lution in Great CHAPTER XXXIII GREAT BRITAIN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY A. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL REFORMS GREAT BRITAIN is the only state in Europe which went through the nineteenth century without an armed revolution. Though 783. No the framework of her constitution remained unaltered, armed revo- its practical operation was profoundly changed. At the beginning of the century the government was in the hands of the great landowners, who were members of the established church. At its end power was shared by them with the middle class, the workingmen, and the agricultural laborers, and offices were open to men of all religious faiths. In the words of an English political writer, "Power has been transferred from the control of a compact and vigorous aristocracy to that of a democracy, which in fact, though not in outward form, is more complete and more uncontrolled than any at present existing in any first-class state." The transfer of power to the more democratic elements in the state was largely the work of the Industrial Revolution 784. Influ- (chapter xxviii). Only in the nineteenth century did the far-reaching political and social effects of those industrial changes begin to be apparent. The north of England, where manufacturing centered because of its supplies of iron and coal, became the most populous, the wealthiest, and the Dickinson, Parliament in the Nineteenth Century, I ence of the industrial north Boutmy, 186 most influential part of the kingdom. "A new England was added to the old," says a French writer. "It was as if a new land had been upheaved from the sea, and joined on to the shores of some old-world continent." In religion this new England was the stronghold of Dissent, that is, of those Protestant sects not included in the established Church of England. In politics it was the chief center of liberalism, and even of those more advanced ideas which we call radicalism. The long and disastrous reign of George III ended in 1820. He was succeeded in turn by his two sons, George IV (18201830), a dissolute and incompetent ruler; and William 785. British IV (1830–1837), a bluff and erratic prince who, as a younger in the 19th sovereigns son, had been trained for a naval career. William IV, century like his brother, died without legitimate children. The crown thereupon passed to his niece, Queen Victoria (1837-1901), who at the time of her accession was still a girl of eighteen. She had been prudently trained by her mother, the widowed duchess of Kent, and from the beginning of her reign showed intelligence and goodness of heart. The crown of Hanover, which had been joined in personal union with that of Great Britain since 1714, passed to her uncle, the duke of Cumberland, as the nearest male heir. Throughout her life Victoria took a keen interest in German affairs. In part this was due to her mother's German birth, to her own happy marriage (1840) to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and to the marriage of her eldest 1 The following table shows the family of George III and of Queen Victoria: (1) GEORGE III (1760-1820) Victoria, (5) EDWARD VII m. Freder ick, Crown Prince of Prussia, later German Emperor later of SaxeCoburg Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold, Beatrice, m. m. of naught Albany Prince later of Battenberg Duke of daughter to the crown prince of Prussia, later himself German Emperor and father of Emperor William II. Each of these three British reigns saw important steps taken in the peaceful transformation of the constitution. Under 786. Catho- George IV laws were passed which at last put Catholics lic emancipractically on an equality with their Protestant fellow subjects. Something had been done in this direction in the eighteenth century, when unjust laws prohibiting Catholic pation (1829) VICTORIA IN 1837 worship and limiting their civil rights were repealed. Catholics, however, were still shut out of Parliament and high political office (§ 493). The movement under George IV was to complete "Catholic emancipation" by removing these disabilities. After much agitation, Daniel O'Connell, an eloquent Catholic lawyer, organized a widespread Catholic Association in Ireland. He was elected to the House of Commons with the avowed purpose Con of testing the right of a Catholic to sit in that body. To deny him his seat would have precipitated an Irish rebellion. sequently the duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, who were then the leaders of the government, gave way. In 1829, to the great disgust of their Tory followers, they secured the passage of a bill admitting Catholics to seats in Parliament and to nearly all offices in the state.1 1 The laws forbidding Protestant dissenters to take political office had been repealed the preceding year (1828). Jews, however, were not permitted to sit in Parliament until 1858. representa A far more important