830 and 1834.
BANK. There was, besides, the Currency question, sure to turn up, under all admi-
nistrations, with every vicissitude of the national fortunes ; and now more sure
than usual, from the approaching expiration of the Bank Charter. There was
the usual eagerness every where for the reduction of taxation ; and more than
the usual expectation, from the confidence felt that a reforming ministry would
deal freely with sinecure offices and pensions which a Tory government could
not be expected to touch.
The opportunity must be taken while the spirit of reform pervaded the nation,
and the enlightened will of the middle classes was in its completest union and
MUNICIPAL RE. vigour, to reform the municipal institutions of the country. A liberal cabinet,
anxious to raise the national mind and character by an extension of self-govern-
ment, could not but know that it was as desirable to purify and enlarge
municipal administration and powers as to amend the parliamentary repre-
FUUM.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 77
sentation. And this work, which would have been necessary if they had had 1832
nothing else to do than to carry Parliamentary and Corporation Reform, was ^— v-^-'
made yet more indispensable in their eyes by the necessity which they foresaw
of introducing a principle and practice of centralization, new to administration
in England, and requiring, not only a careful watch over itself, but a set-off
of enlarged local powers in some other direction. They foresaw that the per-
plexing and overwhelming task of Poor-law reform could be accomplished no
otherwise than .by taking out of the hands of local administrators the powers
which had been so long and so grossly abused, that the wisest and best indi-
viduals could not be the reformers of the system in their own neighbourhoods,
but only its victims. These powers must now be confided to some central
body, and by them locally administered. Whether this necessity was a good
or an evil one might be and was debated by the two orders of politicians by
whom the great question of centralization and local administration is for ever .
debated ; but, while some insisted that business was much better done when
done for the people by well-trained officials, sending out their functionaries I
from a central office, and others contended that no such advantages could
compensate for the loss to the people of the habit and the privilege of manag-
ing their local affairs for themselves, the new government felt that a municipal
reform which should enlarge the local powers and public interests of the peo-
ple would be the best safeguard they could give against the possible evils of
such centralization as they must establish in the prosecution of some other
indispensable reforms.
Such was the series of works which lay before the new Ministry, when they
should have accomplished their distinguishing achievement of Parliamentary
Reform. The mere list is an indication that we have arrived at a new period
of history, and that our method of narration must change accordingly.
Hitherto, while governments went on from year to year, legislating for the
time — adding, amending, abrogating, from session to session, as natural occa-
sion arose — our history could not but take something of the form of the
Chronicle — as it will again before its close. But at the incoming of a new
period, so marked by a great act of regeneration or revolution — whichever it
may be called — the chronicle method can do no justice to the matter to be
conveyed. The story of the Reform Bill could not be fitly told but in regular
sequence : neither can the story of the other reforms which it held in intimate
relation. We have catalogued the ordinary stars as they set : but now that a
magnificent new constellation appears in our political firmament, we must do
something more than name the stars and let them go down in the list. They
must be signalized, so that all may know what has arisen. The story of these
enterprises will therefore be given in sequence, after a glance at the condition
of the new Administration in regard to its powers and its impediments.
Lord Grey's administration was strong in political character. All its mem- STRENGTH OF THE
bers had been not only liberal while in Opposition, but consistent for a long
course of years in contending for the precise objects which they now came
into power for the purpose of achieving. They were strong in the popular
support from the beginning : this strength went on increasing during the two
years occupied by the Reform struggle, and the meeting of the first reformed
parliament : but it must, as every member of the government could not but
MENT.
78 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. know, end in weakness. The enthusiasm with which ministers were regarded
<^~^~^' in 1832 could not last. From the nature of the human mind, it must sub-
side : and, when idolatry has once begun to decline, it is certain that the idol
will soon be found to be clay. Lord Brougham was ridiculed for saying, after
the meeting of the first reformed parliament, that the government was too
strong. Whatever was the sense in which he meant this, the event proved
that it would have been better for the government not to have had so over-
whelming a majority as they could number. A patriotic minister wishes to
have as strong an opposition as is consistent with the stability of his govern-
ment, that his measures may be well sifted, and all objections considered
before it is too late; and that he may thus share the responsibility of his acts
with his sharp-sighted opponents. This kind of aid and support from the foe
was especially needed by the Whigs, from their inexperience in office, and
their absolute lack of training for power. Thus was Lord Brougham justified
in saying that they were too strong in the new parliament ; and five years
afterwards, there was nobody who would not have agreed with him. At the
moment, however, this popular support was a vast power for good. It fixed
the kind-hearted but feeble king : it saved time when the pressure of work
was extreme ; and it saved the country from reflex agitation from the political
storms on the continent.
WEAKNESS OP Here perhaps ends the list of the powers of the new Ministry. They were
representatives of liberal principles of policy: they stood high in political
character, and were sustained by unequalled popular support. Some would
have said beforehand that they must be strong in the ability of the respective
members ; but it did not prove so. While there was not a man among them
who might not have been called able in his way, there was no one of them of
commanding ability in office : no one great statesman. Lord Brougham was
the man whose splendid talents were looked to for magnificent results : but
he proved himself no statesman ; and it was only because his supposed states-
manship was wanted that he was raised to the Woolsack while known to be
no Equity lawyer. Some of his colleagues have since, after considerable train-
ing, shown high ability in office — of which Sir James Graham is an eminent
example : but this training was exactly that in which they were unavoidably
deficient, while it was essential to enable them to work together, and to render
their respectable amount of individual ability compensate for the absence of
commanding power. This want of training and of business habits is particu-
larly incapacitating in the case of men of aristocratic station who, if they have
not the discipline of official life, can hardly have any business habits or talents
at all : and again, the evil was here aggravated by the new Ministers having,
for the most part, spent their lives in opposition. Men in opposition inevitably
form and utter rash judgments, from having only partial information on sub-
jects of which they are called to judge. They inevitably commit themselves,
so as to stand virtually pledged to courses of which they may think very
differently amidst the lights of office. Thus hampered as to even the princi-
ples of much of the work to be done, they are in still greater difficulties as to
the procedure.
Untrained as they were, it was absolutely necessary for the Whigs to retain
the services of the underlings of former administrations. It was a bitter, a
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 79
well- nigh fatal necessity; but a necessity it was. That men as new as their 1832.
masters, clerks as inexperienced in official routine as the Ministers, could not
have carried on the business of the departments, needs no showing. The men
who were at the desks must be continued, in order to get through the work of
every day. These men were of like politics with the late administration : or
rather, they were as much stronger in political opinion than their late chefs
as underlings are wont to be in proportion to their superiors : they were very
confident that their late masters would soon come back again ; and they
regarded the new Whig rule as an irksome and vexatious interval between two
organic periods of strong government. According to the testimony of the per-
plexed new Ministers and their friends, the disasters from this cause were
innumerable and very serious. They were misled, quizzed, kept in the dark,
left unaided at critical moments — in short, served faithlessly or not at all. It
may be said, and it was said, that a great part of the capacity for government
consists in securing good service. The Whig ministers pleaded that a man
must himself understand the business he wants to have done before he can
secure good service from fresh hands. However this may be, the fact was
that they were incessantly complaining of hardship and misadventure from this
cause. It is certain also that their power, popularity, and usefulness, were
seriously impaired by the imperfection of the work they produced, and the
flaws in the schemes they proposed. Perfection of detail might have sufficed
in the absence of commanding ability of statesmanship: and commanding
statesmanship might have overborne the impediment of imperfect routine
execution : but here, where both the compensating powers were absent, it is
a strong proof how enthusiastic was the national trust that the Whig Minis-
ters were enabled to carry the noble series of reforms for which they have a
claim to the acknowledgments of far future generations.
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[Boos IV.
CHAPTER VII.
1832.
Cirn-LisT.
Hansard, i. 10.
Prsi V.
T> EFORE the Wellington administration went out, the House of Commons
-*-* had resolved that a Select Committee should examine the Civil List, in
order to separate die proper expenditure of the Crown from a large and various
expenditure of another kind which ought to be under the control of parliament,
but was not so, from its coming arbitrarily under the head of Civil List expen-
diture. The King and his new Ministers went heartily to work to carrv out
the pleasure of the Commons, and correct the abuses of the old system. The
conduct of the sovereign on this occasion was very honourable to him. As
an honest, plain-minded man, it was probably more satisfactory to him to have
a certain denned income, paid and accounted for quarterly, than to be troubled
with a dozen kinds of revenue, necessitating a vast complication of accounts,
and causing him to be continually vexed with applications and complaints
about pensions and fanciful claims, and harassed by periodical inquiries and
censures in parliament about the pension list. He might see how much ease
and relief he would gain by turning over the whole business to parliament for
rearrangement : but that he did see this from the station of the throne was
such a proof of good sense, and the grace with which he surrendered every
thing to the judgment of his Ministers and parliament was so entire, that his
popularity was as much strengthened as it could be by any one act. He and
the Queen relinquished all their annuities : and he placed at the disposal of
his faithful Commons his whole interest for life in all hereditary revenues,
droits of the Crown, and casual income from any source whatever, trusting to
their judgment and affection to make sufficient provision for the dignity of the
royal function, and for the comfort of himself and his consort.
Now was the time for the reformers and economists of the House to speak
their minds about the Pension List, and to learn all that could be told about
it. From this time forward, there was to be no more mystery about the
granting of pensions. The yearly amount was to be fixed ; and all secrecy
was to be put an end to. There are many at this day who think it a matter
of regret that the occasion was not used for establishing an honourable system
of rewards for public service, not official, such as might befit a people now
awakening to a sense of the value and dignity of science, literature, and art.
For the best benefactors of society — its sages, philosophers, authors, and
artists, men whose pursuits are the least likely to obtain pecuniary recom-
pense— there is in England no appropriation worthy of government to offer,
or of them to receive. The amount left at the disposal of the sovereign is
destined for any kind or degree of real or imagined service, and is far too
trifling to be of use in the encouragement of lofty pursuit, or the reward of
exalted service. It has to be offered with an apology, and received with
shame : and there are few of those whose claims are strongest that would
CHXP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 81
choose to receive as an act of favour or favouritism from the Minister that 1832.
which they would regard as an honour and unmixed blessing if conferred by v-x^^x^
parliament, out of a liberal appropriate fund. Here and there, at present, a
great natural philosopher receives a pension which does not pay for his appa-
ratus ; and a poor author has a pittance which hardly provides him bread,
fire, and candle, while he is penning his thoughts — rendering services to the
world which no money can ever pay : and such pensioners know that their
names stand among some so unconnected with all proper purposes of a pen-
sion list, that the wonder is how they ever got there. It is not to the credit
of England, and was not in 1831 an honourable result of sixteen years of
Peace, that hundreds of thousands of pounds should be annually appropriated
for military and naval purposes, while only a pittance of a few hundreds was
really disposable for honour and encouragement to the wisdom, knowledge,
and ennobling arts, by which the human race is, if at all, to be exalted above
the liability to war. This was the proper opportunity for establishing a
National Reward Fund : but it was missed, and the occasion has never been
even looked for since.
The pensions charged on the Civil List for England amounted at this time
to £74,200 : those for Scotland, to £31,222 : those for Ireland, to £53,795 :— Hansard- »• »M-
total, £159,217. All these were legally void by the death of the sovereign
who had granted them : but there was no one who wished that they should
not be renewed to the individual recipients, if the system of granting could
be amended. It was now proposed to reduce the amount charged on the Civil
List to £75,000 for the three countries together — the amount to be made up
by the oldest pensions on the List, in order that the King might have some
power of bestowing grants before the end of his reign by the dying off of
the oldest pensioners. Parliament was to deal with the rest as it thought fit,
after they had been transferred to the Consolidated Fund. This chief point,
and some less disputed matters being agreed upon, their Majesties' financial
affairs stood thus : — In return for all that they had surrendered, they were to
receive, in quarterly payments, during the life of both, the sum of £510,000, RoYAL INCOME.
under the five following heads : — Wil1- IV- c. 25.
First Class, For their Majesties' Privy Purse £110,000
Second „ Salaries of his Majesty's Household .... 130,300
Third ,, Expenses of his Majesty's Household .... 171,500
Fourth „ Special and Secret Service 23,200
Fifth ,, Pensions 75,000
=£510,000
If the Queen survived her Consort, she was to have an income of £100,000,
and Marlborough House and Bushy Park for residences. — This opening of a
system of rational management of royal income and expenditure is worthy of
record. The country had suffered much in purse and patience from the extra-
vagance and debts of royal personages : and it is suffering even now; for there
are tracts lying waste in our British American colonies — not only useless in
themselves, but a positive impediment to cultivation — tracts made over by the
Duke of York to certain jewellers and others, his creditors. Since the arrange-
ment here chronicled, there have been no complaints of royal extravagance,
VOL. II. M
82 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. no instances of royal debt: and, though we English do not admit that we
^— — v~~-' are a nation of shopkeepers, it is certain that we have so much respect for
high probity in money matters as to feel that the honour of the Crown is
eminently enhanced by the faultlessness of the last and the present sovereign
in living within their incomes.
The alarming increase of Pauperism throughout the kingdom has been
noticed. This increase was complained of, and adverted to in terms of ap-
prehension, year after year, in parliament and elsewhere : and when the
annual poor-rate exceeded seven millions, with a clear prospect of augmenta-
tion, men began to ask, in their clubs and by their firesides, where this was to
end, and who could be sure of not sinking down from being a rate-payer to
becoming a rate-receiver. — Parliamentary Committees were found to be useless.
A more stringent search was needed than such a body could institute. In
1832, the Crown appointed a Commission of Inquiry, consisting of nine
persons, among whom were the Bishops of London and Chester, under whose
direction the condition of every parish in England and "Wales was investigated
and reported. These Reports, in their mass, and in the nature of their
details, were enough to overwhelm any faculties, and to extinguish hope.
Those whose business it was to receive the documents and consider them, as
they came in, week after week, for two years, could scarcely help regarding
the nation as a group of people, some busy and some gay, on an island destined
to be overflowed by the deep, and round whose whole circuit the waves were
advancing, inch by inch, while only those who were immediately disturbed
were fully conscious of the danger. There was one solid ground of hope,
however — one fixed point presented — from which improvement might proceed.
There were two or three parishes in England blessed with the presence of
a sensible man, sagacious enough to see into the causes of parochial evils,
and powerful enough to obviate them. To half a dozen quiet country resi-
dents like these, men aiming only to do the duty which lay before their doors,
our country mainly owes its rescue from the most appalling danger which has
ever threatened its social condition, and its comparative purification from the
worst complication of vice perhaps ever caused by any institution, except that
of slavery, for which she has in any age been answerable. — The amount of rate
was a broad fact which every man could understand, and which any one might
know from the newspaper : but, fearful as it was, it was that which pressed
least upon the minds of the Commissioners and of those whom they admitted
to a sight of the Reports. Among a multitude of painful facts, the most
mournful was the pervading and unceasing oppression of virtue and encou-
ragement of vice. The poor-rate had become public spoil. The ignorant
believed it an inexhaustible fund which belonged to them. To obtain their
share, the brutal bullied the administrators, the profligate exhibited their
bastards which must be fed, the idle folded their arms and waited till they got
it; ignorant boys and girls married upon it; poachers, thieves, and prostitutes,
extorted it by intimidation ; country justices lavished it for popularity, and
guardians for convenience. This was the way the fund went. As for whence
it arose — it came, more and more every year, out of the capital of the shop-
keeper and the farmer, and the diminishing resources of the country gentle-
men. The shopkeeper's stock and returns dwindled, as the farmer's land
CHAP. VII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
83
deteriorated, and the gentleman's expenditure contracted. The farmer's sons,
waiting, at the age of five-and-thirty, for ability to marry in comfort, saw in
every ditch and field on the estate lads under twenty whose children were
maintained by the rates which were ruining their employer. Instead of the
proper number of labourers to till his lands — labourers paid by himself — the
farmer was compelled to take double the number, whose wages were paid
partly out of the rates : and these men, being employed by compulsion on
him, were beyond his control — worked or not as they chose — let down the
quality of his land, and disabled him from employing the better men who
would have toiled hard for independence. These better men sank down
among the worse : the rate-paying cottager, after a vain struggle, went to the
pay-table to seek relief: the modest girl might starve, while her bolder neigh-
bour received 1*. 6d. per week for every illegitimate child. Industry, probity,
purity, prudence — all heart and spirit — the whole soul of goodness — were
melting down into depravity and social ruin, like snow under the foul internal
fires which precede the earthquake. There were clergymen in the Commis-
sion, as well as politicians and economists ; and they took these things to
heart, and laboured diligently to frame suggestions for a measure which should
heal and re-create the moral spirit as well as the economical condition of
society in England.
To thoughtful observers it is clear that the same grave aristocratic error CONFUSION OP
., . ° POVERTY WITH
which has before been adverted to — that of confounding in one all ranks PAUPERISM.
below a certain level of wealth — was at the bottom of much Poor Law abuse,
as it has been of the opposition to its amendment. Gentlemen in parliament
who talk over poor law matters, and gentlemen in the country who discuss
and administer the law, and gentlemen of the newspaper press who desire,
with real benevolence, to advocate the cause of the poor, have been too apt to
confound under this name classes more widely distinguishable, in fact and in
principle, than any other ranks in our society — except only that of sovereign
and subject. Except the distinction between sovereign and subject, there is
no social difference in England so wide as that between the independent
labourer and the pauper : and it is equally ignorant, immoral, and impolitic
to confound the two. This truth was so apparent to the Commissioners, and
they conveyed it so fully to the framers of the New Poor Law, that it forms
the very foundation of the measure : and all effectual opposition to the work-
ing of the system since it became law has proceeded from blindness to this
great fact and fundamental principle. — Here are two classes to be dealt with ;
the indigent and the independent labourer, who, however oppressed by poverty, V
is a noble member of the state, and can lift up his head in the consciousness
that he fulfils the part of a citizen, and is beholden to no man for a degrading
charity. In the pauper class, are many whom the state is willing to maintain,
because they cannot maintain themselves — the sufferers under helplessness,
from whatever cause : and it included also, at the time of the Reform of the
Poor Law, a much larger number who were not suffering under any natural
or accidental helplessness at all. These were the people whom a hasty and
ignorant humanity called " the poor," and for whose support and comfort they
pleaded ; — pleaded as if that support and comfort were to come out of the
pockets of the rich alone. Now, the very first aim of the Commissioners was
84 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. to consider the poor; — the independent and virtuous and most suffering poor.
-— — ^-— While magistrates were giving to pauper applicants at their own houses an
additional loaf for every child, that loaf was provided by the more high-minded
labourer, who toiled to raise the rate demanded of him, while he and his
children were hungering together. Both the poor man and the pauper were to
be cared for; but neither of them at the expense of the other. The law
ordered, and it still orders, that every man shall be fed : but every law should
provide, as all moral principle does, that the pauper, while supported by public
charity, should be placed in a lower condition (if only that were possible)
than the man who abstains from putting out his hand to the public purse.
Clear as this principle is, and much as it has been preached since 1832, there
is still existing a surprising blindness to it. Appeals on behalf of the pauper
are incessantly made, in forgetfulness of that class of the poor which should
be considered and cherished with all possible honour and care : and those who
are engaged in thus considering and cherishing an all-important class in our
state are reproached with hardness of heart towards the poor on account of
restrictions which are absolutely necessary as safeguards of the integrity of
the people and the capital of the country. In the very few parishes where
such restrictions had already been enforced, it was clear that justice and mercy
were, as they must ever be, coincident. In those parishes, while all necessitous
persons were relieved, idleness, and not industry, was discouraged ; prudent
marriage was not rendered impossible by a premium on profligacy; the land
was not deteriorating, nor the capital of the district wasting away; farmers
employed such labour as they wanted, and could choose it of a good quality ;
and the independent labourer was respected, while the pauper was pitied and fed.
Under the guidance of these few examples, and enlightened by a prodigious
NEW POOR LAW. accumulation of evidence, the Commissioners offered their susrgrestions to
1834
government ; and a Bill to amend the Poor Law was prepared and proposed
. to the consideration of parliament, early in 1834.
ITS PRINCIPLES. The first principle of the new law was that of the old ; — that every neces-
sitous person had a claim to relief. The matter was to be much simplified
now by the repeal of the worst restrictions of settlement. If one main object
of the reform was to encourage industry, it was clearly desirable to remove
the impediments to the circulation of labour. Settlement by hiring and ser-
vice was to exist no longer : labour could freely enter any parish where it was
wanted, and leave it for another parish which might, in its turn, want hands.
In observance of the great principle that the independent labourer was not
to be sacrificed to the pauper, all administration of relief to the able-bodied at
their own homes was to be discontinued as soon as possible ; and the allowance
system was put an end to entirely. The shameless petitioner was no longer
to carry home so many shillings or loaves for so many children while his more
honourable neighbour not only went without, but bore part of the cost.
Henceforth, the indigent must come into the workhouse for relief, if he must
have it. There stood the great house — with shelter, clothing, and food, for
the destitute who chose to claim it : but, in justice to the independent poor,
and to society at large, there were conditions belonging to this relief which
ought never to have been objected to by reasonable persons, however irksome
they might and must be to the idle, dissolute, and extremely ignorant, who
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 85
form a large proportion of the pauper class. One condition was, that the 1832
able-bodied should work ; — should do a certain amount of work for every meal. ^— ^-^^-^
They might go out after the expiration of twenty-four hours ; but while in
the house they must work. The men, women, and children must be sepa-
rated; and the able-bodied and infirm. The separation of the men and
women — husbands and wives among others — was absolutely necessary to
common decency, in an establishment like a work-house : and that of husbands
and wives was required by every consideration of justice to the state, which
could not rear a race of paupers within the work -house, to the prevention of
virtuous marriage without. That the aged and infirm should be separated
from the able-bodied was necessary to their own quiet and comfort. Their
diet included indulgences which others could not have ; and the turbulence of
sturdy paupers was no fit spectacle for them. That the children should be
segregated was necessary to their moral safety and educational training. No
part of the new law has occasioned more complaint and opposition than this
work-house classification ; and no part is more clearly defensible from every
point of view, or more evidently necessary. Because the work-houses could
not be permitted to be rookeries for pauper families to roost in, they were
called prisons ; though every man could go out with his family any day, and
was kept in only by the inducement of a maintenance. As for the effects of
the separation and training of the children, a curious light is thrown upon the
subject by a discussion which took place a few years after the reform was insti-
tuted;— a discussion among certain barristers on circuit, a large number of
whom were dining together when some circumstance led them to compare
their observations on work-house schools. From the encouragement given to
dissoluteness by the old poor law, the first series of children in the work-
houses of some of the rural districts were almost all illegitimate. The question
discussed by these barristers was, what the effect on the disrepute of illegitimacy
was likely to be, in the course of another generation, of the manifest superiority
of the children educated in the work -houses ovei those of the neighbouring
peasantry born in wedlock. The practical conclusion was that the children
of the independent labourers must be educated up to the work-house schooling
point, and as much beyond it as possible.
In order to a complete and economical classification in the work-houses, ITS MACHINERY.
and for other obvious reasons, the new Act provided for Unions of parishes —
the rating and expenditure of the rates remaining a separate concern. Thus,
instead of half a dozen small, expensive, and ill-arranged establishments in as
many different parishes, one central house, properly prepared for its purposes,
would answer all objects, and be under a completely conspicuous management.
To afford the necessary control over such a system — a system so new and
unwelcome to a host of local authorities and managers — a Central Board was
indispensable, by whose orders, and through whose Assistant Commissioners,
every thing was to be arranged, and to whom all appeals were to be directed.
The Central Board was to consist of three Commissioners ; and the Assistant
Commissioners were at first twenty-one, diminishing to nine, as the new
organization was completed. No change was proposed in regard to the rate-
ability of property, or the mode of collecting the rate. The business of the
new Act was with the application of the rate when collected. The distribution
86 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. was left to guardians and select vestries ; and, in the absence of these authori-
^— —^ ' ties, to overseers. The discretionary power of magistrates was much con-
tracted, none being left which could interfere with the main aim of the reform —
the subordinating the condition of the pauper to that of the independent
labourer.
Of the changes proposed by the new Law, none was more important to
morals than that which threw the charge of the maintenance of illegitimate
children upon the mother. Hitherto the father had been made chargeable
upon the oath of the mother as to his paternity. It was now proposed that
the law should take no cognizance of the father at all. The Lords, however,
modified this arrangement by giving an appeal to the Quarter Sessions against
the father. This appeal was rendered sufficiently difficult to leave the prac-
tical operation of the law pretty much what it was intended to be, till a change
was made in 1839, by which it was rendered more easy to reach the father.
This change was occasioned by feelings of humanity which many wise persons
still think misguided. When the law was framed, there was much wonder
abroad that the Bishop of London, and many moral and humane persons
about him, and not a few thoughtful women, were in favour of an arrangement
which left the father of an illegitimate child " unpunished," and threw the
whole burden upon the mother. The Bishop of London and his coadjutors
were presently proved to be right by the demonstration of facts. The decrease
of illegitimate births was what many called wonderful, but only what the
framers of the law had anticipated from the removal of direct pecuniary
inducement to profligacy, and from the awakening of proper care in parents of
daughters, and of reflection in the women themselves. The first case or two
occasioned a shock of surprise and dismay among those who had not under-
stood the change in the law : and after that, the offence seemed almost to dis-
appear in some districts where before it had abounded. As for the thoughtful
women who did not object to the new arrangement — their feeling has been
nobly expressed by one of them — Mrs. Jameson — in a passage which will not
be forgotten; — a few sentences in which she indicates the benefit to the
whole sex when Woman is made, even through apparent hardship, mistress
of herself — the guardian of her own mind and morals, instead of the ward
of Man.
KECRPTION OF Extracts from the Reports had been given to the public from time to time,
and all reasonable means used to prepare the mind of the nation for the new
measure. Up to the last moment, it was impossible to conjecture how it
would be received ; and therefore, how it would work : for there never was a
measure which more absolutely required, for its successful working, the coun-
tenance and co-operation of the intelligent portion of society. One certain
thing was, that the measure itself supposed and necessitated a repeal of the
Corn Laws — by its alterations in the provisions of settlements, its general
release of labour from thraldom, and its reliance on general laws ; while there
was too much reason to apprehend that, carefully as this was explained and
proved to the Ministers, they would not admit it in parliament, if they did in
their own minds. The apprehension was but too well founded. Lord John
Russell and Lord Althorp, who brought forward the measure in the Commons,
presently after refused even to receive evidence regarding the operation of the
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 87
Corn Laws: and Lord Melbourne, Premier of the Administration which set 1832.
the Bill to work, made a declaration in the Lords only less memorable than
that of the Duke of Wellington against Reform of Parliament, because Lord
Melbourne was the lesser man : — that he had heard many mad things said in his
life ; but that the Corn Laws could be repealed was, before God, the very
maddest thing he had ever heard. Yet the framers of the Poor Law Amend-
ment Act knew, and always avowed to the Whig Ministers, that the measure
could never have a fair chance of working till the Corn Laws were repealed ;
and in the interval they must pray for a succession of good harvests. On the
occurrence of the first deficient harvest, it would probably be necessary — as
they said in the freedom of conversation — to march soldiers to superintend the
enforcement of the law. Nor did any condemnation of the measure lie in this
assertion : for the state of things under the old law was so desperate that any
determination short of desperation in the enforcement of the Amendment Act
might be a mere matter of prudence. Except for the complication of the
Cora Laws with this measure, there was nothing to make it a party affair.
Every body was suffering under the existing system ; and while the proposed
reform was brought forward by a Liberal Ministry, none were more eager for it
than the landed interest, in and out of the House. If it was probable that the
country justices would resent the restriction of their powers in their own pro-
vince, it was certain that their neighbours the farmers — of the same politics —
were sinking under the burden of the rates, and would welcome any prospect
of relief. As it was not a party matter, it was impossible to divine how the
newspapers would go. The only thing considered certain under this head was
that the Times — the great paper of all — was wholly in favour of the Reform.
One of the editors had, a few days previously, sent a message declaratory of
intended support, to some of the managers of the measure. Up to the last
moment, though the prospect was wholly uncertain, every thing looked
well.
And at midnight of the 17th of April, every thing looked better still. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Althorp, had obtained leave from the
Commons to bring in the Bill. His speech, plain, earnest, and impressive,
had produced a strong effect upon the House, and his proposal had been
respectfully greeted and warmly supported. The members went home, feeling
convinced that the evils of the Poor Law system were virtually abolished, and
that this " great political gangrene of England " was successfully dealt with at
last. When each of them took up the Times from the breakfast table, the
next morning, to gratify himself with the study of its advocacy of the
measure — an advocacy sure to be more finely expressed than any that could be
heard elsewhere — what was the amazement to find a thundering article against
the measure ! It became known afterwards that the change in the mind of
the Times had taken place at the very last moment. It was naturally declared
and believed to be owing to evidence received of the hostility of the country
justices to the measure : and the country justices were not only the great
provincial support of the Times newspaper, but composed an influence too
important to be lightly regarded. Whatever might be the reason, the Times
newspaper certainly did, at the last moment, change its mind about supporting
the New Poor Law. The fact — of the suddenness of the change — in con-
88 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. nexion with the temper of the new opposition, is worth noting, as illustrative
s — — v— ^ of the character of newspaper support or opposition in our day. The side
which the Times would take was a chance pregnant with good and evil
consequences which will influence the fate of whole generations. The
hostility has been so venomous, so unscrupulous, so mischievous in one
direction, and so beneficial in others, so pertinacious, so vigilant, and so
remarkably based upon the aristocratic error before alluded to — of confusing
all ranks below a certain level — that it could not be passed over in the history
of a time when the Press is admitted to be our Fourth Estate.
Before London had breakfasted, a wealthy member of the Commons was in
the City, with a friend, and had bought the Morning Chronicle : and comrades
were beating about for writers of- the leading articles ; writers well familiarized
with the new measure. The consternation of the Ministers was not small.
There was to be a Cabinet Council that day ; and the Lord Chancellor wrote
a note to Lord Althorp, to ensure his attendance, as it was to be considered
whether the Times should be propitiated or defied. Some expressions were
added, not very complimentary to the editor who had lately offered support.
Some tidings having arrived from Lord Althorp which rendered the note
unnecessary, it was torn up, and the scraps thrown among waste papers under
the table. Some mischievous person picked them up, pasted them in order,
and sent them to the person remarked on, who was not propitiated by what
he read. From that hour, the virulence with which the leading paper pur-
sued the Lord Chancellor, the New Poor Law, and the parties concerned in its
preparation, exceeded any hostility encountered by the Whig government from
any other quarter, and certainly had no small effect in impairing their much-
weakened influence and popularity, and in impeding the working of Poor Law
Reform. The mischief done was by the dishonesty of the paper in constantly
misrepresenting the enactments and operation of the New Law ; in imputing
to it the faults of the old system which it was actually in course of remedying;
in fostering the prejudices, and perpetuating the mischievous powers, of the
least enlightened of the country justices ; in upholding the cause of the
unworthy among the indigent by confounding them with the worthy among
the poor ; — in short, by a partial and unscrupulous and unintermitting hos-
tility to a measure which had its faults, but which was not only necessary in its
time, but an eminent glory of its time, and which it would have been a moral
benefit to Englishmen to appreciate better than they have done. The good
effected by this hostility has, on the other hand, been very great. Bad as has
been its temper and principle, it has acted in the name of humanity, and it has
done some of the best work of humanity. Nothing in the shape of an abuse,
a hardship, or a levity in the treatment of the poor, has it ever let pass. It has
incessantly been unjust, and more cruel than the persons and usages it
denounced : but it has induced a spirit of watchfulness and a sense of respon-
sibility in official men — it has evoked a spirit of humanity in society, for which
the whole class of sufferers may be grateful, and for the sake of which the
most feeling moralists may subdue their natural and well-grounded resentment,
and cheerfully acquiesce in the results which will remain when the warfare
and all its disgraces, on every hand, are forgotten.
Hansard,xxr. On the 14th of August, 1834. the Royal assent was given to the Poor Law
12o4. *
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 89
Amendment Act, amidst prognostications of utter failure from the timid, and 1833.
some misgivings among those who were most confident of the absolute neces- N — —v^— -*
sity of the measure. These last knew that it was either now or never. When
a member in the Commons complained of the short time allowed for the
consideration of the Lords' amendments, Lord Althorp declared that he would Hansard, xxv.
be a bold man who should bring forward the Bill in another session, after it
had once been dropped. It is true — and the fact was repeatedly brought for-
ward in the course of the debate — the abuses of the Poor Law were almost all
under forty years old ; and the present object was rather to restore the princi-
ple and revert to the operation of the Law of Elizabeth than to establish a new
system : but still, there was the great and fearful fact before all men's eyes of
the demoralization of the peasantry ; — of their moral and social state being so
bad, in many parts of the country, that it was a grave question whether they
could be retrieved. It must be now or never. It appeared from the Reports
that a remnant still existed of the peasant order as it was before the corruption
of the Poor Law — a few hearty old men between sixty and eighty, sprinkled
through the country parishes, who had, for the forty years of misrule, talked of
the good old times, and turned away from the pay-table with a disgust which
would operate well now, while the new purification was going forward. Of these,
there would be fewer every year ; and the advantage of their presence was
certainly an additional reason why the reform should not be delayed. The
Bill became law : the law came into speedy operation : — for a time (long IT! PASSAGE.
enough to secure the reform) the seasons were kind, and events were favour-
able. Every body was not convinced — and every body is not convinced yet —
of the blessedness of the retrieval we have enjoyed. There are many who
charge upon the new law the abuses of the old, and the difficulties which
attend upon the very institution of a poor law ; there are many who charge
upon the law itself some gross faults in parts of its administration; there
are many who will never be satisfied till every poor person is thoroughly
comfortable in his own home (a virtuous aspiration, but one not to be fulfilled
by a poor law of any nature) ; but there are also many who think with a kind
of shudder what our condition would have been by this time under the old
law, or a less stringent reform. The facts which all men might know if they ITS OPERATION.
would are, that before two years were out, wages were rising and rates were second Annual
falling in the whole series of country parishes : farmers were employing more
labourers ; surplus labour was absorbed ; bullying paupers were transformed
into steady working men ; the decrease of illegitimate births, chargeable to
the parish throughout England, was nearly 10,000, or nearly 13 per cent. ;
clergymen testified that they were relieved from much of the pain and shame
of having to celebrate marriages where the bride was on the point of becoming
a mother, or where the parties were mere children, with no other prospect
than the parish pay-table ; and, finally, the rates, which had risen nearly a
million in their annual amount during the five years before the Poor Law
Commission was issued, sank down, in the course of the five years after it,
from being upwards of seven millions to very little above four. After that Penny cyciopo.
time, when a long period of severe distress ensued, the new law was found torn."*
insufficient (pending the maintenance of the Corn Laws, it must be remem-
bered) to deal with the needs of our large manufacturing towns, as any other
VOL. II. N
90 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
DREN.
1833 Poor ^aw w011!^ have been. Of this we shall have to speak under its own date,
as also of the changes found to be necessary in the application of the Amend-
ment Act : but, from first to last, its operation in the rural districts has been
not only salutary, but nothing short of salvation. This reform must ever be
regarded as in the first rank of the honours of the Whig Administration, and
of the pregnant victories of the Peace.
FACTORY CHIL. The Poor Law Inquiry was not the only one which disclosed facts of guilt
and misery in our social state which might have lain concealed under the
excitements of War, but which became gradually revealed amidst the quietude
of Peace. The Poor Law Commissioners had discovered how brutal and
wretched was the condition of the children of rural labourers in too many dis-
tricts of the country ; — of children who struggled with the pigs for food
during the day, doing nothing useful, learning nothing which raised them
above the beasts of the field — and at night huddled down on damp straw,
under a roof of rotten thatch — or went out to carry poached game, or fire the
farmers' stacks. Another picture, equally mournful, was presented from the
factory districts. Throughout the manufacturing districts, in ordinary years,
there ought to be a sufficient provision for all who are not behind their times
— like the poor hand-loom weavers, who would have power-looms put down, to
give them work. Such cannot be effectually aided, but among other classes,
if there were sense, knowledge, and goodness, there need have been no poverty
at the time we speak of. This knowledge and goodness, however, are what
the nation has taken no pains to cultivate in the mass, and to diffuse among
the classes which are least able to desire them for themselves : and hence has
arisen the misery, the unspeakable disgrace, of the corruption of the parental
relation among large numbers of our people. At the time now under review,
it became known that parents sold their children to excessive labour ; and it
has since become known that a considerable number have sold them to death
through the Burial Clubs — actually poisoned them for the sake of the burial
money, after entering the clubs for the very purpose. When Mr. Sadler and
Lord Ashley brought forward the subject of the oppression of the Factory
Children in 1833, the question of legal protection to these children was as
difficult an one as could be brought under the notice of any Ministry and par-
liament. It is admitted by the most sagacious to be an insoluble difficulty.
By guilty neglect we had brought ourselves into an inextricable embarrass-
ment, which has become only more apparent, and not less perplexing to deal
with, during all the discussion which has taken place from that day to this.
Amidst much legislation which has been ventured upon, the question is
apparently as far as ever from being settled — the great question, whether
effectual legislation is possible between parents and children, and in defiance
of the great natural laws which regulate the operation of labour and capital.
By our guilty neglect we had placed in abeyance the still greater natural laws
of the human heart, which alone can overrule economical laws ; and now we
were reduced to try the fearful experiment whether, by interposing thus late
with feeble arbitrary decrees and arrangements, we were likely to mitigate or
aggravate the existing evil.
Here were children — little creatures whose life should have been spent in
growing, in body and mind — employed all day and far into the night, in the
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 91
monotonous and stupifying work of spinning in the mills. Most of the mills 1833.
were found to be fairly wholesome : the owners were not oppressors : the pay
was good : the work was not in itself severe, or otherwise objectionable : and
all representations of the case as, generally speaking, worse than this were found
to be untrue. But it was too true that the parents let out their children to
that class of middlemen, the spinners, from whom neither the care of parents
nor the consideration of educated masters was to be looked for : and the chil-
dren were kept too long standing — too long awake — too long on the stretch
over work which was not in itself of a hurtful nature. People who thought
only of the children's instant welfare, and not of the considerations of justice
and of actual practicability with which the case was complicated, clamoured
for a law which should restrict the hours of labour, and determine the ages of
the persons who should be employed in the cotton and silk mills. Economists
showed how vain had always been, and must ever be, laws to regulate labour
and wages. Statesmen knew how vain it was to interfere by law with private
relations : and the mill-owners complained of the injustice of arbitrarily raising
wages ; while this was exactly the prospect which delighted the operatives.
They began to see before them a long perspective of legal protection and privi-
lege, by which they as well as their children should obtain the same wages for
less and less work, while too few of them perceived that any law which should
deprive them of the free disposal of their own labour would steal from them
their only possession, and be in fact a more flagrant oppression than any law
had inflicted on their order for centuries. Such was the diversity of opinion
in society in 1833, when a demand was made in parliament for an Act which
should regulate the labour of children in factories. The Ministers were fully
aware of the difficulty in which they stood, and they endeavoured to satisfy
all parties, at the expense of the smallest amount of mischief. They sent out
a Commission to obtain evidence and report.
When the time came for the commissioners to report and suggest, it was
clear that their convictions were just what might have been expected. The
evil of overworking children was clear. Though there were fewer swollen
joints, shrunken limbs, and distorted spines, than had been represented, there
was far too much of stunted growth, and far too little of the character of natu-
ral childhood, among those who were called " the victims of the factory
system," but who were in fact the victims of their parents' poverty or heartless-
ness. But could a cure be found in a mere law ? The Commissioners thought
not. They foresaw that there would be false swearing about the children's
ages, and deception in many ways that no law could obviate or detect : — the
parents from whom children needed protection being exactly those who would
have least scruple about deception and perjury. But the Commissioners had
not to decide whether there should be a law or not. It was evidently settled
that there should be one : and what the Commissioners had to do therefore
was, first, to suggest the best kind of law under the circumstances, and next,
to introduce and promote by it the measures in which they believed the remedy
really to lie. About one of the remedies they could do nothing — that free
importation of food which ought naturally at once to accompany a free circu-
lation of labour, and to obviate all restrictions on it. The next most important,
the education of the children, they thought they could introduce under the
92 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox IV.
1833. head of factory arrangements. The measure of education would be but small,
and its quality but poor, if instituted in a way so indirect as this, and as an
ostensibly subordinate object : but the Commissioners thought that any educa-
tional training was better than none, and that they could but try for this
collateral success, convinced as they were that the measure must fail in its
professed object. They therefore proposed that the children should be secured
from working for more than half the day by being placed at school, and certi-
fied to be there during some hours of the other half.
The Factory Bill of 1833 has received so many alterations since, that it
would be useless to give a minute account of its provisions. It is enough to
Poiitkai Diction, say that, except in silk mills, no child under nine years of age was to be
employed at all : children under eleven were not to be employed more than
nine hours in any one day, nor more than forty-eight hours in one week : and
after a time, this provision extended to children under thirteen years of age.
School attendance was provided for — the cost (not to exceed Id. in the Is.) to
be paid out of the child's wages, if the mill-owner desired it. Medical super-
vision was ordered ; and four Factory Inspectors were appointed, to watch over
the operation of the Act. This was the beginning of that legislation protective
of factory labour which has gone on to this day ; — the opening of a great con-
troversy which is far from being concluded, and whose consequences lie deep
in a future which no man now living shall see.
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 93
CHAPTER VIII.
riTHERE were two matters of great importance which must be considered at 1833.
J- this time, whoever might be in or out of power, and whatever might be ^—- ^ — — '
happening, at home or abroad. The two great charters, of the India Com-
pany and of the Bank of England, were to expire in 1834, and it must be
timely determined whether they were to be renewed, and on what conditions.
As has been notified, a parliamentary committee had already been appointed,
and had begun its work of inquiring into the claims and affairs of the India
Company. On the 22nd of May, 1832, the Chancellor of the Exchequer pro-
posed a similar inquiry in regard to the Bank of England. This last committee RENEWAL OF THE
was, however, a secret one, for the obvious reason that disclosures on currency
subjects, for a succession of months, with uncertainty at the end of it, would
embarrass all commercial transactions. The committee sat, and diligently
pursued its inquiry during the rest of the session, offering its report on the
llth of August. This committee was appointed on the fifth day after the
return of Lord Grey and his colleagues to power ; and it began its abstract
and passionless work while words were running high in the other house
between Lords Kenyon and Grey, and while the remnant of anti-reforming
peers were undergoing defeat as often as they adventured a division on the
clauses of the Reform Bill. Such were the days when the Bank Committee
sat, and when the very eminent men who were in it were preparing a report
of extraordinary value. They felt the seriousness of their work ; and well
they might. The last renewal of the exclusive privileges of the Bank had
taken place in 1800, when the teiin assigned was a year's notice after the 1st M'Cuiioch's com.
. 3 • mercial Diction-
of August, 1833 : and during that interval what vicissitudes and alarms had afy. p-ee.
taken place ! What warnings of the disastrous nature of errors in currency
matters, and of the magnitude of the interests now to be involved in an engage-
ment for another term of years. The distresses of 1814, the crisis of 1819, and
the crash of 1825-6, were fresh in the recollection of several members of the
committee, and a matter of deep interest to all : and under this stimulus, they
so exerted themselves that their report is considered — in connexion with the
evidence on which it is founded — the most important instrument towards the
establishment of sound principles of banking as yet offered to the government
and people of England. Among others, there were on the committee, Sir H^ard> xii<
Robert Peel, Mr. Poulett Thomson, Sir Henry Parnell, Mr. John Smith, Mr.
Baring, Mr. Warburton, Mr. Morrison, Mr. Bonham Carter, and the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer — statesmen, financiers, economists, and practical men
of business. — What they had to investigate was this: — • whether the paper ReP°rt of Sccret
^ ° Committee, Au-
money of London should be limited to the issues of one bank, or whether a
competition of issues should be allowed : — whether all the exclusive privileges
of the Bank of England were necessary, supposing it to be still the only bank
94 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox IV.
1833. of issue in London: — and what checks were desirable to secure the public
from danger from banks of issue, and especially whether a periodical publica-
tion of accounts would be a benefit or a disadvantage. On these points, the
Committee gave a vast amount of information, without any imposition of
decided opinions of their own. They did all that time and circumstances
allowed in laying before parliament the fullest materials for a judgment, and
in venturing to reveal the exact state of the affairs of the Bank of England,
thereby breaking up the system of mystery which had hitherto been one of
the dangerous privileges of the Bank Corporation. Up to this date, the
Directors had preserved the most cautious secrecy about their affairs, declaring
dividends, year after year, upon their own arbitrary judgment, without any
sanction of publicity. Now, however, the House of Commons printed the
Report of the Secret Committee ; and it was understood that darkness would
never again be allowed to settle down on the transactions of the great cor-
poration.
A new Charter was granted, terminable " at any time upon twelve months'
notice to be given after the 1st of August, 1855 :" and the privileges of the
Bank might cease sooner, upon the fulfilment of certain conditions by the
country ; one of which was the repayment by parliament of upwrards of eleven
millions, owing by the public to the Bank. The Bank retained, under the
new Charter, the chief of its old privileges ; and one principal new advantage
in a restriction on all other banks, having more than six partners, from
issuing notes or bills within sixty-five miles of London. A great convenience
was also afforded to the Bank by its notes, and the notes of its Branches,
being made a legal tender every where but at the Bank and its Branches.
By this provision, the Bank was saved the expense, inconvenience, and risk
of having to keep up, all over the kingdom, stocks of bullion to meet any run
which might occur in any direction, at any time. There was some alarm at
first among half-informed people about this provision, which was regarded as
countenancing a sort of inconvertible paper currency : but the holders were
in fact in exactly the same position as before in regard to the converti-
bility of the notes, while new facilities were, at the same time, added for
obtaining cash in any of its forms from the Bank, by the establishment of
new Branches. All Branch notes were made payable only at their place of
issue. Weekly returns of bullion and of notes in circulation were to be sent
in to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in order to publication in the London
Gazette — a provision of publicity which has worked so well as to be carefully
renewed, after ten years of trial. One-fourth of the debt due from the public
to the Bank was immediately paid, by an assignment of Stock previously held
by the Commissioners of the National Debt. In consideration of its new
privileges, the Bank was to deduct £120,000 per annum from its charge for
the business of conducting the National Debt affairs. At the time of this
inquiry, the total receipts of the Bank for the year were £1,689,176 : and its
expenses somewhat under £500,000; leaving £1,1 64,235 to be divided among
the proprietors. The establishment employed about 1000 persons, and sup-
ported 193 pensioners ; the average receipts of the 1000 functionaries being
£225 each, and those of the pensioners £161 each. — Such were the state and
constitution of the Bank of England on the granting of the new Charter of
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 95
1834. It will be seen hereafter how the never-ceasing changes of commercial 1833.
affairs, and the imperfection of the best knowledge on the great subject of the ' — ^ '
circulating medium compelled in ten years a remodelling of the constitution
of the Bank, with a provision for another change, if necessary, in ten years
more. For these further arrangements an essential preparation was made by
the new provision for publicity ; by the establishment of more Branches, with
better security against a disastrous local drain; and by the thought and know-
ledge brought to bear upon the subject in the investigations and discussions of
1832 and 1833.
A more striking change than any in the constitution of the Bank could be INDIA COMPANY '»
to society at large took place at the same time. For nearly two centuries and
a half, the merchant vessels of the East India Company had traversed the seas,
before the eyes of the world. This magnificent Association had formed the
link between the barbarism of the past and distant, and the civilization of the
future in its home : and now it was to be quietly let drop as useless — the east
and the west having come into a communication which should now be left free.
The commerce of this corporation, which had once been altogether a facility,
had become a monopoly ; and the changes of centuries required that it should
be broken up. So the Company remain princes, but no longer merchant
princes. — About a quarter of a century before the time now under notice, a
Liverpool merchant, the most honoured of his class, Mr. William Rathbone,
was in London, and, struck with the spectacle of the Company's shipping, he
inquired of a London merchant at his elbow why such a trade — a trade so
great, and so capable of unlimited expansion — was quietly left to be the pro-
perty of a corporation. His friend replied by convincing him of the overwhelm-
ing power of the Company in London, under whose shadow no discontent
could stir with impunity ; and the two agreed that whenever any movement
was made, it must be in the provinces. Mr. Rathbone was not a man to loiter
over any work which he saw ought to be done. He stirred up Liverpool,
Glasgow, Paisley, and Manchester, to demand an opening of the trade ; and
the movement had proceeded so far before 1813, when the Company's Charter
was to expire, that a considerable relaxation of the monopoly was then ob-
tained. From that time British merchants were permitted to trade to the terri-
tories of the Company, and India generally, though none but the Company
might traffic with China. During the next twenty years, the doctrine of Free
Trade had been elaborated and partially practised ; the demand for tea had
largely increased in England ; those who had visited the United States could
tell what a variety of Chinese productions they had seen in the houses of the
Salem merchants, and in the shops of New York, and how much they had
heard of the desire of thickly -peopled China for a supply of European and
American productions : and the demand for a complete opening of the eastern
seas had become too strong to be resisted. By the Charter of 1813, the Com-
pany had been bound to keep their territorial and commercial accounts sepa-
rate : and on their first examination, it was clear that they could not for a
moment compete with private merchants in supplying India with manu-
factured goods, to the advantage of both parties. In fifteen years, the Com-
pany's exports of manufactured cottons to India had dwindled to almost
nothing, while those of private merchants exceeded in value a million and a
96
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK IV.
1833. half per annum, and were still on the increase. After all that the English
public had heen told of the immutability of Hindoo habits, and the impossi-
bility of any great expansion of trade, it became clear that the Hindoos, like
other people, would stretch out their hands to obtain good and comfortable
things, if only such things were placed within their reach. Bishop Heber's
Journals were by this time published ; and they told of the strong disposition
of both Hindoos and Mohammedans in India to imitate the English, and ob-
tain whatever was necessary to enable them to assume an English mode of
living : — he tells of jackets and trowsers, shoes and stockings, round hats,
English furniture, French devices and mottoes on jewellery, English hardware,
crockery, writing-desks, arms, and clothing — not only in and near Calcutta,
but in remote provincial towns. This much having been proved, the com-
mercial world did not attend to what the Company now said of the immuta-
bility of Chinese habits, and the impossibility of any great expansion of trade
there. It was time to try. The Company took warning by their experience
of the results of competition with private enterprise in India, and did not in-
sist upon renewing the experiment in China. Their age as traders was past ;
and they now retired upon their territorial dignity, leaving a large section of
the world open to British commerce. It was a striking event to a multitude
of people at home, and to many abroad. Almost every body reckoned on
having cheap tea, and plenty of it ; and some anticipated that a few houses in
London and our principal ports might soon have curiosities to show like those
of Salem and New York ; — elegant matting, a variety of serviceable silks, extra-
ordinary toys, and Chinese copies of English prints — a miracle of painstaking.
Many, it may be hoped, thought of the blessing to the Chinese of new means
and opportunities of civilization ; and some, of the effect upon the relations of
the whole world of the throwing open the intercourse between the East and
the West which, whether cursed with a war at the outset or not, was certainly
necessary to an ultimate condition of fraternization and peace. In this view,
one point was of eminent interest to some of the best people living in the
world. In these newly-opened countries of the East, there are wide regions —
broad belts of soil and climate, — fitted for the production of sugar and cotton.
It is the limitation of the area for the production of sugar and cotton which
protracts the existence of negro slavery. It is well to use all possible means
of appeal to the justice and humanity of men, to induce an abolition of negro
slavery: but here was another opening for hope and enterprise. If slavery were
not abolished sooner, it certainly must be by a cheaper production of sugar and
cotton in the east by free labour than can be accomplished in the west by slave
labour. No such possibility existed while the India Company held the East
in their hand : but now the prospect seemed to be opening ; and in this view,
again, the date of the expiration of the Company's Charter might be one of
high importance in the history of the world.
poiit.Dtct.i.p.797. By the Act of 1833, the Charter was renewed for twenty years, during which
time the territorial government remains in the hands of the Company. From
the 22nd of April, 1834, the China and tea trade of the Company was to cease,
and all its commercial concerns were to be wound up, and its commercial pro-
perty sold. All the restrictions which prevented the free admission of Euro-
peans, and their free residence in India, were repealed ; and equality of claim
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 9f
to office and employment between natives and foreigners was decreed. There 1833.
was to be no distinction on account of race, colour, or religion. From that day, v— — -^ -
new hopes have been dawning upon the East ; and it is now universally under-
stood that the great work to be done in India is to raise the native population
by educational methods, and by a just administration of our power, and not,
as it once was, to keep them down by force — whether for their own sake or
ours. As for the commercial results of the new Charter, the number of ships
which passed to and fro increased year by year, even before the introduction of
steam navigation into those seas. In ten years, the trade with China had
doubled, and the value of British and Irish exports to India and Ceylon had
increased from two millions and a half to six millions and nearly half.
During the same period, as is observed in the commercial registers of the NEGRO SLAVE»*<
time, the value of the exports to the West Indies had declined. These colo-
nies were in a disturbed and unsatisfactory state. For some years, the experi-
ment of a gradual preparation of the slave for freedom had been going on;
and with the inevitable result of failure. The slaves were informed by the
arrival of successive Orders in Council, by the appointment of Protectors of
Slaves, and by the trial of a few slave causes, that they had rights : and when
a man of any colour once knows to a certainty that he has rights which are
withheld from him by parties close at hand, he is never contented again in his
wronged condition. The planters were as restless in their way as the slaves.
They resented the Orders in Council, and every thing in the shape of admo-
nition from home, as an unwarrantable interference with their management of
their property ; and they refused the slave registration and other observances
prescribed by Government. The language in their Assemblies was audaci-
ously disrespectful and petulant ; and in Trinidad there was a proposition that
the inhabitants should refuse to pay taxes till the last Order in Council was
rescinded. In December, 1831, a formidable insurrection broke out in Jamaica,
which occasioned suspension of business and other loss, and was put down only
by martial law : and in the following April the West India merchants in Lon-
don endeavoured to make Government liable for the losses thus incurred, and
for all which, in the opinion of the planters, could be traced to the operation
of the Orders, or of other movements in behalf of the slave. When, at this
meeting, the responsibility for all disorders was thrown upon the British ^ual!
Government, and protests and claims were sent in to the Colonial Secretary
" in consequence of the measures pursued by his Majesty's Ministers," it was
clear that a final settlement of the great question was at hand. It was now
too late to desert the cause of the slaves, and hand them over to the arbitrary
management of their owners. There must be a final issue ; and the planters
were bringing it on as fast as they could. If they had not done so, events
would. In the three years from 1828, the production of sugar had so far les-
sened as that the imports in England had sunk from 198,400 tons to 185,660
tons. The planters believed that they could recover their ground if England
would give them aid, and only leave them to manage their slaves in their own
way; while England felt, not only that the negroes were fellow- subjects as
well as the whites, but that no power on earth could roll back the years so as
to reinstate the planters in their former position. By their present conduct j
VOL. II. O
98 HISTORY. OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
1833. the West India merchants and proprietors hurried on the crisis at a rate not
^-— ^— ^-x dreamed of by the friends of the negro at home.
Hansard, Xii.59G. On the 17th of April, the Earl of Hare wood presented to the House of Lords
a petition from persons interested in the colonies, for a full parliamentary in-
quiry into the laws, usages, and condition of the West India colonies, their
past improvements, and possible future ameliorations — due regard being had
to " the best interests of the slaves themselves, and the rights of private pro-
perty." The committee was granted ; and the last Order in Council was sus-
pended for the time. On the 24th of May, the Lord Chancellor presented a
Hansard, x»i. e. petition from 135,000 persons, resident in and near London, praying for the
speedy abolition of slavery, and that no delay might be caused by the appoint-
ment of the West India committee. Lord Suffield followed with twenty-one
petitions to the same purpose. While these were discussed in the one House,
Hansard, xiii. 38. Mr. T. Fowell Buxton was moving in the other for a Select Committee to pre-
pare for the extinction of slavery in the British dominions at the earliest
possible moment. It is painful now to read the debate on this occasion, not
only on account of the perpetual pleas which make the reader blush for the
conscience of the legislature — pleas of the good food, light work, and relief
from responsibility, of the slaves, and of their enjoyment of the blessings of
Christianity — but on account of the timidity and supineness of many who
called themselves the friends of the negroes. Mr. Buxton had a hard battle
to fight : but he stood his ground. He must have been aware that he under-
stood the matter, while his opponents, of all parties, did not. He knew that
the abolition of slavery was inevitable ; and that the most speedy abolition
would be the safest for all parties. He knew that a gradual preparation of a
slave for freedom was an impossible thing : — he knew that to leave the matter
in the hands of the Government was to give up the cause : — he knew that to
revert to the Resolutions of the 15th of May, 1823, was to acquiesce in another
nine years' delay : — he knew that to mix up in the same motion the questions
of emancipation and of compensation to the planters would be to expose the
great moral to all the risks of the minor financial question : and he therefore
stood firm, amidst the entreaties of friends, the mockery of foes, and the some-
what contemptuous displeasure of the Ministers, who on this occasion could
not be ranked either with friends or foes. Lord Althorp, unaware what a
work he and his colleagues were destined to do in a few short months,
Hansard, xiii. GO. " would not pledge himself to any immediate abolition of slavery, because
he did not think that the slave-population was in a situation to receive that
boon beneficially for themselves ; but he thought that the legislature might
employ itself most usefully in bringing the slaves to such a state of moral
feeling as would be suitable to the proposed alteration in their condition :"
and he moved an amendment on Mr. Buxton's motion in favour of " con-
formity with the Resolutions of this House of the 15th of May, 1823."
Thus far were our statesmen behind the time, that one of the most honest,
one of the most sensitive to the claims of justice, was unaware that the only
possible education for the use of rights is in the exercise of the rights them-
selves, and was unashamed to revert to the barren resolutions of nine years
before. In that spiiit of rectitude which includes the truest mercy, Mr. Buxton
CHA.P. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 99
refused to surrender his motion, even if he should vote alone. Ninety, how- 1833.
ever, voted on his side, and 163 on the other. This majority of 73 on Lord v-— ^^-— ^
Althorp's side was not so large as was expected : and it was probably out-
numbered, a hundred times over, by the converts to Mr. Buxton's view outside
the House, who could bring an effectual force to bear on the Government.
This question is one which implicates not two quarters of the world only, ^,jgT10N MovE"
but three ; — not Europe and Africa only, but America. It is necessary to sur-
vey the whole area of the operation of negro slavery, in order to give the true
history of any one part. There was at this date an infant movement in the
United States which was destined to signalize our century as the Reformation
distinguished its own age. Some who live nearest to the cradle of this refor-
mation are only now — five-and-twenty years after its birth — beginning to
perceive with any clearness the magnitude of the event : but so it is with all
the great transitions in the world. While the Reformation was going on,
multitudes of ordinary people in Germany were living on as usual, in unconsci-
ousness that any thing remarkable was befalling the world : — " likewise also as
it was in the days of Lot ; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold,
they planted, they builded :" and if any stranger had inquired of them about
the new prophet and his doctrine, they would have denied that such existed,
till the fire-shower of LutherYdenunciations came to burn up the superstitions
of the age. Thus it was now in the United States, where the gibbet and the
tar-kettle and the cow-hide were preparing for the patriots of the community ;
and the time was drawing on when the rights of Petition to Congress, of the
Press, and of free speech, were to be suspended, in order to be restored with in-
creased security, for the object of freeing the soil from negro slavery. Before
this could happen, some noble hearts must be broken; some precious lives
sacrificed ; some public halls burned, and many private dwellings laid waste :
but the end was decreed, and the beginning was now made. In 1830, two
young men had been wont to walk across the Common at Boston, and discuss
the right way of setting about the abolition of slavery in America : and they
and another — poor and obscure, all three of them — had met in a garret, and
there, with their feet upon a wood-pile, and by the light of a single candle,
they had solemnly resolved steadfastly to measure their moral force against the
hideous evil. It has fallen to them and their followers to contend for a wider
emancipation than that of the negroes; to be the champions, in the New
World, of freedom of opinion, speech, and the press ; and before their work —
now secure, but not fully accomplished — is finally dismissed from their hands,
it may appear that yet other kinds of freedom have been brought in and esta-
blished by them. The conflict between the powers of light and darkness, of
liberty and tyranny, in the United States is now, in the middle of the century,
approaching its issue. At the time when Mr. Buxton stood up in the British
House of Commons, refusing to yield his point, an indomitable brother-reformer
over the seas had presented his manifesto in one of the finest declarations ever
given to the world. No one knew better than Mr. Buxton, and no one would
have been more eager to explain the fact — that the brother-spirit over the seas
had infinitely the harder lot, and the most arduous work, of the two for his
portion. It was only by living on bread and water that the confessor of this
100 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1833. mighty cause could obtain means to publish his paper. " When it sold par-
ticularly well," says his partner in the sacrifice, " we treated ourselves with a
bowl of milk." In the small, shabby first sheet of " The Liberator," printed
with old types, we find the manifesto which will not be forgotten while the
Anglo-Saxon liberties and language last. " I am aware," says Garrison, " that
many object to the severity of my language ; but is there not cause for severity?
I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. I am in earnest —
I will not equivocate — AND I WILL BE HEARD. The apathy of the people is
enough to make every statue leap from its pedestal, and to hasten the resur-
rection of the dead. It is pretended that I am retarding the cause of emanci-
pation by the coarseness of my invective, and the precipitancy of my measures.
The charge is not true. On this question my influence, humble as it is, is felt
at this moment to a considerable extent, and shall be felt in coming years —
not perniciously, but beneficially ; not as a curse, but as a blessing ; and pos-
terity will bear witness that I was right. I desire to thank God that he enables
me to disregard the fear of man, and to speak his truth in its simplicity and
power." — There were persons in the House of Commons who exclaimed against
coarseness and precipitancy, and called out for soft words, and a mincing gait
towards the object — the gaze reverting to the resolutions of nine years before.
But the men who understood the case knew that events — and not any impulse
of impatient minds — now called for a thundering utterance, and a tread that
should shake the ground. The demand for liberty was now one which could
not be neglected. The property question might be considered too; but it must
not be permitted to cause the delay of the greater argument. Though de-
feated on the division, Mr. Buxton had made this clear ; and from that day
there was no more halting on either shore of the Atlantic.
A vote of relief in money to the West India colonies, on account of a de-
structive hurricane in Barbadoes, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia, was now made to
include Jamaica, on account of the recent insurrection, and raised from
100,0007. to 1,000,0007. The Chancellor of the Exchequer declared that it
would require 800,0007. to rebuild the premises destroyed by the insurgent
slaves. — It was in this same year that the slaves in America heard of Garri-
son's manifesto ; and from that time they ceased to rise. Till then, revolts
had been frequent — several taking place every year. Since Garrison, the
" peace-man," has arisen in their behalf, there has not been one.
By the 14th of the next May, the Government had declared that they had
found the pressure of public opinion on the subject of slavery too strong to be
0 resisted ; and they had brought forward, by the mouth of Mr. Stanley (who had
become Colonial Secretary), a series of resolutions, which were to be debated on
the 30th of the same month. In the speech of the Secretary, introducing the
resolutions, nothing is more remarkable than the narrative given of West India
distress ; a distress so frequently recurring, so incessantly complained of, in all
conditions of war and peace, and of changing seasons, as to show that the secret
of prosperity does not lie in slavery, and that there was some fatal fault in the
system which the planters were so unwilling to have touched. There was
nothing in this narrative to surprise the economists, in or out of the House ;
and the economists and the friends of the negro, and the most enlightened of
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 101
the advocates of the planters, were alike sorry to see in the Resolutions a cling- 1833.
ing to the unsound method of " gradualism" in the abolition of slavery. It was s-— ^-— — '
proposed that all children horn after the passing of any Act of emancipation,
and all that should be under six years old at the time of its passage, should he
declared free : — that all others, then slaves, should be registered as apprenticed
labourers, being considered free, except for the restriction of being compelled .
to labour for their present owners, under conditions, and for a space of time to
be determined by parliament : — that a loan, not exceeding 15,000,000/., should
be offered to the planters ; and that parliament should provide for the expense
of a local magistracy, and of means of education and religious training of the
negroes.
Mr. Buxton declared at once against the compulsory apprenticeship, as a
device pregnant with mischief. He was joined by one who had been a mem-
ber of the Government, Lord Howick, who had resigned office from his inability Hansard,* vii. 1231.
to countenance this provision, and his reluctance to introduce confusion into
the Government by his opposition, otherwise than as an independent member
of the House. This apprenticeship arrangement was one great difficulty :
and the loan was another. The planters and their advocates considered the
amount a mere pittance, and yet were sure they could never repay it. With
a good grace, the loan of fifteen millions was converted into a gift of twenty
millions ; and the term of apprenticeship was reduced. Mr. Buxton was so
well supported in his opposition, that Government had no choice but to yield.
The field-slaves were to have been apprenticed for twelve years ; and the house
slaves for seven : — their terms were now reduced to seven and five. As to the
money part of the affair, there were many who saw and declared that, in strict
principle, there could be no claim for compensation for deprivation of that
which, from its very nature, never could have been property : and such opposed
any payment at all to the planters, as they would have refused to purchase a
slave who could be freed without. But the greater number, seeing how long
the law had recognised human beings as property, and on how bare a legal
basis all right to property rests, were willing to avoid subtle controversy, and
to close the dispute rather with generous concession than with rigidity ; and
the gift of twenty millions was voted with an alacrity which must ever be con-
sidered a remarkable and honourable sign of the times. The generous acqui-
escence of the people under this prodigious increase of their burdens has
caused the moralists of other nations to declare that the British Act of Emanci-
pation stands alone for moral grandeur in the history of the world ; while those
of other nations who do not happen to be moralists, see in it only an inexpli-
cable hypocrisy, or obscure process of self-interest.
On the 30th of August, 1833, the Emancipation Act passed the Lords. The NEGRO EMANCI-
name, and much of the substance of slavery was to expire on the 1st of August,
1834. The young children were then to be free ; and the Government fondly
hoped, against the warnings of those who understood the second nature which
overgrows the first in the holders of irresponsible power, that the parents
would, from the same hour, be morally and civilly free — bound only in the
salutary obligations to virtuous labour. However that might be, the day was
within view when all should be wholly free. To her great honour — and not
102 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boo* IV.
1834. the less because the act proved to be one of true policy — Antigua surrendered
— — v^;-. the right of apprenticeship, and set her slaves wholly free on the appointed day.
Elsewhere, the arrangement worked so ill — the oppression of the negroes was
so gross, and to them in their transition state so intolerable — the perplexities
were so many, and so difficult to deal with — that Government was soon con-
. vinced that " gradualism" was as impracticable under the name of freedom as
of slavery ; in three years, the term of apprenticeship was shortened ; and pre-
sently afterwards the arrangement was relinquished altogether.
The season of emancipation was dreaded by some of the slave-holders, who
had spent all their lives in fear of negro risings. To others it appeared that
the danger of revolt was when the negroes were suffering under tyranny, and
not when they were relieved from it. On both shores of the Atlantic, how-
ever, expectation stood on tip-toe to watch the moment which should give
freedom to 800,000 of the enslaved race. The Carolina planter looked well to
his negro quarter, to see that his " hands " were not abroad after dark. Gar-
rison and his band sat waiting for tidings — with more faith in the negro
temper than any body else, but still with some anxiety for the cause. The
British parliament looked benevolently forth, in the consciousness of having
done an act which should stand alone in the history of the world. The
British peasant thought affectionately of the black brethren whom he, as a
freeman and a tax-payer, had helped to release from bondage. And when
i834?F AvcvsT> the tidings came — the narrative of how the great day had passed over — there
was such joy as is seldom excited by one event among opposite interests.
Garrison and his band were as much relieved as the Carolina planter ; and
the English peasant was as proud and pleased as the British parliament. —
The 1st of August fell on a Friday; and there was to be holiday from the
Thursday night till Monday. The missionaries did their duty well ; and they
completely succeeded in impressing the people with a sense of the solemnity
of the occasion. The arrival of that midnight in the island of Antigua, where
the negroes were to be wholly free at once, was an event which cannot be
read of without a throbbing of the heart. It was to the negroes their passover
night. They were all collected in their chapels — the Wesleyans keeping
Thome and Kim. watch-night in the chapels throughout the island. The pastors recommended
ball's ' Emancipa- , ,•• -, .,.,.... ,.,
tion in the west to the people to receive the blessing in silence and on their knees. At the
first stroke of midnight from the great cathedral bell, all fell on their knees,
and nothing was heard but the slow tolling 'bell, and some struggling sobs in
the intervals. The silence lasted for a few moments after the final stroke,
when a peal of awful thunder rattled through the sky, and the flash of light-
ning seemed to put out the lamps in the chapels. Then the kneeling crowd
sprang to their feet, and gave voice to their passionate emotions ; — such voice
• as might be expected from this excitable people. Some tossed up their free
arms, and groaned away at once the heart's burden of a life. Families and
neighbours opened their arms to each other. Some prayed aloud, after the
lead of their pastors, that they might be free indeed : and a voice was heard
in thanksgiving for a real Sabbath now, when the wicked should cease from
troubling, and the weary be at rest, and the voice of the oppressor should be
no more heard, and the servant should be free from his master. In some of
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 10.3
the chapels the noble spectacle was seen of the masters attending with their 1834.
negroes, and, when the clock had struck, shaking hands with them, and
wishing them joy. The rest of the holiday was spent partly in mirth, as was
right, and much of it in listening to the addresses of the missionaries who
urged upon them with much force, and in the utmost detail, the duties of
sobriety and diligence, and harmony with their employers. On the Monday
morning, they went to work — that work which they were proud of now, as it
was for wages.
Fair as was this promise, and well as the conduct of the negroes has justified
the highest expectations of their most sanguine friends, no reasonable persons
were so sanguine as to suppose that all parties would be satisfied — that an Act
of Parliament could neutralize all the evil results of an iniquity that was
centuries old — that the striking of that cathedral clock was to silence all
discontents for the future as well as the past. From the nature of things it
could not be so. The planter could not, at the striking of that clock, put off
his habits of command, and his life-long associations of inferiority with the
negro race. He could not, in a moment, or a year, become an economist, a
practical man, carrying on his business with the close attention and care and
thrifty skill held necessary in the employers of free labour elsewhere. And
the negroes would certainly work in a very different way, and to a very
different amount henceforth. The husband and father might, and no doubt
would, accomplish much more actual work between year's end and year's end :
but some of it would be for himself — on ground of his own : and the women
would be almost universally withdrawn from field-labour; and they would
keep their children under their own care at home. As the possession of land
was, in the eyes of negroes, the symbol of all earthly power and privilege,
it was certain that their great ambition would be to buy land ; and thus,
again, more labour would be withdrawn from the existing estates. And these
estates were in that bad state of tillage which always co-exists with slave
labour ; and the conditions were thus unfavourable to a change of system.
The probability seemed to many to be that there would be a decline in the
production of sugar, and distress among the planters, not remediable by any
kind or degree of aid from England, ending probably in a transfer of the
estates from the representatives of the old system to those of the new. A
tone of fretful triumph would have to be borne with for a time from the
enemies of emancipation; and perhaps a temporary deficiency of sugar —
entailing further sacrifice on the English working classes who had so cheer-
fully undertaken their share of the twenty millions of compensation : and, in
some future time, every white might have sold his plantation to a black or
mulatto capitalist. There would be much evil in all this, if it should happen :
but after so long and grievous a sin, some retributive penalty must be expected :
and there were bright points both in the near and distant prospects. The
negress was now under the protection of a husband, and had a home in
which to labour and rest. Christianity could now be preached, without
dread and without omission. While regretting any decline in the outward
fortunes of the planters, no considerate person could for a moment put those
outward fortunes into the scale against the moral and material interests of
104 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. the vast majority of residents in the West Indies : and, as for the supply of
sugar — there is a broad belt surrounding the world — here studded with South
American ranchos, there feathered with African palms, and beyond, watered
by the rivers of India, and strewn with the islands of the eastern archipelago —
where sugar enough may be grown for the needs of the \vhole race. The
centuries bring with them their own resources. Ours brought a rich one in
the insight and impulse to extinguish a mighty sin. Necessity and justice
were seen and heard to demand it : the thing was done : and necessity and
justice may always be trusted to vindicate themselves.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 105
CHAPTER IX.
THUS far the Whig Ministry had wrought and prospered well. They had 1831.
undertaken their great works with a clear view of what ought to be done,
and a determination to do it: or, if they at any time fell short in either of these
requisites, the sympathy or opposition of the liberal party soon brought them
up again. Among many deficiencies and weaknesses which they were now to
exhibit, the most fatal, and one of the most inexcusable, was in regard to
Ireland. It required no miraculous wisdom to see that Catholic Emancipation
would not tranquillize Ireland while she suffered under the burden of what the
Times called " too much Church." In the most orderly state of society in any IRISH CHURCH.
country, it could not be expected that between six and seven millions of inha-
bitants of one religious faith would pay a portion of their produce to support
a church which included only a few hundred thousands — a church which they
conscientiously disapproved, and whose funds they saw to be ample, while
their own priesthood had nothing to depend on but the precarious contribu-
tions of their flocks. On the one hand was a church numbering 853,000,
with four archbishops, eighteen bishops, and a law which authorized its clergy
to derive an essential part of their incomes from tithes ; and this in a country
where tillage was the almost universal means of subsistence, and the division
of the land was so minute that the tithe-collectors seemed never to have done
making their demands of shillings and half-pence. On the other hand, there
was a church including six millions and a half of members, without aid from
government, without countenance from the law ; with a multitudinous priest-
hood who lived with the poor and like the poor ; and from these poor was the
tithe extorted by perpetually recurring applications — applications backed by
soldiery and armed police, who carried off the pig, or the sack of potatoes, or
the money-fee which the peasant desired to offer to his own priest. It required
no miraculous wisdom to see that the long exasperated Irish must consider
this management as religious persecution, and feel that Catholic Emancipa-
tion was not yet complete. A very ordinary foresight would have shown that
it would soon be found impossible to collect tithe in Ireland ; and further,
that it must soon be acknowledged by the whole world at home, as it had long
been declared by the whole world abroad, that the maintenance of the esta-
blishment in Ireland was an insult and injury which no nation could be
expected to endure, and which must preclude all chance of peace till it should
be abolished in its form of a dominant church. The Whig Ministers were not
only without the miraculous wisdom, but they were without the ordinary
foresight. They — Whigs as they were — were blinded by that same super-
stitious dread of changing the law which had, time after time, been the destruc-
tion of their opponents. They, Whigs as they were, seemed to have forgotten
that no human law can be made for eternity — that no age or generation can
VOL. IT. p
106 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. kind down a future age or generation to its own arrangements, or legislate in
» — — v— — - a spirit of prophecy. They, whose ancestors had declared these truths in 1688,
and as often since as any great reform had been needed : — they who had dis-
solved the laws which gave seats in parliament as a property to individuals,
and the negro as a property to his white fellow-man, pleaded now, while Ire-
land was convulsed from end to end with the church question, that the church
in Ireland could never be touched, because its establishment and revenues were
guaranteed by law. If it was asked to whom were this establishment and
these revenues guaranteed, it was necessary to dismiss the abstraction called
the Church, and to reply either the worshippers or their clergy ; and the ques-
tion then was, whether means of worship could not be provided for the one,
and an honourable subsistence for the other, by some method less objection-
able than taking by force the tenth potatoe and the tenth peat from the Catho-
lic peasant, and parading the Church of the small minority before the eyes of
the vast majority as the pensioned favourite of the state. If the Whig
ministeis had had sagacity to see the untenable nature of the Irish Establish-
ment, and courage to propose its reduction to the proper condition of a Pro-
testant denomination, they would have gained honours even nobler than those
which they won by Parliamentary Reform. It is highly probable that Ireland
would have been by this time comparatively at ease ; for the Ministers might
apparently have carried such a measure at the outset of their legislation for
Ireland, when their power was at its height, and the question of Church
Reform in England was discussed with a freedom and boldness which soon
disappeared. If not, however — if they had failed and gone out upon this
question — they would have entitled themselves to the eternal gratitude of the
nation, and of so much of the world at large as is interested in the interior
peace and prosperity of the British empire. But they did not see nor under-
stand their opportunity. The phantom of the impersonal Church, and its
shadowy train of legal guarantees, was before them, so as to shut out the
realities of the case — the substantial interests of the Protestant religion, and the
weighty facts that many of the churches were empty, the numbers of Protestants
stationary or decreasing, and the working clergy actually living upon alms.
The Administration tried this and that and the other small method of dealing
with the difficulty ; at what expense of delay, contention, and ultimate partial
yielding, we shall hereafter see. " Of this," said their friends at the time,
spectator, 1833, by the most calm and moderate of their organs, " there can be no doubt ; —
the only way to afford her (the Irish Church) the least chance of a permanent
existence, is to abolish Tithes entirely, and to cut down her other emoluments
very low indeed, — that is to say, to reduce them until they amount to no more
than a fair equivalent for the services which she can render in return for
them."
In 1831, the state of Ireland seemed to be growing daily worse, in regard
to violence. There was a conflict of forces between the Lord Lieutenant and
Mr. O'Connell. The Lord Lieutenant issued proclamations against a certain
order of public meetings. O'Connell and his friends disobeyed the proclama-
tion, and were brought to trial. Delays and difficulties were introduced into
the legal process, as is usual in Ireland ; but the matter ended in O'Connell
and his comrades pleading guilty to the first fourteen counts in the indictment,
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 107
which charged them with holding meetings in violation of various proclama- 1831.
tions. The Attorney-General was satisfied, and withdrew the remaining **-~~-v~^'
counts. Mr. O'Connell denied in the newspapers that he had pleaded guilty;
and declared that he had allowed judgment to go by default, in order to plead
before the House of Lords, through the twelve Judges — before which time,
he hoped the Act under which he was prosecuted would expire. As it was
asserted and proved in the House of Commons that he had actually pleaded
guilty, and that nothing remained but for sentence to be pronounced against
him, his followers, in their amazement at such a fall, resorted to the supposi-
tion that some kind of compromise had taken place between himself and the
government, and that the Liberator had humbled himself in order to obtain
some boon for Ireland. The supposition grew to a rumour ; and the rumour
spread to the friends and opponents of the Ministers in parliament : and,
though it was promptly met, it was never again extinguished. Whether it
was through indolence, carelessness, timidity, or temporary convenience,
certain it was that the Whig government brought on itself, for a course of
years, the charge of compromise with O'Connell, after repeated proofs of his
utter unworthiness of all trust, and therefore of all countenance as the repre-
sentative of his country. On the present occasion, Mr. Stanley, Secretary for
Ireland, was questioned in the House about the transactions of Government
with Mr. O'Connell ; and his reply was express and clear. He would not say Hansard, ii. 491,
that Mr. O'Connell's friends had not endeavoured to make terms for him : but
the reply of Government had been that Mr. O'Connell's conduct had not en-
titled him to any consideration, and " the law must take its course :" — " judg-
ment should be pressed against him :" — the Crown had " procured a verdict
against Mr. O'Connell ; and it would, undoubtedly, call him up to receive
judgment upon it." Within a fortnight after, a ridiculous scene took place in
the House. Mr. O'Connell asked the Secretary for Ireland on what ground he
had asserted that friends of his had endeavoured to make terms for him.
" There could be no delicacy in disclosing their names, because, if they were
accredited agents, he — on the supposition the principal — asked for publicity ;
and if they were not his agents, it was but common justice to hold them up as
impostors." Again, Mr. Stanley's answer was express and clear. A letter had Hansard, a. icoc,
been laid before him which proposed terms, to induce the Irish Government to
forego the prosecution, the letter being dictated by Mr. O'Connell himself to
his son-in-law, and enclosed in one from his son. The House received this
explanation with shouts of laughter : and the shouts were renewed when Mr.
O'Connell said that " he could not but admit that his question had been an-
swered most satisfactorily by the right honourable gentleman." The terms
proposed were, as Mr. O'Connell now declared, that he should forego his agi- Hansard, u. 1007.
tation for the Repeal of the Union, which he regarded only as means to an
end, if the Government would, in the first place, drop the prosecution, and
next propose good measures for Ireland. " The answer was, that no such com-
promise would be for a moment entertained by the Irish Government, and that
the law must take its course." It is difficult to account for a self-exposure so
audacious as this of O'Connell, on any other supposition than that he wished
to advertise his readiness to be negotiated with, and to surrender his Repeal
agitation on sufficient inducement. He had long before so surrendered all
108 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1831. pretensions to honour, and shown himself so incapable of conceiving of honour,
that he could go through a scene like this of the 28th of February, 1831, with
less embarrassment than any other man. The misfortune of the case to the
Government was, that it did not redeem the pledge given by Mr. Stanley. The
law did not take its course ; Mr. O'Connell was not brought up for judgment.
Time passed on : the Act under which he was convicted expired : and when it
was defunct, the Ministers considered that it would be ungracious to inflict
the penalties it decreed.
IRISH OUTRAGE. From week to week of this session, the outrages in Ireland grew worse.
Tithe collectors were murdered in some places : in others, they were dragged
from their beds, and laid in a ditch to have their ears cut off. Five of the police
were shot dead at once by a party in ambush. The peasantry declared against
pastures, and broke up grass lands in broad day. Cattle were driven off, lest
the owners should pay tithe upon them. A committee of Roman Catholic
priests, assembled at Ennis for the promotion of order and peace, broke up
Annual Raster, with expressions of despair. O'Connell attended some of the trials in May,
before a special commission issued for the purpose ; and he took the oppor-
tunity of making matters worse by addressing the people in speeches, in which
he told them that many of the convicted peasants would have been acquitted
if fairly tried, but that the juries were afraid to acquit. He charged his hearers
with — not crime, but — indiscretion, and advised them to deliver up their arms,
not because the law required it, but because they might thus mollify the
Government, and purchase leniency for their comrades who had been caught.
Towards the end of the month, there was a fight between the police and the
peasants, at Castle Pollard, in Westmeath, on occasion of an attempted rescue.
The chief constable was knocked down ; the police fired, and nine or ten per-
sons were killed. The police were tried for manslaughter, on the prosecution
of the Government ; and O'Connell found matter of complaint even in this,
after the men were acquitted, alleging that the prosecutions would have been
fairer, if left to be instituted by the families of the slaughtered men. If they
had been so left, his complaints of the apathy of the Government would have
been more formidable still. In June, an affair happened at Newtonbarry, in
Wexford, which shows what was the position of the Church in the Catholic
districts of Ireland at that time. On the 18th of June, which was market day,
some cattle were to be sold which had been impounded for tithe payment. The
following placard was on the walls of the town : — " Inhabitants, &c. &c. There
will be an end of church plunder : your pot, blanket, and pig, will not hereafter
be sold by auction, to support in luxury, idleness, and ease, persons who en-
deavour to make it appear that it is essential to the peace and prosperity of the
country, and your eternal salvation, while the most of you are starving. Attend
to an auction of your neighbour's cattle, seized for tithe by the Rev. Alexander
M'Clintock." The yeomanry were on the alert to assist the police. As soon
as the sale began, it merged into a fight ; and twelve of the Catholic mob were
killed. The consequent law proceedings were baffled and rendered fruitless by
trick and timidity ; but the affair was never forgotten. Before the year was
out, the clergy had become afraid to ask, and their flocks to pay, their dues.
As the year closed, soldiery assisted the police ; but this only enlarged the area
of the fights, and deepened their animosity. On one occasion, five of the
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 109
Catholics were shot dead by the military ; and, a fortnight after, when a strong 1831.
body of police were escorting a tithe-collector, they were summoned to sur- s-— —- ''"
render him to popular vengeance ; and, on their refusal, twelve of them were
slaughtered in a lane, and more left fearfully wounded. The captain of police
and his son, ten years old, were among the slain ; and the pony which the boy
rode was stabbed dead. The arms of the assailants were scythes, pitchforks
and bludgeons. A country lad, who appeared about thirteen years old, went
from one to another of the prostrate police, and finding that five of them still
breathed, made an end of them with his scythe. Such were the things that *™» J ^fister-
were done in the name, and for the alleged rights, of the religion which brought
" peace 011 earth, and good- will to men." As for the reviled clergy, — the men
who were declared to be living " in luxury, idleness, and ease," and whose
claim to tithe the Irish Secretary was advocating in the House as " a matter of
justice between man and man," — they were living, some in fear of a prison for
debt, as they had received no money for many months ; many more in fear of
their neighbours ; and not a few in fear of seeing their children starve before
their eyes. Sometimes there would come in by night a pig, or a bag of meal,
or a sack of potatoes, from some pitying friend ; and by day, the clergyman
might be seen digging " for bare life" in his garden, with his shoeless children
about him, while his wife was trying, within the house, whether the tattered
clothes would bear another and another patch. Such was the system of "jus-
tice between man and man " which Mr. Stanley would not at this time touch,
because it was legal. If this W7as justice, on every or any hand, what then was
injustice ?
Some clergymen, however, differed from Mr. Stanley about perseverance in
not touching the tithe system, on account of its justice. The Archbishop of
Dublin declared that he spoke the opinion of many of his clerical brethren, as
well as his own, when he said, in his evidence before the Lords' Committee in Hansard, *. 1277.
this year — " As for the continuance of the tithe system, it seems to me that it
must be at the point of the bayonet — that it must be through a sort of chronic
civil war. The ill feelings that have so long existed against it have been em-
bodied in so organized a combination, that I conceive there would be continu-
ally breakings out of resistance, which must be kept down by a continuance of
very severe measures, such as the Government might indeed resolve to have
recourse to for once, if necessary, but would be very unwilling to resort to ha-
bitually, so as to keep the country under military government. And the most
intelligent persons, and the most experienced I have conversed with, seem to
think that nothing else will permanently secure the payment of tithes under
the present system." If this was true, tithes were condemned, in spite of their
justice ; for it could not be supposed that the preachers of a non-aggressive and
non-resistant religion would desire to have their maintenance permanently col-
lected at the point of the bayonet. There must, in that case, be more " anxious
thought" about meat and clothing than consisted with their profession. Al-
ready, indeed, the two faiths in Ireland seemed to have exchanged characters.
It was the Protestant Church which displayed its protected, and endowed, and
dominant hierarchy ; and it was the Catholic faith which sent its priests from
house to house, to preach glad tidings to the poor, accepting subsistence from
the overflow of good-will, but demanding nothing in the name of human law.
110 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1832. In the royal speech, at the opening of the next session, some progress in
^— — v~- — ' Ministerial opinion was apparent. The King requested the parliament to
TITHES. consider whether some improvement could not be made in the law regarding
tithes in Ireland. In after years, there was abundant cause for lamentation
that the advance was so small. Committees of Inquiry were appointed by
both Houses ; and the evidence adduced was so astounding as to induce, in a
multitude of minds, views of the Protestant Church in Ireland which it is
lamentable that the Government did not take heed to and act upon. Many
friends of Ireland, as well as the Catholics themselves, desired, if tithes were not
to be abolished, that they should be so appropriated as to yield benefit to the
body who paid them, by means of a recurrence to the first principles of tithes.
Originally, one-fourth of the tithe was devoted to the maintenance of the poor,
and another to that of the places of worship : and it was now proposed, even
in petitions to parliament, that this application should be made of the proceeds
of tithe and of the lands of the Church in Ireland. Lord Grey took the earli-
Hansard, x. 3. est opportunity of intimating that he should strenuously oppose any proposi-
tion which went to deprive the Church (that ever impersonal pleader !) " of
her just rights." Perhaps the best expression of the widely awakened feeling
Hansard, x. 1354. we have adverted to may be found in the speech of Lord Ebrington, who had
himself been on the committee in the Commons, ' ' respecting the unfortunate
anomaly which the Church of Ireland presented. He should not think any
plan could lead to a final settlement of the question, which attempted to ex-
clude the consideration of a thorough reform of the Church of Ireland. When
he saw the clergy of that Church receiving salaries so disproportionate to the
number of Protestants under their care ; and when he saw that those salaries
were paid chiefly by Roman Catholics, he looked upon the system as pregnant
with injury to the cause of religion. He protested, therefore, against the
number of the clergy being so disproportioned to their congregations ; and he
should be glad to see some more just distribution of the revenues of the Church,
such as would afford a more adequate provision for the working clergy; and he
should also be glad to see a state of things in which no part of the revenues of
the Church should be diverted from the use of the Church. He could think
no settlement of the existing complaints satisfactory which, with a due regard
to all existing interests — for God forbid that they should attempt to strip any
man of that which of right belonged to him — did not contemplate the reduc-
tion of the Church of Ireland to a condition better proportioned to the wants
of the Protestant inhabitants." Such was the view brought out of Committee
by as thorough-going a friend of the Whig administration as sat in the House.
There was now no time to be lost. The Irish recusants knew, to a man,
that the royal speech had recommended to parliament a consideration of the
tithe system : and they took this for a royal condemnation of tithe-paying.
They knew before February was out that the parliamentary committees had
reported that nothing would avail short of " a complete extinction of tithes "
by commutation for a charge upon the land : and these things were considered
warrant enough for a refusal to pay tithe at all, and for persecution of those
i832Ual 28? 'ster> W^° ^ Pay- ^n archdeacon in the neighbourhood of Cashel hoped to esta-
blish a commutation with his parishioners ; but now they refused his terms,
came up to him in a field in sight of his own house — a field where several
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. Ill
persons were ploughing, who took no notice of the transaction — and stoned him 1832.
till his head was beaten to pieces. If any resident, pressed by his pastor, or "— *- •*-*-*— -
by conscience, or by fear of the law, paid the smallest amount of tithe in
the most secret manner, his cattle were houghed in the night, or his house
was burnt over his head, or his flock of sheep was hunted over a precipice, and
lay a crushed heap in the morning. There was a sound of a horn, at that
time, which made men's flesh creep, whether it was heard by night or day ;
for those who took upon them to extinguish tithes now boldly assembled their
numbers by the sound of the horn ; and all who heard it knew that murder or
mutilation or arson was going to be perpetrated. Captures, special commis-
sions, and trials, were useless. Witnesses dared not give evidence : jurors
dared not attend. Magistrates and police were multiplied; but the thing
needed was a removal of the grievance, which was real enough, however atro-
ciously avenged. On the very chapels, notices were now posted by the ^""p1 "8e|gister>
insurgents, and no man dared to take them down. There was indeed no time
to lose.
The clergy naturally ceased to demand their dues : but even those of them
who had any thing to live upon found that they were not to be left in peace.
It seemed to be intended to drive them from the country. If they had cows,
nobody could be found to milk them. Tradesmen who supplied articles to
clergymen found that nobody would buy of them, or even sell to them.
Throughout the Catholic rural districts of Ireland, the clergy were dependant
now upon the government, or upon private charity, for mere sustenance, while
large county meetings in Carlow, Cork, and elsewhere, were passing resolu-
tions and issuing addresses which were almost alike in matter and form, and
of which the following is a fair specimen : — " Resolved, that it is a glaring {392. n 50lullons'
wrong to compel an impoverished Catholic people to support in pampered
luxury the richest clergy in the world — a clergy from whom the Catholics do
not experience even the return of common gratitude — a clergy who in times
past opposed to the last the political freedom of the Irish people, and at the
present day are opposed to reform and a liberal scheme of education for their
countrymen. That ministers of the God of Charity should not, by misappli-
cation of all the tithes to their own private uses, thus deprive the poor of their
patrimony — nor should ministers of peace adhere with such desperate tenacity
to a system fraught with dissension, hatred, and ill-will." The grievance was
real enough — obvious to all who were not blinded by a superstitious worship of
man-made law, so as to be insensible to those ulterior laws which it is
impious to disregard. There was indeed no time to lose : but unhappily, there
was no man in power free and bold enough broadly to assert the higher laws ;
and thus the lower was not withdrawn, but only feebly mended ; so that the
change was found ineffectual. The work had to be done over again ; and the
chief part of it — the reduction of the Protestant Church to the needs of the
Protestant population — has to be done yet, while. Ireland appears as far from
being tranquillized as ever.
The Act which bears date June 1st 1832, authorizes the Lord Lieutenant FIRST ACT OF
1832
of Ireland to advance 60,0007. to the Irish clergy who could prove themselves 2 win. iv. c. 41.
unable to collect their tithes for the year 1831. Their claims for that year
thus became a debt from the Irish people to the government, recoverable by
112
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK IV.
1832.
Honsard, xiv.
100—109.
the powers of government. The claim of the clergy to any former arrears was
not to be prejudiced by this Act, which was designed for temporary relief, and
to interpose the government between the irritated people and the clergy. The
government was to levy the arrears. Many in the House asked at once
whether the government would be able to levy the arrears — defeated as it had
been in endeavouring to aid the clergy to do so. The Bill was proffered under
a pledge from government that a tithe commutation should be instituted,
which alone could justify the temporary measure of an advance to the clergy.
The Act passed rapidly through both Houses, and became law on the 1st of
June. It was July before the further and permanent measures of government
regarding tithes Avere brought forward ; and, as the Minister declared, the ses-
tion was too far advanced to admit of the passage of them all. They were
three. The first rendered the existing Tithe Composition Act permanent and
compulsory, instead of voluntary, and for a term of twenty-one years. The second
constituted the bishop and beneficed clergy of every diocese a corporation for
the management of tithe business, whereby individual clergymen would be
relieved from the difficulties and dissensions attendant on a prosecution of
their own claims. The corporation would levy and distribute the tithe for
the diocese. The third provided for the redemption of the tithe by all who
might wish to buy up their freedom from the charge. Sixteen years' purchase
was the amount proposed ; and permission was to be given to possessors of
mortgaged and entailed estates to mortgage them further, in the first case, to
the extent necessary for this object- — such mortgage to have precedence of all
that existed before ; and, in the other case, to sell as much of the entailed
estates as should be necessary for the redemption of the tithe.
This last and most important of the three Bills was left over to the next
session. It was the wish of Ministers to carry the other two ; but they suc-
ceeded only with the first ; — the Act by which the Tithes Composition in
Ireland was made compulsory and permanent.
The Relief Act would not work. The clergy were as much hated as ever
for giving in to the government an account of the arrears of 1831. A clergy-
Annuai Register, man in Tipperary was shot dead on his own lawn. The son of another and
1832, p. 29(i. J
his driver were left on the highway — the one dead, the other supposed to be
so. The people would not permit the posting of notices of arrears ; and in
the affrays caused in this process, several lives were lost at different points ;
and this furnished occasion to O'Connell for cries for vengeance for the Irish
blood that was shed ; cries which told with prodigious effect. It had been
clear to many from the first that this was a game at which government could
not play. Defeat, and victory by force of soldiery, were equally fatal. The
issue was defeat. Towards the end of the next session, the avowal of Minis-
Hansard, xx. 342. ters in parliament was that out of a sum. of 104,285?. of arrears due for 1831,
government had been able to levy only 12,000/. : and that amount " had been
collected with great difficulty, and some loss of life." Government had decided
to abandon all processes under the existing law, and to seek reimbursement
in some other form, after having paid to the clergy the arrears of 1832, and
the amounts due in the present year; which, together with those of 1831, now
reached the sum of about a million. This amount of a million was to be pro-
vided by an issue of Exchequer Bills. This sum supposed a deduction from
2 & s win. iv-
c. 119.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 113
the claims of the clergy, for the advantage of secure and immediate payment. 1833.
The reimbursement was to be by means of a general land-tax for a term of *^^~—^
years ; exemption being granted to those who could prove that they had paid
their tithes. These propositions were warmly debated. The Conservatives
condemned all concession, and claimed for the Church and clergy the utter-
most farthing of their dues. The Irish members condemned the levy of tithe
in any form, declared that the government was now regarded as a great tithe-
proctor, and hated accordingly ; and foretold a repetition, with aggravation, of
the outrages of preceding years, on every attempt to levy the land-tax. Many
of the liberal party, who yet would not desert the government, complained of
the issue of the million under the name of a loan, when every body knew that
it would not prove recoverable, and would be in fact a gift to the Irish Church
which they had no inclination to make. The Conservatives yielded, from
pity and respect for the suffering clergy : the Liberals from a dislike to em-
barrass the government : and the Irish members could make 110 head against
so many adversaries. The Bill for collecting the arrears of tithes therefore ACT OP isas.
passed the Lords on the 28th of August, 1833.
The next year, the subject had to be brought up again. There was infinite
mischief in this annual debating on a topic so charged with irritation to all
parties : and now, at this late day, came out some facts which, if they had
been understood earlier, as they ought to have been, would have convinced so
large a majority of the insufferable irksomeness of the imposition of tithe in
Ireland, as to have ensured its being got rid of long ago. Mr. Littleton was
now Secretary for Ireland: and he made his disclosures, and rendered his
account on the 20th of February.
On the 4th of that month, the King's Speech had recommended a consider- ,S34.
ation of " a final adjustment of tithes" in Ireland : and in his remarks on the
motion for the Address, the Duke of Wellington had said, that the Irish Hansard, *xi. is.
clergy were in precisely the same miserable situation at present that they had
been in before the passage of measures for their relief; and he considered
that " that most deserving race of men " was in danger of utter destruction :
a statement which was not contradicted by Lord Grey in his reply to the
Duke's speech. After two years of experiment and debate, the Irish Secretary
was now compelled to call the attention of Parliament to a new measure : but
it was to be four years yet before this single point was settled. At the outset
of his speech, Mr. Littleton made an avowal which might prudently have
been taken to heart before, so as to save years of " chronic civil war," much
misery of mind, and the loss of many lives. Mr. Littleton begged the House Hansard, xxi. 573.
" to bear in mind, that the statute-book had been loaded with enactments by
the legislatures of both countries for the purpose of giving the proprietors of
tithes effectual means to enforce the law. The whole of those enactments had
proved ineffectual. Many of them of the most severe description, extending
even to capital punishment, had proved utterly useless." No one could
wonder at this who heard the statement that followed of the vexatious inci-
dence of the Irish tithe. Owing to the extreme subdivision of land, the TARDY TRUTH
. ' . ABOUT TITHES.
amounts were small — sometimes literally beyond expression ; and in such
cases, the debtor was one who had no money, or ready means of payment, and
to whom it was exasperating to be called on, from time to time, for a religious
VOL. II. Q
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. tax, so paltry, and yet so inconvenient and so hurting to his conscience. In a
>— — ^— . — - parish in Carlow, the sum owing by 222 defaulters was a farthing each. " A
Hansard, xxi. 578. return of the actual number of defaulters whose debts were under a farthing,
and rise by farthings up to a shilling, would exhibit a very large proportion of
the gross number. In some instances, the charge upon the land amounted to
only seven parts of a farthing. When he informed the committee that many
of the smaller sums were payable by three or four persons, some idea might be
formed of the difficulty of collecting tithes in Ireland. The highest aggregate
charge was against those who owed individually about 2d, ; and he would
then bear to remind the committee, that it was not so much the sum as the
O *
situation of the individual, that rendered these charges oppressive. Twopence
to one might be as great an impost as 2/. to another. There was another great
severity connected with the question of tithes. They were not simple. One
proprietor alone did not come to the poor man to demand his tithes ; but many,
whose interests were irreconcileable and adverse, fastened upon him. There
were different kinds of tithes — the vicarial, rectorial, and impropriate — all often
fastening on the same individual, who was bound to meet the separate demands
of each tithe-owner. The opposition to tithes, then, though it might receive
an impulse from agitation, was not to be wholly traced to that source. There
was a deeper source in the severity of the impost itself." This was all very
true : the disaster was, that it had not been known sooner. Such had been the
state of the case during preceding years of legislation ; during years when the
Irish were called purely ungrateful because the Emancipation Act did not
tranquillize them. A quieter procedure on their part would have been wiser
and more virtuous ; but there was also little wisdom in the expectation that
quietness would rise up and spread among an excitable and long-injured people
while a grievance like this was ignored by a government which called itself
liberal, and friendly to Ireland. Now that the Ministers had at last discovered
that they had grievance, as well as agitation, to deal with, the method in which
Hansard, xxi. they proposed to deal with it was this : — that all compositions for tithes should
PROPOSED ACT OF cease from the 1st of next November : and that the amount should be paid in
the form of an annual land-tax to the King, who should cause provision to be
made out of it, in land or money, for the clergy and other tithe-owners. This
land-tax was to be redeemable. Mr. O'Connell, and other members from Ire-
land, vehemently opposed this proposal, reasonably alleging that it would
merely establish the same impost under another name. They did not succeed
now in delaying the introduction of the Bill : but on the 30th of July, when
it was in committee, Mr.. O'Connell had his revenge for the moment. He
objected to the proposal that government should recover the amount of the
tithes; said that they would never succeed in taming the Irish people by
pretending to throw salt on the tails of the landlords ; and moved that the
tithes should be made payable immediately from the landlords to the clergy,
after being reduced forty per cent. This motion was in the form of an amend-
ment to the third clause of the Bill : and it was carried by a very large
Hansard, xxi. majority ; the numbers being 82 to 33.
After taking time to consider, the Ministers determined to go on with the
Bill. They never would have proposed a large reduction in the incomes of
the Irish clergy : but as the House of Commons had declared itself broadly in
CHAP. IX. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 115
favour of such a reduction, and it would facilitate the settling of the system,
they could have no objection. And they believed that the clergy (to whom
individually the reduction would be only twenty-two and a-half per cent.)
would be willing and thankful to receive that amount, in consideration of the
security, punctuality, and peaceableness, which would now attend the pay-
ments. The Lord Chancellor put it to the Peers, when the Bill came before
them, whether any one of them deriving a nominal income of 100,0007. from
his estates, would not be very glad to receive in gold, on a certain day, without
a chance of disappointment, 77,5007., with a release from all disputes, pains,
and penalties, from bad or impoverished tenants. If their own bishops were
to be believed, however, the great majority of the Irish clergy were hostile to
the measure. In that case — if they were still able and disposed to stand out,
under the risk of Irish outrage, for the full hire of their spiritual service — the
compassion of parliament was thrown away upon them, and that of the nation
must be reserved for the suffering minority of the clergy, who were ready to
sacrifice something for peace, and to avoid causing their brother to offend.
But even these more high-minded sufferers were not to be aided yet. On the
motion for the second reading in the Lords, Lord Ellenborough moved that
the Bill should be read that day six months, and threw it out by a majority
of 67 out of 311 votes, by proxy or present. The bishops who were in favour BILL LOST.
of the measure were those of Derry, Chichester, and Norwich. On the other 1204!*'
side were the Archbishops of Canterbury and Cashel, and nineteen bishops.
The division showed that the spiritual peers were quite of Lord Melbourne's
opinion (which was earnestly expressed), as to the unspeakable importance of
the measure ; only they took an opposite view of it. It was but for a short
time ; for within five years they had to yield : and meanwhile, their conduct,
whether attributed to pride, to greed, to enmity to the Catholic Irish, or
merely to such narrowness of view as ill becomes legislators, went as far to
impair the dignity and influence of the Church among those who watched the
case, as their success in throwing out the Reform Bill three years before.
Thus ended in failure the endeavour of the Whig administration to deal
with the Irish tithe question; a difficulty so radical as to require radical
treatment, as has been since practically acknowledged. The effect of merely
tampering with it was very disastrous: — the government was foiled; the
clergy sank into a deeper slough of popular hatred ; and the Irish Church lost
every year more of its dignity in the eyes of its own well-wishers.
The great question of its preservation in any form had now for some time
been discussed ; and so discussed that it was necessary for the administration
of the time — whatever it might be — to take up the argument. Every body
knew that the chief incitement to the Repeal agitation was the hope of getting
rid of the Church. The Tories were disposed to defy the Repeal cry, and all
agitation, and to uphold the dues of the Church even to the last penny of
church-cess, and the smallest fraction of a farthing of tithe. A large number
of the Liberal party were for so abating the Irish Church as to throw its main-
tenance upon its own members, and reduce its ministers to some proportion to
their flocks. The endeavour of the administration was to keep a middle
course between these extreme parties. In 1833, the government proposed to IRISH ECCI.PSI
empower a Board of Ecclesiastical Commissioners, by Act of Parliament, to MIWMN. *
116 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. make extensive changes in the Irish Church, which, it was hoped, would be
v-^v-x^ so manifestly for the advantage of all parties as to secure a sufficient support
in parliament.
Political Diction. « appears, hy a census purposely taken in 1834, that the proportion of the
ary, i. 8o4. numbers of the Protestant Church in Ireland to that of Catholics and Dissent-
IRISH CENSUS. ers wag this . — Tke Catholics were 6,436,060 : the members of the Established
Church were 853,160 : and the Dissenters, 665,540 : that is, while the Catho-
lics were above 80 per cent., the Church Protestants were just above 10, and
the Dissenters 8, per cent. The revenues of this Church were 865,5257. : above
17. per head of its members ! There were nearly 1400 benefices — of which
forty-one did not contain a single Protestant ; twenty had under five, and 165
contained under five-and-twenty. In 157 benefices, no service was performed,
the incumbent being an absentee. There were four archbishops and eighteen
bishops for this little flock. It was impossible that such a Church could long
be endured in a country so peopled ; and the reductions now proposed by
Hansard, xv. government were very considerable.
REDUCTIONS. Two archbishops and ten bishops were to be the last of their name. Their
dioceses were to be united with others as opportunity arose : and on the death
of the Primate, the income of his see was to be reduced from 14,5007. to
10,0007. Deans and chapters were no longer to enjoy dignity without work.
They were to be abolished, or to undertake the cure of souls. Sinecure bene-
fices were to be endured no longer : the Commissioners might suspend the
appointment of ministers who had not done duty for three years before. The
First-fruits, which were a trouble and grievance producing little return, were
to be abolished, and replaced by a tax on benefices and episcopal incomes,
rising in its per centage from the smallest benefice not under 2007. a-year, to
the vast incomes of some of the bishops ; the humble livings paying five per
cent. ; and any episcopal income exceeding 1,5007. a-year, fifteen per cent. It
was expected that by the sum thus raised (about 69,0007. a-year), a sufficien t
provision would be secured for the repair of churches and conducting of the
service, so that the odious impost of church-cess might be abolished, its amount
being estimated at 70,0007. a-year. The one remaining point was that which
occasioned the fiercest disputes ; disputes which lasted for a course of years,
and are certainly destined to be renewed hereafter. In opening the scheme
of government for altering (to the advantage of all other parties, without
injury to the clergy) the terms for letting the lands of the Church, Lord
Dimwit™ Althorp did not conceal his opinion that any additional funds accruing from
such change of management were fairly to be considered state funds, applica-
ble to general state purposes. Supposing the Church left where she was
before — deprived of nothing present or future — the profits of any improve-
ment suggested and achieved by the government might be claimed by the
government for the good of the state. The amount anticipated from this
source was about, or nearly, three millions.
The government were anxious to lose no time " under existing circum-
stances," in carrying this Bill. It was brought in on the llth of March.
Hansard,xri. G47. There was debate about the time of the second reading, and one of those mis-
DF.LAYS. .takes to which the present Ministry seemed to be doomed ; so that a delay of
many weeks ensued. This was a tax-bill ; and it was necessary to introduce
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 117
it in. a committee of the whole House : and thus, as the point had to be argued, 1834.
the Ministers to be convicted of error, and the whole matter gone over again, ^^~^**s
it was the 6th of May before it reached the second reading. It was then
very nearly dismissed a second time on account of an oversight of Ministers in
reciting a message from the King which had never been delivered to parlia-
ment : but the Speaker decided that the objectors should have brought forward
their point before the first reading, and must now wait till the Bill was in com-
mittee, by which time the necessary message from the King might be received.
The majority on this occasion was large in favour of the measure — many mem-
bers, however, giving notice that they should ultimately oppose it, unless it was
decided in committee that all accruing funds whatsoever should be devoted to
ecclesiastical purposes. It was in vain that government explained that the
fund from new church leases should be applied to educational and other
objects which ought to be those of the Church. That provision was expunged
from the Bill in Committee. It was also decreed that the tax on clerical APPROPRIATION
REFUSED.
incomes should date only from the death of the present incumbents. With
these alterations, the Bill passed the Lower House, on the 8th of July, 1833,
by a majority of 274 to 94; — a proportion which shows how much stronger Hansard, xix. 301 .
was the apprehension of danger from Ireland than the cry, loud as it was,
about confiscation of the property of the Church.
The Peers were believed to intend to make a vigorous rally against this
very important Bill, with whose passage the existence of the Ministry was
understood to be bound up. On a recent occasion, when the Reform Bill had
been in danger, a well-timed vote of the Commons of confidence in Ministers
had been found of service ; and it was now proposed again to intimate to the
Peers that the Commons had a very decided will in regard to the reformation
of the Irish Church. Sir J. Wrottesley, after due notice, and in opposition to
the entreaties of Ministers, moved for a call of the House on the 17th of
July — the day of the second reading in the Lords ; and he was nearly success-
ful;— 125 voting with him, and 160 against him. Hansard, xix. G62.
The opposition in the Lords was strong, but not effectual. The support
given to the measure was somewhat grudging ; but it was sufficient — no doubt
for the reason assigned, in a few remarkable words, by the Earl of Wicklow Hansard, xix. 76 1.
for his share in carrying the Bill through. " He could not be taken to be a
supporter of Ministers, because he meant to vote for their present measure.
He conceived that every act of theirs bore upon it the stamp of revolution —
the present no less than others : but he would for that very reason vote for the
present Bill, because, if he did not, he might on a future occasion — like him
with the books of the Sibyl — have to pay a higher price for less value." The
Duke of Wellington, who had more reason than most men to know what to
dread from Irish discontent, supported the Bill, on condition of certain amend-
ments : and all went well, except that Ministers were outvoted on the point of
the disposal of the revenues of suspended appointments. By a majority of two
it was decided that such revenues should be applied to the repairs of the
church and glebe-house ; and then, any surplus should go into the hands of
the commissioners. After consideration, Lord Grey and his colleagues deter-
mined not to throw up the Bill for the sake of this one point. It passed, on IRISH CHURCH
the 30th of July, by a majority of 54, out of 216 votes, and in the midst of a B^T
ORALITIES
PASSES.
118 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. vigorous recording of protests by alarmed Peers. Of these protests, the most
s — -~ v— — ' remarkable one is that of the Duke of Cumberland, who reverts to the old
Hansard, xx. 127. ground — by that time forgotten by every one else — of the Coronation Oath,
of which he declares this measure a clear violation. The commissioners
appointed under the Bill were the Primate of Ireland and Archbishop of
Dublin, the Lord Chancellor and Chief Justice of Ireland, and four of the
Irish bishops. Their powers were great ; and it was confidently hoped that
they would be put to vigorous use. But no one supposed that any thing that
they could do would finally settle the difficulty of the Irish Church : and it
would be so long before the relief of their measures could be practically felt,
that much might happen meantime.
Though the state of Ireland was less disturbed, in the course of a few
months, the agitation for repeal went on so vigorously that the royal speech
made express reference to it at the opening of the session of 1834, and both
Houses of Parliament replied in a special address ; — it being well understood
by all parties that the Church grievance supplied the whole body and spirit of
the agitation. Men who agreed that the fact was so were far from agreeing
as to what should be done : and none differed more irreconcileably than the
members of the cabinet; as events presently showed.
OFFICIAL In the preceding year, Mr. Stanley had ceased to be Irish Secretary, having
entered the cabinet as Colonial Secretary, when Lord Goderich became Earl
of Bipon, with the office of Lord Privy Seal. It was at that time that
Mr. Littleton (since Lord Hatherton) became Irish Secretary, and entered
upon the warfare which his office imposed upon any one compelled daily to
hold a sort of Conservative ground against Mr. O'Connell and his friends in
the House. Towards Mr. Stanley the Irish members had been to the last
degree fierce ; and he was not of a temper to keep the peace under provoca-
tion, or so made as to conceal the disgust and contempt from which he has
ever appeared to suffer, as from a chronic malady, all the days of his life.
What the Colonies might have to say to the change would be known in due
course : meantime, it was a comfort to the Ministers to see a good-tempered
man, who seemed to be liked by the Irish members, in the place of one who
was so vehemently hated by them. The difference of opinion in the cabinet
about the power of the state over any new revenues of the Irish Church, was
of less consequence, as the chief of the minority — who called such a doctrine
a plan of confiscation — was now occupied with colonial affairs. The difference
might for some time longer have caused nothing more serious than preparatory
discussion, but for the subject of the Irish Church being brought up by Mr.
MR. WARD'S Ward, member for St. Alban's, 011 the 27th of May, in a motion for the reduc-
Hansard, xxiii ' tion of its establishment, as it exceeded the spiritual wants of the Protestant
population; and as it is the right of the state to regulate the distribution of
Church property, in such manner as parliament may determine. The motion
was seconded by Mr. Grote, one of the members for London, who had scarcely
begun to address the House when Lord Althorp received some information
which induced him, at the close of Mr. Grote's speech, to request the House
to adjourn the debate from the present Tuesday to the Monday following. On
this question — of the right of the state over any proceeds of Church property
— the administration could not bear a touch. The news which had reached
CHAP. IX. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 119
Lord Althorp was that the leaders of the minority in the cabinet — Mr. Stanley 1834.
and Sir James Graham — had resigned. They had hurried on their court *—^-^^
dresses, and gone to the King, to surrender office. Their example was imme-
diately followed by Lord Bipon and the Duke of Richmond. The single
Tory, and two " Canningites," were now gone ; and the Ministry, being
wholly Liberal — or supposed te be so — could henceforth work more freely.
Such was the speculation in the House of Commons, in Lombard-street, and
in Ireland. Lord Auckland went to the Admiralty ; Mr. Spring Rice to the
Colonial Office ; and the Privy Seal was held by Lord Carlisle. Mr. Poulett
Thomson at the same time became President, instead of Vice-President, of the
Board of Trade; and the Marquess of Conyngham succeeded the Duke of
Richmond at the Post Office.
The opponents of a liberal policy knew what was the weakest point of the
administration : — of this administration, as of several that had preceded ; —
the timidity and deficient ability of the King. They lost no time in attacking
this weak point. The day after the debate had been so strangely interrupted
was the King's birth-day festival ; and the Irish bishops went up to the throne
with an address, signed most numerously by Irish prelates and clergy, depre- Annual Heater,
eating changes in the establishment. Whether the King's mind was over ' P'
full of the subject before, so as to flow out at the first touch of his feelings,
or whether any circumstance at the moment tempted him away from the
ordinary practice in replying to such addresses, there is no saying ; but he
poured out a set of sentiments, ideas, and promises, which placed himself and KING'S DECL\-
his government in a position of great embarrassment, and grievously aggra-
vated the prevalent excitement. This extraordinary speech began with the
words, " I now remember you have a right to require of me to be resolute in
defence of the Church." The King went on to assure the eagerly listening
clergy that the Church of England and Ireland should be preserved unimpaired
by him : and that if any of the inferior arrangements in the discipline of the
Irish Church required amendment, " which, however, he greatly doubted,"
he hoped it would be left to the bishops to correct them, without interference
011 any hand. He was completing his sixty-ninth year, and must prepare to
leave the world with a conscience clear in regard to the maintenance of the
Church." " I have spoken more strongly than usual," he said in conclusion,
with tears running down his cheeks, " because of unhappy circumstances that
have forced themselves upon the observation of all. The threats of those who
are enemies of the Church make it the more necessary for those who feel
their duty to that Church to speak out. The words which you hear from me
are, indeed, spoken by my mouth, but they flow from my heart." He had,
somewhat unnecessarily, assured his hearers that his speech was not a pre-
pared one, got by heart, but uttered from the feeling of the moment. As such
an indiscretion must be infinitely embarrassing to his Ministers, the utmost
pains were taken to scatter this speech through the country without the delay
of an hour, that the House of Commons and the Ministers might be overawed
before the renewal of the debate on Mr. Ward's motion, the next Monday.
Meantime, the Ministers did not resign. They had had experience before
of the weakness of the King, and did not think it right to give up the country
to be governed by the leaders of the minority, under a sovereign who could not
120 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. help agreeing with the last speaker, arid who was always impetuous on behalf of
v— — -N~«— " his latest impression. The Ministers did not resign ; but the general convic-
tion of their insecurity in office was so strong that Mr. Ward declined to
withdraw his motion, saying that the assertion of its principle was made
doubly important by the probability that men would presently be in power
spectator, 1834, who would need such a check from the legislature. During the week, it had
become known that Lord Grey had declared that he had neither nerve nor
spirits for the vigorous reconstruction of the Cabinet ; and that his predomi-
nant wish — to have Lord Durham there — had been overborne by the Lord
Chancellor and Lord Lansdowne. Two addresses to the Premier had been
presented on the part of members of the House of Commons : — the one, a
declaration of confidence in Lord Grey ; the other, prepared after the intrigues
in the Cabinet had become known, expressive of dissatisfaction at the discoun-
tenance of popular principles in the new appointments. The Ministerial
papers themselves openly warned the nation that the government was only
" patched up," to get through the session ; and that, before the year was out,
unless the matter were looked to in time, the nation wrould be at the mercy of
the Court, which was itself in the hands of the Church.
Under such circumstances, Mr. Ward refused to withdraw his motion. He
iiansard,xxiv. 21. was probably aware that Mr. Hume was about to quote a letter from Lord
Anglesea to the Premier, in which he insisted on a large reform of the Church
as absolutely essential to the peace of Ireland ; and he could quote as a sanc-
Hansard, xr. 574. tion to his motion the words of Lord Althorp himself, a few months before —
fe if by any act of the legislature new value can be given to any property
belonging to the Church, that new value will not properly belong to the
Church, because it is an acquisition dependent on such act of the legislature,
and may be appropriated immediately to the use of the state." Mr. Ward's
anxiety was to reassert this principle ; and pitiable was the position of Lord
Althorp, if he was really about to evade that declaration of his own. His
position was pitiable. He was wont to say, with his good-humoured smile,
that it was hard upon him to force him to be a statesman, when nature had
made him a grazier : and the lot was doubly hard which threw him into a
Cabinet where there was no power of will, no enlightened union, no combined
working faculty, to sustain the efficiency and dignity of the government when
the appui of popular will and popular dictation was withdrawn. Lord Grey
was aged, worn, and weary : Lord Lansdowne was for taking a middle course,
and evading difficulties, on all occasions whatever. Mr. Stanley had aggra-
vated all existing difficulties and created many new ones by his porcupine
demeanour : and the whole administration was kept in perpetual hot water by
the intrigues and indiscretions of the Lord Chancellor. Thus disunited among
themselves, struggling in a slough of difficulties, where no one could help
another, and the people withdrawing from them further and further every day,
they contradicted themselves and each other, gave pledges, and forgot or
dropped them, strove in the first place always to evade difficulties which they
had not faculty or influence to overcome, had long lost their popularity, and
stood a spectacle of weakness to the weak sovereign himself. Thus, Lord
Althorp's position on the evening of the 2nd of June was truly a pitiable
one.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 121
By prodigious exertion, a plan for a Commission of Inquiry respecting the 1834.
Irish Church had been framed, and commissioners found, by the Monday v— -^ '
morning. In the afternoon, a Council of the supporters of the Cabinet was IN<JUIRSV!°N
held in Downing-street, at which the procedure of the evening was determined
on. Mr. Ward was to be out-voted at any risk, as his success would bring on
a decision of the perilous question about Church property, cause the dissolution
of the Ministry, and, no doubt, a general election, in which the Church and
State question would be the watch -word. The supporters of the Ministry
knew that their constituents were in a mood which it would not be pleasant to
encounter ; and they were thankful to learn that government had provided a
means of escape from either affirming or denying Mr. Ward's principle.
When they went to the House, they found it surrounded by a crowd, and
so filled that it was difficult for them to make their way to their seats. Mr.
Ward's speech was brief, courteous, but firm. Lord Althorp then announced iiansnrd, *xiv. 13.
the intention of the government to issue a Special Commission of Inquiry,
composed of laymen, which should visit every parish in Ireland, and report
its population, under the heads of the three religions, its spiritual provisions,
and its ecclesiastical revenues. The Church party regarded the measure as
merely a preparation for f ' confiscation ; " and the Liberals saw no occasion
for further evidence on a point of fact which was undisputed, while the prin-
ciple which was the point of dispute was passed over in silence, and nothing
gained by this device but more time for the government to shuffle on. Lord
Althorp declared that the Commission was in fact already issued ; that he saw
no necessity for parliament to pronounce on the principle of Mr. Ward's
motion, and that he should move the previous question. This he did, and
obtained an overwhelming majority; — of 276 in a house of 516. Hansard, xxir. so.
In the other House, the Premier had to run the gauntlet between the lines
of objectors to the new Commission : and there really was no good answer to
give to the complaint that the Ecclesiastical Commission of the preceding year
had been agreed to on the supposition of its being a final measure ; and that
no one had dreamed of its being overridden by another Commission, before it
had had time to show how it would do its work. The true answer to this
would have been that the Ministers were as far from dreaming of such a thing
as any body else, till recent perplexities had put it into their heads. From
this moment, the Ministers were incessantly called on for explanations of their
views on this great subject of the appropriation of Church revenues by the
State ; and on different occasions they expressed themselves with varying
degrees of explicitness. On the 23rd of June, Mr. O'Connell moved an in-
struction to the Committee on the Tithe bill, that whatever surplus remained,
after the wants of the Protestant Church were duly provided for, should be
applied to purposes of general utility — which he explained to mean, not the
making of roads and bridges, but purposes of charity and of education, in
whose benefits the needy of all faiths should share alike. On this occasion,
Lord John llussell and Lord Althorp declared their agreement with Mr. Hansard, xxiv.
_ /* i • • 753, 801 ,
O'Connell, if the ground were taken that these purposes were of a religious
character, leaving open the question whether such funds could be applied — by
not only legal right, for that was clear, but by moral and equitable right — to
secular purposes. The question was thus transferred to a new ground — the
VOL. II- R
122 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic IV
1834 shaking bog of metaphysics, on which it would be for ever impossible for any
^^—-^-^^' legislature to decide and act. It is no subject for legislation whether charity
and education are religious or secular works ; nor can it be settled whether
parliament, having a clear legal right to dispose of any funds, must have a
proved moral and equitable right also ; nor how a moral and equitable right
is provable, or even assignable, otherwise than by affirming or repealing the
legal right. The only thing clear was that nothing could be actually done in
the matter, for the relief of the Irish Catholics, and the satisfaction of the dis-
contented throughout the kingdom,, while the war was one of metaphysical
distinctions.
The whole bearing and importance of this question in 1834 can hardly be
understood without taking a view of the condition of religion and the Church
in England at that date. This will presently come before us, when we shall
have to show what were the views and aims of the Whig Administration in
this direction. The story of what they achieved during their present term of
office is nearly concluded : and we see them now in a position of perplexity
and weakness which it is clear they could not long maintain. They must
obtain more strength or sink.
COERCION Bat. In the preceding year, a Bill had been passed which conferred extraordinary
powers on the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, for putting down the fearful dis-
turbances of that country. Among the provisions of that Bill were two of
eminent importance : that of suspending the ordinary course of justice in favour
of martial law ; and of prohibiting political meetings and discussions. The
Bill was reported by the Irish authorities to have worked well ; and to the
Premier's mind it was clear that it ought to be renewed on its expiration in
August, 1834, with the omission only of the portion relating to martial law.
To others, however, the expediency was not so clear : and it appears that the
same want of confidence between the members of the government, or other
causes of disunion, existed in regard to this as to other measures ; for it is
scarcely possible to doubt, among much conflicting evidence, that up to a
certain day, it was not the intention of government to renew the Coercion
Bill entire, except as to martial law, but to leave out that portion relating to
public meetings which most exasperated the wrath of Mr. O'Connell. Mr.
Littleton, the Irish secretary, certainly relied upon this ; and he sent for Mr.
O'Connell to assure him of this agreeable prospect, hoping, as Mr. Littleton
wrT°H°MARTIoN'coN- himself avowed, to deter O'Connell from agitating on occasion of the pending
Ha'nsimi xxiv Wexford election. The communication was made under the seal of secrecy.
no'- It is hard to know whether to wonder most at the simplicity which supposed
that O'Connell was to be trusted with a political secret, or at the folly of
imagining that political secrets of such weight can be kept, except among con-
federates. Mr. O'Connell explained how he conceived himself relieved from
obligation to secrecy, and revealed the awkward fact that Mr. Littleton had
Hnnsard, xxiv. told him that the Irish government was opposed to the renewal of the Coercion
Bill. The Agitator had immediately caused the Repeal candidate for Wex-
ford to retire ; and, when it was too late, he received a message from Mr.
Littleton, that the government intended to enforce the whole Coercion Bill,
except the part relating to martial law. He was naturally indignant, declared
himself tricked out of the Wexford election, called upon the Irish Secretary
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 123
to retire, and told the whole story in the House — inciting his opponent to 1834.
deliver his version first. On inquiry in the other House, the Premier and the v— -
Lord Chancellor declared, the next evening, that they knew nothing of any
negotiations between the Irish Secretary and Mr. O'Connell, and that they
did not believe that any such had taken place. Great must have been their
astonishment when they read the Secretary's own statement of the transaction,
which was not so materially different from Mr. O'ConnelPs as to exempt him
from the charge of " gross indiscretion." His plea for the change of the MR. r,irn,i: ION'S
policy of the Cabinet was that new circumstances became known to government,
which justified a renewal of the provisions against political meetings : but, as
he did not explain what those circumstances were, the plea did not improve
his case. The general impression was that he had been sincere, but most
unwise : that he ought to have resigned office, on such a conviction of indis-
cretion ; and that the affairs of the nation could no longer be safely confided
to an administration so ill combined, and whose proceedings were so desultory
and immature.
To the Premier, the affair must have been deeply wounding : and it proved
to be fatal to his political life. He was aware, as we know by Lord Althorp's Hansard, xxiv.
explanations, that a valuable minority in his Cabinet were of the same opinion 1337'
with the Lord Lieutenant ; viz., that the clauses against public meetings in
Ireland need not be re-enacted ; and that this minority had yielded the point
only to avoid breaking up the Cabinet : and now that Mr. O'Connell had been
admitted by the Irish Secretary to a peep at this state of things — (he, of all
men !) — what remained of dignity or efficiency to his government ? When he
moved the second reading of the Coercion Bill on the 4th of July, he spoke
low and hurriedly. His son-in-law, Lord Durham, opposed the re-enactment
of the clauses against political meetings, in words as few and moderate as his
honest convictions permitted ; and his opposition was received with a good
grace by the Minister ; but it was one of the incidents which wrought against
the tottering government.
This was on Friday night. On Saturday, Mr. Littleton tendered his
resignation. It was not accepted — indignant as Lord Grey had declared
himself about the transaction with Mr. O'Connell. It was supposed that
there was little hope of filling up the vacancy, in a perilous crisis, with an
able man who was sure of a seat in the House — so deep was now the unpopu-
larity of the Whig ministry. But on Monday Lord Althorp resigned, and RESIGNATION <,r
•T, , ', .. J . LORD ALTHOUP.
would not be persuaded to remain in office. High as his character stood for
honesty and courage, he was aware that it would not sustain him under the
odium of carrying through the Commons such a Coercion Bill as he was now
universally known to have condemned in Council. He persisted in retiring ;
and then Lord Grey saw no other course than resigning too. By Lord Al- °F LoilD «««•
thorp's retirement, he lost his best colleague : the Coercion Bill would have no
authority now, if even he could pass it ; and if he relinquished it, his belief
was well known to be that Ireland could not be governed without it. On
Tuesday he presented his resignation to the King.
On Wednesday evening, the last act was to be done. The old statesman,
now in his 71st year, had to take leave of power. He was worn and weakened
by the toils and responsibilities of office, and he was conscious of having
124 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox IV.
1834. fallen somewhat behind the time — earnest as he was in saying that the times
^—~^~~-^ went too fast, and not he too slow. The close of his term of power was morti-
fying, if not ignoble, in its character — affording but too much incitement to
the taunts and vindictiveness of adversaries — taunts and triumphs which were
FARKU^LLY>S no^ sPare(i even on this occasion. Twice he rose and murmured a few words,
Hansard, MIT. stopped, and sank down upon his seat. The House cheered him, but he
seemed unable to rise. The Duke of Wellington occupied a few minutes in
presenting petitions, in order to give Lord Grey time to recover himself. When
the old man rose a third time, he spoke feebly and tremulously ; but he
gathered strength as he proceeded, and so spoke as to interest all feelings, of
friend or foe, except where, as in the cases of the Duke of Wellington and
the Lord Chancellor, an overpowering fear for the Church and other institu-
tions, and personal regards, hardened the heart and closed the mind against
reverent emotions and clear convictions, which were shared by all others who
had the privilege to hear. The Duke naturally fired up at the implied charge
of vacillation against his brother, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in regard
to the Coercion Bill ; and it was natural that, with a brotherly feeling for Lord
Wellesley's responsibilities, he should vehemently assert that Lord Grey's
resignation, being unnecessary, was a desertion of his sovereign : but the rest
of the speech, in which he reviewed the measures of Lord Grey's government,
was nothing short of malignant. One circumstance which could not be over-
looked at the time, and cannot pass unnoticed by the reader of our day, is its
perfect likeness, in conception and spirit, to Lord Grey's speech against Can-
ning, which fixed the deepest arrow of the flight under which he sank. Lord
Grey was less unhappy than Canning in being present to hear what was said
of him, instead of learning it from others and being unable to reply : and
again, the Duke had not power so to express himself as to wound so deeply
as Lord Grey ; and thus the retribution was not severe : but it must have
sorely embittered the parting moment. It is bitter even to the impartial
reader to witness these displays of infirmity — of that deep-seated infirmity
which weakens the moral force of three such men as these — rendering them
unable, not only to appreciate each other's course, but to wait with patience
to see the results — asking Time to be the arbiter, who will be the arbiter in
spite of them. The Lord Chancellor's speech drew off the hearers from the
painful feelings excited by the Duke, or gave others in their place. There
was abundant laudation of Lord Grey — such as it required courage to offer,
face to face, to such a man : but with it a clear rebuke to him for resigning :
and upon this followed a sentence or two which, grave as was the occasion,
caused shouts of laughter — there being few present who did not know some-
thing of the state of the King's mind towards the Ministers, who were so
formidably reforming the Church against his will. The Lord Chancellor
Hansard, xxiv. " fe]t that he should not discharge his duty if, at all sacrifice of his comfort —
at all abandonment of his own ease — at the destruction, if so it might be, of
his own peace of mind, he did not stand by that gracious Monarch and that
country whose support — whose cordial and hearty support — he had received
during the three years and a -half of which he had been a member of the
government. After having said this, he need not add that he had not tendered
his resignation." When the laughter permitted him to be again heard, he
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 125
asked, " Did their Lordships think that there was any thing very peculiarly 1834
merry or amusing in being Minister at the present time ?" No ; — in the con. ^— —~*^— ~*
tempt into which this administration had long been falling, there was nothing
that was not painful to all sound-hearted men, of every party.
Lord Grey, in his speech, requested a fair judgment from those who thought LORD GR..Y'*
he had committed errors, and did not anticipate any charge of indifference to CHARACTER.
principle or deviation from honour. He might well feel this security.
Brighter honour never shone through any statesman's life : a nobler con-
sistency never crowned a statesman's career. On this not a syllable need be
said ; for with him, throughout his life, the word answered to the thought ;
and he possessed the deep secret of high honour, in other people's feelings
being to him as his own. His honour was not of the nice and sensitive cha-
racter which springs from egotism, and has therefore a dash of cowardice in
it: it was of the brave and healthy sort which needs no special care, but
flourishes best by thinking seldom of itself. The only approach to a doubt
on this part of Lord Grey's character was caused by his profuse distribution
of office among his relations ; and he thought, with great simplicity, that he
had disposed of this complaint in his speech of this night, by asking whether
these many relations did not do their work well, and declaring that the family
connexion generally had grown, not richer but poorer since they came into
office. Could such a man overlook the truth that it is unfair to exclude others
from office by rilling departments with members of one family, and detrimental
to the interests of the State to have in its departments an overruling cast
of ideas and feelings ? Did he not know how strong was the national response
to Canning when he complained of the monopoly of government by " a few
great families ?" And could such a man suppose that the complainants were
thinking only of the salaries that his relations engrossed, and not of the
honours, powers, occupations, and dignities, of office ? This was one of the
" errors" with which he anticipated that he might be charged. And it
is difficult to charge him with any other: for the rest was not error but
incapacity ; — an induced incapacity, with which he was afflicted (and the
nation through him) through the evil operation of aristocratic station, un-
corrected by timely political labour, and the extensive intercourses which
are a privilege attendant upon it. He knew no more of the British
people than he did of the Spaniards or the Germans. He did not see
the scope of his own Reform Bill, and could not bear the consequences
of his own greatest act — the fruition of the aim of his whole life. When
he had himself taken up the House of Lords in his hand, broken its
fastenings, and set it down in a lower place, he insisted that it was still
where it was before ; and he " would stand by his order" against any who
declared to the contrary. He governed with a feeble and uncertain hand,
because he could not freely throw his mind into the common stock with his
colleagues, or induce them to do the same. He respected them — valued them
— graced them — but could not make common cause with them. And he fell
by insisting on coercing speech in Ireland when the ruler of Ireland offered
to govern that country without a power so stringent, and his own " best arm"
in the Cabinet, and some other valuable members, were opposed to the act of
despotism. It was needless to protest that he acted from his conscience. No-
126 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. body doubted his doing so, in all his political acts. The question was whether
^ — ~ ^-~~^ h^ conscience was illumined by the best lights of intelligence. When the
Grand Inquisitor declared that he acted from conscientious love of his victims;
when Francis of Austria and Mettemich declared that the Spielburg prisoners
were tortured, body and mind, fdr the sake of the nation ; — when the Duke
of York pleaded conscience for his intended rigour towards the Catholics — no-
body doubted the sincerity of the men. The question was, whether their con-
sciences could be permitted to overrule those of a multitude of other men.
And so, in a much milder way, was it now in the case of Lord Grey. The
question was, whether speech was to be coerced in Ireland because Lord Grey
conscientiously believed it ought. Mr. Littleton expressed in the Commons,
Hansard, xxiv. on this same night, a remorse which it was painful to witness for the act by
which he had compelled the decision. It was natural that he should do so,
but there were few or none who thought, in a little while, that the event was
to be lamented. It was not only that the Cabinet could not have stood for
any length of time : it was that the manner of Lord Grey's fall, however
mortifying to his friends and his party, and pathetic in all eyes, was instruc-
tive, alike as a comment on the past and a warning for the future. And for
himself — his lot was not hard, though less brilliant than it had been. He was
nowhere blamed for any fault but that which perhaps he had no great objec-
tion to be charged with — an excess of the aristocratic spirit. He retired,
amidst universal, if not unmingled sympathy and respect, to enjoy the repose
which his years required, in the bosom of a family by whom he was adored.
He had had the last experience of civic glory : and he was now to find how
much more he enjoyed the serene household glories of a home like his.
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 127
CHAPTER X.
period under review, memorable on many accounts, is for nothing 1834.
more so than for the perturbations of its religious life. How long the *-— — v— — ^
crisis might have been deferred, and what would have been its issue, if the RELIGIOUS CRISIS.
war had been protracted, it is impossible to divine. It was after seventeen
years of Peace, and with the reforms of a Peace-period for its proximate
cause, that it actually occurred ; and sooner or later it must have occurred,
under any conditions of the secular life of the nation. As it was, the pertur-
bation was so extraordinary, and to those who were timid by constitution or
by creed so fearful, that it seemed as if the fountains of the deeps of men's
minds were broken up. Amidst the deluge of conflicting theologies and wills,
the administration and parliament drifted helplessly and blindly ; and it was
clear that no good steering was to be expected from them, nor any discovery
of dry land where the struggling minds of men might find a footing and rest.
Such crises are, as the clear-sighted of all parties admit, an inevitable conse-
quence of an union of Church and State. The firmest friends of that union
admit this without hesitation, while declaring the advantages of such an
arrangement to preponderate over the occasional inconvenience and risk. As
time passes on, and those changes are wrought which never cease, the terms
of the union must be remodelled, and newly-risen questions must be settled,
while it is quite certain that the Ministers of the State will not be able fully
to enter into the views of those of the Church ; and the Ministers of the
Church must inevitably despise and be shocked at the statesman's views of
religious claims and affairs.
When the critical period of indispensable change arrives, all difficulties are
aggravated — in the instance of England and her Establishment — by the per-
petual existence of three parties within that church, whose views and habit
of mind differ too widely to admit of a peaceable coexistence for any length
of time in a Protestant Establishment — though the Romish Church is able,
in such a case, to include and occupy them all, without controversy and con-
fusion. This weighty fact has been adverted to before, in connexion with the vol. i. P. 233.
first manifestation of the great disturbance which was now to reach its height
for the time — that is, when the controversy on the Peterborough Questions
took place in 1821. That first instance of revived High Church domination
over faith took the nation by surprise — the oppressed clergy petitioned parlia-
ment for relief and justice ; almost every voice that was raised at all was raised
against the claim of the Bishop ; and there was one circumstance in the case
that was never forgotten, and will never be forgotten— that no Bishop but the
one appealed against opened his lips upon the subject, though every endeavour
was used in the House of Lords to make the Prelates speak. Clear as it was
to all that they were in parliament for the very purpose of guiding the State
128 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. in such affairs as this, their constrained and ignoble silence showed that they
* — —»——-' were unprepared for the great controversy, just then opening, between the
claims of the Church and the Protestant doctrine of liberty of opinion.
I"sE TRACTARI" Twelve years elapsed between that discussion in parliament and the reduc-
tion of the Irish Church by the Administration of Lord Grey. In the inter-
val, rumours had spread of the rise of a sect within the Church, whose head-
quarters were at Oxford : as there had been rumours before of the rise of a
Church sect at Cambridge. That at Cambridge had originated the movement
called Evangelical, intended to revive the life of religion in the Church, and
promoted by the earnest zeal and munificence of its members in filling the
pulpits of the Establishment with devout Calvinistic Ministers, who caused
a powerful religious revival among the aristocratic and wealthy classes of
society. The Oxford movement was of a widely different character — repre-
senting as it did the opposite party in the Church from that of the Simeons,
Wilberforces, and Thorntons. The rumours which stole abroad told of obser-
vances which excited no little surprise, while some who heard were amused,
and others seriously grieved and alarmed. It was scarcely conceivable that
Laud and his ways should have risen up again among us in the nineteenth
century ; yet those who had seen and heard what went on within the Univer-
sity of Oxford told of priestly claims, and obedience of novices, of homage to
the memory of Charles the Martyr, of devout reception and study of ancient
Tradition and the Christian Fathers, and a passionate disparagement of the
Reformation and Protestantism ; of exclusive reliance on the sacraments of
the Church ; of the most frequent possible celebration of its services ; of the
setting-up of oratories and of crosses; of scrupulosity about garments and
postures and fasts ; and even of auricular confession. Where so much was
said, something must be true ; and it was not long before the Oxford men
published to the world ample evidence that some strange things indeed were
true.
On occasion of the reduction of the Irish Church, the Oxford party believed
the time to be come for them to preach their principles, and save, if it yet
might be, the Church and the nation. They denied the rightful power of the
government to touch the constitution and revenues of the Church ; and they
apprehended that parliament would gratify the earnest desire of a large body
of churchmen, in reforming the Book of Common Prayer, through a commis-
sion of State appointment. To avert such a desecration, and all further
spoliation of the Church, and to obtain perhaps a restitution of what had been
taken from her, the Oxford sect resolved to work upon the public mind in all
directions : through the press, as well as by means of the pulpit and private
exhortation, and vigorous proselyting among the young. According to their
own authorized statement, delivered by Mr. Perceval in a letter to the Editor
of the Irish Ecclesiastical Journal, their first business was to enforce their
tenets through a set of Tracts, which gave to the sect, for some years, the
name of Tractarians. The leading doctrine of these Tracts is that of Apostoli-
cal Succession. The only way of salvation is declared to be through the
sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and the only way in which that sacrament
can be administered is by the hands of the successors of the apostles, with
whom is deposited this sole power of communicating the means of salvation.
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 129
The necessity of Episcopacy is thus declared, and not merely its expediency: 1834.
and from this follows a train of doctrines which do not need more than a slight v— • •~v~- — '
indication. As the Scriptures do not contain any account of the institution of
episcopacy by Christ, some other and co-equal authority must be adduced : and
Tradition is that co-ordinate authority. Hence follows the exclusive reverence
for the Christian Fathers, as the historians and registrars of tradition. Hence,
too, the reverence for many of the forms and observances of Romanism which,
being traced to an episcopal foundation, cannot be refused. Hence, too, the
indignation and horror at the interference of government with Church funds
and offices ; and an expressed willingness that the Church should, as soon as
possible, be separated from the State. Of these Tracts, Dr. Arnold wrote in
April, 1834, "they are strenuously puffed by the British Magazine, and ^f Arnold>
strenuously circulated among the clergy; of course, I do not suppose that
any living man out of the clergy is in the slightest danger of being influenced
by them, except so far as they may lead him to despise the clergy for counte-
nancing them." The fact did not answer to this anticipation. If the Trac-
tarian clergy might soon be counted by hundreds, their followers, and the
diligent readers of the ' Tracts for the Times,' presently amounted to tens of
thousands : and there is nothing to wonder at in this, if we remember the
proneness of the human mind to rely upon authority, and to seek safety in
definite observances. Far on in the nineteenth century, therefore, the zealous
Protestants of the empire saw spectacles which filled them with anger and
dismay : — on the one hand, a striking increase of the Catholic body, from
the earnestness with which noble and wealthy Catholics applied them-
selves to use the present crisis for the good of their Church : and on the
other hand, the rise and spread of a body, within and from our own
university of Oxford, who were always disparaging Protestantism, and them-
selves growing so like Catholics, that it was hard for the common run of
men, who used Protestantism for a political cry, to make out the difference.
From month to month, there were rumours of one or another Tractarian
having gone over to Romanism — rumours which were highly resented, and
proved in the ' Tracts ' to be necessarily false : and for a while, they were not
true : but, in no long time, a conversion to Romanism began within the
University, and spread so undeniably, that the kindred character of the prin-
ciples of Romanism and Tractarianism has for some time ceased to be disputed.
During this period, then, one of the three parties in the Church was succeed-
ing in substituting for the previous idea of religion another whose popular
spread made some good men's hearts fail them for fear. Theology in the
priesthood and unlimited obedience in the flock were now to be the idea of a
Christian Church. In many a church there was contention about wearing
the surplice ; about old and new or revived methods of celebrating the service ;
about the frequency of the administration of the Communion ; and other
points which the bishops were as sorely perplexed as pressed to solve. As a
body, the bishops showed themselves weak and still unprepared. There was
no unity of view or action among them on the occurrence of this great schism
in the Church; and the multitude added contempt of this weakness to their
indignation at the conduct of the spiritual peers about the Reform Bill, and
were at no pains to conceal their feelings. The Archbishop of Canterbury
VOL. II. S
130 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. was mobbed at the doors of his own cathedral — pelted with brickbats, cabbage
• — — ^-^-' stalks, and opprobrious Avords, to his extreme consternation. The Bishop of
ISM, chron. ice.' London had a year before been prevented from preaching at St. Ann's, Soho,
isai^chroTu;?.' by an intimation that when he rose in the pulpit, the larger part of the con-
gregation would leave their seats. Much of this was political feeling : but it
was aggravated, and not dispersed, by the irresolute and uncombined conduct
of the prelates under the appeal of the Tractarians. The heads of the church
were evidently not ready for the crisis of the church.
The strongest popular sympathy, in connexion with this party, was with a
clergyman here and there who fell a victim to his sense of duty in enforcing
his rights — not from the love of lucre, but the fear of surrendering any of the
prerogatives of his function. One of these, the Rev. Irvine Whitty, rector of
a parish in Ireland, was shot, after having brought forty-five suits for the
Annual Register. /• • i • , •
1832, thron. isa. recovery of tithes at one sessions. Another was a clergyman in the south or
England, who enforced his tithes, under a sense of duty to his Church, to a
point which maddened his poor neighbours ; and the general feeling was fear-
fully expressed by a man who shot him dead from behind a haycock in his own
field. The popular resentment in these cases followed those who had instituted
a false ideal of a Christian Church, rather than the weak men who had been
mastered by that idea. While the pity for these victims was yet fresh, every
one looked to see what would happen at the installation of the Duke of Wel-
lington as Chancellor of Oxford, at a time so critical. The proceedings there,
while very amusing, were significant enough. The young men in the theatre
are wont to express their partialities and dislikes, political and religious, on
these occasions — thus giving notice to the world what it has to expect from the
rising generation of professional men and legislators : and the watch-words
and cries were never more significant than on the present occasion. There
were thunders of applause when cheers were asked for the Bishops, Mr. Stan-
ley, and the Duke of Cumberland : and never-ending groans at the Irish
Church Commission, the Administration, and the Gower Street Company —
Annual Register, meaning the London University. The word " the Dissenters" was received
" with a long-protracted snuffle, and an ejaculation of ' Amen', from several
voices, in imitation of the nasal twang of the conventicle." This, again, was
like a restoration of the seventeenth century. The peculiar enmity against
the Dissenters on this occasion was a piece of retribution on a movement of
the moderate Church party to obtain admission for them to the Universities :
and nothing could be more offensive than two cries and their reception —
" the University and her privileges," and tf London University and her want
of privileges." The cheers for Oxford and her exclusiveness were natural
and fair enough : but the virulent desire to exclude the Dissenters from privi-
lege every where was well understood to be expressed by these lads on behalf
of their class and order. Such were the doings — serious and playful — of the
High Church party during this period.
pAKi^VANaFLICAL As f°r tne immediately opposing party — the Low Church or Evangelical
section — they were active, but less prosperous than they had been. It appeared
that the Tractarian multitude was largely increased from the ranks of the
Evangelical party. There were many lowly and tender spirits, worn
and anxious with the care of working out their salvation by the constant
upholding of their faith at a certain pitch, and afflicted with misgivings
C:IA.P.X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 1
about the sufficiency of their personal interest in Christ, and of their assur- 1834.
ance of safety, who were glad to turn at once into the shelter of a system
where they had the protection of a priesthood, which permitted them to
repose their cares upon others, on the simple condition of ohedience to definite
commands, and which prescribed a clear ritual duty in discharge of obligations
which had hitherto weighed heavily upon their consciences. It was natural
that the mimbers that went over from the Low to the High Church should
be considerable. — Some of the brightest lights of the sect, too, were extin-
guished within this period. Its honoured and beloved Wilberforce was laid
in his grave during this time : and to no man did the sect owe so much. His
Mayday nature was too genial to be clouded by the gloomiest Calvinism.
While striving through life to afflict himself with self-reproach and doubts of
his safety, as well as to take upon himself (which he did in the noblest sincerity
of heart) the woes of all who sinned and suffered, his glorious and exquisite
nature broke through all factitious restraints, and made him free, joyous, and
benign, as if he had never taken upon his lips that language of his sect which
abounds at once in denunciation and terror, in slavishness and pride. He
was far above fear and haughtiness alike, though he might strive to feel both :
and, while exhorting to the attainment of a specific faith, as the only security
for salvation, he so abounded in good works as to earn the wondering venera-
tion of all living men, and the gratitude of unborn generations. The affec-
tionate, confiding, cheerful old man — wise as a sage and fresh as an infant —
sank into death just after learning that the Negro Emancipation Act might
be considered safe : and when he closed his eyes, the brightest light of his
sect went out. — The influence of the body had been materially confirmed by
the writings of Hannah More, whose books are a curious reflection of a part
of the spirit of her time. The reflection may be regarded as 'exaggerated
however ; for it would be hard to impute to the sect all the spiritual pride and
censoriousness, the narrowness of view, and factitious interpretation of nature,
life, and scripture, which pervade her writings. But the solemnity, the self-
analysis, vigilance, asceticism, and intemperance of both fear and hope, are
thoroughly characteristic of the sect, and merely aggravated in Hannah More,
as they were neutralized in Wilberforce, by the constitution of the individual.
Her writings had a vast circulation in their day; and, as they sprang from the
spirit which originated the present Evangelical movement, so they largely
assisted in kindling and spreading it.
The activity of the sect was shown during this period chiefly in its own
walk — of denunciation, and obstructive asceticism. It does not appear to have
taken any conspicuous part either with or against the government on the
questions of the time regarding the rights, liabilities, and duties of the
Church. But it begged for ordinances of religious humiliation under the
infliction of the Cholera — in some places held up the Cholera as a judgment
011 the nation for its spiritual levity; — instituted the Sabbatarian movement
which has been revived, from time to time, to this day ; — obstructed the pub-
lication of geological knowledge, lest Scripture should be discredited by the
disagreement of the beginning of Genesis with the discoveries of modern
science ; and discountenanced the Musical Festivals which were a feature of
the time, including, as they did, sacred music, and being frequently held in
132 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Bo OK IV.
1834. churches. While the Oxford sect were encouraging Art, promoting freedom
and gaiety of spirits in the intervals of religious observance — as on Sunday
evenings — and holding that none but the priesthood have any concern with
consequences while they scrupulously fulfil conditions, the sons of the Cam-
bridge movement were acting in a curiously opposite manner. A Sabbatarian
Bill, full of insufferable and impracticable provisions, was called for once a
year, by aristocratic gentlemen who could not suffer under it while bringing
it to bear upon the poor in their comfortless homes, or to prevent their going
abroad : — a Bishop employed himself in invidiously counting the boats which
passed under Putney Bridge on the Sunday : — dissension was risked at the
early meetings of the British Association for the advancement of Science by
clergymen who declared themselves resolved to defend the Mosaic scriptures
from the inroads of scientific innovation : and certain newspapers praised the
conduct of divines — and among others, the Bishop of London — for withdrawing
from all appearance of countenancing the Musical Festival, held in West-
d, July, minster Abbey in 1834. The scruple was about "employing a church as a
place of sensual recreation :" and the doubt was presently extended to the
use of music at all in religious worship. These differences between the two
sects were practical assertions of their respective doctrines of priesthood and
no priesthood ; — the insufficiency and the sufficiency of Scripture ; — and the
ritual and ascetic modes of life and worship.
CHOBCHTpAKrr. The action of the Third party in the Church during this period is no less
conspicuous than that of the first, and far more so than that of the second.
This, the Moderate party, was that to which the Ministry and, on the whole,
parliament may be said to belong, if they could, with their diversity of view
and unfixedness of theory, be said to belong to any one division. Ministers
of state, and members of parliament, generally speaking, have not the
training — that of the clergy on the one hand, and of the nonconformists 011
the other — which furnishes men with fixed principles of judgment and action
on Church matters ; and there is "therefore no subject on which legislators
usually appear so weak. The surest indication of their views given by
Ministers was by their clerical appointments ; and the appointments under Lord
Grey's administration— especially that of Dr. Whateley to the Archbishopric
of Dublin — spoke plainly enough. Amidst their infirmity of action, and
backwardness of speech, they showed their conviction that the Establishment
needed reform : they made a large reduction of Irish bishoprics, consented to
a large reduction of Irish tithe (though the measure was not carried), and
proposed to commute Church rates in England, for the relief of the consciences
of Dissenters. The Dissenters refused to accept any thing short of a total
abolition of these rates, seeing no relief to conscience, and no recognition of
its rights, in a measure which would compel them to pay the same tax under
another name : but the proposition showed the tendencies of Ministers.
Another decisive act of the same character was their favouring the petitions
sent in, whether by Dissenters or Members of the University, for the admis-
OPEMNG OF UNI- sion of Dissenters to degrees in the University. The exclusion of Dissenters
VKRSITIES TO DlS- , , . , , . , _.., . . . •, . .
SENTERS. by their being required to sign the Thirty-nine Articles was an innovation —
declared to be so by the petitioners in the senate of the University of Cam-
bridge— and a very injurious one to the interests of all parties. The res trie-
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 133
tions were laid on in the reign of James I., in a manner informal and unpre- 1834.
cedented, against the wishes of a large number of the then existing members,
and in a time of extraordinary turbulence and spiritual oppression. The
academical petitioners prayed for a restitution of their ancient laws and liberal
usages, whereby many excellent citizens, now excluded by conscience from
entering the Universities, might be admitted to degrees, and thus made more
available to the good of their country. When Lord Grey presented this
petition in the Upper House, and Mr. Spring Rice in the Lower, both these
Ministers pledged themselves to use every effort in their individual capacities
to carry the measure of relief proposed. Counter petitions were sent in
from both Universities, much more numerously signed ; and their advocates
in the House and elsewhere appeared to think the question decided in equity
by the preponderance of opinion within the Universities : but the government
and the Houses generally thought that the opinions of parliament, the Dis-
senters themselves, and the public at large, were no less pertinent than those
of the privileged University men ; and the debate was long and ardent. The
case of the exclusionists was destroyed by the existing Cambridge practice of
admitting Dissenters to every thing but the honours. They might enter and
study, and be on an equal footing with churchmen till their twelfth term,
when the demand upon them to sign the articles barred them from degrees.
This was strongly presented by Mr. Spring Rice, in the debate on the Dis-
senters' Bill ; while others showed how fearful was the snare to consciences
in such a case — how powerful a temptation was presented to a young man to
sign what he did not believe ; and how injurious it was to the Universities
themselves, and to public rectitude, to enforce regulations which, in common
with all religious tests, keep out the most valuable men — the conscientious—
and let in the unscrupulous. On the other side, there was some ridicule
of Dissenters for " feeling so deeply exclusion from the empty honour of a
degree," and apprehension that, if admitted to that, they would next crave
possession of office and emolument in the universities : they were too small a
minority to be worth altering the plans of the institutions for ; yet they were
so numerous, and increasing so fast, that they would soon overthrow the
Church : — the subscription to articles was a mere form which no reasonable
man need scruple to go through ; yet it was the bulwark of the Church which
must not be touched : — the Dissenters would carry off so few prizes in life
compared with Churchmen that it was folly to suppose they lost any thing
worth debating about by the present arrangement ; yet, there was no saying
what would become of the connexion between Church and State if the liberal
professions were thrown open as freely to nonconformists as to members of the
Church. Amidst these mutually destructive pleas, the Ministers declared
their judgment to be in favour of recurrence to the ancient liberties of the
Universities, and deprecated all argument from possible future consequences,
not contemplated in the present measures, and which might very well be met
in their own time, if they should ever arise. The scene at the third reading
of the Bill was disgracefully clamorous, so that the Speaker himself was
scarcely able to preserve his equanimity. The mover of the measure, Mr.
Wood, could not be heard in his concluding explanations for the " jeering,
shouting, coughing, and crowing;" yet he obtained a majority of 164 against
134 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. 75 : a proof that Ministers had on this occasion, and in that House, asserted
v— — — — ^ liberal principles with sufficient plainness. Nor did they fail in the other
House; though there the Bill was thrown out by a majority of 187 to 85.
The apprehension in this case was that the Dissenters would endeavour to
obtain a separation of the Church from the State. The promoters of Mr.
Wood's bill saw that to refuse what appeared to them justice to the Dissenters
was more dangerous to the Church than any recognition of liberty of con-
iuNEcKnUIUH '" science- The Church really was at that time in great danger. The High
Churchmen and Dissenters were almost equally discontented at its connexion
with the State ; and the intermediate parties were dissatisfied with its condi-
tion, and alarmed at its prospects. " The Church as it now stands," wrote
Dr. Arnold in 1832, "no human power can save." He and other moderate
Churchmen, therefore, set to work to reform it, while the High Churchmen
were proposing its being put under the care of its hierarchy, and the govern-
ment were striving to disarm the enmity of the Dissenters (as far as they con-
sidered that enmity reasonable) ; and the Dissenters were striving for relief from
the liability to support a church of which they conscientiously disapproved.
cnuncii REFORM. Among the proposals offered by Churchmen for a reform of the Establish-
ment at that time, the two most conspicuous publications were put forth by
LOUD HENLEY. LcH^ Henley and Dr. Arnold. Lord Henley's plan was, that ecclesiastical
affairs should be managed by a Convocation ; that the bishops should cease to
sit in parliament, and that laymen should be wholly silent about matters of
DR. ARNOLD. Church doctrine. This was so contrary to all Dr. Arnold's views of right,
that it called forth his protest in the shape of a pamphlet on Church reform
which, in that season of excitement, caused much and angry controversy. " I
have one great principle which I never lose sight of," wrote Dr. Arnold : " to
Life of Amoid, i. insist strongly on the difference between Christian and non-Christian, and to
sink into nothing the differences between Christian and Christian." As he
proceeds to say, all the world quarrelled with the one half of his principle or
the other : but he succeeded in impressing his view at least upon the notice
of society, if not upon its convictions. And so he did with regard to a truth,
so obvious that it is difficult now to believe how lately society in general was
blind to it: — that the Church means not the priesthood, but the body of
believers. In every possible way he reiterated this — insisting that Christianity
recognised no priesthood — that the whole body of believers were equally
brethren and the clergy no more than brethren — till the truth took firm hold
of the public mind, and the Tractarian party regarded Dr. Arnold as an
impiou_s leveller, and persecuted him for years with the moral weapons which
alone the advancement of intelligence has left in the power of the bigot.
339° °f Arnold> '' " Nothing, as it seems to me," wrote Dr. Arnold, after issuing his plan, " can
save the Church but an union with the Dissenters." Under the conviction of
extreme danger to the Establishment, and of the calamity which its overthroAv
would be to the whole of society, he proposed changes which, as he afterwards
said, ought to be considered in connexion with the alarms of the time, as well
as on their own merits — by which, however, he was prepared to abide. After
offering an earnest defence of the Establishment, and a statement of its
dangers, he proposed, as the only safeguard, the admission of Dissenters
within its pale, an accommodation of hours and throwing open of churches
CHAP. X.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 135
which would enable all to worship conscientiously under the shelter of the 1834.
general Church ; and such an alteration of the ordinary services as should
admit of their being joined in by a large number of Dissenters whose differ-
ences with the Church were not radical. He not only defended the presence
of the bishops in parliament, but desired in every practicable way to amalga-
mate religious and secular interests. While doing his utmost for the Church chureh'ueform.
and people whom he loved, he had, however, little hope, from the injustice
and insolence with which he saw the Dissenters treated by so-called advocates
of the Church; and from the keenness with which, as he observed, the
Dissenters understood and felt their principles and their position. " If you
see my Pamphlet and Postscript," he wrote, " you will see that I have kept Life of Arnold, i.
clear of the mere secular questions of tithes and pluralities, and have argued
for a comprehension on higher grounds But I fear that our reforms,
instead of labouring to unite the Dissenters with the Church, will confirm
their separate existence by relieving them from all which they now complain
of as a burden. And continuing distinct from the Church, will they not
labour to effect its overthrow, till they bring us quite to the American
platform ?"
What answer were the Dissenters giving to this question ? The plain THE Dis*ENTEHS-
answer was, that every thing depended on what was meant in this case by
overthrowing the Church. If the Church was taken in Dr. Arnold's own
comprehensive sense of the great body of believers, or in the more limited
sense of a body of believers in any particular form of doctrine, neither the
Dissenters nor any one else wished to overthrow, or in any way to interfere
with, such a church. But if the meaning was an establishment which com-
pelled its own support from those who disapproved of its doctrine and structure,
it was certainly true, throughout that period, that a multitude of the Dissenters
did desire the overthrow of the taxing and excluding power. Without con-
cerning themselves about other people's belief and management of their own
concerns, many of the Dissenters did exert themselves vigorously to obtain
relief of conscience for themselves. Some helped to throw out Lord Althorp's
measure for the commutation of church-rates, on the ground that it was not
the amount of tax that they complained of, but the obligation to support a
religious institution of which they disapproved. Several went to prison,
during these and succeeding years, and lay there long, rather than pay a few
shillings of church-rate. Many petitioned parliament for the removal of the
bishops from the legislature. Many demanded admission to the Universities.
Many agitated for a dissolution of the union between Church and State. And
the body generally gave their support to the propositions of the Ministers to
reduce the Irish Church, to review the resources of the Church in England,
to extinguish tithes, and to abolish pluralities.
Some curious incidents are found scattered through the registers of these
years which show the temper of the times, amidst the convulsion of religious
parties. The work called Froude's Remains opens to the reader an astonishing
picture of the state of mind and mode of life of the early Tractarians — with
their talk of the " detestable Reformation," " odious Protestantism," the insuf-
ficiency of Scripture, and its utter destitution of assertion and evidence of the
chief essential doctrines of the Christian faith : and their fastings, forms, and
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. strong tendency to monachism. An analysis and comparison of their principles
v^~v~x^ and modes of belief, their forms and organization, present so curious and
minute a resemblance to those of the Pharisees, as exhibited favourably by
Josephus the Pharisee, as to make it astonishing that the parallelism could
be overlooked by the members of the new sect themselves. From their great
doctrines of the insufficiency of Scripture, the need of Tradition, and priestly
succession, to their daily religious forms, the resemblance is astonishing.
GOVERNMENT Next we come to several occasions of great amazement to members of the
Administration. — Lord Althorp found himself worsted in an unexpected col-
lision with refractory churchwardens, when he issued a Circular to that body
in England and Wales, preparatory to the institution of the Ecclesiastical
Commission. The Circular requested information as to the amount, owner-
ship, and liabilities of Church property in their respective parishes. Some
took no notice ; some declined giving any information ; and some wrote in a
tone of which the following extract may serve as a specimen. It occurs in the
midst of a lecture to the Minister on the Coronation Oath, the sacredness of
spectator, i83i, Church property, and so forth : " It is the part of wise legislators to obtain the
most accurate and authentic information, before they attempt to make enact-
ments touching the property and vital interests of millions. Not so with the
Administration in which your Lordship holds a prominent office : — they pre-
judge a case — administer to the passions and vices of the mob, to obtain their
concurrence and support — act in ignorance — and mar every thing that they
pretend to mend. Nor are we satisfied that you and your colleagues have any
more right to meddle with, so as to deteriorate, the property belonging to any
clergyman, or any corporate body of the clergy, than the highwayman has to
take your purse." We are here furnished with proof that liberty of speech
was unrestricted in Great Britain in 1834.
PERPLEXITIES OF Next, we find Lord Grey, now old enough to be astonished at nothing,
MINISTERS. ' . .
wholly taken by surprise by popular rebukes of his countenance of pluralities.
He presented to the Deanery of Down a clergyman who already held a living
Hansard.xxii.599. o£ 1200/. a-year, and gave as his reason, by the mouth of the Irish Secretary,
that " it was not too much that such preferment should be bestowed on a son
of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland." So open an avowal of Church preferment
following on political connexion was caught up with the eagerness to be
expected at such a season of crisis : and so was the explanation which the
Premier found himself obliged to authorize, of the circumstances under which
Aa'min?stSrations, he had given a stall at Westminster to his relative the Bishop of Hereford.
Amazed as he was at the censure incurred by acts till now so little liable to
question, the fact was so ; and he had only to acquiesce in it : as had Lord
Althorp in the Dissenters being offended instead of gratified by his proposed
Church-rate measure. The most striking scene of this class, however, appears
to have been an interview between the Prime Minister and a deputation of
Annual Register, Nottingham Dissenters. When these delegates presented their memorial,
Lord Grey supposed that its contents were the same with those of other
memorials from Dissenters ; to which Mr. Howitt's reply was, that the paper
itself would explain that better than he could, as the memorial proceeded from
persons whose object was to express their own wishes, and not to look about
to see what others were doing. They had prayed for the separation of Church
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 137
and State. Lord Grey, who seems throughout this crisis to have been blind 1834.
to the safety of perfect openness, to have always supposed that people meant v^-vv^/
more than they said, and to have approved of that method of proceeding,
declared that he was sorry, that Ministers would be embarrassed, and parlia-
ment alarmed. He could not see what more Dissenters could wish than relief
from disabilities as to marriage, burial, registration, and such matters. The
deputation replied, that their brethren had thought it best not to stop short of
the broad ground of religious liberty. Still Lord Grey was perplexed, for he did
not understand the principles of religious liberty. He asked if they wanted to do
away with all state establishments of religion : to which Mr. Hewitt's reply was,
" Precisely : that was what they desired." He explained, that in the opinion
of the body he represented, a Christian government should protect Christi-
anity ; but that this could be done only by making all bodies of Christians
equal before the law. Lord Grey indicated unconsciously the spirit and the
fault of his government, by setting forth what he believed it would have been
politic for the petitioners to have asked ; and that the gaining of that step
might have led to something more. The views of the petitioners, however,
were not politic but moral ; and they were not a party whose obligations and
conscience the Prime Minister was likely to be able to expound. The simple
reply of the deputation conveyed a severe rebuke. They did not think it honest
to ask for less than they desired to have, with a concealed view of obtaining
more hereafter. Where a principle was concerned, they thought it right to
make a plain and full assertion of it. In this course there was nothing disin-
genuous ; and it left no ground for future discontent and misunderstanding.
> It might have been happy for the Whig Administration if it had been early
familiarized with the broad principle of religious liberty, and, yet more, with
the spectacle of a calm and intrepid assertion of any principle in its full scope.
It may be remembered that, at a former period, one objection to the admission
of Jews to parliament was that Quakers were excluded ; to which the advo-
cates of the Jews replied, that they were quite ready to admit the Quakers.
This was now done. Early in the session of 1833, Mr. Pease, member for ADMISSION OF
Darlington, presented himself at the table, and claimed to make affirmation, PARLIAMENT.
instead of taking the oaths. He was ordered to withdraw, on his refusal to «45. ar
take the oaths, and a committee was appointed to consider of his case. The
result was that the House, on the recommendation of Mr. Wynn, the chairman
of the committee, resolved to admit Mr. Pease, conceiving that if he became,
by his entrance, liable to penalties in any courts, the risk was his own, and
no concern of theirs. The Ayes were loud and multitudinous, and there were
no Nays ; and when the Quaker member appeared to make his affirmation,
clothed in a complete suit of brown, elegant from its extreme neatness, he was
received with a very cordial and general cheering. If one of the objections to
the admission of Jews was thus done away, they did not at present profit by it. CONTIW>RD r,x-
Their cause was annually pleaded by some Christians, as unquestionably and CI
earnestly religious as any in the House : but the same mutually contradictory
arguments for their exclusion were also repeated from year to year ; and the
religious conflicts of the time yielded no increase of civil rights to them.
And during these conflicts in the Church, and between its members and the
Dissenters, Death was putting in his cold hand, to draw away one and another
VOL. II. T
138 . HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. of the assertors of full religious liberty, to a region of utter stillness. Where
angry voices were now clamouring, their loved tones would never more charm
to silence the strife of tongues : where eyes were flashing in enthusiasm or
passion, or congregations were met calmly to assert their rights of conscience,
some grey-haired leaders were absent, and would never meet their brethren
DEATH OF RO- again. The Baptists had lost Robert Hall : or rather, the world had lost him.
BERT HAM.. ....
From him, Sir J. Mackintosh said that he had learned more of principles than
from all the books he had ever read: and while he could thus meet the
strongest men on their own ground, he could charm the most ignorant, and
rouse the most apathetic, by the light and glory which streamed from the
fountain of the heart in floods of eloquence which it required only an open
heart to receive. This great man's life was one of fearful suffering from dis-
ease— from anguish of body which, at one period, helped to overthrow his
mind, and which, ever after his recovery from that insanity, kept him appa-
rently too low and weak for duty. But duty was his strength ; and in him
was seen, from week to week, that marvel which has often attended a briefer
martyrdom — that of the extinction of the sense of pain under the strong
workings of the nobler powers. When he feebly entered the pulpit, and rose
feebly to speak, and spoke at first in a voice so low and husky as to make his
hearers wish him at home and at rest, it was scarcely possible to believe him
the Robert Hall whose vigorous championship of the rights of conscience,
and broad assertion of a liberal philosophy, were before the world : but from
moment to moment the fire was kindling and spreading within him : his
torment subsided — his eye brightened — his voice grew strong and sweet — he
was in heaven for the time, and carried his hearers a long way on towards it
too. Amidst the conflicts of Christian faiths at this time, he disappeared;
and the voice which, the more it roused souls, spread the more a deepening
calm, would never again rebuke the strife of sects, and recommend to them,
as he loved to do, " the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." — Another
was withdrawn, too, of whom no one knew whether he ought to be called
OF ROWLAND Churchman or Dissenter. Rowland Hill had received deacon's orders, and
always insisted that he was an episcopalian clergyman : but he preached any
and every where — in all sorts of chapels, in private rooms, under trees in
parks, and in the open fields. His mission was — or seemed to himself to be —
to find fault all round, except with persons too obscure to fix the eyes of men.
He was the foe of John Wesley in early life, and afterwards the censor of all
churches — having as vehement fin intolerance of sectarianism as sects in his
latter days had of each other. When the white hairs of fourscore years hung
beside his brows, his rebukes had another power added to that of his strong
and apt and piercing thought ; and, aged as he was, he was missed at a time
of conflict, when he would have proved himself almost as powerful in shaming
men out of their religious contentions as Robert Hall in elevating them above
OF CIURLES them. — His organist, Charles Wesley, whose devout soul found utterance in
music, was wont to soothe the troubled and abashed hearers of the eccentric
pastor by divine strains, which were only in true harmony, however, with the
prayers of the old divine : and now, the pastor being gone, the harmonist soon
followed — wafted away, it might almost be said, in music. During the wan-
derings of his last illness, he scarcely ceased his low singing of the airs of
HILL.
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
Handel. With him departed one more tranquillizing and sanctifying influence 1834.
from the religious world of the period. From four years old, when his music
drew tears down the cheeks of listeners, to the age of seventy-six, he was a
living harp, made resonant by every hreath of thought, incident, and feeling;
and a sad silence settled down upon his place when death had snapped the
chords at last. — The learned Adam Clarke died during the fierceness of the $
sectarian conflict. In his youth, he had known and witnessed more of reli-
gious excitement than most men; for, when only nineteen, he was one of
Wesley's itinerant preachers. The quietness of the study suited him better,
however ; and he withdrew more and more into it — delighting himself with
various antiquarian research, but devoting his best resources of every kind to
his great Commentary on the Bible. He educated two Buddhist priests for
the function of Christian missionaries in Ceylon, and baptized them : but that
part of his work afterwards appeared to himself fruitless ; for they became
high priests in their own temples at home. He was immersed in his biblical
studies in his last days ; and we may hope that the clamours of theological
strife came softened to him in his retreat, and gave as little disturbance to his
peace as to his faith : but his very quietness was an admonition which could
ill be spared at such a time. — One other there was whose departure at this
juncture can never be alluded to without clouding the countenances of all who
knew his story. Rammohun Roy was the descendant of Brahmins of a high O
order. He was born a British subject in India ; and he used all the opportunity
given him by birth and position for cultivating his mind, and enlarging his
knowledge. He became a Christian, and gloried — till he came to England —
in the liberty and liberality secured, as he believed, by that faith. He learned
the languages necessary for studying the Scriptures in the original ; and from
them he directly derived his views of the comprehension, charity, and funda-
mental liberty, of the Christian religion. He arrived in England in 1831, to
watch over the reconstruction of the India Company's Charter. The impres-
sible Hindoo was sufficiently excited by the merely political movements of
the time : but its religious conflicts affected him much more deeply. He could
not recognise the Christianity he had learned and so dearly loved amidst the
pretension of the Tractarians, and the asceticism of the Evangelicals, and the
wrath of the Irish Protestants, and the tumult of the Irish Catholics, and the
conflicts between the Church and the Dissenters, and the widening split in
the Scotch Church, and the profane antics of the Irvingites. He went to hear
all within his reach — he was ready with sympathy for all who were not angry
or proud — he poured out his wonder and sorrow at what he saw — and — he
wasted, day by day. Other causes of trouble he is believed to have had : but
it was the painful excitement of his sojourn in England that was fatal to him.
A sickly hue — not concealed by the dark skin — settled upon his cheek : the
hair round the turban, once so crisp, became thin and lank ; the long fingers
grew thinner and thinner ; the cheerful voice grew listless and hoarse ; the
light of the eye went out ; the tall frame was bent ; and an expression of
ghastliness gathered about the once mobile and smiling mouth. He sank at
the first touch of illness, resigning himself to the Hindoo observances desired
by his attendants, and was laid — not among any of the Christians whose
strifes had so chilled and wounded his hope and heart — but alone, among the
140 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV*
1834. trees of a private garden belonging to the mansion where he died. It is not
^— - v— ^- " iii our time, as it once was, that the heathen say, as they look thoughtfully
on, " See how these Christians love one another !" Rammohun Roy found
the religious world in England very far indeed from even the view of one of
her own churchmen — " to insist strongly on the difference between Christian
and non-Christian, and to sink into nothing the differences between Christian
and Christian."
The prevalent faith in Ireland lost a champion at this time in the death of
OF DR. DOYLE, the Roman Catholic Bishop Doyle. And in Scotland, the schism was begun
which was to end in the secession of the Free Church from the Establishment.
ISM, p. ra. ' In 1834, the General Assembly, whose constitution had been much modified
by the operation of the Scotch Borough Reform Bill, passed a law which
CH"KCH.N Sc°T°H interfered considerably with the function of patronage, increasing the difficulty
to any patron of settling a minister who should be unacceptable to a congre-
gation. Bodies of Churchmen had already seceded, and formed themselves
into " Voluntary Church Associations," many Dissenters joining them ; and
now, many more Dissenters sided with the Church, on the passage of the Act
restraining the powers of patrons ; which powers had been the most important
original cause of dissent in Scotland. A fierce storm was evidently driving
up ; and we shall hereafter have to watch its explosion.
Amidst such turbulence, there must be eccentricity. The intellectually
and morally infirm become excited in noisy times, and cannot be kept quiet.
IKVING. Irving and his fantastical worship have been mentioned before, as a natural
product of such a crisis : and now came the close of that tragedy ; — a tragedy
which, like so many others, involved with its mournfulness much of the
horrible and of the ludicrous. Canning had been one of his hearers. On
Sir J. Mackintosh mentioning a prayer of Irving's — "We pray for those
orphans who have been deprived of their parents, and are now thrown on the
fatherhood of God," Canning " started" at the beauty of the expression, and
Life of Mackin- ' ° in
tosh, u. 478. made Sir J. Mackintosh take him to the Scotch Church the next Sunday.
There was then no one of any kind of eminence who did not go to swell the
crowd at the Scotch Church. But such fashions do not last. As soon as the
social and sympathetic nature of the man was roused, and his love of sympathy
and approbation kindled to an irrepressible flame, " fashion went her idle
way," as Carlyle says, " to gaze on Egyptian crocodiles, Iroquois hunters, or
what else there might be ; forgot this man — who unhappily could not in his
turn forget. . . . There was now the impossibility to live neglected ; to walk
011 the quiet paths, where alone it is well with us. Singularity must hence-
forth succeed singularity." By the time his church was ready, his fame had
greatly sunk ; and even the exhibition of the Unknown Tongues brought few
strangers. There can be no doubt that some of his own flock, and a few
more, were sincere believers in the gift of Tongues : — that of those who sat
in that church in the grey of the wintry morning, listening for the shrill
unearthly sound from the lips of the " gifted," many believed that the end of
the world was at hand ; as indeed did some who were not usually supersti-
tious. But Irving felt himself, for the last seven years of his life, neglected ;
and to him to be neglected was to be forlorn. He could not acquiesce ; and
he wore himself out in the effort to keep up incessant excitement in himself
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
and his sect — and to draw in towards himself notice, wonder, and sympathy 1834.
from without. On the 2nd of May, 1832, he was excluded from the Scotch *• — ~- ^--^ •
Church, on the ground of heresy. It was after this that he betook himself to
the little chapel in Newman Street, where the worst exhibitions of eccentricity
took place. Through all these, he was believed by Dr. Chalmers " to be a
man of deep and devoted piety." We have seen what he was as " the
blooming young man." " The last time I saw him," says the same recorder, f™i£e'il '*saeel~
" was three months ago, in London. Friendliness still beamed in his eyes,
but now from amidst unquiet fire: his face was flaccid, wasted, unsound;
hoary as with extreme age : he was trembling over the brink of the grave."
His last words were, " In life and death I am the Lord's." He was in his HIS DEATH.
43rd year. The body of his followers did not immediately melt away; and
the name of an Irvingite may still be heard here and there : but there was no
distinctive doctrine to hold them together ; scarcely a bond but that of belief
in Irving and the Tongues : and the sect stands on record chiefly as an eccen-
tricity— as a rebuke of the intemperance of the time.
In such a period, it is not wonderful that some, sickened with the apparent
fruitlessness of the religion of unity, peace, and charity, should turn towards
a profession which combined social with religious objects, and should become
eccentric in their turn. The system called St. Simonism was preached in ST. SIMON»M.
England in 1832, offering a new law of love and human equality, in the place
of that Christian one which it assumed, from existing appearances, to have
failed. Attempts were made to laugh it down : but the strife of the Christian
world gave it a weight which could not be got rid of by mere scorn : and
many listened, with new hope and a long-forgotten cheer, to the preaching of
the golden rule of this new faith ; — that every one should be employed accord-
ing to his capacity, and rewarded according to his works. Society was to be
ruled by persons of genius and virtue, and under them, all were to have a
fair start — to be allowed the free use of their best powers, and reap their natural
reward. The spiritual, intellectual, and industrial concerns of each and all
were to be combined in a closer union than ever before ; and thus, work was
to be worship, and affectionate co-operation was to be piety. Amidst much
that interested some of the best hearts, and engaged some of the noblest
minds of the time, there were doctrines and provisions that would not
stand a close examination. While it was supposed that the rulers would
be persons of virtue and genius, the proposed organization offered a scheme of
a hierarchy which might easily, and would probably, become an intolerable
despotism — a locked frame-work, in which individual freedom might become
impossible. Still, from the nobleness of its social Rule, from its union of
religious appeal with social sympathy, and from the humbling and embarrass-
ing condition of the religious world at the time, the disciples of St. Simon
were not few in England, and their quality was of no mean order. At meet-
ings in London, the French chief of the St. Simonian Church in London Annual Register,
presided, in the costume of the sect, and told, by the lips of English friends,
the story of its propagandism ; for its missionaries were abroad, from Con-
stantinople to the Mississippi. Among the speakers, stands the name of the
virtuous Rowland Detrosier, the Chairman of the Manchester Political Union —
as an inquirer and assistant, not an advocate : and it may be noted among the
ISSION.
142 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. signs of the times that a system of Communism, elevated, just, and spiritual-
" — -~-^— -^ ized enough to engage the inquiring sympathy of men of his class, should
then, amidst the haughty claims of the churches, obtain any footing in Eng-
land. Rowland Detrosier died the next year, " directing his remains to be
devoted to the purposes of science :" and St. Simonism did not long survive
him. There may be wardrobes where the dress of the sect is laid by in
lavender, and now and then wistfully looked at : — there may be times when
families and friends revert to the golden rule of labour and its recompense,
and speculate on when it will come into practice : but St. Simonism has long
taken its place among the religious and social eccentricities of its day.
The most evident practical result of the religious conflicts of the period was
SIA°T?CAL COMLB ^e quickening of the purposes of the government to get out the Ecclesiastical
Commission which was to inquire into the condition of the Church in Eng-
land, and redistribute its temporalities. This Commission was set to work in
1835. — As for the rest, it may be hoped that a multitude remembered at the
time, as we do now, that noise and confusion are in their very nature superficial
and fitful. Turbulence is on the surface : calmness is within the depths.
Christianity in England was far from being like what this narrative of
critical phenomena, taken alone, would represent it. For every conspicuous
personage who was announcing or denouncing, or .remonstrating, or pro-
pounding, or anathematizing, or demanding, there were hundreds or thousands
of quiet Christians at home, humbly living by their light, and religiously
following peace with all men. Because the faith was, visibly, before the eyes
of all men, corrupted in high places, it was not necessarily spoiled to the
multitude who dwelt below. To the thousands who sat on the grass in the
wilderness of life, Christ might be breaking bread, while his handful of
preachers and witnesses were contending which should be greatest. If it was
scarcely possible at the moment for all to help visiting some of the pain and
shame of such contentions on the religion which was their ostensible theme,
it would be folly and ignorance for us to do so now. The controversialists
and brawlers of the time were not the British nation : and those to whom the
Christian religion was dear as glad tidings of Peace and good-will, lived in
that sunshine, and only wondered at the far-off blackness and tempest which
did not overcloud their sky.
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 143
CHAPTER XI.
IF the unreasonable expectations of the country were a hardship upon the 1834.
Whig Administration generally, there was no particular in which such v~~ """^
expectations were more perplexing than that of Finance. The nation ought to Fl
have known that this was a point on which the Whigs must he weak — in
practice, if not in conception. There is, perhaps, no office of the government
so difficult to fill well as that of Chancellor of the Exchequer ; and certainly
none in regard to which it is so impossible to anticipate correctly whether any
man will fill it well or ill. He may have gone through all the preparatory
offices, and be deservedly looked up to for all the qualities which all these
offices can elicit; and yet, when he takes the one other step, he, for his part,
may find himself in a wholly new world, for which his previous training may
have done little to fit him, and every body else may find him a very bad
Chancellor of the Exchequer. The only certain point about the matter is,
that a man who has had no training, and who is moreover a novice in execu-
tive politics altogether, cannot fill the office well. This was Lord Althorp's
constant plea — urged even pathetically. He was wont to say that he was
forced into the office against his will : he was wont to solicit information, as
an alms, on every hand: he entreated every one to observe the tentative cha-
racter of his proposals, and to believe that he was quite ready to give them
up : and he conveyed the impression, every time he opened any financial sub-
ject, that he supposed the chances to be against his information being correct,
and his plans feasible. Yet, with all this candour on his part, the people were
slow to learn the incapacity of Whig administrations in matters of Finance.
When the sayings of the Whigs in opposition were remembered — their com-
plaints of heavy taxation, their demands of reform, their criticisms on financial
measures — the multitude, including whole classes who ought to have known
better, looked for a large immediate reduction of taxation — a prodigious light-
ening of the national burdens — as soon as a liberal minister should take the
national accounts in hand. At the end of their first term — when Lord Grey
went out of office, there was something ludicrous as well as humbling in look-
ing back to see what had been done. The Ministers and their friends com-
plained of factious opposition in parliament, and of faithlessness and imperti-
nence in their underlings ; complaints which were a mere confession of weak-
ness : for the Duke of Wellington's government had practically shown their
willingness to reduce the national burdens ; and there was no party, in or out
of parliament, which was not ready for as much financial reform as the Whig
government was able to conceive of : and, as for the underlings, this was a sort
of business which it was not in their power to obstruct, if it had been pursued
on any broad and clear principle, such as parliament and the country were
able to understand and to sustain. But there was no principle in the case,
144
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[Boon IV.
FIRST BUDGET.
1834. nor the remotest conception of any ; while there was a wholly gratuitous vio-
lation of principle, as Lord Althorp himself avowed, on the very first occasion
of producing his hudget.
At the outset of his explanations, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared
that the government adopted the principles and views of Sir Henry Parnell,
in his work on financial reform : a declaration which the author, who was
present, would naturally wish unmade when he heard, year after year, Lord
Althorp's recommendations of his budget.
The subject was opened on the llth of February, 1831, when it was yet too
early for much more than a declaration of intentions. Lord Althorp referred
to the national expectation of great reductions of abuse and expense, and said
that the government proposed to reduce eventually 210 places under its own
Hansard, ii. 404. appointment. The reduction would for some time be merely of patronage, and
not of expense : and of the 210, seventy-one were officers of the dock-yards,
sixty in the Irish post-office, and forty-six receivers of taxes in England, whose
salaries could not be large ; so that the benefit was more in the example than
in any immediate relief. The surplus this year would be small — about
300,0007. ; an amount which some of the friends of government considered
too small to justify any reduction of taxation : but Lord Althorp seems to have
considered himself bound to make some immediate changes. He seems to
have been unaware that a mere transposition, such as he proposed, can give
little relief, while any disarrangement is in itself an evil requiring relief to
compensate for it ; and that a partial reduction of several taxes tells for less than
a total abolition of a few, because the expenses of collection and management
remain, instead of being swept away. In both these points his scheme was
faulty ; and Sir Henry Parnell presently took occasion to deny its being formed
on his principles. He approved of taking off taxes ; but there was nothing in
his book to sanction laying on new duties when the public service could be
provided for without.
There was to be a reduction of the duties on tobacco, on newspapers, stamps and
advertisements, on candles and tallow, and an abolition of duties on sea-borne
coal, on printed calicoes, on glass, and on auctions. As a deficiency of above
three millions would be thus caused, compensation must be found. For this
end, there was to be an equalization of the duties on foreign wines, on Baltic
and Canada timber, and on large and small coal for export: and several
new duties were to be laid on, of which the worst in principle — and admitted
by Lord Althorp himself to be so — was that of an increase to Id. per Ib. on
all raw cotton imported. The taxing of the raw material of manufactures, he
declared to be an essential mischief, " which, however, the advantages would,
he hoped, counterbalance." He pleaded its smallness in extenuation of its
badness. The other new taxes were on travellers by steam-boat ; on the
transfer of landed property ; and on the bond fide transfer of property in the
funds.
The whole budget was severely treated ; but the outcry on this last item
was the loudest. Lord Althorp gave it up, and also the steam-boat tax. The
duty on the transfer of real property of course went too: and to make up for
the cutting-off of these proposed resources, the duties on tobacco and glass
must be retained. Thus the greater part of the plan was gone already ; and
Hansard, ii. :
Hansard, ii. 414.
CHAP. XI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 145
a defeat on the Timber-duties question awaited the Minister. He proposed, 1834.
on the 18th of March, to render the change of duties more gradual, and so in- s — •~v~- — '
volved the fiscal question with the wider one of Free Trade, that the Oppo-
sition required either a Committee of Inquiry, or time for consideration.
Lord Althorp declined both, and was left in a minority of forty-six. The duty Hansard, m. 576.
on Cape wines was again altered, and the penny cotton duty was reduced to
5-8ths of a penny ; and thus scarcely any thing remained of Lord Althorp's
first Budget.
This compelled him to bring forward the subject again within the year ; and
October was the time, as parliament was sitting at that unusual season on
account of the Reform Bill. The most remarkable fact in connexion with this
statement was the result of the reductions in the Excise and Customs, made
by the late government within two years. The estimated reductions had
amounted to nearly four millions and a half, while the actual decrease had been
little more than two millions and a half, in the last year. Lord Althorp felt
confident that he did not make any exaggerated statement when he assured
the House that it might rely on a surplus for the year of £493,479. "He had
examined the statements in every way that he could, and he was sure that he
was not chargeable with any exaggeration." This was on the 3d of October. Hansard, rn.
On the 17th, the Duke of Wellington gave warning that the Ministers would
find themselves mistaken in their hopes of half a million of surplus ; and de-
clared that the utmost surplus could not exceed £10,000: but Lord Grey Hansard, vni. so.
" could not see on what principle " the statement of Lord Althorp could be
disallowed, and was confident that government might have taken credit for a
much larger surplus. The event was such as might make the Duke himself
as much surprised as the Ministers were ashamed.
From the occupation of parliament and the country with the Reform Bill, fgg.JEMENT OF
it was the 27th of July before Lord Althorp could bring forward his financial
statement, though he must long have been wishing the exposure well over.
His delightful candour, however, smoothed his way through difficulties which
would have been most galling to men less truthful, or more self-seeking.
"I am quite aware," said he, "that my statement must be one which a Hansard, xir.siii.
Chancellor of the Exchequer has been unaccustomed to make of late years ;
and therefore I have to throw myself upon the indulgence of the House."
The surplus of last autumn had dwindled away, month by month ; and in-
stead of the half million anticipated, there was now a deficiency of more than
£600,000. Under such circumstances, no reduction of the public burdens
could be proposed ; and the Ministers were persuaded, now that they saw
things by the lights of office (which really are essential to a perfect judgment
of such matters), that the vigorous reforms under the late government had
carried reduction as far as it could safely go. The present Ministers had cut
down the estimates to the amount of £2,000,000, and declared that hence-
forth any relief to the people must come from economy in the departments,
to obtain a surplus, and not from reduction of taxes. The unexpected
deficiency was ascribed in part to the arrival of the cholera, and to political
excitement ; but there was also an oversight of Lord Althorp's, pointed out
by himself: he had forgotten the expiration of the beer duties in the spring,
which made a difference of £350,000.
VOL. IT. TJ
146 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. On the next occasion, he presented his Budget for the first time to a
~— ~- ' Reformed Parliament. This was on the 19th of April, 1833. First, he
STATEMENT OF fit- />^>-i iTir^J
1833. gave a good account of the reductions of official expenses by Lord ijiey s
Hansard, xvii. _, , _. , •. O/M-C T • t • T £
326-339. government. They had abolished 1307 places, with an immediate saving ot
£192,000, and a prospective one of £38,000 more, on the expiration of the
retired allowances : and some saving in such allowances had taken place in
another direction, by bringing retired revenue servants into active duty
again, as opportunity offered. Lord Aberdeen's reductions in the diplomatic
department, under the late administration, had been carried on, till they now
reached nearly £100,000. There was now a surplus, and one considerable
enough to do more than pay off the previous deficiency : and Lord Althorp
ascribed this to the reduction in the estimates, and not to any remarkable
improvement in the yield of the taxes. It enabled him to offer something
in the shape of a boon to the tax-payers ; and what he proposed was this : —
to abolish the duty on tiles, and the cotton duty laid on two years before :
and to reduce the duty on soap one half, and, in various proportions, the duties
oil advertisements, and on marine insurance, and several assessed taxes.
It was clear that the Ministers had no ideas on the subject of taxation :
no principle — no orderly plan. There was a touch here and a touch there ;
now a notice of a little experiment ; and again a retractation of it : but no-
where, a broad procedure based on sound reasons. The whole management
was not only empirical but desultory. To men who knew anything of the
principles of finance, certain lessons of this year — this first year of a
Reformed Parliament — would have been painfully impressive ; only, that to
men who duly felt the responsibilities of government they could not have
occurred.
" When I laid the additional duty on raw cotton in 1831," (there had been
an almost inappreciable ad valorem duty before) " I said that it was radically
Hansard, xvn. 336. wrong in principle," Lord Althorp now declared, with an unabashed air, " and
that, on the first opportunity which arrived, it ought to be reduced. That
opportunity has now arrived." It seems never to have occurred to him that
there was anything wrong in thus playing fast and loose with such a power of
interference as that of taxation — that there was any objection to laying on a
tax one year and taking it off another, deranging the course of manufactures
and commerce at each operation. Nor, on any one of the many occasions of
his acknowledgment of the vicious principle of the taxes which he imposed
or retained, did he show any shame in alleging the most trifling pretences
of temporary convenience. Some astonished observers at last came to the
conclusion that there was something behind; — that Lord Althorp himself — the
most ingenuous of men — assigned one set of reasons, and acted upon another.
And in truth, there was something behind ; and it icas the practice of this
administration, and perhaps its very worst fault, to assign bad reasons for good
acts, and insufficient reasons for bad acts.
Some reference has been made before to the fatal practice of the Whig
administrations of yielding to clamour whatever it chose to demand ; and,
after a time, to yield nothing but what was demanded by clamour. It was
pointed out that this really revolutionary system began with the Tories — with
the protracted refusal of the Catholic claims : but it has since become a dis-
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 147
tinguishing characteristic of what are called liberal administrations. In this 1834.
particular, in which Lord Grey's cabinet as a whole was inculpated, Lord * — -^ '
Al thorp was perhaps the greatest sinner : and a clear publication of the fact Movmm. ]
was before the world during this and the succeeding session. At a public
meeting, at this date, when some proposition about Dissenters' rights was
made, the mover was entreated to wait and be patient, and not embarrass the
Ministry. " Not embarrass the Ministry !" he cried: "Why, I never found
yet that any thing was to be had but by embarrassing the Ministry :" and his
closing words were lost amidst vociferous cheering. And of the whole admi-
nistration, it was understood that the Chancellor of the Exchequer was the
most impressible by clamour, from his good-nature, his indolence, his con-
sciousness of unfitness for his work, and his consequent lack of self-reliance.
Accordingly, he became the butt of all discontented tax-payers : and they made
him so miserable that he daily sighed to be able either to repeal all taxes
whatever, or to hide himself on one of his stock farms. From the moment
lie could not but see that the turbulent among the tax-paying multitude had
discovered how to manage him, he lost all energy : and the movement against
the assessed taxes reached a point which disturbed the peace of the metro-
polis. And not only of the metropolis ; for in several large towns there were
threatenings of fiscal rebellion, and every where a strong disgust at the in-
eptitude of the Finance Minister.
In answer to the universal complaints of the injury and inconvenience of
our methods of taxation, by which industry was fettered, food made dear,
knowledge taxed, incomes rendered uncertain, and tempers tried past endur-
ance, the government thought it enough to say that these things could not be
remedied without making " an extensive change in the whole financial sys-
tem." But this extensive change in the financial system of the country was
one of the promises of the Reform Ministry — one of the labours to which a
Reformed Parliament was pledged. It was told in the House how astonished
an eminent foreigner, M. Simond, was at seeing an exciseman in a glass-house
quietly permitted to interfere with the process of manufacture, and how
earnestly M. Simond inquired whether the spirit of the English people could
really patiently endure such an intrusion. It was asked why the English
people should endure such a method of taxation — why there should not be a
complete revision and reform of our financial system — why there had not
been already such a reform — why a year had been lost. The discussion of
this matter, the pressing of these questions in the House, and, through the
newspapers, in the country, became very urgent during this session of 1833;
and Lord Althorp had nothing, as yet, to reply, but that he would take off a
little here and lay on a little there, and that to do more would be " to make
an extensive change in the whole financial system." Certain classes of tax-
payers therefore took the matter into their own hands. A prodigious outcry
was raised against the House and Window taxes.
These two taxes were always mentioned together by those who desired to THE HOUSE TAX.
get rid of them : but many thought — and among them the Chancellor of the
Exchequer — that while the window-tax was one of the worst on the list,
the house duty was one of the best. The window-tax is a duty upon
fresh air, sunshine, and health: the house duty had the merits of being a
148 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. direct tax, and of falling on a class particularly well able to pay it — that of
v-x^^"x-/l proprietors of houses. The truth of the matter was, however, that the
tenants of London houses — a numerous class of shopkeepers and others occu-
pying large premises — paid the tax during occupancy, the amount being
allowed for in their rent. By obtaining a repeal of the tax, they would
pocket its amount during the remainder of their lease ; and the event proved
that this was motive enough for a noisy agitation. It never was general in
the country: it did not spread beyond London and two or three of the large
towns : but it was too much for the energy of Lord Althorp. Associations
were formed to resist the payment of these taxes : no purchasers came
forward for goods seized for arrears of these duties : when the levy was made,
it was necessary to bring out, not only a large force of police, but of soldiery :
and these were got rid of by terrified lodgers or friends of the recusants
handing the money out of upper windows. Long and noisy processions of
London tenants — chiefly shopkeepers of the west-end — came to besiege the
Treasury chambers : and for some hours, it was difficult for horse or foot
passengers to make their way between Parliament Street and Charing Cross.
Lord Althorp was earnestly assured by those who understood the parties,
(and he declared that he believed it himself,) that the outcry was only tenta-
tive, and the discontent partial and selfish : yet he gave way, as will be
presently seen. " What taxes would you reduce, if you were in my place ?"
he asked of an adviser. " Certainly not the house duty — that is nearly the
best tax we have," was the reply. " It is," he said : " it is a good tax : yet
you would yield if you had been in Whitehall yesterday, and had heard the
clamour that I had to hear." " It is only the west-end shopkeepers, who
want to pocket a bonus." " I know it: but what can I do ?" This was early
in 1834; and it was only in the preceding May that the Chancellor had
obtained the sanction of parliament to the continuance of the house and
Hansard, xviii. 32. window taxes by a majority of 273 to 124, On the 21st of next February,
he incurred the banter of Sir Robert Peel, by his change of tone on this
question. He was rather disposed to remit the house tax, though he believed
that it was not the best that he could remit — he could have put down the
resistance to the tax : yet the resistance was partly the reason of his giving up
the point. " He would leave the matter open for a certain period, so that
each member might present his plan to the House : and if any honourable
gentleman should succeed in inducing the House to prefer any other tax for
Hansard, xxi. 690. remission, he would not propose to repeal the house tax." This was a direct
invitation to clamour against every tax on the list. " The noble Lord," said
Sir Robert Peel, " was the last person to object to this gentle violence. There
never was so clear an invitation to be ravished ..... He would, for six
months, give a clear stage and no favour to all those who were anxious to
make him change his course." After this, it was no matter of wonder that
the house tax figured at the head of the reductions proposed, when the Budget
STATEMENT or was brought forward, in the next July. " The first, and by much the largest,"
xxv. said Lord Althorp, " was that reduction which he had already proposed,
of the house tax, amounting to 1,200,0007." The window tax was at the
same time slightly reduced, at a cost of 35,000/. — the relief being given to
small farm-houses.
Han
CHAP. XI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 149
The excitements of the times in relation to these duties, and the difficulties 1834.
of Ministers, were increased by the necessity of a Westminster election, on v~— -^ — '
account of them. Sir J. C. Hobhouse, one of the representatives of West- ELECTWNrBR
minster, and secretary for Ireland, had repeatedly condemned these taxes in
his addresses to his constituents, and in his speeches in parliament. When
Lord Althorp began to waver, Sir J. C. Hobhouse absented himself from
divisions : and after doing so on the 30th of April, was called to account by
his constituents, and resigned both his office and his seat. He presented him-
self again for Westminster, but was thrown out ; and the election was con-
ducted with a violence, and an enmity towards the government, which showed Annual Register,
. .11 . i . , . . 1833, Chron. 78.
how far it was possible to sink in popularity in one year, by a timid or indo-
lent omission to redeem pledges of financial reform given in days of struggle
and hope. There is no doubt that this Westminster election determined
much of the character of the next year's Budget, though the Chancellor of
the Exchequer was not qualified, as he himself declared, to redeem the
promises of the government by proposing a large measure of financial reform.
If the administration showed itself irresolute and imperfectly informed, it
was not the House of Commons that had at this time any right to offer
ridicule or reproach. On the 26th of April, 1833, a reduction of the Malt THE MALT TAX.
tax was proposed by Sir William Ingilby — a reduction amounting to at least
as much as the relief proposed from the repeal of the house duty. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer remonstrated, declaring that such a reduction
would compel the imposition of a property tax. The House decided in its
favour, however, by a majority of 10 : and the Ministers found themselves in
a difficulty under which they must have time for deliberation. The only
declaration made on the instant by Lord Althorp was, that he should be
ashamed not to acquiesce in the expressed decision of the House. On con-
sideration, however, it did not appear necessary so to acquiesce ; and it was
resolved in the Cabinet to induce the Commons to rescind their vote. Lord
Althorp tendered his resignation the morning after being out-voted on Sir
William Ingilby's motion : but Lord Grey advised the King not to receive
it. The country gentlemen were by some means made to understand that any
reduction of taxation begun by them would be taken out of their hands by
the manufacturing interest with more vigour than any other party could
command. Lord Althorp was persuaded that he did not stand pledged to
abide by the decision of the House, as his words at the moment were taken
to imply ; and the Commons rescinded, on the Tuesday night, the vote of the
preceding Friday on the malt tax. It is not to be wondered at that the
people were becoming dissatisfied with the way in which their financial affairs
were decided on and conducted. Once more during the session of 1833, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was in a minority on such matters. On the
16th of July, Mr. Ruthven carried a resolution in favour of relief by the
abolition of all sinecures, obtaining a majority of nine over the government. Hansard, xix.ro-t.
On this occasion, however, it was not necessary to act on the resolution, or
to resign in consequence of it : and nothing ensued from this ministerial
defeat.
Next year, affairs looked better. The estimates were reduced half a
million : and Sir James Graham had been so active in his office at the
150 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. Admiralty, that a reduction of nearly a million and a-quarter on an expendi-
"-— •— ^— -^ ture of six millions had taken place in three years. The surplus for the year.
SUUPLOS OF 1834. , , , . T , cut 4 -IP -n-
when the accounts were made up in July Ioo4, was upwards of two millions.
There would be a smaller surplus next year, because the interest of the
twenty millions given to the West India planters was to be payable from the
ensuing 1st of August : but there would still be enough to admit of a coii-
Hansard,xxv.502. siclcrable reduction of taxation — probably 1,620,000/. There was no occasion
now for O'Connell to renew his proposition, made in April, to attack the Debt,
by reducing the interest arbitrarily one-sixth ; and then again, when wanted —
a proposition which excited so much outcry as made him glad to be silent upon
it henceforth, and never more to try the House of Commons with talk of
Hansard, xxi. ess. "the cant of national faith." It was no longer necessary, the House thought
this year, to repeal the malt duty ; and Mr. Cobbett's motion for its abolition
was voted down by an immense majority. It was not thought necessary for
THE CORN LAWS, the House to attend to the subject of duties on food, as Mr. Hume proposed.
Some members of the government voted with Mr. Hume, being previously
pledged to advocate relaxations in the corn laws. Lord Al thorp, though made
fully aware long before that the New Poor Law was framed on the supposition
of the repeal of the Corn Laws, declared to the House that he should meet the
motion with a direct negative, " although against his theoretical opinion :"
Hansard, xxi. and also, that " it was not the intention of the government, as a government,
to introduce any measure for the alteration of the Corn Laws, and that govern-
ment, as a government, would not support any such measure, if introduced."
What remained was for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to say what he
could propose for the relief of the tax-paying public.
By some changes in the duties on the licenses of dealers in spirits and in
beer, he expected to raise his surplus to 1,815,000/. Out of this he proposed
to repeal the house tax (as before declared), several minor assessed taxes,
some small Customs and Excise duties which interfered with manufac-
tures, and one of the Stamp duties — that on almanacs, which produced some
popular irritation. All these together would amount to upwards of a million
Hansard, xxv. 505. and a-half. On this, the last occasion of Lord Al thorp's responsibility to
parliament as Chancellor of the Exchequer, he spoke cheerfully of the con-
TOTAL REDUC- dition and prospects of the country. While between six and seven millions
T10NS. * * *
of taxes had been taken off during his term of office — (immediately after
large reductions by the preceding Ministry,) the income was reduced only
3,000,000/. The reduction of the expenditure had been nearly two millions
and a-half; and provision would actually be made for our new obligations to
the West Indies, not only without increased taxation, but at the same time
with a diminution. It was certainly true that great improvements were
taking place, and considerable relief granted from year to year, though the
nation had yet to wait for an able administration of its financial affairs, and
for any thing approaching to reform, or even revision, of its financial system.
POOR LAW FOR Before the new English Poor Law was framed, a Poor Law for Ireland was
Hansard'.xiii. SSL proposed in parliament by Mr. Sadler, in June, 1832. For various reasons,
the general feeling was strongly against it. Several members implored the
House and the Ministry not to subject Ireland to such a curse as the Poor
Law had been to England, till it should be proved that there was no better
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 151
way of relieving the indigent. Ministers wished to wait to see the result of 1834.
certain new arrangements in Ireland about rating for the benefit of the sick, ^— ~^— --•
from the success of which some hints might be derived. There was no
subject on which O'Connell vacillated more than this; and there is no doubt
that his irresolution was real. He had promised the poor Irish that when
he came into parliament, he would never rest till he had obtained a Poor
Law for them : but now he opposed Mr. Sadler's resolutions ; and frequently
afterwards alleged that a compulsory charity was irreligious, and tended to
lessen the free alms-giving which he regarded as a duty and grace enjoined
and commended in scripture. In saying this, he truly represented the
Catholic portion of his countrymen, and exhibited the main difficulty of that
most difficult problem — how to work a Poor Law in the Catholic and most
pauperized districts of Ireland. At a subsequent time, O'Connell assented
to a Poor Law, when in London, among reasoning men : and then again he
repented, on the other side the channel, and implored pardon of God and man
for his irreligious compliance : and then, once more, he changed — not through
profligacy in this case, apparently, but through a conflict between two sets of
ideas and feelings which could not be made to agree. He had time for con-
sideration ; for the commission sent out to investigate and report upon the
applicability of a Poor Law to Ireland did not go forth on their work till
1835 : but O'Connell was no more ready with a decision then than three
years before.
The refusal of parliament during this period to entertain any proposition ^IDSSTRY OF
for a registry of deeds relating to real property was striking and perplexing
to foreigners and persons unfamiliar with the interests of the landed aristocracy
in our country. Bills were brought in by Mr. Campbell and Mr. William
Brougham — measures which were declared to be well framed and unobjec-
tionable ; yet the House of Commons rejected them again and again. No
one openly disputed the need of such a registry. It was allowed to be a
hardship that when a purchaser was buying land, he had no means of clearly
ascertaining whether he had access to all the deeds which could affect the
title. It was admitted that nothing could be more just, more simply con-
venient, than a general registry of deeds, which should put a purchaser in
possession of his own case, and secure him from all risk from evidence, con-
cealed through design or accident, which might affect his purchase after he
had paid for it. Yet the House would not accept any measure of the
kind ; and both Mr. Campbell's and Mr. W. Brougham's were got rid of on
such frivolous pretences as to convey an irresistible impression that the landed
interest had unavowed reasons for what they did. When they thus set people
guessing, the reason assigned was that they were afraid of their mortgages
becoming known — afraid that it would no longer remain a secret how their
estates were encumbered. Mr. Campbell's first announcement of his measure
was in December, 1830, and Mr. W. Brougham's in May, 1833 ; and the
second rejection of the latter measure took place May 7th, 1834, by a majority
of 161 to 45 against the second reading: and a curious social symptom this Hansard, xxiu.
appeared to all thoughtful observers.
There was another case, far more important than this, in regard to which THE BALLOT.
the whole world was aware that men's speech did not answer to their thought.
152 HISTORY OF ENGLAND rB°OK IV-
1834. There was another measure which parliament rejected, year after year, for
pretences so utterly untenable as to show that the real reasons for opposition
were unavowed. This was the Ballot. Of course, every man was at full
liberty to dislike and deprecate the ballot. The peculiarity of the case was
in the assigning of various reasons so incompatible as to make the listener
look round, and wonder at the gravity with which the argument was carried
on. The case to be met was simply this. The extended franchise was not
fully exercised ; the negligent possessors were lectured, rebuked, sounded, can-
vassed ; but they (in large numbers) omitted to vote. Anxious as they had
been for the Reform Bill, they now did not use its privileges. Their reason
was that the Bill did not furnish the needful safeguards of their new respon-
sibility. Intimidation of voters ran as high as ever ; and Lord Althorp, the
long-declared advocate of the protecting ballot, now thought himself obliged
to be mute and idle, and leave the tradesman and the farmer, and every voter
who had any connexion with a class above him, to the mercy of his neigh-
bours or his patrons. Year after year, did Mr. Grote bring forward his
motion in favour of the ballot for the protection of voters ; and year after year
was he met by the same incompatible objections — that it would not work, and
that it would work too well — that Britons will not be bribed, and that they
would be bribed incessantly under the cover of the ballot — that the voting
classes are of too high an order to be insulted with such a protection, and
that broad publicity was necessary to keep them up to their duty. Thus the
question was met, from year to year, till, through a singular virtual coalition
between two opposite classes, the popular demand for the ballot was over-
powered. The aristocracy would not surrender their influence over the
dependent class of voters : and that influence was known to be so powerful,
through intimidation where bribery would not avail, that the vast multitude
of non-electors took upon themselves to watch over its operation. The
electors were their representatives; and this secondary representation they
were resolved not to relinquish. They could send up an influence from
below as powerful as that which brooded from above, and they would not,
any more than the aristocracy, have it intercepted by the ballot. Such was
the issue of the painful state of the question which lasted during this period,
when those who declared in favour of this protection of voters would not act ;
and those who did were insulted with pleas which were understood all round
to be mere disguises of real reasons which no man had courage to avow.
Something would have been gained to the heart and courage of the nation,
and probably nothing lost to its reputation, if the annual debate had been
cut short with the declaration, " We will not give up our power over the
voting classes. By mere threats of ruin we can now make tools of our
tradesmen and farmers, or keep them quiet ; and no harm is done. If they
were to be really free in the exercise of the franchise, there is no saying what
confusion would ensue ; and we only know that all control from us would
be at an end." Such was the state of things after the passage of the Reform
Bill ; a state of things sickening to the hearts of many thousands of husbands
and fathers who would have dared any thing for themselves, but could not
see that their political duty required them to bring ruin on their households.
Such neglected to qualify — setting a bad example therein, and in so far abro-
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 153
gating the Reform Act. And in the midst of a representative system like 1834.
this — a system which worked imperfectly where it did not work viciously, the v^x-v-x^
Ministers took occasion to say, on all fair opportunities, that they considered
the Reform Act final. While it was scarcely possible to exaggerate its value,
and the importance of the era which it formed, it was because it opened the
way to the achievement hereafter of a real representation, and not because
the largest classes of the British nation were actually and immediately repre-
sented much more truly than before. As the ballot was not decreed in its
own time, it only remains to be seen what stronger security for true represen-
tation will have to be accorded at a later day. That such an event is in
store is an irresistible conclusion from reading the debates on the ballot during
the period under review.
The question of military flogging was brought forward year by year by MILITARY FLOG.
Mr. Hume ; and by the session of 1833, it was clear that the debate was
becoming more and more embarrassing to men who had always spoken with
a natural horror of the flogging of soldiers, but who had lately become aware
of the weight of military authority on the other side. After the summer of
1832, every one had perceived that the abolition of military flogging was only
a question of time. In May of that year, a private of the Scots Greys had
been flogged under circumstances which induced an universal belief that his
real offence was not a breach of discipline in the riding-school, as alleged, but
his having written a political letter to a newspaper. A Court of Inquiry
was held in July, and a sort of reprimand was adjudged to the officer in
command. The publicity given to the facts greatly aided the cause advocated
by Mr. Hume ; and in the next division, there was a majority of only eleven
votes in a House of 291 members in favour of the existing system of military Hansard, xvu. GS.
punishment. The other fearful tyranny which occurs to all minds in connex-
ion with this — the impressment of seamen — was now beginning to be treated s™™**SMENT OF
in a tone of seriousness and humanity; and in August, 1833, a division took
place less unworthy of the eighteenth year of Peace, than some that had pre-
ceded. There was a majority of only five against Mr. Buckingham's motion Hansard, x*. 594.
that it was the duty of the House to avail itself of the season of Peace to
inquire whether there was not some better method than that of Impress-
ment of manning ships in time of war.
VOL. II.
154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
CHAPTER XII.
1834. A GLIMPSE is afforded us at this period of that awful interior of the
*—-~~~—^ -T\- history of the time of which registers and reports tell nothing. They
tell nothing because they know nothing, of those movements in some corner
of the national heart and mind which are of graver moment than any thing
TENTSLAR DISCON" that is laid open to all eyes. Things were going on in the year 1834 which
disheartened the few of the upper classes who knew of them, and whose
calculations had been too sanguine as to the social effects of nineteen years
of Peace, and of four of liberal government. The good effects of peace and
liberal government were in fact shown — not in the absence of igno-
rance and guilt among the people — but in the small results of their guilt and
ignorance. If Sidmouth and Castlereagh had been in power, the year 1834
would have been as black an one to remember as that of the Cato Street
conspiracy.
TRADES UNIONS. The prevalence and power of Trades Unions have been referred to ; and the
murder of a Manchester manufacturer was mentioned at its date. The power
and tyranny of the Unions went on increasing, till, in 1834, it became a serious
question whether their existence was compatible with the organization of
society in England. Half-a-dozen uneducated men — sometimes one able but
half-informed man — commanded an obedient host of tens of thousands : and,
though the capitalists usually beat in the competition for victory set up by the
labourers, the power of the latter over the production and commerce of the
country was very great. At this time, a new combination gave an enormous
increase of power into their hands. Hitherto, each body had struck for an
advance of wages for itself* Now, the various trades combined for the pur-
pose of supporting one another by turns. Some were to work, and maintain
others who were contending for their objects : and when these objects were
gained, the good office was to be reciprocated. If the great body of labourers,
or even the majority of their leaders, had been men of cultivated intelligence,
and tempers disciplined accordingly, this year would probably have stood in
our history as the date of a vast social revolution wherein capital and labour
would have been brought into deadly conflict, or into some new and wonder-
ful agreement. But, though these bodies of labourers understood some
momentous truths, and set some noble objects before them — making sacrifices
and arrangements for the education of their children and the elevation of their
own pursuits — they were not yet instructed and disciplined enough for per-
manent concert, and, therefore, for success. The tailors of London broke
away from their compact, and struck work without the sanction of bodies
earning smaller wages than they : and these trades refused to support the
tailors. Then, some office-bearers — chosen unwisely — absconded with money ;
and others mismanaged the funds ; and, from one cause or another, continued
co-operation appeared to be impossible.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 155
In the midst of this confusion, which would have presently settled the fate 1834.
of the Unions for a time, some events occurred, the gravity of which was then, ' — — ~^ '
and is now, but little understood by any but a few who did not tell what they
knew, because it would not have been believed. Hitherto, the Unions had
been universally spoken of as those of Trades : but now it appeared that the
extremely poor, ignorant, and depressed agricultural labourers of the southern
counties were banded together in Unions, like the Trades. It was the expres-
sion of that resistance to supposed tyranny which is the glory or the disgrace
— the safeguard or the peril — of a state, according as it is enlightened by
knowledge or darkened by passion. In this case, it was considered dangerous,
and it was found to be inconvenient. These agricultural Unions must be DORSETSHIRE
LABOURERS.
dissolved ; and a method was used which brought after it endless mis-
chief and shame. Six labouring men were indicted at the spring assizes
at Dorchester — not for any offence which they and others had ever thought of
— but under an obsolete statute, enacted to meet the case of mutiny in the navy,
and which made the administering of certain oaths a transportable offence.
Ignorant as these men were, they knew that they were in fact charged with
one offence and punished for another ; and, rapidly as they were hurried out of
the country, to undergo their sentence of seven years' transportation, they
had time to become aware that public sympathy was with them. Public
sympathy was with them, as with men punished by a stretch of law for a
nominal offence, which did not repair the mischief of their example in that
particular in which it was really wrong and dangerous. As for the Unionists
every where, they were exasperated ; and they declared that the time was
now come for them to rise and overthrow the oppressors whose rule had
hitherto disappointed their expectations all the more bitterly for those expec-
tations being in great. part unreasonable.
By the Unionists at large, it was agreed that a grand assemblage of all the
Trades should take place in or near London in April, to procure the recall of
the Dorsetshire labourers. The day fixed on was the 21st of April, and the ^DES. 'HE
place Copenhagen Fields. This was all that the Trades generally knew of the
matter. Their leaders, however, agreed that the great unions could and
should overawe the weak government of Lord Grey (now in its latter days),
and obtain whatever they had set their minds upon. This was all that the
leaders in general meditated : but there was a little knot of ferocious con-
spirators in the midst of them who conducted a central movement, and
resolved upon a violent seizure of the government, in the persons of the royal Autobiography of
family and Ministers. The Trades were requested to carry their tools — those P. 400.
being specified which would best serve as weapons in the attack upon London.
The " glorious band," as the handful of conspirators called themselves, were
to carry arms. Accompanying the deputation to the Home Office, they were
there to seize the Minister at the moment of reception, dispose of every body else
in the office, let in coadjutors, seize the other Offices, take the King and Queen
prisoners, secure the Bank and the Tower, and so forth. Lord Melbourne
had graciously consented to receive the deputation on the 21st ; and this
would make the first step easy. He was declared to be " done for." But he
received warning, and attended to it : and the Duke of Wellington made
ready for the occasion with his usual quietness and promptitude. The great
156 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. <lav was a Monday. On Sunday night, twenty-nine pieces of artillery were
N— — •- — . — • brought in from Woolwich, and [placed in -the neighbourhood of Whitehall,
out of sight. Some light cannon were stationed on the roofs of the govern-
ment offices, so as to command the streets. Large bodies of soldiery came
into town during the night, and were kept ready for instant action, though
under cover. The public offices were strongly guarded; the police stations
were filled with their force, well armed ; the magistrates were early at their
posts ; the park-gates were closed, and the citizens took the hints of the
newspapers to stay at home ; aides-de-camp were in the streets, in plain
clothes, to reconnoitre : and five thousand householders were quickly sworn
in as special constables at Guildhall. As for Lord Melbourne, he was not
visible. The under-secretary, Mr. Phillips, received the deputation, and told
them that a petition, however respectfully worded, could not be received by
the Minister when brought in such a manner, nor could Lord Melbourne
grant an interview to a deputation so accompanied ; — that is, by a procession
of 80,000 men. So the petition was placed on its car — a car all blue and
crimson — and carried away, to be presented again in a quiet and orderly
manner, by a small deputation, five days afterwards. The whole procession
repaired to Kennington Common, where Mr. Phillips's reply was repeated
on various parts of the ground. There was no attempt to measure their
strength against the Duke of Wellington, with his troops and cannon — no
attack upon the palace, the Bank, or the Tower. No soldiers were seen in the
streets, and scarcely a policeman ; when London was again asleep, the artillery
and soldiery were conveyed away ; and next day, the great city was as if
nothing had happened. The end of the matter, as regarded the Dorsetshire
labourers, was, that public opinion bore so strongly upon their case, that a
free pardon was sent out to them, in Van Diemen's Land ; and they returned
in 1837, to be escorted through the streets of London, and past the govern-
ment offices, by a procession of the Trades as numerous as that which had
petitioned in their favour in 1834.
On the retirement of Lords Grey and Althorp, the anxiety of the nation
about who was to govern the country was less eager than might have been
anticipated. The cause of the comparative indifference was that a universal
persuasion was abroad that any government that could be formed out of any
party must be merely temporary. The feeling in favour of a liberal ministry
was still too strong to permit any hope to the Conservatives; while the un-
popularity of the Whigs, and the known apprehensions of the King about
Church questions, rendered it improbable that such a Cabinet as the last would
keep any firm grasp of power.
CHANGES IN THE It was immediately understood that the King's desire was for a coalition
Ministry. But this was clearly impracticable. The Commons would hear of
no other leader on government questions than Lord Althorp ; and they
earnestly desired that he should be the head of the government. His station
and character would have justified the appointment ; and his unsurpassed
popularity in parliament — a popularity which could not be fleeting because it
was grounded on fine qualities of mind and manners — would have been a
strong point in favour of his administration. But he had not ability for
such a position. He said so himself, and every body knew it. His being
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 157
Premier was out of the question; but he was not to be parted with from 1834.
office ; and he gave up with a sigh the prospect of retirement to his country
business and pleasures, received a pledge that the new Coercion Bill should
be framed to meet his views, and became again Chancellor of the Exchequer.
It was Lord Melbourne, and no one else, with whom the King consulted upon
the reconstruction of the Cabinet. Lord Melbourne becoming Premier, his
place at the Home Office was taken by Lord Duncannon — made a Peer:
and Sir J. C. Hobhouse took the Woods and Forests, with a seat in the
Cabinet.
The first act of the reconstituted government was to carry a new Coercion LATE INTRIGUES.
Bill, in which the clauses prohibitory of political meetings were omitted.
The subject of the late intrigues and follies, by which Lord Grey had been
removed from office, was not allowed to drop. Repeated demands were made
for the production of the Lord Lieutenant's correspondence ; and the son of
Lord Grey pressed Mr. Littleton with close questions as to who besides him-
self had been the correspondent of the Lord Lieutenant. Mr. Littleton had
suffered too much to be indiscreet again : he positively refused to answer :
but it was not denied that there was another. In the Upper House the Lord
Chancellor astonished his hearers by declaring his dissent from Lord Grey in
regard to Mr. Littleton's act of communicating with Mr. O'Connell. " He
did not know how government could be carried on if certain leading men Hansard, **>.
were to be considered as tabooed and interdicted from all communication with G92'
the government." When, after making this declaration, he proceeded to
avow that he had privately corresponded with the Lord Lieutenant about the
Coercion Bill, men felt that no answer was needed from Mr. Littleton to
Lord Howick's pressing questions. "He was also" (after mentioning Mr.
Littleton's correspondence) " in the frequent habit of corresponding with the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He had communicated with him on every sub-
ject interesting on this or the other side of the water." The newspapers of
the time pointed out the Lord Chancellor as the "accomplice " of Mr. Littleton
in writing the letter which changed the Lord Lieutenant's opinion on the
Coercion Bill, without the knowledge of the Premier : and they further asked
whether any Cabinet could be safe with a member in it who could so perplex
its councils. The experiment proved a short one.
The Liberal party believed that it had gained by the changes in the Cabinet ;
and a more frank and genial spirit of liberalism seemed to spread itself
through the government after Lord Melbourne's entrance upon his new office.
He was as yet little known in official life : but those who knew him best
spoke well of him ; he did not suffer under any lack of warning that much
had been borne with from Lord Grey that would be fatal to the power of any
one else : and the new Premier took such warnings in good part. The session
was nearly over — a session in which a vast amount of real business had been
done, in the midst of all its mistakes and misadventures : the work of the
government lay clear before it; and here was the recess just at hand, in which
the measures of the next session might be prepared — for nobody dreamed of
a change of Ministry and of principles of government before the nexf session
could begin. On the whole, Lord Melbourne's administration opened cheer-
fully: and the King's speech, on the 15th of August, was animated in its tone.
158 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. The autumn was variously occupied by the leaders of the parties and the
""-— •^ -" destinies of the kingdom. Mr. O'Connell published a series of letters to the
Home Secretary which could be of no service to any good cause from their
violence of language, and in this case only aggravated the indisposition of his
Irish supporters to receive with a fair construction any measures offered by the
Imperial government. The " Slaughter of Rathcormack," which took place
in November, and which was a prominent theme with O'Connell during the
remainder of his life, might not perhaps have happened if he had not ex-
horted the people to impatience instead of patience, pending the trial of the
government measures in regard to tithe. Some peasants who were opposing
the collection of tithe, barred themselves into the yard of a cottage, as an
escape from the military who were escorting the clergyman — Archdeacon
Ryder — in his tithe-collecting excursion. The gate of the yard was forced,
the soldiers fired, and thirteen men were killed, and eight wounded. Eleven
of the thirteen were fathers of families. The widow paid her tithe, and the
Archdeacon " proceeded to collect his tithes throughout the parish without
ppi226.°r' 1834' further molestation." He left behind him the people shutting their shops in
the village, and driving every cow and pig out of sight for miles round, and
bereaved fathers kneeling with clasped hands, to utter curses on the govern-
ment, civil and ecclesiastical, which brought such desolation in the name of
religion. O'Connell lost no time and spared no strength in exasperating the
discontent, as if no healing measures had yet been entered upon.
THE LORD CHAN- Meantime, the Lord Chancellor was recreating himself, after a long stretch
. ! I I Mil
of arduous business, with a journey in Scotland, before the close of which
some incidents occurred which deeply affected a part of the history of future
years. He went from town to town, from one public reception to another,
opening his mind to any hearers, on any subject : and thus the amount of egotism
and indiscretion accumulated in ten days' time so as to fill the newspapers of
the day, and fix universal attention. It was on this journey that he declared,
at Inverness, that he should let his sovereign know by that night's post how
loyal were his subjects in the north of Scotland; a promise which was found
not to have been fulfilled. About such proceedings as these men might laugh
and be amused ; but a scene full of seriousness and significance, and pregnant
with political results, took place at Edinburgh, which caused the shedding of
many tears in private, and the disappointment of much national hope at a
subsequent time. Lord Grey was travelling northwards during this autumn
— conveyed in a sort of triumph to his home — and beyond it — to Edinburgh,
where a great banquet was given in his honour on the 15th of September.
LORD DURHAM. Among the members of his family who attended him was Lord Durham, at
once the trusted friend of the old statesman and the beloved of the people.
He was the principal framer of the Reform Bill, the consistent advocate of all
genuine reforms — a man of the rarest honesty, which took the character of
genius for the recognition of truth and right, and for the expression of it.
When Lord Grey had earnestly desired his presence in the Cabinet in the
summer, he was kept out by the Lord Chancellor and another ; and the
Liberals in the Commons had expressed their sense of this act by an address
to Lord Grey. Notwithstanding these circumstances, the Lord Chancellor
£"tETGREY BAN- appeared at the Grey banquet at Edinburgh : and nothing, as far as was
CELLOR.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
known, had passed between the honoured guest of that banquet and himself, 1834
which need hinder his being present. He made a speech, the most prominent ^-— — ^— — ^
part of which consisted of rebuke to reformers who, in a fretful impatience, p^?.^' 1834>
endangered all progress by rash attempts to go too fast. His language was so
figurative that it is possible that he lost sight, in the pursuit of a succession of
metaphors, of the substance of what he meant to convey, or of the impression
which it would make on his hearers : but the great body of listeners — who were
nearly three thousand — certainly understood him to desire a slackening pace of
reform, and less pressure of popular will on the government: and it was in this
understanding that Mr. Abercromby, Mr. Ellice, and Sir J. C. Hobhouse re-
sponded to the appeal of Lord Durham, and followed up his speech — the cele-
brated speech of that day — of which some words passed into a proverb, which
sustained the heart and hope of the people at the time, but which, in the end,
cost him his life, and set back the great work of Colonial Reform. The
most memorable words of that speech, the words which were received at the
moment with an enthusiasm that spread over the whole kingdom, were these :
" My noble and learned friend, Lord Brougham, has been pleased to give Admtnitt'rfuon"
some advice which I have no doubt he deems very sound, to some classes of iu-114-
persons — I know none such — who evince too strong a desire to get rid of
ancient abuses, and fretful impatience in awaiting the remedies of them.
