The History of England during the thirty years' peace, 1816-46

Front matter

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND DURING THE THIRTY YEARS' PEACE: 1816—1840. BY HARRIET MARTTNEAU VOL, II. 18 3 0 — 1846. LONDON: CHARLES KNIGHT, 90, FLEET STREET 1850. LONDON : A. SWEETING, PRINTER, BARTLETT'S BUILDINGS. CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

BOOK IV.

1830. Pagk 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 Alceroy 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 IS-'.' 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 20 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 35 The Commons 36 Prorogation 37 Dissolution 38 General Election 30 Popular Action ib "* *»' Paoe Riots 41 New House ib- Second Reform Bill ib.

Chapter II. There

was no doubt in any quarter as to who would be the new Premier, or Avhat 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 not be 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 could perhaps be easily made to understand. The interest felt for Lord Grey Avas strong. Mon 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, Avith more years upon his honoured head, he stood at the summit of affairs, empoAvered to achieve with his own hand the great object of his life and time, and surrounded by comrades of his OAvn choice and appointment. This trait of the time interested the hearts of hundreds of thousands : but to the millions there Avas something far more exciting still. The year Avhich Avas 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 under a discouraging and exasperating Tory rule, during Avhich, however, by virtue of the Peace, good things Avere preparing 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 OAvn power ; lessons which had prepared them to require Avisely, and conduct mag nanimously, the greatest revolution in the history of their country. It was in the leisure of the neAV peace that a multitude of minds had received the idea, and made it their OAvn, that the shortest and only safe Avay of procuring all reforms and all good government Avas 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 Avhich make us now and for ever deprecate war, the chief is, and should ever be, that avc would not have the national mind and AviU 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. - In this year One of the People's Cause, the people Avere ready ; and they Avere blessed Avith rulers who Avere willing to make a beginning so large and decided as to secure the permanence of the Avork, 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 Avhen 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 Avho are not so immediately engaged see further, and re member that sound political institutions are made perfect very sloAA'ly, and by a succession of improvements. There Avere many, therefore, Avho in that day of exultation saw more cause for rejoicing than did those who were proudest of the immediate triumph. They saAV in the Parliamentary Reform of Lord Grey a noble beginning of a great work Avhich it might take centuries to perfect, and in every stage of which the national mind Avould renew its strength, and gain fresh virtue and Avisdom.

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, hoAvever, the oldest and the youngest, desired nothing more than what they noAv saAV — 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 names, and carried them to their families, reading them to every one they met by the Avay ; Avhile poor men Avho could not write, carried them well enough in their heads ; for most of the leading names were of men knoAvn 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 Avas 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 Avas amusing to see hoAv that announcement Avas every where received Avith a laugh : in most cases, with a laugh Avhich he would not have objected to — a laugh of mingled surprise, exultation, and amusement. The anti-reformers laughed scornfully — dAvelling upon certain declarations of his against taking office, and upon his incompe tency as an equity laAvyer ; 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 Avas something comic in the thought of his vitality [Book IV. HISTORY OF ENGLAND 22 1830 Regency Bili Annual Register, 1830, p. 165. Har.6ard, 1. G7C Annual Register, Chron. 209. fixed doAvn upon the Woolsack under the compression of the Chancellor's Avig.

Some expected a world of amusement in seeing hoAv he got on in a position so neAV ; hoAv 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, Avas held in a quiet general respect. Lord Durham, the John George Lambton who had ever fought the people's battle well, was hailed Avith great warmth. He was Lord Privy Seal.

There Avere 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 Avere 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 Avhile 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. 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 minority, unless, indeed, the Duchess should marry a foreigner. Lord Wynford proposed a grant of additional powers to the magistracy in the disturbed districts, where matters were going on from bad to worse ; but the ministers declared that the existing poAvers 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. Hoav serious was the aspect of the times Ave find by the gazetting of an Order in Council that the Archbishop of Canterbury should prepare a prayer for relief from social disturbance ; which prayer Avas to be read in all the episcopal churches and chapels of England and Scotland.

