The making of modern England

Front matter

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- « THE MAKING OF MODER!

Preface

My aim in this book is to set out in language as simple and clear as I can command those facts with regard to the recent history of our country which it is most important for English men and women to know. History may be studied, like any other science, under the influence of a noble curiosity, with no end beyond the attainment of clearer knowledge of the past; but such study is either recreation for hours of leisure, or the task of the specialist historian. For the citizen, historical study with the ulterior object of gaining light in the future and guidance in the present, is an imperative duty; and my desire is to help the growing numbers who feel this. For this reason I have not hesitated in places to express my own opinions on certain controverted questions. I do not entertain either the hope or the wish that any reader should adopt the opinions I express without due examination, though in some cases, I may, for the sake of clearness and brevity, have put them too dogmatically. The claim I make is that the raising of party conflict round any question of economics or politics must not be allowed to exclude that question from the field of scientific research; but that, on the other hand, the fiercer the conflict, the more necessary it is for the ordinary citizen to endeavour to bring to his judgment of the issue the same freedom from bias and loyalty to truth with which the historian studies the bases of the social order of Athens, or the wars of the Egyptian kings. |

All this is not easy. To paint truly on the canvas a wide-spread landscape, as it is at any moment, is to accomplish a triumph of delicate art. To depict in a small book Vv vi PREFACE the main features of the life of a great nation during a crowded century, is a task so much more difficult that he who attempts it must be content with the most modest degree of success. I should have liked to lavish much more time and labour on this effort if it had been possible. As it is, I must now present it, for what it is worth, to those who are seeking for light from the past on the difficulties and dangers of this most critical moment in the life of our nation, of the empire, and of humanity.

GILBERT SLATER.

Ruskin College, Oxford, September 1012.

THE LIFE AND TIMES

OF

~CAVOUR

By WILLIAM ROSCOE THAYER

6¢

AUTHOR OF “A SHORT HISTORY OF

VENICE,” “THE DAWN OF ITALIAN

INDEPENDENCE, “‘THRONE-MAKERS”

“TITALICA,” ETC.

*“ The most important work upon the making of modern Italy which has been published in English, and the most complete critical study of Cavour which has appeared in any language. .. . Mr. Thayer is completely saturated with Cavour’s thought. . . . He has vividly reproduced the Italian spirit of the time [and] has followed with particular minuteness the intricacies of European diplomacy in which Cavour was the master mind from 1858 to 1861.’ — The Nation, N. Y.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 4 PARK STREET BOSTON 16 EAST 40TH STREET NEW YORK

OPINIONS OF THE FOREMOST CRITICS ON MR. THAYER’S CAVOUR

Mr. George M. Trevelyan, in a very unusual nine-page review in The Atlantic Monthly, says: —

“At this moment it is well that Mr. Thayer’s book should appear, to remind the world that Italy produced the most wise and beneficent of all the European statesmen of the nineteenth century, if not of all time. . . . Germany<is a greater country than Italy, but Cavour was greater than Bismarck, almost in proportion to the inferiority of the material with which he had to work. . . . Mr. Thayer’s book is a treasure-house of wisdom for all who are interested, whether as statesmen or as citizens, in the working of the institutions of free countries, or in the strife to win freedom for countries not yet free. . . . Asanation-maker, Cavour stands with William the Silent and George Washington. . . . No history is ‘safe,’ but this book is as safe.as possible for those seeking the real facts of Cavour’s career. It is very reliable, as I can testify, with regard to those incidents of which I have made a special study for my own purposes. Passing on from the facts to his interpretation of them, his political judgment is remarkably sound. . . . Fortunately Mr. Thayer’s ‘Cavour,’ though crammed with facts and arguments, names of men and places, is highly readable. It is alive with Mr. Thayer’s own lively mind. . . . It is an important addition to American history. . . . It is of the same class and type as Mr. Rhodes’s great work on the American Civil War.”

From an editorial on “Productive Scholarship,” by Theodore Rooseveli, in The Outlook: —

“Mr. Thayer’s ‘Life of Cavour’ is a first-rate example of productive scholarship. It is much more than a mere biography . . . a permanent addition to history . . . written by a scholar and writer of altogether exceptional attainments. . . . Mr. Thayer has set forth in masterly fashion the task to which the great statesman addressed himself and the manner in which that task was performed; his book is absorbingly interesting to the general reader, and should be of profit not merely to the special student but to every active politician who is in politics for any of the reasons which alone render it really worth while to be a politician at all. . . . Every man interested not only in the realities but in the possibilities of political advance should study this book; and, in addition to its intrinsic worth and interest, it is an example of the kind of productive scholarship which adds to the sum of American achievement.”