Now I frankly confess I am one of those persons who see with regret every
hour which passes over the existence of recognised and unreformed abuses."
These words were received with cheers which seemed as if they would never
end ; and when single voices could be heard, one member of the government
after another responded heartily, and said that it was good for public men to
witness such scenes and hear such truths : it kept them up to their duty.
Among these voices, however, the Lord Chancellor's was not heard. He sat
mute — mute at the moment, but not elsewhere. He travelled fast, and was
presently at Salisbury, making a speech of defiance against Lord Durham, in
which he challenged him to a meeting in the House of Lords. In the number
of the Edinburgh Review which appeared immediately afterwards, there was
an article whose authorship was evident enough, and was never denied by either
the editor or the presumed writer, which charged Lord Durham with having
opposed a thorough reform of Parliament in the Cabinet, and with the gravest
breach of trust — with revealing the secrets of the Cabinet. By the Salisbury
challenge this quarrel — interesting in itself, as between two eminent liberal
leaders — was made a matter of public principle : and it was inevitable that
Lord Durham should be regarded as the staunch reformer that he had ever
shown himself to be, while Lord Brougham offered himself as the representa-
tive of the retarding or " drag " system of government, as it was then called. PROSPECTOFNE
Hence it was that those words of Lord Durham at the Grey banquet passed PARTIES-
immediately into a proverb, and were taken as a text for political discourses,
and were seen on banners, and as mottoes to newspapers and tracts. Hence
it was too that the vindication of Lord Durham's honour became a public
concern. It is probable that no one ever doubted his honour : but such a
charge as that of betraying Cabinet secrets must be met — difficult as it was
to do so without a betrayal of Cabinet secrets in the act of defence. The
thing was done, and well done, at a banquet given to Lord Durham, at Glas-
160 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834 gow, on the 29th of October. He there read a letter from Lord Grey which
v— -^ ' settled the question. Lord Grey declared his opinion that it was impossible
pfio33.or> for Lord Durham to reveal, for his own justification, anything that had passed
in the Cabinet ; but he offered his own unqualified testimony to Lord
Durham's fidelity to his public professions and his official duty. This testi-
mony of the Prime Minister was enough ; and the past was settled. As for
the future, there was to be first a passage of words in the House of Lords.
To this men began to look forward eagerly. They saw no further, and little
dreamed what consequences of this hostility lay hid in the future. And, as a
few days proved, they could not see so far as even the opening of the session.
sp^tetor, 1834, "He has been pleased," said Lord Durham, of his antagonist, " to challenge
me to meet him in the House of Lords. I know well the meaning of the
taunt. He is aware of his infinite superiority over me in one respect ; and so
am I. He is a practised orator, and a powerful debater. I am not. I speak
but seldom in Parliament, and always with reluctance in an assembly where
I meet with no sympathy from an unwilling majority. He knows full well
the advantage which he has over me ; and he knows too that in any attack
which he may make on me in the House of Lords, he will be warmly and
cordially supported by them. With all these manifold advantages, almost
overwhelming, I fear him not, and I will meet him there, if it be unfortu-
nately necessary to repeat what he was pleased to term my ' criticisms.' " Thus
did the ground appear to be prepared for a new assertion of the People's Cause,
in regard to the reforms remaining to be achieved ; but before the time came,
the King had interposed — Lord Brougham had taken leave of office, and the
Conservative party was in power. The King, it was understood, did not look
forward with any satisfaction to the proposed controversy in the House of
Lords ; and his mind had long been uneasy about the treatment of the Irish
DISSOLUTION OF Church by the Whig Ministry. He seized the occasion of the death of Lord
Spencer — by which Lord Althorp was raised to the peerage — to dismiss his
Ministers, and seek for satisfaction to his mind from the opposite party.
The surprise to the Ministers themselves appears to have been great. All
that had happened was that Lord Althorp could no longer be Chancellor of the
Exchequer, from his removal to the Upper House. But Lord Melbourne had
an immediate resource in Lord John Russell. He went down to Brighton on
the 13th, and remained there till the Friday evening, when he returned to
town, to tell his colleagues that the King had sent for the Duke of Wellington.
Whether he had any thing more to tell — whether he understood any secret
causes of a change so sudden — or whether he agreed with the general belief
as to the King's apprehensions and dislikes, there is no saying. The one fact
of the case avowed by Lord Melbourne was, that he was taken by surprise —
the cordiality of the King towards himself having never been interrupted.
The event occasioned a prodigious sensation, abroad as well as at home.
French politics were forgotten at Paris : and on the quays of New York, New
Orleans, and Boston, men stood in groups to read the papers or discuss the
news. Here was an experiment of a recurrence to principles of government
which had been solemnly, and with much sacrifice on every hand, disavowed
by the British nation. The most interesting spectacle to the world now was
of the success or failure of the experiment. Those who looked at the weak-
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 161
ness and faults of the Whig Administrations of the last four years believed 1834.
it would succeed. Those who looked deeper — into the mind (so lately declared) v^r~v-x^
of the English people — knew that it would fail. But the suspense was excit-
ing and painful — more exciting and painful than people could believe a year
afterwards : for it was not long before the Whigs were in again, with Lord
Melbourne at their head, but not with Lord Brougham on the woolsack.
Lord Brougham now finally left office, after having held the Great Seal four RETIREMENT . v
_-.- Til • l i T LORI) RRUl'liHAM.
years. He did not, however, acquiesce at the moment in the rehnquishment
of all office. The Duke of Wellington could not fill up all the appointments
for some time, as Sir Robert Peel's presence was indispensable ; and Sir
Robert Peel was at Rome : but the Lord Chancellor must clearly be Lord
Lyndhurst; and he was appointed at once — on the 21st of November. Lord LORD LYNDHURST
Brougham immediately wrote to him, to offer to take, without salary, the Annual Register,
office of Chief Baron, actually held by Lord Lyndhurst. The application did
not succeed. Lord Lyndhurst could say nothing till the return of Sir Robert
Peel ; and before that return, Lord Brougham had withdrawn his request.
The public voice on this act was not to be mistaken. Lord Brougham pleaded Lord Brougham's
that his intention was to save 12,000£. a year to the country, and to spare December, 1831"'
suitors the evils of a double appeal : but this last object, of the abolition of the
Vice Chancellorship, he had not pursued during the four years when the power
of Chancery Reform was in his hands ; and, as for the saving of salary, the
general feeling was that it would have been no compensation for the evil of the
" political immorality," of taking office under the Conservatives, in a manner
which indicated confidence in their remaining in power. Lord Brougham
therefore withdrew his application ; but not before the act had aifected his
political reputation in foreign countries, where all preceding inconsistencies
had been allowed for, or unrecognised.
In reviewing his four years of office, the most agreeable point to dwell upon Lj^RJ^Sw"'"
is his activity in his function, and in the cause of Law Reform. In the
summer of 1830, he had brought forward a Bill for the establishment of
Courts of Local Jurisdiction in certain districts, intended to apply afterwards
to the whole of the kingdom. By this measure it was hoped that justice Bat*''
would be rendered cheap and easy of attainment in a number of cases where
it could not be had by multitudes, unless brought near their doors. As
soon as he was in office — in December, 1830 — Lord Brougham brought for-
ward this measure in the House of Peers, where it was laid on the table for
consideration, being, as Lord Lyndhurst testified, an affair of the very highest
importance — one consideration being that it would create fifty new Courts,
with fifty new judges and their establishments. To the great grief of its
author, and of all who intelligently wished that justice should be accessible to
every citizen, this which was called, both lightly and seriously, the Poor
Man's Bill, was thrown out by the Lords on the 9th of July, 1833. The Hansard, six. 372.
rejection of the measure was believed to be owing to the fear that it would
draw away too much business from the higher Courts, impose too much ex-
pense, and yield too much patronage. In the session of 1833, Lord Brougham
brought in a Bill, which was passed by the Commons on the 22nd of August, <*«*NCRRV RE.
. ' POHM.
for abolishing thirteen offices in the Court of Chancery, and reducing others, Hansard, »*. 331.
effecting altogether a saving of about 70,0()0/. Lord Eldon did not think he i^ of Lord
Elilun, iiw 187.
VOL. II. Y
162 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. should be able to persuade himself to go down to Parliament again — he had,
' *" — ' as God knew, too little strength to spend on an attendance utterly hopeless :
and it weighed him down more than he could endure to observe what was
going on there, and how. This was written while waiting upon the progress
of this Bill, " vindicating his own conduct " the while, and objecting " to the
haste " with which Parliament was abolishing thirteen sinecures which had
flourished under his own eye. Alas ! there was other haste to object to — in
the Chancellor's judicial function. The clearance of business that he effected
in the Court of Chancery was such as to make his predecessor feel as if the
" iron mace," that Sydney Smith spoke of, were swinging about his ears.
works, in. 129. " FOr twenty-five long years," said Sydney Smith, just after the coming in of
the Grey Ministry, " did Lord Eldon sit in that Court, surrounded with
misery and sorrow, which he never held up a finger to alleviate. The widow
and the orphan cried to him, as vainly as the town crier cries when he offers
a small reward for a full purse : the bankrupt of the Court became the lunatic
of the Court ; estates mouldered away, and mansions fell down; but the fees
came in, and all was well. But in an instant, the iron mace of Brougham
shivered to atoms this house of fraud and of delay." And it is true that from
that hour we have heard no more of the delays in the Court of Chancery being
ruinous to property, as well as trying to the patience. It is true, also, that
there was at the time, and has been since, much impugning of the quality of
the judgments which were dispensed so industriously and so promptly. How-
ever this maybe — whatever might be true about Lord Brougham's qualifications
for such a post of judicial decision — there can be no question of the benefit to
the country, after so long a rule of Lord Eldon's, of the clearance which was
made by Lord Brougham. At another period, the quality of the judge's law
must be the first consideration : then, and for once, there was something more
important — that racked minds should be eased, and unsettled minds certified ;
that a vast amount of deteriorating property should be restored to use and
good management — and that the reproach of the highest Court of the realm
— the reproach of being a bottomless pit of perdition — should cease. In
i834Ua( i^on'TyG Lord Brougham's farewell to the Court, on the 21st of November, he said,
after lamenting the compulsion which obliged him to give up the seals in
haste, " I have the greatest satisfaction in reflecting that this Court, repre-
sented by its enemies as the temple of discord, delay, and expense, has been
twice closed within the space of five months." He went on to ascribe the
merit of this to the Vice Chancellor and late Master of the Rolls, and also to
the Bar ; but these functionaries all existed in Lord Eldon's days, and did
not save the Court from its reproach. Lord Brougham was himself the spring
of their activity, as Lord Eldon had been the check upon it: and Lord
Brougham was doubtless entitled to the satisfaction he naturally expressed on
this parting occasion. As for the rest, it is not necessary here to enter into
the controversy between himself and his contemporaries as to the share he
had in promoting some good measures and defeating others. " I should be
i^uderBto UMram s onty fatiguing you," he wrote to Mr. Bulwer, " were I to name the other
beUrT834Decem" measures of large and uncompromising reform with which my name is con-
nected." There were indeed many popular interests in former years with
which his name Avas connected ; and it should not, and will not, be forgotten ,
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 163
amidst speculations on his short official career, that in early and unpromising 1834.
days, the most conspicuous advocate of political reforms, and of education, *--— ^ •—-
and the most effectual denouncer of negro slavery, and of tyranny in every
form, was the Henry Brougham who, in 1834, was sighing for that position
among Commoners, in which he had won his fame. At public meetings in
London, and latterly in Scotland, he earnestly put forward his regrets that he
had ever quitted the scene of his triumphs, the House of Commons, and his
longing to " undo the patent " of his nobility : and there were many who
lamented that he should ever have left the ranks of opposition. Such- now
hailed his retirement from office, and the clear indications of circumstances
that the retirement was final : for they had a lingering expectation that,
though in another House, he might resume his old habits, and be again the
hope of the oppressed, and a terror to tyranny in high places.
Lord Althorp, now become Lord Spencer, was thus soon at liberty to enter RETIREMENT OP
upon the privacy he sighed for. He never returned to office. Perhaps no
man ever left the House of Commons and an official seat about whom there
was so little difference of opinion among all parties. Nobody supposed him
an able statesman : and nobody failed to recognise his candour, his love of
justice, his simplicity of heart, and his kindliness and dignity of temper and
manners.
164 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV
CHAPTER XIII.
1830. npHE affairs of France during this period were only less interesting to the
^"-^^"~" •* English than their own; and the proceedings of England were commented
i<-aANcii. on by French statesmen of every party from day to day. English Conservatives
found cause for apprehension, during the whole struggle for Reform, that we
were proceeding pari passu with the revolutionists of France ; and English
liberals watched with interest whether it was so, while French affairs were
undecided. The eyes of the world were fixed on Louis Philippe, Duke of
Tun DUKKOI Orleans, from the moment when he accepted the office of Lieutenant General
ORLEANS. , l
of the kingdom, before Charles X. and the Dauphin sent in their abdication,
and set forth for exile. This Louis Philippe, whose father had died on the
scaffold in the first Revolution, who had known the depths of poverty, and
been long lost in obscurity, was now at the head of the French nation; and
it was a spectacle of eager interest how he would conduct himself there. He
had walked, almost bare-footed, over the Alps, and had taught mathematics
in a school in Switzerland. He had lived humbly on the banks of the Thames :
he had been a modest resident in Philadelphia, where he had fallen in love
with a lady whose father refused his addresses as a match too inferior for his
daughter : and he was now the centre of order in France, and the hope of all
who craved the continuance of monarchy, and also of those who desired a safe
and firm republic. The abdication of the King was placed in his hands at
eleven o'clock of the night of the 2nd of August ; and the next day, he
opened the session of the Chambers, which met punctually according to the
order of the late King, given some months before.
His speech declared his disinclination to his present prominent position,
but his willingness, as that position was assigned him by the will of the
Annuaire Histo. nation, to accept all its consequences — all the consequences of a free govern-
rique, 1830, p. 195. TT . , * *<n • m i i • i • i •
ment. He pointed out to the Chambers the subjects which it was necessary
for them to consider first; and especially the fourteenth article of the Charter,
of which the late Ministers had availed themselves to assume that the King
had a power beyond the law, when a crisis should render the observance of
the law incompatible with regal rule. While delivering this speech, he stood
on the platform covered with crimson velvet, strewn over with golden fleurs-
de-lis, and with the tricoloured flag waving over his head. It was observed
that he left the royal chair vacant, and took the lower seat on the right of the
throne, while his second son took that on the left. His duchess and her
daughters were present in a gallery, provided for the purpose ; and every one
remarked the expression of mournful gravity in the countenance of the
anxious Avife — the expression which has marked that countenance to this day.
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 165
The Chambers were not satisfied with considering the fourteenth article of 1830.
the Charter. There was much besides which must be changed ; for what was s-— ~v— — -
needed now was not the Charter with a new executive ; but one declaratory
of such new principles as would be a better safeguard than the last had been.
The preamble, for instance, declared the Charter to be a gift from the King to
his people : and, if this had ever been true, it was not so now. The whole
must be revised. It was revised ; and never, perhaps, had a work of so much
importance been done so rapidly. The venerable Lafayette, Commander-in-
Chief of the National Guard, kept watch over the Deputies to prevent their
being disturbed. Vast crowds outside shouted day and night for their various
objects, and especially for the abolition of the hereditary peerage : but
Lafayette stood between them and the legislature, and permitted no disturb-
ing influences to penetrate to the Chamber of deliberation. On the night of
the 6th, the whole was prepared. The throne was declared, by the new pre-
amble, vacant by the forfeiture of the whole elder branch of the Bourbons.
By alterations in the Charter, all Christian denominations of religion were
ordained to be supported by the State ; and in the following December, the
Jewish religion was added. The censorship of the press was abolished for
ever. The King was declared to have no power to suspend the laws, or to
dispense with their execution. No foreign troops were to be taken into the
service of the State without an express law. The age of eligibility to the
Chamber was fixed at thirty. These were the alterations : and the Charter, THE CHARTER.
thus amended, was placed under the protection of the National Guard and
the citizens of the empire. By a special provision, the peerages conferred by
the late King were annulled, and the question of a hereditary peerage was
reserved for consideration in the session of 1831. Two peers degraded by this
special provision were immediately reinstated — Marshal Soult and Admiral
Duperre. Several peers recorded their protest against this act of the Lower
Chamber which concerned them ; and the whole peerage question stood over
to the next session.
There was not, perhaps, a more anxious mind in France than that of
Lafayette between the 3rd and the 9th of August. He was a republican, and
he could now have established a republic : but whether France, as a whole,
desired it, and whether the French people were fit for it, he could not decide ;
and the necessity of making a decision was an occasion of great anguish to
him. He afterwards believed that he had decided wrong in offering the
throne to Louis Philippe ; and he never again knew what it was to have an
easy mind. His last words, spoken from his pillow, declared his conviction
in a phrase which cannot be recorded while the head on which he placed the
crown is dishonoured, but not laid low in death. It was on the night of the
6th of August, as we have seen, that the Deputies finished their work.
Whether Lafayette hoped or feared delay in the Upper Chamber, there was
none. On the 7th, the Peers passed the measure — only ten being dissentient Annuaire His.
on any part but that relating to their own order. The old royalist Chateau- 83 ' p
briand objected to the throne being declared vacant while the infant son of
the Duke de Berri lived : but these were no times for a child to occupy the
throne ; and the exclusion of the whole of the elder branch of the Bourbons
was a point on which the nation at large Avas determined. Lafayette's time
166 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. for deliberation was past. Oii the 9th he had to assist in offering the Consti-
•^-— ~^— -^ tution and the Crown to Louis Philippe.
Louis PHILIPPE . * _» '• i i • fn>
ACCEPTS THK The time was so short as to place the foreign ambassadors in great diffi-
culty. They could not receive instructions from home; and at the ceremony,
while every other part of the Chamber of Deputies was crowded, their gallery
contained only ladies and a few attaches. The golden fleurs-de-lis had dis-
appeared from the drapery about the throne, and four large tricoloured flags
were disposed behind it. Instead of the anointing of the Sovereign, there
was to be the solemnity of swearing to the Charter. Ninety Peers were pre-
sent ; and those absent were the seventy-six of the creation of the late King,
and those who had protested against the new Charter. The royalist Deputies
were all absent. At the opening of the business, the Duke was seated on a
chair in front of the throne, his head covered, and his sons standing on either
hand. While thus seated, he asked that the declaration of the 7th of August,
as agreed to by the Peers, should be read, and then delivered to him, and then
said, addressing the Peers and the Deputies, " I have read with great atten-
tion the declaration of the Chamber of Deputies, and the Act of Agreement
of the Chamber of Peers. I have weighed and meditated all their expres-
sions. I accept, without restriction or reserve, the clauses and engagements
which this declaration contains, and the title of King of the French which it
confers upon me ; and I am ready to swear to their observance." Here he
rose, and received in his left hand the form of the oath. The whole assembly
rose, in solemn emotion ; and the new King, baring his head, and raising his
right hand, pronounced the oath in a firm, clear, and solemn voice : — " In the
presence of God, I swear to observe faithfully the constitutional Charter, with
the modifications expressed in the Declaration : to govern only through the
laws, and according to the laws : to cause good and exact justice to be rendered
to every one according to his right, and to act in all things with a single view
to the interest, the happiness, and the glory, of the French nation." The diver-
sity of the cries which composed the acclamation that followed was remarked
by all, and derided by some who said that the very legislature did not know
Avhat to call the new King they had been in such a hurry to make. " Long
live the King!" " Long live Philippe the Seventh !" " Long live Philippe
the First !" were the cries, which, however, soon mingled in one great shout of
"Long live the King of the French!" Others thought it a good symbol of
the absorption of ancient territorial regalities in the chieftainship of a people.
The man has lived long ; the King not so long. There was a picture of
this ceremonial — of Louis Philippe swearing to the Charter — which men
thought would remain through many ages as a historical record of a great
new era in the history of France. Men thought that their posterity in distant
centuries would look upon the central figure of that picture — the bared head,
the raised hand, the lettered parchment — and would regard them as the in-
signia of a new and lofty chieftainship, under which liberty and peace should
be established in France. But already that picture has been torn from its
frame in the royal palace, and carried out to be draggled in the dust, and cut
to shreds. The act which it represented had rottenness in it: and one charac-
teristic of the time which had set in was, as indeed it is of all times since
the dark ages, that nothing abides that is not sound and true.
iL-2
•
J51 ii
tJndprthe Superiulendanre of the Society fir tie Diffusian of Useful Knowledge
Piil'Ushfd fry WT- S. Orr trC' London, .
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 167
Four Marshals of France now brought the crown and sceptre, and other in- 1830.
signia of royalty, with which they invested the new King. As he returned ^-— ~v^~-
with his family to the Palais-Royal, escorted by the National Guard, the
multitude extended to the remotest points within view: and, of that sea of
heads, all eyes were fixed upon the Citizen King. At the same moment, the
displaced family were taking their way, neglected and forlorn, to the coast,
the very peasants on the road scarcely looking up at them as they passed.
For a while — a very little while — all looked gay and bright about the new
royal family— except the countenance of the mournful Queen. She and her
daughters visited in the hospitals the wounded of the days of July. The
King invited to his table members of the deputations which came to congra-
tulate him on his courage in accepting the crown. Sometimes there were
officers of the National Guard, sometimes students from the colleges, some-
times municipal dignitaries from the provinces, sitting down to dinner with
the King and his many children, like a large family party. These children
were idolized. Together with caricatures of the exiled family were handed
about prints of the Orleans group, each member of which was made beautiful,
noble, or graceful. All this was very natural. A fearful oppression had been
removed : the revolution had been nobly conducted, and now, there was a
bright new hope to gladden many hearts. But under all this there were the
elements of future trouble ; and distress was already existing to a fearful
extent. The pains and penalties of revolution were upon the people, and, DISRUPT.
amidst all the rejoicing, there was stagnation of trade, depression of commer-
cial credit, and hunger among the operative classes. Higher in society, there
was a beginning of that conflict between the parties of movement and resist-
ance which is a necessary consequence of political convulsion. Before the
end of the year, two Administrations had been in power ; the first containing
originally but one member of the Movement party, but being presently
rendered a coalition government ; and the second being perpetually in collision
with the Chamber of Deputies. The executive was kept in continual anxiety
by seditious movements which took place, in capital or country, at short in-
tervals. The royal family, besides its share in all these interests, had to
endure a great shock in the suicide of the Duke de Bourbon, the last of the SUICIDE OF THE
-W-T ITT P -I -n i -1 i • -i i • T DUKE DK BOUR-
Condes. He had been one of the Bourbon exiles, and retained the prejudices BON.
of his party : and whether his suicide was owing to his grief at the Revolu-
tion, or to domestic miseries, it was most painful to the family of the new
King, to one of whose sons he bequeathed the greater part of his wealth,
under domestic influences of a dishonourable character. Thus, amidst much
gloom and apprehension, closed the year of the Revolution, leaving much to
be done and endured during the next.
In February, a most alarming disturbance took place in Paris, which ended 1831.
in the sacking of a church, and the destruction of the Archbishop's palace, ^""p'li"'5'
The anniversary of the assassination of the Duke de Bern was kept by a re- p^,""1
ligious service, notwithstanding a warning from the Archbishop of Paris of
the danger of such an appeal to political passions. Some one fastened a print
of the little Duke de Bourdeaux on the drapery of the funeral car in the
church, and placed over it a crown of everlastings. The crown was pulled to
168 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
1831. pieces by royalists who were anxious to wear its blossoms next their hearts.
Murmurs spread, and the excitement was presently such as to call for the
clearance of the church by the National Guard. But the people outside
turned their indignation against the priest and the Archbishop, who might
have prevented this royalist scandal ; and the mob rose against the church and
the palace, and destroyed also the Archbishop's country-house. One conse-
quence of this riot was that the fleur-de-lis now disappeared altogether. It
had been twined round the crosses in the churches and elsewhere, to symbol-
ize the union of devotion and loyalty : and now it was found that if they were
not separated, the cross would be made to share the fate of the " flowers of
kings." The government charged itself with stripping the crosses of their
lilies : the Seal of State was altered, and the fleur-de-lis was proscribed thus
soon after those who had worn it. Before the year was out the Chambers had
decreed the perpetual banishment of the elder branch of the Bourbons, and
the sale of all their effects within six months. The same measure was dealt
out to the family of Napoleon.
As for ^ ot^er measures of the parliament, the most important regarded
the constitution of the two Chambers. The Hereditary Peerage was abolished ;
and the power of the King to nominate Peers was restricted within certain
defined classes of persons, under declared conditions of fortune and length of
service. It is difficult to see what remained after this, to make a Peerage de-
sirable— at least, without a change of name. To sit in an Upper House, and
be graced by the Sovereign, might be an honour ; but it is one altogether apart
from all former ideas of Peerage. It was easy to carry this Bill through the
Chamber of Deputies : but what was to be done next ? There was no doubt
of a majority in the Upper House against the abolition of the hereditary
principle. It was necessary to create Peers for the occasion ; and there was
a creation of thirty-six. The Liberals were as angry as the Peers at this pro-
ceeding, which they considered illegal and tyrannical. The plea of the
government was the singular nature of the emergency. The Peers showed
their wrath in sullen silence : the Liberals in clamour. During the whole
proceeding, scarcely a sound was heard in the Upper Chamber. The voting
was conducted, as nearly as possible, as it would have been in an assembly of
ABOLITION OF THE the dumb. The majority by which the Hereditary Peerage was abolished in
PFEERREADJ™RY France was thirty-three. One touching incident which followed upon this
Annuaire Histo. act was that thirteen Peers sent in to the President of their Chamber, a week
>3> or two afterwards, their abdication of their rank and privileges. In their
letters, they assigned as their reason the abolition of the hereditary principle.
The President received the letters, but refused to read them aloud. In con-
sidering the conduct of the British House of Lords with regard to the
Reform Bill, it should be borne in mind what was passing in France. When
there was a threat of a large creation of Peers to carry the Bill, it was by a
natural association of ideas that British noblemen, seeing what was doing at
Paris, apprehended the abolition of their hereditary dignities, and looked
upon their eldest sons as too likely to become Commoners, while the family
titles and honours would either expire, or be given to some stranger, as the
reward of public service, to pass at his death to some other stranger. That
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 161)
such were the apprehensions of some nobles at home, while the thing was 1831.
actually done in France, there can be no doubt ; nor ought there to be much v— — - -
wonder.
The new Electoral LaAV, the French Reform Bill, was the most important ELECTORAL LAW.
subject of alHhat had occurred since the days of July. The number of electors
to the Chamber of Deputies had hitherto been about 94,000 for the whole
kingdom; and their qualification had consisted in the payment of yearly
taxes to the amount of 300 francs (12/.). The Ministers proposed to double
the number, taking the electors from the largest taxpayers. The project was
not approved ; and, after much debate, the Bill that was carried provided a
constituency somewhat exceeding 200,000, in a population of 30,000,000, the
qualification being lowered to the payment of 9/. per annum in taxes. That
a constituency so small should have satisfied a people who had achieved a
revolution for the sake of it, indicates that the principle of a representative
system of government was little understood as yet in France. There was one,
however, who understood it but too well : and that was the King. He now
sanctioned the law ; and, from this first year of his reign to its last day, he
was employed in virtually narrowing the constituency, and extending his own
power over it by means of patronage, till, in the imminent peril that the re-
presentation would become as mere a mockery as in the time of his prede-
cessor, his strong hand^of power was snatched away from the institution which
he had grasped for his own purposes. In 1831, however, he accepted the
new Electoral Law, and congratulated his people on the enlargement of their
repi-esentative rights.
Nothing in the record of this period is more interesting to us now than to
read the declarations on the principles of the politics of the day made by two
men, conspicuous in that and in abater revolution — the King and M. Guizot. PARTIES.
M. Guizot was a member of the King's first Administration, and of his last.
We find on record the opinions of both, in this first year of the revolution, on
the character of the two great parties — of the Movement and of Resistance.
On the opening of the new Chamber in July of this year, M. Guizot declared
himself to be, where it was the business of the government to be, between
these two parties. After declaring that the Resistance — the Conservative —
party would be gradually won upon by the blessings of good government, he
said to the Chamber, " The other is the party that you have to deal with. Annuaire mst.
That party, which I will not call the republican, but the bad revolutionary 1831f p'
party, weakened and exhausted, is, at this time, thank God, incapable of re-
pentance and amendment. The revolution of July is all that there was good,
sound, and national in our first revolution ; and the whole converted into a
government. This is the struggle which you have to maintain — between the
revolution of July — that is, between all that is good, sound, and national from
1789 to 1830, and the bad revolutionary party — that is, the rump of our first
revolution, or, all that there was of\ ad, unsound, and anti-national, from 1789
to 1830." The King, in a speech\ a answer to a provincial address, in the
early part of the year, had given his view of this matter, in terms familiar at
this day to all who have ears : " We endeavour to preserve the just medium Annuaire Hist.
(juste milieu}, equally distant from the excesses of popular power on the one
hand, and the abuses of royal power on the other." This phrase, "un juste
VOL. II. Z
170 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK IV.
1831. milieu," thus creditable in its origin, became discredited by subsequent events.
^— ~v~^-" It was from this moment indissolubly associated with the policy of the King
and his Cabinet; and it presently came to share their disgraces. After having
for years heard it used as the nickname of a tampering and hypocritical
despotism, it is interesting to revert to the origin of this familiar term.
1832. From this time a cursory view of the politics of France presents little but a
PRESS PROSECU. painful spectacle of a disguised conflict between the King and his people.
In 1832, the King began his prosecutions of the press, which were carried on
for the rest of his reign to such an extent as makes the historical reader
wonder that they were endured so long as they were. It was not only that
newspapers were watched over and punished for their political articles, but
that paragraphs in ridicule or censure of the King himself were laid hold of,
and the authors subjected to cruel imprisonment. It required no small
courage to brave such hatred as the King incurred when, for a libel against
himself, he snatched a young man from his bride and his home, and shut him
up for a term of years — the victim fainting three times while his head was
shaved on his entering his prison after sentence. When such punishments
were inflicted by tens, by fifties, the King could not expect to be beloved, even
by those to whom the name of Public Order was most sacred. And he showed
no sign of a desire to be beloved, but only to preserve order by the means
which seemed to him best. The excuse of his libellers was, that he merged
his function of King in that of Minister — that he did not reign, but govern ;
and that he had therefore no right to complain of the same amount of criticism
and comment which would be put up with by any one of his Ministers. He
chose, however, to be both Minister and King, and he compelled others, as
well as himself, to take the consequences. Within three years of the acces-
sion of Louis Philippe, the number of prosecutions of the press on the part of
Annual Register, the governmejit was 411. Out of this number, there were 143 condemnations.
This was not exactly the method of government that the nation had hoped to
obtain by their revolution : but they bore with more than could previously
have been expected. They were weary of changes and tumults; and thankful
to be spared the expense and burden of war. In the hope that the resources
of the country would improve under a peace-policy, like that of Louis
Philippe, the great middle classes of France were willing to bear with much,
in order to gain time, and wait for natural change. The discontents of the
injured therefore showed themselves in acts without concert — in attacks on
INSURRECTIONS, the King's life, and libels against his character; and in occasional insurrec-
tions. Among the most formidable of these were two in 1832 — one in Paris,
on occasion of the funeral of General Lamarque, and supposed to be the work
of the republican party ; and the other in La Vendee, for the purpose of re
storing the old branch of the Bourbons in the person of the Due de Bourdeaux,
whose mother conducted the insurrection. During the revolt in Paris, the
capital was declared in a state of siege ; on the legality of which there were
endless discussions afterwards — hurtful to the influence of the government.
The provincial insurrection was put down, and the Duchess de Berri taken
prisoner. The affair ended in a manner most mortifying to the exiled family,
and ludicrous in all other eyes. The devoted mother, the widow of the
murdered prince, the pathetic symbol in her own person of the woes of the
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 171
banished line, gave birth to an infant in prison, and was thereby compelled to 1832.
avow a private marriage in Italy. Every body laughed at this proof of a * ^ — '
divided devotion, and the heroine was allowed, on her recovery, to go where Annuaire His.
she would. She did not go to Holyrood, to meet the reproaches of the sufferers
whom she had made ridiculous.
It was after these revolts that the vigilant among French patriots observed 1833.
with uneasiness the stealthy progress of measures for fortifying Paris. Strong PAEM.*"
works were rising in commanding positions round the capital : and when
inquiry was made, the name of Napoleon was put forth by Marshal Soult.
Napoleon had resolved to fortify Paris ; and had fixed on these very positions.
But then, it was answered, that was during the Hundred Days, when he had
reason to apprehend attacks from all the world. France was not now in ap-
parent danger of invasion from any quarter : and the vigilant intimated their
suspicion that these fortifications were intended to be held, not for but against
Paris. In 1833, the Minister required from the Chamber, when he brought
in his Budget, a grant of 2,000,000 francs (above 83,000^.) for carrying on the Annuaire Hist.
works. The Deputies protested against a series of detached forts, and de-
manded that, if there were any fortifications at all, they should be in the form
of circuit walls, which might be manned, against a foreign enemy, by the
National Guard or the citizens. The government held to its right to fortify
the towns of the kingdom in its own way, without being called to account
about the method; and the Chamber refused the amount by a large majority.
The works, however, proceeded: the vigilance of the citizens increased: there
was reason to apprehend a forcible demolition of these works — raised by in-
visible funds : and at length the workmen were dismissed, and all was quiet
for a time.
In the affairs of government, however, there was no quiet. There were 1834.
several changes of Ministry during the year 1834 — more suppression of
Journals and Political Societies ; more riots in Paris and Lyons ; and at one
time, some danger of a war with the United States, about a money claim
which France at last hastened to satisfy, to avoid war. The King made more CHARACTERISTICS
and more advances towards being the sole ruler of the country, with mere OF
servants under him in the name of Ministers. The substantial middle class
grew more and more afraid of disturbance, the longer they enjoyed the bless-
ings of external order. They escaped the qualms of a consciousness of their
having bartered freedom for quiet, by endeavouring, as much as possible, to
avoid the whole subject of politics. Those who felt the despotism, in their
consciences, intellects, and affections, became disheartened under this apathy
and contentedness of the middle classes, and stirred less and less under the
incubus. It was no wonder that the King himself, and large classes of his
people, and almost all foreigners, believed that his system was completely
succeeding — that he had found out the way to govern the French — and that
his reign would be memorable in history as the close of a long period of dis-
turbance— memorable for its strengthening success from the beginning
onwards, and for its peaceful close. Yet there were men in England at that
date — sensible and moderate men — who said that Louis Philippe might possi-
bly, though not probably, die a King : but that if he did, he would be the
last : and that no son of his would ever be King of the French. At the close
172 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1834. of this period, however, he seems himself to have been satisfied with his pro-
x"— " "v-~" — " gress, and sincerely believing that he was doing what was best for the people
under his care. By a rapid and perpetual extension of fuiictionarism — by
planting officials all over the country to do the work of central departments
seated in Paris — he was casting a net over France, by means of which he
could draw the representation into his own hands, and govern with ever im-
proving unity of plan — still and always for the nation's own good. Thus it
seems to have been with France at the close of 1834.
In the course of this year, a silent censor was removed — a witness of old
DEATH OF times whose presence was a perpetual rebuke to a Citizen King engaged in
fortifying Paris. Lafayette died in May, and was laid in the ground without
commotion — owing partly to the strong force of soldiery sent to the spot
on the pretext of military honours to the deceased, and partly to the timidity
and apathy which had grown on the middle classes A vast multitude, orderly
and silent, attended the funeral ; and there was no discourse at the grave. It
was left to other countries to pronounce his funeral discourse; and it was done,
as by one impulse, by all whom he had assisted to political freedom, from the
western boundaries of America to the depths of Germany. The reputation of
Lafayette, both in its nature and extent, is as striking a tribute to virtue as
can be furnished by any age. In him were collected all virtues but those
which require high intellectual power for their development : and he was at
least as much adored as any such idols of the time as had more intellectual
power and less virtue. It was a misfortune to the world that his magnanimity
had not as much of strength as it had of purity; for he was repeatedly placed
in those critical positions when an individual will, put forth at a moment's
warning, decides the destiny of a nation. On such occasions, he showed him-
self weak ; and, through the same irresolution, such services as he rendered
to his country were of a somewhat desultory nature, and seldom fully success-
ful. But the love in which he was held showed that, for once, a man was
estimated by the true rule — by what he was, and not by what he did. He
could not achieve great enterprises; but he could meet danger anywhere,
endure loathsome imprisonment at Olmiitz, protest against wrong in the
French Convention, fight under Washington for American independence, de-
cline the headship of the republic in France, in order to put the crown on the
head of Louis Philippe ; and when he found that he had therein committed an
error, retire to his farm, to end his life in humility and silence. He could
pass through a life of 76 years without showing a sign of selfish ambition,
or any other kind of cupidity. He traversed a purgatory of human
passions without a singe from any flame, or a single flutter of fear in his
heart; the angel of compassion walking with him as his guard in that furnace.
His goodness so clothes his whole image to men's eyes that they forget his
rank, and do not inquire for his talents ; and, in our age and state of society,
this is the strongest possible testimony to the nobleness of his character.
Lafayette was born of a noble family in Auvergne, in 1757, and early married
a lady of rank equal to his own. He died, in his 77th year, on the 20th of
Ammaire Hist. MaV, 1834.
1834, p. 2'.3. J}
1830. At the very first revolutionary stir in Europe, Belgium began to move. The
SEPARATION OF arbitrary union of Holland and Belgium had never answered ; and Belgium
BELGIUM A\O
HOLLAND.
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 173
was now bent on its being dissolved. There was no power of compulsion 1830,
existing which could enforce a longer union against the will of a nation, v-x~v-x^/
however small, which was unanimous in a desire to live by itself, and after its
own manner : so, after much marching and counter-marching of the Prince of
Orange and his troops, and the rising of an insurgent army, and messages
from the King, and consultations of the States General, and a grand conclud-
ing bombardment of Antwerp, which called in the Allies to interfere, the inde-
pendence of Belgium was declared at Brussels, in November, 1830; a monar-
chical government was decided on, and a vote of exclusion passed against the
House of Orange. The Dutch people showed no particular reluctance to the
separation; and there was therefore nothing to be done but to give up
Antwerp to the Belgians, and leave them to settle their own affairs. It is
somewrhat amusing at this day to the English traveller to hear at Rotterdam
the carping statements of Dutch merchants, and to witness their eagerness to
disparage the trade of Antwerp ; and at Antwerp to see the efforts made to
exhibit its small commerce to the best advantage. It is, on a large scale, the
spectacle of a village shop-partnership dissolved in a quarrel, where each party
keeps a watch over his neighbour's custom, and is sure he cannot live by it,
while neither wishes that the two concerns should come together again. The
rest of the world hopes that there may be business enough for both ; and in
the separation of Holland and Belgium, both had the good wishes of England.
The Dutch heir-apparent had been educated by an English Archbishop, and
had been a suitor for the hand of the Princess Charlotte — a suitor refused only
by herself, and not from any ill-will in other quarters ; and the Prince finally
chosen by the Belgians to be their new King was the husband of the Princess
Charlotte, and the uncle of the presumptive heiress of the British throne.
Thus was England in amity with both countries when Prince Leopold became
King of the Belgians. There was trouble for some time afterwards, from the PRINCE LEOPOLD
difficulty that was naturally found in bringing the Dutch government to ac- BELGIAN CROWN.
quiesce in the new arrangements, and from some fear that France and England
might have to sustain the cause of Belgium against Holland, supported by the
other Allied Powers. It was by French arms at last that the citadel of
Antwerp was compelled to evacuate its Dutch garrison. France was by this
time closely united to the interests of Belgium. The King of the French re-
fused the sovereignty for his son, the Duke de Nemours, to whom it was
offered at the beginning of the struggle : but he gave his eldest daughter to
share the throne of Belgium with Leopold, the marriage taking place in the
autumn of 1832.
It was in the autumn of 1830, that the little Duchy of Brunswick threw 1830.
off the annoyance of its turbulent young ruler. By advice of the British and BHl'NSWIt K-
other sovereigns, the brother of the absconding Duke assumed his place and
government, according to the invitation of his subjects. — In Saxony, the cry SAXONY.
for various reforms was so strong that the King, an indolent devotee, asso-
ciated his nephew with him in the government, as joint Regent, the young
man's father, Duke Maximilian, passing over in his favour his own right of
succession to the throne. — Duke Frederick Augustus thus became the virtual
ruler of Saxony. — In Hesse Cassel, the people were up, demanding and oh- HESSB CASSEL.
taining a constitution. — There was a dispute about the succession at Baden. — BADEN.
174 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830. In Switzerland, the governments of the respective Cantons, threatened by the
^— ^— —^ stir within and beyond their country, hastened to propitiate popular feeling by
SWITZE.U.AND. a reform Of abuses, and amelioration of institutions, and a grant of stronger
1831. guarantees of liberty. — In the next year, there were insurrections in several
ITALY. Qf faQ Italian states ; but the troops of Austria marched down, presently
1833. restored order, and precluded all ameliorations in the government. — In Spain,
n™™ OF THE the King died in 1833, of apoplexy, occasioned by over-eating. His little
daughter, then three years old, was declared Queen, under the Regency of her
mother, that Christina of whom France and England have since had occa-
sion to know so much. These two governments were the first to acknowledge
the young Queen of Spain. The other governments of Europe kept aloof
DON CARLOS. till it could be seen what would become of Don Carlos, the Pretender, who
had now been driven from the soil of Spain, and had taken refuge in Portugal.
This Pretender was, for a course of years after this, of some consequence to
England; for he served as a last refuge for the sympathies and hopes of the
extreme Tories, when disappointed of all that they desired and hoped at home.
It is necessary for such sympathies, and for that royalist imagination which has
in it much that is venerable and beautiful, to have some object on which to
exercise themselves; and the world is seldom without some fugitive Prince,
devoutly persuaded of his own right to some throne, who leads brave men with
him, and is cheered on by romantic admirers from afar. There were now no
more Stuarts; and Don Miguel, of Portugal, was too bad even for romance to
advocate: but here was Don Carlos of Spain, whose case actually bore a
dispute, who had lived among mountain fastnesses, and was now in exile, but
likely to return; and here was the Whig administration espousing without
hesitation, and in conjunction with revolutionary France, the cause of the
infant Queen, and hastening to acknowledge her sovereignty. It was no
wonder that a Peer here and there, and a few rich Commoners, seeing all
going to wreck at home in the passage of the Reform Bill, retired to their
estates, and there studied the map of Spain-, and thence wrote to the Spanish
Pretender accounts of the progress of revolution in England, and offers of
PORTUGAL. sympathy, service, and hospitality, in case of need. — In Portugal, Don Pedro
conducted the war against his guilty brother in person — amidst much hard-
1834. ship and many reverses, till, in 1834, having been assisted by British ships
and a Spanish army, he drove the Usurper from the Peninsula, assembled the
Cortes, was appointed to the Regency on the 28th of August, and died on the
PE'DRO' °* D°N 22iid of September. Two days before his death, the Queen was declared of age
by a decree of the Cortes, who feared to commit the powers of government to
any other hand. Some steps had been already taken in regard to her marriage,
U! an(^ on ^ne ^s^ °^ Decemher she married the Duke de Leuchtenberg, the son
of Eugene Beauharnois, and already a family connexion by marriage. The
union seemed to promise well, as far as the character of the young man was
concerned ; but it was presently dissolved. The marriage had taken place by
HER WIDOWHOOD, proxy : the Prince arrived in Portugal in February, and in March died of sore-
throat occasioned by cold.
These events in the West of Europe were interesting; but less so than what
TURKEY*" was 8°*n» on in *ne East. The Pasha of Egypt was acquiring the possessions
of Turkey almost as fast as his forces could march over them. Under the
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 175
command of his adopted son and avowed heir, Ibraheem Pasha, his army had 1832.
taken possession of the whole of Syria — perhaps not much to the discontent of •*— -^-— — -
the Syrians themselves — and by the end of 1832, the Egyptian general had
passed the Taurus, on his way to Constantinople. The abasement of Turkey
was extreme. It was this Egyptian vassal whose aid had supported her in
her struggle with the Three Powers ; and now, what could she do but appeal
to Russia for assistance against her own vassal ? The next year, she did so
appeal, to the great annoyance of France and England, whose object was to
keep Turkey out of the grasp of Russia. Mohammed Alee was remonstrated
with ; and he showed gretit moderation in the midst of some anger. He had
made war only when the Porte had interfered with what he considered his
right to conduct a quarrel of his own with a brother vassal — the governor of
Acre. He made no difficulty about stopping the march of his army ; but,
before Ibraheem turned back, he had obtained from the Porte all that he
chose to demand. Early in the summer of 1833, Mohammed Alee found
himself master of all the provinces from the borders of Asia Minor to the un-
known retreats of the infant Nile; and he had himself learned, and had shown
the world, how easy it was to march upon Constantinople, and knock at the
doors of the Sultaun's seraglio. It was of his own free pleasure that Ibra-
heem turned back now. He was soon seen in every part of the Syria he had
won for his father, taking barbarous vengeance on his enemies, when so in-
clined, but, at the same time, building hospitals, repairing mosques, promot-
ing agriculture, taking an interest in manufactures, and every where securing,
with the whole force of his authority, toleration and good treatment of the
Christians.
Russia had answered promptly and gladly to the appeal of the Porte for
protection; but she had some engrossing affairs on her hands elsewhere. It
was during the revolutionary autumn of 1830 — that season of political earth- POLAND.
quake — that the oppressions of the Russian Grand Duke Constantino at
Warsaw became so intolerable, that it may be questioned whether they would
not have produced the same results, whether the rest of Europe were on the
stir or in a dead sleep. Some students of the Military School had drunk to
the memory of Kosciusko, and other heroes. The Grand Duke caused two
successive commissions to sit on this offence ; and the decision being in each
case, that there was no ground for punishment, the Grand Duke took the
affair into his own hands, and, without warrant of law, ordered some of the
youths to be flogged and others imprisoned. The young men rose : the Polish
part of the garrison joined them; and then the townspeople began to act. U*VOLT.
They helped themselves with arms from the arsenal, and aided in driving out
the Russian soldiery, amidst fearful bloodshed, from the streets of Warsaw.
It was on the 29th of November that the students rose; and on the 3rd of
December, Constantino was travelling towards the frontier, having recom-
mended all establishments, persons, and property, to the protection of the
Polish nation.
In this short interval, six Polish nobles had taken the place of some ob-
noxious members in the Administrative Council, and had presented to the
Grand Duke their propositions for various reforms, and their demand for the
fulfilment of the constitution. Every thing was still done in the name of the
176 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
Emperor. When Constantine set out on his journey home, it was thought at
Warsaw so doubtful how the Emperor would receive the tidings of what had
happened, that it would be as well to provide for defence, if he should be very
angry. The Poles did not yet know Nicholas, and the character and power of
his wrath. The day was coming when fierce torture of the heart and mind
was to show what it was. It was nothing uncommon to be forming and ex-
ercising a force, as the Poles now were. They were a military people ; and
their organization had been kept up by Russia. The worst feature in their
case was the absence of any port. They had no command of the sea, either
for the arrival of aid, or for facility of escape. At the close of the year their
prospect was an anxious one. If Russia should be incensed, Prussia and
Austria would join her to put down the nuisance of Poland. But the die was
cast. News must soon arrive. Meantime, the Commander-in-Chief, Klopicki,
was made Dictator, in case of its being necessary to prosecute the rebellion.
It was necessary. The first news from St. Petersburg was, that the Emperor
promised to inflict signal vengeance for the " horrid treason " of the Poles.
And the Emperor kept his word. At the beginning of the year, 1831, his
wrath was announced to the Polish nation ; and at the beginning of February,
STRUGGLE. ^s armies began to pass over the frontier. When it had become clear that
Poland must declare for independence, the Dictatorship had been exchanged
for a Council of State, consisting of a few of the most eminent patriots.
POLES' °F THB Before the end of the year, all was over ; the constitution of Poland was
withdrawn : she was declared "an integral part of Russia:" her nobles were
on the way to Siberia; her high-born ladies were delivered over for wives to
the common soldiers on the frontier ; her tenderly reared infants were carried
away in waggon loads to be made Russians, and trained to worship the Czar.
Polish law was abolished : the Polish language was prohibited : and the
Emperor uttered his declaration to listening Europe, " Order reigns in
Warsaw."
The spectacle of the conflict had been one of intense interest to the world
outside. The struggle had been a brave, an able, and, under the circum-
stances, a long one : and there were times when the most anxious observer*
had some hope that the Poles might succeed. The word "hope" may be
used here without reserve, because the sympathy was almost all on one side.
The highest Conservatives might and did sympathize with the Polish rebels;
for there were no higher Conservatives in the world than these Polish rebels
themselves. If their deep-rooted conservatism, their intensely aristocratic
spirit, had been understood by the Liberals of Europe and America from the
beginning, there would perhaps have been less sympathy in their efforts, and
certainly less hope of their success. It was not till long afterwards that the
cii\R»<TRR()F discovery was made that the Poles had been fighting — for nationality, it is
THE STRUtiGLt. ., • 1 f 1 1111 1 "I/.
true — but not lor national freedom : that they had not the remotest idea of
giving any liberty to the middle and lower classes of their people; and that
they carried their proud oligarchical spirit with them into the mines of Siberia,
the drawing-rooms of London and Paris, and the retreats of the Mississippi
Valley. This is not mentioned as a matter of censure, but of plain fact,
which it is necessary to know, in order to the understanding of their case.
They strove for all that they understood ; and they did for the rescue of their
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 177
nationality, all that bravery and devotedness could do. To contend for popu- 1834.
lar freedom was another kind of enterprise, of which they had no conception
and for not understanding which, therefore, they cannot be blamed. But it is
to this inability that their utter destruction is now, at last, seen or believed to
be owing. They themselves impute their latter disasters to dissensions among
themselves : and there were dissensions enough to account for any degree of
failure. But it also seems clear that their cause was doomed from the begin-
ning, from the absence of any basis of popular sympathy. The great masses
were indifferent, or rather disposed in favour of Russian than of Polish rule.
They did not know that they should be better oif under a change, and they
might be worse : so they let the armies pass their fields, and scarcely looked
up as they went by. No cause could prosper under such a dead weight as
this. This view, now generally taken, is borne out by the impressions left by
the exiles in the countries where they have taken refuge. Every where, all
homes, all hearts, all purses, have been open to them ; for hard and narrow
must be the hearts and homes that would not welcome and receive strangers
so cruelly afflicted, and so insufferably oppressed : and every where the im-
pression left seems to be the same — that the Poles undertook an enterprise for
which they were not morally prepared. They could sacrifice their lives and
fortunes ; and they could fight bravely and most skilfully for any cause to
which they would give the lustre of their arms. But something more than
these things, fine as they are, is required to entitle men to the honour of the
last contention for nationality : — an humble industry must be united to the
magnanimous courage of the battle-field : aristocratic pride must be laid down
when its insignia are thrown into the common cause : and the most intense
hatred of tyranny is an insufficient qualification, if it be not accompanied by
an answering enthusiasm for human liberties wherever there are human hearts
to be ennobled by the aspiration. Many of the Polish exiles have caught
something of this enthusiasm in the countries over which they have been
scattered by their revolution : but it does not appear to have been the moving
force of their struggle for nationality in 1831.
VOL. ii.
2 A
178 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
CHAPTER XIV.
1830 34. rpHE accession of William IV. was really enjoyed by his people as affording
'— — ^ -*- exercise to their loyal feelings, and giving them the opportunity so dear
Sum!"* 'N EN° to Englishmen of talking about royal doings, and obtaining an occasional
glimpse of regality itself. Through the illness of George III. and the morbid
fancies of his successor, royalty had for many years lived so retired as to be
known only in its burdens and its perplexities. Now it came forth again, not
only on Windsor Terrace, but into the very streets, and sometimes on foot —
with friendly face and cordial manners. Amusing stories — amusing to most
people, but shocking to Lord Eldon — were soon abroad of the curious liberties
taken by forward and zealous people, in their delight at finding themselves not
afraid of royalty. On one of the first occasions of their Majesties' going to
Annual Register, tne theatre in state, there was an exhibition of placards in gallery and pit,
evidently by concert — placards bearing the words "Reform," and "Glorious
King." At a word from a policeman, the placards were withdrawn : but here
was a " revolutionary symptom" for the timid to exercise their apprehensions
THE CORONATION, upon. The Coronation, which took place on the 8th of September, 1831, was
i83™chroen.lsuo.' a quiet affair, befitting the accession of a Sovereign who was humbly and
reasonably aware that his reign must be short, and undistinguished by any
energetic personal action. There was no banquet, and the royal procession
returned through the streets at three o'clock. The King and his Ministers
gave great dinners at home, and London was illuminated in the evening.
THE PRINCESS There was one person, present in all minds, who was absent from the cere-
mony— she who was, in all probability, to fill the principal place at the next.
It was given out that the state of the Princess Victoria's health made it de-
sirable that she should remain in retirement in the Isle of Wight: and
perhaps it was best, considering her tender age, and her peculiar position, that
she should. She was only twelve years old ; and, if certain authorities are to
be trusted, had only within a year become fully aware that a regal destiny was
before her.
It was now time that overt preparation for that destiny should be made, if
it was to be done, as it ought to be done, gradually. In the next year, we see
her beginning a series of tours, wherein were embraced all the good objects of
health, of her becoming acquainted with the principal institutions, monu-
ments, and scenes of the country of which she was to be Sovereign, and of her
being inured to move in public. In 1831, the journey comprehended the
singular old city of Chester, several cathedrals, some noblemen's seats, where
the royal party were entertained, and ending with the University of Oxford.
During these tours, the young princess, who at home was wont to walk out in
thick shoes and a warm cloak, in all weathers, on a common or through fields
and lanes, was familiarized with the gaze of a multitude, and with processions,
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 179
addresses, and observances, such as she must hereafter be accustomed to for 1830 — 34.
her whole life. The management was good ; and we may suppose the recrea- ' — -^
tion was pleasant; for it has been kept up. Of all royal recreations,
there can be none more unquestionably good than that of an annual tour. If
there is more dulness and constraint, and less intellectual freedom and stir, in
royal life than in any other, this is a natural safeguard and remedy, as far as
it goes. A large accession of ideas must accrue from annual travel; and there
is no other method by which the distance between sovereign and people can
be so much and so naturally diminished as by the sovereign going forth from
the palace among universities and towns and villages, and scattered dwellers
on wild heaths and the sea-shore. To those that hope that the practice and
its pleasures may be renewed for many many years, it is interesting to mark
its formal beginning, in the autumn of 1832.
Amidst all the alarms talked about by the anti-reformers during the " re-
volutionary period" under our notice, there was less danger and even disre-
spect to Majesty than has been common in much quieter times. It was ASSAULT ON THE
impossible for a sovereign to incur the consequences of a change of mind
about a course of policy to which he stood pledged without suffering more or
less : but William IV. was gently dealt with, considering the circumstances.
The utmost suspicion could not make out that his life was in danger from
political discontents : and on the two occasions when his life was threatened,
the ill-conditioned wretches who threw the stone and wrote the letter gave ^"ch^o^r"'
their private wrongs and wants as their excuse. On the first occasion, a 183*>chron-27-
depraved old pensioner, five times turned out of Greenwich Hospital for mis-
conduct, thought he " would have a shy at the King," and put stones in his
pocket for the purpose. At the first " shy," he struck the King on the fore-
head, as his Majesty was looking out of the window at Ascot races. But that
he wore his hat, the King might have been seriously hurt. As it was, he
was somewhat stunned, but presented himself again at the window before
there was time for alarm. Though this happened at so critical a season as
June, 1832, it was impossible for the most ingenious alarmist to connect it
with politics.
There is little in this period to yield comfort as to the state of popular
enlightenment. The proceedings of the Dorsetshire labourers were marked ^^AH IoNO"
by an astonishing barbaiism. In introducing agricultural labourers into their
union, they used death's heads, and hobgoblin mysteries, the very mention of
which carries back the imagination five hundred years\ — During the years
1831 and 1832, we find records of Enclosure Riots, of a formidable kind. In
one place, the poor people fancied that fencing in boggy land was against the
law altogether; and in another, that the law expired in twenty-one years
from the first enclosure in 1808 : and in both these instances, the levelling
of fences went on, night after night, till nothing was left : and the soldiers
were pelted, and exasperated proprietors were wounded, and a world of mis-
chief done because the poor people knew no better than to suppose they were
struggling for their rights. — Then, we have more Combination horrors — more
ferocity towards capitalists, and tyranny over operatives, exercised by a very
few worthless meddlers, who feasted on the earnings of the honest but un-
enlightened men whom they made their tools. We find the leaders of strikes
180 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon IV.
1830 — 34. cutting pieces out of the looms, and thrashing and stabbing men who were
content with their wages, and only anxious to be left free to maintain their
families by their own industry. — One of the most formidable riots of the time
Annnai Register, took place on the day appointed for a General Fast, on account of the cholera
— the 21st of March, 1832. An ignorant and violent association, which called
itself the Political Union of the Working Classes, and which subsisted for
only a short time, failing in all its aims, raised a fearful mob-power by offer-
ing to feed the hungry with bread and meat, in Finsbury Square, instead of
observing the Fast. Alarmed at their prospect when it was too late, they failed
to appear ; and no bread and meat were forthcoming. It is said that the
assemblage of the hungry that day — amidst a season of deep distress — was
enough to appal the stoutest heart. The emaciated frames and haggard faces
were sad to see ; but far worse was the wrath in their eyes at the mockery,
as they conceived it, of an order to fast to avert the cholera, when here were
above 20,000 poor creatures in danger of cholera from fasting and other evils
of destitution. As their wrath and their hunger increased, and the women
among them grew excited, conflicts with the police began; and before the
multitude were dispersed to their wretched lurking places, more hungry than
they came, there had been some severe fighting. More than twenty of the
police were wounded, and many of the crowd. — The incitements to rick-
burning, machine-breaking, and seizure of corn, addressed to the agricultural
population in 1831 by Carlile and Cobbett, were so gross as would not have
been dreamed of in any country where the barbarous ignorance of the rural
labourers might not be confidently reckoned on. Whether it was wise in the
government to prosecute these two profligate writers, affording thereby an
Annual Register, effectual advertisement of their sedition, may be a question : but the trials
95. ' stand out as an exposition of the popular barbarism, and the low demagoguism
ANATOMY BILL, of the time. — The murders for the sake of selling bodies for dissection did not
cease after the retribution on Burke and Hare, but rather increased — as it is
usual for fantastic or ferocious crimes to do, while the public mind is strongly
excited about them. The disappearance and proved murder of Italian boys
and other homeless and defenceless beings was hastening the day when the
law should be so altered as to permit Anatomy to find its own resources in a
legal and recognised manner : and the settlement of the matter was further
accelerated by an incident which fixed a good deal of attention in 1832. A
woman who knew herself to be likely to die, and believed that her disease was
an unusual one, desired her brother to deliver over her corpse to a public hospi-
tal, and to spend in charity what her funeral would have cost. The brother
obeyed the directions. As it appeared that the law rendered interment neces-
sary, the remains were buried from the hospital. The brother was brought
before the Hatton Garden magistrate under a vague notion of his having done
something shocking and illegal. On a full hearing on a subsequent day, it
appeared that he and the officers of the hospital were entirely blameless; the
magistrate closing the business by informing the prisoner "that he had not
violated the laws of the country, but, on the other hand, had acted in strict
accordance with them." As far as the public were concerned, thp sister's
memory was not left without its share of admiring gratitude. In the next
2 & 3 will. iv. session, Mr. Warburton introduced and carried a Bill, by which the provision
c. 84. 3rd August,
1833.
CHAP. XIV.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 181
for the dissection of bodies of murderers was repealed, and the association of 1830 34.
disgrace with dissection thereby extinguished ; and by which facilities were — --^—^
offered for anatomists to avail themselves of the wish or permission of dying
persons and survivors, while abuse was excluded by a machinery of certifi-
cates and registration.
By this time, the imperfect character of medical education was beginning MEDICAL EDUCA.
_to_hguseen and admitted : and in 1830, we find great improvements in course
of introduction by the Society of Apothecaries' Hall, and prescribed to students Annual Register,
t i or>r> -i i T -, 1830, Chron. 151.
as regulations. In 1828, the student was not obliged to attend more than six
courses of lectures : in 1829, it must be ten courses ; in 1830, fourteen.
There must be more hospital practice, and a more extended examination before
candidates could be admitted to the profession. The subject of medical
qualification was kept painfully before the public mind in this and two suc-
ceeding years by the results of the quack-practice of a young man, once a
portrait-painter, named St. John Long, who believed that he had discovered
an infallible ointment, and method of treating the sores that it caused. While
mourning over the ignorance of the populace, we must not lose sight of that
of the educated classes, as they are called. Long's patients were of the
moneyed classes ; and his rooms were besieged by ladies and gentlemen who
supposed that one particular ointment would cure all their various complaints :
— they adhered to their young doctor in the face of all the deaths that were
taking place under his treatment ; and when he died, in 1834, the " secret "
of his ointment was sold for several thousand pounds. In September, 1830,
an inquest was held on the body of a young lady who was one of the victims
of his quackery ; and in consequence of the verdict, Long was brought to trial,
and convicted of manslaughter. Not the less for this, do we find him, the
next February, on his trial again for the death of a healthy person, who had
applied to him on account of a slight and common ailment, and who died in
torture under his treatment in a month's time. On this trial the fact came
out that Long was making 12,000/. a year. His plea in the present case was,
the malice of his enemies, by which he was kept away from his patient in her
last moments, when he should have recovered her. The jury, evidently not
enlightened enough to see the ignorance shown in the principle of Long's
practice, and naturally impressed by the array of gentry of " the highest
respectability," who came forward to vindicate his qualifications, returned,
after some delay, a verdict of Not Guilty : whereupon " several elegantly- Annual Register,
dressed ladies went to the prisoner, and shook him cordially by the hand."
The young man, who may have believed in his own specific, had only three
years more in which to torture his patients, and let their flatteries and their
guineas flow in upon him : but the spirit of quackery did not die with him,
nor the propensity to it in his admirers — the ignorant of the "educated classes."
Just at the time when Long was laid in his grave, an innkeeper at York was
sentenced to six months' imprisonment for manslaughter of an invalid by ad-
ministering the Morrison's Pills which have since sent so many to the church-
yard before their time. — The thing wanted evidently is such an advance of
physiological and medical knowledge as shall exalt that knowledge into real
science. While the best medical practice is yet but empirical, there will be
unqualified as well as educated empirics; and portrait-painters and inn-
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [EooK IV.
1830 — 34. keepers, if they can but lay hold of a specific, may number their patients by
— - ^^-». — thousands.
CRIMINAL TRIALS. jn tne m{^ Of tne incendiarism of the Carliles and Cobbetts of the time,
the popular respect for and trust in the law was enhanced by some incidents,
otherwise purely painful, wherein justice was made to visit persons of " pro-
perty and standing" as if they had had neither property nor standing. The
never-ceasing and too just complaint that the friendless and over-tempted are
punished with hardness and indifference, while the well-friended and educated,
whose intelligence aggravates their offences, are, somehow or other, almost
always let off, had been prevalent, as usual, when Captain Moir — " William
Moir, gentleman," — was tried, in 1830, for the murder of a man whom he had
shot for trespass, very wantonly, and after repeated threats of mischief to his
Annual Register, victim. Captain Moir was hanged, as simply as his victim would have been
1830. Law Cases
sac.' ' if the act of aggression had been reversed. — In the same year, a lady was con-
victed for shop-lifting, who actually carried on her person at the moment of
iasTchroifVfs' *^e tneft> the sum °f 8,000/. in Bank notes and India bonds. She underwent
her punishment. In this case, if insanity had existed, it must have been
proved. All parties would have been too happy to admit the plea. It was no
doubt one of those cases of strong propensity for which neither our education,
law, nor justice makes provision. It is a case which makes the heart bleed: but
if such are not allowed for among the poor, who have so little advantage of
discipline, they cannot be among the rich, whose sin is in outrage of all re-
straining influences. The wretched woman of wealth suffered as if she had
been a hungry mother, snatching a loaf for famishing children at home. — In
the next year, a Scotch clergyman, " Minister of a Gothic chapel in Edin-
*837uchron*i79er> burgh> in high repute for his evangelical preaching," was tried on an
extensive indictment for book-stealing, found guilty of eleven acts of theft,
and transported for fourteen years. — To set against these acts of justice (in
common phrase) were a few which went as far to weaken popular trust in the
law as these to strengthen it. In a very gross case of shop-lifting in the
g' autumn °f 1832, by " two young ladies of high respectability," there was such
collusion as caused the escape of the culprits : the father was forewarned of the
warrant, "that he might not be taken by surprise," and so much time was
given that the minds of all the prosecuting parties had changed, and no one
would attempt to identify the thieves. — Far worse, however, were two cases,
which happened near together, of erroneous verdicts and hasty sentences —
cases so gross as must have made all the poor in the neighbourhood believe
that a criminal trial was a sort of lottery, as they had long concluded the
punishment of transportation to be. A man was convicted at Salisbury of
threatening a neighbour by letter with a fire on his farm, the judge telling
!!1;' him, with severity, that his crime was certainly not mitigated by his denial
after such evidence — "evidence which must satisfy every reasonable man,"
— and passing on him a sentence of transportation for life. Presently, the
prisoner's son came forward, and owned himself the writer of the letter, of
which his father had no knowledge whatever. As more letters had been sent
to neighbours, the sentenced man was tried on another accusation which
enabled him to bring forward the new evidence of his innocence. He was
" pardoned," as the insulting phrase is ; and the son, a mere youth, trans-
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 183
ported for seven years. — The other case occurred only a few weeks afterwards, 1830 — 34.
and was a very serious one. A receiver of stolen goods was convicted of hav- ^-~-~*~~-^
ins stolen them by an act of burglary, and sentenced to death, from which he Annual Register,
• . ' J .,,.. „, 1831, Chron. 65.
was saved only by great exertions. It was the manifest insufficiency of the
evidence which occasioned the efforts of those who saved him ; and the whole
affair was a disgrace. — While such a transaction as this was stimulating
the growing disapprobation of capital punishments, on the ground of the
tremendous risk to the innocent which they involve, the worthy magistrates of
Inverness were taking another ground, in an application to the Lord Advocate.
They exhibited their case : — that they had discharged their executioner ;
and that they would be subjected to very serious expense, if a man at present
in custody on a charge of murder should be sentenced to be hanged. If this
memorial had but been made sufficiently public at the time, who knows but
that the abolition of capital punishments might have been much hastened by
a general discharge of executioners ?
A Chinese advertisement was translated and sent to England at this time |TAES*M IN TH*
which excited a good deal of attention. The steamer King-fa, running
between 'Canton and a northern port, carried cows, a surgeon, a band of
music, and had rooms elegantly fitted up for opium smoking. It was now
clear that the eastern seas were to become steam-highways ; and it was time
that the English were assuming the lead, in this as in other enterprises of
world-wide interest. We find therefore trial made at Blackwall, in 1834, of
an iron steam-boat, to be used as a towing- vessel on the Ganges : and in the
same year, an application from the India merchants to government to establish
a regular communication from Malta to Alexandria, in order to facilitate their
correspondence with India. In the course of the negotiation, we find that a
steamer or a man-of-war was sent from Bombay up the Red Sea " about once
a year," and their Lordships of the Admiralty could not think of going to
any expense unless something more was done on the Bombay side. The face
of things has changed in the Mediterranean and the eastern seas since that
date.
A passion of admiration at the marvels and privileges of railway conveyance CONVEYANCE OR
runs through the records of this period. We are told of the coaches super-
seded, of the number of passengers and weight of parcels carried — the speed,
the ease, the safety : " but one fatal accident in eighteen months :" and of a
railway opened between Leeds and Selby, in 1834. A singularly interesting
passage is found, under the date 1832, in Mr. Babbage's "Economy of
Machinery and Manufactures," wherein we see shadowed forth in one sug- First edition, P.
gestion two of the mightiest enterprises of our time. After indicating the 274> *r
vast increase which might be looked for in epistolary correspondence, if the
time and cost of letter-carrying could be reduced, Mr. Babbage invites us to
imagine a series of high pillars, erected at frequent intervals as nearly as
possible in a straight line between two post towns — a wire being carried from
post to post, and so fixed as that it might be traversed by a tin cylinder which
should carry the letters. The cylinder was to be moved by being attached to
a smaller wire — an endless wire which would be wound round a drum by a
man placed at each station. We have an anticipation of the convenience of
two or three deliveries of letters per day in country places ; of the vast in-
184 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. crease of correspondence that would ensue, from the lessening of the cost of
"•"^ ~^^— conveyance, both in money and time ; an exposure of the clumsiness of the
then existing method of conveying the mails ; and a conception, remarkably
expressed, of a possibility of shooting thought through long spaces by wires
stretched above the road-side. " Nor is it impossible/' concludes Mr. Babbage,
" that the stretched wire might itself be available for a species of telegraphic
communication yet more rapid." This was a near approach to the machinery,
though not glancing at the principle, of the electric telegraph: and it would
at that time have startled even Mr. Babbage's alert imagination to have known
that in fifteen years there would be established, in the broad territories of the
United States, a means of communication so rapid as even to invert the order
of time, to set at defiance the terrestrial conditions of space and duration, so
that, by an electric telegraph between New York and Cincinnati, news is sent
of an event which, happening at noon in the one place, is known at five
minutes before noon at the other.
WR^cKsT* One use early made of the invention of waterproof cloth was for diving
m^'chroTms'. purposes. In 1832, some expert divers at Yarmouth, the crew of a small
cutter there, discovered for themselves, and to their great amazement, that
they could carry enormous weights under water, almost without being sensible
of them, and perform feats of what would be strength in an atmospheric
medium, which they could themselves hardly believe. The diver went down
in three dresses, the uppermost one being of India-rubber cloth, with a tube
inserted at the back of the neck, through which air was pumped from above
to meet the consumption by his lungs. The copper helmet he wore, with its
three glass windows pressed with a weight of 50 Ibs. upon his shoulders ; and
he carried down in bags 120 Ibs. of lead : yet he felt perfectly unencumbered as
he walked under the green water, and leisurely surveyed the wreck which he had
come to pillage. There he discovered that the large iron crowbar which he
took down with him — a tough instrument enough on board the cutter — could
be bent by him, on board the wreck, till its ends met. By a set of signals he
obtained what he wanted from his comrades overhead ; and when they sent
him down baskets, he returned them full of wine. — A diver at Portsmouth
was, during the same summer, exploring the wreck of the Boyiie, which had
sunk thirty-seven years before. He was to deliver over the copper he found
to the dockyard, and to keep every thing else. One part of his treasure was
wine — twenty-one bottles of port and claret, from the captain's store. As the
bottles, crusted with large barnacles, came up from the deep where they had
lain for thirty-seven years, persons were eager to purchase ; but the owner re-
fused twenty shillings a bottle, which was offered on deck. The Portsmouth
diver wore a lighter dress than the Yarmouth crew. When his simple leather
hood and Mackintosh dress were seen, men of enterprise began to think of
walking round the coasts of our islands, under the waves, to measure the in-
equalities of the submarine hills and valleys, picking up, as they roved over
hill and dale in the dim green light, the treasures of the wrecks which lie
strewn there, from the days of Julius Caesar to our own time.
LroKH?*u Before these adventurers descended into the depths, a philosopher had been
on certain heights of our islands whence he had brought down a discovery
which dazzled men's eyes, both literally and metaphorically. Lieut. Drummond
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 185
has since been known and honoured in the world of politics: but when he 1830 34.
became Lord Althorp's secretary, at the urgent desire of the whole Cabinet, v— • — • v— «— •
he said decidedly and repeatedly that his true vocation was the pursuit of
physical science in connexion with his profession, and that he should return
to it after a certain term of service in political life. He did not live to return
to the pursuit of science, but died worn out in devotedness to Ireland. Before
accepting any political office, he was engaged in a trigonometrical survey in
Ireland : and, being anxious to obtain as large a base for his triangle as pos-
sible, he pondered means of establishing signals between two distant mountain
summits. This desire led him to the discovery and use of the brightest light
at that time ever known — the Drummond light, as it was then called. It
was obtained by directing a stream of oxygen, and another of hydrogen, under
certain conditions, upon lime. The doubt was whether steadiness and perma-
nence could be ensured. No time was lost, however, in attempting practical
applications of it to purposes the most vast and the most minute. We find
records of trials of new lenses with this light, by which the mariner's star, the
beacon, would brighten to an ever-increasing magnitude ; and of microscopic
application of a light penetrating enough to show the whole interior organiza-
tion of a flea, and of animalcules of the ditch, which presented themselves as
transparent monsters of the deep.
Captain Ross and his comrades returned from the North Pole, and landed POL** DIS-
at Hull in 1833. They had discovered the Gulf of Boothia, and the Continent Annual Register,
and isthmus of Boothia Felix, and many islands, rivers, and lakes. They
brought home also a store of valuable observations, particularly on the magnet.
What remained to be discovered in connexion with the North West passage,
was now brought within such compass that no one doubted that a few years
would witness the completion of the survey.
In the last month of 1833, we find an announcement of an enterprise of a ISLINGTON CATTIE
MARKET
spirited individual, named Perkins, who had expended £100,000 in erecting a
cattle-market at Islington, covering 22 acres of ground, and ready to receive
4,000 beasts, 40,000 sheep, and calves and pigs in proportion. The projector,
and many other persons, were simple enough to believe that the nuisance of
Smithfield Market would now be abated; that there would soon be an end of
the danger to passengers in London streets from over-driven cattle; and of the
pollution of the cattle-market in a crowded district; and of the inevitable
cruelty used towards the animals in a space so crowded and inconvenient; and
of the badness of the meat, in consequence of the suffering condition of the
animals. — All this had been true for many years ; and it had been represented
again and again, and with great urgency, to Parliament: but the trustees of
various trusts, the inhabitants of Smithfield, and the cattle salesmen, had
always hitherto been too strong to permit a change; and they have been so to London, a., 3i>>.
this day. It should not be forgotten, however, that as early as 1833, an
opportunity was afforded for abating the nuisance of Smithfield Market.
A new choir, of great beauty, was erected in Peterborough Cathedral during PETERBOROUGH
this period, and the church was made once more what it was before it was
devastated by the Puritans. The expense was defrayed by a subscription
within the diocese, and the work was superintended by the dean, Dr. Monk,
who had become Bishop of Gloucester before it was finished.
VOL. n. 2 B
186 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK IV.
1830 — 34. The opening of the New London Bridge by their Majesties in August of
_'' — ~~^ — ' 1831, was kept as a holiday throughout London; and the occasion was truly
BRIDGE. o, great one. This was a farewell to the old bridge, with its memories of a
thousand years ; and here was a far surpassing work, which might carry on
the mind to a thousand years more. Here it was, in its strength and grace,
bestriding the flood with its five wide elliptical arches, without obstructing the
stream ; and here it was likely to stand, perhaps till bridges should be wanted
no more. The King was in an enthusiasm ; so exhilarating did he find the
grandeur of the scene and the beauty of the day. He told the gentlemen of
the Bridge Committee, as he stepped out of his barge, that he was most happy
to see them on London Bridge ; that it was certainly a most beautiful edifice,
and that the spectacle was in every way the grandest and the most delightful
that he ever had the pleasure to witness. — It was towards the end of 1832
that the last stone of the last arch of old London Bridge dropped into the
river ; and as the circles on the water were effaced, a historical scroll of many
centuries seemed to be closed for ever.
EDUCATION. London University was by this time advancing to a condition to receive its
charter: and King's College, London, was in a prosperous state, as to credit,
funds, students, and the number of schools in London — now seven — in con-
nexion with it. — An university being clearly wanted in the north of England,
that of Durham was projected, and its plan made known in 1831.
BRITISH ASSOCIA- In 1830 took place the first meeting of the British Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science; an institution of the time which, though not involving
all the benefit which the sanguine expected from it at first, has yet been the
occasion of too many advantages not to be noted in its origin. In a few years
it became evident that while the less qualified members of the scientific world
were delighted to run to these meetings, with their notions, and their self-
importance, and their admiration of the eminent, many of the greatest found
it inconvenient, and, from the throng of the idle and unscientific, even
irksome to attend ; and that a great deal of mere talk, and boast, and quackery,
must be put up with ; and especially that once a year was much too often for
the convenience of real hard students to leave home for such meetings. But
yet it was a noble thing for the wise in various departments of human know-
ledge to congregate and compare their discoveries and their views, and unite
their efforts, and support one another's undertakings, and indicate to govern-
ments the scientific aims which it rests with the rulers of the globe to see
fulfilled. At a later period it will fall in our way to note the influences and
enterprises of this Association. Here it is necessary only to record that its
origin is referrible to this period.
STATISTICS OP A statement of suicides in Westminster was drawn up from official docu-
Annuai Register, ments in 1833, from which some instructive results were obtained. It appeared
1833. Chron. 127 ,, , ., , , i i i 11
that the number of men who destroyed themselves were nearly three to one
in comparison with women; a fact which was accounted for by another of
great importance — that a very large proportion of suicides was occasioned by
that state of the brain induced by intoxication. Some surprise was felt at the
proof that the smallest number of suicides occurred in the month of November,
which had hitherto borne the opprobrium of this kind of slaughter. — A sen-
DUELLING. sible check was, from this time, given to the practice of duelling by the disgust
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 187
excited at a fatal duel between Sir John Jeffcott, Chief Justice of Sierra Leone, 1830 — 34.
and Dr. Hennis of Exeter. Sir J. Jeifcott had received his appointment and v^x~v^/
knighthood, and was on the eve of embarking for Africa, when some tattling
took place at night, over brandy and water and cigars, which occasioned a
challenge to Dr. Hennis. He denied the words imputed to him, but was
called by his antagonist " a calumniating scoundrel," forced out to fight, in
spite of strenuous eiforts on the part of friends, and shot dead, at the moment
before the departure of his antagonist. Sir J. Jeffcott was tried in his una-
voidable absence, and acquitted, as gentlemen always are in duelling cases ;
but he was necessarily displaced from his judicial post. He was drowned a
few months afterwards by the upsetting of a boat off the coast of Africa. The
vulgar brawling character of the whole transaction, and the force put upon
Dr. Hennis, sickened a multitude with the barbarous character of the ordeal
of the duel who had before regarded it in the light of an older time.
Another transaction between two men. who had not even the ground of LossoI'TIIE
. . ° ROTHSAY CASTLE.
friendship for their generosity, deeply touched those hearts which felt most the
horror of the Exeter duel. In no crisis of human life are men put more
severely to the proof than in shipwreck. The most awful shipwreck of this
period, or that which was most generally impressive, was that of the Rothsay
Castle, in August, 1831. The Rothsay Castle was a battered, leaky old ^f1131^^81"1
steamer, which plied between Liverpool and Beaumaris : and at this time she
had a captain who appears to have been unworthy of the command of any
vessel. He started in rough weather, and silenced the remonstrances of all on
board who implored him to put into a port of safety. She drifted and went
to pieces in the night from the failure of the coal through her excessive leak-
age; and all her pleasure parties, her groups of tourists, her band of music,
and her crew, were plunged into the deep at midnight. The captain denied
that she was aground, when her cabins were filling with water, swore that
there was no danger, hung out no lights, refused to fire a gun, though the
lights of Beaumaris were visible in the distance, and was himself one of the
first to perish. Only twenty-two persons were saved out of nearly a hundred
and fifty who left Liverpool. Two men, strangers to each other, found them-
selves holding on to the same plank, which, it soon appeared, could support
only one. Each desired the other to hold on — the one because his companion
was old ; the other, because his companion was young — and they quitted their
grasp at the same moment. By extraordinary accidents both were saved,
without the knowledge of either, and they met on shore in great surprise.
Few greetings in the course of human life can be so sweet and moving as must
have been that of these two heroes. Its contrast with that on the Exeter
race-course shows like a glimpse into heaven and hell.
In the summer of 1833, a terrific fire consumed a part of the Dublin FIRK AT THE DI<B-
Custom House, and occasioned a vast destruction of property, though little in Houst!"0
comparison with what might have been if, as was for some time apprehended,
the quays and the shipping had been involved in the conflagration, and if much
valuable merchandise had not been stored in fire-proof vaults. The sugar
puncheons flared up like great torches in quick succession ; the tallow sent
columns of flame up into the night ; while fiery floods of whisky rushed
over the quay, pouring over the wall into the Liffey which presented a sheet
188 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. of blue flame over half its breadth, threatening the coal-vessels that were
--— — ^^- — - drawn to the other side. The origin of the fire was never discovered; though
large rewards were oifered by government and the magistrates, from a suspicion
of incendiarism. Men thought that they had now witnessed the most remark-
able fire that would be seen in their generation : but they were mistaken ; for
in the next year, a conflagration occurred in which that of the Dublin Custom
House was forgotten.
BURNING OF THE In course of centuries, the power of the Commons had increased till their
"AMENTA "~ House had become a dignified spectacle in the eyes of the world : yet the
members sat, a closely-packed assembly of business-like men, in the old St.
Stephen's Chapel; — a dingy, contracted apartment, whose sides had been
drawn in by wainscoting, to hide the pictures of the old Catholic times, and
whose height was lessened by a floor above, and a ceiling below, the old ones.
In such a Chamber as this were the British Commons found by wondering
strangers till the end of the year 1834. — At that time, the tally-room of the Ex-
chequer was wanted for the temporary accommodation of the Court of Bank-
Report of Lords of ruptcy : and it was necessary to get rid of an accumulation of the old Exchequer
ll- tallies ; — about two cart-loads in quantity. These tallies were used for fire-
wood ; but this method of clearance was too slow ; and there had once been a
bonfire of them in Tothill Fields. There was some talk now of burning them
in the open air ; but the plan was given up, in the fear of alarming the neigh-
bours. The burning was ordered to be done, carefully and gradually, in the
stoves of the House of Lords : but the common workmen, to whom the busi-
ness was entrusted, did it in rashness and hurry, nearly filling the furnaces,
and creating a vast blaze, which overheated the flues. Many times in the
course of that day (Thursday, October 16th) the housekeeper of the House
of Lords sent to the men, to complain of the smoke and heat; but they
believed in no danger. At four in the afternoon two strangers were admitted
to view the House. At that time, the throne could not be seen from the bar ;
the visitors had to feel the tapestry, to know that it was tapestry, found the
heat so stifling in one corner as to be led to examine the floor, when it
appeared that the floor-cloth was " sweating" underneath, and too hot to be
borne by the hand. In answer to the surprise and doubts of the strangers,
the housekeeper replied that the floor was stone ; and that that corner was so
hot that its occupants sometimes fainted on full nights. Within two hours
after the perplexed strangers were gone, with their disappointed notions of
the House of Lords, the mischief broke out. Flames burst from the windows
of a neighbouring apartment, and the alarm was spread all over London.
The Ministers were presently on the spot, and the King's sons, and such
members of both Houses as were in town. Little could be done ; and of that
little, much was left undone from want of concert and discipline. Mr. Hume
saved a portion of the library of the House of Commons : and many hands
helped to throw out of the windows, and cany away, the papers of the Law
Courts. These Law Courts were saved, at the expense of their roofs being
stripped off", and the interior deluged with water. The most painful appre-
hension was for Westminster Hall : but engines were taken into the Hall,
and kept at play so abundantly as to prevent any part being caught by the
flames. Many valuable things were lost; and among others, the original
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 189
death-warrant of Charles the First, and the registration and qualification roll 1830 — 34.
signed hy members of the Commons after taking the oaths. The destruction v— • *^— — '
comprehended the two Houses of Parliament, the Commons' library, the
Lords' Painted Chamber, many of the committee rooms ; the Clerk's house,
and part of the Speaker's, with all the habitations between ; the rooms of the
Lord Chancellor, and other law officers ; and the kitchens and eating-rooms.
The comments of the crowd on such occasions show something of the spirit of
the time. Mr. Hume, who was busy before all eyes, seems to have been the
butt of the night, from his perseverance, for a long time past, in endeavouring
to obtain a better House for the Commons to meet in. In one place some
gentlemen cried " Mr. Hume's motion carried without a division :" and in
another, poor men were saying that Mr. Hume could never get over this : —
the fire was certainly not accidental : and every body knew how he had said
he would not bear the old House any longer, he was so uncomfortable in it. —
There was a shout about Lord Althorp's disrespect for the People's House
when he was heard to cry out " D — n the House of Commons : — save, O ! save
the Hall !" which last words the French newspapers changed to " the House
of Lords ;" thus showing what an anti-reformer he was at heart. The Climb-
ing Boys' Act was unacceptable to the sweeps of London ; and now one of
them was in high glee because the " Hact" was destroyed, and, in the joy of
his heart, set up, above all the roar, the cry of " Sweep !"
There was nothing unseemly in this joking ; for, really, the occasion could
not possibly be considered a very melancholy one by those who were aware
how seriously the public interests were injured by the unfitness of the Parlia-
ment Houses for the transaction of business, and their hurtfulness to the health
of members. " Mr. Hume's motion was now carried without a division ;"
whereas, it would have been years, under ordinary circumstances, before any
move would have been practically made towards a better housing of the legis-
lature. The antiquarian interests concerned were not very strong; — (the
relic most mourned at first, the tapestry of the Spanish Armada, was after-
Avards found :) — no lives were lost ; no poor men were ruined ; and, on the
whole, the impression was that this compulsion to build new Houses of Par-
liament was not to be lamented.
In the morning, the King sent to offer Buckingham Palace for the use of
the Legislature. Some suggested St. James's Palace : but it was determined
to fit up rooms on the old sites as speedily as possible. On the whole, this
was found the least expensive and most convenient plan. The House of
Lords was to be made habitable for the Commons, and the Painted Chamber
for the Lords, at an expense of £30,000 : and not a day was lost in beginning
the preparation for the next session. — It was a week or more, however, before
the fire was out. It smouldered among the coals in the vaults ; and the play
of the engines within the boarded avenues was heard, and puffs of steam
were seen to ascend, till after the Privy Council had closed their careful and
protracted inquiry into the origin of the fire. This origin, as has been said,
was decided to be rashness and carelessness in burning the Exchequer tallies.
The last memorials, in the form of living witnesses, of the strong govern- DEATHS.
meiit at the latter part of the eighteenth century, were now slipping away.
Thomas Hardy died in 1832, in very old age; and his comrade, John Thel- THOMAS HARDY.
190 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. wall, two years later. These men were made, by the passions of their time,
" • the heroes of the liberal party of their time. They invaded the convenience
JOHN THELWALL. , „ ,.. , • i • i i i
and composure of authorities and men in high places by an intemperate
assertion of somewhat crude views of liberty and political aims : and the
authorities did something worse in invading the rights of these men, and of
all other citizens in their persons, by endeavouring by a harsh construction of
law and facts to convict them of high treason. The attempt was unsuccessful ;
and the men remained a sort of heroes, with a slight martyr-glory round their
heads, as long as they lived. Their prosecution and acquittal, in company
with Home Tooke, were annually celebrated in London by a festival of the
friends of civil and religious liberty, till the deaths of Hardy and Thelwall
brought the observance to a natural close. — Another hero of the same period,
A. H. ROWAN. Archibald Hamilton Rowan, died in 1834, in extreme old age. He escaped
the penalties of high treason only by slipping out of prison, and putting off
from the Irish coast in an open boat, in which he was long tossed about before
he reached Brest. The charge against him was of treasonable correspondence
with the French government. He was a gentleman of education and for-
tune ; and in his old age, when time and change had mellowed his mind, his
conversation and manners were full of charm. Forty years of a useful and
benign life would have been wasted and foregone, if the gallows noose had
caught him in that cruel season, when extreme men of all parties hated each
other with a hatred far too unphilosophical and impolitic to beseem philan-
thropists and statesmen.
CHARLES BUTLER. It was a day to be remembered by the whole Roman Catholic body in our
islands, when a member of the body was, for the first time after their long
depression, called to the rank of King's counsel. The first who was so called
was the distinguished Charles Butler, author of a whole library of books, the
dread of bishops and other clergy for his religious writings, and the supporter
of O'Connell in claiming his seat in parliament for Clare without re-election.
Mr. Butler was in his 80th year at that time, and he lived three years longer. —
EAPL FtTzwiL- An aged man died in the next year, 1833, who was not less beloved by the
L1AM. O J * > J
Catholics, and not less a friend to them, while himself a good Protestant; —
the venerable Earl Fitzwilliam, who, in the harsh times at the close of the
last century, was recalled from Ireland after a Vice-royalty of two months, on
account of his countenance of the Catholic claims. On the day of his departure
from Dublin, all the shops were closed, and the inhabitants appeared in
mourning. He was a member of the Grenville administration for a year
before its fall ; and his only public connexion with politics afterwards was one
as honourable to him as his Irish failure. He took part in a public meeting
convened to discuss and rebuke the conduct of the Manchester yeomanry in
1819; and for this he was dismissed from the lieutenancy of the West Riding
of Yorkshire. Earl Fitzwilliam died in February, 1833, in his 85th year. —
LORD GRENVULK. He was soon followed — within a feAV months, by his old friend, Lord Gren-
ville— another staunch champion of Catholic rights, and one who had a long
course of years in which to advocate all causes that seemed to him good.
Lord Grenville had been Speaker of the Commons, and found himself Secre-
tary of State, at thirty years of age ; and this appeared nothing remarkable
to him — his friend William Pitt having held place and power when ten years
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 191
younger still. In our days, a politician of thirty is regarded as a youth of 1830 — 34.
promise. But whenever a great political genius arises, it is probable that ^— — ^^— ^
rules and customs about age, as about every thing else, will give way. — Lord
Grenvillc reached the age of seventy-four, and died childless, so that the barony
became extinct. — Another aged Minister of State died in the same year — Earl
Bathurst, who was esteemed by his party as a good man of business, and one EARL BATHITRST.
of their soundest members. — Lord Spencer, who also died in the same year, EARL SPENCEU.
aged 76, had not been a stable politician, having entered life as a Whig,
afterwards become a supporter of Mr. Pitt, holding office at the Admiralty
during the period of Nelson's victories, and going into power with Grenville
and Fox, in 1806. His tastes were more literary than political, and he was
the collector of the finest private library in England, the bulk of which was
deposited in a suite of ground-floor rooms at Althorp, nearly 250 feet in length.
The political influence of Lord Spencer's death was greater than that of his
life, in his decease being the occasion of the dismissal of the Whig govern-
ment, and the return of the Conservatives to power.
Another nobleman, who died in the same year, was more fond of literature LoRD TEIGN-
J . MOUTH.
than of statesmanship; yet his name must have honourable mention among
statesmen. Lord Teignmouth began life as John Shore, son of a plain country
gentleman. He entered the civil service of the India Company, and rose to
the office of Governor General of India. Lord Cornwallis's settlement, and
other great measures of that ruler, were mainly attributable to Lord Teign-
mouth. Yet his heart was more in literature than in statesmanship. He
was the bosom-friend of Sir William Jones, whose life he wrote, and whose
works he edited. In his old age, he was the president of the Bible Society,
and died in his 83rd year. — Another statesman, who cared more for philoso- FARL DUDLEY.
phy and literature than politics, was lost to the world in 1833, mourned by all
with compassionate grief — Earl Dudley. He was only fifty-two ; and his
powers had died before him ; for his brain gave way, after many threatenings
and much suffering from a morbid temperament, two or three years before his
death. He was an intimate of Home Tooke, the friend of Canning, and a
Cabinet Minister in 1827 : a man of fine tastes and accomplishments, and of
independent thought. After much repugnance he had determined to support
the Reform Bill, as a better alternative than withstanding the will of the
nation : but when the time came, he was too ill to take his place in the legis-
lature; and he never knew how the great question had issued. — Sir John
Leach, Master of the Rolls, and a Privy Councillor, died in 1834. He began SIR JOHN LEACH.
his studies as an engineer ; but a discerning friend perceived in time his apti-
tudes for the legal profession, and induced him to follow it ; and England
thus obtained one of the best judges of modern times. His defence of the
Duke of York, in 1809, obtained for him the good- will and confidence of the
Prince Regent; and his way was then clear to the eminence which he reached.
He opposed the creation of the Vice-Chancellor's Court ; but yet became Vice-
Chancellor after Sir Thomas Plomer, and Master of the Rolls after Sir J.
Copley (now Lord Lyndhurst). His clearness of apprehension in the recep-
tion of evidence, and his decision of judgment in determining and delivering
the results, were his most remarkable professional characteristics ; and in pri-
vate life he won respect by a singular calmness and simplicity in the endur-
192 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. ance of a long course of bodily suffering of great intensity. Most men would
v--— v-— — ' have died untimely under such pain as he endured; but his indomitable mind
STADF DE REIC"" kore him up, and he reached the age of 74. — The interest of the whole
political world of Europe was engaged by one death which took place at this
period. The young son of Napoleon, the Duke de Rcichstadt, died at Vienna
in 1832, at the age of twenty-one. The birth of the little King of Rome, as
he was called in his cradle, had been regarded, in the short-sightedness of
men, as a mighty event; and the eyes of the world were fixed upon the child.
But before he was old enough to be conscious of human destiny, his rights
were gone, his father was borne away over the sea, and he became a landless
German Prince, under the care of his grandfather, the Emperor of Austria.
His attendants adored him for his personal qualities; and from a distance,
many hopes waited upon him: but he was withdrawn from any possible
struggle for thrones and dominations by early sickness and death. By the age
of sixteen, he had outgrown his strength; and consumptive tendencies en-
croached upon him, till he sank thus in early manhood. As he lay in state in
the palace, those who passed by the bier received the most affecting lesson of
the time as to the deceitfulness of worldly hopes.
SIR JOHN LESME. In science, one of the most interesting names of the times is that of Sir
John Leslie, born of an humble farmer and miller in Fifeshire, who died
Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He was a
sickly child, averse to books and lessons, but always delighting himself in
calculations, and following out mathematical inquiries. This peculiarity fixed
the attention of the parochial minister, and was the occasion of his being
sent to St. Andrew's, to study for the church. He and Ivory went to Edin-
burgh together, neither of them probably anticipating the eminence to which
both were to raise themselves. Leslie was aware that the church was not his
true destination ; and he declined it, becoming tutor to a nephew of Adam
Smith's, and to two of the Randolphs of Virginia, with whom he went to
the United States. On his return, he intended to lecture on Natural Philo-
sophy, but found, to use his own words, that " rational lectures would not
succeed." A disgraceful controversy took place between the magistrates and
clergy of Edinburgh respecting his nomination to the Mathematical Chair in
their University, in 1805, the clergy objecting to him on the ground of his
having irreligiously declared Hume's Theory of Causation " a model of clear
and accurate reasoning." The magistrates appointed Leslie, in disregard of
the clerical opposition ; and the clergy brought the affair before the General
Assembly. After a discussion of two days, the Assembly decided not to
subordinate science and liberty of opinion to dogma propounded on an occa-
sion of mere inference, and dismissed the appeal of the clerical objectors as
" vexatious." Mr. Leslie filled that chair till he was called to succeed Play-
fair, in the Professorship of Natural Philosophy, which he held till his death,
in November, 1832. He invented or revived the Differential Thermometer,
and aided science in many ways by a vigorous exercise of his bold inventive
and conjectural faculty, which was more remarkable in him, mathematician as
he was, than his powers of reasoning and research. His pupils complained
of a want of simplicity in his style, and of clearness in his arrangement ;
while more advanced students believed that the difficulty lay also in his over-
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 193
rating the powers and experience of those to whom he addressed himself. 1830 — 34.
The highest order of his hearers were continually charmed with the life and
vigour of his views, and the rich, illustration he cast over his scientific sub-
jects from the stores of his general reading. His experimental processes were
exquisite from their ingenuity and refinements. His last production is to be
found prefixed to the 7th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica — a Dis-
course on the History of Mathematical aud Physical Science during the 18th
century. He died in his 67th year.
In the next year, died a mathematician who put his science to a practical WM MOB«
use which all could understand. William Morgan, who was for fifty-six years
actuary to the Equitable Assurance Society, was a nephew of Dr. Price ; and
it was Dr. Price who withdrew him from the medical profession to which he
Avas destined, and caused him to be fitted to the function in which he did so
much for the practical application of the science of Probabilities, and for the
elucidation of National Finance. He published much that was useful ; but it
was as a standing authority, always ready for reference, that he rendered his
most important services ; and all the while, the Equitable Office was rising,
under his management, from being a small society, with a capital of a few
thousands, into an institution of national importance.
The hurricane at the Mauritius, in 1834, killed a man wrhose name is DAVID THOM
destined to live in connexion with nautical science, Captain David Thompson,
whose computation and production of the Lunar and Horary Tables, and inven-
tion of the Longitude Scale, were emphatically acknowledged by the Board of
Longitude. He did much to fence in with safety the broad highway of
nations ; and thus, his services so lie on the verge between science and the
arts as to lead us to consider him as a comrade of the great man who opened
so many roads to us on the firm land, and whose engineering achievements
come under the head of the Arts. — Thomas Telford was President of the THOMAS TE
Society of Civil Engineers at the time of his death, which happened in the
autumn of 1834, when he was 77 years of age. Telford was a poet in his youth ;
and surely we may say that he was a poet in action in after life ; for where
are lofty ideas and a stimulus to the imagination to be found, if not in such
spectacles as the Menai Bridge, and the Caledonian Canal, and his great
Welsh Aqueduct, and St. Katherine's Docks, and the water communication
that he made through the pine-hills of Sweden, from the North Sea to the
Baltic? It was thus that he regarded his works, and in this spirit that he
Avrought them; for he had the loftiness of mind, the bright integrity, and
benign candour, which are the characteristics of genius that has found its
element. There is hardly a county in England, Wales, or Scotland, which is
not strewn with monuments of him, in the best form of monument — bene-
ficent works. There is no day of any year in which thousands are not the
better for the labours of this man. — Two years before his own death, Telford
had been called to mourn that of a pupil and a friend whom he had introduced ALEXANDER
•••I -i 1 • T1 1 • i 1 NlMMO.
into a career which promised success something like his own. Alexander
Nimmo was, when very young, recommended by Telford to the Parliamentary
Commissioners for fixing the boundaries of the Scottish counties ; and again to
the Commissioners for reclaiming the Irish bogs. All round the coast of
Ireland his works are found — harbours, docks, piers, and fishing stations: and
VOL. u. 2 c
194 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. his Chart of the whole coast is held to be a guide of great value. He died at
' ~- Dublin, in 1832, aged 49.
R. H. GOWBR. During the same period we lost Richard Hall Gower, the author of various
improvements in naval architecture, which were gradually, though slowly,
HENRY BELL. brought into practice before his death in 1833: — and Henry Bell, who, so
early as the 2nd of August, 1812, launched the first steam- vessel, called the
LIONEL LUKIN. Comet, on the Clyde : — and the aged Lionel Lukin, who was the inventor of
the safety-boat. The Norway yawl, on which he first experimented, was
bought by him, with his earnings in his coach-building business, in 1784; and
his patent bears date the next year. Though his boat was established for the
time by the approbation of Sir Sydney Smith, who found that it could be
neither overset nor sunk, the invention of safety boats was afterwards claimed
by other parties, and Mr. Lukin was deprived of much of the honour and
emolument which were his due. He contributed in other ways to the public
safety and convenience, as by his raft for the rescue of persons carried under
the ice ; by a bedstead for invalids, and several improvements in the con-
struction of carriages. He was 92 when he died, in 1834. — Some now living
remember the introduction of the Camellia Japonica into this country. We
ARCHIBALD owe the luxury to Archibald Thomson, a kinsman of the poet of the Seasons,
and chief gardener at the Marquess of Bute's estate in Bedfordshire. The
superb Magnolia Thomsonia was raised from seed by Archibald Thomson ;
and he saw the plant reach a height of eighteen feet, and a circumference of
twenty-four. Like most of the hardy and well-employed race of Scotch
gardeners, he attained a great age, dying in his 81st year, in 1832. — The
JOHN ABERNETHY eccentric Abernethy died in 1831, after having made himself so talked about
for his oddities as hardly to have justice done him for his important services.
He raised the reputation of English surgery all over Europe by indicating and
performing an operation, in certain cases of aneurism, which was before sup-
posed impracticable: and, by its connexion with him, St. Bartholomew's
llospital rose to be the first in London. Mr. Abernethy did not at all
approve our following, in any degree, the ancient Egyptian practice of parting
off the human body among dozens of classes of doctors — so that one was to
have charge of the limbs, and another of the lungs, and another of the
stomach, and others of the eye, the ear, the mouth, and so on. Mr. Abernethy
did not like to hear of oculists and aurists, but insisted upon it that no man
was fit to undertake the charge of any member without being fit for the
charge of the whole, as no function of the frame is isolated. In this, the
sense of society went with him, the only wonder being that, since the days of
the old Egyptians, there should have been any doubt about it. Mr. Abernethy
did not know where he was born, but only that his parents removed to
London in his early infancy. He was 66 years old when he died.
PETER HEY WOOD. Among the rovers of their time, we find two names of great interest in the
list of the deaths of the period. Two midshipmen, it will be remembered,
remained with the mutineers of the Bounty, in 1788, when the other officers
were set adrift in an open boat on the Pacific. One of these midshipmen,
Peter Hey wood, died in 1831, and Mr. Purcell, who was one of those in the
open boat, followed in 1834. Peter Hey wood was only fifteen at the time of
the mutiny : and before he was much older, he led a party of sixteen of the
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 195
mutineers to settle in Otaheite, in order to meet the vessel which it was 1830 — 34-
certain would be sent after them from England. The Bounty was given up v— •— •"~—
to Christian and his eight comrades, who had no wish to stir from where they
were, or to meet any English vessel. When the Pandora arrived in Otaheite,
the two youths rowed out to her, and made themselves known, when they were
put in irons, and treated with extreme rigour. After a most disastrous voyage •
home, young Heywood met his trial — showed that his case was one for pity
rather than punishment — was found guilty, but freely pardoned by the King.
He afterwards became an able and trusted officer. One of his last services was
with Lord Exmouth in the Mediterranean, in 1815and 1816 : and Lord Exmouth LORD EXMOUTH.
died soon after him — in February, 1833. As Lord Exmouth lay on his painful
death-bed, we may hope it cheered him to think of the Christian captives
whom he had released from their Algerine slavery. He reached his 76th year. —
Captain Sir Murray Maxwell, who commanded the unfortunate Alceste at the Sltt MURRAY
• .... MAXWELL.
time of her loss, died in 1831. He passed, with spirit, fortitude, and in the
finest temper, as dreary a period as can well occur in any man's life — the
fortnight which elapsed between Lord Amherst and his forty-six companions
leaving the Captain and crew on their desert island, and the arrival of the
cruiser from Batavia which relieved them. During this fortnight, the little
party of British seamen were besieged by Malay pirates, in fifty or sixty
boats, who burned the Alceste to the water's edge, and allowed her crew no
rest from self-defence, while they had no alternative before them but starva-
tion. Captain Maxwell's command, under these circumstances, and the
discipline of his crew, have obtained a world- wide fame, as they truly deserve.
— One other rover, Richard Lander, in whose discoveries the nation took an RICHARD LANDER.
unwonted interest, was cut off untimely, by an attack of the pirates of the
Niger, in 1834. Lander had attended Captain Clapperton into the interior of
Africa, and had witnessed and reported the discoveries made in Clapperton's
final expedition : and he had afterwards, when accompanied by his brother,
solved the great problem of the termination of the Niger, by following it
down from Boussa to the sea. His ears had drunk in the sound of the surf
upon the beach, and his eyes had seen the sea-line, dressed all in the more
than tropical light of triumph, and of solemn achievement: and this wonder-
ful happiness — as much as is yielded by the whole life of some men — was to
be enough for him ; for in three years afterwards he was dead, at the age of
30. He had bought an island off Attah, and meant to establish a trading
station there: but the piratical natives attacked him at a disadvantageous
moment, and shot him in the hip, and he died of the wound.
In the department of Art there were great losses during this period. In MKS. SJDDONS.
1831 died Mrs. Siddons, in her 76th year. There are few living now who
remember her in the fulness of her power ; but there are few who have not
witnessed the enthusiasm of their fathers and grand-parents at the mention of
her name, and who are not aware that the enthusiasm was justified as much
by the purity of her character as by the glory of the genius which derived its
exaltation from that purity. A yet more ancient favourite, the favourite of
George III., Quick, the actor, died in the same year, aged 83: — and also the QUICK.
monarchical Elliston — and in a few months after, the comic Munden — and in M^NDE™'
1833, Edmund Kean, the last of the stars of the first magnitude. Kcan \vas KKAN<
196
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK IV.
RETIREMENT OF
MR. YOUNG.
DRAMATIC COM-
MITTEE.
1830 — 34. a study as interesting to the mental philosopher as to the playgoer, so extra-
ordinary was his possession of his " single gift." It would appear before-
hand that to be such an actor as Kean must require a large variety, as well as
a high degree, of intellectual ability ; yet he never manifested any power of
mind at all above the average — hardly indeed up to the average — any where
but on the stage. His mode of life was not such as to husband his powers ;
and he died at the age of 45, worn out by excess and exhaustion of body and
mind. His first appearance was at four years of age, riding the elephant in
Bluebeard, when his beauty, and especially the grandeur of his eyes, fixed
the attention of some who afterwards saw him at the summit of his fame. His
last appearance was in March, 1833, in the character of Othello, when his
performance, begun languidly, was broken off in the third act by the utter
failure of his strength ; and in the ensuing May, he was carried to his grave. —
The prospects of the stage were further darkened by Mr. Young having retired
in the preceding year, during which an attempt was made to retrieve the
failing fortunes of the drama by the appointment of a Parliamentary Com-
mittee on Dramatic Representations, for the purpose of ascertaining what
changes could be made in the licensing laws, which could relax the monopoly
of the two great theatres, and afford a better opening for authors, actors, and
the play-going public. Amidst all the reasons alleged for the decline of the
drama — such as the late dinners of the aristocracy, the absence of royal
patronage, and the spreading objection of certain religious bodies to dramatic
representations — it was clear that the main cause of that decline was the decay
of the public taste for this kind of amusement, without which the other causes
alleged would not have been operative. The Committee, however, recom-
mended a large invasion of the existing monopoly of the two great theatres,
for their own sake, as well as justice to others; a revision of the system of fees
to the censor of plays; and an extension of the same protection to dramatic
authors as was enjoyed by authors in other departments of literature. The
rising passion for the Italian Opera afforded, at the same time, a hint to
parties concerned to try whether the popular taste for the spoken drama was
or was not merging into that for the musical drama: and the New English
Opera House wras opened in the summer of 1834.
Two eminent pianists died during 1832 — one at the end of a very long
career — the other at the beginning of one which promised great marvels — Cle-
menti,who reached his 81st year, and George Aspull, who died in his 19th. —
AUGUSTUS PUGIN. Augustus Pugin, a Frenchman, spent the forty last years of his life among us,
and revived in England the study of Ecclesiastical architecture, which has
since spread and flourished under the favouring influences of the Tractarian
party in the Church. He died in 1832, in his 64th year. — In the department
JAMES CHRISTIE. of Vertu, we lost Christie, who, being intended for the Church, became an
auctioneer; but such an auctioneer as was never dreamed of before. He
raised his business to the rank of a profession, and lived in a world of artistical
and philosophical ideas which the poet might covet. He explored the nature
of the Greek game invented by Palamedes before the siege of Troy, and
believed that he had traced it down, through old ages and countries, to our
own firesides, where it bears the name of Chess. He wrought among the old
idolatries and their symbols, till he penetrated into some curious secrets of art.
NEW ENGLISH
OPERA HOUSE,
Muzio CLEMENTI
GEORGE A-ITI i
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 197
He was the first authority in the kingdom in pictures, sculptures, and vertu. 1830 — 34.
He made the world understand the value of Mr. Hope's collection of vases: v^-v^x
and these friends, after having solaced themselves with the delights of art and
autiquarianism, left the world together. Mr. Christie died on the 2nd, and
Mr. Hope on the 3rd of February, 1831. — Mr. Hope's name is distinguished THOMAS HopK
on so many grounds that it is rather difficult to assign his place among our
benefactors. From our insular position, and our being kept at home by the
long war, and also from our English habit of ridiculing what we do not under-
stand, we were at first guilty of treating Mr. Hope with contempt when he
endeavoured to improve our taste in decorative art: and an article in the
Edinburgh Review, on his folio volume on " Household Furniture and Decora-
tions," stands as a momiment of our shame. But Mr. Hope triumphed ; and
we have gained, among other things, a lesson in modesty. It was he who
first sustained Thorwaldsen, and brought the young Chantrey to light, and
stimulated the mature genius of Flaxman. His town and country houses
were a paradise of delights to lovers of antiquities and art. He is perhaps
most generally known as the author of " Anastasius," a romance in which the
author gives evidence of (among other things) the thoughtful spirit in which
he went through his early travels in the east. — To another hunter after anti-
quities we find ourselves more deeply indebted now than any one was aware
of during his life ; for John Thomas Smith, keeper of the prints and drawings JOHN THOMAS
at the British Museum, died the year before the burning of the Houses of S*
Parliament. Mr. Smith had published in the closing years of the last century,
" Antiquities of London ;" and when, in 1800, the accession of Members on
account of the Irish Union compelled the enlargement of the House of Com-
mons, and the wainscoting of St. Stephen's Chapel was taken down, revealing
the old paintings that were behind, Mr. Smith determined on following up his
former work with the "Antiquities of Westminster." He made haste, as the
workmen were always at his heels ; and in the August mornings he was at
work as soon as there was light enough, and painted diligently till the work-
men arrived at nine o'clock, when he sometimes saw them destroy the very
paintings he had just been copying. He made memoranda, matched the tints
carefully, and took all pains to perfect his work — both with regard to the paint-
ings which were disappearing, and others which it was supposed might last for
centuries. Many of the prints, coloured and gilt by his wife and himself, were
lost by a fire at the printing-office where they lay ; and the loss was severe :
but the place given him at the British Museum provided comfortably for his
latter days. He is remembered chiefly as the preserver of the antiquities of
Westminster: but this was not one of the seven great things by which he used
to tell that his life had been distinguished. He delighted to say "I received
a kiss when a boy from the beautiful Mrs. Robinson — was patted on the head
by Dr. Johnson — have frequently held Sir Joshua Reynolds's spectacles —
partook of a pot of porter with an elephant— saved Lady Hamilton from fall-
ing, when the melancholy news arrived of Lord Nelson's death — three times
conversed with George III. — and was shut up in a room with Mr. Kean's
lion." It seems a pity that he did not live a few months longer, to see the
flames swallowing up the Houses of Parliament, and exult in the thought of
what he had saved from their ravages. — Cooke, the engraver, who presented GEOR«K COOK.E.
198 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. such a world of scenery to stayers at home, died in 1834, from brain fever, at
v-— — •— - — ' the age of 53 — and a few weeks after him the aged Thomas Stothard, who
THARD*8 began life as the apprentice of a pattern designer for brocaded silks. Brocaded
silks went out of fashion; and Stothard had, as the fruits of his apprentice-
ship, his nicety of eye and hand, and elegance of taste in designing small em-
bellishments ; and he used them in illustrating, with exquisite little designs,
Bell's British Poets, and the Novelists' Magazine. These caught Flaxman's
eye, and brought him that good man's friendship. He passed easily from
such small works as these to painting figures seven feet high, on the stair-
case at Burghley House. His latest designs are seen among the illustrations
of Rogers's poems, bearing date 1833 — some months before his death. — Peter
PETER NASMYTH. Nasmyth, called "the English Hobbima," died in middle life, in 1831, with
the love of his art so strong upon him, that when he was dying, and a thunder-
storm was sweeping by, he asked his sisters to draw aside the curtain, and
lift him up, that he might watch the effects of the stormy lights. — And then
HENRY LIVER, went the young Liverseedge, just when his fame was rapidly rising, and
before he had reached his 30th year. He lived in the world of Shakspere,
Cervantes, and Scott ; and it was his picture of Adam Woodcock that was
JOHN JACKSON, kindling his fame when the cold hand of death was laid on his life. — Jackson,
the portrait-painter — not so strong as Raeburn, nor so graceful as Lawrence,
but with a clear style of his own, distinguished by its fine colouring — died in
GEORGE F.ROB. 1831: — and in 1833 we lost, by a sad accident, Robson, whose landscapes
were amongst the most eagerly looked for at the Water-Colour Exhibition
every year. The cause of his death was the bursting of a blood-vessel in sea-
sickness. His life was happy from that devotedness in the study of Nature
which is not subject to the disappointment to which most human pursuits are
liable. His eagerness about his first earnings was that they might carry him
into the Scotch Highlands, where, with his plaid about his shoulders, and the
"Lay of the Last Minstrel" in his pocket, and the dusky fells and rolling
mists before his eyes, he was happy to his heart's content. The spirit of those
early-seen Scotch mountains is in his pictures to the last. The frequenters of
the Water-Colour Exhibition must have been struck by the frequent appear-
ance of Durham and its cathedral. It was because Durham was Robson's
native city. He took care that its fine aspect should be nearly as familiar to
others as to himself, though they had not, as he had, feasted their eyes upon
it from four years old, and crept to the shoulder of every wandering artist who
sat down to sketch any where in the environs. One of Robson's last pictures
was judged to be one of his best — London from the Bridge, before sunrise.
There are, in the province of literature and learning, some names of the
departed during this period which we would not let pass without some grate-
ful mention; and there are others which excite a deeper emotion. — Among the
PRISCILLA WAKE, humbler benefactors in this department was Priscilla Wakefield, whose books
FIELD. r
for children were usually found in a thumbed and tattered condition on
nursery shelves — intensely moral as they were, and fine in the phraseology of
their dialogue. In those days, when there were scarcely any children's books
in existence, her efforts were as welcome as they were praiseworthy. Mrs.
Wakefield died, very aged, in September, 1832. — An excellent man was
RICHARD EVANS, removed in the same year, before he was forty, who had given his life to such
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 199
good works that it is sad that his years were not doubled. Richard Evans, 1830 — 34.
himself a scholar, and the conservator of the ancient Welsh MSS. of the
Cambrian Society, took to heart the ignorance of the poor Welsh in London
who were not at home in the English tongue. Mr. Evans collected and super-
intended a little colony of Welsh families — about twenty — in the neighbour-
hood of one of his warehouses. He instituted weekly lectures on Mechanics in
Welsh, for all of that people in London who chose to attend ; and he spent
much money and time in diffusing the means of knowledge among them. —
One of the most curiously learned men of the time was the Professor of ^FHXHAANYDE
Oriental languages in Edinburgh University, Dr. Alexander Murray, who was
born of poor parents in the depths of Galloway, and died in 1834, at the head
of his own department of learning in Great Britain. His early progress in
Latin and Greek, acquired in some mysterious manner before he even went to
school, secured his further education. While an Edinburgh student, some one
was wanted to arrange the papers of Bruce the traveller. Young Murray in
a trice learned half a dozen eastern languages, to qualify him for the business,
which he did well. After he was settled in his manse, something happened
which disturbed the great and the wise in high places: — a communication
came from the Court of Abyssinia, which nobody could read. Again Murray
was wanted ; and this time he was ready. He had now only to step into his
chair at the University, where the authorities were glad enough to have him :
for such oriental scholars are not always to be had when they are wanted. — In
Hazlitt we lost the prince of critics, at this time; and after he was gone, there
were many who could never look at a picture,- or see a tragedy, or ponder a
point of morals, or take a survey of any public character, without a melancholy
sense of loss in Hazlitt's absence and silence. There can scarcely be a stronger
gratification of the critical faculties than in reading Hazlitt's Essays. He was
born in 1778, and died of cholera in 1830. He was not an amiable and
happy, but he was a strong and courageous-minded man. His constitutional
irritability was too restless to be soothed by the influences of literature and
art, and his friends suffered from his temper almost as much as himself. Yet
he was regarded with respect for his ingenuous courage in saying what was
true about many important things and persons of his time, of whom it was
fitting that the truth should be told. Hazlitt would have passed his life as an
artist, but that he could not satisfy his own critical taste, and had no patience
with any position but the first in any department in which he worked. The
greater part of his life therefore was spent in a province of literature in which
he was supreme in his own day, if not alone. As an essayist he had rivals :
as a Critical essayist, he had none. — Two popular dramatists, O'Keefe and
Prince Hoare, died in 1833 and 1834. The name of O'Keefe carries us back JoHN O'KEEFE.
some way into the last century, his popular farce, Tony Lumpkin, having been
acted at the Haymarket Theatre in 1778. After writing fifty dramatic pieces,
he subsided into the quiet befitting his blindness and old age, and lived till
his 86th year. — Prince Hoare was very aged too — 80 when he died. In 1788 P«"NCE HOARE.
his comic opera, "No Song no Supper," won him his first fame. In more
advanced life, he became secretary Jtp the Royal Academy, and, from his
scholarship in Art and literature he was a member of several societies. He
was esteemed and beloved for the most engaging moral qualities ; and his
KINTOSH.
200 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK IV.
1830 — 34. parting act was a beneficent one : he bequeathed his library to the Hoyal
* — •— • — ~^ Society of Literature. — The venerable William Roscoe, of Liverpool, died in
:OE' 1831 ; — venerable for the benignity of his character and the purity of his
tastes, and especially for the gentle steadiness with which, through long
seasons of trial, he upheld the cause of the negro against the slave-holding
spirit of Liverpool in his day. On this matter, he never, with all his love of
peace and social good-will, gave way for a moment. It is for this, rather than
his literary acts, that Mr. Roscoe is and will be remembered. His principal
work was the " Life of Lorenzo de' Medici," which obtained great reputation
at once, from the character of the times, which, impeding research of the kind
required, rendered such works scarce and extremely superficial. Mr. Roscoe
reached his 81st year.
SIB JAMES MAC. Some of the most affectionate and solemn associations relating to this
Ktvrnsu
period are called up by the name of Mackintosh. Sir James Mackintosh
died, unexpectedly, in 1832, at the age of 67 ; and the word " untimely" was
applied to his death, through a sort of general expectation that a man of such
powers would yet do something which would make his great name live after
him. In early life, when he published his " Vindiciae Gallicse," his name
had been in every mouth : and in his latest years, the House of Commons
listened, heart and soul, whenever he spoke. But he was not destined to effect
much during his life, or to make a monument for himself. He had stores of
knowledge, remarkable powers of subtle thought, and an unsurpassed facility
'of expression ; but a fatal indolence, which extended to the interaction of his
faculties, scattered his resources, and vitiated much of the work which he
actually did. His " Dissertation, containing a General View of the Progress
of Ethical Philosophy," (prefixed to the Encyclopaedia Britannica,) is the work
on which his reputation is commonly supposed to rest : but it is a more frail
support than the memories of those who knew him, and than the records of
his speeches in parliament. It will not bear the test of advancing science,
any more than the kindred writings of Dugald Stewart. In parliament, his
heart and voice were always on the side of justice and humanity, as justice
and humanity appeared to him. In print and in private, though there might
be much that was superficial and unsound in his views, as well as subtle and
profound, the spirit of earnestness and reverence was never absent. He held
the office of Recorder of Bombay for some years ; and was in parliament for
several sessions ; and had a way to any eminence opened to him by the pio-
neering influence of general expectation : yet he died amidst a celebrity which
had still more of anticipation than of acknowledgment in it. His life had
been a swaying between contemplation and action ; and, though he might by
this have obtained some enlargement for his own mind, the indecision was
fatal to his leaving any substantial memorial of himself in either region. He
enjoyed the friendship and homage of most of the leading men of his time ;
and there was no one living who did not share his placid good-will. His
integrity in political life was in accordance with the simple unworldliness of
his mind.
HENRY MAC- Henry Mackenzie, who wrote " The Man of Feeling," died at the age of
85, in 1831. A mistake of his own affords as good an eulogium as his wor-
shippers could desire. From the unbounded success of his beautiful story,
KENZIJ
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 201
" The Man of Feeling," he was induced to offer a companion novel, " The 1830 — 34.
Man of the World," which shows, uiimistakeably, the unsophisticated character "— ^^—- ^
of the author, and his inability to understand the ways and thoughts of worldly
men. Those who were amazed at the badness of the second tale should have
felt rebuked for their disappointment by the beauty of the first.— Anna Maria ANNA MARIA
PORTER.
Porter, the novelist, died in 1832, just three months before him whose mar-
vellous works had swallowed up the fame of all contemporary writers of
fiction. While Scott was yet but a boy, however — while he was lying on the
heathery hill-side, nourishing and playing with his powers of conception and
narration — Miss Porter's novels — " Thaddeus of Warsaw," the " Recluse of
Norway," and others — were giving great pleasure, and preparing the multitude
of lovers of fiction for the treat to come. — Of Scott, it is impossible, as it is SIR WALTER
needless, to speak at length in this place. Every trait of his life is in all
memories ; every character of his long-drawn pageant is vivid before all eyes.
Any attempt to estimate his share in modifying the mind of his time would
be in vain : and if it were not, the materials for an estimate lie equally open
to all. Every one can inquire of himself what the writings of Scott have been
to himself and to those whom he knows best : and from that recognition, let
him form his estimate. — As for the man himself, every one knows all that
can be told, and sees that he was not so happy or so wise as such a genius as
his should have made him : that he did not honour his genius, and repose
upon it as it would have been bliss to do ; but looked down to lower objects,
and so, was deprived of his repose by that very genius, avenging itself. In a
mood of respectful compassion, the nation had seen him sinking under toil to
which a common-place ambition had subjected him, and which it would have
been cruelty to him to compel him to forego. For some time before his death,
his mind had sunk utterly ; and at last, the day of repose for the feeble body
came — brightly and mildly. It was in the noon of one of those autumn days
which are so sweet in Scotland, when the window was open, and the ripple of
the Tweed over the stones was heard by those who were around the death-
bed, that the eyes closed and the breathing ceased. The life which had gone
out had been crowded with toils : the world was full of these rich gifts, and
the national heart was sad at the thought that there could be no more. The
gifts remain, however, a boon for each coming generation as it rises ; and thus
the fame of Scott may well be committed to the general charge. — There was
a sad sweep among his connexions afterwards. Within half a year, his con-
fidant, partner, friend, and printer, James Ballantyne, without whose co-opera-
tion the whole of his enterprise must have borne a different character, died in
middle age. And in the next June, the daughter Ann, who had tended Scott
in his long decline, drooped and sank. And since that time, all his other
children have died — in these few years — and no descendants but two grand-
children are left to inherit the glory for which he cared so little, and the
estate for which he sacrificed so much. Such are the caprices of the human
mind and the human lot !
Of Poets, we lost, during this period, some of great note. The elegant,
scholarly Sotheby was not one to be popular; but he gave much pleasure to WILLTAM
his own circle of admirers : and his life was happy in a serene course of literary
exertion. He made many elegant translations, and wrote tragedies, masques,
VOL. II. 2 TJ
202 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK IV.
1830 — 34. and epics, none of them containing elements of grandeur ; but all of them
* '~-"~^ full of purity and grace. He lived to 76, and died at the close of 1833. —
GEORGE CRABBE. The venerable George Crabbe died, in old age, in 1832, leaving behind
him memories which any one might covet. It is one of Burke's titles to
honour that he saved this pure genius from extinction under the pressure of
poverty, from no lower impulse than a generous humanity. Crabbe was
starving, when he made a simple and straight appeal to the great man, and
was met in the spirit in which brother should meet brother in our perplexed
human life. From that hour, all went well with Crabbe ; and his long life
was passed in virtuous clerical duty, in domestic peace, and in giving a
charming utterance to his experience of the heart, and his observation of the
various human lot. His poems are full of minute details, ennobled by a genial
spirit, and made touching by the pathos of truth and love. His poems,
besides finding their way at once to a million of hearts and homes, remain a
quiet but living picture of English life in his time, which may probably kindle
the heart of a remote antiquarianism in ages when English life, always the same
S.T. coLnn.DGE. jn Spirit^ mav have changed most of its forms. — S. T. Coleridge may perhaps
be best placed among the Poets, rather than the philosophers, of his time,
because the finest characteristics of his philosophy give an immortal substance
to his poetry, while they leave his philosophy without base or permanent sub-
stance. A genius so lofty and so various has rarely distinguished man : but
the absence of one essential element brought it down to a lower level than
that of a crowd of otherwise inferior minds. With an imagination which
soared above the stars, a subtlety which would have enabled him to hold his
place in a council in Pandemonium, a power of abstraction which should have
strengthened him to put the sensuous world beneath his feet, and an eloquence
which might have enslaved the human race, he had no power of will — of that
virtuous will without which every man — be he who he may — is himself a
slave. In Coleridge, it was a constitutional defect, early marked, and fatal to
his life. It was a constitutional deficiency, to be allowed for as such ; but it
must not be disguised that it rendered him incapable of Duty — of fidelity in
friendship, in citizenship, and in domestic life. And it vitiated his philosophy
by eating out of it its reality and substantive truth. Thus, his theology was
any thing but the gospel — the religion which men prize because it is equally
the treasure of the lowly and the exalted in intellect : it was an airy fabric
of the argumentative faculties and the imagination, and baseless sentiment,
and not a deep concern of the understanding and the heart. And thus it was
with his philosophy; for true philosophy absolutely requires a broad foundation
of science, and the vital element which can be supplied only from the affec-
tions. This said, which in conscience must be said, the rest remains wonder-
ful— even awful in its wonder. And the consolation of the case lies in the
virtue which the power and the deficiency together called out in other men.
The forbearance, the tenderness, the reverence, with which Coleridge was
regarded, in the face of his vitiated life, are more than a compensation for
what was wanting in himself. From the days when awe-struck schoolmates
gathered round " the inspired boy" in the cloisters at Christ's Hospital, to
the present moment, when his worshippers turn away from a sound of censure,
as from a desecration of his grave, he has met with" that magnanimous justice
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 203
which it requires some of the loftiest qualifications to command : and in this 1830 — 34.
influence lay one of the chief benefits of his life. Others were the sublime
faculty by which he opened to us new worlds of thought, and made the oldest
new; the subtlety of analysis by which he displayed the inner workings of
what was before our eyes, before closed and impenetrable ; the instinct by
which he discerned relations among things which before were isolated ; and
the thrilling sense of beauty which he awakened by bringing all the appear-
ances of nature into illustration of ideas before wholly abstract. Thus, his
discourses on the laws and facts of thought, his dramatic criticisms, and his
own poems, are full of lights and charms which hardly need the magic of his
utterance to make them intoxicate the young thinker, and stimulate the facul-
ties of the more mature. He was the wonder of his time. If he had not been
subject to one great deficiency, he would have been its miracle. As it is, his
fame is not likely to grow — less because his magical voice is silenced, than
becaiise his enchantment itself must be broken up by the touch of science.
Even then, glorious will be the fragments that will remain. They will be
truly the traces of old idolatries — not of one, but of many; for he spent his
life in the worship of a succession of idols — those idols being Ideas, which he
called Opinions, and which he was for ever changing. S. T. Coleridge was
born in a Devonshire vicarage, in 1772 ; and he died at Highgate, on the 25th
of July, 1834.
A man of great benevolence, who indirectly contributed much to the great
work of National Education, which yet remains, for the most part, to be achieved,
ought to be mentioned at the close of this period. Dr. Bell, a prebendary of
Westminster, was once a chaplain in India, and there conceived the idea of
extending the benefits of education by setting pupils to instruct each other.
He reported his method; and it was soon adopted in England to such an
extent, that he saw 10,000 schools established, attended by 600,000 children.
He believed that the object of general education was gained; and so did many
others. It required some years to show that nothing like education can be
obtained by the ignorant teaching the ignorant. The results have been such
as to disabuse the most sanguine. But public attention was turned to the in-
struction of the childhood and youth of the nation : and, in this sense, we
may be said to be still benefiting by the introduction of the Bell and Lancas-
ter system. Dr. Bell employed his large fortune in acts of beneficence,
devoting 50,000/. to the establishment of a college in his native city of St.
Andrew's. He died in January, 1831.
Having now recorded the acts, and buried the treasures, of an important
period of our history, we must proceed to learn what further blessings have
.been brought home to our country and people by the life-giving hand of
Peace.
DR. ANDRUW
BELL.
END OF BOOK IV.
204 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
BOOK V,
CHAPTER I.
1834. TT^ROM the time of the passage of the Reform Bill, the three parties in the
^December^ _|j State — kindred with those which exist in every free State — began to
THE THREE accept one another's new titles, and the professions included in those titles.
The Tories, Whigs, and Radicals wished to he called Conservatives, Reform-
ers, and Radical Reformers; and the easy civility of calling people by the
name they like best spread through public manners till the word Tory was
seldom heard except among old-fashioned people, or in the heat of political
argument. The Whig title has since revived — inevitably — from the Whigs
having ceased even to pretend to the character of Reformers : and the Radical
Reformers were not numerous or powerful enough in Parliament to establish
for themselves a title which should become traditional. There was some dis-
pute, and a good deal of recrimination, at the outset about the assumption by
each party of its own title ; the Tories declaring that they were as reforming,
in intention and in fact, as the Whigs, only in a preservative way; the Whigs
declaring that the only true conservatism was through reforms like theirs ; and
the Radicals, who were called Destructives by both the others, declaring that
a renovation of old institutions — a regeneration on occasion — was the only way
to avoid that ultimate revolution which the Tories would invite and the Whigs
permit. While the titles were changing, the parties were as yet essentially the
same as ever : — as usual, they consisted mainly of the representatives of those
who had much to lose, those who had much to gain, and the umpire party, disliked
by both, whose function is to interpose in times of crisis, and whose fate it is to
exhaust the credit acquired in such seasons during long intervals of indolence
and vacillation. Such was, as usual, the constitution of the three political
parties, after the passage of the Reform Bill, and when the changes in their
titles actually took place : but there were clear-sighted men at that time who
perceived that the change of names was but the first sign of an approaching
disintegration of the parties themselves ; a disintegration which must be suc-
ceeded by more or less fusion; that fusion being introductory to a new exhibi-
tion of products. The old parties — notwithstanding their new names — were
about to disappear. They could not be annihilated; but they would re-ap-
pear so transmuted that none but the philosopher would know them again
— with new members, a new language, a new task, and a whole set of new
aims. As much of this prevision has come true as time has yet allowed for.
CHAP. I.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 205
The disintegration and fusion have taken place ; and all thoughtful people see 1834.
that a new formation of parties must be at hand. One limit of the transition
period of parties remains still future : the other must be laid down at the date
of Sir Robert Peel's accession to power, in December, 1834. Here we have
the old Eldon oracle speaking again — speaking " in the spirit of fear," and not
" in that of power, and of love, and of a sound mind," and therefore giving out
its truth in a dismal disguise ; but still giving out more truth than any body
could use at the time. — Here we have Lord Eldon's party view of the future,
while the Wellingtons and Rodens, and Knatchbulls and Lyndhursts, and
Wharncliffes and Ellenboroughs, were in power, at the opening of the year
1835. " The new Ministers certainly have the credit, if that be creditable, of j^
being inclined to get as much popularity by what are called reforms as their
predecessors ; and if they do not, at present, go to the full length to which the
others were going, they will at least make so many important changes in
Church and State, that nobody can guess how far the precedents they establish
may lead to changes of a very formidable kind hereafter." Though Lord
Eldon could see no other reason for Tories making changes than a hankering-
after popularity, we can discern in the facts and his statement of them the
beginning of that wasting away of parties which he did not live to see.
The new Conservative rule began with a joke. Some, who could not take
the joke easily, were very angry; but most people laughed: and among them,
the person most nearly concerned — the Duke of Wellington — laughed as THB DU*E'*
OFFICES
cheerfully as any body. Sir Robert Peel was at Rome ; it must be a fortnight
before he could arrive : and nothing could be done about the distribution of
office in his absence : so the Duke took the business of the empire upon him-
self during the interval. This he called not deserting his sovereign ; and he
was as well satisfied with himself in this singular way of getting over the crisis,
as on all the other occasions when he refused to desert his sovereign. His de-
votion was such that for the interval he undertook eight offices — five principal,
and three subordinate. " The Irish hold it impossible," wrote a contempo- England's seven
eef J.T-' 1 *Ti i • i » mi T^ -T Administrations,
rary, "for a man to be in two places at once, 'like a bird. The Duke has iu. HI.
proved this no joke — he is in five places at once. At last, then, we have an
united government. The Cabinet Council sits in the Duke's head, and the
Ministers are all of one mind." The angry among the Liberals treated the
spectacle as they would have done if the Duke had proposed to carry on the
government permanently in this manner. Condemnations passed at public
meetings were forwarded to him with emphatic assurances that the condemna- *
tion was unanimous : an orator here and there drew out in array all the
consequences that could ever arise from the temporary shift being made a pre-
cedent; and Lord Campbell condescended to talk, at a public meeting at
Edinburgh, of impeaching the multifarious Minister. At all this, and at a
myriad of jokes, the Duke laughed, while he worked like a clerk from day to
day, till the welcome sound of Sir Robert Peel's carriage-wheels was heard.
It is a strong'proof of the virulence of the party-spirit of the time, that even POSITION OF SIR
generous-minded men, experienced in the vicissitudes of politics, could not at R°BERT PBEI"
first— nor till after the lapse of months or years — appreciate the position of Sir
Robert Peel. Every body saw it at last ; and there were many who, during
that hard probation, watched him and sympathized with him with daily in-
206 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1834. creasing interest and admiration: but there were too many who turned his
difficulties against him, and who were insensible till too late to the rebuke in-
volved in the fine temper which became nobler, and the brilliant statesman-
ship which became more masterly, as difficulties which he had not voluntarily
encountered pressed upon him with a daily accumulating force. His being at
Rome proved how little he had anticipated being called to office. He had no
option about accepting it — his sovereign sent for him, and he must come :
and when he arrived, he found there was no possibility of declining a task which
he believed to behopeless. Unpopular as the Whig Ministry had become, the
Conservatives were not the better for it, but the worse ; for the cry for reform
was growing stronger every day : and he could have no hope of gratifying the
majority of his own party, as he could not attempt to repeal the Reform Bill,
or to get back to the old ways. There was nothing before him but failure,
with discredit, on every hand: but, while he would certainly never have chosen
to fill a position so hard and so hopeless, he had a spirit whose nature it was
to rise under difficulties, and to feel the greatest alacrity under desperate con-
ditions.
One of the desperate conditions was, that he could not form the Cabinet
which his intentions and the necessities of the times required. He arrived in
London early on Tuesday, December 9th, and went at once to the King: yet
on the next Saturday nothing was known but that he would himself be
Chancellor of the Exchequer, as well as First Lord of the Treasury. Lord
Stanley and Sir James Graham had declined being of his corps ; and he did
not accept the Ultra-Tory adherents of the Duke whom he found hanging
about on his return. In his Ministry are found, naturally, but unfortunately
for its chances, four men whose political steadiness could never again be
counted upon — Lords Lyndhurst and Rosslyn, Sir James Scarlett, now made
Lord Abinger, and Mr. Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton. The
rest were of such politics as to discredit at once all professions of the Duke and
his friends, in Sir R. Peel's absence, of the desire of the government to pro-
CABINKT. mote all rational reforms. The Duke himself went to the Foreign Office:
Mr. Goulburn to the Home — Mr. Herries to the War — and Lord Aberdeen to
the Colonial Office. Sir Henry Hardinge was Irish Secretary — Lord Wharn-
cliffe, Lord Privy Seal — and Lord Rosslyn, President of the Council. Lord
Lyndhurst was on the woolsack, and Lord Abinger became Chief Baron.
Some of the King's sons-in-law, who were Whigs, resigned their offices in the
Household, and were succeeded by Conservatives of a very pure water.
Another of the desperate conditions was the state of parties in the Commons.
From the moment there was a rumour of a difficulty between the King and
Lord Melbourne, the Whigs and Radicals in the House began to incline to-
wards each other, lest the reformers of England should lose any of the ground
they had so hardly gained. From the moment it became known that Lord
Melbourne had declined the earldom and the Garter, which the poor King had
the bad taste to offer as a compensation for unreasonable treatment, all dif-
ferences were sunk for the season, and the two parties united as one ; so that
it was believed on every hand that little more than a fourth — certainly less
than a third — of the existing House of Commons, would support the new
Ministry. Though the people might not, at that juncture, return a much
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 207
more favourable House, the experiment must be tried. Parliament was pro- 1834.
rogued on tbe 18th of December; and on the 30th it was dissolved by procla-
mation, and a new one was convoked, to meet on the 19th of February.
Before taking the sense of the country, it was necessary for the Minister i
to put forth some declaration of what the country had to expect from him :
and this he did in the form of an address to his Tamworth constituents, avow-
ing that he was at the same time addressing the whole middle classes of the
nation. It is observable that while he speaks undoubtingly of his obligation
to take office, and heartily of his intention to toil and persevere, there is
scarcely an expression in the address which indicates hope of permanence and
success. Its tone is cheerful, but no one could call it sanguine ; and, in indi-
cating the principles on which he means to act, he speaks for himself alone,
and makes no reference to a Cabinet policy, or to administrative co-operation
in any way, merely declaring, in a parenthetical manner, that the sentiments
of his colleagues are in entire concurrence with his own.
First, he declares himself a reformer of abuses, and points to his own
great measures in regard to the Currency, to Criminal Law, to Jury trial, and
other matters, in proof of his disposition to remove abuses and facilitate im-
provements. In the same spirit, he would accept and make operative any
reform actually accomplished, whether he originally approved of it or not :
and he would therefore accept the Reform Bill, considering it " a final and
irrevocable settlement of a great constitutional question :" and he would carry
out its intentions, supposing those to imply a careful review of old institutions,
undertaken in a friendly spirit, and with a purpose of improvement. Coming
down to particulars, he would not interfere with the Inquiry of the Corporation
Commissioners, of which he had shown his approbation by being voluntarily
a member of the parliamentary Committee upon it. He had voted with
government on Lord Althorp's Church-rate measure, and was still willing to
relieve the Dissenters from the grievance of paying church-rates, and of a cele-
bration of marriage in terms to which they conscientiously objected. He
would not admit the right of Dissenters to admission to the universities ; but
he would recommend an alteration of the regulations which prevented any of
the King's subjects from being on a perfect equality with others in respect to
any civil privilege. — He would not countenance any retrospective inquiry
into the pension list — filled, as it had been, under circumstances that had
passed away ; but he would advocate more care in future in the conferring of
pensions. About Church Reform in Ireland again, his mind was not changed : —
he was in favour of the best distribution, be it ever so new, of ecclesiastical
property for ecclesiastical purposes; but he could not sanction its application
to any other than strictly ecclesiastical objects. He wished to see a commu-
tation of tithe in England ; and with regard to deeper matters — the laws
which govern the Church — he desired time for further thought, and opportu-
nity for new light. The somewhat deprecatory tone of the conclusion of this
Address is striking now, and must have been strongly felt by all the many
classes of readers who thronged to get a sight of it on the morning of its
appearance. " I enter upon the arduous duties assigned to me with the
deepest sense of the responsibility they involve, with great distrust of my own
qualifications for their adequate discharge, but at the same time with a resolu-
208 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1834. tion to persevere, which nothing could inspire but the strong impulse of
— ^- ^-*^__ public duty, the consciousness of upright motives, and the firm belief that
the people of this country will so far maintain the prerogative of the King as
to give to the Ministers of his choice, not an implicit confidence, but a fair
trial."
Such was the text on which the popular comment of the elections was to
proceed. It was much more liberal than the Liberals had expected : but when
they looked at the group of colleagues behind, they distrusted the Minister
and his Manifesto, and set vigorously to work to elect a House which should
bring all his counsels to nought, and frustrate all his efforts. He could not
have said that they, as Liberals, were wrong ; and neither he nor they could
anticipate how their opposition would rouse his faculties and exalt his fame. —
This address appeared in one paper as a mere advertisement, in small type.
In another, it was conspicuous as the leading article. It was immediately
reprinted, throughout the country; and it is strange now to see it standing
under the heading of " the Tory Manifesto." If this was its true title, Toryism
had indeed changed its character, much and rapidly.
1835. The first reformed parliament had not satisfied its constituents ; it had done
some wrong things, and omitted many right ones ; but it had had the great
virtue of beingin advance of the ill-compacted, desultory, unbusiness-like Whig
Cabinet. It would have done more and better but for the drag of the Adminis-
tration, which was always put on when there was up-hill work to be attempted.
If the same parliament had been allowed to remain, its great reform party no
longer impeded by the Whigs, but aided by them, great things might be hoped.
As it was not to remain, it was parted with more respectfully and good-hu-
mouredly than could have been supposed possible three months before, under
a prevailing sense that much allowance must be made for the disadvantage of
the Reform Ministry having so soon fallen so far below all rational expecta-
tion. Every thing might be hoped from the next House of Commons. The
first object of every class of reformers was clear enough — to depose the Con-
servatives, and reinstate a reforming Ministry : and it would be perfectly easy
THE NEW PAR. j-o <jo ^njs ^y uniOn between the Whig and Radical parties, though, as every one
knew, there would be more Conservatives returned under a Peel, than under
a Grey Ministry. More Conservatives were returned ; but the reformers had
still an overwhelming majority ; and from the hour when the members assem-
bled, it was only a question of time — a consideration of sense and temper —
when and how Sir Robert Peel should be compelled to retire. The popular
power being thus clearly able to do what it would, it now appears strange
that the virulence of the time was what it was. The Minister seems to have
been almost the only man who preserved temper and cheerfulness, though his
position was incomparably the hardest — placed, as he was, in that hopeless
position without any choice of his own. It is not necessary to record the ill-
humour of the time by anecdotes which would now convey more disgrace than
the parties deserved : but it may be said that the kingdom was covered with
altercation, from the House of Lords, where the late Ministers spoke with
extreme bitterness of late events, down to the street corners and police courts,
where fretful men complained of each other, and of the police, and the bill-
stickers, and all officers concerned in all elections. The Conservatives quar-
TF.MPER OF THE
TlMF.
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 209
relied among themselves quite as virulently as either party with the other. 1835.
The old Tories put out a caricature of the search of Diogenes, who lights upon
Lord Eldon as the only honest man. The Times lectured the party on its
slowness and apathy ; and other Conservative papers denounced all compro-
mise with reform, now that the opportunity was present of putting down the
Papists and the Radicals by the powers of government, under the countenance
of the King. As soon as it was clear that the Reformers had a very large
majority, and when the Times retreated so far as to discuss the possibility of
a coalition between the Grey and Peel parties, the other leading paper, the
Standard, intimated that the new parliament would be immediately dissolved,
in order to afford the people an opportunity of reconsidering their duty, and
returning a House more agreeable to the other ruling powers. This intima-
tion caused such an outcry about a return of the time of the Stuarts, that the
paper softened its menace immediately : but it could not recall the hint it had
given to the constituencies to keep up their organization, in readiness for a
new election, at any hour. Accusations of bribery all round were profuse,
and, on the whole, too well deserved ; for the occasion was indeed a most
critical one, when the corrupt, as well as the honourable, felt called on to put
forth all their resources. Then, there was incessant quarrelling about the
Waverers, or doubtful men, who were just sufficient to make it difficult to
calculate, and easy to dispute, what the Conservative minority would in reality
be. Then, again, it was certain that, from the losses to the Reform party in
the English boroughs where corporation reform was most wanted, the two
parties were run so close that any effectual parliamentary majority must be
yielded by Scotland and Ireland ; and this gave occasion for a fierce renewed cry
about Papist supremacy. When the last election returns came in, it appeared
to the most careful calculators that the Reformers were secure of a majority of
above 130; and, if all the doubtfuls were given to the ministerial party, the Con-
servatives would still be in a minority of 82. Thus the fate of the new Ministry
was decided, and known to be so, before the Premier met parliament ; — known
at least by the Liberals, though the Premier himself appears to have gained
confidence as time went on, from finding how much reform it was practicable
for him to effect. At a dinner at Tamworth, he intimated that the ominous
predictions of his being unable to carry on the government might not, perhaps,
be necessarily true : parliament might give him a fair trial : and he could not
but think that many who were classed as Reformers held views very like
his own.
The Reformers, however, felt that this was no time for a comparison of
views on any particular subjects ; but rather an occasion for deciding between
opposite principles of government in the large. In this there can now be no
question that they were right : and, the more the late Whig government had
fallen short of fidelity to Reform principles, the more important it was now to
reassert them, and to put aside any Minister, be his personal merits what they
might, and his policy ever so promising, who stood forth as the representative
of the Tory party, with a group of Tories at his back. " Public principle" —
however the words might be ridiculed by the newspapers of the day, as mean-
ing private interests and jealous tempers — did require that the distinction of
parties should at that crisis be made as conspicuous as possible ; and if anger,
VOL. II. 2 E
210 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835. and disappointment and jealousy among ministerial men oil the Whig side did
make sad havoc with temper and manners, such incidents did not alter the
duty of the time. Those Reformers who were mvich of Sir Robert Peel's
mind about many things, and might have supported him in a tranquil organic
season, were now bound to set him aside if they could, because the first duty
of the critical period was to choose decidedly between an unregenerate and a
regenerate system of government. There was not therefore, necessarily, any
spirit of faction in the determination of the Reformers to begin the campaign
or THE by requiring a Speaker of their own party. Whether or not they had been
right hitherto in maintaining Sir Charles Manners Sutton in the Chair, it was
clear that it would not be right now. Times were altered ; and the man was
visibly altered by the change in the times. He had been unable — as every
body else was unable — to resist the temptation to active partisanship ; and he
was so far less qiialified for the Chair than formerly, even if no "great public
principle" had become involved in the question of his reappointment.
Mr. Abercromby was the man on whom the wishes of the Reformers settled ;
but Mr. Abercromby objected to the nomination, and he resisted the honour
till nearly the last hour. He yielded, however ; and immediately left town,
while it was universally known that on the other side even urgent personal
canvassing was practised. This difference, and the inclination of many quiet
or lukewarm Reformers to have a Speaker of such proved qualifications as
Sir C. Manners Sutton in so troubled a session as was before them, ren-
dered it doubtful, to the last moment, which way the election would turn.
CROMBY There was an extremely full House on the critical 19th of February: only
a few of the Doubtfuls and six Tories were absent : almost all the rest of the
]93r'> Waverers and thirty-five Reformers voted for the Ministerial Speaker; and
yet Mr. Abercromby was chosen by a majority of ten. The Reformers from
this time knew that the session was theirs, if they were active and united.
Sir Charles Manners Sutton at once received the peerage which his long ser-
vices truly merited, being called to the Upper House by the title of Viscount
Canterbury.
On the 24th, the King came down to open Parliament in person. His
vTb. Speech declared the rising prosperity of manufactures and commerce, but
deplored the depression of agriculture, and recommended to parliament the
consideration of reducing the burdens upon land. Wearisome as it is to record
and to read of the depression of agriculture, almost from year to year, it
becomes the more necessary to do so as we approach the period when a free trade
in corn was demanded by a majority of the people. It is necessary to see, as
we proceed, what the state of things was which the opponents of change would
have perpetuated — what the good old times were which they were unwilling
to abandon. This year, the farmers' cry came up so piteously that it was
echoed in the King's Speech ; and it was left for the multitude below to
Avonder how it Avas that there Avere any farmers in England — so losing a busi-
ness as farming evidently Avas. Another series or two of farmers had to be
impoverished yet, before the Avithering system of protection Avas put an end
to : but every complaint to government, and every mention by the sovereign,
of agricultural distress now w-eiit to remind the thoughtful that there must be
something radically Avrong in the existing system, Avhatever might be the
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 211
difficulty of agreeing about a better. — The King also requested the attention 1835.
of parliament to the Tithe questions in Ireland and England; to Ecclesiastical v-- — •-— — -
Reform, in regard to discipline and the administration of justice ; to the best
way of relieving Dissenters from a form of the celebration of Marriage to
which they conscientiously objected ; to the Municipal Corporation question ;
to the operations of the Ecclesiastical Commission ; and to the condition of
the Church of Scotland.
The conflict of parties began at once, in the House of Lords, about the
Address. According to Lord Eldon's report, there was a serious dread, some
days before, of a large majority against Ministers, even in the Upper House ; ANCRY DEBATES.
and the Conservatives made a solemn call upon each other to muster strongly,
for the last chance of preserving their dignities and their property, lest their
children, like those of the French nobility, should be doomed to become
Commoners. The feeble old man was himself in his place, almost for the last
time. " I sat," he says, " last night in the House of Lords till between twelve ^ "u.^.^s.1"
and one — till all in that House was over. I certainly would much rather
have sat by my fireside, quietly, and enjoying the comforts of conversation."
But he was resolved, as long as he lived, to do his part in saving the monarchy.
The debate was deformed by much anger and mutual unfairness. In both
Houses the recrimination was unworthy of so great an occasion, the late
Ministry unreasonably finding fault with the dissolution of parliament, and
with the Duke of Wellington's way of conducting the business of the State
during the Premier's return from Rome ; and the Conservatives unwisely
dwelling on an anecdote of the time which has never ceased to be vividly
remembered. It had actually happened that before the King could have sent
to the Duke of Wellington, and before Lord Melbourne could have officially
communicated to his colleagues the state of the King's mind, an ostentatious
statement appeared in a morning paper — a statement which must have
been derived from a Cabinet Minister, and which was universally attributed
to Lord Brougham — that Lord Melbourne's administration was dismissed, and
that " the Queen had done it all." Though the Speech made no allusion to
the change of Ministry, and Lord Melbourne's proposed Amendment was also
silent about it, the anecdotage of the crisis formed the chief part of the debates
on the Address in both Houses. The Amendments insisted on carrying out
the principles of Reform in regard to the projects contemplated by the late
parliament, and lamented its unnecessary dissolution before those reforms were
completed. In the Lords' House, the Amendment was simply negatived.
In the Commons it was carried by a majority of seven. And here, at the Hansard, \\vi.
outset, the Premier had to consider what was to be done. He took time to Hansard, xxvi.
425
consider, in order, as he frankly avowed, to guard himself against any mislead-
ing from mortification, and to ascertain whether the vote conveyed the real
sense of the House. When satisfied that it did so, he did not oppose the
amendment of the Address ; and it was carried up to the King, therefore, with
the unusual feature conspicuous in it of the discontent of the Commons with
the late dissolution of their House. The King was sorry, of course, that the
Commons did not concur with him in regard to that act, and declared that he Annual Register,
exercised his prerogatives with the sole view of promoting the welfare of his l835' l01'
people.
212 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. The restlessness of the Opposition was increased by the two majorities they
^— — v— — ' had already obtained; and, through one opening or another, inquiries were inces-
santly conveyed to the Minister whether he meant to resign. His answer was
that the two votes did not convey a declaration of want of confidence in the
government, and he therefore thought it his duty to proceed. These inquiries
naturally caused rumours out of doors; and then again, these rumours were
reproduced in the House, to elicit further explanations from Ministers. On
the 2nd of March, Lord John Russell made a statement of two reports which
Hansard, xxvi. were prevalent — that Parliament was again to be dissolved, on the first minis-
terial reverse ; and that if this should happen before the Mutiny Act could be
discussed, the army was to be kept up, on the responsibility of the administra-
tion, without the assent of Parliament. That such -a project should have been
imputed to one political leader by another, in our day, is a remarkable indica-
tion of the disturbance of the general mind. Lord John Russell declared that
he should avoid putting the direct question whether these things were true;
but that he intended to test the disposition of the Cabinet by bringing forward,
at a time of which he gave notice, the Appropriation question, and that of
^4!!478'.XXV1' Municipal Reform. The Premier's reply was clear and frank. He had never
discussed or proposed any where a speedy dissolution of Parliament; but it was
not his business to place in abeyance, by any declaration of his, the royal pre-
rogative of dissolving Parliament : and this, as he observed, was a fuller reply
than Lord Grey had given to the well-remembered question of Lord Wharn-
cliffe on the same subject. As to the Irish Church question, he and his
colleagues were anxious that the Commission should prosecute their labours,
as yet only half finished ; and when they had furnished the requisite informa-
tion, government and the country would see what ought to be done — the
present government adhering to its principle that the property of the Church
ought to be applied only to strictly ecclesiastical purposes, but being ready to
amend the distribution of that property, when the requisite evidence should be
complete. There was no objection on the part of the government to any
needful reform of Corporation abuses; but neither they, nor any body else,
could declare what such reforms should be till the Commissioners should have
offered their Report. As for the rumour about the maintenance of the army
without the sanction of Parliament, he had never heard the subject mentioned
till that night. The same kind of suspicious inquiry was made of Lord
Aberdeen in the Upper House about the carrying out of the Emancipation
Act in the West Indies, when the Colonial Secretary declared that no one
could be more anxious than himself — whose first vote had been against slavery
— that the Act should be completely carried out ; and he had written to Lord
Hansard, xxvi. Sligo to entreat him to remain in his office of Governor of Jamaica, and com-
plete his work, without any misgiving on account of the change of adminis-
tration at home.
On the next great subject of discussion, men of all parties united on either
DEBATE ON THE side. Lord Chandos proposed, to the embarrassment of the government which
he usually supported, the repeal of the Malt Duty— rthe promise of which boon
to the farmers was believed to have greatly influenced the elections. Many
Whig and Radical members agreed with the Premier that such a proposition
could not be entertained before the financial condition of the country was
CHAP. L] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 213
known: that there was no reason to suppose that the surplus in the Treasury 1835.
could meet such a demand: that it was not the barley-growers whose distress
now called for attention, as the price of barley had been rising for a consider-
able period : and that it was extremely doubtful whether the farmers would be
peculiarly benefited by the repeal of the duty. On the division, Mr. Grote
and Mr. Hume were found voting on opposite sides; and three members of
the late government spoke in support of Sir Robert Peel against the motion
of his own adherent; the strife of party was visible only in the sarcasms
thrown out in the course of debate; and the majority against the repeal of the
Malt tax was 158. Hazard, H»L
On the next occasion of defeat, the Administration had little sympathy from
any quarter. They had made an indefensible appointment to an office of high
importance ; and they had to take the consequences ; and the Premier among
others, not only because his was the first responsibility in such cases — how-
ever his opinion might be overruled in private — but because he attempted a
lamentable defence in Parliament of an appointment which could in no view
be justified. Early in January, the following paragraph appeared in the Times
newspaper: "We notice, merely to discountenance, an absurd report, that
Lord Londonderry has been, or is to be, named Ambassador to St. Petersburg.
The rumour is a sorry joke." It was no joke. If all England had been LORD LONDON.
,.. TI .1 /» ,1 TI r BERRY'S APPOINT-
searched for a man whose politics were most like those of the Emperor of MENT.
Russia, Lord Londonderry might well have been chosen : and he was now to
be sent to represent the mind of England to the Emperor of Russia — now,
when the affairs of Turkey were in a state to require the most accurate repre-
sentation of the opinion of Great Britain — now, when Poland was command-
ing the sympathies of the whole world, but when Lord Londonderry was in
the habit of speaking decisively of the Poles as " the rebellious subjects of the
Emperor of Russia ;" and when he professed himself a sympathizer with Don
Carlos and Don Miguel. His Lordship's notions about a fair personal interest
in public service were also too well known throughout the country to dispose
the people of England to place him again in their service. It could never be
forgotten that he had, a few years before, brought disgrace upon himself by
declaring, in the House of Lords, that he had been calumniated and injured
by the Foreign Office, and challenging Lord Dudley, then Foreign Secretary,
to produce a certain correspondence which would explain the case. In the
course of explanation it appeared that Lord Londonderry had been importu- Hansard, xxvi.
nate for a pension, in consideration of his diplomatic services; and that the
calm and moderate Lord Liverpool had written in pencil on the back of the
letter, "This is too bad." These things, before well known, were now repeated
in Parliament, and the portrait of the rank Tory nobleman, with his rashness,
his obtuseness, his narrowness, his ingenuous conclusions that the people and
their purses were created for the benefit of the aristocracy, was held up before
the public eye in a way infinitely damaging to the Administration. Sir Robert
Peel held up, on the other side, his manliness and his military qualifications —
qualities which, with some other very good ones, nobody denied, but which
did not constitute him a fitting representative of the mind of the British nation
at the Court of Russia. The appointment was not actually made out : but
Sir R. Peel declared himself ready to maintain the nomination. The difficulty,
214 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
^^— ^^- however, was ended by Lord Londonderry immediately withdrawing. The
1835. debate in the Commons was published on Saturday ; and on Monday, the
Hansard, xxvi. Marquess declared, with his characteristic manliness, that he saw it to be im-
possible that he could act with advantage at a Foreign Court while disowned
as a representative by any cpnsiderable portion of the political body at home ;
and therefore, while scorning all scoffs and imputations, and heedless of invi-
dious censure, he should, for the sake of his sovereign, decline the service pro-
posed. The Whig Lords were anxious to explain that their disapprobation
was grounded on the speeches he had made in that House, which had mani-
fested his dismay and anger at the expulsion of the Bourbons, his rancour
against the Poles, and his sympathies with Don Miguel and Don Carlos ;
which state of opinion seemed to qualify him rather for the post of Russian
ambassador in England than British ambassador in Russia. The Ministers
were as severely judged by their own party on this occasion as by any other.
They had humbled the King, and rendered his prerogative ineffective. If it
had before been true that the sovereign could not practically carry out any
such appointment without the approbation of Parliament, express or implied,
the truth had not been exhibited; and decent appointments had made all easy.
In this case, the King had been first misled and then humbled; and the Con-
servatives had little more mercy on the Ministers than any body else.
In the preceding year, Lord John Russell had brought forward a measure
for the relief of Dissenters in regard to the marriage ceremony. It was well
DISSENTERS' meant; but the Dissenters could not possibly accept it. All proposed legisla-
tion on this subject, thus far, had been kind in its spirit, and earnest in the
desire to give relief; but it had unconsciously carried an air of condescension
— a supposition of respective superiority and inferiority not admissible in
affairs of conscience. No one could be further than Lord John Russell from
sympathizing in the sayings of the Eldons and the Wynfords, and others, who
could not conceive of a Dissenter as a man whose rights were as precious, and
whose conscience was to be as much considered, as their own. Nobody could
be further than Lord John Russell from the insolence of asking what harm it
could do a Dissenter to be blessed in a form of words offensive to his religious
feelings, as long as he was not required himself to repeat those words. Lord
John Russell was disposed to relieve the Dissenter from the pain and humilia-
tion of being a party to a religious service which he conscientiously disap-
proved ; and he proposed to open their own chapels freely to the body for the
performance of the ceremony of marriage. But he did not see, till the rejec-
tion of his measure by the Dissenters pointed out the fact to him, that it was
an infringement of religious liberty to render the Dissenters dependent on the
Church for the publication of their banns, and the declaration of that procedure
by the clergyman. He did not see that it was an encroachment on liberty of
conscience to permit marriages to be celebrated only in places of worship, thus
perpetuating the modern innovation, injurious to many consciences, of abso-
lutely connecting the civil contract with the religious celebration. On these
grounds, and also because they objected to the necessity of affixing the license
in some conspicuous part of their chapels, the Dissenters had rejected Lord
John Russell's measure of the session of 1834. Many whose occasions have
not led them to a very close study of the application of the principles of re-
CHAP. I.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 215
ligious liberty, called them, as usual, captious. Others, who, like Lord 1835.
Holland, knew the Nonconformists, and recognised their function in the state, v— — ^— ~^
received their petitions and statements with respect, and considered them with
deference. " Take care," said Lord Holland to a brother peer, a few years
later, on another question of Dissenters' rights — " take care how you conclude
against the Nonconformists on any question of religious liberty. I have seen
more of them than most men; and I never differed from them without finding
myself in the wrong." In such a temper of honest respect did Sir Robert
Peel now look into this case of Dissenters' marriages. He went down to the
principle of the matter at once, in which he was as well supported by the
lawyers in the House as by the Dissenters out of it. On the principle that
the civil contract is the first consideration before the law; and that, even in Political Diction-
churches where marriage is regarded as a sacrament, the religious ceremony *'
only arises out of the civil contract, the Minister now proposed to establish at
once the broad principle of the validity of marriage by purely civil contract.
He also offered full liberty to all denominations of Dissenters to marry in their
own chapels. It was honourable to the House of Commons that it received
this broad measure as it deserved, recognising the truth of its principle. So
did the Dissenters also receive it ; but, amidst their satisfaction and gratitude,
they did not forget their fidelity to their function. They pointed out that even
this Bill would not establish equality before the law for men of differing faiths :
—it still provided one method of marriage for Churchmen and another for
Dissenters, and they required liberty of marriage by civil contract to be ex-
tended to the whole of society. They also objected, on their own account, to
being dependent on the clergy for the registration of their marriages. Lord
Eldon's remark on this is, " The Dissenters are pleased, but they seem not to Life of Lord
disguise that they are not satisfied. I take it that the true friends of the
Church are neither pleased nor satisfied. As to the Dissenters, it is their nature
not to be satisfied, as I can judge from very long experience." These haughty
gentlemen, who regarded the Nonconformists as a separate breed, and talked
of " their nature," seem never to have asked themselves whether they would
themselves ever be "satisfied" to be compelled to marry nowhere but in a
Roman Catholic Church, or to depend on the Catholic priesthood for the cele-
bration and registration of their marriages. The Minister received the repre-
sentation of the Dissenters with respect and good-will, and saw the force of
the objection about the registration by the clergy ; or, in case of the civil con-
tract celebration, by a magistrate who was usually a clergyman. He had it
in his mind to bring forward a registration measure of large scope; but he
could not do every thing at once, and at present could only announce it. On
going out of office, shortly after, he committed the whole business to Lord
John Russell, by whom that ultimate measure was brought forward the next
year which has happily settled the Marriage question. This ultimate measure
was brought in together with one for a Registration of Births, Marriages, and
Deaths: by it, the civil contract becomes all that the State has to do with the
celebration of marriage; and it is accomplished through the Registration
Office, while all persons are left free to conduct the religious celebration of
marriage according to their own views.
During this extraordinary session, the Minister seemed to be inexhaustible
216 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. — in purposes, in resources, in energy, and, it may be added, in temper. By
^— — ^—^ this time, his political antagonists had begun to admire; and the country was
awake. Success and permanence in office were evidently out of the question
still; but all that man could do the Minister did to lessen the rancour of
parties by uniting them in good objects. His speech upon the malt tax had
manifested great care, knowledge, and industrious research; and now his in-
troduction of a measure for the Commutation of Tithes impressed his hearers
yet more with a sense of these qualities. He hoped to induce a pretty general
commutation of tithes, by offering facilities and inducements to such a settle-
ment. His antagonists believed that none but a compulsory commutation
would take full effect: and many pronounced any settlement at all of that
question an achievement not to be expected of any statesman whatever. This
was no occasion of party strife, while it evidently improved the Minister's
position. He had caused the re-appointment of all the Committees of the
preceding session which had for their object the investigation into needs and
abuses; and it was clear to all by this time that he had no intention of med-
dling with any questions on which the mind of Parliament had been declared,
and its legislation settled. With regard to other matters, as well as Education
in Ireland, and the incipient plan for England and Wales, he declared his
principle to be to acquiesce in what had been deliberately decided on, and to
endeavour faithfully to carry out the purposes of the legislature.
FXCLESUSTICAL One of the first acts of the Ministry had been to issue a Commission to in-
COMMISSION. . . . *
quire into the evils which had arisen from the old ecclesiastical arrangements,
now outgrown, about the territorial divisions, income, and patronage, of the
Church. Already the Commission were in waiting with their Report, which
was presented on the 19th of March. A new arrangement of dioceses was
proposed, and the erection of two new bishoprics — those of Manchester and
Ripon; while, on the other hand, the sees of Bangor and St. Asaph might be
united; and also those of Llandaff and Bristol. An equalization of great
Church incomes, and a fairer distribution of work and salaries, were also pro-
posed.— About the same time, the Attorney General gave notice of a Bill to
amend the discipline of the Church of England : and he also renewed a
measure for the improvement of the administration of Ecclesiastical Law
which had been originated under the Duke of Wellington's former Ministry,
and adopted by the Whigs in their act of issuing a Commission. There was
much disputation as to which party ought to enjoy the credit of these proceed-
ings; for it was not yet clear to all who were in high places that a time was
come when, by a law of necessity, men must make a common stock of states-
manship— must unite their wisdom for the general good — and be satisfied with
the honour and blessing of having originated, or of having carried through,
good measures, with all procurable assistance from every quarter, without in-
sisting on that glory of a more ancient statesmanship, in which the people had
little or no part — of being responsible for the whole conception, preparation,
and execution, of a new act of policy. Our successive Ministers and their
parties were, for a series of years, incessantly complaining of each other for
taking up and carrying good measures which they did not originate : but what
would they deserve as Ministers if they avoided taking up and carrying good
measures because they did not originate them ? Ours are not times when men
Cu.u>. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 217
can say, "That is my bit of truth, and you shall not have it" — "That is my 1835.
"bit of usefulness, and you shall not touch it." The truth and the usefulness ^— — v— — ^
become, under a faithful representative system, as free as the light and the air.
The real glory is in effectually dispensing them — a work in which every poli-
tical benefactor we have is more or less concerned with some predecessor : — and
if, in the midst of such work, any man's heart is really set upon his due of
praise for his precise share in the suggestion and management, it might be
easy to ascertain that precise share. The difficulty would be to make any
body care to know what it was. — Amidst the prevalence of the charges all
round of borrowing or stealing political measures, the people are quietly
drawing their inferences — surely distinguishing the make-shift politician who
catches at a popular cry, takes up in a slovenly way what is suggested to him,
and offers it without improvement or adaptation, from the true statesman, who,
amidst many mistakes of his opponents, sees here and there a good embryo
measure, reflects upon and expands it, collects all needful knowledge about it,
imbues it with originality and life, clothes it with a proper organization, and
produces it in his day of power, acknowledging whence he derived it, but
secretly conscious that but for him it would never have been thus matured.
Such has been the process, so repeatedly and so conspicuously of late years, ;
on our platform of government, that men in high places have begun to under-
stand it like the crowd below — and we hear less complaint with every change
of government, of a borrowing or stealing of the thoughts of rivals : but, dur-
ing the short Peel administration of 1835, such complaints were abundant,
and very bitter.
This short administration was now approaching its close. On the 24th of DEFEATS!'AL
March, the Minister was outvoted about the functions of a Committee to in-
quire into a charge of intimidation at the late Chatham election, by an officer
in command there. — On the 26th, another defeat was sustained on the ques- "*nsard' xxv"'
tion of the London University Charter. The grounds of proceeding about
this Charter had been examined by the Privy Council ; and, during the
period of Whig government, nothing had been done about it; while Oxford
and Cambridge had petitioned against any permission to the London Uni- LONDON UNI-
* _ VKRSITY CHARTER.
versty to grant degrees of the same denominations as those of the ancient
Universities; not objecting, as they declared, to the grant of a Charter, or the
power of conferring academical honours, but desiring to keep appropriate to
themselves the titles of honour which should prove that those who bore them Hansard, xxvu.
283
belonged to the Established Church, and had graduated at Oxford or Cam-
bridge. The motion on the present occasion was for an address to the King,
beseeching him to grant such a Charter to the London University as was ap-
proved by the Law Officers of the Crown in 1831, and containing no other
restriction than against conferring degrees in divinity and in medicine. The
proposers declared, on being questioned, that the reason why they brought
forward this motion now was that they had no longer the hope which existed
in the days of a liberal government, of the admission of Dissenters to the old
Universities : and if such admission could not be obtained, they must seek for
justice in the social career by acquiring such privileges as could be had for the
one University which was open to them. The government amendment was
one which did no credit to any body concerned in it, and was, perhaps, the
VOL. II. 2 F
218 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. most damaging act of Sir Robert Peel's short term of office. It was of an
obstructive character which could not be mistaken — addressing the King for
copies of the memorials presented against the project of a Charter, together
with an account of the proceedings before the Privy Council. This was prac-
tically a reverting to the old wrong of considering the Dissenters an inferior
and disgraced body, and excluding them from any fair chance in professional
life : and the wrong was too flagrant for the times, strong as was the spirit of
bigotry, and the habit of prejudice among the classes from which the legisla-
ture is selected. The time was come when either the old Universities must
throw their gates wide to Dissenters, or they must abstain from interference
with that honourable and conscientious body — withheld by honour and con-
science from winning University privileges — in obtaining justice by another
Hansard, xxvii. mode. The government was left in a minority of 136 to 246. The King's
reply to the Address was gracious ; but for several months after the return of
the Whigs to power, nothing more was heard of the matter. By the next
August, the pressure of the government by the Council had become such as
to procure a proposal which was at once accepted by all the parties concerned
in the University — that a body of men of science and scholarship should be
incorporated by Charter in London, for the purpose of examining candidates
and conferring degrees in Arts, Medicine, and Laws, on not only students
educated in the one college in question, but in others in London, now speci-
Penny cycio- fied, and also some in the country to be afterwards recognised. This satisfied
all reasonable persons. The Dissenters desired justice, and not a monopoly;
and the proposed extension conferred dignity, while securing enlarged use-
fulness. On the 28th of November, 1836, two Charters were granted — one to
constitute the University of London, hitherto so called, "University College,
London," for " the general -advancement of literature and science, by afford-
ing to young men adequate opportunities of obtaining literary and scientific
education at a moderate expense," — the other Charter creating the " University
of London." The proceeding, however, bore the ordinary character of the
executive acts of the Whigs— it was imperfect, if not illegal, the instrument
bearing the words, without qualification, " during Royal Will and Pleasure.'*
These words doomed the Charter to expire within six months after the death
of William IV. Queen Victoria, as advised, revoked it, and granted a new
one on a better tenure, which received the great seal on the 27th of December,
1837. In this Charter the object is declared to be to hold out the encourage-
ments of the institution " without any distinction whatsoever ;" a declaration
n-°2iAn'°M' '"' so c^ear as deeply to discredit an attempt made in the next year to introduce,
in the form of optional discipline, a test which should establish " distinctions"
on account of differing modes of faith. It was Dr. Arnold who tried the un-
happy experiment; and he failed, as the best-intentioned man must do who
attempts to force his personal convictions on a public institution, in opposition
to its leading principle, and the express terms of its Charter. The University
remains equal in its operations to all, on the broad ground of the equal rights
of all, without fear or favour, to liberty of opinion.
To return to the last nights of the Peel administration. — There was a re-
COVFLICTS IN currence of party conflict at every practicable interval — the Opposition leaders
reproaching Sir R. Peel with perilling the prerogatives of the Crown, and
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 219
troubling the course of legislation, by attempting to govern without a majority 1835.
in the Commons ; and Sir R. Peel inviting a vote of want of confidence as a ^^^~***J
ground, and as the only ground, on which he would be willing to retire before
having laid all his measures before the House. Lord John Russell replied
that such a vote could not be called for before the production of the Ministe-
rial measures, without subjecting the Opposition to the charge of unfairness :
the obvious reply to which was, that if the Opposition intended to wait
for the Ministerial measures before voting want of confidence, they ought to
abstain from invidious remark and construction in the mean time. The
Opposition — those among them who were not leaders — acknowledged the
truth of this, but gave an intimation that the Opposition would choose their
own time. After two or three weeks of such antagonism as this, the Whigs
chose their opportunity. Their topic was the Appropriation question ; their
time, the 30th of March.
On the 2nd of March, Lord John Russell had intimated that he should FIN*«. STRI-OGI.*.
bring forward the whole subject of the Irish Church in the latter part of the
month, in order to test the position of the Ministry with regard to the country.
He waited till then for the Reports of the Commission. A fortnight later, he
had doubts of receiving the Reports, and declared them not necessary to his
argument, but desirable for the satisfaction of members. On the 18th, he
suggested that it would be well to wait for a partial Report which would soon
be in the hands of members : on the 19th, he fixed his motion, with notice of
a call of the House, for the 30th: and on the 20th, he formally relinquished
every kind of demand of Reports, because none would be ready, and he must
proceed without them. The 30th, now, was to be the great day of assertion
of the distinctive principle of the Whig government, which was to serve as a
test of the power of the existing administration, and as the instrument of
their overthrow : — the distinctive principle at that period, but not for long; for APPROPRIATION
OUESTION.
it was dropped presently after the return of the Whigs to power, and has '
never been heard of from them since. The conflict now under notice cannot
be judged of without the retrospective light cast on it by this fact.
There had been an introductory debate on the Ministerial Resolutions which
proposed to convert Irish tithe into a rent charge, redeemable under such
conditions as should secure the redemption : and in this debate the Opposition
were divided, some objecting to the measure, and others complaining that it
was a mere reproduction of the last Whig measure on the same subject ; some
desiring to proceed, and others thinking it essential to have the decision of
the House on the Appropriation question first. In consequence of these
differences, the Ministers carried their Resolution.— On the 30th, Lord John £atlsard> xxvii>
Russell repeated his proposition that the House should resolve itself into a
Committee for the purpose of considering the state of the Irish Church, with
a view to applying any surplus left over from spiritual objects to the education
of the people at large, without distinction of religious persuasion. — He declared |£[™
himself friendly to the principle of an Establishment ; adopted the ground of
utility laid down by Paley; showed that the Irish Church did not fulfil the
condition, and must therefore be reformed ; that, in this case, reform involved
reduction, and a reduction involved a surplus ; and that, as to the application
of this surplus, no distinct line of religious appropriation could be drawn
220 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. between making additions to the incomes of individual clergymen, and deve-
loping the mental and moral capacities of the inhabitants of the country. — It
was necessaiy to advert to the difficulty which the Opposition leaders found
themselves in through the delay of the Commissioners' Report. Last year,
they had voted down the Appropriation question, on the ground that the
requisite information could be obtained only by the Inquiry of the Commis-
sioners; and yet they were now bringing up the question again, withoxit
waiting for the results of the Inquiry. The facts on which the question was
based were indeed patent enough ; and so had they been the year before, and
every year of the century; but Lord J. Russell rested his excuse for his incon-
sistency on the broad declaration of the Premier, that under no circumstances
would he consent to the appropriation of ecclesiastical funds to any but strictly
ecclesiastical purposes. Such a declaration, prior to the reception of the
Reports, justified the Opposition, in their own opinion, in declaring their
principle in a manner equally broad. Another consideration, adverse to delay,
was that it was highly desirable to come to some vote, or other decision, which
should show whether or not the Administration enjoyed the confidence of the
House.
Lord Howick's speech was perhaps the most interesting, on the side of the
Reformers, delivered during the four nights of this important debate. He
Hansard, xxvii. lamented that this question was made the test of the stability of the adminis-
tration, because he believed that the abrupt overthrow of the Ministry would
be extremely disastrous to Ireland, as protracting the unsettlement of the tithe
question, and causing a confusion which no succeeding government could
remedy. For his own part, he would have been glad to have been spared the
necessity of declaring his views at such a juncture : but, being called upon to
avow his opinion on the one side or the other, he was compelled to declare
himself in favour of the principle of Appropriation ; and this he did in the
Hansard, xxvii. most thorough and manly manner. — Sir Robert Peel's speech was what might
have been expected from the training of his life, though far from what could
be desired from the Prime Minister of the empire. He dwelt upon the compact
with the Church in the Act of Union with Ireland ; admitted that there were
circumstances under which all compacts must be broken, as there were circum-
stances under which constitutions themselves must be dissolved: but he
insisted on proof to demonstration that such moral sacrifices were inevitable
before they could be deliberated upon : he denied that any proof of the kind
had been offered in the present case, and declared his disbelief that any such
could be produced. He insisted that before any convulsive proceeding could
be honestly proposed, the innovators should be prepared with a comprehensive
and complete new policy to supersede the existing compact : he was justified
in asserting, after repeated challenges to his opponents, that no such scheme
was prepared : and therefore, though he might be compelled to succumb to an
adverse vote, he should ever condemn the procedure of procuring that vote
at the expense of the Irish Church, rather than by means of a direct motion
of want of confidence in the government. He believed that, on this question,
the House was not an expression of national opinion : he believed that his
view was that of the large majority of the people : and he therefore felt strong
to meet the decision that might ensue from his adherence to his view of duty
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 221
to the Irish Church. — The whole speech proceeded on the assumption that 1835.
the motion involved the virtual overthrow of the Irish Church, and a conse- v-—— ^ "
quent convulsion : an assumption which the Reformers reasonably denied :
but an analysis of the division seems to show that, with regard to the state of
national opinion, the Minister was right. Sound as was the Appropriation
principle, in the view of the soundest thinkers of the time, it was not one
which interested the general mind ; and it was not long before the Whig
leaders had to make bitter complaints of the indifference of the people to it.
It is much to be wished that the continued existence of the Peel administra-
tion of 1835 had been put upon some other issue. The Resolutions in favour
of Appropriation, proposed by Lord J. Russell, were carried by the Scotch and
Irish members ; the English leaving the motion in a minority of nine. Of
the Scotch membei-s, 32 were in favour of it, and 17 against it. Of the Irish
members, 64 voted with the Opposition, and 37 with the government. The TRIUMPH OF CP.
majority against Ministers was 33, in a House of 611 members. The Hansard^ xxvn.
division took place at three o'clock in the morning of the 3rd of April.
In Committee, Lord J. Russell moved a resolution, that no measure on the
subject of tithes in Ireland could succeed which did not embody the Appro-
priation principle : and he obtained a majority of 27. This was on the 7th of Hansard, xxvu.
April. On the 8th, Sir R. Peel announced the resignation of the Cabinet. RESIGNATION OP
He avowed that it was with great reluctance that he retired, because his Hansard^xTvii.
government, supported by the full confidence of the King and by great '
moral strength in the country, could, as he and his colleagues believed, have
speedily settled some public questions, especially that of Irish tithes, which
required immediate adjustment, but must now be cast adrift. But they con-
sidered that, on the whole, it would be more hurtful still to the public service
to continue the attempt to govern the country, unsupported by the confidence
of the House of Commons : a confidence which, as was shown by four im-
pressive defeats, they did not possess. There was, as Sir Robert Peel must
have known, no need of protestations of personal disinterestedness : for the
whole temper and conduct of the Minister during the last five months had
been a consistent silent assertion of right feelings, as well as of the most
eminent ability. Every one knew that he had had no option about undertaking
office ; and every one felt and said that he had failed only because parties had
been, as yet, too strong for him. The Opposition had gained nothing, during
the interval, in general estimation, while he had gained as much as was possible
in the time. At this day, there are many who avow that thick mists of
prejudice dissolved from before their minds in the course of these five months ;
and that they now for the first time began to apprehend the character and
appreciate the powers of Sir Robert Peel; — a character so peculiar as to
require a long observation to obtain a true view of it ; and powers which had
not, even yet, fully revealed themselves to those who knew him best.
The cheering of the whole House at the conclusion of his speech was long
in subsiding. When any thing else could be heard, Lord J. Russell said that Hansard xxvii.
" he did not wish to make any comment on what had fallen from the Right
Hon. Gentleman, except to express his opinion that the Right Hon. Gentleman
had acted entirely in the spirit of the Constitution."
Now, then, the Reformers were to have another trial with the King and the
country.
222 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER II.
1835. rpHERE was an interval of ten days before the King and country could feel
v-— —v— — J- that there was a government to rely on. It was a season of anxious
expectation to all : but few were aware how many and how serious were the
causes of anxiety.
DIFFICULTIES. The King sent first for Lord Grey, who declined office, but gave his best
advice — which was to send for Lord Melbourne. Thus, the character of the
administration might certainly be anticipated : but what were they to do ? By
choosing the Irish Chvirch question for the overthrow of the Peel administra-
tion, the Whigs had pledged themselves to carry the Appropriation principle
into practice without delay — even in connexion with the pressing affair of the
tithes : whereas the King was not only understood to be opposed to any inno-
vations upon the privileges of the Church, but was remembered to have spon-
taneously and eagerly pledged himself to the bishops to resist all such innova-
tions.— Again, their present victory had been gained by means of the Irish
members, who might and would fairly presume upon the fact, and who must
be specially considered in the impending legislation for Ireland; whereas
O'Connell had recently been pledging himself, in the hearing of all the world,
to obtain organic changes of the greatest importance ; and, in the first place, a
reform of the House of Lords as sweeping as that of the Commons ; and, as
usual, he promised a speedy repeal of the Union. — Again, the Whigs had not
among them any man of very eminent ability in statesmanship, while many
were sufficiently distinguished for talent to be entitled each to set up for him-
self in regard to the work of his own department. In such a case, the absence
of any controlling or harmonizing mind, of any mind which could be truly
called that of a statesman, was fatal to all chance of firm and effective rule.
Thus it appeared to the most thoughtful people throughout the country, who,
remembering how the last Whig administration had disappointed expectation,
considered the present prospect to be any thing but exhilarating. The King
could not have forgotten these facts, either; nor his alarm at the promised
passage of political arms between Lords Brougham and Durham in the winter,
from which, but for the intervention of the Peel Ministry, might have arisen
a new struggle between the halting and the advancing Reformers. Such a
struggle might now, probably, be expected ; for the whole country was aware
that the radical reform party must become of importance, both as stimulus and
support to the Whigs, who were almost powerless without them. It was
believed to be an earnest wish of the King's that such a conflict of liberal
parties and leaders, should be avoided; and that it was a positive stipulation
of his that Lord Broiigham should not return to the woolsack. Lord Dur-
ham's health did not permit of his taking office at home, though it did not
interfere with his filling a diplomatic function abroad. So we soon find him
in the honourable post of Ambassador to Russia. The Great Seal was for
CHAF. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 223
some time in commission, either from the difficulty of finding a Chancellor, or 1835.
from the danger of making an enemy of Lord Brougham, who was one of the v— • — -— -
perplexities of the crisis. It had been found impossible to act with him : but
it was dangerous and painful to have him for an enemy. If there was any
alternative besides these, it was not found. He presently came out broadly in
the character of an enemy; and even Lord Melbourne's good-humour and
indifference were insufficient to bear up his temper, courage, and spirits, under
the hostility of his former colleague — unremitting and bitter as it was, and
protracted from session to session — not a little affecting, as we shall see, the
political action of the time.
The country was aware of this complication of difficulties : the King felt it
keenly — the new Ministers alone seemed undismayed by it. It was their way
to be confident; and now they were exulting and gay, though the embarrass-
ment of forming themselves into a government was great. It was the 8th of
April when Sir R. Peel and the Duke of Wellington announced their relin-
quishment of office ; and it was not till the 18th, after repeated adjournments
of the Commons, that the new administration was declared to be completed.
Lord Melbourne was the Premier ; and in his announcement to the Lord^, he ^ *™wa°™o£.
spoke of the difficulties of the government as " great and arduous — many ^nsard> xxvii'
indeed of a peculiar and severe kind." Lord Melbourne, however, was under- g"^^61^
stood to be more teazed than dismayed by difficulties. He felt them more
than he chose to show ; for it was his chief fault to affect a poco-curante
character of mind umvorthy of his sound sense, his actual diligence, and his
disinterested love of his country. His patriotism took the form of a love of
peace and quiet for society ; and that love of peace and quiet proceeded, in a
great degree, from the speculative character of his intellect. His views were too
comprehensive and too abstract to permit him to perceive the importance of
particular questions and particular acts, or to engage his sympathies in tem-
porary occasions, when other men were ardent and resolute. He was not one
who would ever stimulate the public mind, or concentrate its energies on pro-
minent ideas or definite enterprises. When occasions arose, he regarded them
with philosophy, with sincerity, and with much of the ripe wisdom of the
scholar and the gentleman : and, if compelled to act, he acted with diligence
and decision : but he waited for them to arise, and conceived that it was his
business to do so. He was out of his place as the head of a Reforming Ad-
ministration, from his inability to originate, and his indisposition to guide.
In his function at the Home Office, he had done extremely well. His benign
contempt and philosophical compassion for the ignorant herd had made him a
calm and merciful ruler of the restless and untoward; while his good sense
and sincerity, with his love of public tranquillity, had made him diligent and
watchful in anticipation of disturbance. His conduct at the time of the
demonstration of the Unions on behalf of the Dorsetshire labourers was admi-
rable ; and it is understood that this passage of his political life so recom-
mended and endeared him to the King as to make the present transition of
power easier than it could otherwise have been. There had not yet been
opportunity for the world to become fully acquainted with his great and fatal
fault — fatal at such a crisis of the national mind and fortunes — his affectation
of scepticism and poco-curantcism. At a time when earnestness was the first
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1835. requisite in the chef of a reforming administration, the want of it would have
^ — ^— -^ been a deadly sin: and the affectation of the want was a moral offence.
Unapt for combination, incapable of effective organization, as his colleagues
were, his assumed indolence and indifference went to increase the evil, and
may be considered one of the causes of their failure to govern the country
well. He might consider it amusing to perplex and astonish deputations and
single applicants by his extraordinary manners during interviews; but his
pranks were of more serious consequence than he supposed, at a time when
the people were in earnest, and believed that they had a government to which
they might refer their cause. It was very well for him to look philosophically
from a window of the Home Office upon the 30,000 Unionists who came to
intimidate him — and some few, as he was aware, with the idea of taking his
life : but it was a different thing to appear absorbed in blowing a feather, or
nursing a sofa-cushion, when giving audience about the abolition of the punish-
ment of death, or receiving a report on Criminal Law Reform, in preparation
for the Debate of the night. It was a serious thing to send for a philosopher
to offer him a pension, and begin the interview with the remark that he
thought such pensions a great humbug. And it did not mend the matter that,
on one occasion which leaves the deepest blot upon his name — one occasion
which forms an exception to the general kindliness and philosophy of his tem-
per and demeanour — he showed that he really could and did feel in an inten-
sity of party-feeling. In the next reign, he had mournful occasion to write
two letters to the mother of Lady Flora Hastings ; and then he was hard and
ungentlemanly, even cruel, to a degree which deprived him of that reputation
for superiority to emotion for which he strove by the affectation of a life. As
yet, when he assumed the Premiership in 1835, neither his failings nor his
sterling merits were fully known. He was held in general respect and trust,
without exciting any high expectation : but it was not long afterwards that the
good-humoured and scarcely burlesque character of him given by Sydney Smith
in his second letter to Archdeacon Singleton, was laughingly recognised as a
capital likeness. The subject and the caricaturist are both gone now; and a
solemnity is cast over the mirth of the time ; but there is enough of truth and
of serious appreciation in the sketch to make it valuable as a permanent
wurkg,hi.2ie. iiiustration. "Viscount Melbourne," says Sydney Smith, " declared himself
quite satisfied with the Church as it is ; but if the public had any desire to
alter it, they might do as they pleased. He might have said the same thing of
the monarchy, or of any other of our institutions ; and there is in the declaration
a permissiveness and good-humour which in public men has seldom been
exceeded. Carelessness, however, is but a poor imitation of genius ; and the
formation of a wise and well-reflected plan of Reform conduces more to the
lasting fame of a Minister than that affected contempt of duty which every
man sees to be mere vanity, and a vanity of no very high description. — But,
if the truth must be told, our Viscount is somewhat of an impostor. Every
thing about him seems to betoken careless desolation : any one would suppose
from his manner that he was playing at chuck-farthing with human happi-
ness ; that he was always on the heel of pastime ; that he would giggle away
the Great Charter, and decide by the method of teetotum whether my Lords
the Bishops should or should not retain their seats in the House of Lords.
CHAP. II. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 225
All this is the mere vanity of surprising, and making us believe that he can 1835.
play with kingdoms as other men can with ninepins. Instead of this lofty ^-— -^^-^
nebulo, this miracle of moral and intellectual felicities, he is nothing more
thuii a sensible honest man, who means to do his duty to the Sovereign and to
the country. Instead of being the ignorant man he pretends to be, before he
meets the deputation of Tallow Chandlers in the morning, he sits up half the
night talking with Thomas Young about melting and skimming, and then,
though he has acquired knowledge enough to work off a whole vat of prime
Leicester tallow, he pretends next morning not to know the difference between
a dip and a mould. In the same way, when he has been employed in
reading Acts of Parliament, he would persuade you that he has been reading
' Cleghorn on the Beatitudes,' or ' Pickler on the Nine Difficult Points.'
Neither can I allow to this Minister (however he may be irritated by the
denial) the extreme merit of indifference to the consequences of his measures.
I believe him to be conscientiously alive to the good or evil that he is doing,
and that his caution has more than once arrested the gigantic projects of the
Lycurgus of the Lower House. I am sorry to hurt any man's feelings, and
to brush away the magnificent fabric of levity and gaiety he has reared ; but
I accuse our Minister of honesty and diligence ; I deny that he is careless or
rash ; he is nothing more than a man of good understanding, and good prin-
ciple, disguised in the eternal and somewhat wearisome affectation of a political
Roue."
There was another poco-curante Minister in the Cabinet, though it might MB. CHARLES
be felt that one was enough. Mr. Charles Grant, afterwards Lord Glenelg,
was Colonial Secretary; and events were at hand which made his post as
important as any in the Cabinet. He was regarded with universal good-will
for his quiet steadiness in the advocacy of liberal principles : and he was
respected as a man of large information and clear sagacity. But his indolence
was extreme ; — an indolence which was so thoroughly constitutional as to be
inveterate ; and he naturally failed in an office which requires the powers of
more than one man to fulfil its duties, be his energy what it may. — To make
up for these lovers of ease, there were half a dozen men whose activity, in one
form or another, nobody could question : — Lord Palmerston, Lord John
Russell, Lord Howick, Mr. Spring Rice, Lord Duncannon, and Mr. Poulett
Thomson. — As for Lord Palmerston, " the world was all before him where to
choose" to make England felt and talked about, for good or for evil. " Per-
fidious Albion" was sure to be the world's topic while he was in power. —
Lord John Russell was now to show — and the nation was truly anxious to L™" Jo"N
. . . RUSSELL.
learn — whether his activity would now be measured and sustained, under the
responsibility of having wrested the government out of the hands of other
men, and taken it into the grasp of himself and his friends, instead of requir-
ing, as before, to be kept up by the pressure of deputations, and demands
from without. He had to show whether he could originate as well as persist,
and whether his persistaiice could hold out to the point of success. He had to
show whether he could keep in check his rash courage and self-confidence,
learn to abstain from prophecy and pledge, perceive that he could be and often
was mistaken, and leave off making declarations during the parliamentary
recess which the next session compelled him to stultify. No one doubted his
VOL. II. 2 G
226
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
1835.
IRISH ADMINIS-
TRATION.
Two cnp.AT
•QUESTIONS.
readiness to undertake ; the question was what he could accomplish. No one
doubted his courage : the question was of his ultimate efficiency. No one
doubted his patriotism : the question was of its scope and enlightenment.
No one doubted his cleverness : the question was whether he had enough of
philosophy, candour, and sustained energy, to raise his cleverness into states-
manship. No one looked to him for originality — for the genius of statesman-
ship : if he had had it, it must have appeared before this time : but of the
secondary order of statesmanship, the ability which can appropriate, and
organize, and vivify, the floating wisdom of the political world, and make it a
ruling power, he might yet show himself capable. He had now a fair field ;
and that his own expectations were sanguine was shown by his determination
to obtain power, and his exultation in having obtained it. — Lord Howick went
to the War Office, with a high reputation for honesty, diligence, and courage,
and a fair one for ability, to begin with. — Mr. Spring Rice, smart and good-
humoured, but not yet distinguished for financial wisdom, became Chancellor
of the Exchequer ; an appointment which the critical Sydney Smith thought
somewhat rash. " If," said he, " Mr. Spring Rice were to go into holy orders,
great would be the joy of the three per cents." But, as was said before, there
is no knowing what kind of Chancellor of the Exchequer any man will make
till he is tried. — The merits of Lord Duncannon were not fully appreciated
till he went to Ireland, some years afterwards : but the few who now took an
interest in the management of the Woods and Forests department saw that its
work was thoroughly well done, with quiet wisdom and strenuous diligence. —
Mr. Poulett Thomson was the only member of the government admitted from
the Radical Reform party. He was President of the Board of Trade, for
which his knowledge and experience and sound economical principles well
fitted him. He entered the Cabinet on the stipulation that he should have
perfect freedom in advocating the repeal of the Corn laws. — Ireland was well
treated in the apportionment of office. The good-humoured and accomplished
Lord Mulgrave, afterwards Lord Normanby, with his demonstrative character
and manners, was just the man to engage the admiration and good- will of the
impressible Irish; while the benevolent and chivalrous Lord Morpeth as
Secretary, and the no less chivalrous Drummond as Under Secretary, with
his wisdom, his highly-principled diligence, and excellent habits of business,
took care that the hard and serious work of the government of Ireland should
be duly performed. As the case of Ireland was not yet understood, and the
true and permanent principle of her rule had not yet been found, any policy
attempted at that time could be but of temporary effect : and it was but a few
years before her rulers avowed that their policy — of conciliation — was " ex-
hausted :" but, as a preparation for a higher system of statesmanship, and a
means of getting over the transition from a bad old system to an indeterminate
new one, it was true, as was said at the time, that Ireland had never been so
well governed as during the Viceroyalty of Lord Mulgrave. — As for the rest —
Lord Lansdowne was President of the Council ; — Lord Auckland went to the
Admiralty ; — Lord Holland was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ; — and
Sir J. C. Hobhouse was at the head of the India Board.
The new Ministers pledged themselves to two great measures as the prin-
cipal work of the remainder of the session ; — Municipal Reform, and the
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
settlement of the Irish Church. The Irish Church question was, at the 1835.
moment and on principle, the most important of any question of the time, not «-^~v"%*/'
only because it had broken up two Administrations, but because it involved
the principle for whose sake the Whigs now possessed themselves of office,
and by which, therefore, they were pledged to stand or fall.
On the 26th of June, Lord Morpeth brought forward the ministerial mea- ^Jjsard> xxviii-
sure. He avowed that if the question now were whether or not to establish
the Protestant Church in Ireland, no sane man would dream of such an act. THE IRISH
. . .... CHOKCH.
But the Church was there, with all its long prescription, and its implication 1835 38.
with the civil polity of the empire ; and it was not proposed to touch its foun-
dation, or disturb its framework. If it were to endure, however, it must be
made a less exasperating spectacle than it was to the bulk of the people among
whom it stood. The measure which he brought forward actually consisted, as
was presently pointed out by the Opposition, of two parts ; though the framers
considered the two so intimately connected that it was an act of opposition in
itself to separate them. The first provided for the conversion of tithe into a
rent-charge, in much the same way as in the last two measures proposed : —
the other provided for the appropriation of the accruing surplus to the religious APPROPRIATION
and moral instruction of all classes of the community, without distinction of
religious persuasions. After two readings, the proposal to go into Committee
was made on the 21st of July, when Sir H. Peel renewed his opposition to the Hansard, xxix.
second part of the measure, on the two grounds, that there would be no sur-
plus : and that, if there were, it would be a breach of faith to the Irish
Church to apply its funds out of its own pale, and for any but strictly ecclesi-
astical purposes. — The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that the House Hansard, xxix.
had decided, after long debates, that the question of appropriation was connected
with the concession to the tithe owners of the £1,000,000 advanced to them
in preceding years; he conceived that this precluded the division of the
measure into two parts : and he declared the purpose of this partition to be to
get rid of the Appropriation clause: which was undoubtedly true. — Lord
Morpeth warned the legislature of the consequences of drawing back from
the Resolutions recently passed in that House. The Irish were now aware
that parliament knew of the parishes vacant of Protestants— of the churches
without flocks, of the incomes paid for no service — of the provision for the
extension of that Protestantism which was not extending — of the desperate
poverty and ignorance of the Catholic peasantry who had hitherto been called
upon to pay, instead of to benefit by these funds ; and now that these things
were admitted — now that the principle of Appropriation had been sanctioned
by that House — it was too late to recede. On a division, the Ministers had a
majority of 37 — the number being made up, not only by Irish members, but [Ig7Sard> xxix-
by a majority of 8 among the English and Scotch members. The Bill was
now safe in the Lower House ; and the Ministers proceeded to add, in Com-
mittee, a clause providing for the advance of £50,000, from the Consolidated
Fund, in anticipation of the surplus to accrue, for purposes of general educa- Hansard, xxix.
tion in Ireland. The reason for this was that there was said to be much
exasperation in some Irish parishes, where the new arrangements were not to
take effect during the life of the present incumbents : and it was believed that
the safety and tranquillity of these clergymen would be promoted by a begin-
228
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK V.
Hansard, xxx.
934.
1836.
1835. uing of the educational expenditure being made at once. — The Radical reform
members opposed the concession of the £1,000,000 advanced as a loan: and
the Ministers admitted the encroachment on the intentions of the legislature,
but pleaded the much more serious evil which would ensue from attempts to
recover what was irrecoverable. — The Bill passed the Commons on the 12th
of August, and was read a second time in the Lords on the 20th. — In Com-
mittee, the Lords struck out all the Appropriation clauses, by a majority of
97, in a House of 179. — The Ministers abandoned the whole Bill ; and thus
the matter stood over till the next year. It was a great evil, in the existing
state of the Irish Church ; but it was felt to be worth enduring for the sake
of the essential principle involved in the measure ; a principle by which not only
the Whig Administration, but the connexion of England and Ireland, and the
religious liberties of a nation, must ultimately stand or fall. If, three years
later, the Whig administration drew back from their obligation to stand or fall
by this principle, neither they nor any other human power could alter its relation
to the political connexion of Ireland, and to the religious liberties of a nation.
The struggle was renewed the next spring. On the 25th of April Lord
Hansard, xxxiii. Morpeth brought forward the tithe measure, about which the two parties in
both Houses would have agreed, if it had stood without the appropriation
provision. This last was not brought forward in the express and conspicuous
manner of preceding years ; but Lord Morpeth gave notice that it was involved
inextricably in the Bill. As yet, Ministers were evidently resolved to stand or
fall by it. He was now able to declare that there would certainly be a sur-
plus— he believed of nearly £100,000 ; but it would not be available for a
considerable time. — Lord Stanley moved an amendment, consisting of a pro-
posal of the tithe measure, without reference to appropriation. Amidst the
general resemblance of the debates in successive years, there are interesting
divergences of topic, and changes of views to be noticed. This year, there
were three at least that were remarkable. The Opposition had certainly
advanced considerably in their estimate of the reforms that were essential to
the maintenance of the Irish Church. They spoke more freely of the disgrace
of the spectacle of an overpaid and an underpaid clergy within the same area :
they were more earnest about equalization of incomes, and more bold about
the prosecution of the needful inquiries. — Another most pregnant fact was
that Lord Stanley complained of the cause of disagreement as not practical.
What the government stood out for was a mere abstract principle — " a shadow"
Hansard, xxxiii. which they had better give up for " the substance" of his plan of details : and
he implored them to relinquish the pursuit of what was so ineffectual — such a
mere idea — and unite with their opponents in coming to practical business.
Often as we are compelled to mourn the moral scepticism, the destitution of
faith, which is prevalent in the political world, and which is the just ground
of the deep disrepute of legislative assemblies, almost universally, it is not
often that we meet, in Hansard or elsewhere, with so open an avowal as this
— that principles are " the shadow," and arrangements " the substance" — that
it is not practical for the legislature to resolve, by clear implication, that there
is a world of morals above and beyond the law, to which mankind must occa-
sionally resort for the regeneration of their laws. To admit this solemnly and
deliberately, in full conclave, with a spectacle of murder and famine before
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 220
the eyes, and the curses and groans and wailings of a suffering people filling 1836.
the air, is an unpractical thing for a legislature to do,. while they might be "— —^ '
busy in ordering a plan of distribution of money — some more here and some-
thing less there, the suffering of the multitude remaining untouched. Lord
Stanley was so far from understanding that a principle is the most substantial
and enduring of realities, that he evidently thought he was speaking loftily
and patriotically in making his unphilosophical and degrading appeal. He
was sure there would be no surplus; and he supposed that settled the
matter of the " principle" being unpractical.
The third noticeable incident was that the debate turned, for a little while,
upon the important point — what is the object of a church establishment — to
propagate doctrine, or to enlighten the people by instruction and training.
Sir James Graham thought the former ; Lord J. Russell, the latter. It was Hansard, xxxm.
I jjcj2 3 ,
for the former object that the Protestant Church was established in Ireland ;
and it was to the latter that Ministers now desired to overrule it. It was truly
a controversy for whose principle any government might be proud to struggle
to the death : but, till now, no express discussion of the principle of a reli-
gious establishment seems to have been entered into during the debates of the
last few years. The historical fact of the case in question seems to be, that
the church in Ireland was established for proselyting purposes: that these
purposes failed : that, at the date before us, many were unwilling to give up
the hope of yet converting the Irish to Protestantism, while, on the other
hand, those who saw the hopelessness of such an aspiration, and who neither
dared to touch the foundations of the Church in Ireland, nor to let her remain
as she was, believed that the only chance for Church and nation was in con-
necting the establishment with large and beneficent general objects. The case
might have been simplified, and the strife softened, if all parties had spoken
out — some admitting the disappointment of their missionary aims, and others
acknowledging that they were supplying a wholly new foundation for the
Church ; but no nearer approach to such frankness was made than by the
slight and superficial controversy during the present debate. — On this occa-
sion, the Ministerial majority was 39 ; and the Bill passed the Commons on
the 15th Of July. Hansard, xxxv.
The Lords again threw out the Appropriation clauses, passing the rest of
the Bill, with slight alterations in some clauses regarding stipends. These
last gave occasion to Lord J. Russell, and, as he believed, justification to refuse
the amended Bill, as sent down, through a breach of privilege — the Lords
having interfered with a money bill. The question was one difficult of deci-
sion— the question whether this was a breach of privilege or not; and the
Speaker himself avowed the nicety of the point. At length, the motion for Hansard, xx.w.
rejecting the altered Bill was carried by a majority of 29 ; and once more, the
controversy was adjourned to another year.
In the royal Speech, at the opening of the session of 1837, we find a recom- 1837
mendation of the subject of Tithes, among others, to the attention of Parlia- Hansard, xxxvi. 4.
ment : but the discussion of the topic was intercepted by the death of the
King. The argument on the principle of Appropriation may, however, be
observed proceeding, under other terms, throughout the discussion on the
230 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. measure of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for the solution of the question of
v-— — ^ — — Church rates. The temper of parties interested in church questions was at
CHURCH RATES. ....... .. T1T11
this time bitter in the extreme. Lord Lyndhurst had made use of an expres-
sion about the Irish Catholics, haughty, hard, and unpatriotic, but still, by
no means conveying, when taken with its context, the full import which was
attributed to it. He called the Irish Catholics " aliens in blood, in language,
and in religion." This language was naturally seized upon by the Irish agi-
tators, and reprobated by the English Liberals who were authenticating, in
every possible way, a conciliatory policy in Ireland. A striking scene took
place in the House of Commons, late one February night, when Lord Lynd-
hurst was seen sitting under the gallery, and Mr. Shiel was speaking. On
Mr. Shiel's use of the word " alien," uttered with the strongest emphasis, the
spectator, 1837, cheering from the Liberal side of the House broke forth, and continued till it
rose almost to a confusion of yells. The members appear to have had no compas-
sion for a man sitting by to hear such reprobation, while prevented from
explaining and remonstrating. Never was man more abundantly punished for
an insolent expression ; and the worst part of the punishment must have been
the seeing daily, in all companies and in every newspaper, the words
assumed to mean much more than he had intended them to convey, both from
the temper in which they were quoted, and from their being separated from
his argument. — Then there was O'Connell's National Association, threatening
and boastful : — then, there were the Bishops meeting at Lambeth, on the first
announcement of the Ministerial Church-rate measure, to prepare a declara-
tion against it before it was brought before them as legislators : — and there
were the Ministers vehemently resenting this method of opposition : — and there
were legislators and constituencies debating the question of the exclusion of
the Bishops from Parliament. The times were indeed bitter and angry ; and
the Appropriation question was hardly likely to fare better than in preceding
years.
i2w^i252.Mvi' ^ke Chancellor of the Exchequer showed that something must be done to
amend the unquiet and disgraceful state of things that existed in rela-
tion to the payment of Church rates. While the rate was voted by the
vestries, and the vestries were composed of persons of every variety of faith,
it was clear that the obtaining of a rate at all depended on the agreement of
parties who had for a long time been disagreeing more and more. If the rate
were refused, there were no means of obtaining it; and, in point of fact,
Church rates had ceased in Sheffield since 1818 ; and in Manchester, none had
been levied since the beginning of the contest in 1833. It was not for a
member of the government to give a full report of the reasons of the Dissen-
ters for refusing to pay Church rates : and Mr. Spring Rice did not attempt
it : but there was nobody in the House who was not aware that opulent men,
to whom time and trouble were of more account than money, had undergone
toil and vexation to a great extent rather than pay very small sums for Church
rates ; and that several persons of high respectability had gone to prison in
the cause. Many who paid tithes, without dispute though unwillingly — paid
tithes because the payment was a charge involved in the purchase of their
land — refused to pay Church rates, having good legal assurance that they were
not a legal charge, and being conscientiously reluctant to contribute, except
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 231
under a clear legal obligation, to the maintenance of the places and forms of a 1837.
worship which they disapproved. — The proposal of the government was to ^ — * '
place Church Lands under management which should cause them to yield
more than at present ; and from the improved income to pay Church rates,
and then hand over the surplus to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The
church and conservatism smelt a savour of the Appropriation principle in this
plan, and they resisted it accordingly. They could not say, indeed, that the
surplus was to be appropriated to other than ecclesiastical purposes ; but they
complained that it would intercept the Dissenters' money ; and declared that
the Church was entitled to all increase of income from her own possessions,
and to the Dissenters' contributions too. Therefore it was that fifteen Bishops
assembled at Lambeth, and the Archbishop of Canterbury delivered his pro- ^u^Register>
test against the Ministerial measure before it had left the Commons ; and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer carried his measure in the Lower House by a
majority of only five. This was a virtual defeat, and the Ministers dropped ")a,«sard> XMViii-
the Bill, which they had put forth as the leading measure of the Session. —
On the 12th of June Lord John Russell moved for a committee to inquire
into the management of Church lands, with a view to the improvement of
their revenues. He declared that this had no connexion whatever with the Hansard, xxxviK.
principle of Appropriation : but the Church and the Conservatives believed
that it had, and they exerted themselves against it accordingly. Three divi-
sions took place on this occasion which show the temper of the House on the
question of church property. A direct proposal on the part of a Radical
reform member, Mr. Harvey, for the abolition of Church rates, was voted
down by a majority of 431 — only 58 members voting for the motion. — Lord
J. Russell's motion obtained a majority of 86 in favour of an inquiry into the
management of Church lands. — Mr. Goulburn proposed an addition of a pledge
from Parliament that any new funds accruing from improved management
should be applied to the extension of religious instruction by the clergy to the
members of the established church alone ; and the ministerial majority against
the motion was now only 26. From this it appeared that the Church would Hansard, xxxv
« * * 1433 4
accept of any improvement of her own revenues, but would neither forego
funds derived from the Dissenters, nor extend her expenditure beyond her own
members.
Thus stood the matter when the elections took place, after the death of the
King. The Church question was the leading one on the hustings : and,
though the Appropriation question was that by which the Ministers had turned
out their predecessors, and by which they were pledged to stand or fall, the
Ministerial majority in Parliament was sensibly lessened in the new House.
The government were discouraged accordingly, and they began to draw back
from their pledge — no doubt, from relaxing in their sense of being pledged on
behalf of the Appropriation principle : and the result was seen in the next
Session, in a way fatal to their political honour.
On the 27th of March, 1838, Sir R. Peel inquired of Lord J. Russell what 1838.
course he meant to pursue with regard to Irish tithe; and whether he intended uTs!*"1' *U'
to bring forward the Appropriation question again, in accordance with the
Resolutions of 1835. The reply was that the Ministers intended to place the
tithe question " on a ground altogether new," as it appeared useless and irri-
232 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1838. tating, after a conflict of four years, to prolong an argument which produced
^— — ~— — -^ no result. This announcement, unaccompanied by any hint now of standing
m Amorau- or falling by the great principle by which the government had come into
office, prepared Sir R. Peel and the Church party for their approaching
triumph over the honour of their opponents ; — the most mournful of triumphs.
The estimate of that honour was already so low that men of every party in
the House declared, a few weeks afterwards, that they perceived — some with
fear and some with hope — that they saw the Appropriation principle lurking
amidst the ambiguities of Lord J. .Russell's new resolutions on the Tithe
question; ambiguities which were themselves discreditable on an occasion
which was professed to be a decisive one.
Hansard, xiii. On the 14th of May, Sir Thomas Acland moved the rescinding of the cele-
brated resolutions of the House, of April, 1835, in favour of the Appropriation
RECEPTION OF THE question ; and then broke out Sir R. Peel's emotions of triumph. He told the
SURKENDEB. whole story : — how he offered to carry a tithe measure like the present, and
Hansard, xlii. i-ii- • i T i
1325—1345. was taunted with having derived it from the preceding government ; — how he
was compelled to retire because such a measure must, on principle, as his op-
ponents said, be connected with Appropriation clauses ; — how those opponents
staked their political existence on such a connexion ; — and how they were now
proposing to carry the Tithe measure, after all, without the Appropriation ;
introducing it by resolutions so ambiguously worded that no one could be sure
of what they meant. The true reply would have been that the Ministers, find-
ing that they could not stand by their principle, were ready to fall by it ; that
they had been mistaken about the interest of the public mind in the question,
and would accept the consequences of their mistake ; and that, having faith in
their principle, the only thing impossible to them was to surrender it. Their
actual reply was that their convictions on the question were unaltered ; but
that they surrendered the principle. — Sir Thomas Acland's motion for rescind-
Hansard, xiii. ing the memorable resolutions was lost by a majority of only 19. When the
time arrived for the Tithe debate — the 2d of July — the Appropriation ques-
tion was once more brought forward by one who had never wavered upon it,
and who was universally admitted to be, from his early action and steady advo-
cacy, the highest authority on the subject — Mr. Ward. He, too, told the
whole story over again ; and the effect was withering upon the reputation of
the Ministers. Referring to a pamphlet which, in 1835, had foretold that Sir
Hansard, xiiii. R. peel must go out upon this question, he said : — " The Right Hon. Baronet
adhered to his opinions, sacrificed place and power to his opinions, and ceased
to be a Minister ; but they must have a new edition of the pamphlet to tell
them how those who rose into pOAver upon the Right Hon. Baronet's fall could
now adopt his opinions, and make them their rule upon this occasion, and do
so without the sacrifice of character and station." The only Minister who
Hnnsard, xiiii. offered any reply to Mr. Ward was Lord Morpeth ; and he made no reference
to the main point of the difficulty. He dwelt upon the courage and perseve-
rance of Ministers in having three times asserted their principle, and on their
prudence and love of peace shown in dropping it now : but he said nothing of
any obligation to resign. Mr. Ward's motion was, of course, lost by a large
majority — the Ministers themselves voting against it. But his speech was not
lost : and it has probably not yet fulfilled all its purposes. A principle may
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 233
\
be trodden down; but it can never be extinguished. When the one in question 1837.
revives, and men turn back to the history of the struggle, they may take warn- *— • — iv— ~^
ing and guidance from the record. While studying it, they will pause upon
the words of another highly-principled member, Mr. Grote, who said, in re- H«ns«rd,xUv. GGO.
gard to this transaction, that it afforded melancholy proof of the way in which
great principles were made subservient to party purposes ; and that he believed
history would note this as one of the most discreditable instances of tergiver-
sation on record. — The Whig government now evinced a moral scepticism
equal to that of Sir James Graham on the same subject. They praised their
own "wisdom" in not sacrificing the substance to the shadow, and their de-
votion to the general good in surrendering a principle which was found not to
be generally appreciated.
It is true, the principle was not generally appreciated ; and government was
not duly supported in upholding it : but not the less for this were the Minis-
ters lowered in the estimation of the nation at large. It might be only the
thoughtful, and those familiarized with the philosophy of society, who saw the
whole scope of the controversy, and were interested in it accordingly ; but all
could see — and most did see — that the Whig ministry did not govern the
people, but was governed by them, and took, not merely suggestion and
stimulus from the popular will, but guidance and control. There was less
demonstration of disapprobation at the moment than earnest men hoped, and
perhaps than the Ministers feared : but they never recovered a high position
in the respect and confidence of the country.
Such is the history of the Appropriation question which determined the
return of the Whigs to power in 1835.
VOL. IT, " H:
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
CHAPTER III.
1835. f~^N their return to power, in April, 1835, the Whig ministers had, as we
— — — ^^*- — ^-' have seen, promised two leading measures during the session. We have
QuCE0sn<m.BEAT pursued the history of one. The other is the large and just measure
which, next to Reform of Parliament, is their chief title to honourable
remembrance. It was during the session of 1835 that the Municipal Reform
bill was carried.
MUNICIPAL RE- This measure could not precede Parliamentary Reform ; but it was sure to
follow it. It could not precede Parliamentary Reform, because a large pro-
portion of members were sent by the corrupt boroughs where corporation
abuses were the most flagrant : and to attack those abuses was to attack parlia-
mentary corruption itself, in the presence of the delegates of that corruption.
Every borough proprietor and delegate would stand up for his own borough
corporation, aided by others to whom he would render a similar service in
their hour of need. And the people would not have borne to see the most
insignificant boroughs — those which had no parliamentary representation —
called to account and laid under discipline while the great parliamentary towns
were passed over. So it was necessary to purge Parliament first of the close-
borough class of members before the corporations could be exposed, though the
evil of municipal corruption had become well nigh intolerable for a long course
of years. — It was not merely the corruption of the old municipal bodies which
made their reform a necessary consequence of the regeneration of parliament :
it was also that the people were resolved to possess and use the rights of the
franchise provided for them by the Reform Bill, but intercepted by the oppres-
sive maladministration of the borough corporations. The franchise was of little
use in a town where the corporate officers elected and re-elected themselves
and each other for ever ; and employed the trust funds which should have
healed the sick, and sheltered the old, and instructed the young, in bribing a
depraved class of electors ; where the town-clerks were nominated by the
patrons of boroughs, to countenance electoral subserviency, and do the dirty
work of venal electioneering, and where the efforts of honest electors might
be neutralized through the public-houses alone, if there were no other way
— the publicans being dependent for their licenses upon justices of the peace,
who had, as a body, no relish whatever for freedom of parliament. Such a
state of things could not be tolerated by the men who had won the Reform
Bill, with the intention of using it : and the authors of the Reform Bill were
gratefully supported by the majority of the middle classes in their first move-
ment in 1833, and their prosecution of the enterprise on their return to power
in 1835.
c^MwssioT ^e ^rst move was tne appointment of a commission under the Great Seal
to twenty gentlemen, whose charge was " to proceed with the utmost despatch
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 235
to inquire as to the existing state of the municipal corporations in England 1835.
and Wales, and to collect information respecting the defects in their consti- v-— - --— —
tution— to make inquiry into their jurisdiction and powers, and the adminis-
tration of justice, and in all other respects ; and also into the mode of electing
and appointing the members and officers of such corporations, and into the
privileges of the freemen and other members thereof, and into the nature and
management of the income, revenues, and funds, of the said corporations."
While these twenty gentlemen were about their work, pairing off among
the districts into which they had divided England and Wales, how busy were
many minds — some with dread of exposure and of loss of perquisites ; — some
with calculations how best to make their fortunes by claims for compensation
for offices which they saw would be taken from them ; — some with planning
how best to evade or mislead the inquiries of the commissioners, and others
how best to stimulate and aid these inquiries ; — some with the hope of seeing
at length a chance allowed for the culture of public and private virtue, through
the extinction of borough corruption ; — others rejoicing to see that the principle
of centralization was not to be extended beyond institutions where it was abso-
lutely indispensable ; and many, very many, looking back into history with a
new interest, whether hopeful or melancholy, now that the time had come for
an essential modification of an institution which forms a part of the body of Polit- Dict- "•
380 — 3S5*
that history from end to end !
First, they saw groups of Romans sitting down here and there in the land, RISE AND HISTORY
/ , &. i 1 & • 1,-T V • J A IT £ OF MUNICIPAL IN-
and arranging their own local affairs, while living under the general law of STITUTIONS.
Rome. — Then, there were the Saxons, who, on arriving, found the town com-
munities fitted, by their municipal practice, for adaptation to their own more
general system of self-government, which extended equally over town and
country. They put their boroughreve at the head of the town government (by
popular election) as they placed their shirereves over the shires, to collect the
revenues of the state. — And then came the Normans, who no longer permitted
the boroughreve to be elected by his neighbours, but put in his place a bailiff
appointed by the king, — as the Shirereve was superseded by the Viscount. —
Then appears in the history, the way of escape from the oppressions of the
bailiff found by the citizens ; — the offer to the king of a larger sum, to be
transmitted direct to his exchequer, than could be collected by the bailiff, who,
besides, absorbed some by the way : and next there is the ready acceptance of
these terms, and the grant of a long succession of charters, granting the
boroughs to the burgesses in fee-farm ; that is, to be their own, as long as they
should punctually pay to the royal exchequer the crown rent agreed upon.
And here, when the relieved inhabitants were returning to their habits of
municipal freedom, does the familiar name of Mayor first present itself. The
Saxon townsmen had no cause to love the title of bailiff; and they took, in-
stead, the Norman name which signified the chief municipal officer of a town.
At this time, the burgesses or townsmen were those who had a settled abode
in the town, were members of some one trade company, and shared in the
liberties and free customs of the town. This was, in fact, a household quali-
fication, distinguishing the citizens from temporary residents, (for trade or
other purposes,) who neither paid taxes nor enjoyed the privileges of citizen-
ship. The means of obtaining the franchise seem to have arisen simply out
236
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK V.
1835. of the conveniences of the case. A man's settled residence was most easily
ascertained through the circumstances of his birth, apprenticeship, and mar-
riage. A man who obtained trading advantages by a settlement in a particular
town would gladly obtain citizenship by purchase. As for obtaining the free-
dom of any borough through the gift of the inhabitants, it was obviously a
substantial advantage in those days, as well as the honour that it is, by tra-
ditional associations, in ours. — In the time of Edward III. we find an authori-
zation of the residence in towns of men who were not free of the borough —
the citizens being empowered to make them contribute to the public expendi-
ture ; and hence it is easily seen how those guilds or trade companies became
important, which verified the position and rights of every resident within the
town walls, and were the settled method of access to the privileges of citizen-
ship. We can see these men and times with the mind's eye ; — the great
middle class, of which history has told so little, busy within their towns, — busy
about their private affairs, their manufactures and their commerce, — busy
about their local affairs, their magistracy, their criminals, the defences of their
walls, and the amount and management of their funds, — and all idle and in-
different about those wars, those struggles, among princes and nobles, of which
history tells so much. The chroniclers of the time saw the great movements
of the country, — the march of armies, the gatherings of the great barons and
their retainers, and the exterminating conflicts on noted fields of battle ; but
they knew, little of the conclaves of townsmen within their walls, to take
measures of defence against the threats and exactions of neighbouring nobles,
for the protection of their ever-expanding commerce, and for the choice of their
annual delegate — their mayor — who was to be answerable to the King for
the payment of the duties to the Crown. — In course"of time, the citizens ob-
tained release from the necessity of sending their chief magistrate to London,
and had permission by charter to take the oaths of their own officers, or to
tender them to the constable of the nearest royal castle. — Thus far, the
functions of the town magistracy were executive only. The making of local
laws was a separate affair, and had been managed by general assemblies,
weekly or other, which agreed upon regulations binding upon all. — As num-
bers increased, and trade extended, this became inconvenient ; and a repre-
sentative system grew up ; and with it a distinction of classes, which originated
a town aristocracy, and the danger (which became an abuse, increasing from
century to century) of that mutual election and self-election which ripened
into our modern and intolerable grievance of close corporations. In Henry the
Third's reign, an attempt was made in London by " the more discreet of the
city" to elect a mayor in opposition to the popular voice; but the citizens met
at St. Paul's Cross, and showed that the innovators were less " discreet" than
they had thought themselves. The discreet of the city were happily defeated
in their aim. — Among the charters of Henry VII., there is one establishing a
self-elective council of aldermen in Bristol. But the great contest — the
greatest recorded in the history of English municipal institutions — took place
after the Reformation, when the question of a parliament disposed in favour of
a Catholic or Protestant occupant of the throne became all-important to
government. Then it rested with the sheriffs to declare which were parlia-
mentary and which non-parliamentary boroughs. The parliamentary
CHAP, III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 237
not be put down ; but less important ones might be raised up ; and in the 1835.
three reigns succeeding Henry the Eighth's, we find sixty-three places send-
ing members to parliament which were before, or of late, unrepresented.
There was little or no enlargement of popular freedom in this proceeding : for
the Crown took care that the accession should tell in its own favour. It as-
sumed the right of giving Governing Charters, by which it controlled munici-
pal operations ; most of the new order of charters giving to small councils — of
express royal appointment, and indissoluble self-elective powers — the privilege
of local government, and even, in many cases, of election of parliamentary
representatives.
Hence was derived the pernicious power of the Stuarts ; and from this
period we may date the subjugation of British political independence. The
royal and aristocratic power over the commonalty was not overthrown even
by the Revolution ; for subsequent charters were framed upon the model of
those of the Charleses and Jameses : and, as the Corporation Commissioners
tell us in their Report, "the charters of George III. do not differ in this
respect from those granted in the worst period of the history of these
boroughs."
To those who felt, as well as said, that the welfare of a nation depends on
its public and private virtue, who saw that the private vice of a community
was found to be in substantial accordance with its municipal corruption, and
who looked back through this avenue of history so as to perceive how low our
people had sunk from the municipal freedom and purity of long preceding
ages, it was consolatory to read the bold exposure of the case by the Corpora-
tion Commissioners, in their Report of 1835. From this Report, two Com- REPORTOF COM-
JL J. MISSION bKa.
missioners dissented, on grounds which had no influence on subsequent pro-
ceedings; and the following statement bears the signatures of sixteen : "Even
where these institutions exist in their least imperfect form, and are most right-
fully administered, they are inadequate to the wants of the present state of
society. In their actual condition, where not productive of evil, they exist, in
a great majority of instances, for no purpose of general utility. The perver-
sion of municipal institutions to political ends has occasioned the sacrifice of
local interests to party purposes, which have been frequently pursued through
the corruption and demoralization of the electoral bodies. — In conclusion, we
report to your Majesty that there prevails among the inhabitants of a great
majority of the incorporated towns a general, and, in our opinion, a just dis-
satisfaction with their municipal institutions, a distrust of the self-elected
municipal councils, whose powers are subjected to no popular control, and
whose acts and proceedings, being secret, are unchecked by the influence of
public opinion — a distrust of the municipal magistracy, tainting with suspicion
the local administration of justice, and often accompanied with contempt of
the persons by whom the law is administered — a discontent under the burthens
of local taxation, while revenues that ought to be applied for the public
advantage are diverted from their legitimate use, and are sometimes wastefully
bestowed for the benefit of individuals, sometimes squandered for purposes in-
jurious to the character and morals of the people. We therefore feel it to be
our duty to represent to your Majesty that the existing municipal corporations
of England and Wales neither possess nor deserve the confidence and respect
238
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
1835.
EXISTING STATE
OF THINGS.
of your Majesty's subjects, and that a thorough reform must be effected before
they can become, what we humbly submit to your Majesty they ought to be,
useful and efficient instruments of local government."