step was the passage, in 1832, of the first Parliamentary Reform Act. The members of the House of Commons, as we have seen, were of two sorts, county 787. Par(or shire) representatives, and borough (or town) repre- liamentary sentatives. Every county, large or small, had two mem- tion before bers. The right to vote for county representatives was 1832 restricted to the small class of persons who owned what was called "freehold" land, a qualification which excluded the larger part even of prosperous farmers, whose lands were usually "copyhold" or "leasehold." The Scottish county of Bute, with a population of fourteen thousand persons, had only twenty-one electors. It is related that, at one election, only a single elector appeared; he forthwith took the chair, moved and seconded his own nomination, cast his vote, and declared himself unanimously elected. The boroughs were represented usually by two members each (a few had only one), and there had been practically no change in the list of boroughs since the days of Charles II. Many populous manufacturing towns, such as Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, which were outgrowths of the Industrial Revolution, were without representation. On the other hand, many places which had lost their former importance, or even (like Old Sarum) were without any inhabitants at all, continued to send members to Parliament. The seats of such "rotten" or "pocket" boroughs were often publicly sold by the landlord, or (in some boroughs) by the voters themselves. The qualifications for the franchise in the boroughs varied greatly, in some only the small governing body—a close corporation - having the right to vote. In a House of Commons of 658 members, not more than one third were the free choice of even the limited bodies of electors that had the franchise. More than one third of the members owed their seats to the influence of members of the House of Lords. To sum up, there were two great defects: (1) Large parts of the kingdom had no direct representation in the House of Commons. (2) The great majority of the 1 Except Yorkshire, which was given two additional members in 1821. adult male population had no voice in the elections to that body. To remedy these defects, plans for parliamentary reform had been proposed in the latter half of the eighteenth century. But during the gigantic struggle with Revolutionary France, all projects of reform were stopped by the fear lest Great Britain also might be led into revolution. With the return of peace, reform projects again began to obtain a hearing. The advent of the Whig party to power (in 1830), after twenty-four years' exclusion, facilitated their triumph. form Act of Lord John Russell played the chief part in securing the passage of the first Parliamentary Reform Act. After many attempts at piecemeal reform, he introduced a general Reform Bill 788. Rein the House of Commons in March, 1831. At an important stage of its progress, the bill was carried by a majority of only one vote. The ministers then procured a dissolution of Parliament. The new elections gave them a great 1832 passed 1 The historian Macaulay, who was a member of this House of Commons, gives an excellent account in one of his letters of the excitement which prevailed on this occasion. "Everybody was desponding," he wrote. "We have lost it! I do not think we are two hundred and fifty; they are three hundred.' This was the talk on our benches. As the tellers passed along our lowest row the interest was insupportable. Two hundred and ninety-one, two hundred and ninety-two-' We were all standing up, and stretching forward, telling with the tellers. At 'three hundred' there was a short cry of joy; at 'three hundred and two,' another. We knew that we could not be severely beaten. The door was thrown open and in they came. First, we heard that they were three hundred and three; then that number rose to three hundred and ten; then went down to three hundred and seven. We were all breathless with anxiety, when Charles Wood, who stood near the door, jumped up on a bench and cried out: "They are only three hundred and one!' We set up a shout that you might have heard to Charing Cross, waving our hats, stamping against the floor, and clapping our hands. "No sooner were the outer doors opened, than another shout answered that within the House. All the passages and stairs were thronged by people who had waited till four in the morning to know the issue. We passed through a narrow lane, between two thick masses of them; and all the way they were shouting and waving their hats, till we got into the open air. I called a cabriolet, and the first thing the driver asked was, 'Is the bill carried?' 'Yes, by one!' 'Thank God for it, sir!' And away I rode to Gray's Inn; and so ended a scene which will probably never be equaled till the reformed Parliament wants reforming." - Trevelyan, Life and Letters of Macaulay, I, 187-188 (condensed). |