In the Commons a select committee was appointed, on the motion of the 1830. Chancellor of the Exchequer, to inquire what reductions could be made in the "- — — — " salaries and emoluments of offices held by members of either House of Parliaofficial s.la. 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 preparing during the recess the great measures to which they were pledged, they moved for a long interval, and parliament Avas adjourned to the 3rd of Febru ary, 1831. At the close of this year One of the People's Cause, there Avas as much dis- J"™ 0F lRE 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- *™iR,8i ™- clamations of the Viceroy, the whole tenour of which was to rouse the strong — 213 passions of the Irish artisans and peasants against the government, the laAV, and the imperial connexion, from which, at this juncture, so many benefits might be expected. His interspersed exhortations Avere to observe the law ; his influence went to excite that fever of the mind which is sure to throAv off law, sooner or later : and thus inauspiciously began the neAV reign of the popu lar Viceroy, Lord Anglesey. By this time the dread of something more aAvful than Irish disturbance and T,,E 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 doAvn 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 A,™»1' *'«'«,'"• •/ .... 1830, Chron. M.O. Asia into Europe, and was travelling north-westwards, exactly in the direction of our islands. All that was at present proposed Avas 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 Avas 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. 24

Chapter III. The

year 1831 opened gloomily. Those who believed that revolution was at hand, feared to Avish one another a happy new year ; and the anxiety about revolution Avas 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 shoAving 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 OAvn hands. Machine breakinsr Avent on to such an extent, that men were tried for the offence in groups of twelve or tAventy at a time ; and the January nights Avere 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 AA'hole kingdom. He left his father's house to go to the mill, in the evening, when it was dark; he Avas brought home dead within ten minutes, shot through th? heart in the lane, by one of three men AA'ho were lying in wait for him. The significance of the case lay in the circumstance that it Avas a murder from revenge, occasioned by a quarrel about the Trade Union. There Avas fear lest the practice should spread ; lest every manufacturer who refused to employ men belonging to a Trade Union (and there Avere many such) should be liable to be picked off by an assassin, appointed by lot to be the instrument of the vengeance of his Union. A reward of 1000/. for the detection of the murderer Avas offered by the'Secretary of State, and another 1000/. by the father and family of the victim ; but no clue Avas obtained at the time, nor for some years afterAvards. 1831.

Popci.ar Discon tents, Annual Register, 1831, Chron. 8. Prospct or Con flic r. As for the dangers Avhich might folloAV upon the action of government on the great question, the coolest heads had the strongest sense of them. The apprehensions of the anti-reformers Avere all about the consequences of the Reform Bill, if carried. The apprehensions of the most thoughtful reformers Avere of the perils attending its passage. On a superficial view it might appear that the result was so certain that the Avay could not be much embarrassed ; 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 circumstances — the sovereign ; certainly, the House of Peers ; — almost a Avhole 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 whole body of Toryism in England ; a party never small, and at this time made particularly active and desperate by a sincere belief that the Constitution was likely to be overthrown, and that the English nation would presently bo 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 Avages, and a removal of all the taxes. It was too probable that a protracted opposition Avould raise these poor people in riot, and turn the necessary revolution, from being a peaceable one, into an OA'erthrow 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 AA'ere hard at work, preparing their mighty measure, the middle classes Avere preparing for their support. The action of the non electors during this month of January was as poAverful 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 Avhat 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 Avill 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 hoAV men are to recognise the true occasion when it comes. There probably never Avas an occasion when the duty Avas more clear than noAv. 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 ovvn political poAver and mercenary interests ; if they held out till the one party or the other must yield, it Avas 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 the government and the nation.