It is evident at a glance that a thorough reform must meet with vehement
opposition. The means of getting up such opposition lay mainly in the
hands of those whose corruption was to be exposed, and whose gains were to
be abolished. In the worst towns, there was the strongest body of corrupt or
bigotted officials who held the worst portion of the inhabitants under their
control, while those who most desired reform were precisely those who were
least in a position to make themselves heard. The noble-minded operative
who had refused 501. for his vote was borne down by the noisy, tipsy freeman,
whose "loyalty" was very profitable to him. The benevolent and painstaking
quiet citizen who strongly suspected that the funds of an orphan girls' school
went to support a brothel, or who could never obtain admission to a charity
trust because it was supposed that he would remonstrate against the frequent
banquets at the expense of the trust — the peaceable dissenter who found him-
self put aside in times of public danger, because the loyal corporation charged
him with wishing to burn down the cathedral — the unexceptionable trades-
man, who found himself cut out by the idle and unskilful, because they had
corporation connexion — such men as these had no chance of being heard
against the sharp and unscrupulous lawyers, the pompous aldermen, the rabble
of venal voters, and the compact body of town contractors, who clamoured, as
for life, for the maintenance of things as they were. — Then, there were the
thoughtless and ignorant who loved the city shows — the Mayor's feast, the
election processions, the fun and riot of the ward-elections — the antique
pageantry of some old towns, with their grim Dragon carried about the streets,
and the prancing St. George, and the Whifflers in pink and blue, with their
wooden swords — an antique pageantry which wiser people than themselves
would be sorry to see no more. And again, there were the anxious Conserva-
tives, and the positive old Tories, who believed that the world would come to
an end if long-standing institutions were meddled with. What could the
plaints of the sick and the aged and the orphan, and the indignation of the
disinterested, and the protest of the excluded, and the appeal of the obscure,
do amidst the hubbub of desperate wrongdoers and exasperated haters of
change ? Hitherto they could do nothing but complain : but now they might
hope, and they could speak. In every corporate town sat men sent on purpose
to hear all that could be told. Great was the consternation at first; and
fiercer grew the threats and clamour, every day, from the highest to the
lowest of those who dreaded change. No one can forget what he saw of the
action of opposition in any part of that scale. — At the lowest end were the
insolent and profligate freemen, who earned bread, and the drink in which
they rolled about the streets, by selling their votes, and who would never want
a market while the corporate funds remained untouched, and the account
books kept secret. These swaggerers swore to put the Duke of Cumberland
on the throne if any Ministry dared to look into their resources. At the end
of the 'scale sat he in whom was embodied the rank old Toryism which was
only waiting to depart with him from our social life of England. Lord Eldon
fitly headed the scale of the angry and the alarmed. " He protested loudly
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 239
in private/' we learn from a contemporary sketch of him, " with feverish 1835.
alarm," against the measure, "as leading directly to confusion. Its interfer-
ence with vested rights shocked his sense of equity even more than the sweep- N°- xliv-
ing clauses of the Reform Act. To set at nought ancient charters as so
many bits of decayed parchment, and destroy the archives of town halls,
seemed in the eyes of the old magistrate, for so many years the guardian of
corporate rights, a crowning iniquity. Pale as a marble statue, and confined
to his house in Hamilton Place by infirmity, he would deprecate equally the
temerity of Ministers and the madness of the people; and his vaticinations,
like the prophet's scroll, were full to overflowing with lamentation and woe.
His correspondence, for some years previously, had borne marks of the
troubled gloom with which he viewed the changes gradually darkening over
all he had loved and venerated, till he felt almost a stranger to the institu-
tions of his native land."
The opposition was incalculable, and might have been supposed unmanage-
able ; yet, so flagrant were the abuses that, at last, it required less than half
of one session of Parliament — from June to September — to carry into law a
thorough reform of the municipal institutions of England and Wales.
The abolition of abuses, flagrant as they might be, was not, however, the PRINCIPLE OF THE
most weighty consideration with the advocates of Municipal Reform. They
had a higher aim and hope — to train the people to self-government, without
which Parliamentary Reform could be little more than a name. A represen-
tative system is worse than a despotism for a nation which has no ideas to
represent — no clear conception of its political duties, rights, and privileges —
no intellect and no conscience in regard to social affairs. The opponents of
both Parliamentary and Municipal Reform feared the ignorance and the self-
will of the mass of the people ; and not without reason ; since the corruption
of the representation in both departments had caused the ignorance and
aggravated the self-will which were now sure to be displayed. The evil was
unquestionable: the question was how to deal with it. Either the people
must be governed without participation from themselves — that is, England
must go back into a despotism; or the people must be educated into a
capacity for being governed by themselves, through the principle of represen-
tation. The only possible education for political, as for all other moral duty,
is by the exercise of the duty itself. It was high time to begin the training
anew : and those who most clearly saw the necessity were most thoroughly
aware of the imperfections which would immediately appear. They knew
that the mass of the municipal electors would show much folly, much igno-
rance, much selfishness, much anger, in the first exercise of new rights : they
knew that much nonsense would be talked in the Town Councils; and that
party wrangling would be violent at first ; and they no more regarded this as
an objection to a reformed system than they looked to schoolboys for the dis-
cretion and steady conscientiousness of disciplined men. They knew also
that time would do its work, in instructing the raw, and giving the wise and
disinterested their natural ascendancy over the violent and the corrupt. They
were aware that this measure was of the highest importance to the virtue and
the liberties of the nation; the most necessary preparation for all future good ;
the seed field of hope for the future political life of Great Britain : and they
240 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. gave their efforts to the cause accordingly, with a seriousness and energy which
* — —v-* — ' they could never have commanded for the mere abolition of abuses of any
enormity. The great virtue of the Reform Bill was its extinction of corrup-
tion, and its clearing the ground for a true representation. The Municipal
Reform Bill had all that merit, and, besides, the greater one of pressing every
man's public duty home to him, and engaging him in its exercise, in his own
street, and amidst a community where every face was familiar to him. The
work was of the highest order; its scope was fully perceived by the Whig
Administration; and it was done by them in the most admirable manner that
the times and their position admitted. Great as were some of their objects
and achievements during the early years of their rule, it is probable that this
reform will, in far future centuries, stand out to view above the rest as the
highest, from its connexion with the deepest principles of political virtue, and
therefore the most lasting system of political liberties.
DEFECTS or THE The most radical imperfection of the scheme, and that which must subject
REFORM.
it to a future reform as sweeping as the last, is its protraction of the severance
of the interests of town and country. The Romans, as we have seen, con-
ferred their municipal quality (capacity for civil rights through liability to
civil duties) prominently on the inhabitants of towns, where alone institutions
of citizenship were established by them during their occupation of Britain.
The Saxon system was scarcely cognizant of towns at all: but when the
Saxons came to Britain, they found a system existing in the towns to which
theirs was easily adapted; and they did not subvert it. During the feudal
ages, all civil rights were concentrated in the towns; so that the very word
Municipal is to us applicable only to a town system. As civil war subsided,
agriculture rose to the point of superseding mere territorial dignity; and before
the great rise of manufactures, it was the unquestioned leading interest of the
commonalty, while closely connected with the territorial dignity of the
aristocracy. With the rise of manufactures, a new political era opened in
England. For half a century before the reign of William IV. the manufac-
turing population had been gaining upon the agricultural, at a perpetually
increasing rate ; and, if the country gentlemen in Parliament who opposed
the Municipal Reform Bill had understood their own case, they would rather
have striven for some possible inclusion of the rural population in the scheme
than have opposed a reform in the towns. It is an evil all round that the
nation should be divided into two populations, the urban and the rural, whose
interests are supposed to be antagonistic : and the vehement cries of agricul-
tural distress which had pained the ears of the nation almost without inter-
mission since the Peace, seemed to tell that the agricultural interest was
certainly not that which was gaining the ascendancy at present. It would
have been a vast benefit to all if the two populations could have been united
under a system of local government whose objects are of absolutely universal
importance, instead of being separated as peremptorily as ever by the reform
of town government, while rural administration remained as before. But
neither the Whig Ministers, if they had wished it, nor any others could have
effected this in 1835, when the mere mention of such a scheme would have
been received as a proposal to subordinate the country to the towns. So the
rural population remain in a backward and unfavourable condition — subject
CHAP. III.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 241
to the jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace of counties and divisions of counties, 1 835.
while the town population is in the enjoyment of a representative system -— ^— — '
which, by improving their intelligence and independence, could not but widen
the severance between the two populations, to the disadvantage of the rural,
if other influences were not operating, at perhaps an equal rate, on behalf of
the latter. The extension of Free Trade to agricultural produce, and the
consequent improvement of agricultural science and skill which may with
certainty be looked for, are likely to raise the mind and the condition of the
rural population, till they may become capable of desiring and requiring for
themselves a system of local government as favourable as that obtained by the
men of the towns : and then, some future government will have to grant to
the producers and sellers of food, and the capitalists of their class, the same
political scope and privilege which the Bill of 1835 secured to the producers
and sellers of all other articles, and the capitalists of their multifarious
class.
The other great imperfection of the measure was one, only temporary in its
character, but of pernicious operation during the critical years when the
citizens required every aid, and no hindrance, in learning to discharge their
new duties and exercise their new rights : — the privileges of the old freemen
were preserved, and with them a large measure of corruption. This was not
the work of the Administration, but an amendment insisted on by the Lords.
The preservation of the parliamentary franchise and corporation property of
this depraved body has been the greatest impediment to the purifying opera-
tion of the measure : but care was taken by the Ministers and the House of
Commons that, while existing property and privilege of an objectionable
character were tenderly dealt with, no new interests of a similar kind should
be permitted to arise : and thus, beneficial as have been the effects of corpo-
rate reform from the day that the Bill became law, its best results have yet to
be realized.
The substance of the measure, as passed, is this. Political Diction.
The points for review are four — the Area in the State occupied by the SUBSTANCE OF THE
system — the Objects of Municipal Government — the Municipal Constituency
— the Municipal Functionaries.
The number of boroughs included under the Bill was 178, and the collec-
tive population about 2,000,000, at that time. Of these boroughs 128 of the
most important had a commission of the peace assigned to them ; while the
other 50 might obtain such a commission on a representation to the Crown,
by the Town Council, that the borough needs the appointment of one or more
salaried police magistrates. — London is not included under the Act, a special
measure being promised for the metropolis : towards which, however, nothing-
has yet been done. Of the 178 boroughs, 93 were parliamentary boroughs,
and their limits were taken as settled by the Reform Bill. The boundaries of
the remaining 85 stood as they were before, until parliament should direct
an alteration. — Each borough was divided into electoral wards — Liverpool
into 16; others into 12, 10, or fewer, till the smallest were reached, which
needed no division at all. The boundaries of the wards, and the number of
Town Councillors to be returned by each, were settled after the passing of the
Act, by barristers appointed for the purpose.
VOL. II. 2 I
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. The Objects of Municipal Government were briefly set forth in the King's
*•" — "~"-' ' speech at the close of the session of 1833, in the sentence which recommends
Hansard, xx. 905. 1 , . , , _ n ,
parliament "to mature some measures which may seem best fitted to place
the internal government of corporate cities and towns upon a solid foundation,
in respect to their finances, their judicature, and their police." — The new Act
left the old objects untouched, for the most part, except in regard to the
administration of justice and of charity trusts. The administration of charity
trust funds was now placed in the hands of trustees appointed by the Lord
Chancellor; and justice was made more accessible, and its functionaries more
responsible, by various new provisions. As to the appointment and manage-
ment of the constabulary, the paving and lighting of the towns, and other
duties of the local government, they were not dictated, nor local Acts interfered
with, by express enactment. The thing to be done was to procure a practical
amendment by giving a true constituency to the towns, by which the local
authorities should be elected in a genuine manner.
Hitherto, the functionaries made the constituency; and the constituency in
return appointed the functionaries : so that if a sufficient number of corrupt
and indolent men could be got into league, they could do what they pleased
with the powers and the funds of the boroughs. This was now amended. The
first class considered was that of the existing freemen, whose privilege, having
been hitherto much restricted, was supposed to have been valuable, and of
proportionate original cost. It was therefore preserved to them, their wives
and widows, sons, daughters, and apprentices, who were to enjoy the same
privileges in land and property, shares in common lands and public stock of
the borough or corporation as if the new Act had never been passed : but
henceforward, the debts of the corporation were to be paid before, and not after as
hitherto, the claims of such persons were satisfied. The parliamentary franchise
was also, as we have said, preserved to the old freemen. But the way to further
abuse was stopped, not only by creating an honest constituency which should
swamp the corrupt old one, but by a provision that no rights of borough free-
dom should henceforth be acquired by gift or purchase, or in any other modes
than those now enacted. — The Act prescribes a property qualification, on the
understood ground that the municipal funds are provided by the propertied
classes, who ought therefore to have the disposal of them. The condition of
a three years' residence was much objected to, by men here and there of all
parties : but it was believed to be necessary to obviate sudden and large crea-
tions of voters for party purposes — an evil of which government had had re-
cent and inconvenient experience, the admissions of freemen in certain towns
in England having been six times as many in 1830 as in the preceding year.
If a necessity, however, the restriction is a bad necessity ; and it will probably
be repealed when the purification of municipal government has become
assured. — To be a municipal constituent, a man must be of full age; must, on
the last day of the preceding August, have occupied premises within the
borough continuously for the three previous years; must have been for those
three years an inhabitant householder within seven miles of the borough ; and
must have been rated to the poor, and have paid those and all borough rates
during the same three years. — Such was the constituency ordained by the new
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 243
Act — a narrow one; but good as far as it goes, and understood to be so re- 1835.
stricted on account of previous abuses.
The Registration of the constituency was to be managed by an organization
resembling that under the Reform Bill, with the variations rendered necessary
by difference of circumstances. The overseers of parishes make the lists:
the Town Clerk corrects and publishes them; and, since the first year, the
Mayor and the Assessors appointed for the purpose have revised them.
The Functionaries of Town Corporations and their constituents had hitherto
borne a strange variety of titles in different places. Henceforth they were
every where to be called "the Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses." This body
was henceforth a constituted Corporation ; empowered to do all legal acts as a
body, and not as individuals; to sue and be sued by the corporate name; and
to transmit their corporate rights to their corporate successors. The Town
Council is the great ruling body of the borough. The wards elect the Coun-
cillors, whose number was, as has been said, apportioned after the passing of
the Act by barristers who visited the boroughs for the purpose. The Council
administers, by its Committees, all the local business — the constabulary ap-
pointments, and the paving and lighting; and the body in conclave appoint
their own officers: decree the expenditure of the borough fund, and the
leasing of land and buildings ; and they have the power of making bye-laws
for the prevention and suppression of nuisances, and other objects of minor
legislation. All needful safeguards against corruption are provided by making
committees responsible to the whole Council, by the appointment of auditors
of accounts who shall not themselves be councillors at the time; and by the
regulations that all town accounts shall be published; that two-thirds of the
Council shall be present at the passing of any bye-law, and that forty days
shall be allowed to the Secretary of State to object to such bye-law, and pro-
cure its disallowance by the sovereign. — A property qualification for the office
of councillor is requisite. One-third of the Council go out, and are supplied
by annual election on the 1st of November.
The Mayor is chosen from among the councillors: and he must serve, or
pay a fine of 100/. He presides over the public acts of the borough during
his year of office ; is for that time and the next year a Justice of the Peace ;
revises the registration with the assessors, and sanctions the lists by his signa-
ture in open court; and is made Returning Officer on occasion of election to
parliament.
The function of Alderman is somewhat anomalous under the new Act, into
which it was introduced by the Lords, more, as it appears, from a clinging to
old names and forms than from any clear idea of what there was for aldermen
to do. By their remaining in office six years, and half going out every three
years, while their body includes one-third of the whole Council, the regula-
tion for replenishing the Council by new members to the number of one -third
annually is set aside. They are little more than councillors having precedence
of others and being removeable at the end of six years instead of three.
The Town Clerk and Treasurer are appointed by the Council. The first
has to keep in safety the charter deeds and records of the borough; to make
out the registration lists ; keep the Minutes of the Council, and be subject to
their direction. The treasurer is responsible for his accounts to the auditors,
244 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK y.
1835. to whom he is to submit them half-yearly. — The Auditors are annually elected
v-— ^^— — ^ by the burgesses, on the 1st of March. The Assessors are elected in like
manner.
The power was reserved to the Crown of appointing such Justices of the
Peace as government may think proper : also such salaried Police Magistrates
as the borough may apply for; and again, a Recorder for a single borough, or
for two or more in conjunction, provided the councillors of such town or towns
desire to have a Recorder, show cause for such an appointment, and prove
that they can pay his salary. Boroughs having a Recorder have separate
Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace, such Courts being coequal in powers
with similar Courts for counties.
All Church property in the hands of the old Corporations was required to,
be sold under the direction of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; the proceeds
to be invested in government securities, and the annual interest to form a part
of the Borough fund. Towns not at that time incorporated, might obtain a
charter of incorporation by petition to the Privy Council. Some of the
largest towns in England obtained charters by this method within a few years,
after the passing of the Act.
CUMINS. ™ T"E It was on the 5th of June that Lord John Russell introduced the Muni,
cipal Reform Bill to the House of Commons. By the cordial union of the
Whig and Radical parties, it was passed rapidly and safely through the Lower
JN THE LORDS. House. The difficulty was with the Peers, who carried one amendment after
another against Ministers ; and among others, a decision to hear counsel for
the existing Corporations, which delayed the progress of the measure for some
time. The opposition was, as might be expected, about the rights of property
— the property of poor men, it was insisted, and therefore to be the more care-
fully regarded ; and about the overthrow of ancient practices and observances.
But the case was too bad for a destructive opposition. As for the rights of
property of the poor — in the city of Norwich, there were 3,225 resident free-
men, of whom 315 were paupers; 808 more were not rated. In Lincoln,
nearly four-fifths of the population were excluded from the Corporation; and
of the corporate body, three-fourths paid no rates. At Cambridge, out of
20,000 inhabitants, there were only 118 freemen. At Ipswich, of 2,000 rate-
°LC°rt~ PayersJ only 187 belonged to the Corporation. In the face of these facts, it
was a mockery to talk of the rights of property being disregarded by the Bill.
— As to the ancient practices and observances, it was only necessary to look
back into history to see that the existing state of things was in fact a mass of
modern innovation and corruption, and that the Bill was a restoration of
ancient rights — a recurrence to the true old municipal principle. From a con-
viction that the fact was so, and that the true old principle would, in a gene-
ration or two, work itself clear of the mischief of the Lords' amendments, the
Ministers, after due consideration, adopted those amendments rather than lose
the measure. So they preserved the existing race of poor freemen, who must
die out in a few years ; let in the anomalous aldermen, in the hope that their
uselessness and the evil of breaking in on the rotation of the Town Councillors
would be ascertained before long ; yielded some points in regard to qualification,
and induced the Lords to yield some of their points ; and finally passed the
BECOMES LAW. Bill on the 7th of September. On the 9th, it became law.
CHAP. I1I.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 245
The passage of the Bill was a severe and unexpected blow to the high Tory 1835.
party, who had confidently reckoned on its being rejected by the Commons
when returned from the Upper House. After all that they had done, they
found that their staff of magistracy was swept away, to be succeeded by
responsible officials returned by a genuine principle of election. The corrupt
office-holders under the old system saw with dismay that the Church and
Charity Funds which had given them so much power and profit were now to
be publicly administered for the general good, and that borough property
would be henceforth the property of the borough, and the police the servants
of the public and not theirs. As Colonel Sibthorp expressed it, these exclu-
sive privileges were gone " at one fell swoop :" — as O'Connell expressed it,
" tag rag and bobtail was swept away." — The rejoicing among the honest and
enlightened townsmen of the kingdom was naturally great. Yet, perhaps,
there were few, even of the most joyous, who did not feel more or less regret
at some of the adjuncts of the change ; at the extinction, for instance, of
antique municipal observances and shows. It was a great thing to see ancient
charities renovated — schools and asylums rising again, and coffers filling with
money restored to the purposes of the needy. It was a great thing to see our
country planted over with little republics where the citizens would henceforth
be trained to political thought and public virtue : but it seemed a pity that
the city feasts must go — the processions be seen no more — the gorgeous dresses
be laid by — the banners be folded up — the dragon be shelved, and St. George
never allowed to wear his armour again ; and the gay runners, in their pink
and blue jerkins, their peaked shoes and rosettes, and their fearful wooden
swords, turned into mere weavers, tinmen, and shoemakers. Already, some of
us may find ourselves discoursing eagerly to children, as Englishmen used to
do to wondering Americans, of the sights we once saw on great corporation
days : and when we are dead, a future generation may turn over the muni-
cipal wardrobes, before their colours are faded, and cast a glance over the
Mayors' bills of fare, and ask whether such things could have belonged to
common life in the 19th century. These things, from being once solemn and
significant, may have become child's play, of which we of the 19th century
ought to have been ashamed : yet there are perhaps few of us that were not
sorry to see them go. For once, Lord Eldon was not without general sym-
pathy.
•
KS.q.i . •{-!*'
.
lO
246 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER IV.
1835. A MIDST the existing state of feeling with regard to the Church, its wealth
^~~~^ " -t\. an(j its inefficiency for the religious ins true tipn and guidance of the
COMMISSIONS. people, it was impossible for any government to feel or assume indifference to
its condition. We find, therefore, both the Administrations of 1835 issuing
an Ecclesiastical Commission, for the purpose of inquiring into and reporting
upon the changes which might be effected in regard to Church territory, in-
come, and patronage, so as to render remuneration and labour more commen-
surate with each other, to enforce residence, and destroy the necessity of plu-
ralities, by providing for all a sufficient revenue. Both Commissions — the
one issued by Sir II . Peel in February, and the other by Lord Melbourne in
June — were publicly objected to by parties within the Church, ranging from
Dr. Pusey to Sydney Smith ; while those outside the Church, constituting
nearly half the population between the Land's End and Johnny Groat's, re-
garded the matter with no great interest, because with little hope. Dr. Pusey
and his High Church party denied the right of the government to meddle
with the distribution of Church offices and funds ; and Sydney Smith, in a
series of published letters, complained of the Commission being composed
chiefly of the high dignitaries of the Church, whose judgment might, he
thought, have been beneficially aided by information and suggestion from a
lower order of clergy, more conversant with the minds and the needs of the
people. Those outside the pale of the Establishment, knowing that the
appropriation principle was not to be named, expected little from a mere
redistribution of office and funds, made by the highest holders of office and
income : and to the people at large, the most interesting part of the whole
matter was the conspicuous fact that the Church was at last compelled to un-
dertake its own reform — or what its dignitaries conceived to be so. Startling
evidences of popular ignorance and the blindest fanaticism were forcing them-
selves on universal attention, just at the time when the publication of the
revenues of the Church was prompting the question how it was possible that
an establishment so rich in men and money could exist beside a population in
a state of such heathen blindness. — The Ecclesiastical Commission of 1831
had declared the gross revenues of the Established Church in England and
Trv't'31 ?53tion" Wales to amount to 3,792,8857. ; and the net revenue to 3,490,4977. During
the ensuing years of inquiry and legislation, men did not forget that the net
revenue of the English Church amounted to three millions and a half; and
while they were waiting to see how these funds would be dealt with, events
were continually occurring to show what ought to be done with them.
Without going over again the sickening record, found in the register of
POPULAR IONO- almost every year, of ignorance and fanaticism shown in disturbances requir-
ing repression by soldiery and punishment by the law, we may refer to one
RANGE.
AY DB.
LUSION.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 247
event which seemed to occur, a9 was said in parliament, for the shaming of 1835.
the Church. We find too much besides — we find a rector of Lockington
tithing the wages of a poor labourer, named Dodsworth, and throwing him
into jail for the sum of four shillings and fourpence. We find Church rate
riots abounding — the pannelling of pews broken in, and men exchanging
blows in the Church with fists and cudgels. We find revivals of religion
taking place here and there — scenes worthy only of a frantic heathenism —
scenes of raving, of blasphemous prayer, of panic-struck egotism, followed by
burial processions to lay in the ground the victims of apoplexy or nervous ex-
haustion.— We find men selling their wives in the market-places, with halters
round their necks — none of the parties having the remotest conception of
what marriage is in the eye of the law or of the Christian religion. — We
find crowds in such a place as Sheffield gutting, and repeatedly firing, the
Medical School, through the old prejudices against dissection. — But all these
incidents, and many others of like nature with them, wrought less on the
public mind to the shame of the Church than an event which happened in
1838 almost under the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral. That in such a COURTEN
neighbourhood, a large body of the common people should believe a lunatic to
be the Messiah, and follow him to death through such a series of observances
as only a lunatic could have imposed, was a shock to the clergy, it was
believed, and was certainly a subject of painful amazement to the rest of the
world, which was not at all solicitous to keep its opinion to itself. From the
House of Commons to the wayside inn, men were asking what the Church
was for, and what the clergy could be about, if the population of a district
near Canterbury could worship the wounds in the hands and side of a raving
lunatic; see him fire a pistol at a star, and bring it down; believe him invul-
nerable, and themselves through him; expect to see him sail away, as he
declared he came, on clouds of glory through the heavens; and, when he was
shot dead, be quite happy in the certainty that he would rise again in a
month.
This poor wretch, named Thorn, had been confined in a lunatic asylum for
four years, and was then delivered over to his friends on the supposition of his
being harmless. He then called himself Sir William Courtenay, fancying him-
self a man of high family, as well as large estates, — in the same breath claim-
ing to be the Messiah, and threatening hell-fire against all who would not
follow him to obtain his estates, and get rich themselves. He did not want
for followers ; for, as the people said about his knowledge of the Scriptures, spectator,
"no un&zrned person could stand before Sir William." He fired a pistol
against himself, and was not wounded — there being no bullet. He put a lighted
lucifer match under a bean stack which did not burn : and these things were
regarded as true miracles by his followers. They believed that nothing could
hurt them while following him ; and when a mother could not refuse to recog-
nise the wounds of her son, she comforted herself that he was " fighting for
his Saviour." They kissed the madman's feet, and worshipped him. A woman
followed him on the last day of his life, wherever he went, with a pail of water,
because he had said that if he died, and if she put water between his lips, he
would rise again in a month. He administered the Sacrament to his followers
in bread and water. As he lay dead, his blouse was torn up, that his followers
248 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. might carry away the shreds as relics. The strongest rehuke to the Church,
v-x-v~^» however, was at the funeral. From the fear of attack, and rescue of the body,
there was a race to the churchyard — a trial of speed between the funeral van
and the attendant gigs and carts : but, far worse, the clergyman felt it necessary
to omit those parts of the burial service which relate to the resurrection of the
dead. Many stolid and miserable wretches were watching the interment from
the railing — some ghastly from wounds received in the fight : and the clergy-
man feared that any promise of a resurrection would make them watch for the
return of their prophet, to reign in the Powderham estates, float in the clouds,
and give to each of his true followers a farm of forty acres. It was long before
the clergy of Canterbury heard the last of this. — In the affair of this madman
and his pretensions, ten lives were lost in a few moments, and many persons
were wounded. The party of fanatics had strolled about the country for four
days, praying, obtaining recruits, and looking for the Millenium. A farmer,
whose men had been seduced from their work, gave information to the police.
The first constable who presented himself was shot, by Thorn himself, who
then took his sword, and hacked the body, crying out, " Now am I not your
Saviour ?" A party of military was brought from Canterbury, whose officer,
Lieut. Bennett, was deliberately shot dead by the same hand. The lunatic
himself was the next to fall, crying with his last breath, " I have Jesus in my
heart." The local jails were filled with his followers, who were too ignorant
to wonder at what they had done, even after the discovery that their leader
and companions could be wounded and die. Some were transported for life,
or for terms, and the rest imprisoned for different periods. They were now at
last brought, under such circumstances as these, under the care of the Church,
by which they should have been instructed and guided from their youth up ;
Annual Register, and at the end of a year's imprisonment some of them signed a paper declara-
1839, Chron. 134. *.)M i • • i i • i .1
tory of their shame and sorrow at their impious delusion, and at the acts to
which it had led them. Some who could not sign their names, declared the
same thing among their old neighbours. Very few of the band could read and
write.
It was not likely that such evils as were indicated by this event would be
reached by a commission of church dignitaries inquiring into property and
income, and unpractised in dealing with the popular mind : but, small as was
the expectation of all parties, the result in eight years disappointed even that.
The number of benefices and churches whose incomes had been augmented by
poiiuDict. i.802. tne Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England was, in that time, 469 ; and the
augmentation amounted, in the whole, to the sum of £25,779. The Church
would certainly not save the people or itself in this way : and it was well that
other measures were attempted.
RESULTS OF THE The Ecclesiastical Commissioners were incorporated by Act of Parliament
COMMISSU)N. .^ jggg^ ^gjj. numl3er then consisting of thirteen, and including several mem-
bers of the government. One of their first operations was a re-arrangement of
episcopal sees. Two new sees — those of Papon and Manchester — were
created; and four of the old ones were consolidated into two — Gloucester
being united to Bristol, and St. Asaph to Bangor. — After this, the chief work
of the Commissioners was making the re-distribution, whose result, after eight
years, has been mentioned. It was felt by most reasonable people that the
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE, 049
less they expected the better, after hearing that the Commissioners did not 1835.
find that any process of re-distribution could render the income of the ^- — •— ~--
bishoprics sufficient for the wants of the bishops — the number of bishops being
twenty-six, and the amount of income nearly £150,000 per annum. Church Pom. Diet. i. sss."
reformers who made such a declaration as this were not the kind of reformers
who would secure the peasantry of England against seduction by future
maniacs and blasphemers. Something more than this must be done.
In 1838, an Act passed, the object of which was to correct the abuse of non- NON-RESIDENCE
residence — to render it impossible henceforth for the beneficed clergyman to
be absent, at his own pleasure, from the field of his duties, while enjoying the
proceeds of his living. If absent for between three months and six, for other
than professional purposes, without a license, he must forfeit a third of the
income from his benefice ; if between six and eight months, half the income ;
if twelve months, three -fourths of the income. These requisitions were not
new : but they were to be fenced about with strong securities. Before grant-
ing the license, the bishop must be satisfied that the intended absentee has
provided a proper substitute, duly salaried. Other regulations came in with
this — methods by which the bishop can keep himself informed of the condition
of the parishes under the care of his clergy, and not only check the tempting
practice of non-residence, but form some idea of the state of the relation be-
tween the pastors and their flocks. This was a great improvement, not only
as securing to the flocks the presence of their pastors, but as discouraging the
entrance into the service of the Church of men who have no taste for its duties,
but come in merely for a maintenance. The condition of residence is as terrible
or disgusting to such a class of clergy as it is welcome to those who are worthy
of their function. Great as this improvement was, much more was wanted :
and two years after, another considerable step was taken.
In 1840, an Act was passed which made a great sweep of abuses, and applied p0ut. Diet. i. soi.
the accruing funds to good purposes. It abolished many ecclesiastical sine- ABO(IT10N op
cures, or deprived the holders of their emoluments ; it abolished the old self- SINECURES> &c-
elected deans and chapters, decreeing that deans should be appointed by the
Crown, and canons by the bishops ; — it authorized the purchase and suppres-
sion of sinecure rectories in private patronage, and the devotion of the proceeds
to the spiritual wants of the people at hand or elsewhere. All the profits
arising from these proceedings were to form a fund at the disposal of the Com-
missioners for the supply of the most pressing spiritual needs which came to
their knowledge. There was a good deal of outcry, from the clergy as well as
others, about granting such powers as this bill conveyed to such a body of
functionaries — placed so high above the level of popular feeling — as constituted
the Ecclesiastical Commission. Pages might be filled with the remonstrances,
serious and jocose, of Sydney Smith upon the occasion ; and there was much
truth in the objections which he made : but it was so great a thing to get rid
of so much scandal, to sweep away so much abuse, and administer a stern re-
buke to the sinecurists of the Church and their patrons, that the Act was, on
the whole, regarded as the most considerable advance yet made by the Com-
mission towards a reform of the Church. As far as it went, it was a clearing
of the ground. But this, after all, was a small matter ; and more must be
done.
VOL. II. 2 K
250 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V.
1835. The Tithe Commutation Act, for England and Wales, which passed in 1837,
- — ~~~~ — was a great promoter of peace and good-will between the Church and the
•no™ ACT.MMUTA" people at large. From year to year, the irritation on both sides on the subject
of tithes had become more and more intolerable ; and, as we have seen, in one
place a peasant was shooting his rector, and in another, a rector was tithing
the peasant's wages, and throwing him into jail for the sum of 4s. 4d. Such
things have not been heard of since ; for the admirable measure of 1837 has
put an end to the quarrelling which was discreditable enough to the nation,
and perfectly scandalous in connexion with the Church. Tithe, not being a
tax paid to government, nor to any institution, but to almost as many lay as
clerical individuals, could not be swept away, or repealed like an ordinary tax.
It had become so mixed up with a mass of interests and affairs, that its abo-
lition could not have been effected but by a confiscation which would have put
the gain into the pockets of men who had no business with it. — The true
method was to convert tithe into a rent-charge : and this was done in a very
poiit.Dict. it 812. effective manner. The charge, payable in money, was determined by the ave-
rage price of corn for the seven preceding years ; and all kinds of tithe were to
come under this arrangement. Every facility was given for a voluntary agree-
ment between the tithe-owner and payer ; and both were, in a large number
of cases, glaid to settle their disputes upon this basis : but if, after the lapse of
a sufficient time, no such agreement was made, the Tithe Commissioners had
power to enforce it. In eight years from the passing of the Act, about half the
business of assigning and apportioning rent-charges throughout the kingdom
was completed : and a very large proportion of the agreements was voluntary. —
Provision was made for a redemption of the tithe-charge, where desired, the
payer being authorized to make over land to the owner, not exceeding twenty
acres in one parish, in purchase of his release from tithe-charges for ever. This
power of redemption, though good, was less valuable than it would have been
thought at an earlier date. Formerly, men would have sacrificed much to free
themselves from the perplexing and galling uncertainty of tithe-charges, which
prevented them from undertaking improvements, or deprived them of all the
profit. But now the uncertainty and malicious incidence of the tax were re-
moved by its conversion into a rent-charge, on a broad and ascertainable basis.
Here, again, was a great clearing of the ground for improvement of the relation
between the Church and the people. But it was not enough. The worst evils
remained ; and there were some at the time who expressed their sense of these
evils in the words of Milton, which tell how the poor " sit at the foot of a
pulpited divine to as little purpose of benefiting as the sheep in their pens at
Smithfield."
POPULAR EDO. The desideratum was a system of Education. Every body knew this. That
is, every body knew that the great mass of the working classes, and all the
vast pauper class of England, were deplorably ignorant. But who could say
what was to be done, while the Church did not educate its own body, and yet
rose up in opposition at every mention of a plan which did not give the con-
trol and administration of education to the clergy, and the Dissenters could not
possibly agree to any, such condition? The Dissenters exerted themselves
much more than the Church to educate the children within their respective
bodies ; but, besides that the instruction they could give was desultory, partial,
CATION.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 251
and superficial, those bodies did not comprehend the most ignorant and desti- 1835.
tute classes — the very poor agricultural labourers and the abandoned of the
towns, who belonged to no religious denomination at all. The majority of all
denominations objected to secular education ; and on any system of religious
instruction they could not agree. In various parts of the Continent the
spectacle might be seen of children sitting on the same bench, Catholics, Pro-
testants, and Jews, having their understandings opened, their consciences
awakened, and their affections flowing out upon one another, with a prospect
before them of co-operation in their future lives — the duties of citizenship ren-
dered easy by associations of school days, and purged from the sectarian taint
that renders English society an aggregate of bodies which distrust and dislike
each other through prejudices sent down from generation to generation. But
among us such a spectacle could not be hoped for ; for no subject is less under-
stood by our nation at large than that of religious liberty. Religious liberty
could not become understood but by improved general education : and general
education could not be had for want of religious liberty. It was truly a
desperate case. We have seen how fruitlessly efforts had been made, by
Mr. Brougham and others, to extinguish this fatality : and while such efforts
resulted only in increased positiveness and bitterness on every hand, thousands
and tens of thousands of children had been passing off into a condition of hope-
less ignorance and depravity, amidst which the most erroneous views of the
Christian religion would have been as the day-spring from on high to those
who sit in darkness. Combined with what else they would have learned, there
were no views of Christianity which could have been imparted in England that
would not have been salvation to the host of children in the Durham coal-pits,
and the wilds of Wales, and the hovels of Dorsetshire, and the cellars of Liver-
pool, and the precincts of Canterbury, and the rookeries of London, who have
sunk, the while, into abysses of guilt and misery through the neglect of the
State of which they were the helpless and unconscious members. The high
honour of being the first to lay a hand on the barrier of exclusion belongs to
the Whig administrations of this period. It was little that they could do: and
that little could not expand into an effective system. From the nature of the
case, their plan could be but of temporary duration, as well as most restricted
operation : for they could only help those who could, more or less, help them-
selves ; whereas the aid was needed especially by those who were unconscious
of their own need : but, if they could drive in only a little wedge which must
be thrown away, it was they who found the crevice, and struck the first blow.
It was the fashion of the time to laugh at the Whig administrations for their
resort to special commissions : a resort, however, for which the country is much
indebted to them. That they did not employ this method in the early days of
their rule, as a preparation for an educational system, while they used it with
eminent success in their Poor Law and Municipal reforms, is an indication of
their hopelessness about establishing a system at all. Without a full and pro-
tracted inquiry, the results of which should be offered in a comprehensive Re-
port, no measure could be framed which had a chance of working well. The
question of endowments was under investigation ; and nothing could be pro-
posed about funds till the results of that inquiry were known. The actual
state of education was not ascertained ; nor had the legislature any definite
252 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. notions as to the kind and degree of education which should be desired or at-
s— — — - -" tempted for the people at large. It was a rare thing to meet with an English
gentleman, in or out of parliament, who had any clear views on the question of
state or voluntary education ; — which was best for us in itself — which was most
procurable for us — and whether they should, could, or might be in any degree
united. Such a "Whig Commission" as it was the fashion of the day to
laugh at would have brought knowledge to legislators, and made them think
and discuss, till their minds had attained some clearness. The public attention
would have been fixed, and its interest roused, by the same means ; and in a
few years — perhaps two or three — the matter would have been ripe for legis-
lation. But it was clear that Ministers dared not employ this method. Par-
liament, being yet blind to the importance of the project, would have com-
plained of the expense ; the Church would have risen up to oppose an invasion
of what she considered her province : and the Dissenters would, as we see by
the light of a later time, have attacked with fury any proposal to modify their
operations among the young of their own sects. So, nothing was said about
any broad plan of an extensive commission, with a view to future legislation ;
and Ministers and parliament could learn only from such information as came
in through the Factory Inspectors, the Charity and Poor Law Commissioners,
and the witnesses who gave testimony before an Education Committee of the
House of Commons in 1834-5.
LORD BRot'o. Lord Brougham ventured to proceed upon the partial and most imperfect
1837." information thus obtained, to form and propose to parliament a scheme of
National Education in the session of 1837: and the result was what might
have been anticipated — a plan too crude for adoption. His plan would have
placed the school system under the control of the Administration of the day,
while leaving it subject to the worst evils of voluntaryism; and thus it could
never have commanded general confidence, while it left unsolved the sectarian
difficulties which have been the chief embarrassment throughout. There were
yet other objections, so evident to those who knew most on the subject of
which all knew but too little, that the measure, introduced in two succeeding
MINISTERIAL years, was dropped without a contest. — What the Ministers did was very
SCHEME, 1834. J *r J
modest in comparison with this ; and, modest as their effort was, it cost them
so much trouble and opposition, that no one will venture to say they could
have done more.
As we have seen, a Committee of the Commons sat during two sessions, to
receive and report upon evidence as to the condition of Education. This is a
subject quite unmanageable by a Parliamentary Committee, by its vastness,
and the impossibility of securing an average — a true representation — of wit-
nesses. The Committee therefore was of little use, except as an evidence that
the great subject of Education was becoming really interesting to the legisla-
ture. In 1834, the government obtained from Parliament the first grant in
aid of Education. It was only 20,000/.: but it was a beginning: and it went
on through subsequent years till 1839, when a vote of 30,000/. was asked for.
— The grant was distributed in different proportions through the National
School Association, which was in strict connexion with the Church of
England, and the British and Foreign School Society, which admitted children
of all Christian denominations, without imposing upon them sectarian teach-
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 253
ing. The method of distribution was by giving aid to applicants in propor- 1835.
tion to the amounts which those applicants could prove themselves able to ^— — v~^-^
raise for the building of school houses. It is obvious at a glance that on this
principle aid is given precisely where it is least wanted — to districts which can
raise funds for educational purposes, while the poorest and most neglected
could proffer no claim. After a few years, the Educational Committee of the
Privy Council resolved that the principle of giving most where most could be
raised on the spot should not be invariably adhered to, if applications should
be made from very poor and populous districts, where subscriptions could not
be obtained to a sufficient amount. As to the desolate districts where there
was no one to stir at all amidst the deadness of ignorance and poverty — there
was no provision made for them. — To those that had much, more was
to be given; and to those that had less, was less to be given: and to
those who had nothing — nothing. One beneficent work which the annual
parliamentary grant (still annually disputed, however, and therefore un-
certain) enabled the Ministers to effect, was the establishment and organiza-
tion of a model school, from which might descend long generations of
schools for the training of teachers. In 1835, 10,0007. was expressly voted by
Parliament for this object; and in 1839, the Committee of Privy Council ex- Minute, June 3rd,
pressed their regret that, owing to the sectarian difficulties of the case, they
could not propose a plan for the establishment of a Normal school under the
care of the State, instead of that of a voluntary association.
Opposition was made at every step. Lord Stanley even declared in 1839,
that the grant of 10,0007. for a Normal school, in 1835, was made at a late
period of the session, when Members were not duly vigilant. When, in 1839,
an Order in Council vested the management of the Education fund in a Com-
mittee of Privy Council, instead of the Lords of the Treasury, in whose hands
it had hitherto been, the sharpest debate, and that which most clearly revealed
the difficulties of the case, took place in both Houses, and led to a severe re-
tort from the government. On Lord John Russell moving for the grant, Lord
Stanley moved an amendment proposing an address to the Sovereign to re- Hansard, xiviii.
scind the Order in.Council for the appointment of the Board of Privy Council. 229-
A debate which was renewed at intervals for some weeks brought out the
views of a variety of members on the whole Education question; and the
reader sees, with a sort of amazement, that a member here and there set him-
self to prove that in France there was least crime where ignorance was most
dense, and desired the House to infer that the innocence of the masses was
in proportion to their inability to read and write. In the Commons, the
Ministers obtained their grant by a majority of only two: and in the Lords,
an Address to the Sovereign, like that proposed by Lord Stanley, moved by
the Archbishop of Canterbury, was carried by a majority of 111. The Lords Hansard, xiviu.
carried up the Address, sincerely believing, no doubt, that they were rescuing
their young Queen and the State from the guilt and danger of countenancing
dissent by permitting any portion of the parliamentary grants to reach the
schools of the British and Foreign Society through the hands of members of
the Privy Council. But they received their rebuke from the clear voice of
their young Queen, who saw, under the guidance of her Ministers, the full
enormity of the claim of the Church to engross the education of the nation.
254 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. There was nothing in the present condition of the people — about Canterbury,
" — -^— — ' for instance, as people were saying — or of the National schools, to induce a
belief that the Church was fulfilling well the function which it claimed : but
if it had — if the education in those schools had been as good as it then was
proved to be bad, and if the Church had been really educating all who did not
expressly belong to dissenting bodies, the claim of the Church — that the
government should not countenance and aid the efforts of Dissenters, by send-
ing help through the hands of the Privy Council Committee, was too mon-
Annuai Rpgister, strous not to be rebuked as it was by the royal reply. The Queen was sensible
of their Lordships' zeal for religion and the Church ; was always happy to
have their advice ; yet thought it a matter of regret that they should have
thought it necessary to offer it now: — was deeply aware of her duties to the
Church, in sanctioning the very measure in question— reminded their Lord-
ships that by annual Reports they would always know what was done by the
Committee, and have opportunity for objection or control ; and finally, hoped
that it would appear that the grants had been expended with strict fidelity to
the purposes of Parliament, to the rights of conscience, and the security of
the Established Church.
The clergy, with few exceptions, henceforth refused to permit participation
in these grants; and the quarrel between the Church and the government, in
regard to the principles of administration of the grants for education, has been
revived, from time to time, and is not settled at this day. — One good result
of the proceedings of the session of 1839 was that a strong effort was made to
extend, and also to improve, the National Schools. The Church party wished
to test and bring out the strength of its own body ; and also to compensate the
clergy who had conscientiously refused participation in the government grants.
The chief solace to the observer of these melancholy contentions of bigotry with
the needs of the time was in seeing how the Church became roused to some
sense of her duty towards the ignorant and the poor, and how the great subject
of popular education was at last making its way to the front on the platform of
public interests. The struggle with which each step was attended showed, in
a stronger light than any one had anticipated, the utter blindness of a large
number of educated Protestants, in or outside of the British" parliament, to the
rights of the universal human mind and conscience — of the mind to know-
ledge, and of the conscience to equal liberty : but the more this blindness was
exhibited, the less mischief there was in it, and the more likely were the friends
of popular enlightenment to understand and agree how to proceed.
Among these friends of popular enlightenment must certainly be considered
the Melbourne administration and that which succeeded it. The Whig Minis-
ters made the beginning which has been detailed : and their successors carried
out their plan with a zeal and fidelity for which they merited and obtained
high honour. — By this scheme, the Church was offered the opportunity which
she seemed to need for regaining some of the honour she had lost, and retriev-
ing some of the disgrace under which she lay at this particular period : but
< she could not accept the opportunity ; and, while torn more fiercely every year
by the conflicts of parties within her own pale — her very bishops being by this
time arrayed against each other as favourers or repressers of " Tractarianism" —
she was dissolving the traditional associations of respect and awe in the minds
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 255
of the nation at large by her practical opposition to popular enlightenment. 1835.
Such reforms, however, as she permitted in the working of her own affairs ^— ~~- -*
were already operating for good ; and it is the recorded opinion of some of her
highest dignitaries that the preservation of the very existence of the Church of
England is owing to the Melbourne administration. Those who may not agree
in such an opinion yet, may and do now see that that administration was really
most friendly to the Church precisely in insisting on those measures which the
Church most vehemently opposed. If, for one instant, they had yielded to
the control of the Church the parliamentary grant for education, they would
have done as much for her speedy destruction, as they could have done for her
stability and prosperity if they had been able to carry their Appropriation
principle.
256 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER V.
1835. rpO the contemplative philosopher, nothing is more striking, throughout the
X whole range of human life, than the universal tendency of men to over-
rate the relative importance of the business under their hand. It would be
unreasonable to quarrel with this tendency — evidence though it be of human fal-
libility and blindness : — it would be unreasonable to quarrel with it, while
human faculties are what they are — able to work but slowly, and within a very
limited range : because the stimulus of hope and confidence is necessary to
impel men to do all that they can ; whereas, they would sink down in the in-
action of discouragement if they could see at the moment the actual proportion
that their deeds bear to their needs. Children would never learn to read first,
and then would never learn the grammar of a new language, if they were aware
beforehand what a language is, and what a work it is to master its structure
and its signs : it is by seeing only the page before them, by not looking beyond
the task of the hour, that they accomplish the business at last : and it is not
till they have become men that they apprehend the philosophy of their achieve-
ment, and learn to be grateful that they did not recognise it sooner. Thus it
is in the great sphere of politics, where the wisest men are but children, work-
ing their way to achievement with more or less of the confidence of simplicity ;
a simplicity which the ordinary life of man is too short to convert into a power
of philosophical retrospect. In the longer life of a nation, this power of philo-
sophical retrospect belongs to a future generation ; and it is very interesting to
the thoughtful of each generation to contemplate the confident satisfaction of
their forefathers in the belief that they had set things straight as they went,
and compassed the whole of the business which was under their hand. How
complete did the Reformation appear to those who wrought it ! How confi-
dent were they that Romanism was subordinated to Protestantism for ever !
whereas, our own time has taught us that the work was not only incomplete,
but certainly insecure, and possibly transient. How complete did the Revo-
lution of 1688 appear to those who wrought and witnessed it ! How confi-
dent were they that good principles of government were firmly established by
it ! Yet we see how not only those principles might be evaded, but how the
most important part of the work, the government of the towns, was left in a
state of corruption as dire as all the Stuarts had made it. How complete did
the work of Catholic Emancipation appear to those who emancipated the
Catholics ; and how confidently did they, and their supporters of the liberal
party, conclude that the tranquillization of Ireland was achieved ! Yet the mere
use of the terms " tranquillization of Ireland " now appears a mockery. To a
future generation, the most astonishing part of the whole business will be that
the men of 1829 could be such children as thus to overrate the importance of a
single act — great as the act might be. — Again, how confident were the Whigs
CHA.P. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 257
of 1832 of the finality of the Reform measure ; and those who were less childish 1835.
than this were themselves as childish in supposing that the nation was settled
and satisfied for a time ; safe at least from revolution ; and that further reforms
might proceed with regularity, in the midst of security. In a spirit of security,
the intelligence of the kingdom prosecuted its work — the government achiev-
ing political and social reforms — the Church carrying on ecclesiastical reforms ;
and the liberal parties, in and out of parliament, proposing and maturing
schemes for the orderly and regular removal of abuses and obstructions, as if
the deposits of the corruptions and miseries of centuries were not still present
in their midst, working towards explosions which might shatter our polity to
fragments in a day. Already we begin to see — what will be seen much more
clearly a hundred years hence — that those who lived in the years succeeding 1832
were living in times perhaps as perilous as the history of England has to show —
amidst a romance of peril as striking, when fully understood, as any of the times
of the Plantagenets and the Stuarts. If this statement appears extravagant, it
must be because the greater number of quiet Englishmen have not yet contem-
plated the history of their own time as they would that of another. This is
certainly the case with the greater number of us ; while some few regard the
story of this chapter with a sort of incredulity — a dread of giving way to ro-
mance— which disturbs their judgment, and obstructs their perception of the
wonder and interest of the too unquestionable tale. It was not that the facts
were any secret. They were published in newspapers, in reviews, and in the
reports of parliamentary committees and debates. It was that few, in the midst
of the pressing business of the time, saw the full significance, or felt the full
enormity, of the case ; and the few who did used a reserve and prudence so
uncommon in them as to indicate the depth and force of their own im-
pressions.
It was a time of revolutionary conspiracies ; conspiracies to which those of
the Castlereagh and Sidmouth times were trifles — conspiracies at both extremes
of society — one under the steps of the throne — the other under the shadow of
the workhouse. Of them we shall speak presently : but we must first show
the reflex agitation of both as apparent in a remarkable movement in an inter-
mediate portion of society.
It is unnecessary to present again the conduct of the majority of the Peers
during the Reform struggle. It is, and ever will be, fresh in men's minds ;
the disgrace of the bishops above all ; and next, the insolence and rancour of
the least enlightened of the lay peers. From year to year they protracted the
provocation they gave to the people at large, by obstructing and damaging
measures of improvement which they could not wholly get rid of. They did
this with a rashness which appeared unaccountable till revelations were made
that showed how the most violent of the obstructive Peers had reckoned on
political changes which should give them justification for the past, and their
own way for the future. We have seen how they came to yield the point of
Parliamentary Reform : but it was not known at the time how confidently they
expected soon to repeal the Reform Bill. We have seen how they repeatedly
extinguished the Irish Church bills sent up by large majorities of the Com-
mons ; — how fifteen bishops assembled at Lambeth to concert measures for
intimidating the Ministry ; — and how the Primate began his agitation in the
VOL. II. 2 L
258 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835. Upper House before the measure was introduced there. We have seen how
v— — -'~— -" materially they injured the Municipal Reform Bill, in its principles as well as
its details ; and how they went up in a crowd to address the Sovereign in oppo-
sition to a liberal, though extremely small, educational measure, and received
their due rebuke. If it were necessary to follow their action, step by step,
through the legislation of the time, we should see that these were but a small
part of the obstructions opposed by the majority of the Lords to necessary or
desirable reforms.
It was not to be expected that the nation would bear this. The question,
"What must be done with the Lords?" so familiar in 1830—1832, was not
dropped ; and a succession of replies to this question was proffered in the other
PEERAGE REFORM. jjouse. Various members there proposed a reform of the House of Lords as a
fitting sequel to the reform of their own ; and the seriousness with which the
question was discussed during the years 1835 — 1837 is rather startling to the
reader of the present day, till he remembers the then recent abolition of the
hereditary peerage in France, the triumphant reform of our own Lower House,
and the insolent attitude of defiance assumed at the time by the Kenyons, Ro-
dens, Wynfords, and Newcastles, who were secretly expecting a speedy
restoration of their domination in the State. — The most favourable circum-
stance, perhaps, for them was, that Mr. O'Connell early pledged himself to
procure a reform of the House of Lords. On Irish questions, Mr. O'Connell
was supremely to be feared by his opponents, but not on questions which must
be agitated elsewhere than in Ireland. — At the close of the session of 1835, he
o'CoNNELL's went on what he called " a mission" to the North of England and Scotland, to
TOUR.
rouse the people to require an elective peerage — the election of a peer, for a
term of years, by every 200,000 electors ; which would yield a House of 130
peers for the 170 then sitting. He was received and feasted, with accla-
mations, by large numbers of people at Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh,
and Glasgow. Yet no visible effect was produced- — at least, none to the injury
of the cause of the Peers ; for O'ConnelPs oratory, so powerful in Ireland,
seemed to astonish or amuse, rather than persuade, his English and Scotch
audiences. The following seems a fair specimen of his methods of incitement :
and no Englishman or Scotchman will wonder that it did not assist the sub-
version of so time-hallowed an institution as the British House of Peers. On
^'1,n"alJingister' meeting the Edinburgh Trades, he said, " We achieved but one good measure
1835, p. 369.
this last session ; but that was not our fault ; for the 170 tyrants of the country
prevented us from achieving more. Ancient Athens was degraded for submit-
ting to thirty tyrants : modern Athens will never allow 170 tyrants to rule over
spectator, i?35, her It was stated in one of the Clubs that at one time a dog had
bitten the bishop ; whereupon a noble lord, who was present, said, * I will lay
any wager that the bishop began the quarrel.' Now really the House of Lords
began the quarrel with me. They may treat me as a mad dog if they please :
I won't fight them : but I will treat them as the Quaker treated the dog which
had attacked him. e Heaven forbid,' said he, ' that I should do thee the
slightest injury. I am a man of peace ; and I will not hurt thee :' but when
the dog went away, he cried out, ' Mad dog ! Mad dog !' and all people set
upon him. Now, that is my remedy with the House of Lords. I am more
honest than the Quaker was ; for the dog that attacked me is really mad. Bills
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 259
were rejected in the House of Lords simply because Daniel O'Connell supported 1835.
them ; and I do say that if I had any twelve men on a jury on a question of ^— — -~— ^
lunacy, I would put it to such jury to say if such men were not confirmed mad-
men. So you perceive the dog is really mad — and accordingly I have started
on this mission to rouse the public mind to the necessity of reforming the
House of Lords ; and I have had 50,000 cheering me at Manchester ; and
100,000 cheering me in Newcastle ; and I heard one simultaneous cry, ' Down
with the mad dogs, and up with common sense.' The same cry has resounded
through Auld Reekie. The Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat re-echoed with the
sound ; and all Scotland has expressed the same determination to use every
legitimate effort to remove the House of Lords. Though the Commons are
with us, yet the House of Lords are against us ; and they have determined that
they will not concede a portion of freedom which they can possibly keep back.
Sir Robert Peel, the greatest humbug that ever lived, and as full of political
and religious cant as any man that ever canted in this canting world — feeling
himself quite safe on his own dunghill, says that we want but one Chamber —
one House of Radical Reformers. He knew that in saying this he was saying
what was not true. We know too well the advantage of double deliberation
not to support two Houses ; but they must be subject to popular control ; they
must be the servants, not the masters, of the people." — It was true that Auld
Reekie caught up the sound, and that the Calton Hill and Arthur's Seat re-
echoed with the cry. O'Connell had a magnificent reception by the Edinburgh
Trades and the United Irishmen : and the Calton Hill was covered with a dense
mass of the well-dressed inhabitants of the city. " The reception of O'Connell
by the immense assembly," we are told, " combined solemnity with en-
thusiasm." But the enthusiasm melted away, and the cry died out, without
producing any effect on the constitution of the Lords' House. O'Connell could
not lead a political reform any where but in Ireland, even where, as now, he
began with every advantage.
Much more effectual was the action within the walls of the House of Com- ATTACKS ON THE
mons, on the ground of the petitions sent up during the mutilation of the
Municipal Bill by the Peers. On the 2nd of September, Mr. Roebuck de-
clared his intention of moving for leave to bring forward, in the next session,
a Bill for the removal of the veto possessed by the House of Lords, substituting Hansard, xxx.
for this veto a suspensive power which should cause the reconsideration of any
measure which the Peers should object to, but which suspensive power should
not intercept the Royal assent to any Bill after its second passage through the
Commons. Mr. Hume gave notice the same night, that he should move,
early in the next session, for a Select Committee to inquire into the constitu-
tion and condition of the House of Peers — who the Peers were, how qualified,
and how they discharged their duties. Some amusement was caused by Mr.
Hume's courageous repudiation of all poetical feeling, and all antiquarian asso-
ciations, when he complained of " the farce" of the forms of conference between
the Lords and Commons, when the Peers were seated and covered, and the
Commons standing and bare-headed — " to exchange two bits of paper;" as
Mr. Hume said. He saw nothing of the old days which his words called up
before the mind's eye of those who heard him — the days when the Peers were
like Princes, each with a little army at his call ; and when the unwarlike
260 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V:
1835. burgess representatives really did half worship or tremble before the valorous
•-— — v—^-' nobles of the land. It might be time, as Mr. Hume thought, to give up forms
which had ceased to contain any truth; but Mr. Hume's way of setting about
it amused some people, and shocked others, with the sense that he did not
know what he was about. But, before that day twelvemonths, Mr. Hume
stood higher than any other man in the House or in the kingdom, in connex-
ion with the people's quarrel with the House of Lords. By him, the Lords
had, by that time, been humbled, awed, brought to their senses — and this, by
no vulgar clamour or extreme devices, but by industry and sagacity and
courage applied in ascertaining and revealing facts which placed the most
insolent of the Peers at the mercy of the Crown and the Commons. — Of this
matter, however, the Members were not generally aware on this 2nd of Sep-
tember, 1835; and a third notice of motion was added to those of Mr. Roe-
buck and Mr. Hume. Mr. Cuthbert Rippon gave notice that, next session, he
should ask leave to bring in a Bill to relieve the Archbishops and Bishops from
their attendance in the House of Lords.
After the prorogation, the various political parties and leaders were watched
with anxiety by the enlightened liberals of the country, who saw that some-
thing must be done to remove the obstructive quality of the Peers, if the legis-
lation of the country was to proceed at all, in pursuance of the purposes of
the Reform Bill. The Ministers were watched. Some of them used strong
language on public occasions respecting the recent conduct of the obstructive
Peers: and on Mr. O'Connell's return to Ireland, after his "mission" was
concluded, he was invited to dine with the Lord-Lieutenant ; an incident which
was regarded by the Tory Peers as a declaration of war on the part of the
Viceroy. On the other hand, Lord John Russell made a public and emphatic
avowal that he was opposed to all further organic change ; and the govern-
ment newspapers declared, now without comment, and now with expressions
of regret, that no views of any important modification of the structure of the
Globe, Oct. 7th, Upper House were at present held by the administration. Few of any party
doubted that Lord John Russell would learn to see the necessity of reform, by
some means or other. There was a strong party in Parliament, and a large
body of the nation occupied in thinking of what should be done : and, on the
whole, the conclusion, in the autumn of 1835, was that the subject was ripe
for discussion; but that it must take more than one session to bring the matter
to a practical issue. There were few who imagined how prodigiously the
inflation of the insolent section of the Peers would have subsided, without
danger of organic change, before the close of the next session.
On the 26th of April, 1836, Mr. Rippon made his promised motion to
release the Spiritual Peers from their attendance in Parliament. It was
opposed by Lord John Russell on the plea that it would lead to no practical
Hansard, xxxiii. result. On a division, 53 Members voted with Mr. Rippon, and 180 against
him. — In May, Mr. O'Connell gave notice of his intention to introduce his
proposal to make the Upper House elective. Some laughed — laughed in loud
shouts ; and others were very grave, thinking the matter too serious, in the
existing state of affairs, for laughter. One member, Mr. G. Price, wished to
move that the notice should be expunged from the notice-book: but here,
Lord John Russell interposed in defence of the right of the Commons to
CHAP. V.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 261
entertain any proposition for what any member might consider a reform in any 1835.
branch of the legislature, even if it should extend to regulating the succession ^— -v— ^--
of the throne: in which he was clearly supported by historical precedent.
Mr. Price withdrew his motion. The question, however, was not brought on,
the events of the close of the session rendering any further humiliation of the
obstructive Peers unnecessary. Sir W. Molesworth, who knew more of the
singular history than almost any one, quietly dropped the motion for peerage
reform of which he had given notice for 1837. But the Bishops were not yet
to be left in peace. — Mr. Charles Lushington moved, on the 16th of February,
for the exclusion of the Spiritual Peers from the Upper House, and was ably Hansard, xxxvi.
supported by Mr. Charles Buller, whose opinion was that the Bishops had
abundant employment elsewhere ; that they were seldom prepared to enlighten
legislation on subjects which lay peculiarly within their province; and that
they were invariably found voting with the Minister who gave them their
sees. Lord John Russell opposed the motion with the question — where, if
Parliament once began to modify the constitution of the country, would they
stop? — How far would they go? — a question which Mr. Buller declared to be
easily answered. They would go only as far as the door of the House of
Lords, to show the Bishops out, and then leave them to go where they pleased. ^5Dsard> xxxvi"
He, who had a great respect for the Bishops, thought them most honourably
seated in their own dioceses, where they had as much business to do as would
quite engross them. On this occasion, 92 members voted with the reforming
mover, and 197 against him. — One more attack was made on the functions
of the Peers in May of the same session, when Mr. Buncombe proposed the
abolition of the Lords' privilege of voting by proxy. The resolution was thus
worded : — " That the practice of any deliberative assembly deciding by proxy Hansard, xxxviu.
upon the rejection or adoption of legislative enactments, is so incompatible
with every principle of justice and reason, that its continuance is daily
becoming a source of serious and well-founded complaint among all classes of
his Majesty's subjects." It was shown that when the practice of voting by
proxy began, in the time of Edward I., the proxies were men of lower rank,
sent as messengers by the nobles who could not attend in person ; and that it
was not till the reign of Henry VIII. that the abuse crept in of allowing one
Peer to represent others. When, in the time of Charles I., the Duke of
Buckingham held fourteen proxies, the evil was so evident as to cause an
order to be passed that no peer should henceforth hold more than two proxies.
In modern days, when legislation has become immediately interesting and im-
portant to the great mass of the people, the practice of proxy voting has
become more indefensible than ever; and yet, the safeguard was withdrawn of
the King's license being a condition of a Peer's absence. Lord Stanley and
Sir R. Peel met the argument by likening proxy-voting to the custom of
pairing in the Commons. The analogy was shown not to be a true one : and
if it had been, the obvious reply would have been, " then abolish the custom
of pairing, except on individual occasions." The majority of 48 against the
motion was formed by the official Whigs and their dependents, so that the
state of the question appeared by no means desperate. But again, events were
occurring which deferred the controversy to a future time.
Such was the course of the mildest of the three " revolutionary" move-
262 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. raents of the period ; — that in which the sober and educated classes of the com-
munity reflected the far more serious agitation which was going forward on
either hand.
It was at this period that men who went among the working classes of the
great towns first began to speak of Chartism, Chartists, and the Charter.
Some in higher ranks now and then asked what the words meant ; but too
many in every station — especially, too many in the ranks of government — did
not look closely into it, but dismissed the matter as a thing low and disagree-
able, and sure to come to nothing, from its extreme foolishness. It is the year
1838 before we find the word " Chartism" in the Annual Register; yet, long
before that, Chartism had become the chief object in life to a not inconsiderable
portion of the English nation. And when it came to be a word in the index of
the Annual Register, government and their friends regarded it as a " topic of
the day." When the great National Petition, bound with iron hoops, was
carried, like a coffin, by four men from its waggon into the House of Commons,
Ministers and their friends looked upon the show as upon an incident of that
vulgar excitement which poor Radicals like or need, as the tippler likes or
needs his dram. Reckoning on the fickleness of the multitude, they pro-
nounced that Chartism would soon be extinct ; and then that it was extinct.
Their Attorney-General, Sir John Campbell, in a sort of declaratory minis-
terial speech at a public breakfast at Edinburgh, declared Chartism to be
" extinct," shortly before the Monmouth rebellion. The chief law officer of
the government gloried in the supremacy of loyalty, law, and order, immedi-
ately before the breaking out of a long -planned rebellion, of which every
possible warning had been given, in the form of preceding riots ! The news-
papers agreed with the government ; and government took its information from
the newspapers ; and thus, from year to year, was Chartism declared to be ex-
tinct, while we, in the present day, have the amplest evidence that it is as much
alive as ever. And, as it is living so long after the announcement that it was
dead, so was it living long before it was declared to be born. When govern-
ment and London were at last obliged to take heed to it, they found that their
tares were ready for harvest, and that long ago the enemy had been sowing
them while they slept. While they slept, literally as well as metaphorically;
for the gatherings and speechifyings had been by torchlight on the northern
moors and the Welsh hill-sides. There were stirrings certainly as early as the
date before us — the years 1835-36.
And what were these stirrings ? What was it all about ? The difficulty of
understanding and telling the story is from its comprehending so vast a variety
of things and persons. Those who have not looked into Chartism think that
it means one thing — a revolution. Some who talk as if they assumed to under-
stand it, explain that Chartism is of two kinds — Physical Force Chartism, and
Moral Force Chartism — as if this were not merely an intimation of two ways
of pursuing an object yet undescribed ! Those who look deeper — who go out
upon the moors by torchlight, who talk with a suffering brother under the
hedge, or beside the loom, who listen to the groups outside the Union work-
house, or in the public-house among the Durham coal-pits, will long feel
bewildered as to what Chartism is, and will conclude at last that it is another
name for popular discontent — a comprehensive general term under which are
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 263
included all protests against social suffering. And thus it was at the date 1835.
before us, whether or not it be so now. x— • — >^—- -^
There were men among the working classes, sound-headed and sound- ^*°ICAL CHABT-
hearted, wanting nothing but a wider social knowledge and experience to make
them fit and safe guides of their order — (some few of them not deficient even
in these) — who saw that the Reform Bill was, if not a failure in itself, a
failure in regard to the popular expectation from it. If it was all that its
framers meant it to be, they must give a supplement. A vast proportion of
the people — the very part of the nation whose representation was most im-
portant to the welfare of the State — were not represented at all. As a sage ex-
pressed the matter for them not long afterwards, " A Reformed Parliament, one chyle's • chart-
would think, should inquire into popular discontents before they get the length of
pikes and torches ! For what end at all are men, honourable members and
reform members, sent to St. Stephen's, with clamour and effort ; kept talking,
struggling, motioning and counter-motioning ? The condition of the great body
of people in a country is the condition of the country itself : this you would
say is a truism in all times ; a truism rather pressing to get recognised as a
truth now, and be acted upon, in these times. Yet read Hansard's Debates,
or the morning papers, if you have nothing to do ! The old grand question,
whether A is to be in office or B, with the innumerable subsidiary questions
growing out of that, courting paragraphs and suffrages for a blessed solution
of that : Canada question, Irish Appropriation question, West India question,
Queen's Bedchamber question; Game Laws, Usury Laws; African Blacks,
Hill Coolies, Smithfield cattle, and Dog-carts — all manner of questions and
subjects, except simply this, the Alpha and Omega of all ! Surely honourable
members ought to speak of the Condition of England question too — Radical
members, above all ; friends of the people ; chosen with effort, by the people,
to interpret and articulate the dumb deep want of the people ! To a remote
observer they seem oblivious of their duty. Are they not there, by trade,
mission, and express appointment of themselves and others, to speak for the
good of the British nation ? Whatsoever great British interest can the least
speak for itself, for that beyond all they are called to speak. They are either
speakers for that great dumb toiling class which cannot speak, or they are
nothing that one can well specify. — Alas, the remote observer knows not the
nature of parliaments : how parliaments, extant there for the British nation's
sake, find that they are extant withal for their own sake ; how parliaments
travel so naturally in their deep-rutted routine, common-place worn into ruts
axle-deep, from which only strength, insight, and courageous generous exertion
can lift any parliament or vehicle ; how in parliament, reformed or unreformed,
there may chance to be a strong man, an original, clear-sighted, great-hearted,
patient and valiant man, or to be none such." The men we have spoken of —
soon confounded in the group of Chartist leaders — felt and knew such things
as Carlyle has here set down for them : felt that parliament had not done what
was needed — that the people's story had not been told there — that the ' strong
man ' had not yet appeared there ; and their conclusion was, that they might
try and get the duty of parliament better done. They might possibly expect
too much from the means they proposed ; — extension of the suffrage, shorten-
ing of parliaments, protected voting, and establishing a control over repre-
264 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK T.
1835. sentatives, and opening a wider field of choice of such, by paying the expenses
^— -~~~^-- of their function ; — they might possibly expect too much from these aims ; but
it is a libel upon the best class of Chartist leaders to say that they expected
from these aims all that they wanted. These men were the heartiest and
truest advocates in the country of universal education. They saw more clearly
than any body else, and lamented more deeply, the miseries arising from popu-
lar ignorance. They mourned over the murders and vitriol-throwing of the
operatives who were enslaved by mercenary delegates : — they mourned over the
fate of the followers of " Messiah Thorn :" —they mourned over the nightly
drillings on the heath, with pike and bludgeon : — they mourned over the
nature of the opposition to the New Poor Law, when crowds of thousands of
men who could never be called together again to be disabused, were assured
by orators whom they took for educated men, that under the new Poor Law
every poor man's fourth child was strangled ; and that none but the rich were
henceforth to have more than three children. They did more than mourn : —
they spent their hard earnings, their spare hours, their sleeping hours, their
health, their repose, to promote the education which the State did not give.
By wonderful efforts, they established schools, institutes, lecture and reading
rooms, and circulated knowledge among their class in every way they could
think of. Such were some of the body soon to be called Chartists — as soon
as their political ideas had resolved themselves into the form of a Charter
which the people might demand. These men were all Radical Reformers.
They saw little to choose between the Tories and the Whigs. As we again
ism/ylpe. 93°h! " find their ideas expressed for them, " Why all this struggle for the name of a
Reform Ministry ? Let the Tories be Ministry, if they will ; let at least some
living reality be Ministry ! A rearing horse that will only run backward, he
is not the horse one would choose to travel on : yet of all conceivable horses
the worst is the dead horse. Mounted on a rearing horse, you may back him,
spur him, check him, make a little way even backwards : but seated astride of
your dead horse, what chance is there for you in the chapter of possibilities ?"
These men wanted a strong, steady-going progression ; and they would have
therefore neither the pomp and prancings of Toryism, nor the incapacity of
Whiggism. They were Radical Reformers.
TORY CHARTISTS. Another set were Tories — Tory agitators who went about to raise the people
against the New Poor Law, and divert them from the aim of repealing the
Corn Laws. These men, guilty or stupid, according as they were or were not
really the Reverends and Esquires that the mob believed them to be, were the
orators on the moors by torchlight. These were the men who taught in those
thronged meetings that the Poor Law was a system of wholesale murder; and
that no one could blame a poor man who carried a knife in his bosom for the
workhouse official who should attempt to part him from his wife. These
were the men who represented the whole class of manufacturers as devils who
caused children to be tortured in factories for their own amusement ; and too
often the declamation ended with a hint that the hearers evidently knew how
to get torches, and that factories would burn. These were the men who
warned their hearers against a repeal of the Corn Laws, because these laws
were the last restraint on the power of the mill-owners. These rabid and
ranting Tories were another class of Chartists.
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 265
There were thousands who knew little about themselves except that they 1835.
were very hungry and miserable. A landed proprietor now and then, here ^^^-
and there, said in the House pretty things about the sun of Christ's natal day £HUAN™G
gilding the humble thatch of the labourer at the same moment with the spire
of the church and the windows of the mansion — intending to convey that the
joyousness of Christmas was shared by all ranks; while, the very next Christ-
ma§, in the very county, the very parish of these orators, the labourers were
shivering without fire — cowering under a corner of the decaying thatch which
let in snow and rain upon their straw litters — and hungering over the scantiest
morsels of dry bread — one neighbour in four or eight, perhaps, having a slice
of bacon, and a fire whereon to cook it. Such parishes as these furnished a
contingent to the Chartist force — haggard wretches, ready to be called by any
political name which might serve as a ticket to better cheer in life than they
had found.
Largest of all was the number of those who ought not to have felt them- ^sc™lls CHART-
selves under any immediate pressure of wrong at all. There were many
thousands of factory operatives, of Welsh, Durham and Cumberland colliers,
and others, who were far from poor, if only they had been wise enough to see
their condition as it was. But they were not wise enough ; and that they
were not was their social wrong. Of these, great numbers had a larger annual
income than very many clergymen, half-pay officers, educators, and fund-
holders, who are called gentlemen : but they did not know how to regard and
manage their own case : — they reckoned their income by the week instead of
by the year, and spent it within the week : — had nothing to reply when asked,
in a time of prosperity, why they who worked so hard had not mansions and
parks like people who did nothing ; and, in a pinching time, when hungry and
idle at once, with hungry children crying in their cold homes, were too ready
to believe, as desired, that every other man's fire and food and cheerfulness
were so much out of their pockets. By no act of the State could these men
have been blessed with higher wages : but if the State would have educated
them, they might have found themselves abundantly blessed in their present
gains : — they might have sat, in their school days, on the same bench with the
curate, and the seaman, and the schoolmaster, and the tradesman, whom they
were now envying and hating ; and might now have been content, like them,
with the position which was "neither poverty nor riches." But the State
had left them ignorant ; and here they were, drilling on a hill side, and plot-
ting to burn, slay, and overthrow. They had an indistinct but fixed idea that
there was unbounded wealth every where, for every body, if only there were
no tyrants to intercept it; and there can be no wonder in any sympathizing
mind and heart, that a man in a desolate home, without occupation, and suffer-
ing under that peculiar state of brain caused by insufficiency of food, becomes
a torch-bearing Chartist, or anything else, however clear it may be that the
money he had earned might, if wisely managed, have made him a ten-pound
householder, exercising the suffrage, and a capitalist, giving education to his
children.
It was but lately that the King's Speech had intimated the prosperity of Hansard,xxvi. 65.
commerce and manufactures, while agriculture was grievously depressed. But
already, there was some sense abroad of evil to come. Trade slackened, and
VOL. II. 2 M
266 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V,
1835. became irregular, and the most sagacious men of business began to apprehend
that a new term of commercial distress was setting in. They were right ; only,
their apprehensions did not compass any thing like the truth. It is well that
they did not; for a mere glimpse of the horrors of the seven years to come
would have been too much for the courage of any but the boldest of the
enterprising classes of British merchants and manufacturers. Though they
saw little, they soon began to feel uneasy, with an uneasiness far transcending
any reason that they could give for it. As yet, wages were scarcely lowered,
though profits were sensibly sinking: but the employed assumed a new air to
their employers, in many a town and factory district in England — a sauciness
that seemed to say they felt themselves injured, and were not going to put up
with it long. This was the temper which was fast growing into the Chartism
of 1839.
But that seven years' distress brought out an opposite class of facts of the
most cheering nature, as we shall see under their date. We shall see, here-
after, something of the marvellous and sublime patience of the working
classes under a trial which might well be thought too sore for human endur-
ance. This patience was in precise proportion, and in the clearest connexion,
with the knowledge by this time gained by the working class most concerned
— that there is no such thing as an inexhaustible fund of wealth, and that no
tyrants were standing between them and comfort. The patient class knew
that they had had their share — as shares are at present naturally apportioned:
— they could and did live for a long series of months on the savings they had
made; and when at last they were left bare, they knew that the richest capi-
talists were sinking too. Of this class many hundreds were Chartists; but
they did not carry pikes and torches, to avenge discontents of their own.
The People's Charter was then in existence ; and their aim was to carry that.
It would give them, as they believed, a parliament which would understand
their case, and cure many evils under which they were suffering. And some
had visions of an association of small capitalists, who might defy the fickle-
ness of fortune: and some dreamed of buying a field and being safe and in
harbour there, through some wonderful skill and simple arrangements of
Chartist leaders. But these were not the revolutionary Chartists who were
at work, burrowing in the foundations of society at the date before us. The
better class came in later — after the promulgation of the Charter — as, indeed,
did many of the Avorst: but, in 1835 and 1836, the boring was begun, and the
train was laying, which produced, for one result among many, the explosion
at Monmouth in 1839.
The revolutionary movement referred to as occurring at the other end of
society was one which it would be scarcely possible to credit now, but for the
body of documentary evidence which leaves no shadow of doubt on any of the
principal features of the conspiracy. The whole affair appears so unsuited to
our own time, and the condition of our monarchy — so like a plunge back into
a former century — that all the superiority of documentary evidence of which
we have the advantage is needed to make the story credible to quiet people
who do not dream of treason-plots and civil Avar in England in our day.
A month before Sir R. Peel's resignation in the spring of 1835, the Liberal
party throughout the country were surprised by the appearance of a sudden
M W T
Undrrfhc Sapprintendanci; of the .Society for the Diffhsiou of Usefta Knowledge.
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 267
fit of captiousness and pertinacity in some of their representatives, in teazing 1835.
the Ministers about the reception of addresses from Orange Societies to the ' — ~v~— ^
King. From the temper of the time in the House, and especially among the ssc— sW.x
Opposition, any captiousness must have been great indeed which could have
struck every body as remarkable. Member after member rose to cross-examine
the Ministers (who themselves could have hardly understood the proceeding),
as to whether the addresses purported to be from Orange Societies; whether
the King could or ought to receive addresses from associations of declared
illegality ; whether the replies given had really, as the newspapers said, been
avowedly gracious; whether the graciousness had been connected with a
recognition of the parties as Orangemen; and finally, and very seriously,
whether Mr. Goulburn, as Minister of the Crown, considered an Orange
Lodge to be legal or illegal, and whether he was prepared to justify the pre-
sentation of an address from such a Society to the sovereign. — The Ministers
were probably surprised and perplexed, beginning to see that this was a matter
of high importance, but hardly understanding why or how : for no one of them
rose for a considerable time. After the dead silence in which the question had
been listened to, and the rising of the Minister looked for, vociferous cheers
from the Opposition filled the House when he did not rise. At length Mr. spectator, isas,
Goulburn made his answer. The reply to the addresses was intended as an
acknowledgment of their receipt, and not as any recognition of the legality of
the party name by which the signers might designate themselves. Cheering
no less loud followed the reply. Perhaps no cheers given in that House —
not even those which signalized the passage of the Reform Bill — ever carried
such anxiety and pain to the hearts of certain of the Tory Peers ; and especially
of the highest Prince of the Blood, the eldest of the King's brothers. He
and some others of the Peers could very well understand what all this might
mean, while it was a singular mystery to the country at large.
The country at large knew little about Orange Societies, except that the
Orangemen in Ireland were proud of their loyalty, and made conspicuous pro-
cessions oil great Protestant occasions, and were ever and anon coming to
blows with the Catholics. Orangeism belonged exclusively to Ireland, in the
general mind. People generally would have stared to hear that Orangeism
was in England, Scotland, and the Colonies, and that it constituted an army
of itself, in the midst of the military forces of the empire. — Orangeism was
exclusively Irish at first — in 1795, when it was first heard of. Before that
time, the Protestants who patrolled the country, to prevent the seizure of arms H«»'S inland, ».
by the Catholics in the night, in preparation for their insurrection, bore the
name of "Peep-o'-day Boys." The Catholics, who organized themselves
against these patrolling bands, called themselves "Defenders," and soon ex-
tended the term to include the defence of " The United Nations of France and
Ireland." As soon as the aim of an Union with France was avowed, and a
descent of the French upon the coasts of Ireland was expected, the Protestants
began to improve and extend their organization, in the hope of preserving
the Union with England. They would have taken the title of "Defenders,"
but that their adversaries already bore it. They reverted to the period of the
bringing in of a Protestant sovereign over the head of the Catholic James II.,
and called themselves Orangemen. Such, at least, is the traditionary account
268 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. in the district where Orangeism sprang up. The Diamond — a little hamlet,
— -— ^-^ — about five miles from Armagh, where a conflict took place in 1795, which is
called the Battle of the Diamond, is assigned as the birth-place of Orangeism.
A few yeomen and farmers joined for mutual defence and the assertion of
British rights, after the Battle of the Diamond ; and this was the first Orange
Lodge. The gentry saw what this might grow to, and encouraged the forma-
tion of Lodges, and the promulgation of rules. As Presbyterians abounded
in that part of the country, they formed the main element of the societies ;
and it is said that the religious observances of the Orange Lodges which after-
wards degenerated into a subject of scandal when Dissenters were no longer
admitted, were introduced originally by them. The Orangemen of Ireland
were the deadly foes of the " United Irishmen," and the most effective check
upon them, and they have even claimed the credit of having preserved Ireland
to England.
Perhaps it was through the connexion of some English noblemen with
Irish property that Orange institutions were introduced into England.
London Review, Lodges were at first held in England under Irish warrants : but in 1808 a
Lodge was founded in Manchester, and warrants were issued for the holding
of Lodges under the English authority. On the death of the Grand Master
at Manchester, the Lodge was removed to London, in 1821, and the meetings
were held at the house of Lord Kenyon, who was Deputy Grand Master.
The Duke of York was to have been Grand Master; but he found that the
law officers of the Crown considered the institution an illegal one. The rules
were modified so as to meet the terms of the law. The Act which prohibited
political societies in Ireland from 1825 to 1828, appeared to dissolve Orange-
ism there for the time : but Lodges were held under English warrants : and in
1828, the whole organization sprang up, as vigorous as ever, on the expiration
of the Act. — At this time, the entire Institution, in Great Britain and Ireland,
came under the direction of the Duke of Cumberland, as Grand Master.
The critical part of the history, as regards England, lies between the years
1828 and 1836. In 1829, when the Duke of York was gone, and the King
had given the Royal Assent to the Emancipation Act, the Orangemen seem to
have lost their senses, as they certainly lost their loyalty. The proofs of this
which came out in 1835, when the Orangemen on our side the Irish Channel
numbered 140,000 — 40,000 of whom were in London — bewildered the nation
with amazement.
1828. In 1828, on the accession of the Duke of Cumberband to the throne of
^NKDEOFCuvliKn "Orangeism, he sent forth, under a commission of the Great Seal — ("given
S7n£rTnge under my seal, at St. James's, this 13th day of August, 1828. Ernest, G. M.")
ber'fsss Septem" — a certain person, chosen " from a knowledge of his experience, and a confi-
COL. FAIHMAN. dence in his integrity," the " trusty, well-beloved, and right worshipful brother,
Lieut. -Col. Fairman." This person, thus chosen and confided in by the Duke
of Cumberland, had a plenary authority, declared in the Commission under
the Great Seal of the Order, to establish Orangeism wherever he could, and
by whatever means he thought proper. He went to Dublin, in order to bring
the Irish and English Lodges into one perfect system of secret signs and pass-
words : and he made two extensive tours, in England and Scotland, to visit
and establish Lodges in all the large towns and populous neighbourhoods
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 269
where he believed he could bring the people to " rally round the Throne and 1835.
the Church " — (to use the language of the party and the time). The nation -^
at large saw no particular occasion for rallying round the Throne, as it seemed
to them that the House of Brunswick never was safer. But the Orange leaders,
apparently driven frantic by the reforms of the time, were of a different opinion.
They actually got it into their heads, at the time when the Duke of Wellington
was carrying the Catholic Emancipation Act, and George IV. was evidently
sinking, that the Duke of Wellington himself meant to seize the Crown. Men
laughed when they first heard this ; and men will always laugh, whenever they
hear it : but that such were the apprehensions of the Orange leaders is shown
by correspondence in Col. Fairman's hand-writing, which was brought before
the Parliamentary Committee of 1835. The following is an extract from a ^Jjj Revi8W-
letter evidently designed for the Grand Master Ernest himself, and written
during the last illness of George IV. : — " Should an indisposition, which has
agitated the whole country for a fortnight, take a favourable turn — should the
Almighty in his mercy give ear unto the supplications that to his heavenly
throne are offered up daily, to prolong the existence of one deservedly dear to
the nation at large — a divulgement I have expressed a willingness to furnish
would be deprived of no small portion of its value. Even in this case, an
event, for the consummation of which, in common with all good subjects, I ob-
test the Deity, it might be as well your Royal Highness should be put in pos-
session of the rash design in embryo, the better to enable you to devise mea-
sures for its frustration ; at any rate, you would not then be taken by surprise,
as the nation was last year, but might have an opportunity of rallying your
forces and of organizing your plans for the defeat of such machinations as
might be hostile to your paramount claims. Hence, should the experiment be
made, and its expediency be established, your Royal Highness would be in a
situation to contend for the exercise in your own person of that office at which
the wild ambition of another may prompt him to aspire." Who this " other"
was is plainly expressed in two subsequent letters. It was Wellington ! — the
devoted Wellington, who perilled his reputation for consistency, and what his
party call political honour, over and over again, rather than " desert his sove-
reign." Wellington lived to have this said of him by a man claiming to be a
Colonel in his own " perfect machine" of an army. In a letter from Fairman
to Sir James Cockburn, in which he gives a most imposing account of the
numbers and discipline of the Orange forces in Ireland and Great Britain, he
speaks of grovelling worms who dare to vie with the Omnipotence of Heaven ; London Revi«w,
and of one among them he writes thus : — " One, moreover, of whom it might ill
become me to speak but in terms of reverence, has nevertheless been weak enough
to ape the coarseness of a Cromwell, thus recalling the recollection to what
would have been far better left in oblivion. His seizure of the diadem, with
his planting it upon his brow, was a precocious sort of self-inauguration." This
seems a subject for fun — for a caricature of the day — so admirably is the
charge in opposition to all the Duke of Wellington's tendencies : but there
were some things in connexion with this matter too serious to be laughed at.
At the first hint of treason, men were roused to indignation on behalf of the
good-natured King William, of whom it had been in contemplation to dispose
so easily ; and much more strongly did their affections spring to guard from
270 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. insult and injury the fatherless young Princess whose rights were thus dealt
^"^ •~~— ~-^ with by that trusty and well-beloved brother F airman, whom the Duke of
Cumberland sent forth as his representative. On this letter being published,
people 'began to understand the strange proceedings, and the violence of the
debate about a Regency, after the accession of William IV. And on this letter
being published, people began to remember how, from one occasion to another,
rumours of the insanity of King William came floating abroad from the
recesses of Toryism, till exploded by contact with free air and daylight. The
1830. letter is dated April 6, 1830 — during the last illness of George IV., and it is
v?2o°3? Review> addressed to the Editor of the Morning Herald :—
" DEAR SIR, — From those who may be supposed to have opportunities of
knowing ' the secrets of the Castle,' the King is stated to be by no manner in
so alarming a state as many folks would have it imagined. His Majesty is
likewise said to dictate the bulletins of his own state of health. Some whisper-
ings have also gone abroad, that in the event of the demise of the Crown, a
Regency would probably be established, for reasons which occasioned the
removal of the next in succession from the office of High Admiral. That a
maritime government might not prove consonant to the views of a military
chieftain of the most unbounded ambition, may admit of easy belief; and as
the second heir-presumptive is not alone a female, but a minor, in addition to
the argument which might be. applied to the present, that in the ordinary
course of nature it was not to be expected that his reign could be of long du-
ration, in these disjointed times it is by no means unlikely a vicarious form of
government may be attempted. The effort would be a bold one, but after the
measures we have seen, what new violations should surprise us ? Besides, the
popular plea of economy and expedience might be urged as the pretext, while
aggrandisement and usurpation might be the latent sole motive. It would only
be necessary to make out a plausible case, which, from the facts on record,
there could be no difficulty in doing, to the satisfaction of a pliable and ob-
sequious set of Ministers, as also to the success of such an experiment.
Most truly yours,
W. B. F."
There is nothing to wonder at now in the pertinacity with which the Oppo-
sition questioned the Peel Ministry about Orange addresses. Mr. Hume had
got hold of these letters of 1830-31, and the members who cheered so loudly
on the perplexity of the Ministers, were aware how the loyal Orangemen had
listened to suggestions for making the Duke of Cumberland King, to prevent
the usurpation of the Crown by the Duke of Wellington ; for expecting that
William IV. would be superseded on an allegation of insanity, and the
Princess Victoria because she was a woman, and probably still a minor. If
the Orangemen, with all their importance of rank, wealth, and numbers — with
their array of British peers, and their army of 140,000 men, avowedly ready
for action — could have shown that they did not listen to such suggestions, and
that Col. Fairman was a crack-brained adventurer, with whose wild notions
they had no concern, they would assuredly have done so. But it was impos-
sible : the proof was too strong the other way. The letters cited above were
CHAP. V.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 271
written in 1830-31 ; and a long array of correspondence shows that the trusted 1835.
and beloved William Blennerhassett Fairman lost no ground with the heads of — •— - — • — -
the party by his speculations. Some of the most offensive suggestions were set ORANOE PEKRS.
forth in "a series of essays," written at the request of a noble lord, for that ^p.MsrTeuer
noble lord's information ; — that noble lord being Lord Kenyon : and these B'
essays were handed over to the Duke of Cumberland, who kept them by him.
In December, 1831, and in January, 1832, Col. Fairman had long and confi- 1832.
dential conversations with the Duke of Cumberland at Kew ; and there were P.208: Letter 12.
more such interviews in February. On the 19th of the next April, Col. Fair-
man was unanimously elected to the most important office in the society, that
of Deputy Grand Secretary — the present Duke of Buckingham being Secretary.
Col. Fairman was nominated by the Duke of Cumberland, seconded by Lord
Kenyon, and supported by the Duke of Gordon. In June, Col. Fairman went P 187-
forth on his mission among the Lodges, furnished by the Duke of Cumberland
with powers S3 extensive as to render it a serious and difficult matter to draw
up his commission.
It is under this date that Lord Londonderry appears on the scene. Before
leaving London on this mission, Col. Fairman learned from the lips of the
Duke of Cumberland, as he declared, that he had written to Lord Londonderry P. 208: Letter 12.
on Orange affairs, and Col. Fairman therefore wrote with more explicitness,
he says, than he should otherwise have done. The subject is establishing
Orange clubs among the pitmen on the estates of the Marquess ; and his Lord-
ship's agent and Col. Fairman had already been consulting about it. Consider-
ing the " popish Cabinet and deinocratical Ministry," with which the country
was oppressed, Col. Fairman thought fit to suggest in this letter, "By a rapid
augmentation of our physical force, we might be able to assume a boldness of
attitude which should command the respect of our Jacobinical rulers." ....
" If we prove not too strong for such a government as the present is, such a
government will soon prove too strong for us : some arbitrary step would be
taken in this case, for the suspension of our meetings. Hence the necessity
for our laying aside that non-resistance, that passive obedience, which has
hitherto been religiously enforced, to our own discomfiture." He further
relates how he was reproached by Lord Longford, in a long conversation, the
day before, for the tameness of the British Orangemen, while the Irish were
resolved to resist all attempts to put them down. In a short letter, a few days
afterwards, he says he writes to supply an omission — he had forgotten to say
that the Orange leaders had the military with them: — " We have the military P. 209: Letter is.
with us, as far as they are at liberty to avow their principles and sentiments :
but since the lamented death of the Duke of York, every impediment has been
thrown in the way of their holding a Lodge." (It will be remembered that
the Duke of York withdrew from his intended position of Grand Master on
being assured of the illegality of the Association.) — We have the answer of
the Marquess of Londonderry to the above letters; the purport of which is p. 209; Letter u.
that he had consulted Lord Kenyon, who hoped to convince the Duke of
Cumberland that "the moment had not arrived," owing to the refractory
state of the pitmen, and the Whig temper of the county; but, says the last
sentence, " I will lose no opportunity of embracing any opening that may
arise." Lord Londonderry admitted in the House of Lords all the facts of
272 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835. this correspondence, only explaining that the Duke of Cumberland's wishes
^— • ~— -^-^ were made known to him through Lord Kenyon, and not by interview or
letter. — In the same month of August in which his commission bears date,
P. 210: Letter 15. there is a letter of Fairman's to the Duke of Gordon, in answer to an invita-
tion to Gordon Castle, in which he anticipates that " we shall be assuming,
I think, such an attitude of boldness as will strike the foe with awe; but we
inculcate the doctrine of passive obedience and of non-resistance too religiously
by far." He has letters, he says, written "in the highest spirits," from Lords
Kenyon and Londonderry, Longford and Cole; and he declares his expectation
of an approaching crisis. — It was after all this that he still went to Kew, and
"was closeted three hours" with his Royal Highness. — It was after these
things — viz. on October 24th of the same year — that Lord Wynford wrote to
Col. Fairman in praise of the Duke of Cumberland, and that " the Tories
have not been sufficiently grateful to him," winding up with the following
P. 213: Letter 23. words : — " As you are so obliging in your last letter as to ask my advice as to
whether you should pursue the course you have so ably begun, I can only say
that you must exercise your discretion as to the company in which you make
such appeals as that which I have seen reported. When you meet only sure
Tories, you may well make them feel what they owe to one who is the con-
stant, unflinching champion of the party, and who, by his steady course, has
brought on himself all the obloquy that a base, malignant faction can invent."
Col. Fairman quoted Lord Wynford and Lord Kenyon to each other, as con-
P. 215: Letter so. suited by him, "on the propriety of my continuing to introduce the Duke's
name in the prominent shape I had previously done." " If he " (the Duke)
" would but make a tour into these parts," continues the Colonel, " for which
I have prepared the way, he would be idolized." By "these parts," he means
Doncaster, whose maudlin loyalty — such loyalty as he saw — the tears of the
P. 2iG: Lettersi. gentlemen, which made him "play the woman" — the enthusiasm of the "noble
dames," whom he compliments with the title of " the blue belles of York-
shire,"— is described in a letter too absurd to have been penned by the confi-
dential agent of Princes and Lords on the gravest political matters. It was
a grave affair to the private interests of some of the brethren, if we may
P. 215 : Letter 28. judge by a letter of Lord Keny oil's to Col. Fairman, in January, 1 833. " The
1833. good cause," writes his Lordship, " is worth all the help that man can give it,
but our only trust must be in God. In the last two years and a half I shall
have spent, I suspect, in its behalf, nearer 20,000/. than 10,000/." — We find
the Orange Peers continuing their confidence to Col. Fairman up to the time
P. 220: Letter 45. of the demand of a Parliamentary Committee. Lord Roden writes to him
about " our cause." Lord Kenyon confides to him his views of the compara-
p.220: Letter 47. tivc influence of some Scotch Peers, and observes, " It is a great pity, too, that
the amiable Duke of Buccleuch does not see the immense importance of his
P. 221 : Letter 48 sanctioning such a cause as the Orange cause." Lord Thomond writes to
him about his subscription, in England and Ireland. Lord Wynford reports
1834. to him, in April, 1834, a private consultation between the Duke of Cumber-
land, Lord Kenyon, and himself, about the purchase of a newspaper, and
P. 221: Letter 49. declares it highly probable that something would soon be done about it by the
Carlton Club. Another " sound paper, as well as the Morning Post," was
wanted ; and the Age had previously been thought of — its " scurrility " and
CHAP. V.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 273
" looseness of principle " being admitted, but Lord Kenyon not admitting, 1835.
" as some do, that the private characters of public men ought to be considered ' — -~~ — • — '
• ' i „ mi • -I i i i p. 207: Letter SA.
sacred against all attack. This newspaper, the Age, was at that precise date
occupying itself, week by week, with exhibiting the personal infirmities and
peculiarities of the Whig Ministers — the baldness, the lameness, the nervous
twitchings, the short-sightedness, and so on. Lord Kenyon seems to have
considered these things as belonging to private character — "not to be con-
sidered sacred against all attack." But the subject of the moralities of the
Orange leaders is too large an one to be entered upon here. The gleanings
which might be made from the Evidence of the Report would afford material
for a curious inquiry into the theory of Christianity held by men whose boast
(by the mouth of Lord Kenyon) was, " Ours is the cause of all friends of p-211: Letter 17.
Christianity," and whose most Christian hope was of " the arrival of a day of
reckoning," when certain "hell hounds" would "be called on to pay the fullp>207: Letter7
penalty of their cold-blooded tergiversations." So late as July 27th, 1834,
we find the Duke of Gordon confiding to Col. Fairman his gladness "that the p- 221: Letter5°-
unprincipled Ministers remain to do more mischief; as yet we are not ready
for a change." It is clear that there could be no attempt on the part of the
Orange leaders to repudiate Col. Fairman as their confidential agent : and
when all this correspondence, and much more, was laid before the Parlia-
mentary Committee, it became a matter of serious consideration how to
proceed.
There was much more behind. — It was important to know what was " the
prominent shape " that the agent gave to the name of the Duke of Cumber-
land, in his assemblages of Orangemen, throughout his tour. .It was charged
upon Fairman, by an Orangeman of the name of Haywood, that he had Lojg2onnoteev-' iv-
sounded his hearers at Sheffield and elsewhere on their willingness to support
the Duke of Cumberland as their sovereign, if, as was probable, William IV. PLOT-
should be deposed for his assent to the Reform Bill. Col. Fairman denied
this : but his word did not go for much with those who had read his corre-
spondence, nor with any who knew that it had been proved in a Court of
Justice that he had given a false address to get rid of a troublesome creditor. London Rev., v.
Again, it was discovered that of the 381 Lodges existing in Great Britain, LODGES.
30 were in the army : and that Lodges existed among the troops at Bermuda,
Gibraltar, Malta, Corfu, New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, and our THE ARMY.
North American colonies. The Duke of Cumberland and Lord Kenyon posi-
tively asserted that they were ignorant of the fact of the existence of an Orange
organization at all in the army. But in the correspondence we find Lord
Kenyon writing to the Colonel "His Royal Highness promises being in P -214: Letter 27.
England a fortnight before Parliament assembles. — To him, privately, you had
better address yourself about your military proposition, which, to me, appears
very judicious." — Again, "The statement you made tome before, and respect- p-2is: Letter so.
ing which I have now before me particulars from Portsmouth — should be
referred to his Royal Highness, as military matters of great delicacy. At the
same time, private intimation, I submit, should be made to the military
correspondents, letting them know how highly we esteem them as brethren."
— Again, " If you hear any thing further from the Military Districts, let his P. 219 : Letter 40,
Royal Highness know all particulars fit to be communicated." So much for
VOL. ii. 2 N
274 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. Lord Keynon's ignorance of Orangeism in the army! — But there was, as
"-— — — •— ' regarded the Duke, more direct evidence in the records of the Lodge meetings
NO. iv. p. 498- at which he presided, and himself granted new warrants to soldiers present,
some of which are actually entitled "military warrants." The military
Lodges were entered in the books, noticed by the Circular Reports of the
meetings where the Duke of Cumberland presided ; and the laws and ordi-
nances, containing provisions for attracting soldiers and sailors by a remission
of the fees, are declared to have been inspected and approved by the Duke,
and handed over to Lord Kenyon for final supervision. Thus, it is not
wonderful that the Committee reported "That they find it most difficult to
reconcile statements in evidence before them, with ignorance of these proceed-
ings on the part of Lord Kenyon, and by his Royal Highness the Duke of
Cumberland."
Such was the dealing of these loyal leaders with the army. — As for the
THE CHURCH. Church, they had the Bishop of Salisbury for Lord Prelate and Grand Chap-
lain of the Order; and there were twelve or thirteen deputy grand chaplains,
and clergymen as Masters of Lodges and managers of their affairs. Not a
single minister of religion out of the Establishment belonged to the order in
England. The religious observances, conducted by the clergymen, bore but
too close a resemblance to the mummeries of the poor Dorsetshire labourers, —
as did the proceedings altogether, in their illegality. In one of the circulars,
the clergy are invited to come in, and take appointments, with the notification
P. 487. that no salary was attached to office, but that it might lead to patronage. In
one of these circulars, the position of the Church, in the eyes of Orangemen
ACTION OF of the period, is described in language too indecent for quotation. As for
the rest, the Grand Lodge declared itself possessed of " the facility of knowing
the principles of every man in the country;" the institution excluded Roman
Catholics and Dissenters, and included the most violent and unscrupulous of
the Peers ; it numbered 140,000 actual members in Great Britain, and 175,000
in Ireland ; it expelled members who voted for liberal candidates ; it proposed
the employment of physical force within a proximate time, to overthrow the
liberal institutions which had just been gained ; it was beginning to interfere
with the common duties and rights of men — as when a Lodge of pitmen in
NO. iv. p. 497. Scotland expelled a body of Catholics "who had before lived and worked with
them in peace and harmony:" and, at the latest date, it was found holding out
p 200. threats to the half-pay of the army and navy to draw them to itself in prefer-
ence to other political unions. "It is the bounden duty of such" (pensioners
and disbanded soldiers) "in a crisis of danger like the present (February,
1835), to enlist under the banners of a loyal association, instead of repairing
to factious unions, no less hostile to sound policy than to true religion, at the
imminent risk of incurring a just forfeiture of their hard-earned remunerations,
of which a scrupulous government would not hesitate to deprive them. Of
this intelligible hint the half-pay of the army and navy might do well to profit,
in a prospective sense."
1835. Such was the institution — the great conspiracy against the national will and
DETECTION. national interests — the conspiracy against the rights of all, from the King on
the throne to the humblest voter, or soldier, or sailor, or Dissenter, or Catholic
— which was discovered by the energy and diligence of Mr. Hume in 1835.
CHA.P. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 275
Such as has been related was the information of which minds were full, on 1835.
the Opposition side of the House, when that scene of pertinacity was transacted **- — — • — "
which perplexed all who did not yet understand the case. The simple-
minded King had been receiving, with studied graciousness, addresses from
these illegal societies, in which the question of his deposition had certainly
been agitated. — The question was now, what should be done ?
The seriousness of the question, and of the whole case, was relieved by the
certainty, speedily obtained, that the institution, with its political objects, its
signs and pass- words, and its oaths, was illegal. There was some reluctance,
here and there, to admit the illegality ; but the opinion of the most eminent
lawyers soon settled the matter. — It might be fortunate too that the seri-
ousness of the case was relieved by the touches of the comic which we have
encountered — the Duke of Wellington, of all people, crowning himself with
the diadem; and the Doncaster loyalists — the "blue belles of Yorkshire"
smiling, and their fathers and brothers weeping, over that hero of romance,
the Duke of Cumberland ; and the style, both of letters and circulars, which
must come in among the comic incidents of the case. — The extreme silliness of
the conspirators — a fair set-off, as it appears to us, against the ignorance of
the Dorsetshire labourers — was another fortunate alleviation of the seriousness
of the case ; though it is no light matter to see so great a number of men —
some powerful through rank and wealth — playing the fool, and compelled
virtually to petition to be thought fools, as the only alternative from the
reputation of traitors. With all its nonsense, and looked at from any
pinnacle of superiority, this was a very serious matter. How was it to be
dealt with ?
The first thing done was obtaining a Committee of Inquiry in the Commons, COMMITTEE OP
within three weeks after the scene of pertinacious questioning with which the HansTrd', xxvii.
revelations began. Before the Committee had reported, portions of the 135'
evidence were published in the newspapers : and several people, besides Mr.
Hume, thought that no time was to be lost in exposing and annihilating the
illegal practice of maintaining political societies in the army. Amidst many
complaints of his proceeding before the Committee had reported, Mr. Hume
moved eleven resolutions, on the 4th of August, declaratory of the facts of MR. HUME'S
Orangeism, of its illegality in the army, according to the general orders issued Hama^' x*w.
by the Commander-in-Chief, in 1822 and 1829; and ending with a proposal 58~79'
of an Address to the King, calling his attention to the whole subject, and
especially to the Duke of Cumberland's share in the illegal transactions com-
plained of. — Mr. Hume's opponents alleged that the military warrants must
have been misapplied without the knowledge of the chief officers of the
association, whose signatures were given to blank warrants, in order to their
being sent out in parcels of a hundred or two, in the confidence that they
would be properly employed ; and also, they declared that Orangeism in the
army was a purely defensive measure, against Ribband societies, and other
secret associations, whose suppression they required, if Orange Lodges were
put down. To this there could be no objection in any quarter. The last of
Mr. Hume's resolutions was objected to as conveying, inevitably, more or less
censure on the Duke of Cumberland; a proceeding which could not be justi-
fied before the delivery of the Committee's Report and Evidence. Lord
276 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835. John Russell, who had to act and speak for the government in the Lower
*— — •>'— -^ House, went through this affair with eminent prudence, courage, and modera-
tion. The Whig administrations had been blamed by some parties in the
House for supineness in permitting the pranks of the Orangemen for so long;
and it was alleged that they had thought the organization too formidable to
be meddled with, during a season of political transition. It might be so.
Certainly, the prudence, quietness, and guarded moderation, of Lord John
Russell throughout the whole transaction conveyed an impression that the
affair was, in his view, one of extreme gravity, though he did not say so, but
Hansard, xxx. rather made as light of it as circumstances would permit. He now moved
that the debate should be adjourned to the llth of August — that is, for a
week — giving a broad hint to the Duke of Cumberland to use the time in
withdrawing himself from all connexion with the Orange association.
THE DUKE OF The Duke did not take the hint. He merely wrote and published a letter
Annual Register, to the Chairman of the Committee, in which he denied having ever issued
warrants to soldiers, or known of such being issued — declared that he had de-
clined sending out military warrants, on the ground of their violation of the
general orders of 1822 and 1829 — and intimated that all warrants inconsistent
with those orders should be annulled. — How the Duke's denial was regarded
by the Committee, we have already seen, in a sentence of their Report. — Lord
J. Russell had shown his prudence in the debate of the 4th : now, on the llth,
Hansard, xxx. ne showed his courage. He declared his impression that the Duke had not
done what the House had a right to expect from him. If the Duke had merely
signed blank warrants, and his Orange brethren had betrayed his confidence
in filling them up in a manner which he was known to disapprove, the least
he could have done would be to withdraw himself at once, and in a conspicu-
ous manner, from persons who had so deceived him : but the Duke appeared
AnimussTOTHE to have no intention of so withdrawing. Mr. Hume's last Resolution was
therefore agreed to, with the omission of the assertion at the end that the war-
rants were designed for the establishment of Orange Lodges in the army. —
REPLY. On the 15th, the King's reply was read to the House. It promised the
559. utmost vigilance and vigour in suppressing political societies in the army.
On the 19th, the House was informed that Col. Fairman had refused to pro-
duce to the Committee a letter-book which he acknowledged to be in his
possession, and which was essential to the purposes of the Committee. He
Hansard, xxx. was called before the House, where he repeated his refusal ; was advised by
some of the Orange members to yield up the book ; persisted in his refusal ; and
was admonished by the Speaker that he must obey the orders of the House.—
COL. FAIBMAN'S On the 20th, as it appeared that he was still contumacious, it was ordered
H^Ia'd^xx. that he should be committed to Newgate, for a breach of privilege : but by
this time he had disappeared. — The book was really much wanted. It was
known to contain replies to letters in the hands of the Committee on the
establishment of Orange Lodges in certain regiments at Gibraltar and else-
where ; and must afford information on the proceedings of the Orange mis-
sionary, named Uccalli, who had complained of the diificulty of establishing
Hansard, xxx. Orange Lodges among the troops in the Ionian Islands, from the vigilant
^ resistance of Lord Nugent and the other authorities. The Committee
earnestly desired to have the book : and it was moved that the House should
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 277
order Col. Fairman's papers to be searched. It was believed that the House 1835.
had this power; but, considering the odium of exercising it, and the proba- ^— — v^^-'
bility that where Col. Fairman was secreted, there were all his important
papers likewise, it was thought best not to issue the order.
Next, it was ascertained, bv certain parties determined to carry this matter PROPOSED PEOSE-
• , - CUTION.
through, that the case of the Orange leaders was analogous to that of the
Dorsetshire labourers. They had become liable under the same law ; and it
was now resolved that, if evidence could be obtained, the Duke of Cumber-
land, Lord Kenyon, the Bishop of Salisbury, and others, and Col. Fairman,
should be brought to trial before the Central Criminal Court. The prosecutors
got hold of Haywood — the Orangeman who had taken fright at Fairman's
incitements to treason, had made them known, and was prosecuted for libel in
consequence. It was clear to the Committee that the evidence bore out
Haywood's statements: and those who were about to prosecute the Orange
leaders appointed counsel for Haywood's defence — the Counsel retained being London Rev., v,
Serjeant Wilde, Mr. Charles Austin, and Mr. Charles Buller. — For the prose- P'
cution, the most eminent Counsel were retained : the indictments were drawn
(notwithstanding the difficulty of assigning the exact title of the Duke of
Cumberland); the evidence was marshalled; the original letters were arranged;
and all was prepared, when two events happened which rendered further pro-
ceedings unnecessary.
Poor Haywood died through apprehension. He felt himself the probable DEATH OP HAV.
victim of the great association whose power he well knew, and whose wrath
he had brought upon himself: and he was not yet aware of the powerful pro-
tection to be extended over him, when he broke a blood-vessel, through agita- Lor^°11 Rev • r>
tion of mind. It was then too late to save him ; and he died a few days before
the trial was to have come on. — The other cause of delay was a request from
Mr. Hume that all proceedings should be stayed till after the debate which he
was to bring on in the Commons. It was all-important that that debate POSTPONEMENT.
should take place : and the House would refuse the opportunity, if the sub-
ject was at the same time in course of inquiry in a Criminal Court.
On the 23rd of February, 1836, Mr. Hume, to whom the country owed 1836.
more than to any other man in regard to the exposure and annihilation of this
great conspiracy, made a complete revelation of the whole matter, ending with
a tremendous resolution. This resolution declared the abhorrence of Parlia- Hansard, xxxi.
81 0
ment of all such secret political associations, and proposed an address to the
King, requesting him to cause the discharge of all Orangemen, and members
of any other secret political associations, from all offices, civil and military,
unless they should retire from such societies within one month from the pub-
lication of a proclamation to that effect. — Lord John Russell, in a speech of
as much prudence as manliness, proposed a somewhat milder proceeding ; an Hansard, xxxi.
address to the King, praying that his Majesty would take such measures as ADDRESS TO THE
should be effectual for the suppression of the societies in question. The
Orangemen in the House were prudent, and offered no opposition. Lord John
Russell's resolution was unanimously agreed to. Two days afterwards, the
royal reply, echoing the resolution, was received. The Home Secretary REPLY.
transmitted a copy of it to the Duke of Cumberland, as Grand Master of the 87o"sar j
Orange association. The Duke of Cumberland immediately sent a reply, Annual Register,
278 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. intimating that, before the last debate in the Commons, he had recommended
"— ~^-^-^ the dissolution of Orange Societies in Ireland, and that he would immediately
DISSOLUTION OF »• i 111 •• i i T c i i i •
OBANGEISM. proceed to dissolve all such societies elsewhere. In a tew days, the thing was
done; and Orangeism became a matter of history.
The quietness with which it was done at last is one of the most striking
features of the case. The prudence of all parties now appears something
unsurpassed in our history. It is the strongest possible evidence of the uni-
versal sense of danger in the leaders of all parties. The Orange chiefs had at
last become aware of what they had subjected themselves to. Yet their forces
were so great — their physical force, restrained by no principle, no knowledge,
and no sense, on the part of the chiefs — that it was not safe to drive them to
resentment or despair : and the government had also to consider Ireland, and
the supreme importance of leaving a fair field there for trial of their new
policy of conciliation under Lord Mulgrave and his coadjutors. The Radical
reformers in Parliament felt this as strongly as the Ministers. The great
point of the dissolution of Orange Societies was gained ; and the chiefs of the
Radical Reform party contented themselves with holding out emphatic warn-
ings to the humbled conspirators whom they held in their power. They let
these revolutionary Peers know that there were rumours afloat of the recon-
stitution of Orangeism under another name; that the Orangemen were
watched ; that the evidence against the leaders was held in readiness for use ;
that the law which had transported the Dorsetshire labourers could any day
be brought to bear upon them ; and that no mercy was to be expected if the
public safety should require it to be put in operation.
As for the people at large — the greatness of the affair was little understood
among them, from the quietness with which it was brought to a close. A
multitude scarcely heard of it, except as of the ordinary party conflicts of the
day. Many more did not, and could not, fully believe what was before their
eyes. It was like a story of a long-past century ; and now, such persons look
upon it, when the facts are revived, as at a new disclosure which fills them
with wonder. There were enough, however, sensible and awake to what the
kingdom had escaped to understand the comparative smoothness with which
affairs proceeded henceforth in the House of Lords, the sudden silence about
reform of that House, and the intense satisfaction with which the departure of
the Duke of Cumberland was witnessed, when, in the next year, the accession
of a female sovereign to the throne of England sent him away to be King of
Hanover.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 279
CHAPTER VI.
IT is natural to shrink from the task now before us, of contemplating Ireland 1835 — 40.
at the commencement and during the term of Lord Mulgrave's (presently ^ — -— -—'
' , IRELAND, FROM
Lord Normanby's) administration. It is natural now to turn away in heart-
sickness when the records under the eye bring up again the high hopes, and
the no less flattering fears, of the time ; when the ear catches again the echoes
of the strife and tumult of those few years when bigotry was in terror or de-
spair, when the oppressed were uttering blessings, and the advent of hope was
like the awakening of the thousand voices of the Spring after wintry tempests
were gone, and when the loud, clear master-tone of justice made itself heard
over all. It is natural to recoil from the thought of that critical period, when
all, of every party, believed that a new age had set in for Ireland, and that
she was henceforth to grow into the likeness of England, from century to cen-
tury. Under the hourly pressing sense of what Ireland is now — under the
bitter and humbling disappointment of all hopes, and the visitation of new
fears which are but too like despair — it is natural to look into the past with
shrinking and pain. But there is something in the spirit of History as cordial
and cheering under passages of humiliation and disappointment as there is ad-
monitory and chastening in times of hope and triumph. Stern as is the spirit
of History in rebuking presumption, and showing up the worthless character
of transient victories, and pointing out the inevitable recurrence of human
passion and folly, in high places and in low, with all the mournful conse-
quences of such frailty — exactly in the same proportion is she genial and con-
soling in an adverse season — pointing out the good that underlies all evil, shed-
ding hope upon the most ghastly perplexities, and cheerfully teaching us how
to store up all our past experience as material for a deeper knowledge and a
wiser action than we were qualified for in our time of highest confidence. As
a matter of curiosity or recreation, no one would revert to Ireland, between the
years 1835 and 1840: but when, in the course of historical survey, it becomes
necessary to contemplate this province of our experience, it is found that far
healthier and happier feelings arise to succeed and modify those of disappoint-
ment and distress. It is true that we look back upon the wisest and most
earnest men then active in that field as upon children planting and watering,
and setting their gardens to rights in a new burst of sunshine, while we, from
the summit of futurity, perceive how the water-spout is hurrying on which is
to tear up every thing, and leave all waste : but we see also that the more com-
plete is the waste, the more thorough will be the renovation ; and that perhaps
the giddy and wrangling children may come back to their work with a better
knowledge, and a more rational expectation.
When it appeared that Catholic Emancipation had not tranquillized Ireland,
the opponents of that Emancipation were occupied with their triumph, and
280 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK V.
1835 — 40. with their preparations to keep down the Catholics by all means, political and
^~— — v— -- social, yet left in their power : but the advocates of the Emancipation were
driven to consider why it was that the measure appeared to have done so little.
THKOR'ES Presently might be seen a number of men, and of sets of men, each of whom
had an idea about the true Irish woe and its remedy. There was much truth
in almost every one of these ideas ; and great wisdom and virtue in many of
the men who acted upon them. But none of them had got to the bottom of
the matter : and of the very few men in the kingdom who had insight into
the real state of the case, there appears to have been no one who dared openly
and emphatically to speak his thought.
RELIGIOUS RAN. Some thought that Ireland could never prosper while religious rancour pre-
vailed as it did ; and that all would be well if this rancour could be gradually
discharged from the Irish mind. These advocated the extinction of Tithe, the
reduction of the Church, the impartial distribution of office among Catholics
and Protestants, the discountenance of Orangeism, and the establishment of
the government plan of National Education. There was weighty truth in all
this : but when its advocates looked for the redemption of Ireland by these
means, they were wrong.
DISTRUST OF Some thought that the fatal mischief was the distrust and dislike of the Law
LAW
among the Irish people ; and these believed the true remedy to lie in winning
over O'Connell from his pernicious teachings of illegality and chicanery ; and
in appointing a Viceroy and staff of officials, whose first care should be to ad-
minister with the strictest justice the ordinary powers of the law ; who should
reform the justiciary of all Ireland, and institute that practical education in
simple legality in which the Irish people were conspicuously deficient. There
was weighty truth in this : but when its advocates looked to such a policy for
the redemption of Ireland, they were wrong.
QOVMNMENT. Some dwelt on the undisputed difference between the Irish and the English
character ; and especially on the constitutional tendency to illegality which
they believed they recognised in the Celtic race; and urged that the true
method of governing the Irish was not by the English method, but by an af-
fectionate despotism. They pointed to O'Connell, as the virtual sovereign of
Ireland, and asked what might not be hoped from sending over a popular
Viceroy, whose love of the Irish should make his relation to them that of a
chieftain to his retainers ; whose empire, in short, should be like that of
O'Connell in kind, while the safeguards of sincerity and honour should be
added to the popular qualifications of the great demagogue. There might be
much truth in this, valuable if urged antecedently to the annexation of Ireland,
but of no practical avail towards her immediate redemption.
POLITICAL COR. Some believed gross political corruption to be the chief curse ; and proposed
a registration of voters as a means for the discouragement of political profli-
gacy. The men of this one idea pursued it with such energy as to show that
they really did expect, from the restriction and regulation, and ascertainment
of the franchise, the redemption of Ireland.
Others believed that political principle and knowledge were to be obtained
only through political training ; and that the reform of municipal institutions
was even more important for Ireland than for England and Scotland. They
PAL DETE- (Jwelt upon the great truths involved in the recommendation of municipal over
RUPTION.
CHAP. VI. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 281
central government; and quoted De Tocqueville, where he says, as if he 1835 40.
were describing the Irish people, " In certain countries of Europe the natives v-— — - — -
consider themselves as a kind of settlers: — the greatest changes are effected A^r£a,7.pni26.
without their concurrence, and without their knowledge ; nay, more, the citi-
zen is unconcerned as to the condition of his village, the police of his street,
the repairs of the church, or of the parsonage ; for he looks upon all these
things as unconnected with himself, and as the property of a powerful stranger
whom he calls the government. He has only a life interest in these posses-
sions, and he entertains no notions of ownership or of improvement. This want
of interest in his own affairs goes so far, that if his own safety or that of his
children is endangered, instead of trying to avert the peril, he will fold his
arms, and wait till the nation comes to his assistance. This same individual,
who has so completely sacrificed his own free-will, had no natural propensity
to obedience ; he cowers, it is true, before the pettiest officer ; but he braves
the law with the spirit of a conquered foe, as soon as its superior force is re-
moved : his oscillations between servitude and license are perpetual. When a
nation has arrived at this state, it must either change its customs and its laws,
or perish : the source of public virtue is dry ; and though it may contain sub-
jects, the race of citizens is extinct." — " How can a populace, unaccustomed voi.i. P. 132.
to freedom in small concerns, learn to use it temperately in great affairs ? What
resistance can be offered to tyranny in a country where every private individual
is impotent, and where the citizens are united by no common tie ? Those who
dread the license of the mob, and those who fear the rule of absolute power,
ought alike to desire the progressive growth of provincial liberties." — " Local vou.p. 73.
assemblies of citizens constitute the strength of free nations. Town meetings
are to liberty what primary schools are to science : they bring it within the
people's reach ; they teach men how to use and enjoy it. A nation may es-
tablish a system of free government ; but without the spirit of municipal insti-
tutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty." — " Here," said the advocates of
Municipal Reform in Ireland — " here we have before us the straight road to
the redemption of Ireland. Every one knows that her natural resources are
abundant for the wants of her inhabitants, if only her inhabitants knew how
to use them. This is the way to teach them : — this is the way to call out and
increase such public virtue as exists. It is not by an affectionate despotism,
but by a training to self-government, that the Irish must be redeemed. Their
own affectionate despot himself says, that purified municipal institutions will
become * normal schools of peaceful agitation :' we shall find them normal
schools of political and social intelligence and virtue ; and by them Ireland
may at last be redeemed." In this faith — to a considerable extent justifiable —
the advocates of Municipal reform worked diligently for the five years which
ran their course between the introduction of the question and the passage of
the mutilated Bill for Irish Corporate Reform. There was weighty truth in
their doctrine ; but when they looked for the redemption of Ireland by this
means, they were wrong.
Others saw a necessity underlying even the deepest that have been pointed
out : and they thought it might be met by giving every man in Ireland a right
to subsistence. The uncertainty of food, and consequent recklessness of temper UNC
and habits among the labouring classes ; the carelessness or rapacity of bad ""
VOL. n. 2 o
SCERTAINTY OF
SUBSISTENCE,
282 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1335 — 40. landlords; the unprofitable management of the land; the depraving preva-
^— - -N-— — lence of mendicity, and almost all the worst evils of life in Ireland, might, it
was said, be met, and in time corrected, by a good Poor Law. This was the
one great measure which would operate beneficially in all directions — would
feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and settle the roving, and restrain the
encroaching, and employ the idle ; — would bring the unscrupulous landowner'
to reflection and retribution, enable the good occupier to understand and con-
trol his own position — and would, in short, establish natural relations through-
out the disorganized society of Ireland. There was weighty truth in all this ;
so much truth, and held by so many of the best minds among philosophers,
statesmen, and men of business, that few dared to qualify the general expec-
tation excited by their confidence : but there were persons who felt and said
at the time that all who looked for the redemption of Ireland through an
extension of the English Poor Law were wrong.
Who, then, were right ? Among these many who were wrong, was there
no one right ? It is surely not to be expected that any one should be wholly
right. The proof of the insufficiency of any or all of the above-mentioned
theories was not yet extant. The materials for a right judgment were scattered
abroad : — one person here and another there obtained a glimpse of true
insight ; and some declared what they thought and saw. It was a common
FUNDAMENTAL thing to be told that " the land " was at the bottom of the Irish difficulty:
DIFFICULTY. ° _ _ J
but this might mean, and did mean, several different things. It might mean
any one of a dozen prevalent vices and faults in the tenure, or distribution, or
cultivation of land; or in the social circumstances which gave land a peculiar
value in Ireland. Those who came nearest to the truth, consciously or uncon-
sciously, were perhaps the lawyers, who told a friend, here and there, in an
T^^TO'LAND. undertone by the fireside, that there was not a title to land in Ireland that
would bear looking into ; that this was a secret known to all who were con-
cerned in it ; that it was the true reason of the opposition to a registry of
deeds ; the sorest impediment to improvement ; the natural cause of the sin-
gular recklessness of Irish landlords ; the sufficient explanation of the silence
and apparent apathy of mortgagees and others concerned in the enriching of
estates, about all methods of improvement and convenience ; and a powerful
instigation to men of various classes to take the law into their own hands, and
to nourish those social feuds which might strengthen and protract the local
dominion of men, whose title to their land was, or might be found, insecure.
The greater part of Irish landed property had been granted three times over,
at least, during the long sequence of troubles in that unhappy country. The
descendants of old Irish chieftains still looked on those estates as properly
their own which had been the homes of their fathers ; and the posterity of
all other dispossessed parties looked on with the same jealous eyes. As for those
in actual possession, too many of them conducted themselves and their
property in the way which has made the Irish landlord a bye-word and
reproach. The virtuous administration of their estates was not to such the
great duty and object in life that it is usually seen to be in countries where
the property is secure, as a matter of course ; where the tenantry and labourers
are regarded by the proprietor as persons to whom he owes serious duties ; and
where the improvement of the estate for the benefit of heirs is the first con-
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 283
sideration in connexion with it. Such is the natural state of things (however 1835 — 40.
set aside in special cases by the vices of bad landlords) under the main con- ' — • — '—• — '
dition of security of property. The opposite state of affairs was that which
naturally appeared in Ireland. The sole object too often was to make the
most of the present time, leaving the future to take care of itself. The small-
ness of the proprietary body is in itself a serious and portentous evil in Ireland,
where the number of holders of land in fee is said not to exceed 8,000. The condition and
.-IT • -, • • Prospects of Ire-
very large estates held by these few persons sink lower in productiveness, in land, p. 239.
proportion to the lapse of time which, instead of giving security, reveals em-
barrassments which are evidently insurmountable. Instead of investing
capital in the land, for its improvement, the proprietors had split it into small
freeholds, before the disfranchisement of " the Forties ;" and the system was
not changed after that disfranchisement, because more immediate profit was
supposed obtainable from the high rents promised by the numerous tenantry
than by improved cultivation. A proprietor, doubtful whether he could sell
his land, on account of its questionable title, embarrassed by settlements and
mortgages, hopeless of freeing the estate by any effort of his own, naturally
does as his father did before him, and as he supposes his son will do after him
— he gets what he can from year to year, and hopes the sky will not fall in
his time. The insecurity extends to the tenantry, who are more numerous
than the unimproved land can support. They got their land by bidding
against each other: and they know that they cannot have it long — having
promised rents which they cannot pay ; so they snatch what they can from the
ground and from fate, and make themselves as comfortable as they can till the
sky falls. — Such was the state of things, and the cause of that state, known to
a few before the experiment of impartial government was tried in Ireland:
and if only it had been more widely and thoroughly understood, it seems im-
possible that men should have expected so much as they did from reforms
which did not touch the radical evil — the insecurity of landed property in
Ireland. As we shall see, the remedies referred to above were all tried ; and
there is no need to inform any reader that Ireland is not yet redeemed.
1. First : various efforts were made to abate the religious rancour of Irish IMPARTIALITY TO
SECTS
society. That little could be done through the reduction of the Church and
the commutation of tithe, has been shown. We have seen how hard and pro-
tracted was the labour of getting anything done about tithe — owing to the
very rancour which it was the great object to moderate. We have seen some-
thing too of the annihilation of Orangeism, as an organization: but it would
occupy a volume to tell all that happened between the Irish government and
the Orangemen before the Royal Grand Master dissolved the association.
The avowed principle of Lord Mulgrave's government was impartiality ; and
it appears to have been firmly adhered to : but so unused was Ireland to im-
partiality in the government, that both Protestants and Catholics interpreted
the acts of the Viceroy as favour to the Catholics. Investigation was -made
into the condition of JRibbandism, against which the Protestants declared RIB&ANDMEN AND
themselves obliged to organize their Orangeism in self-defence: and, to the
surprise of the government no less than others, it was found that scarcely any
thing but the name existed. Frequently as the world had been, and still was,
alarmed by intimations in the newspapers of dreadful Ribband plots, they
284 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. were found, on the most searching inquiry, to be mere bugbears. As there
^ v— «^- was nothing to lay hold of, government could do no more than proscribe
Ribbandism with all other secret societies, while it was compelled to inflict
open shame upon Orangeism. The Orangemen began their demonstrations
early after the arrival of Lord Mulgrave. In consequence of the Recorder of
Dublin having denounced the Melbourne administration as "infidels in
religion," a public meeting was called in Dublin, to consider of this libel; and
Orangemen attended in large bodies — a fight being, as usual, the close of the
business. In consequence of a government prohibition of Orange processions
1 A voice from in the North, a pamphlet was widely circulated which called on Orangemen
the North.' , T i •
to break the law, because government did not punish such breaches of the law
as the swarming of Jesuits through the land, and the rearing of the unhal-
lowed heads of monasteries. When the Viceroy had returned from his south-
ern journey, and was about to set out for the North, the Orangemen of
Londonderry threatened him through the newspapers with even personal
Londonderry violence. " If he should come among us. he shall see such a displav of Oranere
Sentinel, Sep. ..,,,, r J
lass. banners as shall put him into the horrors. They would take care to give
such notice of his approach as should secure him a reception which he had better
not encounter; and so forth. While the Viceroy was thus threatened by
one party, and aifectionately hailed by the other, it was difficult to keep the
public mind fixed on the ruling government principle of impartiality. — At the
same time, intimation was officially given throughout the constabulary force
that a sub-constable in Wexford had been dismissed on proof of his having
attended an Orange Lodge ; and a drum-major was tried by Court Martial,
and reduced to the ranks, for having played party tunes in the streets of
Belfast. — The Viceroy disallowed the election of the Master of an Orange
Lodge to the Mayoralty^ of Cork, and of two other Orangemen as Sheriffs, in
September, 1835. These instances looked like partiality while no Ribband-
men were dismissed or otherwise punished. If Ribbandmen could have been
found, in office or out of it, they would have been punished: but all endea-
vours to detect and punish Ribbandism were in vain. A Catholic policeman
endeavoured to join, in order to obtain information: and an inspector of
police was sent to England to learn from an Irish soldier in a place of safety
what he would not have told among his acquaintances at home : but all that
could be discovered by all the powers of government and the police in five
years, supplied ground for only one prosecution; and that broke down. Thus,
all the penalties devolved on one party; but it could not be said that that
party met only with severity. As soon as the intention of the leaders to dis-
solve the Orange Societies was known, the Viceroy liberated all the Orange-
men who were under arrest for joining prohibited party processions on the
12th July preceding
The Irish Orangemen were, however, less obedient to their chiefs than the
English and Scotch. The Dublin Grand Committee met and decided that
"the mere will of the King was not law," and that their watchword should
be "no surrender." Sir Harcourt Lees addressed a letter to the brethren, the
last paragraph of which was adopted as the Tory text or watchword from that
day forward: — " Orangemen — increase and multiply — be tranquil — be vigilant.
Put your trust in God — still revere your King — and keep your powder dry."
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 285
This letter was dated February 27th, 1836. On the 7th of April following, 1835—40.
the Orange idol was rent to pieces in its shrine ; the statue of William III. ^-— ~^~—
was blown up on its pedestal in College Green, Dublin. Here was a Catholic p1^101"' 1836>
outrage — an act of Ribband sedition at last. But almost before this was said,
men began to smell some of the " dry powder " above referred to in the train
which blew up the statue. Government offered a large reward for the detec-
tion of the offender; and the Dublin Corporation offered as much again.
The perpetrator was never discovered; but some incidents of the time caused
a general impression that the hand employed was that of a wrathful Orange-
man.
Meantime, the Viceroy arid his coadjutors in the government persevered in
bestowing office without regard to religious persuasion. They selected the
fittest men; and if they inquired whether they were Protestant or Catholic, it
was for the purpose of holding the balance as even as they could. The prac-
tice of setting aside Roman Catholics as jurors was broken through; and JUBY'BOX !'N T
throughout the island, the Protestants, who had always regarded their neigh-
bours of another faith as idolaters and rebels, saw with amazement and horror
that they were trusted to try the accused, to administer the laws, and transact
the business of society, as freely as if they hated the Pope and cursed the
Jesuists.
All this was very well : but a more effectual method of ultimately extin-
guishing religious rancour was supposed to be by the system of National
Education established in Ireland.
In October, 1831, the first announcement of this scheme was made in a
letter from the then Secretary for Ireland, Mr. Stanley, to the Duke of
Leinster. The object was not new — the object of diminishing the violence of ^™™L E°u"
religious animosities by bringing together the children of Catholic and Pro-
testant daily — to sit on the same bench, take an interest in the same ideas,
and find by constant experience and sympathy how much they had in com-
mon. This object had been aimed at through the organization of the Kildare
Street schools ; but the machinery was not of the right kind, though con-
scientiously worked. — In 1828, a Committee of the House of Commons had
recommended the adoption of a system ef which should afford, if possible, a
combined literary, and separate religious education, and should be capable of
being so far adapted to the views of the religious persuasions which prevail in
Ireland as to render it, in truth, a system of national education for the poorer
classes of the community." In order to meet the religious wants and wishes
of all parties, certain days in each week were set apart for the religious in-
struction of the children by their respective clergy ; and every encouragement
was given to the communication of such instruction daily, before and after
school hours. The great difficulty was about the method of giving any
religious sanction to the secular teaching in the schools. All desired some
such sanction : but the Protestants contended for the whole Bible, spurning
the idea of selections being made from it for school reading, as the rankest
blasphemy, while the Catholics are not, as every one knows, allowed the free
use of the Scriptures. Selections from the Bible were made, to the satisfac-
tion of many clergy, both Protestant and Catholic : and these have been in
use to this day. A brief remark dropped by the Archbishop of Dublin in the
286 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. debate (February 28th, 1837) 011 the appointment of a Committee of Inquiry
"— ^-^— - into the Irish School system, conveyed a significant hint and warning to those
Hansard, xxxvi. who heard him, and to many out of doors — that nothing could be more
perilous than to circulate among the people exaggerated notions of the differ-
ences between the several versions of the records of their salvation. Yet,
from the Bishop of Exeter in the Lords down to the idlest clergyman without
a flock in Ireland, the opposition to the Education Board and its acts, on the
ground of the mutilation of the Scriptures, was virulent to a degree incredible
in men who call themselves Christians. They could not, however, overthrow
the Board, or stop its good works. They could not even hinder Protestants in
Ireland from accepting the benefit of the schools, though hundreds and thou-
sands of children were kept away, to be lost in ignorance and superstition, who
would otherwise have been rational and enlightened citizens of a country
Hansard, xxxvi. whose main want is of good citizens. The Archbishop of Dublin said, on this
28th of February, 1837, that " he had ascertained, by examination, that
in these schools," (in a particular district,) " extending to between 300 and
400, in which it was said there were no Protestants, that about 22,000 Roman
Catholic children and 16,000 Protestants had been educated." In the face
of every kind of opposition, even of atrocious slanders without any founda-
tion whatever, slanders such as bigotry in religion and party spirit in politics
could alone generate, the National School system in Ireland continued to
expand and flourish during the whole period of the Melbourne administration,
tending to humanize every district where it was planted, and preparing, as it
was fondly hoped, a brightening prospect of social peace for a future genera-
tion. During the eight years from the establishment of the system to the
Progress of the going out of the Whig administration in 1841, we find an annual advance in
Nation, Sec. vii. ' . ,...,,.
ch. 4. the number of schools and scholars, in an accelerating ratio, till, since 1834,
the number of schools in operation had increased from 789 to 2,337, and the
number of scholars from 107,042 to 281,849. And the Board was then about
to aid 382 additional schools, which would add 48,000 to the number of pupils
on the rolls. — When hundreds of thousands of children were thus reared in
security from sectarian rancour, it seemed to many that such rancour might,
and must in time, be discharged from the mind of the Irish people : but,
good as was the work, and bright as were the hopes which it yielded, it is not
the less clear that those were wrong who looked to this institution for the
redemption of Ireland.
IMPARTIALITY OF 2. Next, we must glance at the policy desired by those who would have
won over O'Connell from his practice of teaching dislike and distrust of the
law, believing this dislike and distrust of the law to be the one impediment to
the redemption of the Irish people. At the same time that O'Connell was won
over to silence, the Irish government was to rule conspicuously by the ordinary
powers of the law, to exercise the strictest impartiality, and to compel a similar
recognition of equality before the law throughout the country, by a reform of
the justiciary.
The characterizing virtue of Lord Mulgrave's administration in Ireland was
its reliance on the ordinary powers of the law, and the impartial exercise of
them. Extreme as was the consternation of the Church and Tory portion of
Irish society at seeing Catholic gentlemen admitted to the magistracy, and
CHAP. VI,] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 287
Catholic lawyers to office in Dublin, and Catholic juries sitting to try offenders, 1835 — 40.
either Protestant or Catholic, and loud as was the outcry about the return of ' — -^ -"
the times of James II., and the domination of the Pope in Ireland, the im- tu>n, Jan. ISST.
provement in social life, and the decrease of crime, soon became unquestionable
facts. It was an affecting sight to those who happened to be in Ireland in
1837, to see the awakening of the Catholic population to a sense of what law
and justice were, and to a hope that they might share in the benefit. The
Catholic priesthood led the way in trusting the government ; and the people
followed. It was a touching sight — that of the melting down of the popular
spirit of pride and cunning into gratitude and trust. Hitherto, the pride of the
Irish peasant had nourished itself in defiance first, and then evasion of the law,
as in defiance and circumvention of an enemy. The chief ground of the popu-
lar admiration of O'Connell was his success in defying and evading the law ;
and every follower of the Agitator gloried in emulating him, as far as oppor-
tunity allowed. Now, for the first time, the idea dawned upon the general
Irish mind, that law and justice might possibly be a benefit, and not an op-
pression : and when, fostered by the priests, and justified by the whole course
of the government, this idea grew clear and strong, the revulsion of feeling
was a truly affecting sight. Criminals became odious, instead of endeared, by
their crimes ; they were informed against, instead of harboured ; and the fiercest
wrong-doers felt ashamed of outrages against the public peace, instead of glory-
ing in them. If the cause of Irish misery had not lain deeper than was then
dreamed of — if all collateral improvements had not been swept away through
the absence of the only effectual remedy — the training of the Catholic Irish to
legality and order in Lord Mulgrave's time might have proved their permanent
redemption from one of their worst national faults. As it was, the remarkable
and steady subsidence of crime, during the whole term of the Whig adminis-
tration in Ireland, is a sufficient testimony to the wisdom and humanity of the
characterizing principle of its rule.
Sir R. Peel reminded parliament, in 1829, that " for scarcely one year during
the period that has elapsed since the Union, has Ireland been governed by the
ordinary course of law." Insurrection Acts, Suspension of the Habeas Corpus,
and Martial Law, were all familiarly associated in men's minds with the very
name of Ireland : and all had been in vain ; — so vain, that parliament itself
became uneasy and remorseful ; and Lord Grey's government fell on the ques-
tion of a Coercion Bill. Now, for a term of years, the experiment was tried of
putting the ordinary law in force without fear or favour; and the result was, Irish crime com.
that at the close of the Viceroy's term of government, twenty-seven out of isW6'
thirty-two counties in Ireland were perfectly tranquil, or eminently tranquil- C«MK*S*
lized, while the remaining five were not worse than they had always been be-
fore : that, while the decrease of crimes proceeded from year to year, the pro-
portion of convictions to committals, and of committals to offences, was always
on the increase — showing that at length the people were taking their part in
the administration of justice, for the public good ; that wherever the influence
and example of the government could act freely, crime had almost disap-
peared— as in the instance of the celebrated faction-fights, which were now
seldom heard of; while the crimes which did continue were those which arose
from agrarian discontents — from that great underlying grievance which every
288 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 40. government has left untouched : and finally, that the decrease of crime, on
~— ~- comparison of the three years ending in 1838 with the three years ending in
1828, was no less than 10 per cent, of murder and manslaughter — 46 per cent,
of shooting and stabbing — 29 per cent, of conspiracy to murder — 56 per cent,
of burglary, and 86 per cent, of housebreaking for arms in the night.
cunttKci?0*^ The alarmed Protestants in parliament, however, complained that Lord
Mulgrave desecrated and annulled the law by his clemency. He had made a
circuit through the south first, and then through the north of Ireland, and had
visited the jails, and most establishments supported by the public funds. In
Hwisard, xxxvi. yjsiting the jails, he had inquired of three parties concerning the prisoners
whose pardon might be desirable ; — of the resident officers about their conduct
in prison ; of the medical officers about their health ; and of neighbouring
gentlemen about their previous character, and the probability of their good
conduct henceforth. Where necessary, application was made to the judges for
guidance. Of 800 petitions for pardon, about half had been entertained : of
these, only 100 had been favourably answered, on certificates from medical
men and others. These (whatever had been said to the contrary) were Pro-
testants or Catholics, as might happen ; while the rest, the only class to whom
the prison-doors had been thrown open freely, were Orangemen convicted of
joining illegal processions. The small proportion of re-commitments among
the offenders thus pardoned testified to the discretion of the mercy which had
released them at the commencement of a new period in the government of Ire-
land ; yet the political Protestants, perplexed and dismayed by the new doc-
trine and practice of equity before the law, persisted in calling the Viceroy's
journeys of inspection "jail-delivery circuits," and concluded that pardon was
granted for the sake of the Catholics.
There was another doctrine, propounded by a member of the government at
this time, which was offensive to the political " Protestants," as they called
themselves, who opposed the acts of the Mulgrave administration. There is
no survivor of that administration who will not eagerly assent to the avowal,
THOMAS DRUM- that that one member, Mr. Drummond, was the mind and soul of it. Mr.
Drummond, the military surveyor, the discoverer of the light known by his
name, the private secretary of Lord Althorp, by the united wish of Lord Grey's
cabinet, and the Irish Under Secretary under Lords Mulgrave and Morpeth,
was a man of great external calmness, of eminent prudence in the ordinary affairs
of life, and, till of late years, apparently devoted altogether to scientific pur-
suits. His acquaintances were wont to rally him for his Scotch prudence and
caution, and to describe the pleasures and pains of enthusiasm to him, as things
that he could not possibly know any thing about. It was his function in Ire-
land which revealed him to his friends, if not to himself. His subdued en-
thusiasm now manifested itself in a moral force, as lofty and sustained as it
was powerful. The cool man of science came out the philanthropist, the phi-
losopher, the statesman, the virtual preacher — carrying the loftiest spirit of
devotedness into each function. He put wisdom into the counsels of the Irish
government, and moderation into its demeanour. He put enthusiasm into
the justice which he gave impartially to the Irish people ; and he called for
justice in the enthusiasms which the observant people paid back to the govern-
ment. It was he who repressed crime throughout the nation, and rebuked its
MONO.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 289
passions, and stilled its turbulence, and encouraged its hopes, and stimulated 1835 — 40.
its industry, and soothed its sorrows. His sobriety of judgment and calmness
of manner never gave way ; but a fervour, like that of renewed youth, latterly
pervaded his whole mind, animated all his faculties, and deepened his habitual
composure, while he was consciously meeting the martyr's doom. He lived
too fast, knowingly and willingly, during these few years which he believed
to be so critical for Ireland. Under his work, his responsibilities, his throng-
ing ideas, his working emotions, his frame could not hold out long : and he
was prostrated at once by an attack of illness in the spring of 1840. " I am
dying for Ireland," he said, just at the last. He died for Ireland ; and in the
contemplation of his death, how do other deaths which bear more of the
external marks of martyrdom for Ireland shrink, by comparison, in our esti-
mate ! Here was no passion — no insulting speech — no underhand or defiant
action — no collision of duties — no forfeiture of good faith — no implication of
the helpless in danger — no disturbance of society — no imperilling of any life
but his own. No man who courted the bullet or the gibbet ever dared more.
No man who organized rebellion in consultations by day and drillings at night
ever wrought harder. No man who cast his all into the revolutionary balance
was ever more disinterested and devoted. He, a soldier of a sensitive spirit,
brought upon himself unmeasured insult, which would elsewhere have been
intolerable : but for Ireland's sake he bore it all. He went through endless
toils which nobody knew of, who could give him any return of honour. He
felt himself sinking, before he had attained the rewards which might once
have been alluring to him — before he had attained wealth, or rank, or a post
in the world's eye, or the fame of statesmanship : but he toiled on, too busy
on Ireland's behalf to have a regret to spare for such things as these. If
there are any who cannot reconcile themselves to such an issue, let them
remember how noble a way remains to do him honour. Let them name his
name when Ireland wants his example. When boasts of martyrdom abound,
and blustering patriots would rouse the ignorant and suffering to rash enter-
prises, and men who will not work for Ireland talk of fighting for her, and
those who cannot deny their own vanity, or indolence, or worldly care, claim
the glory of patriotic agitation, let the name of Thomas Drummond be quietly
spoken, and human nature has lost its rectitude and its sensibility if the arro-
gance be not shamed, and the vaunt silenced.
He was a man whom few things could astonish. One of the few things
which did astonish him was the effect of certain words of his own which
appeared to him as simple and commonplace as anything he ever uttered. It
is certainly true, however, that the most commonplace sayings have an effect
proportioned to the moral force of those who utter them : and in this case the
words appear — even now, to us — instinct with the just and brave spirit of the
man. The story was this. In the course of the debate in the Upper House
on Lord Roden's motion, towards the close of 1837, it was mentioned by Lord
Mulgrave (then become Marquess of Normanby) and by other speakers on
the same side, that all inquiry led to the conclusion that the murders and man-
slaughter in Ireland were not owing to religious differences or political discon-
tents, but almost exclusively to agrarian grievances. This opinion, far from
acceptable to listening Orangemen and Irish landlords, was vehemently pro-
VOL. n. 2 P
290 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 40. tested against, not only by Lord Roden, but by the Duke of Wellington, who
*-— ~~— i — - quoted the Marquess Wellesley as an indisputable authority, who had said that
2<52~rr ' xx ' the agrarian disturbances themselves were ascribable to political agitation.
From that time, the Irish landlords and political chiefs on the Tory side seem
to have taken for granted that the government was a company of declared
foes, who would keep watch on the management of their private affairs, and
cast upon them the responsibility of all outrages perpetrated on Irish estates.
— On the 1st of January, 1839, Lord Norbury was shot in his own shrubbery,
in broad daylight, while pointing out to his steward some trees which he de-
stined for removal. The cause of the deed was shrouded in mystery. Lord
Norbury was on good terms with his Catholic neighbours and tenants ; and
he did not concern himself about politics. The question was naturally asked
by everybody whether this was another agrarian outrage. The very words
fired the passions of the landlords — before jealous, and now panic-stricken.
spectator, 1839, At a meeting which they held, in the name of the magistrates of King's
County at Tullamore, to consider the circumstances of this murder and of the
country, they reverted to those few words of Mr. Drummond's which their
vehement wrath at once raised into a proverb. These words were found in a
letter of Mr. Drummond's, in reply to a request from the magistrates of Tip-
perary for an increase of military or police force. The Under-Secretary
refused the assistance requested, and gave reasons which induced the receivers
of the letter to keep it secret, lest the common people should hear about it,
" and be led to think ill of the landlords." The letter was asked for in
Parliament, however, and necessarily produced; and it actually became a
parliamentary document before the magistrates of Tipperary had been gene-
rally permitted to see it. In this much-canvassed letter occurred the words
HIS MAMM. (i Property has its duties as well as its rights." In their fear and grief at the
murder of Lord Norbury, possibly through some discontent among his tenantry
(though he was a kind landlord), the King's County magistrates reverted to
Mr. Drummond's proposition, as a subject on which to vent their passion ; and
it shows how wild and desperate must have been their wrath that they could
fall out with a proposition so simply indisputable. It was declared that in
that letter, the Tipperary magistrates were " bearded and insulted" by Mr.
Drummond. A resolution was carried without a division, " that it appears to
this meeting that the answer conveyed to the magistrates of Tipperary from
Mr. Under-Secretary Drummond has had the unfortunate effect of increasing
the animosities entertained against the owners of the soil by the occupants,
who now constitute themselves the sole arbiters of the rights as well as the
duties of property." Lord Charleville ventured to declare, in moving this
resolution, that the saying about property having duties as well as rights,
though innocent enough in itself, was felt to be little less than a deliberate
and unfeeling insult in the circumstances under which it was offered. When
the plainest truths of morals are felt to be personal insults, all men see how
the matter stands ; and all men know that those plain truths are then made
vital. And so it was in this case. The Tory landlords of Ireland have
never forgotten that property has its duties as well as its rights. But the
annunciation of this truth was fatal to all perception on their part of the
impartiality of government rule.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 291
One instance of the impartiality — of the want of respect of persons — exas- 1835 — 40.
perated the " ascendancy" leaders extremely. It was not only poor men —
sub-constables and the like — who were dismissed from the government service
for Orangeism, but great men also, with equal speed and certainty. Colonel
Verner, who represented the Orangemen of the empire in the Commons,
during the investigation of the Fairman plot, gave at an election dinner, as a
party toast, " the battle of the Diamond." Mr. Drummond wrote to inquire ^lsard- xxxix-
whether it could be possible that Colonel Verner was thus a party to the com-
memoration of a lawless and disgraceful conflict. Colonel Verner's reply first
supposed that he could not be expected to condescend to reply, and requested
that any future question which the Secretary might be desired to ask, should
"be expressed in terms better qualified to invite an answer :" and then refused
to answer the inquiry at all. The Chief Secretary, Lord Morpeth, now wrote
himself, and, assigning reasons at length for the step taken by the government,
signified to Colonel Verner his removal from the commission of the peace, and
from the office of Deputy-Lieutenant of the county of Tyrone. Colonel
Verner brought the matter before Parliament, and thereby did an uninten-
tional service to the government by publishing, in the most effectual manner,
the evidence of its principles and methods of rule. Among the ignorant and
passionate poor, meantime, the repressive and equalizing rule of the govern-
ment was extending, without its being felt as pressure. The police force of RKFORM °F-CON
Dublin, and the constabulary throughout the country, were renovated and
organized till they became as fine a body of police as exists in any country.
Where the justices could not be relied on for repressing political demonstra-
tions, stipendiary magistrates were planted, to direct the constabulary: and OF MAGISTRACY.
the quiet which followed surprised even the authors of it. Many causes of
breach of the law were removed by the Tithe Act, and by new provisions and PREVENTION OF
arrangements in relation to the collection of rents and the serving of the pro-
cesses of the inferior local courts. Collisions between the people and rent-
collectors and process-servers were thus almost entirely obviated. — But provision
was at the same time made for the more certain and effectual punishment of
all who still offended. Government undertook the prosecution of several REPRESSION OF
classes of offences which before must be pursued by private parties, who might
be accessible to fear or favour. Crown prosecutors appeared at the Quarter
Sessions — one for each county — and obtained convictions for a great number
of offences which would otherwise, though well known, have gone unpunished
— to the disgrace of justice, and the demoralization of the people. Witnesses
were protected by government, before and after the trials, and publicly recog-
nised as citizens who were doing their duty to society. By a steady use of
these methods, more was done to enlighten the Irish as to the true function of
law, and to convince them of its being a blessing to every man of them all,
than could have been supposed possible in so short a term of years. But the
underlying mischief was not removed nor touched ; and those who looked to
the admirable administration of law and justice by Lord Normanby's govern-
ment for the redemption of Ireland were wrong.
3. The idea that an affectionate despotism-^a government by apostles — GOV
is the only government that will suit the Irish people, unfit as they are thought
to have shown themselves for a share in a representative system, seems almost
OVERNMENT
292 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 40. too romantic and unpractical for an express mention in our age. But it
v— — -v~«— --' happens, curiously enough, that we have evidence before our eyes that, suit-
able as a government by apostles may be to the Irish mind and temper, it
could not avail for the redemption of the country. There has been no want
of apostles or of idols in our own time; and little permanent good has
accrued from the action of the very best. Lord Normanby and his coadjutors
were truly apostles, on a mission of justice and mercy; yet, after how short a
course of years were they compelled to avow that their " policy of concilia-
tion was exhausted!" In the latter years of their term, too, they had the
THE QUEEN. advantage of speaking in the name of the Queen, who was perfectly idolized
throughout the length and breadth of the land. We are assured by those
who have explored the repository of Irish songs, and collected the political
ballads which abound among the peasantry, that in O'ConnelPs most tri-
umphant days, his simplest admirers did not dream of his title of king interfer-
rninlTRev^f' *ng witb tnat of tne Queen- Her Majesty, we are told, had a perfect host of
ixiv. p. 92. volunteer poet laureates ; and the publishers of the popular literature declared
that the most favourite old national ballads would not sell unless some lines
in praise of Victoria were added. In the religious ballads, her Majesty is
even more prominent still. The prophecies of this beloved order of poetry,
whose tone is prophetic throughout, all point to the restoration of the true
Church, and of Irish prosperity in consequence. Always favourites of the
Catholic peasantry, from Queen Elizabeth's days to Queen Victoria's, they
circulate most diligently in times of discontent and approaching revolt ; and
they now, for the first time since the Revolution, expressed trust in a lawful
ruler. In Elizabeth's days, the retriever was to be the king of Spain ; then
the O'Neill; then the Stuarts, regnant and exiled: then Dan. O'Connell; and,
at the time under our notice, Queen Victoria. She is to build up the old
Munster Cathedral, and the Catholic Church generally ; and to remedy every
evil, great and small, that afflicts humanity in her Irish dominions. And
there is, in the eyes of the singers of these ballads, no unreasonableness in
expecting such things from "our noble young Queen:" on the contrary, it
would be impious to expect less — Victoria being especially watched over by
the Virgin, and aided by St. Francis; and having as supporters Lord Mulgrave
on the one hand, and Dan. O'Connell on the other. While the Orangemen
of the North were striving to outdo every body in protestations of devotion to
the Queen, and she was thus adored by the Catholic peasantry of the south,
her representative and ministers had no permanent success in their efforts to
" tranquillize Ireland." — Nor, as it appears, would they have succeeded better
if the great apostle of all had been at the antipodes. In governing by an
affectionate despotism, it would always be a difficulty to make sure of having
O'CONNELL. but one despot at a time. O'Connell, however, though he might at any
moment interfere with the course of the Mulgrave or any other administra-
tion, was not, in fact, at this period interfering with it. For a short time, he
left off calling the government " the base, bloody, and brutal Whigs," and
mentioned Repeal only now and then, to keep up the government to its busi-
ness, as he thought. He heard with delighted ears, and repeated with an
untiring tongue, the declaration of Lord John Russell, in February, 1837, of
the principles which the Whigs consulted in their theory of Irish government,
CHAP. VI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 293
a declaration which he interpreted as a manifesto in favour of ruling Ireland 1835 — 40.
by an affectionate despotism. " I will take leave," said Lord John Russell, *~" """ >^-—- "
•' . Hansard, xxxvi.
in introducing the Irish Municipal Reform Bill, "to quote the principle of 210.
our conduct from the recorded words of a very great man Mr. Fox
stated, in a very eloquent speech which he delivered in 1797, the principles
upon which he conceived the government of Ireland should be conducted.
He stated in his usual frank, it might be said incautious, manner, that he
conceived that concessions should be made to the people of Ireland — he said,
if he found he had not conceded enough, he would concede more — he said
that he thought the only way of governing Ireland was to please the people of
Ireland — that he knew no better source of strength to this country — and he
declared in one sentence which I will read to the House, his wish with respect
to the government of Ireland. ' My wish is,' said Mr. Fox, ' that the whole
people of Ireland should have the same principles, the same system, the same
operation, of government ; and though it may be a subordinate consideration,
that all classes should have an equal chance of emolument ; in other words,
I would have the whole Irish government regulated by Irish notions and
Irish prejudices ; and I firmly believe, according to another Irish expression,
the more she is under Irish government, the more will she be bound to
English interests.'" This would have been all very well, if the only danger
of antagonism had been between Ireland and England ; but the theory was
vitiated, fatally, by the antagonism of parties within Ireland herself. How-
ever, its enunciation gave sufficient satisfaction to O'Connell to secure his
temporary co-operation. He praised the Whigs, dined with the Viceroy, railed
at the Opposition in the House of Commons with a coarseness of language
and demeanour which confounded the Speaker himself; called upon every
peasant in every village to regard himself as a supporter of the government ;
but withal kept up his General Association — the successor of the Catholic
Association — and gave it the name of the Precursor Society, as a broad hint of
the Repeal agitation that would follow, if the government fell below his mark.
It was in 1836, when the Lords were throwing out their Municipal Reform
Bill, that the organization was restored, for " the rousing of the millions of
Ireland," as Mr. Sheil said, "and a development of the might which slumbers Annual Register,
in her arm." — " The Association, the old Association, with its millions for
its sustainment, is what we want, and what we needs must have again." And
they had it, at its old place of meeting, the Corn Exchange, with its old chair,
presented to it by O'Connell ; its tribute, under the new name of the Justice
Rent : its machinery of appeals and of regulation, and of registration, and its
old assumption of dictatorial power. It was an affectionate despotism, corro-
borative for a time of British government, but ready for opposition at any
moment. Its change of title from the General to the Precursor Association,
was ominous; and it sounded somewhat like a bull when O'Connell, in
1839, at the time of the fiercest parliamentary opposition to the Normanby
administration, called upon his "two millions of Precursors," to rally in
defence of the Saxon government of the day. How far the mission of the
great apostle of all tended to the tranquillization of Ireland, it would be a
mere mockery to pretend to point out.
As if to meet the objection that the failure of such a mission is ascribable to
294 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 4.0. the vices of the apostle, another affectionate despotism, exercised by a blame-
^—- ~-~—- ' less apostle, was now extending in Ireland. — In 1829, Ireland spent 6,000,000/.
w'on proof-spirits; and there was not a town where men "beastly drunk" with
whiskey were not staggering about the streets, ready for a fight on any pre-
tence or none; and not a hamlet in the country where the hovel of the sot
might not be seen, bare of comfort and teeming with disease. In the summer
of that year, an American gentleman visited a friend at Belfast ; and some
Hairs Ireland, in. must have afterwards thought of that blessing on the hospitable, that they
"may entertain angels unawares." Dr. Penny from America found his host,
Dr. Edgar, of Belfast, meditating the means of securing the better observance
of the Sabbath, and a purer social conduct altogether, in the city of his abode.
Just before this, all good men in the cities of the United States had taken
alarm at the spread of intemperance in their prosperous country, and were
glad to embrace any method which might promise even a temporary check.
The wisest of them were far from supposing that moral restraint can be
effectually and permanently secured by any mechanical organization ; and
there were many who seriously dreaded the consequences of imposing an
artificial check which, if it gave way, would plunge the victim into the worse
sin of perjury, and utterly degrade him in his own eyes. If the dispossessed
devil should return, he would inevitably bring with him others worse than
himself. And the testimony of physicians soon proved but too plainly that
there were frequent violations of the pledge, and hopeless relapses into intem-
perance, now made doubly foul by having become secret and wrapped up in
lies. Still, it was so absolutely necessary that something should be done,
that the wisest, with trembling tread, followed where the rash rushed in upon
the sacred precincts of conscience, and lent a hand to work the machinery by
which its free action was to be superseded. They thought they must take
their chance with the adults for the sake of the young. They must run
the risk of betraying the mature sinner into deeper guilt, to save the
rising generation from overpowering temptation. They must shut up the
spirit-shops and distilleries, and clear the streets of drunken men, and
cleanse the private houses of the smell of rum — they must put the sin
and its means and incentives out of sight — out of the reach of every sense,
that it might occur as little as possible to any mind, and that children might
not be infected into the destruction which had overtaken their fathers. Those
who were most clearly sensible of the unsoundness of the principle of societies
for individual moral restraint yet dared not refuse to join this movement in a
crisis which, to use the words of an American clergyman, " threatened to
overthrow society, and humanity itself, in the United States." The work was
in progress in that summer when Dr. Penny visited Dr. Edgar at Belfast.
From what he heard, Dr. Edgar resolved that his efforts should be made in
this direction ; and he published his first Appeal on behalf of Temperance
Societies, in August, 1829. In the course of a year, four travelling agents
dispersed his tracts all over the island. By keeping the subject constantly
before the public eye, he caused knowledge, as well as interest, to spring up
in every direction ; and it was not long before thoughtful men in all parts of
Hairs Ireland, in. lreianti ]ia^ become aware that four-fifths of the crime brought up for justice,
three-fourths of the hopeless beggary, (at that period,) and an immeasurable
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 295
amount of disease and mental suffering, proceeded from the practice of spirit- 1835 — 40.
drinking. The Surgeon-General for Ireland testified that, in Dublin, nearly ^— -^ '
one-fourth of the deaths of adults were caused by spirit-drinking: a county
magistrate of Antrim furnished a list of forty-eight persons who had perished
from the same cause, within two miles of his house, and within his own
recollection : and there was abundant proof that in extensive neighbourhoods
not one dwelling was pure from the vice. Here was scope for the operations
of an affectionate despotism. A fitting apostle came, and the experiment was
tried.
From that summer of 1829, Temperance Societies had been formed here M^EM^NT™
and there — the first being in New Ross, proposed and opened by the Rev.
George Carr, a clergyman of the Established Church. Some inhabitants of
Cork — a clergyman, a Quaker, a slater, and a tailor, anxious to accomplish a "*11>9 Ireland> '
similar object in their city, commended the enterprise to a man, popular above
every one in the place, and liberal enough to be on good terms with men of
all opinions — a Capuchin friar, and Superior of the order, by name Theobald
Mathew. He gave his mind and heart to the work, and became the great
moral, as O'Connell was the political, apostle of Ireland.
It must be allowed that something beyond the morality of the case might SPRINGS OF THE
0 ' • MOVEMENT.
probably be in the minds of the followers of Father Mathew. Of the two
millions whom he had in a few months pledged to temperance, there were no
doubt many who supposed that some great crisis was at hand which required
this act of self-denial from all true Irishmen — that they might be up and
awake, have their wits about them, and be ready for action — whether Victoria
should come to restore the Catholic Church, or the Liberator to be king of
Ireland, or Repeal should make every man's plot of ground fruitful in potatoes.
It was a prevalent belief among the peasantry that Father Mathew could work
miracles ; and some even declared that he had raised a person from the
dead. The terrific zeal with which the people rushed into a condition of tem-
perance, shows an extraordinary strength of expectation, whatever the object
of it might be ; and there is no question of the fact, that the political leaders
in Ireland considered it of importance to organize and train the water-drinkers
of Ireland into a force, with its marching companies, its brass bands, and its
community of sentiment. These things show, not only the blessing that it
was to the Irish to have for an apostle a man so disinterested as Father
Mathew, but also how insecure and dangerous is government by affectionate
despotism, which may always be liable to be appropriated by the most artful
and unscrupulous agitator for his own purposes. After a year or two from
the crowding of the country people into Limerick to take the pledge in such
multitudes as to break down iron railings, and cause deaths from trampling Annual Register,
and pressure — within a year or two of the time when Father Mathew found it 1839: cliron-248<
necessary to travel among his hundreds of thousands of disciples, because their
thronging to him was dangerous to life and limb, it was noticed that the Irish
character appeared to have sensibly changed. If, as has been said, the rebel- »,..- ^
lion of 1798 was put down by force of whiskey and not of arms, it had now
evidently become of first-rate importance that the hosts of sober grave-faced
men, who came marching to the Temperance field, without fun and frolic, and
with no noise but that of their practised bands of music, should not be driven
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. or led into rebellion; for it was clear that whiskey would not now put them
down. It must be hoped that the evil disposed would find it less easy now
than formerly to lead or drive them into rebellion, for assuredly rebellion
would henceforth be a more formidable thing than it had hitherto been. Here
were two millions of men, of a passionate nature — suddenly debarred from
an accustomed outlet of passion and animal spirits, and, by the same change,
left with a large amount of time on their hands, and with heads cool for
thought and device. If they had had more knowledge and a sufficiency of
good leaders, this would have been the opportunity — the finest ever offered in
the history of their country — for attaching them to the English connexion by
showing to them the benefits of that connexion under the Normanby govern-
ment, and the far greater blessings which must accrue upon their being merely
deserved. Now was the golden opportunity for beginning a sound political
education, if only the great political apostle had been worthy of the honour
of his post. This could not have redeemed Ireland — directly or immediately ;
for the great underlying mischief was still untouched : but it might have
somewhat softened the horrors of the impending doom of Ireland ; and it
would at least have mitigated the pain on every hand, if that doom had over-
taken a nation of thoughtful rational men, striving with courageous prudence
and energy against their fate, amidst the respect of a sympathizing world,
instead of a mass of helpless and heart-wrung sufferers, betrayed by selfish or
senseless agitators, and beguiled to the last by visions conceived in nonsense
and vanishing in woe. Father Mathew did his work — did it in purity of
heart and devotedness of soul. O'Connell perverted it, as we shall hereafter
see. He seized upon the new gravity and critical leisure which Father
Mathew had evoked — he seized upon the minds all alive with wonder, and
the hearts all glowing with gratitude at the blessed change wrought by a
general temperance in health and home, and turned them full into the chan-
nel of his repeal agitation. He called, and probably believed, his rule over
the Catholic Irish an affectionate despotism : but we can hardly conceive of
his influence being more fatal to his trusting countrymen if he had laid waste
their fields with actual firebrands instead of with those of the tongue, and
driven them from their homes with curses, instead of unsettling their lives
with cruel promises of fabulous good. Ireland has been abundantly cursed
with barbarous despots ; but it may be doubted whether any one of them, in
the long course of centuries, has perpetrated such effectual cruelty as the
despot whom his victims called their Liberator, and hoped to see their
king.
Father Mathew did his work, on the whole, well — unquestionably with as
much singleness of aim as devotion of soul. Wherever he had been, blessings
sprang up, as if he had indeed been the heaven-sent friend that he was taken
SPEEIW RESULTS, to be. The water springs gave out health and refreshment ; and the daily
food had a new relish. The dull eye grew bright ; the mad pulse subsided ;
the staggering gait became a manly tread. The cabin roof kept out the rain:
the decent table, with decent seats round it, appeared again in the middle of
the lately empty room. There was a bed now, inviting to a sleep which had
become light and sweet. The chest gradually filled with clothes, and the
stocking in the thatch grew heavy with money. The wrangling voice, roaring
CHAP. VI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 297
curses or tipsy songs, grew gentle and cheerful. The very echoes — at least 1835 — 40.
the celebrated ones— of Killarney and the mountain passes sought by strangers, — — -v—»^-
had changed their tone and theme, and now promised coffee instead of whiskey
to the guides on their return. The distilleries were shut up by dozens ; and
the little suspicious clouds of blue smoke which used to curl away over the
heathery knolls in the wilds seemed to have whiffed away altogether. The
grog shops were changed into coffee kitchens, and men laid their wits together
in speculations about the tactics of O'Connell and the fate of Ireland, instead
of breaking one another's heads in drunken frays. There was a large increase,
in the very first year, in the number of depositors in Savings' Banks : at
the end of two years, when the number of the pledged exceeded two millions
and a half, no one of the whole host had appeared before judge or jury.
Ireland had before paid away six millions in one year for proof-spirit : now,
in two years, the consumption, for all purposes whatever, had lessened to little
more than one half. The drawback on the satisfaction of all this was, that Porter's Progress,
SIT v P 54
the principle on which the reform proceeded was not altogether sound, and the
reform itself could not therefore be permanent in all its entireness. When
the superstitious disciple kneeled down before the heaven-sent friar, spoke the
oath, received the sign of the cross and the uniform blessing, and then had
the medal and card put into his hand, it was in a firm belief that some tremen-
dous plague would come upon him if he broke his pledge; that Father
Mathew knew men's thoughts, and had a divine power to heal and to save ;
and that some divine virtue resided in the medal and card. Father Mathew
did not originate the superstitions ; but he thought it hopeless to contend with
them. "If I could prevent them," he said in a letter, "without impeding Hairs Ireland, i.
j o p. 4o (note).
the glorious cause, they should not have been permitted: but both are so
closely entwined, that the tares cannot be pulled out without plucking up the
wheat also. The evil will correct itself; and the good, with the Divine assist-
ance, will remain and be permanent." It needs no showing that the tempe-
rance movement of Father Mathew is thus reduced from a secure moral reform
to a temporary enthusiasm — in as far as the superstitions are included within
its scope. It is a rational hope that much seed may have fallen into good
ground ; but the sower has grievously erred in consigning some to soil where
it cannot take root, but must wither away. — It is, however, a most impressive
fact that, by one of the affectionate despotisms co-existing with Lord Mul-
grave's eminently constitutional rule, two millions and a half of gay or brutal
drunkards were turned into a corps of the most thoughtful and emotional men
in Ireland.
4. There were persons and parties who believed that Ireland would be best T|IEF«ANCHISE
A AND IvEGISTIlA-
redeemed by a cure of her notorious political corruption ; and that that cure T10N-
might be best wrought by such a machinery of supervision as would, in
fact, restrict the franchise within what were called safe limits. When men
related to each other how landlords in Ireland had cut up their estates to make
small freeholds; what droves of ignorant serfs were carried to the polling
booths to vote in a mass as their landlord bade them ; how these freeholders
suddenly passed over from the dominion of their landlords to that of their
priests, and how this led to the disfraiichisement of the Forties; they were apt
to agree that a state of things so bad as to have caused tnat disfraiichisement
VOL. II. 2 Q
298 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 40. must be most radically cured by an extension of the same process, or of an
— - — ^^— — equivalent safeguard. From such views and consultations issued Lord Stan-
ley's Registration Bill for Ireland of 1840.
There was no dispute about the enormity of the abuses of the franchise in
Ireland. Lord Melbourne's government waited only for a further settlement
of the registration machinery of England and Scotland to take in hand the
reform of such corruption in Ireland as was practised by means of registration
certificates. It was not difficult for a man to get registered three or four times
over, obtaining a certificate each time ; and of course, it was easy enough to
make these certificates passports for fictitious votes. In order to guard against
LORD STANLEY'S ^jg an(j otner abuses, Lord Stanley's measure proposed a method and ma-
REGISTRATION ' •> r r
BlLL- . , chinerv of registration so onerous and irksome as would, in the opinion of
Hansard, In. 623 J O ... . . .
_628. government and of a majority in parliament, act as a virtual disfranchisement.
If every vote might be annually revised, and an appeal on the part of the
voter must be made to the judge once a year, it could not be believed that
voters circumstanced as multitudes of the Irish tenantry were, would or could
undergo such a discipline for the sake of the privilege of the franchise. — Lord
Hansard, HV. 202 j Russell thought this Bill the most formidable attack yet made on the prin-
ciples of the Reform Act. The aim of the Reform legislation was to extend
and facilitate the exercise of the franchise, while this proposed method of
registration threw every possible difficulty and discouragement in the way.
As the case was, however, one which could not be neglected, and a bad mea-
sure would be carried if a good one were not proposed, the Ministers bestirred
themselves to prepare an Irish Registration Bill which should drive out Lord
Stanley's. The Ministers did not disguise their apprehensions of the effect of
the Opposition measure, if carried, nor that they conceived its operation, if
not its intent, to be to counteract the Emancipation measure of 1829 by ren-
dering it difficult or impossible for the poorer — that is, the Catholic portion of
Ireland — to send their fair share of representatives to parliament. Lord John
Russell pointed to the much-dreaded power of O'Connell in Ireland as little
formidable while the Irish should have faith in the justice and good-will of the
Hansard, HV. 213. British parliament. "That," said he, "I believe to be the state of things
now. But let this Bill pass : show that you are determined, step by step, to
take away the franchise from the people of Ireland, to disable them from
sending Roman Catholics as members of this House ; obtain that supremacy
if you can which you have not had for many years ; indulge in the triumph
which the minority would then indulge in over the majority; insult, vilify, and
abuse the Roman Catholics ; tell them that the people are ignorant, degraded,
and priest-ridden, and speak of those priests in a tone of contumely and con-
tempt ; do all this, and you will have done more for repeal than anything the
hon. and learned gentleman has been able to effect by his speeches upon this
subject." Such language as this from a member of the Cabinet indicates
what was felt of the extremity of the risk. — Lord Stanley and his friends
naturally protested against the charge of insidiously contriving to narrow the
franchise, and to keep the Catholic representatives out of parliament. Sir R.
Peel was among those who thus protested. It is most probable that they
meant — as men in parliament always do mean — only what they considered
good ; to cut off abuses, and leave the franchise sound : and if that operation
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 299
should issue in giving less power than before to the ignorant Catholic popula- 1835 — 40.
tion, they could not pretend to think that consequence any great evil. But
they, by their very vindication of their intentions, exposed themselves to the
charge of not understanding the conditions of the suffrage in the country
districts of Ireland, where, whether they knew it or not, this Bill would act
as a sweeping disfranchisement. If they knew this, they could not quarrel
with the charges of their opponents ; if they did not know it, they ought to
have known it.
The danger was from this state of things being little understood by the
greater number of members in the House. If the Ministers were alarmed at
the outset of Lord Stanley's enterprise, they might well be in a panic as the
summer drew on. The second reading of the Bill was carried by a majority
of 16 on the 26th of March. On the question of going into committee on Hansard, im. 157.
the 20th of May, there was a majority of three against Ministers. They were Hansard, iiv.4,,4.
beaten in every attempt to throw out their opponents on any point whatever.
O'Connell grew savage; and the more violent supporters of the Bill exas-
perated his passion by insults which no man of flesh and blood could be
expected to endure. When, on this first night in committee, he said that
this was a Bill for trampling on the liberties of the people of Ireland, several
members shouted in his face — whistled in his face — laughed full in his face.
At each insult he repeated the words — the inattention of the Chairman allow-
ing the scene to go on : and after the third repetition of the assertion, in his
most emphatic manner, Mr. O'Connell brought matters to a crisis by exclaim- Hansard, HV.
ing, " If you were ten times as beastly in your uproar and bellowing, I should
still feel it to be my duty to interpose to prevent this injustice." On being
called to account, some of his humour peeped out in his appeal to natural
history. " Bellowing " was certainly the right word, he said ; and what crea-
tures but beasts were able to bellow ? The uproar showed the extremity of
the hope and fear of parties in one way; and then, the obstructions and
struggles in committee- showed the same thing in another way. No means
and devices were spared to delay the progress of the Bill ; and, on the 6th of
July, Lord Stanley gave in, for this session. His tone was, reasonably Hansard, iv. 459.
enough, one of triumph, while acknowledging the certainty of defeat by
delay, if he did not withdraw his measure. He repudiated the censure most
prominently put forward about his Bill — that it did not raise any question
about the franchise — avowing that the reform of the registration was the aim
of the measure. He pointed with pride to the 300 members who had sus-
tained an Opposition Bill against the whole power of the government through
ten divisions, in nine of which the Ministers were beaten : and he promised a
renewal of the struggle early in the next session.
In the interval, an association was formed in Ulster, for the object of pro-
curing a reform of the registration ; and Lord Stanley made some few, and
not very important changes in his Bill, on their information. He introduced
his measure on the 2d of February ; and the government brought in their rival THE GOVEBNMENT
Bill two days afterwards. There is something painful in the retrospect of this Hansard, IT. 274.
whole transaction. It was now several years since the Reform Bill had passed,
and nothing had been done for electoral improvement in Ireland. The Whig
government offered reasons and excuses in plenty ; but nothing that they could
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 40. say obviated the general impression that that must be a government too weak
to rule which cannot get its proper business done till it is roused into a spirit
of rivalship with the Opposition. Lord Howick had voted steadily with Lord
Stanley on his Registration measure, from the conviction that some reform of
the kind was imperatively needed. The Ministers promised a rival measure :
the Ulster Association, and their nine defeats on Lord Stanley's move, quick-
ened their speed ; and their Bill was ready to run a race with Lord Stanley's
through the next session. But they brought dislike and some contempt on
their Bill and themselves, by the unstatesmanlike and somewhat petty method
which they adopted now, as too often before, of tacking to their measure — as
a sort of postscript — a proposal of vast importance, which seemed to demand
previous announcement, and a special and well-prepared discussion. It was
one of the most painful signs of the weakness of the successive Whig minis-
tries, that they had recourse to the vulgar expedient of surprises, almost as
often as they had any serious work to do. For the moment, it appeared to
give them some advantage, by depriving the Opposition of all opportunity for
immediate concert, and by exciting afresh an emotion of hope and gratitude
among the dissatisfied Liberal party throughout the country : but such
emotions grow weaker and less responsive under a series of surprises ; and the
Opposition learned by experience how to act in such cases. In the instance of
the Reform Bill, when all the world knew that the men came into power for
the purpose of doing a particular work, it was prudent and eminently bene-
ficial to keep secret to the last moment the scope and details of the measure on
which every man, in and out of parliament, was speculating. But the per-
petual repetition of secrecy and surprising announcements took, after a time,
the appearance of a trick ; and especially when, as in the case before us, an
essential and wholly unlooked-for change was arbitrarily connected with a Bill
which professed something quite different. The government Bill, after treat-
ing of the registration of voters in Ireland, went on to propose a radical change
in the franchise — its establishment on "a basis distinct and independent,"
and entirely new. The so-called Registration Bill was in fact an unannounced
new Reform Bill for Ireland. The valuation under the Poor Law (of which
Hansard, iv. ivo. we shall presently speak) was to be the entirely new basis : and an occupier
of a tenement of the yearly value of £5, under a term of not less than four-
teen years, was to enter upon the rights of suffrage hitherto enjoyed by persons
having a beneficial interest to the amount of £10.
Those who most seriously desired the extension of the franchise in Ireland
were perhaps the most concerned at this method of proposing it. They felt
that a question so great was injured by such treatment of it. The Ministers
had no reason to feel elated by the reception of their measure. Lord Howick,
and others who had acted with him in the preceding session, now, when they
saw the matter really taken in hand, joined the government party again : the
debate was full and earnest, extending over four nights ; yet the Ministerial
Hansard, hi ii26 majority for the second reading was only five. Their opponents took for
granted that they always knew that they could not carry their Bill. There is
no need to attribute to them such guilt as would be implied in sporting with
the expectations of the disfranchised thousands in Ireland for party purposes :
but they cannot be acquitted of the levity or miscalculation (to say the least
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 301
of it) of bringing forward a measure of such tantalizing promise, under circum- 1835 — 40.
stances eminently unfavourable to its success. Lord J. Russell's next course x
was not one which could command the respect of any party. After the division,
he announced the desire of the government to lose no time with the Bill, and
that he should therefore bring it forward again the next Monday. When
Monday came, however, he proposed to defer the discussion till after Easter, Hansard, ivi. 1153.
as he found many members impressed by the proposal of the new franchise,
and he wished to obtain more full and accurate information before the matter
was further discussed. It is not to be wondered at that this awkward expla-
nation was received with " shouts of laughter ;" nor that the Opposition
taunted Ministers with having never entertained any expectation of passing
the all-important provision of their Bill. They had had the recess in which
to prepare for what they knew must be a critical struggle ; and now, after the
second stage of the business, and after many protestations of a desire to lose
no time, they asked for a pause, in order to procure information enough to
proceed upon in the discussion of their own measure. The postponement
proposed was to the 23rd of April; and from Lord Stanley himself down to Hansard, M. use.
the/lowest Irish newspapers in the Repeal interest, there was one loud pro-
jstation of belief that the real aim of the Ministers was to drive Lord Stanley's
measure to the end of the session, and not to carry their own. Lord Stanley,
meantime, gave early notice that he should contest to the last the proposal of
a £5 qualification. The immediate consequence was, that, prior to all dis-
cussion, the Ministers raised the qualification from £5 to £8.
When the House went into committee on the 26th of April, Lord Howick
moved an amendment on the first clause, designed for the better ascertainment Hansard, ivii.
1091
of that " beneficial interest" of the occupier, which was practically a constant
difficulty in the determining of rating and electoral qualification. The amend-
ment, in fact, brought before the Committee the question whether the amount
of poor-rate paid should be the sole qualification of a voter, whether he had a
beneficial interest in his holding or not ; or whether a beneficial interest should
be maintained as a test of the right to vote. Sir R. Peel and others saw that
the fate of the amendment would decide that of the Bill. But, when Lord
Howick's amendment was carried by a majority of 21, Lord J. Russell pro- Hansard, ivii.
posed delay, to consider whether Ministers must withdraw their measure. They
concluded not to withdraw it, as Lord Howick declared that his amendment
proposed a merely supplementary qualification, and not one which should super-
sede that provided in the Bill. From this time, the scene in committee was
painful and humbling: — every Liberal member who came forward had something
essential to propose about the franchise, different from what any one else had
thought of : the government were irresolute and changeable : the Opposition
laughed and triumphed. The final division took place on the qualification
clause, when there was a majority of 11 against Ministers, supported as they Hansard, ivii
were by O'Connell and his influence. If all else had been favourable, the 1274
vacillation of Ministers among the propositions of their own supporters was
enough to ensure the loss of their Bill. They seemed to be influenced by the
last speaker, after the manner of persons ignorant of their business ; and they
shifted the amount of rating again and again, as if they did not know that,
with every such change, they were proposing to admit or to exclude half or
302 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 40. two-thirds of a constituency with a stroke of the pen. Here, however, was a
^— ^s^^^ close of the unhappy business. It was impossible to go on ; and Lord J. Rus-
Hansard, MI. sell moved that the Chairman should quit the chair. — Nor could Lord Stanley's
FAILURE OF BOTH Bill be proceeded with during that session. The whole transaction ended
without other results than aggravated provocation of the Irish, who had been
tantalized to no purpose — great loss of the time and patience of parliament —
and an irrecoverable decline of the Whig administration in the esteem and
good-will of their supporters, and the estimation of the nation at large. — Here
was an end, too — and this was perhaps no bad result — of all speculation about
the cure of political corruption being the true means of the redemption of Ire-
land. If Ireland was to wait for this, it would be too late to redeem her at
all ; for it was clear that electoral renovation would not be granted to her while
there were two parties in the British parliament.
CATION. 5. Some of the most earnest and thoughtful of the friends of Ireland were
among the many who looked for her redemption at the other end of the scale
from the advocates of an affectionate despotism. Instead of desiring that the
people should have every thing done for them, and be kept out of sight of the
law which they hated and distrusted, these friends of the Irish proposed to
induce a knowledge and love of the function and prevalence of law by making
the inhabitants of Ireland learn self-government by the discipline of good
municipal institutions. England was now sprinkled all over with little republics,
where her citizens would receive the best political education in the best
manner ; and it was thought that a similar system would do for Ireland all
that she needed, by improving her people socially and politically, and bringing
her into a relation with England which would silence for ever the cry of
Repeal. The proposal was a good and great one; and, but for the deep
underlying mischief, it might have largely availed, in course of years. But
this mischief was exactly in the way, in the present case. It must precisely
intercept the beneficial results of municipal reform ; for, among all the curses
attributable to the insecurity of title to the possession of land in Ireland, none
is more fatal than its prevention of the growth of a middle class.
MUNICIPAL RB- „. . 1-1,1 e ,1 , •
FORM. Ihere was no question on which the passions ot the two great parties 111
Parliament became more fierce, as the debate was renewed from year to year,
than on this — of Municipal Reform in Ireland. There was hardly a man, in
or out of Parliament, who did not take a side, with all the decision and
certainty, and all the wonder and wrath at his opponents, which attend upon
the discussion of vital political questions. It was not only that Lord John
Hansard, xxxvi. -n i i -i • i • i i n • i
209. Russell declared in his place that this was "a vital question to the present
administration:" it was also known to be vital to the fate of Ireland — whether
she was to be governed on one set of principles or the opposite: — and again,
it was felt to be vital to the fate of Great Britain too, as determining whether
she was to halt between two opinions, or to decide finally for that principle of
renovation and progress of which the policy of her latest years had been the
exponent. Considering these things, the strife could not but be fierce — it was
hardly possible for individual opponents to be just to each other : and for the
respective parties it was quite impossible. We, however, at the distance of
ten or twelve years, can see things more plainly than any one saw them then.
We have had grave admonition and mournful rebuke about our confident judg-
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 303
meiit, our positiveiiess, our presumptuous and shallow censures of public men 1335 — 40.
and of our own antagonists in argument. While still only half-seeing about v_-^.
Ireland— Still " sounding on, a dim and perilous way " in investigating the
sources of her woes, we are not so dark and insensible as we were ten years
ago ; and we are now able to perceive that, if both parties and almost all
individual men were wrong, both parties and all leading men were also
right.
The views of the respective parties, as declared by their spokesmen, were
these : —
The Whig Ministers and the Liberal party generally regarded Municipal ™™™v" PRIN"
Reform in Ireland as an essential part of the scheme of Institutional Renova-
tion which the nation had deliberately adopted. It was the proper and
necessary finish of Parliamentary Reform in all the three kingdoms, and
Borough Reform in England, Wales, and Scotland. They considered it
especially indispensable in regard to Ireland, because Ireland needed, above
every other part of the empire, an identification with England in her politi-
cal privileges and fortunes. — They regarded Municipal Reform as more
necessary in Ireland than elsewhere, because an abuse existed in Ireland,
remediable by these means, perfectly singular in its mischief and intolerable-
ness — the injurious distinction of creeds established by the existing Corpora-
tion system. In the time of James I., municipal officers who would not Poiit.Dict.ii.392.
enforce Protestant modes of worship in their respective towns were ejected,
and creatures of the government put in their places : and the new holders of
office surrendered the rights and privileges of their townsmen into the king's
hands, and accepted fresh charters which allowed scarcely any powers to the
local residents, and left the nomination to all important offices to the govern-
ment. The government nominees had power to appoint their successors: and
thus, the exclusion of the Catholic majority from local power and privilege
was as complete as the Protestant minority chose. In 1672, some relaxation
of the Protestant monopoly took place in virtue of the "New Rules" issued
by the Irish government. But the Revolution, sixteen years aftenvards, anni-
hilated the virtue of these rules, and all social advantage derivable from
Municipal institutions was again monopolized by Protestants. — Within this
monopoly, smaller monopolies arose, till, in many Irish towns, the corporate
bodies had become mere family parties — all offices being held by relations
and dependents of the chief member, or of a great Protestant landlord in the
neighbourhood ; and even the parliamentary member being merely a nominee
of these nominees. These usurped powers became actually subjects of pro-
prietorship— being transmitted by inheritance, openly sold to competitors, and
recognised as a ground of compensation by the National government when
the Union interfered with the right of these " patrons" or proprietors to send
members to parliament. Under such a holding of municipal power and privi-
lege, there could of course be no impartial administration of justice. No one
can wonder at the prevalent distrust and hatred of the law in Ireland when it
is considered how hopeless was the chance of the Catholic and the man of
liberal politics in a locality where justice must be sought, if at all, from
magistrates, juries, and minor officials, who were chosen for their zeal in an
adverse religious and political faith.- — Then again, a large number— in some
304 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. cases almost the whole body — of burgesses were non-residents, patronized by
*— — v—~_ ^ the officials, and introduced to borough privileges in swarms, while the inha-
bitants were left helpless, to be victimized by their impertinent oppressors.
The charity funds, the lands, the borough houses, the water- works — all the
property which should have made their towns healthful and handsome, and
have relieved their poor, and educated the young, and raised the condition of
the whole local -population — -went into the pockets of half a dozen men, or into
utter waste and loss. The Commissioners' Reports tell of thousands of acres
of land which would, at that date (1833) have readily brought in £1 an acre,
being let, 011 leases of 99 years, for Is. an acre, or less : of tolls and customs
being pocketed, as a matter of course, by the Mayor and Aldermen, while
the streets were unpaved, dark, and never cleaned : of the noble water-works
of Archbishop Bolton at Cashel being destroyed from utter neglect — miles of
underground conduits being choked up, and the water turned off for the
convenience of a miller — the whole being recoverable by an outlay of £500,
while the Corporate officers were making presents to one another of many thou-
sands annually, by iniquitous leases and bargains. — Here was a case as strong
as need be. In desiring to reform it, and in stating the inestimable value of
free municipal institutions, the Whig government and the Liberal party were
eminently right. — Where they were wrong was in assuming too easily that
free municipal institutions would answer in Ireland as in England ; in con-
cluding that the true reason for the opposition of their antagonists was a fear
for the Protestant Church in Ireland, which overpowered all consideration for
the good of the majority ; and in unscrupulously charging their adversaries
with a predilection for tyranny, in their advocacy of a centralizing principle
of government for Ireland, and with rapacity and corruption in desiring to
retain the profits of the old system for their local partisans.
The Conservatives, on the other hand, seem to have been right in perceiving
PR?NCIPLI!EZINO that ^he Peculiar condition of society in Ireland must prevent the full and
free working of popular institutions. They seem to have laid hold of the
fearful truth recently expressed by one who loves Ireland too well to be of
any party, in regard to her interests. " A government based on popular
condition and institutions," says Mr. Pirn, " fails to secure order, unless it have the support
land, Pc 190. of the people. Ireland appears to labour under the difficulty of having aris-
tocratic social institutions without an aristocracy; and the mechanism of a
popular government, inapplicable to its present social condition; because it
does not possess an educated middle class, by whom these popular institutions
might be worked." The aim of the Conservatives was to prevent the assign-
ment to Ireland of " the mechanism of a popular government, inapplicable to
its present social condition." They had a perfect right to prefer a centralizing
principle of government for a country in so peculiar a condition ; and the
question of their credit should have depended altogether on the merits or
demerits of their centralizing scheme. From this point of view, they appear
to have been more clear-sighted than the Whigs ; while from another, they
seem to have committed the grossest error belonging to the time and occa-
sion. They adhered, consciously or unconsciously, to the hope and expec-
tation which founded the Church in Ireland, and has kept it there, m et armis,
as a Missionary Establishment. " For the last three centuries," said a con-
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 305
temporary writer, " Ireland has only had a provisional government, constituted 1835 — 40.
for a state of things dependent on the duration of Popery, which was supposed x— ~-— ^-^
.,,,„,,.„,,,,,,., . . , ~ . London Review,
to be a temporary evil. To this fatally foolish supposition, the Conservatives oct.isag, P. 101.
adhered, in their opposition to Municipal Reform — not avowedly, and probably
not consciously, but all that they proposed, and every step when they opposed,
was vitiated by a tacit assumption, that, while the Catholics were to be cared
for, it was as a suffering multitude who were to be Protestants ere long. This
gave a provisional air to the proposals of the Conservatives, and disabled them
from appreciating the Whig aim of settling matters on a basis which would
endure. — Again, it was natural for the Conservatives to remonstrate against
the rashness (as they thought it) of encouraging the unhappy disposition of
the Irish to hanker after some vague political remedy for miseries purely social
or moral. It was natural that they should look upon the Whigs, when holding
out unreasonable hopes to the Irish from Municipal Reform, as too much
resembling O'Connell in his promises of repeal and its blessings. But they
were felt to be quite as wrong as their adversaries ever were in charging those
adversaries with vulgar popularity-hunting, with hiding a fear of O'Connell
under a mask of political action, and with treating Ireland with a stupid and
insulting good-will, like that of a man who gives a clever child a watch that
will not go — moreover, at the end of an explanation of the beauty and value
of watches.
Both parties desired, earnestly and perhaps equally, the sweeping away of
the intolerable abuse of the existing corporations. They differed, broadly and
passionately, as to what the substitute should be : and they resembled one
another but too much in the pertinacity with which they affixed discreditable
imputations upon each other.
The history of the five years' struggle to establish "normal schools" of HISTORY OP THE
political education in 71 towns of Ireland, where 900,000 inhabitants might S^RE.'°IPAL MFA'
begin their training in free ^citizenship, was briefly this.
In 1833, the Irish Corporation Commissioners began their work of inquiry.
In 1836, the Royal Speech at the opening of the session expressed a hope 1836
that parliament would be able to apply a remedy to the abuses of the Irish Hansard, xxxi. 4.
Corporations "founded upon the same principles" as the Municipal reform
Acts for England and Scotland. The Irish Attorney General, Mr. O'Loghlen,
early introduced the Ministerial Bill, which was allowed to be read without Hansard, xxxi.
opposition, a second time, on the 29th of February, as a sort of pledge that all 49
parties were disposed to abolish the existing system, whatever they might do
towards establishing a better. After this, Sir R. Peel explained his views,
which were (in their main points) that, in the existing condition of Ireland, it Hansard, xxxi.
was hopeless that free institutions would work, for want of the class specially
needed to work them : that therefore the place of the old corporations, now to
be abolished, should not be filled by new corporate bodies, which would only
introduce new dissension and corruption, but that the Sheriffs and Recorders
should be appointed by the Crown, the local affairs of the inhabitants being-
managed by Commissioners, chosen by popular election. He did not conceive
it possible to deprive the body of existing freemen of their rights ; because
they had long ago become proprietary and hereditary: and he believed, finally ?
that the only way to preserve any impartiality in the administration of provin-
VOL. n. 2 R
306 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. cial affairs in Ireland was to vest the principal appointments in the Crown,
^— --~— ^ as, from the great preponderance of Catholics, the exclusion of Protestants
now, under a system of popular election, would be as complete and unfair as
the exclusion of Catholics had hitherto been, under a system of self-election
in the corporations. This last reason was not one which increased the popular
opinion of Sir R. Peel's wisdom ; as it was clear that it begged the question of
the impartiality of the Crown, and it could proceed only upon the supposition that
the Catholics would have the same confidence as Sir R. Peel himself in that
H™sard, xxxi. impartiality. Lord F. Egerton moved, in accordance with the views of Sir
R. Peel, the abolition of the old corporations, without the creation of any new ;
decreeing the government of towns by officers appointed by the Crown. He
Avould even have the commissioners for the administration of borough property
provided in the same manner. This motion was thrown out by a large majority.
But its theory met with better success in the Lords. There, the Bill was
" amended" by cutting out of it all the clauses relating to the constitution of
Hansard, xxxh. new corporate bodies. Out of 140 clauses, 106 had been in substance omitted,
while 18 had been added : and, while the " amended Bill" abolished corporate
institutions entirely, it actually preserved to many of the officials who profited
by the old system the power and emolument of their situations. Of course,
this was not to be endured. The Commons rejected the amendments, and
sent back the Bill to the Lords in nearly its original state. Lord Melbourne
Hansard, xxxiv. Was outvoted by a majority of 97 in an attempt to get the Bill reconsidered.
It was sent down to the Commons, with a statement of their Lordships' reasons
for adhering to their amendments. On the 30th of June, Lord John Russell
moved that the amendments should be considered that day three months : the
Hansard, xxxiv. jjouse agreed ; and thus the Bill was lost for that session.
1837. In introducing the Bill again in the next February, Lord J. Russell was
understood to intimate that the Melbourne Administration would stand or fall
by it. It was, he said, " a vital question to the present administration ;" so
the Opposition knew what they had to expect and to do ; and the contention
Hansard, xxxvi. was very fierce. Lord F. Egerton repeated his motion of the preceding year.
The debate lasted over three nights, and was of great interest from the clear
grounds taken by both parties. The Reformers dwelt upon the sacrifice of all
other interests to that of the Church, which they charged upon the Conserva-
tives, urging home upon them their fear of the Catholic majority of Ireland ; —
a fear which was by no means unreasonable, considering the oppression under
which the Catholics had suffered, and the possible effects of reaction. Lord
Stanley avowed in Committee, that if he saw the Church in a more secure
position, some of his strongest objections to the Bill would be removed : but
it was not candid to represent this as the only ground of the Opposition. Their
highest and principal ground was the dissimilarity of Irish and English cha-
racter and circumstances, which rendered it impossible that the same institu-
tions should work alike in the two countries. It was remarked that some of
the Opposition speakers, who had done their utmost in debate, were absent
Hansard, XXxvi. from t]ie division. The Ministers had a majority of 80. On the third read-
Hansard, xxxvii. ing, their majority fell to 55.
The day before the second reading in the House of Lords, a gathering of
peers took place at Apsley House, to agree upon what should be done. A
CHAP. VI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 307
considerable number were for throwing out the Bill at once, but the Duke of 1835 — 40.
Wellington overruled them, with advice which, by their account, was highly >-— »-•— '
characteristic. He Avilled that the Bill should go into Committee : and when
asked how he would then have it dealt with, he said it would be time enough
to think of that when it was there. Before this, a report had got abroad,
which was now believed; that the Conservative leaders would pass a Muni-
cipal Reform Bill, if complete security was at the same time afforded to the
Church : though it was not easy to see how this could be done, to the satis-
faction of the Conservatives, but by still subordinating the Catholic majority
to a favoured Protestant minority. The next move of the Duke of Wellington
confirmed the rumour. On the 5th of May, he proposed a postponement of
the discussion, on the ground of wishing to see what would be done in the
other House about the Tithe and Poor Law questions ; and he obtained a majo-
rity over Ministers of 77. The House of Commons proceeded slowly; and, Hansard, xxxvii.
when the 9th of June arrived, the Lords again postponed their debate, leaving
the Premier helpless under their majority of 86. The speedy dissolution of Hansard, xxxvui.
parliament, in consequence of the death of the King, stopped the progress of
the measure ; and thus again, at the risk of great irritation in the Irish against
the peers, it once more stood over to another session.
This was the date of the famous compromise before related, when Lord J. 1838.
Russell consented to the sacrifice of the Appropriation principle for the sake
of Sir R. Peel's surrender of his opposition to the Irish Municipal .Reform
Bill. All went smoothly for some time — the Conservatives fully admitting
that, if there were to be Corporations at all, they should be appointed by
popular election. But then came the question of the franchise ; and the
parties found it impossible to agree on the qualification. Sir R. Peel desired
a £10 qualification, with the test of rating. Lord J. Russell would admit
either the parliamentary qualification of £10, or the test of rating with a £5
qualification. — Sir R. Peel would not yield. The Ministers assembled their
supporters at one of the government offices, to consult whether they could
concede anything further, for the sake of getting the Bill passed. It was de-
cided that there should be no further compromise ; and on the llth of June, Hansard, xim
they carried their point of the qualification by a majority of 20. The Bill 56
passed the Commons by a majority of 35.— But in the Lords, a modified £10 Hansard, xiui.
qualification was substituted immediately. Other amendments were intro- 10
duced which it was wholly impossible for the authors of the measure to sanc-
tion. The Bill was bandied between the Houses, as it had been two years
before, and dropped in exactly the same manner. Hansard, xiiv.
In 1839, the Royal Speech declared the reform and amendment of the U
Municipal Corporations of Ireland to be essential to the interests of that
country; and in eight days afterwards— on the 14th of February — Lord
Morpeth brought forward the subject again— for the fourth year in succession. Hansard, xiv. sso.
By this time, the leaders of both parties were ready for further concession.
The Ministers proposed an £8 qualification, with the test of rating to the
Poor Law. In towns where the Poor Law should have been in operation for
three years, the franchise was to be assimilated to the English. Sir R. Peel
and Lord Stanley agreed to this proposal, and rebuked the inveteracy of oppo-
sition manifested by some of their own party. This opposition was carried- Hansard, xjvi.
186, 7.
308 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. into Committee; but the Bill passed the Commons on the 15th of July. — '•
' — •— — — -^ The Premier pointed out to the Opposition Lords that by this time the Bill
was almost their own, it being made up of a series of amendments in the parts
which had been the subject of argument : but Lord Lyndhurst, in his appre-
Hansard, xitx. hension that, " except in the northern province of Ireland, there would be in
every town a Radical and Roman Catholic Mayor, a Radical and Roman Ca-
tholic Town Council, Radical and Roman Catholic magistrates," moved and
carried an amendment about the franchise, with several others, which, again,
it was impossible for the authors of the measure to submit to. Thus fruit-
lessly closed the fourth year of the debate. Lord Lyndhurst could not wonder
if he was more unpopular in Ireland than any other man in the empire.
In 1840, the Bill passed rapidly through the Lower House, being supported
by Sir R. Peel. Lord Lyndhurst was again ready for opposition ; and his
Hansard, iv. amendments were so many and so injurious to the measure, that it required
much command of temper on every hand to bear quietly with so audacious a
resistance to the conviction and will of the majority; of the majority, that is,
everywhere but in the House of Lords. There, he carried all before him—
carried his provisions for the patronage of the old freemen — his £10 qualifica-
tion— his frustration of the appointment of candidates for the shrievalty by
the Town Councils — and several other points. When the Bill was sent down
to the Commons, they demurred at the amendments, held conferences, argued,
Hansard, iv. 1394. and finally yielded ; and the deteriorated and corrupted Bill became law on
the 10th of August, 1840.
Political Die- The main provisions of the Bill were these. Ten corporate towns were
nonary, n. 394. continue(i as corporations under the provisions of the Act — being con-
stituted of Mayor, Aldermen, and Burgesses. Thirty-seven smaller corpora-
tions were dissolved — nineteen of which possessed corporate funds to the
amount of £100 a year and upwards, and eighteen which had corporate funds
to a smaller amount. Any of these boroughs which had a population exceed-
ing 3000, might have a Charter on petition of the majority to the Queen in
Council. As for the others, their corporate funds were to be vested in Com-
missioners, to be applied to public objects. Some towns were already supplied
with Commissioners, under a former Act. Those which had not any Commis-
sioners Were divided into two classes : in the first of which were towns
empowered to elect a Board of Commissioners, in the proportion of one Com-
missioner to every 500 inhabitants : and in the second were the smaller towns
whose corporate funds were to be administered by the poor law guardians of
the locality. The way was left open for the smaller towns to rise to the faculty
of having Commissioners, and of obtaining a Charter of incorporation, when
ready for the privilege. — The franchise was a Household suffrage, with a £10
qualification. In other points, the Bill closely resembled the English Act.
There is no doubt about the beneficial operation of this measure, spoiled as
it was. The sweeping away of the old Corporations was a great blessing;
and this, and the exclusion of the centralizing principle, reconciled the Liberal
party to the passage of the Bill, in preference to waiting longer. How it
might have fared with Ireland at this day under the undisturbed operation of
the measure, many may dispute, but none can affirm : for the great underlying
mischief was about to stir and heave, and overthrow all hope that by Muni-
CHAP. VI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 309
cipal Reform, or any other measure yet attempted, the redemption of Ireland 1835 — 40.
was to be achieved. "~~~~ -~~— -^
6. As for those who acknowledged a deeper necessity than any of these, CERTAINTY OF
* * . MAINTENANCE.
from having obtained a glimpse of the great underlying mischief, they desired
a Poor Law for Ireland, and had more to say in favour of their specific than
sincere men were willing to controvert. Whether Ireland should have a Poor
Law of the nature of the English one was perhaps, of all the political questions
of our time, the most difficult of decision. O'Connell himself, who was un- O'CONNELL ON
THE POOR LAW.
doubtedly in earnest on this question, unmingled as it was with any party feel-
ings and devices, vacillated for years between the perplexities on either hand,
e, for once, took pains to learn and consider the economical considerations of
the case ; and when they were fresh in his mind, was full of hope and joy for
Irelaii^, and of gratitude, in which he called on all his countrymen to join, to
the Whig, ministry which proposed the effectual boon. Then, again, his doubts
would recur ; — doubts whether the pauperism of Ireland could be ascertained
so far as to justify an invocation to it to come and be fed ; doubts whether it
might not peril the souls, or at least injure the spiritual interests, of the Catho-
lics, to interfere with their private almsgiving ; doubts whether the mendicancy
of the poor had not something holy in it with which it was impious to meddle ;
doubts whether the glory and grace of the Irish character would not disappear
under the operation of sound economical principles and methods ; and finally,
doubts whether the ordinary run of Irish landlords could or would support the
poor of their own districts. Up to the year 1836, he had constantly opposed
the introduction of any Poor Law system into Ireland ; and it is possible that
some of the personal motives ascribed to him at the time — the dread of weak-
ening the popular dependence upon himself, and of losing his influence by the
assimilation of Ireland to England — might have been more or less the cause of
his opposition : but, if so, all such considerations gave way before the disclosures
of the Commission of Inquiry in 1836. It appears probable that the Agitator
himself was unaware of the misery of the Irish poor — the abiding, uninter-
mitting misery which they had come to regard as the condition of their life.
This appears probable from the considerations that his own tenantry were in a
very wretched condition under the management of middle-men, over whom he
exercised no supervision ; and that he met his countrymen only in the aspect
of adorers of himself — in worshipping crowds, on days of political business, or
groups of watchers on holidays, who cheered on his beagles, and echoed the
huntsman's cry, and laughed with delight at seeing the great Liberator enjoy-
ing his sport. It is probable that the exposures of the Commissioners' Report
were as new and terrific to O'Connell himself as to any member of the govern-
ment : and that they overpowered for a time his worst tendencies, and made
him, for a short interval, a single-hearted patriot. The period was very short.
Under the impression of the dreadful anecdotes of the Report — of men lying
for weeks on damp straw in a mud hovel, because they were too weak from
hunger to rise and go in search of a better fate ; — of the feeding on "yellow
weed" and unripe potatoes ; — of the artificial spasms and vomitings induced for
the sake of getting warmth and shelter in the cholera hospitals ; — while these
things were fresh in his imagination, O'Connell wrote to the electors of Kil-
kenny on the absolute necessity of a Poor Law for Ireland. He added to his
310 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. reasons of necessity an offer of one more chance to England of escaping a
-— ~-,-~ — repeal of the Union. If she did not give Ireland a good Poor Law, she must
undergo Repeal. He still feared mischief from the Poor Law, because he could
not — at least he did not — separate the abuses and fatal operation of the cor-
rupted Poor Law of Elizabeth from its principle ; and he pointed to the eco-
nomical and moral devastation it had caused in England as consequences
certain to occur in Ireland : yet, so fearful was the existing wretchedness, that
it scared him from all speculation for the future, and compelled him to call for
a system of legal charity, without a moment's delay. — While it was preparing,
he fell back somewhat from his new convictions ; told the Trades Unions that
it was bad government that had made beggars; that good government was
the best Poor Law ; that a Poor Law would keep down wages, and increase
pauperism ; and that the House of Lords would make this law a means of sub-
jecting the people to the great landlords. He should prefer a tax on absentees,
to be applied in promoting emigration, and in maintaining asylums for the
aged, the infant, and the sick.
In the session of 1837, when the Irish Poor Law Bill was introduced by the
Hansard, xxxvi. government, Mr. O'Connell declared that, seeing its necessity, he should not
oppose it : but he assailed every important part of the measure, separately,
while he declared himself a supporter of the whole. His pleas were curiously
contradictory. The Irish would never enter workhouses : yet these houses
would maintain men in idleness who ought to be at work upon the land. The
land could not maintain the poor — the production being only one-fourth that
of England, and one-half what (considering the inferiority of the soil) it ought
to be : yet, this Bill would make the people the slaves of the landlords. The
natural Poor Law — of sympathy — was the best ; and Ireland's charity, hitherto
the glory of Ireland, would be extinguished by the imposition of a legal
charity : yet, he would support asylums, and no other charitable institutions
willingly, because asylums for the infirm and sick could not encourage fraud
and mendicancy. He declared that a Poor Law would only swell the numbers
— then amounting to nearly two millions and a half — of persons absolutely
destitute for a large portion of every year : yet he ridiculed the notion of Union
Houses, because they would hold only 80,000, and claimed equal assistance for
the two millions and a half. While protesting his belief that the measure
would aggravate pauperism, and suddenly extinguish private charity, he pro-
tested against the gradual introduction and extension of the institution, and
claimed immediate and full rescue by means of it for the starving millions of
his countrymen. Thus shifting were his views while he declared himself a
supporter of the government, and voted for the Bill. He deserved, by his pre-
vious conduct, the imputation, that he was taking what could be got from
England, while industriously providing for the failure of the measure by dis-
gusting his countrymen with it beforehand : but the impression derived by an
impartial reader from his speeches in parliament is, that he really was per-
plexed by the difficulties of the case. His intellect had, in fact, by this time,
become so injured by his habits of partiality and exaggeration, and tampering
with truth for patriotic purposes, that it had really become irksome and diffi-
cult to him to entertain any question so serious in his own view as to compel
him to balance the evidence of its respective sides. With all his astuteness in
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 311
the conduct of intrigues, and the management of the Irish mind, he had he- 1835 — 40.
come incapable of apprehending distinctions which were all-important in the ^ '
consideration of measures founded on any principle ; as, for instance, in his
declaration of the next session, that the " strange distinction " between
" poverty" and " destitution" was not practical — was too nice for Ireland — and
so forth ; whereas this distinction — the ground-work of the whole Poor Law
reform in England, and institution in Ireland — is as broad and palpable as the
distinction between a householder and a vagrant. In that next session, of 1838,
Mr. O'Connell took his stand decidedly — he said finally — against the measure. Hansard, xi. 947.
He declared that he had before wanted moral courage to oppose it ; but noAv
he had grown older, and somewhat firmer. The fact probably was, that the
first agonizing impression of the misery of Ireland had worn off, and his natural
pi'epossessions, as an adventurer, as a man of reckless passions, and as a Catho-
lic, impressed with the blessedness and holiness of spontaneous almsgiving,
now recovered their sway, and led him to oppose the introduction of an insti-
tution which was too regular and exact, too legal and impartial, too repressive
of wrong, and favourable to homely good, to be otherwise than distasteful and
alarming to him. In the final period of legislation, therefore, O'Connell went
against the Bill, with all his forces ; and among those forces, he enlisted every
truth of political economy which he could apply against a compulsory charity in
general, and such treatment of the misery of Ireland in particular. His last
appearance on this question in parliament was in the character of a rigid po-
litical economist.
The case was indeed perplexing enough to sounder thinkers than O'Connell ; QUESTION OF .\
and his conduct may be regarded as a mere exaggeration of the thought of the
time on this question. The very officials themselves were divided as to whether
Ireland should have a Poor Law or not. Some of the Commissioners were in
favour of it, and others against it : — their Third Report was against it — the
Secretary for it. The greater number of political economists in England were
for it ; but a few of the most eminent were against it.
In an abstract view, the case was clear enough. The unbounded sponta-
neous charity of the Irish, which makes the family that have potatoes for the
day take in and feed the family that have none, is a fatal encourager of reck-
lessness, as the givers expect to be destitute and thus fed, in their turn. A
legal charity would act as a check here. The imposition of rates upon the VIKWOK AOVO.
holders of the land would act as a regulator upon the fatal system of land CA
letting which prevailed in the south and west of Ireland : a system from which
individuals could extricate themselves only by means of such an arrangement
as this. The landlords must be brought to reason, and thought, and principle,
by the obligation to support their own poor. The occupiers would be benc-
fitted — their expenses being shared more equally with the landlord ; whereas
the true incidence of the prevalent almsgiving was at present upon them.
Instead of this indefinite expenditure, the occupier would now have one which
he could estimate ; and he would no doubt prefer laying out his money
in improving his land to supporting men in idleness ; and thus, further
means of prosperity would be continually growing. — If Mr. O'Connell was
right in saying that the Irish, with their love of uncontrolled freedom, would
never enter the workhouses, well and good ; since they could keep out of it
312 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. only by maintaining themselves. If they did enter the workhouses, and idly
"— - — — - stay there — well and good too ; for this would relieve the immediate pressure
of competition for potato grounds, and would afford opportunity for nominal
rents to come down to the level of real ones, and some honesty might be
introduced into transactions between landlord and tenant. A middle class
might thus be growing up ; — a class of improving small farmers, interposed
between the landlord and the cottier, for whom there had hitherto appeared
no alternative between a precarious and transient occupation of land and
mendicancy. With the class of farmers must grow up a class of bona fide
" labourers. Thus would land and men improve together. There would be
increased production from the land — classes of rising men upon it — a check
upon the reckless increase of population — an influx of capital, which would
cause further production and improvement ; and so on. Such was the expec-
tation of the advocates of an extension of the English poor law to Ireland:
and they added that no country ever afforded such favourable circumstances
for the establishment of a poor law as Ireland did at that time.
VIEW OF OPPO- As for the opponents of the measure — they dwelt upon the peculiarities of
the Irish mind, religion, and social state. This was their ground. They would
have had Ireland assisted by a legal charity in regard to the sick and infirm,
and to a large scheme of emigration. Further than this they believed the sys-
tem would not work ; and they declared their expectation that the legal charity
would be found not to supersede at all the pious almsgiving which had become
the religious habit of the Catholic districts. No one seems to have spoken out
about the deep underlying mischief which might too probably frustrate all
efforts and mortify all expectations. The land was the broad basis on which this
great structure was to be founded : and while the title to, and possession of, that
land was insecure, this foundation was no better than a shaking bog. In some
districts in the West of Ireland, nine-tenths of the population were without
means of living in winter. The expectation was that a poor law would force
the landowners to employ the people, in order to escape so enormous a charge
as the poor-rate. Landowners elsewhere, whose past and future were ascer-
tained and secure, might venture upon such a work, in the strength of un-
questionable possession: but not so men who had grown up in the recklessness
of insecurity, and to whom the future was merely a scene of chance. It was
fearful enough that the proportion of paupers to the rest of society was twice
as large as in England, while the pauper maintenance fund was, in proportion,
little more than one-third : and when to this grave fact is added the consi-
deration of the insecurity of the landed property itself which is the basis of
the whole, the wisest men, and most philosophical economists, may be excused
for doubting whether the English poor law would work in Ireland.
1836. When the Board of Commissioners of Inquiry recommended, in their
HISTORY OF THE Report of 1836, a legal charity for the support of the sick and infirm, and for
the promotion of emigration, the British parliament and statesmen were not
disposed to agree to the suggestion. To take off the weight of the able-
bodied from the fund of voluntary charity was the first object ; and, while the
land was so badly tilled, it might prove no kindness to Ireland to remove her
strong men to the colonies — if even arrangements for the purpose could have
been, at that time, made. It was determined by the Ministers to «end Mr.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 313
Nicholls, one of the Poor Law Commissioners, to Ireland, as the man fitted 1835 — 40.
above all others to view the state of Irish society Avith the eye of science as v —-.—-'
well as of compassion. Mr. Nicholls's commission bore date the 22nd of
August, 1836 ; and, after an inquiry of little more than six weeks, he prepared
a very able Report, which favoured the introduction of the English poor law
into Ireland. It is well known that inquiry is immeasurably facilitated by
such science and practical habits as Mr. Nicholls carried with him : and less
objection was made to his Report, on account of the haste with which it was
produced, than might have been expected. But it is also understood how
partial and technical may be the observation and inferences of a man so devoted
to a great and successful enterprise as Mr. Nicholls was to the administration y
of the reformed Poor Law in England; and it was a charge of the day against
his Report that it showed him to have carried his conclusions with him, ready
for use, if he found them applicable, and that his observation amounted to not
much more than seeing what he was looking for. His Report, able as it
would have been on an abstract case, able as it was on a partial case, was felt
not to make sufficient allowance for so much of the peculiarity of the Irish
character as depends on religious faith and guidance, nor to appreciate the
hap-hazard character of the proprietorship of Irish estates. His view is
derivable from one paragraph of his Report : — " Ireland is now suffering under ^nsard> xxxvi-
a circle of evils, producing and reproducing each other — want of capital pro-
duces want of employment — want of employment, turbulence and misery —
turbulence and misery, insecurity — insecurity prevents the introduction and
accumulation of capital — and so on. Until this circle is broken, the evils
must continue, and probably augment." The largest omission here is of the
notification that the insecurity is owing to other causes than those specified.
The unhinging of society which results from a long course of precarious hold-
ing of land is of a kind not to be rectified by a poor law, which proceeds on
the supposition that the landlords are the secure owners of the soil, and there-
fore able, as well as liable, to support its burdens. — Considering the habit of
mendicancy in the country, begging was no test of destitution ; and the work-
house test was recommended to be strictly enforced. On a calculation that
from eighty to a hundred workhouses would supply the requisite accommoda-
tion, the expense was estimated at from £700,000 to £800,000. If this Hansard, xxxvi.
amount were advanced as a loan from the imperial treasury, it might be repaid
in annual instalments of 5 per cent, from the rates, with the interest — without
any greater burden to the landlords and occupiers than was now imposed by
the voluntary charity which came mainly out of their pockets at last. The
payment of rates was proposed to be divided equally between the landlord and
the occupier, by which it was believed and hoped that the landlord would find
his burden heavier, and the occupier lighter than hitherto. — The new right of
supervision over its members which would arise in society by the establish-
ment of a right to maintenance was to be first manifested in the appoint-
ment of a warden or headborough, who would keep watch against the increase
of destitution through fault, and the spread of mendicancy. Precautions were
to be taken against a preponderance of magistrates at the Boards of Guardians,
and no clergyman, of any denomination, was to be concerned in poor law
administration during the prevalence of religious rancour in the country. It
VOL. n. 2 s
314 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 10. was thought best that the English board of Commissioners should extend their
-- — - — ~- administration to Ireland, rather than that a separate Board should be esta-
blished in Dublin ; that the evils of inexperience and party suspicion might be
avoided, and this new link in the union of England and Ireland be made as
complete and sound as possible.
1837. The royal speech of 1837 recommended to parliament, in regard to Ireland,
the consideration of " the difficult, but pressing question, of establishing some
Hansard,xxxvi. 4. legal provision for the poor:" and on the 13th of February, Lord J. Russell
brought forward the Irish Poor Law Bill. It was founded on Mr. Nicholls's
Report; and it was sustained as very few measures of consequence are in the
House of Commons. Sir R. Peel and Lord Stanley supported it, in its gene-
ral provisions, and scarcely any one was found to object to it as a whole. It
was proceeding favourably through Committee when the death of the King
defem d its passage for another session. — By that time, some change of opinion
had taken place, and much more opposition than before was offered by many
1838. persons besides Mr. O'Connell. Some had fears about the patronage of the
Board, in a country so sensitive and on the watch for injury as Ireland now
was. Some desired a voluntary assessment by the clergy, for purposes of
outdoor relief, in addition to the provisions of the Act. And some brought
forward their estimates of the population and of the rental, and .of the propor-
tion of these in certain districts ; and, disbelieving that voluntary charity
would cease, showed plainly, as they thought, that Ireland could not support a
Poor Law of this nature. The minorities were, however, small. Mr. O'ConnelFs
question, " Whether English gentlemen would force on the country a measure
which the people rejected ?" was answered by a majority of 175 in favour of the
Hansard, xiii. 7i5. Bill. — In the Lords, the Opposition was strong — in speeches, at least, if not
in votes. With people outside, this told rather in favour of the measure than
against it, as it seemed to show dread of increased burdens by the landlords.
Besides the Londonderrys, Rodens, and Lyndhursts, whose opposition had been
expected, there were Lords Fitzwilliam, Clanricarde, and Brougham, who de-
clared their expectations of entire failure in the working of the Bill. — The
Hansard, xiiv. 28. Ministerial majorities were, however, large; and the Bill became law in July,
1838.
In August, the Commission met, and appointed Mr. Nicholls to carry out
the Act in Ireland. He went to Dublin, with sufficient assistance for begin-
ning his arduous work. By the 9th of October, the Assistant-Commissioners
had returned from their circuits in the provinces, and were joined by more as-
sistants from England. They went into deliberation, and arranged their system
1839. in all its details. By the 25th of March following, twenty-two Unions were
Annual Register, declared ; and in eighteen of these, guardians were appointed. Preparations
1839, p. 300. „ , - , •"*!.-• • x"n
for others were in great forwardness ; and something more important still was
effected. By the spread of the information furnished by the Commissioners,
much of the local unpopularity of the measure was converted into support :
1840. and where support was not given, there was usually acquiescence. ... In the
ITS EARLY OPE. course of the next year, 127 unions were declared, and only 3 remained to be
» * TT/lM «* »
formed. Fourteen workhouses were already opened for the reception of
paupers ; and the Commissioners declared their confidence that the great
scheme would work well for the redemption of Ireland. — The reception of it
RATION.
CIIAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 315
by the beggars was curious, as might have been expected by those acquainted 1835 — 40.
with Irish mendicancy in its prosperous days, when it was not, as now, the s --
outward sign of insufferable misery, but rather bore a gay and convivial cha-
racter. One beggar proudly told a Commissioner that he would have little jH£n's
business but for the like of them : — another, unwilling to surrender a poor ». 23.
idiot to legal charity, and fearing to be " lonesome without him," though find-
ing him " mighty teazing," thought it a good thing to be an idiot, to enjoy the
roving freedom of the class : — another, who hated the " new jail," as she per- i" 354.
sisted in calling the Union house, found her business of mendicancy destroyed
by the new agency — would have gone into the house if she could have enjoyed
there her tea, and whiskey, and tobacco ; but, as she could not, took upon her
to despise the house, and declared that she would work rather than enter it.
The great consolation of this class was in finding " the hard man" compelled
to contribute to the support of the poor ; while they felt grief and shame at
what they considered the demoralization of the charitable, who now began to
inquire into the case of mendicants, and ask why they did not go into the
house. There was a perceptible diminution in the crowds of beggars on the
roads, and in the villages ; and in the towns, the avowal was made that the "'• 362-
workhouses had weeded them of very destitute cases. When the " starving
seasons " came round, (the interval between the complete consumption of one
potato crop and the harvest of another,) it was evident that more work had
been done, and more providence exercised. The early operation of the Irish
Poor Law was pronounced to be decidedly successful. But it was too soon yet
for the warmest advocates of the measure to pledge themselves that it would
work the redemption of Ireland.
The immediate consequence of the debates on the virtues or vices of the
Whig administration of Ireland was the resignation of Lord Normanby on the LORD NO" MAN BY.
first convenient occasion — in the spring of 1839, when he became Colonial
Secretary for a few weeks, and then went to the Home Department. His
policy was continued by his coadjutors, and by Lord Ebrington (soon after Earl
Fortescue) who succeeded him in the Viceroy alty. His retreat from Ireland
did not pacify the Opposition. In the session of 1839, the attacks on his
government were renewed in both Houses of Parliament. In the Commons,
Lord J. Russell met them by moving a Resolution, on the 15th of April, that it Hansard> *'*"• 't-
was expedient to adhere to the principles of government which had been of
great recent benefit to Ireland. Sir R. Peel moved antagonist Resolutions,
that it was inexpedient so to pronounce while the Lords' Committee of Inquiry
was still engaged upon its work. These last Resolutions were voted down by
a majority of 22. In the Upper House, Lord Brougham moved, on the 6th of
August, and triumphantly carried, a set of Resolutions condemnatory of the
Normanby policy — particularly as regarded the administration of justice and
the extension of mercy. The Ministers were left in a minority of 34, in a House 1"|"sard> Xlix-
of 138.
The opinion of the country, however, sustained the Irish administration ; at WHIG GOVFRN.
least, in its general principles. The prevalent impression, throughout the *"
nation, was, at the time, that the country had never before been so well
governed : and there were many who believed that the redemption of Ireland
had at length been entered upon. If this has been disproved by the lights of
316 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. painful experience — if it now appears that the deep underlying mischief was
unrecognised as a fatal obstruction — the Whig administration of Ireland may
nevertheless have been an inestimable boon. It is the way with hitman affairs
that enterprises often fail of their express aims, but never of producing im-
portant collateral effects. The Normanby administration did not redeem Ire-
land ; but it proved before the eyes of all men a truth which must be under-
stood before Ireland can be redeemed. It proved that no political govern-
ment— the justest, the wisest, the most considerate — can rectify evils which
are social, and not primarily political. The friendly rulers of Ireland, between
the years 1835 and 1840, were not to have the privilege of redeeming her : but
they did much to prepare the way ; and they removed a great obstruction in
extinguishing all just complaint of English misgovernment. Many other ob-
structions remained which rendered the work of effectual renovation impossible
•till a higher power than lies in human hands had cleared the way in a manner
which it makes the stoutest heart tremble merely to contemplate. It is be-
cause this has happened — because the wide sweep of misery has left it clear
that the maladies of Ireland are social, and not political — because the great
underlying mischief has been heaved up to the surface by the convulsion — be-
cause every one now sees what must be done before Ireland can be redeemed —
that we may speak of the hopefulness and cheerful composure with which the
spirit of history may review the scenes and struggles of the past. The work
now lies open ; and the national gaze is beginning to contemplate it. A great
work never waits long for the workman ; and a greater work than this never
presented itself to the human heart and hand. In an advanced age of the
world — in the day of high civilization — here is a nation — full of noble qualities,
however corrupted — to be taught how to live ; — taught from the beginning —
led up from a condition of passionate and suffering immaturity into the strength
of self-disciplined, industrious, healthful, and prosperous manhood. If it be
true that a great work never waits long for the workman, the day of the
redemption of Ireland cannot be far off. — When it comes, the nation will not
altogether forget " the things that are behind " in " pressing forwards to those
that are before." It will not forget that the experiment of a strenuous ad-
ministration of justice and mercy was once tried ; and that it afforded the
needed proof that any political administration was a means too small for the
redemption of Ireland.
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 317
CHAPTER VII.
T~\URING the political changes and struggles of the period under review, 1835 — 38.
-*-J few may have perceived the close connexion which is now clear to us "-— ~^ '
between the disturbed state of the Church and the transitional character of g"AuTR^ _" AND
the State. The difficulties that successive governments had in dealing with
the religious bodies of the empire, appeared to many a mere coincidence with
the death-struggles of parties, and not, as they truly were, another aspect of
the same conflict. The Ecclesiastical disturbance visible at once in England,
Ireland, and Scotland, was as inevitable a sign of the times as the passage of
the Reform Bill, or Municipal renovation. It was a misfortune to all parties
concerned, that the rulers of the State — too ill-prepared for action on the sub-
jects most prominent in their own eyes — were absolutely incapable of intelli-
gent government on ecclesiastical affairs. Their want of knowledge, their
inability to comprehend or apply the principles concerned in the ecclesiastical
disturbances of the time, were clear enough in the cases which have been
already before us ; but the complete exhibition of their incapacity took place in
reference to the Church of Scotland.
As a preparation for the great scene of the disruption of the Church of Scot-
land, which will come before us in the final period of this history, we must
look into the transactions of Lord Melbourne's government with that Church.
We shall see how unaware the Ministers were of what they had to do, and
what they were doing ; how little they understood the true importance and
real bearings of the case. They took no warning by the refusal of the English
Tractarians to acknowledge the control of the government in church matters :
they took no warning from the united cry of the High Churchmen and Dis-
senters for a dissolution of the union between Church and State. As Lord
Grey had stared with amazement at the Nottingham deputation, so now Lord
Melbourne scarcely took pains to observe whether it was the Church or the
Dissenters in Scotland who wanted more accommodation and instruction :
and neither of these ministers, and no one of the coadjutors of either, seems to
have had the remotest idea of its being his business to understand, and de-
cide, and act, on a question as important as any that had risen up since the
Reformation. And the English public knew and felt no more than their
rulers. They did not recognise the struggle that now set in, north of the
Tweed, as one which will be conspicuous in all future histories of the progress
of Opinion — which now means nothing less than the history of human liber-
ties. Even now the greater number of readers and listeners turn away at the
first mention of the Scotch Church, in hopelessness of understanding the con-
troversy, or caring about the parties engaged in it. Those who have, from
any cause, been interested in the case, believe that its principal features may
318
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK V.
CHURCH OF SCOT-
LAND.
ITS FAILURES.
1835 — 38. be clearly and rapidly sketched. At all events, the attempt must be made in a
history of the period.
The Scotch Church appears to be the best in which to contemplate the rise
and progress of the conflict between the principles of the connexion or discon-
nexion of religion with the State, because it has ever been peculiarly hard to
Scotch churchmen to admit the idea of dissent, and to undergo the process of
severance from the Establishment. The Scotch Church was designed to be a
spiritual republic, whose four judicatories, rising one above the other in gra-
CONSTITUTION, dations of power and authority, were still all elective. The Session, the Pres-
bytery, the Synod, the General Assembly, were all of a representative cha-
racter, and were assumed to be chosen by the popular voice. This popular
election was for a very short time, if ever, a truth ; and the same may be said
of the unity of faith presumed to be secured by the Establishment. While the
Elders and landed proprietors were in fact managing the appointments to office
in the Church, many pastors were preaching doctrines which would not bear
a comparison with the standards of the Establishment. The General Assembly
wished for quiet — dealt gently with heresies — and would have been pleased to
hear nothing of that great question of Patronage which was, in little more
than a hundred years, to explode the Church as a national establishment. But
the people found themselves under a despotism, from the unresisted nomination
of the clergy by the patrons. The clergy nominated the elders ; and the flocks
had really 110 part whatever in the spiritual republic, where all were declared
to be members of one body. The Assembly would not hear of a word of dis-
content, even from their own members : so the natural consequence followed :
— the discontented took other measures to make themselves heard. One of
them, the courageous Erskine, preached out the state of things from the pulpit
— was censured, first by the local Synod, and then by the General Assembly —
offered a remonstrance, and was expelled from his pulpit, as were three other
clergymen, who had supported his remonstrance. In a century after, these
four ministers had become four hundred. But they and their flocks were not
Dissenters. They were compelled to separate from the organization of the
Establishment ; but they held all its principles — claimed the honour of being
the real Church party in the case, and imitated the proceedings of the Esta-
blishment wherever they possibly could, without falling into its corruptions.
In our own time, these claims have been allowed ; and the Secession has been
declared eminently conservative of the veritable Church of Scotland.
Another body of Seceders, who were driven out also by tyranny, were equally
far from being dissenters. When a patron nominated for Minister a man un-
acceptable to the great body of the congregation, the Presbytery refused to
ordain him. This happened so often as to be embarrassing to the General
Assembly. The Assembly appointed the celebrated " Galloping Committees,"
as they were nicknamed ; committees who went about doing the work which
the Presbyteries refused. Fired by the ridicule cast upon these committees,
and by the taunt that the highest power could not control the presbyteries, the
Assembly determined to tiy its hand at coercion. The Assembly enjoined
obedience : a member of a presbytery, Mr. Gillespie, evaded it : he was de-
posed : and he gathered together, outside the walls of the church from which
he was driven, a body of men opposed to the existing despotism in the appoint-
SEVERANCE NOT
DISSENT.
PATRONAGE.
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 319
ment of Ministers, and, after 100 years, was recorded as the founder of 120 1835 — 38.
congregations, constituting the Relief body, as it was called— a body claiming ' • *
relief from the despotism of Patronage. These men also were thus not dis-
senters. They had no fault to find with the church, but only with the perver-
sion of one of her arrangements. — At the end of a century, however, from
the secession of 1734, the two bodies were called by others, and called them-
selves Dis senters, their ministers having, for the most part, adopted the volun- DISSENT.
tary principle. The establishment at this time had between 1100 and 1200 London and west-
churches ; a clergy of whom the Moderator of the Assembly at that date said April isaaTp-'Ti's.
that the whole were of Tory politics, except about six ; and for supporters,
it had the great body of the affluent and powerful throughout Scotland. The
Dissenters had TOO churches, a clergy of liberal political opinions, and for
supporters a great body of the labouring and some of the middle classes of
society in Scotland. When Scotch Borough reform removed the oppressions
under which this great body had lain, and opened to them a career of civil
equality with the church and Tory party, they bestirred themselves to extend
their principles and increase their numbers ; and the newspapers of the time
tell of the formation of many associations for the promotion and support of
voluntaryism in religion.
Thus was the ground of controversy wholly changed. The Secession and Re-
lief bodies had complained of tyranny within the pale of the church. Now, be-
come Dissenters, they pronounced against the union of the Church and the State.
The church had once ejected discontented members from her own household.
Now she felt called upon to wage war with a vast body of Dissenters : and the
time was coming when she must sustain such another Secession as must reduce
her to a state of forlorn inferiority which she could not at present conceive of.
What did she do while the Dissenters were associating for the promotion of
the voluntary principle ? There was no time to lose ; for a petition was sent CHIIMB^ITBN-
up to parliament, in 1837, in favour of a total separation of Church and SION-
State, signed in Glasgow by 41,000 people. The church resolved on church
extension ; and that as much of the plan as bore on its opposition to the Dis-
senters should be kept in its own hands. It was necessary to request and
obtain the assistance of the State, or a troublesome reference might hereafter
be made to the sufficiency of voluntary effort on the present occasion: yet, if
the matter were left to government, new churches would be built in far-away
places, in country districts yet unprovided, and last of all, or never, in streets
of towns where Dissenters' chapels existed already ; whereas, it was the very
thing wanted to plant a church beside every chapel, in order to put down dis-
sent. Dr. Chalmers avowed that his demand should not stop short of a church
for every 1000 inhabitants, sooner or later ; and he did not promise to stop short
of a church for every 700. On this estimate, and by virtue of ignoring dissenting
chapels altogether, and reckoning the Dissenters among the inhabitants desti-
tute of religious guidance, a strong case of spiritual destitution was made out,
while nothing more was asked of government than to endow the churches
which the establishment was willing to build. The consequence of the demand
was that the government was at first favourable, partly from ignorance of the
state of the case, and partly through dread of the evident extension of the
doctrine of Voluntaryism ; the Dissenters quitted that question for a time, to
320 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V.
1835 — 38. unite their forces against the imposition of burdens for a church which they
v— - -v— ~^ disapproved; and the Church grew prouder than ever in the prospect of
success. Her own subscriptions for new churches, subscriptions paid in by
all manner of members — from the purely benevolent who desired the spiritual
benefit of the poor and forsaken, to the haughtiest who could not tolerate the
Hansard, Am. ioi. Dissenters — in two years amounted to upwards of 200,0001.
1835. The successive Ministries of Sir R. Peel and Lord Melbourne saw nothing
"O™RNM'RNT°F *n ^ne application, till the excitement they caused all over Scotland told them
to the contrary, but a proposal to provide religious guidance for the destitute ;
an object which naturally appeared to them unquestionable. In the King's
Speech prepared by the Peel Cabinet, in February 1835, we find this para-
Hansard, xxvi. c7. graph : — " I feel it also incumbent upon me to call your earnest attention to
the condition of the Church of Scotland, and to the means by which it may
be enabled to increase the opportunities of religious worship for the poorer classes
of society in that part of the United Kingdom." For two years before this,
Lords Melbourne and Brougham (then Lord Chancellor) had given deputations
from Scotland to understand that they were favourable to the object of the
Church — no question had been raised in the debate on the Address in answer
to the Royal Speech — and the Dissenters found it necessary to bestir them-
selves to make known the opinion of a vast proportion of Scotchmen that
such a grant was needless and dangerous. By the month of May, the Mel-
bourne Ministry had learned that the question involved more than people
in London had supposed ; the Lord Advocate of Scotland moved for a Com-
mission of Inquiry into the need : and on the 1st of July, Lord J. Russell
Hansard, xxix. appended a proposal to inquire what funds might exist in connexion with the
Church of Scotland which might be rendered available, so as to obviate a
donation from the public purse for objects which a large body of the contribu-
tors to the public purse conscientiously disapproved. In the proposal of a
COMMISSION OF Commission Sir R. Peel acquiesced, on the ground that the session was too
INQUIRY.
far advanced for a parliamentary Committee to effect any thing that year.
The Commission was sent forth to its work without delay; and great was
the clamour about its constitution. All its members but one were Churchmen ;
and that one was as obnoxious to the Church party as the others were to the
Dissenters. The high officials of the Church doubted the fealty of some of
the Church members in the Commission ; and on the last day of July, the
Assembly, by their Committee, addressed a remonstrance to the government
on the constitution of the Commission. No answer was returned ; and on
the 13th of August, 90 out of 93 members of the Assembly, met for the purpose,
renewed the remonstrance. When questioned in the House of Lords, Lord
1078*9™'' xxx> Melbourne answered, with his wonted speculative optimism, that a Commis-
sion which pleased nobody must be a very good one, in times when party spirit
ran high : and that it was a fine thing for men of extreme opinions, like one
of the Commissioners, who had written a book against Establishments, to be
put upon such work as this, as he was pretty sure of growing wiser, and
learning to take more moderate views ; and then, the vigorous talents which
such men ordinarily possess would come into action for the public service. —
The deepest offence to the Church was (after the proposal to inquire at all)
TEINDS. the direction to the Commissioners to inquire into the amount of " unexhausted
CHAP. VII.] ; DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 321
teinds ;" that is, of tithes possessed by landowners, over and above the amount 1835 — 38.
actually expended in their respective neighbourhoods for the support of the ^— — v-^-'
Church. In 1707, it had been settled, after much controversy, that the offi- mimte" Review,
cials who administered Church affairs might enlarge stipends, but not erect
or endow any new parish without the consent of three-fourths (in value) of
the landowners. This arrangement was seen at the time to be so far question-
able as to cause a provision to be made that parliament might alter it at
pleasure. It was now reasonable to inquire into the working of this arrange-
ment, if there really was a deficiency of church accommodation throughout
the country. But a cry about the intended spoliation of private property was
made ; a cry so loud as to induce Lord J. Russell to publish, in a letter to the Annual Renter,
, , 1835, p> 3*lt
Head Commissioner, Lord Minto, a disclaimer, in the form of an instruction,
not to give occasion for any charge of meddling with private property. Still,
the unexhausted teinds had been regarded since 1707 and longer as private
property guaranteed by an express law : — the holders foresaw the proposal to
repeal the Act of 1707, and exclaimed against the devouring rapacity of the
Church — the Dissenters protested loudly against any further endowments from
the State, under any pretence whatever ; and denied, in this case, any pre-
tence of necessity at all : — the Churchmen were offended that parliament had
not made them a grant at once, without dispute ; and they protested against
all inquiry into the workings of their Church organization, and the amount of
their funds. — There was yet another cause of offence. — The class of tithes
called Bishops' teinds must be dealt with separately. They were appropriated BISHOPS- TEINDS.
by the Crown at the Reformation — bestowed on the bishops while episcopacy
existed in Scotland — and resumed by the Crown on its abolition. When sti-
pends fell short from the parochial teinds being exhausted, the deficiency was
made up from the bishops' teinds ; but in no other way had the Church of
Scotland any claim upon that fund. It had now become the property of par-
liament, together with the other patrimonial property of the Crown surrendered Hansard, xw. 119.
by William IV. ; and the general public, as well as the Scotch Dissenters,
protested against any appropriation of this national fund to purposes of Church
extension in Scotland — even before it was ascertained whether such extension
was needed. Thus, the Commission was as unpopular on every hand as any
Commission could well be.
In his official letter, Lord John Russell expressed a hope that the greater
part of the business would be completed within six months ; — that is, in readi-
ness for the session of 1836 : but this was not possible. In 1837 and 1838,
three Reports were before the government — on the religious instruction pro- REPORTS OF COM.
vided for Edinburgh — and for Glasgow — and on teinds. They relate that
Dissenters were more numerous than Church members in Edinburgh and
Glasgow, and, especially, the most earnest and steadfast class — the communi-
cants : — that the less opulent Dissenters had provided much larger accommo-
dation than the more opulent Establishment : — that the Church accommodation
in Edinburgh exceeded the legal standard : — that it fell short of that standard
in Glasgow; but still went far beyond the existing need, as there were, as in
Edinburgh, 20,000 unlet seats — for the most part of the cheapest order. As
for the teinds — some of the unexhausted ones were held by landowners who
were Dissenters ; and it must require great consideration before these could
VOL. II. 2 T
MISSIONKRS.
322 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 38. be taken from the holders for purposes of church extension. As for the
' — -~>'—— •" amount, it fell but little below the sum of the actual stipends ; and it was
evidently a very serious matter to think of nearly doubling the revenues of the
Church by taking funds out of the hands of private holders, some being Dis-
senters, to whom they had descended as property guaranteed by law for more
than a century.
When the excitement caused by this inquiry was at the height, the elections
1837. °f 1837 occurred. The Church party, animated by the clergy, strained every
ELECTION STRUG- nerve to drive out the ministerial candidates, in hope of giving a finishing
blow to the weak and unpopular Whig government, and bringing in men who
would give them Church extension and a triumph over the Dissenters. The
Dissenters strove as earnestly on the other side ; — not from any call of trust
and gratitude for what the Whig government had done, but in the hope that
their timely aid now, in conjunction with the information of the Report — so
strongly in their favour — would procure serious attention to their case. But
for the Dissenters, the Whig candidates would have been excluded from all
the principal places in Scotland. It was hoped now that the prodigious
excitement manifested during the elections would give the Ministers some
hint of the importance of the next move they might make. The evidence was
IMPOTKNCE OF THE before their eyes that the Scotch Church was a failure in its character of a
Missionary Church, and therefore not entitled on that groimd to aid from the
community generally, or at the expense of the Dissenters, who were doing
her missionary work without aid from any quarter. The worst district in
Scotsman, Oct., Edinburgh had, at that date, six times as many ministers as the average of
183G. * J °
Scotch towns ; and yet, out of a population of 25,000, only 1070 church seats
were let to the inhabitants of the district. The Report of the City Mission
also disclosed appalling facts of the vice and wretchedness of whole districts
where the Church was a mere name, and the whole work was left to the zeal
and charity of Voluntaries. Yet, in the face of these facts — in full view of
the extraordinary excitement which pervaded all Scotland — the vast public
meetings, the gatherings of synods and societies for the protection of religious
liberty ; — in the full hearing of warnings from all England and from Ireland of
the serious consequences of a government pledging itself to Church extension
at a period when the final struggle of our Established Churches for existence
had manifestly begun — in the midst of circumstances as serious as these, Lord
J. Russell confirmed the agitating rumour which had been abroad since the
GOVERNMENT FA. elections, that the government was going to pledge itself to Church extension
EOXTENSION"CH in Scotland. Subsequent events proved — what indeed few ever doubted — that
the Ministers did not know what they were doing. The universal excitement
on ecclesiastical subjects was inexplicable to them. Their training and posi-
tion did not enable them to enter into the importance of the question of
Church Establishments to the great middle class in both England and Scot-
land, who understand the principle of it perhaps better than any other which
ever comes before the government. The Ministers did not see that a second
Reformation might be the consequence of even a single ministerial act at
such a juncture ; and so they went intrepidly on, plunging into a matter which
they did not understand — to the amazement of men on both sides in the
.quarrel. Such inability of statesmen to enter fully into religious questions: —
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 323
while not surprising — is a strong argument on the side of the opponents of 1835 — 38.
the union of Church and State : and it was so used, at this date, by the Trac- * — •— -~— - "
tarians on the one hand and the Dissenters on the other : and there was nothing
in the condition of any of the three Establishments to shame the plea. , In
the English Church, the prelates, the clergy generally, and the popular body
in the Church, were parting asunder, with mutual reproaches of tendency to
schism and unseemly disturbance. The dreadful position and reputation of
the Protestant Church in Ireland was a subject so familiar as to have become
wearisome ; and now, the Scotch Church had challenged her adversaries to a
conflict which was to end in her hopeless humiliation. Yet the Ministers
remained unconscious of the gravity of the occasion. Lord Melbourne and
Lord J. Russell said irreconcileable things on the same night in the two
Houses : and, when they had compared notes, and come to an agreement what ^n"s0a2rd> xli-
to state, it was that they proposed to extend the endowments of the Scotch
Church. For this object, they intended to repeal the Act of 1707, with regard
to the unexhausted parochial teinds, permitting certain authorities to divide
the parishes, and give the teinds to Church purposes. At the same time, large
parishes in the Highlands or elsewhere were to be endowed, from the Bishops'
teinds or some other dues of the Crown. These teinds were now, as has been
explained, national property, at the disposal of parliament. On the avowal of
the Ministerial intention of giving them to the Scotch Church, a general cry
arose — a question of where government would stop. If such aid was given to
a Church which had proved a failure wherever its work should have been most
vigorous, and whose need of aid was denied by a great majority of its own
countrymen, what should not be done for England, whose metropolis exhibited
more spiritual destitution than all Scotland together ? Every one knew that
if equal measure were dealt to the English Church, or any proposal of the
kind mentioned, the destruction of the Church was inevitable.
There was not much in the aspect of parliament to gratify such Scotchmen 1838.
as might be present at debates on the great subject. When Lord Aberdeen pT^LUMRraT.£ °'
brought the matter forward, on the 30th of March, 1838, we find one speaker
after another referring to the extreme thinness of the House ; and Lord
Aberdeen actually declaring himself wholly unable to comprehend what the
excitement of the Scotch dissenters was about. They were not divided from
the church by any disagreement in doctrine, but only by a hair's breadth, as
it were, about matters of arrangement, in which he could not see that this
question was concerned. " He assured their Lordships that not only had he Hansard, xm. 112.
never known anything like the interest which existed on this subject, but he
verily believed that never had any question of domestic policy so much agi-
tated the people of Scotland since the union of the two kingdoms." Lord
Aberdeen did not see the meaning of the movement, any more than the
Ministers. The debate was a melancholy and humbling one — a natural con-
sequence of the hesitating mind and tentative action which the Ministry had
manifested on this most serious subject. Lord Aberdeen's motion was for
certain returns relative to the Church of Scotland. He stated the expensive-
ness of the Commission, assumed the duty of the government to afford sup-
plies, through church establishments, to spiritual destitution, wherever it was
pointed out ; protested against the appropriations announced by the govern-
324 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835—38. merit, and declared them to be spoliations; and finally, taxed Lord Melbourne
x -"^— — ' with breach of faith in first inducing the church to build places of worship
on a pledge that government would endow them ; and then refusing such
Hansard>xUi-151- endowment. Lord Melbourne's reply was indignant: — "I deny, in the
strongest manner, in the most decisive terms, and in the most explicit lan-
guage in which one gentleman can speak to another, that I ever entered into
such an undertaking." And Lord Melbourne was clearly right. The churches
were built or intended before any commission was issued ; and the commission
was one of inquiry into facts. But it was also clear that the Ministers had
entered rashly upon a course which pledged them to the principles of Church
extension; and this, in a case of eminently dubious claims: and that Lord
Melbourne's speech of this night showed a considerable change and enlarge-
ment of view, which came too late.
This question here merged into the yet more essential one which, in a few
years, determined the fate of the Scotch church — the question of Patronage.
When we arrive at the date of that story, more will be seen of the disastrous
effects of the unconsciousness of statesmen of the vital importance of church
conflicts, when the principles of religious liberty are in question. If the case
is intricate — as in this instance of the Patronage question — it may be said
that statesmen cannot be expected to enter into all its niceties. If so, it is a
misfortune that the determination rests with them : for it is precisely upon the
niceties of a question of principle that the decision ought to depend. Mean-
time, as early as June 1835, Lord J. Russell committed a grave mistake which
showed how little he understood of what was involved in the question of
Patronage.
IGNORANCE OF In May, the landowners of East Kilbride agreed to petition government to
allow a trial of candidates for their pulpit. On the 14th, and again on the
21st, Lord J. Russell promised to consult the wishes of the petitioners. On the
6th of June, it appeared that the candidates were six : and this, as was imme-
diately notified to Lord J. Russell, called for an interval of six Sundays before
the choice was made. But on the 16th, the appointment of one of the can-
didates was gazetted ; and it had been previously known in Glasgow. The
Glasgow Argus, remark of the reforming journal which relates the fact is, "Lord John, like
most Englishmen, is ignorant of the peculiar position of the Scottish church,
and the feelings of Scotchmen towards it." — The time was, however, approach-
ing when the English, if they did not comprehend the church questions of
Scotland, were impressively instructed as to the feelings of Scotchmen towards it.
CHAP. VIII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 325
CHAPTER VIII.
THE great questions whose history has heen detailed left little leisure to 1835
parliament for debates on subjects of more ordinary interest. The ses- ^-^^^^~
sion of 1835 was declared at its close to be ingloriously remarkable for the
small amount of business transacted : and during the next two, the topics
which are usually brought forward every year in the expectation that they
will be amply debated, were either omitted, or dismissed with brief notice. — AGRICULTURAL
The subject of agricultural distress is rarely absent from the records of any
session; and we find it here, as usual. In May, 1835, the Marquess of Hansard, xxvm.
Chandos moved for a repeal of the taxes which bore upon the agricultural
interest. Every one admitted the distress — the low or fluctuating prices of
produce — the uncertainty of the farmer's gains while his expenses were fixed,
and, under some heads, increased : but the majority of the House agreed with
Sir R. Peel, who doubted whether the best way of assisting the farmer was
by reducing direct taxation : and unless this were certain, he thought it wrong .
to excite hopes which would probably be disappointed. The motion was
therefore voted down by a large majority. — At the beginning of the next ses-
sion, the complaints continuing, Lord J. Russell moved for a Committee of Hansard, xxxi.
Inquiry, declaring that the long-continued or permanent distress of any inte-
rest was a proper subject of investigation ; but he guarded himself from being
supposed to promise or to expect relief to the agriculturists from anything
that could be done or proposed through such a committee. — During its sitting, COMMITTEE OK
parliament was relieved from the discussion of the subjects usually introduced
as the causes of agricultural distress — the currency, local burdens, and the
corn laws. Mr. Cayley had rest from the labour of showing how it was the
Bill of 1819 which occasioned agricultural distress, and how all would be
right if we resorted to " a silver standard, or conjoined standard of silver and Hansard, xxviii
gold." The House would not agree to this the year before ; and now the
Committee would preclude its being brought forward again. The Marquess
of Chandos would be spared his annual speech on the buf dens on land ; and
the enemies of the corn laws could not do better than trust the cause of free
trade to the evidence brought before the Committee. The continued pressure
of agricultural distress was a stronger argument in favour of a repeal of
the corn laws than any which could be uttered by the voice of any man : and
it was certain to be corroborated by all the evidence which the Committee
could call for. — The result was remarkable. The Committee " ended in RESULT.
nothing," as the disappointed said : that is, it presented the evidence, with-
out any Report whatever, A Report had been prepared; and it was dis-
cussed at a meeting of twenty-five of the Committee, eighteen of whom called
themselves emphatically the farmers' friends. These eighteen objected alto-
gether to the Report, as certain to injure the cause of the suffering party, and
326 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835. insisted upon its suppression. They could not have done better for the objects
of the free-traders. The reasons for their venturing thus to disappoint the
expectations of the landed interest were looked for in the evidence, and easily
found. The labourer was one part, and the largest, of the agricultural interest :
and he was found to be in a state no worse than formerly, but considerably
better than of late years. The other two classes, less numerous, united, than
that of the labourers, were shown to be victims, not of the pressure of local
burdens, but of fluctuations in the price of produce which kept the farmer in
perpetual uncertainty about his profits, and the landowner about his rents.
The Report would have stated these results : but its suppression, and the pub-
lication of the evidence on which it was founded, answered every purpose
equally well. Familiar and wearisome as the subject is, it becomes more,
instead of less, necessary to record, complaints of agricultural distress as every
year brings us nearer to the great settlement of the principle of agricultural
commerce, that it may be clear how that settlement was both occasioned and
justified by the sufferings of the landed interest, who might, according to their
own annual complaints, gain by a change of system, but could hardly lose.
The cry for the reduction of taxation was not on behalf of the agriculturists
alone. Every year it was demanded ; and every year the Chancellor of the
Exchequer replied that government was reducing taxation as fast as it could,
without needing the intervention of parliamentary committees, or other
FINANCE. stimulus or assistance. — In 1835, there was no surplus, though considerable
evidence of prosperity. The great fires in London and Dublin — the destruc-
tion of the Houses of Parliament and injury to the Dublin Custom House —
occasioned unforeseen expense ; and there were other unexpected charges :
but the aspect of affairs was favourable enough to justify the reduction or
repeal of a few small taxes ; viz., the duty on flint-glass, now reduced from
6d. to Id. per Ib. ; the reduction of the duty on spirit licenses, within a
certain limit ; and the repeal of the duty on awards m Ireland, whereby
inducement might be offered to the poorer classes to settle their disputes in a
cheaper manner than by going to law. It was found necessary to make an
TEA DUTY. alteration in the tea duty, as well as in that on spirit licenses. Lord Althorp's
methods rarely worked well : and in this case it was found necessary very soon
to alter the tax on tea. Before the China trade was thrown open, there was
a scale of ad valorem tea duties, charged according to the prices given at the
sales at the India House. When teas might be sold in any shop, government
fixed three rates of duty, corresponding with the qualities of teas, in the hope
of thus subjecting the purchasers of low-priced teas to a low duty. Besides
the temptation to fraud and the infinite trouble sure to be caused by this
arrangement, it was soon found that the qualities of teas are not often distinct
and distinguishable enough to afford an unquestionable basis for separate tax-
ation. Teas of different value paid the same duty; and teas of the same
value paid a different duty : the Custom House officers had in their hands, not
only an irksome task, but a greater power of oppression than any tax could
48s" x justify. The House agreed to the proposal of government ; and it was resolved
that from the 31st of July, 1836, the discriminatory duty should cease, and be
succeeded by one of 2s. Id. on all teas for home consumption.
In 1835, an effort was made by Mr. Bulwer to obtain a repeal of the Stamp
Cn;u>. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 327
duty on newspapers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer did not defend the 1835.
tax, which he admitted to be bad in principle and policy ; but he must satisfy v- — "
himself with pledging his testimony against the tax, and wait for a further ^fp^v.
surplus before he could undertake to repeal it. This was received as a pro-
mise to repeal the duty the next year. Between two-thirds and three- fourths
of the duty was in fact remitted the next year. The 4d. stamp with discount
was exchanged for Id. stamp without discount. The reason why the remission ^nsard> xxxiiig
was not complete was that a postage-rate must in that case have been im-
posed ; and it was thought more convenient to all parties to retain a small
stamp duty. This was a remission of taxation truly honourable to govern-
ment, and beneficial to the people. A vast quantity of trash was immediately
driven out of the market, and its place supplied by good newspapers. The
lowest order of readers will always prefer what is superior to what is inferior,
in political and social literature, as in every thing else, if both are made
equally attainable ; and it presently appeared that unstamped newspapers, got
up by adventurers in defiance of law (however faulty the law might be), had
no chance with the least-informed class of readers in the presence of more
intelligent journals, now legally made cheap.
The Report of the Chancellor of the Exchequer was prosperous this year — 1836.
1836 — for the last time for several years ; for before the next session, the
memorable seven years' distress of the manufacturing classes had given tokens
of approach which were not to be mistaken. In 1836, the surplus would have
been two millions, but for the payments to the West India planters. As it
was, there was a surplus of £662,000, destined in the first place to the re- ^3nsard' xxxiii'
duction of the paper duties, which were pernicious in many ways, and cspe- PAPER DUTIES.
cially as affording incitement and occasion to extensive frauds. Writing paper
had been paying a duty of 25 per cent. ; printing paper, from 50 to 60 per cent. ;
and coarse paper, from 70 to 200 per cent. There was now to be a general
duty of \\d. per Ib. on all sorts ; and, as all paper paid duty, the secondary tax
on stained paper was remitted altogether. Lord Al thorp had repealed the duty
on the insurance of farming-stock : and it was now proposed to extend the
repeal to the insurance duty on farm-buildings. Some smaller taxes went Hansard, xxxm.
also, as it was anticipated that there would be a large increase in the con-
sumption of paper, and in the spread of newspapers, so as to obviate any ulti-
mate loss to the revenue from the repeal of their respective duties. — In 1837, 1837.
the surplus was less than £400,000 ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer BUDGET.
could only declare his own disappointment to be as great as other people's —
show that his former reductions of duty had answered well — declare that the
present adversity was owing to the commercial panic which had lately pre-
vailed— and express his confident hope that the worst was past, and that he
should have a more cheering story to tell next year.
There was something irritating in the constantly hopeful and satisfied tone DISTRESS. ,
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whom nothing could discourage or depress
so far as to make him evince, at any time, the solicitude which seemed natu-
rally to belong to his position, in a season of adversity. His poco-curanteism,
joined with Lord Melbourne's, was too much for the patience of the suffering
people during the terrible winter of 1836 and 1837. The harvest had not
been a very good one ; and in America it was so much worse that there was a
328 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. large demand for wheat from England, exactly at the time when the money
"-— — •* ' relations of the two countries were in a fearful state. The potato crop had
failed at home ; and just when the cold of a severe winter was setting in,
there was a complication of distresses which it might appal any minister to
face. By the extraordinary action of the American President, General Jack-
son, upon the banks, there was a drain for gold from every country that could
Sp!o^8°r> '83r>> sen(l away: and the stock in the Bank of England was lower than at any
time since the passing of the Bill of 1819, except during the worst of the
crisis of 1855. The prices of all articles hut food were so low that manu-
factures seemed likely to stop for the winter ; while, from the insufficient sup-
ply of food, and the drain from abroad for what there was, the price of corn
and other provisions was rising from week to week. When the Bank took
fright, and " put on the screw," the dismay was extreme, and nothing better
was looked for than such a winter as that of ten years before.
During the preceding prosperity — during the three years of fine seasons,
abundant harvests at home, and increased production of food in Ireland — •
speculation had revived, and had shown itself especially in the direction of
BA'NKSST°CK banking. Now the time had come for looking into the matter — now, when
the Bank of England had restricted her issues, and made the pain or numbness
of the operation felt through every nerve of the commercial and manufacturing
body of the nation. In the first seven years from the institution of Joint-Stock
Ret™m°fflce hanking, thirty-four joint-stock banks were established. Nearly the same
number rose up in the three following years — extending to the end of 1835.
The average thus was, for the ten years, three new banks per annum. But in
EXTENSION. 1836, there were forty- two new ones set up, with branches which increased
the number to nearly 200. During that year, the issues of joint-stock banks
had increased nearly a million and a half. The branches in connexion with the
joint-stock banks existing in 1836 were 670 in number ; and the number of
Porter's < Pro. partners was upwards of 37,000. Of these banks more than three-fourths
gress,' &c. sec. ni. . '
p-221- issued their own notes; and those that issued the notes of the Bank of Eng-
land, in exchange for facilities in the way of discounts, were bound not to send
up less than a certain amount of bills for discount ; so that the local issues
were thus put by the Bank out of its own power of control. — During the three
years of fine harvests, the price of wheat had fallen from 55s. 5d. to 36s. ; the
abundance of food more than compensated to the working classes for the rising
prices of other articles ; and their condition was one of unusual prosperity.
During the latter part of this period, the Bank of England increased its issues1
by a million, and other banks (in England, Wales, and Ireland) by three mil-
lions ; and speculation became almost as mad as it had been ten years before.
It was not till April, 1836, that the Bank began to contract its issues ; and the
drain of gold had already set in so as to induce the Directors to raise the rate
prkes'uH3oo°302! of interest on discount to 4J per cent, in July, and 5 in August. The joint-
stock banks did not take the hint, as had been hoped, but actually increased
u*37"pl mgister> t^eir igsues above 50 per cent, in the course of the year, during the greater
part of which the Bank had been striving to stop the drain of gold which had
reduced the stock of bullion to five millions. The panic which must come was
FAILURES. foreseen by men of business through the summer. Its first manifestation was
the failure of a great joint-stock bank in Ireland — the Agricultural and Com-
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 329
mercial — which, with its thirty branches, came to a stop in November. A 1837.
general run upon joint-stock banks had begun, and in the north of England
there seemed reason to fear a repetition of the miseries of 1826. To avoid
this, and in fear for its own low stock of bullion, the Bank of England gave
ample and rapid assistance — saving first the great Manchester Joint-Stock
Bank — " the Northern and Central," and its forty branches — and in that, and
by subsequent efforts, many others. — An untoward accident presently after-
wards increased the public distrust in the state of commercial affairs. When
the Bank of England raised the rate of interest on discounts, and had to lend
to money-dealers who employed the loans in the discount of goods' bills, there
was much surprise at the quantity of American paper that came in, disclosing ;^"IC
the existence of an unsound system of credits carried on by six houses in Lon-
don and one in Liverpool, which made advances on American account to an
amount of not less than fifteen or sixteen millions at one time, while the
means of meeting their liabilities did not altogether amount to so much as one-
sixth of the whole. The Bank Directors sent orders to their agent at Liver-
pool to refuse the paper of certain American houses. By some strange indis-
cretion, the names of these firms got abroad. Though they fell into immediate
discredit, these firms contrived to struggle on till the next March, when three
of them, whose outstanding acceptances amounted to five millions and a half,
suspended payment. The danger now was that other American houses must
stop, whose liabilities, added to those just mentioned, would have amounted to
nearly twelve millions. To avert so fatal a shock, the Bank sustained the
three great houses till they had considerably lessened the amount of their lia-
bilities. But such transactions did not confirm public confidence in England,
and occasioned a further embarrassing reaction from America, where the conse-
quence was nothing less than the knocking up of all the banks which had
escaped the operations of President Jackson.
Amidst such a state of affairs, it was not to be wondered at that renewed coSiirfSfoF"
parliamentary inquiry into the principles and practice of banking was desired. IN«"IRY-
A committee of inquiry into the operation of joint-stock banks had sat, with
Mr. Clay as chairman, in the session of 1836, and had resolved, at the close, to
present such evidence as had come before them, without declaring any doctrine
or recommendation till the subject should have been prosecuted further. The
royal speech of the 31st of January, 1837, emphatically recommended the sub- Hantwrd,xMrLa.
ject to the earnest attention of the House of Commons, declaring that, while
the best security against the mismanagement of banking must always be
found in the integrity and ability of the managers, no legislative regulation
should be omitted which can confirm the security.
On the 6th of February, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved for the Hnnsnrd, xx^vi.
renewal of the late committee ; to which the majority of the House eagerly
assented. In the course, of the debate, there seemed to be an almost universal
agreement to express confidence in joint-stock banks, to praise their manage-
ment under late difficulties, and to blame the Bank for various faults of con-
duct. The committee, however, found occasion to recommend large alterations
in the arrangements of joint-stock banks; and these were embodied in an Act ivic c ?3-
which became law on the 17th of July, 1837. By this Act, shareholders be- BANK ACTS.
came liable for only the amount of their shares ; and there could no longer be
»CT- IT. 2 u
jib.
330 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. an unrestricted nominal capital, or an imperfect registration of the names of
shareholders. — A further regulation was carried out in 1844, by an Act which
may be referred to here, as concluding the subject. By this Act, every new
company is required to present a petition to the Queen in Council, signed by
at least seven of the shareholders, praying for a patent of institution, and offer-
ing all the necessary details of the persons, the capital, the method of manage-
ment, the locality proposed, and so on. The petition is then examined by the
Board of Trade, and certified to be in compliance with the law. The deed of
partnership is superintended by the Board of Trade. An unauthorized partner
can now no longer bind the rest of the partners to any act ; but only an autho-
rized director. Joint-stock banks have now the right of suing and being
sued. — The difficulties and dangers of banking are not removed by these Acts;
— nor can be by any means whatever till the intricate subject of Currency —
which includes many others — is absolutely understood by a few, and compa-
ratively well by all parties immediately concerned. Meantime, we see in the
records of the time a melancholy picture of popular ignorance extending to
high places, while the consequent misery spread down to the lowest. One
member of parliament thought that a silver standard would set all right ; —
another declared, in allusion to the cheerfulness of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, that Ministers were fiddling while the State was burning ; that the
distress of 1825-6 was not a millionth part of what existed at present ; and
that a paper currency, regulated by the demand, was the only cure ; — one was
for requiring incessant and minute returns from every banking establishment,
for the sake of control by the Bank of England or the government ; and another
Avas opposed to all inquiry whatever till the "infant" joint-stock banks could
show what they could do : — some were for making the Bank of England the
only bank of issue : — others were for allowing no issues but by a National
Bank, which should be responsible to the Crown and to parliament : and others
again were for perfect free trade in money. Amidst these differences, men
might be advancing towards knowledge ; and parliament did something in
improving the securities of joint-stock banks : but there was something melan-
choly and alarming in the sense and evidence of general ignorance which was
pressed upon the thoughtful by the incidents of the time. It was within the
period mentioned above that a Currency discussion took place at the Political
Economy Club, at which three Cabinet Ministers attended as hearers, and
where three or more chiefs of the science propounded their respective doctrines.
The matter was gone into with all possible ability, earnestness, and temper ;
and no one complained of want of opportunity to state his doctrine fully. No
one of these chiefs converted another ; only one, if any, gave a general im-
pression of being fully master of his subject; and no one could be declared to
have settled the mind of any hearer. The three Cabinet Ministers listened in
earnest silence, and committed themselves to no opinion. It is probable that
they thought, like other hearers, that the subject, certainly fathomable, is as
yet as far from being fathomed as any on which society is under the fate of
proceeding from day to day, without being able to pause for wisdom to choose
a path which might guide her clear of some terrible abyss a-head, instead of
straight into it. We now know, only too feelingly, that the monetary crisis
of 1836-7 was not to be the last.
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 331
One of the most useful and beneficial acts of legislation of this reign was 1837.
that which gave the nation a Registration of Births, Marriages, and Deaths :
and the year 1836 was that which introduced it. In noting the year of its origin,
the mind is carried on to contemplate the spread of its consequences, which
may indeed be fairly considered incalculable. The most obvious, though the
lowest, consideration is the security of property given by the existence of an
authentic and accessible record of the family events which govern the trans-
mission of real property. — Another consideration, deeply felt by a large section
of the people, was the removal of a tacit disgrace and disability from the Dis-
senters ; a disgrace and disability never designed, but growing out of the fact
that whatever registration existed was ecclesiastical and not civil. Not births,
but baptisms, were, up to this time, registered : — no marriages but those which
took place at the church of the Establishment, from which Quakers and Jews
were therefore excluded : — no deaths but of persons who were buried by the
clergy of the Establishment. — Again, here was a means of exploration into
the whole of society which might answer many beneficent purposes, while it
had nothing in it obtrusive or despotic. The numbers of the people would be
known — their proportion to the means of education — their worldly condition,
as indicated by the proportion of marriages — their sanitary condition, as indi-
cated by the proportion of mortality, and the nature of the maladies which
carried them off: — and, finally, here would be, always at hand, a vast body of
statistical facts, out of which social reforms might be constructed, according
to the speculations of the most thoughtful, and perhaps beyond the dreams of
the most imaginative. In old times, the registration, being exclusively eccle-
siastical, was one of the duties appointed expressly to the clergyman, on his
entrance into his function ; but it was used for civil purposes which caused it
to be disliked, and consequently evaded, where possible. It was used for
taxing purposes, as in the Act of 6 and 7 William III. c. 6, when duties were POIU. D;OI. u. 025.
levied " on Births, Marriages, and Burials, and upon bachelors and widowers,
for the term of five years, for carrying on the war against France with vigour."
The most recent legislation upon the subject had chiefly provided for the
security of the records — ordaining that the books should be made of parchment
or strong paper, and kept in dry and well-painted iron chests. No conception
of the importance of such a measure as a complete civil registration of the
life, death, and domestic condition, of the whole people seems to have entered
the mind of the nation till our own century; and that century will hereafter
be regarded as honourable in which it was done.
The improvement in the Marriage law connected with this measure has been MARRIAGE.
specified before. Sir R. Peel introduced the sound principle of rendering
marriage a Civil Contract, only so far_obligatory by law, because the civil
contract is all that the State has to do with ; and the religious celebration is a
matter of private conscience altogether. From the time of the passage of this
Act, the business lay, as far as the State was concerned, between the Registrar
and the parties intending to marry. The marriage might take place at the
office of the Superintendent Registrar, or at any church or chapel registered
for the purpose, without publication of banns, and in virtue of the Registrar's
certificate that the provisions of the law had been complied with — the Regis-
332 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. trar being present, and the certificate being delivered to the officiating clergy-
^*-v--»^ man, or the registering officer in any dissenting chapel or synagogue. If the
parties are married at the Superintendent Registrar's office, that officer must
be present, and another registrar, and two witnesses ; the hours and open
doors must be the same as in other cases, and also the declarations as to the
absence of legal impediment. In the place of the former publication of banns,
Ptoiit. Diet. ii. 323. there" was now to be a sufficient previous residence and length of notice — the
publication of banns being henceforth confined to the case of members of the
Establishment. By this Act, the Dissenters obtained a relief which it will
hereafter be astonishing that they could have waited for so long; and the
State began to practise the virtuous prudence of making marriage as accessible
as it at present knew how, and consonant to the principles and feelings of the
conscientious of every way of thinking.
This marriage business occupied one of the two Bills brought forward by
Lord John Russell on the 12th of February. The other provided for the
BIRTHS AND registration of Births and Deaths. The guardians of the poor were to divide
Poiit. pict. ii. the parishes into districts which should be supplied with a sufficiency of regis-
trars. The occupiers of houses were encouraged to give notice, within a
certain time, of every birth and death that happened therein, with such parti-
culars as the officers were authorized to ask. A fee on registration must be
paid, after the lapse of the shortest term specified ; and a heavier fee after
further delay. Births and deaths happening at sea were to be registered by
the captain of the vessel. Those who gave information of deaths were encou-
raged to present a declaration of the cause of death, in the handwriting of
the attendant medical man. The registers were to be transmitted to London,
to be kept in a central office, where access might be had to them, on payment
of a small fee. It may be seen at a glance what a broad ground for sanitary
improvement was afforded by this measure ; how immediately the prevalence
of certain diseases in particular localities must be made apparent ; and how
easy it must become in time to ascertain the most important conditions of life
and health from a body of facts so large and so unquestionable as is afforded
by a general register.
FIRST OPERATION. In the first year, the number of deaths registered amounted almost exactly
to that which Mr. Finlaison, the actuary, previously said it ought to be. The
marriages registered were fewer than could have taken place ; and the births
fewer still. The prejudices against the registration of births have been giving
way ever since, and the returns are less unsatisfactory every year : but they
are still defective ; the births unregistered certainly amounting to some thou-
sands every year. This is likely to be the last portion of the scheme which
will work as it ought. By the end of 1838, the number of registrars amounted
to about 2200 ; nearly half of whom were officers in poor law Unions. Of
these, above 400 registered marriages, as well as births and deaths ; and 400
more registered marriages only. The superintendent registrars were about
Hansard, xxxi. QQQ rp^e total expense was estimated by the Ministers, when Lord John
Russell introduced the measure, at about £80,000 per annum ; and surely he
was right in thinking that the money could not be better spent. This great
institution, as it may be called, was one result of the reform of the poor law ;
CHAP. VIIL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 333
and if from it should arise a thoroughly effective scheme of sanitary adminis- 1837.
tvation, we may see in the New Poor Law a cure for other than " the great ' *
political gangrene of England."
In the session of 1835, a Bill to abolish Imprisonment for Debt had passed IMPRISONMENT
* . . FOR DEBT.
the Commons, but had reached the peers too late for any chance of becoming
law that year. In. 1836, the Lord Chancellor introduced a similar measure Hansard, xxxiv.
on the 30th of June : but, before the middle of July, when the vote for the
second reading was to be taken, the Duke of Wellington settled, for himself
and the House, that it was too late to proceed with a matter of such import-
ance ; and, though the Premier thought there was plenty of time, the Bill
was dropped. — Some success was now, at last, obtained by those who had, for
several sessions, attempted to obtain the benefit .of counsel for prisoners on £°™^ FOR
trial for felony. Twice had a Bill to this effect passed the Commons, and
been obstructed or dropped in the Lords : but now the Criminal Law Com-
missioners had unanimously recommended that prisoners charged with felony
should be allowed the advantage of counsel to address the jury in their defence ;
and the proposal came before parliament with a new sanction. The marvel
of the case now is that there could have been any doubt about the matter :
but there were still persons who were misled by the saying that the Judge
was the prisoner's counsel — not considering how much there might be in the
case which could never come to the knowledge of the Judge. Lawyers of all
politics said this ; some knew cases where innocent men had been sacrificed
for want of legal aid ; and all seemed to approve the principle of the Bill,
while a few, as Lord Lyndhurst, objected to certain of the details. In treason
trials, at one end of the scale of crime, and in trials for misdemeanour, at the
other, prisoners had the benefit of counsel ; but not in the intermediate
range./ No one among the Peers disputed the absurdity of this ; and in
Committee, only one amendment was made to which the Commons did not at
onya agree. But that amendment was of great consequence ; and it seemed
a/ one time likely to throw out the Bill for that year. The Bill gave the pri-
soner the last word. His counsel was to reply to the address for the prosecu-
tion, after the evidence was done with. Lord Abinger declared that he would Hansard, xxxv.
oppose the Bill if this was in all cases allowed. The Lord Chancellor defended
the provision : but was outvoted. The Commons were disturbed, and requested
a conference : the Lords would not yield their amendments ; and, sooner than
lose the Bill altogether, Mr. Ewart, who brought it in, took what he could Hansard, xxxv.
get, announcing that he should try for the rest another year.
A new statute was passed this session which repealed the obligation to
execute murderers the next day but one after conviction, unless the day should Hansard, xxxv.
happen to be Sunday. The same discretion was now left as to the day of exe-
cution, as in other cases of capital conviction. — The powers of Coroners were CORONERS'
enlarged, in the same session, by means of a provision for paying the expenses
of medical witnesses, and enabling the Coroner to call for additional medical cand? wm. iv.
evidence, when required.
An interesting item in the business of parliament, since the. great fire, had NEW HOUSES OP
been the consideration how to provide a new House for the great Council of
the nation to meet and work in. On request from parliament, a royal commis-
sion had been appointed in 1835, to receive plans by open competition for the
334 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1837. rebuilding of the Houses. Out of more than ninety plans, four had been
selected for further examination ; and to choose among these was the business
of the renewed committee of 1836. A debate was raised by Mr. Hume as to
whether the site should not be exchanged for a spot more open and elevated
— as, perhaps, St. James's Palace and Marlborough House : but, besides that
certain conveniences were connected with the old site, much property had been
bought, and many houses pulled down, for the purpose of the rebuilding on
the same spot.
The opinion of the Committees of both Houses as to the choice of plan and
architect, was made apparent in March by their proposal of an address to the
King, to petition him to institute inquiries as to the probable expense of exe-
cuting the plan of Mr. Barry. It was considered a great day for Art in
England when such a work as this was thrown open to competition. Here
was no despotism of rank or fame, in. king or architect, to settle a matter in
which the nation should have a share through its representatives ; but, while
the tribunal was as good an one as could have been found to meet all the needs
of the case, its nature was a sort of invitation to the people to look upon the
enterprise as business of their own, and learn from it, as we all do from enter-
prises of our own. It was worth the inconvenience and loss from the fire to
give the nation such an exercise in Art and the love of it as the erection of
the Palace of Parliament. The cost has far exceeded expectation, and is still
heavy ; and it has occurred during a long period of distress ; but it is hard to
say how the money could have been better spent than on an object so noble,
so truly expedient, so plainly extending its benefits into a far future, as the
erection of a building which will be to a future age what our old Abbeys and
Cathedrals are to us now. — Mr. Barry's plan appears to have put all others out
of sight at once — admirable as some of them were declared to be. One of its
excellences was that there was a largeness and unity about its exterior plan
which admitted of great modifications, according to circumstances and expe-
rience, of interior arrangements : but this advantage was not regarded as a
merit by disappointed competitors and their advocates, but rather as a ground
of complaint about changes and improvements, and departure from original
proposals. If it required the courage of a hero to offer such a plan to a body
so notoriously utilitarian as the British House of Commons, it required further
the patience of a saint to endure being " hunted and pursued" as Mr. Barry
was from the moment of the preference of the Committees being avowed, and
with more or less intermission through succeeding years. But a man who
works for ten thousand generations cannot expect perfect sympathy from the
existing one. He ought to be satisfied with so much as enables him to do his
work : and Mr. Barry has had much more than this. He might be satisfied
with looking forward to future centuries, when men of an advanced order of
civilization will pass through his imposing corridors and pictured halls, and
pause before his magnificent tower, and swell with admiration, without any
more dreaming of criticism than we do in pacing a cathedral aisle. The
criticism appears to be of a more temporary character even than usual in this
case — the most vehement being connected with the process of competition —
presently done with — and much of the rest being about the proportions of
unfinished work. All this will die away in a few years ; and then the general
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 335
appreciation of the achievement will begin. Meantime, the architect has 1837.
been well sustained by admiration and sympathy. s -
The principle of competition is admitted also in regard to the sculpture and
paintings to be deposited within. The present will be ever regarded as a
memorable period for British sculptors and painters, as well as architects.
They have been invited to open competition, so conducted as that every artist
can show, before worthy judges, how far he is capable of conceiving and pre-
senting the ideas and facts of the destiny and story of his nation. If there is
genius among us, undeveloped, it will be brought out ; and that which has
already made itself known cannot but be animated by such an incitement.
We may hope to see, in the new Houses of Parliament, the mind of our time
stamped for the contemplation of the future, in the form of a history of the
past : and if this is not done, it must be because we are not able to do it : for
the opportunity lies open. Niches and pedestals are waiting for statues, and
pannels for paintings ; and all our artists are invited to come and try who is
most worthy to supply both. If there are men to do it, it wilt be done : and
that the case is such is a noble feature of the time. — A beginning of the great
enterprise was made in 1837 by the formation of the embankment along the
river side. It was three years more before anything of the character of the
work could show itself; and then, when the east end appeared to the height
of the first floor, every one was astonished to find how far the apparition tran-
scended all expectation of it that could be caused by descriptions and drawings.
In connexion with this building, an innovation on the proceedings of par-
liament was proposed in two successive sessions, and discussed at more length,
and in a less creditable tone, than could have been expected. In July, 1835, ADMISSION OF
it Avas proposed in the House of Commons that accommodation should be pro- ntn"^™
vided in the new edifice for the presence of women at the debates. The pro- ^nsard-xxU-
posal was made in a spirit and in language which went far to place every
sensible woman on the same side of the question with Lord J. Russell, when
he declared his disinclination to debate the matter, and his intention to oppose
the motion. Lord J. Russell was outvoted, however, and a Committee was
appointed to consider the subject. The whole proceeding had much the air of
an ill-bred joke; — the speech of the mover — the ostentatious eagerness to second
it — the coarse mirth — and the large majority. — On the next occasion, May 3d,
1836, matters were worse; — the speeches more indecent — the mirth more flip-
pant and unmanly — the majority larger in proportion. It seemed likely that Hansard xxxiii
the women of England might indeed be invited to be present at the delibera- 53K
tions of legislators whose method of invitation was an insult in itself, and who
professed to wish for the presence of ladies (among other reasons) as a check
upon intoxication and indecency of language. But the affair was happily put
an end to by means chiefly of a serious and sensible reply from the Speaker,
when asked for his opinion on occasion of a grant for a Ladies' Gallery beino- i«W-
proposed. The grant was refused by a majority of 42 against 28. — As for the
merits of the question when considered seriously, there was little difference of
opinion. Those who advocated the admission of women in the gallery did
not pretend to be thinking of the improvement of the women's knowledge,
and the cultivation of their interest in subjects which concern every member
of society — those who are waiting for political participation, as well as those
336 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1837. who have it. Every one knew that serious objects like these are best accom-
v-— - - — > plished at home, as the speeches of legislators are certainly much better in the
newspapers than as they are spoken. If the proposition of a Ladies' Gallery
had been carried, the place would have been found to be occupied almost ex-
clusively by giddy and frivolous women, fond of novelty, and with plenty of
£ime to lose ; — a nuisance to the legislature, and a serious disadvantage to the
wiser of their own sex — inasmuch as these triflers would be understood, from
their very presence, to be representatives of the English women who take
an interest in politics ; while in reality, the latter class would be precisely
those who would be reading and thinking at home. Whenever the time shall
arrive when the legal position of Woman in England comes fairly under the
eye of the legislature — a position so injurious as to extract from Lord
Hansard, xiiv. Brouarham the confession, in 1838, that the whole of the law was so atrocious
•jfij 7§4<
as regards Woman, that there is nothing to be done but to leave it alone, and
keep it out of sight as long as possible — it would be a serious disadvantage to
Englishwomen to be judged of, as they inevitably would be, by such a sample
as would have attended the debates on such an invitation as that of Mr. Grantley
Berkeley and Mr. Villiers. As it was, the women of England gained some-
thing— in the way of warning how far they were from being respected by those
who professed most regard for their political improvement : and the House of
Commons lost much — in the way of character for sense and refinement. It had
often exposed itself by the boyish passion and pot-house manners which had
occasioned confusion within its walls : but it now outbid all former disgraces,
and excited a disgust which was not likely to be forgotten. The simple-
minded now knew something of the way in which some gentry talk when they
get together — like to like. The simple-minded were shocked ; but they were
glad to know the truth, and resolved to bear it in mind.
piiivitEGu OF Every one admits, as a general declaration, that no subiect can be more im-
PmUAMBNT. " . m "
portant, in the deliberations of parliament, than the defence of its own privi-
leges ; yet the whole nation dislikes the subject, and is too apt to despise it.
A troublesome and protracted and very serious conflict about the privileges of
the Commons began in 1837. On the 6th of February, a petition was presented
Hansard, xxxvi. from Messrs. Hansard, the printers to the House, who stated, that in course of
the ordinary, authorized sale of parliamentary reports and papers to the public,
a Prison Report had been sold, in which was contained a statement given in
evidence, that certain prisoners Avere found reading obscene works, issued by a
certain publisher, whose name was given — J. J. Stockdale : — that Stockdale
had brought an action for libel against Messrs. Hansard in the Court of King's
Bench, laying his damages at £20,000 : that Messrs. Hansard had pleaded in
justification the sanction and authority of the House of Commons : that the
Court of King's Bench had ordered the plea to be struck off the record : and
that Messrs. Hansard prayed the protection of the House.
The privilege of parliament was not involved in the act of disallowing the
Hansards' plea ; the disallowance being merely on the ground that the plea
was unnecessary for technical reasons : and, on this opening occasion, no one
dreamed that the privilege of parliament was in question at all. It was 011
occasion of the trial, the next day, that tjie controversy was raised. It was
raised by Chief Justice Denman, who said that he was not aware that the au-
CHAP. VIIL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
thority of the House of Commons could justify the publication of a libel. In 1837.
his charge to the jury, he repeated his opinion with strong emphasis ; and the v~—~ *— — '
jury accordingly found, that though the book referred to was obscene and dis-
gusting, the defendants were guilty of libel on the publisher. Within a week,
the House took up the matter, and appointed a committee to investigate the
question of privilege. On the 30th of May, Lord Howick moved Resolutions |{^!ard' "xviii>
framed on the Report of the Committee, affirming that the House had full
power to publish what it chose ; that to bring the privileges of parliament into
discussion before any tribunal but parliament itself, is a high breach of privi-
lege : and that for any court or tribunal to assume to decide on the privileges
of parliament, otherwise than as carrying out the decisions of either House
thereon, is contrary to the law of parliament, and a breach and contempt of its
privileges. Sir R. Peel supported these Resolutions, against a set, of a con-
-i -i «« •¥-» T T 11 ,11,1 Hansard, xxxviil.
trary purport, proposed by Sir R. Inglis : and those supported by the two par- 1121.
liamcntary leaders were carried by a majority of 90 in a House of 162. m"!*"1' XXX"U'
Here was the Court of King's Bench placed in direct and irreconcileable
opposition to the House of Commons : — Lord Chief Justice Denman to the
assembled representatives of the nation. It was no trifle — such a quarrel as
this ; and its issue was awaited with great anxiety by all who understood its
bearings.
There is nothing more to be said of the action of parliament during the ^^,3™°*,™?
reign. The Whig Ministers were not men of business. They conveyed the
impression of doubt about the quality and practicability of their own measures ;
and this was, in fact, inviting the obstruction or demolition of those measures.
Every session became, to the sensations of those concerned in it, more and more
like a troubled dream, wherein the sufferer is for ever struggling to get on, and
for ever in vain. By this time, the Ministers themselves had arrived at com-
plaining that they could not carry their measures; and this provoked an in-
quiry, by no means spoken sotto voce, whether, in that case, they were fit for
the very office whose business is to pass measures. They were obliged to en-
dure, on occasion of the close of the reign, a speech of scornful reproach from
Lord Lyndhurst, which they could not repel with answering scorn, because the
Houses and the country knew that the taunts, though severely expressed, were
mainly true. After showing that, at the end of a session of five months, only
two measures of original importance had been passed, while seventy -five public
bills were depending in the Commons, he declared, "Never was the state of Hansard, xxxviii.
business in the other House of parliament in the situation in which it was at
present — never did a government so neglect so important a part of its duty,
that which it had to discharge in parliament, as the government had done
during the last five months. The noble Viscount and his colleagues were
utterly powerless. They were powerless alike in that and in the other House :
they were utterly inefficient and incompetent as servants to the Crown ; and,
he must add also, they were equally powerless, incapable, and inefficient, as
regarded the people He could only say that almost every feasible and
reasonable man had but one opinion ; — but one idea was entertained regarding
their conduct. It elicited the pity of their friends, and excited the scorn and
derision of the enemies of their country. He gave them a picture of the pre-
VOL. u. 2 x
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. sent — he had also given them a picture of the past. What then were their
hopes for the future ?"
There is no need to accept the vaticinations of an enemy as to the future of
the Whig Ministry, as events will presently show us what it was. As for
Lord Lyndhurst's pictures of the past and present, they were hailed hy some,
excited a smile in others, and were openly resented by very few. They were
too nearly true to be strongly impugned. The Premier protested vaguely
against them, and went home placidly conscious that he was no nearer going
out of office for any thing that Lord Lyndhurst could say. A new period,
affording fresh chances, was now setting in, during which they might show
what they could do. The Premier might now have less leisure and license
than hitherto for blowing feathers, and nursing sofa cushions, and serenely
swearing in the face of deputations : but he was entering on a new term of
power, and was safe for the present — whatever sarcastic enemies, and wearied
friends, and the indignant people, might say about the incapacity of the Mel-
bourne Ministry to carry on the business of the country.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 339
CHAPTER IX.
fT^HE history of our Whig administrations is almost made up of obstruction 1837.
•*• on the part of their adversaries, and powerlessness on their own ; but never v — — v— • —
were the Whig rulers reduced to more desperate straits than in the spring of
1837. They were supposed to have staked their existence on carrying their
measures for Ireland ; but they could not carry them. In the House of Lords
the Tories cried out that the country was without a government ; and the
Radical members in the other House repeated the cry. The Ministers were
believed to desire earnestly the dissolution of the parliament formed during
the short Peel administration ; but the King would not hear of it. The King
was believed to desire earnestly the resignation of the Ministers; but the
Ministers did not appear to think of giving up. It was a state of things which
could not endure long. When the change came, it was not exactly in the way
that had been looked for.
The King's health had been better for the seven years since his accession IJ.LN ESS OF THE
• KING.
than for a long previous period ; and he enjoyed a remarkable exemption from
the annual attack of hay-fever (as it is called) which had before regularly come
on in June. At the beginning of 1837, his family had observed that his
strength was not what it had been ; but he was upwards of seventy; and some
decline might be looked for. When May came in, he appeared to be aging
rapidly. On the 17th, he was seated at the levee, for the first time, and looked
worn and feeble. On returning to Windsor, he had difficulty in mounting the
stairs, and sat down on the first sofa. He held a drawing-room the next day; $™Mi£em
was again seated, and observed to look still worse ; but he was less fatigued in
the evening ; and was in high spirits the next day — which was the anniversary
of the battle of La Hogue. He talked a great deal about our naval warfare,
and was carried away by the favourite subject of our victories at sea during the
last century. He was stopped two or three times by difficulty of breathing, but
went on again. The next morning, Saturday the 20th, he was much the worse
for the exertion — could take no breakfast, and fell back fainting at lunch-time
— and again at dinner. It was clear that evening that he could not go to town
in the morning, to be present at the re-opening of the Chapel Royal. It was
ten at night before he gave it up, and he then left the drawing-room, never
to enter it again. On Monday and Tuesday, he saw the Ministers. On Wed-
nesday, there was a grand ball at St. James's, given by the King in celebration
of the Princess Victoria attaining her majority. The ball was none of the
merriest, from the absence of the King and Queen ; but the King sent tokens
of his kindly sympathy. He presented the Princess with a magnificent piano-
forte, as his birthday offering. He held a council on the Saturday; but was
wheeled in a chair into the council-room, as he could no longer walk. — When
June arrived, he and those about him called his illness the old hay-fever.
340 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. Whatever it was, it disappointed him of meeting the great parties he had
invited for the Eton regatta on the 5th, and Ascot races afterwards. As he
sat in his easy chair, breathing with difficulty and sinking in weakness, the
kind-hearted old man thought of various things which might add to the plea-
sure and comfort of the Eton lads, and others of his guests below ; and many
were the orders he gave. He insisted on the Queen's going to Ascot on the
race day, that there might be as little disappointment to the public as possible.
She was not gone long ; and when she returned, she observed a considerable
change for the worse, in those two hours. — The dinner in St. George's Hall
the next day was dull and sad : but there was talk of the King being removed
to Brighton in the morning, when perhaps the sea air might revive him.
When the morning came, he was too ill to stir ; and the guests at the Castle
all went away after breakfast. An extraordinary stillness prevailed; and
now, the King's danger was freely spoken of there, and in London. The
danger was supposed to be extreme ; but he revived a little, and transacted
some business with Sir Herbert Taylor the next day (the 9th), signing papers
with much difficulty, but showing all necessary clearness of mind.
A bulletin was now first issued; but on the morrow, the King was so
much better as to lead even his own attendants to think that the attack might
be got over for the time. The improvement was, however, merely owing to
medicines which temporarily relieved the breathing. During his severest suf-
fering, he was eminently patient, thankful for kind offices, and ever cheerful :
and when he was relieved, it became evident how great had been the suffering
which he had borne so quietly. His spirits rose, and he was full of thanks-
giving. He was fully conscious of his danger throughout, and, sincerely
believing that, from the youth of the Princess Victoria, it was desirable that
he should live some years longer, he prayed for life — not for his own sake, but
for that of the country. He had prayers read very frequently ; and they
always revived him. — On the 13th, he chose to see the Hanoverian Minister
on business ; and, on the 14th, the Duke of Cumberland— he and they, no
doubt, being fully aware that the connexion between the kingdoms of Hanover
and England was hourly dissolving with his failing breath. Possibly, his
desire to live ten years longer for the public good might have as much refer ^
ence to Hanover as to Great Britain. — For a few days more he fluctuated
between life and death — now appearing to be breathing his last, and then
signing a paper or two as he could rally his strength for the effort. His last
act of sovereignty was signing the pardon of a condemned criminal. — On the
Sunday, he received the sacrament from the hands of the Archbishop of Can-
terbury ; and he appeared to derive so much solace from the mere presence of
the Primate, though unable to speak or to listen much, that the Archbishop
remained in the room till late into the night. — The anniversary of Waterloo
was always a great day with the King. The Duke of Wellington would not
have held his usual banquet without complete assurance of the Queen's
wishes : but the good old king's thoughtfulness settled the matter, the day
before. He sent a message to the Duke, to desire that the dinner might take
place as usual, and to wish the host and guests a pleasant day. — On the 19th,
he saw all his children, and let them understand how fully aware he was that
his death was just at hand. His last distinct and deliberate words appear to
. . . . . ' •
CHAP. IX.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 341
have been those which he addressed to the Primate at the moment of their 1837.
final parting: — "Believe me, I am a religious man." He sank during the ^~- — — -^
• i . j i • i ft. L it. DEATH OF THE
night, and died soon alter two m the morning. KING.
And then took place that immediate opposite action — that sudden revulsion ^thfissVf1"
of feeling — which the demise of royalty seems to necessitate, but which can
never, under any circumstances, fail to be painful to every reflective person.
Three carriages instantly drove up ; and into those carriages went the Primate,
the Earl of Albemarle, and Sir Henry Halford, the royal physician. It was
not five o'clock when they arrived at Kensington palace. The doors were Annual Register,
*. . . 1837. Chron. GO.
thrown open before them ; in the morning sunshine stood the young Queen ACCESSION OF
and her mother, expecting the news, and ready for that day's impressive QuEEN VICIORIA-
business — that birth to regality which, like the natural birth, can take place
but once. — Having delivered their news, the messengers proceeded to London,
to wake up the government and the nation with tidings of the accession of
their Queen.
How widely were those tidings to extend ! In a few hours they would
spread in all directions to the sea : in a few days, the Irish on their wild
western coast and the fishermen in the straits of the Orkneys would be won-
dering how the young girl looked, and what she said when told that she held
the highest rank and the largest power on earth. In a few weeks, her subjects
in the farthest Canadian provinces of her dominions would be assembling in
the clearings of the forest under the summer night, or in the broad moonlight
on the prairie, to ask if any one knew how the Queen looked and what she
said when told the news. In a few months, turbaned messengers would be
posting over the plains of India with the tidings ; and in shaded rooms, or
under the shelter of tents, people would be speculating in like manner on the
first feelings of a young Queen, and soldiers would swear to themselves and to
each other to fight and die in her service. Somewhat later, the solitary shep-
herd on the Australian plains would be musing on the news dropped by a pas-
senger from the coast, and would, if an exile through poverty, or through
crime, speculate on whether want or temptation could still oppress men so
cruelly, now that a young Queen, with a heart full of mercy, and power in her
hands to do what she would, was to rule over a devoted people. It was an
occasion which appealed to all hearts : — a time when romantic expectation took
possession of many who never knew romance before, and some who had
believed that they should never know expectation again. What every one
most wanted to learn was whether such exaltation and such hope were in the
bosom of the young sovereign herself. Every movement, every tone, was
eagerly and lovingly watched, on this extraordinary day of her life, and for
some time afterwards : and on this day, her demeanour was all that could be
wished.
By nine o'clock Lord Melbourne was at Kensington, was instantly admitted,
and stayed half an hour, arranging for the assembling of the Privy Council at
eleven. Before noon, came the Lord Mayor, with aldermen and other mem-
bers of the Corporation, to offer their duty on behalf of the city of London. —
Next arrived the King of Hanover — the Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, whose
confidential agent had propounded to the loyal Orangemen the scheme of
setting aside this young girl from her inheritance because she was a girl and
342 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. young. Lord Lyndhurst lent him his carriage, that no time might be lost ;
but he left the palace in his own state coach — to start, as soon as possible, for
his new kingdom, which had presently cause to mourn his arrival much more
than England did his departure. There was no word of regret, even in
newspapers, for the loss of a collateral kingdom which had formed a part of
the British empire for a century and a quarter : and if this arose in part from
the indifference of the nation to the possession of profitless foreign territory, it
must be ascribed in part also to the general satisfaction at the departure of the
Duke of Cumberland, and at the sceptre having passed down to a new gene-
ration, from which more might be hoped than could ever have been derived
from that which had given the nation much to bear in many ways since the
opening of the century.
On the meeting of the Princes, Peers, and other Councillors, they signed the
oath of allegiance ; and the first name on the list was that of " Ernest," King
,« ister> of Hanover. The Queen caused them all to be sworn in members of her Council,
lOO/j P. £.Ot.
THE COUNCIL. and then addressed them : after which they issued orders for the Proclamation
of her Majesty. If the millions who longed to know how the young sovereign
looked and felt could have heard her first address, it would have gone far to
*8 satisfy them. The address was, of course, prepared for her ; but the manner
and voice were her own ; and they told much. Her manner was composed,
modest, and dignified; her voice firm and sweet; her reading, as usual,
beautiful. She took the necessary oaths, and received the eager homage of
the thronging nobility, without agitation or any kind of awkwardness. Her
i837,uchroenS'c2.r' declaration contained an affectionate reference to the deceased King; an
assertion of her attachment to the constitution of the country, and of her
intention to rule in accordance with it ; a grateful allusion to her mother's
educational care of her ; an avowal that under circumstances of such eminent
responsibility as hers, she relied for support and guidance on Divine Provi-
dence ; and a pledge that her life should be devoted to the happiness of her
people. — The Ministers returned into her hands, and received again, the seals
of their respective offices ; — the stamps in official use were ordered to be
altered ; and also the prayers of the Church which related to the royal family :
the Proclamation was prepared, arid signed by the Privy Councillors ; and the
Queen appointed the next day, Wednesday, for the ceremony. The first use
of the Great Seal under the new reign was to authenticate the official procla-
mation ; which was gazetted the same evening. — During the whole morning,
carriages were driving up rapidly, bringing visitors eager to offer their homage.
What a day of whirl and fatigue for one in a position so lonely, at such tender
years ! How welcome must have been the night, and the quiet of her pillow,
whatever might be the thoughts that rested upon it ! The next morning, she
appeared " extremely pale and fatigued :" and no wonder ; for she had passed
through a day which could never be paralleled.
While the eagerness of homage and duty was thus suddenly gathering about
the Kensington Palace, all was very still at Windsor. While the niece was
receiving needful and most cordial assurances and offers of duty and support,
the uncle was past all such needs. He had received all kind and dutiful
offices with gratitude to the last : and now no one could do any thing more
for him, or receive his thanks. An attached wife, and daughters who were
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 343
long in recovering from the grief of his loss, were at hand; and every thing 1837.
else was very still. Perhaps there might be, amidst the grief, a calmer sleep x— — v-*— '
in the twilight of sovereignty here than in the bright dawn of it which was
kindling in the other palace. And how different was the review of the life
which had gone out from the anticipation of that which was just setting forth
on a new career !
William Henry, the third son of George III., was born in August, 1765, W«-"AM IV-
and was therefore in his seventy-second year at the time of his death. He
was destined for the sea, and became a midshipman at the age of fourteen. It xxvuy p^y4ooP '
is amusing to read, at this distance of time, of the distresses of the Admiralty
at the insubordination to rules shown by Prince William, when he had risen
high enough in the service to have a ship of his own to play his pranks with.
When he was two or three and twenty, he twice left a foreign station without
leave, thus setting an example which might ruin the discipline of the navy, if
left unpunished. But how adequately to punish a Prince of the Blood was
the perplexity of the Admiralty. They ordered him to remain in harbour at
Plymouth for as long a time as he had absented himself from his proper post,
and then to return to his foreign station. This was not enough ; but it was
thought to be all that could be done in such a case ; and the Prince was with-
drawn from the active exercise of his profession — from that time ascending
through the gradations of naval rank as a mere matter of form. For twenty
years, he continued thus to rise in naval rank, besides being made Duke of
Clarence, with an allowance from parliament of £12,000 a year. During
those twenty years, when he should have been active in his profession, he was
living idly on shore, endeavouring after that enjoyment of domestic life for
which he was eminently fitted, and from which our princes are so cruelly
debarred by the operation of the Royal Marriage Act. The Duke of Clarence
was the virtual husband of Mrs. Jordan, the most bewitching of actresses, and
the queen of his heart during the best part of his life. They had ten chil-
dren— five sons and five daughters. It is averred by those who understand
the matter well that the conduct of the Duke of Clarence in his unfortunate
position was as good as the circumstances permitted : — that he was as faithful
and generous to Mrs. Jordan as some parties declared him to be otherwise.
When men place themselves in such a position, they are bound to bear all its
consequences without complaint ; and it is understood that the Duke of Cla-
rence endured much complaint and undeserved imputation with a patience
and silence which were truly respectable. His children, the Fitzclarence
family, were received in society with a freedom very unusual in England
under such circumstances, and certainly, the strict English people appeared to
be pleased rather than offended that the affectionate-hearted prince, to whom
no real liberty of marriage had been left, should be surrounded in his old age
by children who repaid his affection by exemplary duty and care. If this was
a spectacle unfit — by the very mixture of goodness in it — for the Court of
England, the harm that there was in it was ascribed to the position of royalty
rather than the fault of the prince, while all believed that no reparation to
the purity of society could be effectually made by depriving the old man of the
comfort of his children's society. Some of the family had occasion to find
that forbearance could go even further than this ; for they were left unhurt,
344 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837. except by universal censure, after their improper and foolish exertion of
^— -v- domestic influences against the Reform Bill and the Grey Administration.
The King's relatives were ready to be as good-humoured towards the Fitzcla-
rences as the public were : and one of the early acts of the young Queen was
continuing to them the allowance of £500 a year each which had been granted
to them by their father. Most people thought there was a wide difference
between their accepting this sum from a father who chanced to be the sove-
reign, and from a sovereign who was under no domestic obligation towards
them at all : but the Fitzclarences appeared not to perceive this : and when
one of them soon after deliberately destroyed himself, he left a letter to the
Queen, requesting that this income might be continued to his children ; a
request of which it was thought right to take no notice. — After the death of
the Princess Charlotte, when many royal marriages took place, in competition
for the succession, the Duke of Clarence married the eldest daughter of the
Duke of Saxe Meiningen. No issue from this marriage survived, though two
infants were born only to die. — For a few months, as we have seen, the Duke
of Clarence bore the dignity of Lord High Admiral ; and he had previously
performed a few holiday services on the sea by escorting and conveying royal
visitors and adventurers across the Channel, and up and down in it. — In
politics, he had through life shown the same changeableness as in his conduct
on the throne. On scarcely any subject was he firm but in his opposition to
the abolition of slavery. He had not mind enough to grasp a great principle
and hold to it; and, as he had not the obstinacy of his father and elder
brothers, he was necessarily infirm of purpose, and as difficult to deal with
in state matters as any of his family. What the difficulty amounted to,
the history of the Reform movement shows. In other respects, there was no
comparison between the comfort of intercourse with him and with the two
preceding sovereigns. He had not the stupid self-will and self-sufficiency of
George III., nor the vulgar and libertine selfishness of George IV. He was
too harebrained to be relied on with regard to particular measures and opi-
nions ; but his benevolent concern for his people, his confiding courtesy to
the Ministers who were with him (whoever they might be), and his absence
of self-regards, except where his timidity came into play, made him truly
respectable and dear, in comparison with his predecessors. When his weak-
ness was made conspicuous by incidents of the time, it seemed a pity that he
should have been accidentally made a king: but then again some trait of
benignity or patience or native humility would change the aspect of the case,
and make it a subject of rejoicing that virtues of that class were seen upon
the throne, to convince such of the people as might well doubt it that a king
may have a heart, and that some of its overflow might be for them.
HIS FUNERAL. The funeral took place at night on the 8th of July, the Duke of Sussex
Annual Register, . .
1837. chron. 73. being Chief Mourner. For the last time, the Royal Crown of Hanover was
placed beside the Imperial Crown on the coffin of a king of England. The
wife who had so well performed her duties was present. Queen Adelaide,
now Queen Dowager, was in the royal closet. When the coffin had been
lowered, dust thrown upon it, the blessing pronounced, and the rocket sent up
from the portal which was to cause the lowering of the flag on the Round
Tower, the royal widow left the place, and was followed by the mourners, as
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 345
soon as the style and titles of the new sovereign had been recited. There were 1837.
no January night fogs here, to peril the lives of the mourners ; but instead, a
heat so stifling as to make the crowd glad to disperse at the first possible
moment. — Oil the 13th, the Queen, accompanied by her mother, left the old
home at Kensington, to take possession of Buckingham Palace. It was the
middle of the day; and crowds were waiting to cheer her on her passage to
her regal home. She accepted the homage ; but she was pale and grave : and
there were none of her subjects who would not rather have seen this paleness
and gravity than tokens of a gayer mood.
To some, it was not very far to look back to the May in which she was born, QIEEN
and the month — so soon afterwards — when the newspapers told of the Duke
of Kent's illness — how he had come in with wet boots, and, " beguiled by the
smiles of his infant princess," had played with the baby instead of changing
his boots, till it was too late, and he had caught the cold of which he died.
The course of years now seemed very short during which they had watched
the growth and training of the princess ; and here she was — out of her
minority the other day, and now sovereign. What they had heard was favour-
able. If there had been omissions in her education, there had been no mis-
guidance, and no corruption. If the intellect had not been made the most of,
the morals were pure, and the habits correct. From an early age, the Princess
had been seen walking in all weathers ; — sometimes in winter, with thick shoes
and a warm cloak on a windy common. She kept early hours, and was active
and scrupulously punctual — apologizing for being half a minute late for an
appointment, when that extraordinary circumstance happened once in her life-
She had her allowance of money from an early age : her way of spending much
of it was known at Tuiibridge Wells, and other places of summer sojourn ; but
nobody ever heard of her being sixpence in debt for an hour : — on the contrary,
when her childish fancy was taken with some article which she wished to buy
for a present to a cousin, she was seen to conclude at once that she must give
it up, because she had not money enough till quarter-day to pay for it. And
when it was put by for her — to her great satisfaction — it was as early as seven
in the morning of quarter-day that she came down, on her donkey, to secure
her purchase. These things are no trifles. The energy and conscientiousness
brought out by such training are blessings to a whole people ; and a multitude
of her more elderly subjects, to this day, feel a sort of delighted surprise as
every year goes by without any irritation on any hand about regal extrava-
gance— without any whispered stories of loans to the sovereign — without any
mournful tales of ruined tradesmen and exasperated creditors. At first, the
Queen was very rich ; — many persons thought, much too rich, for a maiden
Queen, whose calls could as yet be nothing. But in the first year, she paid,
her father's heavy debts; — debts contracted before she was born. Next, she
paid her mother's debts ; — debts which she knew to be contracted on her ac-
count. We have seen what she did for the family of the late sovereign. Next,
she married ; and, properly enough, nothing was said about any increase of
income. Now, she has a large family of children, and such claims and liabili-
ties as grow up out of twelve years of sovereignty ; and still we hear nothing
of any royal needs or debts. She lives on her income, and pays as she goes ;
and perhaps she can never know how much she gains of the respect and affec-
VOL. u. 2 Y
346 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1837. tioii of her subjects, by a prudence and conscientiousness so unusual in royalty,
but as graceful there as in any other station.
As for the domestic respectability in more important respects which might
now be looked for — it was really refreshing to the heart and soul of the nation.
A new generation was now on the throne ; and there was no scandal as yet,
nor any reason to suppose there ever would be any. Here was no corruption
bred of the Royal Marriage law — nothing illicit — nothing questionable ; but
instead, a young girl, reared in health and simplicity, who might be expected
to marry soon — making her choice for herself, so that there was every hope
that she might love her husband, and be a good and happy wife. Thus far,
all was sound and rational ', and the event has proved it so. The unsound and
irrational part of the popular joy and expectation was that for which she her-
self was in no way responsible, and for the injustice of which towards herself
her most truly loyal subjects were the most grieved. She was taken to be, not
only more able and wise than she was, but more wise and able than any per-
son of her years is ever seen to be ; — not only more powerful than she was, but
more so than any English sovereign, under our present constitution, can ever
be ; and there was every risk that when disappointment came, as come it must,
the innocent sovereign would be punished for the unreasonableness of her
adoring subjects. The wise protested against any expectation that a second
English queen would have the genius of Elizabeth, Avithout her despotic ten-
dencies ; or her royal maternity of feeling towards her people in an age when
the function itself is destroyed by the growth of the representative system, and
the sovereign is no longer the political ruler of England. The wise might
protest ; but the people — up to the most enlightened rank of them — expected
from Queen Victoria things almost as wonderful as that she should go to the
Rock of Cashel, accompanied by the Virgin, St. Francis, Daniel O'Connell,
and Lord Normanby, and build up the old Munster Cathedral and the Catholic
faith. Now that we had a virtuous sovereign strong in the energies of youth,
all wras to go well : — the Lords were to work well with the Commons — the
people were to be educated — every body was to have employment and food —
all reforms were to be carried through — and she herself would never do any
thing wrong, or make any mistakes. The few who pointed out that she was
human, and royal, and only eighteen ; — that it was an infinite blessing that
she was pure and conscientious, and eminently truthful and sincere ; — that it
was enough to expect further that she would be seriously willing to learn,
careful in the choice of her advisers, and candid in recognising her own mis-
takes ; — and that it was a cruel injustice to require of her what she could never
perform, and then visit the disappointment upon her ; — these few were thought
cold and grudging in their loyalty, and the gust of national joy swept them out
of sight. In truth, they themselves felt the danger of being carried adrift from
their justice and prudence when they met their Queen face to face at her pro-
PRO. clamation. As she stood at the window of St. James's Palace, on the morning
»
after her accession — at a window where few people knew that she was to ap-
pear— her pale face wet with tears, but calm and simply grave — her plain
black dress and bands of brown hair giving an air of Quaker-like neatness,
which enhanced the gravity — it was scarcely possible not to form wild hopes
from such an aspect of sedateness — not to forget that, even if imperfection in
CLAIMED.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 347
the sovereign herself were out of the question, there were limitations in her 1837.
position which must make her powerless for the redemption of her people, v—— — — -^
except through a wise choice of advisers, and the incalculable influence of a
virtuous example shining abroad from the pinnacle of society. The comfort
was at the moment, and has been more eminently so since, that there is a cor-
responding security in the powerlessness of British sovereigns. Whenever the
" War of Opinion," of which the world had been now and then reminded since
Canning's time, should overrun Europe, the danger would be for kings who
govern as well as reign ; or for those who really reign instead of occupying the
throne through a political fiction. If such an outbreak should occur in the
time of Queen Victoria, she would, if personally blameless, be perfectly se-
cure ; secure alike in her political sinecurism and her personal blamelessness.
This truth, perceived and expressed at the time, has been confirmed by events
sooner than some expected. While revolutions have come like whirlwinds to
sweep kings from their continental thrones, our sovereign has sat safe in her
island, with not a hair of the royal ermine raised by the blast. If, on the one
hand, she has been wholly and necessarily unable to do many things that were
expected from her by the unreasonable, who worshipped an idea and not her-
self, 011 the other hand, we have her safe, and need fear no harm to the light-
est of her royal sensibilities. If it is no longer the privilege it once was to be
a sovereign, it is something of a blessing to have some power of kingly benefi-
cence and influence still remaining, without the fearful responsibility for a
ruling power which is mainly transferred to the people, and for which they
must be responsible to each other.
As we have seen, the Queen returned to the late Ministers their seals of CONTINUANCE OP
. THE MELBOURNE
office ; and it was presently known throughout the country that Lord Mel- MINISTRY.
bourne and his coadjutors were to be allowed another trial whether or not they
could govern the country.
348 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER X..
1837. TN his speech of reprobation against the Ministers, before quoted, Lord
N — -^-^— -L Lyndhurst said he saw " but one ray of comfort shining upon " the pros -
TENTS. pects of the country : he augured much from the character of the new sove-
reign. His party generally saw something brighter in the future — more rays
of comfort than one.
The Melbourne Ministry was reduced to its lowest point of weakness and
shame. After the elections of 1831 only six county seats had been held by
Tory members, and the Whig government had a majority of 300. That
majority had declined to 26 ; and after the elections on the demise of the
Crown it sank again to 12. The Tories thought that a vigorous effort at the
beginning of a new reign might give them everything ; and they were evi-
dently resolved to spare no exertions to unseat six reformers at least, and thus
obtain a majority in the House. The case of the Whigs was desperate ; and
there is a tone in the political pamphlets of the time which shows this. The
people were weary of the eternal disputes and party conflicts about Irish
questions and Church questions, while the great interests that were dear to
the liberals of England and Scotland stood over for discussion in a future time
which seemed further off every session. When a Ministry knows what it is
about, and sets well about its work, the Opposition helps to govern the
country, and does it almost as effectually, by testing and purifying government
measures, as the responsible party itself; but the Melbourne administration
was so weak and unskilful as to render the Opposition purely destructive : and
this was more than the country would or could bear. No small number of
the radical party themselves, and multitudes of the moderates throughout the
country, began to declare that they hoped the Tories would get into office, so
that the Whigs might recover vigour in Opposition, and that the two reform-
ing parties might once more come into union, and the country be, in one way
or another, really governed once more. In such a condition of affairs, it was
natural that the Conservatives should suppose themselves about to step into
the seats of power. They were already making declarations, or dropping hints
of what they should do in such a case : — they should not repeal the Poor Law,
nor interfere with any expressed and fulfilled decision of parliament on any
subject ; but should preserve the Church from further spoliation ; and so
forth.
The alarm of the Whigs in office and their supporters is very evident now,
to the reader of the election speeches and political pamphlets of 1837. The
first thing they did was to assume full and exclusive possession of the young
Queen's favour, and to use to the utmost the advantage of her name in the
r"vo?RF1N s elections. There is no doubt that the Queen was ready to bestow her favour
at once, on the pleasantest set of gentlemen she had ever known. She had
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 349
seen little society before. Her life was necessarily somewhat monotonous. 1837.
Now, she was suddenly introduced into daily official intercourse with half a
dozen of the most intelligent and accomplished gentlemen of the aristocracy,
who felt a sort of chivalrous interest in her position, who admired her spirit,
and were gratified by her confidence, whose instruction and guidance were
necessary to her at every turn of her new and important life, and whose wives,
sisters, and daughters, were planted about her, to worship while they served
her. It is no matter of surprise that she allowed the coterie to take complete
possession of her confidence and favour, while she yet needed hourly support
and guidance, and knew no one beyond themselves. To the thoughtless, and
to those inexperienced in political life, it appeared natural enough that the
offices about the Queen's person should be filled by ladies of the Ministers'
families : but the Ministers were early warned of the inevitable consequences
of such an arrangement ; and they should have known them without being
warned. If their own position had been less desperate, they might perhaps
have paid more attention than they did to the future comfort and dignity of
their royal mistress. They were timely warned that the wives, daughters, and
sisters, of the present Ministers could not remain about the Queen if the
Opposition leaders should come into power ; and reminded that it would be
hard upon the Queen to be obliged to dismiss her personal attendants on the
first occasion of a change of Ministry. This was openly set forth thus early
in the Quarterly Review, and in various newspapers ; yet Lord Melbourne
took no heed to the warning : and he and his coadjutors must bear the re-
proach of whatever unpopularity the Queen incurred during the first two or
three years of her reign, and of the perilous mistake in which she found her-
self in the spring of 1839. They had their own share of punishment in the
disgust excited by their selfish use of the power they so eagerly grasped.
There was not a child in England, old enough to look at a newspaper, who
did not see the unfairness of exclusively appropriating an inexperienced sove-
reign as the support of a party in the government which had no other support :
and there was not a fine lady, or a footman, or an electioneering partisan, that
did not feel the vulgarity of trumpeting the Queen's name on the Whig hustings,
and using her favour for the chance of obtaining a majority in parliament,
which was otherwise hopeless. — It is easy to enter into the feelings of these
Ministers and their families — to conceive of the interest to a sated man like
Lord Melbourne of a fresh and singular object of observation and study ; —
to one who was wont to despise women as he did, to find a young creature,
truthful, conscientious, willing and eager to learn, and naturally led to learn
of him, as a tutor or a father, as well as her First Minister. We can easily
sympathize with the excitement and enjoyment to all the rest of affectionately
watching over and serving her who was then, perhaps, the most interesting
person in the world. We can conceive of the dismay and heart-sorrow with
which they would contemplate such a thing as being severed from her, and
yielding up their places to antagonists Avho were strangers to her, and who
would be a complete barrier between them and her. Such feelings were per-
fectly natural : so natural that everybody knew they must exist, and looked to
see how they would be disciplined and controlled by a sense of duty to the
sovereign and the country. They were not so disciplined and controlled ; and
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
no one else had it in bis power to do the Queen so much harm as she suffered
from these devoted servants of hers. Lord Melbourne, always ostentatiously
careless about business, was now for many hours daily at the palace. From
the public and private talk of the coterie and their adherents, it was under-
stood that the Queen had her partialities among parties at the elections. In
a painful and unfortunate mistake made by the young sovereign — a hasty sus-
picion touching the reputation of Lady Flora Hastings — two of the matron
ladies of the household exercised their influence so incautiously, and the Prime
Minister supported the consequent proceedings with so little delicacy to a
wounded spirit, that public feeling was deeply offended. Their exclusive pos-
session of the palace enabled the impure and disloyal to conceive of scandal,
and send forth rumours, which would never have been dreamed of if the royal
household had been constituted on the ordinary principle of bringing together
persons so impartial in political affairs, or so well balanced against each other,
as to be able to retain their places, and give their sovereign the comfort of their
customary attendance, through any changes in the Cabinet. It was very well
to be prompt in calling the Bradshaws and the Robys to account, from the
Home Office and the Horse Guards, for slandering the Queen at public din-
ners ; but members of parliament and officers of the army would never have
uttered or listened to such slanderers if the guardianship of the Queen's do-
mestic life had not been appropriated by a coterie. — Yet, with all that their
use of the Queen's name at the elections could do, the Whigs found themselves
' !cte1rftihePros~ k^ W^ a majority of only twelve. A paragraph from a pamphlet of the day
country,' &c. shows with what agonizing earnestness they were driven to sue the Radical
reformers for aid. " All parties," says the writer, understood to be official,
" those for the Ballot, those for Extended Suffrage, those for the abolition of
Church Rates, those for grand plans of Public Education, those for the Appro-
priation Clause, those for Municipal Institutions in Ireland, those for yielding
to Canada a more democratic form of government than at present exists there,
should one and all enter the new session with this conviction thoroughly im-
pressed upon their minds, that there is not one of these questions, no, not one,
which is not secondary to the great object of maintaining Lord Melbourne's
Cabinet, as the great agent of future improvement, free from every species of
present embarrassment."
It was impossible to read this without amusement. Even the most devoted
adherents of Lord Melbourne could not read gravely such an imitation of his
easy assurance. The writer might have been Lord Melbourne himself for the
impudence — (there is no other word — ) with which he connected ideas of " im-
provement" and " freedom from embarrassment" with the Melbourne Adminis-
tration.— The reply of the Radical reformers to this appeal was characteristic.
They showed how the existence of the Melbourne Ministry depended on the
prosecution of the very questions which it was proposed to put aside for the
sake of it. They were willing to uphold the existing Administration with all
their forces, if it would mend its ways; and without that, it could not be
helped by any body. They pointed out that, throughout the country, the
Moderate Whigs, wearied out, were becoming Radicals every day ; and inti-
mated that if the government would follow the example of these converts, it
might be saved from ruin, but not otherwise. It might become Radical, or
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS1 PEACE. 351
yield its place to the Conservatives : the one thing certain was that it could 1837.
not remain what it was ; and that a Tory rule would be better for the country, " — ^-^— -^
by rousing its energies, and testing its condition, than a continuance of a
Whig government which was merely a name.
From the beginning of the Reform struggle, the number of Radical Reformers RADICAL REFORM
PARTY.
in the House had never been less than 70 or 80 : and in the last parliament,
they had been 150. It was strange that they had not yet been a powerful
party; and it would be stranger still if they did not become so now. Now
was the time for them to show what they could do, when the Whigs were
humbly asking alms of them — petitioning them for ideas, and measures, and
the support without which they must sink. These Radical Reform members
were men of conscience, of enlightenment, of intellectual ability, and moral ear-
nestness, of good station, and, generally speaking, independent fortune. They
were so unlike the vulgar Tory representation of them — so far from being de-
structives and demagogues — that the sober-minded of the community might more
reasonably trust them for the conservation of property than either the Conser-
vatives or the Whigs. Whig government under Lord Melbourne was a lottery :
and all propositions of the time for shaving the fundholder, for tampering
with the Debt, for perilling the land by a return to poor-law abuses, for inter-
fering with the rights of property in its public investments and private opera-
tions, all such destructive schemes proceeded from the rankest Conservatives,
and were exhibited in Quarterly Reviews — Tory newspaper articles — Tory
speeches on hustings. Not only in this sense were the Radicals no dema-
gogues, and therefore fit to be the guides of the sober middle classes : — they
were also no popular orators. They were as far removed from influence over
the mob by the philosophical steadiness of their individual aims as from influ-
ence over the aristocracy by the philosophical depth and comprehensiveness of
their views. They were as far from sharing the passion of the ignorant as the
selfish and shallow nonchalance of the aristocratic. They perceived principles
which the untaught could not be made to see ; and they had faith in principles
when Lord Grey preached in his place that no one should hold to the impos-
sible : and thus, they were cut off from sympathy and its correlative power
above and below. The aristocracy called them Destructives ; and the non-
electors knew nothing about them. All this should have been another form
of appeal to them to make themselves felt in this gloomy time of crisis, when
the fortunes of the nation were sinking at home, and storms seemed to be
driving up from abroad, and the political virtue of Great Britain was in peril
from a selfish powerlessness in high places, and despair in the lowest, and
alternate apathy and passion in the regions which lay between. But there
were reasons which prevented their making themselves felt. — They were not
properly a party, nor ever had been. There was not among them any one
man who could merge the differences of the rest, and combine their working
power, in deference to his own supremacy: and neither had they the other
requisite — experience in party organization. They might try for it : and now
they probably would : but it was not a thing to be attained in a day, or in a
session. It was never attained at all, during this period of our political history.
The chiefs moved and spoke ; but they neither regenerated nor superseded the
352 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 Whigs, nor could keep out the Conservatives, when at last public necessity
^^— _^^ overcame Whig tenacity of office, and the Queen's natural adherence to her
first set of Ministers, and brought in a new period marked by a complete
dissolution and fresh fusion of parties. There was no other party which, in
1837, was known to include such men as Grote, and Molesworth, and Roe-
buck— and Colonel Thompson, and Joseph Hume, and William Ewart ; — and
Charles Buller, and Ward, and Villiers, and Bulwer, and Strutt: — such a
phalanx of strength as these men, with their philosophy, their science, their
reading, their experience — the acuteness of some, the doggedness of others —
the seriousness of most, and the mirth of a few — might have become, if they
could have become a phalanx at all. But nothing was more remarkable
about these men than their individuality. Colonel Thompson and Mr. Roe-
buck could never be conceived of as combining with any number of persons,
for any object whatever : and they have so much to do, each^in his individual
function, that it would perhaps be an injury to the public service to withdraw
them from that function : and when we look at the names of the rest, reasons
seem to rise up why they too could not enter into a party organization.
Whether they could or not, they did not, conspicuously and effectively. They
^"fter Review8'" were called upon, before the opening of the new parliament, to prove betimes
xi. p. 25. that; they were not single-subject men — as reformers are pretty sure to be
considered before they are compacted into a party; — but to show that the
principles which animated their prosecution of single reforms were applicable
to the whole of legislation. If Mr. Hume still took charge of Finance, and
Mr. Grote of the Ballot, and Mr. Roebuck of Canada, and Sir W. Molesworth
of Colonization, and Mr. Ward of the Appropriation principle, they must
show that they were as competent to the enterprises of their friends, and of
their enemies, as to their own. Many of them did this : but the association
of their names with their particular measures might be too strong. They
were never more regarded as a party during the period under our notice : and
it may be observed now, though it was not then, that their failing to become
a party in such a crisis as the last struggles of the Melbourne Ministry was a
prophecy of the disintegration of parties which was at hand, and which is, in
its turn, a prophecy of a new age in the political history of England.
What the Whig estimate of " the crisis" was in the autumn of 1837, we
have seen. What the Tory view was appears in the insulting speech of Lord
Sf" Lyndhurst. Here is the declaration of the Radical Reformers: "To the
. p. 26. people, at the present moment, we have but one exhortation to give : let them
hold themselves in readiness. No one knows what times may be coming : no
one knows how soon, or in what cause, his most strenuous exertions may be
required. Ireland is already organized. Let England and Scotland be pre-
pared at the first summons to start into Political Unions. Let the House of
Commons be inundated with petitions on every subject on which Reformers
are able to agree. Let Reformers meet, combine, and, above all, register.
The time may be close at hand, when the man who has lost a vote, which he
might have given for the Ballot, or for some other question of the first magni-
tude, will have cause bitterly to repent the negligence and supineness which
have deprived him of his part in the struggle. All else may be left till the
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 353
hour of need ; but to secure a vote is a duty for which there is no postpone- 1837.
meiit. This let the Reformers do ; and let them then stand at their arms,
and wait their opportunity."
This was hut a lowering dayspring of regality for the young Queen. Her
servants were weak, assailed by vehement foes, and pitied by the supporters of
whom they implored help. Every body seemed aware that something fearful
was impending; and the wise uttered cautions, and sent out admonitions,
while the sovereign was launching into the pleasures of freedom and supre-
macy. As yet, smiles were on her face, and joy was in her movements, when-
ever she was seen in public ; and the most serious and severe of those who
watched her hoped that she would not be officiously and too soon alarmed by
tidings of the storms that were driving up from afar, and the gloom of distress
which was deepening over the people at home.
VOL. n. 2 z
354 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
CHAPTER XI.
1835 38 A S for the state of affairs abroad, on the accession of Victoria to the British
^— - -v- — - •£*- throne, it was a subject of anxious contemplation to persons who looked
PORTENTS IN beneath the surface of royal speeches and official summaries, with the prophecy
EUROPE. ... ,
of a War of Opinion m Europe full in their minds. As yet, there was no
threat from any quarter of a dissolution of the great Continental Peace ; and
sovereigns congratulated themselves each on his good understanding with other
sovereigns : but there were movements in several countries which showed to
the observant that the opposition of the principles of despotism and liberty —
of government for the people and government by the people — was working in
the heart of society throughout Western Europe, while the process was keenly
watched from the great throne of despotism in the East. Of all the countries
in which the preparation for a decisive War of Opinion was going on, France
was, for various reasons, the most interesting to England.
FRANCE. The obvious domestic politics of France might have appeared dull and tire-
some enough to those who did not know what they signified. It is truly
wearisome to look over the debates of the French Chambers, and see how the
members were perpetually growing vehement about nothing at all ; and perti-
nacious about the wording of a phrase, as if it had been the transfer of a
Crown ; and obstructive in so many ways that there was no keeping any
Ministry in office. We read of new and newly-arranged Cabinets, till it is im-
possible to remember their succession, or to report the causes of their changes.
As our concern with France on this page is only in her relation to England,
there is no need to enter into any detail of her official fluctuations ; but only to
point to the conclusion, from the parliamentary records of France during these
TUB REPUESEN- years, that they include more than meets the eye. In truth, there was no real
parliamentary representation in France ; an uneasy consciousness of the fact
was growing daily in the general mind ; and the King was resolved to repress
the conviction, and prevent its being communicated. His whole reign was a
concealed conflict with the representative system which he had sworn to main-
tain. Not only did he choose to rule instead of reigning ; he chose to rule
alone. His Ministers must be his rivals if they were not his tools : and he
"knew how" (using the French phrase) to reduce the representative system
to a mere show. While it was thus with him and the nation, much that ap-
peared trifling in the debates of the Chambers might be any thing but trifling —
might be symbolical of some great question, or prophetic of some great event.
Leaving on one side, therefore, the manoeuvres of Cabinets and Chambers, as
giving us little knowledge but of that which may be better learned from events,
we have only to take a rapid review of the transactions of the King with the
French people, or with those of them who were brought into collision with
him.
TAT1O.N.
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 355
In 1835, a large number of petitions was presented to the Chamber of Depu- 1835 — 38.
ties, exposing the deterioration of the representative system, and praying for a ^~~~-^~*~~'
reform. As has been shown before, a change in the amount of qualification
had raised the number of electors from 100,000 or less to 280,000 ; a number
so small, in a population of above 30,000,000, as to make Englishmen wonder
how it could afford any pretence of a popular representation at all. Yet it
was to complain of the narrowing of even this constituency, that the petitions
of 1835 were sent in. The cause of that narrowing was declared to be the
law of inheritance, which, by continually lowering the incomes of individuals
below the qualification point, had already reduced the constituency to 180,000.
Whether the cause was correctly stated or not, the fact was clear. And there
were other facts well understood by the constituency, but not of a nature to
be petitioned against at the moment; — that by means of the centralizing
principle on which French administration proceeds, an amount of official
patronage was in the hands of the government, by which it could subordinate
the electoral colleges to almost any extent. The result of the present petition-
ing was satisfactory to the King at the moment ; and he seems to have been
as unable to look forward as Charles X. himself, and never to have heard or
conceived of a possible War of Opinion in Europe. He had in the Chamber,
in this very session, 200 members wholly at his disposal as functionaries of his
government : — two-thirds of them removable at pleasure ; and the other third
in a position of expectation of the rewards of obedience. The majority of the
Chamber found a pretext, without any difficulty, for ignoring the whole mass
of petitions. Some petitioners desired such audacious changes as direct elec-
tion, or universal suffrage in the primary electors, or abolition of the money
qualification, or payment to the deputies : and because of these, the whole
question was put aside. The King thought he was governing firmly and
wisely. As for what the people thought — they remembered that after five
years' rule of the Citizen King, they found their constituency reduced more
than a third, and the remainder lying within the royal grasp; — and their
thoughts of this Citizen King were none of the kindest.
One victory was gained by the Opposition in the Chamber — much to the
chagrin of the government, which was merely punished for driving too far a
profitable monopoly of its own. The government succeeded in obtaining a
renewal for five years of its tobacco monopoly; but the Chamber decided, by 4n"uaire Histo-
• -t J ' * J nque, 1835, pp.
a large majority, that a committee of its members should sit to inquire into 24—33.
the operation of the monopoly. The introduction of parliamentary committees FlRST PARL
» • MliNTAKY C
was an annoyance to a government like that of France. M. Salvandy could »»
see no good in it ; and he deprecated such an adoption of the barbarisms of the
English Constitution.
One other reference to England at this time is amusing. The financial
affairs of France presented a worse aspect every year. Every year there was a
new deficit instead of a reparation of the last. Something must be done for
the revival of commerce. The Minister of Commerce invited the merchants
and manufacturers to enter with him into an inquiry into the principles of free FREF. TRADE L\
*• L r QUIIIY.
trade, and the operation of the existing restrictions, under which affairs were
proceeding so badly. The merchants and manufacturers of France seem to
have had at that time as little knowledge and independence as our farmers of
HLIA-
COM-
356 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V.
1835 — 38. the same date. They would not have their system touched. Every corps
s—— v^^-^ stood up for the protection of its own article, as a valiant M. P. from the glass
districts stood up against Mr. Huskisson in the British House of Commons for
the duty on green glass bottles. Whatever, in the changes of human affairs,
might occur — whatever that was hurtful or foolish might be swept away — he
owed it to his constituents to stand up to the last for the duty on green glass
bottles. With equal valour did a corps of twenty -nine eminent manufacturers
of plated goods in France contend for the continuance of the existing pro-
Annual Register, hibitory duty on import ; declaring, among other reasons, that the English
government paid a large bounty on the exportation of plated goods ; and that
the men of Birmingham could supplant other manufacturers all over the world,
because it was common for English lords to be sleeping partners in the Bir-
mingham establishments for the manufacture of plated goods. — It is both
melancholy and amusing to look over the records of the proceedings of govern-
ment and the Chamber about Customs duties during the present and two suc-
ceeding years. They wanted to improve the revenue, and yet to keep the old
duties ; — they were afraid to change their system at all, and yet could not go
on with it as it was : — they talked of removing prohibitions, but laid on pro-
hibitory duties, as, for instance, a duty of 70/. on a Turkey carpet fifteen feet
square — which they called a relaxation from prohibition. — The government
found that it would take half the people to control the smuggling propensities
of the other half; and it used its power of lessening duties during the weeks
or months when the Chambers were not sitting : and sometimes the Chambers
were induced to render such relaxations permanent. But no government is a
good man of business about commercial matters. When relief was given in
one place, it usually happened to be at the expense of hardship in another :
and a temporary lowering of duties by royal ordinance affords little inducement
to careful merchants to send goods which may not be sold before a recurrence
to the old duties takes place. — It did not mend the cordition of the people
that a tax was laid on sugar of home production, as soon as it was found that
the beet-root sugar of France supplied one-third of the national consumption.
It was a matter of some deliberation whether to relieve from duty the sugar of
the colonies, or to tax that of the home producer. The latter course was re-
Annuaire Hist, solved on, together with some reduction of the colonial duty; and the con-
dition of the people was not to be improved in this direction. The national
poverty, previously great, had been deepening since the revolution of 1830.
While he had before his eyes an annual deficiency in the revenue, a spreading
poverty among the people, and a narrowing of the constituency by which alone
they could speak their grievances, and hope to amend their affairs, the Citizen
King thought he was governing firmly and well, and bringing the nation into
order. He was hoping to keep the kettle bright and undimmed over the fire
by stopping the spout after fastening down the lid.
MONSTER TRIAL. The King was bent on bringing to trial some hundreds of his subjects
accused of republicanism. The Opposition desired an amnesty, and his
Ministers were so opposed to his dangerous and foolish design, that they laid
down their offices ; and for three weeks France was without a government.
The King had his way at last; the Ministers returned under a new head; and
the Chamber of Peers was appointed to conduct the "Monster trial," as it was
CHA.r. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 357
called at the time. They examined the case of 1000 prisoners, and selected 1835 — 38.
164 for trial. Then followed scandal upon scandal. The Government and ^ — '
the Bar fell out about the defence of the prisoners ; and a sort of compromise
was entered into at last, for the sake of safety ; — a compromise which left both
parties discontented. — Then the prisoners would not be defended as proposed — Ammaire Hist.
loOOj pp.loU. iol.
would not acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Court — would not hear the
accusation, and, after a time, would not come to the bar — would not leave
their beds, would not rise from the floor of their cells, where some chose to lie
without any clothing whatever. Never was such a scene witnessed in any
Court of Justice as the demeanour of these prisoners — the whole mob of them
jumping, waving their hats, screaming, and defying the Court and all its
officers. — Then followed the disposal of them in batches, as there was no other
way of managing them : and by that method, the grand plea of the prosecu-
tion— of conspiracy among the prisoners generally to establish a republic —
was in fact surrendered. One of the accused in complaining of the method
of trial, called Louis Philippe a tyrant, and threatened him with the tyrant's
fate of exile ; and for this offence, so excusable, as many thought, under the
circumstances, the man, already on trial for a more serious offence, was con-
demned to a heavy fine, and to an imprisonment of five years, with loss of
civil rights for that time. — Of the Lyons batch of fifty-eight, nine were f^""^"15''
acquitted, and the rest condemned to terms of imprisonment rising from three
years to imprisonment for life. As for the Paris batch —they made a hole
through the wall of their wine-cellar, and walked out into the garden of a
neighbour, and thence, many of them, out of the kingdom. Twenty-eight i833"p!r247.ls '
fugitives from the cellar published a threat that they would come back and
compel the Peers to try them when the conditions of a fair trial had been
secured for them. Only thirteen were stopped, or afterwards caught. It was
naturally said that the escape was probably connived at, to rid the peers and
the country of the scandal and perplexity into which the self-will of the King
had brought his government.
It was now no longer possible for the people to think the government of the PLOTS>
Citizen King as good as he thought it himself. If he had been right in sup-
posing that such a method of rule as his was the only one suitable to the
French people, they could not be expected to agree with him : and, while the
virtuous and sober-minded were grieving over their having been deceived and
betrayed — finding themselves now, after five years, without a free press,
without popular representation, with an administration of royal tools, with a
failing exchequer, and siirrounded by a distressed people — it was no wonder that
men who were not virtuous, and not sober-minded, should ponder the shortest
way of getting rid of such a state of things, and decide upon the murder of
the King. There seemed to be no end to the attacks upon his life. Fieschi AniSe Hist,
fired his Infernal Machine, as the royal procession passed, killing and wound- 1835> p< 262-
ing between twenty and thirty persons, but not the King, who was saved by
the moment of time required by the assassin for withdrawing the persian
window blind from before his gun barrels. Marshal Mortier, late President
of the Council, was killed 011 the spot. — Next, Alibaud made his attempt — AUBAUD.
coming up to the carriage-door, and resting his weapon on the window while i836,Up!r'22o.'s
he fired — the wife and sister of the King being in the carriage. This time,
358 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835—38. the King was saved by the act of bowing to some National Gin. ids at the
* — — * '•'— - " other window. — Next, Meunier made his attempt, shooting at the royal head
as the carriage ploughed its way slowly through the snow. The King was
Annuaire Hist, untouched ; but his eldest son was cut on the ear by the shivered glass. " I
know not," said the King, "how I escaped, as, at the moment, I had my head
very much advanced towards the door of the carriage. Nemours, who was
CHAMPION. also leaning forwards, had his head against the glass." — Within twom onths
HO^pfssP*' — in February, 1837, Champion and his accomplices were finishing another
Infernal Machine, which they resolved should not fail : but the police found
them out, and Champion hung himself in prison. — In the next May there was
a review of the National Guards — gloomy enough. Every house that com-
manded the ground was searched by the police, and the inhabitants examined ;
all the approaches were blockaded, and the ground well selected. — Before the
HUBERT. year was out, Hubert and Steuble were engaged on a third infernal machine
Annuaire Hist. ,- • , i i p • i - i n i> i • i i -rr-
1838. chron. 162. — " sixteen gun-barrels, in two rows ot eight each. — rrom which the King
could by no means escape. But again the police found it all out. The public
were weary of such stories by this time ; and it seemed that the King could
be taken good care of by the police ; so there was an apathy among respectable
citizens on this last occasion which somewhat shocked the government, and
which was not dispersed even when the traitors became riotous on receiving
sentence, and were sustained by the sympathy of the people in court, who
hissed, groaned, and cried " murder," till the guards were called in to clear the
place.
^ERlcT'i'oN1^ -A- militai7 insurrection was interposed among these attempts at assassina-
tion. Napoleon and Josephine planned a marriage between Josephine's
daughter Hortense and Napoleon's third brother, Louis, for a time King of
Holland : and this marriage was forced on, in defiance of the mutual disin-
clination of the parties most concerned. The union was a wretched one — the
husband and wife rarely meeting, and being quite unable to continue together.
The only surviving issue of this marriage at the date before us was Prince
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, then a captain of artillery in the Swiss service.
He obtained a footing in the garrison of Strasburg ; and on the morning of the
30th of October, 1836, showed himself there, in a dress resembling his uncle's,
and proposed to call France to arms, to place him on the throne. Some of the
Annuaire Hist, men shouted for Napoleon II. ', but presently, while the Prince and some
attendants were addressing a few soldiers in a barrack, the gates were shut
upon them, and they were arrested. By the end of November, the Prince
was half way over the Atlantic, being banished to the United States. His
accomplices were actually acquitted, in the face of indisputable evidence of
their treason. The crowd, the garrison, and the general population, of Stras-
burg rejoiced without control, and spent the day as a fete ; and the gloom of
the Ministers and dismay of the King were in proportion. — The mother of
Prince Louis Napoleon died in the next October, her failing health being
broken up by anxiety for her only son.
PRESS LAW. Such events as these, bringing after them evidences of an unpopularity of
the sovereign extending far beyond the mad conspirators themselves, seem to
have merely exasperated the self-will and folly of the King : and the most
conspicuous proof of this, and of his unfitness for the office of Citizen King,
CHAP. XI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 359
appears in his insufferable repression of the press. Before the end of 1835, 1835 — 38.
he was actually holding the position of Charles X. against the press. The ' — — ~v— ~--
prosecution of journals, and fining and imprisonment of editors, had gone on
till some of the liberal newspapers were ruined. The Tribune gave up, after
having been prosecuted 112 times. But this was found insufficient; and new
laws were proposed to protect the prosperity of France — " a prosperity of five
years intermingled with danger," — by shielding " the King of her choice "
against attacks. " Order was not yet completely established :" neither a
Carlist press nor a republican press could be permitted to exist ; and the law
proposed for putting them down equals any Carlist despotism which could be
conceived of by a Polignac. Fine and imprisonment were to be the consequence
of introducing the King, either directly or indirectly, or by any allusion, into any
discussion of the acts of the government : — also of expressing any wish, hope,
or threat, in relation to either Carlism or Republicanism. The Bill, with a long ^g"uai ge0"'5-
list of atrocious provisions, was carried by the power of the Crown and its
functionaries ; the heart-stricken Opposition, who now saw their country and
themselves under a precisely similar oppression to that which they had thrown
off five years before, giving solemn warning that " laws like the present might
afflict, but could not terrify, good men ;" and that the matter could not end
here. — The condition of the French nation, in regard to its liberties, was even
worse than it had been in 1830 ; for now the blow at freedom of speech was
struck not only by King and Ministers, but with the aid of the Chambers.
The King had got but too much of the representation into his own grasp ;
and the state of the nation was so much worse than it had been in 1830, that
good men thought it their duty rather to endure than to resist under circum-
stances so perilous to order and freedom. — The King followed up this law
with prosecutions of editors for assertions in their newspapers that the
Ministers wished to show that they could now do what the Ministers of
Charles X. attempted in 1880 : and that the army was not favourable to the
Administration, and might be found inclined to a republic, if asked. There
was also a creation of thirty new peers, in the King's interest, immediately
after the passage of the law which brought offences of the press under the
jurisdiction of the Chamber of Peers. — It is merely sickening to go into the
details of the press-prosecutions of the period. The government was evidently
nervous under the perpetual echoing of its own fears in the popular news-
papers— at the Carlist hints and demonstrations which followed on the death
of Charles X. in 1836, and the speculations on the disaffection of the army
which formed the commentary on the Strasburg affair: — they had gone too far
to recede ; and now they found the objectionable matter which formed the
material of the prosecutions reproduced in Court, under circumstances of
emphasis which made it ten times as pernicious as if it had been let alone.
There were multitudes who recalled, and repeated to each other, the dying-
words of Lafayette about their dreadful mistake in regard to their Citizen
King: while the few who looked ahead and afar saw how France was daily
losing her chance of assuming her proper place in the array of nations, when-
ever the War of Opinion in Europe should arise.
Meantime, the one cheering topic in the King's speeches, in successive Annual Register,
years, was his good understanding with England. There had been a narrow RELATION'S 'WITH
360 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 38. escape from a war with America — an escape purchased by a somewhat igno-
^— ~— - -^ minious concession — by a swallowing of some big, hard words, while paying
money due to America which ought to have been paid long before. There
WITH SWITZER. was a "momentary misunderstanding with Switzerland," threatening imme-
diate collision— turning upon the question whether an incendiary of the name
of Conseil was or was not a spy of the French government. There had been
"painful losses in Africa/' which had "deeply afflicted" the King's heart.
ALGIERS. Algiers was a perpetual and a growing trouble, from its expensiveness and
unprofitableness; and there were terrible reverses there at this period — the
indomitable Abd-el-Kader and the Emperor of Morocco having inflicted rout
and disaster which could not be disguised or palliated, even in the King's
speech. The fact was, the French held merely their own fortified settlements
*i in that which they called their colony of Algeria. Beyond the defences
nothing could be done ; for a vigilant enemy, native to the soil, and animated
by the fiercest love of country and religion, was always at hand to cut off
stragglers, and destroy the processes of industry. From Algeria, nothing was
heard of at this time but " painful losses," dismal anticipations, and warnings
that the African foe was covertly supported by Turkey. The Princes of the
Blood repaired to Africa, to command and fight ; large reinforcements of men
and money were sent ; and there was new food for discontent at home, in the
alleged misdirection of the civil and military affairs of Algeria, and that
profitless expense of the settlement, which made it "an affliction to France."
There was more unpopularity yet to be incurred by the King. He does not
appear to have suffered by his clemency to the Ministers of Charles X.,whom
RELEASE OF STATE he released on the death of their master, and permitted to reside on their own
estates, on parole, except Polignac, who was exiled for twenty years. His
own constituent subjects had perhaps lost much of their indignant feeling
towards the Polignacs and Peyronnets, now that a stronger indignation had
been incurred by the successor of the old Bourbon King: and the sickly
prisoners were allowed quietly to come forth from their captivity, and go home,
to live there in obscurity. If the King lost nothing by this, neither did he
gain much by an act of amnesty which accompanied it. By royal ordinance,
*M™aJre237.lit' issued in October, 1836, sixty -two political offenders were discharged from
further punishment, being merely placed under the surveillance of the police.
It was thought that the consequences of political persecution were beginning
to be apparent to the King, and that his prudence had taken .the alarm : but
his warfare with the press did not intermit or slacken, as we have seen. — In
his Speech for 1837, he spoke of the Finances as being " in a most prosperous
state" — that is, promising a small surplus, in the place of the usual deficit ;
and he intimated that a great mass of public works would be undertaken, to
give employment to the people. There was some surprise at this tone being
taken during a period of grievous commercial and agricultural distress ; but
the surprise ceased when it presently appeared that the King meant to ask the
Chambers for money, for family purposes. His children were growing up
W' an^ marrying ; and he now wanted a provision for the Due de Nemours, his
second son, for whom he asked a gift of two estates, and a marriage portion
for his eldest daughter, the Queen of the Belgians. The latter was obtained,
after much angry debating, and many protests against enriching from the
CHAP. XI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 361
public purse the children of a King who was considered very wealthy in the 1835 — 38.
possession of the property of the Crown, the estates of the House of Orleans, " — — >^— ^
and, in the name of one of his sons, the wealth of the House of Conde. The
other demand was withdrawn for the present, with much mortification on the
part of the government ; but the times were not such as made the people, or
the Chambers, willing to endow the Duke de Nemours from the public purse.
Another reason was that a fresh call was to be made, on behalf of the eldest
son — the Duke of Orleans — who was about to marry the Princess Helena of
Mecklenburg ScliAverin. The Chamber doubled the Prince's allowance, hi-
therto £40,000 — made a present of £40,000 to the bride for her outfit — and
fixed her jointure at £12,000. The marriage took place in May, 1837: and J^DuSw
in August of the next year was born the infant who was hailed as the heir of 9!UjEt^s» w*t
•/ AnnUdirt; nisi*.
the throne of France. There were many who doubted whether such would 1837.1>-2C8-
ever be his position; for it had long been said by impartial observers that no
son of the Citizen King would ever be permitted to succeed him : but there
was probably 110 one who anticipated the full melancholy of that marriage —
the domestic uneasiness — the sudden violent death of the Prince in the vigour
of his years — and the expulsion of his widow and child from the kingdom, and
from all hope of a throne. The superstition which is so easily excited in the
French mind had, however, scope on occasion of the marriage — as at the
bridal of the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette in the last century, and of
Napoleon and Marie Louise — when fearful accidents happened. When the
Duke and Duchess of Orleans entered Paris, a few days after their marriage,
a sudden panic seized the crowds that were closely packed in the Champ de
Mars. In the rush towards the outlets, nearly thirty persons were trampled
to death ; and many more were injured. — Another child of the Orleans House °F ™E PRINCESS
was married in the autumn of the same year — the beloved Princess Marie — Annuan-e Hist.
the darling of her parents' hearts — she who sculptured the Joan of Arc which
is seen in many a house in England, and is carried on the heads of Italian
boys, through all the streets of Europe. This richly-endowed young creature
became the bride of Prince Alexander of Wirtemberg ; but his happiness was
not to last long. He laid his young wife in her grave within fifteen months.
Her constitution had been much shaken from her constant alarms for her
father's life. She gave birth to a son in the autumn of 1838, became consump-
tive, and died on the 2nd of January, 1839. The day after her death became
known in Paris, the Chamber of Deputies rose, as by an impulse, to go and
address the King : and this was the most numerous and the most cordial
attendance of deputies that he had ever been greeted with.
We find no records of financial prosperity elsewhere than in the King's
Speech. Every other register tells of distress, embarrassment, fear, and local DISTRESS.
tumults. It was observed by the government, and told in the Chamber, that
the number of foreign refugees in France was large, and continually on the
increase. The Poles were treated with great favour — being admitted free of
cost to educational privileges, and trusted with office under government : it
was not therefore surprising that there were then nearly 6000 Poles in France.
In this fact perhaps lay the most hopeful indication that, in case of a War of
Opinion in Europe, France would be found in front of the western combination
which must oppose the incursion of despotism from the East. Amidst such
VOL. II. 3 A
DEATH OF TAL-
LEYRAND.
362 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V
1835 — 38. gloom as lias been described — gloom over which the royal weddings of the
year shed but a dim and partial light — the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved,
and men were left in expectation as to what the Citizen King would do with
a new parliament, and whether the parliament would prove itself most worthy
of King or people.
A man of an older time — a man of various times, and of a flexibility which
adapted him to them all — Prince Talleyrand — was about to close his eyes on
this new phase of French destiny. He was 84, and it was time for him to be
going. There was no further honour for him in the future : he had had his good
things in his life-time : whether they had made him happy or not, he must be
satisfied with them now; for there was nothing more for him — not a trace of
true honour — not a fragment of esteem — not a movement of affection. He
was the marvel of his age for suppleness and prosperity; and he will stand in
history as a specimen- — dry and curious — but in no way as a vital being, noble,
beautiful, or interesting. He knew every body for eighty years — made use of
every body — consorted with every body — nattered every body — served any
body when there was no politic objection to doing so — and cared for nobody.
He preserved to the last his most conspicuous talents, being capable of flattery
while almost incapable of speech. On the entrance of the King and his sister,
iA838,Up! ?oTster> a few hours before the old courtier's death, he exclaimed " This is a great day
for our house !" It is possible that, in virtue of his long training in worldli-
ness, he might consider the day as more important to his house from a King's
visit than from his own death. However that might be, he died at four, the
same afternoon, the 17th of May, 1838. The tidings of his death spread like
a whiff of fresh air among those whom he had parched by the atmosphere of
his worldliness. Yet the Citizen King is said to have left his chamber in tears.
SrAIN> In Spain, nothing passed during the period under review that it is either
pleasant or profitable to dwell on. The two interests which absorbed the
Spanish nation were the Carlist war and the government of the Queen Regent.
The Liberal party throughout the West of Europe — both governments and
individuals — were pledged to the maintenance of the infant Queen, Isabella
II., upon the throne ; and therefore, the Queen Regent, her mother, was to
QUEEN REGENT, govern under a profession of liberalism. It is well known now that she is not
a woman who can conceive of the benefits of liberal institutions, or who
could be trusted to rule at all. Hard, selfish, intriguing, hopelessly ignorant —
she was equally a misfortune, as mother of the little Queen, and Regent of
the country. Her daughter received no training which could fit her for her
QUEEN ISABELLA, regal function ; and the country could learn no other lesson under Christina
than to despise its rulers. The young Isabella had but a poor chance at best
for health, sense, knowledge, and integrity. As it was, she became a spoiled
child of the lowest order — alternately humoured and tyrannized over — flattered
and mortified. She appeared before the eyes of her subjects as a sickly, fretful,
and wilful child — eternally eating sweet-meats, and concocting caprices, and
wholly incapable of intellectual entertainment, or moral devotedness. The
public news that reached her was of innumerable insurrections, in half the
towns of her kingdom ; — street fights, up to her palace doors ; — attacks on con-
vents, and the murder of ten monks in one place, and twelve in another —
seizure of plate from the altar — delivering up of ringleaders by their comrades
CHAP. XI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 363
— and the shooting of scores of citizens in a row. Then, there were changes 1835 38.
of Ministry for ever — swearings to Constitutions, one after another, each of ^ — • — '
which was to last for ever ; — pledges of reforms, pompously announced, and
never carried out ; — professions of patriotism and universal benevolence, which
were met hy imputations of the vilest political profligacy. Amidst the mani-
fold misfortunes of the young Queens of Spain and Portugal, none can be
greater than the fearful hollowness by which they have been surrounded since
their birth. They had better have been daughters of herdsmen on Etna — out
with their distaffs upon the slopes, and feeling the vibration under their feet,
and seeing the sulphurous chasms open wherever they tread, and flying from
clouds of poisonous ashes — better have lived in honest apprehension like this
than have had their ears filled with talk of virtue which, from its staleness,
fell dead upon the soul, and have been constantly in the reception of homage
so false as to drive them to intrigue or self-will in mere pursuit of a welfare
which they could not entrust to any body else. What the young Isabella
heard of was valour, devotedness, martyrdom for freedom, sublime disinterest-
edness : — what she knew to be fact was treachery, cruelty, rapacity, selfish
ambition, fickleness, and incapacity. As for the reforms proposed from time
to time, and discussed by the Cortes, there was no leisure for their prose-
cution, amidst the perpetual alarms of war, and occurrence of insurrections ;
and the state of the finances was too desperate to afford hope of any really
good government which did not begin by their rectification.
As for the other department of Spanish interests — the war between the
Queen and her uncle, Don Carlos — it is too disgusting and terrible to be
needlessly contemplated. In 1835, the Carlists encouraged the discontents of CAUUSTWAB-
the most extravagant of the liberal party, in the hope of profiting by the em-
barrassment of the government : and they succeeded. They obtained many
advantages in the north of Spain, where the warfare chiefly lay. The cruelty
on both sides became so atrocious, that the Duke of Wellington sent out Lord
Eliot, during the short Peel administration of that year, to endeavour to bring Annual Register,
the hostile leaders to an agreement to spare the lives of their prisoners. For a
short time, this did good: but in the next year, a circumstance happened
which seemed to turn the combatants on both sides into devils ; and it was
from that time impossible for human power to soften the diabolism of the war.
The mother of Cabrera, the Carlist leader of the hour, had been accused of
some traitorous meddling, and, as the Queen's general declared in his own
defence, sentenced to death. But she was a poor old woman of seventy, whose
example, or whose life, could be of no public importance. The governor of
Tortosa was required by the Queen's officer to deliver her up for execution in
retaliation for some slaughterous deeds of her son's. The governor refused :
and application was made to General Mina, the Queen's commander-iii-chief,
who actually enforced the order, and had the poor creature shot in the public
square of Tortosa. Cabrera was driven frantic by this act, being " romanti-
cally attached" to his mother. He declared that thirty women should suffer
a similar fate, as his tribute to his mother's memory. He immediately
executed four ladies — wives of officers — whom he had captured— and several
more afterwards. — This is enough. We see here all that is necessary to our
review of the time, and to our appreciation of the part taken in the war by
364 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1835 — 38. Englishmen. It is not pleasant to have to record that Englishmen had any
" — -~^— ~- share whatever in a war so barbarous as to shed more or less disgrace on all who
voluntarily aided either side ; and so ill-conducted as to cast no reflex glory
on the act. There is something repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen in
our present age and state of advancement, in our countrymen going forth as
BRITISH LEGION, mercenaries, by their own choice, to fight in a quarrel of succession in any
foreign country ; and our inclination leads us to be as cursory as possible in
our notice of the British Legion which went to Spain under General Evans in
1835.
When the Queen's government became alarmed by the successes of the
Carlists in that year, the Cabinet applied for aid to the three Powers in
alliance with Spain — Britain, France, and Portugal. Britain declined to send
troops, though she would not object to France doing so : and the arms and
ammunition already furnished to the amount of £200,000, were considered
sufficient. France followed the example of England — promising, however,
that the Pyrenean frontier should be watched, that no assistance might reach
the Carlists by that way. Portugal was bound by a recent treaty to send 6000
troops when required : but it was found inconvenient and dangerous to do so;
and the Queen broke her engagement — breaking up her Cabinet, and one or
two succeeding ones, on the occasion. Failing thus far, the Spanish Cabinet
next desired of the King of England that he would suspend the Foreign Enlist-
ment Act, that the Spanish government might raise in England a body of
?urnerioth?0i83.5!'' HjOOO mercenaries. This was done in June, 1835; and during the summer
months, the strange spectacle was seen of recruiting through the towns and
villages of Great Britain. It is impossible that the merits of the case could
have been understood by all those who enlisted. They went out to war
as a trade or an adventure, without even the name of a great popular cause
Autobiography of to inscribe upon their banners. We have an account of the affair from a
a Working Man,
P. 429. volunteer who owns that he anticipated but little fighting, but hoped that the
mere showing themselves would put force into the Queen's troops, and anni-
hilate the Carlists ; and then he intended to write a book about Spain,, and
publish it when he came home at the end of a year. A melancholy picture
might be given from his pages of the exasperating and humiliating sufferings
undergone by the British Legion in Spain, and the insulting ingratitude with
which they were treated : but this is needless, as the whole affair ought to be
regarded as a private speculation — no more claiming a place in history than
any unfortunate commercial or agricultural adventure, by sea or land. The
soldiers of the Legion were starved, frozen, shot, distrusted, deceived, forsaken,
and finally, left unpaid. In the midst of all this, an order issued by General
Evans cast a fearful light on the nature of the enterprise which he led. He
mo"?1 38jfister> issue(l a proclamation in June, 1836, declaring that, as the Legion was now in
junction with the British Marines, every Englishman found fighting on the side
of Don Carlos would be put to death as a traitor to the King of England.
A commander of mercenaries could with an ill grace so threaten mercenaries
on the other side — be the Royal Marines present or absent. If the Foreign
Enlistment Act was suspended, it was unreasonable to quarrel with men for
using their freedom of enlistment in aid of any cause which might seem good in
their eyes. Either way, it appeared that Englishmen were to slay Englishmen
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 365
in a cause for which none of them cared. During these years, the Carlists now 1835 — 38.
and then swept through Spain and back again to their mountains, as if to prove ^— — v— ~-^
that they were not unacceptable to the nation who let them pass, without
hindrance and without loss. Now we see them down in the extreme south- £**"ST1 INCU1U
west — on the very coast — often hemmed in, but always getting out — and
dragging two or three royal armies helplessly after them : and again, at the
gates of Madrid — the Queen quaking in her palace, or flying by night. In
the year 1838, the Carlists received some checks, in alternation with their
victories. Don Carlos married in that year — his sister-in-law, the widow of
Don Pedro, having crossed France privately to become his bride, under a dis-
pensation from the Pope. It was hoped that this lady might bring some
humanizing influences into his camp, and relieve the horror with which it was
regarded by the world. As for the royal cause — the Queen Regent spoke in
strong terms of the friendship of the Queen of England, and of hope from
various sources : but her voice and manner were faint and faltering, and no one Annual Register,
wondered ; for the state was bankrupt in fact, while pompous in professions ;
and the forlorn condition of her little daughter must have struck the Regent
more forcibly than ever while she was exhibiting the value of the friendship
of the Queen of England.
It seemed somewhat like a mockery of the monarchical system, from one point
of view, or an emphatic tribute to it from another, that there should have been
at one time three Queens in Europe who came to the throne between the ages THREE YOUNG
of three and eighteen : — a mockery, if the mental and moral qualities of two
out of the three were regarded, and a tribute to the power of the theory and
ideal when it was seen how all were supported in their kingly seat, — whether
in consequence or in spite of their personal qualities. The spoiled child in
Spain, and the wilful girl in Portugal, were Queens still, in the midst of state
poverty, turbulence, and popular discontents without end — as truly as the
intelligent and conscientious Victoria, who had reached womanhood before
she became Queen. Isabella was not yet old enough to cause trouble to her
ministers by her own qualities ; but her neighbour at Lisbon was. The
Queen of Portugal was seventeen when she married again in 1835 ; and she PORTUGAL.
had been for some time out of her minority. She left her ministers no peace.
A serious quarrel at this time was about making her new husband Commander-
in-Chief. She was resolved that it should be so, and had agreed expressly to
the arrangement as a part of the marriage stipulations, though her ministers
and parliament were pledged by a late decision, made to meet the case, not to
permit any foreigner to hold that most responsible office. Ministry and par-
liament were broken up in consequence : and in the midst of the confusion,
before the new Cortes met, there was a revolution : — the Queen was compelled
to accept the Constitution of 1820, and to deprive her husband of his office,
because it was incompatible with the working of that Constitution. The assent
of the Queen and her friends to the instrument was obtained by mere force —
by the military surrounding the palace. From that time incessant fluctuations
were taking place — risings, fallings, successes, reverses, of the different poli-
tical parties in the state, till the mind of the reader becomes confused, and
gives up all hope of understanding the politics of Portugal. Two matters,
however, stand out clear. An heir to the throne was born in September, 1837, BIRTH OF HEIR,
366 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 88. and another son in October, 1838. And the great commercial tre.aty with
* — -~v— — ' Great Britain, the Methuen Treaty, expired, on notice from the Portuguese
Ta*iLHTvEN government. Efforts were made for the renewal of the treaty ; but the dis-
turbed state of public affairs prevented any settlement. This might be of less
consequence to England than old-fashioned statesmen might easily suppose.
Mr. Clay said to an English traveller at Washington, in 1835, " I cannot but
wonder at the anxiety of your ministers about the Methuen Treaty, while
they think so little of free-trade with growing nations. In Portugal, you never
had, and never will have, any thing but two millions of priests and beggars for
customers; while here you might have sixteen millions at once' — likely to
double their number in a quarter of a century." Those who saw the matter
from Mr. Clay's point of view cared little for the renewal of any commercial
treaty with Portugal, except from a natural tendency to hold to " our old and
faithful ally ;" — a description which imports more to an English ear than an
American can be expected to understand.
There were other points only too clear in the condition and temper of
Portugal. Our " old and faithful ally" was very unhappy, and therefore very
ENGLISH m FOR- ill-tempered. The English were treated with an insolence and malignity
TUGAL. r .
which could not have been endured but through a proud compassion. The
British auxiliaries were unpaid ; and they received nothing but insult when they
applied for their dues. So outrageous was the spirit against the English that
Annual Register their Admiral on the station thought it necessary to issue a general order to
1837, p. 324. j^g Captains not to visit the palace, or hold any communication with persons
in authority, lest the intention of England should be misunderstood. The
British were above taking offence — so low was their poor ally sunk : but they
INDIGENCE?E endeavoured to avoid all occasion of quarrel. At this tune, Portugal was
bankrupt, and was in danger of a public announcement of the fact. In the
summer of 1838. there was a run on the Banks of Lisbon and Oporto ; and
the Cortes proposed to declare a national bankruptcy. The Bank of Lisbon
and a Mercantile Company offered a loan to avert this catastrophe ; and after
some hesitation and debate, it was accepted. For some time past, there had
been no paper and printing allowed for the Acts of the Cortes, from the positive
beggary of the treasury. It was clear that the British auxiliaries need not
expect their pay. — It was also very clear that, if a War of Opinion in Europe
should arise, the western element of constitutional freedom could hardly be
reinforced by either Spain or Portugal.
TRAL EUROPE. ^g £or fae centrai countries of Europe, they yielded ample evidence to those
who were oil the watch that the storm was daily gathering which must burst
before a genuine peace could be relied on for Europe. Those conflicts of opinion
were going forward which would lead to war, sooner or later ; and in this short
period the advance towards a crisis is perceptible enough. The debated ques-
tions during the time were religious, political, and commercial — the commer-
cial being of importance, chiefly as being in fact political. Another token of
preparation for a future general conflict was that political affinities, and no
longer territorial relations, began to determine the classification of European
parties. The despots of the East and old-fashioned diplomatists talked of
geographical alliances as an ordination of nature — as the safe old principle to
which the world would return, as soon as demagogues could be silenced : but
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 367
not the less did men of a higher sagacity perceive, that all geographical 1835—38.
alliances must give way before the force of political affinities — that Poland v — — >^-— -^
and Hungary could not be kept down, if they chose to be free, however sur-
rounded by the despotism of the Eastern section of Europe ; and that Portugal
could not enjoy rational liberty at all the more for her position, unless she
became capable of freedom within herself.
This period is remarkable for the formation of the great Commercial League z°" VKKIW.
of Germany. The States of Germany had hitherto gone to work, each in its
own way, about its Customs Duties — about fixing their amount, and levying
them. Each little state had its own complete fence of Custom-houses, and its
own scale of duties; and the inconvenience, injury, and ill-humour, caused by
such a plan were clear to every body. It was the King of Prussia who
exerted himself to substitute a better system ; and his ultimate success was
an excellent test of the temper and commercial philosophy of Englishmen.
Many made an outcry that it was the Emperor of Russia who was really the
mover — instigating his Prussian friend to an achievement by which he hoped
to humble the manufacturing and commercial consequence of Great Britain :
but the true free-traders of England saw the matter in a happier light. They
saw that England must make haste to remove what restrictions remained
on any branch of her commerce : but, that done, it would be cause of mere
rejoicing when restrictions on commerce were done away in any part of the
world, since the natural prosperity of any one part is more or less good for
every other. Such observers looked on with deep interest, unmixed with fear,
while State after State joined the great League — one being at length persuaded
to lower its duties, and another to raise them, till the desired equalization was
established, and the countries of Germany ceased to be foreign to each other.
Baden held out long, on account of her nearness to France : but she joined
in 1835. Nassau held out one year longer. The free City of Frankfort was
kept back by an existing treaty with England which was incompatible with
the new arrangement ; but the British government saw how Frankfort would
be injured by exclusion from the League, and with her, such British commerce
as went forward there; and the treaty was given up. In January, 1836,
Frankfort entered the League, and the King of Prussia saw his great work
complete — though no one called it faultless. Some of its provisions were seen
to be unwise, and others might turn out so in practice : but here was a Com-
mercial Union, extending from the Baltic and the Niemen to the Alps and
the Lake of Constance. Old-fashioned politicians regarded with satisfaction
what they took for a return to a natural state of territorial sympathy ; while
men of the new school saw in the arrangement an important aid in the pre-
servation of Peace, in times of political irritation. A commercial treaty be- AUSTRIAN COM.
tween Austria and England was concluded in 1838, by which the Danube was MERCIALTREATV-
freely opened to British vessels, as far as Galatz, and all British ports, with
Malta and Gibraltar, as freely to Austrian vessels. Under the dread of Russia
which at this period afflicted a great number of Englishmen to a point beyond
all reason and all dignity, this treaty was regarded as a Russian work, as much
as the Prussian League : and it was predicted that, by a quiet neglect of shoals
and sandbars near the outlets of the Danube, Russia would obtain almost
exclusive control over the pulsations of that great artery of the life of despotism.
368 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 3.8. Exaggerated and malignant as were the fears of some of our countrymen
"— — — -^ about Russia, there were few sensible men who thought them wholly base-
less. No one who looked forward to an ultimate War of Opinion in Europe
could fail to see that Russia herself occupied nearly one half of the speculation.
She might be poor, in proportion to her bulk — ill -compacted, corrupt, slavish,
possessed of few of the modern elements of power : but she had the ancient ; and
they would tell for much in a struggle to establish ancient principles of domina-
tion. She was military throughout her whole organization ; — as completely
formed for foreign invasion as incapable of domestic prosperity and peace. She
sits looking abroad over Europe — the representative there of Asiatic despotism ;
and her character does not change as years pass on. While modification pro-
ceeds every where else — while Denmark and Prussia were talking of having
parliaments, and Austria was penetrated by new ideas, Russia has remained
what she was — possessed of the ancient elements of power, and universally
supposed to be inclined to use them for the destruction of the modern, which
are in her eyes purely a nuisance. She was not inactive, while thus un^
changeable. She has her feelers out in all extremities of the earth and bounds
of the sea, and every where she silently plants her force while men are looking
another way. Wherever people of any nation go, they find that Russia has
been before them. If they go fur-hunting in the northern wilds of America,
they come upon a Russian fort. If they wander to an inland sea in Asia, on
some commanding promontory they find a Russian fort. Among the swamps
of an African delta, or the sands at the mouth of the Red River, they find a
Russian fort. If these are not hints of a project of a future universal empire,
they are at least a fact which should go for what it is worth, on the face of it.
It may be absurd enough to allege — as some wild terrorists have done — that a
British statesman has, in our day, been found purchaseable by Russian gold: —
it may be fanciful to imagine the voice of Russia to be whispering the terms of
every treaty ; and the hand of Russia conducting every transaction throughout
the length and breadth of Europe ; but it would be mere carelessness not to watch
her movements, and a treachery to the cause of Freedom to forget that from Russia
will proceed, sooner or later, the most perilous attacks she has yet to sustain.
Putting aside the surmises of alarmists, we find the Emperor of Russia lay-
ing a heavy hand, here and there, on the destinies of nations. In the autumn
of 1835, he met the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, in the course
of a journey; but whether the despots had any purpose in meeting beyond
reviewing their troops, no one knew. On his return, the Emperor of Russia
THE EMPEHOR \T stopped at Warsaw ; and the violence of his Imperial wrath there expressed
\V\RSAW.
went so much beyond what appeared prudent to every body but himself, that
it was widely believed that he was mad. He told the authorities of Warsaw
Annuaire Hist, that he was calm, and spoke without rancour; and he assured them that if
they cherished any illusion of the nationality of Poland, it should be the worse
for them : — if they manifested in any way such an idea, he would level Warsaw
with the ground. He desired that what he said might be fixed in their
memories ; and truly, it was not likely to be forgotten. The Speech found its
way into a French newspaper ; and thence it spread over the world, greatly
reviving popular sympathy with the Polish cause. — This was increased by his
audacious act of raising a loan in the name of Poland, which caused the Polish
F TUB
I.KS.
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 369
refugees in all countries to warn the world publicly that Poland disclaimed 1835 — 38.
the loan, and considered every man the enemy of that country who contributed
by this mode to the increase of its burdens. — As for Turkey, she was wholly
in the power of Russia, now that Russia had saved her from Egypt : and she
obeyed, when required to promise that no armed vessel should pass from the
Mediterranean into the Black Sea, without the express permission of Russia. —
In the treaty of Adrianople, Circassia had been made over to Russia : but the CIRCASSIA.
Circassians did not acquiesce, and fought a noble battle, from year to year, in
resistance to the annexation. The best rulers and soldiers of the East in our
time have come from Circassia ; and no one wonders at this who watches the
conflict between the exasperation of Russia and the patriotism of Circassia.
During the period before us, the Russians made little or no progress — the
climate and structure of the country being as fatal to them as favourable to
the inhabitants. This war brought England into apparent danger of a col-
lision with Russia. An English vessel, the Vixen, landed salt on the coast,
at a port which the Circassians had recovered from their foe. A Russian
cruizer seized the Vixen on the plea that she had transgressed some Customs
regulations, and also that she had landed ammunition for the benefit of
the Circassians. The last allegation was positively denied; and, as for the
first, it was declared that Russia had no right to impose Customs regulations
at that part of the coast. The legality of the seizure was discussed in parlia-
ment and the newspapers, till most people were convinced that the affair was
a mere plot of a few factious men to embroil the two countries : and the sub-
ject was dropped at last, without any distinct claim of release being made by
the British government. The tone of Russia towards the people who were
successfully resisting her may be judged of by the wording of a letter from the Annual Register,
invading general, Williamineff, to the patriot chiefs. Copies were taken ; and
the letter was read with a painful kind of amusement, throughout Europe : —
" Are you not aware that, if the heavens should fall, Russia could prop them
with her bayonets ? The English may be good mechanics and artisans, but
power dwells only with Russia. No country ever waged successful war against
her. Russia is the most powerful of all nations. If you desire peace, you
must be convinced that there are but two powers in existence — God in heaven,
and the Emperor upon earth." — Meantime, the Emperor began to see his way
into Persian politics. He was appointed arbiter about a question of succession
to the Persian throne : and though the decision was in this case made prema- 1>KRSIA-
turely by death — the intended heir having died before his father — the idea of
Russian intervention was introduced, and thus — as the enemies of Russia did
not fail to observe — a step was gained in the advance upon British India.
No where did the despot's hand press more heavily than upon Cracow. By CRACOW.
the Vienna Congress, Cracow, with its small territory, had been declared a
free state, under the protection of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, who were
bound by the strongest terms to respect its independence, while stipulating
that deserters and outlaws from their respective countries should be delivered
up on demand of the governments. Some Poles and other refugees had settled
in Cracow : some were married, and had lived there for several years. On the
Emperor's saint's day, expressions were uttered which, reaching his ear, did
not please him. His wrath, into which he drew Austria and Prussia, fell like
VOL. II. 3 B
370 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 38. a thunderbolt upon the city. A complete clearance of Cracow from all liberal
v— " ^^—- ^ refugees within eight days was ordered ; and, cruel as was the order, it was
A™. Historique, enforced by the troops of the Three Powers taking possession of the city which
they had guaranteed from the entrance of any armed force. The scene of the
expulsion was dreadful : when it was over, 2000 of the Austrian troops re-
mained ; and presently, the exemplary and religious guardians of the liberty
of Cracow began to remodel its institutions, according to their own notions.
They dismissed the militia; excluded foreigners and foreign publications;
established a truly Russian censorship of the press ; ordained the support of
the Greek church by the state ; and dismissed the Diet — postponing indefi-
nitely its next meeting. It is difficult to write these facts without comment :
but any comment would weaken their operation. It is difficult to endure the
sight — through the eye of the mind — of the anguish and rage of the citizens
under this oppression of unsurpassed profligacy — without some endeavour to
express their feelings for them : but, in the sobriety of the spirit of history, we
must let facts speak for themselves that can speak as these do, and thus appoint
Nicholas of Russia his own historian.
DEATH OF THE It was not the Emperor Francis I. of Austria who acted with Nicholas in
AUSTRIA. this matter. The Emperor Francis — the Good, the Paternal, who stroked the
heads of children in the streets, and shut up the noblest men of his dominions
at Spielburg, and prayed for them while there, and starved them with cold and
hunger, and tortured their feelings, and turned their brains, and was so good
as to let this be known by permitting Silvio Pellico to tell his story through
the press, in order that foolish and troublesome people might be deterred from
a rebellion which would cost them so dear; — this "gospel" ruler died in
March, 1835, after a reign of forty-thi'ee years. It was said that he left his
empire as safe and prosperous as he found it. It might be as prosperous; but
time alone could show whether it was as safe. Time has shown that it was
not so. The astute Metternich remained at the helm of the state : and it was
thought that the notorious imbecility of the new Empeior would not matter,
while his Minister's ability was available. But Metternich was old, and,
though able, he was not wise. The wisdom of despots is never more than a
temporary shift : and temporary shifts are of very short date indeed in our age
of the world, and in prospect of a War of Opinion in Europe. Before three
years were over, we find Metternich threatening war with Switzerland on ac-
count of the refugees harboured in her free states, and provoking a religious
quarrel which a really wise statesman would have gone a long way round to
avoid. — But of that we shall have to speak briefly under our next head. Mean-
KERD™IN°DNI°F ^me> ^ mav ^e recorded, that the helpless Austrian Emperor, Ferdinand I.,
was crowned at Milan, in September, 1838 — the Iron Crown being placed
upon his wretched head, on which sat the fate which mocked at the temporary
chron1;^!}' 1838' sn^' There was an astonishing environment of barbaric splendour — such as
might catch the eye of the foolish sovereign, and the foolish among his people,
and of the Italians, who were not truly his people : but in the midst sat the fate
which decreed that the puppet Emperor should be released from his vain show
of sovereignty in a few years, when a sovereignty must be either nothing, or
something better than a vain show. — There is nothing more to tell of his or
any rule in Italy during this period. It was elsewhere that the patriots of Italy
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 371
were preparing for their part in the European war of opinion : and on her soil 1835 — 38.
there was nothing more remarkable than the ravages of cholera, and the horrors * ^ '
which grew out of the ignorant consternation of the people, who believed that
the plague was the work — or rather the malignant sport — of the doctors and
their tools among the tradesmen.
The new king, Ernest of Hanover, lost no time in proving himself a true HANOVER.
brother of the craft of statesmanship, of which Nicholas of Russia was the pre-
sent head. He fulfilled all the expectations of Col. Fairman and the Orange
peers of England and Scotland. During the reigns of his two brothers, it had
become a common story in England how well the Hanoverians had gone on
under the Duke of Cambridge and others who presided, and how suddenly
every thing was tumult when the Duke of Cumberland arrived. And so it
was now. In his pure and pathetic love for his people — of which he spoke
with tender earnestness on every occasion of oppression — he set them by the
ears together in the shortest possible time. He arrived in his capital on the ^*°CK^NGS OF
28th of June, 1837, and on the 8th of July announced in his Letters Patent
his intention of setting aside the constitution of Hanover. He had prorogued
the Assembly of Estates — the Hanoverian parliament — immediately on his
arrival. In November he dissolved it, and annulled the Constitution, of his ,A™ual
18o7j p. oou*
own will and pleasure, declaring that it had never been valid. — It was not to
be expected that every body would agree in this. Among others, seven pro-
fessors of the University of Gottingen refused to proceed with the election of a
representative, while the Constitution was suspended. All the seven were im-
mediately displaced by the King, and three of them banished. Then followed
riots at Gottingen, as might be expected. The students left the lecture-rooms,
and escorted their exiled professors over the frontier. The King wanted to
make out that the seven recusants were condemned by the other authorities of
the University ; and immediately six more professors came forward to declare
their sympathy with the exiles. The military scoured the streets ; but when
they had made all quiet for the moment, the business was not over. The
smaller states of Germany were alarmed and angry at the King's proceed-
ings. Baden first protested against them, as in violation of the federal league
of Germany; and Bavaria and Saxony followed the example of Baden. —
The Hanoverians are understood to have agreed to use 110 violence, and to
keep their tempers while guarding their liberties. The King was old, and
too bad to mend : — they would keep him in check, and wait for a new reign.
So the adverse parties blundered on — the King making no progress with his
new constitution, while his people declared the old one to be in force. In June,
1838, the Assembly voted down the new constitution, and the King pro-
rogued the Assembly. — The affair now came before the Germanic Diet at
Frankfort, and was discussed, as a matter aifecting every one of them, by
various states ; and Wirtemberg declared that the act of the King of Hanover
affected the legal condition of all Germany. — In the next year, King Ernest
declared that he had withdrawn his proposed constitution, and that that of
1819 continued in force : but the Chambers voted down the constitution of
1819, and were prorogued for two months. The Germanic Diet, however,
voted the validity of that constitution ; and thus satisfied all parties as to the
soundness of the basis on which affairs rested, while all were deliberating as
372 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 38. to what should be done next. — In 1840, the King offered a constitution which
^— — ^- — ' contained almost every thing specified by the Chambers. A deputation from
NEW CONSTITU- Assembly waited on him to express gratitude and joy ; and he declared that
TION.
PRESENTATION.
Annuaire Hi
1840™! ?97g.ister> their kind words made him feel as if a stone were taken from his heart. He
had by this time found that governing people who had their own ideas, as he
had his, was a less easy and smooth affair than he and his adherents had
imagined when Col. Fairman proposed to include the British Isles under his
sovereignty.
DENMARK. He must have wondered greatly at the King of Denmark for having spon-
taneously offered to his people something in the shape of a parliament. The
Danes had suffered so much, in ancient times, from the oppressions of the aris-
tocracy, that they had, two centuries before, besought their King, Frederick III.,
to take all power into his own hands ; and Denmark had been under despotic
government ever since. Now, in 1835, the King had declared his desire to
be assisted by the co-operation of his subjects, and enlightened by a knowledge
of their wishes. He did not propose to alter the constitution with which the
nation appeared to have been satisfied for nearly two centuries; but he pro-
posed to add to it some regulations for the advancement of popular interests.
OPENING OF A RE- The people were to elect representatives, who should meet at stated periods to
ION. * . . .
Hist, discuss aftairs, and declare an opinion, for the King s guidance, preparatory to
the framing of his decrees. The elections were to be direct ; and the electoral
terms were liberal. This movement of the King of Denmark may be regarded
as one of the most remarkable signs of the times.
SWEDEN AND There was a good deal of disputing, during this period, between the ill-
assorted pair — Sweden and Norway. The feudal, aristocratic Sweden was
haughty, and treated sturdy, democratic Norway in a way she did not choose
to put up with. The dispute was about the Norwegian flag, and the commerce
which should be conducted under it — Sweden so acting as to give the world
to understand that there was no Norwegian flag and commerce except as in-
cluded under those of Sweden. In 1838, Norway obtained much of what she
desired by a concession of the King's — that her vessels should carry the
Norwegian instead of the Union flag, when south of Cape Finisterre, and in
other remote parts. The unfortunate prince, through whose conduct and
misfortunes Sweden had lost her provinces of Pomerania and* Finland, and
gained her new constitution and peace with Russia, the deposed Gustavus
Adolphus IV., died in Switzerland, in February, 1837. Another of the de-
termined enemies of Napoleon's person and policy was thus withdrawn ; and
the great soldier's reign seemed thrown back yet further into the past. It
was the horror of Gustavus IV. at the murder of the Duke d'Enghien
which mainly determined his own fate, and that of the kingdom of Sweden.
His latter days were passed in poverty, as well as exile, from his resolute
determination to accept of no assistance from any quarter.
BELGIUM. AND r^'ne disputes between Holland and Belgium, sometimes suspended for a
term, were renewed with great vehemence, from the King of Holland having
cut some wood in the territory of Luxembourg — the possession of which was
now the main cause of dispute. In 1832, Belgium agreed to the terms pro-
posed by arbitrators ; but Holland stood out. Now, in 1838, Holland was
willing to agree ; but Belgium refused — declaring that a delay of six years
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 373
justified a rejection of terms which were agreed to only for the sake of imme- 1835—38.
diate peace. It was evident, however, that Belgium would have to yield: "- — -^
and meantime, it was both amusing and painful to travellers to see how the
village tone of spite and rivalry subsisted, unsoftened by time, among the mer-
chants of Rotterdam and Antwerp. In 1835, the Belgian government found
itself driven, by popular fears and discontents, to an act of great impolicy, whose
utter fruitlessness was presently apparent. The duties on foreign cottons
were raised, on the demand of the operatives of Ghent, to a point which
encouraged smuggling to a destructive extent. In the next year, an act was
passed establishing municipal institutions for all the towns and districts. This
was nothing new ; such institutions having subsisted before, but, since the
separation from Holland, in a state which required regulation. The new
Act gave more power to the government in the appointment of officers than it
had before ; but this loss of some popular rights was felt to be more than compen-
sated for by the provisions for the better ascertainment and working of the rest.
The remaining class of troubles and prognostics is that in which religious "YOUNG GER.
liberties are concerned, either alone or in complication with political questions. M>
The new cluster of associates called, in 1835, " Young Germany" or " Young
Literature" was the especial horror of the old-fashioned rulers of Europe.
Its members — who were denounced in the established language of reprobation,
as deists, atheists, democrats, debauchees — men bent on destroying religion,
morality, and society — but who might, if asked, have given a somewhat
different account of their views and objects — had withdrawn into France and
Belgium, and thence sent forth their writings. All the governments presently
agreed to use all the means in their power to prevent the publication and
circulation of the works of Young Germany : but, as long experience has
proved, it is not in the power of governments to coerce the press effectually ;
and the proscribed works continued to be written, printed, and read. The
next attempt, in 1836, was to prevent the writers passing from one State into
another ; and the Germanic Diet adopted resolutions for this object which Annuaire Hist.
brought them into collision with the legislatures of the respective States, as
unwisely as their previous action against the liberty of the press. The Swiss
Directory was peremptorily required to deliver up the members of the Young
Germany Clubs, or to coerce them : and a disagreement among the Cantons
as to how far they would admit these demands of foreign governments was
one cause of the trouble and dissensions which agitated Switzerland during
this period.
The troubles of Switzerland were too many and too intricate to be followed SW|TZERLAND-
out here. We can do little more than remark that religion was implicated with
most of them. One serious quarrel with France was on account of the conduct
of the grand council of Basle in breaking through a contract, on the ground of the
religion of the purchaser of an estate. A French banker had purchased an
estate, and paid for it : but when the Basle authorities heard that he was a
Jew, they annulled the contract. France considered this a breach of treaty, Annuaire His.
and threatened war. Out of this grew more bigotry, and further disputes ;
and several times it appeared impossible that peace could be preserved. The
Catholic and Protestant Cantons were also becoming discontented with each
other, and the Protestant and Catholic parties within the particular Cantons.
374 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 38. When it became clear that something must be done, opinions were taken as
to the policy of revising the federal settlement; a measure which was favoured
by some and opposed by others. While this was under discussion, Prince
NATOLEON?"'8 Louis Napoleon returned from America, and pursued other objects than
attending the death-bed of his mother. With a selfishness as remarkable as
his folly, he at once embroiled Switzerland with France. He had obtained
citizenship in Thurgau ; and the inhabitants were therefore implicated in his
quarrel, as they could not admit that a citizen of their State could be ordered
away on the command of a foreign government. The Prince allowed the
passions of both parties to become exasperated on his account, and even per-
Annuaire Hist, niitted the affair to proceed so far as that the French ambassador was ordered
1838, p. 292.
to demand his passports, before he withdrew himself from the hospitality
which he was enjoying at the expense of the peace of nations. It remains
inexplicable what this Prince imagined he had to give that could compensate
to the French people and their neighbours for the mischiefs that he was
perpetually devising, and the tumults that he was endeavouring to draw
them into.
The Austrian government in the same year committed a more daring outrage
on the rights of conscience than could have been supposed possible in the age
ZILLKRTHAL in which we live. In the Ziller valley, in the Tyrol, lived some people —
PROTESTANTS. un(jer 5QQ jn numijer — w\lo had become Protestants some dozen years before,
and who practised their religion in peace and quiet in their mountain retreat.
They were warned by government that they must not stay there, unless they
joined the Catholic Church, but they might repair to any Protestant part of
the empire. They clung to their mountain home : and a denial of civil rights
was next resorted to. They were persecuted with every kind of social vexa-
tion that could be inflicted ; and forbidden to practise their religion. Their
churches were closed, and their every act watched and made painful ; till,
Annual Register, worn out at length, they prayed for permission to emigrate into Prussia ;
which was exactly what Metternich wanted. The Prussian government
invited them to settle in Silesia ; and there they went, the exhausted and
indignant victims of a religious persecution which has disgraced our age.
The Prussian government was meantime a sinner in the same direction.
The King of Prussia actually attempted to bring together the two fiercely
LUTHERANS OF opposed parties in Silesia — the Lutherans and the Reformed — by amalga-
mating their modes of worship. The Lutherans objected, and opposed some
of their clergy who would have enforced the union. The government insisted
that the union was voluntary : but the people did not find it so in practice.
They soon saw their pastors deprived ; and they refused to admit successors.
''Persecution of Then ensued a struggle for the pulpits, and the calling in of the soldiery to quell
Lutheran Church . oo ° J *
^Prussia," p. disturbance ; and all the other painful experience of rulers who try to coerce
consciences, ending with an extensive emigration of the Lutherans to Australia
and elsewhere. Then, there was the quarrel between the Prussian govern-
ment and the Catholic Church — the grave dispute whether, under the Concordat
of 1821, the Church was or was not independent of the government. The occa-
sions which were sure to arise presented themselves in 1837, and related to
Marriages between Catholics and Protestants, and to the doctrines of Professor
OES. Hermes. The Catholic clergy were beginning to object to the mixed marriages
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 375
which they had hitherto sanctioned ; and they revived a forgotten decree of 1835 — 38.
the Council of Trent as their authority. The Prussian government obtained ' — -— ~— -" ,
from Pope Pius VIII. a dispensation from this decree ; hut so ambiguously
worded as to be of little use. The archbishop of Cologne made use of this to
set aside the brief, and required a pledge from the parties married that the
children should be brought up in the Catholic faith. The government arrested
the archbishop ; the existing Pope, Gregory XVI., supported him ; the clergy Ammaire Hist,
supported the archbishop ; and the soldiery fulfilled the commands of the
King : and Protestants and Catholics went on intermarrying — some Protes-
tants pledging themselves that the children should be brought up in the
Catholic faith, and others relying on the royal promise of protection against
the displeasure of Pope and priest. — The other affair was old-fashioned enough ;
the proscription and persecution of a book and its author. The Archbishop
required of the clergy to refuse absolution to all who attended the lectures of
Professor Hermes and his followers at the university of Bonn ; and the King,
who thought this was going too far, required the prelate to abdicate, which
he refused to do. He therefore remained a prisoner of state, and the King of
Prussia was left in the midst of an open quarrel with the Pope and the clergy.
In Hesse Cassel there was a religious disturbance too. The multitude Annuai^lglster
were told that the sect of the Pietists were not only opposed to human learning 1835> p> 481>
for themselves, but were trying to keep knowledge from the people : and they
forthwith broke the windows of the Pietists, and made so much disturbance
as to cause the muster of all the forces of the State. It was plain enough that
they were in want of more knowledge — whether the Pietists desired or not to
keep it from them.
The Hungarians, whose lot has since become so interesting, were already HUNGARY.
astir. In 1837, District Diets were meeting, to consult about reforms, among
which they demanded of the Austrian government the substitution of the
Hungarian for the Latin language, in all public acts ; and the removal of ^""pllg?.1*1'
the Jesuits from the direction of public instruction. Since that day the
Hungarian nation has been industriously preparing itself for that liberty —
that independence of Austria — for which it appealed to arms in 1848.
It appears from this review that the European War of Opinion had already
begun in some slight skirmishes, which showed that the forces of the East and
the West were mustering on the field, or hastening towards it. The young Queen
Victoria and her people might be quiet at home ; for no despotism threatened
them ; and for them, liberty was achieved to that point which rendered cer-
tain the attainment of more, as it should be wanted. With them, all was as
safe as social affairs can be in an age when they are but imperfectly under-
stood ; and if the sovereign and nation looked abroad over the great future
battle-field, it was for instruction and from sympathy, and not from any
reasons of personal hope or fear.
376 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XII.
1835 — 40. TT is necessary now to review a portion of our history which all parties
x — — •^ — ' J- might be too happy to pass over, if only it were possible. But it is im-
possible— not only because the stern spirit of History will have every thing
told that is known, but because the retribution for the incapacity, the presump-
tion, the disregard of constitutional principle, the ignorance, the passion, the
cowardice, which were brought out on the one hand or the other, in relation
to the affairs ol Canada, is not yet exhausted. That the Whig Ministers and
some members of the Opposition of that time never have recovered, and never
can recover, from the disgrace of that group of transactions, is merely a minor
consequence of what they did. It is a more serious matter that our Colonial
relations received a deeper injury than a long course of excellent government
could repair. For various reasons, the story must be told as briefly and as
nearly without comment as possible.
It will be remembered that circumstances arose at the Grey banquet, at Edin-
burgh, in the autumn of 1834, that gave hope to the weary and disappointed
Reform party of a revival of their cause. Lord Brougham there was under-
LORD DURHAM, stood to preach a halting reform doctrine, bringing out Lord Durham to assert
a doctrine of unhalting reform, amidst the cheers of the assemblage, and the
thanks and sympathy of such official men as were present. It will be remem-
bered that, according to the challenge given by Lord Brougham, the contro-
versy was to be renewed in the House of Lords ; and that the prospect of this
debate and antagonism was understood to be displeasing, if not alarming, to
the King : and the supposition was confirmed by the determined exclusion of
Lord Brougham from office — first, by the re-establishment of a Conservative
Ministry, and then, on the return of the Whigs, by the putting the Great
Seal in commission — while Lord Durham was sent Ambassador to Russia in
time to prevent the proposed encounter, and remained there till the spring of
1837. — It will be remembered also with how much difficulty the Radical reform
members in the House of Commons continued their support to the Melbourne
Ministry, through its never-ending and most humbling displays of incapacity
and unfitness for the time. We have seen how, so late as the accession of the
Queen, in the summer of 1837 — so late as the termination of the elections
consequent on that event, in October of the same year — there was every
desire to support any administration which made any profession of reform, if
only the government would show enough sincerity to preserve its own exis-
tence. The difficult and doubtful alliance was preserved chiefly by the
knowledge that such a man as Lord Durham was connected with the govern-
ment— a man who had shown something of what he could do in his construc-
tion of the Reform Bill, and whose declaration against allowing an hour to
pass over recognised abuses without an endeavour to reform them, was still
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 377
sounding in the ears of all true reformers. Some additional vigour was given 1835 — 40.
to the hope of the reformers by the treatment of Lord Durham's name both v— -^ '
by the Whigs in power and those dismissed from power. The first spoke of
him as " imprudent" and " impracticable" ; supporting the charge only by
anecdotes which told simply of frankness, honesty, earnestness, and a thorough
understanding of principles : and the others, Lord Brougham and his ad-
herents, spoke of Lord Durham with a rancour and vehemently affected
contempt which betrayed both fear and jealousy. It was reasonably supposed
by those who heard this kind of detraction that so perpetual a misconstruction
of Lord Durham's words and actions, and so virulent a ridicule of his actual
foibles, must proceed from some expectation that Lord Durham was likely to
become a man of high importance to that political party which had given up
all hope from Lord Brougham. The difficult and doubtful alliance of parties
which was, in a manner, preserved over the elections of the autumn of 1837,
was, however, dissolved before the expiration of the year. The chief organ of
the Radical Reformers declared in January, 1838, "the Ministers are now London and west,
understood. The alliance between them and the Radicals is broken, never ™i?p.e504.evi<
more to be re-united." The reason of this was that the affairs of Canada had
come to a crisis ; that that all-important colony was now to be lost or won ;
and that the Ministers were treating the question with an ignorance, and
indifference to the rights of the colonists, and to the principles of political
liberty, which drove into opposition all who at once cared for political
liberties and understood the circumstances of the case. — The case was briefly
this.
Canada became a British possession in 1763. Its population then was ANNEXATION 0?
CANADA, I/****.
about 70,000. It was governed under old French law, which disappeared in
France at the Revolution : and the enjoyment of their customs, as well as
their rights, was guaranteed to the people on their becoming British subjects.
They fell into some British notions and ways, however, amidst their entire
content under British rule ; and by 1774 they were ready for a more regular
organization of government. This was effected by the Quebec Act of that QUEBEC ACT,
year, by which a Council was appointed, to assist the Governor, and to have,
with him, legislative powers in all matters except taxation. But, ready as
the Canadians were to grow into British ways of thinking and acting, the
happy process was stopped by the statesmen at home, who thought that by
being kept as French as possible, they might be preserved from striving after
that independence for which the American colonies south of the St. Lawrence
were struggling. By the Quebec Act, the French civil law was re-established,
and the English criminal law alone remained. For several years after this,
English merchants and others became residents in Quebec and Montreal, and,
towards the end of the century, those emigrants obtained — what the French
residents had not thought about — a legislature like that at home. There was CANADIAN LROIS.
a House of Representatives, elected by forty-shilling freeholders ; and a
Council appointed by the Crown, wherein office was held for life, and might
be made hereditary, at the pleasure of the Crown. The French inhabitants
were alarmed at the idea of the power that would thus be given to the British
residents ; and they declared themselves perfectly happy under the Quebec
Act, and averse to any change. The dangers that they pointed out — dangers
VOL. IT. 3 c
378 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1835 — 40. to their religion and to the public peace, in case of the British getting the
upper hand — appeared so probable, that government decided to divide the
province, drawing the line along the boundary of the French settlements.
The country to the west was to be purely British, while the French were to
keep themselves as unchanged as they pleased. The government had no mis-
giving about this in 1791, when the thing was done ; but Mr. Fox foresaw
the mischief that might arise, and gave emphatic warning of it. For many
years, his warnings went for nothing, for the colony was contented, and the
scheme of division appeared to work well. The French took little interest in
politics, and did not even watch over the liberties given them by their own
institutions. Both races were extremely loyal, and they fought well for
Britain in the second American war.
It was the era which brought peace to us that introduced the elements of
strife into Canada. After the peace of 1815, there was a great emigration
into Canada. Many thousands of men disengaged from the war having now
to settle down in a home, a considerable number went to Canada; and
among these were some who were disappointed at finding a less fair field for
exertion than they had expected. In Lower Canada, French laws and
customs were in their way ; and in the Upper Province, there was a sort of
aristocracy of the strong loyalists who hated their neighbours of the United
States — having themselves come to Canada, rather than live under the Union.
On the other hand, these loyalists were not at all pleased at the competition
set up by the new comers; and the French in the Lower Province were
alarmed at the arrival of so many British as threatened to swamp their race
RISE OF PARTIES. anc[ interests in no long time. These French formed the first political Oppo-
sition ever known in Canada : and in the Upper Province, there was presently
an Opposition too ; only, it consisted, not of the old residents, but of the new
comers.
All this was clearly a simple process of advance from colonial infancy to a
less dependent and more stirring condition ; and government showed that it
thought so by requiring the colony to bear more than hitherto of its expenses.
All possible care should have been taken at home to render the long transition
which had now begun as easy as it could be made by a spirit of justice and
watchful superintending care, while the young colony was trying its powers.
Instead of this, and wholly by the fault of the Imperial government, an opposi-
THE ASSEMBLY tion was now permitted to arise between the Executive and Legislature, such as
AND THE COUNCIL. . • -I -I i* I • 1 1 1 /> n
is considered a tatal circumstance at home when it is the work ot a Stuart —
a circumstance so fatal as to justify the armed resistance of a Hampden and a
Cromwell. As long as it was possible, the Canadian Executive went on in
its own way, strengthening its power by enlarging its patronage, and disre-
garding the fruitless complaints of the Assembly : but when the Assembly
proceeded to try whether or not it had any power-— whether it was a reality
or a mockery — when it began to pass measures to weaken the other branch or
to strengthen its own, the government interposed with an act worthy only of
the Stuarts. The Legislative Council was composed of tories, who would be
sure to contravene the proceedings of the Assembly. From that time, the
struggle between the branches of the government in Canada became disgrace-
ful to the mother-country which had permitted it. Each party was as pro-
CHAP. XII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
yoking as possible to the other : but every one must see that the Assembly 1835 40.
was the party most to be considered and pitied. It represented the large
majority of the inhabitants of both Provinces, who found themselves not only
excluded from office and influence, but unable to get any good measure passed
— as every popular measure was, as a matter of course, thrown out by the
Council. — Under these circumstances, the Assembly of the Lower Province
stopped the supplies for the payment of official salaries in 1833; and the I™™,™ ^"33.
Upper Province followed the example in 1836. The demands which they
thus enforced were diiferent in the two Provinces — the Upper requiring that
the Executive Council should be made responsible to the Assembly ; and the
Lower, that the Legislative Council should be made elective. This last de-
mand was in accordance with the opinion of Mr. Fox, given forty years before,
in a speech which had prophesied the evils that in fact had arisen : but it was
solemnly refused by the Imperial Legislature in the form of an assent, by an
overpowering majority, to the Resolutions proposed by Lord John Russell on ,^*D^8^7I ':SOLU~
the 6th of March, 1837. The division took place on the 14th of April, when Hansard, xxxvi.
the Minister was supported by a majority of 269 to 46. Ha^sard> xxxvii-
The Lower Canadians were only roused by this. They supposed the
British government to be ignorant of the state of the case ; and this ignorance
might be dispelled by a troublesome perseverance in demands. At any rate —
whatever had been obtained from the government during a long course of
years, had been gained by means of incessant demands, and of dogged refusal
of every thing that it was in their power to refuse till their demands were
granted. Those rulers have much to answer for who teach any people such a
lesson as this : yet, Lord John Russell saw so little into the culpability of the
government as to declare, in the speech which alienated his best supporters,
that the government of Canada had been one long course of concessions.
The government of a growing colony ought always to be a long course of con-
cessions ; and if the government be bad, the difference is that the concessions
are less advantageous, from being extorted, than they would have been if made
for better reasons.
The rage excited in Canada by the news of the decision of the House of
Commons was extreme. Threats of armed resistance flew abroad over the
country : and with them newspapers filled with seditious articles, expressed
with the vehemence common in the political literature of all colonies. Govern-
ment did not venture to bring the authors to trial — knowing that the juries
would acquit. As far as any body knew, nothing was done, from month to
month, to redress the grievances complained of by the Assembly ; and the
people were exasperated beyond control. Two persons arrested for sedition
were rescued, on the impulse of the moment, by some armed peasants. The
spark was struck among the gunpowder, and the explosion immediately REBELLION.
followed. The French population rose as one man, and in December, 1837,
the news arrived in London that Canada was in a state of rebellion.
The government insisted that means of redress had been afforded by -the GOSFORD COMMIS-
sending out, in 1835, of Lord Gosford, with Commissioners, to inquire into
the grievances of the Canadians : but that Commission had made matters
worse instead of better, by baulking the hopes of the people — by promising
great things, and hinting of liberal instructions which came to nothing but
380 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1835 — 40. causing imputations of deception, if not of treachery, against Lord Glenelg, the
N— - ~*~— -^ Colonial Minister. Lord Gosford now, on the breaking out of the rebellion,
came home, resigning the government into the hands of Sir J. Colborne, as a
military governor, best suited to the exigency of the time. — Here, then, was
the state of things — the Governor and his Council in close union with each
other, and in hopeless hostility to the popular branch of the legislature : — the
legislature retaliating its wrongs, and seeking redress, by refusing the official
salaries, and demanding from the Imperial government a necessary amendment
of the Constitution — and the Imperial government refusing the amendment,
and merely proposing to improve the quality of the obnoxious Council, with-
out touching its principle. Such was the state of affairs in Lower Canada.
In the Upper Province it was much the same]; only, instead of a parliamentary
refusal of the popular demand, the same end was gained by the putting forth
of such government patronage as made the Assembly its own — a temporary and
London and west- most dangerous device of procrastination. The numbers in the legislature
minster Review, ...-.- ,, n -, . p -i i «
vui. 480. had before been forty reformers and twenty tones : after the elections of June,
1836, when the Governor put forth all his power and patronage, the numbers
were forty-one tories to twenty reformers — a change which, occurring in a time
of vehement popular discontent, tells its own tale.
CONSTITUTION OP In this state of affairs, what the Ministers did was to propose to Parliament
SUSPENDED, 1838. a suspension of the Constitution of Lower Canada. They had suspended the
Constitution before, in the preceding April, by taking the disposal of their
funds out of the hands of the Assembly. This was all they had done ; and
now they were for suspending more of the Constitution, when some of the wisest
people of every political party in the country considered the cause of the
Canadians to be just; their demands such as could not be trifled with; and
even the war they were now levying to be defensible as regarded England —
though unjustifiable as regarded the neighbours of the insurgents, from its
hopelessness and unprepared character. When, in such a state of things, a
member of the House of Russell stood forth as a Minister of the Crown to
coerce instead of aiding the injured — to call that treason in them which he
lauded as patriotism in analogous instances, the thorough Reformers in Parlia-
ment and the country felt that it was time to part company with the nominal
Reformers who had been practising a Stuart policy, and were now taking a
Stuart view of affairs. Upon this occasion it was that the organ of the
Reformers declared, " The Ministers are now understood. The alliance be-
tween them and the Radicals is broken, never more to be re-united."
As for the revolt — it was put down at once, and with little difficulty. In
three weeks, all was quiet. It was not long before the friends of good govern-
ment, and the advocates of the preservation of our Colonial dominion, began
to be glad that the rebellion had happened, as it had certainly roused the
government to a sense that something must be done. The tone of Lord John
Hansard, xi. 7-42. Russell, who led in the Commons, was hard, prejudiced, despotic — full of the
arrogance which those are most apt to parade who have brought on a crisis by
ignorance or carelessness. He spoke as if the Canadians were purely wilful
and xingrateful : and not at all as if they were suffering under protracted mis-
government which they could not get rectified: but he now saw that some-
thing must be done. He had suspended a part of their Constitution before,
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 381
in defiance, and as a punishment; and he suspended the rest now; but it 1835 — 40.
was with a view to something beyond. A full inquiry was to be made into ' — —-— — -
Canadian affairs on the spot, with a view to practical measures. Under
the stimulus of rebellion, it was probable that something would be done.
Whether something good would be done, must mainly depend on the choice
of the man who was sent.
It was on the 16th of January that Lord John Russell told the House ^JJ™ *™-
of Commons who it was that was to be sent. " I think it is most important," £F°BV™NOR GE~
he said, " that the person to be sent from this country should be one whose Hansard, \i. as.
conduct and character should be beyond exception — a person conversant not
solely with matters of administration, but with the most important affairs
which are from time to time brought before the Parliament of this country.
I think he should be conversant also with the affairs of the various states of
Europe ; and moreover, that it should be implied by his nomination that he
was not at all adverse to opinions the most liberal, and that he was favourable
to popular feelings and popular rights. Having said this much, I know not
why I should refrain from adding that her Majesty has been pleased to entrust
the conduct of this affair and these high powers to one whom her advisers
think in every respect fitted for the charge — namely, the Earl of Durham." —
Lord Durham felt " inexpressible reluctance" to the charge. His health was
not good ; and no post ever filled by any man more absolutely required the un-
flinching energy and strong capacity for labour which cannot be permanently
commanded in a state of uncertain health. With his well-known pride of
family and high spirit, there was united a genuine modesty which prevented
his ever over-rating his own powers ; and a good sense which disclosed to him
all the real difficulties of any task which he undertook. It was no wonder
therefore that he went reluctantly into a work like this — so critical, so ardu-
ous, so incalculably important. The work was nothing less than re-organ-
izing society in Canada, and mainly determining the colonial relations of
England for all time to come. His spirit warmed as he dwelt upon the sig-
nificance of the effort he was now to make ; and before he left England he
was able to preach a cheerful faith to some who saw but too much to apprehend
for him. It is very affecting now to read his appeal to friends and foes, on
the announcement to the Lords of his acceptance of the mission ; — an appeal
which it must be more than affecting to both friends and foes to remember
now. " I feel," he said, " that I can accomplish it only by the cordial and Hansard. xl 2J2-
energetic support — a support which I am sure I shall obtain — of my noble
friends the members of her Majesty's Cabinet, by the co-operation of the
Imperial Parliament, and, permit me to say, by the generous forbearance of the
noble Lords opposite, to whom I have always been politically opposed." He
alluded to the "candour and generosity" of the Duke of Wellington; and on
these, he knew he might rely : but, as for " cordial and energetic support "
from his friends in the Cabinet, and " generous forbearance " from some who
sat opposite — it was more worthy of his confiding temper to depend upon
them than consistent with their conduct in political affairs to grant them.
Lord Durham's appointment was twofold. He went out as Governor-
General of the five British colonies in North America ; and also as Lord High
Commissioner, to inquire into, and, if possible, adjust, all questions about civil
382 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 40. government pending in Upper and Lower Canada. His powers were under-
' stood to be unlimited ; and that of granting a general amnesty, being ex-
ERS' pressly mentioned by Ministers in parliament, was eagerly discussed in
Canada, from the first moment that the news could arrive. By a letter from
Annual Register, $ie Colonial Secretary, dated April 21st, Lord Durham was informed that her
1 S38j p» 255* . i'ii*
Majesty's government were anxious above every thing that the prisoners con-
cerned in the insurrection, who could not be tried in the ordinary courts of
law, because it was certain that juries would not convict, should be treated
with the utmost possible lenity, compatible with the public safety: and, to
secure the immediate settlement of the question which the whole government
saw to be " by far the most difficult and dangerous," that of the disposal of
the prisoners, the unusual power was given to Lord Durham to bestow abso-
lute pardon, in treason cases as in others, without waiting for the ascertain-
ment of the royal pleasure. When these powers were bestowed, and sympa-
thy and cordial support promised, no doubt the Ministers meant what they
said. They were as little able as others to imagine how soon they could be
scared into desertion and betrayal of the comrade whom they had entreated to
undertake " the most difficult and dangerous" part of their business.
Before he sailed, Lord Durham had warning how much he had to expect
from the " generous forbearance " of political opponents. Owing to some
unfortunate delays in the going forth of the expedition, time was given for
factious opponents to find means of annoyance. Ridicule was cast on Lord
PREPARATIONS. Durnam's preparations — even to the packing of his plate, and the number of
his grooms ; and jocose warning was conveyed to relatives of gentlemen going
out, that the ship of war, the Hastings, would be sunk by the weight of the
Governor-General's plate ; and so much noise did this nonsense make, that
Hansard, xiii. 422. the Marquess of Chandos nearly succeeded in throwing over the whole enter-
prise, by moving an objection to the expense ; the Governor-General being
himself unsalaried. — A serious mistake, made by Lord Durham and the Mi-
nisters, afforded advantage to their enemies, both now and hereafter. Two
objectionable persons — convicted of crime, one in a court of justice, and the
other at the bar of the Lords, some years before — went out with the expedition;
— one with an appointment, and the other without ; but Avith a full under-
standing that he was to be employed for the purposes of the mission. The
Ministers acquiesced in Mr. Turton's appointment, before Lord Durham's de-
parture, though they were afterwards forward in censuring him for it. The
appointment was, in truth, a bad one; and no eminence of legal ability
should have been allowed to cancel the moral disability.
ARRIVAL. The voyage was long; and its leisure was employed by the Governor-
General and his official companions in diligent study of Canadian questions,
and in discussions on the mass of papers relating to those questions that they
had brought from the Colonial Office. The Quebec papers which were
sent on board at the mouth of the St. Lawrence contained bad news. There
were faction and fury in the towns, and an outcry against any despotic
Governor-General : the French population were believed to be planning mis-
chief; and the American " sympathizers " on the borders were giving more
and more trouble. — The first step was to prepare a Proclamation, which was
done on board. The next was so characteristic as to be worth mentioning.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 383
It was the custom, on the arrival of a new Governor, to swear in the old Ex- 1835 — 40.
ecutive Council. Lord Durham did not intend to do this, being aware of the ^—~~— — '
i 1-1 i 11^ i T i c t i j. T< EXECUTIVE COUN-
thoroughly party character, and therefore present helplessness, ot me late J^x- ex-
ecutive Council : but the thing was very nearly done by an audacious attempt
of the Clerk of the Council to surprise Lord Durham into swearing in the
old members. To break up the notion that office in the Council was for life,
Lord Durham selected a few quiet new members, with whom he joined his
three secretaries.
When he landed (on the 29th of May, 1838) the British received him with STATE OF THE
. ... rm CANADAS.
eagerness, expecting from his hand the annihilation of the French party. The
French were dumb and disaffected, sullenly withholding their confidence from
their own priests, because the priests were well affected to the government.
The late official body was quite odious and helpless. Upper Canada was in a
most alarming state. Sir Francis Head, the Governor, and others, had
cruelly insulted the Americans; the American " sympathizers " retaliated by
attacking steam-boats, and keeping up a small war along the borders, which
the government at Washington was wholly unable to control. From the bad
state of municipal arrangements, the towns were in a barbarous condition as
to police, paving, and lighting : and nothing could be worse than the state of
public feeling about the administration of justice, both on a large and a small
scale. From radical faults in the method of selling Crown lands, insuperable
impediments existed to the proper settling of the country, and the distri-
bution of emigrants westwards; a mischief as fatal to the prosperity of the
colony as its political troubles. The canals, indispensable for commerce, which
would otherwise find its way through the United States, were left unfinished;
and 110 representations made to government at home about the necessity of
completing them obtained any attention. Some of the old tenures of land
were vexatious and detrimental, and there was no registration of land. Edu-
cation was in a backward state ; though among the French population, virtu-
ous efforts had been made for the instruction of their children. What the
spirit of rancour was between the two races and political parties, there is no
need to repeat.
Such was the state of things when Lord Durham landed at Quebec on the
29th of May. Within a few weeks there was a great change. It used to be SPEEDY IMPROVE
said of Lord Durham in his foreign missions, that a week or so was spent first
in making potentates understand that he meant exactly what he said, and
nothing else ; and that from that time, business proceeded rapidly, smoothly,
and safely. He used the same frankness now, and so did his coadjutors : and
it was understood by every body but the government at home. Colonel Grey
went to Washington ; and immediately all was well there. All danger of war
was presently over; and the British and American forces were co-operating on
the frontier. The French population, thus deprived of hope from the Border-
ers, settled down in a kind of sullen resignation, and left off plotting rebellion.
The British were annoyed that the French were kindly treated, and their
loyalty became of a soberer kind. In Upper Canada, Lord Durham per-
suaded Sir George Arthur to give up all his plans of hanging rebels, and to
publish a general amnesty, by which minds were set at rest. Before June was
out, provision was made for paving and lighting, and furnishing a good police
384 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 40 to Quebec and Montreal. By means of a Land Commission, a path was opened
^- — v- to colonists, and the most abundant of all sources of colonial prosperity was
freely opened up. A good Court of Appeal was constituted of the Judges,
with two additional members. By Imperial Act, the new Executive Council
was made the Supreme Appellate tribunal. A Registry of Land-titles was
instituted, and a commutation of the feudal tenures of Montreal provided for,
as a beginning of a general commutation. An Education Commission saw
its way to the establishment of a general system of education by which the
adverse races might be united in schools and colleges, so that in another gene-
ration their present animosity might have become a tradition.
These were not small things to have done in the course of a few weeks : but
there were two affairs — one more immediately embarrassing, the other more
eminently important, than any of these — which still more deeply engaged the
minds of the Governor- General and his coadjutors. The permanently im-
SCHEME OF FEDE. portant subject was the scheme of constituting a Federal Union of the British
cmoSuS? W North American provinces, for the two objects of securing good government
for these colonies themselves, and of providing a counterbalance to the increas-
ing power of the United States in the western hemisphere. This scheme ap-
pears to be one of those whose fulfilment is only a question of time. It has
been suggested and re-suggested by statesmen, from Mr. Fox downwards — if
not from an earlier date still. Mr. Roebuck introduced it, formally and com-
Hfmsara, xxxvii. pletely, in the House of Commons, in April, 1837 ; and Sir R. Peel, Lord
Howick, Mr. Ellice, and others, declared their approval of it. Lord Durham
began immediately to inquire and act — conceiving that no surer means of
securing peace in the colonies could be found than uniting their legislation in
matters of common interest to them all — such as the conduct of their defence
in time of war, post-office and currency matters, and others — while their local
affairs were ruled by a legislature in each colony. Sir Charles Grey, who had
rt' Deen one °f Lord Gosford's commissioners, had proposed to divide the Canadas
into three provinces, with their respective parliaments; by which plan he be-
lieved the adverse races would be so separated as to cease to annoy each other,
while their representatives might meet in a central parliament, to legislate
upon the navigation of the St. Lawrence, their commercial duties, their mone-
tary system, their railroads, canals, and internal communications. Lord
Durham was disposed in favour of the large federal system, and of also divid-
ing the Canadas into three provinces — the westernmost of which would be
exclusively British; the easternmost French, of a very quiet sort; and the
intermediate one containing both populations, but the French in a small mi-
nority. The numbers in the two Canadas were at that time 950,000; of
which 620,000 were British, and 330,000 were French. By some means or
other, the process must be renewed by which the French had been fast be-
coming British when the Act of 1791 separated the races again: and the
present scheme, appeared the most promising, by its operation in concentrat-
ing powers, and swamping dissensions, while it left laws and customs un-
touched. Lord Durham requested that the colonies under his government
would send able persons to Quebec to discuss this subject with his Council.
On the 12th of September, some gentlemen arrived from Nova Scotia and
Prince Edward's Island; and others soon followed from New Brunswick.
. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 385
These gentlemen were well chosen — intelligent, enlightened, and seriously 1835 — 40.
disposed in favour of the scheme. But events were happening which put an Vi— -^ — "
end to their deliberations.
The other affair was that which Lord Durham and the Ministers had agreed g^i.7 ™ '
beforehand was " by far the most difficult and dangerous " — the disposal of
the rebel prisoners. Their fate ought to have been decided by Sir J. Colborne,
and not left to be an insuperable embarrassment to the Governor-General.
But the thing had not been done ; and it must be done now. It was a subject
of deep thought and long deliberation. The case was this. The rebellion had
been put down long ago ; and it was universally understood that its outbreak
was by a sort of accident, though its spread was but too well prepared for by
the violence of previous agitation. The gaols were full ; and the choice of a
method of clearing them was rendered infinitely more difficult by delay. To
have military tribunals now was out of the question, after such a lapse of time,
and in the state of men's minds : and the civil tribunals could not have acted.
Convictions could not have been obtained but by a packing of the juries by
government; — a course not to be thought of. Two members of the Council
suggested to Lord Durham to punish a few leaders lightly, but steadily, by
means of an ex post facto law, made to meet the case. Lord Durham foresaw
the outcry that would be made ; and declared that he would not think of it
on any grounds less broad than the wish of the leading loyalists, and the
petition of the prisoners themselves. The leading men among the British
made known their approval ; and we have the petition of eight rebel leaders,
dated from Montreal Gaol, June 25th, 1838, in which they exhibit their own
view of the course which would be best for the peace of the country. " We
professed our willingness to plead guilty," they say, " whereby to avoid the ^8™ual f7c3gisler>
necessity of a trial, and to give, as far as is in our power, tranquillity to the
country. . . . We again place ourselves at your Lordship's discretion, and pray
that the peace of the country may not be endangered by a trial." — Vice-
Admiral Sir Charles Paget was at Quebec at the time ; and with him the plan
was discussed and agreed upon.
On the day of the Queen's coronation, the 28th of June, an Ordinance ap- °'!DINANIrEOFTI1K
J ' } r 28THOF JUNE.
peared, which declared that the eight rebel leaders in the gaol of Montreal had Annual Register,
acknowledged their guilt, and submitted themselves to her Majesty's pleasure : 1838' APPend"W4>
that sixteen others, who were named, had fled : that it was hereby enacted,
that the eight before-named culprits should be transported to Bermuda, to
undergo there such restraints as should be thought fit : and that any of either
class of culprits who should return and be found in the province without per-
mission, should suffer death. It was to be in the power of any Governor to
permit any or all of these persons to return. Another clause excepted from
mercy persons concerned in two murders connected with the rebellion. With
this ordinance was published a proclamation of amnesty for all political offences,
for all persons but those designated in the Ordinance.
The success of this measure was complete and immediate. Except that some
of the British at Quebec were offended at its leniency, there was nothing but
exultation on every hand. It produced a strong impression in the United
States ; and its instant effect in settling minds, and restoring social confidence
in Canada, was very striking. None were better pleased than the prisoners
VOL. 11. 3 D
386 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. themselves — as might have been expected. Lord Durham had fears through-
— "" ""^ ""•'*' — out that censure would arise at home : but these fears were dissolved as soon
as the mails could cross and recross the Atlantic, by the arrival of a despatch
HOME°VAL AT from the Colonial Minister, and an autograph letter from the Queen, approving
of the^ ordinance and proclamation in the strongest terms.
The worst seemed now over : the past appeared done with, and the way
clear for the completion of the reforms in progress. Lord Durham's health,
never good, was somewhat impaired by toil and anxiety ; but he was now
cheered, and had no doubt of finishing his great work. But the past was not
done with ; for he had omitted to send home to the government a statement
full enough to produce in parliament, to meet the questionings and cavils of
the uninformed and hostile. The Ministers knew enough for their own satis-
faction : and he relied on their pledges of cordial support, and on their consci-
ousness of his ample powers — given by themselves : but he ought to have fur-
nished them with such complete documentary exhibitions of the case as would
have made them as strong with parliament as he believed himself to be with
them. He did not ; and it was a fatal omission. — Some other matters had not
gone smoothly. Lord Melbourne, with all his nonchalance and gaiety, had
not spirit, activity, and courage, to stand by an absent friend under attack in
the House of Lords ; — and especially when the attack came from Lord
Brougham, who now had power at any time to unnerve him. All the Minis-
ters were aware of Mr. Turton's intended appointment before he sailed ; yet
Lord Melbourne gave it up to censure, as if it were a fact new to him, when
Hansard, xiui. questioned upon it, on the 2d of July, by Lord Wharncliffe. Lord Durham
did not conceal his feelings on this incident, when he next wrote home. —
ATTACKS BY Another attack was made in the Lower House, when Sir Edward Sugden ob-
iilnsard,°xiiv. 820. jected to the small number of the Governor-General's Council; and on this
occasion, the arrangement was quietly vindicated by Lord John Russell and
the Attorney-General. — The great attack was made on the 7th of August, by
Hansard, xiiv. Lord Brougham, who not only offered objections which every member of the
Legislature had a perfect right, and might consider it his duty to oifer, but pur-
sued his supposed rival in a manner mournful and surprising even to those who
knew his temper, and the antecedent circumstances. — About the illegality of
that part of the Ordinance which declared the culprits liable to death punish-
ment if they returned without leave, there was a widely existing doubt — no
trial having taken place : but Lord Brougham also denied that the principal of
the eight prisoners had ever acknowledged himself guilty; he set forth a
different policy for Canada as the one which he avouched to be right ; and he
jiFctA^ATORY**1 s brought in a bill to declare the meaning of the Canada Act, under which Lord
B"L- Durham went out — proposing therein large limitations of the powers of the
Governor-General — and offering to indemnify, by act of parliament, all per-
sons concerned in the issue of the Ordinance of the 28th of June. Lord
Brougham's own bill contained errors which exposed him to some retort ; as
when it declared the Ordinance to be " so much for the service of the public,
that it ought to be justified by act of parliament," while in the same breath
Lord Brougham was vehement about its gross and intolerable injustice. The
declaration in the Bill was vindication enough of the Ordinance in a moral
Hansard, xiir. point of view, as Lord Glenelg declared ; and he avowed his intention of sup-
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 387
porting the Ordinance as legal in all its parts but one — meeting the consc- 1835 — 40.
quences of that one by instructing the Governor of Bermuda not to detain the ' — -^^^^ —
prisoners if they should choose to depart — which every one knew they would
be careful not to attempt. Lord Glenelg also pointed out the novelty, in Lord
Brougham's bill, of proposing indemnity for a current transaction; — that is, for
acts future as well as finished. All the generous-minded men, of any politics,
were of one mind about the temper shown in the treatment of Lord Durham,
and the studious forge tfulness of the singular exigency of his position. Such
men felt that after having given Lord Durham powers almost unlimited for
the management of a crisis almost unequalled, and encouraged him to rely on
their " cordial support " or " generous forbearance," as the case might be, it
could not be right to pass now — in regard to his very first act of mercy — a bill,
called declaratory, but which should materially limit the powers they had so
lately conferred. Such men were for rectifying the one supposed illegality of
the Ordinance, while supporting its intent, and upholding, wherever it was
possible, the authority of the Governor-General, till the organization of Ca-
nadian affairs should preclude all doubts as to the field of action for rulers, and
release them from the present urgent necessity of support from home. But, if
the Ministers fully understood the case, they did not show that they did. They
could not, unfortunately, interest parliament by the production of any docu-
mentary narrative or reasoning from the Canadian government : and Lord
Brougham's opposition was more than they had courage to stand. Though
Lord Melbourne declared, on the 9th of August, that the House was suffering Hansard, xiiv.
from the narrowing of the mind caused by the pursuit of the legal profession,
and that if the Canadas were now lost, through the discrediting and fettering
of those who should protect them, it would be by special pleading, he gave way ^M^™9 suc"
in twenty-four hours. The second reading of Lord Brougham's bill was carried
by a majority of 54 to 36. After this, all was in confusion. Lord Denmaii
was disposed to believe that Lord Durham had the power of transporting the
prisoners to the Bermudas, though every body else had given up that point Hansard, xiiv.
It came out that Sir J. Colborne had passed ordinances of attainder more
stringent than Lord Durham's, without any question from any quarter : and
Lord Brougham now refused to declare whether he thought Sir J. Colborne Hansard, xiiv.
had transcended his powers. Lord Brougham's bill was stripped of all its de-
claratory portions, and reduced to a mere enacting of Indemnity, to which again
Lord Denman objected, on the part of the prisoners, as a gross violation of the
constitution. Amidst this confusion, absurd if it had not been about a matter ft°LNTFL'SED RE'
so serious, the only party whose views and facts were not fully explained was
Lord Durham. He and his position were sacrificed, while nothing was esta-
blished.
. On the 10th of August, Lord Melbourne announced that the Queen's DISALLOWANCE OF
advisers had counselled the disallowance of the Ordinance. " I cannot but
say," he declared, " that it is with the deepest regret and alarm that I have Hansard, xiiv.
taken this course. I cannot but say that it is not without great apprehensions
of the consequences that I have taken this course; and it is not without
feeling the greatest pain and regret that I have come to the determination." —
In the Commons, the debates on the subject were animated, and sometimes
angry ; and the Ministers appeared even more weak than in the Lords. On
388 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon V.
1835 — 40. Sir Charles Grey declaring that, while he disapproved of the Ordinance in
* * general, he was convinced of the legality of the provision for the transporta-
"oT"1' xliv> ti°n to Bermuda, Dr. Lushington observed that Lord Durham might have
gone further astray if he had had more legal advice, since the Lord Chan-
cellor, the Lord Chief Justice, Ex-chancellor Sugden, Sir William Follett, and
Sir Charles Grey, all differed from one another as to the legality of his acts.
It was now, however, too late to re-consider the matter. The pledge was
given to disallow the Ordinance ; and it was done in such a hurry that the
Amnesty provision was not remembered : and it must now include all the
parties named as excepted in the Ordinance. The step which Lord Durham
was compelled instantly to take in consequence of this was converted into
another charge against him, as will be seen. — As Lord Glenelg had emphati-
cally approved the Ordinance, in a despatch to the Governor-General, it was
RETIREMENT OF thought necessary that he should retire when the annulling was decreed.
He was got rid of, and was succeeded, as Colonial Secretary, in February,
1839, by Lord Normanby.
It was on a fine September day, on returning from a merry drive, that
N^vsmCANADA? Lord Durham and his family and advisers received the news of the disallow-
ance of the Ordinance. His friend and best helper, Mr. Charles Buller,
knew before dinner — knew by his countenance more than by words — that all
was over — that their great enterprise was ruined. When they sat down in
consultation, that adviser and friend would fain have persuaded himself and
others that all was not over. That this was the result of an intrigue was to
them clear. The Ministers and Lord Durham had a deadly enemy, who had
given notice of what they might expect when he declared that he " hurled
defiance" at Lord Melbourne's head: and Lord Melbourne and his comrades
dared not withstand this enemy even while the first lawyers in the empire
disagreed as to whether the Ordinance of Lord Durham was legal or illegal.
What Sir J. Colborne had done was approved or passed over ; and when, in
a most critical difficulty which Sir J. Colborne should never have thrown
upon him, Lord Durham used powers which Sir J. Colborne had used without
question, his watchful enemy seized his opportunity to scare his friends from
supporting him, as they were pledged to do. Considering all this, and that
Lord Durham was to blame in riot having furnished the government at home
with sufficient documentary material for his defence, Mr. Charles Buller
earnestly desired to hold out, for the high prize of success in retrieving the
.colony, and forming a new and sound colonial system. But he soon saw
NECESSITY OK that Lord Durham was right in proposing to return. The Governor-General
had not health for such a struggle as this must now have been. Energy and
decision were not always to be commanded in the degree necessary under such
unequalled difficulties ; and death in the midst of the work was only too pro-
bable. Again — the colony was still in too restive and unsettled a state to be
governed by an enfeebled hand; and while unsupported at home, Lord
Durham was a less safe ruler than Sir J. Colborne, whom he would leave in
his place. Again-^it was now clear that the true battle-field on behalf of
Canada was in Parliament. With his present knowledge in his head, and his
matured schemes in his hand, Lord Durham could do more for Canada in the
House of Lords . than he could do at Quebec, while the Lords made nightly
CHAP. XII-] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 389
attacks which drew rebuke even from the Duke of Wellington, and thwarted 1835 40.
the policy which they did not understand. Thus, resignation was an act of N-— —^~-
sad and stern necessity ; but, if not so, it was an act of clear fidelity to Canada.
It was hastened by rumours of intended insurrection, which, under the circum-
stances, could be dealt with only by Sir J. Colborne.
And now again came the question, what was to be done with the prisoners ? T"E PRISONERS.
The case was at present this. They would return on Lord Durham's resig-
nation. Were they to be tried or not ? Having been already more or less
punished, were they to be punished over again ? The violent loyalists would
have arrested them ; and then would have ensued the very evils, with aggra-
vation, that the Ordinance was designed to obviate. The guilt would have
been proved ; and acquittal would have followed, in the face of the evidence.
There must have been (to avoid such a spectacle as this) a suspension of the
Habeas Corpus, or packed juries, or martial law; and if Lord Durham would
not introduce such measures for the punishment of the rebels at an earlier
date, he would not do it now, to repunish a few of them long after the re-
bellion had ceased. These men were as yet feeble and insignificant — the
few against whom there was a sufficiency of evidence : but they would become
abundantly formidable if it could once be said in the United States, and
around their own homes, that they were persecuted by the British govern-
ment. This would be made the pretext of the rebellion then brewing ; which
might otherwise be easily dealt with from its want of pretext. There was
also no time to be lost ; for the men might now arrive any day. Lord Durham
was therefore advised to meet the difficulty half-way — to speak the first word —
and to do it by inserting in his needful Proclamation a declaration that there PROCLAMATION.
was now nothing to prevent the return of the prisoners. Lord Durham him-
self observed that this would be regarded at home as a freak of temper : but
his Council encouraged him to brave the imputation, and trust to the facts
becoming understood in time. — The act was called a freak of temper ; and so
was his determination to return ; and so was his Proclamation — which is con- Annual Register,
sidered by impartial observers one of the finest papers of its kincl that our P. an .
history can show. It was not a case in which there could be any conceal-
ment or shuffling. To enlist the colonists on the side of obedience and order,
it was necessary to tell them simply why he must leave them — why the rebels
whom he had punished were released by the home government — and how it
was that the plans for the welfare of the colony were suddenly stopped. It
was necessary, for the same purpose, to keep up their hope and trust in
government — to show them that all might yet be well if he went home to
explain their case— to lead them to rely on him still, as resolved in their cause.
The Proclamation was issued on the 9th of October; and its immediate
effect was to soften the grief and wrath of the colony at losing him — to allay
excessive agitation — and to prove that he had not miscalculated the resources
of the colony, by bringing forward volunteers, in fresh confidence, for the
defence of the province.
He did what he could to obviate to the colony the mischief done by friends
and foes at home ; and he did so much that he must ever be regarded as
the originator of good government in the Colonies. Rarely has a greater
' HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. work been done in five months than the actual reforms he wrought in
v— •— — — ' Canada : but he did much more by means of the Ileport which he delivered
after his return. By means of this celebrated Report, free and large principles
of colonial government are exhibited in action, and endowed with so commu-
nicable a character that there are none of our more thriving colonies that do
not owe much of their special prosperity to him ; and probably few of the
least happy that would not have been in a worse condition if he had not gone
to Canada. By the utmost diligence in the completion of his measures
during the few weeks that remained — by every effort of self-control, and by
the quiet operation of his magnanimity — he averted as much as he could of
the mischief done at home ; but one fatal consequence was beyond his power.
His heart was broken. No malice, no indifference, no levity, can get rid of
that fact ; and it is one which should not be hidden.
COMM™ION.THE He held to his work to the last. On the night before his departure, a
Proclamation settled the rights of squatters on Crown Lands. As he went
down to the harbour, crowds stretched as far as the eye could see — every head
uncovered, and not a sound but of the carriages. This deep silence of sym-
pathy moved him strongly ; and he believed that this was his last sight of an
assemblage of men ; for he had no idea that he could reach England alive.
As the frigate — the Inconstant — was slowly towed out of harbour, heavy snow-
clouds seemed to sink and settle upon her, while over the water came the
sound of the cannon which installed his successor. Those of his Council who
remained behind, to clear off arrears of business, were alarmed, during their
sad and silent dinner, by a report of fire on board the frigate ; and a fire there
was ; but it was presently extinguished. There was no intermission of storms
up to the moment of the landing at Plymouth, on the 1st of December.
While the ship was in harbour there, the weather was so boisterous that there
was difficulty to the Queen's messengers in finding any seagoers who would
THE LANDING, undertake to convey on board the Inconstant the packet of orders to land
Lord Durham without the honours. It was done by a boat being allowed to
drive so that the packet could be thrown on board. He met honours in abun-
dance, however, on his landing, and all the way to London — crowded public
RECEPTION. meetings — addresses — escorts — every token of confidence and attachment that
could cheer his heart. There was great joy throughout the liberal party when
spectator, 1838, his first words at the Devonport meeting were known. They referred to his
" declarations to the people of Scotland in 1834," as his present creed. But
he disappointed the liberals by his magnanimous determination to devote
himself to the retrieval of Canada, and to listen to nothing else till that was
effected.
Lady Durham immediately 011 her return resigned her situation in the
Queen's household. Great efforts were made to bring about a reconciliation
between Lord Durham and the Whig government ; and his generosity aided
the attempt. He could afford to do it ; for he had never spoken evil of his
enemies. Nothing had throughout been more touching to those who knew
him than his slowness to give up hope in Lord Brougham, and his quick-
ness in seizing on favourable explanations of doubtful conduct. He now
required of his friends silence in both Houses about his quarrel : and he kept
CHAP. XII.1 DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 391
silence himself.* While the newspapers of all parties were commenting on 1835 — 40.
the weakness of the Whigs, and declaring that they could not remain in power "• ^^-^
" beyond Easter at furthest" — (a curious hit as to date) — Lord Durham
devoted himself only the more to the support of a ministry which, with all
its sins and weaknesses, professed a liberal policy. He was soon joined by
his coadjutors from Canada; and they worked together at the celebrated
Report. There was more cavil about small circumstances on the publication of
the Report — worthy of mention only as showing how he was betrayed when
he relied on the "cordial support" of friends and the " generous forbearance"
of opponents. Much of his time and labour was devoted to the instruction of
his successor, Mr. C. Poulett Thomson — afterwards Lord Sydenham — who
wisely resolved to adopt the Durham policy with the utmost completeness.
Many hours every day were spent in consultation, and preparation of mea-
sures ; and to good purpose. Not only were Lord Durham's plans all adopted
by Lord Sydenham, .but his own best measures were planned in Lord Dur-
ham's house in London, prepared for introduction in Canada, and the agents
informed and instructed. These duties done, but few months of life remained
to the baffled Statesman. When he could give information about Canadian
matters, or vindicate the principles of good government at home, or in the
colonies, he was at his post in the House of Lords. But he was visibly
sinking. In the summer of 1840, he was ordered to the south of Europe for D°C",^RHAMS
his health ; but he found himself so ill at Dover that he turned aside to
Cowes, where he became too weak to leave his couch. Even then, and when
he was unable to take any nourishment but a little fruit, there was so much
life and animation in his countenance and conversation, that those who knew
him best could not but believe that much work yet lay between him and the
grave ; but on the 28th of July he sank rapidly, and died in a few hours. HIS DEATH.
0 , , -i -i i T i Annual Register,
He left his large estates and other property as much as possible at the disposal 1840. chron. 173.
of his devoted wife — the eldest daughter of Earl Grey : but she followed him
in a few months, leaving their young son to emulate the virtues of his parents
as well as he might after the spectacle of their example was withdrawn.
Thus were the liberal party in Great Britain deprived of the statesman „
r J f His CHARACTER.
whom they had hoped to make their head. It may be questioned whether
his health or his temperament would have ever permitted him to hold a post
in the Cabinet for any length of time. He could not under Lord Grey's
premiership ; but the short-comings of that administration are quite enough
to account for his secession. The halting reformers were no comrades for
him : and his directness, frankness, faith, and courage, were altogether over-
powering to them. Magnanimous as his nature was, he had faults of temper
which excused some dislike and some ridicule, though that fault was much
exaggerated by those who, being able to establish no other charge against him,
made the most of that. He had much to bear from the loss of children, and
his infirm health ; but he never was wanting to the discharge of public duty.
* It will be evident to the readers of this chapter that it is written from private know-
ledge, as well as from public documents. After the above notice of Lord Durham's
generous silence, it is hardly necessary to say that no statement of the circumstances of his
Canada mission was ever made to me by himself or any of his family.
392 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V,
1835 — 40. From the moment when the young John George Lambton fixed the attention
-^-^^^ of the best Opposition men by his maiden speech, to that in which he provided
for the establishment of responsible government in Canada, he was the trust
and hope of the most highly-principled liberals in the country. He had good
working ability — a clear head, an unprejudiced mind, a ceaseless desire to
learn of all who had any thing to tell, and a most conscientious industry.
It has been said that he had a genius for truth ; and so he had— both for the
perception and the expression of it. He thought nothing of his own power
of public speaking; but some of the best lawyers and literary people in
England liked it as well as any election mob that he ever addressed. He
died at the age of forty-eight, and left no political successor. If the advent
of the Conservatives was before believed to be near, it became pretty certain
from the time of Lord Durham's death. There was no longer any thing in
connexion with the Whig administration worth contending for. Lord Dur-
ham had upheld it, and thereby enjoined the same conduct on his friends :
but when he was gone, no further effort was possible ; and the Melbourne
ministry remained dependent on the mere favour of the Queen.
MR. CHARLES It has been mentioned that Mr. Charles Buller was the nearest friend and
BULLKE.
adviser of Lord Durham in his Canadian enterprise. He was his chief secre-
tary, and a member of his Council ; and it is understood that the merit of the
celebrated Report is mainly ascribable to him. He was before a remarkable
member of the House of Commons — remarkable for high political promise, and
for a manly amiability which engaged the friendly regard of every man writhin
the four walls. He \vas one of the leaders of the Radical Reform party; but
this did not render him an object of suspicion or dislike to the rankest Tory in
the House — -any more than his overflowing wit made him feared or avoided.
He was but thirty-two when he finished his work at the Canadian Report ;
and every one hoped and supposed that a long course of usefulness and honour
lay before him. But in ten years, he also was gone, after having risen much
in the appreciation of those who knew him most and least. In the words of
cariyie, in London one who knew and has described him well, "To a singular extent it can
Examiner.
be said of him that he was a spontaneous, clear man. Very gentle, too,
though full of fire ; simple, brave, graceful. What he did and what he said
came from him as light from a luminous body ; and had thus always in it a
high and rare merit, which any of the more discerning could appreciate fully.
To many, for a long while, Mr. Buller passed merely for a man of wit ; and
certainly his beautiful natural gaiety of character, which by no means meant
levity, was commonly thought to mean it, and did, for many years, hinder the
recognition of his higher intrinsic qualities. Slowly it began to be discovered
that, under all this many-coloured radiancy and corruscation, there burned a
most steady light ; a sound penetrating intellect, full of adroit resources, and
loyal by nature itself to all that was methodic, manful, true ; in brief, a mildly
resolute, chivalrous, and gallant character ; capable of doing much serious
service."
When these men and their coadjutors were turned back from their "serious
LORD SVDENIIAM. service " in Canada, the work did not stop. Their successors — Lord Syden-
ham and his coadjutors —applied themselves with diligence and devotedness to
carry out their policy and their projects. Lord Sydenham's health was no
CHAP. XH.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 393
better than his predecessor's; and he died within two years of his arrival in 1835 — 40.
Canada : but in that brief time, and under that disability, he had done more ^— -~~— — -'
than most men would in many years.
Mr. C. Poulett Thomson, as he still was, went out with the leading points
of his mission well fixed in his mind — that the minority was no longer to
govern — that the Executive and the Assembly were to be brought into har- RESPONSIBLE
. . .-.„,.-. f GOVERNMENT.
mouy, in accordance With what are considered the first principles of govern-
ment at home, and with what was called responsible government in Canada: —
and that such improvements as he contemplated must be made, not by means
of organic changes in the Constitution, but by administering the powers of
the government in a just and liberal spirit, so as to attract the sympathies of
all to the Executive. He wished to do in Canada what Lord Normanby and
his coadjutors had attempted in Ireland ; and it remained to be seen how
much resemblance there was between the " Family Compact" in Canada and
the "Protestants" in Ireland — between the "French" in Canada and the
Catholics in Ireland. By his earliest declarations after his arrival in different
colonies, it was seen that he held two points of doctrine in regard to his own Life of Lord
conduct : — that as the representative of the sovereign, he was responsible to ' y
the Imperial authorities alone : and that his first obligation was so to form
and conduct his government as to ensure its harmony with the majority of the
House of Assembly. The question was whether the doctrine was practicable.
The proof must be the work of many years, and must include the trial of many
governors. In his own short day, he did what he could. — He had the inesti-
mable advantage which was denied to his predecessor in the most critical
moment of his probation — support from the government at home. The new
Colonial Secretary, Lord J. Russell, was a sort of idol of his, and afforded him
a full requital of support. He had no personal enemy in the House of Lords
to scare his friends into desertion. He had every advantage ; and he used his
advantages well.
His chief aim was the legislative re-union of the two provinces, in order to UNION OP THE
undo, if possible, some of the mischief of their division, and promote the pro-
cess of Anglicizing the French. This project he announced in his speech to
the Legislature, at the end of 1839; and he witnessed the accomplishment of
it in little more than a year. The legislative union of the two Canadas was
proclaimed on the 10th of February, 1841 — the Queen's first wedding-dav, and Lifeof ****
J * Sydenham, p. 210.
the anniversary also of the conclusion of the treaty of 1763, which made Canada
a British colony; — and also of an act which it was less conciliatory to re-
member— the royal assent to the suspension of the Constitution of Lower
Canada. — It needs not be said that the Union was unacceptable to the
French population. They struggled hard to return representatives who
were opposed to the project ; and there .are still many, on both sides the
water, who doubt whether the matter is settled yet. The elections were
conducted with much riot and some loss of life ; and the first proceedings
of the United Legislature were stormy; but, on the whole, matters went
better than the Governor expected; and in a private letter of the 27th of
June, a fortnight after the opening, he declared himself at ease in regard Life of Lord
& Sydenham, p. 211.
VOL. IT. 3 E
394 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 40. to the great experiment. So sanguine was he, that he concluded his letter
with the following prophecy in regard to a supposed successor : " Such a
man — not a soldier, but a statesman — will find no difficulties in his path
that he cannot easily surmount ; for every thing will be in grooves, running
of itself, and only requiring general direction." If this was too much to
anticipate, it is certain that the improvements achieved in two years were
very remarkable. Men's minds were calmed ; credit was re-established ;
public works were in rapid progress; and confidence in the Imperial rule,
and hope from the colonial government, had, in a great degree, superseded
hatred and fear.
S)VDAETNHAM.LORD Lord Sydenham's health was too much shaken by disease to permit him to
sustain any shock of accident; and he died, in September, 1841, from the
consequences of his horse falling with him — by which his leg was broken. He
gave his attention to public affairs to the last, with great calmness and forti-
tude. His age was only forty-two.
H« CHARACTER. The first association with the name of Mr. C. Poulett Thomson always was,
and is still, of a repeal of the Corn laws. He was the son of a merchant ; and
no man in England — not Mr. Husldsson himself — ever had a more thorough
understanding of the soundness of the principle of Free Trade. It was to
advocate this principle — and especially in regard to Corn — that Mr. Thomson
was returned by Manchester as her representative. For a time, he did the
duty well : and when he became a member of the Whig administration he
stipulated for freedom to advocate a repeal of the Corn laws. But this soon
grew a cold and formal affair : and we know by an extract from his private
journal, written on his voyage to Canada, that he was conscious of having lost
ground with the Liberal party, and as a speaker — in Manchester, and the
House of Commons : " Manchester and the House of Commons are no longer
what they were to me." His office of Chancellor of the Exchequer was so dis-
agreeable to him, that he would give up the Cabinet and parliament to avoid
it. He was glad to get away to Canada, and do there, by himself, the work
that was pressing to be done. He and the political world seem to have been,
at that time, in a state of mutual disappointment ; and the reason appears to
have been that he was not in himself lofty enough for the position assigned
him. He was an able man — had a clear head, and a strong will, and much
knowledge : but there was little morally noble in him but his strength of will
— shown in his industry and his endurance of pain. He did many useful
things at the Board of Trade ; and he found his most favourable position when
he went to Canada : but he neither entertained nor inspired political faith, nor
drew towards himself any high respect or genial admiration. Though his last
scene of action was his greatest and best, he was regarded, and is still, as one
of the Whig failures ; — one of the ministers of a critical period, who, while
possessed of considerable talents and some good political qualities, have done
more than many worse men to shake a nation's faith — if not in the principles
of politics, at least in those who are the most forward in the profession of
them. The professions of Whig reformers while rehearsing the death-knell of
abuses, have but too often reminded us of Dr. Johnson's knocking and sum-
moning ghost — the conclusion in both cases being that — " nothing ensued."
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 395
What is due to Mr. C. Poulett Thomson's memory is, that he should he re- 1835 40.
garded and remembered as Lord Sydenham, who governed Canada for two v-— -~-~- — '
years on the introduction of Lord Durham : and that, if too much self-regard
mingled (as his journal shows) with his inducements to the work, he still bore
in mind Lord Spencer's more generous suggestion, that Canada offered "the Life of Lord
r. £ ,, - ,. ,. /r j- f i • Sydenham, p. 97.
finest field ot exertion tor any one, as affording the greatest power of doing
the greatest good to one's fellow-creatures."
396 HISTORY OF ENGLAND LBooK v-
CHAPTER XIII.
1839. /CANADA was not the only British colony which caused embarrassment to
»i ^
JAMAICA.
^ the Ministry by hostility between the Legislature and the Executive.
The affairs of the nation were brought to a crisis in the spring of 1839, by
the doubt whether or not the Constitution of Jamaica should be suspended.
It was then, and it will ever be, a matter of grateful surprise that such an
event as the abolition of slavery should have taken place amidst such quiet-
ness as prevailed throughout the West Indies. The quietness continued in
most of the settlements ; and no reasonable person can read the records of the
time without emotions of admiration at the temper of the negroes during the
critical years which succeeded their emancipation. While their conduct was
such as to need no excuse, that of their former masters ought to have every
allowance. It is impossible for men (with a few exceptions) who have lived
all their lives in the possession of power like that of the slave-owner, to enter
at once into a state of fellow-citizenship with their former slaves, and to stand
THE PLANTERS, equal with them before the law, with a good grace. The Jamaica planters
were now to decree in their Assembly, and to live under, a whole set of new
laws which had never been necessary when all other men in their island had
been their property and not their neighbours ; and it was most difficult for
them and the imperial government to agree upon those laws. — Again, many
practices towards their negroes, while still in a state of apprenticeship, which
appeared to them necessary and ordinary, could not be allowed under the new
system ; and the whipping of women, the cruel use of the treadmill, and many
penal usages in prisons, were forbidden by imperial law, which appeared in the
eyes of the planters mere favouritism to the negroes and vexatious interference
with themselves. Again; they had been reared in a temper of chartered
self-will ; and they could not in a moment be expected to feel and show the
deference, moderation, and good manners, usual among residents under a
better social system than theirs. Their conduct was exactly what might have
been expected — that of children in a combative mood. The members of
Assembly talked^ big, did provoking things, snubbed successive governors,
used insolent language to the Imperial government, endeavoured to trench
upon the Abolition Act by provisions in Bills of their own, drew upon them-
selves disallowance of their Acts from home, and then refused to provide for
the executive wants of the island, and even hustled, and turned out of their
house, the officer who came to deliver the Governor's message. After the
completion of emancipation, a large proportion of the planters oppressed the
patient negroes by arbitrary and illegal exactions of rent, by a misapplication of
the Vagrant law, and by all those harassing methods which suggest themselves
to persons accustomed to despotism as a natural right, and thrown into ill-
humour by a deprivation of that power. That such was the conduct of that
. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 397
section of society represented by the Assembly is established by a mass of 1839.
documentary evidence, and by the testimony of all who went fresh to the ^~~^-~^-'
scene — such as the Stipendiary Magistrates, the Bishop of Jamaica, and
observers from various countries travelling in the island.
On the other hand, the Governors and other agents of the Imperial govern- IMPERIAL AGENTS.
ment could not be expected to preserve an immoveable patience — to resist all
provocation to antagonism — to see without some emotions of partiality the
oppression of the negroes who were free by law but not yet in fact — to hear
with perfect composure the scolding which they incurred by encouraging the
negro women to decline hard field-work, and by putting the labourers in
possession of their own case with regard to wages. It might have been im-
possible for the officials to avoid collision with the planters ; but there were
faults on their side as well as on the other — as is always the case where
quarrels exist. In 1836, Lord Sligo, the Governor, violated the privileges of 1836.
the Assembly by sending down a message that he would not pass a Bill unless
it were amended as the other House proposed. For this he was rebuked by
the Home Government; and it was necessary for him to apologize to the
Assembly. He did this on the 24th of May ; but could not, after such a
misadventure, remain in his post with any satisfaction ; and he was succeeded,
in the next autumn, by Sir Lionel Smith.
Sir Lionel Smith was popular at first ; and during 1837, affairs proceeded 1887.
with great smoothness. But the new Governor was soon pronounced guilty SmLlONELSM
of favouritism to the negroes, like every body else who came from the mother
country ; and the insolence of the Assembly became more ostentatious than
ever. It was prorogued and then dissolved, under a stubborn refusal on its
own part to pass the laws necessary for the transaction of the affairs of the
Colony. The new Assembly paraded a similar refusal, as soon as it met — in
December, 1838. The especial cause of wrath at this time was the passage of 1838.
a Bill in the Imperial parliament for the regulation of Prisons in Jamaica ;
an Act rendered highly necessary by the cruelties which were perpetrated
there, under various licenses and pretences which must be put an end to.
Another method by which the Planters evinced their wrath was by forcible
ejectments of the negroes from their habitations, by which distress and serious
discontent were occasioned. The Governor reported to the authorities at
home that the laws were not clear in regard to the relations between the
employing and the labouring classes ; and that a complete new system was
required. Under these circumstances — with local legislation at a stand,
and a large section of law requiring absolute renovation — Lord Melbourne's
government determined to propose to parliament a suspension of the con- PROPOSED sus. :
stitution of Jamaica for five years, during which a provisional government CONSTITUTION.
would administer its affairs, allowing time for an improvement in the temper
of all the parties who were in a state of wrath.
The government miscalculated their strength. It must be a strong govern-
ment which can carry a suspension of a constitution of 200 years old under
any circumstances but those of an armed rebellion, like that of Canada ; and
Lord Melbourne's government had for some time been the weakest of the
weak. It had lost the support of the Radical reform party, and was univer-
sally understood to be kept in power by the mere favour of the young Queen :
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
1839.
UNPOPCLARITY OF
LORD MEL-
BOURNE.
1839.
Hansard, xlvi.
1243.
DEBATE.
Hansard, xlvii.
967.
RESIGNATION OF
MINISTERS.
BEDCHAMBER
QUESTION.
and there were circumstances in the demeanour of the Premier which made
that favour more conspicuous than it ought to have been. By this time, it
had become the custom of newspapers of various politics to record the visits of
Lord Melbourne to the palace, and his attendance on the Queen in her drives
and at her frequent parties. All reasonable persons saw how natural it was
that a sovereign so young and inexperienced in her difficult duties should
desire the daily attendance of a minister so qualified by years and abilities to
be her instructor and guide ; and how natural it was that a man of so much
worldly experience and so kind a heart should be interested in the task of
instruction and guidance. But even the most sensible and genial-minded
saw how it was also reasonable that the public in general should be discon-
tented at an appearance of pleasure-seeking and idleness in the first minister
of an empire, whose work must be such as ought to leave him little leisure for
absence from his office during any but the evening hours which are all that
busy men usually spare for relaxation. It was in the midst of a prevalent
desire for a Prime Minister who should appear sensible of the responsibility of
his position, that the Cabinet brought forward a measure which at least was
very daring, and on which the most conscientious politicians might naturally
entertain the gravest doubts.
When Mr. Labouchere brought forward the motion on the 9th of April,
1839, it appeared that, though no one defended the conduct of the Jamaica
Assembly, men of all parties saw one way or another by which the dire
necessity of suspending the Constitution might be avoided. Some were for
treating the Assembly as passionate children, to whom a time for thought
and a place for repentance should be permitted. Some hoped that the cure
might be naturally effected by means of the enlargement of the constituency
of Jamaica, which must take place henceforth through the admission of
black citizens to political rights. And there were many who objected to the
assignment in the preamble of the Bill of insufficient grounds, while the real
and avowed reason was that the present was a good occasion for that reno-
vation of the institutions of Jamaica which was a necessary consequence,
sooner or later, of the great social changes introduced by the emancipation of
the negroes. The affair was fully debated. Counsel were heard on behalf of
the Assembly; and most able and pertinacious was the pleading. The
Ministers strained every nerve to carry their measure ; but when the decisive
division took place, on the 6th of May, or rather on the morning of the 7th,
their majority, in a full house, was only 5.
On the reassembling of the Houses, the Ministers announced their resigna-
tion of office. The reason assigned was, that the Assembly of Jamaica would
believe that its insolence was countenanced by the British parliament, and the
authority of the Crown would be so much weakened in that and in other colonies,
that Lord Melbourne's administration could not undertake to govern them.
This avowal placed the Melbourne Cabinet in a difficulty on its speedy return
to office ; but yet it was a fortunate avowal on the whole ; for it saved the
Ministers from the very serious imputations which they deserved to incur, on
its now appearing that they had brought their young and confiding sovereign,
through her very confidence in them, into a position of great perplexity and
humiliation. The time had now come for the fulfilment of the predictions of
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 399
those who had given early warning about the formation of the Queen's house- 1839.
hold. The Whig Ministers, by surrounding the Queen with their wives, * — -~^fc-'
sisters, and daughters, exposed her to be stripped of her accustomed atten-
dants on a change of ministry, or forced her into an unconstitutional position.
They now gave her unconstitutional advice, and upheld her in an unconstitu-
tional position. She was gently dealt with by public opinion in this matter,
on account of her youth and inexperience ; and also because she was really
the chief sufferer on the occasion : but the universal conviction was, that the
Ministers had been no true friends to their trusting sovereign. Their enemies
concluded, wrongly but not unnaturally, that the whole affair was deliberately
planned to give the Whigs a continued hold on office. It was as confuting
this charge that Lord John Russell's avowal of inability to govern the
colonies, after the late division, was useful to the reputation of the Melbourne
Ministry.