They felt that they occupied the strong central position Avhereby 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- 1 VOL. [Book IV. HISTORY OF ENGLAND 26 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 progress in political knowledge and thought than they could perhaps have antecedently supposed possible in the time ; when the period of struggle arrived, they did their duty magnificently ; and their conduct stands for ever before the Avorld, a model of critical political action, and a ground of confidence in the political welfare of England, in ydl future times.

M,N,8TE»,At de- When the Houses re-assembled, on the 3rd of February, Lord Grey made CHEAT.™. the exppcted declaration that a measure of Parliamentary Reform was in rea- Hansard, ... 118. to Dr0Ught 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, without exceeding the bounds of a just and well-advised moderation;" and that they had succeeded to their wish, the Avhole Government being unanimous in their adoption of the measure as an exponent of their principle and aim. AVhen Lord John Russell afterwards brought the measure forward, he declared the whole scheme to be Lord Grey's ; and there Avas assuredly no mind in England Avhich had more earnestly, or for more years, meditated the subject.

The execution Avas universally understood to have been confided in chief to Lord Durham; and there Avas assuredly no heart more in the work, or more true to the principles of popular freedom. The profoundest secrecy Avas 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 knoAvledge. The Arery feAv persons Avho Avere necessarily admitted to the confidence of the government felt this confidence to be a heavy burden. One, deeply engaged, 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 bill brought disclosure Avas the 1st of March, Avhen Lord John Russell had the honour — though not a cabinet minister, but on account of his long advocacy of the cause — of bringing fonvard 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 ho-tess 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 Avhich 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 Avith boroughmongery. It was a vice Avhich must Seven Admioi: trations, ii. 84. Life of Lord El. don, iii. 123. be extinguished, and not an indulgence Avhich might be gradually vreakened. By this Bill, the practice of boroughmongery Avas cut up by the roots. This 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, " Ave have first to dash from our shoulders the ' Old Man of the Sea,' and afterwards to complete our deliA'erance."

It will afterwards appear hoAv partial Avas the representation proposed to be given, and hoAv inadequate and faulty Avere the constructive arrangements. But there Avere not tAvo opinions at the time as to the Ministers having gone further than anybody expected, and proposed a measure which could never be Avithdrawn without a deadly struggle, nor stand Avithout 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 Avas heard from within the vitiated House to the voice of intelligence Avithout. This House had long been the property or the tool of poAvers and parties adverse to the general weal. While the Avorld Avithout 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 Avarning that it must either reform itself or succumb.

The last and effectual Avarning 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 Avhich the stretched ear of the vigilant nation was listening, to the furthest boundary of the empire. While the occasion appeared thus serious to those Avho 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 j est. Others came aAvay at the end, and said they could give no clear account of it ; and that there Avas no need, as Ministers could have no other intention than to render office untenable for those Avho must presently succeed them. Thus blind Avere the anti-reformers, after all the long and threatening warnings they had received.

But a few hours opened their eyes. The morning neAvspapers exhibited the scheme, Avith all its royal and ministerial sanctions : and that Avhich appeared a jest the night before Avas now pronounced a revolution. The proper occasion for giving a specific account of the Reform Act will be Avhon its provisions were finally settled. It may suffice noAv to say that, in the Avords of Lord Grey, " Representation, not Nomination, is the principle of the Reform Bill : " that, in pursuance of this principle, sixty " rotten boroughs " Avere deprived of the franchise ; and 168 borough seats were abolished. A feAv small boroughs Avere retained— to the dissatisfaction of reformers generally — for the purpose of admitting an order of members not likely to be returned for large toAvns or counties, and providing for some Httle representation of the smallborrugh class of citizens.

The reformers Avere also sorry that fifty-four members were given to counties Avhich had hitherto been opposed to popular interests ; and the stopping short at the representation of the middle classes Avas disapproved by a multitude in the middle and upper classes, as much as by the excluded artisans themselves. Wise statesmen and observers knoAv Avell 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- [Book IV. 28 HISTORY OF ENGLAND 1831. broad lands, and his mansions and parks, and the middle-class manufacturer 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.