It was on the Tuesday night that the resignations were announced. On Hansard, xiva.
Wednesday, the 8th of May, at two o'clock, Sir R. Peel waited on the Queen, Si«'R- PEEL SENT
in answer to her summons. The Queen had sent for the Duke of Wellington
in the first instance ; and the Duke had told her that the chief difficulties of a
Conservative Ministry would lie in the House of Commons ; and he therefore
advised her to send for Sir R. Peel. The remarkable truthfulness of the
Queen's character showed itself at once ; a truthfulness which may occasion-
ally annoy or discourage persons who had been accustomed to something
different at Court, but which is an inestimable security to her Ministers by
making always firm the ground under their feet. After the intrigue and
untruthfulness of George IV., and the vacillating weakness and senile impres-
sibility of William IV., which made their Ministers feel the precariousness of
the arrangements of every day, there was something so delightful to the Queen's
first set of Ministers in her steady attachment and perfect ingenuousness, that
no one can wonder if their discretion, and even their sense of political honour
were laid asleep. Exactly in the same proportion must the same qualities in
the sovereign have been embarrassing to her new Ministers on their first
approach. As Sir R. Peel avowed to the House, the Queen greeted him with
a spontaneous intimation that she was much grieved to part with her late
Ministers, whose conduct she entirely approved. This was an awkward
beginning : but the negotiation proceeded ; and no difficulty arose as to the
formation of the new Cabinet. Nothing had thus far been said about the
constitution of the Household : and so little was Sir R. Peel prepared with
any complaint or any plan about this, that, as he said, he did not know of what
individuals the Household was composed, till, having to talk over the matter
with his intended colleagues, he referred to the Red Book, and was struck with Hansard, xhii.
984
the completeness of the arrangements for surrounding the Queen with the nearest HOUSEHOLD
relations of the Whig Ministers. For instance — an instance adduced by Sir R.
Peel in the House — the great difficulty of his government Avas Ireland — the
Conservatives being in direct opposition to the policy of Lords Normanby and
Morpeth ; and, on referring to the Red Book, he found that the two ladies in
the closest attendance upon the Queen were the wife of Lord Normanby and
the sister of Lord Morpeth. Sir R. Peel told his intended colleagues what
he meant to do. He should not propose any change in the offices below that
PO1NTMENTS.
400
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK V.
1839.
Hansard, xlvii.
1010.
Hansard, xlvii.
985.
Hansard, xlvii.
1001.
Hansard, xlvii.
985.
Hansard, xlvii.
985.
of Lady of the Bedchamber. He trusted that the ladies who held the higher-
offices would voluntarily resign. If they did not, he must propose a change.
This was not only reasonable, as requiring the most ordinary and indispensable
token of the confidence of the sovereign, but it was a constitutional right.
The highest authorities on constitutional points declared that the appoint-
ments of the Household are State appointments, for which the Minister is
responsible. Neither the Queen nor her Ministers, however, knew this.
Hitherto, there had been sufficient consideration for the dignity and the feel-
ings of the sovereign to keep the constitutional question out of sight. Now that
the Melbourne Ministry had rashly brought it forward, it was found that Sir
R. Peel was right. Though constitutionally right, it was, however, said at
the time that he was politicly wrong ; and that he might have known that
the ladies in question would certainly resign immediately, and their places be
quietly filled up in a prudent manner with persons in a neutral position as to
their political connexions. That Sir R. Peel retired upon this difficulty was
regarded as a sign that he was not ready for office ; that not only was Ireland
his " difficulty," as he said, but that it was so great a difficulty as to indispose
him for office. If the Whigs now came in again, they would hold rule at his
will and pleasure ; and he could take their places at any time when they had
fairly tried, and proved to the world, the issue of their Irish policy. However
this might be, what took place about the Household appointments was made
known to all the world — the Queen having given permission to Sir R. Peel
to tell his part of the story in Parliament. The explanations of the Whig
Ministers, and the records of the daily news of the time, supply the rest.
When Sir R. Peel told the Queen, on the Thursday, what he proposed to
do, she misunderstood him, as was afterwards acknowledged, and supposed
him to contemplate the removal of all her servants and household friends.
This was certainly the impression she had given to the late Ministers when
they agreed in Council on the mistaken advice which they gave the Queen.
The Queen stopped Sir R. Peel in his statement of his wish to consult her
predilections, by declaring that she would admit no change whatever in the
female appointments of her Household. She sent for Lord J. Russell, and
expressly put the question to him whether she was not right in this. He
replied that she was right : and she then naturally requested him to support
her now, as she had before supported her Ministers. She also appealed to
Lord Melbourne, and stated her intentions to the Duke of Wellington. The
Duke was of opinion that Sir R. Peel must retire if the Queen's mind was
thus made up. Lord Melbourne called his colleagues together, and in
Council they advised the Queen to send the following note to Sir R. Peel:
" The Queen, having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir R.
Peel, to remove the ladies of her bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a
course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to
her feelings." Thus, the Whig Ministers formally assumed the responsibility
of this act. No allusion is made to the constitutional principle of the case :
and Lord John Russell's appeal throughout was to " usage." It is strange
that he and his colleagues did not see how contrary to usage it was to place
the sovereign in the position into which they had brought their Queen.
In two or three hours Sir R. Peel sent a letter to the Queen, in which he
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 401
carefully related the facts of the case — an act of justice to himself under the 1839.
circumstances. He had been misapprehended in the highest quarter at first ; v-— -^ — — ^
1 • i -i i i r i • i • WITHDRAWAL OF
and already reports were flying abroad through Whig households of his having SIR R. PEEL.
desired to separate the Queen from all the friends of her childhood, and to
impose upon her an unacceptable set of servants of Tory politics, and so forth.
The Queen gave him permission to read her note and his own letter in par-
liament, and to set himself right, as far as these went. He was so misrepre-
sented, however, by some close connexions of the Whig Ministers — (among
others by the Hon. Wm. Cowper, the nephew and private secretary of Lord
Melbourne, in an address to the Hertford Electors, for which he afterwards Annual Register,
1839 p 130
publicly apologized) — that the popularity of the Queen and her Whig Ministers
suddenly rose for a short time, at the expense of the reputation of the Duke of
Wellington and* Sir R. Peel for loyalty and good manners; and the Melbourne
Ministry were thus enabled to return to office with more apparent probability
of being able to govern the country than had lately been seen. But mistakes,
fostered and spread by party spirit, are not of long duration : and in a few
weeks, the noisiest and busiest of agitators and journalists on the side of the
Whigs were glad to drop all mention of the Bedchamber question. By that
time, her Majesty's advisers had admitted that " her Majesty's position was
untenable."
How far their own restored position was tenable was now the question. ^^"M,^
What was to be done about Jamaica, which they could govern only by a sus- TE«S.
pension of the Constitution, which parliament would not effectually support ?
Lord J. Russell had also declared in resigning, that there were other serious
affairs which the Melbourne Ministry could not conduct without more of the
confidence of parliament than they possessed. Sir R. Peel's statement of what ™anf*d' xlvii-
his difficulties would have been afford some insight into those of the restored
Whigs : — " The state of India — the state of Jamaica — the state of Canada —
would all require my immediate consideration ; and with respect to some of
them, the proposal of legislative measures. I considered the internal state of
this country — I saw insurrection in the provinces — I saw the letter of the
noble lord opposite (Lord J. Russell) inviting the respectable part of the popu-
lation of this country to form themselves into armed societies for resisting
outrage Let me take that particular question on which my chief diffi-
culty would arise. Who can conceal from himself that my difficulties were
not Canada ; that my difficulties were not Jamaica ; that my difficulties were
Ireland." Here was arduous work enough for any Cabinet : but the most
insuperable difficulty in the way of that of Lord Melbourne was the Jamaica
question.
On the reconstruction of the Ministry, the first business was to elect a new ip-rc-noN OF A
• . SPEAKER.
Speaker of the Commons. Mr. Abercromby had before wished to resign, on
the plea of health. The House was sorry to part with him, for he had dis-
charged his duty well. Mr. Charles Shaw Lefevre was chosen to succeed him
by a majority of 18 over Mr. Goulburn, who was proposed by the Conserva- Hansard, xivii.
tives. This election took place on the 27th of May : and on the 30th, Mr. '
Labouchere introduced a new Jamaica Bill. The Opposition, under the cir- NEW JAMAICA
cumstances, held the control of this measure, and it was amended in the B'
Lords till it became what Sir R. Peel had proposed. It allowed time to the
VOL. II. 3 F
402 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1839. Assembly to re-enact the annual laws without which the affairs of the island
could not proceed ; and invested the Governor in Council with power to renew
those laws, at the expiration of two months after the Assembly should have
separated without re-enacting them. This measure, which the Ministers
Hansard, xiix.85. declared to be, in their opinion, only better than none, passed its last parlia-
mentary stage on the 9th of July.
OFFICIAL After the close of the Session, Lord J. Russell became Colonial Secretary in
the place of Lord Normanby, who had held the office only since the preceding
February. Lord Normanby went to the Home Office : and Mr. F. Baring
became Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the place of Mr. Spring Rice, who
entered the Upper House as Baron Monteagle. Lord Howick left the War
Office, and was succeeded by Mr. Macaulay; and some changes took place in
the minor functions of the Administration.
In the midst of such circumstances as have been exhibited, and of others
which remain to be detailed — in view of the Colonial difficulties — the
domestic distress which was now daily darkening over England — the violence
of the Chartists — the critical state of Ireland — the sudden and portentous
agitation against the Corn laws — the manifest feebleness of the Ministry — and
the 110 less manifest misguidance of the young sovereign by her paternal Prime
Minister — there was nothing that was more desired by the nation at large than
QUEEN'S ENGAGE, to see their young Queen married. Every one knew that her consort — be he
who he might — would have no concern with politics. It was not that. It
was that the domestic life of the sovereign might be naturally compacted, and
that a happy domestic life might be the point of support of her public life.
Some rabid Tory gentlemen had lately grown insolent, and taken insufferable
liberties with the royal name. Some mistakes had been made, in both public
and private relations : and the natural and the most desirable security against
other such misadventures seemed to be the placing of the virtuous young
sovereign under the sanctities of a genuine home. There had been a constant
succession of royal visitors from the continent — a long array of young princes
who were called in the newspapers " the royal suitors:" but it was not till the
beginning of 1839 that any general impression existed as to where the Queen's
preference rested, or whether she had any. At last, however, it was no great
surprise to any body when the Queen summoned her Privy Council to meet
Annual Register, on the 23rd of November, and then communicated her intention to ally her-
self in marriage with Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. The Council
requested her Majesty to allow the news to be made public : and the general
satisfaction was all that she could have desired. It might have been wished
that her intended husband should not have been her cousin-german, and that
he should have been five or seven years older than the Queen, instead of three
PRINCE ALBERT, months younger ; but there was every thing in the reputation of the Prince,
and in the character of his thoughtful and informed mind, to encourage
the hope that the connexion would be one of permanent satisfaction to the
nation.
During the winter, the aspect of public affairs darkened so much that it
was the universal wish that the marriage should take place with the least
possible delay. The young pair had a far more thorough knowledge of each
other than is usual in the case of lovers ; they had been companions in child-
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 403
hood, and friends during their youth — there was nothing to wait for ; and in 1840.
a few weeks the young Queen became a wife, to the great joy of those who v— — •
most desired that her life should be serene and happy. The marriage took -^™.N'S MAR-
place 011 the 10th of February, 1840, amidst fitting pomp and observance, in ^"cVfol'is*'
the palace of St. James's. It was precisely at a quarter before one o'clock
that the firing of cannon announced to the inhabitants of London that the
ring was placed on the finger of the bride : and a little before four, the Queen
and her husband set out for Windsor, leaving London to the gaiety for which
it had little spirits on any meaner occasion of that dark year. For the day
all forgot their anxieties and fears in banquets and illuminations.
A month before the marriage took place, the Queen had declared to parlia-
ment in the royal Speech her intention of taking Prince Albert for her Hansard, u. i.
husband, and her confidence that her subjects would enable her to provide
for such an establishment as might appear suitable to the rank of the Prince, PR'NCE ALBERT'S
1 trr . ANNUITY.
and the dignity of the Crown. These announcements, in themselves as
formidably unusual for a young girl to make as could be conceived, were
offered with a simplicity and dignity that won all hearts : and the subsequent
awkward conclusion to the discussion on the Prince's income was accepted by
them both with the best possible grace.
On the 20th of January, three weeks before their marriage, a bill for the
naturalization of Prince Albert was introduced in the Lords, and passed IZ'ATION.
rapidly, by the suspension of all the standing orders. The only stop in its pro- Hansard, u. 576.
gress was owing to the ordinary cause of delay in Whig measures — a mistake
which could not be allowed to pass. Precedence next to the Queen was pro-
vided without any safeguard ; so that, in case of the Queen's death without
heirs, and the consequent accession of the King of Hanover, Prince Albert
would have precedence of the then Heir Apparent, the Prince of Wales. The
Ministers first amended their Bill by proposing to give precedence next after
any Heir Apparent : but again, in order to avoid delay, Lord Melbourne
declared his intention of omitting all that part of the Bill which related to
the subject of precedence. Thus reduced to a project of simple naturalization,
the Bill passed both Houses as rapidly as possible. In discussing the
Address, some question had been made in both Houses about the omission of
any declaration of Prince Albert being a Protestant— a scruple which was Hansard, u. u,
decided to be unnecessary, as, by the Act of Settlement, the Protestantism of
the Royal Consort was an indispensable condition. All parties were eager to
declare their conviction of the indisputable Protestantism of the Prince, whose
family were the first protectors of the Reformation. There were some who
could perhaps have told how much of the family pride of the Ducal family of
Saxe Coburg and Gotha was invested in its connexion with Luther'; and how
in the Prince's portfolio might be seen sketches of the old castle on its height,
finished with the care which is given to the delineation of sacred places —
because there Luther took refuge for a time, and therein are his apartments
— his bedstead itself — preserved with reverential care. If the object had been
to select for the Queen the most Protestant of the Protestant princes of
Germany, the searchers should have gone first to Saxony : and when there, to
the old Castle of Coburg ; and there, at Luther's table, or at the foot of Luther's
worm-eaten pulpit, they would have found our Prince Albert.
404 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1840. As to the annuity to be voted to the Prince — Lord J. Russell proposed that
' — • — • — ' it should be, in accordance with precedents which he adduced, £50,000, to be
Hansard, H. 554. granted out of the Consolidated Fund, to commence on the day of his marriage,
and continue for life. After an adjournment from the 24th to the 27th of
January, Mr. Hume moved that the amount should be £21,000. This pro-
Hansard, H. en. pOsai was voted down by 'A large majority. But it was clear that the times
were unfavourable for a liberal grant. The distress of the manufacturing
classes was becoming fearful — the price of wheat being at that time 81 s. while
the cotton mills were working short time ; and the prevalent suffering was
shown by armed outbreaks of Chartism, and the rapid sinking of the revenue.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was announcing a deficit with every
successive Budget. At the close of the session of 1838, parliament, following
the lead of the Ministers, had thought it right to refuse an augmentation of
income to the Duke of Sussex, though the refusal compelled him to resign
i838Ual F7c4gister> his office of President of the Royal Society ; and had also, by a narrow
majority, decided against indemnifying their Speaker for the loss of his property
fs38UaI f7e4gister> Dy the fire which consumed the Houses of Parliament. The sanguine and
complacent Whig Ministry were now so truly alarmed at the aspect of affairs,
that economy became naturally the ruling idea of the House of Commons.
Yet, when the sum of £30,000 per annum was proposed by the Opposition,
instead of the £50,000 of the Ministers, Lord J. Russell lost temper, and declared
that the amendment was intended as a mark of disrespect to the Queen. For
Hazard, it. ci9, tjjjgj jjg was duly rebuked by Sir J. Graham and Sir R. Peel, who showed
reason enough for their advocacy of the smaller sum, independent of the dis-
tress of the country, which they did not conceive to be concerned in the
Hansard, H. ess. question. The majority in favour of the smaller amount was 104 in a House
of 420.
The Prince took all in good part. Kind-hearted and reasonable, he
was perhaps really willing to bear his share of the pressure of the times,
and ready to suppose that the House of Commons was the best judge of
what his income ought to be. If not so, he was too sensible to show any
discontent; and by his good-humour on the occasion he gained an esteem
which was more worth having than any wealth that parliament could have
given him.
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 406
CHAPTER XIV.
A LLUSION has been made to the darkness of the times in 1839 and 1840. 1840.
•**• Since the Peace, there had hardly been a season so gloomy in fact and
in prospect. In looking for the causes of the misery and crime of this period,
we find them, as usual, in the state of the crops. There were then, as usual,
multitudes of people who did not understand : and the fact and their failure to
understand it together were soon to bring about the greatest social, as Parlia-
mentary Reform was the greatest political, event of the century. There were
then, as usual, professional men, country gentlemen, and others by hundreds,
who said with an air of superiority, that they took no interest in politics : and
these were the men who concluded that the commotions and outrages of the
period were owing to the unfortunate propensity of "the lower classes" to
concern themselves with politics. There were then, as usual, clergymen by
hundreds, who said with a complacent smile, or an air of pious trust, that since
England was England there had always been alarms of bad crops ; but that it
always ended in there being a harvest ; these gentlemen not having the re-
motest idea of the differences between one group of years and another as to
production of food, and never perceiving that it was their especial duty as
clergymen to look closely into the causes of want, woe, and crime. They
thought that the perverseness of the heart of man was explanation enough of
any amount, or capricious accession of guilt ; and, as they could not stoop to
politics or political economy, they remained unaware that the average of moral
disease might be anticipated as confidently as that of physical disease, from
the estimate of the harvests of any group of years. It was no thanks to them
that this miserable experiment is now no longer likely to be tried. It is no
thanks to them that, by opening to our country an access to the harvests of
the world, a prospect lies before us of a more equable supply and price of
food, and a cessation of the fluctuations and cruel uncertainties which perilled
the fortunes of the well-fed, and wore out the heart and hope of the multi-
tudes who had to win their bread from day to day. — There were still hundreds
and thousands of men — and the leading politicians of both parties were among
them — who thought that to attack the Corn laws was to attack the constitution
of society; who would no more listen to evidence of the mischief of agricultural
protection than they would listen to arguments against the institution of pro-
perty. It is worth recording again here that the Prime Minister himself had
volunteered his opinion on the matter in the House of Lords, saying that he
had heard of many mad things in his life ; but, before God, the idea of repeal-
ing the Corn laws was the maddest he had ever heard of. Thus it was with
Lord Melbourne. Lord J. Russell counselled the House to refuse to hear evi-
dence on the operation of the Corn laws. Sir R. Peel was as yet pondering
sliding scales, and destined to propose and try another before he should dis-
406 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1840. cover that this was a matter in which adjustments could be of no possible use,
^— — — — - while they were pretty sure to do mischief. To set against all these classes of
men, there was another — a little band at first, but soon becoming a host — who
understood the matter enough to be sure of attaining a thorough knowledge
of it, as soon as they should combine to act upon what they knew. The dark-
ening of the times in 1839 determined these men to aim at a repeal of the Corn
laws as the first object to their own fortunes, to the actual preservation of the
working classes, and to the welfare of the nation at large.
SUCCESSIVE HAR- During the four years from 1832 to 1835 inclusive, more wheat was grown
Tooke's History in Great Britain, it is believed, than was ever known before. More wheat was
tfnuation, p.°3." sown ; and the improvements in tillage were by that time so considerable as
to produce clear results. But during those four years also the winters had no
undue frosts ; the spring rains were enough, and not too much ; and the sum-
mer suns were warm enough to harden and ripen the grain. They were four
noble harvests, as far as wheat was concerned, though barley rose nearly to the
price of wheat, and hay and pulse were dear. The farmers suffered, as they
were apt to do, under a stringent corn law which made them rich in bad sea-
sons, and prepared for their impoverishment in abundant years. But while
they were in such adversity as that Royal speeches commiserated them, and
Parliament discussed their case, every body else was prospering. The very
cattle, sheep, and pigs, were eating wheat : brewers and distillers were making-
beer and spirits from it. The agricultural labourers, though receiving very
low wages, were more comfortable than usual, from the cheapness of provisions.
They found themselves in easier circumstances with 8s. per week, and wheat at
35s., than with 12s. per week, and wheat at 77s. As for all other working
classes of the kingdom, it was a time of high prosperity for them. All the mines
and all the mills were busy, and the tradesmen of the towns were every where
prosperous ; for the largest classes of society were employed on full wages ; and
bread being cheap, they had money to spare for other objects of purchase. The
houses of the operatives filled with furniture; and their chests with good
clothes. The tradesmen rose in proportion, from this increase of custom, and
in their turn improved the condition of the manufacturers, who, in conse-
quence, kept up or extended their manufacture, to the continued benefit of the
operatives. Such was the happy state of things while we were blessed with
good harvests : and the prosperity reached its height towards the close of 1835,
when wheat was at 35s. 4d. Owing to its cheapness, less was now sown of
wheat, and more of other things which had become dear.
In 1836, the spring was cold and dry; and the summer was ungenial in the
north of England and Scotland ; so that the harvest was not well got in. On
the whole, there was a considerable falling off from preceding years ; but still,
more than enough was got in for the wants of the country till the harvest of
conkp/7Prices> 183>T- The cr°P of 183? was Just sufficient for the wants of the country; but
it was inferior to the production of any one of the five preceding seasons. The
people were still eating abundantly, as the last few years had accustomed them
to do. If now there had been a propitious season, every thing might have
gone on smoothly, though food prices were higher than they had been. During
the commercial difficulties of the spring of 1837, which have been before ex-
hibited, when credit was disturbed by foreign influences, the price of wheat, as
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 407
of other things, had risen unduly; but at the end of 1837, it was 53s. : and at 1840.
this price, manufactures, commerce, and the condition of the people, might v-— -» '
have gone on without deterioration. But the weather was now dreadful. In
the middle of January an extraordinary frost set in, which lasted so long as to
occasion serious fears for the wheat in the ground ; and in February, the price
rose to 55s. 3d. In March, it rose further; and again in May, when frosts re-
curred. In July it was 68s. As harvest prospects did not improve, the price
of wheat rose to 77s. in the third week in August. In September, all the
bonded wheat in the kingdom was entered for home consumption. Prices fell
as a large quantity of foreign corn was thrown into the market in September :
but by the next January, wheat was at 81s. 6cl. The difference of quantity Tooke's Prices,
home-grown between 1834 and this date was above 7,000,000 of quarters. —
At the same time, and in strict connexion with this deficiency, manufactures
had fallen off, and the prices of articles in common use among the working
classes had risen ; so that those classes found themselves now receiving less
wages, and compelled to pay dear for the necessaries of life. The distress was
becoming formidable. Yet were hundreds of the clergy smiling over the usual
alarms, as they called them, about the harvests; and the gentry who prided
themselves on taking no interest in politics, discoursed upon the perverseness
and wickedness of the human heart, which led men into discontent and rebel-
lion, while living in the best country in the world. There was some increase
in the wages of agricultural labour ; and this was pointed out as a proof that
high prices bring high wages ; whereas, the slight and temporary rise of agri-
cultural wages fell far short of the increased expenditure of the labourers for
food.
In May, 1839-, there was snow by day, and frost, of some continuance, by
night. So much foreign corn had been let in, that prices had fallen, wheat
being at 67s. Wd. in July. More foreign corn was let out of bond ; yet, so bad
were the prospects of the harvest, that by the middle of August wheat was
again at 72s. 3d. More foreign wheat, dry and sound, was wanted to render
our own damp and unripened grain fit for food : and, instead of our importing
largely from Ireland, it was necessary to import more dry foreign wheat into
Ireland than we could obtain of her damp and unripened grain. There was c°nkp sierices'
every ground for apprehension that, while the working classes were grievously
underfed, there would still be a deficiency of 2,000,000 quarters or more, while
waiting for the next harvest.
During this time, the " landed interest" were watchful over their protecting
law, suspecting, reasonably enough, that attempts would be made to relieve
the suffering classes from its pressure. The closeness of their vigilance was
shown by a curious incident which took place in March, 1838. Colonel Scale
proposed in the House, that, to save merchants engaged in foreign trade from Hansard, xii. 1079.
the necessity of obtaining their ship-supplies of food from the ports of the CORN^'N'BOND.
Baltic, permission should be given to grind the corn held in bond in our own
ports — security being afforded for the exportation of the flour. To many of the
most Conservative members in the House, the case appeared so clearly harm-
less to the British cultivator, that the first reading of the Bill was carried by a
large majority: but the "landed interest" made so great an outcry about
408
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[Booic V.
DISCONTENTS.
1840. touching the Corn question at all, that on the second reading the Bill was
thrown out by a majority of 220 to 150.
The natural consequences of popular distress showed themselves exactly as
might have been expected ; and with increasing force from year to year. If
the rulers of the country did not understand the causes of the adversity, it was
no wonder that the uneducated sufferers did not. While professional men and
other gentry ascribed the turbulence of the time to the ingratitude of the
human heart, the government — the Cabinet, and both Houses of parliament —
were sure of nothing so thoroughly as that the Corn laws had nothing to do
with the distress, and therefore that their repeal would not cure it : — and the
working classes never doubted that the government could cure it if they would,
and that the manufacturers oppressed them by appropriating an undue share
of the proceeds of manufactures. Thus, the clergy obtained no hold over the
classes which most needed their counsel and consolations ; or, if they got them
into the churches, preached to exasperated hearers, who said on week-days
that they would not be put off with promises of bliss hereafter, from claiming
the simple recompense of labour in this life. The government sat, in its de-
liberations, on the crust of a volcano; and amidst successive warnings, was
not half conscious of its danger. When a spurt of flame or a jet of hot stones
scared them now and then, they threw cold water into the particular crevice,
or blocked it up with rubbish, and supposed the fire was put out. The Whig
Attorney-General, Sir John Campbell, declared at a public breakfast at Edin-
spectator, 1839, burgh, in the autumn of 1839, that Chartism was extinct — because Birming-
ham and Newcastle had been quieted. — At the same time, the Trade Unions
TRADE UNIONS, became formidable to the last degree. On the trial of some cotton-spinners at
Glasgow, and on inquiry into the trade combinations of Dublin, facts came out
which appalled all who heard of the evidence. On no occasion did Mr. O'Con-
nell appear to more advantage than in his action on this subject. At the risk
of much unpopularity, he denounced these combinations with his whole power
of feeling and eloquence ; — combinations, not to obtain certain terms of recom-
pense by fair association for an open object, but to ruin capitalists by burning
their mills, and to oppress fellow-labourers, by forbidding them to work on
terms which they were willing to accept. It came out that threatening letters
were sent to masters, and premiums were offered for firing their mills : that
working men were beaten, sent away to foreign countries, burned with vitriol,
kept in fear of their lives ; and, as there was too much reason to believe, actually
murdered. During this activity of the Trades Unions, the impoverishing of
the operatives went on at an increased rate ; for they were compelled to pay for
the expenses of the combination while they had any funds left. The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer noticed in the House, in May, 1838, the remarkable
diminution of the deposits in Savings Banks. This brought the operative class
all the sooner upon the funds of the capitalists. From working the mills short
time, in order to prolong the prospect of any work at all, the mill-owners were
soon working even the short time at a loss, rather than turn the poor people
adrift entirely ; and their capital was melting away from week to week — given to
feed the poor as truly as if it had been paid as poor-rate. — Meantime, Lord
Ashley was regarding this class of men as oppressors who wrung their wealth
Hansard, xlii.
1368.
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 409
out of the sinews of children ; and every session renewed his motion for the 18 10.
protection of factory children ; while the Ministers, who evidently did not "— — v~»~ ^
understand the case, paltered with it in a way which drew on them a severe TIO\™R
rebuke from Sir R. Peel : " For the government to say," were his words, " ses- £an|ard> xliii>
sion after session, that it would bring in a bill on the subject ; for the govern-
ment, session after session, to abandon the bills they introduce, without per-
mitting others to be brought in by individuals in their stead — is like applying
a perpetual blister to the sides of the country, and keeping up the fever and
irritation of a dangerous sore It is because I cannot fail to perceive the
competition with which this country is threatened — it is because I see that
the interests of humanity, in the large viewr of the question, are likely to be less
consulted by the short-sighted restriction of labour, than they are by its per-
fect freedom — it is because the fact is unquestionable, that though you may
exempt the child from fatigue, you also deprive it of prospective employment,
by driving the manufacturers to seek elsewhere that protection which is denied
them at home — it is for these reasons that I implore parliament to decide the
question this night, whether it will legislate or not." — It was not decided that
night, nor for some years afterwards. After that session, Mr. Poulett Thom-
son, who understood the matter, appeared no more in the House : and when
he was gone, the other Whig ministers appeared unable to hold the convic-
tions they occasionally expressed against legislative interference with factory
labour. Thus was the irritation of this " perpetual blister " added to the
many others under which employers and labourers were suffering. The mill-
owners resented this interference with the management of their affairs, which
operated as a reduction of the value of the machinery which they had put up
in the expectation of freedom in making their arrangements — seeing, all the
time, how fruitless must be all attempts to legislate between parents and
children, and how manufactures must droop under arbitrary restrictions im-
posed by the legislature. The operatives were kept in a state of agitation,
whatever might be their opinions on the subject. Some fretted at the refusal
of the legislature to let Lord Ashley take care of their children ; while those
of an opposite way of thinking declared it no time to be preventing their fami-
lies from earning all they could, and resented this interference with their only
possession, their labour, as the most flagrant attack yet attempted on the rights
of the poor. All this did not tend to the tranquillization of the country.
During the latter part of 1838, Avhen Chartist meetings were held frequently . CHARTISM.
and with a formidable aspect throughout the north of England, the Home
Secretary, Lord John Russell, had shown a humane anxiety to bring the
ignorant crowd to their senses, and within the limits of order, without visiting
their guilty leaders with any treatment which could be construed as perse-
cution, and be made to yield the ordinary fruits of persecution. Many com-
plaints were made of want of vigour in this method of proceeding ; but there
appears every reason to believe that the disorder of the time would have been
more violent if severity had been used, instead of being extinguished. Under
a Sidmouth rule at the Home Office, we might have seen all the north of
England in a blaze of rebellion before the end of 1838. As it was, matters
grew too threatening to be left to take their course without check. Great
allowance was to be made for the irritation of the Lancashire operatives, from
VOL. II. 3 G
410
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
1840.
Spectator, 1838,
p. 1155.
TORCH-LIGHT
MEETINGS.
Spectator, 1838,
p. 1173.
NATIONAL CON-
V£NTION.
suffering of body and mind : but, in the month of November, the torch-light
meetings became formidable enough to alarm the inhabitants at large, to whom
protection was due. On the 22nd of that month, the Home Secretary sent a
letter to the Lancashire magistrates, requesting them to make public notifi-
cation of the illegality of torch-light meetings of the kind then in fashion, and
to declare their intention of preventing or dispersing such meetings. This was
followed up, in the middle of December, by a Royal Proclamation, which en-
joined all persons to desist from holding torch-light meetings. — It was time
to put some restraint on the leaders and orators of these meetings ; for now the
Rev. J. Stephens, the chief orator, had denounced a mill-owner at Ashton-
under-Lyne as " a devil's magistrate," and had prophesied that "his house
would soon be too hot to hold him;" and this gentleman's factory was fired one
night soon after, while Stephens was holding forth to a torch-light-assemblage.
Stephens was arrested before the end of the month, but admitted to bail, while
awaiting his trial at the Liverpool assizes. While out on bail, he preached to
crowded congregations, with a violence of language which looked like in-
sanity. Some of the witnesses against him were respectable Wesleyans, who
had sat under his father's ministry, and were most reluctant to appear against
the agitator : but they knew so much of the sharpening of pikes and prepa-
ration of fire-arms, and were so alarmed and distressed at the spread of a spirit
of murderous rebellion in a neighbourhood generally quiet, that they could not
doubt their obligation to get Mr. Stephens silenced by the law. He was sen-
tenced to an imprisonment of a year and a half in Knutsford gaol. — A far more
respectable and reasonable man was chairman of some of the earlier meetings
— among others, at the great Kersal Moor meeting at Manchester, when not
fewer than 200,000 persons are said to have been congregated — Mr. Fielden,
the member for Oldham — the great promoter, under Lord Ashley, of the Ten
Hour measure. Mr. Fielden was a man of great benevolence, and of a dis-
interestedness which gave him an influence among men better informed than
himself, which he had not judgment or knowledge to command. He was too
good for such work as the grosser kind of Chartist agitation, when he once saw
what it was becoming ; but his early sanction of torch-light meetings was a
mistake to be regretted. The other leaders at this period were Richard Oastler,
of Leeds, whose complacent ignorance unfitted him for any task of political
guidance ; and Feargus O'Connor, whose only escape from a charge of cruel
fraud on his followers for a course of years is in an admission of such senseless-
ness and ignorance as have made him the worst enemy of those whom he pro-
fessed to serve. It is very probable that from the moment when Feargus
O'Connor first placed himself at the head of a Chartist procession to the last
stoppage of his Land-scheme, he 'may have fancied himself a sort of Saviour of
the working classes ; but if so, he must bear the contempt and compassionate
disapproval of all men of ordinary sense and knowledge, as the only alter-
native from their Titter reprobation.
After 1839 came in, new leaders and new mobs arose, and also a more re-
spectable association, which deserved better than to be connected in name and
reputation with the Chartism of the Stephenses and Oastlers, and the torch-
bearers who fired factories. Delegates were sent from the working classes to
form a convention in London, for the promotion of the rights of the Commons
CHA.P. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 411
of England, and especially for calling the Commons House to account for its 1840.
neglect of the interests of the working classes. This National Convention ^— -~-— —
could not effect much, from the want of intellectual discipline, political know-
ledge, and business habits, among the members: but it was so clear in its
reprobation of physical force for the attainment of its objects, so free from
rapacity in its aims, and so earnest in its pursuit of rights and privileges which
are legitimate and virtuous objects of desire, that it was regarded with kind-
ness by all good-hearted and unprejudiced men, however little hope or fear
they might feel from its proceedings. This kindly feeling was very evident on
the presentation of the National Petition prepared by the Convention, and car- NATIONAL PETI.
ried into the House of Commons on the 14th of June. It was a wonderful spectator, isso,
document : " a cylinder of parchment about the diameter of a coach-wheel —
literally rolled into the House ;" — and signed by upwards of 1,200,000 persons.
The ordinary rule of permitting no speech on the presentation of a petition
was disregarded on this occasion ; and when a member desired, in insolent
language, to stop the business, he was resisted by the feeling of the House and
the indulgent disposition of the Speaker. So Mr. Attwood was allowed, by a
listening House, to advocate the plea of the petitioners for the " recovery of
those ancient privileges" which were "the original and constitutional rights
of the Commons of England." The temper of the House showed that the
effort was not altogether in vain, though no legislative consequences could be
expected to ensue. No persons in England better deserved a respectful hear-
ing than this million of petitioners : and there is reason to believe that no
persons in England more sincerely mourned the outbreaks of the physical-force
Chartists during this year than the leaders of the National Convention. The
Petition occasioned a good deal of discussion in the House, when, on the 12th
of July, a committee was moved for to consider the Five Points of the petition F|VE POINT*.
— Universal Suffrage, Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, Remuneration of
Members, and Abolition of the Property Qualification ; — but the committee
was refused by a majority of 189 in a House of 281. 2H-™sard' xlu-
The Home Secretary remained on the watch during the first half of the
year — till assured by the Attorney-General that Chartism was extinct. In
February, he called to account a magistrate of the borough of Newport, in
Monmouthshire, a Mr. Frost, for violent language at a public meeting. Mr. FHOST.
Frost's replies were insolent in the extreme ; but, as there had been at the out- Annual n^Mor,
-. . . ,, 183U- Chron. 22.
set one of the ordinary Whig mistakes, in supposing him a magistrate of the
county instead of the borough, and as Mr. Frost disclaimed a part of the charge,
he was not at once removed. This was a stretch of forbearance much censured
when the event showed Mr. Frost's unworthiness of it : but he soon provoked
his removal ; and it does not appear that the gentleness used towards him in
the first instance had any effect in promoting the subsequent rebellion ; while
it was valuable as proving the disposition of the government to lenity in a time
of notmlar suffering;. In April, there was a Chartist riot at Devizes ; or rather, RIOTS AT DFAIZES.
. miii' • i/-ti- Annual Registei,
a rising of the people of Devizes, under Tory leadership, against the Chartist isso. chron. 49.
assemblage of labourers who came, a thousand strong, armed with bludgeons,"
to hold a meeting in the market-place. — In July, Birmingham was kept in a AT BIRMINGHAM.
state of disturbance for many days by Chartist turbulence. Sixty policemen
were sent to Birmingham, on application from the authorities of the town;104'
412 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V.
1840. and a collision ensued between the police and the mob, which was ended only
^— -v--— ^ by the appearance of a troop of cavalry, after some stabs and many blows had
been given. The interference was resented by some of the better order of
Chartist leaders, in published resolutions, for the seditious character of which the
authors suffered trial and imprisonment. The riot took place on Thursday, the
4th of July. On the Sunday evening, a mob stopped the service at St. Philip's
Church. On Monday, the police and military again dispersed a meeting. On
Tuesday, the Chartists, having been denied the use of the Town Hall, met in
an open space. The Rifles were called to disperse the assemblage, but were
so assailed that they were ordered to load and make ready. Before they fired,
a troop of Dragoons came down upon the mob, who then fled. The inhabit-
Annuai Register, ants hoped that the mischief was over: but on the 15th, a far worse outbreak
— ni.~Cl °9 took place. First, windows and street lamps were smashed ; then iron pali-
sades were torn up; houses were forced, warehouses pillaged, and bonfires
made of the contents; lights put out in the streets, and finally, houses
burned down. It was by the military that the outbreak was overcome at
last : and it was some days before the orderly classes of the town could take
any rest. By that time they were very weary and very wrathful ; weary
with patrolling the streets, and keeping watch against incendiary fires ; and
angry with that most painful sort of wrath which has in it a mixture of fear.
Some of the best workmen in Birmingham were Chartists. Some of the
most indispensable men in the town had become insufferably insolent to their
employers, without the excuse of hunger which was admissible in the case of
too many of the Lancashire malcontents. Many of the Birmingham Chartists
might have been ten-pound householders, and in possession of all the sub-
stantial comforts of life, if they had been capable of the prudence and self-
denial which had raised some of their employers from a position like their
own : and it was exasperating to their employers to be insulted in their own
manufactories, and their business put to hazard, by men whom they could not
well dismiss, but by whom they were told that all capitalists were tyrants, born
with a silver spoon in their mouths, and so on. The evil here was clearly
not political. It was social — the master evil of popular ignorance, under
which it appeared but too probable that society must be dissolved, sooner or
later, if popular enlightenment could not be achieved. Yet Birmingham is
one of the best of our towns, in regard to means of popular instruction.
AT SHEFFIELD. Sheffield is another ; but in Sheffield, matters were even worse. Besides the
usual manoeuvres of breaking windows, extinguishing the street lights, and
pelting the soldiery, the malcontents planned the murder of some of the best
AT NEWCASTLE, and kindest-hearted gentlemen of the place. At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, at
Stockport, at Manchester, as well as in the neighbourhood of London,
assemblages were attempted for purposes of intimidation, and dispersed with
more or less of difficulty. One of the most painful incidents was the
extortion of money or goods from shopkeepers, under intimidation ; a practice
Annual Register, which called forth a letter from the Home Secretary to the magistrates of
133' Manchester, encouraging them to use the most vigorous means to put down
this method of pillage. Many who leaned towards the Chartists before, in
sympathy if not in conviction, gave them up altogether on the appearance of
this symptom of the agitation. One of the strange caprices of the malcontents
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 413
was attending the cathedrals and other churches in overwhelming numbers, 1840.
and wearing some sort of badge. Five hundred of them went in procession to ^— ^— — *
St. Paul's, in August. At first, most of them insisted on wearing their hats ;
but they yielded the point to the verger, and behaved very quietly. On the
next Sunday, Norwich cathedral was crowded to the last foot-hold by the
Chartists of the city ; to whom the Bishop in his sermon offered a strong but
kind remonstrance. At the Old Church at Manchester, there was a singular
scene, if the record of the time be true. The Chartists quitted the church on
the giving out of the text of the sermon : and the reason is said to be that,
instead of accepting the scripture verse prescribed beforehand by his Chartist
hearers, the preacher chose " My house is the house of prayer ; but ye have fsso.^chnfn^iM.
made it a den of thieves." For the preacher's sake, we must hope that
the choice of his text had no reference to the Chartists. This mode of action
— by filling the churches — was soon given up, as it evidently did not aid the
Chartist cause, and was wisely passed over in quietness : and it had ceased
before the autumn, with those other demonstrations, whose discontinuance
had persuaded the Attorney-General himself that Chartism was extinct.
It was only a lull: and that Edinburgh declaration was mischievous during
the ensuing weeks, as showing that the Ministers were off their guard — to say
nothing of its tone of triumph, which was any thing but conciliatory. Mr. Frost
was awake and active, and far from grateful for the leniency which had afforded
him an opportunity for remaining in the magistracy at the beginning of the
year. On the 3rd of November, which was on Sunday, his brother magis-
trates at Newport had information that he was marching down large bodies AT NEWPORT.
of armed men from the hills upon the town. The attack upon the town was
to have been made in the night : but the weather was bad ; and the malcon-
tents did not muster in sufficient force till the morning, when, at about ten
o'clock, they entered the town. They attacked the hotel where the military
were stationed, and provoked the destruction of more than twenty of their
number. The magistrates acted with eminent discretion and courage ; the
mayor, especially, so distinguishing himself that he was afterwards knighted
at Windsor Castle. Frost's followers amounted to upwards of 7000 when
within the town, and there were very many more upon the hills.
The conspiracy, frustrated by bad weather, and the good conduct of the
Newport authorities, was found to be a truly formidable one, from its orderly
arrangements, the number of persons in the district involved in the scheme,
and its connexion with the Chartists of Birmingham and other places. Two
other leaders, Jones and Williams, were arrested and tried with Frost. There FROST, WILLIAMS,
could be no doubt of the enormity of their crime in leading this rebellion ; and "
it was not easy to see on what plea their pardon could be asked. It was
asked, however — even demanded, from time to time, for some years ; but it
was enough that their lives were spared. If their punishment of transportation
were remitted, it is difficult to see who should be punished. Many who
lamented the transportation of the Dorsetshire labourers could see no excuse
for Frost, Williams, and Jones.
The state of things was very fearful. The great unsolved question of the ORIGIN OF THE
rights of labour lay at the bottom of these perplexities and prevalent discon- i^Tcv™"'
tents; and nobody saw it — nobody who could obtain a hearing, or in any way
414 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1840. exhibit the facts. Those who saw any thing of the truth were precisely those
~—~~ s''~-— — to whom a hearing was denied — the more enlightened of the manufacturing and
trading class who were turned back from the doors of the legislature when they
asked the Commons to listen to proof of the disorganizing tendency of the Corn
laws. The Chartists understood nothing of the operation of the Corn laws against
their interests : and they were so far from comprehending their own existing
rights, while demanding others, that they permitted pretended friends to urge
the legislature to take from them the command of their only possession — their
labour. Tory agitators went among them to incite them to demand Ten
Hour bills, and to alienate them from asking a free supply of food. To obtain
a free admission of food was only a part of the satisfaction of the great
difficulty — of the rights of labour ; but it was a very important part — at the
time, the chief and most immediately pressing consideration : but the govern-
ment did not see it ; neither House of the legislature saw it, any more than
the Chartists ; and they believed that the men who had begun to agitate for it
were disturbing an old system, the radical policy of the empire, for the sake
of enlarging the margin of manufacturing profits, and putting more money
into their own pockets, without giving the operatives their share. All this
was mournful blindness and folly ; but the final action against the Corn laws
had fairly begun ; and those who were engaged in it knew that their end was
secure. If the great labour question could remain a matter of controversy till
the corn question should be settled, instead of becoming one of revolution, all
might yet be well: and to accomplish this, the ariti-corn-law agitators set to
work with a zeal, a knowledge, a pertinacity, and a spirit of self-sacrifice,
probably unequalled in the history of peaceful agitation. When their work
was done, and they looked back upon its beginning, they were surprised to
find how little they themselves knew when they first devoted themselves to
the cause. The deepest of them had scarcely an idea how closely the interests
of the agricultural classes were involved in the establishment of a free trade in
food, and how society was injured through all its ramifications by an artificial
restriction in the first article of human necessity : but what they did know
was clear; as far as they reasoned, their reasoning was sound; and if one part of
their view was more clear and sound than another, it was that of the implica-
tion of this question with the larger and deeper one of the rights of labour,
which was elsewhere causing only that perilous agitation that must issue
either in suppression by force on the one hand, or in revolution on the other.
The anti-corn-law agitators were, at this period, the only true conservatives in
the whole range of our society.
On the 18th of September, 1838, a public dinner was given to Dr. Bowring
at Manchester, when the persons present (between fifty and sixty) agreed to
form themselves into an association for the promotion* of the principles of free
trade. They soon organized their force, settled their sell erne of public instruc-
tion and political movement, raised subscriptions, were sanctioned by the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and made known their existence to the
large towns of England and Scotland by recommending similar associations in
them all. This was the origin of the Anti-Corn-Law League.
At the beginning of 1839, we find assembled in London a large body of
pP]34ator> 1839' dogates fr°m Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow, and the great manu-
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 415
facturing towns, whose business it was to examine and analyze the House of 1840.
Commons, in regard to the Corn law question — to watch over its action on
that question, and see how far professions were supported by knowledge and
sincerity' on either side; and to challenge the House, collectively and indivi-
dually, by offering to prove at its bar all the allegations they had made
against the operation of the Corn laws. We find the metropolitan boroughs
holding meetings to appoint delegates on their own behalf, and passing reso- DELEGATES.
lutions of discontent at the omission of the topic of the Corn laws from the spectator, 1339,
Queen's speech. On the 7th of February, when Mr. Villiers had given notice P'
of a motion that evidence on the operation of the Corn laws should be heard
at the bar, Lord J. Russell made a little speech which caused a stronger sen- THE MINISTERS.
satioii than some of the longest he had ever delivered. It was copied into
the newspapers with a declaration that it made one's blood boil ; and the
universal impression, among men of all parties, seems to have been, that it
proved him so unaware of the existing circumstances and temper of the nation
as to injure his immediate reputation and influence, and to weaken him,,
unaccountably to himself, in every one of the various positions in regard to
the Corn law question, in which he afterwards endeavoured to establish
himself. He said " the impression on his mind was that it would be his duty Hansard, xiv. ise
to oppose the motion as to hearing evidence at the bar. He had not as yet
found sufficient reasons or precedents to induce him to adopt that course. At
the same time he must say, that as there would be a great deal of discussion
relating to facts, when a mode was proposed which he thought was conform-
able to precedent, and not inconvenient to the House, by which these facts
could be ascertained, he should be willing, although not ready to propose it
himself, to support a motion so to ascertain the facts." This might have
been taken as a matter of course from Sir R. Peel in those days — this speech
about propriety and precedent, and the convenience of the House, in regard to
a matter about which 3,000,000 of the best subjects in the empire had sent
up representatives to London, and a message to parliament. Such a speech
would have suited Sir R. Peel's then position and views with regard to the
Corn laws. But Lord J. Russell had declared to his Stroud constituents that
the existing Corn laws were indefensible ; and he declared on this very night
that he believed the time to be come for a change. The delegates who were
analyzing the House now knew where to place Lord J. Russell on their lists.
He disapproved the Corn laws in the abstract — just as the Carolina planters
disapprove slavery in the abstract. In both cases, when an opportunity for
acting from that disapprobation occurs, the action goes over to the other side.
This was proved on the 18th of the same month, when, the Cabinet being
divided on Mr. Villiers's motion, Lord J. Russell voted against it, with ^0™RNYFOR
Lord Howick, Lord Palmerston, Mr. Spring Rice, and some minor officials,
while Mr. Poulett Thomson, in this his last session in parliament, and
Sir J. C. Hobhouse, voted for inquiry. Mr. Villiers's speech that night
was not lost. It was a statement of singular force and clearness ; and the
occasion was destined to great celebrity. Of all the many weak and blind
acts of the Whig Ministers, none was more memorable than this refusal to
hear evidence on a subject whose importance they professed to admit ; and
Mr. Villiers's position was conspicuous in proportion to their fall. On that
416
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK V.
REFUSED.
CONSEQUENCES.
Spectator, 1839,
p. 178.
1840. night he assumed his post undisputed as the head authority in the legislature
' • ' on the subject of the Corn laws ; and from that night the Whig Ministers who
opposed his motion lost all chance of being generally trusted in any popular
action on that subject. If they had understood this as others understood it,
their exit from power two years afterwards would have been made in another
Hansard, xiv. 69i. manner than it was. The majority of the Commons against inquiry was 361
to 172. As for the Peers, they would not entertain the subject at all. Lord
Brougham laid the case before them in a strong and able statement : but they
negatived it without a division.
The delegates met, and passed votes of thanks to Lord Brougham and Mr.
Villiers. Among the hopeful speakers was Richard Cobden. There was no
cause for despondency, he said, because the House over the way had refused to
hear them. They were the representatives of three millions of people — they
were the evidence that the great towns had banded themselves together, and
their alliance would be a Hanseatic League against their feudal Corn law
plunderers. The castles which crowned the rocks along the Rhine, the
Danube, and the Elbe, had once been the stronghold of feudal oppressors ; but
they had been dismantled by a League; and they now only adorned the
landscape as picturesque memorials of the past, while the people below had lost
all fear of plunder, and tilled their vineyards in peace. A public dinner at one
of the theatres was offered to the delegates ; but they were leaving town.
They made no secret of why they were leaving town : — it was to meet again at
Manchester. The upholders of the Corn laws were quite at ease when they
no longer saw the train of delegates going down to the House. Yet there
were not wanting voices of warning which told them that the matter was not
over. While one register of the time tells, with easy satisfaction, that the
vote of the Commons " had the effect of putting the question to rest, and no
more was heard of it — during the remainder of the session," another is found
giving warning that the departure of the delegates was like the breaking-up of
a Mahratta camp — the war was not over, but only the mode of attack about to be
changed. There was no secrecy about the new mode of attack. The delegates
had offered to instruct the House ; the House had refused to be instructed ;
the House must be instructed ; and the way now contemplated was the
grandest, and most unexceptionable and effectual — it was to be by instructing
the nation. The delegates were to meet again at Manchester in a fortnight,
to devise their method of general instruction, which, in its seven years' opera-
tion, approached more nearly to a genuine National Education than any
scheme elsewhere at work. By the Anti-corn-law League the people at large
were better trained to thought and its communication, to the recognition of
principles, the obtaining of facts, and the application of the same faculties and
the same interest to their public as to their private affairs, than by any
methods of intellectual development yet tried under the name of Education.
The present was a time when minds were feverish, and disposed to undue
alarm from any untoward circumstance : and the Queen was made to bear her
share of the uneasy excitement of the period. It was no wonder that, as all
eminent persons are likely to occupy the visions of infirm minds, a young
ATTACKS ON THE Queen should be especially liable to the intrusions of the insane. It was no
Mrrf?B*r »
wonder to any body that one lunatic, having crept up to the garden steps of
QU
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 417
Buckingham palace, should threaten her Majesty because no Protestant 1840.
should occupy the throne of England ; nor that another, having leaped the -^ "
. 1111 11- -i n -i -rr' f Annual Register,
enclosures at Windsor, should demand admittance to the Castle as King of isso. chron. 79.
T-I-IT /> i T-» i -IIP Annual Register,
JLngland ; and so forth. But there were worse alarms than these, lor two or 1339. chron. 246.
three years. At first, there really was terror when a pistol was fired near the
royal carriage, in the course of the Queen's drives. Her popularity was by no
means what it had been. Sometimes silence, and sometimes disagreeable
cries in the streets and the theatres, indicated this. The disheartened and
suffering people could not understand how the Prime Minister could properly
conduct the public business while seen daily with the Queen or heard of at her
parties ; nor how so much money could be properly spent upon the Queen's
banquets and balls while so many poor were starving ; nor how the Queen
could enjoy festivities for six days in the week while there was so much
mourning in the land. When one pistol shot after another was directed
at the Queen's carriage within two or three years, it was clearly proved in
each case that there was no conspiracy, and no immediate working of po-
litical discontent ; yet the general impression was that the odious act might
not have been attempted in a season of prosperity and satisfaction. The first
case, which occurred on the 10th of June, 1840, was a type of the rest, and
may serve for a notice of them all. A youth of eighteen or nineteen, named
Oxford, who was foolish, if not insane, fired two pistol shots at the Queen in
her phaeton on Constitution Hill. He was poor and ignorant : and it was so Annual Register,
. - \ 1840. Law Cases,
impossible to find any cause for the act, that he was pronounced insane, and p. 245.
given over to a lunatic asylum for life. On this first occasion, the excitement
was so strong — " members of parliament applying for locks of Oxford's hair
when it was cut off" — the whole aristocratic crowd in the Parks escorting
the Queen home with cheers, and the affair appearing in capital letters in the
newspapers for weeks, that it is not surprising that an ignorant person here
and there, with a morbid longing for notoriety, should try to get it by shooting
at the Queen. This became so well understood after a time, and it was clear
that the risk to the Queen was, at the same time, so nearly nothing, that such
affairs were treated as they should be — as nuisances which might best be put
a stop to by contempt and an ignominious punishment : and, during the next
period, an act passed by which such a prank was punished by whipping,
accompanying imprisonment or transportation. The most abiding incident
connected with this first attack is one which it is now — and was yet more at
the time — pleasant to note. At the top of Constitution Hill, the Queen spoke
to her husband, and the carriage, at his order, turned from the Hyde Park
entrance down Grosvenor Place. The Queen had thought of her mother, and
went to her that the Duchess of Kent might see that her daughter was safe before
any other notice of the attack reached her. Of such attacks no more mention
will be made. The Queen has no enemies among her people. Sovereigns
who lead innocent lives and have no political power have no enemies among
their people ; and the pointing of a pistol at the royal carriage — a pistol now
without a bullet, and now without a lock — by some poor creature who courts
arrest, is an incident of which this cursory notice is sufficient. . The first
occurrence of the kind, however, certainly did not tend to relieve the depres-
sion of the period.
VOJi. II. 3 H
418 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1840. Some accidents went to increase the gloom. There were several dockyard fires
' — •— ^— —^ happening so near together, and so mysteriously, as to excite fears of treacheiy :
DOCKYARD FIBES. jjut one proved to be from spontaneous combustion, and another from an accident.
STORMS. "j^g stOrms were severe and disastrous ; and one in the winter of 1839 was
more like a tropical hurricane than a mere winter storm in our own seas.
Twenty persons were killed in Liverpool streets, and a hundred drowned
on the neighbouring shores. Dublin was like a sacked city — some houses
compn.toAima. unroofed, and others burning from the flight of sparks and brands. The
nac, 1840, p. 256. °, . T i i /• • i i i -r
REPEAL AGITA- Repeal agitation was advancing in Ireland so formidably, that the Lord
compn.toAima- Lieutenant publicly declared at this time, that he should oppose to it the
nac, 1841, p. 255. ' i-iii /• i
whole power of the government ; and that all countenance of the government
should be withheld from those who took part in it. There had been a new,
though futile rebellion in Canada. As for the East — it required some courage
Ante, roi. i. P. to j00k tkat wav ^yhat a thoughtful man had been saying for years, that we
should be compelled to conquer China, was now coming true. In the next
period of our History we shall have to tell of the Chinese war which was now
TROUBLES m THE beginning. In India, matters were in a more fearful state still. The blow had
not fallen yet — the blow which annihilated an Indian army ; but it was felt
that something terrible was impending ; and in fact, some very bad news was
on the way. Under such accumulated gloom, destined yet to deepen for some
time, it was a thought of comfort to the nation that the Queen was safe in
BIRTH OF THE the honour and repose of a home: and it was a matter of general rejoicing
An'nuTR^uter,' when the blessings of that home were enriched by the birth of a daughter on
i84o.chron.no. the 21st of November, 1840.
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 419
CHAPTER XV.
SOME beneficent legislation took place during this period, three instances 1837 40.
of which were of such strong popular interest as to require notice in some - — -~*~— -
detail.
Up to this time, the Criminal Law of the country had not been accessible CRIMINAL LAW
. COMMISSION.
to those who lived under that law ; and it was no easy matter for professional
men to attain any competent knowledge of it. The Criminal Law of England
was contained in an immense and confused mass of documents ; — statutes,
ancient and modern records, reported decisions of the judges, and text books.
If the mind of every individual lawyer was required to deduce the law from
all these repositories, it was clear that the vast work would not really be done ;
and if the profession proceeded on tradition or in conventional agreement with
regard to the most commonly occurring cases, it does not appear that the depo-
sited law was of much practical use. It ill befitted a civilized state and an
enlightened age that the criminal law should not be clearly ascertained, and
laid.down in some depository accessible to all. This great work was appointed,
in 1833, to a royal commission, whose business it was to inquire how far it
might be expedient to reduce the whole criminal law of the country, written
and unwritten, into one digest ; and to report on the best manner of doing it.
In 1834, the Commissioners reported in favour of the object ; and they forth-
with proceeded with the work. One of the immediate results of the labours of
the Commissioners was the Bill passed in 1836 for allowing the assistance of
counsel to prisoners in criminal cases. In 1837, a far more important ameliora- Political Diction.
,. i • -, aiy, i. p.700.
tion was achieved.
For some years past, public opinion had tended more and more towards the RESTRICTION OF
abolition of the punishment of death. From the time when Sir Samuel ™ DEATH"*"
Romilly began his disclosures of the effects of severity of punishment, there
had been a growing conviction that severity of punishment tends to the in-
crease of crime. Whatever other objections to the punishment of death might
exist — some denying the right to take away human life at all — some denounc-
ing the cruelty of cutting off a man at the moment of his being laden with
crime — others pointing to the cases of innocent persons who had been hanged
— the broad ground of the impolicy of the penalty lay open to its opponents
of every class. It had been found, as often as tried, that the average of par-
ticular crimes lessened after the remission of the death-penalty, while the
number of convictions increased largely in proportion. Prosecutors and juries
would do their duty to society, when that duty no longer required of them
what they considered the murder of the individual culprit. Justice became
more certain ; and with certainty in the administration of justice comes in-
variably decrease of crime. Those who knew these things had arrived at
advocating a total abolition of the punishment of death ; and the facts and
420 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 — 40. figures they exhibited certainly appeared to leave no doubt as to the past
operation of the principle of leniency, and no reasonable ground for question
of its having the same effect in the future. The Government and the Crimi-
nal Law Commissioners, who were not prepared for such a change as society at
large now seemed to desire, pleaded that there might be a danger of revulsion
to a vindictive system, if, by any accident, grave crimes should increase soon
after the abolition of the death -penalty — a plea which might as well have been
urged against any remission whatever, and which took for granted the almost
impossible supposition that society can go back to a barbarous system, after
having achieved emancipation from it. Lord John Russell, especially, fell
into his usual apprehension of " going too fast," in his usual forgetfulness that
it is impossible to go too fast towards any object, unless there is some reason
for going slower. — It is probable, however, that there were unavowed reasons
for going slower. It is probable that those reasons lay in the difficulty of
knowing what to do with the criminals now cleared off by the halter. Our
system of secondary punishments is so imperfect — our methods are so desul-
tory and vacillating, and our failures have been of such serious import, that
any government might feel perplexed about the disposal of a new and more
desperate class of felons which wrould be brought under its care by the aboli-
tion of the punishment of death. If they had ventured to state this as their
difficulty, instead of bringing forward pleas which every body saw to be un-
tenable, the enemies of death-punishment would have perceived at once that
the direct way to their object was by taking in hand the subject of secondary
punishments. But such an avowal — that men must be hanged because we
did not know what else to do with them — could not be made by any govern-
ment— either in decency, .or because no man could be hanged after such an
avowal. So the Commissioners and the Government contented themselves
with giving reasons which nobody believed in for limiting instead of abolish-
ing the punishment of death. It is possible that they might have remitted
more, or the whole, if they had been as well aware as every government ought
to be of the state of public opinion and feeling on a matter of which every
man and every woman was capable of judging.
There can be no doubt that the courage and enterprise of the Ministers and
the Commissioners were much stimulated by the exertions of Mr. Ewart in
Parliament, and of many sensible men and able lawyers elsewhere, to concen-
trate the prevalent feeling and opinion against death-punishment altogether ;
or in all cases but murder. In 1837, the Commissioners recommended the
remission of the death-penalty in twenty-one out of thirty-one cases in which
the liability had hitherto existed. They thought this extremely bold — feared
they were going faster and further than Government would approve — and did
not know what Lord John Russell would think of so sweeping a change.
Lord John Russell thought it bold, but enjoyed the prospect of throwing so
great a boon into the lap of the nation and its representatives. On the morning
of the day of debate, one of the Commissioners went to prepare Lord John
Russell for the occasion, by putting him in possession of the knowledge and
the proposals of the Commissioners. A friend begged him to tell the Minister
that some people thought the House and the nation more ready than he was
aware of for the abolition of the death-penalty, and that he must not be sur-
CHAP. XV.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 421
prised if he found it so. From the Minister's surprise at the result of that 1837 — 40.
night's debate, it was clear that he had had no warning. "— ^ '
On the 23rd of March, Lord John Russell had asked leave to bring in a M™^. xxxvii-
Bill — the first of the series which was to reduce the number of capital offences.
On the 19th of May, the Order of the Day for the necessary Committee was
read. The Ministerial proposition was to remit the death-penalty in 21 cases;
and to restrict it considerably in some of the 10 which remained. Mr. Ewart
moved an amendment, confining the penalty of death to the one case of delibe-
rate murder — scarcely disguising, in Lord John Russell's opinion, his object
of obtaining an abolition of the punishment as soon after as possible. The
Minister declared himself extremely surprised at the turn the debate had taken Hansard, xxxviu.
before the division. Instead of rejoicing in the great boon which he was
offering, and which he had supposed might be thought too daring, the House
treated him as if he had been proposing to make the law more instead of less
stringent. The Ministerial adherents took the alarm ; and it was understood
that the Whig whipper-in strained every nerve to rally members for a division
which they had concluded to be perfectly safe without them. The result of
these exertions was a Ministerial majority of 1. — The Bills passed the Lords Hansard, xxxvm.
on the 14th of July, Lord Brougham observing that nothing but the pressure *^2sard' xxxviii-
of time prevented his endeavouring to amend these measures, by making the
remission of the death-penalty extend to all crimes, except that of murder ;
and he did not know that he should venture to except that — so convinced was
he that capital punishment tended to the increase of crime and the impairing
of justice.
The Criminal Law Commission continued its labours till 1845, when it
expired; but revived, with an addition to its numbers, for the further prosecu-
tion of its objects. The Commissioners had then presented eight Reports — COMM^ION ™E
of high value. Besides the subjects already mentioned, they reported on the Political Diction-
treatment of juvenile offenders, and upon the consolidation of the general
statute law. Their digest of our Criminal Law, entitled " The Act of Crimes
and Punishments," is considered to have fulfilled the purpose of their appoint-
ment, and to be a national benefit too great to be fully appreciated but through
lapse of time. The new Commission of 1845, which included the members
of the former one, was appointed for the revision of this Act of Crimes and
Punishments, in preparation for its being made the law of the land. A sub-
sequent Report, by the members of the old Commission, on the law of proce-
dure as regards indictable offences, was likewise given to the new Commission
for revision, in the hope of its also becoming law. These preparations for ren-
dering the Criminal Law of England clear, intelligible, and accessible in its
statement to all, and the prosecution of offences simple, direct, and certain,
are an honourable sign of the times, and a credit to the administration of the
period.
The session of 1839 was a memorable one to at least half the nation for TODvNBiSLuU8~
yielding the first act of what must become a course of legislation on behalf of
the rights of women, who are in so many ways oppressed by the laws of Eng-
land that Lord Brougham's objection to the measure was based on his fear
to touch a mass of laws so cruel and indefensible as that all must come down
if any part were brought into question. The object now was to obtain for
422 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 — 40. mothers of irreproachable conduct who should be separated from their hus-
bands, access to their young children by petition to the Judges, in whose
power it was to regulate the terms of that access. When this was clearly
stated in the House in 1838 — when it was declared that by the law of
England a husband of the most profligate character had the power of pre-
venting his virtuous wife from ever seeing her children — that it was on behalf
only of mothers irreproachable in the eye of the law that access to their
children was asked for — and that this access was to be obtained only by
permission of the Equity Judges, — the object sought appeared so mere a fraction
of what was due to domestic claims, so small a restitution of natural rights
profusely stolen by a barbarous law, that the Bill — called the Custody of
Infants' Bill — was passed by the Commons rapidly, and by large majorities.
In the Lords, however, there was opposition ; and Lord Brougham recorded
his views in a speech which ought to be preserved as a specimen of the morality
professed in high places in the 19th century. In Hansard, the speech stands
Hansard, xiir. 779 entire, for the use of future historians, and the amazement of future moralists.
What we have to do with here is the statement of the spirit and structure of
the Marriage law as regards the rights of the wife, at the date of the contro-
versy about the Custody of the children.
LORD BROUGHAM " He was ready to admit — that the law was harsh and cruel in its operation
ON THE POSITION , 1 • 1 1 1 l
OF WIVES. on those cases which had been stated ; and also that their small number was
no guarantee that many more did not exist which had never seen the light.
His noble friend had stated the evils of the present state of the law ; he had
shown how unjust the law was with regard to the treatment and the custody
of the offspring of the wife by her husband; he had shown how it had
operated harshly on the wife ; and he had pointed out instances in which that
law might have entailed evil on the children; and then he contended" that his
Bill must be accepted as a remedy, because it would be a less evil than the
evils pointed out. But there were many evils which the Bill did not profess
to remedy. Could any thing be more harsh or cruel than that the wife's
goods and chattels should be at the mercy of the husband, and that she might
work and labour, and toil for an unkind father to support his family and
children, while the husband repaid her with harshness and brutality, he all
the time rioting and revelling in extravagance and dissipation, and squander-
ing in the company of guilty paramours the produce of her industry ? The
law was silent to the complaints of such a woman ; or, if not silent, all it said
was that in the sweat of her brow she should eat her bread: and not only so;
but that in the sweat of her brow her husband should eat his bread, and spend
the produce of her industry in insulting her by lavishing her property on his
paramours. He knew that there were anomalies and a thousand contradic-
tions in the Marriage law; but the existence of those anomalies and con-
tradictions should operate as so many warnings against the introduction of
new anomalies and changes in that Marriage law In that action" (an
action for damages against an alleged paramour) " the character of a woman
was sworn away. Instances were known in which by collusion between the
husband and a pretended paramour, the character of the wife had been
destroyed. All this could take place, and yet the wife had no defence. She
was excluded from Westminster Hall ; and, behind her back, by the principles
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 423
of our jurisprudence, her character was tried between the husband and the 1837 — 40.
man called her paramour. But what was the case when the man was the v— —>'•-" — "
guilty party ? What legislation was there in favour of the wife ? Was it just
that in her sufferings she should have no remedy, no sufficient remedy ; but
rather be left to the mockery and insult of her husband ? The husband might
pursue his course : he might refuse to live with his wife, unless she went to
Doctors' Commons, and demanded a restitution of conjugal rights, which no
woman of delicacy could well do. A wife had the greatest difficulty to obtain a
separation in the case of adultery. There had been two cases only before that
House in which such relief had been granted ; the one being a case in which
incest had been proved. The present state of the law was such as to bring
out a passive resistance on the part of the sex, which felt that they were not
properly represented in the legislature. Having shown that the law was not
more oppressive to the wife in this than in other cases, he now came to consider
whether the remedy proposed for the alleged evil was appropriate."
Lord Brougham's conclusion was adverse to the Bill : but that was of little
moment in view of the service he rendered to the oppressed by his exposure of
the position of married women in England. As he said, " they were not
properly represented in the legislature." They were not represented at all.
The party supposed, in works of political philosophy, to represent them are
precisely those against whom legislation is needed for their protection. In the
case before us, it was, as was openly declared at the time, precisely the men
who despised and distrusted women, and had no conception of such an ideal
as the virtuous matronage of England, who exerted themselves to prevent the
passage of the law which should permit a blameless mother occasionally to see
her children, by an order from the Equity Judges. On that night, when Lord
Brougham made his remarkable speech, the division was as remarkable as
any thing that took place. Two tales were told in the course of the debates
on the Bill which melted the hearts of those who heard them. This was
one source of interest. Another was the dread on the part of certain peers
that this Bill would grant too much liberty to Englishwomen, and that they
would be encouraged to elope, if they had hope of any laws being made in
their favour — though it was only women who had not eloped who were the
objects of this Bill. The result was, in the words of Hansard, " The House Hansard, xiiv.
divided: content 9 : not content 11: majority 2. Bill thrown out." There DIVISION IN THE
follows, however, a sensible Protest against this rejection of the Bill, signed LoRDS-
by Lords Holland and Lyndhurst and the Duke of Sutherland.
The question was sure to come on again. When the position of mothers
had once been argued, the nation which had sent out Protectors of slaves,
and which was striving to put an end to one-sided and tyrannical legislation
in Jamaica, was not likely to neglect the suffering women at home whom
tyranny had bereaved of their children. In the next session the Bill was
passed.
There were circumstances connected with the final effort which can never BILL on sso.
be forgotten by the lawyers who prepared the Bill, the members of parliament
who supported it, or any women who heard of them ; for all the women of
Great Britain were insulted by the methods pursued to defeat the Bill. The
case stands out clear from the Law Magazines and the reviews of the time.
424 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 — 40. First, attacks were made on the motives and characters of the originators and
promoters of the Bill ; and this was made less difficult and more unmanly by
the fact being well known that it was at the instance of a bereaved mother
that redress was sought ; as it is always at the instance of sufferers that remedial
legislation is achieved. Next, an article appeared in the British and Foreign
Quarterly Review, which was intended to operate against the Bill, but which
probably wrought the other way. This article proceeded on the supposition
that all women are bent on mischief; and that the only way to manage them
is to place them under the absolute despotism of their husbands. In the
course of the argument or exposition,. several of the most eminent ladies in
Great Britain were insulted by name, and every woman in the world by im-
plication. This article, or the substance of it, was reprinted in pamphlet
form; and a copy of it was put into the hands of the peers as they entered
the House, by Lord Wynford, the chief agitator against the Bill. It did not
answer its purpose with those peers who really knew any thing of the matron-
age of England. The Bill was read a first time in the Commons on the 30th
of May> and the last time on the 28tb of June< Tne wil1 of the Commons
had been sufficiently shown the year before. When the second reading in
d> xlix< the Lords took place, Lord Wynford observed : " His noble and learned friend
had truly said that the custody of the children belonged by law to the father.
That was a wise law, for the father was responsible for the rearing up of the
children ; but when unhappy differences separated the father and mother, to
give the custody of the child to the father, and to allow access to it by the
mother, was to injure the child ; for it was natural to expect that the mother
would not instil into the child any respect for the husband whom she might
hate or despise. The effects of such a system would be most mischievous to
the child, and would prevent its being properly brought up." Lord Wynford
did not go on to say whether he thought it would be good for the child, in the
custody of a profligate father, to hear that father's way of speaking of the irre-
proachable mother ; — a way of speaking determined by the old rule that men
Hansard, xiix.493. hate those whom they have injured. — Lord Denman thought that " some
alteration, and that of a sweeping character, was absolutely necessary to the
due administration of justice, and for the prevention of the frightful injuries
to society which the present system gave birth to In the case of ' The
King v. Greenhill,' which had been decided in 1836, before himself and the
rest of the judges of the Court of King's Bench, he believed that there was not
one judge who had not felt ashamed of the state of the law ; and that it was
such as to render it odious in the eyes of the country. The effect in that case
was to enable the father to take his children from his young and blameless
wife, and place them in the charge of a woman with whom he then cohabited.
The present law was cruel to the wife, debasing to the husband, and danger-
ous, and probably ruinous, to the health and morals of the children, who could
not have any such sure guarantee against corruption, under the tutelage of a
profligate father, as the occasional care of a mother." Lord Denman emphati-
cally warned the Lords of the grave responsibility they would incur, both as
regarded the morals of society, and their relation to the other House of parlia-
ment, if they threw out this Bill, sent up now for the third time by such large
majorities of the Commons. Lord Wynford's postponing amendment was
CHA*. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 425
negatived without a division; the Bill was read a third time on the 2d, and 1837 — 40.
received the Royal Assent on the 17th, of August. If the Queen understood *— — ^-^-^
the full significance of this Bill, as the first blow struck at the oppression of Hansard, i. 369.
English legislation in relation to women, it must have been with singular
pleasure that she made the Bill law.
Another piece of beneficent legislation of this period was highly conserva-
tive of the domestic purity and happiness of Great Britain.
Mr. Rowland Hill, when a young man, was walking through the Lake dis- l°^~B°™tcE
trict, when he one day saw the postman deliver a letter to a woman at a cot-
tage door. The woman turned it over and examined it, and then returned it,
saying that she could not pay the postage, which was a shilling. Hearing
that the letter was from her brother, Mr. Hill paid the postage, in spite of the
manifest Unwillingness of the woman. As soon as the postman was out of
sight, she showed Mr. Hill how his money had been wasted, as far as she was
concerned. The sheet was blank. There was an agreement between her brother
and herself, that as long as all went well with him, he should send a blank
sheet in this way once a quarter ; and she thus had tidings of him without
expense of postage. Most people would have remembered this incident as
a curious story to tell : but Mr. Hill's was a mind which wakened up at once
to a sense of the significance of the fact. There must be something wrong in
a system which drove a brother and sister to cheating, in order to gratify their
desire to hear of one another's welfare. It was easy enough in those days for
any one whose attention was turned towards the subject, to collect a mass of
anecdotes of such cheating. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, lovers DOMESTIC OPE.
and friends, must have tidings of each other, where there is any possibility of
obtaining them ; and those who had not shillings to spend in postage — who
could no more spend shillings in postage than the class above them could
spend hundreds of pounds on pictures — would resort to any device of com-
munication, without thinking there was any harm in such cheating, because
no money was kept back from government which could have been paid. There
was curious dotting in newspapers, by which messages might be spelled out.
Newspapers being franked by writing on the covers the names of members of
parliament, a set of signals was arranged, by which the names selected were
made to serve as a bulletin. Men of business so wrote letters as that several
might go on one sheet, which was to be cut up and distributed. The smug-
gling of letters by carriers was enormous. After all expenditure of time and
ingenuity, there remained, however, a terrible blank of enforced silence. We
look back now with a sort of amazed compassion to the old crusading times,
when warrior-husbands and their wives, grey-headed parents and their brave
sons, parted with the knowledge that it must be months or years before they
could hear even of one another's existence. We wonder how they bore the
depth of silence. And we feel the same now about the families of Polar
voyagers. But, till a dozen years ago, it did not occur to many of us how like
this was the fate of the largest classes in our own country. The fact is, there
was no full and free epistolary intercourse in the country, except between
those who had the command of franks. There were few families in the wide
middle class who did not feel the cost of postage a heavy item in their ex-
penditure ; and if the young people sent letters home only once a fortnight,
VOL. n. 3 !
426 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 — 40. the amount at the year's end was a rather serious matter. But it was the vast
multitude of the lower orders who suffered like the crusading families of old,
and the geographical discoverers of all time. When once their families parted
off from home, it was a separation almost like that of death. The hundreds of
thousands of apprentices, of shopmen, of governesses, of domestic servants,
were cut off from family relations as if seas or deserts lay between them and
home. If the shilling for each letter could be saved by the economy of weeks
or months at first, the rarity of the correspondence went to increase the rarity :
new interests hastened the dying out of old Ones ; and the ancient domestic
affections were but too apt to wither away, till the wish for intercourse was
gone. The young girl could not ease her heart by pouring out her cares and
difficulties to her mother before she slept, as she can now, when the penny and
the sheet of paper are the only condition of the correspondence. The young
lad felt that a letter home was a somewhat serious and formal matter, when it
must cost his parents more than any indulgence they ever thought of for
themselves ; and the old fun and light-heartedness were dropped from such
domestic intercourse as there was. The effect upon morals of this kind of
restraint is proved beyond a doubt by the evidence afforded in the army. It
was a well-known fact, that in regiments where the commanding officer was
kind and courteous about franking letters for the privates, and encouraged
them to write as often as they pleased, the soldiers were more sober and
manly, more virtuous and domestic in their affections, than where difficulty
was made by the indolence or stiffness of the franking officer. To some per-
sons, this aspect has ever appeared the most important of the various interest-
OTHER EFFECTS jng aspects of the postage reform achieved by Mr. Rowland Hill. As for others,
it is impossible to estimate the advantages of the change. In reading Cowper's
Life, how strange now seems his expenditure of time, thought, and trouble,
about obtaining franks for the MS. and proofs of his Homer; — now, when
every mail carries packets between authors, printers, and publishers, for a few
pence, without any teazing solicitation for franks, or dependence upon any
body's good offices ! What a mass of tradesmen's patterns and samples, of
trade circulars, of bills and small sums of money, of music and books, of seeds
and flowers, of small merchandize and friendly gifts, of curious specimens pass-
ing between men of science, of bulletins of health to satisfy anxious hearts, is
every day sent abroad over the land — and now spreading over wide oceans and
across continents, through Rowland Hill's discovery of a way to throw down
the old barriers, and break through the ancient silence ! It was truly a benefi-
cent legislation which made this change.
It was not easy, however, to make the change. Long after the case was
rendered clear — long after the old evils and the new possibility were made as
evident as facts and figures can make any proposition — there was difficulty —
vexatious, even exasperating difficulty — in carrying the reform. One great
obstacle at the outset was, that the Post Office has, through all time, declared
itself perfect. As the Duke of Wellington declared of our representative system,
that it could not be improved, while the grass and trees of Old Sarum were
sending two members to parliament, so the Post Office declared itself perfect
when carts and saddle-horses carried its bags ; and again, when Mr. Palmer's
mail-coaches (declared an impossible creation in 1797) brought the Bath let-
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 427
tcrs to London in eighteen hours, and could take no notice of out-of-the-way 1837 — 40.
towns and small villages ; and again, when a letter from Uxbridge, posted on •*~-~-~v~~~^
Friday night, could not reach Gravesend till Tuesday morning ; and finally,
when the state of postal communication in Great Britain was what has been
indicated above. No postal reforms of a comprehensive character have ever
originated in the Post Office itself. This is natural ; because its officers are
wholly occupied with its interior affairs, and cannot look abroad so as to com-
pare its provisions with the growing needs of society. It required a pedestrian ROWLAND HILL.
traveller in the Lake district, making his way-side observations — an investi-
gator who could ascertain something of the extent of smuggling of letters — a
man of an open heart, who could enter into family sympathies — a man of philo-
sophical ingenuity, who could devise a remedial scheme — and a man of busi-
ness, who could fortify such a scheme with an impregnable accuracy — to
achieve such a reform. The man was among us, and the thing is done.
Mr. Hill ascertained that " the cost of mere transit incurred upon a letter HIS FACTS.
sent from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 400 miles, is not more than one P°"t-offlce Re-
form, p. 14, (3d
thirty-sixth part of a penny." When this was once made clearly known to edit)
the people of London and Edinburgh, it was not likely that they would be long
content to pay a shilling or upwards. It was not likely that rich merchants
would be content ; and much less the multitude to whom a shilling was a pro-
hibitory duty on correspondence. It would strike them all that if government
received such a profit as this on the transmission of letters, the government
must be getting much too rich at the expense of letter-writers, and to the
injury of persons who would fain write letters if they could. If it appeared,
however, that the revenue from the Post Office was unaccountably small — that
it was diminishing in actual amount, instead of increasing with the spread of
population — it was clear that the Post Office could not be so perfect as it
thought itself — that it was not answering its purpose — that, whatever might
be its mismanagement, and consequent expensiveness, there must also be an
enormous amount of smuggling of letters. And the facts were so. Between
the years 1815 and 1835, the Post Office annual revenue had declined; while, Post-omce Re.
on its own existing terms, it ought, from the increase of population, to have
risen £507,700: — from the mere increase of population it ought to have risen
thus much, without regard to the improvement of education, and the spread of
commerce, which had taken place in those twenty years.
The way to deal with smuggling is now very well understood. To ex-
tinguish smuggling, it is necessary to lower duties to the point which makes
smuggling not worth while. In some of the most populous districts of Eng-
land, it was believed that the number of letters illegally conveyed by carriers,
and delivered in an awkward and irregular sort of way at the cost of a penny
each, far exceeded that of the letters sent through the Post Office. The
penny posts established in towns were found to answer well. Putting to-
gether these and a hundred other facts with that of the actual cost of trans-
mission of an Edinburgh letter, Mr. Hill proposed to reduce the cost of all HIS PROPOSAL.
letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight to a penny. The shock to the
Post Office of such an audacious proposal was extreme ; and so was the amaze-
ment of the public at the opening of such a prospect. As the actual cost of
transmission to any part of the kingdom reached by the mail was less than a
428 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1837 — 40. farthing, the penny rate might be made uniform — to the saving of a world of
" — — ^-—^ time and trouble — and still the profit or tax would be 200 per cent. Mr. Hill's
calculation was, that if the postage could be paid in advance, so as to save time
and labour in deli very, and other facilities of communication be established, which
he pointed out, and the postage be reduced to a penny for half-ounce letters,
the increase in the number of letters, by the stoppage of smuggling and the
new cheapness, must soon be four-fold. When it became four-fold, the net
revenue, after defraying the expense of conveying franks and newspapers,
fo°rm,0pfflC2G Re~ would amount to £1,278,000 per annum : a sum only £280,000 less than the
existing revenue. As no one supposed that the increase would ultimately be
so little as four-fold, there was every prospect that the Post Office revenue
would, in a few years, recover its then present amount directly; while it was
certain that, under other heads, the revenue must be largely increased through
the stimulus given to commerce by improved communication. Lord Lowther,
the Post-Master-General, had already proposed the cheap transmission of prices
current, as important to the interests of trade : and if the same advantage
could be extended to all papers connected with commerce, there was no saying
how great would be the stimulus communicated to business of every kind.
When Mr. Hill proposed his plan, the revenue was in a flourishing state ; in a
state which would justify such an experiment as this for such ends. It is well
that none foreknew the reverse which was at hand, and the long depression
which must ensue ; for none might have had courage to go into the enter-
prise : but that reverse served admirably as a test of the reform ; and through
the long depression which ensued, Mr. Hill's plan, though cruelly maimed,
and allowed at first no fair chance, worked well while every thing else was
working ill. The revenue from the Post Office went on steadily increas-
ing, while every other branch of the national income was declining or
stationary.
Some years before this time, Mr. Charles Knight had suggested that the
best way of collecting a penny postage on newspapers would be by the use of
stamped covers. Mr. Hill now availed himself of this idea, acknowledging its
origin. By means of a penny letter stamp, the Post Office might be saved all
the trouble of collecting postage, and the delivery be immensely accelerated.
If residents in towns would have generally adopted his suggestion of having
letter-boxes, with a slit, affixed to the inside of their street-doors, it would
have been a further important saving of time — the postman having only to
drop the letters into the box, knock at the door, and run on, instead of having
to wait for the answer to his knock. This piece of justice to the scheme is
not yet practised nearly to the extent that it ought to be : but, notwithstanding
this, and many other needless impediments to the transaction of Post Office
business, the quantity of work done without increase of the staff is prodigious.
THE MOVEMENT. Mr. Hill had to endure something of the bitter disappointment which is the
usual portion of great social reformers ; but, from the enlightenment of the
age, his mortifications were neither so complete nor so durable as those of
Pout. Die., ii. many benefactors of society. He first proffered his plan privately to the govern-
ment. Next, he published his first pamphlet on Post Office Reform, when the
commercial world became interested at once, and forced the scheme on the in-
different and indolent administration. Mr. Wallace moved, but without avail,
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
for a select committee of the Commons, to investigate and report upon the 1837 40.
plan, in February, 1838; the government declaring, in both Houses, that the ^— — v~^^
matter was under their consideration. Petitions came up to parliament from Hansard,- xxxviu.
1099 • xl. 901.
Chambers of Commerce, the Common Council of London, the merchants and
bankers of London, literary societies, and other bodies, which indicated to the
Ministers that this was not a matter to be trifled with. They showed their
interest in a way which amused their friends and enemies alike — by proposing
little schemes, and alterations, and devices of their own, which proved only
that they were very courageous in one direction, if not in another. They feared
endangering the revenue ; but they did not fear to place themselves and their
little notions side by side with the man and the scheme in whom and in which
the nation placed confidence. Neither they nor the administration who suc-
ceeded them, could see that the plan was a grand whole, which demanded to
be left entire, and to be worked by him who had devised it ; and both cabinets
were for pulling it in pieces, themselves, or by permission to the old Post
Office to do it — being ready, all the time, to make its author responsible for
the disasters that might happen through the very mutilation of the scheme.
Mr. Spring Rice won for himself the title of " The Footman's Friend," given
by a merry newspaper when he proffered his own little scheme of a new post-
age which should save flunkies the trouble of carrying ladies' notes. When
the special committee was granted, and up to nearly the close of its labours,
in August, 1838, the chairman, a government official, and other members of his
way of thinking, declared to their friends in the clubs and in drawing-rooms,
that the present agitation would probably induce a considerable reduction of
the rate of postage ; but, as to the adoption of Mr. Hill's plan, it was the most
absurd idea that any one could entertain ; — too absurd to be worth a reply.
Some of these gentlemen continued to say the same thing till within six weeks
of the introduction of Mr. Hill's measure into the House of Commons by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, on July 5, 1839. The evidence obtained in com- Hansard, xivm.
mittee was irresistible : the demand of a trial of the plan by the commercial
world and the general public was irresistible : the pressure of reason and will
together was irresistible; and the plan was affirmed by a majority of 102 in Hansard, xii*.304.
the Commons, and made law on the 17th of August following. TH^RE^ORM
For a few wreeks, a uniform four-penny rate was charged, that the Post *" *^T1
Office might not be overwhelmed at once by a deluge of penny letters, before METHOD.
its officials had become accustomed to the new method of charging by weight :
but on the 10th of January, 1840, the real scheme was tried. The inland rate REAL SCHEME
was now a penny for every pre-paid packet not exceeding | oz. in weight,
and 2d. for every such packet not paid in advance : double the rate for packets
above \ oz. and under 1 oz. ; and 2d. more if pre-paid, 4(7. if unpaid, for
every oz. or fraction of an oz. beyond. There was much amusing excitement
every where about putting the plan into practice — some (but not enough)
affixing of letter-boxes to house-doors — some mistakes, such as forgetting to
pre-pay (at which correspondents were wrathful) — or slipping a letter and
a penny together into the box at the post office — a great stimulus to the
manufacture of frank weights, and a great fertility of invention about enve-
lopes, stamps, paper that could not be imitated, and gums that were warranted
harmless and seemly. Mulready furnished a design for an envelope which
430 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1837 — 40. had much merit — but two great defects : — it did not leave space for a long
- address, or one made long by the scrawling of the illiterate ; and it rendered
stale some signs of emotion which should never be made irreverently familiar
— as the uplifted hands and eyes of the widowed mother who is receiving a
letter from an absent son. That envelope was soon laid aside, and the more
convenient stamp introduced, of the Queen's head in one corner. When this
stamp became procurable either separately or on the envelope, and when its
being on a blue ground came to denote its being a 2cL stamp, the machinery
of convenience was at length complete to the public, as far as letters were con-
cerned. The stamps came into use on the 6th of May. Franking entirely
ceased on the day when the penny rate was introduced ; and the people were
amused with the idea that the Queen herself was paying postage. This
abolition of the franking privilege was declared by those who had previously
been free from postage charges to be more felt by them than they could have
supposed possible. They found their postage expenditure to be mounting up
to many pounds in the year; and a multitude of them who had not before
considered the matter now saw how right it was that the aristocracy should
pay their share towards a tax which had hitherto never touched them, while
it bore hardly upon the poorest in the land who could read and write.
R'ESUMS™ ^ne resu^ts °f tne P^an a^ter a Jear's adoption were as encouraging as could
be at all expected under the unfavourable circumstances of commercial distress
and of the plan being tried by halves. The reduction of postage was tried,
without the accompanying condition of improved facilities in the transmission
and delivery of letters ; and large expenses were incurred which had nothing
to do with the new plan, but which went into the general account of the
Post Office. The increase in the number of chargeable letters was two and
Results of thcNew a naif fold: and these yielded more than half the former gross revenue of
Postage, p. 13. ' J f °
the Post Office : the increase of expense in connexion with the plan was about
£44,000 : and the actual net revenue was £465,000 — a falling-oif of nearly
three-fourths from the former net revenue. Mr. Hill had predicted a state of
things somewhat less favourable than this as the result of the first year's
experiment, under these particular heads : but he had hoped that the profit-
able parts of his plan would have been tried, as well as those which must
bring present loss. Those who understood the matter, however, had now no
further doubt of ultimate success, even in regard to the pecuniary returns of
the Post Office, while the increased facilities for business, for the promotion of
science and the arts, and for family intercourse, were felt and acknowledged
in the remotest corners of the British islands. As Mr. Hill had himself the
pleasure of knowing, " the postman had now to make long rounds through
humble districts where, heretofore, his knock was seldom heard." As for the
number of letters sent by post, it appears to have been at this time more than
Results, &c. p. 7. double what it was before the reduction of postage. There was reason to
suppose that, if the plan was fairly tried, five years would suffice to restore the
gross revenue of the Post Office, while the advantages to other branches of the
revenue would be meantime perpetually on the increase. The proportion of
pre-paid letters was continually on the increase as people learned to manage
their own share of the plan ; and this incessantly diminished the labour of the
Post Office. The transmission of small sums of money by post office orders
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
was becoming more and more common, not only aiding the transaction of 1837 — 40.
business, but carrying comfort into thousands of humble homes. The stamps v~— ~**~" "
themselves became a convenient form of small currency. The illicit con-
veyance of letters ceased at once, when the Post Office became the cheapest
means of conveyance. Thus the prospect was cheering in every way but one.
The one drawback was that the plan was not fairly worked. The Post Office
authorities were hostile to the change ; and neither the existing government
nor that which succeeded it supported Mr. Hill. Even while he was engaged
under the Melbourne Ministry, to superintend the working of his own plan,
it was adopted only by halves : and immediately on the succession of the Peel
administration, he was dismissed, and the scheme left, as far as the public
would allow it, to the mercy of the hostile post-office authorities.
At the end of three years, no part of Mr. Hill's plan had been fully tried FURTHER
but that of the reduction of postage. Little was done towards the simplifica-
tion of arrangements or the introduction of economy : and almost nothing in
regard to increased speed in the delivery, or facility for the despatch, of letters.
The times were fearfully bad ; yet, according to a return made to the House
of Lords, the results were that the gross revenue had reached two-thirds of its Mr. mil's Petition
old amount ; and that the net revenue of the Post Office was increasing from A^rii 4th™i843?'
year to year, while every other branch of revenue was decreasing. But Mr.
Hill was only for a time cast out and discouraged. All parties became
convinced at last, as the public at large were throughout, that he was
essential to the working of his own plan ; and he was solicited to return to
his task of superintendence in the Post Office. Since that time, various
reforms and beneficial arrangements have been introduced; and even his
ultimate scheme of a parcel-post is in partial operation. In time, the nation
will have the whole.
Meanwhile it hardly needs to be pointed out, that though the fiscal results
of the plan are those which must be first considered by parliament and other
branches of the government, they ai'e not those which are most important to
the nation at large. It is all very well that the revenue should rise to what it
was before, and that increase should be perceptible in other branches of the
revenue from the stimulus of aid afforded to commerce : but the nation is far
more deeply interested in the operation of the scheme on the promotion of
science, on the daily convenience to millions of persons, and especially on the
domestic morals of the people. The blessings which have thus accrued are
too vast for estimate. It is believed most firmly by those who know best — by
those whose walk is among the great middle and greater lower classes of
society — that no one has done so much as Mr. Rowland Hill in our time in
drawing closer the domestic ties of the nation, and extending the influences
of home over the wide-spreading, stirring, and most diverse interests of social
life in our own country. And from our own country, the blessing is reaching
many more ; and cheap postage is becoming established in one nation after
another, extending the benefits of the invention among myriads of men who
have not yet heard the name of its author. The neighbourly shilling given in
the Lake district was well laid out.
432 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XVI.
1836 — 41. /~\NE of the last subjects of importance discussed in parliament before the
*-— — ~— -^ v_/ Melbourne Ministry went out of power was the Privilege question, the
PARLIAMENT. origin of which has been related. On account of some amusing incidents which
attended the discussion, and of the intricacy of the question, the press and the
public treated the matter with a levity or an indifference which appeal-
much out of place amidst the seriousness of an historical review. The grave
truth of the case was that an apparent incompatibility had arisen between the
privileges of the Commons and the rights of the subject; and the Court of
Queen's Bench and Parliament were directly at issue. The affair had become
what is called a dead lock. No one could see how a step could be taken in
any direction but into deadly mischief; and yet it was necessary that some-
thing should be done.
1836. In November, 1836, Chief-Justice Denman had declared from the Bench his
c™IE ° opinion that the authority of the House of Commons could not justify the publi-
cation of a libel : whereas the House and its officers maintained that the pub-
lisher of their Reports Was not subject to action for libel, as he published under
the authority of the parliament ; and the question of the powers and privileges
of parliament could not be brought into discussion or decision before any
other court or tribunal than parliament itself, without subjecting the parties
concerned to the displeasure and the penalties of parliament for a high breach
of its privileges. This was the decision arrived at by the Special Committee
1837. which reported on the subject in May, 1837.
The case now stood thus. Messrs. Hansard, the parliamentary printers,
had published certain Reports on Prisons, in one of which a book, published
by J. J. Stockdale, was called " obscene and disgusting in the extreme."
Stockdale prosecuted the Hansards for a libel. The Hansards pleaded the
authority of parliament. The judge, Chief-Justice Denman, declared that
parliament could not authorize the publication of libels on individuals.
Parliament not only insisted that it could publish what it pleased, but that
itself was the sole judge of its own powers and privileges, and that for any
person to call them in question in any Court was a high breach of privilege.
Both parties supposed themselves engaged in vindicating the liberty of the
subject — Lord Denman believing that he was saving individuals from being
oppressed by the most powerful body in the realm; and the House of
Commons believing that the liberty of the subject was essentially involved in
the liberties of the representative and legislative body.
Stockdale continued his prosecution of the Hansards. The Hansards, who
put themselves under the protection of the House, were directed to plead.
The verdict was given against them, and damages were assessed, which the
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 433
House directed the Hansards to pay ; because, having pleaded, they could not 18*36 — 41.
repudiate the result of the trial. "— - -v— — -
On the 31st of July, 1839, the Hansards informed the House that they
were threatened with a similar action by another person, in relation to another
Report. They were this time desired to take no notice, to make no preparations, ^sardi xlix-
as the action threatened would be regarded by the House as a breach of its
privileges, and punished accordingly. The matter was supposed to be settled
by the person said to be aggrieved in the Report declaring that he had never
had any intention of prosecuting the printers. But Stockdale was not quiet
yet. Before August was out, he brought a third action for the same libel —
the sale of every fresh Copy being considered in law a separate publication of
the libel. The Hansards were directed by the Speaker to let matters take
their course : and they merely served Stockdale with a formal notice of the
resolutions of the House of Commons of May, 1837, and August, 1839.
The damages were laid at £50,000. As the Hansards would not plead,
judgment went against them by default; and a jury in the Sheriff's court
assessed the damages at £600.
The Sheriffs were brought into the affair sorely against their will : and it THE SREBWFS.
was their embarrassing predicament which caused the mirth of the newspapers
throughout the rest of the transaction. The Sheriffs of London (together
constituting one Sheriff of Middlesex) were Messrs. William Evans and John
Wheelton. First, they petitioned the Courts to allow time, before the assess-
ing of the damages, that parliament might be in session : but no delay was
permitted, and they were obliged to proceed to the assessment on the 12th of
November. Stockdale then pressed them on, and they were compelled to Annual Register,
. 1840, p. 20.
seize the printing office, premises, and stock in trade, of the Hansards. On
their reporting on the 29th of November that they had done so, Stockdale
served them with an order to sell the property, that he might obtain his
damages. The Sheriffs were thus placed between two fires of wrath. The
House of Commons was pledged to punish them, on the one hand, for daring
to meddle with its printer; and the Court of Queen's Bench would punish
them, on the other hand, if they refused to levy the money. Either the
Speaker would send them to Newgate, or Chief-Justice Denman would send
them to the Marshalsea. Again they asked for time ; and some delay was
granted — until the 19th of December — for making their return. The sale was
fixed for the 17th : but, to avoid the scandal and other evils of the spectacle,
the money was paid into the Sheriff's court on the night of the 16th. To put
off extremities as long as possible, the Sheriffs delayed paying the money to
Stockdale. The Court of Queen's Bench granted a rule, calling upon them
to show cause, on the 17th of January, why they did not pay the money.
Meantime parliament assembled; and on the 16th, Lord J. Russell laid the
whole case before the House, and pressed for an immediate decision of this Hansard, 11.4 1.49.
perplexing and dangerous matter.
The House might now either follow its ancient method of asserting its privi- THK HOUSE.
lege by committing those who had violated it — in which case, it must commit
not only Stockdale and his attorney Howard, but the Sheriffs and their
officers, and the Chief-Justice and his coadjutors — or it might yield its privileges
so far as to let the Hansards plead, and so permit the question of Privilege to
VOL. n. 3 K
434 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1836 — 41. come before the Courts — or it might yield another of its privileges, by con-
— —^— i — fining the circulation of its Reports among its own members; or it might
now pass a bill to authorize such a publication of their Reports as had been
made by Messrs. Hansard. The one thing that was impossible was that the
House could allow matters to remain as they were. It had unfortunately
vacillated in its course, by authorizing the Hansards to plead in one case, and
forbidding them to do so in the-next — and now it must repair the mischief of
its own vacillation.
The House decided on asserting its privileges. For the sake of decency, or
what was called public convenience, it would refrain from calling the Judges
to its bar, though it had indubitable power to do so. It would endeavour to
stop the assaults upon its privileges by laying hold of the inferior officers who
were acting in contempt. The Sheriffs were therefore, as it was decided by a
Hansard, u. ioi. large majority, to appear at the bar of the House, bringing with them all the
documents and authorities under which they had acted.
On the next night, January 17th, it was decided that Stockdale should be
Hansard, u. 190. committed under the Speaker's warrant, for breach of privilege. On the 18th,
THE SHERIFFS AT the Sheriffs were brought up to the bar of the House. They admitted that
THE BAR. .,, . . •
Hansard, u. 204. the money was still in their agent's hands. They were ordered to attend
again on Monday the 20th. By that day it became known that the Court of
Queen's Bench would the next morning be moved to compel the Sheriffs to
pay the money to Stockdale : and the House must therefore act vigorously
this night. It decided to order the Sheriffs to refund the money. The
Sheriffs were summoned to the bar, and appeared in their scarlet robes, when
the Speaker informed them of the order of the House that they should refund
the money, and invited them to speak, if they had any thing to say. They
Hansard, H. 344. bowed in silence and withdrew. Lord J. Russell then moved the commitment
of the Sheriffs for contempt : but the subject was left over to the next day,
Hansard, H. 359. when two petitions were presented from the Sheriffs, praying that they might
not be punished for endeavouring to do their duty under the orders of the
Court of Queen's Bench. Their petitions were not received, and they were
THE SHERIFFS IN committed to the custody of the Sergeant-at-arms. Stockdale's attorney,
Howard, was called in; and, as he expressed sorrow at having offended the
House, he was merely reprimanded and discharged.
Three days afterwards, the Sergeant-at-arms came to the bar of the House
to know what he was to do. He had been served with a writ of Habeas
Hansard, u. 549. Corpus from the Court of Queen's Bench commanding him to produce the
QI'EEN-S BENCH. Sheriffs in that Court. The House directed him to inform the Court that he
held them in custody for breach of the privileges of the House. He took
them to the Court accordingly, to make this declaration. It was a remarkable
scene ; and one which would not safely bear a repetition. As the Sheriffs in
their robes passed along in custody, from their apartments under the House
to the Court, they were loudly cheered ; and the lawyers in the Court made
no secret of their sympathy being with the prisoners. Every body, of all
parties, pitied them as victims in a quarrel about which it was no business of
theirs to decide. The Court declared the reasons of the Sergeant-at-arms to
be good and sufficient ; and he took away his prisoners as he had brought
them.
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 435
On the same day, the 25th of Jaimary, Stockdale, though in prison, com- 1836 — 41.
menced a new action against the Hansards, his agent being the same Howard — .— v~—~ ^
who had just expressed his sorrow for having offended the House. Howard
was ordered up again, on the 27th, when the affair was next discussed : but
Howard was not to be found. A warrant for his arrest was issued on the 4th
of February ; and on the 6th he was brought up in custody, and committed to
Newgate. The House had now two sets of prisoners in different places of
confinement : and nobody could conceive what was to be done with them, or
how any end of this embarrassing matter was to be reached. The House was
so unpopular that it was clear that the general public did not at all compre-
hend the nature and extent of the dispute. By some, Lord Denman was
regarded as an audacious judge, setting up his judgment and his Court
against the mighty popular body of the Commons ; while by others, he was
lauded as a defender of the rights of the subject against an overbearing parlia^
ment. Every body pitied the Sheriffs, and every body quizzed them. The
print-shops were full of caricatures of them — sitting in their well-warmed
apartment, with a smoking dinner on the table, or in court dresses with a
circle of admiring sympathizers pressing consolation upon them. Meantime,
here, on the 7th of February, were matters as before at a dead lock.
Sir R. Peel said that the time was now come for the Ministers to propose Hansard, iu. er.
some comprehensive course for extricating the House from its difficulty.
Lord J. Russell was responsible for the peace of the country : and if he could
say that he hoped to pass a Bill which should make the powers of the House
certain and complete, he would undoubtedly have the support of the House.
On being called to a division, the members decided not to release the Sheriffs. Hansard, m. GO.
On the 12th, however, it was certified by the medical attendant of one of the
Sheriffs, Mr. Wheelton, that his patient's life would be endangered by a longer
confinement ; and Mr. Wheelton was released, without payment of his fees. RELEASE OF SHE.
An attempt to procure Mr. Evans's discharge, on a plea of health, failed, two Hansard, HI. 150.
days, and again a fortnight, afterwards. Then, on the 17th of February, there
was notice of a fifth action of Stockdale against the Hansards ; and the House
passed a vote of censure and threat. There were more arrests ; and the odium Hansard, m. 320.
excited by these proceedings, while no progress was apparently made towards
a conclusion, was so great that the affair was now truly an alarming one. o*™™^^™
The time of the House was occupied, night after night, to the injury of public
business : placards met the eye on the walls of London at every turn, all
denouncing the tyranny of the House : and in the country, the health of the
Sheriffs was drunk at public dinners with three times three. Every body
could see the tyrannical aspect of the affair, while few understood the supreme
importance of the privileges of parliament : and there were not many news-
papers wise enough to give the information. By this time, the public were
saying, and hoping, that parliament would be beaten at last ; and this hastened
the action of the House. Sir R. Peel was of opinion that it would be expedient
now to resort to enactment, the House reserving to itself the power to act
without it if the process of legislation should fail. This was done. Lord J.
Russell brought in a Bill on the 5th of March, by which it was enacted that Hansard, m. 949.
the Courts should stay all proceedings against any parliamentary papers, on the ME^r0*
production of a certificate signed by either the Lord Chancellor or the Speaker,
436 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V
1836 — 41. that such papers were printed by order of parliament. A clause in this Bill
x~— -~>^—- ^ put a stop to the proceedings against the Hansards. The motion to bring in
Hansard, in. 1026. the Bill was carried by a maiority of 149 in a House of 257. On the same
RELEASE OF • " . J . . .
SHERIFF EVANS, evening the House decided to discharge Mr. Sherm Lvans, under an injunc-
tion to attend the House on the 6th of April.
Then the indefatigable Mr. Howard, Stockdale's attorney, instituted a pro-
Hansard, Hit. zss. secution against the officers of the House, for trespass in entering and search-
ing his dwelling, when they were in search of. himself. The Attorney-General
was for allowing this action to proceed, as the question turned on the fact
whether the officers had exceeded their duty or not. The House agreed with
Hansard, iiii. 294. nim, by a majority of 91, though the Solicitor-General and other eminent
members were in opposition.
In the Upper House, some of the peers, besides Lord Denman, wished so to
amend the Bill now sent up to them as to restrict the power of publishing
libels, and prevent the House of Commons from being the only authorized
libeller in the country : but the majority saw that, if this were to be done, the
present was not the moment for doing it. Such a provision, made now,
would be a confession of wrong, and a surrender on the part of parliament
BILL BECOMES which neither fact nor policy would allow. The Bill became law on the 14th
Hansard, mi. losi. of April. On the 15th, Mr. Sheriff Evans was released from his obligation to
appear, and some of the minor recusants were discharged from custody. But the
Hansard,iiii.ii32 House refused to release either Howard or Stockdale. On the 14th of May,
Hansard, Hv. 117. 'however, the House agreed, on the motion of Mr. Buncombe, to let them go.
PRISCOHNAERRGS! °P And thus the matter was said to be concluded.
UNSATISFACTORY Every one felt that it was not a satisfactory — not a genuine conclusion.
The privilege of parliament was not vindicated, nor the Court of Queen's
Bench either justified or condemned. The particular case about publishing
Reports was doubtfully provided for in the future by a present act of com-
promise : but nothing was settled about the right of any party to discuss the
privilege of parliament before the Courts. Many openings were left for
renewals of this painful and undignified kind of controversy : and perhaps the
most important result was the warning given of this danger, and the hint to
avoid, if possible, by the exercise of. careful skill, temper, and knowledge, all
occasion of collision between parliament with its privileges and the Courts
which protect the liberty of the subject.
1841. When parliament met for the session of 1841, there was some curiosity to
IMBECILITY OF THE know what the Ministers would do. Weak as they had long been, they were
ADMINISTRATION. • f . ° _ . . J
known to be weaker than ever, through some losses which had happened
during the recess. They had now so often shown that they could adhere to
office under circumstances apparently hopeless — it was so evident that their
fixed idea was that it was they who must govern the country, and that they
relied on royal favour to the utmost extent to which it could go — that a kind
of wonder had grown up whether any thing could dislodge them, short of a
dangerous manifestation of popular discontent ; and it had become a matter
of calculation how that discontent could be manifested in a manner least
inconsistent with the public peace. The Ministers themselves were now soon
to point out the way.
i"' The Speech was so framed as to make the Address a matter of safe discus-
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 437
sion. It was on domestic subjects that antagonism was most likely to arise; 1836 — 41.
and the Speech was confined to topics of foreign policy. The most prominent
subject of the session was the renewal of the powers of the Poor Law Commis-
sioners for five years. After long debates and much wearisome and intricate
discussion, the Ministers obtained a majority ; but the measure was dropped, H
with some others of importance, in the prospect of the dissolution of parliament
which presently ensued. An alteration in the Declaration taken by municipal
officers, intended to open a way for Jews into corporation offices, was carried in
the Commons, but thrown out by the Peers. When various measures had Hansard, ivm.
been brought forward by various parties, only to be negatived or thrown out,
the time was come — the 30th of April — for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to FINANCE.
make his financial statement ; and this, it was believed, would be the occasion
which should decide the fate of the Ministry. It was known that the state-
ment would be a melancholy one ; and while the country was speculating on
how the government would get over this crowning difficulty, it was entertained
— really amused — with one of the Whig surprises, which had by this time
failed to do more than amuse or excite contempt — by Lord J. Russell giving
notice that on the 31st of May he should move for a Committee of the whole Hansard, MI.
1294.
House, to consider the acts of parliament relating to the trade in Corn.
No stronger indication of desperation could be given than this. The Anti- LAST RESOKT.
Corn-Law League was becoming strong, and carrying the people with it exactly
in proportion as it spread knowledge of the case among them. This novel
policy of the Cabinet was obviously a desperate snatch at a popular interest ;
a last effort to recover popular support. The social determination to have a
free trade in corn was growing in strength from year to year : but the question
was too important to be delivered into the charge of the Melbourne Ministry.
There was as yet no such pressure from without as would make them earnest,
and keep them steady, in the conduct of a reform so important. That the
members of the Cabinet should all be true converts already, was wholly
incredible ; while it was only too credible that they would grasp at any means
of popular support which should enable them to remain in office. If they,
whose whole pretension was that of being reformers, had not throughout seen
the truth in regard to the Corn laws, they saw it now too late for their
respectability. A conversion which might have been truly respectable in a Con-
servative Ministry placed under new lights, was in the highest degree sus-
picious in a Reform Administration which had been for several years in the
illuminated position. The elections were soon to show what the people
thought of this demonstration ; and meantime the House was in a state of
high excitement.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer had to announce a deficiency of nearly *%*£**> lvii-
two millions. Mr. Baring went back to Lord Althorp's propositions about the THE BUDGET.
timber and sugar duties, by changes in which he hoped to secure an increase ^sard' lvii-
of £1,300,000. For the other £400,000 required, he looked to the result of
Lord J. Russell's motion on the Corn laws. The existing deficiency was to
be made up by an issue of Exchequer Bills, and a resort to Savings Bank
funds. It did not strengthen popular confidence in the Ministry that the
revenue was now deficient, year by year : and that, instead of a remedy, loans
were resorted to in time of peace. There was a prevalent discontent at Whig
438 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V.
1836 — 41. management of financial affairs ; a prevalent conviction that the Whig
v-~ ""•"• — ' Ministry could not manage financial affairs ; and a prevalent indignation that
they kept in their own hands a business of such transcendent importance
which they were incompetent to manage. During the month which was
appointed to intervene between the introduction of the Budget and of Lord
J. Russell's propositions to alter the Corn laws, there was great agitation in
the country. The Ministers hoped, of course, to appropriate the aid of the
whole anti-corn-law party, and thus gave them time to organize their support :
but there was as much commotion on the other side: a commotion which
extended itself into the House of Lords, where the Prime Minister was brought
Hansard, ivii. to acknowledge that he had changed his views, declaring that his former
opinion was grounded on purely temporary circumstances ; a limitation which
he had certainly not been aware of when he declared, not long before, that the
maddest of all the mad things he had ever heard of was the idea of giving up
the Corn laws. — Lord J.Russell found it best not to delay his announcement
Hansard, iviii. 16. of the terms of his motion beyond the 7th of May. On that night, he declared
FIXED COHN-DUTY his intention of proposing a fixed duty of 8s. per quarter on wheat, of 5s. on
PROPOSED. 1
rye, of 4s. 6d. on barley, and of 3s. 4d. on oats.
DEFEAT ON THE The debate on the Sugar duties had to be gone through first. It lasted
SUGAR DUTIES. . . , .
Hansard, iviii. GO?, eight nights, and ended in the defeat of Ministers by a majority of 36 in a
House of 598. It was universally concluded that now the Ministers would
resign ; and the House was divided between indignation and amusement when
the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose in his place, the next night of meeting,
Hansard, iviii. ore. and gave notice, as if nothing unusual had occurred, that on the Monday
following, he should move the usual annual sugar duties. Lord J. Russell
then moved that the House should adjourn to that Monday. While the
Ministers were receiving the taunts of the Opposition amidst the silence of
the reformers present, the news spread along the crowded avenues of the
House, together with the intimation that the Corn question was to be brought
forward on the 4th of June. The policy of the Ministers was now supposed
to be to endure any amount of defeat previous to the Corn debate, and then to
dissolve the House, in order to throw themselves upon the country as Free-
traders, when the agitation should be at its height. The whole country was
immediately busy preparing for the elections ; and Lord J. Russell indicated
this as his reason for dropping the Poor Law Bill, saying that he would not
give occasion for speeches in parliament intended for the hustings. — The
Hansard,iviii.7io annual sugar duties were agreed to ; Sir R. Peel declaring that the proper
opportunity for defeating Ministers was not on that occasion, but in the form
of a regular vote of want of confidence. This vote he obtained on the 4th of
Hansard, Mil. June, by a majority of one, in a House of 623 members. His resolution was,
Hansard, iviii. TOG. "That her Majesty's Ministers do not sufficiently possess the confidence of
CONFIDE™EA.NT °* tne House of Commons to enable them to carry through the House measures
which they deem of essential importance to the public welfare ; and that their
continuance in office under such circumstances is at variance with the spirit of
the Constitution." Lord J. Russell promised to make known on the next
Monday the intentions of government : and on that day the avenues to the
House were crowded as before.
Hansard, iviii. The Ministers, or a majority of them, had agreed that their best course
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 439
would be to relinquish all discussion of the Corn laws for the present; to take 1836 — 41.
a vote of supply for the exigencies of the public service for some months to v— -^ "
come ; and then, as they could rely upon no more majorities in that House, to
dissolve parliament, and appeal to the country. They had tendered their ad-
vice to the Crown to lose no time in dissolving parliament, and summoning a Hansard, ivin.
new one, in order to ascertain the opinion of the nation.
As might be expected, the House emptied rapidly after this explanation;
and members dispersed themselves over the country, to manage their elections.
It was universally understood that this election was of the last importance.
In 1835, Sir R. Peel's fine statesmanship failed, because parties were yet too
strong for him — too strong yet from the forces of the Reform movement. His
short administration had been of use in proving the increased liberality of his
tendencies, and his good faith in purposing to maintain reforms actually and
deliberately achieved. Since then, the Whigs had declined in power and
repute ; and they now held no place at all in popular expectation. It remained
to be seen whether the popular choice of future rule would turn towards him
or them ; — whether it might not appear to the nation at large, as it did to
many individual observers, as probable that Sir R. Peel would prove truly a
popular leader, as it was now clearly impossible that the Whig ministry
should ever be so again.
A small number of members remained in London to complete some necessary
legislation ; but various measures of importance were dropped. — On the 22nd
of June, parliament was prorogued by the Queen in person to the 29th of the Hansard, ivui.
same month : and on the 23rd, a royal proclamation declared the parliament D°ISSOLUTION OF
dissolved. The writs now issued were made returnable on the 19th of PARLIAMENT-
August.
Such were the circumstances under which the thirteenth parliament was
dissolved, after a duration of four sessions, and nearly four years. How the
nation would declare its opinions in the choice of the next was felt to be a
matter of the deepest interest to the Sovereign, the Ministers, the land-owning
Peers, and the suffering people.
440 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
CHAPTER XVII.
1835 — 41. /^NE of the strongest and most genial interests of the period now closing
v-- — ^-^ — " ^* was the young Queen. If the kindliness and open heart of William IV.
had been refreshing after the temper and manners of his predecessor, the youth-
fulness and gaiety of the new Sovereign were now really exhilarating after the
spectacle of so many years — of a feeble old man in the royal carriage. At first,
the Queen was in high spirits — liking to see and be seen — driving in the parks
when they were most thronged; dining at Guildhall; and saying, as she went
down to open the parliament, " Let my people see me." There were smiles on
her face, and she met nothing but smiles, and acclamations. — On that 9th of
AT GnuDHAu,. November, Avhen she went to dine at Guildhall, London did not look like
itself, with its gravelled streets, and avenues of green boughs and flags ; and the
old Hall itself, usually so dingy and dirty, seemed to have grown young for
the occasion — brilliant as it was with decorations — with crimson cloth and
silk, with flags and banners, and armour glittering among the innumerable
lights. Under the magnificent canopy, in the gorgeous chair of state, was seen
no portly elderly gentleman, fatigued almost before the festivities had begun ;
but the slight figure of the young girl, all health and spirits, who half rose
and bowed round to her relations — her mother, her uncles, aunts, and cousins —
when the health of the royal family was proposed. — There were reviews in the
parks, where all London seemed to have poured out to see the Queen, who, as
was always said, " looked remarkably well," and enjoyed the greetings of her
THE CORONATION, subjects. — Then there was the Coronation — that bright day when there was
not standing-room left for another spectator any where within view of any part
of the pageant, and yet no accident of the smallest consequence happened from
morning till night : — an early morning and a late night ; for the first rays of
the Midsummer sun that slanted down through the high windows of West-
minster Abbey shone upon the jewels of whole rows of peeresses, and upon
scarlet uniforms scattered among court dresses, and church vestments, and
splendid female array : and the illuminations of that night were not out when
the next sun rose. It was a day of great fatigue and excitement ; but all present
in the Abbey defied fatigue, for all hoped that this might be the last coronation
they might ever have the opportunity of seeing. The Sovereign herself was
nearly the youngest person present ; and the general hope was that she might
live to be as old as any one there. The sensation on her entering was a
wonderful moment. Before, a painful sleepiness had oppressed those who had
sat so many hours in that strangest of positions — idle, full-dressed, under bright
sunshine, in a vast crowd : but the burst of music, rushing among the arches
and ringing from the roof, wakened up the senses and the soul in a moment ;
and all rose by one impulse to their feet, to see the small figures that passed in
procession below, and the slightest of all, 011 which every eye was fixed. With
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 441
all the support that loyal sympathy could give, it seemed as if the sovereignty 1835 — 41.
must be cruelly oppressive ; for here the antique conception of British regality s— —^-— — '
pervaded the entire ceremonial ; — a regality which had immeasurably more of
power and personalty in it than is true in our day. The service, if it had not
been antique in its cast, would have been shocking, with its mixing up of
worship to God with homage to the sovereign, savouring of the old belief of
divine right. The ancient Edward's mantle of cloth of gold looked cumbrous
and oppressive, and the sceptre and orb too heavy; and it was a relief to re-
member that the regal poAver was not now what these symbols represented, and
that the responsibility was lightened in proportion. Such as it remained, there
was every indication this day that, under this lessened responsibility, all sup-
port would be given that the affection of the people could yield.
Soon followed events which must have made these shows — even the greatest
of them — appear trivial to the Sovereign. Her marriage ensued ; and we find ^™'8 MAR"
in the registers of the time, notices of Prince Albert's name being inserted, by
command of the Queen in Council, " in all the prayers, liturgies, and collects
for the royal family;" and 'of the Prince becoming a citizen of London in Guild-
hall ; and next, of the registrar of the Belgrave district being summoned to
Buckingham palace, to enter on the registration books of St. George's, Hanover-
square, the birth of a royal infant. The christening ensued ; but not next in
order; for, the day before, Prince Albert, while skating in the presence of the
Queen and one lady of the Court, ran some risk from the breaking of the ice.
He could not have got out by himself; but the ladies kept their presence of
mind, and saved him. — In another year, on the 9th of November, 1841, the BIRTH OF HFIR.
heir to the throne was born. Amidst the general joy and congratulations,
there were many who thought of the new-born child with pity and solicitude,
feeling that it is in our days no privileged lot to be born to a throne, even in
England, where the limitation of the kingly power makes the throne safer
than elsewhere. In a century overclouded by the approach of a War of Opinion
in Europe, princes are born to a life of toil and solicitude if they are to be made
equal to their station, and to real evils (for toil and solicitude are in themselves
no evils) if they are not made equal to their station. But here was the great
immediate blessing that the Queen had a son; and all were ready to rejoice
with her.
As for the state of the people — their condition had been declining almost pTA™ °F THE
from the beginning of this period to the end ; and it was too clear that they
were sinking still. The operatives were first employed half-time : then they
had no work, and were known to be living upon their savings : then there were
public meetings, to consider what could be done, and public subscriptions
which came to an end while still no prospect opened : and then there were a
thousand operatives employed on the roads in one place, and 5000, 10,000
14,000 seemed to be merely waiting for alms or death in others. As usual,
crime began to abound. The murders came in batches; — horrible poisonings, CRIME.
Combination murders, murders for purposes of theft, from the nobleman in his
bed to the sawyer in his pit, abound in the chronicles of the period. New
crimes arose, not bearing an immediate relation to the distress, as a vitiated
atmosphere produces not only one frightful epidemic, but new or aggravated
disease of other kinds. Ships were cast away, one after another, from wretches
VOL. II. 3 L
442
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
GAME LAWS.
1835 — 41. boring holes to sink them, in order to obtain the insurance.— A plot for the
commission of extensive forgery was matured and put in action on the Conti-
nent, by a few scamps, hitherto called noblemen and gentlemen — some Scotch
— some foreign — whose object was to defraud several European banks to a large
amount, by forging the circular letters of credit of a London bank, and present-
ing the supposed letters of credit in various continental cities on the same day,
or before communication could be established. The Times newspaper, having
received early information of the plot, ran the risk of action for libel and other
consequences, in order to put the commercial world upon its guard. It suc-
ceeded in this object, was prosecuted for libel, and condemned in damages of
One Farthing. Its bold course, both in giving warning, and afterwards in
pleading justification of the libel, won for its proprietors the public admiration
and gratitude, which were expressed in the form of a handsome subscription
for a testimonial. The proprietors declined the testimonial for themselves, and
requested that the money might be spent for the public benefit. After two
ta^|etg^ recording the facts, had been put up in the Royal Exchange and the
office of the Times, the fund was devoted to the establishment of two scholar-
ships, to be given to youths elected from London schools to the Universities. —
As might be expected, the game-law murders of the period were many and
shocking. In the best times, there are hungerers enough in the rural districts
to make it dangerous for gentlemen to preserve game at the cost of a vast
amount of human food, consumed by hares and birds before the eyes of starv-
ing men : and in a season of distress, the sight is one not to be endured. We
find accordingly a long list of poachings and the consequent murders; and at
the same time the most effective enemy of the game-laws in their strong-hold,
the House of Lords, died — too soon for this as for many another good cause —
Lord Suffield, who died in the summer of 1835, in his fifty-fourth year. Per-
haps, if he had lived to this time, we might have been released from the game-
laws, which are a disgrace to our law books, to our practice of professing reform
of abuses, and to the praise we utter in our churches of justice and mercy, and
care lest we cause our brother to offend. — Even these things are, however, less
fearful than one manifestation of the time, which tells as much as the new
practice of poisoning for the sake of payments from burial clubs.
While the Temperance cause seemed to be advancing every where, and tea-
drinkings with speeches, and dances with music and lemonade, were noticed
in newspapers, almost from day to day, certain disclosures were made at a
meeting of the Westminster Medical Society in 1839, which appalled the few
who heard or attended to the information. The increase of the consumption
of opium in England had led to inquiry. It was found that the abjuration of
intoxicating drinks was little more than a set-off against the increased con-
Ammai Register, sumption of opium. The insurance offices were consulting how to defend their
interests under this new peril to human life: — they could guard against liability
from opium eating in future policies of insurance ; but they found their capital
in danger from the intemperance of persons already insured. It was not only,
nor chiefly, in the insuring class of society that the practice existed. It spread
far more fearfully among the hungry. In the large manufacturing towns, the
druggists now employed their spare minutes throughout the week in making
up penny or twopenny packets of opium for sale on Saturdays, when hundreds
LORD SUFFIELD.
OPIUM EATING.
CHAP. XVII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 443
•
of poor creatures Avould come to receive from the long rows on the counter the 1835 — 41.
packet which was to give them stupor till the miserable Monday morning. ^—~^~~~^
The churches were active, as if trying all this time to heal these social woes. CHUKCH-BUILD.
There was much building of new churches in London and elsewhere ; and, BISHOPMCS.
while the desperate poor were emigrating in shoals — getting away at all hazards
from the sickening scene at home — exertions were made by bishops and reli-
gious societies to provide for the endowment of bishoprics in the colonies.
Much zeal was shown by the three great Church Societies for Missionary ob-
jects, during the whole of this period, and noble sums of money were raised.
But the misery and crime to be dealt with were not of a kind to be remedied
by a provision for worship ; and it was observable, that while the existing
churches bore a very small proportion to the population of their districts, they
yielded more room than was occupied. Churches come of religion; but religion
does not come of churches. — An obstacle to " the operation of religion on the
masses "was the intolerance of spirit which yet remained from the critical ^V010™1""
•*• • TOLLRANCb.
period which has been before described. The Peterborough bishop, Dr. Her-
bert Marsh, whose Eighty-seven Questions had first occasioned the open
divisions in the Church, died at this time, in 1839, leaving the religious world
yet heaving with the tempest, of which he furnished the first squall. The sects
within and without the Church were yet quarrelling ; the Catholics were in-
creasing in numbers, founding new institutes, and building new chapels : Pro-
testant clergymen were not only declaring at public meetings against grants to
Maynooth, but detailing every instance of superstition they met with among Annual Register,
poor Irish and other ignorant Catholics, to excite hatred against the priests.
Here and there, Dissenters were carried to prison for refusal to pay church-
rates which they were assured by lawyers could not be legally levied, while a
pious ship-agent (who was happily defeated in the Courts) was endeavouring
to make deductions from the wages of the Catholic and Presbyterian among
the crew, because they objected to attend the Church service on board ship ; A0n"u"1,Rogi"t5>
•f tf j. y loJU, diron. -i s.
and a clergyman here and there was refusing burial to persons baptized by lay
preachers out of the Church, or by Dissenting clergy. And, as an illustration
of the need there now is of provision for liberty of conscience in regard to oaths,
a case occurred which did not tend to interest the poor and suffering in favour Annual Register,
_ . . 183'J, Cnron. 141.
of religion, when an insolvent, a man "of good moral character," entitled
otherwise to his discharge, was sent back to prison, and kept from working
to maintain his " starving] children and unhappy wife," because the Com-
missioner could not administer the necessary oath to a person who, like this
man, did not believe in a future life. The fault was not in the Commissioner;
nor yet in the man : for, if he had been capable of dishonesty, he would have
professed the belief required for his enlargement. The fault was in the impo-
sition of penalties for opinion ; and it was one likely, as far as it was known,
to operate in alienating the ignorant and the careless alike from the religion
in whose name such things were done.
An incident was in the mean time happening which preached a softening GRACE DARUNG-
and sanctifying lesson, uninterrupted by theological jars and social bigotry.
In a light-house on the coast of Northumberland, within view of the Fern
Islands, lived a family of the name of Darling. The night of the 6th of Sep-
tember, 1838, was stormy; and the Forfarshire steam-boat, whose boiler was
444 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic V
•
1835 _ 4i_ in bad order, struck on one of the Fern Islands, and parted in two. Darling,
becoming aware of the wreck, at three in the morning, desired to put off in his
boat, to render assistance ; and his daughter Grace, a simple-hearted girl of
twenty-two, prepared, as a matter of course, to go with him. The wife and
mother, seeing how stormy the sea was, opposed their purpose, and at last con-
sented only on the condition that she might share their peril. When they were
stepping into the boat, her husband represented to her that, by occupying a
place in the boat, she would deprive one passenger of a chance for life, where-
as, by remaining at home, she might be of use in making fires, and preparing
blankets, and clothes, and food, for those whom he might bring. She con-
sented, and passed an agonizing hour while they were gone. By Darling's
prudence, decision, and authoritative tone to the half-frantic survivors on a
ledge of rock, he and his daughter accomplished the saving of nine lives.
Grace thought nothing of her share in the deed, and never could understand
the sensation that it caused throughout the kingdom. She always said, and
truly, that there were girls all along the coast who would and did accompany
their fathers and brothers to sea in storms, when they were called on to pre-
serve life: and it is the noblest part of the noble lesson afforded by this event
that we are reminded of the virtue which lives and acts in quietness while the
turbulent elements of human life and society are making tempests upon the
surface. An event like this discloses to us occasionally the moral riches which
shine in our depths; and then the fate of the unconscious revealer is some-
thing like that of Grace Darling. Her name flew abroad over the world. As
she sat at her sewing in the little room in the light-house, the world came to
pay her homage. The rich, the high-born, and the good, visited her. Those
who could not come sent poems, or books, or money. The protection of her
father was not enough under the pressure of suitors and worshippers ; and the
Duke of Northumberland made himself her guardian, took care of her money,
kept an eye upon her lovers, and promoted, as far as ho could, the quietness
she longed for. But there was no more quietness for her. Her life had lost
its simplicity, though her mind and manners never did. Her health gave way
under the impossibility of repose ; and she died in a few years — as much a
martyr to her own deed as if the boat had been swamped in its passage to the
rock. Seldom has so tender a sorrow spread through the heart of the nation as
when the newspapers told of the death of Grace Darling. She had found quiet,
however; and a more intense image of repose can scarcely be presented than
her monument, where she lies with her oar resting on her arm. That monu-
ment will preach a lesson of self-sacrifice, and rouse a spirit of heroic good-will,
long after the sectarian strifes of the time shall have been forgotten.
AGRICULTURAL We perceive, during this period, preparations making for the future
welfare of the great mass of the nation, which are perhaps all the more
hopeful for not contemplating so much as they will effect. While a terror
of Socialism and Communism was spreading among the aristocracy — while
there were debates in parliament upon Socialism in England, as if it were
an aggression, and not a social symptom, and while thoughtful men, and
those who had correspondence with the continent, were privately telling
each other how Communism was spreading under the surface all through
France and Germany, some of the English aristocracy were instituting
CHAP. XVIL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 445
an Association from which more might be hoped than from perhaps any 1835 — 41.
other institution whatever but a general system of Education. The Agri- — -~^— — -*
cultural Societies which came into action about this time may, however,
be regarded as educational. While providing for the increased production
of food, they provide also for the exercise of the faculties of the most
ignorant and inert part of our population — the agricultural labourers. The
Anti-Corn-Law League was already educating a considerable portion of the
people by rousing them to thought and sound knowledge on a matter which
closely concerned them, and by teaching them to apply to the management of
their public interests the same qualities with which they conduct their private
affairs : and now, the institution of Agricultural Associations promised to work
in a somewhat similar manner on another portion of the people. The League
disclaimed a party character altogether ; and, in fact, though originated and
chiefly sustained by Reformers, it included many Conservatives, and men of all
shades of opinion in politics, as in every thing else outside the question of a
supply of food. The Agricultural Associations, in like manner, proscribed
political subjects at their meetings. There were men of all political parties
who saw that, of all branches of industry in our country, agriculture was the
most backward. They saw a whole world of science, chemical and meteoro-
logical, opening which, in its application to agriculture, might mark a new era
in our social destiny. They saw that no society can long hold together in
which industry fails, as with us, to obtain a sufficiency of the comforts of life ;
and they believed that time might be gained for the consideration of our
difficulty, if the difficulty itself could not be solved, by a largely increased
production of food oh our own soil. They believed that there was no surplus
of labour within our bounds ; but rather that, if science and good management
were applied to agricultural as to manufacturing processes, the hands would
be found too few for the work, and each part of the work would produce a
larger proportion of food. If so, such Socialists, Communists, and Chartists,
as might still be bent on trying new principles and methods of society, would
discuss the matter more coolly, more amiably, and much more cautiously,
while feeling every year, in their state of improved welfare, that they had
more to lose and less to gain by a fundamental change. Those who thus
thought hailed with a very serious delight the first and second annual meet-
ings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, which happened during
this period — the first being in 1839. Minor societies had existed for some
time before. It was cheering to see, at these meetings, the Duke of Richmond
and Lord Spencer walking in to dinner together, and high tory and deep
radical chemists helping out one .another's information about soils and manures
and food for stock : and the rush to the ploughing matches, and the stock-
yards, and the implement sheds ; and even the road, " resembling the route
from London to Epsom on a race day." " Such societies," as an observer spectator, 1339,
remarked in a contemporary newspaper, " supply to the farmer what Mecha- P<
nics' Institutes have supplied to the better sort of working men — a stimulus
to inquiry, a desire for information, and a disposition to contribute from their
own experience to any topic of the day. The farmers have been long enough
blamed as isolated men, as enemies of education, and as the repositories of
prejudice: what is better calculated to renovate them than Agricultural
446 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 41. Societies?" And if these societies should so improve the production of food
^— ^-^-^ as to afford to a single generation, before it is too late, the leisure of comfort
to consider impartially their own condition and the prospects of their child-
ren, they will assuredly take rank among the chief blessings of the time.
They may be considered as one of the results of the Peace : for they originated
in the improvement of chemical science, and the knowledge that a high order
of agriculture existed abroad; both derived from free intercourse with the
philosophers and cultivators of the continent.
INDIA COTTON. By the attention given to the growth of cotton in India, a prospect of mani-
fold good was opened — to this country, its operatives, its manufacturers, and its
consumers, from our dependence on more regions than one for a supply of cotton :
— to the inhabitants of India, from the establishment of a new branch of pro-
duction— and to the negro race, from American slavery becoming unprofitable
when opposed to free labour. The East India Directors, the Manchester
Chamber of Commerce, some machinists, some private capitalists, and even
the Governor- General of India, were at this time consulting and experimenting
on the growth and preparation of cotton in India, and already the mountain
roads were reported to be blackened with bullocks bringing the produce down
to the coast. Much remained to be done; and much still remains to be
done : but the conditions are more and more understood, and the purpose
holds.
no°NER ExpEDI' A more ambitious and direct attempt on behalf of the negro race, made at
the end of this period, failed — owing to the proud and headstrong character of
the benevolence which prompted it. It has never been questioned of late
years that a principal method of supplanting slavery is by civilizing the
Africans, and making an innocent commerce more acceptable to them than
the trade in slaves. A few Liverpool merchants had for some years acted on
this sound view, and had established a certain amount of commerce on the
Niger — conducting it with the caution and prudence which belong to private
enterprises — sending crews of seasoned whites and trained negroes, and
appearing in a commercial character alone. Most unhappily, the idea was
seized by some who were ill-qualified to conduct such a scheme. Sir Thomas
Fowell Buxton — so efficient, so successful, so thoroughly in his place in par-
liament— went astray in this new enterprise ; and its failure broke his heart.
He put in action all his great social power, and we read in the chronicles of
fs^ch^n'p^ ^le ^me °f Puklic meetings, with Prince Albert in the Chair, so crowded that
persons were carried out fainting ; of the gratulatioiis and mutual praises of
statesmen and prelates, of grand subscriptions and yet grander hopes. Bul-
letins of the progress of equipment were published, and the names of officers
and crews, and programmes of proceedings, and vivid descriptions of the
model farm, and the other monuments of the expedition, which were to arise
on the banks of the Niger. All this time, the voice of warning did not cease":
but those who should have been their guides in an enterprise which nobody
else understood were slighted, and even insulted with insinuations that their
opposition proceeded from sordid- selfishness — from a fear that their trade would
be interfered with. Some of them would not be driven back from their object
of saving as much misery as possible of all that they foresaw from the rashness
and ignorance of the scheme as planned in London ; and it was a steam-boat
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 447
of theirs which was hovering about the mouths of the Niger (plying up and 1835 41.
down the river for the purpose) which saved the few survivors. The fever v — — v— ^-^
swept away the greater number of those who were sent forth to their death,
or volunteered for it : the model-farm was deserted ; and, worst of all, pledges
made in the name of our Queen and country were necessarily left unredeemed,
and remain so to this day. No one can say how far the civilization of Africa
has been set back by the spectacle of our weakness and apparent bad faith, in
a region where we should have gone in assured power or not at all. Mr.
Jamieson was one of the Liverpool merchants whose warnings were loudest and
truest ; and his steamer it was that saved the remnant of the expedition. His
information was mainly derived from Mr. Becroft, who was familiar with the
region: and it was Mr. Becroft who commanded the rescuing boat. The
Niger Association did not at once dissolve. It had no more gifts of public
money, and its subscriptions dwindled. When, at the meeting of 1842, Sir T.
Fowell Buxton sent a letter and £50 instead of appearing, some taunts were
uttered ; but they were unjust. He was too ill to appear. By his Life,
we learn that he strove hard for comfort in regarding the catastrophe as a
mysterious dispensation, overlooking the grave faults which had made the
issue anything but mysterious to others : but he cou Id not get over the shock.
He never again held up his head. And he died in 1845, in the 60th year of
his age.
The period exhibits more than usual disaster. In 1839, we read of the
christening of the President Steam Ship, the most magnificent vessel of her gTREE^DEERNT
kind ever seen in England. At that time " several thousand persons " went
in a day to Limehouse, to examine and admire. A year and a half afterwards,
she did not return from an American voyage when expected : and nothing has
ever been heard about her. For many weeks, the families of those on board
were tantalized and tortured by floating rumours of her safety or of her fate :
but in two months, they put on mourning, and declared that they would hope
no more. — The fires that happened within these few years seem now, in the FIRES.
retrospect, to have been strangely destructive. In the dry season of 1835, a
gipsying party who had made their tea among the underwood on Wanstead
Flats, neglected to put out the fire ; and the consequence was a conflagration
which laid waste 20 acres of pasturage. It required the digging of a deep Annual Register,
. _ TTT T*T i • 1835. Chron. 127.
trench by a company of sappers and miners from Woolwich to stop the mis-
chief at last. Two or three weeks afterwards the same misfortune happened
on Clapham Common, where the villas of the neighbourhood were for some
time in great danger. Two acres of brushwood and furze were in this case
laid bare. In 1838, while the destruction of the Houses of Parliament was Annual Register,
1838. Chron. 4.
stillfresh in men's minds, the Royal Exchange was burned down. It was ROYAL
m EXCHANGE.
night before the fire, which must have been burning for some time, was
discovered ; it was a bitterly cold night (the 10th of January) with a north-
east wind ; and it took some time to thaw the hose of the engines when they
arrived; so the flames spread and rose, illuminating the Bank, and other
buildings near, till they seized upon the tower of the Exchange. The bells
began to chime as stones and timber began to fall ; and of all airs, the one
they chimed was " There 's nae luck about the house." They were chiming
" God save the Queen" when one after another of the eight gave over and
448 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835 — 41. fell. The great City seal was found by searching among the ruins. Serious
*"— -~^»— - as were the consequences to the merchants of London, the loss which was
most mourned was that of the old statue of Sir Thomas Gresham, which had
escaped the great Fire of London. Only small fragments remained of it now.
The grasshopper-vane was saved, and was reserved from the sale of remains
which took place three months after the fire, when various curiosities, which
could not come into use for the new Exchange, were bought up at high prices.
In March of the same year, happened the most mischievous fire for its extent
Annual Register, that can be conceived. A lawyer of the Inner Temple came home from his
1838. Chron. 28. , J
FIREINTHB club at two in the morning, and left a candle burning near some papers, ihe
papers must have caught ; for from that spot spread a fire which consumed a
mass of deeds and other documents, some of which will be missed for centuries
to come. The Attorney-General suffered grievously. His library was worth
3000 guineas ; but that was not the greatest part of his loss. Upwards of
eighty chambers, with nearly the whole of their contents, were destroyed.
YORK MINSTER. In May, 1840, York Minster was on fire again — by some carelessness of work-
Annual Register, •" J
1840. chron. 48. men, it was supposed. The next morning the nave was roofless, the belfry
reduced to a mere shell, and the bells lying below, having burst through the
CHURCHWELL fl°ors in their fall. At the beginning of the next year, the Old Church at
i84"uachrognsf22' Cambcrwell was destroyed by fire — nothing being left but the bare walls : and
Annual Register, in a fortnight after, the princely residence of the Marquess of Londonderry —
1841. Chron. 28. ~ ' L J f
WYNYARD. Wynyard in Durham. The loss of pictures and antiquities was a matter of
AT DUNDEE. general concern. In Dundee, there was a fire which destroyed three churches ;
^4""achreonf3e.r' an^ the inhabitants, and half Scotland, mourned over the wreck of its old
ASTLEY'S cathedral. In June, Astley's Amphitheatre was burned down. As no one
was aware that a life was lost — a servant girl having perished — the interest of
the spectators was about the saving of the stud — Ducrow's famous stud. The
horses were bent upon going into the ring, as usual ; and it required no little
gallantry and skill to save as many of them as escaped. The loss cost poor
Ducrow his reason and his life.
Some less fatal shows offered themselves, meanwhile. There was a passion
BALLOONS. for balloons; and in November, 1836, three gentlemen enjoyed a glorious
Annual Register, flight, from London to a village in Nassau — 480 miles in 17 hours. The
1836. Chron. 150- - - - .,«,.,...,•- ,1 r
passage over the dark sea, and the Joelgian district ot furnaces — the sea of
mist below in the morning, with the rustling of forests coming up like the
sound of waves on the beach, the paling of the stars, and the gorgeous sunrise
shedding its colours over the vast heavens, and the earth retired below, are
described as inexpressibly solemn and beautiful. The next year, a foolish
attempt to descend by a parachute from a balloon ended fatally ; and the year
after, a more scientific attempt succeeded- — the voyager floating downwards for
thirteen minutes after cutting the single cord that suspended him from the
balloon.
THAMES CONSER- There was a grand spectacle on the Thames, almost from end to end, in
Annual Register, 1838, when the Lord Mayor, as Conservator of the Thames, explored its
1839. Chron. 119. , ,. . , -,, ... , ,1 i />i n
course and condition in state barges. The agitation against the defilement ot
the Thames by the filth of London had not then begun; and the processions,
and gratulations, and strewing of flowers, and feastings, belonging to " the
business of the conservancy of the Thames," went on through six days, as if the
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 449
Thames were really preserved in good order. The civic ideas of this duty will 1835 — 41.
probably have changed, before the next pageant of the kind is seen at Henley. v ^v^^-'
— A piece of aristocratic pastime, " which had been two years in preparation,"
took place at Eglintoun Castle, in August 1839, under the name of the THE EGLINTO™
Eglintoun tournament. It was an imitation of the ancient tournaments : and
no expense was spared to make it as like as possible to the old shows of arms.
But such attempts never fully succeed — never succeed in being more than
child's play, like the " dressing up" in the nursery — except in virtue of being
a regularly perpetuated custom. The real antiquity which resides in such
custom renders venerable the appearance of the Champion at the Coronation ;
and even endeared the grotesque devices and corporation practices which
lasted in English towns till the Municipal Bill swept them all away. But in
the Eglintoun fete there was no such sanction ; and, in spite of the host's
expenditure of £40,000, the crowds who came — some from a distance of 400
miles — the personal charms of the Queen of Beauty, the valour and skill of the
jousting knights, and the desire of every one to be pleased, there seems to have
been a universal sense of failure. The weather was bad, and " the feudal Annual Register,
appearance of the display was sadly marred by thousands of umbrellas : . . . the
Queen of Beauty and her ladies, instead of mounting their palfreys, were con-
fined within their carriages." If ever mailed knight swore at the envious
clouds, it must have been the young earl of Eglintoun on these critical days. —
A more genuine piece of antiquity was presented in the case of an inquest held MUMMY INQUEST.
in Ireland on a body found in a bog. The bones powdered under the touch,
while the muscles were so hard that the body bore the weight of a man, and
substances rebounded from striking the limbs. Our mummy, it is true, could
reckon only 100 years to every 1000 of an Egyptian : but there was something
affecting in its being on our own ground ; and yet more in an inquest being
held on a being so mysterious, of whose ways and thoughts, 'and goings and
comings, no man could tell any thing. There was a tradition of a suicide
having been buried thereabouts, some hundreds of years before ; but no one
could say whether this were he.
If the Eglintoun tournament was not regarded with popular respect, much
less was the other lordly show of this period — the trial of Lord Cardigan, for TRIAL OF A PEER.
duelling offences, in the House of Lords. There is little in the affair that any
one would wish to dwell upon, or that needs be dwelt upon ; though a cursory
notice is necessary. Lord Cardigan, formerly Lord Brudenell, was from time
to time coming before the public as the aggressor in some quarrel — the public
seeing that his antagonists in these quarrels were usually mild and gentlemanly
men, of rank lower than his own in life and in the service. He was known to
have connexions at Court, and interest at the Horse Guards ; and no one could
avoid the conviction that, for these reasons, an amount of social misbehaviour
was passed over in him which would have immediately ruined almost every
other officer in the army. After sundry adventures with his officers, in which
their pride was wounded, their feelings exasperated, and their prospects ruined,
by mess-room quarrels, tyranny on parade, and courts-martial, now on himself
and now on an antagonist, Lord Cardigan fought a duel with a Captain Harvey Annual Register,
' , . J '810. Chron. 79.
Tuckett, and wounded him. As he was arrested, there was no choice but to
try him ; and he was tried by his peers amidst a parade and expense of which,
VOL. II. 3 M
450 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 41. according to universal opinion, the occasion was not worthy. Every one
- — — •*— -- knew that Lord Cardigan would come off safe — duelling being regarded as it
still is in our country; and Lord Cardigan's interest having already borne
him safely through worse perils : but no one could have anticipated such an
audacious evasion of justice as actually took place. It was admitted that
certain parts of the evidence related to Captain Harvey Tuckett, and that the
person in Court called by that name was rightly so called ; but whether the
one and the other was the same Captain Harvey Tuckett was professed to be
doubtful, and supposed to be purposely left so. And thus the prosecution fell
to the ground. It was not without its results, however. The mockery of
justice, the lavish expenditure which thus became an insult to the nation, and
the additional presumption now afforded that Lord Cardigan could not be
thrown off by society, however he might oppress it, all went to deteriorate the
position of the peers in respect of the people, and turned the grand antique
compn. to the show of the trial into a very coarse modern offence. The Duke of Cleveland's
Almanac, 1842, p. J
175- reply was not forgotten, when, instead of using the established form, " Not
guilty, upon my honour," he said "Not guilty, legally, upon my honour." Its
significance was appreciated, though it did not go so far as the popular
sentiment.
SUICIDES FROM THE If any country cousin of the next generation should observe that the summit
of the London Monument does not correspond with the old pictures of it, he
may learn that the grating which by no means adorns the pillar, was put on in
i839UachreoSnStiG5 1839, in consequence of two suicides having taken place in that year, within a
205- few weeks of each other — a young girl, first, and then a boy of fifteen having
thrown themselves over. As fantastic suicides have an infectious character,1 it
was suggested by some persons on the first occasion to obviate the possibility
of another such act : and after the second suicide, no time was lost in making
all safe.
INDIA MAILS. Since the establishment of steam transit in the Eastern seas, great atten-
tion had been devoted to the improvement of India Mail communication.
Many experiments of different routes were proposed, and some tried. Among
others, there was an exploratory expedition to survey the Euphrates, in the
hope that steamers might carry the mails by that river as far as Beles, 100
miles from Antioch, whence the way would be clear and easy enough. Two
isar^chron!^! steamers were sent out in frame from Liverpool, with all needful materials and
stores, and a picked company of officers and men ; the whole being conveyed
by the George Canning to the coast of Syria. All went well ; the vessels in
frame were transhipped and carried in boats up the Orontes, and then over the
desert, and then put together and floated on the Euphrates ; and the river
itself had been to some extent explored, when a tremendous hurricane capsized
one of the vessels — the Tigris — drowning fifteen of her men, and some natives.
The survivors returned, impressed with the importance of establishing a free
communication in those regions, by means of the great rivers, both for the
transmission of the mails, and the opening of a profitable trade. They did not
foresee how soon European travellers would be stumbling upon old Nineveh,
and laying open treasures of antiquity, in whose presence people would forget
that they came to see about India mails and the introduction of commerce.
In 1840» tne India papers told some striking facts about the consequences of
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 451
improved communication with, home, by steam or otherwise. Within five 1835 41.
years, the number of letters had doubled, though the inland rate of postage was
still very high. The largest proportion of letters had before been sent through
Calcutta ; now Bombay was the letter-depot : but the decrease at Calcutta was
only 33 per cent., while the increase at Bombay was 500 per cent.
These changes may appear small in comparison with the improvements that
have taken place since : but their importance was inestimable. If our route
had been for ever by the Cape, the prospects of India — of the raising of the
condition of the millions of her natives — would have been far inferior to what
they are now ; and on the elevation of those Indian millions — on the develop-
ment of their free labour by their social progression, the fate of Africa and much
of America appears to depend. It has been said before, but it can hardly be
said too often, that the abolition of negro slavery every where, and the
civilization of Africa, depend, to all appearance, on the kindly development of
the resources of India.
Among the scientific facts put forward during this period, there is one ACARUS CROSSU.
which must obtain emphatic notice, whenever and wherever it might occur.
For a long time, some men eminent in science had occasionally avowed that
they found great difficulty in refusing evidence of the production of animal life
by chemical agencies. It was no new thing for men who knew what they were
saying, to declare a belief that animalcules were absolutely originated without
any parents, in both liquids and solids, under certain conditions. In 1836, a
philosopher was startled by an appearance which compelled attention to the
inquiry whether such things could be. Mr. Crosse, whose name has been given
to the acarus produced under the conditions detailed by him at a meeting of
the British Scientific Association, " was looking for siliceous formations, when
animal matter appeared instead." In the midst of elements fatal to animal
life, under the surface of a caustic fluid, within an enclosure from which the
atmosphere had been driven out, and where there was no possibility that ova
could have been deposited, or could have escaped destruction if deposited,
insects appeared, after an electric current had been established for a suffi-
cient number of months. Without the electricity, and without some other
conditions, the insects have failed to appear. With those conditions, they
have been produced again and again from that day to the present. If allowed
to remain in the enclosure, they perish. If let out as soon as they appear,
they feed, reproduce their kind, and live till the first frost, which is always
fatal to them. At a lecture at the Royal Institution, in 1837, Mr. Faraday Annual Register,
avowed his full belief of the facts stated by Mr. Crosse, similar appearances
having presented themselves to him, in the course of his electrical experi-
ments : but he left it doubtful whether it was a case of production or revivifi-
cation. This all-important point was investigated by Mr. Weekes, of Sand-
wich, and again and again by Mr. Crosse, who is prepared with evidence
.regarding the formation of these animals, which cannot but command the
attention of men of science, whenever they shall have left off attributing to
him theories which he disavows, and opinions and sentiments which he never
entertained. When the contempt and prejudice with which great discoveries
are always received shall have subsided, it will be admitted that Mr. Crosse
has merely made known, in the simplest manner, appearances which presented
452 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 41. themselves to him, propounding no theory, drawing no inferences, and attack-
"- — *"• — ' ing no established belief. While, for thirteen years, too many who might have
tested his assertions have been merely expressing contempt of them, he and
one or two more have been diversifying their experiments as much as they
could, and found themselves occasionally rewarded by the appearance of acari.
JSSZSSS^ Mr< Weekes baked the frame of his apparatus in a powerful heat, distilled the
edit.) water, excluded the atmosphere by fumes constantly rising in a bell glass, and
subjected the silicate employed to a white heat. Under these safeguards
against the previous existence of animal life, he saw the liquid in his vessel
grow turbid — he saw the gelatinous matter collect round the negative wire of
his battery, which was immersed in the fluid ; and he next saw one of the new
insects emerge from the gelatine, and run off to a corner of the apparatus.
Under the same electrical conditions, Mr. "VVeekes employed different sub-
stances, on account of one containing more carbon than another ; and he then
found, as he had ventured to hope, that more insects were produced when there
was more carbon, and fewer when there was less. Mr. Crosse has persevered
in his experiments,* and has detected the formation of the acarus from the first
appearance of a minute white speck, through its gradual enlargement, till it puts
forth the" little waving lines which are to become legs, through its first indi-
cations of life, and its growth to that maturity which enables it to leave its
birth-place, shift for itself, and propagate its kind. In connexion with this,
he has assured himself of the significant fact of the similarity of the first stages
of the production of acari, and of certain mineral crystallizations, electrically
produced. He finds the appearances of the white speck the same through the
processes of enlargement and of putting out lateral filaments : but then, accord-
ing to diversities of treatment, these filaments become, in the case of the
mineral, rigid, shining, transparent, six-sided prisms, and in that of the animal,
limbs of a body endowed with vitality. — These are results too serious and sig-
nificant to be treated with either levity or anger : yet have they been received
with too much of both. The objections made have been mostly of the a priori
sort : and it is needless to say that they cannot withstand the evidence of ex-
periment. Mr. Crosse's invitation to the scientific part of society is to join him
in ascertaining, by every possible variety and patience of experiment, what is
the truth of the matter; and, till this is done, his information remains the
best that can be had on a subject of unbounded philosophical significance. As
such, its first proposal for attestation is an incident worthy of special notice in
a history of the time.
DEATHS. Several men of science died during this period. First, Captain Kater, who
CAPTAIN KATER. ^ .,. ., /• T -i •
had borne an important part in the trigonometrical survey of India, and had
lost his health in the work. After his return, he earned, by many scientific
services, his admission into almost all the learned societies in Europe, and died
in 1835, aged fifty-eight. — The greatest of mathematical and astronomical
EHW.TUOUGHTON. jnstmment makers, Edward Troughton, died in the same year, possessed of the
* The following statements, which are but a small portion of a most interesting expo-
sition, are given, by permssion, from a letter of Mr. Crosse to the author, bearing date
August, 1849.
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 453
gratitude of the first philosophers of his age, who could not have effected their 1835 — 41.
discoveries without the aid of his wonderful instruments. — Pond, the astro- ^— — ^ '
JOHN POND.
nomer, died in 1836. — In 1838, Dr. Olinthus Gregory, Professor of Mathe- DR.OLINTHUS
matics at Woolwich, was compelled to resign his chair — his health being de-
stroyed by excessive study; and he died in 1841. He was known throughout
the world of science by many publications ; and he had the honour of being
one of the twelve founders of the Astronomical Society of London. — In 1836,
died Mr. M'Adam, the reformer of roads, whose name was familiar to every J. L. M'ADAM.
ear in England, till railways extinguished all interest in every other kind of
road. Mr. M'Adam was a striking instance of the mental activity which is
always ready to respond to opportunity. There have been many county
magistrates and trustees of roads in our time ; yet no one but Mr. M'Adam
was effectually impressed by the want of scientific principles shown in the con-
struction of roads. Once so impressed, this Ayrshire magistrate devoted his
mind to the subject, and in his 60th year gave forth his plan, which was in use
almost all over the country before his death — in his 81st year. — Two great
surgeons died in 1840 and 1841 ; Sir Anthony Carlisle, and Sir Astley P.Cooper.
Sir A. Carlisle introduced some new surgical^ instruments of great value : he CARR^S™.ONV
laboured usefully in the field of comparative anatomy, aided by the sympathy
and knowledge of his friend, Sir Joseph Banks : and he was the best friend
and supporter of the Westminster Hospital, of which he was senior surgeon
when he died, at the age of 72. — Sir Astley P. Cooper's face and figure are SIR A. P. COOPER.
familiar to all, through Sir Thos. Lawrence's fine portrait of him : and his was
a face not to be forgotten when once seen. It indicated the power of intellect
and kindness of heart which made him the greatest and most popular surgeon
of his time. Great as was his fame as an operator, he perhaps did more good
by his professional writings. When loaded with honours, rich, and growing
old, he retired to the country, in pursuit of repose : but it would not do : he
wanted some interests more stirring than those afforded by his library; and
returned to London and to practice. He was still busy when death overtook
him in his 73rd year. When, in middle life, he removed from the City to
the west end of London, his income was the largest ever heard of in the pro-
fession— £21,000 a year. George IV. made him a baronet at his coronation,
in 1821.
James Weddell, who in 1825, reached the highest latitude known in the JAMES WEDDELL.
South polar regions, died in ten years after his great feat, aged only 46. — A
North polar wanderer perished miserably in 1840, at a yet earlier age. Mr. SIMPSON.
Simpson, an officer of the Hudson's Bay Company, added many items to our
knowledge of the polar coast of North America. He was returning from one
of his expeditions when, as is supposed, his reason was overthrown by anxiety
and fatigue, and he destroyed himself, after having shot two of his compa-
nions. If he had lived, there is every probability that he would have effected
more in completing the discovery of a'North-west passage than any other man :
and an appointment was on the way to him which would have afforded him
every facility. His loss is one of the most painful in the list of polar dis-
coverers who have died in the search. — Captain Gerard, the India surveyor CAPTAIN GERAAH.
and scientific traveller, returned home, as such men do, with health much
impaired : but he had wonderful things to tell of the untrodden passes, and
454
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
J. DAVIDSON.
LADY HESTER
STANHOPE.
1835 — 41. inaccessible heights of the Himalayas — many of which, however, he had
contrived to explore, looking into Thibet on the one hand, and British India
on the other. He resided for some years in Chinese Tartary, while engaged
in surveying : arid he obtained large information about the tribes, whose race
and ways it is highly important to us to understand. But Captain Gerard did
not tell us so much as he might have done of his eastern experiences, though
it is understood that he left a store of manuscript materials behind him. He
died in 1839. — Another African traveller perished in the attempt to reach
Timbuctoo, during this period — Davidson, who had made exploratory journeys
in all the four quarters of the world, and desired to crown his enterprises with
a feat more difficult than any he had yet accomplished. He had measured
the pyramids, both of Egypt and of Yucatan, and could instruct painters in
their painting of panoramas of Madras, Thebes, Jerusalem, and Mexico : but
he had further set his mind upon reporting of Timbuctoo. He was murdered
by Arabs when about 25 days' journey from his object. He is remembered in
London by his lectures at the Royal Institution on Egypt and Palestine. — The
traveller on the Lebanon sometimes turns aside to visit a desolate grave in a
garden, eight miles from Sidon — the grave of Lady Hester Stanhope, com-
monly called "the eccentric." She was a niece of William Pitt, and lived in
his house for some years ; but the greater part of her life was spent in the
East, where she went in a spirit of pride, where she gained at first wonderful
influence by her imposing pride, and whence she had too much pride to
return, after she had discovered the hollowness of her authority. In an age
of improved science, hers would have been a less unhappy lot than it was.
It appears that her case was one of those, now known to be far from rare,
where those faculties operate naturally which are usually put in action by
Animal Magnetism. She and her adherents knew nothing about this, and
she had just enough power of insight and foresight to suggest some idea of
her being inspired, and to keep herself and her servants in a constant and
painful state of doubt whether she was inspired or not. She saw and knew
some things which others could not see or know : she had curious glimpses of
prescience : but she could not depend upon her powers, nor always separate
(any more than others of her class) realities from mere dreams. So, some
called her a prophetess, and others called her mad, and others believed her
merely ill-humoured. She did not know herself what she was, except that,
as must be feared, she was helpless and miserable. She passed her latter
years in seclusion, in a house she had built on one of the spurs of Lebanon —
distrusting her neighbours and servants, partly feared and partly disliked
by them, and deserted when sick and dying. An interest attaches to her from
the contrast of her early and later life, from the adventures she had gone
through, as a kind of chieftainess of the Arabs, and from the peculiarities of
her powers and temper — an interest which she did not win through the
affections. But there was a sense of relief when her death was announced in
England — a sense of comfort that that restless and mysterious mind was asleep,
and past the power of annoyance from without and misgiving from within. —
SIR SIDNEY SMITH. Sir Sidney Smith's name is associated with the East in most men's minds,
from his command having lain repeatedly in the Mediterranean, from his
operations in Egypt, and from his great feat of saving Acre when Napoleon
CHAP. XVII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 455
marched into Syria. He was a great man in his profession — the first in fame of 1835 — 41.
living British admirals at the time of his death: but there are some who remem- '
her him for something else than this — for his attempt to ohtain from the Vienna
Congress in 1814, the abolition of the slave trade, and the disarming of the
piratical states of Barbary. He died at Paris, in his 77th year, in May, 1840.
If we look at the political department of society, we shall see that Death
grouped his victims strangely at this time.
Some were as usual called away who appeared to belong wholly to a former ^RINy^
period. The Princess Augusta died in 1840, in the same year with her
brother's favourite, Beau Brummell, who had once made such a noise in the BEAU BRUMMELL.
world, but who died abroad, destitute and drivelling — another added to the
long list of warnings of the fate of Court favourites. This was an extreme
case — both the sovereign and the favourite being steeped in the vulgarity
which belongs to frivolity and sensualism in an age of enlightenment and a post
of high duty. But, vulgar as were the pair, the one did make the other the
fashion, and the author of fashion, and then cast him off; or, as some say,
compelled Beau Brummell to cast him off. The favourite's last triumph was
" cutting the Prince." Having done this, he retired to insignificance and
poverty, sinking gradually into idiotcy and death. When his death was
announced in England, people turned their eyes towards the Court as it is
now, with its centre and heart of simple domestic life, and were glad that the
old Court dandies • were gone, and that the national offence and disgrace of
Court dandyism was buried with them. — Another favourite of the same Prince
— his wife, aS she was considered by all who looked at the matter in any other
light than that of the Royal Marriage Act — Mrs. Fitzherbert went too, at the MRS. F.TZHER.
age of 80. She was married to the prince by the rites of the Catholic Church;
and she was regarded with entire respect by the royal family, and therefore by
the rest of society, till the day of her death. It must have been with a strange
mixture of painful feelings that she watched from her retirement the fortunes
of her husband, in his marriage, his conjugal discontents, and his fatal error in
bringing his Queen to trial. When she had watched them both to their
graves, her own early life must have appeared like a former state of existence.
After the idols of Power went those of Wealth. The richest man and the
richest woman in the world died in 1836 and 1837 — Mr. Rothschild, and the ROTHSCHILD.
Duchess of St. Alban's. Mr. Rothschild, " the greatest millionaire of the
present or probably any other age," met with no more homage than might
fairly be his due. He obtained his wealth by the exercise of faculties respect-
able in their way ; the political power he held was a quid pro quo — a natural
exchange for financial services ; and he spent his money generously and with .
discrimination. Such deference as waited upon him, he might naturally have
enjoyed in any other period of society in which he could have gained his
wealth by commerce, and lent it to government. It was in the other case
that the offensive and humbling English worship of wealth was most broadly
exhibited. The Duchess of St. Alban's would never have been noticed in DUCHESS or ST.
society but for her wealth. Her early life, when she was a third-rate actress,
and in no way distinguished by beauty, talents, or conduct, would have pre-
vented her being heard of if she had not, by marrying a rich banker, become
the wealthiest woman of her time. She next married a foolish young peer.
FORD.
456 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox'V.
1835—41. His rank gave her no dignity, and her wealth could bring upon him nothing
but contempt : yet do the newspapers of the time record all the proceedings of
the pair ; and the nobles of the land competed for the privilege of their visits.
There was much hollowness in it. We know by some things that passed at
Abbotsford that the Duchess was made to feel that she was ridiculed and
despised ; but this makes the' mammon-worship more, and not less offensive,
by showing that the worship itself was thought a fitting subject for hypocrisy.
This woman — for, though a Duchess, she could not be called a lady — had
qualities which might have made herself and others happy under more favour-
able circumstances. She was truly good-natured, and had abundance of
energy. Her munificence when she was wealthy was made honourable and
trustworthy by the fact, that when she was a very poor actress she had shared
all she had with those who were in yet greater need. She had made cheap
baby-linen with her own hands to lend because she could not afford to give.
This early beneficence communicated its grace to that of an after-time when,
having given away in every direction that could be thought of, she still laid
by £40,000 a year.
One pair of friends who went nearly together were the old Whig comrades,
DUKE OF BED. the Duke of Bedford and Lord Holland. The Duke of Bedford did great
good by his liberal encouragement of art and the arts; and his memory will
be preserved by the Bedford drainage, the rebuilding of Covent Garden Market,
and Woburn church tower, and the Sculpture Gallery at Woburn Abbey; but
a far higher respect attends upon his surrender of borough property and influ-
LORD HOLLAND, ence, by his promotion of Parliamentary Reform. — Lord Holland was the most
accomplished of the Whig politicians of his time. None of them understood
the principles of reform, or could conceive of fully carrying out as much as they
knew; and he was of the number of halting reformers. But he was, of all the
statesmen of his time, the most distinguished vindicator of religious liberty.
He had self-knowledge enough to be aware that even on this, his strongest
point, he needed instruction and guidance : and he sought them : and when
his grasp of any principle was once fixed, it was an unrelaxing one. On every
occasion on which the rights of religious opinion came into question, his vote
and his testimony are found on the side of equal liberty; and when he could
do no more, he recorded protests which are worthy of study for their clearness,
temperance, and conclusiveness. He was in his 67th year when he died ; and
THE MARQUESS the Duke of Bedford in his 74th. — The Marquess Camden died a few days be-
fore Lord Holland — revered for an act as patriotic as the Duke of Bedford's
surrender of borough property. Lord Camden filled several state offices re-
spectably; but all his other honours pale before that of his having surrendered
emoluments from a sinecure office, to the amount of a quarter of a million.
There are, doubtless, many men in England capable of a sacrifice like this, and
of making it with the grace of quietness and simplicity, as Lord Camden did :
but those men are not ordinarily found in the class of aristocratic politicians.
To aristocratic politicians it usually appears a matter of course that offices and
emoluments exist for their acceptance and benefit. To Lord Camden it ap-
peared that, whatever others might do, he could not feel easy to receive emolu-
ments from the office of Teller of the Exchequer, without doing any work ; and
he paid the proceeds into the Treasury for a long course of years.
CHAP, XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 457
Two restless men — Henry Hunt and William Cobbett — would henceforth 1835 41.
agitate no more. They died in 1835, and the world was the quieter for their ^— — v^— ^
departure. It is usual to mention them together, because they pursued the W*LU!M COB.AND
same calling of political agitation at the same time : but there was little re- BETT'
semblance in the men. Hunt had not Cobbett's ability; — he had not either
Cobbett's clearness of thought, or weight of matter, or power of delivery. Hunt
was a mere demagogue : Cobbett was that, and a man of genius too. As for
the integrity, and disinterestedness, and truthfulness, of either of them, there is
nothing to be said. They were undisguised self-seekers in the midst of their
complaints on behalf of the human race, and ostentatiously violent and ex-
aggerated in their statements. The difference is, that Hunt gave us nothing
more, while Cobbett gave us clear views on many things, strong stimulus to
thought and action, and endless amusement, if the painful sense of his un-
trustworthiness left any power of enjoying it. Hunt was 62 at the time of his
death ; and Cobbett 73. — One of Hunt's victims, Watson the elder, died in JAMES WATSON.
America soon afterwards. He was a weak man, who would never have gone
into the Spa Fields riot, nor any other, but for Hunt's seduction ; and he seems
to have had no more power than inclination to lead others astray, except under
such instigation. After his acquittal at the treason trials of 1817, he attended
Hunt's meetings in a quiet way, till the disclosure of the Cato-street con-
spiracy, when he went to America — not because he was at all implicated in REYNOLDS ™E
that plot, but because he probably had had enough of unavailing sedition. —
With one more name, we seem to dismiss the period of sedition, as connected
with the spy system. Sedition we have, and shall have, while the great labour
and food question remains unsolved ; but if the ferocity on the one side re-
mains, the cruel meanness on the other — the employment of government spies,
who must always be tempted to create the treason by which they are to profit —
does seem to be over. Unless we are yet to be depraved, and re-barbarized by
a long war, it is not to be supposed that a spy system can ever again be dreamed
of by any Minister, because it /would not be" for a moment tolerated by the
nation. Reynolds, the United Irishman, who betrayed the Dublin conspira-
tors of 1798, died at Paris in 1836.^ — One survived him who could look back OLD ROBERTSON.
a good deal further, to a time of yet more fearful commotion ; — a ploughman
who was ploughing a field at Culloden when the Pretender marched by to the
battle. When Pvobertson saw Prince Charlie, he must have been twenty years
old, as he was 114 at the time of his death in 1839. — By his side, old Lady LADY CORK.
Cork, who died the next year, must have appeared young and sprightly. She
was " the lively Miss Monckton" whom we read of in Boswell's Life of John-
son : and lively she was to the end. — It was time now that we were letting the
last century go. While younger men were passing away, leaving, however,
finished works for their monuments, some of the busy men of the last century
had lingered till now; and they were dropping off at last. Among the younger
men who were yet, however, far from youthful, were Sir Robert Grant, twin SIR Ronem-
brother of Lord Glenelg, who, after some useful service at home, became °'
Governor of Bombay, and died there in 1838; and Lord William Ben tinck, LORD WILUAM
who was Governor-General of India for ten years, and did much for the civili-
zation of the natives, by the discouragement of the Suttee, and infanticide, and
other barbarisms : and Sir Wilmot Horton, who made some improvements in SIR WILMOT HO*.
o TON-
VOL. II. 3 N
458 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 41. colonial administration while Governor of Ceylon : and Lord Henley, who was
* ' the first in the field of Church Reform in the crisis of 1832 : and Mr. Barber
M^DB"RMRY' Beaumont, who in 1806 established the first Savings Bank, from which (then
BEAUMONT. called the Provident Institution) the whole Savings Bank system has arisen. —
Of the aged, the remains of the last century, two passed away, with whom
SIR JOHN SOANE. seemed to be buried the very life of their time ; — and also, Sir John Soane, who,
as architect, built the Bank and the College of Surgeons; and as patriot, left
his art-collection to the nation — the gift being confirmed by Act of Parliament.
The two eminent above all these, old or young, were the fortunate brothers
Lord Stowell and Lord Eldon.
LORD STOWELL. These fortunate and united, and yet not happy brothers, were sons of a New-
castle tradesman, of the name of Scott. They were destined to find and ap-
propriate all that life could give of advancement, professional honours, enormous
wealth, and influence proportioned to their powers and success together : and
they were destined to find that these things do not make men happy. A more
impressive revelation can hardly be presented than in the life of Lord Eldon,
of the suffering of a narrow and timid mind, with a presumptuous and jealous
temper. An experience of this kind is no surprise in the absence of such re-
markable intellectual ability, and such decent morals, as distinguished these
brothers. The impressiveness of the lesson consists in the evidence given
of the insufficiency of these things for wisdom and peace, when compre-
hensiveness of views, liberality of principles, and generosity of temper, are
absent. Once introduced in London, William, the elder, then Dr. Scott,
carried all before him in his profession. He was called to the Bar in 1780,
and in ten years held, or had passed through, half a dozen high legal offices.
In the Commons, he was a valued government member ; and he was to have
been raised to the peerage in 1805 ; but some intrigue came in the way, and
kept him a commoner for another sixteen years. He had been made Judge of
the High Court 'of Admiralty in 1798 ; and he remained on the Bench thirty
years. His only son died two months before him : but the old man was beyond
the reach of any other affliction than his own imbecility. He was 90 when he
died, in 1836. He had had many good things in life, and tasted of intellectual
pleasure in a high degree : but there is no evidence of his having even con-
ceived of the loftier satisfactions, which are the gift of faith, hope, and charity.
Like his brother, whom he brought into his own path of the law, he had no
conception of human progress — no hope but of keeping things as they were —
(a hope which every day of his later life disappointed) — and none of that en-
larged charity which is unsuspicious of evil, and forgetful of self. — Of profes-
sional success, Lord Stowell deserved all that he obtained. He is considered
the highest English authority in the departments of ecclesiastical law and the
law of nations. His expositions of intricate questions of large compass were
so luminous and complete, as to give to his statements the character of reve-
lations of the law, and to his judgments the dignity of oracles. He appears
not to have been troubled with his younger brother's infirmity of indecision :
and when excuse is made for Lord Eldon's delays of justice on the ground of
the comprehensiveness of his views, Lord S to well's example may be quoted in
proof that sagacity and largeness of view may be combined with decision and
efficiency.
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 459
As for Lord Eldon's delays, there is no doubt that they were made the most 1835 — 41.
of by political opponents, by the sufferers under those delays, and by popular
rumour, which sprang from these sources. There is no doubt, also, that Lord
Eldon was right in his allegations, and correct in his proofs, that by means of
his long and cautious study and deliberation, estates had been preserved or
restored to their right owners, which would have been given to the wrong
party by a more hasty judge, on a more superficial review of the case. But it
is also impossible to deny that there was a large over-balance of evil on the
other side — a vast destruction of property, and infliction of misery, from the
protraction of Chancery suits, and an engendering of a contempt and dislike
of the law far more revolutionary than any of the acts of reform which Lord
Eldon held in such painful dread. There can be no doubt to those who read
his life, that the action of his mind was much impeded and deranged by his
self-regards — his cowardly anxiety about other people's opinions of him, his
jealousy of his friends, and his fears of his enemies ; while his insolent mis-
judgment of the people at large was perpetually throwing him out in the
exercise of his judgment. His legal learning was never surpassed, if it was
ever equalled ; and his judgments may be all the more valuable for being so
long waited for/ Such benefits as he left behind him in this form are no more
than a compensation for the mischief he did in his political capacity. Through-
out a long life, he was the great obstructive — the grand impediment in the
way of improvement — the heavy drag upon social happiness in the country
which he professed to love so well. It was a national misfortune that political
power should rest in the hands of one whose mind was so narrow, whose
temper was at once timid and insolent, and whose heart, if ever he had one,
had wasted and withered early in life. He was always fumbling for his heart
and his concience, as if to make sure that they were safe ; and he chuckled
over them as a miser over the gold pieces he can jingle in his fob : but the
more he chuckled over his hoarded heart and conscience, the less use they were
of to any body else ; till at last the world doubted whether he had either. The
memoirs of his life present him as the prince of egotists ; and as he had lived
the life, he died the death, of the egotist. As he more and more viewed all
things in their relation to his personal complacency, and as the world did not
slacken its course as age and infirmity withdrew him from its activity, he
suffered more and more from jealousy and discontent. There was less of his
graceful playfulness, and more of watchfulness, fewer jokes, and more sus-
picions and pets, till even his vigilant life could keep awake no longer ; and he
had to leave his fields and his woods, and the fame and authority he had so
long and tenaciously vindicated, and content himself with those deserts which
he estimated so highly, and those pleasures of conscience which he had inces-
santly spoken of as of a kind of special grant from Providence to himself.
When he was gone, the nation anxiously acquitted itself of its obligations to
him ; the kingdom echoed with acknowledgments of his ability and learning,
and praise of his political consistency: his pale face and feeble form were
missed in the House of Lords, and in the Law Courts his name was ushered in
with compliments : but there is no doubt that, if it had been possible, every
body would have been as sorry to see him back again as to witness a revival of
the times of which he was the animating spirit. The posthumous homage
460 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK V.
1835—41. was not hypocritical : it sprang from the uneasy desire to do justice all the
v-— -•*— • '-^ more conscientiously, because the heart gives no help. Lord Eldon died in
LORD SIDMOUTH. January, 1838, in the 87th year of his age. — His old comrade, Lord Sidmouth,
was almost as old — past 80 when Lord Eldon died. He was gradually declin-
ing in health, though not in clearness of mind. He was always an amiable
man, even when spending his days in setting traps for conspirators, and hunt-
ing traitors. He did those things as an indubitable professional duty. When
he had done, he enjoyed a serene conscience, free from misgivings as to his
dealings with the ignorant, the hungering, and the exasperated. His business
was with the Throne, and not with the people. He thought his successors
unaccountably rash and supine in ceasing to coerce the people, and therein to
guard the Throne : but he had done with business, and it was their affair.
So he resigned himself gently to infirmity and decline, looked upon Lord
Eldon's departure as a reminder that he must soon follow ; and died, when he
had reached Lord Eldon's age, in February, 1844 — twenty years after his re-
tirement from official life.
ZACHARY MACAU. Zachary Macaulay died during the period under review, one of the most
strenuous labourers of the friendly company who toiled so hard for the aboli-
CHARLES SIMEON, tion of Slavery ; — and his and Wilberforce's friend, Mr. Simeoii, the originator
of the Evangelical movement at Cambridge, by which so much was done in
the way of the purchase of advowsons, to fill the pulpits of the Establishment
with men who should revive the spirit of religion in the lukewarm Church.
Mr. Simeon held the same living at Cambridge for fifty-three years ; and saw
before his death (in his 78th year) such a revival in the Church as he had
little anticipated — a revival — partly incited by his own — of the High Church
spirit which has always hitherto been found incompatible with human liberty,
and hostile to peace on earth, and good-will to men. At Mr. Simeon's funeral,
2000 mourners followed the coffin, and his departure was regarded by his
JOSEPH LANCASTER, adherents almost that of an apostle. — Joseph Lancaster, who invented and
tried the method of mutual instruction in schools before Dr. Bell — though the
system is usually named after Dr. Bell — died by an accident in the year 1838
— being run over in the streets of New York. Both men should have the
credit, such as it is, of the system, which they appeared to have invented
independently.
H. STEVENS. From the musical world we lost at this time, in 1837, Stevens, whose glees
are sung every where, from concerts at Windsor to little gatherings in work-
SAMUEL WESLEY, shops and water-parties : and in the same year /another of the Wesleys, now
fast dropping away from us. — Samuel Wesley, nephew of John, and brother to
the musical genius Charles, had the true Wesley organization, disposing him
to a life of piety expressed in music. It was this nephew of whom John
Wesley said, when it was believed that popish music had made him a Catholic,
"he may indeed roll a few years in purging fire, but he will surely go to
heaven at last." His life on earth was a purgatory. His head was injured
by a fall in his early manhood ; and from that time he was subject to long
visitations of religious melancholy. Music was his solace : and he has left
some which may beguile others of the sorrow of which he knew so much. —
ATTWOOD Thomas Attwood, Mozart's pupil, died in 1838, leaving two coronation
anthems, and a mass of other compositions by which to be commemorated;
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 461
He was organist of St. Paul's for many years : and afterwards, for a short time 1835 — 41.
before his death, organist of the chapels royal. He was chorister of the ^— — v-^-'
chapel royal, when his ability drew the attention of the Prince of Wales, who
bore the expense of his musical education on the continent, in the course of
which he formed his intimacy with Mozart.
Wilkins, the architect, who built the University Club-house, St. George's WILLIAM
Hospital, and the National Gallery, in London, and collegiate buildings at
Cambridge and Haileybury, died in 1839; and in the next year, Sir Jeffrey SIR j. WYAT.
Wyatville, whose father and two uncles were architects of the name of Wyatt. "'
The change of name was a device of George IVth, to distinguish his favourite
from his uncles. The renovation and improvement of "Windsor Castle are his
great deed, and that with which his name will ever be associated ; but he left
works also in 35 out of the 40 English counties, and 4 out of the 12 Welsh.
Though much might be said of these if Windsor Castle was out of sight, they
are almost lost in the presence of that noble achievement, which is justly a
cause of pride to the nation. The architect reached his 74th year. His
likeness remains, not only in Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait, but in a bust in
the long gallery at Windsor, where he, if any man, deserves a place.
William Holl, the historical and portrait engraver, died in 1838 ; and WILLIAM HOLL.
Bewick's apprentice, Nesbitt, whose wood-engravings did ample honour to his CHARLES NESBITT.
master. — Hilton, who succeeded Fuseli in the charge of the Royal Academy, w. HILTON.
and who was eminently beloved and respected by the pupils there, died in
1839. And in the same year, Turnerelli, the sculptor, who gave us the cele- TURNEREUJ.
brated figure of Burns at his plough, for the poet's monument at Dumfries. —
And we lost Daniell, to whom the untravelled owe so much of their conception WILLIAM
of Indian scenery — and Stuart Newton, who brought his talent from his home G. STUART
in Nova Scotia, and cultivated it in Italy, and was rapidly maturing it in
London when insanity overtook him, and broke up all the purposes of his life,
and at length his life also. He recovered his reason when his strength was
too far gone to admit of his rallying. He was in his 40th year. — Westall, ^^AARL°
second only to Stothard in fame and employment as an illustrator of books,
died in 1837; and in 1839, Sir W. Beechey, who was old enough to have siaw. BEBCHEY
been the favourite portrait-painter of George III. and his queen, and to have
enjoyed a great range of aristocratic practice before the uprising of Sir Thomas
Lawrence. — Another aged artist died, in 1840 — Alexander Nasmyth, the ALEXANDER
father of the Scottish school of landscape painting. Besides his landscapes,
however, he has given us something of great value, in his portrait of his friend
Burns, of whom we should otherwise have no good picture. — His countryman,
David Wilkie, died, too soon, in the same year. It may be that we had had DAVID WILKIE.
the best of Wilkie, and that no new style that he could ever attempt could
yield such results as that which he had forsaken — that of his best years, and
by which he is best known : but still his death at fifty-six, on his return
voyage from the East, when his mind was full of ideas and images of which we
were to have had the benefit, was felt to be a national misfortune ; and the
mourning, within and without the world of Art, was wide-spread and sincere.
The groups round print-shop windows, in all the towns of the kingdom, proved
that it was not necessary to belong to the world of art to enjoy Wilkie 's
pictures. His Village Politicians, his Rent Day, his Cut Finger, and Rabbit
462
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK V.
BANNISTER.
COLMAN THE
YOUNGER.
MRS. BLAND.
1835 — 41. on the Wall, his Reading of the Will, and many others, are as well known to
hundreds of errand-boys, and homely tradesmen, and persons who were school
children in his best time, as to the owners of the pictures themselves. Wilkie
was the son of an humble Scotch clergyman. He had travelled in the East
during the year before his death — sank suddenly under a feverish attack, after
leaving Gibraltar, on his return, and was buried at sea.
Of the Actors who were favourites in the last century there were few
remaining now ; and death was fast making them fewer. Blanchard died in
1835; and in the next year, Jack Bannister, of whom Garrick predicted great
things as a painter, but who changed his style of art from motives of filial
duty, and became an actor — not thereby losing Garrick's friendship, but
gaining instruction from him. There was much regret among play-goers
when Jack Bannister took leave of the stage in 1815 ; and some of this feeling
remained to do him honour when, after twenty years more, his death was
announced. It was Bannister who recommended Fawcett to Colman as his
successor ; and Colman thought that in Dr. Pangloss, in Colman's own play
of the Heir at Law, Fawcett excelled Bannister. And now Fawcett, Colman,
and Bannister, all left the world within half a year. — Colman wrote for Mrs.
Bland, in all his musical dramas, if indeed his musical dramas were not
written for Mrs. Bland; and now, she- went too — at the beginning of 1838. —
The writer of several favourite pieces played in the days of this group of actors
and ever since — A Cure for the Heart-ache, Speed the Plough,' and others —
THOMAS MORTON. Thomas Morton, the dramatist, died at the same time with his old friends ;
and he was presently followed by another dramatist, popular in his day —
Boaden, the biographer of the Kembles. — Charles Mathews had ventured upon
the stage before the last century was out ; but it was in his boyhood, and
without his father's knowledge. As an established actor, he belonged to our
century, his first decided success being subsequent to 1810. Being lamed by
an accident, and finding his wonderful imitative faculty Jiore genially and
freely exercised in such entertainments as those called " Mathews at Home,"
than in regular acting, he became the kind of performer that we all remember.
Probably no man called out more mirth in any nation than Mathews among
us, who do not laugh enough ; or among the Americans, who laugh more than
we do, but still not enough. Mathews could make all hearts merry but his
own. His health was bad ; and visitations of epilepsy in his early life left him
subject to depression of spirits which nothing could clear. While imitating
all he saw and heard, wherever he went, as if the spirit of fun was always
overflowing, his heart lay heavy within him. No one knew better than he
that, while the wit of one man is related to the mirth of another, the two
capacities are not necessarily connected in the same individual. As a man
may be mirthful without wit or fun, so a man may have wit and fun without
mirth : and poor Mathews would often, like many other wits, have been glad
to exchange his mirth-exciting powers for the mirth he excited. He died on
his 59th birthday. — When the elder generation is boasting of the dramatic
favourites of the last century, the young people are usually deciding within
themselves that the favourite of their own day could never have been surpassed :
and at the time before us, the young lovers of the musical stage were content
to hear of the pets of their parents while they could go and listen to Malibran.
JAMES BOADEN.
CHARLES
MATHEWS.
MALIBRAN.
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
She was not English by birth; but she became English by education and 1835 — 41.
through her hearty adoption by the English people. Her childhood was hard * -~— — "
and laborious ; and her genius broke forth in wildness of exertion and of mirth
by turns. She hardly knew what repose was ; and she died of exhaustion at
the age of 28. She was a wonderful creature ; able to achieve Avhatever she
attempted, and able to aspire to more than most people could conceive. The
unhappiness of her life no doubt stimulated her professional exertions, and
helped to wear out her frame. She allowed herself to be wedded, when very
young, to an elderly French merchant at New York, M. Malibran, who soon
afterwards went to prison for debt. She believed herself deceived, gave up her
marriage settlement to his creditors, and returned to Europe, where in 1836,
at Paris, she obtained a divorce which set her free to marry again — which she
did at once. In six months afterwards, she was dead ; and in two months
more died her first husband. Her labours, and the wearing kind of toil con-
sequent upon fame, had long been undermining her strength; and at the
Manchester Musical Festival of September, 1836, she sank, after having
thrilled the souls of the audience with her last strain, " Sing ye to the Lord."
Her voice, and the mind that it carried, thrills yet, and ever will, in the hearts
of those who heard her most worthily : and the youngest of these will boast of
her to their grand-children as old men now magnify the Siddons and (in the
dearth of opera) the Catalani of their day.
When a man of business is a man of letters and finds himself equally at RICHARD SHARP.
home in London drawing-rooms and in the counting-house, he contributes a
large portion to the respectability of his country, where such an union of
pursuits is not so common as it ought to be. Richard Sharp, commonly known
as Conversation Sharp, was a man of this order. He was partly occupied with
commercial concerns, and left behind him upwards of £250,000: yet Sir
James Mackintosh declared him the best critic he had ever known. He
published Letters and Essays which justified his position as a man of letters ;
he had a seat in parliament for several years, and was the associate of the most
eminent literary men of his time. He died, in old age, in 1835. — Alexander
Chalmers died at this time — the indefatigable editor of a host of works, and
writer of the greater part of the Biographical Dictionary which goes by his
name. He is remarkable for literary industry rather than for any other merit
in his contributions to literature. — A quiet, modest, but most eminent public
benefactor who died at this time was Robert Lemon, of the State Paper Office. ROBERT LEMON.
Every body knows how, in rummaging among dusty and neglected papers, he
found Milton's MS. : but few know how much else he found among the
cobwebs. To his industry and sagacity we owe the rescue from rot and obli-
vion of a mass of valuable materials for history ; and also such a reform of our
care of State papers as may save us from quenching the historical lights for
which we are answerable to future generations. The India Company was at
one time very near purchasing the services of Mr. Lemon from the State Paper
Office ; but Lord Sidmouth, made aware of his value by his superiors in office,
increased his salary to an amount on which he might live decently : and
perhaps the future Histories of England may be of a far higher, and those of
British India of a somewhat lower character, for this appropriation of £200
per annum. It was Mr. Lemon's labours that suggested to Sir R. Peel the
XANflF.n
.MI..1IS
464 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 41. appointment of Commissioners to examine and publish such State Papers
as were lying neglected ; and Mr. Lemon was the Secretary of the Commis-
sion thus obtained. The first publications were of the documents of the
SIR WM. CELL, reign of Henry VIII. — Sir William Gell, the classical antiquary, who opened
to us so much topographical illustration of ancient historical scenes or fictions,
died in 1836, at Naples.
Death swept away, during this period, a whole group of distinguished
DR.CAREY. orientalists. Dr. Carey, the Missionary, died in 1834, at Serampore ; and a
DB. MORRISON, few weeks after him, Dr. Morrison the eminent Chinese scholar at Canton.
The lapse of time lessens our confidence in the results of missions to the East,
and of negotiations with oriental powers, by revealing more and more of the
difficulty of rapidly acquiring the oriental languages so as to be able to employ
them in such serious affairs as the uprooting of old religions, and the ne-
gotiation of political or commercial alliances. It is now well known to many
that shocking errors have existed throughout in our translations of the Scrip-
tures into eastern languages, and that it is difficult for a missionary preacher
to utter a discourse without conveying something that it would make his hair
stand on end to be aware of: and it is well known that miserable misunder-
standings from English blunders about Chinese proclamations precipitated, if
' they did not cause, the Chinese war. When, therefore, we read of Dr. Carey's
success in giving the Scriptures to forty nations or tribes, each in their own
tongue, we may well doubt how far they really were the Christian Scriptures
that were given them ; and, in the case of Dr. Morrison's catechisms and
tracts, how far his ideas could be communicated to the Chinese. But begin-
nings must be made. The zeal and benevolence of both men were unquestion-
able ; and their learning was no doubt as reliable as the times permitted, and
certainly greater than that of any other men known among us. One important
part of their work was the establishment of colleges and other institutions, by
which preparation is made for a more real and less dangerous intercourse with
the oriental mind hereafter. Dr. Carey reached an advanced age. Dr. Morrison
died in his 53rd year, from the consequences of exposure on the Canton river,
while acting as interpreter to Lord Napier amidst the disastrous transactions
SIR c. WILRINC. which will have to be presently related. — Sir Charles Wilkins was one of the
first English students of Sanskrit : and he it was who originated our Bengalee
and Persian publications by his ingenuity and skill in preparing the requisite
types, with his own hands. This was in the last century, for he was 85 when
WM. MARSDEN. he died in London, in 1836. — His son-in-law, Mr. Marsden, also a great ori-
entalist, followed in the next year, leaving us much new knowledge about
Sumatra and the Malayan Archipelago, several dictionaries and grammars of
eastern languages, and a singular collection of oriental coins, which he pre-
sented to the British Museum, He was but little younger than his father-in-
law, having attained the age of 81. He presented his noble library to King's Col-
lege, London ; and resigned, becaiise he did not want it, his rewarding pension of
£1500 a year. This was an honourable life of industry, usefulness, and dis-
interestedness.— The most eminent Chinese scholar left after these losses,
THOS. MANNING. Thomas Manning, departed also, in 1840. The mystery which hung about
China when he was young, so completely took possession of his imagination,
that he could attend to nothing at home but the studies which might fit him
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 465
for exploring the forbidden land. He qualified himself as highly as was 1835 — 41.
then possible, went out to the east, and tried long and often, and always
in vain, to penetrate China, either by Canton or through Thibet. He got in
at last, in the train of Lord Amherst, in 1816. His first publication, when
he was quite young, was on algebra ; and he would have been eminent as a
mathematician, if China had not come in the way. The readers of Charles
Lamb's letters know how jealous he was of the China — the unrepaying
China — which deprived him of Manning's society for so many of the best years
of their lives.
Charles Lamb had already been some time gone when Manning died. That CHARLES LAMB.
gentle genius, heroic and genial, enjoying and suffering, at once — sportful and
enduring — noble and frail — loving others as an angel might, and himself be-
loved as an infant and a sage in one — departed while he could yet ill be spared,
before he had passed his 60th year. He was one who could never, at any age,
have been willingly spared while his mind could work and play,* and his hesi-
tating speech could convey its burden of thought, and pathos, and wild wit :
but his special work in life — the guardianship of his accomplished, but infirm
and dependent sister — was not done when an accident — a fall whose conse-
quences were fatal — disposed of the matter, and gave a new tenderness to the
pathos, and a solemnity to the wit, of the Essays of Elia, which had been read
before under a hope that, while Elia lived, we might have more. Charles
Lamb w&s an exquisite ornament of his time — as he would have been of any
time : and he was its serious benefactor too, in as far as he called out and
fostered the spirit of geniality, in which, above every thing, our time is defi-
cient. There seems to be a prevalent impression that he was of greater mark
than his writings will account for ; and this is probably owing to the spirit of
those writings being far higher than their pretensions ; — that they were so
instinct with genius, that their form, and even their amount, is a matter of
little concern. — An aged lady died in 1838, whose name should not be omitted,
though it belongs only to the lightest order of literature, and had long lost the MRS. GRANT.
great distinction it had once enjoyed ; — Mrs. Grant, of Laggan. Her Memoirs
of an American Lady were interesting before the United States were as fa-
miliar to us as they are now; and her Letters from the Mountains are a good
example of the epistolary style in literature. She lived to feel extreme sur-
prise at the American colonists for daring to desire a separation from England,
and at the seditious tendencies of English society which could countenance the
presumption. She lived, as was natural, in the scenes of her youth, as regarded
both America and Scotland, and her readers dwelt upon the achievements of
her youth, in acknowledging their obligations to her. She was 84 when she
died.
Her countryman, John Gait, was, like herself, a highly popular writer in his JOHN GALT.
day, and, like her, could not reconcile himself to the state of things on the other
side the Atlantic. He lived for some time in Canada, but was involved in
such disputes as he was too apt to find grow up about him ; and he is most
pleasantly remembered by his Scotch novels — the Ayrshire Legatees, the Annals
of the Parish, the Entail, and others. He died in 1839. — The Irish novelist,
Gerald Griffin, died in the next year — young, but having ceased to write GERALD GRIFFI
VOL. n. 3 o
464 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V.
1835 — 41. appointment of Commissioners to examine and publish such State Papers
as were lying neglected ; and Mr. Lemon was the Secretary of the Commis-
sion thus obtained. The first publications were of the documents of the
SIR WM. CELL, reign of Henry VIII. — Sir William Gell, the classical antiquary, who opened
to us so much topographical illustration of ancient historical scenes or fictions,
died in 1836, at Naples.
Death swept away, during this period, a whole group of distinguished
DR. CAREY. orientalists. Dr. Carey, the Missionary, died in 1834, at Serampore ; and a
DR. MORRISON, few weeks after him, Dr. Morrison the eminent Chinese scholar at Canton.
The lapse of time lessens our confidence in the results of missions to the East,
and of negotiations with oriental powers, by revealing more and more of the
difficulty of rapidly acquiring the oriental languages so as to be able to employ
them in such serious affairs as the uprooting of old religions, and the ne-
gotiation of political or commercial alliances. It is now well known to many
that shocking errors have existed throughout in our translations of the Scrip-
tures into eastern languages, and that it is difficult for a missionary preacher
to utter a discourse without conveying something that it would make his hair
stand on end to be aware of: and it is well known that miserable misunder-
standings from English blunders about Chinese proclamations precipitated, if
' they did not cause, the Chinese war. When, therefore, we read of Dr. Carey's
success in giving the Scriptures to forty nations or tribes, each in their own
tongue, we may well doubt how far they really were the Christian Scriptures
that were given them ; and, in the case of Dr. Morrison's catechisms and
tracts, how far his ideas could be communicated to the Chinese. But begin-
nings must be made. The zeal and benevolence of both men were unquestion-
able ; and their learning was no doubt as reliable as the times permitted, and
certainly greater than that of any other men known among us. One important
part of their work was the establishment of colleges and other institutions, by
which preparation is made for a more real and less dangerous intercourse with
the oriental mind hereafter. Dr. Carey reached an advanced age. Dr. Morrison
died in his 53rd year, from the consequences of exposure on the Canton river,
while acting as interpreter to Lord Napier amidst the disastrous transactions
SIRC. WILRIN.O. which will have to be presently related. — Sir Charles Wilkins was one of the
first English students of Sanskrit : and he it was who originated our Bengalee
and Persian publications by his ingenuity and skill in preparing the requisite
types, with his own hands. This was in the last century, for he was 85 when
WM. MARSDEW. he died in London, in 1836. — His son-in-law, Mr. Marsden, also a great ori-
entalist, followed in the next year, leaving us much new knowledge about
Sumatra and the Malayan Archipelago, several dictionaries and grammars of
eastern languages, and a singular collection of oriental coins, which he pre-
sented to the British Museum. He was but little younger than his father-in-
law, having attained the age of 81. He presented his noble library to King's Col-
lege, London ; and resigned, because he did not want it, his rewarding pension of
£1500 a year. This was an honourable life of industry, usefulness, and dis-
interestedness.— The most eminent Chinese scholar left after these losses,
THOS. MANNING. Thomas Manning, departed also, in 1840. The mystery which hung about
China when he was young, so completely took possession of his imagination,
that he could attend to nothing at home but the studies which might fit him
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 465
for exploring the forbidden land. He qualified himself as highly as was 1835 — 41.
then possible, went out to the east, and tried long and often, and always >~— ~"^" — "
in vain, to penetrate China, either by Canton or through Thibet. He got in
at last, in the train of Lord Amherst, in 1816. His first publication, when
he was quite young, was on algebra ; and he would have been eminent as a
mathematician, if China had not come in the way. The readers of Charles
Lamb's letters know how jealous he was of the China — the unrepaying
China — which deprived him of Manning's society for so many of the best years
of their lives.
Charles Lamb had already been some time gone when Manning died. That CHARLES LAMB.
gentle genius, heroic and genial, enjoying and suffering, at once — sportful and
enduring — noble and frail — loving others as an angel might, and himself be-
loved as an infant and a sage in one — departed while he could yet ill be spared,
before he had passed his 60th year. He was one who could never, at any age,
have been willingly spared while his mind could work and play,* and his hesi-
tating speech could convey its burden of thought, and pathos, and wild wit :
but his special work in life — the guardianship of his accomplished, but infirm
and dependent sister — was not done when an accident — a fall whose conse-
quences were fatal — disposed of the matter, and gave a new tenderness to the
pathos, and a solemnity to the wit, of the Essays of Elia, which had been read
before under a hope that, while Elia lived, we might have more. Charles
Lamb was an exquisite ornament of his time — as he would have been of any
time : and he was its serious benefactor too, in as far as he called out and
fostered the spirit of geniality, in which, above every thing, our time is defi-
cient. There seems to be a prevalent impression that he was of greater mark
than his writings will account for; and this is probably owing to the spirit of
those writings being far higher than their pretensions ; — that they were so
instinct with genius, that their form, and even their amount, is a matter of
little concern. — An aged lady died in 1838, whose name should not be omitted,
though it belongs only to the lightest order of literature, and had long lost the MRS. GRANT.
great distinction it had once enjoyed ; — Mrs. Grant, of Laggan. Her Memoirs
of an American Lady were interesting before the United States were as fa-
miliar to us as they are now; and her Letters from the Mountains are a good
example of the epistolary style in literature. She lived to feel extreme sur-
prise at the American colonists for daring to desire a separation from England
and at the seditious tendencies of English society which could countenance the
presumption. She lived, as was natural, in the scenes of her youth, as regarded
both America and Scotland, and her readers dwelt upon the achievements of
her youth, in acknowledging their obligations to her. She was 84 when she
died.
Her countryman, John Gait, was, like herself, a highly popular writer in his JOHN GALT.
day, and, like her, could not reconcile himself to the state of things on the other
side the Atlantic. He lived for some time in Canada, but was involved in
such disputes as he was too apt to find grow up about him ; and he is most
pleasantly remembered by his Scotch novels — the Ayrshire Legatees, the Annals
of the Parish, the Entail, and others. He died in 1839. — The Irish novelist,
Gerald Griffin, died in the next year — young, but having ceased to write GERALD GRIFFW.
VOL. II. 3 O
468 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox V.
1835—41. may and must have others, written hy men who have seen India, and who
' '-— — ' can contribute much that did not lie in Mr. Mill's way : but nothing can now
prevent his being the History which first presented the great subject of India
to the best part of the mind of England, and largely influenced the adminis-
tration of that great dependency. It is a well-known virtue of the India
Company that they discover, and employ, and reward, the best men, in a
way that administrative bodies very rarely do. In this case, as in others,
their generous prudence was richly rewarded : for Mr. Mill was able to do
more for their empire than they, with all power and willingness, could do for
him.
MB. MALTHUS. A man of great celebrity died at the close of 1834 — of a celebrity out of all
proportion to the knowledge of his works. Mr. Malthus was perhaps the
most abused man of his time ; but he was so well aware that the abuse never
proceeded from those who had read his writings, that it did not trouble him,
nor in the least impair the sweetness of his temper, or the quiet cheerfulness
of his manners. It was he who first placed clearly and by elaborate state-
ment before society the all-important fact which lies at the bottom of the
poverty of society — that the number of consumers naturally presses upon the
means of subsistence ; and that while the numbers and the means of subsis-
tence are not proportioned to each other by the exercise of enlightened
prudence, poverty and misery must always exist. The illustration of the
doctrine is simply this : that a piece of land which will exactly support a
family of four or five persons will not support the spreading families of those
four or five persons ; and the moral inference from this is, that forethought
ought to be exercised about the future subsistence of such families, or their
numbers will be reduced by hunger or disease. Any illustrations or amplifi-
cations of these simple facts which may be found in Mr. Malthus's works, and
which may be misunderstood or disliked, cannot impair the great service he
rendered in pointing out the fact which lies at the bottom of social destitution;
nor can any discoveries or recognition of means of increasing food by im-
proving the productiveness of land at home, or drawing from a larger area
abroad, touch his theory more or less. Whatever blessings, whatever inter-
missions of anxiety, we may obtain by such methods, the fact remains that
human families expand in numbers while corn-fields do not expand in size,
nor, by any means discovered or conceivable, in a productiveness which can
keep pace with human increase. Mr. Malthus's simple humanity was shown
in the readiness and plainness with which he made known this essential
truth. The hardness and cruelty would have been in concealing it after it
once became apparent to his mind. As for the foolish and disagreeable
notions which are too commonly associated with his name and theory — such as
that he desired that poor people should not marry — they may be regarded as
mere unfounded imputations, cast upon his works by careless rumour; in
spreading which, however, those are not guiltless who have the opportunity of
seeing for themselves what Malthus did think and say. His works will pro-
bably be little read henceforth ; for the first and chief, his Essay on Population,
has answered its purpose. All who turn their thoughts towards political
economy at all are aware that a determinate stock of food which is just suffi-
cient for a certain number must be insufficient for any greater number;
.CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 469
and that, while we have among us so much destitution as • we see, it-must -1835 41.
be a consideration of the first moment so to educate the rising generation,
and so to arrange the inducements of their life, as to train them to prudence
for their own comfort, and humanity towards their children. The service
which Mr. Malthus did to society was in fixing its attention upon the
laws of increase of eaters and of food, and on the morality — a cheerful
and genial morality, opposed only to license — which is indicated hy those
natural laws. Mr. Malthus was a clergyman, and professor of History
and Political Economy at the East India College at Haileyhury. His life
was useful and innocent, serene and cheerful — supported and graced by
universal respect and love among those who knew him. He reached his
69th year.
An old antagonist of his — a man who was in a state of antagonism WILLIAM
0 GODWIN.
to much that is m the world — William Godwin — died in April, 1836.
Godwin was a man of great powers, insufficiently balanced; and, as the
European world was, in his youth, a mighty conflict of great powers insufficiently
balanced, he was just the man to make an impression of vast force on the
society of his day. Soon after his Political Justice was published, working
men were seen to club their earnings to buy it, and to meet under a tree or
in an alehouse to read it. It wrought so violently that Godwin saw there
must be unsoundness in it ; and he modified it considerably before he reissued
it. His mind was acute, and, through the generosity of his heart, profound ;
but it was one-sided. With us, society and government had been one-sided in
the opposite direction, and it was a benefit to us all that, when driven
from the purely conventional view of things, society fell in with a Godwin
who presented, in the broadest manner, the natural. He suffered, individually,
from the antagonism, and so did many of his disciples ; but it was the safest
thing for society at large, in that crisis, to have the whole material of social
philosophy, the whole choice of social organization, exhibited before it at once.
There can be no doubt that government and society in England at this day
are the better for the astuteness and the audacity, the truth and the error, the
depth and the shallows, the generosity and^the injustice, of Godwin, as mani-
fested in his Political Justice : and thus he was one — though perhaps the
most unpalatable — of the benefactors of his age. Many who do not regard
him from this point of view are grateful for his wonderful novels — Caleb
Williams and St. Leon. These are but a small portion of his works; but
they are those by which he is best known. He controverted Malthus — he
wrote a History of the Commonwealth, and a series of historical books for
children ; and in short was busy with his pen through the greater part of a
long life. He was the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft, whom he lost a few
months after their marriage. In his old age, a small sinecure office was given
him by the Grey Ministry, with rooms in connexion with the House of
Commons ; and there he loved to show the old Star Chamber which was so
soon to be destroyed before his face ; and to exhibit the tallies, the burning of
which was to occasion the destruction. On the night of the fire, he was at
the theatre ; and, when it became clear that his chambers were in danger, his
strong-minded old wife would not have him alarmed by a message, but
470 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK V,
1835 — 41. managed to remove his property before he returned to be amazed at the sight.
He was saved the worst part of the shock, and lived for nearly a year and a
half afterwards, when he quietly sank out of the life he loved so well, in the
81st year of his age.
The interests of the period now closing were so various, so widely spread,
and, through the weakness of the government, so desultory, that it has been a
task of no slight difficulty to bring them together, and present them in any
effectual sequence and natural connexion. We have now before us the closing
period of this History, in which the events seem to draw 'together in their very
magnitude, and to prescribe their own order, which will be interrupted only
by some necessary retrospect here and there.
END OF BOOK V.
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 471
BOOK VI
CHAPTER I.
general election of 1841 "was one of extraordinary importance. It was t GA-I
not that any one great question was now, as in 1831, to be settled by a
House of Commons which should be, in fact, an assemblage of delegates : but
that something yet more important should be done. The Ministers hoped;
and apparently believed, that the country would support them on the Free-
trade question as it had done on the Parliamentary Reform question; and they
calculated on beginning a new career in virtue of their proposal of a fixed
duty on Corn. But in this they were three times mistaken. The people
were not yet ready for such a struggle on this question as they had gone
through ten years before for a greater : — if they had been ready, the Free-
traders could not have carried their point under those oppressive provisions of
the Reform bill which secured the preponderance of the landed interest in the
representation : — and again, they had not that confidence in the government
which could stimulate them to any effectual effort on behalf of the government
proposition. Nothing had happened for some years to give them any confidence
in the Whig administration; and much had happened every year to prevent their
trusting Lord Melbourne and his colleagues with the subject of the Corn laws.
The Ministers who carried the Reform Bill had advocated Parliamentary
Reform for a long course of years — had seen the truth, and spoken for it, and
were fit to act in its behalf when the season came: but the men who now assumed
to be reformers on the Corn question had, both in and out of office, steadily
resisted this very reform, while in possession of precisely the same means of
information which they had at present. The Premier had pronounced the
proposal of Corn law reform mad : and Lord J. Russell had called it mis-
chievous, absurd, impracticable, and unnecessary. He had resisted such pro-
posals ever since he came into office — at first contemptuously, and then
vehemently : and when he, at last and somewhat suddenly, declared himself
in favour of a moderate Fixed Duty, he had no right to expect the support of
the nation. The Ministers had no right even to resent popular doubts of their
sincerity : but there were thousands who declined entering upon the inquiry
as to the sincerity of Ministers who yet positively denied their trustworthi-
ness. The question was too important to be committed to the management of
men who had, for nine out of ten years of office, acted strongly on the wrong
472 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 side: and who had, for several sessions past, shown that they could not con-
duct any important business whatever. The Corn law question was not
therefore that on which the elections proceeded, on the whole, though the
Conservatives and the immediate adherents of the Whig government agreed in
putting it forward as the ground of their conflict. The government candi-
dates shouted forth Lord J. Russell's fixed duty as their election cry ; but they
met with little response from the people. The people at large felt that a more
important consideration than even Cora law Reform was pressing.
The more sagacious and better educated among them put their conviction
into words ; but many thousands felt and acted upon the conviction who could
not put it into words. They felt that the very heart of our political virtue and
honour was eaten out by the incompetence, moral and official, of the Whig
administration. During their protracted decline in power, in reputation, and
in character, they had dragged down with them the aspiration, the earnest-
ness, and the hope, of the people : and the. political deterioration must be
endured no longer. Not only had parliamentary reform become almost a cant
term under their ineffectual and unprincipled rule ; but the very virtue which
had achieved that reform was starved out by the same sponsors who had
offered themselves before the congregation of the world to cherish it. The
indifferent had, under Whig rule, become more indifferent ; the sceptical,
more doubting ; the timid, more disheartened ; the earnest, more angry from
year to year, till they were now exasperated into an opposition as fierce as
could be offered by the most antiquated or selfish of the landed interest. It
would be no small gain, in displacing the Whigs, to be relieved about the
transaction of the daily business of the nation — to know that the government
was in the hands of men who could prepare acts of parliament, and obtain
accurate information, and procure good servants, to do their work without
blunders and delay. It would be a yet greater gain to obtain relief of mind
about our financial affairs — to feel that the money matters of the State were in
able hands, and that the immoral and destructive process was stopped of
sinking deeper into debt every year, finding the annual deficit in no degree
repaired, but only met by loans, and covered over with explanations, and
smiles and promises. Greater still would be the gain of having any set of men
in power who would cause political action in the people. There was no
apprehension that the old Tory rule would ever be revived. From the day
when the Duke of Wellington and Sir R. Peel had stood forth as reformers in
any department of principle, all possibility of rank Tory rule was over. The
question now was only of degrees and modes of reform ; and if men of any
party were once in place who had any power to govern, and any political
honour to guard, the people might and must co-operate with them, either in
the way of support or opposition ; and that political life would revive within
the heart of the nation which had well nigh died out under the chill of hopeless-
ness on the one part, and the poison of contempt on the other. The extra-
ordinary importance of the elections of 1841 lay — not in any pretence of
settling the Corn question — but in the opportunity afforded of dislodging the
tenacious tenants of the public offices. Notices to quit had been in vain ; and
twice had the day of reckoning been got over by an exercise of royal favour.
CHAP. I.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 473
Now the time was come for taking off the roof, if the people so pleased. They 1841.
did so please ; and very thoroughly they did the work. v>^-v~. — -
Throughout the elections, the support of the government was made a Con-
fidence question. Fatal as was this method of appeal, the Whig government
had no other. And it was on the ground of promises only that they could ask
for confidence. The appeal on the ground of their services in carrying Par-
liamentary Reform had been so long worn out that the elections of 1837 had
been carried by the free use of the Queen's name ; and nothing had happened
since to justify an appeal to any thing in the past. They now asked for con-
fidence on the ground of what they intended to do : but this is an appeal ill-
becoming any Ministry at the end of ten years (almost uninterrupted) of
power; and it was wholly inadmissible from an Administration which had
once assumed the title of Reforming, but had long since fallen back under its
old title of Whig. The people refused the great Confidence vote on their
wide floor within the four seas ; and prepared for the refusal of the smaller
Confidence vote which was to be asked for within the four walls of their House
of Parliament.
Lord J. Russell stood for the City of London, and was returned by a
majority of only 7 over the fifth candidate, who was a Conservative. Two
Conservatives and one Liberal were above him on the poll. Some mirth was
excited by the zeal of certain of the government party who commemorated
this victory, as they called it — though two Conservatives were let in — by a
medal, showing on its reverse side a wreath of wheat-ears, and the motto spectator, i84i.
" Free Trade," with the additional words " per mare per terram," which were
translated " one foot on sea and another on shore," (" to one thing constant
never.") The few victories of this kind gained by the Ministers were as fatal
as their defeats; for they could not afford to have their great towns neutralized
while the counties were returning Conservatives in overwhelming numbers.
Lord Howick was rejected in Northumberland, and Lords Morpeth and
Milton by the West Riding of Yorkshire. While free-trade professions were
vague and faint, declarations of want of confidence were loud and clear in
some of the largest towns. Complaints — no doubt just — were made on
every hand, of corruption : and it was believed that such an amount of
bribery had seldom, if ever before, been known ; but no one could say
that the one party was more guilty than the other. It was alleged, and
truly, that the Conservatives had been more attentive to the registration
than the Reformers ; and this was one of the most mortifying tokens of
the popular indifference to the Whig government. The result was, a Whig
majority of 9 in Scotland, and 19 in Ireland ; and a Conservative majority Annual Register,
of 104 in England and Wales. In the elections of 1837, the government
majority had fallen to 16, according to some authorities ; 12, according to
others. Now, the government was in a minority of 76; and this great
Conservative majority was sure to be largely increased, as soon as power
should pass from the Whigs to the Opposition — there being always in par-
liament a considerable body of men disposed to support the government,
whatever it may be.
The end was known to be neai*. The Queen and her Household had
learned their part in the ensuing changes by painful experience. The ladies
VOL. ii. 3 r
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK VI.
1841. prepared to resign their offices in good time, and the Queen prepared herself to
^--r— *-^ accept their resignation without objection. The new parliament assembled on
MEiTr. AI the 19th of August, Lord J. Russell and Sir R. Peel meeting at the bar, and
Hansard, HX. s. shaking hands "very cordially." Mr. Lefevre was re-chosen Speaker with
the smoothest unanimity : and then every body waited for the royal Speech.
Next, there was much comment on the Speech being delivered by commission,
while the Queen was in good health, the weather fine, and her Majesty known
to be usually disposed to enjoy these public occasions. It was alleged that
the Queen's physician had advised her Majesty to stay at home ; and this
again fixed expectation on the Speech. It was natural that the sovereign
should feel some emotion on meeting a parliament elected for the very purpose
of overthrowing an Administration to which she was attached by all the asso-
ciations of her accession to the throne, and by ties of confidence and custom :
QUEEN'S SPEECH, but further reasons for her absence appeared when the Speech was read. It
was singularly controversial in its tone, and was therefore far from being the
kind of Address which it suited the dignity of a Sovereign, or her relations
with her parliament, to deliver by word of mouth. Not only were the Lords
and Gentlemen in parliament requested to consider the Corn laws, but they
Hansard, iix. iG. were to determine whether those laws did not produce this and that and the
other bad consequence. It is inconceivable that the Ministers should not have
foreseen the embarrassment in which they would have placed their Royal
Mistress, if parliament should "determine" that the Corn laws did not produce
these bad consequences ; a determination far more probable than an agreement
of the majority of this particular parliament with the opinion of the Queen.
This singularity in the Speech pointed to the necessity of a dissolution of this
parliament, unless the existing Ministry should be displaced before any debate
on the Corn laws came on : and it rendered indispensable a protest on the
part of certain members against the unconstitutional aspect given to the
Speech by the sovereign being brought forward to make the first move in a
great controversy. A few nights afterwards, Lord J. Russell was so appealed
Hansard, iix. 483. to by Lord Stanley as to be forced to an earnest declaration that the Speech
expressed the sentiments of the Ministers, and that they alone were responsi-
ble for any thing that it contained.
AMENDED*889 '^'^ie Address was moved in the Upper House by Lord Spencer and seconded
by Lord Clanricarde ; and both speakers openly and at length condemned the
existing Corn laws. It was impossible to enter into controversy on this point
in preparing an answer to the Speech in which the Sovereign's opinion
appeared to be declared : and the amendment moved by Lord Ripon therefore
took another ground. It expressed the alarm of parliament at the con-
tinued excess of expenditure over income — promised careful consideration
of the interests commended to them — but declared that nothing could be
done while the government did not possess the confidence of the House or of
the country, and that her Majesty's present Ministers did not possess that con-
Hansard, iix. JOG. fidence. This amendment was carried by a majority of 72 on the night of the
24th of August. A similar amendment to the Address in the Commons was
proposed by Mr. Stuart Wortley, who had succeeded Lord Morpeth in the
representation of the West Riding of Yorkshire : and it was carried by a
CHAP. I.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 475
majority of 91. The last acts of the Whig government deepened their unpo- 1841.
pularity with their best remaining supporters — those who had yet hoped to "— — •
f. f. -, i .1 • rr,-, " , . Hansard, lix. 449.
carry some goodly measure ot free trade by their means. Ihese were dis-
pleased that the Corn law question should have been so mixed up with the
personal interests of the Ministers as to share in their personal discredit.
They, however, voted in favour of the Ministerial Address, for the sake of the
free trade principle. Yet was the majority against Ministers in both Houses
as overwhelming as has been seen. It only remained for the Sovereign to
communicate her Reply, and for the Ministers to resign. The Reply was
dignified. The Queen expressed her satisfaction at the spirit in which Parlia-
ment proposed to deliberate on the matters she had recommended to them,
and declared, in conclusion, "Ever anxious to listen to the advice of my Hansard, HX. 470.
Parliament, I will take immediate measures for the formation of a new Admi-
nistration." This message reached the Commons on Monday, August 30th :
and on Thursday, September 2nd, the Queen spent her last evening with the
Household whom she had declared to be so dear to her. Scarcely a word was QUEEN'S HorsE.
. , - , . • -I i IT /> HOLD CHANGED.
spoken at the dinner table ; and when she was with her ladies afterwards, tears
and regrets broke forth with little restraint. They were natural and amiable.
It was no fault of hers — nor of theirs — that their connexion was made depen-
dent on the state of political parties. The blame rested elsewhere, though
the suffering was with them. Every body pitied the young sovereign, and
saw and felt the hardship ; but there were many who looked forward cheer-
fully to an approaching time when she would know a new satisfaction in
reposing upon an Administration really strong, efficient, and supported by the
country, and on a Household composed of persons among whom she could
make friends, without the fear of their removal from any other cause than her
wish or their own.
On the night of Monday, August 30th, Lord Melbourne in the one House, Hansard, HX. 473.
and Lord J. Russell in the other, declared that, in consequence of the votes 476'
of both Houses on the Address, the Ministers had resigned their offices, RESIGNATION OF
..... .. MINISTERS.
and now continued in their places only till their successors should be
appointed.
Thus was the Melbourne Administration out at last. Men had waited long,
if not patiently, for this issue ; and the general satisfaction was evident
enough. Perhaps it was worth waiting so long to see the exhaustion so com-
plete. It afforded every needful advantage to the incoming administration :
and it yielded a striking lesson to all governments and their constituents. No
government had a fairer chance than that of the Whigs from popular and
royal favour — no government had a clearer task to perform, or more aids
and supports and stimulus in the performance ; and, when it became apparent
where the want of strength and clearness lay — that their principles were
weak, their views obscure, their purposes fluctuating, their knowledge defi-
cient, and their political honour relaxed — no ministry of such popular promise
ever sank so low. It was well for the political morality of the country that
the case was so clear — made so clear at last by the suicidal appeal to the
country in the elections. This clear exposition of the case might afford some
reparation — the only reparation possible — for the mischief of a long retention
476 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841. of office by men who could not, with all means of power in their hands, govern
the country. The people, who had for years heen divided between apathy
and fretfulness under a tenacious but helpless administration, might now
hope to enjoy the repose of confidence in the midst of activity in obtaining
reforms. They would now have able men, in an united Cabinet, to deal with ;
and it would depend much on themselves what the direction should be that
the ability of the Ministry should take. If the Peel Cabinet should prove a
reforming one, that would be the best thing that could happen. It it should
prove still too conservative, there was now a fair field of Opposition open, in
which the political life of the country could exercise itself, and ascertain how
much energy it could still command.
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 477
CHAPTER II.
distribution of office was watched with great eagerness by the whole 1841.
country. The first great hope was, that Sir Robert Peel would unite v— — "^ — '
the offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The TR^ION.MI
most pressing evil was the state of our finances. The people were becoming
fretted and alarmed at the annual deficit, for the cure of which no vigorous
measures were taken : and the distress had now, for a long time, been such as
to pull down the national courage, and press the working classes into depths
of hopelessness. If any power could redeem us from this distress and debt, it
was Peel ; for we had no other such financier. There was some regret, there-
fore, when it was known that Mr. Goulburn was made Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer; but still it was considered certain that Peel's mind would preside in
that department, and that all its action would proceed upon his views.
The next most interesting point was, who was to be Foreign Secretary, and
who at the Board of Control. Next to retrieving our affairs at home, was the LORD ABERDEEN.
consideration of keeping the peace in Europe and America, and returning to a
state of peace in Asia. Our accord with the United States was in peril from
Boundary questions which we shall have to review, and from the Right-of-
Search question, which threatened also to embroil us with powers nearer home.
Our " good understanding" with France was far from being what it was ; and
the Right of Search, and some Spanish difficulties, made our peace with the
French very precarious ; while the sagacious saw that the great Continental
struggle, so sure to happen, might henceforth begin on any occasion of provo-
cation, however slight. And we were now, as will presently be seen, actually
at war with China, and suffering under an accumulation of disasters in India.
After twenty-six years of peace, we were apparently in imminent danger of
war, at a time when every thing was going wrong at home ; — when agriculture
was moaning with hunger, and manufactures seemed dying, and commerce
was well nigh bankrupt ; when Ireland was stirring in rebellion, and the work-
ing classes in England and Scotland were growing desperate, and debt was
stealing upon us, and the nerves of the stoutest were beginning to be shaken,
from the young Sovereign in her palace, to the field-labourer in his damp hovel,
and the gaunt weaver chafing beside his empty loom. It w.as no time for war ;
and great was the importance of appointing men in connexion with foreign
affairs, and with the India House, who should be trustworthy for prudence
and a quiet demeanour, and averse from meddling and noise, showing their
sense of their country's dignity and honour by taking them for granted, and
relying upon them. Lord Ellenborough was at the Board of Control ; and
people thought this a very doubtful appointment. It did not mend the matter
that he soon went out to India as Governor-General. It was impossible to
suppose him the right man for such offices at such a time. The appointment
478 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1841. of Lord Aberdeen as Foreign Secretary was more fortunate. It was soon evi-
*— -v—— ^- dent that the honour of England and her peace with the world were safe in his
hands. " It seems strange," observed an eminent American statesman to an
English traveller, " that we Republicans should be glad when your Tories
come into power. One would think that our sympathies should be with your
reform governments. But the truth is, we cannot get on with your Whig
ministers. They do not understand business, and they do not understand
official good manners. Your Tory ministers are able, and attentive, and courte-
ous ; and when we do not agree, we are not likely to quarrel. But with the
Whigs, we have to forbear, and nothing goes smoothly." This feeling being
shared by other governments, the chances of peace were much improved by the
retirement of an unpopular Foreign Minister, and the appearance in his stead
of one of such weight of character, and quiet dignity of temper, as Lord Aber-
deen.— Another thoroughly satisfactory appointment was that of Sir James
siRj.GuAHAM. Graham as Home Secretary. His quality had been proved by the good work
he had done at the Admiralty. — Lord Bipon was not thought strong enough
LORD STANLEY, for his post at the Board of Trade. — Lord Stanley was unhappily made Colonial
Minister ; — an office for which superhuman powers and angelic attributes of
temper are requisite ; and in which his superficial cleverness, and his insolent
and irritable temper, might work more mischief in five years than a century
could cure. — Another objectionable appointment was that of the Duke of
Buckingham to be Lord Privy Seal : but the displeasure at this was soon put
an end to by the Duke's retirement from office, on his discovery that he was a
member of a reforming administration. — Another who had no business in such
a ministry, was Sir Edward Knatchbull : but he was only Paymaster of the
Forces, and Naval Treasurer, and not a man of any ability; so that his power
for mischief was small. — Lord Lyndhurst was, of course, Lord Chancellor. —
LORD WHARN. Lord Whamcliife, President of the Council, perhaps, proved as agreeable a
CL1FFE. > . . .
surprise to the nation as any one of his colleagues. Amidst some old Tory
tendencies to regard office too much as a personal and family privilege, and
too little as a trust, he manifested throughout his term of occupancy, such an
earnest desire for the promotion of popular education, such liberality of views,
such sagacity and diligence in business, as made him one of the most valued
members of the government.
Out of the Cabinet, the most notable man was, perhaps, Mr. W. E. Glad-
MR. GLADSTONE, stone, who was Vice-President of the Board of Trade, and Master of the Mint.
The character of his mind was not very clearly understood ; and the prevalent
doubt was whether he understood it himself; but1 enough was known of his
seriousness, his thoughtfulness, and his conscientiousness, to cause him to be
regarded with emphatic respect and hope, at a time when earnest men were to
be prized above all others. Some other young men came into minor offices,
from whom much was expected by the few who already knew them — as Lord
Lincoln, heir of the Duke of Newcastle, and the Hon. Sidney Herbert ; — Lord
Lincoln going to the Woods and Forests department, and Mr. Sidney Herbert
being Secretary to the Admiralty. Lord Lowther was Postmaster-General ;
Lord G. Somerset, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, — and Sir George
Murray, Master-General of the Ordnance.
The day after the mournful dining of the Court, when the Queen and her
CHAP. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 479
Household were about to part — to undergo a separation far more complete 1841.
than would have been necessary if they had not been . at once near relations ^— -^— ^
of the late Ministers and her Majesty's domestic companions — the 'Queen
had to go through much painful business. On that Friday morning, Sept. 3,
crowds thronged the approaches of Claremont, where the Court was stay-
ing. It was not like an ordinary change of Ministry. The exhaustion of
the Whigs was so complete, that men knew that a former period of national
history was closing, and another coming in : and the crowd was on the watch,
that grey autumnal morning, not only for the old Ministers and the new, but
for every incident which might be construed as an omen. — The old Ministers Times Newspaper,
/. -I'll -,'1-, -, Sept- 3. 1841-
drove up first — in plain clothes — were admitted to the royal presence, and de-
livered up the seals of office. Meantime, the new Ministers arrived, in Court
dresses; and "the first sunburst" occurred as Sir R. Peel drove in at the
gates. He was warmly cheered, as was the Duke of Wellington ; and both
looked very well pleased, the people said. When the ex-Ministers departed,
Sir R. Peel had audience of the Queen, to kiss hands on his appointment ',
and after him, the Duke of Wellington, and three or four more. Then the
Queen and Prince Albert repaired to the corridor, and held a Privy Council,
the Queen declaring Lord Wh'arncliffe its President. The swearing-in of new
members was got over quickly — the whole business, with luncheon, occupying
only half an hour. By half-past two, the anxious young Sovereign was left to
make domestic acquaintance with her ne>v household, and to miss the familiar
friends under whose guidance she had been accustomed to do her share of
state business. She was probably little aware how soon she could repose entire
confidence in her First Minister, and feel a new kind of ease about the conduct
of public affairs.
The next amusement for observers was seeing: the eminent men of the EInsT Nlf!IITS IM
PARLIAMtNT.
country change places, on the re-assembling of parliament on the 16th of Sep-
tember. The newr Ministers had lost no seats in the process of their re-election ;
and they therefore assembled their whole number. Some of the Liberals went
over, and occupied the front benches of Opposition ; some seemed at a loss
where to place themselves, after having sat in the same seats for ten years, with
only a short interval. One or two members, too Radical to belong to any party,
would not move, but sat composedly among the Tories. — The next interest for
those who saw how serious was our condition, was in hearing the Minister's
statement as to how Government meant to proceed. — The Chancellor of the "^!g$ lix-
Exchequer must ask a vote of £2,500,000 ; and he would then state how he
proposed temporarily to meet the existing deficiency. At the beginning of the
next session, Ministers would declare by what large measures they proposed to
rectify the finances of the country, and equalize the revenue and the expendi-
ture ; an object of the very first importance in their eyes. — Lord J. Russell
made captious and taunting speeches, finding fault Avith this delay, and calling Hansard, iix
for an exposition of the government policy in regard to the Corn trade, within
a month ; and this provoked a retort from the Minister, in the form of a
question why the late government had deferred for five years of power a
question which they would not now allow a new Ministry five months to con-
sider and mature : and thus it was immediately evident that there was to be Hansard, HX. 542.
parliamentary strife between the late and present leaders in the Commons.
480 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK YL
1841. It was harrowing to the feelings of men of all parties to hear the statements
made of the intense suffering of the operative classes from hunger, and the
frequent declarations of their representatives that many of them could not live
to learn what measures government would propose for their relief: and to the
Minister it must have been wearing to be appealed to, night after night, to
declare what he proposed to do for the relief of the starving, and reproached in
advance as purposing to keep up the price of food, and to sacrifice the lives of
the poor to the purses of the aristocracy. These things seem foolish now —
hasty, pettish, and unreasonable : but we must remember that Sir R. Peel and
his Cabinet were, as yet, believers in the Sliding-scale ; that, while exposing
the bad qualities of Lord J. Russell's Ss. fixed duty, they had not yet given
the slightest intimation that they had any thing better to propose ; and that
their opponents were truly heart-stricken at the spectacle of the misery of the
manufacturing districts ; while, from long habit, they regarded the Peel ad-
ministration as purely aristocratic in its temper and principles. The Premier's
replies were uniformly calm and quiet. He would not be forced to any dis-
closures before his colleagues and he were prepared with their plans. No one
could grieve more deeply and sincerely for the distress of the people ; but, the
deeper that distress, the more careful should government be to avoid rashness
in legislation, and in promise. He would not countenance the delusion that
it was possible to relieve the popular distress immediately by any parliamentary
measure whatever. The only thing that legislation could do was to remove
obstruction, to lay the foundation of improvement, and work a gradual ameli-
oration in the condition of society. Those who heard him, and those who read
his speeches under the prejudice of his former Toryism, told the people that,
having the powers of government in his hand, he now refused to do the first
duty of the government — to employ and feed the people. • This is worth not-
ing in evidence of the retribution which Sir R. Peel had to undergo for his
ancient opinions or party connexions, and of the ignorance in regard to the
functions of a representative government which existed, nine years after the
passage of the Reform Bill, among a considerable number of the men who had
caused that Bill to pass.
Hansard, us. mo. The Minister's difficulties were increased by an unfortunate declaration of
the Duke of Wellington's in the House of Lords — that there was no deficiency
of corn in the country; that the distress had nothing to do with the food
question ; that it was owing to want of work and of wages, and other causes ;
but that he never heard how parliament could do any thing in such a case.
Probably, no one expected the Duke of Wellington ever to come out as a
political economist, or supposed that, at his years, he could be taken in hand
as a pupil by Sir R. Peel : but it reflected some discredit on the government,
and confirmed certain despairing statements of Opposition members, when so
eminent a member of the new government could see no connexion between
food and work — food and wages ; and no evidence that the food question was
concerned in the existing intolerable distress.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer early proposed to provide for the £2,500,000
(nearly) which was required for the public service, by selling stock for the
Hansard, lix. 835. emergency — declaring his dislike of increasing the Debt, and his intention of
proposing, in the next session, comprehensive and permanent methods of pro-
CHA.P. II.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 481
vision for the public service. There was much natural repining at any increase
of the Debt, and much denunciation of the method, as if the need had been the
work of the new government : but the thing was agreed to, because, in fact,
nobody saw any thing else that could be done. — The Poor Law Commissioners'
powers were renewed for six months, that the relief of pauperism might not
stop till the subject of the Poor Law could be reviewed in parliament. The
opposition to this brief and indispensable renewal showed how serious a
matter the review of the law would be> and indicated that the question of
pauperism would be one of the most pressing " difficulties" of this, as of every
administration. — These, and some other matters being temporarily arranged,
parliament was prorogued by Commission on the 7th of October. The Speech PBOR°GATION-
, . . r . . li/''/i , j T ? ,1 Hansard, lix. 1154.
did not, this time, express any opinions on the Corn laws, but declared that
the attention of parliament would have to be given, as soon as possible, to the
means of equalizing the national income and expenditure, and of providing
against the recurrence of the terrible distress which had for long prevailed in
the manufacturing districts — a distress for which her Majesty expressed the
deepest concern.
The prorogation was to the 1 1th of November. Meantime, the Speech was
a riddle for the politicians and the sufferers of the country to ponder ; and the
Ministers had enough to do in considering and settling their plans for the
retrieval of our affairs in the far East, and about our own doors. The news
which arrived from the one and the other region was enough to try the courage
of a Wellington, and exhaust the resources of a Peel.
VOT,. n. 3 Q
482 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI
CHAPTER III.
— 44 more tnan a. centnry Past — ever since our relations with India became
a matter of popular interest — it has been a subject of speculation or
OF CHINA. observation why there was so little war in the heart of Asia, among those
steppes which, according to all analogy, would be supposed likely to be the
scene of constant or ever-renewed warfare. While, in the centre of every other
great continent, there are interminable feuds, apparently necessitated by geo-
graphical conditions, the interior of Asia, where the same geographical condi-
tions exist, has, for above a century, been as quiet as if it had been a maritime
territory. The great table-lands are there, rising shelf above shelf, till it
dizzies the imagination to mount the vast stair, from the steaming plains of
the Ganges and the Camboja up from height to height of the Himalayas and
the Snowy Mountains, finding at the top but little descent on the other side,
but again, range above range of table land, still rising till that deep interior
is reached which no stranger may penetrate, except some wandering Russian
trader, or adventurous pilgrim, who once in a century or two may get in, if he
cannot get across. The ordinary and necessary population of such lands is
there — the Thibetian and Mongolian ; apparently so apt, and once so ready,
for war : yet, as we know from the facts of surrounding countries, no warfare
has been earned on in those wild regions for above a century.
The reason is that a policy of peace has been the deliberate choice of the
empire of China. There is no chance in the matter : if there were, the chances
for war would be overwhelming. It is an affair of deliberate choice and fixed
principle, in regard to which the whole arrangements of the empire have been
made. There is no regular army in China — not because the Chinese are
ignorant of armies and Avar policy, but because they dread a military sove-
reignty, and military contests for the throne. The statesmen of China are ready
to explain, when they can find foreigners able to understand their language,
and willing to know their minds, that they abjure conquest for the same
reasons which make them avoid danger of a military despotism ; because they
desire a settled and industrial mode of life for their people, and to restrain the
tribes of the interior by an immutable course of policy, rather than by force of
arms. This method is partly suggested, and altogether favoured, by the
natural defences of the country. If war can be prevented from springing up
in the great interior plains, their bounding mountains may keep the empire
pretty safe from foreign invasion. All along the vast Siberian frontier, and
that of Independent Tartary, and along the northern spurs of the Himalayas,
there is a militia — Mandchou, Mongolian, and Thibetian — whose rough organ-
ization is of a feudal character, and which serves as a sufficient defence of the
empire without any trained army. As for the seaboard — till lately, the
Chinese had no foe to contend with but pirates ; and their rude vessels are
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 483
able to cope with that enemy. When the possibility of assaults from Europe 18.34 — 44.
and America presented itself to them, they declare that they weighed the com- v-—~ >^—
parative merits of two plans; and here again deliberately made their choice — inthc-nmes.juiy
to abide by their peace policy. If they set to Avork to raise a navy, they must
be taught, aided, and officered, by foreigners ; and from that moment, both
their objects — civil sovereignty and unbroken peace — would be in peril ; the
other plan was therefore chosen; and, on demand, commercial advantages
were granted to Europeans and Americans, as far as this could be done without
breach of the exclusive policy of the empire, and only as a less evil than war.
In both its aims, the Chinese empire succeeded for a longer period than it is
usual to see empires pursue definite aims. There have been no conflicts
between the throne and the army, or between the throne and the people, or
by the throne and army together against the people, such as have, through all
time, ravaged empires in certain stages of civilization. The few divisions of
trained soldiery which guard the capital are scattered, as garrisons, among the
large towns, are not an army, and could hardly form even the nucleus of one :
and where there is no army, there can be no real political relations with any
foreign country. The Americans have long understood all this, and have
acted upon their knowledge — seeking no political relations with China before
the British compelled them to do so, but carrying on a most lucrative trade,
and maintaining the most friendly private relations with the Chinese, by
means of merchant vessels, without a hint of naval armaments, and through
the agency of supercargoes, without any mention of ambassadors.
The principle of Chinese policy may be judged by nations or individuals —
it may be admired, excused, criticized, wondered at, pitied, or laughed at: but
it is a principle — entitled to the respect due to principles wherever they are
found. It may be that the immutable policy of China itself must be proved,
like all work of men's brains and hands, subject to mutation under the opera-
tion of time. It may be that, to Europeans and Americans, such 'a policy
may appear not only blind and weak, but morally indefensible : but not the
less is it a very serious thing to explode a system so ancient, so full of purpose,
and so energetically preserved. If the exploding process is begun in ignorance
and self-interest, and carried on in ignorance and a spirit of scorn, it is a more
than serious — it is a sad and solemn matter. This process took place under
the successive Whig Administrations, from the formation of the Cabinet of
Lord Grey to the dissolution of that of Lord Melbourne : but it was not the
Whig Ministers alone who were responsible in the matter. The melancholy
ignorance and scorn which led us into what will ever be called the Opium
War were shared by the Opposition, and by the great body of the nation.
What faults of management there were must be imputed to the Ministers of
the day and their supporters in this affair among the Opposition ; but if here-
after the Opium War with China appears in the eyes of the historian and the
moralist a disgrace, it will be as a national disgrace ; for the people put no
effectual check upon the government, but rather stimulated its action, by
Charing its ignorance and vying with its spirit of scorn. There was scarcely a
schoolboy on the American seaboard who could not have justly rebuked our
city electors, our new'spaper editors, and our statesmen of every party, about
our Opium War.
°
484 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1834 — 44. It is probable that this war would never have taken place if our knowledge
of the Chinese had been sufficient to allay our spirit of scorn. The popular
or cm°NA. English notion of the Chinese seems to have been held by the government,
and the agents they sent out, who might have learned better by seeking in-
formation from merchants resident many years in the country. The general
notion of China was and is, of a country dreadfully over-peopled, so that mul-
titudes are compelled to live in boats, floating about to pick up dead dogs for
food : that they are tyrannized over by a Tartar government which they would
fain be rid of, and by an aristocracy which will permit no middle class : that
they call foreigners " barbarians," and designate Europeans by foul epithets
instead of their proper names ; and that their sole endeavour in regard to
foreigners is to insult and mock them. Merchants of any nation who have lived
long enough in the neighbourhood of the Chinese to be qualified to speak of them
STATE OF CHINA, give a very different account from this. They declare that the government is
on the whole favourable to the industry and comfort of the people : that the
people are easy and contented : that the rights of property are respected, and
that there is a large and wealthy middle class ; that literature is the highest
pursuit ; that the Chinese possess a greater body of literature than Europe can
show ; and that nothing is known among us of its quality, as it remains wholly
unexplored ; that the notion of insulting epithets being applied to our agents
in lieu of their own names is an utter delusion arising from ignorance of the
Westminster He- fact that the Chinese, having no alphabet, are obliged to express new names by
view, J840, p.282. ,, J • *!• 1 i • f i , • jrni i
the words in their language which approach nearest in sound. Ihus, when
Lord Napier fired up at being written down " laboriously vile," Mr. Morrison
was written down "a polite horse," and another resident at Macao, "a cwt. of
hemp." Such misconceptions of Chinese character and condition, together
with our bigoted persistance in conducting intercourse with a singular State
according to our own customary methods and forms, and not theirs, were a
bad preparation for the management of difficulties, if such should arise : and
the event was painful and discreditable accordingly.
THE OPIUM One of the great branches of the trade of the East India Company was in
opium with China : and when the Company's Charter expired in 1834, the
trade Avas vigorously pushed by private merchants, who purchased the article
from the Company. The Chinese government had long desired and endea-
voured to stop the opium trade, as purely mischievous to the people. Whether
the motives of the government were philanthropic or politic — whether it
mourned over the popular intemperance in Opium smoking, or feared the
effects of a constant and increasing drain of its silver currency, does not affect
the question : nor is it of any consequence to us, in regard to the controversy,
whether the political economy of the Chinese government in interfering with
trade was good or bad. The facts were that all traffic in opium was expressly
forbidden ; that British merchants nevertheless carried on a profitable com-
merce in opium — not only smuggling it in as our smugglers bring in brandy
and gin, but making a lodgment in the country, for the article and its sale,
under shelter of the arrangements for a general trade at Macao and Canton : — r
that the government was, for a course of years, supine in trusting the enforce-
ments of its prohibition to its provincial authorities; that it roused itself
gradually, repeating the prohibition, with warnings more and more emphatic ;
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 485
that the prohibition and warnings were wholly neglected, audit became ncces- 1834 — 44.
sary to make the matter — or let it be made — a cause of war. As the Colonial * — -^
Gazette] pointed out — it is as if (the growth of tobacco being prohibited in the Dec. isth, isso.
British Islands) the merchants of France should steal into our county of
Kent, establish tobacco-growing, sell the produce freely among our people,
and fix an agent at Dover, to superintend the affair. In such a case we
should hardly offer so many warnings as the Chinese government did, before
putting the agent into confinement, while the tobacco plants were destroyed.
This opium trade proceeded under the eyes of the superintendents appointed 1834.
by the British government to manage our commercial affairs in China, after
the throwing open of the trade in 1834. The appointment of these super- ^RTI^lEs^">En-
intendents as political agents, was a melancholy mistake which could not have
been committed by any government aware of the inability or indisposition of
the Chinese to enter into any political relations whatever. Lord Napier was LORD NAPIEB.
the first Chief Superintendent sent out ; and some glimpse of the truth, as to
what our intercourse with China ought to be, appears in Lord Palmerston's
instructions to Lord Napier, not to pass the Boca Tigris (at the entrance of the Sp^*ator' 184°-
Canton river) in a ship of war, as " the Chinese authorities have invariably
made a marked distinction between ships of war and merchantmen, in regard
to the privilege of intercourse." Lord Napier, however, took his own way,
against this and every other warning. Up to the time of his arrival at Macao,
011 the 15th of July, 1834, the Chinese had heard nothing of any appointment
of superintendents : and great was their perturbation at the pomp and bustle
in which they found themselves implicated. Mr. (now Sir John) Davis, was
the second superintendent, and Sir George Robinson, who understood the case
better, and acted more sensibly, than any body else, was the third. Lord Napier
was expressly directed to announce his arrival at Canton by a letter to the
Viceroy. He did so ; and he went up the river in an armed vessel. From
this first moment, all went wrong. The letter was declined, because, by the
customs of the country, the agent's arrival must be notified to the government
before any intercourse could be established ; and Lord Napier had already
broken through all rules in coming up the river in defiance of a direction to
wait at Macao for a pass. He was told that the Hong merchants were the
party through whom communications like his were to be forwarded ; as only
memorials and petitions were received through the channel that he had at-
tempted : and two Hong merchants, bearing credentials, waited upon him, to Westminster KP-
Ti-vT-i ,. . view, 1840, p. 282
hear what he had to say. Lord Napier, however, dismissed them courteously,
insisted on seeing the Viceroy, or writing to him ; and at last, in order to get
a letter into his hands, wrote upon it the word " pin," or " petition." It docs
not seem to have occurred to him that provincial authorities had no power to
alter in his favour the established forms of the government : and he regarded
as a personal insult every impediment to the transaction of his business.
It was at this stage that he took offence at the writing of his name — " la-
boriously vile," as he was assured it meant. His letter did not succeed.
Next, he had an interview with three eminent mandarins of the province ; but
he hurt their feelings by insisting on their chairs of ceremony being placed
according to his ideas, and not according to custom: so they referred him
back to the Hong merchants. He refused to see them. He was ordered
486 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1834 — 44. down the river. Instead of going, he summoned two men-of-war into the
v-— ~^~— - river. The alarmed and perplexed authorities declared trade suspended ; and
Lord Napier replied by a proclamation to the Chinese merchants, in which he
complained of the ignorance and obstinacy of the Viceroy. It was not
possible for the Chinese to bear this : and, as Lord Napier would not depart as
desired, he was dislodged by such methods as the inhabitants could command :
they placed a guard round his residence, who kept away his native servants,
i84oual 243Sistcr> an(l prevented the carrying in of provisions. — Meantime, the two frigates were
working their way up the river, fired upon from the batteries on shore, losing
two or three men, but doing more damage than they received, till the anxious
authorities, still awaiting instructions from government, offered to let trade
proceed if Lord Napier would withdraw to Macao. He had also written to
his own government for instructions : but it would be so long before he could
receive an answer, his situation was so embarrassing, his nerves were so fretted
with anxiety, and his frame so fevered with heat and incessant worry, that he
NAPIER™ L°RD sank under his sufferings. Though surrounded by his family, and supplied
with excellent medical assistance, he died shortly after his return to Macao. —
Westminster Re- The more mournful this death, the more evident is the justice of the Chinese
view, 1840, p. 283- ' ...
Viceroy's argument in his proclamation : " The Chinese nation has its laws.
It is so everywhere. England has its laws ; and how much more so the Ce-
lestial Empire ! The said foreign minister having crossed a sea of many
thousand miles to inquire into, and take the superintendence of, commercial
affairs, ought to be a person acquainted with the principles of government,
and with the forms essential to its dignity." Acquaintance with the language
ought to be added. Not only did Lord Napier bitterly complain of the terms
"barbarian" and " barbarian eye" being applied to him, but it was urged
upon Lord Palmerston from other quarters to insist on the omission of such
terms from all future instruments of negotiation : whereas, it turns out that
Westminster RC- no offence whatever lies in the terms — the true translation of " barbarian eye''
Mew, 1840, p. 284, ^^g a jjead of the southern people" — or " Foreigners from the south." The
Chinese may need improvement in their geography ; but they so far under-
stand courtesy as to use the proverb — " He that spits dirt first defiles his own
mouth."
The Viceroy, meantime, requested the British to appoint a commercial
superintendent, who should control the smuggling of opium. The practice
had now become too open and extended to escape the attention of the govern-
ment at Pekin — nearly forty opium vessels being then anchored at Liiitin.
The Chinese official at the same time expressed a desire that a commercial
chief should be sent out from England, who should not be a King's officer.
No notice was taken of these demands — the hope being that the Chinese would
in time be driven by embarrassment to admit the agency of political officials.
1835 After January, 1835, matters went on smoothly for two years, owing to the good
POLITICAL HE- sense of Sir George B. Robinson, then Chief Superintendent, in consequence
LATIONS ,N AUEY- Qf tlie deatn Qf Lord papier, and Mr. Davis's return to England. Captain
Elliot, H.N., who had been secretary to the commission, was now a super-
intendent. Sir G. B. Robinson sent home agreeable accounts of " a quiet and
prosperous routine of trade," owing to his pursuing " a perfectly quiescent line
of policy." He wrote these words on the 16th of October, 1835; and we find
A MCE.
CHIP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 487
him declaring, more than thirteen months afterwards, on the 28th of November, 1834 44.
1836, that he has received no despatches " conveying his Lordship's sentiments ^— ~^-~ -^-^
or instructions relative to the quiescent course of policy he had deemed it his ^274?°*' 184°'
duty to persevere in ;" — this quiescent policy not meaning idleness on his own
part, as he Avas all the while performing duties " of a consular nature." He had
not now to wait long for an answer. His salary of £6000 a year was not to
he paid for quiescence ; and we find him, on the 14th of December, acknow-
ledging the arrival of an intimation that his office was abolished. Yet, Lord
Pulmerston wrote, within five weeks before, to Captain Elliot, that a deputy
superintendent had been appointed " to act as assistant to the Chief Super-
intendent ;" and Captain Elliot immediately assumed the title laid down by
Sir G. B. Robinson. The inevitable impression on the minds of observers was,
that the " quiescent " agent was dismissed to make room for one who would
make more noise in the Chinese seas.
In 1838, the opium smuggling had reached such a pass, that the govern- OPIUM PRO.
ment at Pekin evinced an intention of abolishing the traffic at last. Our own
government had been repeatedly advised of the growing danger by Captain f8"™p ^e5f ster'
Elliot, who, in November, 1837, foretold that the authorities would be driven 1837.
to some violent measures, from the injurious audacity of Europeans,who actually
carried opium up the Canton river in their own boats. He advised that a special
commissioner should be sent out to Chusan, or some other eastern port of
China, to settle this bad business in a fresh scene, at a distance from the em-
barrassments which now attended all negotiations at Canton. The govern-
ment declined taking any steps of the kind.
Captain Elliot's position was now as difficult as could well be conceived ;
and in judging of his conduct of affairs, it should ever be borne in mind that
he was left cruelly destitute of guidance from home. Some of the gravest spectator, 1340,
letters he wrote, the most pressing and anxious, were received in Downing- NEGLIGENCE AT
street on the 17th of July; yet Lord Palmerston sent no reply whatever till H<
the 2nd of November. Among the items of information thus treated was one
of the last importance; that a high official had sent a memorial to the Emperor
at Pekin, advising that the sale of opium should be legalized, under a duty of
seven dollars per chest. The banishment of this adviser to Tartary was an
indication of vigorous resolution to put down the sale of opium, which should
have roused our government to immediate activity in stopping the illicit trade,
instead of waiting nearly four months without even answering Captain Elliot's
letters. The answers at last conveyed no instructions or guidance to the
anxious superintendent ; and seven months more passed before Lord Palmer-
ston wrote again ; — the date of the next despatch from Downing-street being the
15th of June, 1838. At last, some decision had been come to by the govern- 1838.
ment : and it was one very embarrassing to Captain Elliot, from being so long
delayed. The government resolved, very properly, to leave the opium-smug-
glers to meet the consequences of their ventures, in the loss of their property,
if the Chinese government chose to decree its forfeiture. If this had been
made known at the proper time, neither the merchants nor the superintendent
would have had any cause of complaint.
Before the end of the year, a seizure of opium, the property of a British
trader, was made at Canton ; and the man, and the ship that brought his SNTOOUM.™
488 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1834 — 44. merchandise, were ordered out of the river. Yet more, the Hong merchant
*~~^-^~^^ who secured the ship and cargo was punished with the severe punishment
of the Wooden Collar, though he had nothing whatever to do with the offence.
Annual Register, c . .
1840, p. 245. The decision of the question was evidently coming on.
COMMISSIONER I*1 January, 1839, proclamation was made in Canton of the approach of the
LlN- Imperial Commissioner Lin, whose business was to abolish the opium traffic,
and who came furnished with summary powers for the purpose. Just before
the great man appeared, a native opium-smuggler was brought into the square
before the foreign factories, and publicly strangled, amidst much pomp of
military array. — As soon as he arrived, Commissioner Lin issued his edict,
requiring the foreigners to deliver up to him all the opium on the coast, in
order to its being destroyed by burning : that a bond should be entered into
that ships should bring no more opium : and that if any were brought after
this, it should be forfeited, and the bringers put to death without controversy.
The edict intimated that the foreigners had every thing to hope if they obeyed,
and every thing to fear if they were negligent or hostile. At the same time,
Lin required the presence before his tribunal of Mr. Dent, one of the most
respectable of the English merchants ; and to this Captain Elliot consented,
on condition that Mr. Dent should be permitted to remain by his side, and not
taken out of his sight for a moment. On the same night the factories were
blockaded by boats on the river, and soldiery in front and rear : the servants
were called out, and provisions prevented from going in. Captain Elliot saw
no alternative but delivering up all the opium on the coast of China : he
issued an order which summoned all the ships below the Boca Tigris, where
20,283 chests of opium were landed, and delivered over to the Chinese autho-
rities. When the transfer was completed, and not before, the blockade was
broken up, and the foreigners set free. Sixteen only were detained at the
factories ; and after a time they were permitted to depart, under an injunction
never to return. Captain Elliot wrote urgently to the Governor-General of
India, Lord Auckland, in complaint — a complaint which sounds rather
strangely to those who understand the nature of the traffic, and the warnings
Annual Register, so amply furnished to the traffickers — of that " course of violence and spolia-
1840, 247. .
tion which had broken up the foundations of this great trade, as far as Canton
is concerned, perhaps for ever :" and he requested as many ships of war and
armed vessels for the defence of life and property, as could be spared from
India.
This seems to have been the last point at which a turn might have been
made towards the right, and peace have been preserved by an act of simple
Hansard, ixxi. 273. integrity. The home government had declared " her Majesty's government
cannot interfere for the purpose of enabling British subjects to violate the
laws of the country to which they trade. Any loss, therefore, which such
persons may suffer in consequence of the more effectual execution of the
Chinese laws on this subject, must be borne by the parties who have brought
that loss on themselves by their own acts." This is clear enough; and it can
never be too deeply lamented that Captain Elliot departed from the whole
spirit and purpose of these, his latest instructions, by identifying himself and
the imperial authority which he held with the opium smuggling, on suppressing
which the Chinese government had now staked its power and its character.
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 489
If he could not help doing this — if he was pledged by any former acts to stand 1834 — 44.
by the smugglers — the error is only set back to an earlier date. The thing s — — v— — -
was now done : Captain Elliot was pledged on behalf of the vicious trade,
and had sent to India for as many vessels of war as could be spared.
From this time, there was no more peace. From August 1839, there were
affrays between our sailors and the villagers on the coasts ; thwarting and
misunderstandings between the Chinese authorities and British officers ; a
cutting-off of provisions, and prohibition to trade. Captain Elliot petitioned
Commissioner Lin for the restoration of trade, in accordance with the laws of
both countries, till he could receive tidings from home : but his petition was
contemptuously rejected. Commissioner Lin declared that no intercourse
should take place between the two nations till the British sailor who had
killed a Chinaman in a fray should be given up. However, the authorities
relented so far as to permit trading to go on below the Boca Tigris; and
vessels might even have gone up to Canton if the captains would have signed a
bond agreeing that any introducer of Opium should be punished according to
the laws of China. In Captain Elliot's eyes, such a concession was wholly
out of the question, as signing the bond was, in fact, giving over English
opium smugglers to capital punishment at the discretion of the mandarins,
whose strictness about evidence might not equal our own. A Mr. Warner, Annual Register,
master of the ship " Thomas Coutts," did, however, sign this bond, without ' P'
consulting any body, greatly to the annoyance of the superintendent and the
British merchants. Commissioner Lin was delighted with him, and forthwith
insisted that all British vessels should enter as the " Thomas Coutts" had
done, or depart within three days. The British believed they saw signs of the
Chinese intending to attack their ships ; and of course they prepared for battle.
The Chinese war-junks anchored near the British ships on the 3rd of November,
and the English were required to deliver up the offender who had been so
often demanded. In reply, the British vessels poured a destructive fire into
those of the enemy; and the war was begun. The poor unaccustomed
Chinese suffered terribly, and were presently disabled ; but they rallied their
spirits when they saw the foreign ships retreating to Macao, and supposed
that the enemy was as wretched as themselves; whereas the retreat to Macao
was merely for the protection of the merchants, and to aid the embarkation of
the British residents.
By the next June, an imposing array of British men of war, with attendant
steamers and transports, was seen off the coasts of China; and the injured
Chinese were doomed. They made what efforts they could to get rid of the
encroaching and insolent strangers, who had violated their laws, to make profit
of the intemperance of their people. It is said that they poisoned a boat-load
of tea, for the use of the British sailors, but that it missed its way, being
taken by pirates, so that the wrong party suffered by the device. It is certain
that they made many attempts to burn our ships by fire-rafts ; and that, in
their simplicity, they advertised rewards to persons who should capture
Englishmen (warning them to be particularly careful not to take Portuguese or
others), and no less a sum than 20,000 dollars to any one who should secure
one of our men of war, carrying not less than 80 great guns, and deliver it to
the mandarins. With all this simplicity about war, its horrors were never
VOL. IT. 3 R
490 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1834—44. met or endured by braver men. About tbis, the testimony is absolutely uni-
^-— -v— — -^ versal. The most perverse of our countrymen who defend this war at home
or on the spot — who call it "a just, necessary, and honourable war," who are
not afraid to pray for the aid of Heaven against those whom we have op-
pressed, or to return thanks for victory, or who profess to regard the affair in a
missionary light, and talk of bringing the Chinese to the knowledge and love
of that Christianity which we have so disgraced in their eyes — all agree that
a nobler courage and constancy were never manifested than by the Chinese
who fell in the field, or before their little forts, or on the threshold of their
homes, which they had thought safe from invasion for ever, because their own
policy was one of peace. British officers might laugh when they saw paste-
board defences, pasteboard men and wooden cannon mixed in among the
troops, to make a show and terrify the foreigners ; and British sailors, little
knowing the mental torture they were inflicting, might jokingly secure their
prisoners by tying them together in sixes by their tails : but there was no man,
we are told, from the highest officer to the lowest subordinate, who was not
touched by the spectacles of devotedness that he saw when citizens cut the
throats of wife and children, and then their own, rather than yield to the
terrible foreigners : and when officers in the field sought death with des-
peration when all chance of victory was over. They no doubt agreed with
Annual Kegistor, the saying of their Emperor, " It is no longer possible to bear with the English.
Gods and men are indignant at their conduct :" and when they found these
hated strangers victorious, they could no longer endure life. As they heard,
after the first British conquest, that the enemy had pushed their opium trade
vigorously, selling 400 chests at very high prices, they might agree with their
Emperor's public declaration that it was worth every effort in war and watch-
fulness, to prevent the ingress of that depraving religion called Christianity.
They could hardly hold any other view when the only Christians they knew
were the opium smugglers, and the officials who conducted war in their
defence. They fought, indeed, with as hearty a hatred of the invaders as ever
the Saxons felt towards the Normans of old, or the Mexicans against the
army of the United States in our day ; and no one can deny that they, had
cause.
1840. The narrative of the war may be briefly given. The first conquest was of
CIIUSAN TAKEN. ^Q island of Cliusan, which lies about midway on the east coast of China
Proper. The Chinese admiral, who was also governor of the group of Chusan
islands, was startled by the appearance of a British fleet on the 4th of July,
1840, when he was wholly unprepared for resistance. He went on board the
Wellesley, with two mandarins, when he admitted his weakness, and endea-
voured, by various devices, to gain time : but he well understood, when he left
the ship, that if he was not prepared to yield up the island by day-break, it
would be taken from him. In the morning, however, a great array of troops
was seen, on the shore, in and about the chief city of the island, and in the
war-junks which had been brought up. Fighting went on all day, and up to
midnight, with little or no damage to the invaders. During the night, the
British placed ten guns within 400 yards of the city. At day-break, the flags
were flying from the walls as before ; but all was quiet within. Only a few
unarmed Chinamen were left, who held up a placard on the walls — " Save us
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 491
for the sake of our wives and children." The British flag was hoisted; and 1834 — 44.
news of this, our first conquest, was despatched to India and home. It was a * • ?
disastrous conquest for us. The troops drank largely of spirit made from rice;
the salt provisions from India were bad, and scarcely any fresh could he
obtained. The men were mutinous and sick ; and fever so prevailed as to
obtain for Chusan the name of our Eastern Walcheren. In a very short
time, of above 3,600 soldiers left in Chusan, more than a third were unfit for
duty.
On the 9th of August, Admiral Elliot, who had sailed northwards- with a ADMIRAL
part of the squadron, arrived in the bay into which the Peho (or river of Pekin)
flows. Captain Elliot, who accompanied the Admiral, went up the river with
armed boats, and obtained an interview with the third man in the empire,
Keshen, who was appointed by the Emperor to negotiate. The Emperor first
obtained delay — during which the ships laid in supplies of provisions and
water — and then, by some unaccountable means, induced the Admiral to
transfer the negotiations once more to Canton. The error of leaving the
vicinity of the capital, to go and treat in that distant spot where negotiation
had always hitherto been in vain, was severely blamed at home. The matter
was not, however, to be again discussed with Commissioner Lin. He was
disgraced, and Keshen sent to occupy his post. Admiral Elliot threw up his
appointment on the ground of illness.
Keshen's policy was delay. He protracted the negotiations in order to pro- COMMISSIONER
vide defences for the Canton river so far superior to any yet encountered by
our troops as to prove that even the Chinese could become warlike by practice
and experience. When Captain Elliot was worn out by delay, he turned the
affair over to Commodore Sir Gordon Bremer, who had no notion of waiting
any longer. He opened his fire upon the forts from the river, on the
7th of January, 1841, and took two of them. A flag of truce, and promises of 1841.
greater speed arrived the next morning ; and on the 20th, the superintendent
issued a Circular announcing the settlement of the preliminaries of a treaty.
The treaty contained no mention whatever of the Opium traffic, the sole occa- Annual Register,
sion of the war ; and it was otherwise so unsatisfactory that the Ministers NEGOTIATION.
announced in Parliament, on its arrival, that it was to be disallowed; that Hansard, ivii. 1491.
Captain Elliot was recalled : and that Sir Henry Pottinger was going out to
assume his office. Meantime, Sir Gordon Bremer, never doubting the fulfil-
ment of the treaty, sent orders to the British in Chusan to evacuate the island ;
and he took possession, in the name of the Queen, of the island of Hong-Kong,
off the mouth of the Canton river — this island being given to us by the treaty.
On the 19th of February, the war was renewed by a shot being fired from one
of the islands at a British boat. Our vessels and troops went up the river WARFARK.
again on the 26th, and carried all before them — knocking "over the forts,
killing several eminent men among the foe, and taking many hundreds of pri-
soners. By the beginning of March, Keshen had been degraded, and when,
on the 5th, the British ships were visible from the walls of Canton, there was
no dignitary in the city who was empowered to treat with us. The naval and
military commanders would have proceeded to take every thing into their own
hands ; but Captain Elliot requested them to wait till it should appear how
the provincial authorities were disposed. Sir Le Fleming Senhouse, who had
492 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boos VI.
1834 44. led the way in the late attacks, chafed under this delay ; and Sir Gordon
"• — -«~~-^ Bremer wrote home his fears that the lenity would be misunderstood. Attacks
and retaliation were renewed ; and before the end of the month, the Chinese
flotilla was destroyed, and the Union Jack was flying from the walls of the
British Factory at Canton. It then appeared that Keshen had been waiting
for the sanction of the treaty by the Imperial government, and that his govern-
ment liked the terms no better than ours did. The Emperor rejected the
treaty, and resolved on war. Sir Gordon Bremer immediately started for
Calcutta, to obtain reinforcements ; and Admiral Senhouse assumed the
command in China.
The next movement was an attack by the British, no otherwise provoked
than by the spectacle of increasing arrivals of Tartar troops at Canton during
six weeks of truce and partial trading. This attack took place on the 24th of
May. 'In two days, Canton was all but taken. It lay completely in the power
of the British, and Sir Hugh Gough, and Admiral Senhouse, who accompanied
him into the field, were in higb?hope of presently announcing the capture of
the city, when the superintendent again interfered, and desired them to wait
while another treaty was negotiated. Sir H. Gough never concealed his mortifi-
DEATH OF ADMI- cation ; and Sir Le Fleming Senhouse retired to his ship fevered with disap-
Animai Register, pointment, and died heart-broken on the 14th of June. — Four days after this
i84i, chron. 209. mournful death, Sir Gordon Bremer returned ; and he was announced to the
CAPT. ELLIOT Chinese as joint-commissioner with Captain Elliot. But their task was taken
out of their hands by the arrival of Sir Henry Pottinger, on the 9th of August
— presently after which the displaced superintendent sailed for Bombay.
SIBH.POTTINGKB. Sir Henry Pottinger made a spirited announcement of his intention of clos-
ing the war at once, regardless of all mercantile andt' other retarding consi-
derations, and devoting himself to compel the Chinese to conclude a peace
honourable to England. No time, indeed, was lost. Before the end of the
month, the city of Amoy was taken, and a garrison was left in an island in the
harbour. When the mandarin who was second in command saw that all was
over, he rushed into the sea, and drowned himself; and another cut his throat
Annual Register, upon the field. — Early in September, Chusan and its city were again taken,
though they were now much better defended than formerly. The large city of
CAPTURE OF Ningpo, fifteen miles inland, fell undefended into the hands of the invaders ;
and wherever the British now appeared, little or no resistance was made. —
An interval of some months, however, revived the courage of the inhabitants ;
and in March, a great body of Chinese came over the walls of Ningpo early in
the morning, to recover the place. The British saw them, and took no notice
till the market-place was full of them, when our troops brought up some guns,
and made such slaughter, that 250 bodies were left upon the place. There is
little record of any loss on our part, though the despatches tell here and there
of " severe loss," " a heavy fire," and so on. We read of battles and sieges
with a loss, in one place of fifteen lives, in another of two, in another of none ;
only " a few casualties from the arrows of the Chinese."
1842. Month after month passed away, and Sir H. Pottinger had not compelled a
peace, though the forces took cities, and destroyed barracks, magazines, and
fortifications, wherever they chose to turn. The appearance of the troops be-
fore Nankin settled matters at last, in the summer of 1842. It was the 26th
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 493
of August, more than a year after Sir H. Pottinger's arrival, when the treaty 1834 — 44.
of peace was finally concluded on between three Chinese and the British Com- v— — ~^- '
niissioner.
By this treaty, the British were authorized to trade freely at four ports he- TREATY OF PEACE.
sides Canton, and to establish consuls there. The island of Hong-Kong was i842"p.27Tster>
ceded to them ; and they were to hold Chusan and another island till all the
conditions of the treaty were fulfilled. Correspondence between officials of
the two governments was henceforth to be conducted on equal terms. The
Chinese were to pay to the British the sum of 21,000,000 of dollars (£4,375,000)
by instalments, in addition to 6,000,000 (£1,250,000) already paid by the
authorities at Canton as compensation for the opium destroyed. The instal-
ments of Chinese silver continued to arrive in England, at intervals, till all
was paid ; and thoughtless people in the roads and streets walked beside the
heavy waggons with complacency; and others, present at the opening of the
chests, looked at the curious coin with amusement and pride. They were led
into this by members of the government and of parliament, who called this " a
just, and necessary, and honourable war," and by the common run of news-
papers, which detailed every fault in the circumstances and civilization of the
Chinese, as if we were called as missionaries or liberators to set things right ;
or imputed bad motives to the Emperor in interdicting opium; or applied
droll epithets to the Chinese in contempt, and offered literal translations of
documents which would not bear a literal translation from even any European
language; or related how it took several hours to convey to an educated
Chinese the meaning of three lines and a half of an English newspaper — not
perceiving the inference that we had probably been misunderstanding the
Chinese as thoroughly as they were incapable of understanding us. Insolence
and folly like this are very excusable in the ordinary run of untravelled
English who met the waggons of treasure from China — who conceive of
nothing beyond England, and have not any living idea of difference of race,
and of mental and political constitution. The disgrace of the levity and
insolence rests with the members of parliament, the popular orators, and -the
editors of newspapers, who, if they spoke at all, should have spoken with a
better knowledge, and more sense of justice and generosity. They should have
asked themselves first, under a knowledge of the facts, whether, if they could
suppose the English to be right in this quarrel, they could venture to pro-
nounce the Chinese wrong.
It cannot be without much pain and sorrow that, in a History of the Thirty
Years' Peace, the narrative can be offered of this Chinese war. It is impossible
not to see the insolence of the very term ; for, if the Chinese had not been too
pacific and helpless to withstand our injuries, we should not have had thirty
years of peace even to talk about. It is a yet more serious consideration, that
if we had not involved ourselves in wrong, we should not have been under the
temptation of shirking the name of war, calling it " operations in China," when
we went into the reality. Whichever way we look at this affair, there is no
comfort — at least for those who cannot be comforted with dollars, or pride in
our warlike resources and experience. We are hated in China, not only as
their conquerors, but for our forcing upon their society the contraband drug
which they would have kept out of the reach of the intemperate of their people
494 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1834 — 44. — by means which we may laugh at, but which they had a right to adopt. It
^~—~^~^' is an humbling story; and the wonder to a future generation will be, how we
bear the shame of it so easily as we do.
1843. It was on the 3rd of March, 1843, that the first instalment of the Chinese
TREA!URE?F treasure arrived at the Mint;— an amount of £1,000,000 sterling, conveyed in
five waggons, and escorted by soldiers. By the bursting of one of the boxes, it
was seen that the silver pieces were like the half of an egg ; and the spectacle
i^i3?rfchron.t23. so exhilarated the spirits of the "immense crowd" that followed the waggons,
that they gave three cheers, after the gates of the Mint were closed. — In May
CHINESE PUE- arrived the presents which the grieving Emperor of China sent to the victo-
Annuai Register, rious Queen of England: a golden bedstead, ear-drops worth £1000 each: a
1843. Chron.63. ». ' r '
shawl, on which was wrought in needlework (as it it were a sail for Noah s
Ark) every kind of beast known to the Chinese ; some rare silks, jewellery,
and much besides. — It was in the session of this year that parliament voted
VOTE^F THANK*, thanks, and government appropriated honours, to the officers and men employed
Me™1™' lxxxvi' in " tne late operations" in China, by whose valour and skill " a series of
brilliant and unvaried successes" was given to England to boast of. It was
too'like praising the skill and valour of a soldier in assaulting a quaker, even
though the resolutions were moved by the Duke of Wellington in the one
1844. House, and the high-spirited Lord Stanley in the other. — The next year, 1844,
GOVERNOR- a Governor-General over our acquisitions in China was appointed : and the
GENERAL SENT. .. /.!-»«-•• i i -\ir CT T i -r\ ' i •
choice of the Ministers settled on Mr., now feir John Davis, who arrived at
Hong-Kong, the seat of his government, on the 7th of May. In the course
of the summer, Sir Henry Pottinger, who made the treaty, sailed for England.
SATION C°1U>EN" ^e °iuestion of compensation to the Opium traders long remained a diffi-
culty. The growers of the opium were chiefly the East India Company, who
hold the monopoly in India, among their territorial privileges. They had sold
it to the Canton merchants ; and their being paid depended on these merchants
being compensated by government for the loss of their 20,000 chests of opium.
The Governor-General of India was earnest with government to pay the
merchants ; and Sir Henry Pottinger officially published his intention of
urging their " claims" upon government. " Claims" was certainly the right
word, after government had identified itself with the contraband interest in
the Chinese war ; but the disgrace of countenancing the smugglers, after
Lord Palmerston's declaration that they must take the consequences of
having violated the laws of China, is one which any Ministry might shrink
from encountering. The government, by the mouth of Sir Pv. Peel, pro-
nounced in favour of adhering to Lord Palmerston's declaration of 1838, so
far as to take its own method of deciding how much it would pay, while the
owners pleaded that their representatives at Canton gave up the opium to
Captain Elliot, on his requisition "for her Majesty's service," and on his
spectator, 1813, express pledge that they should be repaid the " value" of it ; an expression
which he at the time explained to mean the " invoice price." The claim of
the merchants was eventually for the invoice price, with charges for interest
and other specified matters of 17 J per cent. The government would not hear
of this, but had difficulty in naming the amount for itself. Once it offered to
divide among the merchants the 6,000,000 of dollars paid under the treaty as
Opium compensation; but the claimants spurned it. The issue was, that
CHAP. III.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 405
whereas, taking the price of opium at the lowest during the season of the 1834 — 44.
seizure, the value of the 20,000 chests was £2,042,000, the government "— -— *~~- "
offered and paid out of the Consolidated Fund less than £1,250,000. The
House of Commons assented, and took its share of the discreditable course of Hansard, ixxi.296.
action of the government in first admitting the liability of government after
Captain Elliot's pledge — then offering little more than half the value of the
article surrendered — and demanding from the owners an immediate acquit-
tance in full as a condition of receiving any thing at all.
Some troubles had occurred in the intercourse of the Chinese and British
before Sir Henry Pottinger left China : but his tone, on his return to England, Siu HENRY POT-
• . TINGER ON CHINA.
was one of strong hope and confidence. In the manufacturing districts and
elsewhere, public dinners in his honour gave him the opportunity of declaring
his views. He bore the most emphatic testimony to the high qualities of the
Chinese, some of whose statesmen could not be surpassed by any in the world.
He plainly told the English that they knew nothing about the Chinese, and
were never more wrong than in despising them, or in being careless about
violating their customs and hurting their feelings. He trusted that perfect
freedom of trade was provided for in that region, if only the British would
act with propriety and intelligent consideration. Sir Henry Pottinger was
just and generous ; but he was over sanguine in his expectations ; as was
natural enough in a man of his temperament, who had just succeeded in his
aims. Our troubles with China are not over. They are thickening at this
day ; and a future generation may learn how much of the virtue of Free trade
itself may be lost when it is introduced through a process of wrong and
violence, under whatever name.
49G HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER IV.
1837 — 46. A MONG the difficulties to which Sir Robert Peel's government succeeded,
v-— -~— •— ' -£*• none was more conspicuous in the eyes of the world than our affairs in
INDIA. India. It was not that misfortunes had happened, such as must be looked
for, from time to time, in all dependencies ; — a scarcity in one region — a case
of disputed succession in another — a discontented border neighbour else-
where : — there was quite enough of this kind of difficulty. But a far more
important embarrassment was that, under their own Governor-General, Lord
Auckland, and by his guidance, the Melbourne Administration had involved
themselves in a course of policy which, at the time of Sir R. Peel's accession
to the premiership, was actually swamped by disaster.
In 1837, many troubles occupied the attention of the Governor- General of
India. In the hot plains which stretch south of the Himalayas, and through
FAMINE. which the great rivers take their course, famine prevailed to such a degree
that — to use the most forcible illustration offered at the time — the British
residents at Agra and Cawnpoor were compelled to forego their evening drive,
from the air being poisoned with the smell of unburied corpses. The famine
was occasioned by drought, and it was followed by diseases as ravaging as
itself; — by cholera and small-pox, which swept away thousands whom hunger
OUOB. had spared. — There was insurrection and fighting in Oude, about the succes-
sion to the throne : and the British took charge of the defeated pretender — a
boy — and his grandmother, as -prisoners, and imposed on the new sovereign
conditions of absolute obedience to the suggestions of the British govern-
NRPAfi.. ment. — The mountaineer population of Nepaul are never long quiet : and at
this time (1837) they showed themselves disposed to pick a quarrel with us,
and rendered it necessary to guard our north-east frontier, in preparation for
a rupture. — Further round to the east, a potentate whom we had supposed a
friend was showing himself hostile. The Burmese emperor, Tharawaddee,
AVA who had deposed and succeeded an insane brother, had been well thought of
till power came into his hands ; when he began to oppress his people, and
insult the British, and threaten prodigious things : moreover, he made such
preparations for assembling his barbaric rabble, and marching them to the
frontier, that we had to provide for the defence of that border too. — But even
these interests were trifles in comparison with that which carries our view to
the north-west frontiers of British India.
At this date our frontier was determined by the great sandy desert, extend-
ing from the jungles on the Gorra in the Hill States of Ghurwal to the sea.
Beyond this desert, to the north-west, lay the Punjaub, with its five great
rivers — of which Runjeet Singh was the sovereign. Beyond the Punjaub,
and west of it, lay the region, perhaps the most interesting in Asia, which
has, through all known time, served as the highway between eastern and
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 497
western Asia. This region lies south of Independent Tartary, which is some- 1837 — 46.
what too savage and inclement a region to serve as such a highway. The ' — *-*— ^
region in question, now called Caubool or Afghanistan, lies directly between AFGHANISTAN.
the Punjaub and Persia ; and all the great conquerors who have penetrated
to India from the Caspian, the Black Sea, or the Mediterranean, have done
so by crossing the plains and practicable mountain passes of Caubool. There
is an ancient proverb that no one can be King of Hindostan without being
first lord of Caubool. Alexander the Great went by those plains into India,
after taking Herat, at the foot of the mountains, near the borders of Persia.
Tamerlane conquered the region on his way to the Ganges : and so did Baber,
the founder of the Mogul dynasty, before setting up his empire at Delhi. It
was from Ghuznee, in that region, that the great enterprise of carrying the
Mohammedan religion into India was accomplished by Mahmoud, the founder
of the Mohammedan empire in India. There can be no question of the interest
and importance of this great district of Asia. The question is what we had
to do with it, and why we did not confine our Indian empire, at least while
the Punjaub was still quiet, within the natural frontier (as it had hitherto
been considered) of the Sandy Desert south-east of the Punjaub. To future
readers of history it will probably appear that in the precipitancy of fear, and
the confidence of ignorance, the British government rushed into vast imme-
diate peril and disaster, to avoid a far distant and exceedingly doubtful evil.
Forecast in territorial rule is all very well : but we have arrived at an age of
the world when forecast avails less than formerly, from the more general
diffusion of knowledge and prevalent excitement of the human mind : and it
is no longer governments that are capable of the wisest forecast. We have
had many broad hints of this within our own century ; and no rebuke of such
presumption, and of the policy of rushing into a quarrel to preserve future
peace, has been more emphatic than that conveyed in the results of Lord Auck-
land's Indian policy.
It has been mentioned that Russia had obtained a footing in Persia, as FEAR op RUSSIA.
was shown by the emperor being appointed guardian of the succession to the
throne, though the arrangement was frustrated by an unexpected death.
When Mr. Ellis, our Envoy, arrived in Persia in 1835, he found the Russian 1835.
alliance more prized by the young Shah than the British, and that the
Emperor's influence was paramount, though it was by means of English
money, and the assistance of British officers, that the Shah was seated peace-
ably on the Persian throne. Such intelligence, arriving in England when
the fashion of the time was to fear the power and craft of Russia, revived the
old apprehension that Russia might, sooner or later, begin in earnest her work
of conquering Great Britain by getting possession of her Indian territories.
Once in close alliance with Persia, and excluding England from friendship
and influence there, the Emperor would find only Caubool and the Punjaub
lying between his armies and our possessions. — The matter was made worse —
the case more alarming — by the fact that the Shah was at that time, 1835,
preparing to make war on the ruler of Herat, and thus to get a footing in the
territory of Caubool. In the opinion of the British envoy, there really was
good cause for the expedition against Herat ; but the Ministers of the Shah
did not conceal from Mr. Ellis that they had no idea of stopping short at that DESIGNS OP
PERSIA.
VOL. II. t> S
498 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI
1837—46. point, but intended to claim sovereignty for Persia over Ghuznee and Can-
dahar ; — that is, almost as far as the frontier of the Punjaub. — In our existing
treaty with Persia, bearing date from 1814, it was provided that Great Britain
should take no part whatever, unless as a mediator for peace-making pur-
poses, by request of both parties, in any war between Persia and Affghanistan.
This clause rendered it impossible for us to interfere on the present occasion ;
though the Russian ambassador to Persia evidently supposed that we should —
the desire of England being well known to be that the quarrels among the
rulers of Affghanistan should be healed, and the country made strong by the
concentration of its districts under one ruler. It seemed to be fear of British
interference with the claims of Persia over the great cities of Affghanistan
that made the Russian ambassador so eager for the reduction of Herat as to
offer his own military services in the expedition.
Mr. Ellis warned the Persian government of the extreme displeasure with
which Great Britain would regard any attempt of Persia over Affghanistan,
beyond that of settling its quarrel at Herat ; and he proposed that that dispute
should be disposed of by negotiation, rather than by war. The Persian
Ministers appeared to agree to this at first, but soon evaded his offer to send a
British officer to Herat for the purpose of settling the affair ; Mr. Ellis daily
seeing the probability draw nearer of Russian Consular agents being esta-
blished in the great towns up to the very borders of the Punjaub. Under such
circumstances, Persia would no longer be an outwork for the defence of India,
as she had hitherto been considered, but rather must be watched as an advanced
post of the enemy.
There were endless quarrels among the rulers of different cities and dis-
tricts of the Caubool territory, whether of the same or different families. It
would merely confuse our narrative to go at length into these. It is sufficient
to say here that the ruler of Herat was the only prince in the country of the
race of the founder of the Affghan empire. The rulers of Caubool and Can-
dahar were usurpers ; and they were derived on one side of their house from
the Persians through the Kuzzilbashes — the tribe of descendants of the
Persian soldiers who were stationed in the mountains north of the city of
Caubool. There being thus some ground of alliance between these princes
and the Shah, Mr. Ellis was further alarmed by their offering to support the
Shah against the ruler of Herat, if he would aid them on the side of the
Punjaub, where they were in fear of the power of Runjeet Singh. A similar
application was made, at the same time, to the Court of Russia. It appeared
as if every thing was conspiring to bring Russia, Persia, and the rulers of
Affghanistan at once, in armed alliance, within a stone's cast of our Indian
frontier. It thus became all-important, in the view of the British officials at
the Persian Court, to secure the independence of Herat : and when terms of
reconciliation were offered by the ruler of Herat, the Shah was advised by
the British envoy to accept them, and warned that, if he did not, he would lie
under the suspicion, with the British government, of having ulterior objects
in his warlike preparations. He chose to proceed, however, and set out for
Herat at the end of July — the Russian government at St. Petersburg declaring
that this was against advice from Russia, which had counselled delay and
negotiation, in order to avoid war. Much of the mischief now brewing arose
RULERS OF AFP-
GHANISTAN.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 499
from the impossibility of knowing what was true about the conduct of Russia. 1837 — 46.
While professions of peaceable counsel were made at St. Petersburg, British v— -~- ~— -^
officers in the interior of Asia were reporting of the appearance of Russian
agents, who made large promises of support against Herat, and offered news
of a great Russian army on its march. There is no saying what was true,
and what was not : but it is too plain that British officers forgot how strong our
forces would prove themselves on our own territory, and how much Russia
must go through before she could show herself there. A mere glance at the
map might have made them ashamed of their panic ; and they must have
known much more than the map can tell of the difficulties of the march of an
army from Russia to the Desert below the Gorra ;— of the snows and the
sands, the heats and the frosts, the rocky defiles and the barren plains,
which a wearied army must pass, and know to be in their rear, be-
fore they could get a sight of our territory and opposing forces. By such
panic on the part of British officers, it was decided to save Russia a large
part of these dangers, by plunging into them ourselves, in order to meet her
half way.
The ruler of Caubool, Dost Mohammed, in his fear of attack from the BRITISH AGENCY
* AT CAUBOOL.
Punjaub, applied not only to Russia and Persia for help, but to the Governor-
General of India. Lord Auckland, in reply, sent Captain Burnes on a com- ^™ual
mercial mission to Caubool, where he arrived in September, 1837, while the
Shah of Persia was slowly making his way from his own capital in the
direction of Herat. Before his arrival, a Persian agent had settled at Canda-
har ; and the Persian was for ever busy showing the Affghan rulers how much
more advantageous the Russian and Persian alliance would be to them than
the British. Captain Burnes represented to his government that he was
somewhat coolly treated ; and in consequence, he was invested with political
attributes not at all contemplated in the first instance. From this moment,
Lord Auckland entered upon that course of supposed competition with Russia
in the East which led to disasters greater than Russia could ever have inflicted
upon us, if we had remained quiet within our own frontier. The ensuing
months were spent in efforts of the Russian and British agents to outwit and
countermine each other at Caubool. It will be evident that here every thing
depended on the sincerity of Dost Mohammed and the judgment of Captain CAP*. B
Burnes — about both of which different opinions existed at the time. Subse-
quent events have thrown light on the character of Captain Burnes's mind.
The goodness of his heart and of his purposes is not doubted ; but it appears
that he was confident in pursuing a policy of over-caution, and credulous while
following up a track of suspicion. We do not know, and can never know, how
far his being possessed with a set of ideas coloured to him the facts before his
eyes ; nor do we know any thing of the worth of his authorities. Our confidence,
however, is not increased by the fact that he"was vehemently hated by the
chiefs. He acted much on reports of private interviews and conversations, as
well as written correspondence. Of course he vouched for the goodness of his
information : but he was equally confident on that last fatal morning when he
sat down to breakfast in his house at Caubool while his murderers were
gathering in the street. He continued to send communications of a " startling
nature," and Lord Auckland continued to be startled, in apparent blindness
500 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1837 — 40. to the impracticability, or, to say the least, the extreme wildness of the enter-
— — — ^-** — prises imputed to Russia.
HERAT. Meantime, Herat held out, month after month, against 40,000 men and 80
pieces of cannon ; and its protracted defence was mainly owing to the skill of
Edinburgh Re. an English officer, Lieut. Pottinger, within the walls, in contravention of the
P.M'I. ' skill of Russian officers who directed the siege without. The lapse of time
made the defence of Herat of more importance continually, as insults were
heaped upon the British more abundantly, and as it became more evident that
the independence of AfFghanistan depended on that of Herat, whose former
offence against the Shah was considered by our Envoys to be fully expiated
by repeated reasonable offers to treat. In the course of 1838, our envoy in
Persia had set out for the Turkish frontier on his way home, and five British
Annual Rcgisier, ships of war were in the Persian gulf, having landed troops in the island of
Karrak: — the treaty between Candahar and Persia was made and signed,
under the superintendence of a Russian agent, and Captain Burnes had been
advised to leave Caubool. It was believed that Dost Mohammed and the
Russian agents were tampering with the rulers of Scinde, to induce them to
trouble British India through all its western provinces ; and it was feared that
news had spread up to the mountain tops of Nepaul and down the remotest
branches of the Ganges, that a great trial of power was taking place between
Russia and England at Herat, and would soon be witnessed in the British
Indian territories. It is a curious incident in the midst of these alarms, and
one which, as it appears, should have brought the alarmists to some reflection,
that Herat did not fall. The Persian army, backed by all the power of
Russia, as was said, could not take this one city, defended for ten months
under the direction of Lieutenant Pottinger. On the 9th of September, 1838,
the Shah broke up his camp, and set forth homewards, having gained no suc-
cesses, but lost many men, and wasted much treasure. At the same time, the
KussiANATI°NS °F Russian government plainly denied, when called to account, having ever
dreamed of disturbing our eastern possessions ; declared that it had never
ceased to protest against the siege of Herat; and that, when the Shah persisted
in that war, it had stipulated that Herat, if captured, should be annexed to
Candahar, that the integrity of Affghanistan might be preserved. Among
these contradictory accounts, it has never been settled what was really true —
whether the Russians moving about in Affghanistan were political adventurers
on their own account, as well as commercial government agents : whether the
British agents were justified in their suspicions, or were deceived — and whether
Russia was betrayed by her own servants, or foully attempted to betray us.
However this was, preparations were already making by the Indian govern-
ment for the invasion of Affghanistan : and, at the very time, Russia was re-
calling both her agents, sending to Persia an'envoy more acceptable to England,
and to Candahar an agent expressly charged to enter upon none but commer-
Note, Deer. 20th, cial negotiations. With these arrangements, our Foreign Minister declared
himself abundantly satisfied : and it shows how intense and unreasonable was
the fear of Russia in some minds at that time, that for this our Foreign
Minister was actually believed by certain persons to be in the interest — even
in the pay — of Russia. To most, however, it was enough that Lord Dxirham
first, and Lord Clanricarde afterwards, at St. Petersburg, were satisfied with
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
the declarations of Russia; and Lord Palmerston at home with the explana- 1837 — 46.
tions of the Russian ambassador ; while the Russian agents in the East were 'v— — «•— — -^
changed on our complaint ; and, above all, Herat was not taken. But our
Political Agents in India appear still to have been possessed of the idea which
led the British so far beyond their own frontier, and the ordinary range of their
concerns.
The most decided act of interference in affairs beyond the province of the J-11- AtcKLANi>'9
British was in the Governor-General's proclamation of the llth of October, WAR.
1838, published to the Bengal division of the army at Simla, on the Jumna, isaa, P. 339.
This Manifesto relates the particulars of our disagreement with Persia, exhibits
the unfriendly dealings of Dost Mohammed of Caubool towards our ally of the
Punjaub, Runjeet Singh, and his evident disinclination to have dealings with
the British ; and declares that, as there could be little hope of tranquillity for
our North-western provinces in such a state of things, it was determined to
depose the rulers of Caubool and Candahar, who were of an usurping race,
and to place Shah Soojah on the throne. It had often been said before this
time — and it has been earnestly repeated since — that the way to have peace in
India is to send out soldiers, rather than civilians, to be Governors-General :
and certainly this declaration of war goes far to confirm the saying. It is
scarcely conceivable that a great military ruler could have done an act so rash
as Lord Auckland did in thus proclaiming war. He was no doubt wrought
upon by military advisers in a way that a, military Governor- General would
not have been : he knew less than a soldier would have done what such a war
imports ; and no soldier could easily have proved himself less of a statesman
than the whole conception of this Affghan war proved its responsible author.
In England, and half over India, people asked who was Shah Soojah ? His AFFGHAN
story was this. The descendants of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the AfFghan
empire, were driven out of its eastern portion by means of an able minister of
one of them, who, being of another tribe, divided the governments of Caubool,
Peshawur, and Candahar, among his brothers, who left only Herat (as has
been said) to the old reigning family. The Prince whose Minister thus en-
croached upon his power was called Mahmoud : and this Mahmoud had him-
self deposed his half-brother, who reigned at Caubool. This half-brother was
Shah Soojah. Thus, Shah Soojah belonged to the original ruling family : he S»AH SJOJAU.
was deposed by Mahmoud, his half-brother : it was Mahmoud's Minister who
provided for the expulsion of the family ; and it was one of this Minister's
family, Dost Mohammed, who now ruled at Caubool, and whom Lord Auck- DOST MOHAMMED.
land had resolved to depose. It may be mentioned that the usurping family
had once set about restoring Shah Soojah to his throne, after his escape from
captivity in the Punjaub : but he offended them ; and they transferred their
nominal favour to his brother Eyoob. But they in fact reigned without inter-
ruption— setting aside the claims of even the son of their eldest brother, who
died after seeing his fine province of Cashmere annexed to the Punjaub, and
Peshawur reduced to the condition of a vassal city ; and Balkh incorporated
with Bokhara ; and the Ameers of Scinde declaring themselves independent.
Thus, the AfFghan empire was much weakened at the time when Lord Auck-
land declared war against it, for the sake of setting up in it a sovereign who
would keep the peace with us.
The plan was that the British, Runjeet Singh, and Shah Soojah, should co-
502 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1837 — 46. operate, for the objects of all three. The new Affghan ruler was to enter upon
his dominion surrounded by his own troops, and supported by the British, who
should retire, and leave the country altogether when the restoration should be
fully accomplished. Herat was to be left as it was ; and a guaranteed4nde-
pendence was to be offered to the Ameers of Scinde.
AMEERS or These Ameers of Scinde were a family of ten or twelve brothers and cousins,
SCINDE
sons of the four Ameers, brothers, who had ruled Scinde in peace with each other.
The fathers of the present Ameers had released themselves from their half-
yearly tribute to the Affghan rulers ; and now, Runjeet Singh was demanding
a large tribute. It was from these tributes that Scinde was released by the
Treaty, Mar. nth, present treaty. The Ameers were to permit the British to march through
their country ; and the force from Bombay went up through the heart of it,
on the Indus, while some of the Bengal troops crossed the northern portion.
The army was, however, so ill-treated in the Ameers' country, and the Princes
were themselves so evidently hostile, that it was necessary to bring a second
force from Bombay, to keep Scinde quiet in our rear ; and then again, to
compel the Ameers to permit us to keep an army permanently in their country,
on the west side of the Indus — three of the Ameers paying £30,000 a year
for the maintenance of these troops. Thus were our operations and our
embarrassments extending, when we had once put our hand over our own
frontier ; and thus did one act of interference necessitate more. It was for
less than two years that Scinde remained even manageably tranquil under
this last arrangement.
At the end of November, 1838, Runjeet Singh and Lord Auckland met at
Ferozepore, the last of our settlements in the North West, and, of course, the
nearest to the Punjaub. The meeting and greeting of the rulers, their reti-
nues and armies, was a very splendid sight. Sir Alexander (late Capt.) Burnes
was sent on in advance of the expedition, and the army that followed was
much reduced, in consequence of the news having arrived of the retreat of the
AFFOHurwTAM Shah °f Persia to his own dominions. It was believed that, in the present
state of affairs, a very easy task lay before the British forces.
The most direct road for the invaders would have been to have crossed the
Punjaub from Ferozepore, in the direction of Peshawur ; but, as we have said,
the Bombay troops had a troublesome passage through Scinde. In fact, they
had to fight their way up, taking cities along their course. The Bengal force
therefore went down to the south-west to meet them ; and the junction was
effected at Shikarpore, within the boundaries of Scinde, near the Affghan
frontier. The command of the expedition was given to Sir John Keane, the
Bombay commander-in-chief. The meeting was not a very cheering one.
Shah Soojah was there, with his troops, who formed the centre of the army.
The British forces had suffered much from the fatigues of the way, and yet
more from the attacks of the Beloochees, who by no means approved this in-
vasion of the state which adjoined theirs on the north, by means of humbling
that which lay on the east. The army was already more reduced than by a
great battle. But the worst was before them. It was March ; and the heat
in the jungles was overpowering, while in the mountain passes snow drove in
the soldiers' faces. The Beloochees were always like a whirlwind in flank and
rear (never in front) — catching up every straggler, and sweeping off camels,
provisions, and baggage. The enemy dammed up the rivers, so as to flood the
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
plains ; and the force had to wade, for miles together, between dyke and dyke, 1837 — 46.
with only the jungle in alternation. The days of their going through the ^— — -— — -^
Bolan pass were great days for the banditti of the region, and for their chief, p"^sBoLAN
the holder of the strong fortress of Khelat, who was now negotiating with the
British political agent on the one hand, while, on the other, he was sending
out his robber force to strip the army in the Bolan pass. The tents that were
left among the rocks and snow, the camels and their loads, were the booty of
the Beloochees; and the troops emerged from the Bolan pass, hungry and
destitute — the soldiers put on half-rations, and the camp-followers fighting for
the remains of the horses that fell dead upon the road. Shah Soojah's force
was reduced from 6000 to 1500 men; and the British officers wrote home that Annual Register,
the march had no parallel but in the retreat of the French from Moscow.
Candahar was undefended — its prince having repaired to his brother, Dost
Mohammed, at Caubool. The aged Shah Soojah entered Candahar on the CANDAHAR.
24th of April, and was there crowned in May, amidst loud expressions of joy,
with which the angry people covered their discontent for the present. — After a
few weeks, spent in recruiting the strength of the army, and collecting pro-
visions, Sir J. Keane proceeded to attack Ghuznee — one of the strongest for-
tresses of that strongly-fortified country. The journey was difficult and tedious:
but the siege and storming of Ghuznee were admirably managed. The son of GHUZNEE.
Dost Mohammed was taken prisoner ; and the Dost himself, on hearing the
news, dispersed his force, and left Caubool to Shah Soojah, who entered it on
the 7th of August.
The British now supposed that all was done. Dost Mohammed was known
to have fled into Bokhara ; new governors were appointed in the place of such
chiefs as would not acknowledge the restored sovereign ; and the bandit for-
tress of Khelat was taken by General Willshire. The invaders rejoiced as if KHELAT.
there were nothing hollow in this sudden conquest ; — as if the Dost was not to
come back — nor the Ghilzee chiefs to rise — nor Khelat to be taken from us ; — •
all of which happened very soon. Sir J. Keane left at Caubool a force much
too small for a position so dubious : and while there were too few men, there
were far too many women and children. The slightest knowledge of the
character of the people ought to have shown the managers of the invasion that
this was no place yet for the residence of English ladies and young children,
or for thousands of helpless camp-followers hanging about the soldiery, whose
utmost efforts might be required at any moment. In the rash confidence which
marked the whole series of transactions, Sir Alexander Burnes encouraged any
and every body to sit down beside him in Caubool, where he cultivated his
garden, wrote gladsome letters to Scotland, and praised the people by whom he
was soon to be murdered : and Mr. M'Naghten, appointed Political Resident,
never doubted about settling his wife in the same place : and other officers SETTLEMENT AT
naturally shared in the confidence of these leaders. No less naturally did the
government at home share that confidence ; and with a haste which now looks
like a satire on the wisdom of the ministry and parliament of the time, honours Hansard, n.
were lavishly decreed. Mr. M'Naghten and Col. Pottinger were made baronets; u'3' 1331'
Sir J. Keane was raised to the peerage, and Lord Auckland was made an earl-
By the Governor-General's order, the troops were not only well rewarded with
504 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1837 4(3 pay, but they were to bear on their regimental colours the word " Affghanistan."
v-— -v Another bitter satire !
In October, the army returned to India, — one portion to Bengal, under Lord
Keane ; the other, through the Bolan pass, to the Indus, and thence to Bom-
bay. The very insufficient force left behind was placed under two commands ;
General Nott having charge of Candahar and the southern region as far as
the Bolan pass ; and Col. Sale the northern, from Ghuznee to Caubool and
Jellalabad. The British army had scarcely disappeared before it became plain
that Shah Soojah was hated with a hatred too strong for concealment ; — hated
as being as much worse than the British, as a domestic traitor is worse than a
foreign foe. He was looked upon as having sold his country to the infidels ;
Annual Register, and before the year was out, he received intimations that some who had sworn
allegiance to him under British compulsion were on the look-out for the Rus-
sians, whom they would immediately join. It really seemed as if we had been
helping the Russians, instead of raising any barrier against them.
Meantime, it seemed to the alarmists, who managed political affairs in this
quarter, as if Russia were really coming to India. She was, in fact, aiming
KHIVA. towards the north-west corner of Bokhara, where Khiva extends; a district
which lies between the Caspian, Persia, and the Oxus, and whose inhabitants
were declared to have incurred the wrath of the Russian government by an-
noying such of their neighbours as were Russian subjects, exacting tribute
from Russian caravans, and interrupting the regular trade of Central Asia.
Annual Register, Such, whether true or not, were the allegations of the Russian government. A
more prominent charge still, and that which occasioned a formal declaration of
war in December, 1839, was, that the Khiva people made slaves of all the
Russians they could lay their hands on. The fisherman on the Caspian was
carried away from his nets, and the travelling merchant from his goods. Khiva
merchants had been detained as prisoners in Russia, till the slaves should be
set free : but only 100 had been restored, while 200 were in course of capture
on the shores of the Caspian alone. So the Emperor threatened vengeance on
Khiva. But the elements were too strong for even the wrath of a Czar. The
soft-falling snow — silent and persevering — stopped the echoes of his royal
thunder, and stifled his complaints, and barred his progress, and buried some
of his men- and horses, and turned back the rest. Little Khiva defied great
Russia, as little Circassia had long been doing. Here was another lesson for
us on our haste in making war for the sake of future peace ; — on our rashness
in invading neighbours as a.precaution against a far-distant enemy, who might
never be able to get at us, even if he wished it. He would certainly not come
down upon us through Khiva. And now, our experience of army travelling
in Affghanistan might well abate our apprehension that Russia could meet us
in the field, after a prodigious journey, of which such a country as this was the
last stage.
KHM.AT LOST. In 1840, Khelat was taken from us again : the little garrisons and detach-
ments scattered through the country were harassed by the incessant watchful-
ness rendered necessary by the hostility of the tribes in their neighbourhood :
Colonel Sir Robert Sale found that treaties and agreements with the chiefs of
the mountain district of Kohistan, which was under his charge, were abso-
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 505
lutely vain — the inhabitants thinking bad faith a virtue in such a cause. 1837 — 46.
They harboured the Dost, and played tricks for him, and fought with him : ^r— ~v~— ^
but the gallant Sale put them down — finally, as every body thought, on the 2nd BnmsH!s °
of November — little dreaming what was to happen on that day twelvemonths.
Dost Mohammed walked through the British camp, with a single follower ^ ^A°KSJNM°HAMMED
actually unobserved, entered Caubool, and surrendered himself. He was sent Annual Register.
to Calcutta, and finally permitted to settle at Loodeeana, at the extremity of
our territory, and on the frontier of the Punjaub. He was a captive whom it
gratified the complacency of the authorities to receive and have under their
eyes : for, the more doubtful a policy, the more precious are its incidental
fruits. Dost Mohammed had polite and cheerful manners ; and he was enter-
tained with delighted hospitality. London people heard of him at the time as
being at the Governor-General's parties, and playing chess with the Governor-
General's sister. As he was fingering the pieces, no one knew better than he
what a game was meditated, and actually begun in his own home beyond the
Punjaub; — what checks and overthrow were prepared for those who were
smiling upon him as the pledge of their being sure of their game.
In April, 1841, Major-General Elphinstone assumed the command of the ^TE0NN'EELPIIW"
troops in AfFghanistan. This officer had won reputation in the Peninsular
war ; but he was now old, in bad health, and, as soon appeared, so weakened
in mind as to be unfit for any military duty whatever. In May, Major Pot-
tinger arrived from Calcutta, having been appointed political agent for Ko-
histan. The moment he arrived, he saw — and said in proper quarters — that PORTENTS.
the force left was altogether insufficient for the need ; and that it was necessary
to prepare for risings of the Ghilzee chiefs at any moment. Sir William
M'Naghten, usually as sanguine as his comrades, admitted that there might
be some truth in this — Lord Auckland having forced upon him a reduction of ^ y™'s Journal-
the allowances to the chiefs, at the very moment when their good-will was
most indispensable. The enmity of the Ghilzees had been, in fact, exasperated
beyond hope of accommodation, by a mistake committed a few months before,
when a British officer had slaughtered a small garrison friendly to the Shah,
on the supposition of their being foes. A chief was among the victims, to
avenge whom 5000 Ghilzees took up arms ; and during the first months of Annual Register,
1841, p. 274.
1841, they were watching only for an opportunity.
During this season of suspense, there were changes going on behind them
which would have materially altered the position and prospects of the British
at Caubool, if a speedy fate had not been preparing for them on the spot. The T|IE FuNJAUB-
Punjaub was in a hopeless state of disturbance. Runjeet Singh, " our faithful
and highly-valued ally," as the government proclamation styled him, had died;
and the two next heirs were already snatched away — in the course of a few
months. The new rajah was believed to have been poisoned. His son and
successor, returning from the funeral, was struck by a beam which fell from a
gateway upon his elephant, and died in a few hours, at the age of twenty-two.
The disputes about the succession which now took place between the widow of
the elder deceased rajah and an illegitimate son of Runjeet Singh, let loose all
the passions of the turbulent Sikhs ; and the Punjaub could no longer be re-
garded as a friendly and safe country, immediately in the rear of the Caubool
force, into which they might retreat if pressed by misfortune. — Another event
VOL. II 3 T
506 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1837 — 46. of material importance was the recall of Lord Auckland by the new government
* — '^^^~^ at home, who sent out Lord Ellenborough in his stead. How far the invasion
AUCKLAND. of Affghanistan would be sanctioned and supported by the new Governor-
is^chro^iao.' General, would soon appear. Meantime, those who approved the late policy
were sorry that the ruler who was responsible for it was withdrawn'; while those
who saw in this policy the operation of irresponsible military counsels through
BO'ROUGHLBN *he inexperience and ignorance of a civil ruler, were sorry that another civilian
was sent out instead of one of our great soldiers, who might not only look to
the proper conduct of our new war, but, from his experience of the evils of war,
might save us from going further in our course of aggression in Asia.
It was an anxious summer for the British at Caubool. They were living in
BRITISH AT CAU- cantonments, near the city. Their position was so arranged as that they were
Eyre's Journal, a mile and a half from the citadel — the Bala Hissar — where Shah Soojah re-
sided; and a river lay between; all the four corners of the cantonments, where
there were defences, were commanded by hills or Affghan forts ; and their pro-
visions were actually stored in a fort at some distance from cantonments.
General Elphinstone became more and more helpless ; and he called in, as his
adviser, an officer whose sole thought was to get back to India, and who there-
fore discouraged every effort to strengthen the position of the Caubool force.
From the moment that a force knows itself to be ill commanded, its heart and
soul die out ; and so it was now. The officers grew moody and disheartened,
as they saw their situation becoming dangerous, while it seemed too plain that
they would neither be allowed to prepare for defence now, nor to fight here-
after. The men were worn and weary with incessant watching, with bearing
the insults of the natives, and with receiving frequent tidings of their comrades
being picked off by roving enemies, as often as opportunity offered. The ladies
occupied themselves with their gardens, which, in that temperate climate, re-
warded all the pains taken. Sir Alexander Burnes gloried in his, which was
attached to his house in the city: and during these last months of his life, he
Avas as confident and gay as ever. He had real friends among the Affghans ;
and these friends warned him again and again of danger — told him that he
was deceived — that the ground was mined beneath his feet — and that he must
save himself now, or not at all. He did not believe a word of it. He kept
his fears for Russia, and was perfectly satisfied about Afghanistan. The en-
voy, Sir William M'Naghten, was less happy. One of the last things he said
p.yi65°! J°u Ml' — in the next December — was, that a thousand deaths were better than the
hell of suspense he had lived in for six weeks ; and already, he was having
some foretaste of that bitter suffering. The aged Shah Soojah could do nothing.
He was merely a puppet prince set up by us, in the absence of any real call to
the throne. He remained retired in the Bala Hissar, hated by the people, and
pitied by the British for his contemptible position — some few, the while,
strongly doubting his fidelity. We find throughout the narratives of this war
a painful suggestion thrown in here and there, that this or that incident makes
for or against the supposition of Shah Soojah's fidelity. — For some months,
there was hope that General Nott was coming on from Candahar, with a clear
head upon his shoulders, a cheerful spirit in his breast, and a well-disciplined
force at his heels. But he did not appear ; and then it became known that he
could not come at all at present. He had quite enough on his hands below.
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. &07
Early in September, there were small treasons and skirmishes in the moun- 1837 — 46.
tains north of Caubool, when parties were out collecting the revenue. Later ^— — ~ — -
in September, Major Pottinger came to Caubool with fresh information, which
so far convinced Sir William M'Naghten of the probability of a rising in Ko-
histan, that he resolved to detain as hostages the sons of the great chiefs. —
Early in October, the second son of Dost Mohammed — that Akber Khan in
whose hand the fate of the British in Affghanistan was henceforth to lie — came
down from the north, and posted himself in the Khoord Caubool pass — ten
miles from the city; — that pass being the only way back to Hindostan. General
Sale, who would have been in his winter quarters at Jellalabad before this, but
for the treasons and skirmishes in the mountains, now set forth, to clear this
pass. His troops might force it, but they could not clear it. The foe was
perched on the rocks, where no guns could be brought to bear upon them ;
and the British had to run the gauntlet through the whole pass. Gen. Sale
was himself wounded.
Akber Khan now had command of the British communications. It is pite-
ous to read of the suspense at the cantonments after this. There were rumours
of battles, with great slaughter of the British on the road to Jellalabad, and
no letters came to clear up the matter. Sometimes, a messenger arrived ; but
he brought only newspapers — not a written line for even the General. Some-
times, a letter or two came with a forged seal — sometimes a letter which itself
appeared to be forged. On the 31st of October, "no despatches for the General,"
nor private letters : but further accounts hoped for to-morrow. On that morrow, Lady sale's,
"no letters from camp, which has caused both surprise and anxiety." This was
an easy foretaste of the horrors of the next day —November 2nd. On this night,
once more and for the last time, Sir Alexander Burnes's Affghan friends came to
him with warnings : and this once more in vain. He was as confident as ever.
The next morning, while he and his brother and Captain Broadfoot were at RISING ar
r CAUBOOL.
breakfast, the street filled, and the cries of the crowd told too well what they
came for. Burnes was sure it was only a riot, and sprang into the balcony to
address the people. The enemy burst in. Broadfoot killed six with his own
hand before he fell. All three were murdered on the spot, though Shah Soojah
sent word, some hours after, to Sir W. M'Naghten that all was well with
Burnes. Shah Soojah also said that if the rebellion was not over that night,
he would burn the city the next day : but he neither did that nor any thing
else, but order the guns of the citadel to fire — which they did all day, without
any apparent effect.
For two months after this, all was unmitigated wretchedness. General SUSPENSE.
Sale was hoped for — looked for — but he did not come. He could not ; and
his wife and comrades were told it was because his soldiers had forsaken him.
General Nott never came — also because he still could not. Ammunition
failed ; and, what was if possible worse, food failed. The Commissariat fort,
which stood detached, as has been said, was taken, through sheer inertness
and mismanagement of the authorities. There had been three possible courses
for the British : — to go back to India ; to remain in cantonments, in a state of
defence, till aid should arrive ; or to go to the Bala Hissar, and crowd in there,
sacrificing the horses, but securing human life at least, till reinforcements
should come. All these were difficult and dangerous ; and each entailed
508 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1837 — 46. great sacrifices; but a vigorous adoption of any one would have left some
chance to somebody. But there was no vigour, no concert — the few who
were fit to command, and the many who were ready to act, were paralyzed by
neglect and prohibitions. The insulting enemy hovered round, and picked off
every straggler, and especially, all the messengers whom they could hit.
MURDER OFTHE Then, there was talk of treaties; and the wretched Envoy — the most re-
sponsible man, and yet disabled by the imbecility of the General — caught at
every false hope thus held out. Rather than endure the daily sight of the
perishing force, he went out to treat — even falling into the snare of negotiat-
ing an underhand treaty which no man in any but a desperate condition would
have believed attainable — and thus losing something of his honour in the eyes
of the enemy. He went out to treat, saying to his companions what has been
quoted of the horrors of the last six weeks, and was seized by Akber Khan
himself, and murdered on the spot. Those who saw the two faces, tell of them
as what can never be forgotten : — Akber Khan's charged with " diabolical
ferocity," — Sir W. v M'Naghten's with " horror and astonishment." The
Affghans made a plaything of his head, with its green spectacles, and held up
one of his severed hands at the prison window of the officers who had been
rescued by the intervention of Affghan chiefs. Captain Trevor, whose wife
and seven children were with the force, was murdered with the Envoy. This
La<iy sale's decisive event happened on the 23rd of December.
Journal, p. 195. ml -p. . . , . ,. ,.T1.
Ihe British were now "advised by the enemy to go back to India: and
they were so nearly starved that they agreed to do so : though some of the
officers were still of opinion that they should fight their way for the mile and
a half which lay between the cantonments and the citadel, and take refuge
there — trusting to the interest of the country people to supply them with food.
BRITISH T °F T"E ^nev set out, however, some of them knowing that the Affghan chiefs were
saying that they would allow only one man to live : that they would cut off
his limbs, and set him down at the entrance of the Khyber pass, with a letter
between his teeth warning the British to meddle no more with Affghanistan.
Many set forth, believing this boast to be not unreasonable : and it was too true
that only one man reached Jellalabad. Those who gave themselves up as
prisoners and hostages were saved — such of them as did not die of fever and
hardship — but only one man performed the march'from Caubool to Jellalabad.
The doom of the force was clear at the end of five miles. Four thousand five
hundred fighting men, and twelve thousand camp-followers, besides women
and children, set forth from Caubool on the 6th of January. The distance
traversed that day was only five miles ; yet it was two o'clock in the morning
before the last of the force came up. The glare from the burning cantonments
was visible to the fugitives as they sat in the snow, and heard what had been
the destruction already, and knew what a road lay before them. Officers and
soldiers lay dead in the bloody snow, all the way back to Caubool ; baggage
was abandoned at the very gates of the cantonments ; the ladies had only what
they wore, and some of them, hurried away or sick, wore only night-clothes.
Each day was worse than the last. One lady had her youngest boy snatched
from her arms by an Affghan ; and another saw her eldest girl put into a sack,
and carried off. The camp-followers, whose frost-bitten feet would carry them
no further, died by hundreds along the road-side, or crawled in among the
CHAP. IV. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. . 509
rocks, without food or prospect of any. On the fourth day only 270 soldiers 1837 — 46.
were left. On the fifth, the loss altogether was 12,000 out of 17,000 men. On v-— -^ — — ^
the sixth day there were but 20 to make a stand against the still-tormenting foe.
Twelve escaped from a barrier which detained them cruelly long under the
enemy's fire : and of these twelve, six dropped before reaching the last town
to be passed. Near this town, some peasants offered bread to the remaining
six, who wrere famishing. They stayed a few moments only ; but in those few
moments the inhabitants were arming. Two were immediately cut down.
The other four fled as men may do who have death at their heels, and safety
almost within sight : but three of the four were overtaken and slaughtered
within four miles of Jellalabad, and Dr. Brydon arrived alone. He was seen
from the fort stooping over his jaded pony, evidently wounded — looking as
forlorn in his approach as could be imagined. He was supposed to be a
messenger, and the gate was opened in readiness to admit him : but his only
message was such an one as perhaps no other man has ever had to deliver —
that he was the sole remnant of an army. Except the burying of Cambyses'
army in the African desert, such a destruction has perhaps never been heard
of in the world.
There were more saved, however, than Dr. Brydon knew of. The omiii- PRISONERS SAVED.
present Akber Khan, who had proposed to escort the force to Jellalabad, and
then declared that he could not protect them, offered to save the ladies and
children if the married and wounded officers were delivered, with their fami-
lies, into his hands. These prisoners were carried about from fort to fort till
the next summer, when they were released in consequence of the advance of
fresh British troops. General Elphinstone was among the prisoners. He
died — greatly to the relief of all to whom his fame, and the respect due to
grey hairs, were dear — in the course of this captivity. His case was clear,
and government was saved the pain of calling him to account. — Among the
captives was the remarkable woman to whom we owe much of our knowledge
of the incidents of this terrible history — the wife of General Sale. Her iiarra- LADY SALE.
tive shows her a true soldier, and one of the bravest. If, in reading her nar-
rative, we almost recoil from the hardihood which could sustain itself in that
inaction which is often fatal to high courage, we cannot but fervently admire
it in the form of cheerful patience under protracted personal suffering, and
inconceivable discomforts. Her husband met her and their widowed daughter,
with her new-born infant, and the other prisoners, on the 20th of September,
1842, nearly nine months after the march from Caubool. — When General
Elphinstone wrote to General Sale, at that disastrous time, to leave Jellalabad, GKNIHAL SALE.
and return to India, the General resolved to hold his post at all risks; and it
is said that his captive wife urged him by letter to do so, regardless of the
consequences to herself. If so, this meeting of the 20th of September might
well be a happy one ; for General Sale had held his post till relieved on the
16th of April.
Up to the moment of Lord Ellenborough's arrival, in February, 1842, Lord
Auckland had done every thing in his power for the rescue of the force so
rashly left in Affghanistan. Troops were sent in abundance ; but the difficulty
was to get them through the defiles by which the country must be entered.
No man yet had ever traversed the Khyber pass in the face of an enemy — Nadir
510 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1837 — 46. Shah himself having purchased a passage from the tribes which guard it : but
General Pollock now achieved it. with extreme difficulty and risk, and by
means of a strong excitement of the valour of the troops. On the 16th of
April, the exhausted garrison of Jellalabad saw the reinforcements coming
up ; and vast was the cheering and firing of cannon. General Sale had done
marvels during the intervening months in repairing his wretched fortifications,
procuring food, and keeping off the enemy : and when an earthquake overthrew
most of his defences in the middle of February, he set to work again with
undiminished spirit. The earthquake brought up Akber Khan, who had
finished every thing elsewhere, and now came to drive out the last of the infi-
dels. He was fought with incessantly till the 7th of April, when the hope of
the approach of General Pollock justified a decisive attack on the Affghans.
The British triumphed, recovered some of the guns lost by their dead comrades
in the winter, and burned Akber's camp. — It was in this month of April that
General Elphinstone died ; and also Shah Soojah. Whether this Prince re-
mained faithful to us or turned treacherous, is not understood to this day. It
SOOJAH." ° SHAH is known only that he was murdered near Caubool in the midst of some dispute
about an expedition against Jellalabad. Great confusion ensued upon his
death : and the course of affairs is wholly obscure till we see Dost Mohammed
once more in power.
Sickness and other difficulties detained the British forces at Jellalabad till
the end of August. A great number died, and the rest were not in the best
condition for forcing the passes to Caubool. It was done, however, and admi-
rably, and the army encamped, on the 15th of September, on the race ground of
Caubool. The British standard was hoisted on the Bala Hissar. The Kuzzil-
bashes, before mentioned as of Persian descent, and hostile to Dost Mohammed
and his tribe, were our best friends throughout ; and it was by their aid that
the prisoners were brought back, when actually on their way to hopeless cap-
tivity beyond the Oxus. The Kuzzilbash quarter was therefore spared, in the
D^THOYED. destruction of Caubool ; and so was the Bala Hissar. The rest was laid in
1842"?. 25eog.ister> ruins ; and the first part that was blown up was the bazaar, built in the reign
of Aurungzebe. General Nott came up from Candahar, victorious — though
the reinforcements sent to him from Scinde could not reach him, but
were actually obliged to turn back after having traversed the Bolan Pass.
Ghuznee had fallen from us too, and its name had lost the glory it had had
when it gave his honours to Lord Keane. General Nott, after having evacu-
ated Candahar, fought the Affghans near Ghuznee, and beat them, and was
ready to attack the fortress, when it was found that the enemy had retired.
DE"TKOYF.D. The city and fortress were immediately and totally destroyed ; and General
Nott moved on, fighting one more battle by the way, to join the forces already
at Caubool.
The new Governor-General had meantime, by proclamation, ordered the
AFFGHAA"isrrANF. British forces to evacuate Affghanistan. This proclamation declares it con-
isS" p'. 2l54.lster' trary to British policy and ideas to force a sovereign on a reluctant people (a
declaration which must have astonished the Affghans) ; and, adverting to the
death of Shah Soojah, promises to recognise any ruler whom the Affghans
shall choose, with any prospect of peace for their country. In the beginning
of November, the British troops left the country which they should never
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 511
have entered, and where some of them finally disgraced our military reputa- 1837 — 46.
tion by acts of rapine and cruelty, in an expedition in Kohistan, which the * ""^ — '
Affghans themselves could never have surpassed. It was a fitting end of one
of the most iniquitous wars on record. — The public despatches and private
journals of the time speak, in set terms, of the honour of our arms being
avenged, stains wiped out, and so forth : but this is cant. The honour of our
arms, among the Asiatic nations as every where else, is absolutely implicated
with the goodness of our cause. It is questionable whether, in their barbaric
view, our cause had ever before been thoroughly bad — indefensible as have
been some of our wars there in the eyes of Christian nations. But in this
case, we were wholly wrong; and our honour cannot be now — never can be —
retrieved in the estimation of the Affghans. For purposes of our own — foolish
purposes, as it happens — we invaded their country, forced on them a sovereign
whom they hated, and who had actually no party among them — invited
aggression from them by our weakness and supineness — melted away under
their aggression — and at last poured in upon them with overwhelming
forces — blew up their strongholds, razed their cities, hunted their mountain
population " like vermin," burning, slaying, and ravaging — and then with-
drew, giving them leave to place upon the throne the very ruler we had come
to depose. We may deceive ourselves with vainglory about our honour;
but, as long as tradition lasts in Affghanistan, our name will be a mark for
hatred and scorn. The men are gone who did this ; — Burnes, M'Naghten,
the military advisers who left their bones in the passes beyond the Punjaub,
and Lord Auckland himself. But it does not become those at home who
were misled by them — it does not become the most irresponsible of us —
to forget this great folly and crime, or to attempt to cover it over with cant
about the glory of our arms.
When the British force had evacuated Affghanistan, Lord Ellenborough LoBU ELLEN-
O BOBOUOH 8
addressed a Proclamation to the rulers and peoples of India, which soon be- PROCLAMATION.
' Annual Register,
came very celebrated. It is always a mistake to address people of another 1842»p-257-
race, and faith, and language, than our own, in what is supposed to be their
way ; — to use big metaphors, and fervent exclamations, and make references
in a supposed religious tone to things which to the writer are not holy. We
all saw the folly and bad taste of this in Napoleon's proclamations, and never
believed that they would go down with the Mohammedans and others to whom
they were addressed : and now the Governor-General of India made the same
mistake at a serious crisis of our affairs in India, when earnestness and sim-
plicity were more than ever necessary in our transactions. The horror excited
at home by the apparent sanction given to idolatry in this Proclamation might
be exaggerated : but it is certain that affectation, in every way pernicious in
so high a functionary, is most eminently so in regard to the most serious of all
affairs — matters of religious faith. In 1831, when Shah Soojah wanted aid
from Runjeet Singh, the aid was promised on three conditions, one of which
was that the sandal-wood gates of the great temple of Juggernaut, which had SCMNAUTH GATES.
been carried to Ghuznee, should be restored. The Shah refused this con-
dition, while agreeing to the others, in a way which showed the point to be
of some importance ; but whether political, military, or religious, we know too
little of the native mind to be certain. Lord Ellenborough however ventured
512 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1837 46. to use, in this Proclamation, big words of exultation and congratulation about
the gates of the temple of Sumnauth being brought back from Ghuznee ;
and the outcry was great, both on the spot and at home ; — some fearing that
the government would appear to patronize idolatry, and others showing how
the congratulation insulted one part of the inhabitants while coaxing another.
The matter was largely discussed in parliament in the session of 1843 ; and
due attention was paid to other acts of coxcombry which seemed to show at
once that Lord Ellenborough, with all his heartiness and goodwill and
activity and diligence, had not the sobriety of judgment and dignity of man-
ners indispensable in his position. He fraternized with the military in a way
very extraordinary in a civilian, and published his military sympathies, so as
to give more offence to one set of men than gratification to another. He
made showy progresses : and acted out vehemently his idea of Indian govern-
ment— a government of coaxing and demonstration, rather than of business-
like gravity and silent energy. The East India Directors, who held the
opposite idea of government, used their power — a power adverted to so rarely
RECALL OP Lonn as to have been nearly forgotten — of recalling the Governor-General, without
the acquiescence of the Administration. The Ministers admitted in parlia-
Hansard,ixxiv. ment that they had remonstrated strongly against this exercise of the
Directors' privilege ; and it was plain that they were extremely annoyed by it.
Though the vote was unanimous, they considered it as great an " indiscretion"
as any known in history. It was certainly a serious matter to bring forward
the anomaly of the double authority at home : but all anomalies must come
into notice sooner or later ; and the question was, whether the present occa-
sion was a sufficient justification. The Directors thought it was : the govern-
ment thought not. As for parliament and the people, they dwelt most on the
satisfaction of the recall of Lord Ellenborough. The appointment of his
SIR HENRY HAR- successor was admirable. It united all suffrages of opinion. Sir Henry
GENERAL. ' Hardmge was a soldier, whose military qualifications were indisputable.
But he was even better known as a man of a calm, earnest, grave disposition,
sound sagacity and conscientious thoughtfulness, excellent habits of business,
and most genial and benevolent temper. In him the qualifications of the
civil and military ruler seemed to be so singularly united that he appeared to
have been in training all his life for the office he was now to fill. It was on
the 21st of April, 1844, that Sir R. Peel announced in parliament the recall
of Lord Ellenborough; and Sir Henry Hardiiige arrived in India in the
following July.
Scinde had been annexed to our dominions during Lord Ellenborough's
term of office. The agreements we had made with the Ameers, at the com-
SCINDB m 1842. mencement of our Affghaii enterprise, were not likely to last ; and by 1842,
we find the Governor-General threatening one of the older generation of the
Ameers with deposition if he did not pay up his tribute, and prove himself
faithful to the British. There was reason to suspect the Ameers of corre-
spondence with our enemies; and their tribute had fallen into arrear. Sir
Charles Napier, who commanded the troops in Scinde, was authorized by the
Governor-General to make a new treaty with the Ameers, by which the
British authorities believed that equivalent advantages were secured to the
two parties. The Ameers, hoAvever, thought otherwise, — estimating the pri-
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 513
vileges of their hunting grounds along the Indus more highly than the British 1837 — 46.
ruler conceived of when he stipulated that we should have liberty to cut wood E^^Jf^
for our steamers along the whole line of the river banks. The treaty was forced APrii,>i844,P.49o,
upon them ; they were irritated ; their Beloochee followers were furious, and
drove out the Resident who had negotiated the treaty and his few followers
from their fort, compelling them to take refuge on board a steamer in the river.
The attack was made on the 15th of February. The next day, Sir C. Napier
went after the Ameers, to see what they were about, and found them encamped
with 22,000 men — seven times the amount of his own force. Early in the
morning, he brought his small force to bear upon their great army, routed it, MEAN^B!*"
and captured all the enemy's artillery and ammunition, their standards, and
their camp, with all that it contained. The Ameers yielded up their swords ;
and after another victory, Scinde was ours. — Sir C. Napier has never concealed
the fact, however, that his conquest of Scinde was determined on before the Edinburgh Rev.
, • /> -i i April, 1844i P-48S.
attack on the Resident, and would have taken place just the same if that had
never happened. The battle of Meanee was a great one, valorously and skil-
fully conducted ; and the thanks of parliament were voted to Sir C. Napier and
his coadjutors in consideration of it : but we feel no more moral satisfaction in
the contemplation of these events, and the thoughts of ovir new territory, than
in considering our Aifghan campaign. We have no business in Scinde : and
it is a matter for the inhabitants, and not for us, to decide upon, whether
they prefer the government of the Ameers, or the " mild sway " which we
recommend to them as that of the British government. Probably the Beloo-
chees know too much of our invasion of Aifghanistan, and of the condition in
which we left it, to have much belief in the mildness and justice of our sway.
Meantime, a residence in Scinde is a sort of purgatory to Anglo-Indians. The
people are manifestly hostile, and the soil and atmosphere most unfavourable to
health. Mutiny, the most dreaded of all events in India, was occasioned in
1844, by the mere order to march to Scinde; and a regiment was ignomini-
ously broken up, on account of its refusal.
We have not done yet with these melancholy Indian victories, and the
questionable rejoicings over them at home. The people of Gwalior, in the GWALIOR.
Sindia dominion, in the heart of our north-western possessions, were disturbed
and riotous. We were bound by treaty to give aid in such a case, under certain
requisitions : — we now interfered without such requisition, on the assumption
that it would have been made if a young prince had been old enough ; and
entered the territory, "not as an enemy, but as a friend to the Maharaja." ^™ual 3Gp|ister>
We established " a strong government," according to British ideas, and were
about to depart : but the Mahrattas were not disposed to let us inarch off so
quietly. They challenged us to two great battles, in which the British were
victors ; and Lord Ellenborough, who was near or on the spot, taking the inte-
rest of a strong partisan in the conflict, issued more high-sounding procla-
mations about the glory of British arms on the plains of Sindia, and the bless-
ings of British intervention within the walls of Gwalior.
One melancholy department of the history of the Russian alarmists in India
is the fate of the officers who were employed in anti-Russian missions. Lieu- WYBURD.
tenant Wyburd, a young officer of spirit and enterprise, who was sent on a
secret mission to Khiva in 1835, was not heard of again till Col. Stoddart, as
VOL. 11. 3 u
514 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1837 — 46. reported by Dr. Wolff, learned at Bokhara that he had been early murdered.—
iv-— ~ -~—- ' Col. Stoddart himself Vas sent on a government mission to Bokhara, and
Ha°n°ardR,Ti'xxTi. Capt. Conolly, in the place of Lieut. Wyburd, to Khiva and Khohan, with in-
CONOLLY. structions to repair to Bokhara, if sent for by Col. Stoddart. He was so sent
for; and there they were executed together, in July, 1843, after long suffering
from loathsome imprisonment, and the besetting sense of the precariousness of
their life. Those who knew the open-faced, handsome Charles Stoddart, the
spirited schoolboy, who counted the days till he could begin being a hero,
suffered much under the obscure rumours that floated home from time to time
— that he was imprisoned in a well, swarming with reptiles — that he was in
high favour, and a professed Mohammedan — that he had been buried alive —
that he had been beheaded — that he was still pining in misery. — And those
who knew the Conolly family now mourn the death of three brothers, at the
outset of a career which was full of promise. Arthur, Edward, and John
f y325.J°urna1' Conolly marched with Sir J. Keane into Affghanistan in 1839. One died of
fever, a captive at Caubool, only six weeks before the release of his fellow-
prisoners ; — another was shot through the heart in the storming of a fort in
the mountains ; — and eleven months afterwards, in July, 1843, the last remain-
ing one was executed with Col. Stoddart at Bokhara. These young men were
relatives of Sir W. M'Naghten, whose wretched fate has been already before
us. The truth was not known, with regard to the Bokhara agents, till 1844,
when Dr. Wolff offered his services to go in search of them to Bokhara. From
thence he wrote, by order and under the inspection of the Khan, an account
spectator, 1844, o£ foe execution of these officers, for such reasons as such a potentate would
be likely to give. It appeared that Stoddart had made a temporary and merely
verbal profession of Mohammedanism ; but that, unable to live under a mask,
even in such a place, he had followed it up with an open avowal of his Christian
belief. The reports of the miseries of his imprisonment were but too true.
It is a relief to turn from the dreary scenes in the interior of the Asiatic
Continent to a far brighter one in its Malayan Archipelago. In the young
days of the existing generation, boys and girls were taught at school that
BORNEO. Borneo was the largest island in the world — Australia then being not fully
ascertained to be an island. Among the boys so taught might have been
JAMES BROOKR. James Brooke, whose imagination, as he grew up, dwelt in the Malayan seas.
At length, the time came when he found himself sailing in those seas, and
thinking what could be done with the piracy there, which so abounds, and is
so cruel in its character, as to put a stop to a commerce of extraordinary pro-
mise, and to keep the population of the archipelago in a lamentable state of
barbarism. James Brooke saw that Borneo produced material for an unlimited
Brooke's journal, comnierce '• " Within the same given space there are not to be found equal
mineral and vegetable riches in any land in the world." He saw that
the people, from being barbarous and in a precarious condition as to life
and welfare, might be civilized and Christianized. To this enterprise he
Brooke's journals devoted his life and all his resources. In 1838, he went forth, in a schooner
of his own, on a voyage of preliminary exploration. In August 1839, he was
well received by the Rajah of Sarawak (on the North-west point of Borneo)
— this Rajah being the uncle and deputy of the Sultaun of Borneo. In return
for aid against rebels, the Rajah offered him the government of Sarawak —
CHAP. IV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
thus furnishing him with the opportunity he desired on behalf of his scheme. 1837 — 46.
We next see him Rajah of Sarawak, happy in witnessing the striking im- *-— — '
provement of the people under his sway in character and fortunes. The great
drawback was the pirates, who swarm in all the intricate passages of those
seas. The value of Rajah Brooke was by this time seen; and views began to
open upon government and every body who knew the story, of his importance
in our national history, as the discloser of a vast new commerce, and the
simple-minded regenerator of barbaric populations. At the close of the
Chinese war, the Dido, and afterwards the Samarung, were ordered forth ™£££*
against the pirates, and broke up several of their strongholds. Mr. Brooke
accompanied these expeditions ; and in 1845, a further proof in the eyes of the
Sultaun of his credit with the British government was given in his appoint-
ment to be the agent of his sovereign in Borneo. The Sultaun besought our
assistance for the further suppression of piracy, and ceded to us the little LABUAN CEDED
TO BRITAIN.
island of Labuan, not far from the Bornean capital, as a naval station, on the
way between India and China. The Sultaun however was as weak and un-
trustworthy as such potentates are apt to be. He was won over from the
British by intrigue — slew those of his relations who were favourable to them —
and countenanced the piratical acts of his own subjects. When he was pro-
ceeded against with them, in 1846, he fled into the interior of the island, and
would not return. The British officers therefore left with the people a state-
ment of the facts of the case, and of the reasons of their conduct, to be shown
to the Sultaun, whenever he should reappear. In all these proceedings, there
has been no pretence of conquest for selfish purposes : and thus far, the
presence of the British appears to be a pure blessing to the people of Borneo.
Rajah Sir James Brooke has since been in England, receiving honours from
Queen and people : and he has gone to the East again, unspoiled by homage,
and unrelaxing in his energy, to accomplish, as Rajah of Sarawak and
Governor of Labuan, the objects which he proposed when plain James Brooke,
with no other outward resources than his own little schooner, and the means
of negotiating for a cargo of antimony. There is more satisfaction in record-
ing an enterprise so innocent in its conduct and so virtuous in its aim than in
making out a long list of Affghan and Scindian victories, with the thanks of
sovereign and parliament for a commentary.
516 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [ BOOK VI.
CHAPTER V.
1842-43. "1TTHEN the Ministers met Parliament in the beginning of 1842, their
» » party-strength appeared to be greater than that of any administration
for a long course of years. Judging by the numbers in the House of Com-
mons, the invariable preponderance of the Conservative interest in the House
of Lords, and the satisfaction throughout the country at the accession of a
strong government which understood its work, there was nothing that the
Minister could not do ; — no reason why he should not play the Dictator — only
keeping within the customary forms of Ministerial conduct. But there was
something at work stronger than party support and national acquiescence.
There was something at work inwardly, in the Minister's own mind, and out-
wardly among the elements which create human food, that was about to frus-
trate all calculations, and break up a state of things which appeared to have
just settled into permanence. The disintegration of parties which some men
had foreseen must happen sooner or later, was now presently to begin. The
Whig party was gone — never to be revived. There was no general Reform
section to take its place ; but the Anti-Corn-law League was now so active,
and so considerable in the nation's eye, that any one might see that a Free-
trade party would soon take the lead on the Liberal side. On the other side
stood the vast Conservative body — apparently all-powerful, but in fact power-
ful only precisely so far as it had accepted and assimilated liberal principles.
Sir Robert Peel and his immediate coadjutors had accepted and assimilated
most of these liberal principles ; and in them therefore lay the main strength
of the party. When they emerged as Liberals from the Conservative host, the
rest had but little force, and scarcely any principle of cohesion. The strongest
and most united portion of them came into natural antagonism with the Free-
trade party, and have struggled on, under perpetual failure, with the title of
Protectionists, to this day. The adherents of the Minister composed a sort of
party, for as long as the discussion of a free trade policy enabled them to
remain separate from the Free traders : but, of course, when the Minister had
carried his free trade measures, and taken leave of power, his temporary party
could no more maintain an independent existence than a military company,
employed on a particular service, can constitute a separate body when the
achievement is completed, and they have returned to the main body of the
army. To be a Peelite was a most significant position for five years ; but
when the Minister had accomplished his work of free trade, and retired from
power for ever, his staff necessarily dispersed, and no vestige of their separate
aggregation remained.
It was a serious thing to be the man by whom the disintegration of parties
was to be apparently caused. That such a dissolution should take place,
sooner or later, was inevitable — whoever might live or die, or rule or retire ;
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARSr PEACE. 517
and that it should take place within a certain limit of time or circumstance 1842-43.
was a necessary consequence of the Peace. When Peace was concluded, and
when, afterwards, Canning was devoting himself to preserve it, preparation
Avas in fact made for that dissolution of parties which was now to be attributed
solely to the action of Canning's political heir. It is because War is retarda-
tion that parties live as long as it lasts. It is because Peace is progress that
peace is the death-warrant of parties. In a condition of peace, when new
questions and progressive policies arise, and arts and inventions flourish which
chano-e the condition and relations of whole classes of men, political interests
must be subject to renovation, like every thing else ; and political representa-
tives will band themselves together in new combinations, and old organizations
will dissolve. Seen in advance, this reconstitution of parties for express aims
appears a good : — looked back upon from a far future time, it is clearly seen to
be a great good : — but at the time, the preliminary dissolution is a grave evil ;
and it is a serious thing to be the man by whom it is effected. It is a grave
evil that the business of the country is ill done, or remains undone, for want
of united action in parliament. It is a graver evil that men think ill of each
other, as they almost unavoidably do while each is following his own notions,
and therefore appearing to be straying wide of any " principle." Oppositions
of opinion are respectable in the eyes of antagonists while the opposition is
single, and has a centre, round which men gather : but men lose their libe-
rality when they see their neighbours, late comrades of their own, wandering
into this or that field of opinion, or forming new conjunctions with old oppo-
nents. Then imputations fly abroad, not only of intellectual weakness, but
of political dishonour. Mutual confidence is gone ;* and temper and manners
follow. Party violence is bad ; but it is nothing to the violence which succeeds
a dissolution of parties. — Grave as are these evils, there is yet a graver. In
the interval — usually an interval of years — between the disintegration of old
parties and the constitution of new ones, while a tentative or accidental fusion
takes place here and there, now and then, which gives way again, and proves
that such associations cannot be arbitrarily formed, but must grow out of some
living principle ; — during such an interval, the country is certain to be badly
governed. A principled government — a government which had a policy —
would inevitably and instantly create parties. The non-existence of parties is
an infallible indication that the government is a desultory and not a principled
one : and of all misfortunes that can befall a nation, none can be graver than
this. Such a government cannot endure for many years, even in the absence
of all organized opposition, and in the enjoyment of that self-confidence and
apparent strength which arise from its having all its own way, through the
unwillingness of political men to displace it till they are provided with a party
and a policy, or their inability to displace it by a merely desultory opposition.
But, while it lasts, it is a moral curse. During such a term of rule, the poli-
tical life of the nation languishes — its vital strength oozes away — its able men
lose much of their capability — and the ideal of the people sinks from day to
day. Their ideal of the statesman sinks to that of the clerk. Instead of
principles and enterprises of progress, they learn to look for mere routine, or
ingenuity in expedients. They are like the man who has lapsed from his
ideal and purpose of self-perfection, and lets himself drift among the chances
518 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1842-43. of life. Such, being the natural order of events, has been our experience.
^— v— — • ' After the collapse of the Whigs, Sir R. Peel came in, to govern with power,
skill, and the wisdom aptest for the time; — with realities for his mate-
rials, and the faculties within him, the reputation around him, and the fates
above him, for his agents. But the most serious part of his work was that '
which he did not appoint to himself, and which he would no doubt have
gladly avoided — that of destroying the power amidst which he dwelt and
acted by his own explosive force — scattering his own vast party in fragments
which could never re-unite. — Upon this has followed the remaining disastrous
consequence indicated above — the intervention of a Ministry which could not
have held office under the old existence of parties ; and which cannot hold it
under any parliamentary organization yet to succeed. — It is necessary to look
forward thus far, to understand what Sir R. Peel's position was when he met
parliament in February, 1842. He then knew no more of his own destiny
than others knew. He did not then dream to what an extent he was to be
the destroyer of parties by the act of being the achiever of a policy.
The necessity which ordained this destiny for him suspended the utter dis-
integration of parties, in order to give him all needful provisional supports.
FREE-TRADERS There was the Free-trade party — strong and conspicuous, but necessarily only
AND PROTECTION- ..,., i-ri i • ' • • , ., , .,,T, , .
ISTS. .... provisional, because the free-trade question is exhaustible. When trade is
made free in all departments, there is an end. For the same reason the Protec-
tionist party is necessarily a temporary one. It is, from the moment its policy
is broken in upon, a mere protesting party, advocating a negation or mere pas-
siveness. The haymaker can protest against a thunder shower only for a time.
When the shower is over, there is no more room for protest. — The most clear
OFPPAGR™ULTU? an^ serious and significant intimation of a present dissolution and future new
CULAINTEROE^TSE.R" constitution of parties arose from that operation of Sir Robert Peel's policy,
which must, without leave asked of him or of any body else, abolish the old
antagonism between the landed and commercial interests of our country.
From the earliest days, these two interests have been supposed to be antago-
nistic by their very nature. We have seen how an opportunity was lost, at
the time of Municipal Reform, of reconciling the two interests so far as to
bring the rural districts under a government as good and free as that of the
towns. We shall see, throughout this final period of our history, how in-
cessantly and completely parliament took it for granted that the landed and
commercial interests always must be in opposition because they always have
been. But we shall also see something else. We shall see how the Anti-Corn-
law League demonstrated a unity of interests between the agricultural and
manufacturing populations ; and how the crowning measures of this period
provide for their future union, and therefore for the abolition of those party
distinctions which have, through our whole parliamentary history, been
founded on their division. By the crowning acts of this period, provision is
made for the application of science, skill, and economy, in the manufac-
ture of food, just like that which takes place in the manufacture of cloth-
ing and utensils. By them, provision is made for a vast increase in the
stationary or dwindling agricultural population — an increase which will be
the natural consequence of an improved provision of work and demand for
labour, as science and skill augment the productiveness and production of the
soil. As this goes on — as the increase of the agricultural population once
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 519
more competes with that of the manufacturing, and thereby recovers some- 1842-43.
thing of its popular dignity ; and as both populations see more and more that
their interests are identical and not opposite — that they live under the same
great natural laws of society, and flourish most as they are equally regarded
by the parliamentary laws of Great Britain — there must be less and less dis-
cussion of " the preponderance of the landed interest in parliament " (at least,
in the House of Commons), less and less jealousy about class legislation —
not only more equality before the law, but more unity under the policy of a
future day. There will be then no place for political distinctions on the
ground of the opposition between the agricultural and the commercial interests,
and whatever may be the vital principles of parties in that day, they will
certainly be something quite unconnected with the old antagonism which re-
ceived its death-sentence in the repeal of the corn-laws.
A little party arose during this period which would, if it could, have pro- " YOUNG ENO-
tracted this antagonism — both directly, by its agricultural predilections, and
indirectly, by perpetuating a social state which had reached its term, or even
reviving one which had passed away. No one could wonder that when the
great "stream of tendency" wag showing its full rapidity, there were many
who, rather than trust themselves to it, put back into some little cove, not
only to protest at leisure against the sweeping tide, but to gather together on
the banks sticks and straws, and meadow-garlands, to make and deck a weir.
. This was natural ; and men did not wonder at it : but it could not be successful;
and the " Young England" party therefore did not enable the landed interest
to retain its special protection and ancient prerogative for a single hour. The
idea of the Young England party, in regard to the condition of the people,
was that all would be well if the ancient relation between the rich and the
poor could be restored — if the rich could, as formerly, take charge of the poor
with a protecting benevolence, and the poor depend upon the rich in a spirit
of trust and obedience. What the Tractarian priesthood were at this time
requiring of their flocks, the " Young England" politicians were striving for with
the working classes ; and the spectacle was seen of Sunday sports encouraged,
as in the old catholic times ; and popular festivals revived, at which young
lords and members of parliament pulled off their coats, to play cricket with
the labourers, or moved about among the crowd in the park or on the green, in
the style of the feudal superior of old. This was amiable and well-intended ;
but it did not avail in the face of the stern truth that the great natural laws
of society have dissolved the old relations between the endowed and the working
classes, and brought up a wholly new order of affairs. The landed proprietor
is no longer the social parent of the population on his estates — bound to
supply them with a certain quantity of food and clothing, and empowered to
command a certain amount of labour in return : and much less is the town
capitalist responsible for the maintenance of his neighbours. The theory of
society now is that the labouring classes are as independent as any others ;
that their labour is their own disposable property, by which they may make
their subsistence in any way that they may think best. At the time we
speak of there were two obstacles in the way of the happy realization of this
theory, neither of which was recognised by the Young England gentry — one
was, that bread and other ordinary provisions were taxed, and the supply of
corn restricted by pernicious laws : the other was that, owing to want of
520 HISTORY OF ENGLAND CBOOK VI.
1842-43. educational enlightenment and training on the part of the working classes, they
^— -v^^-' brought an undue number to share the wages of labour, so that most or all
had too little ; and thus their theoretical independence vanished under the
pressure of actual want. We shall see how the first obstacle was removed
during the period under notice : and we shall see how some attempts to
advance the education of the people were frustrated, about the same time.
Meanwhile, nothing can be clearer than that the view of the Young England
partly was fallacious, in as far as it proposed to improve substantially the con-
dition of the people. It was beneficial and engaging to see the more educated
take an interest in the advancement of the less-educated ; to see men of plea-
sure brightening the rare holidays of the men of toil : but it was merely
pernicious to hold out false hopes to the suffering, from an impracticable
notion of restoring old conditions of protection and dependence, when the one
essential thing that it is now necessary for the working-classes to understand
is, that (food and labour being released from legal restriction) their condition
is in their own hands. As truly as the Reformation took men from under the
.dictation of the priests, and gave every man's conscience into his own charge,
had the growing up of manufactures in our country taken the working classes
from under the no longer practicable protection of the landed and moneyed
capitalists, and compelled them to protect themselves or perish. If they have
enlightenment enough to see and rule their own destiny, they are raised to a
condition far above that of the serf-like working-men of old. If they have
not that enlightenment, they perish. In this critical period of the history of
their class, they were deriving no effectual help from the Young England
party of their friends. As for the parliamentary action of the Young
spectator, 1843, Englanders, it was in accordance with the hustings declaration of one of them
— Mr. Smythe, the member for Canterbury — that the principles advocated by
the " old Tory 'party" of a century back were still the soundest principles of
government.
THE DISTRESS. Serious as was the task of the Minister in every view, the most immediate
sympathy was felt for him on account of the fearful state of the people. The
distress had now so deepened in the manufacturing districts as to render it
clearly inevitable that many must die, and a multitude be lowered to a state
of sickness and irritability from want of food ; while there seemed 110 chance
of any member of the manufacturing classes coming out of the struggle at
last with a vestige of property, wherewith to begin the world again. The
pressure had long extended beyond the interests first affected ; and, when the
new Ministry came into power, there seemed to be no class that was not
spectator, 1842, threatened with ruin. In Carlisle, the Committee of Inquiry reported that a
fourth of the population was in a state bordering on starvation — actually cer-
tain to die of famine, unless relieved by extraordinary exertions. In the
spectator, 1842, woollen, districts of Wiltshire, the allowance to the independent labourer was
not two-thirds of the minimum in the workhouse ; and the large existing
population consumed only a fourth of the bread and meat required by the
spectator, 1842, much smaller population of 1820. In Stockport, more than half the master
spinners had failed before the close of 1842 : dwelling-houses, to the number
of 3,000, were shut up ; and the occupiers of many hundreds more were unable
to pay rates at all. Five thousand persons were walking the streets in
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 521
compulsory idleness : and the Burnley guardians wrote to the Secretary of 1842-43.
State that the distress was far beyond their management : so that a govern- " — — >^— — "
ment Commissioner and government funds were sent down without delay.
At a meeting at Manchester, where humble shop-keepers were the speakers, spectator, 1942,
anecdotes were related which told more than declamation. Rent-collectors P' '^^
were afraid to meet their principals, as no money could be collected. Provi-
sion-dealers were subject to incursions from a wolfish man, prowling for food
for his children, or from a half-frantic woman with her dying baby at her
breast ; or from parties of ten or a dozen desperate wretches, who were levying
contributions along the street. The linen-draper told how new clothes had
become out of the question among his customers, and they bought only rem-
nants and patches, to mend the old ones. The baker was more and more
surprised at the number of people who bought half-pennyworths of
bread. A provision-dealer used to throw away outside scraps of bacon ; but
now, respectable customers of twenty years' standing bought them in penny-
worths, to moisten their potatoes. These shop-keepers contemplated nothing spectator, ma,
but ruin, from the impoverished condition of their customers. While rates P' 6'°'
were increasing beyond all precedent, their trade was only one-half or one-
third, or even one -tenth, what it had been three years before. In^that neigh-
bourhood, a gentleman who had retired from business in 1833, leaving a pro-
perty worth £60,000 to his sons, and who had, early in the distress, become
security for them, was showing the works, for the benefit of the creditors, at
a salary of £1 a week. In families where the father had hitherto earned £2
per week, and laid by a portion weekly, and where all was now gone but the
sacks of shavings they slept on, exertions were made to get " blue milk" for
the children to moisten their oatmeal with ; but soon they could have it only
on alternate days ; and soon water must do. At Leeds, the pauper stone-heap Sp^aior' 1842>
amounted to 150,000 tons; and the guardians offered the paupers 6s. per
week for doing nothing, rather than 7s. 6d. per week for stone-breaking. The
millwrights and other trades were offering a premium on emigration, to induce
their " hands" to go away. At Hinckley, one-third of the inhabitants were spectator, 1842,
paupers: more than a fifth of the houses stood empty; and there was not P
work enough in the place to employ properly one-third of the weavers. In
Dorsetshire, a man and his wife had for wages 2s. 6d. per week and three
loaves : and the ablest labourers had 6s. or 7s. In Wiltshire, the poor peasants
held open air meetings after work — which was necessarily after dark. There,
by the light of one or two flaring tallow candles, the man or the woman who
had a story to tell stood on a chair, and related how their children were fed
and clothed in old times — poorly enough, but still, so as to keep body and soul
together ; and now how they could no how manage to do it. The bare details
of the ages of their children, and what the little things could do, and of the
prices of bacon and bread, and calico and coals, had more pathos in them than
any oratory heard elsewhere.
As for how this misery was borne — it was, on the whole, endured with an
incredible and inexplicable patience. The most comforting truth yielded by
this dreadful trial was that large numbers of the manufacturing class of
labourers had learned thoroughly something that it much concerned them to
know : — that there was no such thing in existence as an unlimited wages'
VOL. ii. 3 x
522 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842-43 fund which was intercepted by the cruelty of capitalists. The great majority
' — -~v- — -x of Lancashire operatives showed, for instance, .that they knew that their em-
ployers were sinking into ruin, and had nothing to give, but out of their
dwindling capital. But hunger is maddening — not only by the bitter thoughts
that it calls up, but by the actual irritation of the brain that it causes ; and
among the hundreds of thousands of famishing men, and women, and children,
some disorder and rebellion could not but arise. Owing to the incomparable
management of the Home Secretary, Sir James Graham, the evil and danger
were reduced to the smallest possible amount : but there was enough to keep
the Ministry in a state of perpetual anxiety, and to make the Queen's heart
sink within her, in the security of her palace. What the larger measures of
the government were, we shall presently see. From the Home Office inform-
ation the most extensive and accurate was gathered ; aid was administered,
where it could really avail, with the utmost quietness ; preparation was made
for the instant repression of violence where it was likely to arise ; and the
proper distinction was made between those who suffered the most severely and
patiently, and those Chartists who were, at this time, very troublesome. They
had got into the hands of protectionist guides or agents, and broke in upon
free trade meetings, and denounced free trade in corn, and stirred up precisely
those among the working classes who were suffering least — the pitmen of the
RIOTS. coal districts, and the Welsh miners. There were riots of nailers and miners
at Dudley and Stourbridge, and tumult over the whole district, requiring the
active services of the military. The rioters resisted a reduction of wages, and
hustled some of the masters ; as did other rioters in Wales, where a gentleman
of property had a narrow escape with his life. In the Potteries, a force of
6000 malcontents, spread over an extent of seven miles, and occasionally com-
mitting violence on recusant masters or men, kept Staffordshire in alarm.
Troops were encamped on the Pottery race-course, and magistrates tried to
spectator, 1842, conciliate and mediate; but with little effect. In Manchester, the influx of
malcontents became alarming in August, 1842. Mills were stopped, and, in
some, the windows broken, and machinery injured. The Riot Act was read
four times in one day, and prisoners were taken by scores at once. A large
attendance of military was necessary, as there were threats of tearing up the
railways, and cutting the gas pipes. At one time, all the chief manufacturing
towns in the district seemed to be in the hands of the mob. Presently a royal
proclamation came from London, and troops from London and from Ireland ;
and then it appeared that Chartists from a distance were at the bottom of the
disturbances. It was well understood afterwards that these risings were a
great affliction to the best informed of the suffering operatives, who were aware
that their misery had no immediately political origin, and could not be remedied
by political movements.
The rioters sent bodies of their men to the Yorkshire towns ; and sometimes
letters — laconic and significant — detailing progress, and one ending with
(t We get plenty to eat : the shops are open : they give us what we want."
Some disturbances ensued ; but nothing so formidable as in Lancashire, and
in the Potteries, where now the malcontents were gutting and burning dwell-
spectator, 1842, ing-houses. In the midst of their violence, they gave a lame clergyman " ten
minutes' law" to walk away, but refused the entreaties of a lady that they would
r.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 523
spare the house, leaving her to be thankful for personal safety. Three men 1842-43.
were shot dead by the soldiery at Burslem, and several wounded. Lady Peel v— ^ — "
was assured by an anonymous correspondent that Drayton Manor would be cie, August, 1842.
burned down. A guard was procured ; but no attack was made. A clergy-
man at Leeds was Warned by approaching rioters that they meant to sleep in
his church on a certain night ; he intimated his intention of preaching to
them all night ; and they did not appear. In a very short time, the Chartist Au^iSfmf.'
strangers — men whom nobody knew, dropping in from a distance — showed a
depth of design and an extent of rapacity which disgusted the Lancashire
operatives ; and the disorder subsided gradually through the last weeks of
August and the beginning of September.
To these succeeded the strangest series of riots that has occurred in our ,^RECHU.DREX
time. This was a season for teaching the mischievous lesson, that insurrec-
tionary violence would obtain redress of grievances to which no other method
of complaint could draw attention. Urgent complaints had long been made
by the inhabitants of the rural districts of Wales of their road-taxes. After
having paid rates, they had again to pay heavy tolls on the by-roads — so heavy
as sometimes to absorb the profit of the small produce the humble farmers
were carrying to market, and to make their manure more costly than it was
worth. In 1839, a particularly unpopular set of gates, which the people
believed to be illegally erected, were pulled down, on the borders of Caermar-
thenshire and Pembrokeshire. The Magistrates declared their intention of
over-ruling the trustees about the re-erection of these gates ; some of them
became trustees for the purpose ; and the gates were never put up again.
This victory dwelt on the minds of the rude and primitive people of the dis-
trict, who had notions -of their own, knew little of the world outside, and
spoke nothing but Welsh. They held meetings in bycorners, or remote
places of their wild district, and organized their remarkable conspiracy.
They resolved to destroy all gates and toll-houses that they considered ob-
jectionable, and to persist till the trustees could not afford to put up any
more. Their first enterprise had been a sort of frolic — the gates having been
pulled down in open day, by a mob with uncovered faces. They would be
more serious and cautious henceforth. Out of the many texts of Scripture
which mention a gate — the oriental gate whose significance was not dreamed
of by these simple Welshmen — they chose, Gen. xxiv. 60 : " And they JUneesi843°rter'
blessed Rebekah, and said unto her — Let thy seed possess the gate of those
which hate them." They chose a chief, dressed him in woman's clothes, put
a large, disguising bonnet on his head, and named him Rebecca, calling his
followers Rebecca's daughters. The Rebecca, stalking about in petticoats, or
riding astride with streaming cloak or shawl, was so ubiquitous, that there
could be little doubt of the name being given to any leader of an expedition
against the gates. In the winter of 1842 and 1843, Rebecca and her daughters Annual Register
. - . I»;I3 n Or,U
began their work ; and that winter will never be forgotten while tradition
endures in Wales. By day, all was quiet enough. The most vigilant of the
constabulary could see nothing but the ordinary sights of the roads and fields
— no groups in consultation, no mysterious looks — nothing but jogging riders
who duly paid their tolls, and people about their proper business in their fields
or their home. If there was a suspicion of an intended attack on any parti-
p. 258.
524 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1842-43. cular gate, that gate was sure to be left in peace ; and while it was watched,
" — — v— — ' half a dozen were levelled at some opposite point of the country ; in one case,
within a quarter of a mile of the assembled magistrates. If the toll-keepers
looked out apprehensively, they were sure not to see any approaching light
or other token. If they went outside to listen, nobody came near. But,
when they were forgetful or asleep, they were roused by the blare of a multi-
tude of cow-horns, and the popping of a dozen guns : their door was burst
open, and they saw a crowd, some on horses, and some on foot — some in
women's clothes, and others with veiled faces — with the flaring torches,
and the glittering saws and hatchets. The toll-takers must move out their
furniture or lose it; and strong hands helped to carry bed and table and
utensils into the field or the dry ditch, while others were sawing off the gate-
posts close to the ground, and chopping up the gate. Then off came the roof of
the toll-house, and down came the walls, and up came the flags of the very floor;
the road was made clear for passengers ; and then the uncouth creatures leaped
on their horses again, hallooed, blew their horns, fired their guns, and galloped
off to some distant point, which they would approach in dead stillness, as in this
case. The toll-taker and his wife usually found themselves left alone under the
stars in a very few minutes after their first start in bed, or by their warm fire-
side. Latterly, it was usual for the soldiers to come galloping up, as soon as
Rebecca and her children were completely out of sight and hearing. After
an instant's pause, to learn which way the rioters were gone, the soldiers
would be off at full speed, arriving perhaps to find another toll-keeper and his
wife under the stars, and Rebecca just out of sight again. Or, more pro-
bably, they missed their way ; for the peasantry competed with each other in
misdirecting the dragoons. Thus, in the county of "Caermarthen, nearly 80
gates were destroyed; and in Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire few remained.
Those few were the old-established gates, which were not meddled with.
Those which were most zealously destroyed were the new gates put up on by-
roads leading to lime-kilns. The small farmers burned their own lime for
Times Reporter, manure; and since the new contractors for the tolls had insisted on putting
June, 1843. i i M i /> IT
up gates on the way to the kilns, the farmers had to pay Ls. for their load of
stone, another for their load of coal, and again another for their lime when
they brought it away from the kiln. Their little farming could not be made
to answer in this way. For some time, this seemed to be all, and probably
was all, that was comprehended in the movement.
CHARTIST INTER. j}ut when risings were taking place elsewhere, Chartist agitators went into
South Wales, to see whether they could not make comrades of Rebecca and
her children. The aspect of the movement presently changed. The police
were surrounded and disarmed, and in one case marched to a magistrate's
house, and compelled to pull down a wall. Threatening letters were distri-
buted, declaring that Rebecca meant to abolish justice fees and tithes ; and
to pull down the workhouses, and to compel a reduction of rents. The
alarmed and perplexed magistrates besought aid from government ; and
a strong body of troops, and another of police, were sent down. But
both troops and police were baffled at every turn. Magistrates' houses
were fired into ; and Caermarthen workhouse was half-destroyed, precisely
according to previous threats. The mob marched into the town, to the num-
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 525
ber of some thousands, the flaunting Rebecca being conspicuous among them. 1842-43.
Among the insignia carried were brooms, wherewith to sweep the foundations *— — ^—^-^
of the workhouses and toll-houses. The mob had burst the gates, and were pP5g3ator> 1843>
gutting the house — the governor clanging the alarm-bell — when the soldiers
arrived — two of their horses dropping dead from fatigue. Several hundreds of
the rioters were captured ; and a few slightly wounded. From the time that
the Chartist emissaries directed Rebecca's movements, nothing went well with
her. At the meetings in the hollows of the hills, the Chartist toryism came
out. One speaker denounced the poor law, saying it was the proper fruit of
the foolish and mischievous Reform Bill ; and here, as every where else, the
tory-chartists opposed free trade, and announced the ruin of all farmers if the
com laws were repealed. All now went wrong. One night, Rebecca's horse
was shot, and her gun was wrested out of her hand. She galloped 100 yards,
when her horse fell dead, and in the darkness of the night she escaped : but at
last two of her " children" were captured in the act of assaulting a toll-house.
They were young farm labourers. The gate was, on this occasion, saved.
This was on the 24th of August. On the 6th of September, Rebecca's horse
was again shot (after the destruction of the gate), and six of her followers
captured, two of whom were severely wounded. Before the month was out,
incendiarism began. A band of armed and disguised men went from farm to I^^M^^M.
farm of an active magistrate, and burned his stacks — being lighted across p^eo^?:.!843'
the fields by the fires they had kindled behind them. Another magistrate,
coming home at night, found his stacks burning, the wood full of armed men,
and the plugs of his fish-ponds drawn, so that no water could be had. — Next
came murder. — There was a time in the movement when Rebecca was genial,
with some little mirth in her mood, and much kindness. In the spring she
had let a toll-house stand, because there was a sick child within. Now, in the
autumn, she was grown diabolical — so diabolical, that men lost their manhood
under the dread of her enmity. — An old woman, above 70, kept a gate which MmtDER
she knew to be doomed. She had been warned to leave it ; and at three in the
morning, one Sunday, she was awakened by the burning of her thatch. She
ran to a cottage near, to ask the stout fellow who lived there to come and
put out the fire ; — " There was not much," she said. He dared not put his
head out ; but asked her in. She ran back to save her furniture. Rebecca's
children came up, and fired the thatch again. The old creature called out
that she knew them : and they shot her dead. What followed made some
people talk of leaving the country, and others of the advantage of martial
law. The coroner's jury, privately owning themselves afraid to do their duty,
returned a verdict " That the deceased died from the effusion of blood into AtinuaJ Kegister
the chest, which occasioned suffocation. But from what cause is to this jury 1843>p-2C2-
unknown."
This was not to be borne. A Royal Proclamation called on all men to do SPECIAL COMMIS-
their duty. A Special Commission was sent down to try the prisoners ; and, S10N>
better than either of these, another Commission was appointed to inquire into
the grievances of the malcontents. Both commissions were conducted in the
best spirit. The addresses of the judge, Baron Gurney, are like the admoni-
tory rebukes of a parent to children hard driven into fault : and indeed, there
was pity in all minds towards the culprits — the opinion of the other commission
526
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
Spectator, 1843,
p. 1036.
COMMISSION OF
INQUIRY.
SOUTH WALES
TORNPIKE ACT.
Hansard, Ixxvi.
1944.
1842-43. already getting known — that poverty and hardship were at the bottom of the
Rebecca riots. Three men sentenced to transportation issued a penitent ad-
monitory address to their countrymen ; and their relations and intimate friends
offered themselves for special constables. The light sentences of imprison-
ment on others of the rioters, and the discharge without trial of many more,
were believed to be owing, not only to many pleading Guilty, but to an un-
derstanding that the peace was to be kept henceforth.
The Commission of Inquiry held sittings from place to place ; and every-
where the inhabitants showed themselves eager to state their grievances. The
conclusions of the Commissioners were that the hardships under the existing
turnpike-system were real and intolerable ; and that the outbreak was imme-
diately occasioned by their pressure on the farmers who were already in diffi-
culties from a succession of bad harvests. From other causes, there was more
hardship than usual — the long-continued distress having extended its effects
into the remotest corners of the principality. — In the next Session of Parlia-
ment, a Bill, framed on the Report of the Commissioners, passed both Houses
without controversy — the leading principle of which was the consolidation of
Turnpike Trusts in South Wales. The constitution of the new Executive
Board, and the arrangements for clearing off the debts under the old system,
were everywhere approved ; and Rebecca's insurrection ended in complete
success as to its original objects. While all minds were soothed and pleased
by the fine temper shown in the trials, all felt that the utmost leniency was
absolutely indispensable, while the government Commissioners were discover-
ing the grievances of the people to be real and intolerable, and to have been
complained of in vain for many years.
Of the excited state of Scotland during this period of dread and disorder,
some account must be given hereafter. And also of Ireland, where O'Connell
was triumphing and boasting the more offensively, the more distress and dis-
aster spread in England and Wales. — He avowed the " sentiment," that
" England's adversity is Ireland's opportunity." Opportunity for what ? was the
question asked by a multitude ; but a larger multitude on Irish ground did
not think of asking the question. If the demand of O'Connell and Ireland
had been for any definable reform or measure or grant, long asked and denied,
the declaration might have been excusable, like the action of Rebecca and her
children. But it was not so ; and a subsequent chapter will show the full
iniquity of O'Connell's present proceedings, and of the motto which he caused
to be heard in the drawing-rooms at Windsor Castle, and under the thatch of
the meanest Irish cabin.
And how was it at Windsor and in London during this dreary and tedious
season of adversity? When the distress set in, the Queen and her Court
were engaged in a perpetual round of gaieties. Some newspapers, which had
a wide circulation among the working classes, now began the practice of
printing in parallel columns the descriptions of fancy dresses at the Queen's
balls, and accounts of royal purchases, banquets, and pleasures, on the one
hand ; and the coroners' inquests on starved persons, reports from the distressed
districts, returns of mortality, and the like, on the other. The device wrought
powerfully ; and some portentous symptoms of a new royal unpopularity ap-
peared. It is believed that Sir R. Peel did the duty of a faithful Minister ;
TROUBLES IN
IRELAND.
THE COURT.
CHAP. V.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. * 527
not rousing or augmenting the fears of the Queen, but giving the counsel 1842-43.
which the time required. In the midst of magnificent preparations for the v— - ~v~" — "
christening of the Prince of Wales, it is believed that the Minister gave the
advice to make haste, and to retrench. The King of Prussia presently
arrived : the Queen and Court appeared in Paisley and other home manufac-
tures ; and, as soon as the christening was over, a comparative sobriety settled
down over the Court, and not even the most querulous had any future cause
to blame the amount or the nature of the royal expenditure.
In such times it is — if they last long enough to wear our faith and patience — ALARMS. .
that we see most curiously revealed the " fears of the brave and follies of the
wise." Accidents always intervene to aggravate the fear ; and the undue fear
perverts the wisdom of the wisest. It was during this season that two of the
pistol shots which have been mentioned before, were fired at the Queen. Both
were pranks of ignorant and foolish youths, and appear to have had no imme-
diate connexion with the discontents of the time. But they went to enhance
the impression of dread ; and it was understood that the ladies of the Court —
and perhaps not only the ladies — were living in a painful state of apprehen-
sion of coming evils. While all was gloomiest, in January, 1843, an event
happened which might almost justify any increase of panic. Sir R. Peel's MURDER OP MU.
•I J J r DRUMMOND.
private secretary, Mr. Edward Drummond, was shot in the street, and died of
the wound. It was at first supposed that he was mistaken for the Premier ;
and, in a season such as this, which was manifestly unsettling weak wits, it
was some time before Sir R. Peel was considered safe. Two policemen in
plain clothes followed him in the streets ; and the newspapers, which were all
aware of the fact, considerately forbore (all but one) to notice the fact. Mr.
Drummond's murderer, however, was proved a lunatic, and lodged for life in
an asylum. Yet, there was mischief in the occurrence. Drunken men were
heard to threaten the Queen and the Minister ; and infirm brains began to
work in that direction, as we see by the Police reports of the time.
Something worse than the " fears of the brave" were " the follies of the
wise." Grave statesmen, honourable gentlemen, benevolent Christians, began
to conceive of conduct in their adversaries, and to utter imputations, which
could never have come into their heads at an ordinary time. The Anti-Corn-
law League had not yet had time to win the respect and command the defer-
ence which it was soon to enjoy : but it was known to be organized and led by
men of station, character, and substance — men of enlarged education, and of
that virtuous and decorous conduct which distinguishes the middle class of
England. Yet it was believed — believed by men of education, by men in par-
liament, by men in attendance on the government^that the Anti-Corn-law
League sanctioned assassination, and did not object to carry its aims by means
of it. This is, perhaps, the strongest manifestation of the tribulation of the
time. In the midst of it a strange and mournful scene took place in the House
of Commons — a scene which would willingly be forgotten, but that the Spirit
of History must forget nothing which indicates or affects the course of events.
Sir R. Peel was ill, harassed with public anxieties, and deeply wounded in his
private feelings, by the murder of his secretary, who was also his intimate
friend. Mr. Cobden was then little known — at least, by his opponents. He
was known as the chief man of the League ; and the League was believed to
528 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842-43. Patronize assassination. In the heat of debate, at two hours past midnight of
the 17th of February, the Premier charged Mr. Cobden with exposing him to
fatal consequences, by declaring him " personally responsible " for the misery
of the people. Mr. Cobden was so confounded by the outrageous charge, and
so borne down by the passionate and insulting clamour of the majority of the
House, that he could not do himself justice. Some years afterwards, the two
great men came to an understanding, and did themselves and one another
justice. But that such an incident could have occurred shows that it was no
time for judging the greatest men too strictly. If it was a time when a gaunt
workman might be lightly dealt with for snatching a loaf, and a "Welsh pea-
sant for sawing off a gate-post, it was also one which bespoke consideration for
perplexed and anxious statesmen.
Such was the period that was setting in — such were the storms that were
driving up — when the Peel ministry had to come forward with measures of
relief for the finances of the country.
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 529
CHAPTER VI.
new Administration insisted, as we have seen, on taking the recess for 1842.
J- the consideration of the financial affairs of the nation, instead of declar- •"—• — ~-~-^
,.,. .,. , , . . , , , ,, OPENING OP THE
ing their policy within a month, as the ex-ministers would have taunted them SESSION.
into doing. The present ministers were men of business, disposed and able
to make their measures thorough and complete of their kind — fit to be offered
to parliament — fit to pass through parliament — fit to work in practice after-
wards : and the interval between September and February was short enough
for the preparation of such a group of measures as was now to be set up
against the debts and distresses of the country. There was much specula-
tion and conjecture as to the purposes of ministers during this interval ; but
ministers were profoundly secret : and none were further from anticipating
what was coming than the heads of the Whig party. At a dinner in London
in November, where all the guests but two were personal friends and adher-
ents of the late ministers, one of the two (who was not a party man at all)
was asked what he supposed Peel and Goulburn would do. The reply was,
" Why, Peel has told you two things which, put together, show you what he
means to do. He says he is not going to repeal the corn laws ; and he says he
will put an end to our sinking into debt. Therefore, he must be going to
lay on an income tax." The uproar of ridicule was loud ; and the guest was
told on all hands that he was talking nonsense, and that he little knew Peel
if he supposed him to have the " courage " to lay on an income tax. His
answer was, " You asked my opinion, and you have it. Time will show if I
am wrong." It seems surprising now that so few should have anticipated a
positive policy — a set of broad measures, which should be at once remedial
and progressive : but too many minds had become weak and superficial about
political affairs, under the incapable rule of the Whigs ; and those who went
into society found little but a vague expectation of some relief from shiftings
and changes under the heads of the debt, and some putting on and taking off
among the taxes. — Meantime, nothing occurred in the way of disclosure till
January — a short time before parliament met, when the Duke of Bucking-
ham seceded from the ministry. This was understood as a sign that some- SECESSION OP THE
thing was going to be done with the corn laws that the Duke of Buckingham INCHA^
did not like. The farmers were uneasy. The Whigs were delighted — hoping
that there was already a division in 'the cabinet. The Speech was eagerly
listened to, at the opening of parliament on the 3rd of February. The
numbers who thronged the House of Lords were unusually great, because of
the new interest which surrounded the Queen after the recent birth of the
Prince of Wales, and because the King of Prussia was present, and the cere
mony was conducted with unusual splendour ; but there was more eagerness
VOL. u. 3 Y
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
1842.
Hansard, Ix. 58.
Hansard, Ix. 20.
THE CORN QUES
TION.
Spectator, 1842,
p. 151.
THE MINISTERS
SCHEME.
still to hear how the appalling distresses of the country would be noticed,
and our financial difficulties be met.
In the Speech, the recognition of the distress was emphatic ; and so was
that of " the exemplary patience and fortitude " of the sufferers. The evil of
the annual deficit, now become so familiar, was pointed out as one which
must immediately be put an end to; and the tone of decision about this
showed that some practical method of recovery was about to be proposed.
Parliament was also requested to attend to the laws affecting the importation
of corn, and of other articles of foreign production. — What " other articles ?"
people asked each other, and how many of them? Was there to be an exten-
sion of free trade ? Could any considerable sacrifice of import duties be con-
templated at a time when the first consideration was how to deal with our
annual deficit ? The debate on the Address did not detain men long from the
answers to these questions. There was a seriousness and business-like cha-
racter about the Speech, and the demeanour of Ministers in meeting parlia-
ment, which rebuked captiousness, and put a check upon waste of time in
party recrimination. The Whig leaders were more amiable than they had
been in the autumn ; and some taunting observations from Lord John Russell,
easily answered, and a curious piece of abuse of the Sliding Scale from Lord
Melbourne — as free and easy as if he had never deprecated attacks upon
it — were the only hostile manifestations on the part of the Whigs. The
Address echoed the Speech, and passed quickly. The Premier gave notice
that the Budget would be brought forward early. Ministers were ready with
it now; but they thought it due to the country to go into the Corn question
first, with which their remaining measures would be connected, as speedily as
possible. The Corn question was to come on on the next Wednesday,
February 9th.
All that day, the avenues to the House were thronged ; and the moment
the doors were opened, there was a rush which filled the strangers' gallery.
As the Horse Guards' clock struck four, the head of a remarkable procession
appeared from the Strand. Six hundred Anti-corn-law delegates were march-
ing down to the House, where they demanded admission to the lobby, and
were refused, on the ground of the obstruction that would thus be caused to
the entrance of members. While the members were entering, therefore, the
strangers lined the way in Palace-yard, and greeted each member as he passed
with a hint or exhortation about the repeal of the Corn laws. They felt their
full importance: and it was really great. Already, since the meeting of
parliament, 994 petitions for the repeal of the Corn laws had been presented :
and these delegates were the repi'esentatives of some millions of the Queen's
best subjects. When they had duly impressed themselves on the passing
members, they marched back again up Parliament-street, and, at Privy
Gardens, they met Sir R. Peel in his carriage, on his way to the House. He
looked very grave ; and his countenance did not relax when he heard
the cries all round him for the downfall of the bread tax. This was an
anxious day for the Minister — the last great occasion of his speaking from a
false position — from too dubious and unsatisfied a mind within to enable him
cheerfully to brave unpopularity without.
He rose to speak about five o'clock. The Duke of Cambridge and many
CHAP. VI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 531
other peers were present, and the House was crowded throughout, and yet par- 1812.
ticularly still till towards the close of the speech, when the Minister had to ask " ^- — *
for the attention of his hearers. There was no confidence in his manner: it was pfi45at°r> 1812>
nervous and uneasy. There was 110 argument in his speech ; it was mainly one
of clear exposition of the government proposals, and vague deprecation of " re-
liance on foreigners" for the food of the nation. He even condescended to
the statement that in ordinary years the nation had enough, or nearly enough,
of home-grown corn for its consumption, and that it was therefore only on Hansard, ix. 211.
extraordinary occasions that we need to resort to foreigners for any consider-
able quantity of food. In a little while, he was to see, as clearly as any man,
that it was not for him or any one to say when the people had enough, or how
long our annual produce would serve our increasing numbers ; and that the
occasional character of our demand for foreign corn was precisely that which
made the commerce an evil instead of a good. But now his mind was enter-
ing upon its final transition stage — something of the bitterness of which he
had known before. The joy of the agricultural party at finding that they
were not to be bereft of their Sliding Scale could give him no pleasure in the
present state of his mind. The derisive cheers of the Opposition were cla-
morous when it appeared that nothing more was proposed than a reduction of
duty, and to make the Sliding Scale really slide instead of jumping : and the
Whigs were delighted to find that the Minister had failed to come up to their
own point — of an 8s. fixed duty. Their cheers were caught up by the Anti-
Corn-law crowd without : and the Minister, supposed to be the strongest since
the Peace, found himself almost overwhelmed on the announcement of the ,
first of his schemes.
The Ministerial plan proposed to preserve the principle of the corn duty JFH^°RN BlLL
varying inversely with the price of corn in the market : and the existing Hansard,ix. 213—
system of averages was to be retained — if for no other reason, because it was
the basis of the recent Tithe Commutation scheme. But some security was
provided by changes in the mode and instrumentality of procuring the aver-
ages, and yet more by extending the area from which the averages were to be
derived. Instead of the 150 towns named in the Corn bill, many of which
were insignificant in comparison with new towns that had risen up, every
considerable town which had a corn market wras to be named in the new Act,
to contribute to the averages. — As for the main point — the reduction of duties —
much fraud and other evil had been found to arise from the suddenness of the
reduction of duty when corn was at the dearest. Thus, when wheat was at
70s. the duty was 13s. 8d. ; and it fell to 10s. 8d. when wheat was only Is.
dearer. Yet worse, when wheat was again Is. dearer, the duty sank 4s. , so
as to be 6s. 8d. at 72s., and 2s. 8d. at 73s. ; and above that, only Is. The
inducement to corn merchants to hold back corn, in order to enhance its price,
and escape all but the lightest duties, was thus very strong ; and the injury
was great to the government, which lost much duty; to the home-grower, by
causing an over-supply in the market precisely when prices reached their
highest point ; and above all, to the consumer, who had to pay the high prices
thus artificially caused. This was the evil to be redressed. In coming to the
mode of redress, Sir R. Peel made the agricultural faces in the House very
grave by saying that he did not believe it to be for the interest of the farmer
532 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842. that prices should reach higher than the range from 54s. to 58s. The manu-
v~— ~~ — • — ' facturing interest were not surprised at his seeing no good in prices being
lower than that range : and he made both classes understand that he was as
far as possible from supposing that the price of home-grown corn could be
fixed, or even indicated, by any thing that could be done in parliament. This
being understood, it was now proposed that the duty should never exceed 20s.,
and that this duty should remain till the price of wheat passed 50s. When
it was 51s. the duty was to be 19s. Then it was to be 18s. while the price
mounted through three shillings — that is, till wheat was at 55s., when the
duty would be 17s. This' " rest" in the slide was to be repeated when the
price was 66s. and the duty 6s. The price must be 69s. before the duty sank
to 5s. — Such was the scheme, proposing a very considerable reduction of
duties, and of " protection" to the home-grower ; but somewhat easing the
reduction by amending in his favour the action of the scale. It was in itself
no great matter : it did not touch the vices of the system, or introduce any
remedial principle : but it told plainly enough, to all that had ears to hear,
that the Corn laws were doomed. The dubious countenances of land-owners
IT* RECEPTWN. jn ^fa Houses said so. The shakes of the head at market tables said so.
The embarrassed bearing of the Minister said so, to those who saw his posi-
tion and his course more clearly than he did himself. The cheers of the
Delegates, outside the House, before assembling to concert new measures
of agitation, said so : and, as for the newspapers, some of them said so very
plainly.
It was the 7th of April before the Bill passed the Commons : and great was
the excitement in the interval. The farmers were at first disposed to be as
angry as the manufacturers ; but they were advised by their friends in both
Houses to be quiet, as it was certain that they could get nothing better than
this Bill by opposition, and they might get something worse. The League called
meetings in London, and all the large provincial towns, where the imposition
of any tax whatever on food was denounced, and declared to be doomed
to extinction. At these meetings, Lord John Russell's proposed policy made
no progress. A fixed duty was scouted as emphatically as any moveable duty.
Annual Register, jn gome manufacturing towns, Sir R. Peel was burned in effigy. He had
gratified nobody — satisfied very few, and offended a vast majority of the
nation : so he might well look grave by anticipation, when he met the dele-
gates by his own gate as he was going down to the House.
AMENDMENT The first thing the House did was to sanction the principle of the Sliding
Hansard, ix. G2o. Scale, by rejecting Lord John Russell's resolution against it, by a majority of
123 in a House of 575 members, after a debate of four nights. Yet Mr. Villiers
brought forward his promised motion against any corn duty whatever ; and this
Hansard, ix. 1082. was debated for five nights more, and lost by a majority of 393 to 90. A scale
of duties proposed by Mr. Christopher, as superior to the Ministerial one, was
Hansard, ix. 11 68. rejected in committee by a majority of 306 to 104. Lord Ebrington opposed
the second reading on the 8th of March, but was outvoted by a large majority.
The debates had now become languid and wearisome. Every body knew what
would be said on all hands, and that the Bill could not but pass, after the
rejection of Lord John Russell's resolution : and it was an universal relief when
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 533
the Corn bill of 1842 — the last defiance of the great natural laws of society, in 1842.
the shape of a sliding scale of food duties — was sent up to the other House.
There Lord Melbourne followed the course of Lord John Russell in the Com-
mons—but in his own characteristic manner. He declared that all sound Hansard.ua. 722.
argument, all good sense, all clear reason, all the well-understood interests of
mankind, were on the side of free trade ; but that all usage, all prejudices, and
nearly all feelings, were in favour of protective duties. He therefore dissented
from Lord Brougham's proposed resolutions in favour of a perfectly free trade
in corn, and moved a declaration in favour of a fixed duty on its importation.
This wTas negatived by a majority of 117 to 49: and Lord Brougham's, in a thin
House, by 87 to 6. Lord Stanhope, on the other, the ultra-protectionist, side, Hansard.ixH.804.
would have had the Bill read that day six months : but the day of his party BILL BECOMES
was orer : and the Bill became law on the 29th of April. Hansard, ixu.
1234
In the meantime, the all-important statement had been made — the
statement of the measures by which Ministers proposed to retrieve the
financial affairs of the nation, to arrest its course into annually-deepening
debt, and give a new and healthy stimulus to manufactures and commerce.
The statement took the House and the people by surprise — not after the man- UXKT.
.ner which had become a Whig device, but by the breadth and comprehensive-
ness of the measures proposed. It was remembered that measures proposed
by a Peel Cabinet were always fit to be carried, as far as their preparation was
concerned : so that, if passed at all, they would be passed complete ; and men
saw their whole prospect when the Ministerial proposals were laid before them.
It is seldom that so wide and new a prospect is opened before a people as on
the present occasion : and it was indeed time that the most vigorous and
effectual efforts were made for the redemption of our sinking state. It was at
this date that it became clear that the Chinese war was not over ; and our
deadly misfortunes in India were beginning to open upon minds at home.
Though the East India Company bore the expenses of wars which concerned
their own territory, it was impossible to say what might not be the drain upon
the national treasury in consequence of the Affghan enterprise.
We have seen something of the daily - deepening distress and trouble
throughout our own islands ; and, of all disheartening things, the Minister
had to begin his government under a certain deficiency of two millions and a Hansard, ixi. 430.
half for the year, and upwards of ten millions for the last six years. The
excuse of the Whigs for leaving affairs in this condition was, that they could
not help it. They declared that, from this consideration, and a principle of
religious submission to misfortunes sent by Providence, their minds were
calm, and their consciences clear. Such was their declaration. It is well for
the British nation that Sir R. Peel's was somewhat different — in spirit as in
terms. Which was the nobler, the more religious, and the more benevolent,
the event soon showed. Sir R. Peel's declaration was as follows ; and it aided
his after-work, by spreading stimulus and hope over the country, and rousing
the best spirit of the nation. On the llth of March it was that, before open-
ing his scheme, he intimated the spirit in which it was prepared.
"No one," he said, "can feel more than I do the importance and the Hansard, i*i. 423.
extent of the duty that devolves on me. No one can be more conscious than
534 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842. I am how disproportionate are my intellectual powers to the proper perform-
' — — ~— — ance of my task ; but, Sir, I should be unworthy of the trust committed to me
— I should be unfit to stand here in my place as the Minister of the British
Crown — if I could feel disheartened or discouraged — if I could entertain any
thing but composure and contentedness of mind — any thing, I may say, but
that buoyancy and alacrity of spirit which ought to sustain every public man
when entering upon the discharge of a great public duty ; conscious that he is
actuated by no motives that are not honourable and just, and feeling a deep
and intimate conviction that, according to the best conclusion of his imperfect
and fallible judgment, that which he intends to propose will be conducive to
the welfare, I may say, essential to the prosperity, of the country." So much
for his own state of mind. As for that which he confidently anticipated from
the nation, his own intimation of what it ought to be, at the conclusion of his
speech, was enough to call it into life, if it was not already existing. No
History of the Thirty Years' Peace would be complete which did not embody
the views of the Patriotism of Peace, in analogy with that of War, which were
this night offered, amidst the deep silence of a listening parliament, by the
First Minister of the Crown : —
Hansard, ixi. 4G4 " I have given you," said Sir R. Peel, " a full, an explicit, an unreserved,,
but, I hope, an unexaggerated Statement of the financial embarrassments in
which we are placed. There are occasions when a Minister of the Crown
may, consistently with honour and with good policy, pause before he presses
upon the Legislature the adoption of measures which he believes to be ab-
stractedly right But there are occasions, and this is one of them,
upon which a government can make no compromise — there are occasions, and
this is one of them, upon which it is the bounden duty of a government to give
that counsel to the Legislature which it believes to be right — to undertake the
responsibility of proposing those measures which it believes to be for the public
advantage, and to devolve upon the Legislature the responsibility of adopting
or rejecting those measures. I have performed, on the part of her Majesty's
government, my duty. I have proposed, with the full weight and authority
of the government, that which I believe to be conducive to the public welfare.
I now devolve upon you the duty, which properly belongs to you, of maturely
considering, and finally deciding on, the adoption or rejection of the measures
I propose. We live in an important era of human affairs. There may be a
natural tendency to overrate the magnitude of the crisis in which we live, or
those particular events with which we are ourselves conversant ; but I think
it is impossible to deny that the period in which our lot and the lot of our
fathers has been cast — the period which has elapsed since the first outbreak of
the first French Revolution — has been one of the most memorable periods
that the history of the world will afford. The course which England has
pursued during that period will attract for ages to come the contemplation,
and, I trust, the admiration, of posterity. That period may be divided into
two parts of almost equal duration ; a period of twenty -five years of continued
conflict — the most momentous which ever engaged the energies of a nation —
and twenty-five years, in which most of us have lived, of profound European
peace, produced by the sacrifices made during the years of war. There will
be a time when those countless millions that are sprung from our loins,
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 535
occupying many parts of the globe, living under institutions derived from ours, 1842.
speaking the same language in which we convey our thoughts and feelings —
for such will be the ultimate results of our wide-spread colonization — the time
will come wrhen those countless millions will view with pride and admiration
the example of constancy and fortitude which our fathers set during the mo-
mentous period of war. They will view with admiration our previous
achievements by land and sea, our determination to uphold the public credit,
and all those qualities by the exhibition of which we were enabled ultimately,
by the example we set to foreign nations, to ensure the deliverance of Europe.
In the review of the period, the conduct of our fathers during the years of war
will be brought into close contrast with the conduct of those of us who have
lived only during the years of peace. I am now addressing you after the
duration of peace for twenty-five years. I am now exhibiting to you the
financial difficulties and embarrassments in which you are placed ; and my
confident hope and belief is that, following the example of those who preceded
you, you will look those difficulties in the face, and not refuse to make similar
sacrifices to those which your fathers made for the purpose of upholding public
credit. You will bear in mind that this is no casual and occasional difficulty.
You will bear in mind that there are indications among all the upper classes
of society of increased comfort and enjoyment — of increased prosperity and
wealth, and that, concurrently with these indications, there exists a mighty
evil which has been growing up for the last seven years, and which you are
now called upon to meet. If you have, as I believe you have, the fortitude
and constancy of which you have been set the example, you will not consent
with folded arms to view the annual growth of this mighty evil. You will
not reconcile it to your consciences to hope for relief from diminished taxation.
You will not adopt the miserable expedient of adding, during peace, and in the
midst of those indications of wealth and of increasing prosperity, to the
burdens which posterity will be called upon to bear. You will not permit this
evil to gain such gigantic growth as ultimately to place it far beyond your power
to check or control. If you do permit this evil to continue, you must expect the
severe but just judgment of a reflecting and retrospective posterity. Your
conduct will be contrasted with the conduct of your fathers, under difficulties
infinitely less pressing than theirs. Your conduct will be contrasted with that
of your fathers, who, with a mutiny at the Nore, a rebellion in Ireland, and
disaster abroad, yet submitted with buoyant vigour and universal applause (with
the funds as low as 52) to a property tax of 10 per cent. I believe that you will
not subject yourselves to an injurious or unworthy contrast. It is my firm belief
that you will feel the necessity of preserving inviolate the public credit — that you
will not throw away the means of maintaining the public credit by reducing in
the most legitimate manner the burden of the public debt. My confident
hope and belief is that now, when I devolve the responsibility upon you, you
will prove yourselves worthy of your mission — of your mission as the repre-
sentatives of a mighty people ; and that you will not tarnish the fame which
it is your duty to cherish as the most glorious inheritance — that you will not
impair the character for fortitude, for good faith, which, in proportion as the
empire of opinion supersedes and predominates over the empire of physical
force, constitutes for every people, but above all for the people of England
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
— I speak of reputation and character — the main instrument by which a
powerful people can repel hostile aggressions, and maintain extended empire."
The Minister continued to do his own part, by a bearing of unflinching
firmness and patient courage. On the night of the llth of March, while the
House was waiting for his statement, he had had the painful duty of commu-
nicating to it the news of the murder of Sir William M'Naghten, and of the
calamities of the Caubool force : and for many nights afterwards, his atten-
dance in the House was a sort of running the gauntlet of inquiries and
objections about his scheme, which was too large to be at once compre-
hended, and too vigorous to be at once estimated by the existing House of
Commons.
FINANCIAL The scheme was this. — Here was a large deficiency to be met : and such a
SCHEME. t O J '
surplus to be provided as would prevent the recurrence of a deficiency. It was
too great a need to be met by a tax on a commodity here and a commodity
there, at a time when too many commodities were going out of use through
the poverty of the people. The appeal must be made directly to Property :
INCOME TAX. and the first proposition was of an Income tax, not to exceed Id. in the pound,
or nearly 3 per cent., for a limited period. Such a tax, besides filling up the
deficit, would yield a surplus that would justify a vast reduction of commer-
cial taxation : and the confident expectation of the Minister was, that so much
relief would be felt from these reductions — from the improvement in trade
and in comfort that must follow — that the payment of the Income tax would
be rendered very easy. He believed that when almost the whole mass of
commercial duties was removed, the difference to individuals, from the relief,
would be worth fully the £2 18s. 4d. in every £100 of their incomes that the
Income tax would take from them. From this tax, all incomes below £150
were to be exempted. This was very well. But it was not so well that income
from all sources was to be treated alike ; — that the receiver of a temporary
annuity of £200 from the funds, for instance, should pay £5 16s. 8d. out of
it, in the very last year, while the receiver of £200 per annum from landed
property paid only the same sum : — and, again, that the professional man —
the surgeon or lawyer — who, in the decline of life, was beginning to earn £1000
per annum, but who had not made a provision for the family who would lose
their income at his death — should pay the same amount of tax as the proprietor
who would transmit a rental of £1000 to his children. This was regarded at
the time, and has been regarded more and more since, as the great imperfec-
tion of the ministerial scheme. It was allowed to pass at first, because the
tax was proposed as a temporary one ; and it: was felt that the vast labour and
difficulty of making arrangements for the ascertainment of the sources of
income and the apportionment of the tax could hardly be got through before
the term of its imposition would have arrived. But arrangements should have
been made for the prosecution of this task from the moment it was supposed
that a renewal of the tax would be necessary. It has been twice renewed,
with the entire approbation of the majority of clear-headed and public-spirited
men in the country, many of whom would be glad to see it increased to 10
per cent, for the sake of the abolition of all other taxes : and yet nothing is
done or promised, about proportioning the tax to the saleable value of incomes.
After deducting the incomes under £150 (which would have yielded a quarter
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 537
of the whole amount) the impost was expected to afford something above three 1842.
millions and a half. As for its duration, five years would have been proposed "— — - -~— — ^
unconditionally, but for the chance of one of those turns of commercial pros-
perity which might render its continuance unnecessary. It was, therefore,
to cease at the end of three years, or go on to five, as parliament should at the
time see fit. Ireland was exempted from the tax, not only on account of her
poverty, but because, not being subject to assessed taxes, she had no machinery
for the collection of this duty ; and the consequences of setting up such a
machinery, in the existing state of Ireland, required the gravest consideration.
It was proposed to levy an equivalent amount of tax in Ireland by increased
duties on spirits (the consumption of which was again on the increase, from
the decline of the Temperance movement) and by equalizing the Stamp duties
in England and Ireland. Absentees, residing in England from choice and not
public duty, A\ould be subject to the Income tax, as English residents. One
other measure for increasing the revenue was proposed, — the extension of the
4s. duty on the export of coal, hitherto partial, to all exportation of that
article. — Here would be a revenue, it was supposed, of £4,380,000, from
these new sources. After supplying the deficit, what was to be done with
the surplus ?
It was to be applied in the largest reduction of commercial taxation ever NEW TARIFF.
contemplated by Cabinet or parliament. Out of 1200 articles subject to
Customs duties, 750 were to be reduced. The first principle was, the Minis- Hansard, ixi. 450.
ter said, to remove prohibition ; and the next, to reduce duties on the raw
materials of manufactures to 5 per cent, or less. On articles partially manu-
factured, the duty would now never exceed 12 per cent. ', nor, on articles
wholly manufactured, 20 per cent. The loss by these 750 reductions would
not, he believed, exceed £270,000 ; — a small sum for which to have borne so
vexatious a taxation for so long ! The new Tariff was all ready — divided
under twenty heads — laid on the table this Friday night, so as to be read by
every tradesman in Great Britain on Monday morning, and talked over in
every Monday club. As Sir R. Peel took the document from the hands of Mr.
Gladstone, loud cheers arose from every part of the House ; and every one
probably felt that it was worth waiting through the recess for a hope of rescue
like this at the end of it.
The late ministers very properly excused themselves from giving an imme- coNnurr OF or.
,...., . . POSITION.
diate opinion with regard to a scheme so vast as to require much consider-
ation : and Lord J. Russell satisfied himself with making some small objec-
tions which occurred to him at the moment. These gentlemen now found
that Sir R. Peel had " courage" to propose an Income tax ; and those who
were familiar with their social and domestic intercourses, knew that they
were penetrated with admiration at the statesmanship now before them ; and
that the generosity of the most captious among them was roused for .the time,
and the evil spirit of jealousy laid asleep. But it was for only too short a
time ; — only for three days or so. Then the evil awoke, as rancorous as ever,
and stung the ex-ministers into acts of opposition, which showed most meanly
on the broad back-ground of the government policy. When Lord J. Russell,
aware of the desperate state of our financial management, asked in regard to
the Income tax, " What will France say ?" it was felt that the meanness of
VOL. II. 3 Z
TION
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842. opposition could go no further, The reply of the Minister was, " The noble
^—— v ' Lord says, ' Do not impose the Income tax, because you will show foreign
Hansard, ixt. 907. nations fa^ ^ resources of this country are exhausted.' I say, never mind
what may be the impression on foreign countries. Do that which you believe
to be just — that which you think consistent with sound policy — and let
foreign nations think what they will." Lord John Russell, however, avow-
iiansard,ixi.943. ing this to be his strongest ground of objection against the tax, declared his
determination to oppose jt in every stage of discussion — on the Resolutions,
on the Report, the first reading, the second reading, and the third reading. —
The Minister was anxious to have the decision of the House before the Easter
holidays; and some of the leading members of the Opposition endeavoured
to protect him from the abuse of the power of obtaining adjournments : but
a small minority baffled them all, and deferred the decisive consideration of
the measure till after the 4th of April.
POPULAR RECEP. The object was, of course, to rouse popular feeling against the Bill. There
could hardly be a more promising occasion ; for, while every tax is disagree-
able, and every heavy tax eminently so, there is something transcendently
disgusting in an Income tax, which not only takes a substantial sum immedi-
ately out of a man's pocket, but compels him to expose his affairs to a party
that he would by no means choose for a confidant. The vexation and grum-
bling were great at the time, and have been so ever since. In the books at
the Bank of England may be seen parenthetical exclamations, such as " Damn
Sir Robert Peel and all his crew!" and the like — so numerous that the book-
keepers found it in vain to oppose such a method of pronouncing on the
measure. Merchants old enough to remember the war property tax antici-
pated surcharges, and the return of all the injured and angry feelings under
which they used to suffer without redress. The young professional man
quaked at the necessity he saw before him of either owning himself to be
earning less than £150 a year, or paying a tax out of his bare means of bread
to keep up his professional credit. There was no lack of discontent and
apprehension ; and this the Minister surely anticipated : but he anticipated
no less confidently, and no less correctly, that the discontent and apprehension
would be less powerful than the desire for financial release and security. Men
would rather submit to the most disagreeable of taxes than go on as the
nation had been doing for the last six years. They responded to the call of
the government to rouse themselves to a great effort, to recover a position of
safety and honour : and all attempts to excite them to opposition during the
Easter recess completely failed. — After the House met, there was a debate of
four nights on an amendment, condemnatory of the tax, of Lord J. Russell's ;
but it merely exhibited the fact that the choice lay between an Income tax
(including a Property tax) and loans ; — the last being more eminently than a
property tax a resource proper to war-time, being indeed a disgrace in time of
peace. The popular confidence in the new Ministry had raised the funds ;
and some Whig leaders showed what an advantageous time this would be for
Hansard, UK. 170. a loan; and it was this which occasioned the energetic passage of the debate
which, greeted with cheers and counter cheers and laughter in the House, met
with the same reception every where, and became at once celebrated. " I
call upon you," said Sir R. Peel, in reply to Lord J. Russell's suggestion of a
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 539
new loan, " I call upon you to make great exertion ; and the first step you 1842.
take towards recovery — the first demonstration of your willingness — will be "— - ^ — -^
half the victory. If you are afraid to submit to sacrifices — if you paint in
glowing colours the miserable condition of those who are to pay taxes — if you
say it is better to go on on the present system, increasing the debt a little more,
funding at 91 — why are the 3 per cents, at 91 ? Who has made them 91 ?
Public credit is high — the funds have risen — and say you, ' You can have a
loan easily now !' O ! you miserable financiers ! (Laughter and cheers.) I
beg pardon if, in the heat of debate, I have used a word that may give offence.
But the funds are high because you have shown a disposition not to resort to
a system of loans in time of peace." Lord J. Russell's amendment was re-
jected by a vote of 308 to 202, on the 13th of April: and another amendment, Hansard, uu. 444.
proposing the reading of the Bill on that day six months, was thrown out on
the 18th by a vote of 285 to 188. — The progress of the Bill through Committee Hansasd, 1x11.710.
was rapid. After the rejection of a few amendments, little further opposition
was made. Eighty clauses were disposed of on the night of the 2nd of May;
and on the 30th of May, the third reading was carried by a majority of 130,
and the Bill passed the Commons. — In the Lords, there was no debate till the
third reading ; and what there was did not prevent the Bill from passing the
same evening, by a majority of 71.
The speech which appears to have most truly represented the predominant Hazard, UH. esa
opinion and sentiment in regard to the Income tax, was that of Mr. Raikes
Cuitie, a member who had been in parliament since 1837, but had hardly
opened his lips till now, when he did it to more purpose than any body else.
He avowed that he came into parliament in the hope of aiding in a large and
secure extension and protection of the suffrage : but that that hope had been
baulked by Lord John Russell's declaration that he considered the Reform
bill a final measure, and that it was by a determinate purpose that the pre-
ponderance of the landed interest in parliament was provided for. Under
this preponderance of monopolists, all efforts of the liberal party against mono-
polies must be hopeless ; and especially while, as at present, there was no
appearance of popular support of the Whigs. When Lord John Russell had
" slammed the door of the constitution in the face of the unrepresented," he
was surely bound to offer no factious opposition to measures in which liberal
principles were embodied. The only hope left was in the carrying of liberal
measures by those who had power to carry them. He considered himself at
full liberty to consider separately, and in entire independence of party, the
measures brought forward which contained any popular promise : and he
certainly considered the proposal of the Income tax as full of such promise.
He was aware of all the evils of that tax — from those on the surface to those
in its depths : but it had the great virtue which could cover even that amount
of evils — that it spared the poor, and laid the burden of taxation where it
could best be borne. He saw the beginning of a new era in this appeal to the
moneyed classes of the nation to restore the national resources: and, approving
the measure, he felt himself bound over to candour towards its originator.
He saw no use in driving the Minister (if that were possible) into the arms of
ultra-protectionists by persecution. He remembered that Minister's declara-
tion that he considered the prosperity of the manufacturing classes of more
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
consequence to the landed interest than any protective laws : and he consi-
dered this a sufficient ground for giving him fair play — even if he had not
been now the only hope of popular progress. This statement, remarkable and
much remarked on at the time, is even more valuable now. It then served as
an exposition of a widely spread view, and as a guide to some who were still
perplexed what to think and do : but now its political truth is so verified
that the speech reads rather as a commentary 011 Sir R. Peel's course,
and the state of parties during his term of office, than as a piece of reflec-
tion at the outset. The operation of the Income tax commenced from the 5th
of April, 1842.
NEW TARIFF !N It has been mentioned that a copy of the proposed Tariff had been laid
before parliament, and printed off for the benefit of the country. This first
copy could not be the working one. As the Minister explained, it was
necessary, in preparing the measure, to avoid communication with persons
actually interested in the supposed protection of particular articles ; but it was
next necessary to allow such persons time and opportunity to state their views
on their own behalf. The changes made in consequence of such representa-
tions were not such as to occasion much delay ; and by the 5th of May, the
amended copy of the proposed tariff was on the table of the House. It may
be questioned whether any measure connected with finance, brought forward
in parliament at any former time, ever caused such deep and glowing satisfac-
tion throughout the educated classes of this country as this new tariff. When
it was considered that the Minister's business was — not that of the amateur
financier — to make out a perfect scheme, but to propose a reform that would
work, it was felt that this was the soundest and most remarkable Budget ever
brought forward — the soundest in its principle, and the most remarkable in
its courage and comprehensiveness.
As the Income tax was intended to tax wealth, the new tariff was mainly
designed to relieve manufacturing industry. The prospects now opened were
very cheering. Owing to the high duties on foreign woods, we had not hitherto
been able to keep those woods, and make them into furniture at home, but had
been obliged to let them go to France and Germany, to employ the cabinet-
makers there, and then to import the furniture. Now, the cabinet trade was
to be so relieved, that there was hope that we might export furniture. — The
free command of dye-woods, again, was highly important to our manufactures.
As for ores, copper had hitherto been smelted in bond, and actually sent away
on account of the duties, while we had to import from France and Belgium
copper smelted with our own coal. — Oils and extracts, indispensable in many
manufactures, were made freely accessible by reduction of duty. And above
all these benefits was that of the change in the timber duties. Colonial timber
was to be admitted duty-free ; and this would enable parliament to diminish
the duties on Baltic timber, to the lowest point consistent with good faith to-
wards Canada. The greatest authority on free-trade stibjects, Mr. Deacon
Hume, had said, that if we had untaxed timber as we had untaxed coal and
untaxed iron, we should be provided with the three great primary raw
materials of employment and consumption. This we were henceforth to have.
We should have better ship-building, and more of it. Our fisheries would
extend, from the superior character of fishing-boats. The quality of our dwell-
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 541
ing-houses, bridges, and utensils of various kinds, could not but be greatly im- 1842.
proved.
Among the most interesting of the proposed changes, were those relating to
food. The agriculturists would benefit by the introduction of clover and other
seeds, which had hitherto paid a high duty. The farmers liked this very well ;
but they were dreadfully alarmed at what was to be done about cattle, salt
meat, and fish. There was 110 reason to apprehend that the British nation
could be fed in independence of the British farmer and grazier : but it really
seemed as if some people thought such a thing might happen. It was well
that there were wide differences of opinion on each head. While some feared
for our graziers from the introduction of cattle from the Continent, others
thought that the graziers would profit largely by the fattening of the lean
beasts which would be imported ; for there never was a doubt (unhappily) that
the consumption of meat in England ought to be very much larger indeed than
it had been any time within this century. The consumption of meat was no-
where on the increase in any proportion to the increase of numbers ; and in
too many localities it was known that meat-eating was becoming confined to a
higher and a higher class in society. The Minister, for one, therefore, had no
apprehension of the ruin of the graziers from the alteration ; and he proposed
to admit cattle, fresh and salted meat, hams, lard, salmon, and herrings, at
duties considerably reduced. The immediate panic, among the ignorant agri-
cultural class, was great ; and there were, as usual, adventurers ready to make
their market of it. Butchers' meat from Hamburgh was advertised at 3d.
per lb., while the people of Hamburgh were themselves paying Gd. Numbers
of graziers and farmers sold off their cattle for whatever they could get, and
said that Sir R. Peel's tariff was ruining them. Every horned head seen on
deck on the arrival of vessels at Hull or Harwich counted for a dozen to
alarmed imaginations ; and the pigs reported were innumerable. But these
were mistakes sure of speedy correction ; and in a few months, some people
laughed, and others sighed, on finding how far the supply of animal food fell
short of the national want.
The Minister found some difficulty in carrying out the true principle of re-
ducing duties to the point which should obviate smuggling. On this principle
the duty on straw plat had been reduced from 17s. per lb. to 5s. : but the stir
made was so great, and apparently so charitable towards the poor women and
children in country districts, whose employment was supposed to be at stake,
that the point was yielded so far as to raise the 5s. to Is. 6d. But the Minister
pointed out the mistake in parliament, producing, to the great amusement of
the House, and no doubt of the smuggling portion of society, an ordinary
looking bundle of straw for platting, in the centre of which was concealed a
small roll of straw plat, such as it would still be worth while to smuggle, if
the duty was higher than 5s. per lb. — Some opposition was made to the new
duties on swine, and fish, and apples, and butter, and other articles ; but large
majorities in every case affirmed the government duties. The Whitsuntide
holidays had allowed time for consultation and reflection : the panic about the
importation of cattle had ceased already, and mutton was again Id., and even
8d. per lb. ; so that all was fair for carrying the new tariff. The objections of
opposition related to the omission of sugar from the tariff reductions, and the
542
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BooK VI.
1842.
Hansard, Ixir.
742.
IN THE LORDS.
PASSAGE OF THE
BILL.
Hansard, Ixiv.
1168.
SUGAR DUTIES.
treatment of corn, and the difference between the duties on colonial and on
foreign productions. The replies were, that the reduction of the corn duties
was considerable enough for the present ; that the case of sugar was an ex-
ceptional one ; and that government had done all it could in freeing colonial
produce, thus preparing for negotiation about foreign produce, and setting an
example of fearless freedom of trade to other countries. — On the whole, there
was a more general assent than usual to the measure, and less party recrimi-
nation. The ex-Ministers told of what they had intended to do in the same
direction, if they had not been stopped by their failure in the treatment of the
two first articles — corn and sugar. Here was the thing done — every one feel-
ing that the corn question was as truly a merely deferred one as the sugar.
Both these remained to be dealt with hereafter ; and meantime, here was a
provision for the extension of manufactures and commerce, the increase of
food, and such a reduction in the general cost of living as would go far to
enable the people to pay their new Income tax, and perhaps compensate for it.
Men might differ, and did differ, as to whether this new tariff was valuable
only as a move in the right direction, or whether it would also achieve what
its authors hoped, in the extension of trade, and the improvement of comfort :
but none — unless it were a few bigots in and out of parliament — doubted the
Customs Acts reform to be a good thing. One gentleman would have free
trade in every thing but herrings ; another in every thing but straw plat; and
Sir R. Peel and Lord J. Russell in every thing but corn : but these separate
opinions merged in general satisfaction that, out of 1200 articles that paid
Customs duties, 750 were to be reduced ; — and a large majority of these to a
merely nominal amount. — The Bill passed the Commons, amidst loud cheer-
ing, on the 28th of June.
THE DOMESTIC
VIEW.
In the other House, Lord Stanhope prophesied that the measure would be
fatal to the power and reputation of the minister who brought it forward, and
that we should end by having our navy and many other classes fed by foreigners
instead of by British farmers. Lord Colchester thought he might vote for this
Bill without advocating the general principles of free trade, and merely as an
improvement in Customs management. Lord Stanhope laboured hard with
amendments in committee, and against the third reading ; but in vain ; and
Lord Radnor was as energetic in opposition for the reason that the Bill did
not go far enough. But those two were joined by only seven more on the last
decisive occasion, when the Bill passed by a vote of 52 to 9 on the 8th of
July.
The article of sugar was not passed over this session because it did not stand
in the tariff. It had a debate to itself. The subject was becoming a difficult
one ; and men were growing positive and peremptory as usual, in proportion
to the difficulty. No difficulties, in all our mortal experience, are so formid-
able as those which — the result of wrong-doing — attend the transition from
wrong to right-doing; and the perplexities about slave-produce were now
showing themselves to be in proportion to the moral mistake and offence of
slavery. Amidst the never-ending complexities of the subject, and entangle-
ments of the yearly debates, we may single out the two most important
aspects of the question, and show how they appeared at this time.
On the one hand, the West India planters urged that their lives had grown
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 543
up, and their property been employed, under the legal institution of negro 1842.
slavery, and a system of protective duties on sugar — now, slavery was abolished
in their islands, but not in other sugar-producing countries : and they claimed
the continuance of high sugar duties, both as a carrying out of the system
under which they had invested their fortunes in the West Indies, and as a
necessary condition of their competing with countries where slave-labour was
at command. On the other hand, the friends of the poor in England showed
how sugar had become truly a necessary of life, when it was needful for the
infants' food in the cottage, and for the temperate man's meal of tea or coffee
— which were largely superseding intoxicating drinks — and for the use of
many articles of food which could not be eaten without it. They showed the
hardship and (as they considered) the iniquity of making the British labourer,
who had already paid so much to the planters as compensation for the loss of
slave property, now go without sugar, or pay double for it, to bolster up the
fortunes which had been invested under a bad system ; a system whose bad-
ness ensured its overthrow. Somebody must suffer — as is always the case
where a social sin has been committed : and that somebody ought to be any-
body rather than the British labourer. Then, reasons were alleged why it
ought to be, and must be, the planter-class that should suffer— that a system
requiring high duties cannot, in our age of the world, exist for any length of
time : that the withdrawal of protection would compel the planters to better
methods of cultivation — to more agricultural skill and improved management :
and that, if estates could not be made to answer under such improved methods,
they were not worth sustaining at all. — This was one aspect of the contro-
versy.
The other related to the condition of the institution of slavery in the world
— to our relation to it — and to the effect upon it of our rate of sugar duty.
The controversy here was as to whether we had so pledged ourselves to the
cause of human liberty as to make it supersede the interests of our planters in
the West Indies, and our labourers at .home ; whether, in short, it was a case
in which we were unreservedly to sacrifice the interests of individuals to the
maintenance of a great principle of social morals all over the world. In con-
nexion with this was the question whether, as a matter of fact, slavery was
restrained by our high sugar-duties and other arrangements, and • whether it
would be aggravated by admitting free-trade principles into this department
of international traffic. On the one hand, it was proved that the slave trade
was constantly on the increase, in spite of all arrangements, if not in conse-
quence of them ; and it was argued that the strongest political ground for the
abolition of slavery was the superior value of free over slave labour : while, on
the other hand, it was protested that the peculiarity of the case took it out of
the category of free trade ; and that if slave-grown sugar were admitted to our
markets under any duties which would leave it within reach of popular con-
sumption, a great stimulus would be given to slave cultivation, and a new
lease of life given to the criminal institution.
From year to year were these opposing views brought forward, and sup-
ported by their respective arguments. On the present occasion, the explana-
tions of the government were looked forward to with impatience, from the
increased eagerness of the friends of the people that they should have cheap
E ANTI-SI.A-
Y VIEW.
544 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842. sugar while enjoying so many other relaxations, and because the late ministers
v— ~— -~- - insisted on a reduction of the sugar duties, as next in importance to their eight-
shilling corn duty. On the 3rd of June, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
Hansard, ixiii. declared the inability of the government to reduce the sugar duties that year,
well-pleased as they would be to do it. To reduce the colonial sugar, and not
the foreign, would be to forfeit some revenue without effectually diminishing
the cost to the consumer; and there were two objections to reducing the
foreign sugar duty; the loss to the revenue, which would be greater than could
be adventured in the same year with the tariff reduction ; and the delay of
foreign powers in affording a sufficient guarantee against slavery and the slave
trade. An anti-slavery sentiment was springing up in slave-holding commu-
nities, and it might be eminently mischievous to the anti-slavery cause to
throw open our markets at that juncture to slave-grown sugar. The govern-
ment therefore could offer no change this year, and the reductions proposed
Hansard, ixiii. by opposition members were rejected by large majorities. — In the session of
1843, the same process was gone through ; the ministers proposed no change,
and gave the same reasons ; and they were met by the same arguments and
some fruitless amendments from the opposition.
POOR LAW RE. There was not time, towards the close of the busy and profitable session, for
NKWAL ACT. ' J f
a full discussion of the Poor-law Bill — so deeply as the question of pauper re-
lief was affected by the urgent distress of the times. Many members had
much to say against the existing law, and new arrangements to propose : and
it was absolutely necessary to do something ; for the Commission had been re-
newed, by a vote in the preceding session, for one year ; and there must be a
provision made against the expiration of the term. With some trouble and
difficulty, the Home Secretary obtained a renewal of the term of the Commis-
sion for five years, and a settling of some indispensable practical points. A
Hansard, ixv.356. strong effort was made by Mr. Escott to procure permission for magistrates to
administer out-door relief at their discretion ; but under no pressure of haste, or
alarm at the prevailing distress, could the House be so mad as to vote away the
essential principle of the great Poor-law reform, though there seemed, at one
moment, some fear that it might. Mr. Escott's motion in favour of out-door
Hansard, ixv. 377. reiief at fae discretion of the magistrates, was rejected by a majority of 90
to 55 ; and the Commission was renewed for five years, under a promise from
Sir James Graham that he would introduce a new Bill early in the next ses-
sion, in which some needful reforms should be proposed.
P™PEU™.TEUAUY T1"s vear> 1^42, settled the law of Literary Property, as it at present stands,
and as it will stand for a long time to come. — Before the days of Queen Anne,
it was concluded, as a matter of course, that any book or other literary pro-
Political Diction- duction, was the property of its author ; and the old registers of the Stationers'
ary, i. p. G39. i
Company show that some thousands of books, even as early as the times of
Elizabeth, passed from owner to owner, by descent or sale, like any other
property. Acts of Parliament, and Star-chamber decrees also afford evidence
that political and legal authorities considered literary works to be the exclu-
sive property of their authors. — At no time does any one appear to have
doubted the author's exclusive right over his production while it remained in
MS. The doubt, when it arose, related to his ownership when, by act of
publication, he had made his ideas general property. The doubt seems to
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 545
exhibit a mere confusion between the ideas and the vehicle in which they are 1842.
communicated ; — between plagiarism and piracy. The people of the United *—-~*——'
States appear to be still unable to make the distinction. Because they can
derive and reproduce ideas from an English book, they cannot see why they
should not lay hands on the work itself, reprint it, pocket the proceeds of
the sale without consideration of the author, and, as long as our own laws
allowed the practice, send their cheap copies to Europe, and sell them under
the author's own eye. Yet more; — they cannot see why they should not take
a work by an English author whose name will secure a sale, cut out some
portions of the book, alter the title, make it such as the author would not
acknowledge, put his name to it, profit by that name, and send him no share
of the proceeds. They cannot see why they should not put the author's name
to a work which he has chosen to publish anonymously. Barbarous and base
as this ignorance and cupidity appear, unable as such agents show themselves
to be to conceive of a book as a work of art which must no more be tampered
with than a statue or a picture, it but little exceeds our own barbarism on
this subject a century and a half ago, or even that which might be found
among the unreflecting and unintellectual up to the period of the passage of
the Copyright Act of 1842.
If books were, before the 18th century, considered as of course the property ACT OF mo.
of their authors, the supposition is now held to have been put an end to by
the passage of a law which secured to authors and their heirs the property in
their works .for a term of years— which was in fact taking the property from
them after the expiration of that term of years. The Act was passed in 1710 ;
and the term fixed was twenty -one years from the day of publication for works ^rolit|c^14piction'
already in print : and fourteen years for all works to be henceforward pub-
lished ; — the latter term being once renewable, if the author should be still
living at the end of the first fourteen years. More than half a century after-
wards, however, Lord Mansfield and other authorities settled, as they thought,
that the perpetual right of the author over his work was not put an end to by
the statute of 1710; but again, five years afterwards, Lord Mansfield and
those who agreed with him (the Judges being in fact equally divided) were
overruled ; and it was decided, from 1774 onwards, that perpetual copyright
was put an end to by the intervention of statutes. — In 1814, the term was ACTOFISH.
extended in favour of authors, it being now fixed at twenty-eight years for the
author and his assigns, and furthermore for the term of the author's life, if he
should survive the twenty-eight years' term.
The mischiefs of these restrictions were found to be such as had not been
dreamed of by law-makers who believed they were granting a boon to authors :
and by this time, some of these evils were becoming evident to the most care-
less and uninterested. The family of Sir Walter Scott, stripped by his great MOVEMENT IN
losses, might be supposed to have an honourable provision in his splendid
array of works, which the world was still buying, as eagerly as ever : but the
term of copyright of <( Waverley" was about to expire ; and there was no one
who could not see the injustice of transferring to the public a property so
evidently sacred to heirs. — Again, the poet Wordsworth was now an aged
man. His was a reputation which it had taken half a century to bring out
clear from the prejudices and false tastes of society in his early day. If he
VOL. II. 4 A
546
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
1842.
PETITIONS.
London Exa-
miner, April 7,
1839.
were to die now, his family would be deprived of all benefit from the sale oi
his works. — Again, Southcy came forward to declare that he had been pre-
vented by the existing copyright law from undertaking works of weight,
research, and permanent value, from inability to undertake labours whose
fruits would be taken from him and his heirs just when the world was begin-
ning to find the value of his books and to buy them. It was clear that the
operation of the law was to discourage the preparation of solid works, requir-
ing research and the expenses which belong to it, and yielding pecuniary
recompense only slowly and tardily, while it encouraged a flashy light litera-
ture, such as might command an immediate, though temporary sale. Probably
the attention of the careless was fixed on this question of literary property
by the petitions sent up to parliament by various authors about this time ;
and by none more than by the Petition of Thomas Carlyle, which bears date
in the spring of 1839. This petition is a remarkable document, which may
well find its place here from its including considerations of greater depth, and
more importance to social philosophy and morals, than some matters to which
a greater space has necessarily been given.
" To the Honourable the Commons of England in Parliament assembled, the petition of
THOMAS CARLYLE, a writer of books,
" Humbly showeth,
" That your petitioner has written certain books, being incited thereto by various innocent
or laudable considerations, chiefly by the thought that said books might in the end be found
to be worth something. That your petitioner had not the happiness to receive from Mr.
Thomas Tegg, or any publisher, re-publisher, printer, bookseller, bookbuyer, or other the like
man or body of men, any encouragement or countenance in writing of said books, or to dis-
cern any chance of receiving such : but wrote them by effort of his own and the favour of Hea-
ven. That all useful labour is worthy of recompense : that all honest labour is worthy of the
chance of recompense : that the giving and assuring to each man what recompense his labour
has actually merited may be said to be the business of all Legislation, Polity, Government, and
Social Arrangement whatever among men — a business indispensable to attempt, impossible to
accomplish accurately, difficult to accomplish without inaccuracies, that become enormous,
unsupportable, and the parent of social confusions which never altogether end. That your
petitioner does not undertake to say what recompense in money this labour of his may deserve :
whether it deserve any recompense in money, or whether money in any quantity could hire
him to do the like. That this his labour has found hitherto, in money or money's worth,
small recompense or none : that he is by no means sure of its ever finding recompense : but
thinks that, if so, it will be at a distant time, when he, the labourer, will probably no longer
be in need of money, and those dear to him will still be in need of it. That the law does at
least protect all persons in selling the production of their labour at what they can get for it,
in all market-places to all lengths of time. Much more than this the law does to many, but
so much it does to all, and less than this to none. That your petitioner cannot discover him-
self to have done unlawfully in this his said labour of writing books, or to have become cri-
minal, or have forfeited the law's protection thereby. Contrariwise your petitioner believes
firmly that he is innocent in said labour ; that if he be found in the long run to have written
a genuine enduring book, his merit therein, and desert towards England and English and
other men, will be considerable, and not easily estimable in money ; that, on the other hand,
if his book prove false and ephemeral, he and it will be abolished and forgotten, and no harm
done. That, in this manner, your petitioner plays no unfair game against the world ; his
stake being life itself, so to speak (for the penalty is death by starvation), and the world's
stake nothing till once it see the dice thrown ; so that in any case the world cannot lose.
That in the happy and long-doubtful event of the game's going in his favour, your petitioner
submits that the small winnings thereof do belong to him or his, and that no other mortal has
justly either part or lot in them at all, now, henceforth, or for ever. May it therefore please
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 547
your Honourable House to protect him in said happy and long-doubtful event ; and (by pass- 1842.
ing your Copyright Bill) forbid all Thomas Teggs, and other extraneous persons, entirely - _^- — ,_ ^
unconcerned in this adventure of his, to steal from him his small winnings, for a space of
sixty years at the shortest. After sixty years, unless your Honourable House provide other-
wise, they may begin to steal.
" And your petitioner will ever pray.
" THOMAS CARLTXE."
The sixty years here mentioned were the term proposed by the mover for a PROPOSED BILLS..
new Copyright Act — Mr. Serjeant Talfourd — in three successive sessions.
In 1841, his Bill was thrown out, mainly through the influence of a speech of
Mr. Macaulay's, which afforded an humbling proof of the carelessness of the
House on subjects which had not been long rendered familiar by discussion,
As for the riddle how an able literary man could utter such a speech, and
venture to offer it to the House, the answer given at the time was that there
must be reasons behind — some cause which could not be alleged — for such a
man exposing himself in a speech unsound in its whole argument, and for the
House acting upon it. The reason most commonly supposed was that the
Bill before the House was badly drawn, and could not have been worked: —
if so, it might have been better to have pointed this out. But it does not
matter much what the real reason was ; for Mr. Macaulay himself wrought
on the other side in the next session, when Serjeant Talfourd was no longer
in the House. Lord Mahon brought forward the subject, proposing an exten- LORD MAHON'S
sion of twenty-five years in the term of literary proprietorship. Mr. Macau- Hauwrd,ix.u2»
lay proposed a term of forty-two years, on which the House decided. More- Hansard, w.
over, the House accepted another amendment brought forward by Lord Mahon
and opposed by Mr. Macaulay, which gave to the heirs a further term of
seven years from the death of the author. Under the somewhat sudden zeal
for the rights of authors, therefore, shown by parliament in 1842, the law COPYRIGHT LAW
awarded to authors the sole property of their works for life, and to their heirs poilucai Diction.
for seven years more. If those seven years should expire before the end of ary>1-641-
forty-two years from the time of publication, then the right was to run through
the forty-two years. This was something gained in the direction of justice:
and few now doubt that it will be found possible so to make arrangements for
the preparation of Cyclopaedias and other compilations as in time to allow to
authors and their heirs their literary property in perpetuity ; as every argu-
ment for such a product being property at all is adverse to its ceasing to be so
at any particular date. If the institution of property is to stand, it is hardly
possible that this kind — of so special and high an order — should remain pre-
carious and transitory, in comparison with all else.
As the elections of 1841 had been a last struggle for and against the main- ELECTION COM
tenance of the Whig government, it was natural that bribery — always too
common at a general election — should abound ; and it was believed that on
this occasion the profligacy had exceeded all ordinary limits. Several cases
had been brought before election Committees in the Commons for investiga-
tion ; and the termination of some of these inquiries was so strange as to
attract suspicion, and cause uneasiness, both in and out of the House. The
return of the Members for Reading was objected to, on the ground of bribery;
evidence was produced before the Committee, which went to substantiate the
548 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842. charges; and in the midst of the business, the Committee was suddenly
N— — >^—- ^ informed that the petition was withdrawn. There was nothing to be done
but for the Committee to declare the sitting members duly elected : but every
one suspected that this was not the end of the matter. Presently it was an-
nounced that one,of the members for Reading was about to accept the Chiltern
Hundreds. A similar proceeding followed in a second case, and a third, and
a fourth : and, where the seat was not immediately vacated, or declared to be
held only till next month, it was rumoured and believed that the resignation
would take place at the end of the session. This was a degree of corruption
not to- be endured : and on the 5th of May, Mr. Roebuck gave notice that, on
the next evening, he should put a question to the member for Reading, and
other members whom he named.
MK. ROEBUCK. Qn tne gtn^ a singular scene took place in the House — a scene very instruc-
tive to those who witnessed it, and to those who afterwards read of it. Mr.
Roebuck was universally regarded as an upright man and independent
member, who had the fullest right that uprightness and independence could
give to watch over the purity of the representation, and rebuke every act of
corruption. But he was also felt to be fully conscious of his position, and not
at all too modest in the exhibition of it. He was considered rather too apt to
assume the office of censor on occasions which were hardly worth the unpopu-
larity he attracted to himself by it ; and, by long tenure of this office, his
speaking had verged more and more towards lecturing — towards admonition
— in an assemblage where such a tone is least admissible. After he had
announced that he had a question to ask of the member for Reading and other
members, there was much eagerness for the sport. Every one knew that Mr.
Roebuck would be in the right, and his victims most miserably embarrassed
by the wrong of their position ; and the scene was likely to be a curious one,
between the haughty purism of the censor on the one hand, and the impotent
anger of the compromised members on the other. The scene was a curious
one, but not through any frailties of Mr. Roebuck's. According to all
accounts, he was quiet and courteous in manner, said nothing more than the
occasion justified, and made only such inquiry as it was incumbent on any
member to make who had at heart the honour of parliament and the in-
tegrity of the representation.
Hansard, ixiii.209. Mr. Roebuck, addressing himself to Lord Chelsea, one of the members
for Reading, said he had heard and believed that the inquiry before the
Committee had been put an end to by a compromise, in which one, if not
both, of the members for Reading was concerned ; a bond having been entered
into with their knowledge, if not in their names, to the effect that one or both
of them should vacate his seat by accepting the Chiltern Hundreds. Such a
transaction was a breach of the privileges of the House ; and he was therefore
entitled to ask, which he did with the most perfect respect for Lord Chelsea,
whether he was cognizant of any such arrangement. The same question was
afterwards put, with the same deliberation and courtesy, to the members for
Nottingham, Lewes, Penryii, and Harwich. — Most of the members appealed
to made the weakest possible reply. They assumed an air of indignation, and
refused to answer impertinent questions about their private affairs and per-
sonal arrangements. As the question was based on the strong ground of the
CHAP. VI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 549
privilege of parliament, this futile reply was equivalent to an admission of 1842.
inability to make a better ; and it was thus received — Mr. Roebuck thanking ' — — •>• '
each gentleman significantly for his answer, and the House listening in
mingled anxiety and amusement. One member, Mr. Elphinstone, avowed Hansard, ixia.
that an objectionable compromise had been agreed upon ; that he was no party
to it ; and that he was not going to vacate his seat — a welcome piece of frank-
ness and manliness in the midst of the strange scene. Captain Plumridge,
who sat for Penryn, was no less intrepid. He said he knew nothing of the Hansard, ixiu.
compromise till it was made ; and he disapproved of the arrangement when he
was told of it, and did so still. But he afterwards drew upon himself a rebuke
from Mr. Roebuck by declaring, in terms which made the lax assemblage
laugh uproariously, that he retired because he had " made a bad bargain." In Hansard, ixiu.
the midst of the questioning scene, the Chancellor of the Exchequer endea-
voured to break in, and call the attention of the House to a discussion on the
Income tax : but the inclination of the House was to see this business to an
end; and it did so. After all the impugned members had answered, or
declined to answer, the discussion was adjourned to the next Monday. It
then appeared how awakening was the impression made on the House, and
how useless were all attempts to stifle Mr. Roebuck's inquiry. A Committee
of investigation was appointed ; and it was clear that, though the work of that
Committee might be impeded, and the express aims of its author thwarted by
technical devices, the honour of the House was really appealed to, and some
check was put upon corruption. One striking incident was the refusal of the
appointment of Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. — There was, once upon a time, such an office in reality — the STEWARDSHIP OF
business of the Steward being to watch over the safety of that district of Hmnuum^
Buckinghamshire called the Chiltern Hundreds, when its woods were infested
with banditti, who were a perpetual trouble to the rural inhabitants. The
office had long been merely nominal ; but it served, under the description of
" a place of honour and profit under the Crown," as a means of vacating a
seat in parliament, which cannot be resigned under any other plea than having
accepted such an office. The office is resigned as soon as the parliamentary
seat is vacated, that it may be ready for the next applicant. On the present
occasion, the application of one of the members for Reading was met by the
following reply from the Chancellor of the Exchequer : " Under ordinary Poiuieai Diction-
circumstances, I should not feel justified in availing myself of the discretion a*y' '' P' 5
vested in me in order to refuse or delay the appointment for which you have
applied, when sought for with a view to the resignation of a seat in parliament.
But after the disclosures which have taken place with respect to certain
boroughs, of which Reading is one, and after the admission of the facts by
the parties interested, I consider that by lending my assistance to the fulfil-
ment of any engagement which may have been entered into as arising out of
any such compromise, I should, in some sort, make myself a party to transac-
tions which I do not approve, and of which the House of Commons has implied
its condemnation. I feel, moreover, that by a refusal on my part of the means
by which alone such engagements can be fulfilled, I afford the most effectual
discouragement to the entering into similar compromises in future, and thus
promote, so far as is in my power, the intentions of the House of Commons."
550
[BOOK VI.
PROCEEDINGS IN
i ii i HOUSE.
Hansard, Ixv.
1109.
1842, Mr. Roebuck moved for and obtained a Committee of Investigation into
the cases before the House. He moved for and obtained a Bill of Indemnity
to Witnesses ; and the inquiry was conducted with closed doors. The Com-
mittee reported, towards the end of July; and it was this Report which
decided Mr. Goulburn to refuse the Chiltern Hundreds to Lord Chelsea.
On the refusal being canvassed in the House, the Premier avowed that Mr.
Goulburn had acted with the concurrence of the whole Cabinet. Mr. Roe-
buck's resolutions, founded on the Report of the Committee, against issuing
writs for the compromised boroughs till parliament had provided some security
Hansard, ixv. ssa. against election bribery, were negatived; but every one felt that the Report,
with its disclosures and dispassionate comments, could not be inoperative. —
Lord John Russell introduced a Bill whose chief objects were to facilitate the
disclosure of bribery committed, rather than to visit it with new penalties ;
and to prevent such compromises as had lately disgraced the House. The
Bill passed both Houses before the conclusion of the session, and became law
on the 10th of August,
There was something really refreshing to the country, in the midst of its
distresses, in the character and action of this session of parliament. At the
beginning, the Opposition was hostile, saucy, active, and united : and it was
curious to see how it changed under the eye of a minister who could frame
measures first, and then carry them. Some of his measures were as unaccept-
able to classes and parties as any that had been brought forward for some
years ; yet their progress, from their first conception to their becoming the
law of the land, was never delayed. The nation saw and felt that its business
was understood and accomplished, and the House of Commons was no longer
like a sleeper under nightmare. The long session was a busy one. The
Queen, wore a cheerful air when she thanked her parliament for their effectual
labours. The Opposition was no longer such as could impede the operations
of the next session. The condition of the country was fearful enough ; but
something was done for its future improvement, and the way was now shown
to be open for further beneficent legislation. The solitary circumstance of
congratulation, in regard to the condition of the people, was that there was
once more a good harvest.
Hansard, Ixv.
1214.
CHARACTER OF
THE SESSION.
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 551
CHAPTER VII.
WHEN parliament reassembled on the 2d of February, there was no 1843.
increased hopefulness in any quarter. The distress had deepened ; the - — -» —
revenue returns indicated a lessened consumption of articles of popular com- OF DEBATE.
fort : and the agricultural interests were almost as depressed and alarmed as
the manufacturing and commercial classes. Some said the tariff had done no
good — forgetting that, as much of it did not come into use till October, it was
too soon yet to form a judgment. Some said the tariff caused the distress ;
and this was so far true that the ignorant among the agricultural body
did fall into a panic about the importation of food, and incur great losses by
selling off stock, and spreading their own fears over their own class. Some
apprehended another change in the Corn law ; and all felt that they were not
settling down with any confidence under the new Sliding Scale, while the
League was so growing in numbers and dignity as to appear very like a new
power in the State. Under these circumstances, the character of the session
of 1843 could be easily anticipated. It was chiefly occupied with the con-
dition of the industrial classes.
And here must arise the old difficulty — the difficulty which is yet unsolved,
and which must remain unsolved while our representative system continues
imperfect — the difficulty of determining the true province of legislation in re-
gard to the interests of the industrial classes. This was in fact, though not
in words, the one great controversy of the session of 1843, as it may yet be of
future sessions. There were not many men in the House, though there were
too many men in the country, who were heard to say that it is the business of
the government to find employment and food for the people : but there were
men of opposite extremes in politics, who contended that it was the duty of
government to regulate the interests of the poor, and determine the circum-
stances of their lives by law. Some high Conservatives contended for this on
the ground of the supposed parental character of government which should
watch over the members of the State as the Church watches over the members
of its own communion. As the high-churchmen claimed dominion, under a
metaphor, for Mother Church, while the church was in fact impersonal, con-
sisting of an aggregate of believers, so our high-statesmen claimed dominion,
under a metaphor, for the State as a parent, while the State is, in fact, imper-
sonal, consisting of an aggregate of persons, agreeing, or destined by circum-
stances, to live under a particular form of government, laws, and customs.
With these high Conservatives were joined those members of the Commons
who verged most towards democracy — who claimed a special protection for
the poor from government because the poor were unrepresented in the legisla-
ture. A future Peer and the Chartist chairman who had conducted torch-
light meetings on a Lancashire moor, were seen advocating together a legal
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
regulation of the poor man's labour ; while men of intermediate parties advo-
cated the poor man's cause in a directly opposite manner ; by contending that
his labour is his only property ; and that to interfere with it — to restrict its
sale by law — is to infringe fatally on the poor man's rights. — The truth was
(and it is the truth still) there is much to be said on both sides ; for the rela-
tion between the State and the working classes in our country is not settled in
theory, any more than in practice. It is not only true that the working
classes are unrepresented in the legislature ; but the circulation of labour and
the supply of food (now at last free) were so restricted by law as to depress
the poor below the level of comfort, and the means of education. The church
failed in her duty of educating the people ; and the State placed them at dis-
advantage by restrictive laws. In consequence, a population has grown up,
special in its ignorance, its sufferings, and its needs, which must be specially
dealt with, if at all. It is impossible to admit that, under a representative
system, it is the proper business of the government to regulate the private
interests of any class whatever. It is impossible, under the far higher constitu-
tion of humanity, to refuse attention to the case of the depressed, ignorant, and
suffering, of our people. The only course seems to be to admit that, as we
have not been true to our representative system (being at this day far from
having carried it out), we cannot be harshly true to its theory. Having per-
mitted a special misery and need to grow up, we must meet it with a special
solace and aid. As to how the solace and aid are to be given — this is the
point of difficulty. In the absence of all theory which can command agree-
ment, men must bring themselves into agreement as well as they can under
the one guiding principle that nothing must be done to impair any one's
rights as a citizen under a representative system. Every man who is now
practically excluded from the benefits of the representative system is to be re-
garded as destined to inclusion under them ; and nothing that is done for his
mind or his fortunes by the grace of the state is to lower him from his posi-
tion of theoretical citizenship under a constitution which presumes every
man's condition and interests to be in his own hands. — Whatever names and
aspects the debates and legislation of 1843 might assume, they were almost
all, in fact, a study of the serious problem of the relation of the State to the
poor.
ix>nn HowicK'a Lord Howick began, on the 13th of February, with a motion for the an-
MOTION.
Hansard, ixvi. pointmciit of a Committee of the whole House to consider the distress of the
country. He believed, with Dr. Arnold, that the mass of men rarely feel
political uneasiness and discontent except under pressure of personal want.
He believed that this pressure had now become so terrible and so extensive
as to peril our institutions ; and he called upon the House to consider and
decide whether it was not time for government to interfere. The mode of
interference which he desired was the repeal of all restrictions on importation ;
and especially on that of corn — it being understood, however, that the mover
desired the imposition of the 8s. fixed duty. The real interest of the motion
and the debate lay in the certainty that it must elicit from the ministers some
declaration of their intentions about the Corn laws : and in the course of it,
Sir R. Peel declared that no proposition about the Corn laws would be brought
forward this session. But Mr. Gladstone saved the agricultural interest from
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 553
any false reliance on the stability of the Corn law, by admitting that the 1843.
whole question of restriction lay in the extent to which the country was able N— •— ~ — — '
to bear the application of the principles of free trade. The opposition mem- 49o?sar ' ™
bers now began, with good reason, to treat the Corn law as a " temporary "
expedient, and everything the minister said about it as a " temporary "
answer. This was felt by all the Anti-Corn-law members to be true ; and
they, by saying so, not only prepared the way for the total repeal of the Corn
law, but prepared the agricultural party to expect it. — Lord Howick's motion
could not succeed, because it was yet too soon to learn the effects of the great
measures of the preceding year. No one could say yet what the Income
tax would yield, nor how the timber trade and other great departments of
commerce might be stimulated by the relaxation of duties which had taken
place only since October. The majority against the appointment of the Hansard, ixvi.
Committee was 115 in a House of 497.
The next approach to the great problem was made by Lord Ashley, who LORD ASHLEY.
moved, on the 28th of February, an Address to the Sovereign, praying that 75.
she would immediately and seriously consider what could be done for the re-
ligious and moral education of the working classes. — In addition to the diffi-
culties always attending the education question — (difficulties which have been
exhibited at a prior period of our history) — there was now one in connexion
with the peculiar reputation of the mover — both in and out of the House. It
had by this time become a sort of custom in parliament to praise Lord Ashley's
philanthropy, and declare expressly a belief that it was unquestionably sin-
cere— a practice which gave an impression of its being questioned by some-
body. The cause of this was, not that Lord Ashley was not a humane man ;
not that he spared time and effort to aid the suffering ; but that the direction
of his philanthropy was strange and questionable. His residence was in an
agricultural county where the labourers were reduced to the lowest condition
then known to Englishmen. It was so on his father's estates ; on the estates
to which, in the course of nature, he was to succeed : yet he did not take
under his protection his nearest neighbours, with whose needs he was, or
ought to be, best acquainted ; but constituted himself the champion of the
Lancashire operatives, whose families had been earning 31. per week, while
the peasant families, his neighbours, were earning from 8s. to 10s. per week,
living on food too mean and scanty to support strength, and sleeping under
rotten thatch which let in the rain. Lord Ashley was agitating for the perso-
nal safety and for the education of the class which was actually the most
enlightened, and the best able to take care of itself, of any working-class in
England, while the agricultural labourers of his own county were in a state
of desperate ignorance and reckless despair, which demanded all his efforts to
redress. Knowing nothing of " the manufacturing system," as it was called,
he had to depend for information on persons from Lancashire and other mill-
districts : and it was notorious that his informants were not always respectable,
and that he was largely duped ; while he need but have gone into the hovels
of his father's peasantry to have seen misery, and mental and moral destitu-
tion, which could not be matched in the worst retreats of the manufacturing
population. Proofs came to light, from time to time, of the bad character and
unjustifiable procedure of Lord Ashley's correspondents and visitors from
VOL. II. 4 B
554 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1843. Lancashire ; and it was these things that cast a doubt — not on the sincerity
of his benevolence — but on his right to assume the position of patron of the
operatives in parliament. Amidst all the protestations and complaints which
were lavished there, there was a general persuasion of something unsound ;
that Lord Ashley mistook the character of the manufacturing class ; that he
confounded two orders of social evils — town evils and factory evils ; and that
he had much underrated the intelligence and the resources of the factory
population. This partly accounts for the uncertain action of the House gene-
rally on Lord Ashley's enterprises ; while, it need not be said, he was disliked
and slightly regarded by the manufacturing interest in the House, as a man
who meddled with what he did not understand, and who strove to set aside
the great natural laws of society, for the sake of favouring a class who were,
above all others of their rank, able to take care of themselves. One anecdote
will suffice to indicate the state of feeling which must have existed between
Lord Ashley and the Economist section of the House. While the final struggle
about the Corn law was going forward, a letter was picked up at Lord Ashley's
club, which was evidently dropped from his pocket — it being open and
addressed to him. The waiter who picked it up enclosed it in an envelope,
and sent it to the office of the Anti-Corn-law League, where it was opened
and read as a matter of business, without any suspicion of what it was about.
The letter was from a Lancashire correspondent of Lord Ashley's, who wrote
that there was no hope of carrying Lord Ashley's measure of that session but
by blackening the character of four mill firms, whose names were given.
These mill-owners happened to be of the very first order — men who had pro-
vided schools for the children of their operatives, who had built model houses
for their people, opened lecture and reading rooms, and baths, and places of
recreation ; who had spontaneously spent many thousands of pounds in the
largest liberality towards their industrial neighbours, and were ordinarily on
terms of strong good-will with them. This letter was discussed by the
Council of the League ; and the question was debated whether Mr. Hume, or
Mr. Villiers, should not be requested to produce this letter in the House as a
specimen of the quality of Lord Ashley's informants from the factory districts.
On the whole, it was thought better simply to return the letter to its owner,
because, though the League Council had come into possession of the docu-
ment quite innocently, the trick of the club-house waiter might be charged
upon them ; and the effect of the letter might be destroyed by any disgrace
attaching to the act of its production. How Lord Ashley regarded the letter,
there was no evidence to show. The proof amounted merely to his being in
correspondence with a disreputable informant. But the story discloses the
state of feeling existing between him and the Economist section of the House,
who certainly felt tnemselves justified in calling upon him to do one of two
things — to apply himself to the redress of the ignorance and woes of the agri-
cultural population, whose abodes lay round about his own, and whose case
he could investigate for himself ; or to turn over his championship of the fac-
tory classes to some member of the House who had that knowledge of the
manufacturing districts in which he was deficient.
In 1842> Lord Ashley had brought forward a Bill on behalf of a set of
people who really appeared to have been neglected by all mankind, and whose
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 555
case, when exposed by Lord Ashley, startled parliament and the country. 1843.
People who move ahout above ground, in the face of day, may exhibit their ^-— ~v— -^
own case, and hope to have it considered by those who look on ; but it now
appeared that there was a class moving about underground, in the mines and
coal pits of England and Scotland, whose condition of suffering and brutali-
zation exceeded all that had ever been known, or could be believed. A Com-
mission of Inquiry, obtained by Lord Ashley, laid open a scene which shocked
the whole country. Women were employed as beasts of burden : children
were stunted and diseased, beaten, overworked, oppressed in every way : both
women and children made to crawl on all fours in the passages of the pits,
dragging carts by a chain passing from the waist between the legs : and all
lived in an atmosphere of filth and profligacy which could hardly leave a
thought or feeling untainted by vice. This was seen at once to be a special,
as well as an extreme case; and a Bill for the relief of the women and
children of the colliery population was passed with a rapidity which somewhat
injured its quality. It was known that a strong opposition would be raised
if the thing were not done at once. It was certain that a multitude of women
and children would be thrown out of employment after the passage of the Bill :
and not a few persons declared the Commissioners' Report to be full of ex-
aggeration : and the great permanent objection remained, of the disastrous
consequences of interfering with the labour market. The great majority of
the nation however felt that it was better to have a large burden thrown on
the parishes for a time than to let such abuses continue : that, making every
allowance for exaggeration, the facts were horrible : and that, the labour mar-
ket being already interfered with by Factory Bills, this was not the point to
stop at. So the Bill passed, with some amendments which Lord Ashley sub- Hansard, i*v.
mitted to, rather than wait. — By this Bill, women were excluded from mining
and colliery labour altogether. Boys were not to be employed under the age
of ten years : and the term of apprenticeship was limited. The Secretary of
State was empowered to appoint Inspectors of Mines and Collieries, to see that
the provisions of the Bill were carried out. — The new law took effect after
nine months from its date. The operation has, from time to time, been re-
ported as beneficial ; and, though it has been found difficult to prevent women
from getting down to work in the pits after the habits of a life had made
other employment unsuitable or impossible to them, the pressure upon parish
or other charity funds turned out to be less than had been anticipated. It
was a great thing to have put a stop to the employment of women in toil
wholly unsuited to their frame and their natural duties ; and to have broken
in upon a system of child-slavery which could never have existed so long in
our country, if it had not been hidden in the chambers of the earth.
It was between the passage of this Act and its coming into operation that
Lord Ashley moved to address the Queen on the subject of a religious educa-
tion for the working classes : and this brought out from Sir James Graham a
statement of a government scheme of education, which was to be engrafted upon GOVEIINMKNT
a Factory Bill of Lord Ashley's order of legislation — a law which should con- Hazard, uvii'.
trol the destinies of the manufacturing population, without touching the more 422'
depressed order of agricultural labourers. It was probably owing in part to
this, and to the prevalent belief that the governmen 1 had been stimulated in
556 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1843. its action by a fear of Lord Ashley's activity and pertinacity, insufficiently
v-— -^— ^ enlightened by philosophy and experience, that the education clauses of Sir
James Graham's Factory Bill failed as they did, and that the Dissenters com-
mitted themselves against it in a spirit of enmity which lowered their posi-
tion more than anything they had done and suffered for a century before.
EDUCATION In order to judge of the government scheme and the opposition to it, it
must be remembered with what difficulty any beginning whatever had been
made; how jealous was the Church of any admission of Dissenters to the
public funds for educational purposes; and how unacceptable to the Dissenters
was the idea of compulsory education at all. The difficulty now was that the
proposed compulsory education was to be provided for that class — for the
children of the manufacturing districts — where the interest of the Dissenters
was strongest ; while the agricultural classes — the neglected charge of the
Church — were left over for a future measure. It ought to be acknowledged
on every hand that here was a call for magnanimity all round. It was an occa-
sion for the Church to acknowledge her neglect, and hasten to repair it. It was
an occasion for the Dissenters to be modest about their much greater exertions
for the education of their own members in the large towns, in consideration of
the vast deal which it was not in their power to do. It was an occasion for
all parties bravely to face the fearful truth of the amount of popular ignorance,
and to decide deliberately whether it was best for all to yield some of their
desires about doctrinal religious instruction, or for hundreds of thousands of
children to pass off into utter darkness — ignorant not only of all religious
doctrine whatever, but of the plainest truths and practices of morals. The
Church was more equal to the occasion than the Dissenters. The Church
yielded more than she had ever offered before to the consciences of Dissenters ;
and, when the Dissenters threw out the educational part of the government
scheme, the Church set vigorously to work to raise funds by voluntary subscrip-
tions, for the extension and improvement of the National Church Schools.
Whatever may be thought of the quality of the education given in those
schools, indisputable proof was afforded in the exertions of the Church during
1843, of the earnestness of the desire of the Church for the education of the
people, as she conceived of education. The Dissenters at the same time
appear to have erred — naturally, perhaps, but widely and fatally. In their
fear of ( ' compromise " — a fear usually so honourable and so wise — they forgot
that this was a case in which loss of time was fatal. They had been right
hitherto in rejecting measures of religious liberty which had anything un-
sound in them — in waiting from year to year for a perfect Marriage Bill, for
instance, rather than put up with a partial one : but in the present case, every
year of delay removed thousands of children beyond the reach of education,
and thus consigned them to risks and injury immeasurably more fatal than
any kind or degree of religious error could possibly have been. Some of the
Dissenters saw and felt this, and perceived it to be their duty to take the most
liberal scheme they could obtain in the first place ; try to enlarge it after-
wards ; and continue to prosecute their voluntary efforts as before, so as to
make the government measure a supplement to their own exertions, instead
of a substitute for them. This, however, required a magnanimity of which all
were not capable : and the large majority of the Dissenters were led away to
overrate the extent and quality of the education they could impart ; to over-
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 557
look the large area where they could not work at all; and to disregard or 1843.
deny the great truth that the voluntary principle is inapplicable to education ^^ "" -^— •"
because it is precisely those who need education most that are least capable of
demanding it, desiring it, and even conceiving of it. The opposition of
the Dissenters prevailed. The opportunity was lost of taking the Church in
a genial and liberal mood, and of providing for the children of various sects
being reared as brethren, while instructed each in the doctrine of his own
communion. All that was possible was done for the perpetuating of sectarian
rancour, and for hounding on ignorance and bigotry to new assaults on the
innocence and peace of society. By this mistake, it is now pretty well under-
stood that the Dissenters lost more in character and influence than they can
regain in a long course of years : and, with all their large promises, sincere
but rash, they have done nothing effectual in the way of substitution for the
measure they rejected.
The outline of the government measure was this. Factory children had ^^nsard> Uvu-
been legislated for before, as we have seen : and, as was anticipated, such
legislation had been inoperative. It was now proposed that factory children
between the ages of eight and thirteen should not work for more than six
hours and a half per day : that they should be obliged to attend schools pro-
vided for the purpose ; the children of churchmen, catholics, and dissenters,
being committed, for certain appointed hours in every week, to the charge of
their respective pastors for religious instruction according to the creed of then-
parents. The measure was enlarged so as to include all pauper children in the
towns, and all other children whose parents would consent to their entering
the schools. Thus the larger proportion of children then uneducated was
provided for ; and a promise was held out of an extension of the system to
include the neglected part of the agricultural population, in a short time. As
there was nothing here which need interfere with any existing schools, and as
the most careful provision was made for the equality within the schools of
children of all sects, there would really have been nothing for the dissenters
to protest against if it had not been for the trusteeship provision. There were
to be seven trustees to each school under the Act ; four of whom were to be
elective, but the other three must be the clergyman of the district and two
churchwardens. This would almost necessarily yield a majority of Church
trustees over dissenters ; but, as it is difficult to see how any freer arrange-
ment could be offered in a society where an Established Church exists at all,
the opposition to it amounted to a declaration that there should be no general
scheme of education in coexistence with an Establishment ; and the prospect
of Popular Education was postponed to the day when the Church should be
.overthrown as an Establishment.
Within the House, all went well. Lord J. Russell, while offering some few
objections, gave the scheme his hearty support as a whole : and men of all
faiths and parties showed themselves disposed to concede what was necessary
to the accomplishment of the object. The Queen's reply to the Address was Hansard, ixvu.
cordial. But presently the Dissenters were up and stirring in opposition ; 354'
and their speeches at public meetings and the language of some of their
petitions evinced a misconception of the measure which showed that it was
doomed. The remainder of the Session would not suffice for disabusing those
558
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[Booic VI.
1843.
Hansard, Ixviii.
1103.
EDUCATIONAL
CLAUSES WITH.
DRAWN.
Hansard, Ixlx.
1568.
NEW BILL.
Hansard, Ixxii.
277.
Hansard, Ixxiii.
1073—1101.
Hansard, Ixxiii.
1101—1110.
who had been so unaccountably misled about the facts of the measure. An
inquirer here and there had the curiosity to ascertain how many, of all the
alarmed dissenters he was acquainted with, had seen the Bill, or learned for
themselves what its provisions really were : and scarcely an instance was found
of any one having obtained his information at first hand. It was a case of
panic ; and the result was shown in circulars full of misstatements, in public
meetings full of violence, and in the presentation of such a mass of petitions
asrainst the Bill as had never been seen in modern times. — On the 1st of
O
May, Sir James Graham brought forward explanations and some important
amendments, enlarging the number of trustees, and so altering the wording of
the Bill as to make clear the entire independence of the children of diiferent
sects, in regard to religious instruction and worship. But it was useless to
explain and concede. Nearly 200 petitions against the Bill were presented by
one member in one day ; and Lord J. Russell was charged with one from the
city of London, signed by 55,000 persons. On the 15th of June, Sir James
Graham announced, with deep regret, that the government felt itself com-
pelled to give up the Educational clauses of the Bill : and on the 19th, he
proposed to carry forward the rest of the measure.
At the beginning of the next Session, accordingly, Sir James Graham intro-
duced a Factory Bill, divested of the Education clauses ; and it was the fate
of this Bill which indicated the uncertain mind and temper of the House in
regard to Lord Ashley's philanthropic enterprises. When this Bill went into
Committee, Lord Ashley moved a clause by which the working day for women
and young persons was reduced from twelve to ten hours. In the course of
his speech, he made statements which showed that he did not understand the
nature of the labour employed in the cotton manufacture any more than the
great natural laws which regulate labour and production. In this speech, he
went too far for the government^ as well as the Economist party, though he
was supported by the many who indulge feeling at the expense of reason, and
in indolence of thought ; — by the same sort of men as formerly strove to regu-
late wages, food, and dress, by Act of Parliament. Sir James Graham opposed
him with pain, seeing how the very subsistence of two millions of people was
concerned in any legislation which should tamper with the cotton manufacture
— that great branch of industry which had been introduced under a system of
freedom from parliamentary interference. Sir James Graham not only saw
this as an Economist, but he felt his responsibility, as Secretary for the Home
Department, in regard to any legislative interference which might affect the
maintenance of two millions of people. He saw the consequences of abridg-
ing " by one-sixth the whole period allowed for the replacement of capital
and the production of profit :" and he would not venture the risk of a corre-
sponding reduction of the wages of the workpeople. The men must stop work
when the women and boys stopped ; and such a legislative interference with
the natural course of manufacture was not to be adventured for any reasons
which had been alleged. The thing to be done was clear to his mind — to
educate the people, so as to enable them to take care of their one great pro-
perty— their labour, and not to deprive them by law of the disposal of that,
their only property. To provide by law leisure and opportunity for children
to be educated was one thing : — to stop the labour of working men by restrict-
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 559
ing the labour of their wives was another, and he must oppose all interference 1843.
which was, in fact, tyranny under the name of humanity. These were also ^— ^— ^— '
the views of Sir R. Peel ; and the government was considered so far pledged
against Lord Ashley's motion as that the majority of nine which he obtained "^sard) lxxitig
at first was considered a serious defeat.
There was a hope still. When the eighth clause came to be discussed,
Lord Ashley would have to move the substitution of ten hours for twelve ;
and government would proceed that far with the Bill, in hope that the House
would reconsider this important matter. When the time came, the House VACILLATION OF
voted in a way which showed that it did not understand the business before Hansard, ixxm.
mi • • f ' i ^ 146°. 14G3-
it. Inere was a majority of three against the proposal of twelve hours ; and
then, immediately after, a majority of seven against ten hours. Sir James
Graham said that as the House would not consent to the term of either ten
or twelve hours, the government must take time to consider what could be
done next. — The result was that Lord Ashley gave way — permitting govern-
ment to withdraw the Bill, and bring in another, which was the same in all
respects, except that it contained no clause specifying the hours of labour.
On the third reading of the new Bill, Lord Ashley moved that the hours of Hansard, ixxir.
labour should be restricted to eleven per day for three years from the next
October, and to ten from that time forward. The debate reads strangely to
any one familiar with the life and lot of the working classes. A multitude of
the operatives who had petitioned for a Ten Hour Bill had been tempted by
the placards which were seen all over Manchester ; " Less work. More wages.
Sign for Ten Hours." But now, the Ten Hour men in the House talked
glibly of the way in which the inevitable reduction of wages would be com-
pensated by moral advantages; and of the ease with which parliament
could retrace its steps, if the reduction should be found to go too far. The
opponents of this rash and meddling legislation declared themselves appalled
at the prospect of diminished wages of which their opponents talked so
lightly, and about which they desired to leave the working class no choice :
and it was pointed out that if the step was retraced, it would be on account of
the fatality — which would then have become irreparable — of the loss of our
foreign trade. Sooner than this could happen, however, as experienced men
felt and said, the law would be evaded, and, by some means or other, practi-
cally set aside : for no law could work in defiance of the needs of capitalists
and labourers ; and then we should have perpetrated the unspeakable mischief
of breaking a solemn promise to the people, and teaching them to despise the
law and distrust the law-makers. The debate ended in a majority of 138 DECISION AGAINST
against the Ten Hour limitation ; and the Bill was passed by the Commons CLAUSE.
with only seven dissentient voices. It was not much discussed in the Lords ; 1104!" ' x'
and it presently became law.
In the next session, 1845, Lord Ashley introduced two Bills, which were Hansard, ixxvii.
taken up and carried by the government : one bringing young people em-
ployed in print-works under the protection of the Factory measure ; and the
other, providing for the better care of lunatics. This last was a good step
taken in an unquestionable cause. As for the Factory legislation, it is almost
as melancholy to witness the efforts made to cure the evils of our overwrought
competitive system as to contemplate the evils themselves. First, we have
560 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1843. allowed our operative population to grow up — in less ignorance than some
' — -"<•--*- -' other classes, it is true, but with a wholly insufficient knowledge of their own
condition and liabilities. They have overcrowded the labour-market, so as to
be compelled to work harder — not than other classes of labourers who earn
smaller wages, but than is good for anybody to labour : and then we try to
mend the matter by forbidding them to sell more than a given amount of
their labour. It is not thus that the excessive competition which is the cause
of the mischief can be reduced ; and the true friends of the working freeman
felt that he lost nothing, while he retained his liberty, by the failure of Lord
Ashley's Ten Hour measures of 1844.
DEBATE ON COLO- Lord Ashley wrought in a better direction when he heartily seconded
NI7.ATION. • •
Hansard, ixviii. Mr. Charles Buller's motion (in the session of 1843) in favour of extensive
and systematic Colonization, as a means of lessening the excessive competition
in the labour market at home, and of opening new fields of subsistence and of
commerce, to the mutual advantage of the colonists and of the stayers at
home. Though the discussion did not lead to any immediate practical result, it
was eminently useful in directing attention to the true principles of relief, and
affording large information as to our colonizing prospects. We shall hereafter
see what was doing in this field.
While Parliament was thus almost exclusively occupied with beneficent
legislation, and what was intended as such — thus indicating the peculiar pres-
sure of the time — society out of doors was following in the same track. We
see, with great satisfaction, about this time, a rising movement in favour of
MbvEYMKN'rN° snortenirig the hours of trading in shops. Here, where exchange and not
production is concerned, there can be no reasonable objection to bringing the
exhausting labour of shop attendance within endurable limits. As long as
the fair convenience of purchasers is considered, and the shops are kept open
for the length of an average working day, a timely closing of the shops is a
benefit to the tradesman and his assistants in every way. The one thing to
be done was to induce the tradesmen in the same line to agree to close their
shops at the same hour : and this has been found not difficult, on the whole.
The early closing movement began to be talked about at this time ; and a
prospect was opening to the shopman and shopwoman of evening reading, or
social converse, or rest, or (if their fatigue permitted it) a breath of fresh air
at other times than on Sundays. — And we note, also, the commencement of
the movement on behalf of one of the most suffering classes of society — the
Governesses. The position of this unfortunate class is so anomalous, so un-
natural, and, at our own particular period, so depressed, that the efforts of all
the benevolent among us could do but little for relief. But, from this time, it
was at least certain that the neglect of society was at an end ; and this was
the clear beginning of the end which must one day arrive. From this time,
some few of the suffering multitude of female educators would be sheltered in
their latter years, and tended in sickness, and aided to provide resources
against a season of age and sickness. We were to have among us asylums
for aged governesses, and homes for such as were unemployed ; and methods
of insurance or deposit for annuities for such as were earning salaries ; and,
better than all these, an awakening of society to the inquiry why this class is
one which suffers so bitterly ; and whether it can be justifiable to have among
CASE OF GOVER-
NESSES.
CHAP. VII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 561
us a class so indispensable, and yet so unhappy. It may be hoped that there 1843.
were employers of governesses who were now moved to consider whether they "-— ->'— — '
could not afford some solace of sympathy, and respect, and social converse,
and improvement, and amusement, to the inmate of their house whose position
was one of utter loneliness in the midst of numbers.
We notice at this time also projects for improving the dwellings of the IMPROVEMENT o»
poor. We read of Model Lodging Houses ; of mansions for families where, at
a less cost than had been paid for the most wretched roosting-places, poor
families might be provided with clean and airy rooms, with a supply of water,
light, and warmth. Suggestions were even made of a common kitchen, wash-
house and bakehouse, and other devices of domestic socialism which made the
timid look to see whether the principle of Communism was gaining ground in
England, as it was reported to be in France, Germany, and Italy. The greater
number felt, however, that it mattered little what name such projects were
called by, if they supplied the necessaries and comforts of life, on a principle
independent of alms-giving, to those who could enjoy them only by means
of the economy of Association.
The Queen's Letter was still looked to as a means of relief for the still starv- THE QUEEN'S
ing people in the manufacturing districts. This royal letter was prepared by
the advice, and under the eye, of the Privy Council. It was addressed to the
Archbishop of Canterbury ; and it directed that the Bishops should see that it Hansard, ixiu.
was read on an appointed Sunday, in all the Churches, that the people might
be moved to charitable contribution for the relief of the distress ; their con-
tributions to be collected from house to house in the course of the week follow-
ing the publication of the letter. The transaction, which began in May,
1842, was spread over some months — Lord Wharncliffe declaring, in the next
session, that the sum raised under this letter amounted to about 75,0007. Hansard, ixvi.
which was expended in the most distressed manufacturing counties. It was CG'
thought to be a mistake at the time to have recourse to so extreme a method
of appeal in a season when all hearts that could be so reached were already
opened and softened by the indications of unequalled distress on every hand ;
and the smallness of the sum raised in response to the royal invitation in pro-
portion to those provided by private subscription seems to show that there was
a failure of judgment and taste in the act. But it combines with other inci-
dents of the time to show that the great social tendency of the day was to
consider the poor. This consideration occupied almost all the time of parlia-
ment, and was most prominent in the thought of the country — eminently
combining with and stimulating the action of the most powerful body in the
community at that time — the Anti-Corn-Law League.
VOL. ii. 4 c
562 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER VIII.
1841 4(3 TN January, 1841, Mr. O'Connell said, at a meeting of the Repeal Associa-
^— — ~— — ' -*- tion of Dublin, " I shall, for my part, vote for the Whigs on all party
1^1*™!*™ "N questions, in order to keep them in : but I tell them honestly and openly,
spectator, i84i, ^^ tbey naye jogt altogether the hearts of the Irish people ; and nothing
but the loud cry for Repeal shall henceforth be heard among us I did
not resume the Repeal agitation till I saw how utterly unable the Whigs were
to effect anything." It might be asked why Mr. O'Connell desired to keep
in the Whigs if they had lost the hearts of the Irish people, and were utterly
powerless. It appears that he really did suppose that a Conservative Minis-
try— such as the Peel administration was by anticipation supposed to be —
would treat Ireland as the rank old Orangemen of the north would have her
treated ; and that the alternative was merely between nothing being done for
Ireland and her being cruelly oppressed. Just before the Bed-chamber dis-
pute, when it was known that Sir R. Peel might come in at any moment if
he would, and that it was the " Irish difficulty " which prevented his doing
so, Mr. O'Connell was looking round anxiously for every means of making
the Irish question popular in England — even requesting an English author,
whom he thought likely to be listened to, to travel in Ireland, under facilities
provided by himself, in order to report upon the condition of the country.
His apprehension of insufferable coercion from a Conservative government was
probably real : and it led him, from this date, into that monstrous agitation
for the Repeal of the Union which was as fatal to himself as to his unhappy
country. From this time, he began to reap his retribution for his rash, un-
principled, and most mischievous political conduct. From this time, he drew
down upon himself a burden of embarrassment and irksome responsibility,
under which, after long perplexity and anguish of mind, he sank spirit-
broken and terror-stricken, leaving a name which was soon to be cursed by
his countrymen as fervently as it had ever been blessed. — Probably, no one
now supposes him to have been sincere in any expectation or desire to obtain
a Repeal of the Union ; for nothing can be more futile, or more audacious in
spectator, 1841, absurdity, than his replies to Lord Charlemont and others who objected to the
efficacy of Repeal, and showed that if it was obtained to-morrow, the redemp-
tion of Ireland would remain to be achieved, with less chance of unity of
councils and dispassionateness of action than under the Imperial connexion :
but he was probably of opinion that the best means of making Ireland at-
tended to and cared for was by making her feared ; and that the best way of
making her feared was by pushing the Repeal agitation.
1841. In this year, we find him waging war against British manufacturers. "His
PROCEEDINGS. pantaloons, waistcoat, and coat, were Irish He considered the plea-
sure of giving employment to Irish hands part of the value of the price he
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 563
gave for any thing." He might speak for himself; but he could not expect 1841 — 46.
poorer Irishmen to indulge themselves in this sort of luxury; and the effort to ^— — •'— — ^
exclude English manufactures failed, though O'Connell passed a law to that
effect, and even attempted to enforce it, in opposition to the Dublin 'magis- spectator, 1341,
tracy. — Mr. O'Connell made journeys, and attended dinners, for the further- P'
ance of Repeal ; and in February, we find him declaring that he had been Ibid- P- 128-
refused post-horses, through Orange intimidation; from which fact he drew
the conviction, that if he had travelled on the day first fixed, his carriage would
have certainly been destroyed, and himself probably murdered. — In March, at
a meeting on the Curragh of Kildare, he protested against a published calcu- lbid-p-272.
lation of the length of his agitation, from his age being sixty-five. " Ten or
eleven of his uncles and aunts lived to be above ninety ;" and the prospect of
his scope of agitation was indefinite, as he " could make as much of three years
as most men could of thirty." In April, we find him holding forth on the
grievous subject of rents, and proposing plans, procured from a committee of Ibid- P 344-
his own, for securing a tenancy of not less than twenty years for every man on
the land, with power to all to purchase small farms, paying for them by in-
stalments, with the ent. At the same date, he admitted the difficulty of en-
forcing his order to exclude British manufactures, and accounted for it by
audaciously declaring that it was owing to an influx of English workmen,
" who had come over to keep down the wages of the Irish operative." —
In the same month, certain American sympathizers sent over some hundreds Ibid- P- 392.
of pounds for the furtherance of the Repeal cause ; and O'Connell declared
that the Irish parliament was not dead — only slept — and would be awakened
now by the crowing of the American cocks across the Atlantic. He took oc-
casion to stimulate the Repeal wardens to augment their funds, saying that
two millions of Repealers — and he could not do with less than two millions of
Repealers — would yield, at Is. per man, £100,000. — By this time, O'Connell's
" Board of Trade" had discovered that it would be necessary to supersede the
Dublin shop-keepers by " marts for the exclusive sale of Irish commodities,"
as the shop-keepers would not join in the movement to exclude British manu-
factures.— By the middle of May it had become clear that Sir R. Peel was
coming into power ; and O'Connell proposed a simultaneous meeting on a
Sunday, of all the parishes of Ireland, in order to implore the Queen " not to ibid. P. 466.
receive into her confidence the bitter and malignant ancient enemies of her
faithful Irish people." Before this month was over, the Repeal meetings in
the provinces were becoming grand shows; one on the Hill of Kilnoe, in
Clare, consisting of 100,000 men; and another at Ardsullas, leading the way
in that organization which afterwards gave their formidable character to such
meetings. The people came in companies, led by their priests from distances ibid. p. 582.
of ten or fifteen miles, with Temperance bands playing before them. A bed-
ridden old woman was carried ten miles to see the preparations made " for the
salvation of her country." During the absorption of the passions of the people
in the growing agitation, the diminution of crime appears remarkable. While
there was " but one voice upon the breeze of heaven — Hurrah for Repeal !" —
and the shout arose " from the Giants' Causeway to Cape Clear — from Conne-
mara to the Hill of Howth," the judges were congratulating the juries on
564 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
4
1841 46. there being few prisoners for trial, or " the dock was empty." — In August, the
Liberator's speeches contain a curious medley ; announcing his intended
measure for securing to every man a long or perpetual holding of the land he
lives on ; desiring the people not to rebel as long as they could help it ; inti-
mating that steam-boats could ^ring aid from America in ten days ; and long-
ing for the hour which he declared might soon arrive when the Queen, flying
from the Tory enemies of her throne, should take refuge in the arms of her
faithful Irish. To these he added two curious declarations; that he had always
been opposed to the introduction of a Poor law into Ireland ; and that he had
arranged to introduce hand-loom weaving into Ireland, trusting to achieve an
exclusion of the productions of British power-looms. By this time, the Re-
peal meetings were " immense ;" and the priests of one diocese which contained
105 had all joined but one. A member was now added to the Association,
whose accession was uproariously hailed — Mr. O'Connell's latest grandchild,
aged four days. Nothing was omitted which could amuse or gratify the
people. — In October, the government papers in London intimated plainly that
the Cabinet intended to take no notice of any nonsense in Ireland ; but that
any acts obviously dangerous to the general peace would be put down with
the strong hand ; and an appeal was made to the newspaper press on the Con-
servative side not to record the boasts and menaces of the Repealers, as nothing
but neglect seemed to be necessary to empty the benches at Repeal meetings.
This declaration of the Standard, in October, 1841, was regarded as an indi-
cation of the policy of the new Administration in regard to the Repeal move-
ment.— Mr. O'Connell had before declined the office of Lord Mayor of Dublin.
He now changed his mind, and accepted the dignity, for the facilities it would
ibid. p. lies. afford for extending the Repeal cause. — In November, the movement had
become important enough to be visited with opposition and defection. A pro-
minent member withdrew, convinced by the arguments of opponents that Ire-
land wanted peace and quiet more than political changes ; and an intrepid
parish priest refused to collect Repeal Rent from his flock, because they were
already under the pressure of poverty. By this time, the new census was out :
and Mr. O'Connell made use of it to charge upon the British government a
" wholesale extermination of the Irish people " — " a frightful slaughter of
human beings," — because the population had increased at a considerably slower
rate during the last than the preceding ten years. At every meeting in Dublin
now contributions from the United States were handed in, amounting by this
time to many hundreds of pounds. The O'Connell rent was also swelling —
the sum collected in the Dublin district jilone this year exceeding £2,000. —
In a month, it became clear how the new Lord Mayor meant to use his office
ma. p. 1157. for the benefit of the Repeal cause. In one hour and a half he admitted
seventy-three new freemen — all of them having avouched themselves Catho-
lics, and " of the right sort." The dignitary declared the business to be " go-
ing on swimmingly;" and that there would be no need for him to be made
permanent Lord Mayor by perpetual re-election, because he could put things
in train during this year, and get a sound coadjutor appointed to succeed him,
who would do the same in his turn. Such avowals appear to have created no
disgust among his followers, amidst their loud talk of political right and justice.
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 565
All means to their end seem to have been, not only fair, but laudable in their 1841 — 46.
eyes. These preparations indicate what might be expected from a subsequent ' '
time.
In 1842, however, there was something like a suspension of the Repeal agi- 1842.
tation. The harvest having been bad, the people suffered cruelly, in many of
the rural districts. Food riots and agrarian disturbances fill the foreground of
the picture during that year ; — attacks upon flour-mills ; people roaming the
streets in the towns of Galway, and collecting before every potato storehouse ;
lives lost at Ennis ; and a special commission sent down to scenes of disturb-
ance. The next year was that in which the Repeal agitation reached its
height.
It is at this time that we begin to see mention of " Monster Meetings." 1843.
Early in January, Mr. O'Connell announced the Repeal of the Union to be " all j'N^8TE* MEET-
but immediate," if the clergy and laity would unite in their overwhelming
majority: and he added, " 1843 is and shall be the Repeal year." A remark- spectator, 1843,
able step, and one which created great excitement in Dublin, was that Mr.
O'Connell carried a Repeal petition to parliament by an overwhelming ma-
jority in the Corporation of Dublin. This was in March; and presently
occurred the Monster Meeting at Trim, where 30,000 people were present. At
the dinner which succeeded the meeting, the Agitator ventured upon his
boldest language — talked of the scaffold, victory or the grave, and dared the Annual Register,
young men to say whether they would be slaves, or shed their blood in the
field. — At the Mullingar meeting, on the 14th of May, it appeared that every
Catholic bishop in Ireland was a Repealer. To this meeting the peasantry
thronged, even from a distance of forty miles ; and the numbers were some-
where between 100,000 and 130,000. By this time, all pretence of assembling
to petition parliament was laid aside ; and parliament was spoken of with mere
contempt. As the government did not interfere, the Agitator grew bolder and
more threatening in his language, and more plainly invited his followers to
wrest Repeal from the hand of Imperial tyranny. The government still pro-
fessed its intention of relying on the ordinary powers of the law, except with
regard to the holding of arms, about which a keenly-contested Bill passed
through parliament during the summer. The Chancellor of Ireland, Sir
Edward Sugden, removed from the Commission of the Peace Lord Ffrench
and several other magistrates who had taken part in Repeal demonstrations :
but this act, however much questioned in the House of Commons, was one
which lay within the ordinary powers of the law.
It appears as if the first serious fears of the government were excited by the TAHA MEETING.
Monster Meeting at Tara, on the 15th of August, where O'Connell, who pro-
voked the old association of ideas about the bully and the coward, bragged more
grandly than ever, because it seemed that the government would give him
nothing to fear. He declared that he had been laughed at for saying in f8"3Ual Reeiste'.
January that this was the Repeal year ; but it was his turn to laugh now ; for
it was certain that before twelve months more, the parliament would be in
College Green, Dublin. He believed he was "able to announce" to his
hearers that not twelve months could possibly elapse, without hurrahs for the
Irish parliament in College Green being heard over the land. He opened
glimpses of his plan for extorting permission from the Queen for Ireland to
566
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
p. 777.
ARBITRATION
COURTS.
1841 — 46. govern herself; and these words were addressed to an assemblage estimated by
- ->,- various reporters at from 500,000 to 2,000,000 of persons. The Hill of Tara
spectator, 1843, was like a huge encampment. Some persons arrived over-night ; others nocked
in from the break of day : and after ten o'clock, imposing processions, with
music and banners, converged from various points. The spot was chosen for
its revolutionary associations ; the old kings of Ireland having been elected on
the Hill ; and the rebels of 1798 having there sustained a defeat. A head-
ornament, half cap, half crown, was prepared, wherewith to crown the Libe-
rator ; and there can be no doubt that the peasant multitude believed the day
to be come when they were to be freed from a foreign domination, and restored
to national grandeur, and universal comfort and well-being. — This appears to
have been the occasion — at the dinner after the meeting — when the scheme of
establishing Arbitration Courts was first recommended. The people were ad-
vised to desert and ignore the courts of law ; and the magistrates who were
dismissed from the Commission of the Peace on account of their Repeal opi-
nions, were to serve as O'ConnelPs justices, and decide on all disputes brought
before them. These Arbitration Courts did actually, for a considerable time,
almost supersede the regular tribunals. Of course, the plan could not work
long; and there was, perhaps, no part of the Repeal agitation, except the
Temperance, that the friends of the Irish liked so well. It encouraged peace
and courtesy — checked the litigious — and would probably act in the very bene-
ficial direction of giving the people some better notion than they had before of
the use and value of law. As the decisions of O'Connell's justices were not
legal, their courts could not long exist ; and the practice of arbitration died
out, like all the Liberator's arrangements.
On Sunday, the 20th of August, another Monster Meeting was held at Ros-
common — less numerous than it would have been if the tenantry of some
landlords had not complained to their landlords that their attendance would be
compulsory if they had not protection in staying away. Troops and police
were stationed within call, but out of sight. The Agitator's tone was very war-
like. After calling " Tee-totalism the finest effluence of human virtue," he
said that," if he had to go to battle," he should have the Tee-totalers with him;
and there was not an army in the world that he would not fight with them. —
Two days afterwards, a scheme was produced which amused and occupied the
Repealers, and made them think that something was doing : — a plan of O'Con-
nell's proposed Irish parliament. In this, there was an elaborate-looking
detail of the populations of Irish towns and counties, with an apportionment
of representatives ; and there was something for the people to do in studying
this : but there was no hint given as to how this parliament was to be pro-
cured. When pressed on that point, the Agitator declared that the Queen
would grant this parliament by proclamation ; and then the parliament would
" legalize every thing." This is all. The most careful search into the records
of the time yields nothing more ; — not a trace of a practical plan, political or
military; — not a particle of evidence that O'Connell was really seeking a Re-
peal of the Union. Unwilling as every one must be to suppose that a man so
able and powerful was in fact hoaxing an anxious and suffering people for a
course of years — diverting them from the benefits of the Imperial connexion
to follow false lights — seducing them from peaceful industry, to rove the
Spectator, 1843,
p. 801.
Ibid. p. 800.
CHAP. VIII.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 567
country in a bitter holiday fashion — it is impossible for the careful inquirer to 1841 — 46.
avoid the conviction that O'Connell knew that there would be no Repeal of •*•— - v— *-~-
the Union. We find marchings hither and thither, Temperance bands, Tara
crowns, "purple robes with fur" — all regal — oaths and pledges, flattery of the
worst parts of the Irish character, pernicious excitement of hatreds of race,
paper schemes and impromptu laws, and an ardent and unremitting pushing
of the demand for money ; but, with all this, no word spoken or written, no
act done, no purpose peeping out, which shows any practical intent of pro-
curing Repeal.
At this harvest-time, a new method of aiding the cause began to be prac- ANTI-RENT MOVE-
tised. On O'Connell promising fixity of tenure — virtual possession — to every
holder of land, in case of an Irish parliament once assembling in Dublin, the
Catholic Bishop of Armagh and other priests began to give "warning" that
the people would sooner or later refuse to pay their rents. The warning was sp^or, 1^43,
precisely one which was likely to work its own fulfilment : and we find the
priests here and there preaching to their flocks that they should gather in their
harvest, lay by what they wanted for themselves, and then, if any was left,
they might pay [it over for rent. As an improvement upon this, bands of
strangers now appeared from a distance — 200 of one party on a Sunday morn-
ing— and cut and carried the produce of small farms, bringing cars with them
for the purpose, and leaving the tenant to show his landlord his bare fields as
excuse for non-payment of his rent. These collusive thefts, perpetrated in
open day, and amidst the sympathy of the neighbourhood, are among the
worst features of the time. — Another was the coercion used to raise money for
the cause — the reapers at this harvest being required to produce their Repeal
tickets (receipts for a shilling) before they could obtain work. " If O'Connell
knew," said one of these reapers, who was walking back from Meath to
Drogheda, with blistered feet, to fetch his Repeal ticket — " if O'Connell knew
what a comfort a shilling is to our families, he would let us alone." This was
said just at the time when the Queen, in the House of Lords, was expressing Hansard, ixxi.
her sorrow for the injury caused to the Irish people by the seditious efforts of
the agitators of the day. She was resolved to sustain the Union, and was en-
deavouring to preserve the tranquillity of Ireland by the use of the ordinary
powers of the law, being unwilling to resort to measures of coercion, and feel-
ing assured that she might rely on the co-operation of a multitude of faithful
subjects in Ireland. Mr. O'Connell pronounced this Speech to be " an excess
of impudence and stupidity combined :*' but, perhaps aware that it might
appear ludicrous for an O'Connell to accuse Queen Victoria of " impudence,"
he laid all the blame on her Majesty's Ministers. The Ministers had carried one
coercive measure during the session — the Irish Arms Act — by which the pos- iwsu ARMS ACT.
sessors of arms were obliged to register them, to have them branded by the
appointed government officer, and take out a license for holding them. This
Act was brought forward at the request of a large number of orderly in-
habitants of Ireland, who were compelled by the state of the times to keep
arms enough for their own defence, but dreaded a seizure of them. There was
little difference between this Bill and many which had been passed for a long
course of years — even up to the date of Lord Morpeth's Bill of 1838 : but it
was made the ground of party conflict in the House. The debates were long
568 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. and angry; and every conceivable Irish topic was brought into them. The
v— •~^- — ' Bill, which had been first debated on the 29th of May, did not leave the Corn-
Hansard, ixxi. mons till the 9th of August. The Lords passed it rapidly ; and it became law
on the 22nd of the same month. It afforded a great subject to the Agitator at
the meetings.
But, by this time, two sorts of narratives of those meetings were getting
abroad. According to the Repealers themselves, the whole country was up,
in one flame of patriotism, on occasion of a monster meeting; — decorating
houses and roads, carrying the crown -cap of the Liberator, marching with
solemn determination, as to a battle-field, bearing banners which demanded
" Repeal or Blood," and swearing on the ground to lay down their lives for
the cause, in response to O'Connell's voice, which was heard to the bounds of
Northern whig, the assemblage. On the other hand, it was pointed out that no human voice
could make its utterance heard by 100,000 people ; the decorations were denied;
the banners had not been seen ; the people went to the stubble field or hill
smiling and chatting, as to a mere sight; and when there, they waited only
for the arrival of O'Connell, when, having nothing more to stay for, they
poured off in all directions, leaving a few hundreds within reach of the voices
from the platform, to do the business of listening, feeling, and responding by
cheers. There were, besides, Conservative reports which treated the move-
ment with a contempt as absurd and forced as the exaggerations of the Re-
pealers. The government acted on the statements of the Repealers them-
selves, who now talked of marshalling their " troops," and of their " Repeal
cavalry;" and issued "regulations," in order to " muster-march, and parade."
A Monster Meeting was appointed to be held at Clontarf, three miles from
Dublin, on Sunday, the 8th of October ; and the preparations assumed such a
CLONTAUI MEET. mi}itary a{r^ that the government thought it time to interfere. On the 7th,
Annual Register, about the middle of the day, a proclamation by the Viceroy and Privy Council
was issued, which declared the public peace to be endangered by such practices
as had taken place at late Repeal meetings, and were contemplated now;
warned all persons to abstain from attendance at the Clontarf meeting ; and
enjoined all official persons to be aiding in the suppression of the meeting. —
The Agitator called together his Council, spoke " with marked calmness," an-
nounced that in consequence of the proceedings of the government, there
would be no meeting the next day, and entreated all persons to use their influ-
ence in preventing any assemblage. The Association issued a proclamation,
desiring the people to stay at home ; and a large number of members volun-
teered to station themselves on the approaches to Clontarf, to turn back all
comers. — Early in the morning, the main strength of the garrison of Dublin
was so placed on the field, as that all who arrived found themselves in a narrow
lane between soldiers, and compelled to pass on by the pressure from behind.
Nobody could find out where the hustings were. They had been removed in
the night. Nobody could see O'Connell. He stayed away. Instead of him,
there was seen Thomas Steele, " the Head Pacificator of Ireland," waving a
green bough of Peace, and moving over the ground, crying, " Home — home —
home !"
Of course, O'Connell declared now that this Clontarf meeting was to have
been the last ; and of course this was not believed by those who had charge of
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 569
the public peace. Not only was there no reason why the Agitator should stop 1841 — 46.
at this particular meeting, but the government had sound reasons for thinking v— — - v— ^-^
that he would not. It now appears that he was in a difficulty which had
begun to weigh upon him, and under which he afterwards lost spirits and
courage. He had called oiit the people, and now did not know what to do
with them. He had accustomed them to political demonstrations as shows ;
and he must devise novelties to keep them amused and peaceable. It was
probably an act of mercy in the government to stop him at this point of em-
barrassment. It is certain that his anxiety about keeping the peace was not
surpassed by their own, when the affair had reached its present critical stage.
Amidst the sudden hush of dismay, caused by the Clontarf proclamation
throughout Dublin, O'Connell went about with an air of extreme calmness,
and with an expression of countenance which, in unguarded moments, showed
that his^mind was now really harassed — no doubt by the pressing necessity of
immediately striking out a new course.
In England, almost every body was relieved and pleased that government
had at last interfered with a procedure which was wholly incompatible with
public peace and order under an established government. It had been ob-
served that Cabinet meetings had become frequent within a week ; and that
the Viceroy, Lord de Grey, had repaired hastily to Dublin from London, in-
stead of travelling into Yorkshire as had been planned. It had long been a
question among men of all parties why O'Connell remained unchecked ; and
now that he proposed to muster his "Repeal Cavalry " within three miles of the
Irish capital, no one could say that the time for a check had not fully come.
Why the thing was done hastily at last, so that the notice against assembling
was perilously short, appears never to have been fully explained. It is pro-
bable that some secret information reached the government which precipitated
their measures.
On the Monday, O'Connell's words were watched for at the meeting of
the Repeal Association. One of his topics was the cruelty of government in
keeping the soldiers standing all day at Clontarf for nothing. He quizzed
the Viceroy, and complimented the soldiery and the people. He talked of Sp^ator' 1813-
simultaneous meetings all over Ireland, and of plans for buying up debts on
Irish estates by an association of gentlemen ; but these things were to be done
hereafter, at some distant and unfixed time ; and no indication appears of his
having decided on any immediate course. He spoke of laying before the
House of Commons, in the first week of the session, his scheme for an Irish
parliament, but made no reference to his late declaration that 1843 was the
great Repeal year. It was now the 9th of October, and no progress had been
made. There had been nothing but talk and show ; and the educated people
of Ireland, the great middle class, were as hostile as ever to Repeal. The
peasantry were the Repeal host. They were truly formidable, on account of
their sanguinary notions about slaying all the soldiers in the barracks, and
massacreing all the Saxons in the island, so that every true Irishman should
" have wheaten bread next year :" but they could not assist in the first step
— forming a plan for obtaining Repeal.
For a few days, Dublin was full of rumours of the arrest of O'Connell, ARRESTS OF RE.
* * PEAL LEADERS.
though his portly form was daily seen in the streets. On the 14th, the rumour ^8™ual Re*istor.
VOL. u. 4 n
570 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. was true. He, his son, and eight of their coadjutors, were arrested on charges
of conspiracy, sedition, and unlawful assembling. They"were admitted to
hail. This was the turning point of O'Connell's life. It was at once ob-
served that his anxiety for the public peace was extreme. His language
became moderate ; or, whenever it swelled into vehemence, it was from an
evident agony of apprehension lest the multitude whom he had inflamed
should break out into the violence which he had before indicated to them.
Those who should know best have since declared that from this time his
health began to fail ; and that the word " prison " caused him an anguish
which he could not conceal. He issued the most imploring and incessant
entreaties to the people to keep perfectly quiet ; and declared that he would
, . . „ »
never again use the term " Saxon," as he found that it gave offence. He
caught at an offer from Mr. Joseph Sturge, of Birmingham, to aid the Repeal
cause, if he would confine his demand to a local legislature for merely local
purposes, and would unite the British demand for universal suffrage with his
own objects.
i HE TRIALS. The proceedings began on the 2nd of November, in the Court of Queen's
Bench in Dublin. From the first hour, it was evident that obstruction and
delay were the policy of the accused. It was not till the 8th that the jury
^43, p. 240. ' found the indictment "a true bill:" and the trial was by various devices put
1844. off till the 15th of January. An unfortunate and disgraceful error occurred
in the preparation of the jury lists, two slips of the lists having been lost, and
63 names thus dropped by the way. There -was much controversy as to
whether this accident would prove fatal to the prosecutions ; and there were
disputes and delays about the exclusion of certain Catholics from the jury,
and about every point that could be raised. If it was difficult to conduct
jury-trial in Ireland in all party cases, it might be anticipated that it would
be almost impossible in this critical instance, where it was difficult in the ex-
treme to secure a fair jury. The practice of smuggling a jury on the one
hand and packing it on the other was familiar to every man's expectation :
and few or none believed it possible to find, in all Dublin, twelve dispassion-
ate and impartial men on a question in which Repeal was concerned. The
community was sharply divided between those who adored, and those who
hated, O'Connell. On the important 15th of January, when O'Connell and
his son arrived at the Four Courts, conducted by the Lord Mayor in his state
carriage, and escorted by twenty-three other carriages, the jurors drew back on
various pleas — ill-health — mistakes in the setting down of their Christian
names — and other excuses. All but one 'paid the fine of 501. ; and he was
excused on presenting an affidavit of ill-health. One rheumatic old gentle-
man of 72 was compelled to serve ; and it was noticed that great efforts were
made by the lawyers of the accused to keep on as many invalids as possible,
evidently in the hope that some attack of illness might frustrate the trial. —
Then, two of the accused were absent ; and the excuse presented for one of
them was, that he lived four miles from town. When the Court had waited
long enough, and was about to [forfeit his recognizances, he appeared, and
every body laughed.
There were few to laugh, however, when the Irish Attorney-General made
his statement. Though every body had read about the Repeal movement iii
the newspapers, for months past, every body seemed now struck by the story
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 571
as if it was new. It was a fearful story; and it left the impression on all 1841 — 46.
minds that a rebellion like that of 1798 was impending. Those who did v-—~ x— — -^
laugh as the trial proceeded were moved to it by the extraordinary character
of the scene — the impudence, the recklessness, the buffoonery, which can
hardly be conceived of by those who are accustomed to the gravity of an
English Court of Justice. The case for the prosecution occupied eleven days ;
and after that, the aim of the accused, to wear out the jury, became even
more evident than before. — At length, on the twenty -fourth day, which was
Saturday, February 10th, there was every expectation that the verdict of the
jury would be delivered before night. At seven o'clock, the Chief Justice
closed his charge, which produced a startling effect in Court, from the group-
ing together of O'Connell's speeches of incitement, and of the threatenings of
the Repeal newspapers. The jury inquired whether it was necessary for them
to proceed that night : they were extremely fatigued. They were not let off;
and at half-past seven they retired. A little before eleven, they returned a
verdict imperfect in form, and were sent back. At a quarter past twelve,
they were called in, and informed that they must be locked up till Monday.
When the imperfect verdict was proffered, a vast crowd was assembled
outside the Courts ; and the news that the accused were all found more or less
guilty was received with a terrific yell, which must have told on the nerves of
some of the worn-out jurymen. A woman had that day entered the shop of
one of them, and offered to sell his wife a widow's cap, saying that it would
be needed, if the verdict was against O'Connell. Between one and two
o'clock in the morning, a company paraded the streets, apparently with a
view to create a disturbance : but Dublin was full of soldiery, and all was
kept quiet. A crowd gathered on Sunday morning, to see the jury go to
church ; but it was thought more prudent to have divine service performed
for them in their retreat. At nine o'clock on Monday morning, the Court
assembled. Mr. O'Connell was attended by a gentleman whose accession to
the Repeal cause was at that time hailed as one of its chief triumphs. Mr. w. s. O'BRIEN.
William Smith O'Brien was a gentleman of ancient family, high respecta-
bility of character, amiable temper, and sufficient ability to have made a con-
siderable impression in the House of Commons (where he sat as Member for
Limerick), by his speeches on the subject of Ireland ; and especially by one,
eminently rational and moderate, in the preceding session. It is no wonder
that when he chose the moment of O'Connell's danger, and that of the cause,
for joining it — before his fatal faults of mind and temper had been brought
out by circumstances — his junction with the Repealers was hailed by them
with enthusiasm, and regarded by their opponents with feelings of apprehen-
sion which are now looked back upon with a melancholy smile. As he
entered the Court with the accused, this critical morning, no doubt his heart
glowed with generous emotions, and he believed he was serving Ireland.
None but those who knew him best could have believed, if it had been fore-
told to them, how his vanity would henceforth swell to bursting, and his
small powers of judgment collapse, till he should close the new course on
which he was now entering by plunging his poor countrymen into the miseries
of abortive rebellion, and subjecting himself to the punishment of the felon,
rendered more bitter by his own keen sense of what he must call the ingrati-
572 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1841 46 tude of Irishmen. He now sat by O'Connell's side when, at ten o'clock, the
*-— — .v— " jury entered with their verdict.
f8?T™£a35. There were eleven counts in the indictment; and O'Connell was found
THKVEIIUICT. Guilty on them all; and, with the exception of some clauses here and there,
so were all the accused, except the Rev. Mr. Tierney, the priest, who escaped
lightly. O'Connell immediately issued an address to the people of Ireland, in,
spectator, 1844, \vhich he assured them that the event of his conviction would prove wholly
favourable to the Repeal cause, and concluded with the words, " Keep the
peace for six months, or at the most twelve months longer, and you shall have
the parliament in College Green again." Scarcely credible as it appears, it is
true that multitudes even yet believed the promise. — The news of O'Connell's
conviction flew, like the winds, over all Ireland ; and in Tipperary, the winter
night was lighted up with signal fires on the hills.
i8™ualTria!sSt337 ^ was the 30th of May before sentence was pronounced. Mr. Tierney es-
THE SENTENCE, caped altogether. O'Connell was sentenced to a year's imprisonment, and a
fine of £2000, and was bound in high recognizances to keep the peace for
seven years. The others were sentenced, each to nine months' imprisonment,
a fine of £50, and to find high security for future peaceable conduct. — The
lenity of this sentence probably took every body by surprise. No one could
say there was any vindictiveness in it ; and merely as discipline, it was gentle.
The best part of it — the binding over to keep the peace for seven years — the
part which could not be openly complained of, was the most irksome : but no
one could dispute its being necessary, if the proceedings were in any sense
justifiable. The judge, Burton, who pronounced sentence, was so much affected
as to be scarcely able to do his duty. Mr. O'Connell briefly protested that he
was guiltless of conspiracy, and that justice had not been done. He was al-
lowed to choose his place of imprisonment ; and he chose the Richmond Peni-
APPEAL TO THE tentiary, in Dublin : and there he was conveyed. Proceedings were taken for
LOHUS. J ' J
a reversal of the sentence, and the writ of error immediately transmitted to
London. In the prison, Mr. O'Connell was permitted to receive his friends ;
but their names were not allowed to be written down for publication ; nor
were deputations admitted to address the Liberator. Mr. Smith O'Brien ex-
erted himself to get this restriction removed ; but the matter rested with the
Board of Superintendents of the prison ; and they did not yield ; so the long
trains of carriages rolled away from the gates as they came. The number of
visitors was so great as to be fatiguing to the prisoner ; but it was observed
that his health improved from week to week ; and it was clear that his mind
was relieved in his present inaction, under his temporary release from the
fearful responsibility which he had taken upon himself, and which had latterly
been too much for him. These were his last days of repose and peace of
mind.
On the 12th of July, Lord Heytesbury was gazetted as Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland; Lord De Grey's feeble health incapacitating him for an office so
arduous. When the new Viceroy landed, and was presented with the keys of
the city, it was observed that the ribbons were not, as hitherto, of party-colours,
but " sky-blue and white — emblems of peace, harmony, and love," as a local
paper interpreted them. The preceding Sunday was the day appointed for
putting up a prayer for O'Connell in all the Catholic chapels : but there was
CHAP/VIH.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 573
an ominous difference among the priestly authorities about it. The Catholic 1841 — 46.
Archbishop of Dublin interdicted the act, and was only partially obeyed. v— *-"—--
Meantime, the appeal of the prisoners was before the Lords. By the Lords
its points were referred to the twelve judges for their opinion. All the judges p^K^' 1844>
pronounced six of the eleven counts to be bad or informal, chiefly through the
splitting of the charges by the jury in their verdict, in their anxious desire to
be precise and accurate. They had, in fact, set up distinctions in the kinds of
conspiracy which were not distinguished in the indictment. These six counts
were declared unexceptionable by the Irish judges, and untenable by the Eng-
lish : a result which would scarcely improve the popular estimate of the ad-
ministration of law in Ireland. Seven of the judges next opined that the
judgment and sentence must stand, notwithstanding, as the Irish judges must
know best upon how much of the verdict they grounded their judgment : and
there was enough that was sound to justify the sentence. Two English judges
dissented from this view : and the Peers were now to decide between the opi-
nions of the seven and the minority. Every body seems to have taken for
granted that the House of Lords would avail itself of every opportunity to
confirm the sentence, and keep the Agitator laid up. The Repealers pro-
tested that they did not care ; and such friends as they had in London began
to despise the Lords beforehand for their anticipated judgment. — On the 6th of
September, immediately before the prorogation of parliament, the Law Lords
delivered their opinions. Some of the Peers, seeing the decision likely to go
in favour of O'Connell, were eager to vote, instead of leaving the matter, as
was just and decorous in an intricate question of legality, to the Law Lords :
but Lord Wharncliffe interposed to support the dignity of the House as a Court Ibid- P- 845-
of Appeal, and induced the lay Lords to retire without voting. The Earl of
Verulam was the first who retired behind the Woolsack ; and all the lay Lords
present followed. Four Peers remained. Lord Denman, Lord Cottenham, and
Lord Campbell, voted that the judgment of the Court below should be reversed. JUDGMENT RK.
Lord Brougham voted the other way.
The news of the reversal of the judgment, and the victory of O'Connell,
was received by multitudes in England with a sort of consternation. But the
most calm and clear-minded saw the matter at once as all learned by experi-
ence to regard it. It was not only that they kept in view the supreme im-
portance of an impartial administration of the law. That would have been
enough : but they also saw that this decision deprived O'Connell of his great
theme — the injustice and oppression of " the Saxon," and the enslavement of
the Irish under the Imperial connexion. It was by the Imperial parliament
that his appeal was justified, and his sentence dissolved : and it was the hand
of benign justice herself that now heaped coals of fire on his head. Time con-
firmed this view. It was his release that broke the Already anxious spirit of EFFECT ON OTON-
the Agitator. If a shadow of doubt had rested on the strict legal justice of his NE
punishment, he would have come out from his prison at the year's end, strongly
armed in injury, to lay waste the country under a new term of agitation. As
it was, he came out — however boastful and clamorous — in reality perplexed,
anxious, and feeble. He never was like himself again, except on some single
occasions. He was, and he felt himself, half-way down a precipice, uncertain
574 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. whether to go up or down — unable to do either. His career was now virtually
"— — >^~-— ' over.
Yet there was an external grandeur about his release. On the notification
Annual Register, of his freedom being given him. he left the prison on foot, with his sons and a
1844, Chron. 95. . . .
few friends. He was recognised in the street, and escorted home by a crowd,
DEMONSTRATIONS, whom he dismissed with a short speech from his balcony. The next morning
early he went back to his prison, to be carried home in triumph. The whole
city was abroad to see ; and it was two hours from the time when the pro-
cession began to leave the gates, before the car could be brought up. The
car — often used before, and now recognised with transport by the people —
lifted him a dozen feet over the heads of the crowd. He stood at his full
height, and was crowned with the Repeal cap. He was portly, and apparently
in good health ; but his countenance wore the anxious expression which was
now becoming habitual to it. As for the rest, the show was vulgar enough ; —
the grandsons of the Agitator being on the lower platform of the car, in
" green velvet tunics, and caps with white feathers." The best feature was
perhaps the coach in which were the lawyers in the cause, carrying the
" Monster Indictment." Mr. O'Connell closed the proceedings by an address
from his balcony, in which he " hoped it would not be necessary to hold the
Clontarf meeting," the principle of which was vindicated by the trials. He
promised to open out his further plans at the Repeal Hall — whimsically
called Conciliation Hall — 011 the next Monday. — At that meeting, which
was crowded and triumphant, Mr. W. Smith O'Brien " rushed to the front
of the platform, seized the Liberator's hand, and shook it vigorously for
some moments." In return, Smith O'Brien's hand was pressed to the heart
of the Liberator ; and the cheering and stamping were such that " the
very building quaked and trembled." How soon was all this to appear a
mockery ! These fervent friends were soon to stand before the world as ene-
mies— O'Brien striving to bio a rival sun in the same hemisphere — O'Con-
nell heaping contempt and foul names on O'Brien! O'Connell kept his
promise of announcing " plans " at Conciliation Hall. ?rom this time, he
was more fertile in " plans " than ever : he was incessantly changing them.
His language grew, if possible, bigger, his demonstrations more vulgar — with
more green velvet, feathers, harps, wreaths, and old Irish costumes — and his
Monster Meetings more enormous. He was invited to England, and f£ted
there, and made use of for the Anti-Corn-Law cause. But he was never
really formidable again, and he knew it. He had no policy — no principle —
nothing to repose upon ; and only his ingenuity and audacity for a resource.
A severe blow was struck at him towards the close of 1845 — and his extreme
violence showed how it told upon his heart — by an exposure of his deficien-
o'CoNNELL AS A cies as a landlord. It Became known — not by any hostile gossip, but by
means of a full and authorized investigation into the facts — that this Liberator,
whose heart was wrung by the woes of Ireland, whose life was devoted to her
Letters of the redemption, was a Middleman, pocketing three times as much rent drawn from
rioter, p. 53™mls^ a squalid peasantry, as he paid to the head landlord ; while also his own
tenantry were in " a lost, wretched, and neglected condition." While hold-
ing forth patriotically against oppression, hundreds of miles from home, and
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 575
drawing away the peasantry from honest industry to hear his vapouriiigs 1841 — 46.
about freedom and prosperity, and pay their only shilling in an imaginary » '
cause, he was receiving rent from squalid wretches who wallowed with the
pig, and were chilled under his roofs by the wintry wind, and would fain have
shared the food of his beagles. He was furious at this exposure ; but his
hard words mattered little while hard facts were against him. — Then he was
seen in London streets, walking slowly and stooping, while supported by two O'CONNEU/S DE.
of his sons ; and members of the House complained that they could not hear
his now short speeches, because of the feebleness of his voice. — Then rumours
arose of approaching famine in Ireland, and his sinking heart could not bear them.
He was disturbed at the rise of the "Young Ireland " party — the new section
of Repealers and Liberators who were impatient for war, while he no longer
talked of battle fields, but grew more timid and perplexed from day to day.
When the Whigs succeeded to the Peel government in 1846, and he was re-
instated in the Commission of the Peace, and supported the Russell- ministry,
he was harassed and shaken by the scorn and enmity of "Young Ireland,"
who taunted him with having "surrendered." As the famine was seen surely
to approach, all political action became out of the question. His physicians
said he must be removed from the sight and hearing of whatever would dis-
turb him : and, if the later portraits of him are to be trusted, this was highly
necessary. It is affecting to look on the heavy eye, and the mournful and
wistful expression of countenance. He went to Hastings ; and he did not
mend, though the newspapers had paragraphs about his improving health,
or health which needed no improvement. He desired that the newspapers
might be kept from him, and all tidings of Ireland. No one was to be ad-
mitted who would speak of Ireland. He so watched the countenance of his
physician when looking at his tongue, and was so alarmed by any gravity
of countenance at the moment, that his physician had to remember to
look cheerful and pleased. Next, he went abroad, hoping to reach Rome, and
die under the blessing of the Pope. But he sank too rapidly for this. He
was carried to Paris, Marseilles, Genoa ; and then he could go no further.
The final symptoms consequent on a long decay of the digestive functions
came on, in May, 1847: and on the 15th of that month, he died, his latest HIS DEATH.
anxieties being lest he should be buried alive. He gave repeated warnings to Genoa" M°™ ioth,
his physicians and servant against this danger. His melancholy deepened to
the last ; and his only interest seemed to be in dependence on his confessor,
and in repeating the prayers enjoined. On examination, the state of the brain
explained his later moods. It was extensively diseased; and the disease, both
there and elsewhere, must have been of long standing. This was a natural
close of the life he had led — a life of strong passions, and intense and unre-
mitted excitement, without the repose of a simple integrity : but it is not the
less profoundly melancholy. Those who could least pretend to lament his
disappearance from his mischievous position in Ireland, could not see without
emotion the progress of the old triumphal car through the streets of Dublin,
bearing the silent remains of him whom multitudes still called by the name
of Liberator. The name has died already, and will be henceforth met with
only in the chronicles of a past time. It is difficult now to find an
educated Irishman who speaks of O'Connell with respect, or who denies that
he set back Ireland half a century by his political action after 1829. But his
576 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. name was a spell upon the Catholic peasantry ; and when the charm was dis-
•*~~~~^~^^ solved, and the idol hroken, there was no heart that was not aware of the
melancholy which always attends the breaking of idols.
During the years when the Repeal agitation was strongest, there were
things doing in and for Ireland which afforded some hope on her behalf, even
to those who saw most clearly the mischiefs of O'Connell's course, and were
most indignant at them. The most essential good that could be rendered to
Ireland — that which at least must precede every other — was an exposure of
the fact that her miseries proceeded from moral and social, and not political
causes. The famine was coming which was to do this good work in a harsh
manner. While the famine was not foreseen, there was something extremely
disheartening in O'Connell's pernicious mode of action, and in the rise of
Young Ireland, with its political ignorance, its slaughter-house talk, and its
bullying boasts — all so vulgar in the presence of the mournful greatness of
the cause it professed to monopolize. But violence and ignorance and folly
are, in their own nature, short-lived ; and there was a lasting life in some in-
stitutions and methods and proposals on behalf of Ireland which were not
extinguished by the Repeal agitation.
IMPROVING AGRI- The county of Derry was showing, according to its wont, what could be
done by the application of industry and capital, among a mixed population of
Catholics and Protestants, and under the much-abused Union. On the
Letters of 'Times' estates of the London Companies, were seen "good farm-houses, large squared
Commissioner, „
P. 151. fields, good fences, and abundant crops, at the same date when, under an
Letters of 'Times' invited visitation, an inquirer was compelled to report, " in no part of the
P. 529. United Kingdom is such neglected wretchedness — such filth, such squalor,
such misery of every kind — to be seen, as I saw that day on Mr. O'Con-
nell's estate, in the presence of Mr. Maurice O'Connell." At the same date,
s^u^eTof ifetand ^r- ^ane was asking whence such contrasts arise ; and avowing " the fault is
p- 412- not in the country, but in ourselves:" and he adds, " we do not want activity ;
we are not deficient in mental power, but we want special industrial know-
AGRICULTURAL ledge." This want was considered and met in the introduction of Asrricultu-
SCHOOLS
ral Schools, whose benefits would be spreading over the land when the Union
was no more talked of than it is in Scotland now. From the Templemoyle
Seminary, for one, young men were going forth every year, to reclaim or im-
prove the land about their homes, and command good labour, and train to
good habits, and produce conspicuous crops, and occupy the minds of the
peasantry round them with something better than showy processions, and
visions of battle fields that would never be fought. It was already apparent
that where these young men settled down, the quality of labour and of pro-
duce improved, the peasantry were better fed and lodged, and crime so dimi-
nished as that the police and soldiery went almost out of sight. — Then there
were Agricultural Associations which kept up the interest of the gentry, though
they never sufficiently engaged the attention of the farmers. There was also
the Irish Waste Land Improvement Society, which did more good to the
peasantry, by compelling patient improvement of the soil, and patient learning
how to improve it.
-^n important measure — a measure calculated to heal religious dissen-
sions, and redress Catholic grievances — passed the legislature in the session
CHAP. VIIL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 577
of 1844 — a measure for the better security and administration of Charitable 1841 — 46.
and Religious Trusts. It was introduced in the Lords, where it met with no ^— —^ '— — '
obstruction. In the Commons, it was disputed, chiefly by the hot-headed
Irish repeal members, who talked as usual of " insult " and " injustice " to
Ireland ; while their calmer comrades, and every body else, saw that it was
conceived and framed in a just and kind spirit, and must work benignly. At
the beginning of the century, a Board was appointed to administer Charita- Hansard, ixxvt
ble Trusts ; and the members were almost exclusively Protestants, while
nearly three-fourths of the bequests placed under its jurisdiction were Roman
Catholic endowments. By the new Bill, three members of the Board were to
be dignitaries of the law, two of whom might be Catholics : and ten more
Commissioners were to be appointed by the Crown, five of whom were to be
Protestants, and five Catholics. Various imperfections of the existing law
were so redressed as to give a preponderance at the Board to the Catholic
section where Catholic bequests were concerned. Mr. O'Connell injured him-
self much with the most enlightened part of his Catholic countrymen by his
opposition to this Bill, an opposition which he grounded on his fears of the spectator, mi,
consequences of sending Catholics to the Castle, and of sanctioning a connex-
ion of the Catholic Church with the State. On occasion of the third reading,
Mr. Maurice J. O'Connell said, that "'he was bound to express his conviction Hansard, ixxvi.
1780
that when the present heats had subsided, the Bill would be found a substan-
tial benefit to the people of Ireland, raising the condition of their clergymen,
without shackling the influence exercised by them over their flocks." In
August, Mr. O'Connell declared that all befitting means should be taken to
prevent the Act going into execution, and intimated that it could never take spectator, ^44,
effect if Roman Catholics refused the office of Commissioners ; yet, on the
21st of November, the Dublin Evening Freeman announced " the first blow
at the independence of the Catholic Church ;" the rumour that Catholic
Prelates and laymen of respectability had consented to become Commissioners.
It was even so. The Catholic Primate of Ireland, the Catholic Archbishop of
Dublin, and three more Catholics " of respectability," were gazetted as Com- nuWin Gazette,
r *' & December 18th,
missioners in December, together with four prelates and laymen of the 1844-
Established Church, and one Presbyterian divine. The success of this heal-
ing measure, which brought the heads of the two churches together to watch
over the interests of religion and charity, was a sore addition to Mr. O'Con-
nell's perplexities, and a severe blow to his influence, by forcing him into
collision with the chief priests of his own communion.
During the same session, the Lord Chancellor united with a Catholic Peer, PENAI, ACTS Re-
Lord Beaumont, in obtaining the abolition of various penal Acts against the Hansard, ixxvi.
Romanists, which, though obsolete, were an offence as they stood in the im'
statute book. The abolition of the office of Lord Lieutenant was proposed, Hansard, ixxiv.
as a means of bringing Ireland into the same close union as exists between 834>
England and Scotland. Mr. Hume had striven for this object twenty years
before, and he was as fully convinced as ever that the assignment of a viceregal
government to Ireland gave that country a colonial appearance which was
highly disadvantageous. The frequent changes of administration in Dublin
were a serious drawback upon good government. Instead of a responsible
minister of the Crown residing in London, there had been sixteen Chief Secre-
VOL. II. 4 E
CERGYAr.TY
DISCUSSED.
578 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK VI.
1841 46. taries for Ireland in the first thirty years after the Union. A smaller con-
sideration, but not an unimportant one, was the economy of the change. Mr.
Hume moved an address to the Queen, requesting her to consider of the
abolition of the Viceroyalty. The answer of Lord Eliot, the Irish Secretary,
was that the change would be inconvenient ; that the Irish people did not
desire it ; and that the office was six hundred years old, whereas none such
Hansard, ixxiv. j^ existed in Scotland. Lord John Russell, upon this, pointed out that it
had been in contemplation to appoint a separate Council for Scotland ; but
that Lord Somers had maintained that such a Council would prevent the
Union from ever being complete. There was opposition enough to induce
Mr. Hume to withdraw his motion. His object will probably be carried out
in an easy and natural manner — by such improvements in science and the
arts as are already bridging the narrow sea, and bringing London and Dublin
within easy hail of each other. When the English, from the Queen to the
commercial traveller, can visit Ireland as easily as Scotland, and London news
can be heard as soon in Dublin as in Edinburgh, and a Secretary of State in
London can govern and protect the one as well as the other, it is pretty cer-
tain that the whole apparatus of the Viceroyalty, about which the affections
of the Catholic Irish certainly do not cling, will be swept away ; and there
will be one reminder the less of the tenure of conquest under which this
special machinery of government was set down in the midst of the Irish
people.
ENDOWMENT OP The subject of endowing the Roman Catholic clergy was much discussed
CATHOLlcCLEEOY' throughout the country at this time. Loud and vehement declarations were
uttered by the Irish political leaders in the name of the priests, and by many
of the priests themselves, that nothing would ever induce them to accept of a
shilling of endowment from Protestant hands : but numbers of thoughtful
men believed then, as numbers of thoughtful men believe at this day, that,
with time and patience, such a scheme would work. The Protestant Church
in Ireland is felt to be an intolerable grievance, in its existing preponderance.
All attempts to reduce it to its fair proportions, and settle it in its true func-
tion, have failed : and the easiest way now seems to be to raise the depressed
Church of the majority into a greater fitness for its function. As a Mission-
ary Church, the Establishment has failed, and will evidently continue to fail.
If the Catholic majority of the Irish people do not, and will not, enter it, the
way which, remains to enlighten and improve them is to elevate and improve
the quality of their priesthood ; a priesthood hitherto kept ignorant and de-
pendent by the meagreness of their means of education, and by their absolute
dependence on their flocks for subsistence. If a provision were once made for
them by law, and the arrangement placed beyond dispute — if an annual sum
for every priest were known to be lying at the banker's — it was the belief of
the advocates of the endowment that the priests would take it ; and there
could be nothing in receiving a provision thus which could subject the reci-
pients to any dangers of dependence comparable to those amidst which they
were actually living. The example of foreign countries showed that there is
no abstract objection in the minds of a Catholic priesthood to endowment by
a Protestant State. The difficulty in the Irish case was purely political ; and
therefore likely to give way under a liberal and kindly political management.
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 579
The proposal of an increased grant to Maynooth College Avas regarded by 1841 — 46.
many as a first step towards the object, though it might perfectly well stand v — -~^— -
by itself, as having important merits of its own. It was a great thing to pro- ,, ° '
P L MAYNOOTH GRANT
vide for the improved education of the priesthood, whether or not this advan-
tage was to be followed up by making them less dependent for subsistence on
their peasant flocks. It was a great thing to raise them by education above
the wish for vulgar and dangerous power over the people, whether or not the
sordid part of the temptation was to be afterwards obviated. Sir R. Peel had
the courage to propose, on the 3rd of April, 1845, that the parliamentary grant
to Maynooth College should be enlarged so as, in some degree, to bear out the
purpose of making any grant at all. The institution had always been most
meagrely supplied with comforts, and even with the necessaries of life ; the
professors were paid less than counting-house clerks ; and at present the dis-
tress of the times had materially reduced the contributions of the middle
classes, who paid for the education of their sons. It would be better to with-
draw all pretence of government support than to let the College go on in this
way : and it was a question how money could be better spent than in really
educating the students who were to be (whether well or ill-qualified) the
future guides and guardians of the Catholic population of Ireland. It seems
as if no great courage could be required to propose such an augmentation of
the annual grant to Maynooth as to make it worth while to award any grant
at all. But it did require great courage ; and there was scarcely any act of
his bold administration for which the Premier was more vituperated than for
this. It was the great political controversy of the year — the subject on which
society seemed to be going mad. It was not the extent of the grant that was
deprecated; but the advance in that direction at all. Hitherto, the grant had Hansard, ixxix
been 9,000/. ; and the trustees had been authorized to hold land to the amount
of 1,000/. per annum : but this could never be done, because the trustees were
never incorporated. They were now to be incorporated, and permitted to hold
land to the amount of 3000/. per annum. The sum of 6000Z. was to be granted
for professors' salaries, which would henceforth be large enough to yield com-
fort and respectability, and therefore to secure a higher order of qualification
than could hitherto be commanded. At present, the number of students was
440. It was proposed to make adequate allowances to 500 students. The
annual grant would thus be raised from 9,000/. to 26,360/. As it would be
necessary to enlarge the College, and it was most desirable to render it more
comfortable and cheerfnl than at present, the sum of 30,000/. was asked for, as
a special grant — the needful repairs being henceforth provided for by an
annual vote. — There was nothing in this that ought to have alarmed a people
and parliament accustomed to make an annual grant to Maynooth. It seems
a matter of mere prudence to provide thus far for the decent education and
bare comfort of a body of 500 priests who were certain to have more influence
over the Irish people than all other persons together. Yet the public conster-
nation was excessive. The Dissenters pushed an opposition almost as loud
and formidable as on the Factory Education clauses. Public meetings to re-
monstrate against the measure were held over the whole kingdom — a violent
one at the London Tavern leading the way. Upwards of 100 of the mer.
580 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841—46. chants, bankers, and traders of London signed the requisition for this meeting.
^— v— - The first resolution declared the proposed grant to be a renunciation of the
Apra wS!?845. Protestantism under which the empire had nourished : and the mover took
upon him to declare that the grant was " directly opposed to the revealed will
of the Creator." The Dublin Protestant Operative Association demanded the
impeachment of the Prime Minister. Some members of parliament were
called on by their constituents to resign their seats : and the table of the
House groaned under the mass of petitions against the measure. The truth
was, this measure was an express discountenancing of the " Protestant ascen-
dancy " in Ireland ; while in England it at once provoked the fears of the
vast body of Dissenters about the spread of the Romish faith, and their
jealousy about government endowments of religion. Not a few advocates of
the measure were heard to say that it was now becoming necessary to endow
all ministers of every faith and denomination. The external agitation was
reflected within the walls of parliament in a debate of three nights in the
Lords, and six in the Commons, on the second reading of the Bill. It passed,
Hansard, ixxxi. however, on the 16th of June, amidst protests from five Bishops and three
lay Peers, who objected to it on the grounds that it provided for the mainte-
nance of religious error, and for opposition to the Reformation ; and that it
countenanced the notion that religious truth was a matter of indifference to
the State.
NEW COLLEGES. A more important measure tending to the great object of abating religious
rancour in Ireland met with resistance from an opposite quarter. In the
Hansard,ixxvU.4. Royal Speech at the opening of the session, the Sovereign recommended to
the best consideration of parliament " the policy of improving and extending
the opportunities for academical education in Ireland." The Ministers were
Hansard, ixxx. prepared with their plan, which was brought forward by Sir James Graham,
on the 9th of May. The National Education system in Ireland was working
well; but its host of 400,000 pupils included only children, and, as yet,
children of the poorer classes, though it was extending upwards. It was de-
sirable to enable those who had sat side by side on the school-benches, as yet
untouched by the religious bigotry which was the curse of the country, to
continue the education which had begun so favourably ; and also to provide
for the same harmony being extended to all classes of society. The govern-
ment therefore proposed the establishment of three Colleges, in the north,
west, and south of Ireland, in which a liberal and comprehensive academical
education should be opened to young men of every religious denomination,
without distinction. There could, of course, be no theological professorships
founded by the government : but every facility was afforded for the voluntary
establishment of such, in connexion with the colleges. As for the question
whether these new colleges should be incorporated into a new University, or
whether Trinity College, Dublin, should, without invasion of her present
Protestant rights, be enabled to admit the new colleges into incorporation
with her as an University — this was for parliament to decide upon. After
much debate, earnest but less violent than that on the Maynooth question,
Hansard, ixxxii. the measure was carried, by a vote of 177 to 26 in the Commons, and without
379 1025t
a division in the Lords — the question of the University arrangements being
CHAP. VIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 581
left over till the views of the governing powers of all the colleges could be 1841 — 46.
obtained. The bigots among the Catholic clergy were the foes in this case. ^— — v— -^
The cry about " godless " education was loud and has been long.
The new institutions have ever since gone by the name of the " godless "
colleges among the fanatics of the Romish faith, and some few of the Pro-
testant church : and, by much painstaking, and prodigious misrepresentation,
the less enlightened of the Catholic priesthood at length obtained from the
conscientious but weak Pope, Pius IX., a rescript against these colleges, as
places of education of the Catholic youth of Ireland. The measure was, and
is, however, all-important as throwing the onus of religious exclusiveness 011
the Catholic portion of society in Ireland ; and as a distinct pledge that the
Imperial government was at last exercising an impartial sway over its subjects
of diifering faiths. The sum proposed for the erection of the three colleges was
£100,000 ; for their maintenance — that is, the salaries of officers, and the prizes
for the encouragement of learning — £18,000 per annum. In each college
there was to be a Principal, with a salary of £1000, and ten or twelve Pro-
fessors, with salaries of £300 a year. Residences were not provided ; but the
Principal of each college would live within the walls ; and the modes of resi-
dence of the students were to be under safe regulation, under the Act. The
power of appointment and removal of the professors was to rest with the
Crown, as was obviously fitting in a case which involved party feelings to so
great an extent. The preparations for these new institutions were immedi-
ately begun. It must be left for time to show how they work.
In February of this year, a Report was presented by the Commissioners of Annuauiegister,
Inquiry, sent out in 1843, to investigate the law and practice in respect to the P- 455-
occupation of land in Ireland. Much expectation was excited by the appoint- wi'ssiSf v°
ment of the Devon Commission (as it was called, from the Earl of Devon being
at the head of it) : and the expectation was kept up by the eagerness of multi-
tudes of persons connected with the proprietorship and occupation of land in
Ireland, to give evidence before the Commission. They came in crowds to tell
what they knew, and thought, and felt ; and it was hoped that now, at last,
light would be obtained as to what was to be hoped and feared, and what
could be done. The information obtained was extensive and valuable : and
large practical use might soon have been made of it, in the form of proposed
legislation, but that the famine was approaching, which put aside all consider-
ations but how to prevent the whole rural population from dying of hunger.
Though the time has not arrived for making use of the disclosures of this Re-
port, and though much of it may be actually superseded by the operations of
calamity, it remains a token of solicitude for the regeneration of Ireland on
the part of the Ministers in office during its preparation.
During the decline of Mr. O'ConnelFs power, and the*rising conflict between 1846.
his Repeal party and that which was to be headed by Mr. W. Smith O'Brien,
Avhile want was becoming aggravated, and famine was approaching, the amount
of outrage in Ireland increased so grievously, that Ministers introduced a Co-
ercion Bill early in the session of 1846. The Bill was framed strictly for the COERCION BILL.
.. £ ' A. -L. e • i • .• i i-r- ^ Hansard. Ixxxiii.
protection of quiet members ol society — pel-mining the Viceroy to award com- isoa.
pensation to the maimed, and to the families of the murdered, under the attacks
at which the measure was aimed. Under it, disturbed districts might be
582 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. proclaimed, and night-meetings within them prevented. The Bill passed the
^— —>'— — ^ Lords easily, but was vehemently disputed, and at last lost, in the Commons,
where party feeling ran high amidst the final agitation about the Corn laws,
and the hopes and fears about the going out of the Peel ministry. It was
generally understood that the defeat of Ministers on this Coercion Bill — so
mild of its class — was occasioned by a combination of parties ; and the speeches
of Lord G. Bentinck and Mr. d'Israeli, universally reprobated for their spirit,
were regarded as manifestations of the real reasons of the result. At the
moment when the Corn-law Repeal Bill was passing the Lords, the second
.. reading of the government Bill for Ireland was refused by a majority of
Hansard, Ixxxvu. O ) ^ J J J
1027. 292 to 219, after a delay of five months, which would have been seriously in-
jurious to the operation of the Bill, if it had passed. The division took place
on the 26th of June — three days before the announcement of the retirement
of the Peel administration ; — a retirement which might have been rendered
necessary by the failure of this measure, if it had not been, as was well known,
determined beforehand, as a natural consequence of the carrying of the measure
for which Sir R. Peel had returned to power — the repeal of the Corn laws.
We mus^ look further back for the deciding cause of the retirement of the
Peel administration. Before the end of 1845, it was clear that the potato-crop
in Ireland was likely to be utterly destroyed by blight. Men whose vision was
bounded by political party spirit endeavoured to persuade others as well as
themselves, that the avowed alarm of the Cabinet for the food of half a nation
was little more than a device to get the Corn laws repealed with the least
possible difficulty; but men of more enlightenment and a more simple con-
science had faith in the earnestness of the Minister, in the reality of his so-
lemnity, in the sincerity of the solicitude which marked his countenance and
his voice, and in the truth of the abundant evidence which he laid before par-
liament of the probable extent of the approaching calamity. It was all too
true. The work of preparation for a new age for Ireland was taken out of
human hands ; and a terrible clearance of the field of Irish soil and society was
about to be made for the efforts of future apostles, and the wisdom of future
legislators. The virtues of two parties of rulers were not, however, to be in vain.
Under them the great truth had appeared that the causes of Irish misery were
not political, but social ; and both had done what they could to purge out the
spirit of religious and political rancour which had hitherto poisoned every public
benefit, and aggravated every social woe, of that unhappy country.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 583
CHAPTER IX.
THE Ecclesiastical disturbances, whose beginnings have been noticed, were 1839 — 43.
by this time becoming of the gravest import. Scotland was affording ' --- ~^^~^
as complete an exemplification as the world has seen of the perplexities at- AGE*N sTa™
tendant on an alliance between the Church and the State. At the date before
us, events were occurring which tested the merits of a scheme concocted by
Harley, Bolingbroke, and Swift, in the palace of Queen Anne. By an Act of
1711, the power of free choice, the liberum arbitrium, as to the appointment
of pastors in the Scotch Church, was taken from the Church Courts, by sub-
jecting the power of the Presbytery to the interpretation, and even control, of
the Civil Courts. The minority of the General Assembly of that time ap-
proved of the Act, which fulfilled their idea of the connexion of Church and
State. The majority protested against it, from year to year ; but the protest,
being of no avail, at length became little more than a form. The leading
men of the time, the philosophers and men of letters, who represented Scot-
land to English eyes, were not earnest Churchmen — not earnest about religion
at all; and the arrangement of 1711 suited their views very well, as being
moderate, decorous, and tending to peace. They did not see what was going
on, wherever a pastor whom the flock did not like was forced upon them. In
a multitude of parishes, the patron nominated the minister : if the Presbytery
found him unexceptionable in " life, literature, and doctrine," they were then
obliged to appoint him, however unacceptable he might be to the flock. There
were many ways in which a minister, with whose " life, literature, and doc-
trine," no fault could be found, might be unfit for the care of a particular
parish. He might have a weak voice, or too much scholarship for a rustic
congregation, or he might have town ways and ideas, or he might not speak
Gaelic where the people understood little English. In such cases, the people
would turn to the Voluntaries, and become dissenters. We have before seen
how dissent abounded in Scotland at the period of the Melbourne ministry,
and how virulently the high-churchmen of the Kirk regarded the Voluntaries
who claimed to be, and were, considerably more than half the nation. In 1834, , £„,
an effort had been made to recover the power which had been taken from the Gordon's Memo.
Church by the Act of 1711: and apparently it succeeded. But the power of K*0"1841'
the State was not to be cast out from the Church so easily as at first appeared;
and the Church found itself compelled to advance, or assert new claims. In
the quarrel about these, the Establishment Was rent in twain, and the Church
of Scotland became a warning and a sign of the fate of all churches which
have made the effort to maintain at once an alliance with the State and the
principles of the Reformation.
The progress of dissent was so rapid after 1820 that the earnest members p*™ONAaE TIIE
of the Kirk took it much to heart. Wherever they turned, in hope of bring- SENI-
584 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 — 43. ing back the Voluntaries to the Church, they were met by the objection that
"-— — — — ^ the people preferred choosing their own pastors to having them nominated, in
a compulsory way, by a lay patron, who might or might not, according to his
temper, listen to any objections on the part of his flock to his nominee. The
earnest Churchmen saw that this lay-patronage must be got rid of; and peti-
nai.&c.p.s. j.jong -por fa abolition so poured in upon parliament, that a Select Committee
of the Commons was appointed in 1834 to consider the subject. The same
agitation wrought in another direction — giving a large majority of Non-intru-
sion members to the General Assembly, in which they had hitherto been the
minority. While the Committee of the Commons was sitting, the General
THE VETO LAW. Assembly passed an enactment, containing a Declaration and a Rule. The
Declaration was that it was a " fundamental law" of the Church that no pastor
should be intruded on any congregation, contrary to the will of the people :
and a Rule was prescribed, by which the will of the people might be ascer-
tained and manifested. A Veto on the nomination was aiforded to them.
This is the celebrated Veto Act. Those who passed it professed to believe it
Memorial 1811 to ^c perfectly compatible with the Act of 1711 : it was also declared to be so
p- G- by the law-officers of the Crown, and emphatically praised by the Lord Chan-
cellor, who pronounced it to be " in every respect more desirable than any
other course that could have been taken." For five years, the Veto Act worked
so well that it is no wonder if those who devised and passed it supposed that
the matter was settled, and that the Church had indeed recovered her powers.
When the minority in the Assembly saw how acceptable a body of Ministers —
250 in the five years — was settled under this Act, they first learned to approve
it, and then to avow their approbation. The tendency to dissent was supposed
to be subsiding, and the Scotch clergy instituted the movement for Church
extension which was described in a former chapter of our History.
There were secular persons, however, who were not satisfied to see the
power of appointment to parishes dependent on the pleasure of the majority
of the communicants. This dependence lessened the value of patronage, and,
as these persons thought, its dignity; and they were by no means clear that
the power given to the communicants by the Veto Act was compatible with
the Act of Queen Anne. They were disposed to try the fact ; and occasions
for such an inquisition soon offered.
1839. Lord Kinnoul presented a Mr. Young to the parish of Auchterarder. The
AKDER CMiT" heads of families in the congregation did not like the appointment, and vetoed
it. The presbytery were ordered to take him on trial. They refused to do
vH>w!™sTol°p.^75. s°5 on the plea that he could not be ordained because the ecclesiastical condi-
tions relating to his call by the people had not been fulfilled. Mr. Young
applied to the Court of Session and the House of Lords to grant him both the
civil benefice and the cure of souls. The decision of the Civil Courts was,
that the presbytery must take him on trial, as he was competent in the three
prescribed conditions — of life, literature, and doctrine ; and the acts of the
Kirk were not binding upon them. The Assembly did not contest this deci-
sion, as far as its civil relations went. They surrendered the stipend, house,
and external privileges, to the patron and his nominee. This was in May, 1839.
The Church thus found that there really was an incompatibility between
the Act of 1711 and their Veto Law of 1834. The thing to be done now was
. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 585
to maintain the principle of Non-intrusion, and endeavour to induce the legis- 1839 — 43.
lature to modify the statute so as to bring the civil law into accordance with * — -7-— — '
the conscience of the Church. While requesting this reform from the legisla- P. Ts.0™
ture, the Church acted mildly in regard to the Veto Law, suspending operations
under it till the difficulty should have been accommodated. For two or three
years no progress whatever was made ; and through this delay circumstances
arose which induced a more serious claim on behalf of the Church, and con-
verted the whole affair into one of vital opposition.
When the judgment in the Auchterarder case went against the Church, and
in favour of the lay patron, no demand was made on the presbytery and the T]JE gT^fT;,BOGIK
people to receive Mr. Young. When the fruits of the benefice were given up CASE-
to him, they were left unmolested, and not required to surrender the spiritual
freedom they held of declining the services of an unacceptable pastor. But,
as there had been parties who had instituted a trial of the question thus far,
so there were other parties who now resolved to push the experiment further,
and ascertain what the connexion between the Church and the State really
was. The Presbytery of Strathbogie had of old been celebrated for its zeal
far the civil power, its loyalty to the Sovereign, and its leaning towards Epis-
copacy: and now it was the scene of the decisive struggle between the powers
of the Church and the State. — In the parish of Marnoch, a Mr. Edwards had ^'^o'p.m.
been assistant to the minister for three years, and was then nominated for
minister, on the pulpit becoming vacant. He was so unacceptable, that the
Call (the forms of which were preserved all this time) was signed by only one
parishioner, while 261 out of 300 heads of families on the roll of communi-
cants dissented; The one parishioner who signed the call was a publican ;
and he lost his business immediately. The Court next above the Presbytery —
the Synod of Moray — directed the Presbytery to reject Mr. Edwards ; but
they did not do so till ordered by the highest authority of all — the General
Assembly. When they had done it, an acceptable minister was presented.
But Mr. Edwards obtained an interdict from the Court of Session against the
settlement of the second nominee, and a declaration that the Presbytery were
bound to take Mr. Edwards himself on trials. The members of the Presby-
tery were now in the painful position of being under contradictory orders from
the General Assembly and the Court of Session — from the Church and the
State. The General Assembly and its adherents took for granted that the
members of the Presbytery ought to consult their spiritual superiors how to
proceed : but such a consultation would have been of itself a surrender of the
question. The seven members of the Presbytery determined for themselves
to obey the civil power ; and they admitted Edwards to trials. — They were
brought to the bar of the General Assembly, where Dr. Chalmers moved for
their deposition from the holy ministry. Dr. Cook, the leader of the State
party in the Church — " the Moderates" as they were called — moved that the
seven ministers at the bar should be dismissed, and confirmed in their present
rank in the Church. Dr. Chalmers obtained a majority of 97 in an assembly Annual Register,
of 347 ; and the Strathbogie ministers were sentenced to deposition. Their
parishes were declared vacant ; and Mr. Edwards was to be deprived of his
license as a minister of the Church.
The seven deposed ministers appealed to parliament ; and their case was
VOL. II. 4 F
586 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 43 brought forward by Lord Aberdeen on the 15th of June, 1841. Lord Mel-
^-— -v bourne let every body see that he did not understand the matter : — he had
1841. promised, certainly, to maintain the law, and he had no doubt the Lord Advo-
Hansard, ivm. cate wou}(i &ee fa^ ft was done : — these were very difficult questions, but they
seemed to him to lie within the Church entirely : — and then he spoke so of the
arrogance of the Church of Scotland, as to set the Lords laughing. Lord Had-
dington rebuked the vacillation and indifference of the Premier, declaring that
it was owing to the weakness of the government — its carelessness, or hesi-
tation— that the divisions in the Scotch Church had become what they were.
The concluding statement of the Premier was that the government really
meant to execute the law ; and that the best way of doing that was to leave
the law to execute itself. For want of a few words of earnest declaration of
the intentions of government, however, the impression was very general that
the Ministry were somewhat daunted by the imposing attitude of the ecclesi-
astical chiefs in Scotland, and disposed to leave the affair as much as possible
to be managed in the Scotch Courts.
The deposed Ministers obtained an interdict forbidding all preachers of the
Kirk from entering their pulpits. The Assembly forthwith deputed one of their
chief members to go and preach there, and encouraged various ministers to
officiate in those parishes regularly and perseveringly : thus compelling their
licentiates to break the civil law, because their predecessors had broken their
ecclesiastical law. Penalties hung over the heads of the preaching substitutes ;
and penalties had been imposed on those whom they superseded. This state
of things could not last, or be endured. The number of public meetings
which took place all over Scotland, and the vehemence of the speakers on both
FCBI.IC EXCITE, sides began to be a significant warning to parliament, that talking and laugh-
ing, and even wrangling, were no longer serious enough for the occasion. In
truth, the reader of the newspapers of that time feels little inclination to smile,
even in the midst of the extreme wonder which he feels at the point which
party spirit can reach. The evidences of wrath and hatred are too strong, and
the mutual imputations too shocking, to leave room for any amusement. To an
impartial reader it appears that there never was a case in which men might
more reasonably hold opposite opinions. The case was one of difficult decision
to the wisest ; for the perplexity lay deep in an abyss of compromise, and by
no means within the grasp of passion and partisanship. The language used
in regard to the Church leaders, on the one hand, and Mr. Edwards and the
seven Strathbogie ministers, 'on the other, was, however, as violent as can ever
have been used about monsters of vice. Such language led, as was natural, to
violence of .another kind. The pious attendants at church on critical occa-
sions, and at public meetings, pelted one another with snow and with stones ;
and here and there, there was fighting enough to call for the interference of
the police. The gravest thinkers, and men of the highest conscientiousness,
saw more clearly, from month to month, that there was no alternative for the
Church party but to withdraw from their connexion with the State. The
POSITION OF THE choice lay merely between this and the surrender of the spiritual powers of
CHURCH PARTY.
the Church. They had staked every thing on their position, that the provid-
ing ministers for the people was a spiritual concern, though the disposal of the
emoluments was a secular one. The State would not recede from its legal
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 587
function of supporting patronage ; and the ecclesiastical party must therefore 1839 — 43.
separate its function from its partnership with the civil law. ^— -~«~ — '
When this result was evidently becoming necessary, Lord Aberdeen, a member 1843.
of the Peel ministry, which was now in power, made one last effort to preserve the
unity of the Scotch Church by a Bill, intended to remove doubts respecting the £°™ ABERDEEN<S
admission of ministers to benefices in Scotland. A similar Bill, about which
Lord Aberdeen and Dr. Chalmers had misunderstood one another, had been
proposed, ^and withdrawn in 1840. It was not likely now, after three years of
strong warfare, to be well received by Dr. Chalmers and his followers ; and it
was hardly intended for them, but rather for the large body of clergy who were
unwilling to leave the Establishment, and yet must have a clear settlement of
their consciences, by a distinct knowledge of their case, if they were to remain.
In 1840, 400 ministers and 2,000 elders had declared in favour of the Bill :
but now, though it passed through parliament, it was too late to affect materi-
ally the condition of the Church. It provided that the Presbytery to which "J ^sler'
any case of unacceptable nomination should be referred, should have power to
inquire into the circumstances of the parish, and the number and character of
objectors ; and, if the objectors should appear to be in the right, the Presbytery
had power to refuse to admit the nominee, being obliged, however, to specify
the grounds of their decision. Next, the veto was abolished, being rendered
unnecessary by the foregoing provision. In regard to the qualifications of a
candidate, the appeal must lie to the Church Courts alone, as the Civil Courts
could not have any concern with such a matter. The civil courts were, how-
ever, to hold themselves in readiness to interfere, in case of any excess of juris-
diction on the part of the church courts. — It was clear to all who saw how far
the controversy now transcended the veto question, that Lord Aberdeen's Bill
was no longer what the times required. It did nothing towards determining
the province of civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction on any ground of principle.
Several of the Lords objected that it pronounced virtually against the decision
in the Auchterarder case, and that it was inconsistent with the existing law of
Scotland. The pleas in its favour all related to the necessity of allaying ex-
citement in Scotland ; and high legal authorities were adduced, which declared
the Bill to be strictly in accordance with the law of Scotland, and with the de-
cision upon the Auchterarder case : and thus was there as much to be said on
both sides among the lawyers as among the excited population in the north. —
It was the last day of July before the Bill was discussed in the Commons, after
its passage through tHe Lords' House. The thinness of the House showed
that even yet the full importance of the subject was not understood. Mr. Fox
Maule, who ought to know, said that the Church party, now called the Se- Hansard, ixxi.sg.
ceders, took scarcely any interest whatever in the Bill : and when Sir E.. Peel
resorted to quotations from speeches in the Assembly about reliance on the
government for interference for the settlement of consciences, he was describ-
ing a time long gone by, and a state of affairs which could never be renewed.
It mattered little now, as regarded the immediate difficulty, whether the Bill
passed or not. It became law on the 17th of August. Hansard, ixxi.897.
We have said that the Church party were now called the Seceders. The
time had indeed come. The Scotch Church was divided into irreconcilable
parties. The incidents which led on to the secession were these.
588 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 — 43. At the last meeting of the General Assembly in 1842, two Addresses to the
V~~"T"~'< ' Crown had heen proposed and agreed upon ; one of which invited the atten-
THE GENERAL
ASSEMBLY. tion of her Majesty to the encroachments of the Court of Session on the
spiritual jurisdiction of the Church; and the other prayed that the Sovereign
would order measures towards the abolition of Church patronage in Scotland.
ITS MEMORIAL. ^ memoriai to the Cabinet was also prepared ; to which Sir James Graham
f8n4™p!?4ef!ster> replied in a letter issued on the 4th of January, 1843. This was a letter of
REPLY OF GOVERN, reasoning comment on the memorial sent in to ministers : and it presents a
clear account of the government view — the view of " the Moderates," — of the
whole case. It occasioned much anger, and was spoken of with scorn — this
" chopping of logic while the Church was falling in pieces " — this fiddling
while the burning was going on: but it is evident that the party would have
been more angry, and with better cause, if Sir James Graham had given
a peremptory and unreasoned reply. The document ended with a clear decla-
ration of government intentions. Government had been willing to attempt
legislation, in a hope of a settlement: but "the acts of the General Assembly
have unhappily diminished, so far at least as the Church is con-
cerned, these reasonable hopes; and her Majesty's Ministers, now understand-
ing that nothing less than the total abrogation of the rights of the Crown
and of other patrons will satisfy the Church, are bound with firmness to de-
clare that they cannot advise her Majesty to consent to the grant of any such
demand." — This letter must be answered ; and circumstances occurred in the
Assembly which allowed the Church party to have all their own way in
answering it. It was a matter of contention in the Assembly, and also before
the Civil Courts, whether a certain class of the elergy, called quoad sacra
ministers — being the incumbents of non-parochial churches — should have the
position and privileges of parochial ministers. As the Judges differed on this
point, it was no wonder that the Assembly divided eagerly upon it. Five of
the Judges sanctioned the claim of the quoad sacra ministers, and eight re-
jected it. Their opinion was declared on the 20th of January. On the 31st,
the Assembly, constituting itself a commission, was to resolve on a reply to
isTp1 245gister> S"' James Graham. Dr. Cook, the leader of the Moderates, moved the ex-
clusion of the quoad sacra ministers who were present, as disqualified by law
from sharing in the business. Dr. Cook's motion was negatived by a majo-
rity of 92 : arid the mover, with his minority, retired from the meeting whose
PETITION OF THE proceedings could not be legal. A committee was formed by those who re-
ASSEMBLY. ^ ° . .
mained, for the purpose of preparing a petition to parliament, which was pre-
sented by Mr. Fox Maule, in the Commons, on the 7th of March. The
Hansard, ixvii. House, after a debate of two nights, decided by a vast majority — 211 to 76 —
against appointing a committee to consider the petition. Not only the result,
but the tone of the debate showed the Church party that they had nothing
FAILURE. more to hope for from parliament. Every body spoke respectfully and decor-
ously of the Church of Scotland ; but nobody, except the members of the
government and a few other speakers, seemed to know or care what the con-
troversy was about. The House was quiet, but indifferent. Members were
conscious of their ignorance, and had no hope of clearing up their minds by means
of a single debate ; so they sat still, and probably wished the matter over.
One keen disappointment to the Church party was that Lord John Russell
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 589
went against them on this occasion, after having seemed to admit their claims 1839 — 43.
in a letter to his Scotch constituents of the City of London. It was not likely ^ — -— --
that the Whigs, who never showed themselves clear or decided on the question
when they were in power, should have mastered the subject now : but the
Church party attributed the change in Lord J. Russell's tone to his having Westminster Re.
• ° view, xl. p. 204.
received false information about the spirit and purposes of the Church party.
It was believed that he was misled by some " Scotch Liberals " who declared,
only one week before the secession, that the number of ministers who would
give up their endowments would not exceed six.
Far indeed was this from the truth, as was seen when the memorable 18th
of May, 1843, arrived. From the hour when the decision of parliament be- ^8^™™.
came known, the non-intrusion party pushed their preparations vigorously.
Lecturers traversed all Scotland, canvassing for support for the Free Presby-
terian Church, about to take its place in opposition to the Church of Scotland.
— A fund was to be raised for the erection of churches and the support of minis-
ters. Missionary objects were naturally united with the primary aim of pro-
testing against the usurpation of the State over the Church. " We shall in-
deed," said Dr. Candlish on the 21st of March, "cultivate our own districts; spectator, 1 843,
we shall have stated congregations, with stated elders and ministers ; but we p'
shall have our tours of preaching too — our visits to all comers of the land ;
and I believe that yet, by God's blessing on our free and faithful preachings,
in the highways and hedges, in barns and stables, in saw-pits and tents, we
shall yet regenerate Scotland, and have multitudes of those who are now
perishing for lack of knowledge to listen to the glad tidings of salvation."
Though the season was one of severe commercial distress, 300,000/. were sub-
scribed in a few months for the support of the Free Church.
The next important matter was the election of commissioners to the General
Assembly. The quoad sacra ministers had but little chance of election after
the decision of the majority of the Judges on their claims. A persuasion pre-
vailed that the Moderates would have all. their own way in the Assembly.
The 18th of May would show.
The windows along the way were crowded on that day ; and so was the THE SECESSION.
gallery of St. Andrew's Church, where the Assembly held its sittings. The
non-intrusion members were cheered as they entered. One of their leaders,
Dr. Welsh, Moderator of the former Assembly, took the chair. After prayer,
he did not, as is usual, proceed to make up the roll, but instead, read the Annual Register,
1843, p. 247.
Protest in which the non-intrusion members had recorded the grounds of their
secession from the Assembly, and from alliance with the State. It was an act
of excellent temper, taste, and prudence, in the seceders then to withdraw,
without seeking controversy. To the number of 169 they took their hats,
and walked out of the Church. As the foremost of them appeared at the door,
the crowd in the streets set up a cheer ; and the cheering continued, with few
pauses, and only the disturbance of a few hisses, all the way to a hall at
Canon-mills, where 300 more seceding clergy and a large and sympathizing
auditory awaited them. In Dr. Chalmers's ensuing address, he took the pains
which might be expected from him to explain that the seceders were not
Dissenters. They left a vitiated establishment, but adhered to the Church, and
claimed to be a more real Church than that which remained established. This
590 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
183.9 — 43 was true now, as it had been true in regard to ancient secessions : and, as in
^— ~~-* — ' their case, the matter will probably end, after a few years of protests against
Voluntaryism, in the Free Churchmen being numbered among the Voluntaries
of Scotland.
On the 20th, there was a demonstration which somewhat derogates from
the dignity of the occasion. The Marchioness of Breadalbane was received
in the Hall with loud cheers. In the course of proceedings this day, com-
plaints were made that great landed proprietors would not grant the smallest
portion of ground for new churches : but the zealous leaders declared that an
old vessel here and there, moored along the shore, and tents that could be
carried from place to place, would serve their needs. On the next day, Sun-
day, the first Secession Church, which had been built in six weeks, was
opened ; and neither it, nor the Hall, where Dr. Chalmers preached, nor the
Church attended by the Queen's High Commissioner, could contain the eager
COUNTER p«o- crowds that resorted to them. — On the next day, the 22nd, the General
CEE1HNGS. 1111 11 /» 1 1T1
Annual Register, Assembly made haste to undo the acts of the seceders — excluding the quoad
1843, p. 253. .. , - , • i i • n • i /» !• !«•
sacra ministers (though with kindly wishes for their admission under a paro-
chial right) and reinstating the seven Strathbogie ministers. Then followed
the deposition of the seceders, and the declaration that their parishes were
vacant. On the same day, the seceders, formed into an Assembly of their
own, renounced their brethren of the Establishment in much the same mode.
ACTOFSEPARA- An Act of Separation was decreed; and on the next day, it was produced for
signature, previous to its being transmitted to the Assembly. Prayer pre-
ceded and followed the signing of the Act — four hours being 'occupied in
affixing the signatures. An Address to the Queen was passed, and much
business in connexion with their new position transacted ; and then, having
agreed to hold another Assembly in October, at Glasgow, the meetings dis-
solved. The General Assembly was also dissolved on the 29th — a day on
which many a heart throbbed, and many an eye was moistened, at the thought
that all was now over, and the beloved and venerated old Kirk of Scotland
rent in twain.
SPIRIT OF THE The noble and animating feature of this ecclesiastical revolution is that
MOVEMENT.
which is found on all such occasions — -the disinterestedness of the movers. Of
that heroic disinterestedness there never was, or could be, any question. The
Seceders were violent in their partisanship, and unjust in their judgments of
those whom they left behind ; — they had the faults of a revolutionary era ; but
their earnestness and their spirit of self-sacrifice were sublime. As early as
that memorable May week, there were 500 clergy, who had left home, neigh-
bours, station, and competence, and thrown themselves into a position where
they might have to endure poverty for the rest of their lives, and could not
escape much tribulation and toil. And they were well supported by a host as
earnest as themselves ; — by men and women who were ready to spend and be
spent in the cause. While the difficulties remained which were occasioned by the
refusal of landowners to grant sites for churches, aged men and tender women
attended worship, like the old Covenanters, in frost and rain — under the tem-
pests and heats of summer, and the blasts and snows of winter, on the sea-
shore, in the wild ravine, and on the exposed hill-side. Several of the large
proprietors held out for a long time, naturally doubting whether they ought to
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 591
grant aid of any kind to parties who had, as they supposed, set up against the 1839 — 43.
government and the law courts. But these not only hecame better aware of
what is due to religious liberty, but took warning from the frequent rising up
of the question, what right any man could have to hold land so as to keep back
God's earth, to the last corner, from worshippers who wanted merely space to
kneel on. When it was seen that this high-church movement might generate
an agrarian agitation, the Seceders were indulged with a choice of sites for
their churches.
Thus did Scotland lead the way in proving the principle of Church esta-
blishments, in alliance with the State. There is a general feeling that the affair
is not over — that the Establishment in Scotland now remains a mere temporary
arrangement ; and that the Establishment in England and Ireland must sooner
or later come into question in somewhat a similar way.
In the English Establishment, the disturbances whose first outbreak has THE REMGIOFS
. , ' f i f WORLD IN ENG-
been described, became more threatening and more painful from year to year. LAND.
It could not be otherwise ; for the differences between the three parties in the
Church were fundamental; and their controversies must be brought to an
issue before unity and tranquillity could be restored. One of the most signifi-
cant circumstances in connexion with the religious state of the nation is that
Dissent appears to have gained nothing by the divisions in the Establishment. CHURCHMEN.
While the High Churchmen were mourning over the certain destruction of
the Church from the interference of the government with it ; and while the
Low Church party were denouncing the influence of the world, and struggling
to revive religion by building churches — as if the spirit could be created by
forms, instead of forms being the manifestation of the spirit ; and while Dr.
Arnold was writing " I groan over the divisions of the Church .... I begin
now to think that things must be worse before they are better, and that
nothing but some great pressure from without will make Christians cast away
their idols of sectarianism ; the worst and most mischievous by which Christ's
church has ever been plagued ;" — while such were the lamentations of Church-
men of every order, we find the Dissenters stating, with solemn grief, in their DISSENTERS.
annual Reports, that their numbers and their zeal were fearfully declining.
At the Wesleyan Conference in 1845, the decrease of members was declared
to exceed 5,000. The New Connexion of Wesleyans announced a decrease
also, and directed an inquiry into the causes, and " a prayerful consideration"
of them. " The event," they declared, " ought to be regarded as a source of
deep abasement and sorrow before God." In the same year, the Committee
of the Baptist Union announced that the condition of their churches was,
where not stationary, retrograde. Of their 507 churches, 142 had " suffered a
clear diminution :" " a fact which is fitted," they say, " to give rise to serious
and salutary reflection." At the meeting of the Congregational Union, the
denomination was announced to be " diminishing rather than increasing."
The same appears to have been true about some of the smaller sects. The
Quakers had, some time before this, released their young people, by an act of
their Yearly Meeting, from the obligation to wear the dress, and use the pecu-
liar speech, of their sect. Their leaders mourned the necessity, but declared
that the preservation of these observances was now found to cost more than
they were worth. Discontent and resentment had become common among
592 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
-1839 — 43. the young who found " their cross" too hard to hear ; and they would break
^-— — — ~- bounds, and desert their sect, if this much indulgence were not granted them.
So, from this time it must become more and more uncommon to see young
faces under the neat drab bonnet and the broad brim, and it seemed probable
that in two or three more generations the Quaker garb would be seen only in
old prints. — The Catholics alone appear to have been decidedly increasing in
numbers during this season of discouragement to Protestant sects : and their
further increase was provided for by the going over of a considerable number
of the High Church party into their communion.
The records of the time show how the contending religious parties strove to
gain upon each other by bearing to the utmost upon those points of doubt
and compromise which in ordinary times are approached fearfully and tenderly.
The Church rate struggle went on : and we find an unusual number of refusals
TROUBLES IN THE to marry and to bury, on account of supposed non-compliance with the condi-
tions of the Church. In 1841, a suit was brought against a Lincolnshire
LawUcas«egpSt364 clergyman by parents whose child he had refused to bury; the refusal being
based on the ground that the child was really unbaptized, having been bap-
tized only by a Wesleyan minister. The judgment, which was given against
the clergyman, proceeded on the ground that lay-baptism was not denounced
as a corruption at the Reformation, when an enumeration of corruptions was
made ; and no clergyman could take upon himself to pronounce any baptism
invalid which was not declared so by the framers of the rubric. The clergy-
man appealed ; but this judgment was affirmed ; and the Tractarians did not
think the better of Protestantism for such a result. — The Bishop of Exeter was
one of the most conspicuous movers during the period of Church disturbance.
We find him, in 1844, suspending one of his clergy for a term, for having
omitted some words of Christian assurance in the burial service, when inter-
Annuai Register, ring a man supposed to have died in a state of intoxication. The supposition
1844. Chron. 83. . ««»•••• i- a i TI
was a mistake ; but the Bishop declared that if it had not been so, the liberty
taken would have been no less reprehensible. This is very well, as discoun-
tenancing the notion that any man can undertake to condemn the dead ; and
the moral mischief of promising future bliss alike to the good and bad remains
chargeable upon the appointment of an inflexible ritual. — From this time, the
Bishop seems to have held his power of ecclesiastical censure always in his
hand, ready for use ; and his clergy and their flocks were thus stimulated to a
contention which soon became a scandal too gross to be endured. He took
occasion by one of these quarrels to draw up and promulgate an order of
Annual Register, observance of doctrine and ritual, consisting of ten points, which certainly did
not conduce to the restoration of peace in the Church. He laid down the law
about preaching in the surplice, about postures and forms, and goings out and
comings in, and refusal of burial and of the sacraments, in a fashion which
irresistibly reminds the reader of the most emphatic descriptions of Pharisaic
observances in the gospels : and no one out of the diocese was surprised to
hear in a few weeks of actual riots in the churches and streets of Exeter. —
The clergy began to baptize in the midst of the service : and this seems to
have been unresisted : but when they appeared in the surplice to preach, those
hearers who feared the introduction of popish forms left the churches, Sunday
1844, p. us. ' after Sunday. — The clergy persevered : the people held parish meetings, where
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 593
they proposed to appeal to the body of prelates, and to the Queen in Council, 1839 — 43.
" for a settlement of this uncalled-for disturbance." The clergy were hooted ^ —'— — "
in the streets ; and the interior of the churches presented a spectacle very un-
like that of devotional tranquillity. During January, 1845, the evil in-
creased so that the Bishop and the most obstinate of his clergy were^ compelled
to yield. The church of St. Sid well's was so noisy, that prayers could not be
heard : the congregation rose in a body on the appearance of the surplice, and
many went out. Two thousand people were collected outside to hoot the
pastor : and it was with difficulty that a strong body of police protected him
to his lodgings. It will be seen at once that the contention was not, in fact,
about vestments and forms, but about something far more serious; the question,
namely, whether the compromises of the composite Protestant Church should
be respected, as allowing such liberty of expansion, and difference of views and
observance, as are rendered necessary by change of times, or whether the forms
of a past century should be adhered to with a rigidity which must compel either
a rupture of the Protestant, or a return to the Catholic church. A truce was
obtained in Exeter by the Bishop yielding, and instructing his clergy to yield,
for the sake of peace.
Forcibly as such proceedings pressed themselves on public attention, the AT OXFORD.
strongest interest of the crisis lay at Oxford, where matters could no longer go
on as they had done for some years. The Bishops seemed no nearer than
ever to agreement among themselves, nor to fitness to deal with the con-
troversy of the time. One recommended peace ; as if peace or truce were
possible after the appeal had once been made to principle and conscience.
Others strove hard to take no notice. Others left their clergy to act, each on
his own conscience. No one of them can be found to have made anywhere a
plain statement of the controversy, as between the Tractarian party and the
other two Church sects, or as between the Church of Rome and that of Eng-
land, together with a declaration on the one side or the other. The Bishop of
Oxford interfered to prohibit the issue of the Tracts, after the appearance of
No. XC., which contained doctrine too nearly approaching to Romanism in
the matter of private judgment to be allowed to pass under the eye of a Pro-
testant bishop. From this time, the Tractarian leaders were regarded with a
disapprobation, on the part of all single-minded persons, which must compel
their speedy retreat from the position they held as (in Dr. Arnold's words), Life, ii. P. 279.
" Roman Catholics at Oxford instead of at Oscott — Roman Catholics signing
the articles of a Protestant church, and holding offices in its ministry." From
this time (1841) they were sure to be keenly watched, and every opportunity
seized for dislodging them from a position which they were conceived to hold
treacherously. Those who wished well to the Church would have been glad
to see something else done, besides this necessary but low and disagreeable
work : but they were obliged to be contented with witnessing the Tractarians
compelled to see and acknowledge that they were Romanists ; and with dis-
covering that, when they were gone, a " reaction " must ensue, as injurious to
the integrity, and reputation, and usefulness, of the Church, as any of the
changes that had occurred.
Dr. Pusey was the first of the sect chosen for punishment. Being called on DR- PI*E*,
to preach before the University in the spring of 1843, he discoursed on the-
VOL. ii. 4 G
594 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 43. Eucharist, and was considered by some of his hearers to utter Romish doctrine
.— - -^-^_ about Transubstantiation and the Mass. The subject was brought before a
Board of Convocation ; and their report was such as to compel the Vice-
Chancellor to suspend Dr. Pusey from preaching within the precincts of the
University for two years. The accused demanded a hearing, and liberty of
Annual Register, arguing the matter; without which he declared the sentence to be "unstatut-
DR^^PDEN!' able, as well as unjust." His protest was, of course, disregarded. — Dr.Hamp-
den, himself a sufferer not long before, from inquisition into his opinions, did
now what he could, as Regius Professor of Divinity, to guard the Church from
false doctrine. He proposed to a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Di-
Annuai Register, vimty subjects for exercises which must test his opinions on Transubstantiation
and the authority of Tradition. The candidate refused to write on these sub-
jects, and claimed the right to select his own. Dr. Hampden prevented his
obtaining his degree. The candidate sued him in the Vice-Chancellor's Court,
but failed in his suit. Much regret was caused by this proceeding ; for it was
dangerous. It led too surely to a recognition of the incompatibility between
the service of the Church and the right of private judgment. — In the same year,
MR. WARD. a Mr. Ward, a clergyman, published a book, called " The Ideal of a Christian
Church Considered," some of which was declared to be inconsistent with the
Thirty-nine Articles ; and he was called before Convocation to answer for his
work. The remarkable scene of his degradation took place on the 13th of
February, when several bishops, and lay lords and commoners conspicuous in
the religious world, crowded into Oxford, and intermingled with above a
thousand clergymen in the Hall. Mr. Ward's argument was that the Articles
could not be conscientiously signed by any considerable number of persons, if
they were taken in " a natural sense ;" and he therefore contended for " a non-
natural sense," as the only method of meeting an inevitable difference of views.
Annual Register, Mr. Ward's degradation was carried by a small majority; the numbers being
MR?b?KE°LnEY31/ 569 to 511.— Beside Mr. Ward stood the Rev. F. Oakeley, a fellow of the same
college, and minister of the Margaret-street chapel. He dared the Bishop of
Annual Register, London to move in accordance with Oxford, by writing to him an avowal that
1 845, Chron, 95. J °
he believed, though he did not teach, several of the doctrines of the Romish
church, and that he claimed liberty to hold his own opinions, while not injur-
ing the church which he desired to serve. He challenged the bishop to insti-
tute proceedings against him for subscribing the Articles in the same sense as
Mr. Ward. The bishop instituted proceedings in the Court of Arches. Mr.
Oakeley declined to defend himself in that court : and, on the other hand, the
bishop declined to accept his resignation while the suit was pending. The
judge decided that Mr. Oakeley had rendered himself liable rto ecclesiastical
censure. He was deprived of his license, forbidden to preach till he should
have retracted his errors, and condemned to pay costs.
These unseemly and painful transactions excited a spirit of jealous watch-
fulness elsewhere. A book published by a clergyman was the occasion of a
charge of unfaithfulness to the Book of Common Prayer ; and the author was
reprimanded by the judge in the Arches Court, and suspended for three years.
.r' ^-n<^ next we find the churchwardens of Richmond complaining to the arch-
deacon of the officiating pastors ; that, under the sanction of the bishop of the
diocese, and on the plea of custom, they failed to observe some of the particulars
CESSION.
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 595
of the Rubric. To those who had read history, and understood the laws of 1839 43.
opinion, it was clear that the Church was far from being served by proceedings
which drove men back upon the principles of private judgment ; and they saw
that whenever the Tractarians should have quitted Oxford for Rome, they
would leave behind them no small number who, perceiving the impossibility
of establishing uniformity of belief, would be as willing to hold station and
maintenance in the Church, without holding its doctrines, as the men who had
been driven out. — The process of going over to Rome now began in earnest.
Many became Catholic priests before Mr. Newman himself, who had long been
a Romanist in every thing but profession. When he resigned his Protestant TRACTARUN SE.
holdings, he was followed by a crowd. Here and there a beneficed clergyman,
and a host of curates, and laymen of all ranks, with their families, took the
decisive step, and told their friends, or late parishioners, that they had found
" the Church" — had been received into "the Church," — and could look with
compassion on the members of a schismatical and pretended church, which
merely deluded its adherents to perdition.
After this riddance, it was hoped that the Church would revive and spread.
But it did not. The events of late years had greatly stimulated the clergy,
and improved the character of their ministrations. But the complaint still
was, and is, that the people do not enter the Church, and find in it the life
that it assumes to be able to give. Time will show whether this is owing to the
reaction following upon the Catholic movement, or whether lapse of centuries
and change of circumstances have made the Church, as now constituted, un-
suitable to the needs of those to whom, distinctively, the gospel was preached
in its first days. Great efforts were made by the zealous and the opulent to
propagate Christianity abroad, and to establish churches in our foreign depen-
dencies, and to build new churches and send out more clergy at home ; the
number of new churches built during the movement — not a few by the bene-
ficence of individuals — is indeed remarkable ; but the old edifices were left as
empty as before, and no evidences have appeared of any redemption of the
mass of the people from ignorance and indifference. While thus the failure
of the Chvirch to perform its work was clearly not owing to any lack of zeal
and generosity in the upper classes, it seems that Lord Henley and Dr. Arnold
and other Church reformers must have been right in supposing that the old
structure was no longer suited to the needs of the time, but must be extensively
altered find enlarged.
Just when government was taking to heart this state of things, and was DM™ OP
about to propose to amend it, Dr. Arnold was called away. It was in the
midst of the dissensions and the weakness of the Church — dissensions and
weakness which had caused him the severest pain of his life — that he was
suddenly withdrawn from the scene in which he had wrought so actively.
His desires for reform had caused him to be held in fear and hatred by the
High Church party ; and his language in regard to the Evangelical party was
never such as to conciliate their good-wilL At the same time, he was too
much of a churchman, and had tampered too much with his own mind in
early life with regard to subscription to the Articles, to have any power of
appreciating the principles and position of the Dissenters. It was therefore
only with the Moderate Church that he could be in cordial communion j and,
596 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 — 43. owing to the independence of his views, and the peremptory manner in which
v— ~~^ — ' he issued them, he was feared and disliked by many of his own Church party,
as strongly as he was honoured and adored by others. It is on other grounds
than his relation to the Church that his posthumous reputation rests. He
was the most earnest public man of his time — of a time when earnestness
was supremely needed and was sadly deficient. He presented the spectacle
of a man of not only blameless, but exalted and holy life, who lived wholly
and solely for what seemed to him truth and good. It was and is felt to be a
pity that his views of truth and good were impaired by narrowness of view
and of experience, and by a want of knowledge of men and affairs ; so that
his earnestness led him to devise and judge and insist on matters, and for per-
sons and classes, which he did not understand — as when he would have made
a declaration of Christian belief an indispensable requisite to the full enjoy-
ment of political and social rights ; a method which would have acted as a
premium on hypocrisy, and have done violence to some of the best consciences
in the community : but such defects did not neutralize the value of his earnest-
ness and transparent sincerity, conspicuous as they were in the midst of the
indifference or the formalism and insincerity of the time. And he communi-
cated this earnestness and sincerity to a large number of those who are becom-
ing the men of a later time. As an educator, he put his heart into his work,
and laboured there as elsewhere, for truth and good. The views which he
considered invaluable may not be in every case held by those whom he trained
to hold ideas on conviction only ; points which he insisted on as indispensable
may appear otherwise to his pupils in their maturity ; but they owe to him
the power and the conscience to think for themselves, and the earnest habit of
mind which makes their conviction a part of their life. By this exalted view
and method as an educator, Dr. Arnold did more for education than even by
his express and unintermitting assertion of the importance of the function —
powerful as his testimony was. At the head of Rugby School, he had large
opportunities both for testimony and action ; and what he did will never be
forgotten. His life was a public blessing while it lasted ; and it has become
more so since his death ; for his virtues and his toils are not now, as when he
lived, obscured by the local and temporary strifes which always prevent men
from doing justice to each other, and vitiate the noblest perspective of charac-
ter, rendering prominent what need be scarcely seen, and hiding the grandest
features behind mere magnified accidents. The horror with which he and the
Tractarian leaders spoke of each other is forgotten now. Those leaders have
found their Church; and he is seen to have been the man required in his place
by the moral wants of the age ; as conspicuously a public benefactor as worthy
of the love and reverence which waited upon his private life. He died in
1842, the day before the completion of his 47th year.
SMT™ °F In the midst of the government action for bringing the Church and the
people together, another clergyman died, whose view of Church matters was
more secular than any held by the ecclesiastical reformers of the time. It
seems strange that Sydney Smith should ever have been in the Church ; and
it is far from strange that earnest ecclesiastics should have been scandalized at
his method of treatment of some matters which were to them as solemn and
serious as the gospel. He was, in truth, a moralist and not a religious guide :
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 597
and he could as little conceive of a spiritual call to the clerical office as his 1839 — 43.
enemies could give him credit for earnestness about the matters which ap- v— — * -
peared to him most serious. In his letters about the Ecclesiastical Commission,
he speaks throughout of the " prizes " in the Church as the inducement to
men to go into it : and he never appears to conceive of any higher impulsion :
but perhaps few of the most spiritual and devoted ministers of the Church
have so fervently, constantly, and powerfully, advocated the interests of duty,
and shown the beauty of the things that are honest, pure, lovely, and of good
report. It does not follow that because he was the greatest wit of his time,
and of strong social inclinations, he was spoiled. He could admonish and
satirize the great, as well as the lowly ; and his sympathies were always on the
side of the suffering and oppressed. His advocacy was always on behalf of
the liberal and progressive side of the questions of the day. He quizzed
Dissenters and Churchmen all round, exhibiting fanaticism, worldliness,
bigotry, and all manner of foibles, wherever he saw them, but always aiding
the claimants of freedom of opinion. He quizzed all the parties concerned
about Catholic emancipation : but he did more for the Catholics than perhaps
any divine ever did before for a body under disqualification for religious opi-
nion. He felt too strongly about negro slavery to quiz the parties in that case;
but his wit there took the form of a branding indignation, an impassioned
irony, which might pierce the brain and marrow of the oppressor. That his
name was always connected with the Edinburgh Review, of which he was
one of the founders, shows that his position in the Church was that of alli-
ance with the government ; and he openly regarded the Church as an institu-
tion for the teaching and training of the people in Christian morality, with
the support, and under the sanction, of the government. His views appear to
have prompted him to the duty of a good pastor in his country residence ; for,
while he was eagerly sought in London society, and his writings keenly read
wherever they could make their way, he was welcomed on his return home by
the humblest of his neighbours — the old men and women to whom, as he said, .
he gave good things for their rheumatism, without any mixture of the Thirty-
nine Articles. If it be granted that he was a moralist, and by no means a
divine, it may be considered a matter of congratulation that the Church had,
in a season of great peculiarity, a minister who waged effectual war against
cant and fanaticism, and who, closely connected with ruling statesmen, lifted
up his voice, without fear or favour, for justice and reasonableness on every
hand. He rebuked Whig statesmen, when he thought them tampering with
the property of the clergy, as soundly as any Wesleyan fanatic or Tractarian
formalist ; and one such plain-speaking logician and wit might be welcomed
to a place in the ranks of the clergy ; especially under the certainty that such
another would never appear in one age. He held a living of moderate value
in Somersetshire, and was made a Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's in 1831,
when he was already growing old. He died in the 77th year of his age, in
February, 1845, while contemplating, with some amusement, and something of
the contempt with which old age views new enterprises, the attempts of govern-
ment and zealous members of the Church to bring the Establishment more
effectually within reach of the popular need.
On the 5th of May, 1843, Sir R. Peel offered a project to parliament of AUGMENTATION :
OF CLERGY.
598 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1839 43> which he said as follows : " The advantage I anticipate is, that hy this pro-
--— — ceediiig I shall place the Church of England in a favourable light before the
isi"!ard' lxvi"' people of this country; and conciliate towards it that favour and affection to
which I believe it to be justly entitled, and lay the foundation of extended
usefulness. Those foundations must be widened. It is in vain that you have
splendid cathedrals, and bishops highly endowed ; in vain you have digni-
taries and splendid edifices, if you fail to impress on the people the con-
viction that great practical advantages are to be derived from them. Unless
in populous districts you bring the ministrations of the Church within the
reach of the people, it is in vain that you support its dignitaries, for the
polished columns of the temple will not be secure, unless you widen the basis
on which they rest. Here is the point in which the Church of England is
wanting at present : her parochial constitution was made in other times, and
suited to other states of the people : you must divide parishes, and bring
ministers into them, and you will thus add at once to the respectability, to the
influence, and to the property, of the Church, by applying her present property
to strengthen her position, and increase her influence." All that could be
done by pi'eparation and arrangement was to be attempted now. The body
was to be made ready, if the spirit would but come. Thus much it was righ t
to do, that, if the Church should finally fail to redeem the masses of the
people, the failure might be through no neglect of their rulers. And the
proposal of the Minister was so well received as to obviate all difficulty and
all waste of time. "My examination into the management of Church
property," he said, on this occasion, " leads me to think that there may be
very material improvements in its administration." The proposal was to bring
into combined operation the Boards of Ecclesiastical Commissioners and of
Queen Anne's Bounty, by a method which would largely increase the means
of augmenting small livings, and afford funds for providing a considerable
addition to the numbers of the clergy. The Minister did not propose to spend
any of the money on new churches, as the last few years had shown how much
could be done by the zeal of individuals and private society. To follow up
the recent church-building by making permanent endowments for ministers
was the object. The House agreed unanimously to the project.
COIONIAL BISHOP- It was not only at home that church-extension was to be promoted. In
BICS> 1841, the Prelates of England and Ireland agreed on an appeal to the religious
public for the raising of a fund for founding Colonial Bishoprics : and in the next
Annual Register, year, the Bishop of London directed his clergy, in a Pastoral Letter, to have
1842: chron. so. co]}ections made in their churches for the purpose, recommending the ancient
method, now revived by the Tractarian clergy, of making these offerings a
part of the service. In August of the same year (1842) five Colonial Bishops
were consecrated in Westminster Abbey — their sees being that of Barbadoes
(not new) and the four new ones of Antigua, Guiana, Gibraltar, and Tas-
mania (Van Diemen's Land). The Bishop of New Zealand had already
sailed for his distant diocese. — A bishopric had been established at Jerusalem,
in 1841, under the joint auspices of Prussia and England — a scheme of much
less promise than the formation of colonial sees. British subjects residing in
British territory have a clear right of access to the services of the national
Church : but it is quite a different thing to plant a missionary Church in a
country where the Christian religion is despised by inhabitants of two races
CHAP. IX.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 599
who have each a faith of their own which they value as highly as the stranger 1839 — 43.
can value his. By the very nature of the Mohammedan and Jewish faiths, ^— -^ — ~- -
their sincere and enlightened votaries cannot undergo conversion : and the
scheme has, thus far, had no success which can justify its continuance. The
institution of the Jerusalem mission stands as a curious instance of zeal for
Church-extension abroad at a time when the Church was practically in a state
of painful and depressing feebleness at home.
The plan of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners to constitute bishoprics at CONSOLIDATION OF
Ripon. and Manchester by consolidating the sees of Bristol and Gloucester,
and of St. Asaph and Bangor, met with a revived opposition in 1843. Every
one agreed that the establishment of the see of Ripon was a public benefit ;
and every one desired to see a Bishop of Manchester. But there were three
objections, moved by different parties, to the carrying out of the plan. The
Earl of Powis, who brought forward the subject in the House of Lords, insisted Hansard, ixix.
that the Welsh bishoprics were wanted, with all their revenues, for the Welsh.
The High Church party continued their protests against the government and
its Commission touching any of the ancient bishoprics at all ; but the greatest
difficulty, that which was admitted in the debates to be at the bottom of the
opposition, was the proposal that any English bishop should be inadmissible to
the House of Lords. The Duke of Wellington manfully avowed that any
increase in the number of bishops in the House would excite great jealousy
throughout the country: and the Archbishop of Canterbury advocated the
plan of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners : but the Bishop of London adverted
to the fact that all bishops sit in parliament in virtue of their baronies, and
dreaded lest the omission of any of them should in time generate a desire to
dispense with the parliamentary duty of the bishops altogether. The Bishop
of Exeter wished for more bishops, both in the country and in the House, but
suggested that a parliamentary attendance by rotation, as in the case of the
Irish prelates, might be arranged. Among the other bishops there was a
remarkable variety of opinions ; and the result of the discussion was that
Lord Powis withdrew his Bill, with a promise to bring it forward again next
session.
Before the next session, the Welsh disturbances had occurred; and this 1844.
gave an advantage to the parties for whom the Earl of Powis was spokesman.
There had before been many petitions against the union of the sees ; and now
there were more still — from the clergy throughout the country, and from all
classes in Wales— no doubt under the influence of their clergy. In parliament,
the ground of debate still was the increase or diminution of the number of
bishops in the House, the Bishop of Bangor actually venturing to remind the Hansard, ixxv.
nation that there was a time when forty bishops sat with a small number of
lay peers, thirty or forty mitred abbots having seats in the House. That,
however, was before Manchester, and the two millions who now needed a
bishop there, existed : and the Archbishop of Canterbury still thought that
those two millions ought to be considered before the 350,000 Welsh who were
now divided between two sees r and the four archdeacons to be given to Wales
would amply suffice, with one bishop. The second reading of Lord Powis's
bill for repealing the arrangement of the Commission was carried : but its
progress was then stopped by a very unusual proceeding. On the 1st of July,
600 HISTORY OF ENGLAND LBooK VI.
1839 — 43. the Duke of Wellington declared that the Bill touched the prerogative of the
* — — ^ ~- Crown, and that he was not authorized to give the consent of the sovereign to
f/0RvE°RGNLMEOTPAND its further discussion. A Committee, appointed to search for precedents,
Hansard, ixxvi. reported that the fact was indeed as the Duke of Wellington had stated : and
Lord Powis therefore withdrew his Bill, declaring that the matter could not
rest here. This was indeed evident enough : for the question was assuming
the aspect of a contest between the government and the Church ; such a con-
test as was becoming more significant and more dangerous with every new
dispute. Before the debate was closed on the present occasion, it was care-
fully made known by the law lords that the sovereign had no power to stop
discussion in either House of parliament; and that the intimation just made
was to be understood as a timely hint that the royal assent would not be given
to any measure which might result from the debate. In the next session, the
Bill of Lord Powis was thrown out by a large majority on the first division.
1845. In the session of 1846, the opposition of the Crown was withdrawn, and the
Hansard, ixxxviii. Bill passed the Lords ; but it was dropped in the Lower House, on a promise
from the new Minister, Lord John Russell, that the government would con-
sider the subject before another session. In due time, the new see of Manches-
ter was provided with a bishop ; and then the sees of Bangor and St. Asaph
were allowed to remain apart. But the contest between the government and
the Church was renewed on a more perilous ground — that of the appointment
of a bishop to the see of Hereford. One of the compromises involved in the union
of the Church and State was in question in this case; and the Minister, Lord
J. Russell, apparently unaware of the peril of the part he took, cast aside the
delicacy usually observed by statesmen in approaching that particular com-
promise, and pushed the claim of the royal prerogative to an extent most
galling and offensive to the Church in insisting on the election of Dr.
Hampden to the see of Hereford. This is the latest instance of Church and
State conflict : but every one knows that it cannot be the last. While waiting
for the next occasion, our statesmen have the warning of the Church of
Scotland before them ; — a warning against bearing hard on old compromises
unless they are prepared for a new revolution : a warning of what men will
do and sacrifice for principle when their religious powers and privileges are
believed by them to be in danger ; a warning against the notion that the bulk
of any nation can regard the church of its faith as an instrument of mere
religious police under the direction of the government. A Church must be more
than this, or it must presently be nothing : and, because it must be more than
this if any thing, it is clear that its alliance with the State can subsist only
as long as a spirit of benevolent moderation is devoutly cherished on both
sides.
A singular incident which occurred during this critical period is an illustra-
tion of such a spirit exercised by a High Churchman of eminence. Dr. Hook,
Vicar of Leeds, honourably distinguished by a vast sacrifice of patronage to
the interests of the Church, was brought into close connexion with the Chartists
of the town by the determination of that body to elect churchwardens from
their own body. They did so in 1842, and when the election of 1843 was to
Annual Register, take place, Dr. Hook declared on the spot that he must say that they were
1843. Chron. 53. , l r j ^ .
the only body of Churchwardens who had conducted themselves in an honour-
HAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 601
able, straightforward, and gentlemanly manner. They told him fairly that 1839 — 43.
they differed from him on many points : but declared that, if they undertook
the office, they would conscientiously strive to discharge its duties. They had
done so ; and he could not therefore wish for better churchwardens, unless
the persons assembled would let him have some from among the members
of the Established Church. Would they do so ? The meeting answered in
the negative : and when the Vicar read over a list of names, those of the
Chartists were carried with acclamation : and their election was received with
a good grace. It must have been a singular scene.
During this period occasion arose for testing the principles of the Adminis-
tration in regard to religious liberty : an occasion which involved a question
of great nicety, and therefore a test of unusual decisiveness. The excitement
throughout the kingdom was very strong ; and indeed the controversy about
Dissenters' endowments was the prominent one, in connexion with parliament,
of 1844. It was scarcely possible that the Ministers could have foreseen
how their proposition would become the basis of a religious movement : but
when it did, and when the movement assumed all the violence which belongs
to religious movements in critical times, they held their ground calmly ^and
firmly, as protectors of justice, showing throughout a sensibility to religious
liberty which won for them such esteem from the enlightened portion of the
people as abundantly compensated for the loss of support from the bigotted and
the half-informed who made up the Opposition. It was, in fact, a case in
which there could not be two opinions among honest men fully informed of
the facts. But a multitude of honest zealots were not fully informed of the
facts ; and they carried on a most formidable resistance under a wrong im-
pression. The story was this.
In the reign of Charles II. a certain Lady Hewley left certain manors
in York in trust to support " godly preachers of Christ's Holy Gospel." The
lady herself had, of course, 110 idea that a doubt would ever arise as to what
sort of " preachers" her bequest was intended to benefit. They must be
dissenters ; for the clergy of the Romish and English Churches were never
called " preachers" in her time ; and she was well known to be herself a
dissenter, and devoted to dissenting interests. Unitarians were not heard of
in her day ; and, if heard of, they would have been called, by Lady Hewley
among other Trinitarians, blasphemers, or any thing rather than " godly
preachers of Christ's Holy Gospel." But the religious body to which Lady
Hewley belonged was that which has since become, by gradual change, the
Unitarian body of the present day. Naturally and necessarily, they have
baptized their infants and buried their dead in the chapels endowed by Lady
Hewley's fund ; and that fund naturally and inevitably contributed to the
support of the young ministers who went forth from the congregations wor-
shipping in those chapels. Of late years, however, dissenters sprung from a
sect to which Lady Hewley did not belong, but who conceived themselves to
hold the opinions professed by her when she made her will, thought that their
ministers and congregations ought to be the recipients of her bequest, and
that the Unitarians had forfeited their right to hold it when they relinquished
the doctrine which she considered that of " Christ's Holy Gospel." A Report
of the Charity Commissioners sanctioned the inquiry ; and a bill was filed in
VOL. n. 4 n
602 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 — 43. Chancery to dispossess the Unitarians. The Judges of the Court decided
N— - ~*~- — ' against the Unitarians, who appealed to the Lords. The Lords required the
opinion of the twelve Judges. With the exception of one of their number,
Annual Register, Maule, the Judges were unanimous in their opinion (delivered in June. 1842)
1842. Chron. 108. , , TT . °. i i j r ,1 i_ J ^ * ^T_
that the Unitarians were excluded from the bequest, and that the property
ought to belong to the Trinitarian Protestant Dissenters. The Lords, of
course, affirmed the judgment of the Court of Chancery. After a litigation
Annual Register, of fourteen years, this decision was pronounced in August 1842. After all
1842. chroa 135. ^ sef.tie(i nothing but the exclusion of the Unitarians, and left the property
unappropriated.
The difficulties of this case were produced by lapse of time and consequent
changes of opinion, and not by fault on any hand : but they were difficulties
of so serious a kind that the government saw the necessity of preventing their
perpetual recurrence by an Act which should forbid the unsettlemeiit of ancient
property, and disorganizing quarrels about such property, on every material
change of opinion in religious sects. It was a bad thing that an interest in pro-
perty should be directly implicated with particular opinions. It was a bad thing
that any sect should be under temptation to covet the property of another.
It was a bad thing that an honest change of opinion should involve the penalty
of surrendering the graves of ancestors, the old places of family worship, and
all the religious haunts which are at least as dear to nonconformists, whose
fathers have suffered for their faith, as the most solemn cathedral and the most
venerable ivied church in the country can be to those who worship there. It is
bad that, as in the Hewley case, years of litigation should consume funds and irri-
tate tempers, and leave a painful doubt at last whether justice can ever be done ;
whether, if the holders cannot be said to have a right to the property, it can ever
be certainly decided, by any judges on earth, that it ought to be given to any body
else. To obviate such mischiefs as these, the government brought a Bill before
parliament which should confirm to all religious bodies the possession of the pro-
perty which they had held for the preceding twenty years. The Lord Chancellor
brought in this Bill ; and though it was opposed by a few Bishops and Lay
Hansard, ixxiv. Lords, it passed the Upper House by a considerable majority. During the
debate, however, an agitation had been begun which soon extended to almost
every town in England, convoked public meetings where violent resolutions
were carried, and loaded the table of the House of Commons with as many
petitions as had gone up against Sir James Graham's Educational clauses.
The reason of the violence was that the Bill was supposed to be devised for
the benefit of the Unitarians. The supposition was a mistake : but it was
natural enough in persons who were not well informed in regard to some pre-
ceding legislation.
It was not only that Lady Hewley's case had furnished the warning and
suggestion on which the Ministerial bill proceeded. The first clause had a
special bearing on Unitarian property. In 1813, the exceptions in the Act of
Toleration — exceptions which affected the Unitarians exclusively — were
repealed ; and from that time, the Unitarians were as firmly assured in the
possession of religious trust property as any other sect. But, by an omission,
the Act had not been made retrospective ; and therefore, though the property
of Unitarians instituted since 1813, was safe, they were at the mercy of litiga-
CHAP. IX.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 603
tion for all that had been in their hands from an earlier date. The first clause 1839 — 43.
of the present Bill went merely to repair this omission : but the Dissenting " — — - — — "
sects which contemplated claiming Unitarian property, as in the Hewley case,
made an outcry that government was intercepting property which should soon
become theirs, and settling it in preference upon the Unitarians. The matter was
clearly explained by the Attorney General, when he introduced the Bill in the ^^f; Uxv<
Commons on the 6th of June. He showed how, in the case of the Roman
Catholics, similar assurance had been made retrospective, as a matter of course;
and declared that the present Bill was prepared on the recommendation of the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and had been supported by all the legal autho-
rities in the House of Lords. The Prime Minister's speech was as frank and
manly on behalf of justice as the action of his government on the occasion.
He had not based his proceeding, he said, on the legal doctrines or historical Hansard, ixxv.
truths brought forward so abundantly in the debate. His feeling was that,
if any legal doctrine existed by which chapels held by any class of Dissenters
could be taken from them, and given away elsewhere, the first thing to be done
was to amend such a legal rule.
While the clamour was loud throughout the " religious world," as the pe-
titioners called themselves, outside the walls of parliament, there was a re-
markable preponderance of argument, ability, and political character, within
the House in favour of the government Bill ; a preponderance so remarkable
as to be observed upon as unexampled by both Sir R. Peel and Lord J. Russell.
The votes went with the argument, the majority for the third reading being Hansard, ixxvi.
120 in a House of 282. — Some slight amendments having been made in com- 11G'
mittee, the Bill was returned to the Lords, when the Bishop of London made
another effort to renew the dispute, on the ground that the House of Commons
did not represent the religious opinion of the nation. He did not perceive the
danger of his own blindness to the fact, that this was not a question of religious
opinion, but of security of property — which no one could deny to be the proper
business of the House of Commons. Though his endeavour to throw out the
Bill was zealously supported by a few peers who shared the miscon-
ceptions prevalent out of doors, it was negatived by a majority of 161 in a Hansard, ixxvi.
House of 243 ; and the Bill presently became law. From this time, places of
worship which were not by the terms of the trust destined unmistakeably for
a particular sect, were to remain the property of the body which had held them
for twenty preceding years : a settlement as conducive to social peace as conso-
nant to justice. What the consequences would have been if the Bill had been
surrendered to popular clamour, and a mass of dissenting property had been,
in effect, thrown to the religious multitude to be scrambled for, in virtue of
omissions and short-comings of the law, some of the speakers ventured to hint,
but none professed to describe.
Another act of the period, promotive of justice and of social peace, was the RBMEF TO JEWS.
relief of Jews from municipal disabilities. This relief was the direct act of
the government. The Lord Chancellor brought in a Bill, early in the session
of 1845, for removing certain tests by which Jews were excluded from some
municipal offices, while others remained open to them. Five Jewish gentle-
men were at that time magistrates ; some for several counties ; some were
deputy -lieutenants, and all might be high-sheriff. If they refused to serve the
604 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1839 — 43. office of sheriff in London, they were subject to a fine : yet they were excluded
from the office of alderman, (which is considered the compensation or reward
for having discharged the onerous duties of the shrievalty,) by a clause in the
declaration which could be subscribed to only by a Christian ; this clause itself
dating only from 1828. In some towns the disability was evaded by manage-
ment and subterfuge ; but this did not mend the case. It is scarcely credible
how much could be found to be said against a relief so reasonable and necessary
as the one proposed; but the measure was carried with ease, being, as a
fanatical member of the Commons House observed, in a state of panic, " com-
pletely of a *piece with several other measures which had passed the House
during the last two sessions." The last two sessions had indeed proved that
the existing Administration was inferior to none that had preceded it in its
enlightened regard for religious liberty.
CHAP. X.] CURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. C05
CHAPTER X.
"\TEAB, by year the prospect was opening to the British nation of a sufficient 1842 — 45.
-•- supply of food ; or, at least, of a supply not artificially restricted. The — ~^ — '
harvest of 1842 was abundant. The newspapers, during September of that QUESTION.
year, tell of " immense quantities " of corn gathered in, and of a proportionate
production on the continent : and in October, there was a special thanksgiving
in all places of worship, throughout the kingdom. But there was an event of
even happier promise than the abundant harvest. A letter from Lord Stanley Annual Register,
to the Governor-General of Canada, dated in -March of this year, shows that
the earnest petitions of the Canadians for the free admission of their corn into
Great Britain were favourably regarded by the government. The Colonial
Secretary granted assent to all the pleas in favour of free trade between Canada
and the mother country ; but pointed out that unless Canada chose to impose
a duty on the importation of wheat and flour from the United States, Great
Britain would in fact be supplied from the United States, via Canada, and
the British corn laws would become a mere sham. The Channel Islands had
been all along permitted to send their agricultural produce free to England,
with permission to buy for themselves wherever they could buy cheapest : but
they owed this privilege to their small area of production; and the landed
interest would not permit the extension of the liberty to so important a colony
as Canada. Such were the explanations with which Lord Stanley accom-
panied his news that government was about to lower the duty on Canadian
wheat, and to permit the importation of Canadian flour into Ireland.
The broad hint given in this letter was immediately taken. The Canadians •
saw that the government at home did not choose to impose new duties on
United States' produce imported into Canada ; but that, if the colony herself
chose to do so, she might consider the British government pledged to admit
her wheat and flour free, or under a merely nominal duty: and a law was
passed by the Canadian legislature, without delay, by which American wheat
was charged, from the 5th of July, 1843, with a duty of 3s. per quarter.
So far, all was easy. But the affair was no sooner known in England, than
" the landed interest " became extremely restless and anxious. At market-
tables, at agricultural meetings, and wherever landlords and farmers met, it
was hinted or proclaimed that Ministers were about to let in foreign corn by a
back-door, and to sink the corn laws into an empty name. County members
were instructed to be on the watch, and to put no blind trust in the Ministry,
till it was seen how this matter would end. The dissatisfaction was so strong
as to make the Ministers regret, as the Colonial Secretary avowed, that they
had no choice of time about introducing their plan to parliament. As their
promise to Canada bound them to propose their resolutions as early as possible,
Lord Stanley could only deprecate the agitation, and explain away as much as iiansard,ixix.*77.
606 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
18 j.2 45 he could of the alarm. No wheat from the United States was to be admitted —
^— ~^^_-- only flour made from it ; which was as truly a Canadian manufacture as ostrich
feathers were a French manufacture. The Canadians might live on United
States' wheat, and send us all theirs ; hut so they might, at any time for fifteen
years — the only diiference being that the duty was imposed now on the Ameri-
can frontier, instead of on our own shores. If we retained a duty of Is. on
Canadian wheat, and the Canadians paid a 3s. duty on United States' wheat,
English wheat was still protected by a 4s. duty, which government believed
would be an effectual protection. The change was proposed purely for the
benefit of the Canadians, now settling down into a state of peaceful industry;
and by no means for any advantage to the British consumer, as against the
agriculturist at home. Though this was said very earnestly and ably, and
though Lord Stanley had a high character as a protectionist, the British con-
sumer did believe that he should be the better for the change, and the British
farmer did fear that he should be driven into a competition with the Ameri-
cans. The news, with its attendant surmises, crept through the land, kindling
hopeful smiles beside many a loom, and within the walls of many a cottage in
town and country ; and calling up dread in the mind of many a farmer who
pondered how he could pay his rent if he was to be undersold in a shabby way,
by an act of the same government which had already altered the Sliding Scale
in a spirit of favouritism to the consumer.
CONFUSION OF When Lord Stanley proposed his resolutions, he was opposed by some
members of the liberal party on the ground that he was establishing a new
protection in Canada, and supported by others on the ground that the Cana-
dians should be allowed to obtain all the corn they could get. There is no
doubt that many votes were secured to the government by the prevalent con-
viction of the danger of hurting and irritating the Canadians by annulling
one of the first acts of their united legislature": and, if Lord Stanley's Reso-
lutions had been rejected, the necessary consequence would have been the
Hansard, ixix. refusal of the Royal Assent to the Canadian Bill. The Resolutions were
• affirmed by a large majority. The debates in Committee were chiefly remark-
able for a confusion of parties such as indicated to impartial persons that a
crisis was approaching. As usually happens when such confusion of parties
takes place, there was violent recrimination. The Anti-Corn-law Leaguers
looked on with deep interest, and perceived that their cause was making rapid
advances. In the Upper House, there were also opposite allegations against
the measure. It introduced the practice of protection into the Colonies, and
must therefore be opposed : and again, it must be opposed because it nullified
the Protectionist arrangements of the preceding year. Lord Stanhope de-
Hansard, ixx. 578. clared that these measures were only stepping stones to the general adoption
of free-trade principles, which Ministers had consistently avowed ; and others
supported or denounced the measure as a recession from free-trade principles.
THE BILL PASSED Amidst these contradictions, the Colonial Secretary's Bill passed the stage of
Hansard, ux. cos debate in the Lords by a majority of 32 in a House of 82, and became law
' without delay.
By this time, there were large numbers of persons in a state of hope or fear
CORN-LAW DE- from the conviction that the existing government " had never attempted to
BATES.
conceal," as Lord Stanhope said. " their advance towards the full adoption of
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 607
free-trade principles." Throughout the country, the preparations for the crisis 1842 45.
wore proceeding. Every parliamentary seat that became vacant was contested
by the Corn-law repealers ; and every word that fell from Ministers and their
adherents in either House was watched and pondered. This state of expec-
tation gave an interest to the Corn-law debates which would otherwise have
been utterly wearisome, from the lack of novelty, and the preponderance of
argument on one side. In March, Mr. Ward moved, unsuccessfully, for a Hazard, lxv»
committee to inquire whether there were any peculiar burdens on land, and if
so, what they were: and in May, Mr. Villiers brought forward his annual
motion for a Committee of the whole House, to consider the operation of the
corn-importation duties, with a view to their immediate abolition. The Hansard, ixix.
government declined further change while their last Slidingscale was new and
untried ; the Whig leaders and their adherents desired a fixed duty ; and the
Protectionists were awake and active in opposition to the motion, yet the ma-
jority by which it was rejected was much less than in the preceding year ;
the numbers being in 1842, 393 to 90 ; and now, 381 to 125. In 1844, the
majority on the same occasion again sank to 204; and the Protectionists began Hansard, ixxv.
to calculate how long their Corn law could be preserved if their majority con-
tinued to sink at the rate of 50 in a year. The Ministers, this time as before, *
said that their new scale was not yet proved a failure, and that, till it was,
they would countenance no change. Sir R. Peel said that as he had before Hansard, ixxv.
declared, so he would declare still, that the government had not contemplated, 1529-
and did not now contemplate, any change in that Corn law which was settled two
years since : but now, as before, he guarded himself against being understood
to mean that he would at all times, and under all circumstances, resist change ;
because that was a thing which no man ought to say on any matter of the
kind. Lord J. Russell declined voting, on the ground that he was equally
unwilling to have things go on as they were, and to throw open the trade in
corn. Adhering to his own proposal of a fixed duty of 8s. he would not vote
for any alternative. He was deserted now, however, by Lord Howick, who
avowed himself an advocate of immediate repeal, as compromise was no longer Hansard, ixxv.
possible. He saw that industry was inadequately rewarded — that both wages
and profits were low — and that these results were mainly owing to restrictions
on the importation of food. This was a remarkable fact ; and there were
other remarkable facts connected with this debate ; but none of them, sepa-
rately or collectively, were so notable as the line of defence taken by the Pro-
tectionists. Their speeches were almost wholly occupied by complaints or
denunciations of the Anti-Corn-law League.
The change within three years was indeed great. On the 25th of August? 1841.
1841, after the general election, and a few days before the resignation of the
Whig Cabinet, in the course of the debate on the Address, in answer to the
Queen's Speech, the People's tale was for the first time fully and properly told
in parliament. Mr. Cobden had been sent up to the House as representative R«CHAKI> C..BDE*
of the bread-winners of the kingdom ; and, on the first occasion of his rising,
he told the story in a way which fixed the attention of every thoughtful ob-
server of the times. When the daily papers of the 26th of August had
reached their destinations throughout the island, there were meditative stu-
dents, anxious invalids in their sick-chambers, watchful philosophers, and
608 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1842 — 45. a host of sufferers from want, who felt that a new era in the history of
England had opened, now that the People's tale had at last been told in the
People's House of Parliament. Such observers as these, and multitudes more,
asked of all who could tell them who this Richard Cobden was, and what he
was like : and the answer was that he was a member of a calico-printing firm
in Manchester ; that it was supposed that he would be an opulent man if he pro-
secuted business as men of business usually do ; but that he gallantly sacrificed
the pursuit of his own fortune, and his partners gallantly spared him to the
public, for the sake of the great cause of Corn-law repeal — his experience, his
liberal education, and his remarkable powers, all indicating him as a fitting
leader in the enterprise. It was added that his countenance was grave, his
manner simple and earnest, his eloquence plain, ready, and forcible, of a kind
eminently suited to his time and his function, and wholly new in the House
of Commons. It was at once remarked that he was not treated in the House
with the courtesy usually accorded to a new member : and it was perceived
that he did not need such observance. However agreeable it might have been
to him, he did not expect it from an assemblage proud of " the preponderance
of the landed interest" within it; and he could do without it. Some who
had least knowledge of the operative classes, and the least sympathy for them,
were touched by the simplicity and manliness with which the new member
received the jeers which followed his detailed statements of the proportion of
the bread duty paid by men who must support their families on 10s. a-week.
Hansard, iu. 236, " He did not know," he said, " whether it was the monstrous injustice of
the case, or the humble individual who stated it, that excited this manifesta-
tion of feeling, but still, he did state that the nobleman's family paid to this
bread- tax but one half-penny in every 100/. as income-tax, while the effect
of the tax upon the labouring man's family was 20 per cent .......
He had lately had an opportunity of seeing a report of the state of our labour-
ing population in all parts of the country. Probably Honourable Gentlemen
were aware that a very important meeting had been lately held at Manchester :
he alluded to the meeting of ministers of religion. (A laugh.) He understood
that laugh ; but he should not pause in his statement of facts, but might
perhaps notice it before concluding. He had seen a body of ministers of reli-
gion of all denominations — 650 (and not thirty) in number — assembled from
all parts of the country, at an expense of from three to four thousand pounds,
paid by their congregations. At that meeting most important statements of
facts were made relating to the condition of the labouring classes. He would
not trouble the House by reading those statements ; but they showed that in
every district of the country . . . the condition of the great body of her Majesty's
labouring population had deteriorated wofully within the last ten years, and
more especially within the last three years ; and that in proportion as the
price of food increased, in the same proportion the comforts of the working classes
had diminished. One word with respect to the manner in which his allusion to
this meeting was received. He did not come there to vindicate the conduct of
these Christian men in having assembled in order to take this subject into
consideration. The parties who had to judge them were their own congrega-
tions. There were at that meeting members of the Established Church, of
the Church of Rome, Independents, Baptists, members of the Church of Scot-
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 699
land, and of the Secession Church, Methodists, and indeed ministers of every 1842 — 45.
other denomination ; and if he were disposed to impugn the character of those
divines, he felt he should be casting a stigma and a reproach upon the great
body of professing Christians in this country. He happened to be the only
member of the House present at that meeting ; and he might be allowed to
state that when he heard the tales of misery there described, when he heard
these Ministers declare that members of their congregations were kept away
from places of worship during the morning service, and only crept out under
cover of the darkness of night — when they described others as unfit to receive
spiritual consolation, because they were sunk so low in physical destitution
— that the attendance at Sunday schools was falling off" — when he heard these
and such like statements — when he who believed that the Corn laws, the
provision monopoly, was at the bottom of all that was endured, heard those
statements, and from such authority, he must say that he rejoiced to see gen-
tlemen of such character come forward, and like Nathan, when he addressed
the owner of flocks and herds who had plundered the poor man of his only
lamb, say unto the doer of injustice, whoever he might be, ' Thou art the
man.' The people, through their Ministers, had protested against the Corn
laws. Those laws had been tested by the immutable morality of Scripture.
Those Reverend Gentlemen had prepared and signed a petition, in which they
prayed the removal of those laws — laws which, they stated, violated the
Scriptures, and prevented famishing children from having a portion of those
fatherly bounties which were intended for all people ; and he would remind
Honourable Gentlemen that, besides these 650 ministers, there were 1500
others from whom letters had been received, offering up their prayers in their
several localities to incline the will of Him who ruled princes and potentates
to turn your hearts to justice and mercy. When they found so many ministers
of religion, without any sectarian differences, joining heart and hand in a
great cause, there could be no doubt of their earnestness Englishmen had
a respect for rank, for wealth, perhaps too much ; they felt an attachment to
the laws of their country ; but there was another attribute in the minds of
Englishmen — there was a permanent veneration for sacred things ; and where
their sympathy and respect and deference were enlisted in what they believed
to be a sacred cause, 'you and yours,' declared the speaker, addressing the pro-
tectionists, ' will vanish like chaff before the whirlwind.'" Much of this speech
relating to the great meeting of religious ministers at Manchester, and its
tone being determined accordingly, some of the laughing members of the
House called Mr. Cobden a Methodist parson, and were astonished afterwards
to find what his abilities were in widely different directions. Some regarded him
as a pledged radical in politics, and were surprised to see him afterwards veri-
fying the assurances he gave this night — that he belonged to no party, and, as
a simple free-trader, would support either the Whigs or Sir R. Peel, whichever
of them should go furthest in repealing the restrictions on food. Almost every
body regarded him as a representative of the Manchester manufacturers, as an
embodiment of cotton-spinning, and therefore as the sworn foe of the landed
interest: but it appeared in due course that he was the son of a Sussex
farmer ; that he understood and had at heart the interests of agriculture ; and
that he could enlighten and guide and aid the farming class and their labourers
VOL. II. 4 I
610 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1842 — 45. far better than those who assumed to be their special friends and protectors.
" — -~*— — ' In proportion as Mr. Cobden's influence rose and spread in the League and in
the country, the agitation against the Corn laws included more and more of
the landed interest, and was less and less distinctive of the manufacturing
districts and population. Meantime, from this 25th of August, 1841, there
were members of the landed aristocracy who watched Mr. Cobden's course
with an interest beyond that of curiosity, declaring that this, his first address
to the House — an address which he supposed to be the simplest possible state-
ment of a very simple matter — was " a great speech."
1843. By the spring of 1843, how changed was the tone of the House ! There was
'UE' no laughing now at or about the Lancashire leaguers : but instead, a rueful
complaint from Mr. Bankes, as spokesman for " the landed interest," of their
activity and power in the country. " As to matters affecting those who, like
Hansard, ixvii. himself," said Mr. Bankes, " desired to live quietly and safely among their
tenantry in the country, the Ministry had not the power of knowing, as he and
other gentlemen in the country had, the enormous extent of mischief which
might be produced — which was attempted to be produced — at this present time,
by the emissaries of this League He had no reason to seek for any
ministerial support in the county which he represented ; but he looked to
Ministers for the peace of his private life — for the comfort, happiness, and
welfare, of the peasantry who lived around him. He looked to them to drive
away, by some means or other, this new mode of sending emissaries through-
out the country — paid emissaries ; for such were avowed and boasted of by
the Honourable Member for Stockport (Mr. Cobden). It was of this he
complained ; and it was from this he entreated the government to protect the
country ; as one of their fellow-citizens, as a faithful and dutiful subject of the
Crown, he asked, he besought, he demanded, this at the hands of her Majesty's
Ministers."
It need not be said that Mr. Bankes's demand was in vain. Ours is not a
country, nor an age, in which government can stop inquiries into the rate of
wages and the condition of the labourer, or interfere with the publication of
the results. As is always the case when monopolies are about to be destroyed,
the advocates of monopoly in this instance mistook the movement for an
attack upon their fortunes, and an interference with their private affairs.
The League leaders were always anxious to learn — ready to receive sug-
gestions and instructions from their foes ; and from this it was that their
agents were abroad at this time, in the agricultural counties. At first, the
movement was regarded as one of the manufacturers exclusively; and at first
perhaps it was so. It was originated in Lancashire — its head-quarters were
at Manchester— and its funds were mainly supplied by " the cotton lords" of
the district. They were taunted with a sordid regard to their own interest,
and charged with a desire to sacrifice the peasantry of the country to their
own ends. Their daily-improving knowledge of the operation of the Corn
laws was rapidly teaching them much more than they had ever dreamed of,
of the fatal influence of those laws on the condition of the agricultural
labourer : and they now resolved to ascertain the facts of the state of the
peasantry in the southern counties, and to publish them, week by week, in
their newspaper. Though they, and all other political economists knew, as
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. Gil
the very alphabet of their science, that the employers of labour do not fix the 1842 — 45.
wages of labour, they were aware that their opponents did not yet understand
this ; and they therefore lost no opportunity of saying every where, from the
House of Commons down to the humblest open air gathering, that it was
the Corn laws and other irresistible influences, and not the landowners, that
made wages so low. Yet, every gentleman on the Protectionist side, whose
labourers were starving on lls. or 8s. per week, resented the publication of
the fact, as an imputation on his humanity. It was not this that was the
ground of imputation ; but the carelessness, or prejudice, or neglect of duty,
which made these gentry extol the condition of their wretched dependents,
and resent all inquiry into it, and all efforts to improve it. There is material
in that singular newspaper, the ' League,' which can be found no where else,
for a history of the condition of the people prior to the release of agriculture
from so-called Protection. Agents of good business-habits, knowledge, and
power of observation, were sent on journeys through counties where they
paused at every step, noted the condition of every field, fence, farm-yard, and
cottage, for miles together ; and the evidence thus afforded of bad tillage, and
every kind of waste, of overweening rents, uncertain profits, and wages
reduced below the point of possible maintenance, is such as a future genera-
tion could not believe, if offered in a less unquestionable form. On one
nobleman's estate, the poor labourers were punished by being turned to road-
labour for having answered the questions of a League agent, and admitted
him into their hovels, where he noted the holes in the thatch, and the puddles
in the floor, and witnessed the destitution of food. The League, from that
moment, changed its method of procuring the same kind of information —
publishing the fact that in no case detailed by them was the information
obtained from the sufferers themselves ; and on they went with their disclo-
sures. The further they proceeded, the more they confirmed the statements
of the 2000 ministers of religion who prayed in their churches and chapels
for equal laws and daily bread for all.
But the League leaders not only sent agents through the agricultural dis-
tricts : they went there themselves. As soon as the House rose, Mr. Cobden
was down upon the southern and midland counties, holding meetings on
market-days, and arguing the question against all comers with singular success.
\Ve find, in glancing over the newspapers of the time, that his opponents
were usually elaborately prepared — their loudest speakers put forward —
their resolutions or amendments well pondered — their posse of supporters well
placed on the ground ; but too often, we find them, when baffled, and perceiv-
ing the audience going against them, losing temper, seizing the waggons, or
drowning the voices of the speakers by clamour. Rapidly, there was an ac-
cession of farmers to the League ; and some of them became League speakers.
More rapidly than ever before, intelligence began to spread among the dull
and depressed labouring class. They found light cast upon their condition;
they heard reasonings which they understood ; they found that what they had
suspected was really true — that their interests were not identical with those of
the receivers of rent, though it was true that they ought to be. They under-
stood that they and their employers, the farmers, were the " agricultural
interest" which the League desired to restore to prosperity ; and not the land-
612 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 45. owners ; the landowners being, as Mr. Cobden told them, no more agricultur-
ists than shipowners were sailors. By means of exercising the minds of the
labouring classes on affairs interesting to them, and within their compre-
hension, the League leaders did more for popular education than has, as yet,
been achieved by any other means. A circumstance less worthy of note is
that, as the weeks and months passed on, we see more and more of county
magistrates, of landowners, of noblemen, and members of parliament, attend-
ing on the hustings, and joining their efforts with those of the League leaders.
— And next, we arrive at notices of meetings of agricultural associations, and.
other bodies, where members of the government are found speaking. Their
theme is always the backward state of agriculture, and the necessity of ad-
vancing it, in order to enable the country to produce its own food, and be inde-
pendent of the foreigner. The hearers regularly appear anxious to be told
about tenures — to know what their rulers thought about leases — about the se-
curity the tenant might hope for, if he should be willing to lay out capital in
the improvement of his land : and as regularly they appear to have been dis-
appointed. Amidst a great deal that is very interesting about draining and
fencing, and an improved farming economy in every way, nothing seems to
have been ever said about rents and leases. Yet, it was unwise to leave these
topics to be dealt with exclusively by the League. It was natural that men
should watch the movements of the Prime Minister in relation to such mat-
ters at such a time ; and a speech of his at the Tamworth town-hall, at the
meeting of a farmers' club, in October, 1843, was read and commented on all
spectator, 1843, over the country. It spoke of leases. After urging on the fanners to improve
their knowledge and skill, and offering to procure them means of information,
Sir R. Peel avowed his willingness to grant leases to any tenant of his own who
should desire one, and could show that he was able and willing to improve the
land. The speech conveyed everywhere a strong impression that it was spoken
with the earnestness belonging to a critical season ; that the speaker believed
the improvement of agriculture to be the only ground of hope of better times
for the landed interests. But there was a paragraph at the end which fixed
attention more than all the rest. The vicinity of Birmingham was pointed out
as a capital advantage to the Leicestershire farmers, as affording a market for
their produce ; and nothing could be more clear than the assertion of the
Prime Minister, that the interests of agriculture and manufactures are insepa-
rably united, and that whatever supports the vigour of manufactures must open
markets, and keep up the demand for agricultural produce. This doctrine is
simple and clear enough ; but it was then League doctrine, and absolutely
opposite to that taken for granted by the Protectionists ; and it excited a
proportionate sensation when given forth by the head of the Adminis-
tration.
A month after this, the League met in Manchester, to offer evidence of
much-increased boldness and power. Last year, they had easily raised 50,0007.,
to be employed in the diffusion of knowledge in relation to the corn laws :
aid. p. loss they now resolved to raise 100,0007. ; and six persons stepped forwards in-
stantly to offer 500?. each, and forty-two gave, on the spot, sums between that
amount and 1007. Before the meeting closed, nearly 13,0007. were subscribed.
The money was needed for other purposes than the diffusion of information.
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 613
For five years, the League had petitioned the Sovereign and the parliament : 1842 — 45.
and now they thought it time to address themselves to those who made the ^~ — • " ,
parliament. They turned to the electors, and pledged themselves to be pre-
sent and active at .every election, and to contest every borough, till a parlia-
ment should be obtained which should repeal the corn laws. They had good
reason for confidence in this course ; for they had just carried the City of Lon- £,00*DON ELKC"
don. Mr. Baring had been rejected for Mr. Pattison, the free-trade candidate ;
and -an analysis of the votes had clearly shown that it was the casting vote of
the League (between the Conservatives and the Whigs) which had decided the
election. And herein lay another evidence of the readiness of the League to
take advice from its enemies, and profit by their taunts. In parliament, from
the time the League was first mentioned there, till the thing could be said no
longer, we find speaker after speaker saying that the League had no influence
in London, and could make no impression there. The League admitted to
itself that it had far too little influence in London ; and it resolved to try whe-
ther it could make an impression in that stronghold of monopoly. The West
India interest was there : the Canada interest was there ; and the Shipping
interest, and every thing that shrank from thorough-going free trade. These
made London very difficult to gain: but, till London was gained, the aim
could not be accomplished.
Associations were formed there, and district meetings held : but the area was
too large to be conquered by such a method of attack. Weekly meetings of
the aggregate London societies were held at the Crown and Anchor : but pre-
sently the Crown and Anchor would not hold half that came ; and the re-
markable step was taken of engaging Drury Lane theatre for the Wednesday
evening meetings. The first was held there on the 15th of March, 1843. The spectator, 1843,
p. 246
tickets were all gone on the Tuesday afternoon ; and the theatre was crowded
in every part. Probably, London will never witness a stranger spectacle
than that which might now, for above two years, be seen ; of one or other
of the great theatres crowded from the floor to the roof by a multitude
who came, week by week, to hear, for many hours together, nothing but po-
litical economy, all bearing on one point — the repeal of an obnoxious law.
The interest, the emotion, the passion, aroused and demonstrated equalled,
and even transcended, all that had ever been manifested, when poetry,
instead of dry science, occupied the scene. It is true, the speaking was
most able and very various ; and no deeper tragedies were ever presented
there than some which were related as happening close at hand and every day,
through an artificial restriction of food : but still, the audience went to hear
political economy and statistics ; and were so roused by appeals based on facts
and figures that the cheering was at times almost maddening. None could
mock and deride who had ever been there ; but many did — even the Prime
Minister himself — while the thing was new, arid regarded as a clap-trap, in-
stead of what it really was — the most effectual way of rapidly diffusing infor-
mation, and exciting the spirit of enterprise needed for the proposed reform.
The result appeared in the City election of the next November : and from
that time, we read of fewer jests, and of more appeals to government to " put
down the League." It is needless to say that an association organized to
614 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 45. obtain the repeal of an Act of Parliament, by means of a diffusion of infor-
^— •~v~- — ' mation among electors especially, and every body else afterwards, could not
be j " put down :" and, from the time that the City of London elected a
League candidate, and such landowners and agriculturists as Lord Fitzwilliam
and Lord Spencer avowed themselves converts to League doctrines —all of
which happened before the end of 1843 — no Minister could listen for a mo-
ment to the frantic entreaties of the Protectionists that their enemy might
be crushed before their eyes. Like Mr. Bankes, they " asked " they " besought,"
they " demanded," this of Ministers ; but Ministers could only be silent, and
leave the great Association to pursue its strictly legal course. And among the
Leaguers might now be found a man whose name was enough to make the
owners of property pause before they assailed the Association of which he
had become a member. Mr. Samuel Jones Loyd, the banker, who had more
interest in the security of property, and more knowledge how to secure it,
spectator, 1843, than almost any other man in the City of London, had, in October, sent a
letter to the League Council, in which he intimated that he felt it right to
overcome his reluctance to join any public body for whose acts he could not
be responsible : " The time is now arrived," he wrote, " when this must be
over-ruled by other considerations of overwhelming importance. The great
question of free trade is now fairly at issue ; and the bold, manly and effectual
efforts which have been made by the League in its support command at once
my admiration and my concurrence."
ANECDOTES. An incident is related in the Chronicles of the year which, as it strongly
excited curiosity within the Cabinet, as well as elsewhere, may be hoped to
have led to some consideration of the effect upon conscience of laws too bad
Annual Register, to be observed. Under the head " Remarkable case of Conscience," we find
1843, Chron. 53.
that a man who had given in an honest return of the profits of his regular
business, in paying his income tax, had become conscience-stricken afterwards
at having paid no tax on his income from smuggling ; and that he therefore
sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer 14,000/. as due on three years' profits.
There is no appearance of his having any pain of conscience about smuggling,
even to the enormous amount thus indicated> while so sensitive about paying
a tax of which his mind approved. The most searching inquiries failed to
discover who was the owner of a conscience in so instructive a condition : and
the Ministers were left with a lesson which some of them were beginning
hardly to need. — A more trifling anecdote evidences the feverishiiess of the
time about the opinions of the Premier on trade in corn. A Manchester manu-
spectator, 1843, facturer sent to Sir R. Peel two pieces of velveteen of a new and beautiful
fabric, the device on which was " a stalk and ear of Avheat, grouped, or rather
thrown together very tastefully, \vith a small scroll peeping from beneath,
bearing the word ' free/ " Sir E,. Peel sent " a handsome letter " of thanks
and acceptance. * The Times ' related the transaction: the 'Standard' did
the same, omitting all about the wheat ears and the scroll. The * Morning
Post ' was scandalized at both, and the Minister's acceptance of the gift.
The quarrel attracted the Minister's eye afresh to the velveteen, when he saw
the scroll, and immediately returned the present, with an explanation that he
had been unaware that " any matters which were the subject of public con-
troversy " were concerned in the transaction. The manufacturer, on his part,
CHAP. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 615
disclaimed any intention of embarrassing the Minister, and published the cor- 1842 — 45.
ivspondence, to allay the jealousy which had been excited. ^— — N^. — -
In 1844, the efforts of the League became more distasteful than ever to their 1844.
_,; -T,, , , . . . , . - . LEAGUE REGIS-
opponents. I hey took the registration 111 hand ; and were soon able to give TRAHON.
a precise account of 140 boroughs. No one could reasonably object to this
part of the enterprise, as it was a method open to every party. It was made
known to the hearers at the League meetings that there was no occasion ever
to despair of the regeneration of any borough ; and that it would be wrong to
regard any as in a fixed condition of opinion. The constituency was renewed
at the rate of from 10 to 15 per cent, annually, and was wholly changed in
ten years. There was, therefore, every encouragement to strive to enlighten
and inspirit the constituencies. It was by this time certain that a great acces-
sion of free-traders would be found in the House after the next election ; and
this, joined to the fact of the great changes within the House, shown by the
decrease of the majorities against Mr. Villiers's annual motion, indicated that
the final struggle could not be very far off. But prospects of infinitely greater
importance were now opening — prospects of such vastness that the Leaguers
themselves did not (as they have since said) by any means perceive the extent
of their new enterprise. Their study of the boroughs led them to the con-
templation of the counties, where their foes' chief strength lay ; and that con-
templation led Mr. Cobden to the discovery of a remedy for the false represen-
tation, or the non-representation of the bulk of the nation, by which the polity
of Great Britain will be affected, probably down to the remotest posterity.
The operation of the Reform Bill was injured, and well nigh ruined, FREEHOLD LAND
by the Chandos clause. By this clause, which favoured the landowners by
admitting their tenants-at-will on easy terms to the franchise, a great number
of votes could be fabricated, by the putting together many partners in a tenancy -
at-will. Brothers, sons, uncles, and every kind of relative, were made partners,
and had votes under this clause : and thus, in the agricultural districts, the voters
were one in twenty-two ; and " the landed interest" gained the counties, while
in the manufacturing districts of Lancashire, the voters were only one in eighty
of the inhabitants. In West Surrey, the voters were one to 26 : and in Mid-
dlesex, one to 115. In considering how to lessen this prodigious inequality, and
give a fair share of the representation to South Lancashire and the manufac-
turing districts of Yorkshire, Mr. Cobden found that the requisite power lay
in the Reform Bill itself — in the Forty-shilling freehold clause. Upon inquiry,
it appeared that a house, the possession of which would confer the franchise,
might be had for from 307. to 40/. : and it was clear that a world of difficulty
and expense might be saved by the League undertaking all the part of the
business which the artisan can least manage for himself. If the League opened
books for the registration of land and houses on sale, surveyed the property,
prepared the conveyance deeds, and, in short, left to the purchaser nothing to
do but to choose his property, pay for it, and take possession, there could be
no doubt of the- readiness of a host of artisans and operatives to invest their
savings in this secure and honourable kind of property, rather than in any
other mode. The plan was immediately set on foot : and before the year was
out, the spectacle might be seen, so ardently desired by many philanthropists,
of numbers of the working class in possession of a plot of land and a house of
616 HISTORY 'OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 45. tlieir own ; — having, as conservative politicians have been wont to say, "a stake
^— -v— ^- in the country." It was well to provide for coming county elections ; it was
well to neutralize the vicious operation of the Chandos clause : but it was a far
greater thing to have recurred to the benefit of making our working classes
citizens indeed by giving them the power of holding house or land by means
of their own earnings : and to do this by a method suited to the time, and to
the existing state of our civilization — not by tempting them to depend on the
land for subsistence ; but only as an investment for their savings, after main-
taining themselves by the species of labour which the time requires. A natural
apprehension was widely expressed at first that the landowners would cut up
their estates, as the Irish landlords had formerly done, and that the county
constituencies would thus become depraved by the admission of mere creatures
of the proprietors to the suffrage : but, as Mr. Villiers was at pains to explain,
it was now too late for this to be done to any great extent. The landowners
had already done their utmost ; and in a very large proportion of cases, the
land which was nominally their own was not really so. They had worked the
Chandos clause of the Reform Bill to the utmost ; and now they must leave
to others the working of the Forty-shilling freehold clause. The event, as far
as it can be judged of at this day, seems to have proved that the Leaguers
were right. They soon turned the scale in some of the counties ; and the
operation has been continued, with still increasing vigour, to this hour. The
working men of the Midland Counties, who had nothing to do with the
League in its day, have learned from it to invest their savings in the best
way, and obtain political privileges at the same time; and the prodigious
extent of their associations for the purpose enables them to conduct the
business, and acquire their freeholds, at a less cost than Mr. Cobden himself
could have dreamed of when he propounded his plan. Freeholds are now
obtained by thousands at the rate of 19/. each : and the working men of the
midland towns who can invest this sum from their earnings, to obtain political
privileges, are a class of the constituency that every true statesman and lover
of his country will welcome to the exercise of their rights.
L"WS°AME ^n t^ie course °f their inquiries and action, the Leaguers discovered that the
Game laws were of more importance, and more deadly injury, than even the
best-informed of them had been at all aware. They found that the law,
which bears an appearance of impartiality — the law that the game 011 any
land is the property of the occupier, unless he chooses to part with it — is
utterly unavailing under the existing competition for farms. The competing
farmers allowed the landlords to make any arrangement they pleased about
the game, hoping that the hares and pheasants would, according to the pro-
mise of the landlord, not be allowed to increase to an injurious extent : a trust
which was almost invariably found to be misplaced. The distress from this
cause which came to their knowledge ; — the discovery that throughout the
agricultural counties the expenditure of the peasantry was certainly larger than
their apparent receipts, indicating a prevalence of poaching ; — the spectacle
of jails over-crowded with prisoners, of whom the largest proportion were there
for game offences ; — and the actual sight of hundreds of acres of produce
destroyed by game; — these things pointed out the Game laws as a subject of
1845. attack to the League ; and Mr. Bright obtained, in 1845, a Committee which
.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 617
sat in two sessions. The sporting interest is too strong in parliament to 1842 — 45.
permit the due results to follow from, the evidence obtained : but the informa- ^~^-~~*~^'
tion was not lost. Its purport was terrible beyond all expectation. It told
that the direct waste of food through the ravages of game was equal in amount
to the Income tax. It told of distress caused to the farmers in all degrees,
from an irritating diminution of profits down to causing utter ruin, as in the
case of an honest farmer (an example of a common case), who was thus
reduced, in spite of the most strenuous efforts, from being a capitalist, down,
by mournful degrees, to the station of a labourer at 10s. a week. It told of
oppression on the part of sporting magistrates, and of unlimited opportunity
for such oppression. It told of fearful demoralization in town as well as coun-
try, from the transactions connected with the sale of game. It told of the
rousing of social and political discontents, in places where the hungering poor
saw how much human food was devoured by hares and birds, and who felt
how irreconcileable were the interests ot the peasantry and the magistracy in
regard to game. There was no need that it should tell of murders ; for the
newspapers of the day made known that part of the horror of the case. In
January, 1844, a gamekeeper of Lord Grantley's, the father of seven children, Annual Register,
was found murdered by poachers. In March, a man named Lowther had a H>id." chron.si.
double certificate fine upon him, and thought, in his difficulty, of taking some
of Lord Normanby's pheasants, wherewith to pay his fine. Being met, he
shot Lord Normanby's keeper : and being tried, he was found guilty of murder.
But these, and all lesser cases of injury, were unhappily of too commpn an
order to produce much effect on the public mind. The event of the year, in
regard to game catastrophes, was one which found its way to the hearts, and
troubled the minds, even of some parliamentary sportsmen. The Earl of
Stradbroke was well known as a strict game-preserver ; and his conspicuous
advocacy of all stringent game-law provisions in the House of Lords prevented
any mistake about his views. We find him, in June of this year, urging Hansard, IXXT.
amendments on the Bill for the Preservation of Game by night — provisions
for making more stringent a law already intolerably oppressive; and in
August, the kingdom was shocked by the news that two of Lord Stradbroke's spectator, 1344,
gamekeepers had committed suicide, on two successive days. From the evi-
dence on the inquest it appeared that the poachers had done much mischief in
the preserves, and that Easy, the first suicide, fell into despondency, on hearing
that Lord Stradbroke was coming down for the 1st of September. On the
eve of that day, he shot himself through the mouth. The superintendent
keeper, Cucksey, was supposed to take alarm lest he should be discovered to
have removed pheasants' eggs from Easy's portion of the preserves, to make a
better appearance in his own ; and he shot himself the next day. Some little
difference of tone is to be observed among legislators after this occurrence ; a
somewhat less stern assertion that the game was theirs, and that they would
do what they chose with their own ; — a somewhat less virulent denunciation
of the peasantry for helping themselves to wild creatures which they can
never be made to regard as property, and for yielding to a temptation too
strong for flesh and blood. — For some time past, it had been rumoured that
the Home Secretary was looking closely into the commitments for poaching
VOL. II. 4 K
618 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1842 — 45, offences, all over the country, to ascertain their legality; and some persons
^-—^ — ^-^ even ventured to anticipate a proposal from the government for the complete
Hansard, ixxvi. revision of the game laws. — In August, we find Lord Lilford saying in the
Upper House that much observation had been occasioned by the Home Secre-
tary having required from the governor of Northampton jail a return of sum-
mary convictions under the Game Act in that county; and Lord Lilford
inquired of Lord Wharncliffe whether it was intended to cast any imputation
on the magistrates of the shire. The reply was that every county had been
visited with the same requisition, because it was known to government that
great irregularities had occurred in the management of such cases. The evi-
dence of the Under Secretary for the Home Department, before Mr. Bright's
Committee in the next spring, disclosed such abundant reason for this inquiry
that we do not wonder at hearing of 110 more resentment on behalf of magis-
trates. So many of the mere commitments were illegal that the Home Secre-
tary made a jail-delivery of game offenders, extensive enough to render it
prudent for the magistrates and their champions to drop the subject. When-
ever the administration of justice in rural districts becomes a subject for legis-
lation, as Municipal Reform has been in our time, the evidence of Mr. S.
March Phillips, Under Secretary for the Home Department, before Mr. Bright's
Game Law Committee, will suffice to show what that administration was up
to 1845.
In the same August which brought the subject of the Game laws so often
before the public, the e Morning Herald' announced that Ministers were fully
aware of the pernicious operation of the Game laws, and were contemplating
a complete revision and large modification of them. It declared that the
Home Secretary had kept a vigilant eye on the rural magistracy, ever since
his entrance upon office, and had investigated every case of alleged severity;
and it intimated that another session would hardly pass without a change of
system. The next session brought about no change ; nor has any subsequent
session ; except that hares are now deprived of some of the protection of sacred
game. But public opinion has effected something of what legislation should
long ago have done. Several noblemen and gentlemen — and in the first rank
of these, the Duke of Bedford — have thrown open their preserves ; and many
more have given permission to their tenants to destroy hares and rabbits to any
amount they please. A strong feeling of disgust at battue-shooting is spread-
ing through all ranks, till, we may hope, it must reach the highest : and when
battue-shooting comes to an end, the overthrow of the game law tyranny is
nigh. The genuine game law system, derived from feudal times, and endeared
to the aristocracy by feudal associations, was destroyed by the Act which
legalized the sale of game. The sport, thus degenerated into preserving game
for battue-shooting, cannot long hold its ground against the indignities which
now beset it, the wrongs of a suffering peasantry, and the spirit of agricultural
improvement. Already our sportsmen are finding their wray to the wilds of
Norway and other countries, in pursuit of a truer sport than any that can now
be procured at home. The Scotch moors also will be open for a long time to
come. With these sporting fields elsewhere, and the example of such land-
lords as the Duke of Bedford at hand, we may hope that the gentry who
CHA.P. X.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 619
uphold in~parliament a game law which must make every statesman blush 1842 — 45.
will grow ashamed of insisting on their privilege and amusement, at the v— — -^
expense of ruin to the farmers, and corruption among the peasantry.
Between 1833 and 1844, there were 41 inquests on slain gamekeepers ; ^olitjfal ™ction-
and in 26 of these cases, verdicts of wilful murder were returned. In some of
the rural counties, nearly half of the total commitments to jail were game
cases ; and the maintenance of the families of poachers, and the necessary
enlargements of the jails, and employment of a numerous police, were heavy
burdens to the occupiers of land — already much injured by the partial destruc-
tion of their crops. The convictions in England and Wales for breach of the
game laws for the year 1843 alone were 4,529. It is computed that the
expenditure occasioned by the game laws (independent of the waste of food)
amounts to more than that of the poor law system. " Within the last fifty
years," says our calm and judicial-minded expositor of the Political Dictionary,
" game has been preserved to an excess which was previously unknown. Most
of the laws relating to game which have been passed within this period have
been to enable game preservers to indulge in this taste ; and to visit with
greater severity those who are tempted by the abundance of game to become
poachers. The accumulation of game in preserves, watched and guarded by
numerous keepers, has led to changes in the mode of sporting. The sports-
man of the old school was contented with a little spoil, but found enjoyment
in healthful recreation and exercise, and was aided by the sagacity of his
doo-s. In the modern system of battue-shooting, the woods and plantations
are beaten by men and boys ; attendants load the sportsmen's guns, and the
game is driven within reach of gunshot, and many hundred heads of game
are slaughtered in a few hours. The true sportsman would as soon think of
spoiling a poultry yard The effect of protecting game by oppressive
laws is, perhaps, more injurious to the morals of the rural population than
any other single cause. The gentry of England are distinguished by many
0-ood qualities ; but the manner in which many of them uphold their amuse-
ments at the cost of filling the jails with their poor neighbours, who acquire
those habits which lead to the ruin of themselves and their families, is a blot
on their character which has yet to be wiped off." We must leave it to a future
historian to assign the date of its obliteration.
620 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
CHAPTER XI.
1843-44. HHHE financial statement for 1843 was looked for with some dread by all
^— ^-^— - — J- parties. It could not be otherwise than unfavourable. The long
M^NT*"* E" distress was not yet over ; the Income tax could have yielded nothing yet ;
and the prodigious reduction of Import duties consequent on the alteration
of the tariff must have operated immediately, and presented its worst aspect
first.
Hansard, ixviu. On the 8th of May, Mr. Goulburn made his statement. Under some heads,
there had been disappointment. Others indicated an improvement in manu-
factures and in the condition of the people. The deficiency was about
2,000,0007. : but the Income tax was certain to be more productive than had
been supposed. The net revenue from it was likely to be about 5,100,0007.
On the whole, a small deficiency was left : but it was so evident that the worst
was over with the Customs, and that the produce of that department must increase
as the benefits of a free trade were experienced, that the surplus of a future
time might be confidently reckoned on to pay up the present small deficiency.
Two heavy charges of unusual character — for Opium compensation, and to
reimburse the East India Company for the Chinese War — might be paid out
of the Chinese money to come in hereafter : but meantime, the sums must be
advanced. No remission of taxation could be looked for under these circum-
stances ; and the most vehement objectors to the Income tax had now nothing
to say when asked what we should have done without it. The deficiency was
owing chiefly to a falling oif in the wine, spirits, and malt duties, from causes
which could not have been anticipated — the expiration of the Methuen treaty
with Portugal, the spread of the Temperance movement, and the badness
of the malting season. One free trade deed was done by Parliament, this
Hansard, ixxi session, at the instance of Ministers. The law was repealed which prohibited
547*
the exportation of Machinery. This law had long been practically inopera-
tive ; as there is no machinery which cannot be sent abroad in portions under
cover : and the only effect of the law, of late years, had been to make British
machinery dearer on the continent than it need be, so as to enable the Belgian
manufacturers to undersell the English. The English would henceforth have
a fairer chance.
1844. The financial statement of 1844 showed that the Minister had been quite
^TNCIAL STATE" right in anticipating a revival of prosperity, and a surplus, larger or smaller.
Uxiv< The surplus was large beyond every one's expectation, amounting to 2,700,0007.
It was clear that the Distress was over for this time, and that all the great
interests of the country were rapidly rising. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
was pressed with proposals on every hand for the reduction of taxes : but he
had to consider that the Income tax was, as yet, the only resource to fall back
upon ; and that its continuance beyond the next year had still to be debated.
Bearing this in mind, he was disposed to apply the present surplus to the
CHAP. XI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 621
augmentation of the balance in the Exchequer, only remitting duties on a few 1843-44.
articles to the extent of 387,000/. a year. Some amendments on Mr. Goul- v— - — - -— '
hum's proposals were moved, but not carried. The great conflict of parties was
on the Sugar duties ; and the struggle was, this year, a remarkable one ; and no
less beneficial than remarkable in one of its consequences — proving the strict-
ness of principle and clear insight of the League leaders.
Year by year, the free trade party in the House of Commons protested SUGAR DUTIES.
against the preference shown to colonial above foreign sugars : and Mr. Cob-
den moved a Resolution, in June 1843, against the differential Sugar duty.
The state of the revenue at that time furnished Mr. Goulburn with a suffi-
cient plea for not then altering the duties ; and he did not conceal that he was
glad to avoid the risk of letting in slave-grown produce by a reduction of duty
on foreign sugars. In the present year, however, the plea of a deficient revenue
was taken away ; and not only so ; but the improved condition and habits of
the people, who were becoming consumers of tea and coffee at a perpetually
increasing rate, required, Mr. Goulburn said, that provision should be made Hansard, ixxv.
for a larger supply of sugar. Before negro emancipation, our West India I5
colonies produced about one-third more sugar than was wanted at home : but
after that date, while the production had diminished, the demand had largely
increased. Some of the need had been supplied by parliament having brought
East and West India sugars nearer, in regard to duty : but the price had risen
2s. per cwt. in the year that was gone ; and the demand was certain still to
increase. While the Legislature was about the work of altering the duties, it
might as well provide some surplus of supply for a future rise of demand.
Mr. Goulburn proposed to do this in a way which, as government believed,
would reconcile an enlargement of the supply of sugar with fidelity to their
anti-slavery principles. He brought forward two Resolutions, by which, first,
Sugar certified to be the growth of China, Java, Manilla, or other countries
where no slave-labour was employed, should be admitted at a duty of 34s., the
colonial duty remaining as before at 24s. ; and, secondly, the Queen should
be authorized, at the same date, to proceed upon any existing treaties by
which she was bound to admit the sugars of any foreign country on the same
footing as that of the most favoured nation. This resolution related to Brazil,
whose treaty with us would expire at that date.
By these propositions, the government separated itself from both the parties
regularly opposed to each other on the sugar question — the West India
interest and the free-traders : and hard work it was for Mr. Goulburn to
maintain any thing like a secure footing between them. The West India
interest pleaded, as usual, the peculiarity and hardship of their case as a
reason against any enlargement of the area of supply. They considered them-
selves entitled to the benefit of any rise of price that might take place from
the increased demand. The free-traders pointed out that, as our consump-
tion increased, slave-grown sugar would find its way somewhere — if not to us,
to the countries that supplied us ; and that our discountenance of slave-grown
sugar would thus be reduced to a mere sham. Lord John Russell's amend-
ment in favour of admitting all foreign sugars at 34s. was rejected by a
majority of 69 ; and Mr. Goulburn brought in his Bill, which was read twice Hansard, UXT.
without debate. The 14th of June was the day when the House went into
622 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1843-44. Committee upon it. On that day, Mr. Miles moved as it had been decided by
~^~-*~~-^ the West India body in the City that he should. There had been a meeting
MR. M.LES-S MO- of that body iu the Tuning . and they had agreed that Mr. Miles should pro-
Hansard, ixxv. pose & iowering of the duty On Colonial and East India Sugar to 20s. instead
of the 24s. proposed by government ; and the raising of the duty on " White
Clayed, or equivalent to white clayed" (partially refined) Sugar of foreign free-
labour production, to 34s. — the duty on brown or clayed being 30s. Mr.
Goulburn objected that the leaving a differential duty of 10s. gave only
precisely the same protection to colonial interest as he had proposed, while the
loss of the 4s. on each sort would make a disastrous difference to the revenue.
Not a few free-traders were caught by the temptation of an apparent reduction
of 4s. on Colonial Sugars : but the better men-of-business of that party saw
that Mr. Miles's proposition, if carried, would in effect merely establish a
differential duty of 14s. between Colonial and other sugar ; put the 4s. per
cwt. into the pockets of the West India planters ; and cause a serious diminu-
tion in the revenue. They would not countenance this; nor express any
such acquiescence in any differential duty. They would rather wait till the
next year, when the whole subject must come under revision and re-arrange-
ment, and when their present resistance to the bait of the Protectionists would
give them a title to deference. Other people, however, were less clear-
sighted or less virtuous. It was evident that here was an opportunity for
trying with advantage whether the government could not be upset. Lord
John Russell with his whig tail went out -in to the lobby mixed up with
Lord John Manners and his " Young England," — a good many wondering
free-traders swelling the numbers. These free-traders wondered to find
themselves in such company, and yet, to think that they should have left
Cobden and Ricardo, and Thornely and Warburton, behind. By means of this
Hansard, ixxv. curious coalition and confusion, Ministers were outvoted by a majority of
20. Mr. Cobden and the League immediately lost much popularity. It
was only for a short time, and with people who could not see why he should
prefer a duty of 24s. to one of 20s., or why he should refuse his help towards
overthrowing the Administration, to bring in Lord J. Russell, with his 8s.
fixed corn duty. But it soon came to be understood, first, that Mr. Cobden
and the League were sincere in their constant disclaimer of party purposes
and party temper : and next, that the restoration of the Whigs to power could
have brought us no nearer to free trade. The Whigs could not have held
power for many days at that time : the existing government had a majority of
90 on all party divisions ; and there could be no question among political
economists, of Peel and his comrades understanding free trade better than the
Whigs, as well as being more able to give it. When these things became
clear, Mr. Cobden and the League stood higher than ever.
It was on a Friday night, or rather, Saturday morning, that the important
division took place, which gave a majority of 20 against Ministers. On Sun-
day morning, a Cabinet Council was held; and at its close, Sir R. Peel went
to Buckingham palace, where he was detained to dinner. It was every where
rumoured that the Queen, then near her confinement, was strongly opposed
to his resigning. On Monday, there was another Cabinet Council, while
people out of doors were settling whether the Minister would go out, or
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 623
would propose, as the Whigs had done, under a much more significant dis- 1843-44.
comfiture, the continuance of the existing sugar duties for another year. All v— — - ^ — -^
day, lists of new ministries were made out, to pass the time till evening ; and
every conservative who left his card at Sir R. Peel's door was noted and
reported. The house was very full — many sick members having made an
effort to come. It was evident that all parties had mustered their forces
diligently. A dead silence prevailed when the Premier rose to speak. His
speech could hardly be an effective one, or delivered in his best manner, on
an occasion so mortifying, and a subject so perplexed, and implicating so
much unsoundness. He neither offered to retire, nor proposed the continu-
ance of the existing sugar duties. He declared his intention of adhering to ^l^1*3^'
the ministerial measure, exposed the difficulty of arranging the processes of
government in regard to the sugar duties, from the fact that the existing
treaty with Brazil would expire on the 10th of November next, after which
that country must be admitted on the same footing as the most favoured
nation ; while the expiration of the existing duties rendered it impossible to
wait, and every one knew that the whole subject must undergo revision in the
next session before it could be determined whether or not to renew the Income
tax. The rival motion was not one of opposition of principle : it only proposed
different amounts, and not a different proportion of duty ; and there would
therefore be no disgrace to the House if, on surveying the peculiarities of the
case, it should reconsider its vote. If parliament had confidence enough in
the existing administration to countenance and support its general principle
of relaxing duties in ways which appeared safe and gradual, it might be ex-
pected not to thwart the government in regard to details of particular
measures ; and on this ground he asked for a reconsideration of the late em-
barrassing vote. This was granted him. In a Committee of 488, Mr. Miles's
proposition was rejected by a majority of 22. Two lasting consequences of Hansard, ixxr.
this speech and division were, that the extreme Protectionists from that day
drew off from Sir R. Peel, and hoped notning more from him ; and that his
followers saw that there must be no faltering among them. The Minister
had a policy in view, clear and well-defined ; and he must carry it through,
without being subject to misadventures through any instability of theirs.
Now had been the moment for deciding whether he should be authorized to
carry out his policy. It had been decided that he was : and now, they were
to support him without flinching or vacillation. The next year must be a
great one, in regard to affairs of Commerce and Finance ; and this was the
preparation for it. The Ministerial Bill, after some further discussion in both
Houses, stopping short of the point of endangering it, became law on the 4th Hnnsard, ixxvi.
of July.
As the prosperity of the kingdom advanced, and capital abounded, and the REDUCTION OP
THE 34 PER CENTS
price of Stocks rose, the holders of the 3^ per cent, consols became aware that
they might soon expect to hear of a government plan for the reduction in that
Stock. Every body said that such a reduction was a fair and proper means of
diminishing the burdens of the country — the interest of capital being now
very low, and likely to remain so. The anxiety was as to how it would be
done. Mr. Goulburn brought forward his plan on the 8th of March, 1844.
The occasion was an important one ; for the sum to be dealt with was larger
624 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK VI.
1843-44. than had ever before been taken in hand for regulation by the government,
v — -~v— • — " being little less than 250,000,0002. of money. The plan of the Chancellor was
received with the utmost good-will and satisfaction ; and no difficulty subse-
Hansard ixxiu. quently occurred. He proposed to deal with all the Stock now comprehended
under the 3| per cent., except that constituted in 1818, which enjoyed some
peculiar protections originally guaranteed to it. "With regard to all but this,
he proposed that the 3J should be exchanged for 3 \ per cent, for 10 years; and
be reduced to 3 per cent, in 1854, being guaranteed against any further reduc-
tion for twenty years from that date. By this plan, the immediate saving
would be 625,0002. per annum for ten years ; and after that, 1,250,0002. per
annum. The time allowed for dissent on the part of the holders was a
fortnight for persons in England, three months for persons on the Continent,
and eleven months for every body further off. The speech of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer was cheered at intervals as it proceeded, and vehemently at
the end ; and a variety of speakers offered him compliments and congratula-
tions afterwards. The resolutions proposed were passed unanimously, and the
Bill founded on them left the Lords on the 19th of the same month. The
dissentients were extremely few, and the affair went off with unexampled
smoothness. Mr. Goulburn took advantage of the occasion to remedy the
inequality of payments in the different quarters of the year. All the interest
due on the 3| per cents, would be paid up to the 10th of October; so that a
new start would be made from that day, and a nearly equal issue would be
made in the summer and winter, as in the spring and autumn quarters — to
the easing of currency and commerce. — The reason of the fervour with which
the plan was hailed was that Mr. Goulburn had resisted the temptation of add-
ing to the debt while obtaining present relief. He might have made a grander
looking measure by increasing the burdens of posterity : but the scheme he
proposed would benefit a future, even more than the present generation : and
generous acknowledgments of this merit were made on every hand.
BANK ACTOF 1844. Jt will be remembered that when a new Charter was granted to the
Bank of England in 1833, it was provided that, though it was a Charter
for twenty-one years, it might be modified at the end of ten years, on
six months' notice being given by parliament. The ten years were now
(in 1844) about to expire ; and it was the Minister's desire that the
Charter should be modified. It was the desire of the country at large
that changes should be made ; for the last few years had wrought deeply on
the public mind in regard to currency matters. The fever of Joint Stock
Bank speculation had subsided. Opinions of Mr. S. Jones Loyd and Mr.
Norman, opinions clearly propounded before a parliamentary committee in
1840, in favour of a single source of issue of money, had become widely
known, and intelligently embraced by a large majority of thinking persons :
Avhile, on the other hand, an extensive agitation had gone forward in favour
of such an " expansion of the currency " in all times of pressure as might buy
off the pressure, and spread ease through the field of commerce. The intricate
and abstract subject of currency had become so interesting to the many, that
pamphlets advocating every view appeared in abundance ; and not a few, both
of the wise and the foolish, went through several editions. It is easy to un-
derstand how some of the most unwise became the most popular. When the
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
small traders and artisans of the great towns were told that trade was always 1843-44.
good when paper money abounded, that a new issue of paper money had re- ^— ~— —
lieved commercial distress as often as it had been tried, and that hardship and
misery always attended a contraction of the currency, it was not surprising
that they should read with avidity publications which described the bliss of an
abundance of money, and partly consoled them for past misfortunes by appear-
ing to point out the cause of them. Publications more intelligent and more
intelligible were read as eagerly as any novel by men of business who were
aware that the wisest of us have only too little knowledge and insight on a
subject of central interest and importance — a subject on which every man of
business would gladly have a clear opinion if he could. — On the whole,
though the confusion of views was great, and the stragglers were so many as
almost to defy classification, it may be said that there were three parties await-
ing the exposition of the Minister's views on Currency and Banking in 1844;
— the advocates of an inconvertible currency — of a paper circulation open to
all comers whenever desired ; — the advocates of a legal declaration that paper
money was convertible, without other safeguard than legal penalties in
case of mischievous transgression ; — and the advocates of a real security
for such convertibility — security in the form of precious metal actually laid by
under the same roof from which its representative bank note goes forth. This
last party were pretty generally aware beforehand that Sir R. Peel was about to
declare in their favour, and that his measure would appear to be nearly what
would have been recommended by Mr. Loyd and Mr. Norman. The country
bankers were so alarmed lest their privileges shoiild be interfered with, that
they held meetings and issued warnings, and strove to interest members of
parliament in their case, that any proposal of restricting issues to a single
body might be resisted at once. But their apprehensions on this point were
premature. The Minister believed that he could secure his end without going
so far at present. All existing issues were to be allowed to go on; but no
additions or successors were to be permitted. When this was once understood,
the Minister was able to obtain a more patient hearing for his scheme. It
was on the 6th of May that he made his exposition, in a lucid and interesting Hansard, ixxiv.
speech of three hours long. It was received, not only with the deference com- T2
manded by the supremacy of the speaker on financial subjects, but with much
complacency, on account of the simplicity of the plan which was to effect
changes of deep import without any of that monetary disturbance which had
been dreaded as unavoidable. Men would have submitted to much in the
hope of securing a sound system ; but to have an apparently sound system
offered to them, unaccompanied by temporary mischief, was beyond their hopes ;
and they were gracious accordingly. Their apprehensions never, however, had
gone so far as to affect the price of Stocks — the funds standing precisely the spectator, isn.
same the day before and the day after the delivery of Sir R. Peel's speech.
The view which can be taken here is briefly this : —
If our commercial transactions were all confined within our own island, we SUBSTANCE OF
should want no other basis for our paper circulation than national securities,
such as Stock and Exchequer Bills. The amount in circulation on these
securities was supposed to be, as Sir R. Peel declared, about 22,000,000^.
The issue of these 22,000,000/. was proposed to be divided between the Bank
VOL. ii. 4 L
626 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boos VI.
1843-44. of England and the country banks in the proportion of 14,000,000/. by the
' — — ' — — Bank of England, and 8,000,000/. by the country banks ; such issue being
upon other security than gold, as it was most improbable that gold would
ever be demanded for notes so issued. — But the circulation of the country is
not 22,000,000^. but 30,000 ,000/. : and this last item of 8,000,000/. is the
difficulty to be dealt with. It is the portion of our currency which is or may
be concerned in our foreign commerce — in a department where our national
securities are of no use, and a security must be provided which is of universal
value — i. e. gold. The gold wanted for the conduct of affairs in connexion
with foreign trade was assumed to be, at the utmost, 8,000,0007. ; for before
any thing like that quantity could have been drained out of the country,
prices would have fallen so low as to induce a large exportation of goods, and
the return of the gold. It was now provided that gold should always be in
store to the amount of all paper issues beyond the 22,000,0007. based on
national securities; and there could be no fluctuation in the amount of paper
money, otherwise than in proportion to the gold offered to the Bank of Eng-
land. The Bank was bound to buy with its notes all the bullion that was
brought, at a trifle below Mint price. Thus, the gold brought in would
surely be replaced by an equal amount of paper. When gold was, on the
other hand, drawn out, the paper that came in was to be cancelled — a new
safeguard, and a most necessary one, as the Bank had, up to this time, often
reissued immediately the notes brought in, thus providing for a further drain
of its gold at the very moment that it was draining out of itself. — In case of
Joint-Stock or other country banks closing from any cause, it was provided
that government might authorize the Bank of England to issue, on securities,
notes to the same amount as the closed bank had out, the expense and pos-
sible profit of the transaction being set down to the public. .
PROBABLE The hope from this scheme was that a perfect correspondence between
Miirs Prin. of paper issues and securities would be established. But there is an element
-202. " involved in the case which introduces some confusion — the deposits in the
hands of bankers. In quiescent times, the correspondence may be practically
complete. But in times of speculation, when the stage of transactions by
cheques and book-credits is past, when manufacturers have to extend their
operations, and to obtain accommodation from bankers, notes get out through
the wages of workmen, and raise prices. Prior to 1844, the employers, in
their desire to hold on, obtained more and more aid from bankers, all the
deposits coming forth, and raising prices, till nothing was left but sudden
contraction, and the perils and miseries that attend it. Some check, it is
true, had been imposed by the prohibition of notes under the value of 5/. : but
this went but a short way : and the present measure was proposed mainly for
the sake of obviating the protraction of the struggle after "an access of specu-
lation, and stopping the drain of gold in good time. It is believed to have
answered this purpose to a great extent ; but here the baffling influence of
such an incalculable element as the deposits is perceived. They can still pro-
tract the struggle which the operation of the Act of 1844 would otherwise
bring to an end. As they do not yield loanable capital at such a time, the
rise of interest may still act as if they had not come forth; may still act
as a timely check by inducing foreigners to leave their gold with us, or to send
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 627
in more : but the issue of the deposits does intercept the other timely check of 1843-44.
a fall of prices, such as would induce exportation, and bring back gold. This ^— ^~^-^~^
is a case which the Act of 1844 does not meet; and its action is somewhat
interfered with by it. Still, the gain, through that Act, in shortening the
struggle at the turning point from speculation to collapse is indisputably great ;
and the Minister, in his expository speech, claimed sympathy from thinking
men in his hope and expectation that it would be so.
The resolutions on which the Bill was founded were brought in on the 20th PASSAGE OF TUB
of May, and agreed to after some debate ; and thus parliament first declared Hansard, ixxiv.
in favour of the great change of separating the business of the Bank of
England into two distinct departments — the one for the issue of notes ; the
other for the transaction of the ordinary banking function — a near approach to
the adoption of a single bank of issue. There was at no stage opposition
enough to endanger the Bill. By the great majority of members of ail parties
it was earnestly supported ; and when some few objected that it would not
obviate commercial crises, they were met by the question whether any legisla-
tion could neutralize an evil which would occasionally arise while men continue
greedy after gain. If its tendency was to check and alleviate such crises, that
was all that could be expected from any legislative provision. The Bill be- Hansard, ixxvi.
came law on the 19th of July.
Some economists doubted at the time whether the unquestionable advan- SUPPOSED AC i UAL
tages obtained by this Bill might not prove to be too dearly purchased : and El
since the stringent test to which the law was subjected in 1847, there have
been more who have published an opinion that they are so. Men of such
high authority as Mill, Tooke, and Fullarton, have said so, while expressing
themselves with the moderation — not to say hesitation — which the imperfec-
tion of our knowledge and experience on this difficult subject demands. Mr.
Mill points out that extension of credit by bankers is a great benefit in a season principles of POH.
of collapse ; and the aid formerly yielded by the Bank, at whatever cost ^lL^wmy' "'
afforded, was salvation itself in such a crisis as that of 1825-6: — that the
notes thus issued in aid do not circulate, but go where they are wanted, or lie
by, or come back again immediately as deposits : — that the new law does not
allow expansion till gold comes for it, when the worst of the crisis is over; —
and that, as banks must be the source of aid in crises, such an Act as that of
1844 must, in such a season, be either repealed or suspended. — The experience
of 1847 suggests to Mr. Mill a yet worse objection. There are many causes Principles ,,f POH.
of high prices besides that of undue expansion of credit. Prices may rise by »6— aia. r' "'
war expenditure, or expenditure for critical political objects ; — by foreign
investments, in mines or in loans ; — by the failure of cotton crops or other
raw material from abroad ; and by an extraordinary importation of food from
bad harvests at home. In these cases, the gold would not be drawn from the
circulation, but from hoards and bank reserves; and in this case, the Bank
reserve is in effect a hoard. But the arrangement of the Act for the securing
of convertibility is aimed at a state of high prices from undue expansion of
credit, and from no other cause. The result is that the paper currency is
contracted on occasion of every drain, from any cause whatever, and not
merely when the gold is withdrawn from the circulation : and thus a crisis is,
and must be, occasioned by every derangement of the exchange, or, at least,
628 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1843-44 whenever there is pressure in the money market. Before the crisis of 1847,
— — " ' there had been no speculation which could account for so terrible a collapse as
took place in that year. The railway speculation of the time raised the rate
of interest, but could not affect the exchange. The drain of gold was caused
by the failure of the potato crop at home, and the partial failure of the cotton
crop abroad; circumstances of great financial inconvenience, but not adequate
to occasion such a collapse of commercial credit as ensued. The Act of 1844
could not operate beneficially here, but, on the contrary, it wrought injuriously
by compelling all who wanted gold for exportation to draw it from the deposits,
at the very time that interest was highest, and the loanable [capital of the
country most deficient. If the Bank might then, before there was any collapse
of credit, have lent its notes, there would have been no crisis — only a season
of pressure. As it was, it was necessary to suspend the Act of 1844; and
Mr. Mill, in conducting his review of the measure and its operation, of its
advantages and disadvantages, avows that, in his opinion, " the disadvantages
greatly preponderate." Much as thinking men may have learned on the
subject of Currency within a few years, it is evident that more knowledge and
experience are needed yet to bring us into a state of security.
RAILWAY EXTEN- Allusion has been made to an excess of railway speculation. Ten years
before our present date, there was one railway in England — the Liverpool and
Manchester — and in Scotland an awkward one of seven miles long. In these
ten years, the system had extended to a magnitude which made it one of the
chief boasts, and perhaps the most perplexing difficulty, of the time. Laud-
owners were groaning over the spoliation of their estates, for which no pecu-
niary award could be any compensation. Their park walls were cut through —
their " dingles and bosky dells" were cut through — and their choicest turf,
and their secluded flower-gardens. A serious conflict took place in November,
in Lord Harborough's park in Leicestershire, between his lordship's tenantry
and the railway surveyors, with the force they assembled. Railways were to
run, not only along the southern margin of the island and round the bases of
the misty Scottish mountains, but through the vale in which Furness Abbey
had hitherto stood shrouded ; and among old cathedrals of which the traveller
spectator, 1844, might soon see half a dozen in a day. It was on Easter Monday, 1844, that
excursion-trips with return tickets are first heard of. Here began the benefits
of cheap pleasure journeys to the hardworkers of the nation. The fares were
much lowered ; yet the extra receipts on the Dover line for three days were
£700, and on the Brighton line £1,943. The process had begun from which
incalculable blessings were to accrue to the mind, morals, and manners, of the
nation. From this time, the exclusive class was to meet the humbler classes
face to face. The peer and the manufacturer and the farmer wrere henceforth
to meet and talk in the railway carriage, and have a chance of understanding
each other. The proud were to part with some of their prejudice, and the igno-
rant with some of their ignorance ; and other walls of partition than park
enclosures were to be broken down. The operative was to see new sights,
hitherto quite out of his reach ; — the ocean, the mountain and lake, and old
ruins and new inventions : and the London artisan was to live by and by
within sight of trees and green fields, and yet go to his work every day. As
unwholesome old streets in London were pulled down, hamlets would rise up
CHA.P. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. (329
in the country where he could live out of working hours, his railway fare to 1843-44.
and from business being included in the rent of his cottage. The diet of mil- "— - -— - -
lions was to be improved — fish and foreign fruits being conveyed into the
country, and milk, butter, and vegetables, fresh from the country, to be carried
into the towns. Every body's wants and wishes would become known by the
general communication about to be established ; and the supply would reach
the want and the wish. The change was vast, and the prospect magnificent :
but this change, like every other, had to pass at its outset through a wilderness
of difficulty.
A rage for railway-making took possession of minds prone to speculative
folly. Jealousy and competitive zeal sprang up; and lines were planned
whose chief purpose seemed to be to injure each other. Rashness and knavery
were all abroad ; and the foolish and the ignorant were on the highway to
ruin, as the prey of the rapacious, or in company with them. There was
every probability that capital would be withdrawn to a fatal extent from the
manufactures of the country, to be invested in railways which could only bury
it at first, however productively it might reappear. Moreover, a prodigious
power was now put into the hands of men and companies as yet irresponsible
for their use of it. The public had no longer any option how to travel. In a
little while, they must go nowhere or be carried by rail — however such a
mode of travelling might disagree with their health or their inclination. This
in itself was not an obstructive objection to a system fraught with general
advantage : but as yet no provision was made against the abuse of the necessity
which had arisen. Not only was every body compelled to travel by rail, but
the mode and the cost were at the pleasure of the railway proprietors, who
might charge what fares they dared, and provide as they thought proper for
the accommodation of passengers ; no competition could be brought to bear
upon the proprietors ; and their treatment of the public was regulated by
the accident of their own feelings, the tempers of their agents, or their
immediate view of their own interests. The question arose what was to'
be done. There was much argument as to whether railways were or were
not a monopoly : but there was a pretty wide agreement that the great new
power which had arisen in the midst of us was too formidable to be left with-
out legislative control. Early in the session of 1844, a Select Committee of SELECT
the Commons sat to consider the best means of adapting the growing railway
system to the exigencies of the country.
The Committee recommended a reduction of the deposit required by parlia-
ment to be made before introducing a railway. From one-tenth it was to be
one-twentieth. Competing lines were the great difficulty. As the most pro-
minent districts of the country had been first appropriated, almost every new
line must be more or less a competing line. It was recommended that a Com- Hansard, ixxiii.
mittee should be appointed to settle which were competing lines and which °
were not : and then, any competing lines were to be referred to one Com-
mittee, whose members must sign a declaration that neither they nor their
constituents had any interest which could bias their minds in favour of either
line. A Bill was founded on the Reports of the Railway Committee which THEIRBILL.
was passed before the end of the session, after an amount of debate which
was natural under the novelty of the circumstances. There was much to be
630 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1843-44. said in censure of the interference of parliament with commercial enterprises,
with the regulation of fares, and with the construction of carriages. Men who
held it a duty to interfere with manufacturers with regard to the construction of
their mills, and the working of their machinery , and the hours of factory lahour,
objected to interference with the great railway power, which held in its hand
the locomotion of the nation : while again, some who. protested against
factory legislation called for legislative support of the claim of the public,
and especially the poorer classes, to safe and comfortable, as well as cheap,
travelling.
comp.to Almanac, The Act empowered the Lords of the Treasury to reduce fares, after a lapse
of years, if the profits of any railway were found permanently to exceed 10
per cent., with a guarantee for the continuance, for a term, of that rate of
profit. It provided for the purchase by government, under certain circum-
stances, of any future railway, under an Act of Parliament to be obtained for
the purpose. It provided for the frequent running of third-class carriages;
for their being provided with seats and covered from the weather; for their
speed and convenient stoppages, and the amount of luggage and of charge —
the charge being Id. per mile, and the train being exempt from taxation. It
provided for the conveyance of the mails, and of military and police forces, at
certain charges, and for the establishment of electric telegraphs under proper
conditions. Such, with numerous regulations of detail, were the provisions of
the Railway Act of 1844. By an arrangement made in pursuance of a recom-
mendation of the Committee, the Board of Trade was charged with the new
and onerous duty of overlooking the Railway system, both as to law and
practice. Its business would be to examine and keep watch over all prepara-
tions for new railways, and all fresh schemes ; to watch over the safety and the
interests of the public, and to select from among rival plans. When it
appeared that the amount of railway bills was likely to obstruct, if not to
drive out, all other business from the House of Commons, and that 800 miles
of railway were sanctioned in this session, besides all the proposals that fell
through, from one cause or another, people began to ask how the Board of
Trade for Railways could possibly manage its responsibilities. When it came
comp.toAimanac, out that the estimated cost (usually less than half of the actual cost) was 1400/.
per mile for the 800 miles just sanctioned by parliament, the graver question
arose, how the manufactures and commerce of the country were to sustain
this vast abstraction of capital. While sanguine speculators were saying
that the doings of this year were a trifle compared with what would be
done next, the threatened absorption of capital caused serious alarm to
the more enlightened, who better understood what proportion the impor-
tance of railroads bore to that of maintaining the nanufactures of the
country. Such persons foresaw that the new Bank Act would not wait long
to be put to a stringent test.
The doings of the year were a trifle compared with those of the next.
There was a want of harmony between the Railway Officers of the Board of
Trade and the Committee of the House of Commons. Railways recommended
by the one were rejected by the other ; and many which were condemned at
the Board of Trade were successfully pushed in the House. The Railway
department of the Board of Trade was therefore completely remodelled in
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 631
July, 1845. No Reports on the merits of projected lines were henceforward 1040 44
to be offered ; but it was requested of parliament that the Board might be ^_,-.->_-^
furnished with the fullest information about all railway schemes, including 1845.
sketches, plans and sections of the lines, in order to a due supervision of the ^p to6^lmanac
system and its details. As for the House of Commons — it was obliged to set
aside the standing orders about its Railway Committees, and to take the
projects in groups, which were arranged by a new Classification Committee.
The Committees sat almost constantly — even during adjournments of the
House — yet they failed to get through nearly all the business offered them.
Some schemes could not obtain a hearing at all ; others which had been con-
sidered safe, were left over to the next session, under a special provision that
such business should be taken up where it was now left. Other delays were
occasioned by the requisition of the Board of Trade of more plans and state-
ments. While such was the condition of things in connexion with the House,
the excitement elsewhere was prodigious. Newspapers for railway topics were
springing up in considerable numbers ; and the ' Railway Times ' for Sep-
tember 27th, had nearly 80 quarto pages filled with advertisements. The jour-
nals of the time tell that 332 new schemes were proposed before the month of
October in this year, involving a capital of £270,950,000, and for which
upwards of £23,000,000 would have to be deposited before an Act could be
applied for. A multitude of other schemes were in an incipient state ; and
there were 66 foreign railway projects in the English market. It was believed
that altogether the number of plans which would be brought to the door of
the Board of Trade by the expiration of the closing day would be 815. The Annua megister,
number which succeeded in obtaining admission was above 600. The closing 1845>chron< 177>
day was the 30th of November.
As the Summer closed and the Autumn wore on, the most desperate efforts DELIVERY OP
were made to get ready these plans. One lithographic printer brought over Pl
four hundred lithographers from Belgium ; and yet could not get his engage-
ments fulfilled. The draughtsmen and printers in the lithographic establish-
ments lived there, snatching two or three hours' sleep on the floor, or on
benches, and then going dizzily to work again. Much work was executed
imperfectly ; and much was thrown over altogether. Horses were hired at
great cost, and kept under lock and key, to bring to town at the last moment
plans prepared in the country. Express trains were engaged for the same
purpose ; and there were cases in which railway directors refused such
accommodation to rival projectors, obliging the clerks in charge of the plans
to hasten round some other way, with every risk of being too late. At the
Board of Trade, every preparation was made for the pressure of the closing spectator, 1845,
day. The day was Sunday — a circumstance which had been overlooked P
when the date was fixed. A large establishment of clerks was in readiness ;
and the work went on with some quietness till eleven at night. It had been
settled that all applicants who were actually in the Hall before the clock
struck twelve should be considered to be in time; and during the last hour,
the crowd became inconvenient, and the registering could by no diligence
keep pace with the applications. The calling of the agents' names, as a sum-
mons to the inner office, was listened to with nervous agitation by the ex-
pectants in the lobby; and there was a large crowd outside which amused
632 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1843-44. itself freely with the bustle of the arrivals, and the masses of papers that were
-— ^ — _^ carried in. Twelve o'clock began to strike, and the doors were closing, when
an agent pushed his way in. As the clock had not done striking Avheii he
arrived, he was, after some parley, admitted. No more came for a few
minutes ; but before the quarter had struck, a post-chaise, with four reeking
horses, dashed up : three gentlemen rushed out, each loaded with a mass of
papers, and found the door at the end of the passage closed. The crowd
shouted to them to ring the bell ; and one of them did so. A police inspector
opened the door ; and as soon as it appeared that he was not going to admit
them, the agents threw their papers into the hall, breaking the lamp that was
burning there. The papers were thrown out again ; and once more in and
out, when the door was opened. One of the agents told his story to the
crowd, who laughed heartily at it. The post-boy did not know London
streets, and could not find the Board of Trade. He had been driving the
agents about the streets of Pimlico ever since half-past ten. This was a
comic ending, in the eyes of the thoughtless, of the competitive railway strug-
gle of 1845 : but all thoughtful persons felt very gravely about it. If this
mass of railways could be constructed, the operation would be fearful upon
the manufacturing interests of the country : and if not, what loss must befal
a host of ignorant and unwary speculators ! It would be the scene of 1825-6
over again. If the promoters of these projects believed that they could suc-
ceed, it was a serious thing to have among us so many men of education so
ignorant of political economy, and so senseless about social affairs. If they
did not so believe, but hoped to profit by the ruin of their neighbours, it was
a serious thing to have among us so many men of education of a morality so
loose and low. It was a painful exhibition, whichever way it was looked at.
GAUGE QUESTION. ^he Great Western Railway had been constructed on a broader gauge than
others, and the disputes about the comparative merits of the broad and narrow7
gauge ran high. There could be no dispute, however, about the mischief of
the co-existence of the two. Goods sent from Birmingham and other places
were stopped on reaching the Great Western at Gloucester, and had to be
shifted into another train. The delay and injury thus caused were great ;
and there was a loud demand that the Great Western, which had at work
only 274 miles of length, while there were 1901 miles of the narrow gauge,
Hansard, ixxxi. should conform to the gauge of other railways. In June, 1845, Mr. Cobden
moved for an Address to the Sovereign, praying for the appointment of a
Royal Commission, to inquire into the merits of the broad and narrow gauge,
and into the best method of getting rid of the evil of " the break of gauge,"
and of securing uniformity henceforth. The Commission asked for was
appointed, and made a long Report the next year. The Commission reported,
on the whole, in favour of the narrow gauge, and recommended that the Great
Western should be accommodated to it; a change which would cost only
comp.to Almanac, about £1,000,000. The Railway Board framed a Bill wrhich departed from
the recommendation of this Report. It recognised the narrow as the national
gauge henceforth ; but did not propose to alter the Great Western. On the
contrary, it proposed to construct various branches of that line on the broad
gauge also. Their Bill, which was passed, disappointed the commercial
public, and every body else who saw that uniformity of gauge must be secured
CHAP. XI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 633
sooner or later ; and that the longer it was put off, the greater would be the 1843-44.
difficulty, while serious injury was meantime daily inflicted. ' '-v~~^
It was related, in our narrative of the preparation of the Poor Law, that MEOTS.AW
some discontent was occasioned by that clause of the amended law by which * ' p<
the maintenance of illegitimate children was thrown upon the mothers : that
the effect of this provision was manifestly and immediately good ; but that
a mistaken sentiment, injurious to the true interests of woman, caused a modi-
fication of the law in 1839, by which it was rendered more easy to reach the
putative father, and compel him to bear the burden. A further change was
made this year, in consequence chiefly of the discontent existing among the
Welsh peasantry on account of the bastardy law. Rebecca and her daughters
insisted upon this as one of their chief grievances ; and the Commissioners of
Inquiry into the state of Wales reported the complaint emphatically. The
consequence was that a Bill was framed and passed by which the mother was political Diction.
enabled to make application against the father, instead of its being made by ary> '' 32;
parish officers; and a stronger compulsion was brought to bear upon the
father. — The same Act made some alterations in the proportion between rates
and rateable value ; empowered some large towns to provide asylums for the
houseless poor; and enabled the Commissioners to combine parishes and
unions in their several districts into school districts ; and also into districts for
the audit of accounts.
On the 14th of June, which was Friday, the House of Commons was POST OFFICE
% t f* ESPIONAGE.
startled by the presentation of a petition, the news of which produced strong
excitement in London and the country during the non-parliamentary days of
Saturday and Sunday. Four persons, of whom two were foreigners and two
Chartists, sent up a petition, by the hands of Mr. Duncombe, complaining that Hansard, uxr.
letters which they had posted within the last month had been detained, broken
open and read, by certain of the authorities belonging to Her Majesty's Post
Office. The petitioners declared, " That they considered such a practice, intro-
ducing as it did the spy system of foreign States, as repugnant to every prin-
ciple of the British Constitution, and subversive of the public confidence,
which was so essential to a commercial country." They begged for a Com-
mission of Inquiry, which should afford redress to themselves, and future
security to all letter-writers. Mr. Duncombe desired an explanation, as he
had warned the Home Secretary that he should do. Sir James Graham
refused to explain more than that the allegations in the petition were in part
untrue — the letters of three of the signers having never, to the best of his
belief, been meddled with : that, with regard to the fourth, he had acted in
accordance with a law which had been renewed so recently as 1837 : that, by
that law, the Secretaries of State had the power of opening and detaining
letters : and that, under this sanction, he had issued a warrant, since destroyed,
for opening the letters of one of the petitioners. He would not say which of
the four it was ; but Joseph Mazzini was universally understood to be the
one.
Sir James Graham himself, as a true Englishman, could hardly quarrel with
the excitement caused in the House and the country by this disclosure, though
the popular indignation was directed against himself. It was a case in which
the national heart and mind might well be excused for pronouncing judgment
4M
634 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1843-44. prior to the production of evidence. The evidence must now come out ; and
v~— -^ ' the Home Secretary knew how it would at last modify opinions about himself,
and set him right with the nation : but meantime, though he had to run the
gauntlet through a long and bitter infliction of insults, he would, as a bene-
volent statesman, rather endure this than have seen the people apathetic or
capable of levity about such a matter as the violation of epistolary confidence.
His probation was terrible. The most cool and cautious newspapers gave out
their cool and cautious reprobation of the act ; and there was hardly a public
print, a public speaker, or perhaps a private family, that did not heap insults
or expressions of disgust upon his name. Advertisements of secure envelopes
met the eye every where, and Anti-Graham wafers were shed abroad. Cari-
catures represented the Home Secretary as the spy of foreign potentates, and
the tool of his brother Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Hundreds of people began
to be sure that their letters had been tampered with. Testimonies to Mazzini's
virtues appeared in the London Journals ; and obscure individuals rashly
offered themselves as the medium of the correspondence of foreigners hence-
forth, under the impression that we were living under a spy system, which
would not allow the exile to pour out his heart to his nearest relations till the
government had first heard what he had to say. Here and there, an honour-
able and trusted person — as Mr. Warburton — defended Sir James Graham :
but this only deepened the astonishment. Here and there, some rational
person, as much a lover of liberty as the petitioners themselves, pointed out
that we have no passport system, and now no stringent alien-supervision : and
that such a power of letter-opening as the law gave to the Secretaries of State
was absolutely necessary for the frustration of conspiracy at home, and to
prevent our country from becoming a nest of conspiracy against foreign
governments in alliance with us : but such explanations excited little but
indignation. And this was very well. It not only evidenced the honest and
generous feeling of Englishmen on a matter of high morality : it enhanced the
merit of the support given to Sir James Graham by other and rival statesmen
when the right time came, and the impressiveness of his justification when the
Committees of Inquiry presented their Report.
There was a Committee of each House — secret, of course, but composed of
men who commanded universal confidence. Their Reports were in the hands
of the public in August ; and they settled the question, without any alteration
of the law. It appeared (to the astonishment of the nation, which had lost
all remembrance of the fact) that the Post Office was established on the express
condition, notified in the preambles of the Acts, that the government should
be entitled to inspect any letters that it chose. In the old, half-barbarous
times, the people were willing to have their letters conveyed speedily and
safely on that condition. The power had since been revised and confirmed ;
and, at the last date, in the year of Queen Victoria's accession. There was
no doubt about the law of the case ; and indeed there had been none, since ex
ministers of all parties had got up, one after another, in parliament, to avow
Hansard, ixxv. that they had used the power. Lord Tankerville testified to the existence of
1330
a warrant signed by Mr. Fox, in 1782, ordering the detention and opening of
all letters addressed to Foreign Ministers : and of another warrant, directing
that all letters addressed to Lord George Gordon should be opened. Lord
CHAP. XL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 635
Normanby had used the power in Ireland, for the detection of " low ribbon- 1843-44.
ism which conld not be ferretted out by other means." Lord J. Russell had v— -•• '
held Sir J. Graham's office in the full conviction that the law gave him the 3i2nsard> lxxvL
power under investigation, and that the sole question was how it was used. m5?ard) IXXT'
On this point, the Report of the Committee was eminently satisfactory with
regard to the conduct of Sir James Graham. He had not only done nothing
more than had been done by all his predecessors, but he had been more scru-
pulous and more careful. He had seen the warrants destroyed at the first
possible moment ; whereas other Ministers had been careless in allowing them
to remain in existence. The specification of the number of warrants issued
during a long course of years effectually calmed the public mind. From 1799
to 1844, the number of warrants issued was 372 ; that is, a fraction above
eight in a year : but, when it is considered that the average is so greatly ex-
ceeded in years of alarm as to amount to 28 in 1812, 20 in 1842, 17 in 1831,
16 in 1839, and so on, the Post Office may be considered practically inviolate;
and it has since been so considered. The conclusion drawn from the whole
inquiry was, that it would not be desirable to deprive the government of this
power of frustrating conspiracy, in extraordinary cases; nor yet to surround
the power with new legal restrictions which would raise it into a fresh and
pernicious importance in the eyes both of rulers and the people. No steps,
therefore, were taken in consequence of the Reports, which had answered
their purpose in bringing out a knowledge of the law and the facts of the
case, for the benefit of all parties.
One reason for the vehemence of indignation displayed on this occasion was
that a rumour prevailed that Signor Mazzini's letters had been examined at
the desire of the Sardinian Minister, who thus made the British Cabinet a tool
of foreign despotism. This was put an end to by a few words from the Duke Hansard, ixxv.
of Wellington : " He was enabled to state that there was no foundation what-
ever for these rumours."
The new Alien Act of this session, its enlarged scope, and the perfect indif- ALIEN ACT.
ferencc with which it was received, show that Great Britain had no particular
sympathy with the jealousies and fears of foreign despots. For some years
past, the registration provisions of our Alien law had been practically useless.
The Act contained no provision for enforcing any penalty on the omission to
register: and foreigners omitted it whenever it suited them. In 1842, out of political niction.
11,600 foreigners officially known to have landed, only 6,084 registered under a'y>M
the Act. Out of 794 who landed at Hull in that year, only one registered :
at Southampton, out of 1,174, not one : and at Liverpool, no account what-
ever was kept of the foreigners who arrived. The time was clearly come for
removing all impediments, real or nominal, to the settlement of foreigners in
England. It would have been done very long before, but for the perpetual
opposition of popular prejudice. The popular prejudice against aliens now
seemed to be worn out ; and the thing was done — liberally and thoroughly. —
Without delay, and at a trifling cost, foreigners could now secure the privileges
of native subjects. They could secure from the Secretary of State a charter
of naturalization more liberal than parliament could formerly confer. The
only exclusion was from parliament and the Council Board : and even this
exclusion might be cancelled, through an appeal to parliament. The new
636 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1843-44. privileges were to extend, as of course, to aliens already resident in the
v-— ^v~^- ' country; and all women married to British subjects were naturalized de facto.
spectator, 1844, Such was the scope of the measure of which Mr. Hutt, the mover, said, " He
believed it would be productive of much real practical advantage, and that it
would conduce to the reputation of the country. He had to express his
acknowledgments to Sir R. Peel for much kindness and encouragement. In
other times, attempts to settle this question on a sound and liberal basis had
more than once convulsed the whole nation, and proved fatal to the existence
of governments. To have been permitted to bring such a question to a final
and peaceful conclusion, was very gratifying to his feelings."
So far was this measure from convulsing the nation and perilling its rulers
now, that we find^the ' Spectator' observing, the week after its passage, that it
had " escaped the notice of the newspapers." Such was one of the effects of
the enlightening and tranquillizing influences of long-continued Peace.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 637
CHAPTER XII.
mere existence of the rumour that the Sardinian government was 1841 — 64.
jealous of the residence of Signor Mazzini in England points to a popular ^ — ^— ^
expectation of troubles in Italy, and, as a consequence, among the despotisms ^Iot^mm '"
of Europe. It was so. Signs of approaching struggle multiplied to watchful
eyes : and while Eastern despotism and the claims of Western civilization were
falling into a position of antagonism more distinct every day, the free nations
of Western Europe, who must form the main strength on one side when the
War of Opinion should at length break out, were grievously disposed to
quarrel among themselves.
A traveller in Russia reports a certain Prince K. to have pointed out to R«*«A- „
. , Custine's Russia,
him that Russia is now only 400 years distant from the invasion of barbarians ; '• P- 14?-
while Western Europe boasts an interval of 1400 ; and that an additional civi-
lization of 1000 years makes an immeasurable change in the mind and manners
of a people. The conviction was now spreading every where that peoples
separated by the civilization of a thousand years could not much longer live
in alliance and apparent peace : and that henceforth the more civilized party
would have no release from watching the other till the outbreak should happen
that must decide which of them should prevail. In Western Europe, govern-
ment had for many centuries been a purely political institution, constantly
admitting more and more of the democratic principle. In Russia, which is
even now more Asiatic than European, government is a religious institution :
the Emperor stands before the eyes of his people as their Priest, and in their
catechism as a god. In proportion as communication of persons and of
ideas increases, such differences as these must come into collision. If the Czar
means to keep the mind of Russia from encroachment first, and revolution
afterwards, it is necessary for him to guard his frontier well, and to uphold, as
his outer defences, all existing despotisms. Whenever, therefore, these exist-
ing despotisms were perilled from within or from without, peace with Russia
became more precarious, and the eventual outbreak was felt to be drawing on.
The Emperor was, and is, in the habit of saying that nothing is further from
his thoughts than conquest : that he has as much territory as any man can
possibly wish for ; and that he has enough to do to cherish and improve his
Russian subjects. Supposing this to be perfectly sincere, it may become
necessary, according to his views — indispensable to the cherishing of his native
subjects — to extinguish communities which hold dangerous ideas. If that
extinction should be tried where the work is easy — this is a sufficient reason
for watchfulness on the part of the Western peoples. If it should be difficult,
the struggle would be precisely that War of Opinion for which the western
peoples were warned by political philosophers to prepare.
What vigilant eyes could see was this. The Emperor lost no opportunity of
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1S41 — 46. insulting the King of the French. Since the revolution of 1830, he had
v— — • — -" behaved with increasing rudeness ; and now his temper was becoming as hitter
PRUSSIA. as it had always been overbearing. In August, 1842, the King of Prussia
had issued an Ordinance calling together the elements of a popular represen-
tation : and from that moment, Russian relations with Prussia became cool,
distant, and threatening. In September, 1843, there was a revolution in
Greece ; a revolution so needed, and so universally desired, that the people
obtained a Constitution without any struggle ; and England and France, and
even Austria, uttered not one word of rebuke or remonstrance : but, when the
GREECE. Greek Assembly began its sittings, an armed Russian steamer appeared at the
1843, p. 314. ' Piraeus ; the Russian ambassador was summoned on board ; and he was carried
off without being even allowed to land. He was dismissed with disgrace
from the service of the Emperor, and his papers seized. At the same time,
the brightness of Russian favour shone on the Court at Vienna during a con-
ference which was held there — a conference ill suited to the date of 1844.
AUSTRIA. Plenipotentiaries from the German States met Prince Metternich at Vienna to
hear from him how perilous was the popular desire for an extension of the
powers of the Chambers. " It perverts youth," said the grey-headed Minis-^
Annual Register, ter, " and seduces even men of mature age." It was settled at this Confer-
844>p'2 encc that any extension of the rights of the Chambers was a direct injury to
the rights of the Crown ; that, in case of any appeal by the Chambers to the
Constitution, the government alone should be the interpreter of the Constitu-
tion ; that the acts of the Chambers, while legal, should stand, as far as the
government should think proper; and so on, through a series of twenty Reso-
lutions, all consonant to the Czar's modes of thinking, and certain to ensure
that brilliant favour with which he was now regarding the Austrian Court.
THE CAUCASUS. In the Caucasus, the Emperor was pushing the war with the desperation of
1845. chron. 153. despotic wrath. In one season, the fever cut off 5000 of his soldiers ; and his
forces were surrounded by fire in the forests, obstructed by barricades at all
openings, and crushed in the passes by rocks rolled from above : — 2000 officers
were slain in one campaign, and the General-in-Chief, Woronzow, appeared
with a countenance of deep melancholy at its close ; melancholy on account
of slain comrades and his suffering forces ; yet was every officer disgraced who
made any failure in any expedition against the Circassians ; and the Circassian
patriots were spoken of and treated as vermin, fit only to be exterminated.^ —
SKUVIA. In Servia again, he appeared as an avenging despot, after having declared
1844, P. 404. himself, in the Treaty of Adrianople, the Protector of Servia, granting certain
rights and liberties to the Servians. The Servians expelled a Prince whom
they detested, and elected one whom they loved. Turkey let them alone : but
Russia interfered, proscribing, banishing, insisting on new elections, terrifying
the people into submission, but by no means increasing their love for Russian
Edinburgh Re. protection, or their desire for Russian intercourses. We are told by an autho-
vifc>v,lxxix.p.388. r i-iii
rity worthy of all respect, that since the strange accidents which caused the
Russian army to be encamped at Paris, not only has Russia declared herself
the protector of the cause of monarchy in Europe, but her people have become
fully persuaded that, as other states fall to pieces under the explosive force of
the democratic principle, Russia is to put them together again, and dispose of
them at her pleasure. Absurd as this notion appears to us, it is sedulously
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. f>39
declared wherever Russia has partisans; and especially in Germany. It 1841 46.
appears to have been in the discharge of his assumed vocation that the Czar — — ^^—»^—
achieved the last act of despotic meddling which falls within the period of our
history — the extinction of the independence of Cracow, in 1846. It has been CRACOW.
related how Cracow was insulted and overborne, in 1836; in February, 1846,
the Austrians, who held the city, were driven out by those who conceived Annual Register,
themselves the proper inhabitants, and who were exasperated into the adven-
ture of striking one more blow for the liberties of Poland. They were sup-
ported by an extensive insurrection in Silesia, and for a time held their ground
wonderfully. But they could not long resist the pressure of the three great Powers
who now united to overthrow for ever the independence they had bound them-
selves by treaties to protect. The Austrian forces took the town of Podgorze,
which commands Cracow from the opposite bank of the Vistula : the Prussian
general, De Felden, invested Cracow, and the Russian troops marched into
the city, without opposition. Without opposition, because all the inhabitants
had fled except the aged and children. — The three Protecting Powers pre-
sently settled the case of Cracow among themselves. As the treaties of 1815
were entered into among themselves, they could not see that the rest of the
world had any thing to do with the fate of Cracow, except to hear the news :
and in November, therefore, they merely announced, with a condescending Annual ' Krister,
exhibition of reasons, that the Republic of Cracow was no more; that the
treaties were revoked; and that the city and territory of Cracow were annexed
to, and for ever incorporated with, the Austrian monarchy.
As he held his position by a religious, as well as political tenure, it was RUSSIAN JEWS.
impossible for the Czar to tolerate varieties of religious faith. The Jews were
made to feel this in 1843. By an. Ukase issued in that year, allJews residing fs™"^"''1'
within fifteen leagues of the frontier were compelled to sell their goods on the
instant, and repair to the interior of the empire. All who could not convince
the government that they held a position of which government was to be the
judge, were sentenced to banishment to the steppes. The Jews were to be
subject henceforth to recruiting for military service ; and their children were
held at the disposal of the Emperor for the naval service. — For some time, the
Pope and his Church had met with insolent treatment from the great poten- THE CZAR AND
tate of the Greek Church; and by this time it was clear that the Pope was 1"
growing submissive through long-continued alarm. As his tone became
subdued, that of the Czar grew gracious ; and in 1844, he restored his sus-
pended diplomatic relations with Rome, by sending thither one of his ablest
Ministers from Constantinople. The chief ground of quarrel was supposed to
be the persecution of the Poles by the Emperor, on account of their faith, and
his oppressive attempts to bring them over to the Greek Church. When
there was reason to believe that the aged and timid Pontiff was willing to
listen submissively, the Czar discovered that the air of Palermo would be good
for the health of his Empress ; and he was presently standing before the old
Pope in the Vatican, giving an account of his treatment of the Latin Church
in Poland, and listening to a more spirited remonstrance than it was at all his
custom to hear. He wore a respectful air, knowing that the Pontiff, then in
his 80th year, could not live long, and that it was inconceivable that the next
Pope could have equal zeal for the Church, while events were showing that
640
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
GREGORY XVI.
Annuairp Hist.
1840, p. 423.
1841 — 46. civil disturbance of every kind was in preparation. And the Pope did
die in the next year, leaving an inheritance of hopeless trouble to his
successor.
Pope Gregory XVI. had been Pontiff since February 1831. Able as a
propagandist, he was wholly unfit for civil rule ; and the abuses of his realm
were unreformed in his time, and so aggravated as to keep his subjects in a
restive state, and all the despotic monarchs of Europe in a condition of per-
petual alarm. With certain of the sovereigns he was on strange terms. We
have seen something of his relations with the Czar. He granted to France,
most unwillingly, the liberty of dealing harshly with the Jesuits; and he
enjoyed as his recompense, the friendship of the Orleans family and Cabinet.
His feud with Prussia about the affair of the Archbishop of Cologne was most
serious ; — serious enough, if the world had been three centuries younger, to
have plunged all Europe in war. A more perplexing close of the controversy
was avoided by the prudence of the new sovereign of Prussia. Frederick
William III. died in June 1840. His son declared an amnesty, which included
the religious disputants among others. Then followed words of peace on both
sides — conciliatory charges on the part of the prelates — declarations of satis-
faction on the part of the King. The pope yielded nothing which the most
zealous churchman could reproach him for ; and the new King of Prussia
evaded a perilous controversy with the Papacy. In his civil government,
Gregory XVI. was eminently unsuccessful. When the outcry about Signer
Mazzini's letters being opened was raised in England, there was a universal
presentiment that popular risings in Italy might be expected. The Pope had
broken his promises of reform : his Cardinals had governed with cruelty, as
well as with their usual want of sense and knowledge of the men of their century;
and the year before his death was embittered to the old Pontiff by fierce
Annual Register, insurrections throughout his dominions. The manifesto of the insurgents,
exhibiting his broken promises and his acts of tyranny, must have struck
upon his heart ; and for a few days, there seemed reason to suppose that the
revolutionary party might succeed. Town after town declared against the
ancient tyranny; and the papal troops went over to the liberals. But a
battle at Ravenna closed the struggle, by defeating and dispersing the insur-
gents. All was over for this time ; but every body was aware that it was only
for a time. Italy was, of all the countries of Europe, the choicest skirmishing
ground for the coming War of Opinion ; and the Papal realm, again, the
choicest within the bounds of Italy. — It was no great gain to set against these
perils that Rome was once more on good terms with Portugal, and was about
to be so with Spain. The frequent revolutions in these countries, and the
constant state of turbulence, in which the clergy suffered dreadfully, had long
ago alienated the Holy See. By the mediation of Austria, Portugal was re-
conciled with Rome ; and in 1846, it was a topic of warm discussion in the
Cortes whether Spain, already in friendly negotiation for the same object,
might enter into a state of perfect affiliation, if the mediation of England were
sought rather than that of France accepted. It was very well that there should
be peace among those Courts; but all three were so profoundly weak
that it mattered little to the welfare of any but themselves what terms they
1845, p. 206.
PORTUGAL.
SPAIN.
were on.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. G41
In Switzerland there was much confusion during this period ; warfare be- 1841 46.
tween the aristocratic and the democratic principles, and between the Catholic * — ^^-^-'
and Protestant faiths. It was not conceivable that the conflict of opinion should
be brought to a close there when it was kindling in other parts of Europe. — In
Hanover, the king was growing tired of hearing of poor officers' widows ; and HANOVER.
he issued an Ordinance regulating the love-affairs of all the officers of the ^"eTchron'!^!.'
Hanoverian army. They were not to betroth themselves without his per-
mission ; and the requisite permission was to be obtained by methods of appli-
cation which it is astonishing that the most antique despot of our time should
have dreamed of proposing to any body of men whatever. The Ordinance can
be regarded only as a decree for the increase of invalid marriages. — Meantime, SWEDEN. • .
old Bernadotte, the most successful of Napoleon's generals and monarchs, was
gone. He came out of the Pyrenees as a private soldier, though a man of
education. He died,4n peace and beloved, the King of Sweden and Norway,
leaving a son to succeed him who was more ready than he had proved himself
to reform some of the grossest social and political abuses of the old feudal king-
dom of Sweden, while cordially respecting the more democratic constitution
of Norway. Charles John XIV. of Sweden died in March, 1844, on his AnnuaireHist.
1844, p. 395.
81st birthday, after a reign of 26 years.
Thus far, the movements and events that we have briefly detailed have
been those in which Great Britain was not immediately concerned. Every
incident, in a time when trouble and turbulence are on the increase from year
to year — even from month to month — must concern every nation in the world;
but our country had only to look on in regard to the events which have been
related ; whereas in others she had to judge and act.
In pursuance of their object of keeping Russia in check by preserving TURKEY AND
Turkey, the governments of England and France exerted themselves vigo-
rously in 1839 to prevent the threatened war between Turkey and Egypt. If,
as seemed very possible, the Sultaun should be beaten by his powerful vassal,
the Czar might send his ships into the Bosphorus. The thing to be done was
to prevent Turkey from being so weakened as to afford a pretext for this
dangerous aid. The Pasha of Egypt declared himself ready for an accommo-
dation : but the Sultaun was too highly offended by the haughty assumptions
of his vassal to give up the hope of punishing him ; and he declared this war
to be a duty required of him by his function of high-priest of Islamism. Wai-
was proclaimed — the Pasha and his son declared to be deposed — and the fleet
ready for sailing, early in June 1839. Syria was the field of conflict; and
every thing seemed to depend on whether the Syrian population would or
would not rise against the Egyptians. Some observers declared that the
Syrians hated the Egyptians : others that they favoured them. The truth
appears to have been that their taxation under Egyptian rule was very oppres-
sive : but that other causes swayed the likings of large bodies of the people ;
as, for instance, the toleration afforded to the Christians by Egypt — a tolera-
tion never to be expected from the Porte. On the first meeting of the armies,
Ibraheem, the heir of the Egyptian Viceroyalty, won a splendid victory. Before
the news of the defeat of the Turks could reach Constantinople, the Sultaun
was dead. — His son and successor was only 17 years of age. His accession
afforded an opportunity for a change of policy. He changed his Ministers
VOL. n. 4 N
642 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1841 — 46. and his Ambassadors at the European Courts ; and then offered to Moham-
^— — v— . — ' med Alee pardon and the perpetual succession of his family to power in
Egypt, if he would submit and be at peace. The Pasha declared himself
willing to do so if the dominion over Syria and Candia were secured to his
family, as well as that of Egypt.
The Five Powers — England, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria — here
assumed the management of the affair. While their envoys consulted in
London, the French and English fleets cruised in the Levant to keep the
truce. The case was now much perplexed by the Turkish admiral having
carried his ships to Alexandria, and put them into the power of the Pasha.
A suspicion was abroad that the French government encouraged the Pasha to re-
tain this fleet, when he would otherwise have given it up : and at the same time,
it was whispered in London, and thence spread into other countries, that three
of the Five Powers would make the restitution of the fleet and the surrender
of Syria indispensable conditions of the Pasha's retaining even the hereditary
dominion over Egypt. However this might be, the old Viceroy was active in
raising troops, drilling the navy, and preparing for decisive war. The Five
Powers were, however, so long over their work, that all the world grew tired ;
and especially Turkey — the party most interested. The Turks began to
think that they could come to an understanding with the Pasha, if they were
let alone : and, as the Pasha had repeatedly declared that the Prime Minister
at the Porte, Khosrew Pasha, was the mischief-maker who prevented an ac-
commodation, the Turks deposed Khosrew Pasha, in June, 1840. The fleet
was not, however, rendered up by the time four of the Five Powers (France
being omitted) signed a convention, on the 15th of July. The Pasha delayed
about accepting the terms offered. The Sultaun grew angry, and declared
him deposed ; and then, very naturally, the Pasha concluded that all was
over, and prepared for the worst. Then the British vessels in the Levant
blockaded Alexandria and the Syrian ports ; and in September, they bom-
Annuai Register, barded Beirout. The Egyptians lost ground every where ; and in November
Acre fell before the attacks of the allied squadrons. Jerusalem returned to
its allegiance to the Porte ; and the Egyptians had no other hope than that of
getting back to the Nile, with a remnant of their force. When assured that
he would be secured in the Viceroyalty of Egypt, if he delivered up the
Turkish fleet and evacuated Syria, Mohammed Alee did so ; and in return,
received the firman which gave the dominion of Egypt to himself and his
heirs.
Some weeks afterwards, however, the Porte sought to impose the disagree-
able condition that the Sultaun should choose among the heirs, at the time of
the death of any Viceroy, the one he should prefer. The Five Powers pro-
tected the Pasha from this encroachment, and his affairs were at last con-
sidered settled. From that time to the day of his death, he was wont to
taunt European travellers with the state of Syria, and ask them if they did
not wish it back in his hands. And it was quite true that, under his rule, the
roads were as safe for travellers as he had made his great highway of the Nile ;
while in Syria there was nothing that could be- called government ; and the
roads were infested with marauders. The Christians of the Lebanon Avould
not settle under Turkish rule. Some heavy taxes and the conscription were
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 643
gone ; but now there was no security for life and property. The most curious 1841 — 46.
circumstance is that different tribes of Christians in the Lebanon, who had v-— • —^—~- "
for some time been at war with each other, were believed by the European
officers stationed in Syria to be fighting out the quarrels which had risen up
between England, France, and Russia, in the course of their conference on
eastern affairs — the Maronites being supposed to be in the interest of France,
the -Druses of England, and the Greek Christians of Russia. A charge had
before been brought against the British government of raising the tribes of the
Lebanon against the Pasha's rule; a charge emphatically denied by Lord
Palmerston: and now, in 1841, the jealousies between the French and English
in Syria and Egypt were becoming as absurdly bitter as such jealousies are
when indulged in so far from home, and amidst the ennui of a foreign
station.
Before entering upon the controversies which arose among the Five Powers, ROUTE TO INDIA.
we must point out to notice the remarkable self-command of the Pasha in
opposing no difficulty to the passage of the English through Egypt, en route
for India. The injury to Great Britain would have been enormous, if this
route had been closed, and she had been forced back upon her old track by
the Cape. However certain it might be that Mohammed Alee would even-
tually have suffered by any vindictive use of his power over this passage to
India, it must be regarded as a proof of a wisdom and self-command astonish-
ing in a man of his origin and circumstances, that he never spoke a word nor
lifted a finger in obstruction, but allowed the English to pass to the Red Sea
as freely as if no mortal controversy were pending.
Towards the end of 1840, a leading Journal at Paris is found saying, " We FBANCE.
have confided for ten years in the alliance of England ; we confide in it no
more. We stand alone, and alone are prepared to maintain, if need be, the
balance of power, and independence of Europe. Paris, without defence, in-
volves the safety of the whole country; Paris, fortified, will prove its bulwark."
—Here was the subject of the fortifications revived. The occasion, or the WAU SPIRIT.
pretext, for resuming the works was the expectation of war with England :
and the occasion, or the pretext, for expecting a war with England was the
difference that had arisen about the Eastern question. France believed that Mem. of Lord
the safety of Turkey would be best secured by putting Syria under the rule of 31, 1340.
the Pasha ; and that the Pasha would prove quiet and trustworthy when once
settled in his guaranteed dominion. The other Four Powers believed that
the ambition of the Pasha would keep him always restless, and that if he was
not now kept in bounds, there might be no end to the disturbance he might
cause, and the incursions he would make. Meanwhile, time pressed. The
risings in the Lebanon stimulated the members of the convention. If France
could not come over to their view, neither could they wait : and thus it was
that the treaty of July 15th was signed by Four Powers, to the exclusion of
France. France was jealous, and remonstrated through her Minister, M. Mem. of M. GUI.
y-M. i ii • i • i , 11 •,•, • zot, July 24, 1840.
Guizot ; and next, she became quick-sighted to see " concealed menaces in
the Declaration of the Convention for the pacification of the Levant. She
next saw, in imagination, the combined forces of the Four Powers — or at least
the armies of England — marching into France ; and hence the renewed cry
for the fortification of Paris. — In October, the French really believed war with
644 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI
1841 46. England to be inevitable. M. Thiers, the Prime Minister of France, had in-
• — -^v— ' — ' structed M. Guizot to say that France would consider it a cause of war if
Mohammed Alee should be driven from Egypt as British and Turkish cannon
were driving him out of Syria : and just after, the young Sultaun committed
that foolish act of haste — declaring the deposition of Mohammed Alee. When
the news reached France, the ppliticians and journalists of France declared
that a true casus belli had now occurred. It was not so ; for England could and
did immediately prove that she was resolved to secure to the Pasha the
dominion of Egypt : but the war spirit did not decline in France, in conse-
quence of this or of any other explanation that could be afforded. The King
was known to be as earnestly in favour of peace as his Minister, M. Thiers, was
disposed for war. Men were speculating on which would prevail when occa-
sion arrived for deciding the matter for the moment. The King and his
Minister could not agree about the speech to be delivered at the opening of
the Chambers. The Minister desired to announce a vast new levy of troops :
the King would not hear of it, and the Minister resigned, with all his col-
leagues. In Queen Victoria's Speech at the end of the preceding session,
France had not been mentioned at all, though a notification had been given
of the Convention for the Pacification of the Levant ; and the French had
complained bitterly of this as a slight. In the Speech of the King of the
French, no such slight was offered in return ; for the mention of the Four
Powers was serious enough. Amidst the deep silence of a listening auditory,
Annuaire Hist, as numerous as the Chambers could contain, the King announced that the
Convention and its Declaration imposed grave duties on him : that he prized
the dignity of France as much as its tranquillity : that the reasons for the ex-
traordinary credits which had been opened would be readily understood : and
that he hoped, after all, that peace would be preserved.
There was no reason, indeed, why it should not. The affairs of the East
were soon considered settled : " it takes two to make a quarrel ;" and none of
the Four Powers had any present cause of war against France. If there was
to be a war, France must begin. She did not begin ; and all the world knew
that a warlike Ministry had been dismissed for a pacific one. — In a little
while, the chances of peace were further improved by Lord Aberdeen's
entrance upon the Foreign Office in London, in the place of Lord Palmerston.
Rightly or wrongly, Lord Palmerston was supposed to have an extraordinary
talent for creating uncomfortable feelings in Foreign Allies, and for bringing
on awkward and critical events. He was regarded as a busy, clever, im-
perious man, very trying to have to do with ; while Lord Aberdeen was found
to be the high-bred gentleman of the diplomatic world; liberal, quiet, not
apt to interfere, but frank when actually engaged in affairs, as watchful as
inoffensive, and, without supineness, disposed to put a good construction on
the acts of allies, and to make allowance for the mere harmless irritability of
weak and harassed rulers of any country less happy than our own. It was
well that the ministers on both sides of the Channel were, in 1841, men of
peace ; for the war party in France, which was noisy beyond all proportion to
its numbers, and which had actually obtained possession of too much of the
journalism of the time, was insane enough to laud a speech of a turbulent
deputy, in favour of an alliance with Russia against England, and to raise
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 645
this into a temporary popular demand. If such a thing could have been, the 1841 — 46.
War of Opinion would have presented a curious aspect indeed. Meantime, v— — ' ^~^-^
money for fortifications was voted — the wall and the detached forts were to
be carried on together and with vigour — and the ministers procured for the
government the right of constructing the works in any way it pleased; a
privilege against which M. Odillon Barrot protested in a manner which now
appears very significant — lest those fortifications should hereafter he used to
overawe and injure the people of Paris. It was on the 1st of April that the
final vote was taken. wffiF*
At the end of the year a treaty was signed which occasioned new trouble RIGHT OF SEARCH.
hereafter. By this treaty, signed in London on the 20th of December, France, fg™"*1. 251!ster'
Austria, Russia, and Prussia, agreed with England to adopt her laws in regard
to the slave trade. Hence arose the subsequent difficulties and disputes
about the Right of Search. As the slave trade was declared to be piracy, and
those who carried it on to be guilty of felony, it naturally followed that these
Five Powers conceded to each other the right of searching all vessels carrying
their respective flags, which were under suspicion of having slaves on board.
The vigilant war -party immediately declared an apprehension that the inde-
pendence of the French flag might suffer ; and they actually carried in the
Chamber of Deputies an admonitory resolution, in favour of which the whole
Chamber voted, except the five ministers who sat there. The fact was, some
difficulties had occurred with American vessels on the high seas, and some
consequent dispute with the United States government about the Right of
Search ; and some mistakes in practice had been made, owing, as the French
ministers emphatically declared, not to the treaty of 1841, or any other treaty,
but to instructions to cruisers, issued by Lord Palmerston ; and these things
suggested to the war-party the cry about the honour of the French flag.
The debates about this question in the French Chambers, on occasion of the
Address, in the session of 1842, merged into discussion of the value of the
English alliance ; when the ministers, Guizot and Soult especially, spoke so
manfully in the cause of peace, reasonableness, and the English alliance, that
the Opposition interrupted them with cries that theirs were English speeches.
Two particulars are memorable, in regard to the debate. It was declared, Annual Register,
. T • i -IT • i • • 1843, p. 269.
without contradiction, that all practical annoyance under the provision for
Search, had occurred during Lord Palmerston's term of office ; and that,
since Lord Aberdeen succeeded him, there had been none. And M. Guizot
avowed that the chances of peace were improving every day ; that a more just Annual Register,
feeling towards England was beginning to prevail ; and that the moderation
and patience of the Cabinet of London, as well as that of Paris, was constantly
imparting solidity to the relations of the two countries. And yet, this was
at a time when the warfare of the press was the most violent. The French
journals were emulated in their spirit of animosity and their power of pro-
voking by a London paper, the ' Morning Chronicle'; whose tone was
resented by the English public as a disgrace in which the national character
ought not to be implicated. The general impression, at home and in France,
was that the war articles in the ' Morning Chronicle' were Lord Palmerston's.
Whether they were his or another's, they were as mischievous as they were
otherwise indefensible.
64<3 HISTORY OF ENGLAND f BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. In the sessions of 1843 and 44, the French legislators had resolved that the
s "— -^ commerce of the country should be replaced under the sole surveillance of the
AnnuaireHis., national flag : in 1845, M. Guizot avowed that the provisions of the treaty
against the slave trade had lost much of their force, and tended to impair
the amity of the two nations : and that he hoped that the desired end
might yet be reached by means perfectly safe. In truth, the Right of Search
question was by this time put out of sight by new quarrels of so fierce a cha-
racter, that the King declared, in his speech before the Chambers, that the
good understanding of his government with England had at one time appeared
in imminent danger of fatal interruption.
DEATH OF THE And yet, events had happened which seemed almost inevitably to preclude
OKMANS. hostile feelings, and the superficial irritability of minds not sufficiently occu-
pied. The interest of our Queen, and of every member of her government,
and of every good heart every where, was engaged on behalf of the unhappy
King of the French and of his family, by an event which occurred in July,
1842. The Duke of Orleans, the heir of the French throne, was thrown out
of a carriage and killed. The deep grief of the aged father and of the fond
mother was respected throughout Europe ; and all hard thoughts must have
been dismissed during the mournful period when the question of the regency
was in course of settlement. The Duke de Nemours, the next brother of the
Duke of Orleans, was to be regent during the minority of the Count de Paris.
This settled, the King prosecuted other plans for the security of the throne
from which his family was so soon to pass. In 1843, two more of his children
married ; — the Princess Clementine being united to Prince Augustus of Saxe
Coburg, and the Duke de Joinville to a Brazilian Princess, sister of the
ROYAL VISITS.? Emperor of the Brazils and of the Queen of Portugal. In September of the
same year, Queen Victoria and her husband visited the King and Queen of the
French at their country seat, the Chateau d'Eu ; and the warmth of their
demonstrations of friendship, and the fervour with which the people cheered
our young sovereign wherever she appeared, seemed to indicate that the war
spirit had either never been widely prevalent or had died out. The visit was
returned in the autumn of the next year, when Louis Philippe was received
with a welcome as hearty as his people had offered to our Queen. The King
lost no opportunity of saying — and it was as late as the 13th of October
Annual Register, when he finally spoke the words with emphasis — that the aim and object of
his policy had ever been a cordial amity with Great Britain : yet, in the royal
Annuaire His. Speech of the 26th of December, the King admitted that difficulties which
might have become of the most serious importance had risen up between the
British government and his own. Discussions had been entered into which
appeared to endanger the relations of the two states. These were gentle
words indicating a perilous quarrel.
The island once called Otaheite, and thus so well known to the readers of
Cook's Voyages, and now called Tahiti, had for some years been a British
missionary station ; and the Queen of the island, named Pomare, had been a
religious pupil of our missionaries there. In September, 1842, Queen Pomare
placed her dominions under the protection of France, by a treaty dated on the
9th of that month. Her subjects were not pleased. Some said she had been
coerced to do the deed, through fear of the French admiral, Dupetit Thouars,
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 647
who hovered about her dominions. However this might be, the natives 1841 — 46.
were vexed, and showed hostility to the French ; and the French naturally
and immediately concluded that English intrigue was at the bottom of the
discontent. The Admiral appeared off the island in November 1843, and
required Queen Pomare to hoist the French flag over her own, or instead of
itj and, on her refusal to do so, he landed troops, hauled down her flag, and
made proclamation that the island belonged to France. Of the indefensible
character of this act there can be no doubt : and the French government lost
no time in disowning it. There was, however, a party in the Chamber, as
well as outside, who, in the heat of animosity against England, declared that M. came, Feb. 29.
French honour would be wounded by the removal of the national flag set up
by the Admiral ; while others alluded to the utility! of having a piece of
French territory in that part of the world. In the debate brought on by this
party, M. Guizot defended the conduct of Queen Pomare, declared that of
England to be blameless and pacific, and severely censured the French
admiral. When the English Ministers were questioned in parliament about
the French treaty with Pomare, they had always said that they had nothing to Hansard, ixviu.
object to it ; that perfect religious liberty was assured by the treaty, and that the 1- 42<
arrangement might probably be for the benefit of the inhabitants of the whole
group of islands. Lord Aberdeen had obtained from Paris assurances that the
British missionaries would meet with all possible protection and encourage-
ment. "When the news of the aggression of the French admiral arrived,
there was hardly time for any speculation before the disavowal of the French
government was communicated. But, on the 29th of July, 1844, news was
received which brought out stronger language from Sir R. Peel and Lord
Aberdeen than they had often used in parliament.
A missionary, named Pritchard, had become British Consul at Tahiti, some
time before the arrival of Admiral Dupetit Thouars. When Queen Pomare
was deposed, Mr. Pritchard resigned his office ; but there had not yet been time
for his resignation to be accepted ; and he acted as Consul till a reply arrived
from England. He was supposed by the French to have fostered the discon-
tents of the natives; and he was outraged accordingly by the leading com-
manders on the station. A French sentinel having been attacked and
disarmed by the natives on the night of the 2nd of March, Mr. Pritchard was
seized " in reprisal," imprisoned, and released only on condition of his leaving Annual Register,
the Pacific. He was carried away, without having seen his family, and
reached England by way of Valparaiso. The British Ministers declared in
parliament that the account was scarcely credible — so impossible did it seem spectator,! 844,
that such an outrage should have been offered under the circumstances : but
the reply of the French government to the remonstrances of England would
soon arrive, when, no doubt, it would appear that the French King and his
Ministers would be as eager to disavow this act as that of dethroning the
Queen of Tahiti. After some little delay, the Ministers announced, on the Spectator, 1344, P.
last day of the session, September 5th, that the affair was satisfactorily settled
— the French government being willing to make pecuniary recompense to Mr.
Pritchard for the wrongs he had suffered. It would have been well if all had
followed the lead of Sir R. Peel in declining to discuss the merits or demerits
of Mr. Pritchard. Whatever his conduct might have been, whether wise or
648 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. foolish, peaceable or irritating, the only question was whether he, as a British
^-— ~^~*~-^ subject, had been outraged. He had ; and reparation was made. But there
were citizens in England and France who tried to make a cause of quarrel out
of the demeanour of the man ; with regard to which there could be no impar-
tial evidence, and which had nothing to do with the affair. And again, the
persons who thought France would be dishonoured by the removal of a flag
which should never have been set up, were very capable of saying that French
honour would suffer by making reparation to a man who was now doubly dis-
liked because he had been injured. Thus, the state of feeling during the
latter months of 1844 was such as to warrant the expressions of the King's
speech in December.
SPANISH Already other storm clouds were showing themselves on the horizon. — Ever
since the accession of the young Queen Isabella, there had been a rivalship
between French and English influence in Spain. The Regent Christina was
a relation of the Orleans family, and some jealousy was excited by their
friendly manners towards her. When she abdicated the regency in the
autumn of 1840, leaving her daughter in the care of Espartero, she fled into
France, repairing first to Marseilles, as if on her way to Naples, but presently
turning her face towards Paris, after receiving letters thence. She was met
by the King himself outside the city, and received with military honours ;
and almost every newspaper in Europe detailed the particulars of a reception
which was supposed to signify so much : and in the French Chambers the
Annuaireiiist. government was called to account for permitting a course of action which
would throw Spain into the arms of England. M. Guizot replied that France
would faithfully support, if necessary, the throne of Isabella II., but would
have nothing to do with the intestinal quarrels of Spain, and would receive
any refugees in the way she thought proper. — It was from Paris that Queen
Christina wrote, in the ensuing summer, to claim the guardianship of her
children, when the Cortes were in the act of appointing guardians. She had
Annual Register, said, in a Manifesto from Marseilles, " I have laid down my sceptre, and given
up my daughters :" and the after-thought by which she revoked these words
was believed every where to be a suggestion of King Louis Philippe's. That
after-thought was the cause of various risings in Spain. The Madrid insur-
rection terrified the poor children almost to death. They were 011 their knees
in the innermost chamber of the palace while it was besieged by night, and
nothing but the bravery of the halberdiers prevented the royal children from
being seized. The insurgents used the name of Christina : she at first denied
their right to do so, and then prevaricated to a degree which induced a general
belief that she was employing her position at Paris to overthrow the existing
regency of Spain : a belief which, of course, set the English government
closely on the watch.
In 1843, the Regent Espartero and his party fell into adversity, amidst the
changing fortunes of civil war. Espartero and his family escaped to England,
where their welcome was cordial. The Lord Mayor and Corporation of
London invited the Regent to a public dinner at the Mansion House. The
King of the French did not appear to resent this. In his Speech at the close
fs43Ual MC|ister> °^ ^e vear> he expressed his deep interest in the young Queen of Spain, on
occasion of her having been declared of age while yet only 13 years old;
XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 649
expressed hope that Spain would be in a more tranquil condition henceforward ; 1841 — 46.
and avowed that this hope was much strengthened by the perfect understand- * — ""-^ — '
ing which subsisted between the Queen of England and himself.
In January, 1844, M. Guizot made disclosures of great importance in regard
to the relations between France and England. After showing that during a
recent visit of the Duke de Bourdeaux to London, under the name of the
Comte de Chambord, no manifestations had been made in the least unfriendly
to the existing government of France, he turned to the subject of Spain. He
avowed that an honest and friendly appeal had been made to the English £n2""aire Hlst'
government, which had been responded to in a manner no less honest and
friendly ;— an appeal as to whether there Was really any occasion for the rival-
ship of the two interests on the soil of Spain ; whether there was any substan-
tial ground for such fivalship ; whether it was not in truth a struggle kept up
merely as a matter of custom and tradition. This being admitted, an agree-
ment had ensued that all considerations should henceforth give Way before
the great object of securing the tranquillization and prosperity of Spain. — The
two Cabinets had gone further still in their discussions and agreements.
They had treated of the marriage of Isabella II. ; and England had consented
that no Prince whose connexion with the Spanish throne could be injurious
to France should be permitted to marry the young Queen.
The first mention we meet with of the marriage of Isabella II. is in 1843, SPANISH taA«-
in the form of a disclaimer by the government which drove out Espartero of Annual Register,
1 843 t> 304
intention of carrying the Queen towards the Portuguese frontier, as had
been reported, for the sake of marrying her to a Prince of the family of Saxe
Coburg Cohary, then on a visit to Lisbon. From the time of M. Guizot's
speech of January, 1844, the Queen's marriage was the prominent point of all
discussions oh Spain. In March, Christina returned to Spain, and was met
by her daughters on the road to Madrid. On the 23rd, they all entered
Madrid in state. A Vulture had hovered over the head of Espartero, it was spectator, 1*14
said, when he last quitted it. Now, when Christina was re-entering it, a dove
flew into the carriage, and Was taken to her bosonl by the little Queen. Sub-
sequent events sadly discredited the omen. In October, when a Bill for
retrenching the chief safeguards and most liberal provisions of the Constitution
was brought forward, a clause was found in it which authorized the Queen to
marry without the consent of the Cortes : and at the same time, rumours went
forth, assuming to be from authority, that it had been settled among the royal
family of Spain, that the Queen should marry the Prince of Asturias, the son
of Don Carlos. — At the satne time, again (on the 13th of October), Christina
married the man whose mistress she had been for seven years, and by whom
she had several children. Her marriage now involved questions, both political
and pecuniary, of great consequence ; questions as to the date at which, by
this connexion, she had forfeited her office of regent, arid her annttal allowance
from the State, and her title of Queen Mother. The money and the title were
now secured to her by special grants and decrees. But the question remained
how the consent of the Pope to this marriage had been obtained ; and whether,
in fact, it had been obtained at all. While all this was discussed, the new
Ministers were frightened into altering their Bill so far as to continue the
exclusion of the family of Don Carlos froni connexion with the throne of
VOL. II. 4 O
650 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 4(j. Spain : but this act was again neutralized by what the Pope had done. It
" ' came out that he had permitted the marriage of Christina on certain condi-
P?io38?r' 1844> tions, one of which was that all laws and decrees should be annulled which
excluded the family of Don Carlos ; and another, that Queen Isabella should
marry the Prince of Asturias. — In six months more, Don Carlos had resigned
all claims to the Crown, in favour of his son. But this had no effect in for-
warding any views as to the marriage of the Prince with the Queen : for,
before the end of the year, all the world had heard that negotiations were
proceeding for a marriage of the Queen with the Prince de Trappani, brother
to the King of Naples and Christina, and therefore uncle to the Queen. But
it soon appeared that nobody desired this marriage. The young girl herself
disliked the Prince ; her mother opposed his pretensions ; and there was no
strong feeling abroad in the nation on his behalf. It was conjectured that the
Queen would herself have chosen her cousin Don Enrique, the second son of
Don Francisco de Paula — a spirited young naval officer : but, when the Prime
Minister, General Narvaez, was questioned in the Cortes, in January, 1846,
he declared that the Queen appeared to have no wish to marry, and that the
subject had not come under the consideration of the government at all. — Other
governments were more anxious : and none involved itself so deeply as that of
France.
Annual Register, A despatch of M. Guizot's, written in 1842, was in existence, which declared
1846 p. 283.
that all that France desired, in regard to the marriage of the Queen of Spain,
was that she should take a husband from the House of Bourbon. The French
princes might be set aside and welcome : an ample choice would remain
among the families of the King of Naples, of Don Francisco de Paula, and
Don Carlos. Only let it be a Bourbon ; and that was enough. In February,
1846, however, we find the same Minister speaking in a very different tone to
Lord Aberdeen, through the French Minister in London. M. Guizot now
Annual Register, declared that, for reasons assigned, no prince of the above-mentioned families
could be the choice of the parties concerned ; and he intimated that any intrigue
to marry the Queen to a Prince of the House of Saxe Coburg would be resisted
by France. There was a Prince of that House whom the French government
supposed that England was plotting to get married to the Queen : and hence-
forth the relations between France and England became so unfriendly as to
threaten war more seriously than at any time since the Peace. Lord Palmer-
ston returned to the Foreign Office in the summer ; and from that moment,
the controversy became painful and disgusting. It is not necessary for us fo
go through the disagreeable narrative, as our History closes at the date of the
retirement of Lord Aberdeen. Suffice it that, blind to coming events which
were soon to sweep away all the plans, and dissolve all the visions, of ambi-
tion, the French King and his Ministers made a bold push to place one of
their own princes in close proximity to the Spanish throne, for the chance of
his issue succeeding to it, while the wretched young Queen was forced into a
marriage with the elder brother of the Don Enrique whom she was supposed
to favour. Her younger sister, aged 14, was married on the same day to the
Duke de Montpensier, the youngest son of the King of the French. The
English newspapers were furious in their wrath, as well as strong in their
indignation, at the part acted by France. The fear was lest the crowns of
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 651
France and Spain should ever be found on the same head. But this could 1841 — 46.
not happen by any chance short of the death of all the Duke de Montpensier's v '~— -"
elder brothers and their children, together with failure of issue from the Queen,
of Spain. Events have since happened which solemnly rebuke so presump-
tuous a forecast into the future, by removing the young bridegroom's family
from the throne of France. The fury of dissension which prevailed during
the controversy looks now childish enough. The true cause for regret is the
paltering and shabbiness exhibited on the part of the French government in
the conduct of the business, and the fidgettiness and heat of the British Minister
(Lord Palmers ton), about an affair which was not worth contesting at the risk
of Avar between the two countries to whose keeping are confided the liberties
of Europe. No possible question about the future descent of the Spanish
crown can be worth the discord of free States, on the verge of the outbreak of
the War of Opinion in Europe. It was understood that the compulsion brought
to bear on the young Queen by her mother, under French encouragement, was
very cruel ; and the marriage presently appeared before the world as an unhappy
one. The two weddings took place on the 10th of October, 1846 ; and at the
end of the month, the French King received at his palace his little daughter-
in-law — the Spanish princess whom he had won into his family at the expense
of the friendship of the Queen and people of England. " Men say," declared
a newspaper of that date, " that Louis Philippe has sown the wind : time will Newsplp^i^e
show whether he or his successor will reap the revolutionary whirlwind." P. 325..
During the period before us, changes had taken place among the royal races
of France, while the people were carried on by the action of the government,
slowly but surely, towards that revolutionary struggle which has since abased
some of them, and exalted another, and created some new hope in a third
party. The Duke d'Angoul£me, who had for a large portion of his life ex- DEATH OF THE
pected to reign over France, died in 1844, and left his nephew, the Duke de '-EME.
Bordeaux, the sole representative of the claims of the elder Bourbons. The
Prince who had before troubled France with unsupported pretensions to the
throne, as nephew of the Emperor — Prince Louis Napoleon — made a descent
on Boulogne in August, 1840, even more absurd than the Strasburg attempt; BOULOGNE INVA.
and received, as his retribution for his contemptible invasion of a kingdom, an Annuaire Hist.
imprisonment in the fortress of Ham, whence he escaped, after a seclusion of
six years, in the dress of a workman. Though no wisdom had thus far marked
his proceedings, it may finally be proved of some importance to France that
his life was not taken on an occasion which would have justified the sentence
in the eyes of the world. — In the same year, the remains of his uncle, the NAPOLEON'S RE.
Emperor, were brought from St. Helena, under the care of one of the Orleans
princes, and solemnly buried in the Hotel des Invalides, in the presence of all Annuaire Hist.
n. i L.' -t 11 i i 11 184°. chron- 314-
fans — tne Orleans lamily paying all the honours personally.
The African conquests of France still yielded more trouble and cost than ALGERIA.
glory or gain : and to the dark side of the account was now to be added shame,
deep and ineffaceable. The native Arabs and Moors were no nearer being
conquered than ever ; and the noble defender of his race and religion, the
Emir Abd-el-Kader, a hero worthy of any country and any age, was still the
invincible foe of the invaders. In the belief that he was countenanced by the
Emperor of Morocco, the French made war upon that potentate, and the
652 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. Prince de Joinville bombarded Tangier on the 6th of August, 1844, in spite of
N-sw-vr*.- the preventive efforts of Mr. Hay, the British Charge d'Affaires in that place.
No results of importance ensued ; for which various causes were assigned by
French writers : but all agree that England interfered to promote peace, on
terms as favourable to Morocco as could be obtained. — Abd-el-Kader mean-
time was as restless as ever, incessantly harassing the French force, without
receiving any injury in return. Perhaps the exasperation of the French com-
manders in Algeria from this cause might be the influence which so turned the
brain of one of them as to induce him to stain the glory of the French arms
by an act of atrocity unequalled in modern times. There was a tribe of
Kabyle Arabs which had never been conquered, because they retired upon a
rocky district perforated with caverns. Colonel Pelissier roasted and suffocated
this tribe in their retreat by kindling fires at the entrance. When escape was
first offered them, 011 condition of surrender, they refused ; and such of the
women as attempted to fly were shot by their husbands, who considered it a
case of martyrdom for religion. They, and their families, and their cattle —
500 human beings found dead, and more who died when taken out — were
roasted or suffocated. But Europe found a voice oa their behalf. A cry of
reprobation ran over all civilized countries. In France, however, the Chroni-
Annuaire Hist. cier of the times offers only a very brief comment. " Such," he says, " are
the necessary consequences of a war incessantly rekindled by fanaticism."
In seeking to determine the position held by France in regard to the con-
flict now beginning between the Eastern despotic, and the Western self-
governing principle, it is indispensable to consider the view propounded by
i842Gl)'ZOT IN t^ie Foreign Minister of France in the critical period of 1842. However M.
Guizot may have afterwards stooped from his declared position, and lost sight
of a broad theory of European policy in a low pursuit of selfish and fantastical
national ambition, at the bidding of a man unworthy to be obeyed by such an one
as he, he spoke in 1842 from his own mind and heart — and his view ought to
remain on record. France had come out of the isolation in which she stood at
the time of the Brunow Convention, and was again placed in friendly rela-
tions with the other Four Powers, when, on the 19th of January, 1842, M.
*42Uairi7Hist' Gruizot said in the Chamber of Deputies, " Some are alarmed at the words
' European concert.' But do those words mean that the Holy Alliance is re-
vived? No. That which is called European concert is simply the spirit of
peace among the great Powers. It is the manifestation of that accordant mind
which, in case of any critical event occurring, would endeavour to understand
and resolve the great political question, before having recourse to the chances
of war. — It is to this policy that, for more than twenty years, Europe has been
indebted for peace. It is to this policy that Greece and Belgium owe their
existence. Never before were mighty events accomplished so pacifically, and
conducted so regularly, by negotiation alone, under the influence of European
good sense. — There are but three political systems possible for any country :
alliancej isolation, or independence in the midst of good understanding. For
intimate alliances, the time is passed. As for the policy of isolation,, it is a
transitory policy which is connected with a position more or less critical and
revolutionary. It is necessarily adopted on occasion, but should never be
reduced into a system. Besides, an intimate alliance between France
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 653
England involves the inconvenience of cementing the alliance between the 1841 — 46.
Three great continental Powers. The policy of isolation involves the yet ' '~— -^
greater inconvenience of inducing the alliance of the Four great Powers..
There remains then the policy of independence in the midst of amity — and
this is the policy upon which France has entered."
In another view, France left herself free to form alliances hereafter as future
events might indicate.
The relations of England with the United States were as precarious as those £^™CAN RELA-
with France, during this period. — First, there was a dispute arising out of the
Canadian troubles of 1837. A steam-boat, the Caroline, belonging to an
American owner, had conveyed arms and stores to a party of Canadian insur-
gents on Navy Island. Some loyalists seized the vessel, and sent her down
the Falls of Niagara ; and, in the scuffle, an American citizen was killed, THE FRONTIER.
One McLeod, a British subject, was arrested when transacting business in the
State of New York, charged with participation in the destruction of the
Caroline, and in the murder of Durfee, the slain man. The British Minister
protested against the process, declaring the act to have been done in obedience
to the Colonial authorities, and therefore to be a subject for explanation be-
tween the two governments, and not for the trial of an individual in the Courts
of Law. The British government did fully assume the responsibility of the Mr. FOX'S Note of
0 n *. r . , . . March 12th.
act of destroying the Caroline : but not for this would the American authorities
liberate McLeod. A popular assemblage overawed the magistrates when they
were about to release him on bail : and this complicated the affair perilously.
So did the Report of a Committee of Congress on the question, which was
little short of a declaration of war ; but it was presently understood that the
Report had had the concurrence of a bare majority in Committee. — The next
difficulty was that the State of New York claimed to try the prisoner for
offences committed against the State citizens, instead of those of the Union ;
and thus, the question, as between the two governments, was evaded. McLeod
was tried, at Utica in the State of New York. Fortunately, there was un-
questionable evidence of McLeod's absence from the scene of the destruction
of the Caroline. The plea of an alibi was too strong to be withstood ; the
jury returned a verdict of acquittal, and the danger was over for the time. —
Some foolish Canadians, however, did what they could to embroil us afresh.
They made an incursion into the United States' territory, and seized a Colonel Annual Register,
1841 D 317
Grogan, whom they accused of incendiary outrage : but the Canadian autho-
rities ordered the instant discharge of Colonel Grogan; and no more was
heard of the matter. It remained a subject of serious uneasiness .to both
governments, however, that outrages were perpetually taking place on the
frontier. The Canadian loyalists were insulting and violent ; the American
adventurers who infested the boundary delighted in raids and skirmishes ; and
the federal government had not power to restrain them — owing to certain
limitations of its functions, and a partition of power between itself and the
States along the frontier. Every one was aware that, under the difficulties of
the case, much would depend on the character and temper of the President of AMERICAN PRE-
the republic. General Harrison entered upon the office in March of this year,,
1841 ; but, before any clear anticipation could be formed of his temper and
policy,, he died; only four weeks after his entrance upon office. — By the re- Annual Register,
9 Chron. 194.
654 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boo* VI.
1841 — 46. gulation provided for such a possible case, he was succeeded in his function
^— — "•— — by the Vice-President, Mr. Tyler ; and it remained to be seen how the affairs
of the States would go on under the rule (for the first time) of a President
who had not been elected to that office by the people.
RIGHT OF SEARCH. The Right of Search question was becoming a cause of controversy before
the McLeod affair was settled : and now the controversy was fast growing into
a quarrel. The American Minister in London maintained that the right
existed only under certain treaties ; , and that countries which, like the United
States, had refused participation in such treaties, could not permit their vessels
to be searched for evidence of traffic in slaves, or on any other pretence. Lord
is™"?1. 3oe|.'ster> Palmerston had, before going out of office, admitted this, but shown that the
difficulty arose from slavers hoisting, unauthorized, any flag that might suit their
purpose best. All that was claimed was — not a right to search American
merchantmen, but merely to examine their ships' papers, to ascertain whether
they really were American vessels. Without this, there could be no security
against the slave-traffic of the world being carried on under the flags of those
countries which did not participate in the treaties. It will be seen what a wide
field of international law was extended for argumentation when Lord Aber-
deen came into office. — In the following December, Lord Aberdeen communi-
cated to the American Minister the nature of the instructions given to British
cruisers ; and the frank and temperate explanations of the two Ministers led
Annual Register, to happy results. The President said of them, in a message to the Represen-
tatives, " These declarations may well lead us to doubt whether the apparent
difference between the two governments is not rather one of definition than
of principle." And again, " It seems obvious to remark, that a right which
is only to be exercised under such restrictions and precautions, and risk, in
case of any assignable damage to be followed by the consequences of a trespass,
can scarcely be considered any thing more than a privilege asked for, and either
conceded or withheld on the usual principles of international comity." The
President's lead was followed by Congress. Congress agreed that the honour
of the American flag " demanded that it should not be used by others to
cover an iniquitous traffic :" and, like the President, Congress " chose to make
a practical settlement of the question." And thus, without any concession
being made on the side of Great Britain, but only by means of her object
becoming better understood, it was settled that, on any fair occasion of sus-
picion whether the United States' flag was shown rightfully or as a pretence,
she might require the production of the ship's papers, under the liability of
making reparation for damage or delay, if the vessel should be found to be
really American. The Americans also agreed to keep a squadron off the coast
of Africa, to guard against abuse of the American flag. And thus, in the
spring of 1843, was the Right of Search question settled with the United
States.
AFFAIR OF "THE Some complications had occurred in the course of the controversy which
spectator, 1842, threatened to prevent its amicable adjustment. A Virginian brig, called the
Creole, was on its way to New Orleans in October, 1841, when some slaves,
who formed part of the cargo, obtained possession of the ship, wounded the
captain and some of the crew, killed a passenger who was the owner of some
of their number, and then carried the vessel to Nassau, in New Providence,
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 655
one of the West India islands. On the requisition of the American Consul, 1841 — 46.
the magistrates of Nassau detained and imprisoned nineteen negroes who were
charged with participation in the mutiny and murder. The rest, 114 in num-
ber, against whom there was no charge, were allowed to go where they would,
under the British law that every slave becomes free on touching British soil.
The Governor of the Bahamas refused to detain them, and also to forward the
nineteen to America till he received directions from home. The law officers
and law peers of England gave an unanimous opinion that there was no law Hansard, ix. 320.
of the empire under which the persons charged could be tried or even detained ;
and the Governor of Nassau was therefore instructed to release the nineteen
negroes, unless there was any peculiar colonial law under which they could
be tried. The wrath of some of the Slave States was loud ; and there was
talk of bloody consequences : but our newspapers said throughout, " we
shall not need to go to war about the Creole :" and so it proved. The American
requisition was withdrawn, and the slave-holders grew tired, at last, of
charging Great Britain with abetting piracy and murder.
There was much ruffling of temper on other subjects. A great number of REPEAL
Americans, who did not understand our politics, " sympathized" with the Irish
repealers, sent money, promised men, and avowed themselves ready to abet
treason on behalf of Ireland to any extent. On the other hand, a great num-
ber of Englishmen, who did not understand American affairs, grossly insulted
the whole American nation on account of the delinquency of a very small
number in the semi-barbarous States, about their State finances. Three of REPUDIATION.
these semi-barbarous States repudiated their public debts : and Pennsylvania
and one more delayed the payment of their dividends. Pennsylvania never
repudiated, though, following a mistake of Sydney Smith's, people in London
supposed and said that she did. Such persons knew nothing of the peculiari-
ties of the half-German population of Pennsylvania, ignorant and slow ; and
forgot the unequalled pressure and perplexity she had been subjected to by the
action of President Jackson on the Banks, and the consequent extinction of
her currency for a time. They knew nothing of the miseries of the inha-
bitants, when reduced to a state of barter: and in this condition of ignorance
they charged her with a " repudiation" which her subsequent payments have
shown her not to have contemplated. If it is said that people in London
could not be expected to know these things, the answer is plain ; — that they
should not invest their money in foreign funds without understanding the cir-
cumstances of the case ; nor accept extraordinary interest for their investment
without being prepared for a corresponding risk. The New England States,
which head the Union, have ever preserved an unblemished honour ; and so
have most of the rest. The few which have not were unfit to be trusted, and
might have been known to be so by any one who understood what the border
States are, with the institution of Slavery on the one hand, and the wilds of
the Mississippi on the other ; and within them, a population largely composed
of persons who prefer a semi-barbarous to a highly civilized state of society.
But, in the wrath of British claimants on certain State funds at the failure of
their dividends, the thirty States and the whole American nation were mixed
up together under a charge of cool knavery ; and the temper of both nations
was any thing but ameliorated. Some men who ought to have known better
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
TEXAS AND
MEXICO.
BOUNDARY
QUESTION.
1841 — 46. were for petitioning Congress about an affair of State debts, with which
^— — -— - ' Congress had no more concern than the parliament of any other country : and
it could not be very soothing to the temper of the Americans to find that our
clergymen, members of parliament, and merchants, did not take the trouble to
learn even the outlines of the American Constitution.
Then, in 1843 and 1844, public sentiment in England was awake and alive
on the subject which was dividing the American nation — >the Annexation of
Texas, followed by the invasion of Mexico. Dr. Channing was revered in
England ; his words went far and sank deep ; and his reprobation of the an-
nexation of Texas obtained a response from end to end of Great Britain. The
noblest part of the American nation rejoiced in our sympathy, and in our per-
ception that the action of their country upon Texas and Mexico was purely
for the extension of Slavery ; a safeguard for the institution now so shaken
towards the north ; and a new field for its support, in preparation for its
abolition in the States which it had exhausted and impoverished. But the
noble are always the few ; and every expression of censure or disgust at the
game that was playing against the interests of humanity kindled wrath among
the majority in the States who were eager for the excitement of war, and the
glory of territorial aggrandisement.
While such was the temper of the two peoples towards each other, a ques-
tion of more difficulty and more importance than any yet discussed had arisen
between the two governments. It has been noticed before how surely trouble
springs up, sooner or later, from the ignorance of geography which prevails
when the boundaries of new countries are assigned. The frontier line between
the State of Maine and Canada could not be agreed upon by the British and
the Americans, when the region became settled. It was a matter of high im-
portance to the residents of the debated ground whether they lived under
British or American government and laws ; and in the existing temper of the
two nations, it appeared too probable that not only skirmishes would take
place along the frontier, but that a national war might ensue. Sober people
in England, now quieted and made reasonable by a quarter of a century of
peace, could hardly conceive of such a thing as a national war for such a
cause : but it appears that the statesmen on both sides the Atlantic really ap-
prehended such an issue. In 1839, Lord Palmerston had sent out Commis-
sioners to explore the line claimed by the British, and see whether it accorded
with the features of the country: and, after these Commissioners had reported,
two more were sent out to make a similar investigation into the line claimed
by the Americans. Their Report, in 1841, was adverse to the American
claim. Arbitration had before been tried, and had failed. The King of the
Netherlands had pronounced on two points out of three, and declared the
other impossible to settle. He had determined that the British were right as
to which was the true river-head specified, and what the proper parallel of
latitude : but as to which of two ranges of Highlands was intended, there
was no evidence to show. After some confusion, both parties declined the
award. And thus, there was no reason to hope any thing from arbitration.
In this perplexity, Sir R. Peel's government chose the fittest man in Great
Britain for the business, and sent him out as a special ambassador to Washing-
ton, fully empowered to settle all matters in dispute between the two govern-
Hansard, Ixiii.
564.
CHAP. XII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 657
ments. Lord Ashburton, late Mr. Baring, a thorough. Englishman in mind and 1341 45.
manners, was yet so connected with America by commercial and family rela- - — --^— — "
tioiis as to have much sympathy with American feelings, and full knowledge TON'S M?S™ON~
of American institutions, customs, and modes of thought. He went out in
February 1842, was courteously and even joyfully received, and brought
matters round presently. A treaty which settled the Boundary question was
signed on the 9th of August following. It was not to be supposed that every
body was satisfied. Lord Palmerston, for one, was sure to be displeased ; and
his prophecies of the dissatisfaction that would be felt, and the mischiefs that
would arise, were very strong. But no difficulties have as yet been heard of;
and the inestimable good of peace and national amity appears to have been
obtained without sacrifice. The agreement gave 7-12ths of the disputed
ground, and the British settlement of Madawaska to the United States, and
only o-12ths of the ground to Britain : but it secured a better military
frontier to England, and it included heights commanding the St. Lawrence Hansard, ixvii.
which the award of the King of Holland had assigned to the Americans.
The best testimony to the equality of the arrangements was the amount of
discontent among American politicians being about equivalent to that declared
in England. But in both countries, the vast majority were satisfied and
gratified; and the chances against war appeared to be stronger than for
several years past. Lord Ashburton, after having been honoured throughout
every step of his travels in the United States, received the thanks of Parlia- Hansard, uria.
• 641.
ment on his return home.
All danger was not over, however. It has been mentioned before that in OREGON QUES.
TION.
1822 Lord Castlereagh told Mr. Rush that such was the condition of the ^me, i.sn.
Oregon question between England and the United States, that war could be
produced by holding up a finger. Now, after the lapse of twenty years, the
question was as unsettled, and almost as perilous, as ever. It may be remem-
bered that an agreement was made in the treaty 1818-1819, that for a
period of ten years the Oregon territory should be open to occupation by
settlers from both countries. The period was afterwards indefinitely ex-
tended. In 1843, the American President announced that he was going to
negotiate with Great Britain for the final settlement of their claims to the
Oregon territory. A push was immediately made in Congress to get Oregon
occupied and put under military organization, as territory belonging to the
United States ; and the restless among the vivacious American nation began
to form and equip caravans for the long and dreary passage to Oregon, over
and beyond the Rocky Mountains. They acted as if their national existence
depended on their appropriating the whole available coast of the Pacific, and
as if there were no rashness in tempting a crowd of emigrants to cross a
desert continent, among myriads of buffaloes and through tribes of hostile
Indians, to take possession of a district whose capabilities and conveniences
were little known, and which might prove to be the property of a foreign
power. Such rashness and indecent haste made the question of settlement
more difficult, — British statesmen being disgusted, and American statesmen
ashamed, without being able freely to say so. In the course of several con-
ferences between the negotiators on each side in 1844, it was understood that
the matter should be settled by compromise, — by dividing the territory lying
VOL. II. 4 P
G58 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1841 — 46. along the Columbia river. The new President, Mr. Polk, avowed his dislike
* — -~v~" — ' to any surrender whatever of the American claim ; but declared that it was
too late when he entered upon office to draw back from the compromise prin-
ciple ; a declaration which made the majority on both sides of the Atlantic
rejoice that ,'that much was agreed upon before Mr. Polk became President.
Throughout the session of 1845 the debates in Congress on [the subject of
Oregon were so conducted as apparently to impair grievously the chances of
peace. But it is probable that their very violence wrought in the other direc-
tion. Statesmen (worthy of the name) on both sides were better aware what
they were about than boastful and quarrelsome orators ; and the more arro-
gance and rancour that were expressed, the more were the negotiators stimu-
lated to find a basis of agreement.
In his Message of December, 1845, the American President used language
of dogmatism, if not defiance, which some members of the Senate declared
themselves unable to agree to. In the next month, Queen Victoria said, in
Hansard, ixxxiii. her Speech to Parliament, that she regretted the unsettled state of the Oregon
question, and that no effort consistent with national honour should be wanting
on her part to bring the controversy to an early and peaceful termination.
With these speeches before them, the American Houses of Congress went into
debate. The debates were protracted through three months, ending on the
is™"?1 326gister' 23rd of April, with a signal and somewhat unexpected victory of the moderate
party. With a view to driving on the matter to a decision by force, the war
party had carried Resolutions that notice of the cessation of a joint occupancy
of Oregon should be given to Great Britain. After a conference, it was
settled that the Resolution about such notice should stand, being accompanied
by a declaration ' that it was for the purpose of inducing a speedy amicable
settlement of the dispute, on the ground of an equitable compromise. As
Annual Register, soon as the news of this Resolution arrived in England, Lord Aberdeen sent out
a new proposal of compromise to our minister at Washington. The President
submitted the proposal to the Senate, who approved it by a large majority. The
President then accepted the terms ; and in June, the treaty was signed which
settled at last the Oregon question. Vancouver's Island remained to Great
Britain, and the free navigation of the Columbia ; and the territory in dispute
was divided in a way which appears likely to be permanently satisfactory to
both parties. Mr. Webster, indeed, avows his anticipation that the combined
population of Americans and British, similar in race and separated only by
national distribution, will set up for themselves ere long, and form a Republic
on the Pacific. However that may be, they are no longer at war, or in
anticipation of it. This happy act of reconciliation was one of the last to be
perfected by Sir R. Peel's government, and the ultimate success of Lord
Aberdeen's mild and discreet administration of our foreign affairs.
CHAP. XIIL] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 659
CHAPTER XIIL
"TN the records of Indian affairs during this period we find a curious ming- 1845-46.
-*- ling of notices ; — the formation of companies for the construction and '*-~^^—'
f • INDIA.
management of railways, which are to encourage commerce and extend peace
over the whole of those vast regions ; and hints that the British may soon be
compelled to interfere in the Punjaub, from the excesses that were perpetrated
there against one after another of the rulers who succeeded Runjeet Singh.
In 1845, we find the India Company addressing the Governor-General, Sir
Henry Hardinge, on the subject of railways, in the evident anticipation that
the peninsula may in time be intersected with them, so as completely to change
its financial condition, and perhaps the character of its population; and in the
same year — towards its close — we see our territory invaded in the north-west,
by an army of Sikhs crossing the Sutlej; whether with or without the sanction SIKH INVASION.
of the existing government at Lahore, was not immediately known. The
Governor- General was in the north-west at the time, having had reason to
expect some trouble there : and it was on the 13th of December that the
decisive news reached him that a Sikh army had crossed the Sutlej. On the
18th, the battle of Moodkee was fought, under Sir Hugh Gough, when the
Sikhs were beaten, but not effectually discomfited. In this battle fell Sir
Robert Sale, the hero of Jellalabad ; a man whom the whole nation would
have been delighted to see enjoying his old age in England, after his long
toils and sufferings in the East. Here, however, his left thigh was shattered
by a ball, and he soon died of the wound. The next battle, that of Feroze-
shah, was rendered remarkable by the circumstance of the Governor-General
offering his services to Sir Hugh Gough as second in command; and he
actually remained in action in that capacity, conspicuously throughout the
day. The foe proved more formidable than had been expected — their skill
appearing to equal their hardihood. It was no easy matter to vanquish them ;
but after the battles: on the 21st and 22nd, they were routed, and their guns
captured. Our loss was heavy; and even those who believed that the
Punjaub was now quieted, and the Sikhs silenced for ever, felt that these
results were obtained at a severe cost. But there were not a few who foresaw
what has since happened, — new conflicts, and the sad necessity of annexing
the Punjaub to our territory, for the sake of peace, and of the safety of the
inhabitants of the north-western provinces.
One more battle — that of Aliwal, fought on the 28th of January, 1846 —
drove the Sikhs from our territory, and impelled them to take refuge in their
last stronghold on the left bank of the Sutlej. From this position they were
driven by the battle of Sobraon, on the 10th of February, when the Governor-
General was again present under Sir H. Gough. The slaughter on our side
was terrible enough ; but that of the Sikhs was sickening to hear of. They
660 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845-46. were drowned in shoals in the river, and shot by hundreds as they attempted
^-^.^- ' to escape into their own territory. They were followed by the British army ;
and the Governor-General undertook the arrangement of the affairs of the
Punjaub. He believed that, by the establishment of a Protectorate, he had
avoided the evil of the annexation of the territory. But time has proved him
mistaken. The Sikhs have since risen again, and have again been chastised,
almost to the point of destruction ; and the Punjaub is now British territory.
A part of the work of the last parliamentary session we have to record was
voting thanks and welcoming honours to the heroes of the Sikh war — one of
the briefest of our Indian wars, but one of the most brilliant. There was
much heartiness of admiration on the occasion, but very little joy: — rather,
there was so much regret that it was evident that thirty years of European
peace had humanized the English mind, and raised it to a point of feeling
which becomes a civilized nation compelled to enter the lists of brute conflict
with a half-barbarous people. — Sir Henry Hardinge and Sir Hugh Gough
were raised to the peerage ; and when they and other heroes of the war re-
turned to England, the national welcome awaited them wherever they went.
THE SANDWICH In 1843, the Sandwich islands — the Hawaiian islands, or old O why hee —
were ceded by their king, Kamehameha, to Great Britain, because the poor
sovereign found himself embarrassed by claims of reparation for injury done to
British subjects. The cession was not accepted ; but our protection was pro-
mised to the islands as forming an independent state. It is amusing to find
these poor people beginning at once with constitutional government. Their
two Houses of parliament — the House of Nobles and House of Representa-
Annuai Register, tives — met on the 20th of May, 1845, and the King delivered a speech, the
tone of which is ludicrously like such as are delivered in London and Paris.
The peculiarities of it are a provision for ascertaining whether the number of
the people is increasing or diminishing ; and a declaration that it is the pos-
session of the Word of God which has introduced their people into the family
of independent nations. The first vote of the Nobles was one of thanks to
Great Britain, France, Belgium, and the United States, for recognising the
independence of the Hawaiian kingdom. This done, " the Ministers pre-
sented their reports and estimates, and the ordinary business of the session
commenced." We have been accustomed to think that constitutional govern-
ment is a gradual and late growth of civilization — a thing impossible to im-
pose, and of which some old European nations are not yet capable. It can
hardly be supposed that the Sandwich islanders can maintain it pure : but
they will probably be happier than under the despotic rule of an irresponsible
king.
The desire for [representative government was spreading among our own
Hansard, ixxxviu. colonies. In 1846, ten of them had made application for the boon. There
had been much misgovernment ; or the colonists thought so. Taxes trebled
at a stroke, favouritism towards public officers, or ill-usage of them, quarrels
between governors and their coadjutors, tricks with the currency, executive
extravagance — such grievances as these in colonies where the inhabitants now
amounted to tens of thousands, made the residents desire to try whether they
could not govern themselves better than they were governed by the Colonial
UND?IEMEN s Office. In Van Diemen's Land, abuses of various kinds had reached such a
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 661
pass, that the prosperity of the colony had stopped : and it was sinking into 1845-46.
debt, though the taxes had been trebled in one day : and yet there were 35,000 v-— — '
free colonists who were without representation, while several western colonies
had a representation before their numbers had reached a sixth part of this. A
new governor was sent out to Van Diemen's Land ; and it was recommended Hansard, ixxxvui.
that the civil officers who had resigned in despair should be restored : but it
remains a disgrace to successive governments that the desire of our colonies for
participation in the best privileges of the British Constitution can scarcely
obtain any attention. Next to Ireland, our colonies continue to be the oppro-
brium of our empire. In 1846, at the close of the period now under review,
our colonies were forty-two, containing a population of 4,674,000. Twenty -five
of the forty-two had representation ; but most of these had a much smaller
population than several colonies which were cruelly oppressed by the arbitrary
rule of incapable governors : and the difficulty these had in making their com-
plaints heard by the public at home, and attended to by the government, was
such as to bring upon the Colonial Office heavy, but just, imputations of rash-
ness and tyranny. But for the occurrence of some outrageous case now and
then, some abuse too gross to be covered up, there was, and still is, little hope
of the colonies being so treated as to preserve their affection for the mother
country. For whatever reason it is so — whether the business of the Colonial
Office has outgrown its machinery, or bad traditions remain in force within it,
or the frequent change of Colonial Ministers is fatal to consistent government,
or the choice of those Ministers has been eminently unfortunate — whether
these or other mischiefs be the cause, it certainly appears that the misgovern-
ment of our colonies has long been so intolerable, that we cannot expect to
retain them, unless some speedy and comprehensive reform is carried out.
One flagrant case of misgovernment, whose excess was of service, was that |°"™AAus'
of South Australia under Governor Gawler, whose extravagant expenditure
involved the colony so deeply that it was scarcely hoped that it could ever
revive. In 1841, an advance was made from the Treasury at home of no Hansard, ixiv. 992.
less than £155,000; and the governor was desired to draw no more. He
did not obey : his bills were dishonoured : he was removed from office ; and
his successor, Captain Grey, found that the annual expenditure of the colony
was £150,000, while its revenue was only £30,000. The needful sudden
reduction of such an expenditure (which Governor Grey soon brought down
to £35,000) occasioned great distress in the settlement; and society had
almost to be organized afresh. The Treasury at home had to pay £400,000
for the relief of this unfortunate colony. — Some advance towards giving a
power of self-government to this colony and that of New South Wales was
made in 1842, by an enactment that their Legislative Council should consist 5 andevic. c.7&
c. 61.
partly of members elected by the people ; and that, under Royal sanction, a
general Assembly, chosen by popular election, might be convened. — South
Australia was not a convict colony ; but Sydney and Van Diemen's Land were ;
and they therefore afforded an unsatisfactory ground of argument about colo-
nial government. Claims of a representative system were easily met by
displays of the difficulty of popular election in a community consisting largely
of criminals : and arbitrary measures are easily and fairly justified on the plea
of the untrustworthy character of a large element of the local society. But
662 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
x
1845-46. there is a colony of ours, lying alone in the sea, unconnected even in idea
^^ — with the transportation system, and with every pre-requisite for a perfect colo-
nial experiment, whose fate shows something of what our colonial govern-
ment is.
NEW ZEALAND. ^he New Zealand islands have a climate and soil which point them out for
occupancy by British colonists. British emigrants were willing to go ; and the
inhabitants of New Zealand were eager to have them. The public at home
showed an unusual desire to colonize these islands ; and a Company was
formed for the purpose, in the face of the reluctance of the government which
threw every obstacle in the way. The main object of the Company was
to make trial of Mr. Wakefield's plan of self-supporting colonization. By this
plan, the proceeds of the sale of land are applied to the bringing out labour,
in a regulated proportion to the land ; and the land and labour are sufficiently
concentrated, so as to prevent the ruinous dispersion*of inhabitants, and isola-
lation of settlements, which makes colonization mere squatting, as to its social
effects, when individuals are allowed to purchase more land than they can use,
or to wander away beyond the reach of co-operation. The government adopted
no steady principle about claiming the territory; and neither furnished the
original colonists with a government, nor allowed them to govern themselves
till they could be legislated for. The Governor sent out, Governor Hobson,
seemed to think it the main business of himself and his officials to thwart
and humble the officers of the Company ; and the most flourishing of the young
colonies of England was damaged in every way by his influence ; — in inter-
course with the natives, in financial management, and in the spirits and temper
of the settlers. In the summer of 1842, charges against Governor Hobson
Spectator, 1843, p. . , , , , . , , - -
56. were transmitted by the colonists to the home government — charges of ruinous
extravagance, of permitting his official servants to make unfair selections of
land, and of applying £40,000 received for land sales to other purposes than
the prescribed one of bringing out labour. Before inquiry could be made,
Governor Hobson died, having saddled this colony, meant to be self-support-
ing, with a debt of £68,000.— Captain Fitzroy was the next governor, and, if
possible, a worse than his predecessor. He found he could not keep the
expenditure of the colony down to £20,000 a year, though the population was
Hansard, ixxxi. only 15,000: and he resorted to a system of assignats. He issued what he
722' called "debentures" to the amount of £15,000 — promissory notes down to
the value of 2s. Complaining that they became " unduly depreciated," he
made them a legal tender. While thus tampering with the currency of the
colony, he had seriously shaken the security of the landed property of the
emigrants by unsettling the terms of their land-purchases from the natives,
after the payment had long been made ; and further, he proffered a most
untimely and pernicious conciliation and sympathy to a party of the natives
who had massacred nine of our countrymen in cold blood — tomahawking them
after they had laid down their arms ; at the same time forbearing to avenge
the cutting down of the British flag at the Custom House. Captain Fitzroy
Hansard, ixxxi. was recalled ; but not before such a catalogue of offences from ignorance, con-
665 — 726.
ceit, and ill-humour, had been recorded against him in the Debates and Com-
mittee of Parliament, as makes it a matter of speculation on what principle
colonial governors are appointed. After the New Zealand Company, which
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 663
was held in universal respect, had expended £300,000 of its own capital, and 1845-46.
£300,000 more raised on credit, it had not obtained possession of a single acre
of its lands : emigrants, who had paid cash for their land in England, could
not obtain access to it in the colony, from Captain Fitzroy's refusal to fulfil
conditionally an agreement between the government and the Company, in reli-
ance on which the settlers had made their purchases. The Parliamentary
Committee of Inquiry reported that the settlers had a clear right, as against
the Crown lands, to the fulfilment of this agreement : but they could not get
their rights ; and, ruined and forlorn, they were taking ship, as they could get
a passage, to New South Wales, or Australia, or back to England, to begin
the world again without means. Some of those who remained had their houses
pulled down and their crops burned by the natives ; and the governor did not
speak or stir in their behalf, but gave to the aggressors, encouraged by himself,
such sympathy as he had. He suppressed the volunteer force raised by the
settlers for their own protection, and offered them, in compensation, fifty sol-
diers to protect a region of 200 miles long, and inhabited by 10,000 persons. —
The reserves of land made by the Company for the natives were left unpro-
ductive, and nothing done of what would have been done by the Company for
their religious improvement and secular instruction; while the governor
assumed to take their part against the Company. Some of the worst acts of
Captain Fitzroy were approved by the Colonial Office, and others were not
rebuked : and it was therefore against the Colonial Secretary, Lord Stanley,
and his Office, that the complainants urged their case. " It is, in truth," said
Mr. C. Buller, " the history of the war which the Colonial Office has carried
on against the colony of New Zealand. Is this an exaggerated expression ?
What enemy of the British name and race could — what civilized enemy would —
have brought such ruin on a British colony? .... A great colonial wrong is
before you ; and indifferent as in general you naturally are to the fortunes of
colonists of whom you see nothing, now that such a matter is brought to your
attention, show the Colonial Office that it is not wholly uncontrolled, and will
not always be allowed to sport with the interests of our countrymen in the
colonies."
Not even such treatment as has been detailed could ruin settlements of such
natural advantages as those of New Zealand. Governor Grey, who had
already won a high character as successor to Governor Gawler, came from
Adelaide to try what could be done in New Zealand. He at once repressed and
protected the natives, retrenched the expenditure, vindicated the honour of
the British flag, and left the settlers as free as possible, to manage their
private affairs, and prosper in their own way. And thus, though the colony
may not be all that it might have 'been long ago — all that was hoped when
the first ship sailed from our shores for the new land, when a crowd of the
foremost men in England gave a parting cheer to the anxious but hopeful
emigrants, and when some of the emigrants themselves were from among the
first men in England — it is at least a colony of irrepressible and rising fortunes.
Its original peculiarity was that it represented a complete and highly-civilized
society, a proportion from all ranks, from the kindred of nobles and the bishop
down to the hedger and ditcher. Thus is its intellectual and moral welfare
secured, as well as its material prosperity. New Zealand is, after all, perhaps,
the most promising of British colonies.
664 HISTORY OF ENGLAND ] [Boox VI.
1845-46. In Canada, Lord Sydenham was succeeded by Sir Charles Bagot, who opened
* — — ~~- — the second Session of the united Canadian parliament on the 8th of September,
SIRNC."ARLES 1842. He did not find, as Lord Sydenham had anticipated, that every thing
was now so settled that affairs would run in grooves, with only a very gentle
force to push them. He was obliged to make an immediate choice between
two great difficulties ; and a source of disturbance was opened up during his
short administration which makes our relations with Canada at this day as
doubtful as they have ever been.
Two leaders who had been in Opposition in Lord Sydenham's time now
found themselves stronger than the government in the Assembly. Mr.
Baldwin, the leader of a small liberal party in what was lately Upper Canada,
and Mr. Lafontaine, the leader of the French party in what had been Lower
Canada, found a large majority to their hand in the Assembly. The
Governor-General must now choose between sanctioning the preponderance
of this radical party, and governing by the support of the minority in the
Assembly. It being now the principle of Canadian government to rule in
accordance with the majority of the representatives, he did the thing
thoroughly, making Baldwin and Lafontaine his Ministers. He joined with
them a cautious and sensible man from Lord Durham's coadjutors — Mr.
Daly, whose presence in the Cabinet might be hoped to act as a restraint on
any political intemperance. The difficulty which would have embarrassed
the administration of Sir C. Bagot, if he had remained in his office, related to
COMPENSATION compensation for losses sustained in the rebellions. A Bill for compensation
spectator,' 1849, for losses suffered by loyalists was so altered in the Assembly as to include
losses suffered at the hands of the loyalists — that is, the soldiery, volunteers,
and others. Mr. Baldwin proposed and carried this alteration. The sum
voted was 40,000/. ; but no means of raising it were provided. This very
important amendment caused little discussion and no apprehension at the
time, though it has since appeared too like the running of a mine under the
new Canadian constitution which may blow it to pieces. The loyalists of
Canada West wanted to have their compensation paid out of the general
revenue of the Union : but the now dominant party objected to this, and gave
notice that claims on the same fund would be made by sufferers in Canada
East. This was so alarming, that the loyalists dropped the subject for the
present, and the other party had no wish to revive it — perceiving doubtless
how its discussion must renew the conflict of races. Sir Charles Bagot's
health presently gave way. Before the end of the year, he was too ill to
remain ; and he died soon after his return to England.
SIR CHARLES T. Sir Charles T. Metcalfe succeeded him, in February 1843. The same
Annual Register, policy was carried on, and the same Ministry remained in power. The fine
qualities of this excellent ruler were known through his government of
Jamaica, where he had been sent by Lord Melbourne's Ministry in 1839.
For a few months, all appeared to go well ; but in the autumn, disputes
arose out of a claim made by his Ministry to be consulted about appointments
to office, which all agreed to be the prerogative of the crown. The Ministry
resigned, in consequence of the refusal of Sir C. Metcalfe to admit their right
to be consulted; and the session closed hastily before its business was
finished. For some time, there was no Ministry : and when there was, it was
a moderate " English" ministry — Mr. Daly and Mr. Draper being the leading
CHAP. XIII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 665
representatives in it of the two sections of country. The French party were now 1845-46.
in Opposition for nearly four years; and now therefore was the time for settling — — -^—^_-
the affair of the 40,000/. The Governor-General and his Cabinet admitted
the justice of giving compensation to sufferers of both parties : but the doing
it was difficult in the extreme. Instead of charging the money for Canada
West on the general revenue, they appropriated to the purpose two local funds
which were paid almost entirely by the English in the western province. So
far all went well. The trouble was with the other province. A Commissioner
was appointed to manage the business, with regard to Canada East: — to
manage it, every body thought : but it soon appeared that they had power
only to receive claims, and not to decide upon them. The Commissioners
applied to the Executive to know how they were to distinguish between
claims from rebels, and those proffered by persons not actually involved in the
rebellion. The answer was that none were to be excluded but those who had
been convicted by law; and when one of the leaders, exiled to Bermuda
under Lord Durham's Ordinance, applied personally to the Governor-General Masson's Letter to
nil/-Ni f~i i -, . , , . the Minerve, Mar.
to know what he ought to do, the Governor-General desired him to send 111 1849.
his account, reminding him with a smile that he had not been convicted by
law, the Ordinance under which he was sent to Bermuda being declared
illegal. Still no disturbance arose. But Sir Charles Metcalfe (now made
Lord Metcalfe) fell ill, and after fearful sufferings, nobly borne for many
months, was compelled to relinquish his government ; and he returned to
England at the close of 1845, not with the slightest hope of relief, but to
make way for a successor adequate to the public service. Honours were
showered on him on his return ; and, in the midst of the anguish of disease,
such a heart as his must have enjoyed the demonstrations of sympathy and
respect which met him every where. But, as he said in one of his last replies to
addresses, the grave was open at his feet : and he sank into it in the next M**™L°B L°RD
September, mourned by all parties in Canada, and by the whole political ^ng
world at home. Lord Cathcart administered the government for nearly a
year, till Lord Elgin went out as Governor-General, a few months after the
date which closes our History,
The Lafontaine Ministry was restored — the " Daly-Draper Cabinet" having
fallen into a minority in the Assembly, and made matters worse by an experi-
ment of a general election. The restored Ministry proceeded in the compen-
sation matter, bringing into the Assembly a Bill by which compensation was
to be given to all who were not formally convicted of high treason ; and the
charge would fall on the general revenues of Canada. Now, by far the
larger part of the taxes is paid by others than the French — the French making spectator, 1849,
for themselves the greater number of the commodities which others import — P' 298'
such as sugar, tobacco, and material for clothing. Thus the British party see
that taxes paid by themselves, and not by the party claiming compensation,
will go to build up the fortunes of those whom they call rebels. Unhappily,
there is a wide diversity of opinion as to whether this is an Imperial or a local
question. Some say that it is an Imperial question, because it is of the same
bearing as a question of amnesty after rebellion. Others look at it as a local
quarrel about a matter of finance and party ascendancy. It does not lie
within our bounds to discuss this controversy. It is scarcely necessary even to
VOL. II. 4 Q
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845-46. say, that it has kindled a war of opinions in Canada which seems but too
*-~^~^^—^ likely to revive the war of races, and endanger the permanence of the policy
cemented with the hearts' blood of a succession of devoted rulers.
Finns AT QUEBEC. In 1845, misfortunes befel the city of Quebec by which it was reduced to
is"™^— °8? er' nearly the size that it was when Wolfe fell before it. More than two-thirds
of the city were destroyed by fire in the months of May and June. These
large fires seldom leave much cause for regret to a subsequent century ;
as it is usually the primitive, ill-built, unwholesome part of a great city which
is devoured by the flames. In this case, it was the wooden part of Quebec
that was destroyed — the narrow streets between the river and the rock, where
was found most that was foul and disreputable. Much else went also —
churches, wharves, ship-yards, and a hospital full of sick persons, many of
whom perished in the flames : and the immediate distress amidst the enormous
destruction of property, and crowding of houseless thousands, was very terrible;
and, when the fire of June drove them forth a second time, almost overwhelm-
ing. But the Quebec of a century hence will be all the better for the accident.
Generous help was sent from far and near, and the citizens have probably
already learned to look back without much regret to the Great Fires of
1845.
There seems to have been a fatality about fires during this period. Just a
AT ST. JOHN'S. vear after the second Quebec fire, the city of St. John's, Newfoundland, was
Annual Register, J * — ' -
1846. chron. sa. almost destroyed. Scarcely a fourth part remained. The houses here were
built of wood ; and the stores in the warehouses were chiefly oil and blubber,
and other combustible substances. A complete sweep seems to have been
made of the Churches, and the government and other public offices. During
the summer months, the greater part of the inhabitants were living in tents,
provided from the army stores.
ATHAMBURO. In 1842, there had been such a fire at Hamburg that the people thought
Annual Register, ° . ,
1842. chron. 84. the day of Judgment was come. Churches were falling like ricks in the
flame. Carts were on fire in the squares, and boats on the river. Terrified
horses strove to plunge into the Alster. Amidst blinding showers of ashes,
those who were driven beyond their wits sank on their knees, screaming,
weeping, and praying; and hardy thieves pillaged the houses that stood open.
2000 houses were destroyed ; 30,000 persons were left homeless ; and the loss
of property was computed at 7,000,000?. Liberal aid was sent from this
AT SMYRNA. country, as from others. — The greater part of Smyrna was burnt down in
i845"chronS97,98. July 1845, 4000 houses and many public buildings being destroyed. — In Cuba,
the richest part of the rich city of Matanzas perished in like manner : and
again, in the same month, July 1845 — bringing five of the greatest fires of
modern times within the compass of two months — occurred the last fearful
AT NEW YORK. New York conflagration, in which 302 dwellings were destroyed, and above
i845?a chron. 103. 2,000,000?. of property. It seems impossible that some lessons should not be
derived by the world from such spectacles as these as to the construction of
dwellings, if not as to the guardianship of such a power as fire. Meantime, it
is as well to admit the purification that it brings, through however hard an
experience.
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE.
667
TION.
CHAPTER XIV.
AT the opening of the session of 1845, there seemed to be but one trouble- ^ j*^
some controversy agitating the community. The harvest of 1844 had
been good ; and therefore provisions were moderate in price, trade was brisk,
the operative classes were contented, the revenue was steadily rising, and even
Ireland was quieter than usual. The one troublesome controversy was — as
u . THE COEN QuE9-
need hardly be said — about the Corn Laws.
The " landed interest " was restless and uneasy. The League was as busy
as ever, and visibly growing more powerful in this season of prosperity, though
it had been widely said that its influence had been wholly due to the distress
of 1840 — 43. It was also evident, though the truth was admitted with the
utmost reluctance, that Sir R. Peel was rising yearly in the favour of the
manufacturing and commercial classes, by whom he was regarded as so de-
cided a free-trader, that everything might be hoped from him, as time opened
to him opportunities for carrying out his principles, in regard to other food
than meat and fish, and garden vegetables. Few, perhaps, put this antici-
pation into words ; but there were many land-owners and many farmers who
let it lie in their minds to be revolved in solitary rides and walks, and com-
pared with what they heard among their neighbours : and there were a multi-
tude of commercial men who, practised in discerning the course of commercial
events, and of politics in connexion with them, foresaw that the first pressure
upon the [food-market must occasion a repeal of the corn laws, and that Sir
R. Peel was more likely to effect the change than any other man, because he
knew and had done most about free trade, and because he was the only man
we had who could govern under difficulties. The Whigs were pledged to a
fixed duty, which the free-traders were resolved not to accept. Sir R. Peel
and his government were pledged to' nothing but to do what events might re-
quire. They had stood by their Sliding Scale for two years, because, as they
declared, they saw no reason for repealing it till it had had a full trial : but
they had not said^ that it would prove equal to any trial : much less had they
refused to withdraw it if it should be found to fail. It is a proof of the
power of educational and class prejudice that they and the Whigs could so
long cling to the proved mischief of agricultural protection : but the minds
of the Peel Ministry were now avowedly open to evidence as to whether all
agricultural protection was more of an evil than a good, and whether, if an
evil, it was a removable one. On this ground alone, the Ministry was regarded
as in any way unstable, at the commencement of the session of 1845. On
this, the manufacturing and commercial classes were watchful, while the
agricultural interest was suspicious. About every thing else, every body was
better satisfied than usual, except the late Whig Ministers, and some of their
adherents.
668 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845. It must now be decided whether the Income Tax should be removed or
v — -~~— — • ' continued. The Royal Speech, on the 4th of February, showed that the
' government desired its continuance. Other objects indicated in the Speech
were the establishment of the new Irish colleges, and a sanitary system, in
pursuance of the Report of the Sanitary Commission, which had just pub-
lished the results of its inquiries. The proposals about the Irish colleges
RETIREMENT°NI!'S deprived the Ministers of the companionship of Mr. Gladstone, who conceived
himself to be deprived of liberty to proceed by certain opinions which he had
published before he came into office, concerning the relations between a
Hansard, ixxTii. Christian Church and State. Mr. Gladstone carefully explained that he had
no thought of casting censure on his colleagues, or of deciding what ought to
be done under the peculiar circumstances of any society. He acted with a
view to the preservation of his own consistency, after having addressed the
world in a published treatise. This explanation extinguished the reports
which were prevalent of critical and dangerous measures to be proposed by
the Ministry which had so alarmed Mr. Gladstone as to cause his retirement.
Every body was sorry to lose him ; and the general impression seemed to be
that he was more scrupulous than was necessary. But recent experience of
Whig tenacity of office had disposed men to value even an undue delicacy.
FINANCE STATE. According to Sir R. Peel's new and advantageous plan of bringing forward
the financial statement at the earliest possible time, the discussion on the
Income Tax was entered upon on the' 14th of February. Much had been
Hansard, ixxvu. expected from the Premier on the occasion ; but his speech surpassed antici-
pation ; being indeed one of the finest of his many fine financial expositions.
He was in excellent spirits ; and with good reason. The improvement in the
revenue was such that a surplus of £5,000,000 at the least would be found in
the Exchequer in the next April. But our rapidly extending commerce
required increased naval guardianship ; and he intended to propose an increased
naval expenditure of £1,000,000. There were to be new naval stations in
the Chinese seas, in the Pacific, and on the coast of Africa. If the Income tax
were abolished, there might be no deficiency the next year ; but there would
the year after. To the Minister it appeared wiser to continue the Income
Tax, and vise the opportunity of the surplus to reduce more Customs duties. —
>DGAR DUTIES. First^ he took the Sugar duties. He proposed to reduce the duty on unre-
fined sugar from the West Indies and the Mauritius from 25s. 3d. to 14s., and
that on East India to 18s. 8d., in order to preserve the existing proportions.
The protective duty on foreign free-labour sugar was to be reduced to 9s. 4c?.,
so that duty on such foreign sugar would now be 23s. 2d. The partially-
refined sugars of British production were reduced from 25s. Sd. to 16s. 4d. ;
that from India to 21s. 9d. ; and that on free-labour foreign to 28s. Thus,
while the protecting duty on unrefined sugar was lowered to 9s. 4d., that on
partially-refined was increased by 11s. 4d. The prohibitory duty on refined
sugar was exchanged, as regarded British produce, for one of 18s. 8d. on
refined, and 21s. on double-refined sugar. It was expected that these changes
would reduce the price of sugar to the consumer at least l^d. per pound;
more probably l^d. The loss to the revenue in the first year was calculated
^°«L^UTIES at £1,300,000.— Next, all the export duties which remained on the list were
\ 111 > LI Mi til). ^ J.
to be abolished. Among these, was that on coal ; and the Minister declared
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 669
his expectation that the coal-owners would give to the consumer the benefit of
the release ; and that no more would be heard of combinations to restrict the
supply of coal, and to enhance its price. The loss from the abolition of the
coal duty was estimated at £120,000. — Next, it was proposed to abolish the
duties on 430 out of 813 articles of raw material of manufactures ;— a change ^'^ RAW
which would extinguish the troublesome and burdensome warehousing system.
This would release the raw material of silk, hemp, and flax ; certain yarns ;
furniture woods ; animal and vegetable manures ; and a great number of ores,
drugs, and dye-stuifs. Staves for coopers' work were another exempted article,
on which alone the loss to the Treasury would be £30,000. The loss on the 430
articles was estimated at £3-20,000 ; a sum well worth supplying in another
way, in consideration of such a disburdening of manufactures as was proposed.
A more important article of raw material than any of these was cotton-wool.
Though it yielded a revenue more than double the whole 430 — viz., £680,000—
the Minister proposed to sweep away the duty altogether. So much for the
Customs duties. As for the Excise, the Auction duty was to be abolished, EXCISE DUTIES.
and some alteration to be made in auctioneers' licenses. The Glass duty had
amounted to 200 and even 300 per cent, on its manufacture. It was now to
be remitted. The exciseman was now no longer to intrude his mischievous
and vexatious presence in glass-houses : and the people might enjoy the
envied privilege of some other countries in having various articles of domestic
convenience made of the cleanly and beautiful material of glass. But there
would be something better than the comfort of having milk-pans, handles of
doors and drawers, lamps, and candlesticks, &c. of glass ; something better
than rivalling the splendid Bohemian glass to be found in our drawing-rooms ;
something better than the spread of plate-glass windows : — Sir R. Peel ex-
plained to the House that the balance spring of a chronometer he held in his
hand, made of glass, was more to be relied on amidst extreme changes of
temperature than one of metal : and thus the purposes of science would be
promoted ; as they must be by the removal of every impediment in the way of
the improvement of lenses and the perfecting of light-houses, and of optical
instruments of every kind. In the opinion of the Sanitary Commissioners,
and of all who knew most of the state of Ireland, the removal of the glass
duty was likely to prove of more advantage to the health and comfort of the
poor than even the repeal of the window duty. This important article,
charged with duty two or three times exceeding its natural cost, had yielded
£642,000 ; — a sum little worth the social mischief of the tax. — The total loss
by these reductions would be about £3,338,000 ; — nearly amounting to the
estimated surplus of April twelvemonths — supposing the naval expenditure to
be increased as proposed. This was without reckoning the decrease in the
public establishments which would follow upon so vast a reduction of taxation.
The experiment would be called a bold one ; and so it was • but the results of
the former great experiment of the same kind were very encouraging. The
Income tax had not caused any visible reduction in other branches of revenue ;
while the losses in the Customs branch were in course of being rapidly filled
up. The term for which the continuance of the Income tax was proposed
was, again, three years. As no one could foresee the approaching potato-rot,
670 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BooK VI.
1845. there was every reason to anticipate that, in April 1848, the tax might be
^— ^v— ~- " removed ; and this was the hope held out by the Minister.
The most obvious thing about this scheme was that there was no popularity-
seeking in it. There had been no agitation against the taxes now repealed,
while there could be no doubt of the delight of the nation if the Income tax
had been abolished. With such a surplus, a less far-sighted Minister would
have abolished it. Sir R. Peel, instead of giving this immediate delight,
preferred using the opportunity of prosperity to strengthen and deepen the
foundations of our industrial and commercial welfare. The obvious greatness
of this policy secured respect for his scheme, even from those who most opposed
particular portions of it.
When the discussion came on, on the 17th, it appeared that many members
entertained objections to one or another portion of the scheme ; but the con-
tinuance of the Income tax was — to the great satisfaction of the country at
large, who by this time understood their own interest in its continuance till
Hansard, ixxvii. free trade ghc^ ke fuiiy obtained— voted by a majority of 208 in a House of
318. — The strongest opposition, because the best grounded in principle, was
against the sugar duties, Mr. Milner Gibson moving a resolution against
differential duties. But Ministers were too strong to be effectually opposed
Hansard, ixxx. on any par^ of their measure ; and their Bills became law on the 8th of May.
AGRICULTURAL At the close of the session it appeared to observers as if scarcely any thing
but the Corn laws had been talked of, when once the business of the budget
had been settled. Whatever subject was introduced, that of the Corn laws
presently appeared and swallowed it up. The farmers' friends were complain-
ing that wheat was at 45s. in spite of the new Sliding Scale ; and the farmer's
other kind of friends, the free-traders, were complaining on his behalf that he
could not make his land answer, on account of legal restriction under the name
of protection. The new manure, called Guano, was brought at vast expense,
from a distance of almost half the world, when the farmer might obtain a far
better manure, and more of it, on his land, if he might only import provender
for a sufficient proportion of stock. The land was not half cultivated; and the
peasantry were consequently insufficiently employed, and the labouring classes
insufficiently fed. Other speakers had compassion for the landlords; and
others again for the labourers. From whatever point the question was looked
at, it was clear that all the three classes who, however opposed in reality, were
included together under the designation of " the agricultural interest," were
in a low and discontented state — and while it was so, the question of the Corn
laws must of necessity be always coming uppermost. Mr. Cobden moved for
a Committee of Inquiry into the existing agricultural distress and its causes,
Hansard, ixxviit an(j gO^ out wnat he wanted to say before he was defeated by a majority of 92
in a House of 334. The answer of the government, by the mouth of Mr.
Sidney Herbert, was that such Committees were never of any use — that
knowledge enough had been obtained already — and that the sensitive agricul-
tural interest would be alarmed, and suppose that government contemplated
the withdrawal of their protection. Whatever he said in evidence of the im-
proving condition of agriculture was overthrown by the counter statements of
Conservatives as well as Free-traders, who brought proof, from the votes of
agricultural bodies in various parts of England, that the distress was not light
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 671
and partial, but general and very severe. There were a few unguarded words, 1845.
however, in Mr. Herbert's speech which did more good to the free trade cause v-— ->• — — '
than all the feeble things he said — not in favour of the principle of protection, P(
for he said nothing of the sort — but against immediate change. Mr. Sidney
Herbert was a young man, and ardent, as young men in or out of the govern-
ment usually are, in political discussion. His ardour found little scope in a
negative and halting speech like that which he had to make in reply to Mr.
Cobden ; and it broke out in a sentence, one of whose phrases was never again
dropped while the controversy lasted : " He must add further, as the repre- Hansard, ixxviii.
sentative of an agricultural constituency, that it would be distasteful to the
agriculturists to come whining to Parliament at every period of temporary dis-
tress ; nor would they do so. Parliament have accorded to the agriculturists
a certain amount of reduced protection. With that they are content ; and in
adverse circumstances, such as failure of crop and the like, they would meet
them manfully, and put their shoulders to the wheel He was of
opinion that they could not do better than to follow the excellent advice ....
to expend capital on their farms and in improvements of the land, and so by
their own efforts restore prosperity. The government had no wish to maintain
a high monopoly without alteration, as it had proved ; nor had it made any
promises to the agriculturists of certain prices in corn, which they knew that
no law could give." — Such language as this from a representative of an agri-
cultural constituency, was received with dismay by the farmers all over Eng-
land. They complained of the mockery of exhorting them to put capital into
their land when their capital was all gone ; they were shocked at the avowal
that prices could not be regulated by law ; they were assured at last, in the
roughest way, that they were to have no more aid from the government ; but
the insufferable insult was the phrase about coming "whining" for protection.
The free-traders thanked the young statesman for that word : and they made
good use of it as long as it was wanted. From that night too they looked
upon him, and therefore upon his colleagues, as their own. Whatever Mr.
Herbert and his colleagues might themselves think of their position and pros-
pects, it was clear to the free-traders every where that they wanted only a little
more enlightenment — a little further disentanglement from the prejudices of a
life — to join heartily in sweeping away the mischief of protection to agricul-
ture. There was now no difference of principle between the ministry and the
free-traders. It had become a mdre question of prudence. In a narrow sense
it was called a question of good faith : but those who most strongly insisted
that all actual pledges must be kept, perceived that the time must be near
when conviction of the truth on the part of the farmers themselves must bring
on an absolution on every hand.
A few nights after the vote on Mr. Cobden's motion, the cause of the free-
traders was well pleaded by an antagonist. Mr. Miles moved that the surplus Hansard, ixxviii.
revenue of the time should be applied to the relief of the agricultural interest ;
and he made bitter complaints of the last Sliding Scale, as wholly ineffectual
for the relief of the farmers. His speech was one long complaint of the
plenty that overspread the land — the abundance of corn and the cheapness of
meat. He laid himself open to the admonitory reply that it was impossible to
set about making food scarce and dear: and that the proper course evidently
672 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1845. was for the farmers to study how to produce the requisite abundance at home
" " by improved cultivation, without which it must assuredly be obtained from
Hansard, ixxviii.; aDroa(L As Sir James Graham observed (premising that he considered pro-
tection to agriculture just and necessary) Mr. Miles's statements required
rather a repeal of the Corn laws and of what remained of the tariff than so
small a measure as he proposed : but Sir James Graham did not admit the
facts with regard to the severity and prevalence of agricultural distress.
Before the debate closed, some words were uttered by an enemy of the govern-
ment which, read after the event, prove what expectations were abroad. The
rancour and levity of Mr. D'israeli's speeches prevent their being relied on for
accuracy of statement : but, like all other speeches, they make unconscious
revelations of fact which are valuable in the retrospect. On this occasion,
while the tone of insult goes for nothing, the prophecy is a fact of some weight.
After saying that Sir R. Peel " sends down his valet, who says in the genteel-
Hansard, ixxviii. est manner, 'We can have no whining here,' " Mr. D'israeli proceeded, "Pro-
tection appears to be in about the same condition that Protestantism was in
1828. The country will draw its moral. For my part, if we are to have free
trade, I, who honour genius, prefer that such measures should be proposed by
the hon. member for Stockport (Mr. Cobden) than by one who, through skil-
ful parliamentary manoeuvres, has tampered with the generous confidence of a
great people and of a great party. For myself, I care not what may be the
result. Dissolve, if you please, the parliament you have betrayed, and appeal
to the people who, I believe, mistrust you. For me there remains this at least
— the opportunity of expressing thus publicly my belief that a Conservative
government is an organized hypocrisy."
Mr. Miles's motion being negatived, two more debates on the great subject
remained. On the 3rd of June, Mr. Ward moved for a Committee of Inquiry
on the burdens and exemptions of the landed interest : and on the 10th, Mr.
Villiers brought forward his annual motion on the Corn laws. On Mr.
Hansard, ixxx. Ward's motion, the protectionists' majority was 182 to 109; and on Mr.
Villiers's, 254 to 122. These debates showed a marked advance in the
Hansard, ixxxi. question. Sir James Graham repeated with increased emphasis his conviction
that the prosperity of the landed interest was dependent on that of other
classes ; and that a gradual repeal of protection would prove to be necessary
for agriculture, as for every other interest. He only protested against sudden-
ness. Another significant fact was that Lord J. Russell, in bringing forward
Hansard, ixxx. a set of Resolutions on the condition of the labouring classes, declared that
he could not now recommend the fixed duty of 8s. which he had proposed in
1841. He supposed no one would propose a smaller duty than 4s. : and he,
if it was his affair, should propose one of 4s., 5s., or 6s. The cause was now
felt to be won. It was universally understood that Lord J. Russell never
went before public opinion, and that he rarely if ever kne\v the extent and
bearing of public opinion. If he, then, admitted that four years had autho-
rized him to reduce his fixed duty one half (for he invited pressure to make it
4s.) it became almost a calculable matter how soon the Whig leader would
admit that the other half of his fixed duty was indefensible. And the amusing
looseness of his terms of proposal — the offered choice of four, five, or six
shillings — gave the strongest impression of a temporary playing with the
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 673
subject, in preparation for working it seriously. From this night, it was 1845.
taken for granted every where that the Whig leaders were in competition with v— — ^~- — '
the existing Ministry for the repeal of the Corn laws : and even the question
of time was brought within a narrow compass.
The Royal Speech on the prorogation of Parliament, on the 9th of August,
was the last thoroughly cheerful Speech which the nation was to enjoy for
some time. In the account given to her Majesty, through the Speaker, of
the work of the session, we find that, besides the business already noted —
Irish Education, British Railways, and fiscal improvements — the parliament
had amended the law of Scotland in regard to the relief of the poor, pro-
moted the Drainage of Land, and Enclosure of Commons, and extended the
provisions of the Bank Act of last year, with some modifications, to the Banks
of Scotland and Ireland. The prevailing impression of those who watched
the course of parliamentary affairs was, that the disintegration of parties was
proceeding more and more rapidly ; as the commercial element rose above the
agricultural ; and that from this change there could be no rest or pause till
the agricultural interest had obtained that freedom, and consequent stimulus
and intelligence, which had caused the expansion of interests that were
erroneously considered to be antagonistic.
Meantime, it had begun to rain. It began to fain, after a cold and late BAD WEATHER.
spring, at the beginning of the summer ; and it seemed as if it was never
going to leave off again. -In some parts of the country, the sun was scarcely
seen from the month of May till the next spring. Those who first marked
the perseverance of the soft-falling rain thought of the budding and blossom-
ing promised in Scripture, where the snow and rain are shown forth as
illustrations of the fertilizing influences of Providence ; and thus far, there
was nothing but hope of good. Then, as the fall went on, with less softness,
and more chill, and fewer intermissions, men began to fear for the harvest,
and to calculate that much dry foreign wheat would be necessary to mix
with our own damp and unripened grain. Then arose the fear that our own
inferior grain would not keep, — so thoroughly ready for sprouting would
some of it appear to be; and, in the midst of this, it became clear that
throughout Europe, with a few local exceptions, the harvest would prove a
deficient one ; so that, unless there was unusual abundance in America, the
prospect was a fearful one. Still, the most sagacious and the most timid
were far from conceiving what the rain was doing by its persevering continual
soaking into the ground. First, a market-gardener here and there, a farmer, POTATO ROT.
an Irish cottier, saw a brown spot appear on the margin of the leaf of
the potato, and did not remember ever to have seen such a thing before.
The brown spot grew black and spread, and covered the stalk, till a whole
potato field looked as if a scorching wind had passed over it. Yet, perhaps,
the roots might appear to be in a good state ; and one man would let the
plants alone, while another would mow off the tops, and wait to see what
happened. The stealthy rain had, by some means yet as mysterious as ever,
generated some minute plague — of what nature nobody yet knows, if indeed
it is certain that the rain was the instrument ; — a plague so minute that no
microscope has yet convicted it, yet so powerful that it was soon to overthrow
governments, and derange commerce, and affect for all time to come the
VOL. II. 4 R
HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845. political fate of England, and settle the question of the regeneration or the
^- — ^— ' destruction of Ireland. The minute plague spread and spread, till it black-
ened thousands of acres, and destroyed the food of millions of men. In some
wholesome regions, the last to be affected, the inhabitants would hardly
believe what they heard and read. The newspapers were exaggerating
shamefully for some political object : the League was trading on the rain,
and frightening the public : private correspondents were credulous, and too
fond of excitement : their own potatoes, and most of their neighbours', looked
very well : and the clergy were again ready with rebuke of anxiety and doubt,
saying that there had always been talk of bad weather, but that, somehow or
other, there was always a harvest. When, in such a favoured region, two or
three benevolent gentry stored up their own sound potatoes for the use of the
sick and the aged in case of need, and laid in rice and macaroni and other
substitutes for winter use at their own tables, their neighbours for a time
laughed at the precaution, and said that potatoes were abundant and exces-
sively cheap in the markets. But soon the change appeared even in these
healthiest districts. A man might exhibit his green and flourishing crop to a
stranger, and say that he should take it up on Monday : on that night would
come a thunder-storm ; and the next morning, if the owner stirred the soil of
his blackened field with a pitchfork, up came such a steaming stench as
showed him that his field was turned putrid. And then it became known
why potatoes were abundant and cheap in the markets. Every body was
' eager to sell before his potatoes had time to rot. What was to become of the
poor Irish if this went on, was now the most anxious question of the time.
THE LEAGUE. As for the League, it was busy enough during the rain ; but not more than
it had been before. The Agricultural Protection Society, which had risen up
in opposition to it, declared in the preceding December, that the League had
ceased its missionary efforts, and become a mere registration club, while it
had itself circulated 30,000 copies of an address in favour of protection. The
League registration went on quite as diligently as was alleged ; but in another
companion to the month — January, 1845 — it appeared that 150 meetings in parliamentary
Almanac, 1846, J ' rr . r '
P. 254. boroughs, and fifty elsewhere, had been held in little more than two years ;
that 15,000 copies of the ' League' newspaper were weekly distributed; and
that 2,000,000 copies of other publications had been sent abroad. Of letters,
30,000 had been received during the year, and 300,000 sent out. The next
May showed that the League was something more than a registration club.
Covent Garden Theatre was fitted up with great skill and taste for a Bazaar ;
and the show was something quite unlike any thing ever seen before in our
Annual Register, country. In the great Gothic Hall into which the theatre was transformed,
1 845 : Chron. 67. J t °
there was a display of manufactures — freely presented in aid of the League
Fund — which sold for £25,000, besides leaving a sufficient quantity to make
another large bazaar at Manchester. It was open from the 5th to the 29th
of May ; and 125,000 persons paid for admission within that time. Four
hundred ladies conducted the sales; and, generally speaking, each con-
tributing town had a stall, with its name, and sometimes its civic arms,
painted above. The porcelain and cutlery exhibitions, the mirrors and grind-
stones, the dolls and the wheat sacks, shoes and statuettes, antiquities and the
last fashion of coloured muslins, flannels and plated goods, and anatomical
10) J'(f"
the I;ilTu,sion
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 675
preparations, laces and books, made a curious and wonderful display, which 1845.
was thought to produce more effect on some parliamentary minds than all *-— ^—^^
the eloquence yet uttered in the Commons. Yet, after all this, the League
had greater things to do. We find it decreeing the levy of £250,000 for the
promotion of free trade ; and, in December, there was a meeting at Man- ^45^^193''
Chester, at which one member subscribed £1500; twenty-two subscribed
£1000 each ; one £700 ; and eighteen £500. The enthusiasm had risen as the
crisis drew on ; and the sum of £62,000 was presently obtained within the
room, while the zeal elsewhere was such that there was no doubt of the
realization of the whole quarter of a million, if it should be wanted. And all
this was after £122,508 had been raised by previous subscriptions.
By this time, however, there were many who doubted whether either money MORE POBTENTS.
or effort would be required much longer. The rain having gone on, people
began inquiring in September whether the ports were to. be opened; and
next, whether we could be sure of supplies, at short notice and in a prevalent
bad season, if the ports were opened to-morrow. Then some people who had
before talked without thinking began to see how dangerous such precarious-
ness was, and how much more secure against famine we should be if foreign
countries should raise corn for us every year, instead of being called upon to
supply us out of their own stock, or from an accidental surplus. On the 10th
of October, Lord Ashley addressed a letter to the electors of Dorsetshire, which
was eagerly read all over the kingdom. He declared his conviction that the
destiny of the Corn laws was fixed, and that " the leading men of the great
parties in the legislature are by no means disinclined to their eventual aboli-
tion." In the beginning of November, Cabinet Councils were frequent; and
rumours were abroad that extensive inquiries had been for some time making
by the Minister about the results of the harvest. Rumour spoke also of dis-
agreements in the Cabinet ; but these were supposed to relate merely to the
question of opening the ports. — At this time, Lord Morpeth, a late Whig
Minister, joined the League, and sent a letter with his contribution, in which
he declared, " I wish to record in the most emphatic way I can my conviction spectator, 1345,
that the time is come for a total repeal of the corn laws, and my protest against P'
the continued inaction of the State in the present emergency." Lord Morpeth
declared that he wrote this letter "without concert or consultation with any one
else:" and events proved that he wrote it without any more insight than
people in general had into what " the State" — that is, the Cabinet — was
about. — Lord John Russell presently showed himself determined not to share
the " inaction of the State." He addressed to the electors of London a letter LoR? JOHN Ru:i-
from Edinburgh, dated November 22nd, 1845, which he declared to be occa- spectator, 1345,
sioned by the separating of the Ministers without apparent result, after 'their
frequent Cabinet meetings. After confessing his changes of opinion during
the last twenty years, and relating the stages of his advocacy of a continually
lessening amount of fixed duty, Lord J. Russell declared, " It is no longer
worth while to contend for a fixed duty The struggle to make bread
scarce and dear,, when it is clear that part, at least, of the additional price goes
to increase rent, is a struggle deeply injurious to an aristocracy which (this
quarrel once removed) is strong in property, strong in the construction of our
legislature, strong in opinion, strong in ancient associations and the memory
676 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845. of immortal services. — Let us then unite to put an end to a system which has
^— ^^— ' proved to be the blight of commerce, the bane of agriculture, the source of
bitter divisions among classes, the cause of penury, fever, mortality, and
crime, among the people." — This invitation was valuable as a preparation for
the deed to be done by other hands. But it was too late as regarded Lord
J. Russell himself. It met with no hearty response. His position would now
have been a glorious one if he had ever before advocated perfect freedom of
the corn trade ; and he would have been trusted if he had been a Conservative
leader, like his rival ; — a Conservative leader convinced and converted by the
stringency of circumstances : but, as an avowed leader of a liberal party,
converted only at the moment when he should have been attaining the
aim of many years — at the moment when his Conservative rival was under-
going the agony of conversion — he was not trusted ; and it was impossible
that he should be. This letter, on which he clearly founded great hopes, did
him no good ; the Conservative convert was appointed to the work. When
the time came for explanations in parliament, Lord J. Russell made complaints
of his Letter being regarded as a party move — as a bid for office ; but there
was one feature in the Letter which deprived him of all right to resent such
an interpretation — it abounded in taunts and expressions of spleen towards
Sir R. Peel. The whole composition has the air of being aimed at the
Minister.
It is known by means of Ministerial explanations afterwards, what took
place during this period when all the world was on the watch, and no one
CABINET COUN- could learn any thing. The Cabinet Councils held between the 1st and the
Hazard, ixxxiii; 6th of November were for the purpose of considering the information sent in
from Ireland about the potato crop, and from the whole kingdom about the
general crop. As regarded Ireland, the reports were alarming beyond descrip-
tion. The Ministers could deliberate upon them without disturbance from
without ; for as yet there was no agitation about opening the ports which
could affect the action of the government; — no petitions, no urgency from
public meetings or in the newspapers. The desire of Sir R. Peel at that time
was to throw open the ports by an Order in Council, or by calling parliament
together immediately for the purpose : but only three of his colleagues agreed
with him ; and the Ministers separated, on the understanding that they should
reassemble at the call of the Premier. His hope was that the growing alarm
would presently convince all his colleagues of the necessity of opening the
ports. Commissions were organized for the prevention of a sudden pressure
of extreme distress, especially in Ireland : and on the 25th of November, the
Ministers again met, to prepare instructions for these Commissions. The
instructions were agreed on : but then it appeared to the Premier that these
instructions were inconsistent with the maintenance of the Corn laws in their
existing state. He reserved to himself the power of ensuring a free supply
from abroad ; and now his colleagues had become so impressed by the daily
increasing alarm as to afford a hope that they would withdraw the opposition
with which they before met the proposal. But Lord Stanley could not yield ;
nor could one or two others. If the opening of the ports had taken place at
the beginning of November, it would have been done with a strong hand :
but the delay had admitted of the appearance of Lord J. Russell's Letter ; and
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 677
now, if the Cabinet was not absolutely united — if a single resignation took 1845.
place — it would appear as if the Letter of a rival had determined the Minis-
ter's views, and his acts would have lost all their moral weight.
It was in the midst of the second series of consultations that an incident
occurred Avhich startled the whole kingdom, and gave the newspapers plenty
to say. On the 4th of December, the ' Times' announced that it was the
intention of government to repeal the Corn laws, and to call parliament
together in January for the purpose. Some ministerial papers doubted and
then indignantly denied this. Some journals said that it could not be known
to the * Times,' because the fact could transpire only through the breach of
the Cabinet oath. Others said that it might fairly be a matter of inference
from the general policy being understood : but to* this there was the objec-
tion that the ' Times' asserted that its news was not a matter of inference, but
of fact ; and the ordinary government papers persevered in denying the truth
of the news altogether. The ' Times' was scolded, insulted, jeered at, lectured;
and every body was warned not to mind the * Times :' but every body did
mind it ; and the ' Times ' persevered, day after day, week after week, in
haughtily asserting that its intelligence would be found correct within an
assigned period. Meantime, the general conviction was complete that the
* Times ' had some peculiar means of information. One report was that the
Duke of Wellington had come down to the Horse Guards in great wrath,
swearing as he threw himself from his horse, at the pass things had come to
when the Corn laws were to be given up : but, besides that such a freak was
not very like the shrewd and loyal Duke of Wellington, there was no reason
here why the ( Times ' should be exclusively in possession of the information.
There are some, of course, who know, and many more who believe they know,
how the thing happened : but it is not fitting to record in a permanent form
the chit-chat of London about any but the historical bearings of an incident
like this. The ' Times ' had true information : and that is all that is impor-
tant to the narrative. As we have said, the announcement was made on the
4th of December. On the 5th, the ' Standard ' exhibited a conspicuous title
to a counter-statement : " Atrocious fabrication by the ( Times :' " but mean-
while, " the effect of the announcement by the ' Times ' at the Corn Exchange
was immense surprise, not so much displeasure as might have been expected,
and an instant downward tendency in the price of grain." So said other
papers. " We adhere to our original announcement," said the ' Times ' of
December 6th, " that parliament will meet early in January, and that a repeal
of the Corn laws will be proposed in one House by Sir E.. Peel, and in the
other by the Duke of Wellington." The free-traders so far gave weight to the
assertion as to announce every where with diligence that they would accept
of " nothing short of total repeal : not a shilling, nor a farthing, of duty should
be imposed without sound reason shown."
For a few days after this, the League was at the height of its glory. The
agriculturists were cowed, and could only groan and murmur : men were
out all day in the streets, to learn the opinions of their neighbours, and above
all, the expectations of Leaguers. On Sunday the 7th, it was understood that
the Duke of Wellington had certainly, though most reluctantly, yielded. On
Monday, it was observed that he did not attend the Council : on Tuesday, it
678 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1845. was believed that he would not act with his colleagues on this subject, and, by
- — - ^^-^ refusing to do so, had virtually withdrawn his assent. On Wednesday, there
was a Privy Council : on Thursday morning, it was understood that the
meeting of parliament was somewhat deferred, as if to gain time to settle
some difficulty. Throughout the day, the rumours of dissensions in the
Cabinet grew stronger : and at night, it was made known, all over London,
RESIGNATION OP that the Ministry had resigned.
MINISTERS. *
It may truly be said that the intelligence was received throughout the
country with dismay. The full value of Sir R. Peel was not yet known — the
value of his moral earnestness when at last freed from the shackles of educa-
tional prejudice and party intimacies — but the value of his administration was
every where felt. For above four years now the nation had reposed upon his
wise government — reposed on his safe and skilful financial management, and
thorough efficiency in all the business of governing : and he and his colleagues
had moreover carried us through a period of deep depression and fearful dis-
order ; replenished the sources of our manufactures and commerce ; reinstated
our finances ; given benefits to Ireland ; sanctioned the principle and practice
of religious liberty ; and strengthened and settled the whole fabric of our
polity, as far as the vigorous and skilful administration of the national affairs
for nearly five years could do so. And now, just when the most important of
all existing questions had to be conducted to an issue, he was to step aside for
those who had no more right than he, on any ground, to the management of
the business, and far less power of every kind. The regret was but temporary,
however, for the Peel Ministry was presently restored.
Hansard, ixxxiii. Sir R. peel thought it due to the magnitude of the interest at stake to try
no experiment which might fail. When assured, therefore, of the dissent of
his colleagues, he immediately resigned. Lord Stanley and the other dissen-
tients would not undertake to form a government : and the Queen, of her own
NEGOTIATION choice, sent for Lord J. Russell. Lord J. Russell was at Edinburgh. The
WITH LORD JOHN , ii-i. • i i n i /• -n • « i
KUSSKLL. royal summons reached him at night on the 8th of December. As there
was then no railway to London, it was the 10th before he arrived in town ;
and the llth before he appeared in the Queen's presence at Osborne, in
Hansard, ixxxiii. tne is\e of \Vight. He had made up his mind that, if asked to undertake the
formation of a Ministry, be must decline, because his party were in a minority
in the Commons of from 90 to 100. This was his answer when the Queen
made the expected request : but Sir R. Peel had left with the Queen a paper
in which, after declaring the reasons of his resignation, he avowed his readi-
ness "in his private capacity, to aid and give every support to the new
Minister whom her Majesty might select to effect a settlement of the question
of the Corn laws." This wholly changed the state and prospect of the case.
Lord J. Russell returned to London to consult such of his friends as were
within reach. Through Sir J. Graham, Lord J. Russell was put in posses-
sion of all the information on which the late Ministers had proceeded; but not
of the details of their proposed measures. It was no time for a general
election. None but a rash Minister would dream of requiring it while the
country was in strong excitement, and under the visible doom of a great
calamity. Instead of this, the thing to be done was to frame such a measure
of Com law repeal as would secure the support of Sir R. Peel and the
CHAP. XIV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 679
colleagues who had adhered to him. After a good deal of correspondence, 1845.
through the Queen, of difficult transaction by statesmen so delicately placed ^~~~~~~-^
with regard to each other, Lord J. Russell, conceived himself justified in 101— " '
attempting to form an administration; and he communicated with the
sovereign to that effect on the 18th of December. But, next morning, an
insuperable difficulty arose. One of the friends on whom he had confidently
reckoned as a coadjutor declined to enter the Cabinet. This was Lord
Grey. Highly as Lord J. Russell valued him, he would at any other time
have endeavoured to form a Cabinet without him, at his own desire : but the
position of the Whigs was now too critical — or, at least, their leader thought
so — to admit the risk of such speculation as would be excited by the exclusion
of Lord Grey. On the 20th, therefore, the Queen was finally informed Hansard, ixxxiii.
that Lord John Russell found it impossible to form an administration.
Among the newspaper reports of the public talk during this interval, we LORD GREY.
find a few words in italics about the popular surprise at there being "no men-
tion of Lord Grey " in the list of Whig conferences; and close beside this, we
meet with notice of the " alarm " excited by the consideration that Lord Pal-
merston must have some office, and most probably the Foreign Department.
Our foreign relations were now in a critical state, as our history of the French
and American questions will have shown : and there were many who stood in
fear of Lord Palmerston's " talent of keeping perpetually open all vital ques- spectator, 1845,
tions and dangerous controversies." It was well understood that Lord Grey P'
thought it unsafe to make Lord Palmerston Foreign Minister at such a junc-
ture ; and that he declined to act inconsistently with his own long-avowed
principles of peace by sitting in the Cabinet with a Minister who had done
more than any other man to foster the war-spirit in 1840 and 1841. The dis-
appointed Whig party bitterly complained that " Lord Grey had done it all :"
but with the country at large Lord Grey lost nothing by this difficult act of
self-exclusion, or by his honourable silence in the midst of the censure which
was abundantly poured out upon him.
On Friday the 19th, the Queen intimated to Sir R. Peel that, as their politi- Hansard, ixxxiii.
cal relation was about to terminate, she wished to see him the next day, to bid 89
him farewell. Before he went to Windsor on the Saturday, he was informed
by Lord John Russell of the failure of his enterprise : and when he entered
the Queen's presence, he was told that, so far from taking leave, he must pre-
pare for the resumption of office. He returned to town as Minister of the £®™™ pF0wTRR'
Crown, and found no difficulty in reconstructing his Cabinet. Lord Stanley
of course retired. All the others remained — all but one who had died suddenly
from the anxiety of the crisis. Lord Wharnclifte had been suffering from gout ;
but no danger was apprehended. He was, however, in no state to bear the
turmoil of the time ; and he suddenly sank on the 19th of December, in the DEATH OP LORD
70th year of his age. As President of the Council, he had proved himself a Annuiru'egrster,
zealous and effective Minister ; and his earnestness in fulfillin to the utmost 18
such provisions for education as had been obtained secured him much gratitude
from society. It was an untoward time for a West Riding election : but this
elevation of Mr. Stuart Wortley to the peerage rendered it necessary; and
Lord Morpeth was returned to his old seat without opposition. Mr. Gladstone Annual Register,
1846 : Chron. 205.
680 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1845. became Colonial Secretary, instead of Lord Stanley ; and the Duke of Buc-
^~ — ' cleuch succeeded Lord Wharncliffe as President of the Council.
And now, once more, all wag going well — well for the people ; and, in a
SIR K. PEEL'S large view, well for the Minister. His position was at once an humbling and a
glorious one ; his course a hard and yet a straight one. He had to stand up
in the face of the world, and say that he had been in error all his life, and that
he found himself compelled now to achieve that which he had all his life
opposed. This was the hard part — accompanied as it must be by the rage of
disappointed partisans, the indignant grief of old friends, and perhaps the in-
temperate triumph of old enemies. But his position was a glorious one, if he
could but show himself equal to it. If, instead of making this the beginning
of a new career, as some anticipated, he settled it with himself that this should
be his last scene of power, and he could endure calmly what he must go
through as a necessary retribution for previous error, and close his career with
giving to the nation the benefit it most wanted in the best possible manner,
this last scene of his administration might be the noblest. — His course must
be hard ; for there were terrible storms ready to burst in parliament ; and,
when he had, by a stern and self-forgetting rule, held his party together [for
the passage of the single great measure now in his hand, his party would fall
to pieces, and he might be left alone in his place in the legislature, after a life
of industry and eminent political prosperity. But not the less was his course
clear. He must propose and carry through a total repeal of the Corn laws,
whatever became of himself. This must be his single and his final aim ; and
those who knew anything of the " alacrity of spirit " with which a strong and
honourable mind enters on a great work of reparation, self-sacrifice, and
general justice, believed that Sir R. Peel would now make manifest to the
utmost the nobleness of his position and the singleness of his aim.
THE DUKE OP As for the Duke of Wellington, the peremptory and inflexible, who had
POSITION?™' gone through so many changes, and must now go through one more — every
body knew, by dint of repetition, what he would say. He would say that he
could not desert his sovereign. And this is what he did say. " At all events,"
Hansard, ixxxiii. he declared, " whatever that measure may be, I must say this ; that, situated
as I am in this country — highly rewarded as I have been by the Sovereign and
the people of England — I could not refuse that Sovereign to aid her, when
called upon, to form a government, in order to enable her Majesty to meet her
parliament, and to carry on the business of the country. Upon that ground,
my Lords, I present myself to your Lordships."
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. C81
CHAPTER XV.
THE Royal Speech, delivered by the Queen in person on the 19th of January, 1846.
expressed satisfaction in the results of the repeal of Customs duties, as far opE^oT^m
as they had yet gone, and recommended to parliament the consideration Hazard ixxxiai
whether the repeal of restrictions might not be carried yet further ; whether
there might not still be a remission " of the existing duties upon many
articles, the produce or manufacture of other countries."
The remission took place on several articles of the tariff without much op- FURTHER REMI*.
1 A SION OF DUTIIiS.
position. Almost the only raw materials still subject to duty were tallow and
timber ; and these were to be extensively reduced. In consideration of the
release of so much raw material, the manufacturers were expected to acquiesce
in the reduction of some remaining articles of manufacture; and this they
showed all willingness to do. And well they might ; for the Minister's exposi- ^^ss' lxxxiii
tion proved the vast increase of the silk manufacture in England, in propor-
tion to the removal of duties. There was to be a considerable reduction of
the duty on silk manufactures, with more certainty of levy : and the duties on
cotton and woollen fabrics were removed or lessened one half. — The differen-
tial duties on free-labour sugar were reduced — the higher from lls. 8d. to 8s. ;
and the lower from 9s. 4d. to 5s. Wd. — On brandy and foreign spirits, the
duty was brought down nearer to the point which might obviate smuggling :
that is, from 22s. Wd. per gallon to 15s. Animal food and vegetables were
to be admitted duty free ; and butter, cheese, hops, and cured fish, reduced one
half. . Live animals were freed from duty ; and a considerable number of
minor and " unenumerated articles." The Minister was strengthened by the
successes of former years ; and by the absorbing of men's mind in the corn
subject; and these remissions passed without any effectual opposition. The
sugar duties, however, were left over for subsequent consideration.
The revenue showed indisputably the results of former remissions. There T|I
was this year a clear surplus of £2,380,600. There was a considerable in-
crease in the consumption of those exciseable commodities which are con-
nected with the comfort of the mass of the people ; more money was in the
Savings' Banks : and there was something better still — a more significant and
more blessed token of prosperity than any other — there was a marked decrease
of crime. But for the impending famine, there could be no doubt that our
country was on the way to a prosperity which must for ever have settled
opinions about the policy of free trade.
It was on the 27th of January that the above tariff reductions were pro-
posed, in the same speech that was to announce the ministerial plan about the
Corn laws. " Every crevice " into which a stranger could thrust himself was
occupied : and hundreds who held tickets were obliged to remain in the
streets. Prince Albert and the Duke of Cambridge sat below the bar* The
VOL. ii. 4s
"a^ard, ixx
682
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
1846.
RF.UF.F TO FAR-
MERS.
Minister's speech lasted four hours. It was listened to for the most part in
quietness ; but some paragraphs were vehemently cheered bjrthe Opposition.
All agricultural produce which serves as cattle-food, such as buckwheat
THE CORN DUTIES an(j ln(Jian corn, was to be admitted duty free. It was this provision which
Hansard, Ixxxiii. . . - . -
256. wrought better than any other precaution whatever to reduce the pressure ol
the subsequent famine in Ireland ; for Indian meal is a good article of human
food — far superior to potatoes. All Colonial grain was to bear a merely nominal
duty. This would be good 'news in our Australian colonies, whenever the
tidings could reach so far. As for other grain, all protection was to cease in
three years ; and that time was allowed for the farmers to accommodate them-
selves to the change. In the interval, the duties were to be considerably
Hansard, ixxxiii. reduced. When wheat was under 48s. per quarter, the duty was to be Ws.
When at a shilling higher, the duty was to be a shilling lower, till wheat
should be at 54s. and the duty at 4s., after which the duty should not further
change. The same principle and proportion were to apply to other kinds of
grain. The immediate effect would be to reduce the duty, at the existing
price qf wheat, from 16s. to 4s. — It was proposed to afford some important
relief to the farmers, otherwise than by laying burdens on other classes.
Loans of public money were to be attainable by persons contemplating agricul-
tural improvements. The law of settlement was to be so altered as to pre-
vent country parishes from being burdened with labourers when adversity
pressed on the manufacturing districts. Five years' industrial residence was
henceforth to constitute a settlement. The cost of prisoners was to- be taken
off the county rates. By a consolidation of the highway departments — a con-
solidation which would reduce the Boards from 16,000 to about 600 — a vast
relief from waste and mismanagement would be obtained. Such were the
main features of the scheme. Objections naturally sprang up on all sides.
The Protectionists were, of course, furious: and their antagonists were sorry —
and especially on account of the farmers themselves — that there was to be an
interval of three years before the corn trade was free. The farmers' friends
looked on the accompanying provisions of relief as a mere mockery ; and some
derided the multifarious character of the scheme. But, after all objections
were made, there remained the grand and simple fact that in three years the
Corn laws would be no more. The manufacturers threw away with joy such
remaining duties as had been called a protection to them; and the League
leaders, who had invariably declared that they would support any man of any
party who would obtain the repeal of the Corn laws, -now gave their whole
strength to the Minister and his scheme.
The debate began on the 9th of February, and extended over twelve nights
between that and the 27th, when there was a decision in favour of the govern -
Hansard, ixxxiv. ment by a majority of 97 in a House of 577. On the 2d of March, the House
went into Committee, when four nights more were filled with debate, before
the second reading was carried by a majority of 88. A last effort \vas made,
in a debate of three nights, to prevent a third reading ; but it was carried, at
four jn fae m0rning of the 16th of May, by a majority of 98 in a House of
556 members.
In the Lords, the majority in favour of the second reading was 47 in a full
House — a more easy passage than could have been anticipated. The few
THE ISSUE.
Hansard, Ixxxvi.
721.
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 683
amendments that were proposed were negatived; the Bill passed on the 22nd 1846.
of June, and became law on the 26th of the same month. ^-^-^~^^
During this long series of debates, every consideration that had ever been ^g3Sard> lxxxvii-
urged, for or against a repeal of the Corn laws, was brought up again. There
is no need to repeat any of them here. Every personality that could pass the
lips of educated men and gentlemen in our period of civilization was uttered
by angry antagonists : and not a few which it is surprising that educated men
and gentlemen could listen to without discountenance and rebuke. It would
do no good to repeat any of them here. The principal new points, not mere
personality, were the extraordinary denial, on the part of the Protectionists,
of the existence or probability of famine in Ireland, though such an amount
of evidence was laid before the House as might have been expected to bear
down all party rancour, and all pride of opinion, and to induce sympathy with
the administration in the most prejudiced man in the House. On this, also,
there is no occasion to enlarge. Time has shown what the condition of Ire-
land was, and was to be ; and the keenest Protectionist is now probably
astonished that he could ever doubt it, after listening to the evidence offered
by Sir Robert Peel and Lord Lincoln. — On the soundness of that evidence, THE MINISTER.
however, rested so much of the Minister's case that any appreciation of him-
self and his position was impossible while his detail of facts was denied. His
position during the session was therefore hard beyond all parallel. His temper
and conduct were worthy of it. He made at first such ample confession of the
error of a life; maintained so simply the duty and dignity of avowing error in-
stead of being obstinate and silent ; bore so magnanimously the reproaches which
were the natural retribution of the mistake which he had held in common with
almost the whole of the legislature and the aristocracy during the greater
part of his life ; and was so sustained under his personal trials by a moral
enthusiasm sufficiently rare at all times in the House of Commons, and little
expected from him, that before his retirement, he was looked up to with new
feelings by generous-minded men of all parties. His own words will best
explain, his position and his views. " You have a right, I admit," he said, in Hansard, ixxxvi.
his final speech on the Bill, " to taunt me with any change of opinion on the 7°°'
Corn laws ; but when you say that by my adoption of the principles of free
trade, I have acted in contradiction to those principles which I have always
avowed during my whole life, that charge, at least, I say, is destitute of foun-
dation. Sir, I will not enter at this late hour into the discussion of any
other topic. I foresaw the consequences that have resulted from the^measures
which I thought it my duty to propose. We were charged with the heavy
responsibility of taking security against a great calamity in Ireland. We
did not act lightly. We did not form our opinion upon merely local
information — the information of local authorities likely to be influenced by
an undue alarm. Before I, and those who agreed with me, came to that
conclusion, we had adopted every means — by local inquiry, and by sending
perfectly disinterested persons of authority to Ireland — to form a just and cor-
rect opinion. Whether we were mistaken or not — I believe we were not
mistaken — but, even if we were mistaken, a generous construction should be
put upon the motives and conduct of those who are charged with the respon-
sibility of protecting millions of subjects of the Queen from the consequences
684 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1846. of scarcity and famine. Sir, whatever may be the result of these discussions,
I feel severely the loss of the confidence of those from almost all of whom I
heretofore received a most generous support. So far from expecting them, as
some have said, to adopt my opinions, I perfectly recognise the sincerity with
which they adhere to their own. I recognise their perfect right, on account
of the admitted failure of my speculation, to withdraw from me their confi-
dence. I honour their motives, but I claim, and I always will claim, while
entrusted with such powers, and subject to such responsibility as the Minister
of this great country is entrusted with and is subject to — I always will assert
the right to give that advice which I conscientiously believe to be conducive
to the general well-being. I was not considering, according to the language
of the honourable Member for Shrewsbury, what was the best bargain to make
for a party. I was considering first what were the best measures to avert a great
calamity, and, as a secondary consideration, to relieve that interest which I
was bound to protect from the odium of refusing to acquiesce in measures
which I thought to be necessary for the purpose of averting that calamity.
Sir, I cannot charge myself or my colleagues with having been unfaithful to
the trust committed to us If I look to the prerogative of the Crown — if
I look to the position of the Church — if I look to the influence of the aristo-
cracy—I cannot charge myself with having taken any course inconsistent with
Conservative principles, calculated to endanger the privileges of any branch of
the legislature, or of any institutions of the country. My earnest wish has
been, during my tenure of power, to impress the people of this country with a
belief that the legislature was animated by a sincere desire to frame its legisla-
tion upon the principles of equity and justice. I have a strong belief that the
greatest object which we or any other government can contemplate should be
to elevate the social condition of that class of the people with whom we are
brought into no direct relation by the exercise of the elective franchise. I
wish to convince them that our object has been so to apportion taxation, that
we shall relieve industry and labour from any undue burden, and transfer it,
so far as is consistent with the public good, to those who are better enabled to
bear it. I look to the present peace of this country; I look to the absence of
all disturbance — to the non-existence of any c6mmitment for a seditious offence;
I look to the calm that prevails in the public mind ; I look to the absence of
all disaffection; I look to the increased and growing public confidence on
account of the course you have taken in relieving trade from restrictions, and
industry from unjust burdens ; and where there was dissatisfaction, I see con-
tentment ; where there was turbulence, I see there is peace ; where there was
disloyalty, I see there is loyalty ; I see a disposition to confide in you, and not
to agitate questions that are at the foundations of your institutions."
In a later speech, the very last which he delivered before quitting office, he
again recurred to the great consolatory ground of the improved condition of
lxxxvii' tnose wh° can least nelP themselves. He relinquished power, to use his own
words, " with a more lively recollection of the support and confidence I have
received during several years, than of the opposition which, during a recent
period, I have encountered. In relinquishing power, I shall leave a name,
severely censured, I fear, by many who, on public grounds, deeply regret the
severance of party ties — deeply regret that severance, not from interested or
CHAP. XV.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 685
personal motives, but from the firm conviction that fidelity to party engage- 1846.
ments — the existence and maintenance of a great party — constitutes a power- ^— — --^-— — *
ful instrument of government : I shall surrender power severely censured also
by others who, from no interested motive, adhere to the principle of protection,
considering the maintenance of it to be essential to the welfare and interests
of the country : I shall leave a name execrated by every monopolist who, from
less honourable motives, clamours for protection because it conduces to his own
individual benefit : but it may be that I shall leave a name sometimes remem-
bered with expressions of good-will in the abodes of those whose lot it is to
labour, and to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they
shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food, the
sweeter because it is no longer leavened with a sense of injustice."
It was quite true that there was a popular disposition " not to agitate ques-
tions that are at the foundation of our institutions." The great reform of NATDRE OP THE
REFORM.
policy — of procedure — which had now taken place had excluded all present
thoughts of organic change from the mind of the people. Inferior in import-
ance as the late enterprise was to that of Reform of Parliament — inferior in its
order, and in its import — it was yet great enough to absorb for the time the
political energy of the nation. To arrest the sinking of the agricultural inte-
rests of the country, and remove the impediments to a free supply of food,
were objects inferior only to any enterprise of organic change : but they were
inferior. It does not follow, however, that organic change may not arise from
an inferior order of reform ; and in this case it was clear to those who were
aware of the facts that the power under the Reform Bill discovered by Mr.
Cobden of renovating county constituencies must, sooner or later, bring forth
vast political results. The system of forty-shilling freehold purchase and
registration, begun under the League organization, did not stop when the
League dissolved itself. It proceeds, and at an accelerated rate.
On the 2nd of July, the League was " conditionally dissolved," by the una- DISSOLUTION OP
nimous vote of a great meeting of the leaders at Manchester. The body was sprotato^'ilie,
virtually dissolved ; but the Executive Council had power to call it again into P'
existence, if occasion should arise ; — that is, if attempts should be made to
revive agricultural protection. Mr. Cobden here joyfully closed his seven
years' task, which he had prosecuted at the expense of health, fortune, domes-
tic comfort, and the sacrifice of his own tastes in every way. Sir R. Peel had
said of him, in his closing speech, that to one man was the great work of
repeal owing ; and that that man was Richard Cobden : and Mr. Cobden now
declared at Manchester that if Sir R. Peel had lost office, he had gained a
country. The Leaguers were not called on for more than the first instalment
of the quarter of a million they had resolved to raise : and out of that sum,
they voted £10,000 (in his absence) to their Chairman, Mr. James Wilson. —
Mr. Cobden had sacrificed at least £20,000 in the cause. The country now,
at the call of the other chief Leaguers, presented him with above £80,000 —
not only for the purpose of acknowledging his sacrifices, but also to set him
free for life for the political service of his country.
Early in the session, the Ministers had introduced a bill for the Protection IRISH LIFE BILL.
of Life in Ireland, where the practice of night-assassination was again partially
prevailing. The political jealousy of the time was exercised upon this bill ;
686 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1846. and it was opposed by a curious medley of members in the Commons, after an
^— — '— • — " easy passage in the Lords. It was thrown out in the Commons, on the same
Hansard, ixxxvii. nig]lt (june 26th) when the Corn law Bill passed the Lords. The majority
against the ministers was 73. Every one knew that the Peel Administration
was going out, as soon as the repeal of the Corn laws was achieved ; but
RESIGNATION OP perhaps this defeat settled the moment. On the 29th, the Duke of Wellington
HMsardjxxxvii. took leave of power in the one House, and Sir R. Peel in the other, in an-
1039, 1040. ,1 • • , • £ CC.
nouncing their resignation ot omce.
In one sense, Sir R. Peel might be said to take leave of power : but his
moral power was destined yet to grow stronger. An old and faithful member
Hansard, ixxxvii. of Opposition, Mr. Hume, said of him, on this last evening, " That no one ever
left power carrying with him so much of the sympathy of the people :" and
there were multitudes who could not endure the thought of losing him, at
the very moment of his discovering himself to the nation in his greatest
aspect. As he left the House on the night of the 29th, leaning on the arm of
Sir George Clerk, he was awaited by a quiet multitude outside, who bared
their heads at the sight of him, and escorted him to his house. Some of
these probably hoped to hail him as Minister again some day ; for it was a
common idea throughout the country that, if there was only one man who
could govern the country, that man would have to govern the country, whether
he would or no. But he knew better. He knew that his last words were a
real farewell.
THE RETIRING That which he did not and could not know was the full nobleness of the
position which he would henceforth hold. He had nothing more to attain.
His wealth had always been great ; and it was not in the power even of the
sovereign to ennoble him. His honours are of a higher order than those ol
the peerage, and would be rather impaired than enhanced by his removal
from among the Commons. In the Commons he has no party, because there
is no party there : and if there were, he has withdrawn from party conflict.
He speaks as from his own mind ; and his words have singular weight. He
sits in the legislature, a man free from personal aims of every kind, at full
leisure, and in full freedom to cast light where it is wanted on any hand, to
give guidance and sanction, and material for speculation and action in future
years, when he will be no more seen in his place. Men of all parties seem to
agree upon one point in regard to Sir R. Peel ; — that his latest position in the
British Legislature is the noblest that, in our period of time, can be held by
any man.
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE 687
CHAPTER XVI.
WITH the charm of a youthful sovereign and a fresh royal generation 1842 46.
came, necessarily, the moumfulness of seeing the old drop off; — the ^— — ~^~- -
old princes and statesmen and warriors, whose names had heen familiar to us
all our lives. The Duke of Sussex, the most popular of the sons of George SUK™OF S^EX.
the Third — the amiable man, the lover of books and of philosophy, the hero
of a love-story in the last century, when he married Lady Augusta Murray —
died in April, 1843, in the 72nd year of his age : and his cousin, the Princess
Sophia of Gloucester, followed him in November of the next year, at the age ** ™™™cj£™ A
of 71. At the time they died, the reading world was learning, by the Diary
of Madame D'Arblay, how these affectionate cousins looked, and what they
said, in the days of their early youth, when she was brilliantly handsome, and
he full of grace and kindness to every body in his father's court. They had
since had much pain and uneasiness in their lives ; and it was time that they
were at rest. — The illustrious family of the Wellesleys was breaking up. The
Marquess Wellesley, who had ruled India when his brother Arthur won MARQUESS
his first successes there, died in 1842, in his 83rd year; and his younger LORD MORNINO-
brother — but still some years older than the Duke of Wellington and Lord T°
Cowley — Lord Mornington, followed in 1845. Lord Mornington was Sir R.
Peel's predecessor in his early office of Secretary for Ireland. The offices
which he subsequently filled were unimportant, except that of Post Master
General, which he held during the short Peel administration of 1835. Lord
Wellesley was a much more important man to the nation, not only by
his Indian administration, but by his strenuous support of his warrior
brother during the Peninsular war, when he had to contend with the
timidity and carelessness of the government at home even more painfully
than with the French forces abroad. What his government was in Ireland in
1822, and how his liberality excited the wrath of the Ascendancy party there,
we have seen. His old age was embittered by pecuniary difficulties, such as
he had contrived to trouble himself with all his life. The East India
Company made liberal gifts to him, in acknowledgment of former services ;
and after this, his few remaining days slipped away quietly, amidst the solace
of books and old friendships ; though the wording of some provisions in his
will seems to show that he regarded the Administration of Lord Melbourne Annual Register,
with no more tranquillity than his friend, Lord Brougham, to whose charge he
left the vindication of his memory, " confiding in his justice and honour." —
An old friend and comrade of the Wellesleys, Lord Hill, died in 1842. He LORDHH.L.
had won glory in Spain, Portugal, and France, and finally at Waterloo : and
he earned civic gratitude by his admirable administration of the army (which
may be called a civic service) between the years 1828 and 1842. No private
interest or political bias ever was seen to affect his distribution of patronage —
688 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 46. keen as was the watch kept upon him by the opponents of the successive
"-— ~^— — Ministries under which he served. He was 70 when he died. — In the group
of old and dying men associated in our minds with our last wars, we may note
fox"""801* Lieutenant-General Sir Hudson Lowe — perhaps the most abused man of his
time. He had the misfortune to be appointed gaoler to Napoleon at St.
Helena. No man could have occupied that post under any circumstances
without undergoing cruel anxiety, and perpetual embarrassment: but Sir
Hudson Lowe had not that support from the government at home which he
had a right to expect ; and they allowed him to be victimized by calumny,
while the fault was theirs, if indeed the fallen Emperor's lot was less easy
than it might have been made. Sir H. Lowe appears to have done all that
he could — without thanks, without support, without guidance — under inces-
sant misconstruction from the world, and intolerable insult from his captive.
If there was fault, it appears to have been merely of nerve : and the wonder would
have been if he could have maintained nerve and judgment under the daily
irritation of his position. — Of the old statesmen and politicians, more dropped
LORD GREY. during this period. Lord Grey, after a sick retirement of a few years, died in
LORD CANTER- his 82nd year, in July, 1845 ; and in the same month Lord Canterbury, the
Speaker of the Commons for so many years, under the name of Sir Charles
LORD WALLACE. Manners Sutton. His age "Was 65. — Lord Wallace, the early friend of
Jenkinson and Canning, and a holder of office under Mr. Pitt, died in 1844,
with the reputation of a liberal rather than a conservative, and mourned by
the friends of the liberal measures of the day. He was the predecessor of Mr.
Huskisson at the Board of Trade, and had the same clear views of the advan-
tages of free trade. While Master of the Mint, he greatly improved the coin-
age. He was one of the very few men who rendered substantial service in
office and in parliament without exciting party feelings in others — probably
because he was able to rise above them himself. — Of the liberal party, several
LORD CONGLETON. leaders were lost at this time. Sir Henry Parnell, become Lord Congleton,
who did as much as a Member of Parliament well could do towards financial
reform, died by his own hand in a state of nervous disease, in 1842. He was
Secretary at War in the early days of Lord Grey's Administration : but he did
not like the financial proceedings of the Whigs, and he resigned in a few
months — a measure absolutely necessary, if he objected to Lord Althorp's
projects being attributed to his own principles. As we have before seen, he
disclaimed all participation in Lord Althorp's budgets ; and it was necessary
that he should resign, to do this. Under Lord Melbourne, he was Paymaster
of the Forces. As a leading member of the Excise Commission, he rendered
important service. Lord Congleton had nearly completed his 66th year at the
time of his unhappy death. His place in the House of Lords remains unoc-
cupied, his son and heir being a member of the community of Plymouth
Brethren.
wRoMATrHEW Tlie staunch old liberal, Alderman Wood, of late Sir Matthew Wood, so
well remembered as the brave host of Queen Caroline, at the most critical
turn of her fortunes, died in a good old age, in 1843. — And in the next year
SIR FRANCIS the once famous Radical, Sir Francis Burdett. He was no longer a Radical :
and it was a misfortune to the liberal cause that he had ever been one. He
was a weak and vain man — fond of notoriety and scenes, capable of going to
CHA.P. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 689
prison for libel amidst popular sympathy, and of being found teaching his son 1842 46.
to read Magna Charta, when called on by the officers of justice on that errand; ^^^~~^
but he was not capable of the silent self-denial, the long perseverance, the
patient labour and good-temper, necessary to the support and furtherance of
the cause in adverse times, and up to the moment of success. He fell back ;
and, falling back, was rejected by Westminster in 1837 ; and from that time,
he became an avowed Conservative, sitting for North Wiltshire on that
interest. He had many requisites for popularity ; and he long enjoyed it: but
it did not cheer the end of his life ; for the mode of his political change was
not one which could be regarded with respect by either old or new allies. He
died a few days after his wife, in January, 1844, in the 74th year of his age.
— Sir R. Peel's Attorney-General, Sir William W. Follett, a man who wanted SIB WM.FOI.LBTT.
only health to have raised him to the highest legal and political honours, died
in office in 1845 — the Ministers attending his funeral. He was only 46. —
One of the heroes of our late Indian wars, Major-General Sir William Nott, SlR WM- NoTT-
died very soon after attaining the honours and rewards assigned him for his
share in redeeming the disgrace of the Affghan war. The Queen gpave him
honours ; parliament voted him thanks ; and the East India Company pre-
sented him with 1000/. a year for his life. He returned ill in health;
and it is supposed that the excitement of his welcome, especially in his
native town of Carmarthen, was too much for him; for he presently
sank under disease of the heart. He had reached his 63rd year.
A few centuries earlier, Sir Robert Ker Porter would have been a hero of p0RR™7 ERT KBR
Romance : and, as it was, his history has more of the heroic and romantic
about it than we look for in our time. His destiny seems to have been
determined by no less romantic a person than Flora Macdonald, who fixed his
attention on a battle-piece in her house, and explained to him that it was one
of the battles of 1745. He was made to be a painter ; and this incident,
occurring when he was only nine or ten years old, made him the painter of
that picture, the storming of Seringapatam, which set all artists wondering
what lot could be in store for the youth who, at nineteen, could achieve such
a work in less time than most men would require to plan it. The picture
was destroyed in a fire ; but the sketches remained ; and many other battle-
pieces by the same hand. Young Porter spent much of his life in Russia,
and married a Russian princess. He travelled over the most interesting
parts of Asia, and made the world the wiser for what he saw. He was
next painting sacred subjects for altar-pieces at Venezuela, where he was
British Consul ; and, after seeing what he could of South America, he died at
last at St. Petersburg, of apoplexy brought on by the Russian cold, after the
heats of Venezuela. ' He was the brother of the novelists, Jane and Anna
Maria Porter. His death took place on the 4th of May, 1842, in the 63rd
year of his age.
Lord Elgin, who gave us the marbles in the British Museum, died in 1841. LORD ELGIN.
While our Ambassador at the Porte, he employed his time and efforts in
securing Greek sculptures and medals, in obtaining plans, measurements
and elevations of buildings, moulds and casts; and in 1816 the House of
Commons decided to purchase the Elgin marbles for £35,000. Lord Elgin
lived to be 74, and to see something of the benefit the nation derived from his
VOL. ii. 4 T
690 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI
1842 — 46. labours in Greece. Many natural regrets have been expressed by travellers
^-— -^ at the removal of the sculptures from their own place : but subsequent
events have made it clear that if they had not been secured, nothing but
their fragments would have been left by this time. Their removal has
made the Greek wars of recent years one degree less disastrous.
SIR F. CHANTHEY. It is a well-known anecdote of Nollekens, that when, in the Exhibition of
1806, his eye fell on a bust sent in by a novice, he said, " It is a splendid
work. Let the man be known. Remove one of my busts, and put this in its
place." The man was Chantrey — then 24 years old. From that time he
was abundantly known, and uniformly successful. He never had any
struggles against fortune to tell of, his only cross in life being that his father
had wished to make him an attorney when he desired to be " a carver." The
two works by which he is perhaps best known, the statue of Lady Louisa
Russell, and the Sleeping Children in Lichfield Cathedral, were from designs
by Stothard. He had not poetic faculty for such designs ; but he excelled in
monumental sculpture of a simply grave order — as his statues of Watt, and
Homeland Canning, and many more are proofs. Having no near relations,
Chantrey left the reversion of his property, after its use by his widow, for the
encouragement of Art in Great Britain. When he was building a mausoleum
for himself, he said to his friend and assistant, Allan Cunningham, that it
should be made large enough to hold them both : but Allan had no mind for
this . " No," said he, " I should not like, even when I am dead, to be so shut
up. I would far rather rest where the daisies would grow over my head."
They departed within a year of each other, Chantrey going first, and leaving
a generous provision for Cunningham — to whose poetical mind he owed more
than even to his zealous attachment. Chantrey died suddenly, of heart-
ALLAN CUNNING, disease, on the 25th of November, 1841 ; and Cunningham on the 5th of the
next November. The sculptor was 59 years of age ; the poet, 56. It is as a
poet, and especially as a song-writer, that Allan Cunningham's name will
live. He attempted various walks of literature, and is well known by his
lives of British Painters ; but his fame rests more securely on his ballads
and songs. We shall not forget " It's hame and it's hame ;" or, " A wet sheet
and a flowing sea."
THEHOFLANUS. There was a great sweep among the painters during this period. Hofland,
the landscape painter, was husband to the Mrs. Hofland, whose tales for
children were so unboundedly popular for some time after their appearance.
The Edgeworths testified to their great value in Ireland; and Queen Charlotte
patronized them in England. The husband, too, was favoured by the old
King; yet the Hoflands suffered cruelly from embarrassments, caused by
an unfortunate contract with the Duke of Marlborough, the heavy expenses of
which fell, not on the peer but the artist. Both worked hard, as long as years
and health would allow — the husband in teaching as well as painting, and the
wife in literature and in domestic cares. Mr. Hofland died in January, 1843,
NICHOLSON, and his wife in November, 1844. — In 1844, we lost the aged Nicholson, one
of the founders of the Society of Painters in Water Colours, whose last effort,
when dying at the age of 91, was to have himself lifted up, to brighten a
dark cloud in a picture of a shipwreck : — and Geddes, the portrait painter
and Associate of the Royal Academy, best known, perhaps, by his picture of
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 691
the discovery of the Regalia of Scotland, with a portrait of Scott: — and Grieve, 1842 — 46.
the first Scene-painter of his time, who raised that kind of work into a de- ^^^^^^
partment of Art: — and, to the regret of all England, Callcott, the respected and SIRA.CALLCOTT.
beloved. He was early destined to music, with and by his elder brother : but he
turned to painting ; and, at first, to portraits, under the teaching of Hoppner.
After 1803, however, he devoted himself to landscape painting, and earned
the title of the English Claude. He married the well-known writer, Maria
Graham, whose health was undermined before this second marriage. His
devoted watching over her destroyed his health, and impaired in proportion his
professional efforts ; and when she died, in 1842, he was more like a man of
80 than of 63 ; and he was no longer able to paint. In 1844, the Queen
made him Conservator of the Royal pictures ; an office which was valuable
to him, not only for its honour and profit, but because it afforded him occupa-
tion and interest which were not too great for his strength. Up to the last
week of his life, he exerted himself to complete an improved catalogue of the
Queen's pictures, and then died, on the 23rd of November, after a decline
of at least six years. His serene expanses, wide horizons, melting distances,
rippling waters, and lucid Dutch river scenes, will always refresh and gratify
the eye, through all changes of taste in Art.
The year 1845 was a sad one too. In January, died the aged painter SMIRKK.
Smirke, the father of the two architects of well-known name, and a Royal
Academician from the year of Sir Joshua Reynolds's death, 1792 : — and Phil- PHILIIPS-
lips, also a Royal Academician, and one of the most eminent of English por-
trait painters. He succeeded Fuseli in 1824 in the professorship of Painting
in the Royal Academy, delivering ten lectures which have a good reputation :
and he wrote a good deal on painting in Rees's Cyclopaedia : but his fame
rests on his portraits. He established something better than fame in the
hearts of brother artists, and of all who know what he did for the protection
and benefit of the profession. — In the same year died, aged only 33, a man
from whom great things were hoped — William John Miiller, a landscape and MULISH.
costume painter of high excellence. He followed his art into the wildest
recesses of Greece, and high up towards the sources of the Nile. At a great
sacrifice of connexion, money, and time, he accompanied, at his own request^
Sir Charles Fellows's last expedition to Lycia, and brought back sketches of
extraordinary value, which sold for above £4,000 after his death. Some
pictures, from which he hoped every thing that could compensate him for his
sacrifices, were so hung in the Exhibition of 1845 as to be unnoticed. The
disappointment preyed on his mind, and prostrated his strength. Whether
disease had before fixed itself fatally in his frame, there is no saying now : but
he pined and sank, dying of enlargement of the heart, on the 8th of September
following his disappointment. — A sadder event than even this gave a shock HAYDON.
to the whole nation a few months afterwards. In June, 1846, our Historical
Painter, Haydon, destroyed himself, in anguish under poverty and mortifica-
tion. He was a man of temperate habits, but incapable of prudence and skill
in the management of affairs. He was in debt almost all his life ; and he
discouraged his patrons by making his pictures too large to be hung, and by
other perversities which another kind of man would have avoided without
injury to his artistical aim. It is not difficult to account for his misfortunes :
692 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boon VI.
1842 — 46. but there is no one who does not deeply mourn them. There is no one who
v-— — *•" — ' cannot feel what must have been the anguish of a man so sensitive when no
commissions came in, when his exhibition in April so failed as that only four
persons came the first day, while crowds were struggling for entrance to see
Tom Thumb. " How different it would have been twenty-six years ago 1" he
wrote in his Diary. He became grave and silent in his family, and supersti-
tious in his entries in his Diary. In one week, he noted down the visitors to
his exhibition as 133J, while 12,000 went to see Tom Thumb — not asking
himself, unhappily, how few of the 12,000 he would have cared to see in his
room. On the 16th of June, he wrote to the Prime Minister and two others,
stating that he had a heavy sum to pay. " Tormented by D'Israeli, harassed
by public business," as the grateful artist wrote, " Sir B. Peel was the only
one who replied :" and the reply was instant and kind, enclosing £50. Six
days afterwards, occurs the last entry — Lear's words, " Stretch me no longer
on this rough world :" and before the ink was dry, the overwrought sufferer
had shot himself. His family were taken immediate care of by the Queen,
the Minister, and the friends of Art and artists. Haydon did what he could
to raise the ideal and practice of historical painting in England. He lectured,
and wrote, and taught, and discoursed. But he was not one who could be
made secure and happy by any thing that he could do for Art, or any thing
that men could do for him, in a state of society like our own. If he could ever
have fitted any time, it was certainly not our own. He saw historical painting
more likely to thrive in England than ever before, and knew that it was partly
by his own efforts : yet there seemed no room for hope that any picture of his
would appear on the walls of the new Houses of Parliament. The Fine Arts
Commission took no notice of him : and when, by opening his exhibition, he
invited the public to judge his claims, the public took no heed ; and his heart
was broken. His most appreciated work appears to have been " Christ enter-
ing Jerusalem," which he exhibited in 1820. Another which, through the
engraving, roused a wide popular sympathy, was " Napoleon at St. Helena."
Benjamin Robert Haydon was 60 years old. — Of musicians, there died during
MAZZINGIH. the period, Joseph Count Mazzinghi, at the age of 80, who had actually been
chosen Director at the Opera House at the age of 19, and who continued a
popular composer during his long life : — and of actors, the great laugh-maker,
LISTON. Liston. Of all things in the world, Listen was, first, usher in a school : and
when he took a fancy for the stage, it was for tragedy. Nevertheless, it was
reserved for him to make £100 per week in comedy ; and to make it fairly, for,
while he was yet receiving only £60 per week, as Paul Pry, the manager cleared
£7,000 in the season. In the provinces, he often received from £250 to £350
per week ; an indication of the English being a laughter-loving people, after
all that can be said of their tendency to solicitude and solemnity. Liston was
truly an artist, amidst all his license to take liberties with the public mirth.
He studied his most grotesque characters as carefully as if they had been
tragic. He was a man of domestic habits and irreproachable character ; and
he reached the age of 69 amidst the serious respect of his friends, as well as
the delight of a laughing nation. He died in March, 1846, in the 70th year
LOUBON. of his age. — Mr. London's name seems to belong to the list of artists, so artis-
tically did he instruct the public taste in gardening, planting, and rural archi-
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 693
tecture. He was a native of Lanarkshire, and came to England in 1803, to 1842 — 46.
practise as a landscape gardener, when he was only 20 years old. He travelled ""~-" ~*~— ~*
abroad to obtain information, and on his return published one after another of
that long series of works, of which the Encyclopaedia of Gardening is best
known ; and next to that, perhaps, his Encyclopeedia of Cottage, Farm, and
Village Architecture. One of his great works, the Arboretum Britannicum,
involved him in difficulties which he wore himself out to surmount. His
sufferings of body were of the severest kind ; but his energy of mind was indo-
mitable. His spirit of enthusiasm must have lightened and sweetened his life
more than any pecuniary prosperity could have done. Among his achieve-
ments, one of the best known is the laying out of the Derby Arboretum — the
great Garden presented to the people of Derby by their generous townsman, Mr.
Joseph Strutt. Mr. Loudon was 50 years old when he died, in December, 1843.
In 1842 occurred one of the greatest losses to the scientific world that the
century has to show. But that vast discoveries become more common with
every century, ours would be as much signalized by the fame of Sir Charles |I*L£HARLES
Bell, as the seventeenth is by that of Harvey. Harvey proved the circulation
of the blood, and was believed by no physician in Europe who was above forty
at the time of his death. Sir Charles Bell discovered the diversities which
exist in the structure and functions of the nerves ; and his demonstrations of
the facts were so clear, and the consciousness of ignorance has so far extended
in our more enlightened age, that the only dispute which occurred was as to
who ought to appropriate the honour of the discovery. It is settled, past all
controversy, that the honour belongs to Sir Charles Bell. He has pointed out
to us that we have, bound up in the same sheath, nerves of sensation and nerves
of motion ; and, as he believed, nerves for other functions also : and it would
be a bold thing to say that any discovery in connexion with our mysterious
human frame was ever more important in itself, or more fraught with future
significance. Sir Charles Bell did many more things, during his active and
devoted life ; but it is this which gives him a high place in the history of his
country. He was the youngest of the four eminent brothers Bell ; — Robert,
the Edinburgh lawyer ; the great surgeon, John ; and George Joseph, the law
professor in Edinburgh University, being his elder brothers. Sir Charles Bell
died suddenly, but not to the surprise of his friends, of angina pectoris — a
disease of some standing — on the 27th of May, 1842, aged 68. He was
knighted by William IV. on his accession, together with Herschel, Brewster,
Ivory, and other men of science. His private life was simple, serene, and
happy ; but he suffered much anxiety of mind about professional matters ; and
latterly especially about the relation of his profession to the law : and these
anxieties are believed to have hastened his death. — It was a disease of the
heart which, in the next year, carried off Mr. Kemp, the Chemical Lecturer in KEMP.
the Edinburgh University, who laid the world under obligations to him before
his departure at the age of 36. It was he who introduced amalgamated zinc
plates into galvanic batteries. " Let us never forget," wrote an eminent man,
after his death, " to whom we owe this discovery, which of itself enables gal-
vanic batteries to be used in the arts. Ages to come will, perhaps, have to
thank the inventor, whom we are too apt to forget : yet, the obligation from
694 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 46. the public to Mr. Kemp is the same." He distinguished himself before the
"-— •— - * British Association, at Edinburgh, in 1836, by his display of the results of his
bold investigations. He died in December, 1843. — In August, 1844, died the
FRANCIS BAH.Y. President of the Astronomical Society, Mr. Francis Baily. He left the Stock
Exchange, where he had made an ample fortune, in 1825, and devoted him-
self to philosophical pursuits for the rest of his life — nearly 20 years. He
organized the Astronomical Society ; improved the Nautical Almanac ; stimu-
lated the new series of Pendulum experiments which exposed so many reasons
for new care ; aided the Commission of Weights and Measures ; aided the
Astronomical Catalogue of the British Association ; gave to the world the
correspondence and catalogues of Flamsteed ; and wrote the best treatise that
exists on Life Annuities and Insurance. It is a pleasure to record such in-
stances as these of the use which English men of business make of their wealth
and leisure, when they have had enough of money-getting, and have preserved
a taste for higher things. — An aged man died in the same summer, whose
DALTON. name will never be lost from the records of science — Dr. Dalton. Dalton was
an usher in north country schools till he was seven-and-twenty, when he was
recommended to the chair of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the New
College, Manchester. This was in 1793; and at Manchester he lived for the
rest of his days, dying there in July 1844, in the 78th year of his age. He
saw Paris, and went to London occasionally; and was every where received
with honour ; for his discoveries were known all over the world ; and it was
pure pleasure to pay homage to one so simple and benign. His body lay in
state in the Town-hall of Manchester, and was visited by more than 40,000
persons in one day. His Atomic Theory, the discovery of which he entered
upon in 1803, is considered, at present, probably the most important contribu-
tion ever made to Chemistry. Dr. Thomas Thomson first understood and
made known the scope of it : Wollaston instantly apprehended it : and Davy
followed, after an interval of resistance and ridicule. By the application of
mathematics to chemistry, and Dalton's subsequent efforts to bring chemical
analysis nearer to a chance of correctness, the knowledge of chemical combi-
nations has been marvellously simplified, and the processes of chemical analy-
sis have been raised from a looseness too like hap-hazard to something ap-
proaching to mathematical precision. Such precision extends from scientific
discovery to the arts of life ; and manufacturers are benefitted at the same time
with the experiments of the laboratory. This discovery of Dalton's is some-
times called by the name he chose — the Atomic Theory ; sometimes by Wol-
laston's — the theory of Chemical Equivalents; sometimes by Davy's — the
theory of Chemical Proportions : but, under every name, the laws of relative
proportion laid down by Dalton are confirmed by every improvement in the
practice of chemical analysis. He has been called the legislator of his science,
which was before merely empirical. He was framed for scientific despotism,
by his sagacity, his simplicity, and his self-reliance. He was a Quaker ; and
no member of his sect led a life more regular and innocent — without austerity,
dulness, vanity, or spiritual pride. In face, he was like Newton ; and, like
Newton, he was never married. He did not overwork his brain. His brain
was strong, and his nervous system good : and he recreated himself with a
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 695
game at bowls every Thursday, and with a sight of his native Cumberland 1842 — 46.
mountains every summer. Long before his death, he was a member of almost ^— — ~- — '
every Royal Academy and Scientific Institute in Europe.
Among the literary men who died during this period, the most difficult to ^°DORE E>
class is Theodore E. Hook, so various in character are his works. He began
with the drama, and gave several comedies and farces to the stage before he
was twenty-three. Then he turned to novel writing ; and then, as Editor of
the John Bull, to politics, or what he called such. Then he wrote novels
again, and biography ; his lives of Kelly, and of Sir David Baird, and his
1 Sayings and Doings,' ' Love and Pride,' and ' Gilbert Gurney/ being per-
haps the best known of his later works. Theodore Hook's life was a merry,
but not a happy one. He was disgraced through carelessness in his office of
Accountant-General at the Mauritius, by which there was a deficiency in the
Treasury. He made enemies on every hand by the libellous tone of his news-
paper ; and he was perpetually overwrought by toil while wasting his resources
of purse, health, and time, in dissipation. He was, however, the leading wit
of his time in the old-fashioned method of London dissipation : and in his
career we seem to see revived, with little alteration, the raking poor author of
each former century. Theodore Hook was only 52 when he died, in August,
1841. — Maturin, an Irish clergyman, who wrote two novels in a Byronic style MATURIN.
which became popular, ' Bertram' and 'Melmoth the Wanderer,' died in
1842 : — and in the same year, died another Irish novelist of far higher merit,
John Banim, author of the * O'Hara Tales,' ' The Boyne Water,' ' Father BANIM- i
Connell,' and others. It was Banim who first opened up those aspects of
Irish life which have since been exhibited by Carleton, Griffin, and others ;
and which are as unlike the pictures of the Edgeworths and the Morgans, as
Fielding is unlike Richardson. The tragedy of humble life was Banim's de-
partment ; and he wrought in it with great power. He had himself but too
much experience of the tragic side of human life. He attempted editorship
at 17 years old — married at 20 — suffered from sickness and poverty for many
years — a poverty which seemed scarcely reduced by a pension granted him in
1837 ; and died in his 42nd year. — Captain Hamilton ranks among the novel- CAPTAIN HAMIL-
ists for his ' Cyril Thornton :' but he is no less known by his contributions
to Blackwood's Magazine, and his 'Men and Manners in America.' He
was a soldier, filling up his leisure after the peace with literary occupa-
tion. His works show a highly trained ability ; and his calm temper and
judgment and admirable manners, appearing through his writings to those
who never saw his face, gave a weight to what he said, which is sometimes
desired in vain by men of greater power. — In curious companionship with the
poor novelists of the time, the Hooks, and Banims, and Hoods, we find Mr.
Beckford's name — the Wm. Beckford who was born to £100,000 a year. His BECKFORD.
true monument is his novel ' Vathek,' though he spent enormous amounts of
money in building his wonderful edifice of Fon thill. His great tower, 300 feet
high, fell down — was rebuilt — and fell again: but* Vathek' remains. The
nine days' wonder of Mr Beckford's eccentricities and the Fonthill sale has
long been forgotten; but the vivacity and power of his 'Letters on Italy,
Spain, and Portugal,' are as keen as ever. Mr. Beckford was the son and heir
of the Alderman Beckford, whose celebrated extempore speech to George the
696 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 46. Third is engraved on his monument in Guildhall. The production of
* — ^~^- ' Vathek ' seems to have been an instance of impromptu ability quite as re-
markable. Mr. Beckford used to declare that it was written at one sitting, —
that is, in three days and two nights, during which he never took off his
clothes. It was written in French, and afterwards translated without his
knowledge, and with little skill. Byron used to think it the best attempt at
the oriental style of fiction ever made by an European. It appeared first at
Lausanne, in 1784. This carries us very far back : but Mr. Beckford was
then 24 years of age. He lived sixty years longer, dying at Bath in May,
THOMAS HOOD. 1844. — Thomas Hood, the author of ' Tylney Hall,' was classed among the
novelists on that account: but he belongs to other departments too. He was
a wit, as every page of every one of his writings may show ; and we have the
1 Plea of the Midsummer Fairies,' and ' Eugene Aram's Dream,' and the
' Song of the Shirt,' to prove him a poet. He was an editor of Annuals and
of Magazines : but our interest in him is from the remarkable union, in his
genius, of wit, sense, and pathos. It is true that we never see real wit apart
from sound sense, and rarely from pathos : but in Hood, all so abounded to-
gether, and in the strictest union, as to give almost an impression of a fresh
order of genius. He was one of the sufferers of his order — a sufferer from
sickness and poverty : and he was in the depths of these troubles, when he
had cause, like poor Haydon, to wonder how the Prime Minister, in the midst
of harassing cares and a load of business, could attend to his interests, and
consult his feelings with all the nicety of leisure. The letter of Sir R. Peel
to Hood, announcing the grant of a pension, remains one of the chief honours
of the great statesman. Poor Hood died soon after ; the pension was granted
to his widow ; and in a few months she also died. The children were taken
care of; as it was indispensable to the conscience of society that they should
be ; for their father was truly a social benefactor. He was always on the
right side in matters of morals and of feeling — full of faith in good, and sym-
pathy in all that was generous and true. His satire was directed upon what-
ever was foul, false, and selfish. He was 47 when he died in May, 1845.
In the same year, a few weeks earlier, died untimely a man who was held
in warm regard by his friends, and in respect by those of the public who
BLANCHARD. knew what his services were ; Laman Blanchard, who edited, in his time,
three newspapers, and the Monthly Magazine, and contributed largely to
periodicals. His consistent and enlightened political opinions and conduct
were of service to the public morality of his time ; and his early loss was
deplored for other reasons than the sadness of the mode in which it happened.
The illness and death of his wife had so worn him that brain-seizures came
on ; and after one of these, in a state of nervous prostration, he destroyed
himself. His orphans, too, found protection from society. — Under the date
Ante, i. p. 144. 1817, our history has exhibited the narrative and indicated the effects of the
WM. HONE. ' •
trials of William Hone for blasphemy and libel. It was pointed out that we
owe to those trials the vast improvement in our libel law, and in its appli-
cation. William Hone wrought well in literature after those days, giving us
the volumes that Southey'and other men of curious knowledge have praised so
highly ;— the ' Every Day Book,' the ' Table Book,' and the ' Year Book.'
Mr. Hone was in his 64th year when he died in 1842. — In the same year we
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 697
lost Robert Mudie, whose works on Natural History are true poems. He was 1842 — 46.
a self-educated Scotchman ; and when he wrote about things that he under- v— — • — '
stood, as in his ' Feathered Tribes of the British Islands,' he plunged his
readers into the depths of Nature as the true poet alone can do. He is
another example, as "White of Selborne and Audubon were before him, of the
indissoluble connexion between a nice and appreciative observation of nature
and the kindling of a spirit of poetry.
Perhaps the most successful essayist of his time was the Rev. John Foster, JOHN FOSTER.
last of Bristol. His 'Essays' passed through eighteen editions during his
life ; and they are still spreading. There is no great precision in the
thoughts : but the tone of morality is pure, and the views are original and
broad, while the style is eminently interesting. The volume was one which
met the wants of the time ; and if some of the matter is vague, and the views
narrow, they were a welcome escape from the shallow prosings which they
superseded. Mr. Foster published one other volume — on * The Evils of
Popular Ignorance,' and a mass of contributions to the ' Eclectic Review.' He
died in 1843, in the 74th year of his age. — Henry Nelson Coleridge; nephew
of the poet, and editor of his ' Literary Remains,' died in middle age in 1843.
He published an t Introduction to the Study of the Greek Classic Poets :' but
he is more widely known by a whimsical volume, full of beauty of descrip-
tion— ' Six Months in the "West Indies.'
The year after, in February, 1844, died a Mr. John Wright, who would JOHN WHIO
have remained obscure, in spite of much literary effort, but for his sagacity
and industry in regard to a single enterprise. The Thirteenth Parliament of
Great Britain is commonly called the Unreported Parliament ; but was saved
from being wholly dumb to a future generation by Sir Henry Cavendish
having diligently reported its debates to the best of his ability. Sir Henry
Cavendish's notes, written in short-hand, were found among the Bridgewater
MSS. in the British Museum : and Mr. Wright made the key to the short-
hand, transcribed the debates, and was printing them, with illustrations of the
parliamentary proceedings of the time, when the useful work was stopped by
his death, at the age of 73. — Henry F. Gary, the translator of Dante, and also Da- CAUY-
of 'The Birds' of Aristophanes, and of 'Pindar's Odes,' died in 1844. His
Dante was little noticed till Coleridge made it known; after which it re-
mained the standard translation. Dr. Gary was a most industrious man of
letters, both in his office of assistant-librarian at the British Museum, and in
his favourite labour of editing our native poets and writing their lives, in
continuation of Johnson's Biographies.
The poets Southey and Campbell died during this period ; men as opposite
in their natures and modes of living as poets can be conceived to be. It will
probably be undisputed that Campbell was the greater poet, and Southey the
nobler man. While our language lasts, Campbell's lyrics will make music in THOMAS CAM
it. While Great Britain has mariners, his ' Mariners of England' will kindle
a glow in the nation's heart : and scores of lines from his most successful
poem, the ' Pleasures of Hope,' have become so hackneyed that few people, on
hearing them, know -where they come from, or fail to suppose they must be
Shakspere's. He was known all over the world as the Author of the ' Plea-
sures of Hope ;' and used to complain of it as the introduction to every act
VOL. %ii. 4 u
BELL.
698 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 46. of his social life. He could not be born as tbe Author of the Pleasures of
Hope ; but he was so announced on his marriage, on his travels, on his intro-
duction to great personages, on every reappearance before the world as an
author : and a friend who had heard him thus complain, tells us that it was
with a sort of mournful amusement that, looking into the grave in Westmin-
ster Abbey at the last moment, he saw on the coffin-plate, " Thomas Campbell,
Author of the Pleasures of Hope," &c., &c. Campbell's own favourite among
his poems was ' Gertrude of Wyoming :' but, well as the public liked it, his
fame still rested on his earlier productions. Campbell's constitution and tem-
perament were not favourable to the conditions of a happy life. He sometimes
enjoyed greatly ; he often suffered bitterly ; and he was unable to merge his
self-regards either in sustained industry or in the interests of others. With
many generous impulses, and strong claims to respect in his relations of son
and brother, he was not a serene or happy man. After a life of strong ex-
citements and conflicting sensibilities, he died on the 15th of June, 1844, at
Boulogne, where he had settled a year before. He was in his 68th year. His
funeral iti Westminster Abbey was attended with all the pomp which could
KOKERT SOUTHEV. mark the national gratitude to a great poet. — Very unlike this was Southey's
genius and Southey's career. His life was one of purity and virtue almost
austere. His domestic affections were warm ; his domestic temper venerable
and sweet ; his self-denial and benevolence for the sake of the erring and the
helpless, were a life-long protest against the injurious laxity which enters into
our estimate of the morals of genius. He was eminently happy in his life-
long toils. He loved labour for itself; and he loved the subjects on which he
toiled : and his conscience, nice as it was, could not but be satisfied and
gratified at the spectacle of the aid and solace which, by his labours, he was
able to give beyond his own family, to some who had no natural claim on
him for support. In the spectacle of his social and domestic virtues, all
remembrance of a bitter political and religious spirit may well be sunk. He
was not a man qualified to have opinions, strictly so called. He could not
sympathize in any views but those immediately held by himself; and the
views which he most quarrelled with were usually those which had been, no
long time before, virulently held by himself. He wrote a vast quantity;
and never with carelessness or haste. Of his poems, 'Thalaba' is, no doubt,
the greatest blessing to his most youthful readers, to whom its pure sweetness
of morals and oriental imagery are most attractive: and 'Roderick' is
perhaps decided to be of the highest order. He was a graceful essayist and
critic, as is shown in his contributions to the 'Quarterly Review:' a spirited
biographer, as his popular 'Life of Nelson' may show: and a painstaking
and elegant historian, as we see in his ' History of the Peninsular War.' His
Essays and Histories were vitally injured by his imperfections as a thinker,
and his tendency to prejudice and intellectual passion : but he was always
earnest and sincere — always kindly in act when most intolerant in thought.
He suffered bitterly from the illness and death of his first wife : and so bitterly
as never to recover his power of mind. He formed a second marriage while
already sinking in health ; and became lost in mind, through pressure on the
brain, three years before his death, which took place on the 21st of March,
1843. He had been Poet Laureate since 1813, and was succeeded in the
CHAP. XVI.J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 699
office by Mr. Wordsworth, who holds it now. — Before quitting the review 1842 — 46.
of the literary men who died during the period before us, we must name v-— —-—•—-•
with them the publisher who was the friend of all literary men. John JOHN MURRAY.
Murray, the prince of publishers, introduced Scott and Byron to each other's
acquaintance ; and Southey and Crabbe ; and Scott and Wilkie. He was a
man of a noble heart in regard to literature and authors ; and happily, a noble
prosperity enabled him to gratify his generous dispositions. His pride was in
giving great gifts of literature to the world, and of solace to their authors. It
was he who presented us with the ' Quarterly Review,' and most of the greatest
works of the greatest men during the present century ; for he began business
when he came of age in 1799, and carried it on in full vigour till his death
in 1843. His first highly successful enterprise was Mrs. Rundell's * Cookery
Book;' and the next the 'Quarterly Review,' which he set up in 1809, and
which remains the property of his house. When, in after times, men read of
the generous and enlightened publishers who first succeeded to the patrons
of authors, it will not be forgotten that our age had a John Murray.
Of other benefactors of the century, we find that Dr. Birkbeck, the founder DR. BIRKBECK.
of Mechanics' Institutes, died in 1841, in the 66th year of his age. When
the departure of this excellent man was known, there was sorrow over all the
land where the working-men met for self and mutual instruction.— Another
eminent friend of popular enlightenment was William Allen, who aided in WILLIAM ALLEN.
founding the British and Foreign School Society, and in seeing what could be
done by the Lancasterian Schools. He was also one of the most active of the
indefatigable Abolitionists, and aided first in the extinction of the British
slave trade, and then in the overthrow of Colonial Slavery. He was a man
of science too, the friend of Davy, and for many years Lecturer on Chemistry
and Natural Philosophy at Guy's Hospital and the Royal Institution. After
a life of varied good works, the enlightened and benevolent William Allen,
whom the Friends had the honour of including in their sect, died in the 74th
year of his age, at the close of 1843. — Two of his friends and fellow-labourers
soon followed him — Mrs. Fry in 1845, in her 65th year ; and Thomas Clark- ELIZABETH FKY
son in 1846, in the 86th year of his age. If it be true, as we are wont to say, CLMIKSON**
that the distinctive social effect of Christianity is its inducing the care of the
helpless who were before left to perish, the existence of such persons as these
three — Allen, Clarkson, and Mrs. Fry — at one time, and in close companion-
ship — marks our age as a Christian one, after all its drawbacks. The ignorant,
the guilty, and the enslaved, were the chief care in life to these friends, who
might have passed their years in ease, and indolence, or the gratification of
merely intellectual tastes : but it suited their noble natures better to go out on
the highways of the sea and land, and search through dark alleys, and disgust-
ing prisons, and hellish slave-ships, to seek and save that which was lost.
They sustained, moreover, the most irksome and dispiriting toil, the most
disheartening disappointment — a long and painful probation of heart and
mind — in pursuit of their objects ; and they died, all faithful to the aims qf
their life. When Mrs. Fry entered the room in Newgate where 160 guilty
and ignorant wretches were shut up, and in her serene and noble countenance
brought them the hope which they had believed to be for ever shut out, she
began that reform in the treatment of moral disease which, however tentative
700 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Book VI.
1842 — 46. and vague at present, can never now stop short of completion. And when
^—— v— — ' Clarkson sat down, his heart throbbing with his new knowledge of the wrongs
of the negro, and resolved to devote his life to the redemption of that helpless
race, the greatest step was taken ever known to have been taken by any man
for the assertion and establishment of human rights. And Clarkson was not
one to forsake an aim. He lived for the cause to the very last, and drew in
others to live for it. Mistakes were made by his coadjutors and himself; for,
in enterprises so new and vast, the agents have to learn as they go : but the
national conscience was roused, the principles of human liberty were asserted,
the national testimony was transferred to the side of right, and the emancipa-
tion of all races of men was made a question merely of time. As it was Clark-
son who began, and who stimulated Wilberforce and all other good men to
carry on the work, whom could we place higher than Clarkson on our list of
benefactors? Wilberforce and all other good men assigned him the first
place ; and there he remains and will remain.
MISS FLAHERTY. A Roman Catholic lady, well educated, and deeply impressed with the
advantages of education, was living in the neighbourhood of London during
the whole of the period of our History, watching the results of the eiforts made
by Lord Brougham and others for the extension and improvement of education
in England. Her name was Flaherty. She was not rich ; but she was
unmarried, and free to live as she chose, and dispose of her income as she
would. She chose to live frugally, and to ride in an omnibus instead of a
better carriage, that she might have means to aid the extension of Education.
In 1836, she presented to the Council of University College, the sum of
£5,000 in the 3| per Cents., out of which scholarships have been founded.
This lady has shown us that there is nothing in our modern civilization — our
omnibuses and unsectarian schools — which can preclude the antique spirit and
practice of love and good works : and in this the admirable Mary Flaherty has
perhaps left us as true a benefit as in the scholarships which bear her name.
She died in 1845, aged 84.
The creation of wealth, and consequently of human life, by means of the
Cotton manufacture is pointed out as one of the leading social events of the
last century. It is reckoned that the cotton manufacture has added perma-
nently 2,000,000 to our population. Something analogous, on a smaller,*but
still on a great scale, has been effected in our own time by the agricultural im-
MR. COKE. provements of one man — Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, who died Earl of Leicester. By
the simple and virtuous method of devoting his mind and life to the improve-
ment of the land, Mr. Coke caused a vast permanent increase of wealth, and
therefore of labour and subsistence, and therefore of human life. In a single
village, where he found 162 inhabitants when he entered on his property, he
left 1,000 : and for many miles round, a country before poor and almost barren
was left by him fruitful and well-peopled. He found his own rental increased
from £2,200 to above £20,000 : but that was of small account in his eyes, in
comparison with the stimulus given to agricultural improvement by his exam-
ple. The Holkham Sheep-shearing, at which Mr. Coke annually entertained
300 guests for several days, roused a fine spirit among the landed proprietors
of England and the farmers of Norfolk, and caused Mr. Coke to be looked
upon as one of the chief social benefactors of his time. While in the House
CHAP. XVI.] DURING. THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 701
of Commons, he was a sturdy Liberal. When the Reform Bill passed, he 1842 — 46.
thought he might be spared from the political world, aged as he then was. ^— -— ^— • -^
He was always called " the first Commoner of England ;" but, in 1837, when
85 years of age, he was made Earl of Leicester. He reached the age of 90,
dying in June, 1842. — There were benefactors of Mrs. Flaherty's order in the
cause of agricultural improvements during this period. Dr. Swiney, resident DR- SWINEY.
in Camden Town, an eccentric gentleman in some respects, did an act of sober
goodness in leaving £5,000 to the trustees of the British Museum, for the
establishment of a lectureship on Geology ; and another £5,000 to the Society
of Arts, to provide once in every five years, 100 guineas, to be presented, in a
goblet of equal value, to the British freeholder who should reclaim the largest
extent of waste lands. Dr. Swiney died in 1844. — In 1846, died Mr. Peter PETER PURCELL.
Purcell of Dublin, who was mainly instrumental in forming the Royal Agri-
cultural Improvement Society, and who did in Ireland, on a smaller scale,
what Mr. Coke was doing in England. He became wealthy through the
improvement of land — caring less for his wealth for its own sake than as a
proof open to all eyes of the direction in which the welfare of Ireland lay.
He withdrew from politics, in which he had once been as much involved as
any man, and engaged as many of his neighbours as he could in the interests
of improved husbandry. More and more labourers were employed ; the political
temper of his neighbours improved; he grew wealthy; and when he was
gone, all men saw what a benefactor he had been. — When Mr. Coke was called
the first Commoner of England, the Marquess of Westminster was believed to MARQUE.S OF
be " the richest subject in the empire." His importance in our eyes arises,
not from the amount of his wealth, but from the mode in which its increase
was provided for during this period. The Pimlico estate, before considered a
vast property, now has upon it the new squares of Belgrave and Eaton, with
Eccleston Street, Wilton Place, and all the new city of palaces which foreigners
now look upon as one of the marvels of London. The ultimate rental of this
district is scarcely calculable. The Marquess of Westminster had besides a
noble library, incjuding a mass of valuable ancient MSS. and one of the finest
picture galleries in the kingdom, which was liberally opened to the public.
The Marquess of Westminster was a steady Whig for the last forty years of
his life, after having entered the political world under the auspices of Mr.
Pitt. He was raised from his earldom to his Marquisate by William IV. But
among all of either title by whom he was preceded or may be followed, he will
ever be distinguished by his creations on his Pimlico estate.
Throughout our History, some grateful mention has been made of the bene-
factors that society has lost during our period of thirty years. It is unnatural
to conclude without some grateful mention of those who remained among us
at the close of the period. Yet how little can be said while they yet live !
How presumptuous it seems to suppose that we can estimate their influence on
society, or set forth what they have done ! It is only with regard to a very few
that even a word can yet be ventured — a few whose social influence was as
unquestionable in 1846 as it can ever be to another generation. To a future
generation must be left the duty and privilege of honouring a hundred more.
702 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Booic VI.
1842 — 46. We have seen something of what railways are likely to do in changing and
^— •"•*""•' — " advancing our civilization. It is to the greatest of our engineers, George
GEORGB JEN- Stephenson, who was living at the expiration of this period, that this change
is owing, more than to any other man. His achievement lies, too, exactly
within our period ; for it was in 1816 that Mr. Stephenson took out a patent,
in conjunction with Mr. Dodd and Mr. Losh, under which locomotives were
set forth upon colliery railways near Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Between that
date and the close of our history, Mr. Stephenson's plans and works have
spread over the land, till there is probably hardly an individual in the king-
dom whose existence is not in some way affected by what has been done. —
Then, we have, instead of the Cathedral of old, a Palace of National Council,
which is the truest and fittest direction for the spirit of Architecture to take
BARHY. in our age, and under our political constitution : and Mr. Barry is our archi-
tect. In our splendid Houses of Parliament he has built his own monument ;
and if, as one of the Arts of Peace, architecture has risen and improved during
the period, Mr. Barry has been, by many other works scattered through our
towns, the chief educator of the public taste. — In a widely different depart-
ment of training, we have had a guide whose name should be remembered by
MACREADY. fae countrymen of Shakspere. Mr. Macready has led the nation back again
from some foolish wanderings to the real Shakspere. The Kembles presented
the chief characters of Shakspere with a glory which could not be surpassed :
but Mr. Macready has evidenced a faith in the popular mind for which the
popular heart should be grateful. He has not only presented many characters
in his own person with extreme intellectual power and skill, but he has
brought these immortal plays before the public eye in their integrity, and
trusted to the general mind to prefer them to meaner things. — In painting we
TURNER. have Turner whose life has been a plea for the study of Nature instead of
merely the old Masters : and we have his works to show how ever new Nature
is, when contemplated by a mind which owes its training to Art but not its
conceptions.
May it not be said that this is the service which, in another department,
WORDSWORTH, has been rendered us by Wordsworth ? We have a great gift in his lofty
eloquence, and in his vindication of all human sympathies : but it appears
probable that a future generation will be most grateful to him for having
brought us up out of a misleading conventionalism in poetry to a recognition
and contemplation of Nature in subject and in expression. It was long before
the critical world could be disabused ; but the effort was met by popular sym-
pathy, wherever it could be reached, from the beginning ; and the popular
sympathy long ago rose above all the opposition of an outworn criticism. — It
JOANNA BAULIE. was before our period that Joanna Baillie wrote the plays which turned the
heads of the reading world ; but she is among us still, more honoured than
ROGERS. ever, if less worshipped. — And we have still her aged friend, Mr. Rogers,
whose chief poem stimulated Campbell to write his 'Pleasures of Hope.' The
quiet gentle beauty of Mr. Rogers's chief poem, the ' Pleasures of Memory,'
made its way to the general heart : and its early fame has not been obscured
by other good deeds of Mr. Rogers, in the advancement of Art, and in gene-
ALFRED TUNNY, rous aid to intellectual aspirants of every class. — One poet we have of such
signal and peculiar power that his mind cannot but modify that of a future
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 703
generation. The poems of Alfred Tennyson have certainly much of the beauty 1842 — 46.
of a long-past time : but they have also a life so vivid, a truth so lucid, and a
melody so inexhaustible, as to mark him the poet that cannot die.
John Wilson must unite the classes of poets and of essayists ; for he is so WILSON.
entirely both that it is impossible to separate him from either. Before he was
known as Christopher North, he was known as a poet : and assuredly he is
much more of a poet since he has written in prose. In our periodical litera-
ture he stands alone, giving us in the form of essays and dialogues, drama,
criticism, poetry, natural history, and infinite mirth, all blended together and
harmonized by a spirit of inexhaustible kindliness, which renders him truly a
benefactor to an age that is held to need softening and cheering even more
than expanding. If any one questions whether Sir Roger de Coverley has
been a blessing to men for above a century, such an one, but no other, may
doubt whether Christopher North will be a blessing to men of another time.
Among the Essayists, Francis Jeffrey has ever been acknowledged supreme : JEFFREY.
and his Review, though instituted long before the period of our history, must
be regarded as one of the most powerful influences of the time. No one
supposes the influence to have been altogether for good ; or the principle of
reviewing to be, on the whole, defensible (as authors must generally be bet-
ter informed on the subjects they write on than their self-constituted judges):
nor can it be said that the spirit of the Edinburgh Review was in its early
days as generous, or at any time as earnest, as could be wished : but, with all
these drawbacks, it was of eminent service in opening a wide range of sub-
jects to middle-class readers, and in advocating liberal political principles.
Francis Jeffrey's articles were the gems of the publication — full, clear, sensible,
here and there deep, and always elegant — they make one wonder why the
fame of the Essayists of a century earlier should have so far transcended that of
the best of our Edinburgh reviewers. — Of a later time is Macaulay, who began T. MACA
his striking series of review articles when Jeffrey was retiring amidst the well-
earned honours of his old age. Rapid, brilliant, crowded with powers and
with beauties, Mr. Macaulay's Essays have roused and animated and gratified
the minds of a multitude of readers who would have required more than was
reasonable if they had asked also for soundness of inference, completeness of
statement, and repose of manner. Mr. Macaulay's influence as a historian is
for a future generation to judge of; for his efforts in that direction have been
entered upon since the close of our Thirty Years. — Another eminent Essayist
is Walter Savage Landor : but his exquisite writings, full of thought, fresh LANDOR.
and deep, and of feeling, sound and heroic, with the charm of antique learning
spread over all, are the luxury of the few, and not even likely to leaven the
mind of the many through those few. — Among the men of erudition who have
made their generation the better for their learning, Mr. Hallam is prominent. HAU.AM.
His review of the Middle Ages, and his History of Literature, are among the
benefits of the time ; but his greatest gift is his Constitutional History,
the value of which, with its singular impartiality and dispassionateness, may
have been inestimable in a transitional political period. — One remains who CARLYLE.
must stand alone in our view, as he does in his life, and his modes of thought,
and in the character of his writings. Whatever place we assign him, and by
whatever name we call him, Thomas Carlyle appears to be the man who
704 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 46. has most essentially modified the mind of his time. Nothing like his mind
N——^— — " was ever heard or dreamed of in our literature before ; nothing like his
mournful, grotesque, and bitterly earnest writing ever seen. Yet his writings,
though widely are not universally read : and he has long wrought where
his works have never appeared, and his name been barely heard. His cry of
sympathetic suffering has entered into the heart of legislators ; his scornful
rebuke of injustice has opened the eyes of the class-blinded : his bitter
ridicule of cant and factitious emotion has confounded the sectarianism and
fashionable humanity of the day ; and his broad and bold and incessant im-
plication of human equality in all essential matters (if the skin be but white)
has roused the clergy, and other orders of guides and instructors, to a sense
of the claims of their clients. If we find, as we certainly do every where
in our land, a nobler moral ideal in society, a deeper sympathy, a stronger
earnestness, and some partial deliverance from factitious and conventional
morals and manners, it is unquestionably traceable to Carlyle. His mournful
and protesting voice is heard sounding through our more serious parliamen-
tary debates ; and it is the glance of his eye that has directed other eyes to the
depths of social misery and wrong. Whether we call him philosopher, poet,
or moralist, he is the first teacher of our generation.
MABIA At the close of our period, Maria Edgeworth was living. She it was who
early and effectually interested her century in the character and lot of the
Irish : and she did much besides to raise the character of fiction, and to
gratify the popular mind before Scott, and Bulwer, and Dickens, occupied
that field of literature. It was as the friend of little children, however, that
Miss Edgeworth is most beloved, and will be most gratefully remembered.
Her delectable Rosamond is worth a score of famed novel -heroes, and is surely
destined to everlasting youth, with an ingenuousness that can never be sullied,
and a vivacity that can never be chilled. — Our restless and indefatigable
BULWER. Bulwer came next ; and wherever English books are read his novels are
found, and men and women are disputing whether they are harmless or much
to be feared. His mind is evidently of so impressible and so eclectic a
character as to prevent its productions having a vital influence ; and therefore
it seems as if they need not be feared ; while there is great value in his
wonderful analyses and specimens of the mind of the time ; — the politic, the
worldly, the sceptical, the artistical, the literary, the self-observant, the
would-be philosophical ; — nearly all, perhaps, but the simple, the religious, or
the truly philosophical. Bulwer has given us popular dramas too ; and
successful political pamphlets, and volumes of poems, and essays. Succeeding
more or less in every walk, his best achievement, as many good judges think,
is in his early series of Essays republished under the title of * The Student.'
However opinions may vary about the claims of particular works, there can
be no doubt that Bulwer has largely occupied the mind and leisure of the
public of his day. — Last and greatest among the Novelists comes Charles
DICKENS. Dickens — the Boz, who rose up in the midst of us like a Jin with his magic
glass among some eastern people, showing forth what was doing in the regions
of darkness, and in odd places where nobody ever thought of going to look.
It is scarcely conceivable that any one should, in our age of the world, exert a
stronger social influence than Mr. Dickens has in his power. His sympathies
CHAP. XVI.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 705
are on the side of the suffering and the frail ; and this makes him the idol of \ 842 46.
those who suffer, from whatever cause. We may wish that he had a sounder
social philosophy, and that he could suggest a loftier moral to sufferers ; —
could lead them to see that "man does not live by bread alone," and that his
best happiness lies in those parts of his nature which are only animated and
exalted by suffering, if it does not proceed too far ; — could show us something
of the necessity and blessedness of homely and incessant self-discipline, and
dwell a little less fondly on the grosser indulgences and commoner bene-
ficence which are pleasant enough in their own place, but which can never
make a man and society so happy as he desires them to become. We may
wish for these things ; and we may shrink from the exhibition of human
miseries as an artistical study ; but, these great drawbacks once admitted, we
shall be eager to acknowledge that we have in Charles Dickens a man of
a genius which cannot but mark the time, and accelerate or retard its
tendencies. In as far as its tendencies are to " consider the poor," and. to
strip off the disguises of cant, he is vastly accelerating them. As to whether
his delineations are true to broad daylight English life, that may be for some
time to come a matter of opinion on which men will differ. That they are,
one and all, true to the ideal in the author's mind, is a matter on which none
differ ; while the inexhaustible humour, the unbounded power of observation,
the exquisite occasional pathos, and the geniality of spirit throughout,
carry all readers far away from critical thoughts, and give to the author
the whole range of influence, from the palace library to the penny book-
club.
It is something new in England to see a satirical periodical — a farcical PENCIL
exposure of the sins and follies of the time. We have one now. Some of the
wits of London, with Douglas Jerrold at their head, set up a Weekly Com-
mentary on the doings of London as seen by Punch : and there is no corner
of the kingdom to which Punch's criticisms have not penetrated. The work
has been very useful, as well as abundantly amusing ; it has had its faults
and follies, and has dropped some of them ; and now, its objects of satire are
usually as legitimate as its satire is pungent and well-tempered. It is some-
thing that the grave English have a droll periodical to make them laugh
every week ; and it is something more that the laugh is not at the expense of
wisdom.
In the solemn and immortal labours of the Laboratory and the Observatory HEIWCHKI.
we have Faraday and Herschel yet busy. It is not for us to speak of the
secrets of Nature which they are laying open ; and it is not for any one to
compute what they have done, or to anticipate what they may do. Of one
work of Sir J. Herschel's we may form some estimate — his ' Preliminary
Discourse on Natural Philosophy.9 That treatise is enough to make any man
with a mind and heart long to devote himself to the pursuit of Physical
Science, as the high road to wisdom, from that moment onwards. His own
devotion to it is an example and inducement to all who can follow. He went
to the Cape, to set up his observatory — leaving behind all considerations but
that of the advancement of science : and every step of his pilgrimage has set
its mark on a future age. — As for Faraday, we dare say only that he is pene- FARADAY.
trating into mysteries of existence of which his own vast faculties can hardly
VOL. II. 4 X
706 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1842 — 46. bear the contemplation, and which will therefore become fully comprehensible
— — ^— * — only to a future generation. Under his gaze and his touch, the solid material of
the universe is all melting away — matter (according to the old and now vulgar
idea of it) is dissolving itself into forces ; and our feeble insight into nature
would be blinded, and our weak grasp of reliance would be all cast loose, but
for the great truth which presents itself more clearly through all changes —
that immutable Law rules every where, all-sufficing for our intellectual sup-
port and our ease of heart. If we cannot compute what has been done by the
researches and discoveries of Faraday for the period through which we have
passed, we can say nothing of how they will influence the next. We can
only feel certain that, in as far as they must change the aspect of the uni-
verse, and give a new command over the conditions of organized life, they
must largely affect the destiny of man, both in his intellectual progress and
his social relations. It will be for the men of that future time to assign to
Faraday his place in the history of his country and of his kind.
CHAP. XVII. J DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 707
CHAPTER XVII.
IN taking a review of any period within our own experience, every one of 1815 — 46.
us is apt to exaggerate the gains of the time — its gains in knowledge, ^~~-~*<~~--^
arts, and moral views. This arises in part from our confounding change or ADVANCEMENT.
expansion in our own ideas with change in the world about us. Therefore,
we are liable to be struck by an opposite view upon occasion ; and, in con-
templating the best things in the old world — not its arts and science, but the
wisdom of its sages, and the mental condition and communion of its people —
to doubt whether, after all, the human race has got on so very much as is
commonly said. If we endeavour to keep our view extended, we shall not
suppose that any critical or decisive advance can have been made by any
section of the human race in a period of thirty years : and we shall look
without pride or vanity, it may be hoped, upon such improvements as may be
recognised; while the review of such improvements may be thoroughly de-
lightful as convincing us of that rapid partial advance towards the grand slow
general advance which we humbly but firmly trust to be the destination of
the human race.
To look first to the lowest class of improvements — the Arts of Life : we find
many of recent origin, which promote the general convenience and comfort.
The Electric Telegraph is a marvel of the time which our minds are even yet
C7 J. •'
hardly able to familiarize themselves with : and yet, while amazed at what we
see, we have a clear persuasion that this is but the opening of a series of dis-
coveries and inventions. News is transmitted as by a lightning flash ; mes-
sages are exchanged, police and soldiery may be summoned on an emergency,
criminals are captured, scientific observations at distant points may become
all but simultaneous, and there is a strengthening expectation that distant
countries may communicate, not by the sea, slowly and hazardously, as hitherto,
but through the sea, with the rapidity of thought. And still, when we look
at the natural facts that have manifested themselves in the course of recent
experiments, we are aware that much more remains to be revealed. — Then,
again, we have discovered the wonderful fact of sun-painting. Not only are SUN-PAINTING.
our portraits taken (with a harshness at present which will soon, no doubt, be
softened down by art) — portraits about whose likeness there can be no dis-
pute — but a world of toil and error is certain to be saved in coast-surveying,
architectural portraiture, and delineation in natural history. Every fibre of
a flower, every stone of a building, every feature of any scene, is fixed in a
moment in its true proportions, to last for ever. There need no more be con-
troversy in future centuries about the aspects of perished cities, or speculation
about the faces of the illustrious dead. Each age may leave to the future a
picture gallery of its whole outer life. — Then, again, there is a telescope LORD HOSSK-S
existing, of such power, that every rock in our side of the moon, as large as
„
LLLCjKAIMI .
708 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1815 46. a church, is visible. We do not hear much of this marvel yet, because it is
* — — ^ not yet so manageable as it will be ; and errors derived from its use are as
enormous as its powers. But it is a vast new opening into science, through
which wise men are learning to look, and which may hereafter stand wide to
the peasant and the child. — Of steam and railways enough has been said.
Every body knows more than could be told here of what they do in super-
seding toil, in setting human hands free for skilled labour, in bringing men
face to face with each other and with nature and novelty ; — the peer face to
face with the farmer and the merchant, and the mechanic face to face with
mountain and forest and sea. — Then again, we have new explosive sub-
GUN COTTON, stances which first connect themselves in our thoughts with war — as the Gun
Cotton of recent invention, but which will doubtless be used to lay open
secrets of nature, and help us in our application of the arts when the nations
shall not learn war any more. — In an humbler way, but by no means a con-
temptible one, we have now means of obtaining fire in a moment, every
Avhere. Not only in the cottage but in every house the tiresome tinder-box,
with its slowness and uncertainty, was the only way to get fire twenty years
ago, except in the chemist's laboratory, where phosphorus matches were a
sort of terror to the commonalty. Now the penny box of lucifers is in every
cottage, where it saves the burning of the rushlight for the baby's sake. We
have had some rick and shed burning in consequence ; but that evil was sure
to follow any great facility in obtaining fire. — In waterproof clothing, the poor
have obtained a great benefit. Large classes of labourers may soon be better
protected from wet at their out-door work than are the policemen of the present
TUN^EHUME! day. — The Thames Tunnel may at first appear purely a work of human head
and hands; a piece of boring and building: but it could not have been
achieved in an age of science inferior to our own. Mention has been made
before of the strong and wide interest which existed about this work when it
was brought to a stop, and shut up for some years. The sanguine were jus-
^""Tchron'.'m. tifiea< in tne"" prophecies that it would be opened again. In December, 1841,
the works reached the shaft at Wapping : and on the 24th, an opening was
made in the brickwork of the shaft ; and a large party of gentlemen — all the
Directors and several original subscribers — walked through, being the first
persons who had ever passed under the river from shore to shore. In March,
Annual Regisur, 1843, it was opened to foot passengers, a grand procession with music passing
18 13 • Chron, 30. i i • i i • i i • •
through one side and returning by the other. While this modern mermaid
music was going on lower than the fishes could dive, there was some grief and
mourning above — such as always makes the drawback on new appliances of
civilization. A black flag was hung out at the Tunnel pier, to show the dis-
pleasure of the watermen at such a supersession of their RedrirTe ferry. In
the next July, the Queen and Prince Albert went to see the Tunnel : and in
the following March, at the end of the first year, upwards of 2,000,000 of foot
passengers had paid toll. To this day, it is the first object of curiosity to
foreigners visiting London.
It must be in another kind of history than this, that the progress of Science
during the last thirty years should be recorded. Here, we can only point out
jjimisii the great apparatus provided for that end in the British Association for the
ASSOCIATION. Advancement of Science. This Association has continued to hold its meetings
Under tb.e Sup erintendeaic e of tlie Society for the Diffusion of Usefcl ffiaowiet
sheO. ty WT- S. Orr ic C"
CHA.P. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 709
from year to year; and, admitting all that has been said, and all that can be 1815 46.
said, of its drawbacks — of the waste of time by the talking of egotists, and the ^— - ^— — ^
levity and vanity of many who congregate there for excitement or display —
there remains a large amount of practical service to human interests. There
are men watching the tides on the shores of all seas ; and we are likely to
know in time the levels of all the waters of the globe. Observatories —
Russian, French, American, British, and others — are set up in every zone.
One man comes with proof in his hand of the existence of an unseen heavenly
body, which others begin to look for ; and something, whether it or another,
is found. Others come from searching in the opposite direction, and bring GEOLOGY.
up almost incredible knowledge from the bowels of the earth. The most
obvious result, perhaps, to common eyes, of these scientific gatherings is the
wide spread of geological knowledge; or, at least, of ideas related to such
knowledge. It is a good thing that men should have some notion of the
structure of the globe : it is better that their minds should open to the con-
ception of vast spaces of time, and of huge revolutions of nature ; and of that
order of appearance of all living things which is so unlike previous concep-
tion : but it must surely be a nobler thing still that men should learn the
relation they bear to their place of abode ; should get to know how the human
mind and life take their character from the geological formation of the region
they dwell in. If they perceive how the dwellers in the desert must neces-
sarily be one sort of men, and the dwellers in pasture lands another ; how
thoughts and desires and ways, and therefore physical structure itself, are
modified by men living in a mineral, or a pastoral, or an agricultural district,
they have obtained a grasp of some of the grandest conditions of human life,
from which must arise, in time, some determining power over the human lot.
It is not to be wondered at, considering how^he Science of Geology interests
at once the reasoning and the observing faculties, the imagination (both anti-
quarian and speculative) and the humanity which dwells more or less in every
one, that its spread among the people should be one of the most noticeable
facts of our time.
Then, there is some advance made towards a real science of Medicine. It MEDIUM*. \
cannot be said that we have yet any science of medicine, properly so called :
and the ablest physicians are the most ready and anxious to make the decla-
ration. But there are, or seem to be, now clear openings to a knowledge of
the [nature of disease, and not only to that of symptoms of disease. As a
philosopher of our day is wont to say, we are now presented, as it were, with
the fragmentary parts of some great general law of the human frame, which
we seem to be on the verge of discovering. Since the peace, the physicians of
Europe have com municated more freely than before; though still, the spirit of
the profession hinders their communicating enough, or in the best manner.
The hitherto universal empirical method of producing by drugs and otherwise
one set of symptoms of disease to drive out another, has already given way, in
many directions, to the trial of more natural methods, based on new observa-
tions. Dr. Hahnemann's opposite method, based on a theory yet dim and
imperfect, but more philosophical on the face of it, prevails widely in schools
of medicine abroad, and in private practice in England, so as to have remark-
ably diminished the application of drugs, and the creation of artificial
710
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
[BOOK VI.
SANITARY IM-
PROVEMENT.
1815 — 46. ailments. The Water System, with all its abuse and extravagance, has been
useful in putting a check upon the worse empiricism which preceded it ; and
we have considerably advanced in our insight into some prodigious mysteries
of the human frame, which rebuke alike the levity of ignorance and the
solemnity of professional dogmatism. Our knowledge is as yet little enough ;
but it is more than it was ; and one consequence of the research, and of im-
proved intercourse with the Continent — a consequence open to universal
observation — is that physicians give fewer and fewer drugs, and admit more
and more freely that a scientific basis for their profession remains to be found.
— As might be expected, the knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and the art
of surgery, have advanced at a far more rapid rate ; and in this way the
chances of alleviation of human suffering are improving every day.
And here we slide into the department of social interests. The attention
given to Sanitary improvement is a leading feature of our time. Thirty
years ago, scarcely anybody thought of pure air, good drainage, a sufficient
supply of water, or even cleanliness of person, as we all think of them now.
In the greatest houses, there was little or no thought about what kind of soil
the house was built on, or where the drains emptied themselves, or where the
used-up air of the apartments went to, or, perhaps, of the necessity of thorough
daily ablution : yet now these things are coming into consideration on behalf
of the very poorest. There was, thirty years ago, more spirit-and-water drink-
ing among the middle classes, more tight-lacing among women, more physick-
ing of children, more close rooms, a more imperfect washing of clothes, less
exercise and cold water in general use, less horror at close alleys, and large
cities without airing grounds. Now we have People's Parks, here and there ;
we have Baths and Washhouses for the poor — and not as charity, but as a pur-
chaseable convenience for those who live in small houses or few rooms. We
have not yet achieved the wholesome and profitable drainage of towns, and
ventilation of the houses therein, and the abolition of burial of the dead
among the homes of the living ; but we have a firm hold of the idea and the
purpose; and the great work is therefore sure to be done. Among many
benefactors in this direction, we must mention first Dr. Andrew Combe, the
kindly Edinburgh physician, who turned his own loss of health to the pur-
pose of improving the health of others. He made himself a subject of cool
philosophical observation, and gave us the benefit, in some popular works on
physiological subjects which have diffused a useful knowledge of the condi-
tions of health, and a wholesome observance of them, wherever they have
spread — that is, almost all over Great Britain and the United States ; and
probably much further. In these works, whose views are to a great degree the
reflection of the sufferings of the author, there. is no trace of egotism, or of any
thing else that is morbid. Dr. Combe unconsciously gives us in them a moral
instruction not less valuable than the sanitary. — Mr. Chadwick has no doubt
done more than any one other man in direct furtherance of the general health.
He has looked at the subject on every side, and exhibited it in every light.
He has insisted, not only on the cruelty of condemning a multitude of our
citizens to disease and premature death, but on the sin of encouraging crime
by discomfort, and the folly of expending more money on the burial of the
dead, and the support of the widows and orphans that they leave, than would
Dre. ANDKEW
COMBE.
MR. CHADWICK.
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 711
keep the community in health. Mr. Chadwick's connexion with the first 1815 — 46.
Commission of the New Poor Law afforded him opportunity for obtaining an
extraordinary amount of information on sanitary subjects ; Jind he has so
strenuously worked the enterprise of reform, that its completion is, amidst many
discouragements and difficulties, natural in such a case, merely a question of
time. Before the history of another period shall be written by some one of
the next generation, we may hope that the Thames will have ceased to receive
the filth of London and of other towns ; that the sewers will answer their
pro])er purpose ; that every house will be supplied with pure water ; that the
dead will be buried in country cemeteries; that every stagnant ditch and
dunghill will be treated as a public offence ; and that the causes of fever will
be destroyed wherever it is possible to detect them.
The pursuit of this inquiry has cut out work for the Agricultural Associations A0"10,1!.™"*1'
of the kingdom. It is now known that the proper application of the filth that
destroys life by fever, would support, in the form of wholesome food, a vastly
increased amount of human life. The science of agricultural chemistry has
advanced materially within thirty years — partly in consequence of our im-
proved intercourse with the Continent. And our agricultural associations
have sprung up within a much shorter date. The Board of Agriculture, the
pet project of George III., was supported by an annual parliamentary grant.
It had no real life in it ; and it expired when the parliamentary grant was
withdrawn in 1817. After that, we had in England nothing corresponding to
the great and useful Highland Society of Scotland. Scotch farming improved
continually. In England, farming could hardly grow worse than it had been ;
but it did not improve. Mr. William Shaw understood something of the
magnitude of the need. In 1834, and subsequent years, he urged continu-
ally, in agricultural periodicals, the formation of a national Society for the ad-
vancement of practical agriculture. At the dinner of the Smithfield Club, on
the llth of December, 1837, Lord Spencer proposed the formation of such a
society ; and the thing was done. From the knowledge since obtained, and
the results already exhibited, it appears that if we understood our position and
our business, there need be no more fear of an insufficiency of work or of food
for the people. If all refuse were used as manure, and all the land now under
cultivation were properly tilled, we should hear no more in our time of sur-
plus population, of wages falling below 8s., of farmers having cause to dread
the importation of foreign wheat, or of the consumption of meat being con-
fined to classes who by no means want it most. As the development of Manu-
factures was the grand economical feature of the last century, that of Agri-
culture appears likely to become the distinctive feature of the present. The
pernicious spell of Protection is dissolved ; something like a scientific edu-
cation is now to be obtained by the next generation of farmers ; and our sani-
tary researches are about to provide an ample supply of the first requisite of
increased production. We may hope soon to see the agricultural population
once more gaining upon the manufacturing, and the rural labouring class
ceasing to be the opprobrium of our polity. — We have shown that the preser- GAME LAWS.
vation of Game is giving way, and must give way still further. — We are in PRISON MANACE-
course of improvement with regard to our Prison management. There is
nothing to boast about yet, when we look at our convicts as victims of moral
712 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [BOOK VI.
1815 — 46. disease induced by ignorance and social neglect; but there is no comparison
--^— ,^— - between the state of our prisons now and thirty years since. Since that time
Mrs. Fry and her coadjutors have done their benevolent work ; and it has been
followed up by government and local authorities to such a point as to leave
no doubt of a thorough reform in time. The main existing difficulty arises
from the want of an ascertained basis of action. We have not settled yet what
to do with our convicts. There is a clear expectation everywhere that the
punishment of death will soon be abolished. There is, at the same time,
almost universal discontent with our transportation system ; and the widest
diversity of views as to how convicts are to be managed and disposed of. It is
not for us to prophecy what the result will be. It is enough to record that
the question is before the national mind. It is enough that justice and mercy
are invoked ; for there never yet was any difficulty which, once appealed to,
they refused to solve.
We have seen how essentially our Criminal Law has been improved since
the days when Romilly laboured on amidst discouragement of every kind.
We have seen how our nation has been relieved from the disgrace of Slave-
ft7vIE^ION °P holding. We have failed in our efforts to stop the slave trade ; and we appear
slow to learn that the slave trade can come to an end only by being super-
seded, and not by being checked by force of arms. By encouraging the pro-
duction of cotton, sugar, and coffee by free labour, by fostering innocent
commerce in Africa, and, not least, by sympathizing with the peaceful
efforts of abolitionists wherever they are striving against the curse of slavery,
we can do more for the extinction of the hellish traffic than by any armed
force that can be sent out upon the sea. As the nation first in economic rank
among the peoples of the world, it seems as if it must be our business to put
down slavery by exhibiting its inferiority to free labour, while not the less
insisting on its moral odiousness.
EDUCATION. We have witnessed the rise and progress of Mechanics' Institutes. We
have seen a small beginning made of a State Education of children. A very
small beginning it is — the whole sum of Parliamentary grants not yet
reaching half a million. There has been a great amount of virtuous volun-
tary effort, among Churchmen, Dissenters, Chartists, employers of labour,
and a multitude who were ready to aid : but there are bounds to the ability
of individuals ; and it cannot, in the nature of things, go on expanding in
proportion to the ever-growing need. Again, the quality of the education
given by private efforts is a very uncertain matter. It can rarely be so good
as that which is planned from the united wisdom of a people: and it is
apt to be of a very low order. The sectarian spirit which is the curse of
English society has thus far condemned the children of the nation to a
defective education, or to total ignorance. While in no department of
benevolent action has there been more energy and good- will than in extend-
ing Education, in none are we more behind the needs of the time. We
shall not be safe, morally, politically, or economically, till we join in agreeing
that, as each church cannot have its own way, nor any one, even though
it be the Established Church, we must meet the evil of ignorance in the
largest class of the people by throwing open to all means of sound moral
and intellectual education, leaving the religious instruction and training
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 713
to the pastors or guardians of the pupils. In indirect ways, meanwhile, 1815 — 46.
the Education of the people has heen going on. We have seen that much ' — —^ '
was done for the intellects of large numbers by the action of the Anti-Corn-
law League. Much, again, has been done by the vast spread of cheap
literature, inducing, among other benefits, the formation of penny- a-week
book-clubs. And then there is that animating feature of the time, the POPULAR MUSIC.
introduction of Music as a popular pursuit. For this, we are obviously
indebted to the Peace.5 It is from Germany that this remarkable benefit
has come. In 1842, we find the first performance of Mr. Hullah's musical
classes to have taken place, in the presence of Prince Albert, in Exeter
Hall. The classes were formed under the sanction of the government
Council of Education. Here, on the very first public trial, 1500 novices Annual Registpr,
sang, without the guidance of any instrument, psalms, hymns, and a
madrigal, in a manner which made some hearers look upon Mr. Hullah
as a sort of magician, who could convert a crowd of untuned English adults,
hitherto almost unconscious what music was, into a vast organ endowed
with soul. Since that date, music has been a beloved and joyful pursuit in
many a little back-parlour in Whitechapel and the suburbs of London, in
many a workshop in provincial towns, and at evening gatherings in remote
villages where some pupil of Hullah or Mainzer may have settled. There is
now glee-singing to be heard among apprentices in north country villages
which could hardly have been surpassed, a quarter of a century ago, in our
cathedral towns. — In another branch of art, how has the popular taste been
improved by the immigration of foreigners ! Before 1815, our artisan classes POPULAR ART.
saw an exhibition of wax- work occasionally, and could buy for their mantel-
shelf blue and green plaster parrots, and brown and white plaster cats. Now,
we find in cottages the Princess Marie's Joan of Arc, and Canova's groups, or
our own Shakspere and Milton — cheap and somewhat coarse, but better than
parrots and cats. It is surprising now to go into remote corners of the coun-
try, where Italian boys have not penetrated, and see there what ornaments our
people admired before the peace. This is a benefit not confined to large
towns. In large towns we find something more. We find Museums and gal-
leries of Art, and exhibitions of manufactures opened to the multitude. The \
British Museum admits, on Easter Monday, more than the total population of
a provincial city : and there are hundreds of artisans in London who can now
tell their brother workmen about the gods and heroes of Egyptian temples and
tombs, and the monuments of Assyrian monarchs mentioned in the Bible.
Amidst these processes of virtual education, we find the function of the
Educator somewhat more respected than it used to be. There are still sub- THE EDUCATOR.
urban villages where the inhabitants are too genteel to admit persons engaged
in education to their book-clubs : but this is laughed at by the wiser majority
of the middle class. Some of the efforts to exalt the position of the Educator
have been fantastic enough, and unsuccessful accordingly: for it is a thing
which cannot be arbitrarily done. When education is duly improved, the
Educator will be duly honoured ; and not till then : and for the sound reason
that not till then will the Educator be worthy of his pretensions. Meantime,
the tutor and the governess are more humanely considered than they used to
be, in regard to their sufferings and their needs, and more sure of appreciation
VOL. II. 4 y
714 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI.
1815 — 46. when they merit it. The main evil still is in the middle class poverty which
-- — „— ^.^ makes tutors and governesses of many hundreds who would fain obtain their
bread in some other way, and who are thus not in a position to require more
than a mere rescue from present poverty. Associations for the relief and care
of governesses are benevolent in aim, and afford subsistence and solace to the
worn-out and helpless to a certain extent : but it is obvious that this is not an
agency which can elevate a class, or modify an institution. If governesses are
to rise to honour and independence, it must be by their being educated to
sustain an honourable and indispensable function. They must have profes-
sional requisites to obtain professional dues. Hitherto, their position has been
partly one of service, partly a professional one, without express training for
either.
METHODS OP There can be no question of our methods of charity having improved since
the publication of the Reports on which the reform of the Poor Law was
founded. There was always plenty of alms-giving ; — proneness enough to
relieve the misery which met the eye. Now, there is more searching into the
causes of misery, and a more widely spread knowledge that social misery
cannot be cured, but is usually aggravated, by alms-giving. — The remaining
grand feature of a renewed social temper is the spread of a spirit of peace —
of a disinclination, that is, for brute violence. The diminution of the practice
DULLING. Of Duelling is remarkable. In 1843, after the public had been shocked by
the occurrence of a fatal duel which in former times would have merely fur-
nished forth the gossip of the day, an association was formed which would
iwaTch^eu not in °ld times have been dreamed of; — an Anti-duelling Association, con-
sisting of 326 members, so many of whom were of the two services, or noble-
men, baronets, and members of parliament, that they fairly conceived them-
selves strong enough in their union to lead public opinion in the matter of
personal honour. Their first act was to denounce duelling, as contrary to the
laws of God and man, and eminently irrational as well as sinful, and to pledge
themselves to discountenance by influence and example the practice which
they condemned. — In the next year, some amended articles relating to duelling
were issued from the War Office, by order of the Queen ; and in these articles
duelling was prohibited, on the representation that honourable men are ready
to apologize for offence given in mistake or haste ; and that a reference to
friends, or, if that will not do, to the commanding officer on the spot, ought to
suffice for all purposes of personal justification. There were exhortations and
provisions in regard to the seconds, and an assertion of true principles of
honour in words of the Duke of Wellington's of old date. It was not to be
supposed that a practice so grounded in self-regards as that of duelling could
be put an end to by an ordinance like this : but it was a useful declaration at
a particular juncture ; and there can be no doubt of the great abatement of
the barbarous practice during the last years of this period.
POLITIC u. Finally, if we review for a moment the political morality of the period, we
jtiij.iAL.lTY . * "
shall see, not only an improvement, but an essential change. The old Toryism
is gone. We never hear of it now, even from the most antique members of the
House of Peers. Our present Conservatism may admit under its term much
that is selfish, corrupt, and requiring strenuous opposition : but its idea is
indispensable under a representative system; and its requisitions are not at
CHAP. XVII.] DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE. 715
present offensive; or, it may be, they are not strongly enough urged to be in- 1815 46.
jurious to the public welfare. The doctrines of Bentham, so much discussed
in the early part of the century, and now so seldom heard of, were operative
to the extent in which they were wanted. In as far as they were shallow,
pedantic, and inadequate to the mind of Man, and the needs of a State, they
are forgotten : — in as far as they are rational, and benevolent, and genial, they
still work. "The greatest happiness of the greatest number" is not now
talked of as the profession of a school : but the idea is in the mind of poli-
ticians, and shapes their aims. The truest welfare of the largest classes has
been the plea for much of our legislation ; and especially for the whole grand
achievement of the completion of free trade. No statesman would now dream
of conducting the government on any other avowed principle than consulting
the welfare of the greatest number in preference to that of any smaller class.
Another remarkable advance, which needs only to be indicated, is that in the
direction of Religious Liberty. The emancipation of the Catholics might still RE
be regarded as an act of mere pressing necessity : but the preponderance of
opinion in favour of religious liberty — a preponderance in every political party,
and in a case where there was nothing but the principle at stake — on the oc-
casion, that is, of the Dissenters' Chapels Bill — showed a prodigious advance
since the time when the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts was refused,
with levity, or with silly solemnity, from session to session. The spirit of re-
ligious liberty may now be considered to dwell in every man among us worthy
to be called a statesman.
While all this is done — so much progress achieved that appears to be WHA
incontrovertible — what remains to be done ? — Something greater than all that
has been achieved. The tremendous Labour Question remains absolutely THE I,ABO
untouched — the question whether the toil of a life is not to provide a
sufficiency of bread. No thoughtful man can for a moment suppose that this
question can be put aside. No man with a head and a heart can suppose that
any considerable class of a nation will submit for ever to toil incessantly for bare
necessaries — without comfort, ease, or luxury, now — without prospect for their
children, and without a hope for their own old age. A social idea or system
which compels such a state of things as this must be, in so far, worn out. In
ours, it is clear that some renovation is wanted, and must be found. We see
celibacy so extending in our middle class as that hardly half of them marry
before they are elderly, while the poor and pauper class marry as before,
and thus provide for a vast preponderance of the democratic element in
our society in the course of another generation. And this is a serious
matter for the statesman to ponder. It arises from a diminution of means in
the middle class, and the recklessness of poverty in the very lowest. Such is
its origin : but what will be its issue ? While the statesman is pondering this,
the moralist will mourn over the vice which is the inevitable consequence of
the restriction of marriage in the middle class. And what can the moralist
say to the extraordinary increase of the crime of domestic poisoning among our
poor ? That a mother should, unconscious of wrong, have poisoned eight infants
in succession by putting arsenic on her breasts, is. a fact which (strengthened
by the occurrence of similar deeds about the same time) makes us fancy we
are dreaming about living in an age of improved civilization and humanity.
HAT REMAINS.
716 HISTORY OF ENGLAND [Boox VI
1815 — 46. If it be true, as some of us say, that the labourer's life-long toil demands a
return, not only of sufficient food, and a domestic shelter for his old age, but
of intellectual and spiritual culture, what can we say to the intellectual and
spiritual state of the lower portion of our working classes ? How much is
there of the intellectual pride of ignorance and misinformation, and of that
worst infidelity which grows out of a sense of injustice! If we hear com-
plaints of the irreligion of the poor, and of the growth of that irreligion, we
ought to put ourselves in their place, and observe how the religion of the' rich
must appear to them there : and then we shall understand how suspicious
they must be of promises of unseen and future good when it is offered as
better than the substantial good which they see others enjoying, and feel to
be their due. When a man sees his children sinking in body for want of
food, and in mind for want of instruction, can he be content with the prospect
held out by the well-fed and learned of a happiness which he cannot now un-
derstand, and is not sure that he could ever enjoy ? Men so placed are like
children. They must have justice before they can humbly and magnani-
mously forego justice. Before they can enter into a state of religious content-
ment, they must see why they should be content ; and they ought to decline
being content before they see reason for it. Thus it is that, in spite of
church-building, and missionary effort, and extensive charity, there is so
much proud and hard irreligion among the poor of our nation. If it be said
that they are improvident, and that a multitude who are in poverty need not
be so, the answer again is plain. They know no better ; and that they know
110 better is caused by social neglect. They are not comfortable : they feel
that while they work, they ought to be comfortable ; and they will not acqui-
esce while they see that those who work less are more comfortable, and they
are not told why. This is what remains for us to do ; — to find out the why,
and to make everybody understand it.
The material for working out a better state is before us ; and the question
of the Rights of Labour is pressing upon us. We have science brightening
around us, which may teach us to increase indefinitely our supply of food. We
have labourers everywhere who are as capable as any men above them of do-
mestic solicitude, and who will not be more reckless about a provision for their
families than gentlemen are, when once the natural affections of the citizen-
parent are allowed free scope. We have now (by the recent repeal of the
remnant of the Navigation laws) complete liberty of commerce. We have
now the best heads and hearts occupied about this great question of the Rights
of Labour, with impressive warnings presented to us from abroad, that it can-
not be neglected under a lighter penalty than ruin to all. Is it possible that
the solution should not be found ? This solution may probably be the central
fact of the next period of British history ; and then, better than now, it may
be seen that in preparation for it lies the chief interest of the preceding Thirty
Years' Peace.
THE END.
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Secretary of State — Home Departr
„ „ Foreign Affairs
,, „ War and Coloi
President of the Board of Control.
Master of the Mint
President of the Board of Trade .
Secretary at War
Paymaster General
Chief Secretary for Ireland
Commander of the Forces
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lanca
First Commissioner of Land Rever
Sir R. Peel
Lord Wharncliffe
Lord Lyndhurst
Duke of Buccleuc
H. Goulb
Earl of H
LONDON :
A. SWEETING, PRINTER, BARTLETT'S BUILDINGS.
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I
v.2
Martineau, Harriet
The history of England
during the thirty years1
peace
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