‘Cavaliere Thayer, by his deep knowledge of the history of Unification, by his sound logic in tracing certain events to seemingly trivial causes, by his keen sense of proportion, and through his privilege of being permitted to examine unpublished documents, has probably written the final word on the life of Camillo Benso, Count di Cavour, and his great achievements in statecraft.”’ — New York Times. :

“Mr. Thayer has given us a life of Cavour commensurate in scope with the importance of the subject. . . . The author has the rare merit of making his people real. Garibaldi, d’Azeglio, Farina, Victor Emanuel, Brofferio, are not so many lay figures, but men of flesh and blood, that the reader comes to know apart, and to like, too, in their different ways. . . . Of Cavour we have on the whole a faithful and certainly a most engaging portrait; while the exposition of his aims, and of his transcendent genius in meeting and overcoming the difficulties that faced him on every side, leaves little to be desired.” — The Dial, Chicago.

“The story of the greatness of the man and of his infinitely difficult achievement is told with a sobriety yet fullness of detail that make the two thick octavo volumes seem short.” — Philadelphia Ledger.

“A work which betrays the most conscientious study of the period described, and which gives, with a thoroughness and sympathy not hitherto equaled, a moving record of an heroic and wonderful life.” — London Daily Telegraph.

“A very valuable history of the period. It is eminently readable; it is the work of a man with a particular and intimate knowledge of his subject, and it undoubtedly fills a big gap in the bibliography of the period.’’ — Edinburgh Scotsman. “a

“Unstinted praise may well be accorded to Mr. Thayer’s ‘Cavour.’ In clear and energetic English, often epigrammatic and with dashes of shrewd humor and singularly penetrating analysis of movements and of men, he tells the marvelous story of the making of Italy.”” — The Churchman, N.Y.

“No one before Mr. Thayer has had the courage to study and describe every incident in [Cavour’s] crowded and eventful life. . . . It is a thrilling story told with complete knowledge and unflagging energy.’’ — London Daily News.

“This is by far the most complete and competent biography of Cavour that has appeared in the English language. . . . The industry with which [Mr. Thayer] has assimilated the vast mass of printed evidence, and supplemented it by oral information .. . is, indeed, beyond all praise.” — London Atheneum.

“We must feel deeply grateful to Mr. Thayer, for he has given us a great book.” — London Western Mail.

“Unquestionably this is the most complete biography we possess of Cavour. . . . Enormous masses of documents are harmonized in a swift and agile narrative, so full of vibrant dramatic quality that you never tire for a single moment. . . . It is a great landmark and an indispensable document.” — Angelo Crespi, in La Tribuna, Rome.

A well-known financier of St. Paul, Minn., writes in a private letter: ~ The book reads to me like a novel, and my attention was held as much as it was in reading “The Three Musketeers.’”’

“This exhaustive and very delightful historic biography must take its place as the authoritative record of the life of the great Italian statesman.” — Boston Transcript. |

“The work is weighty and valuable, and the copious bibliography and full index add to the finished scholarship of its execution. It is well illustrated with portraits.” — Literary Digest, N. Y.

“In this book Mr. Thayer has given us a masterpiece of biographical literature, and has vitalized one of the important epochs of modern political history. . . . The book is emphatically worth reading.” — Boston Herald.

‘“*Mr. Thayer’s volumes possess all the qualities of the best historical writing, including particularly a clarity and a fine sense of proportion that multiply. many times the value of such a work.”’ — The Continent, Chicago.

“The style is so pleasing that students and the literati can find their reward both in the reading and in the study of a great historical character and a great historical career, which these volumes afford.” — St. Louis Globe-Democrat. Rar tee .

mass Oe BRAS ic Gs ah te

“The first full and adequate study in our language of the work of Cavour, the statesman to whom, even above Victor Emanuel, Garibaldi, and Mazzini, Italy owes her unity and freedom. . . . Excellently illustrated, excellently indexed, Mr. Thayer’s work is not one for students alone, but for all who love the story of great deeds, exalted lives and heroic times. It stirs and uplifts like great music or great poetry.”’ — London Daily Maul.

“It is fortunate that what will now be a standard authority is written with vigor and humor, and on the whole with notably fair judgment.” — London Pall Mall Gazette.

“It is a wonderful story of indomitable purpose, of unflagging effort, of mingled prudence and audacity which is told — with a full appeal to the latest authorities — in these pages.”’ — London Standard.

“Tt must be regarded as the definitive Life of its great subject.” — New York World.

Fully illustrated from portraits and other rare and interesting pictures, and with maps and plans.” Two volumes, bound in buckram, reinforced. 8vo, $7.50 net. Postpaid, $7.90.

ORDER BLANK Dear Sirs: Please send me postpaid “THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CAVOUR,” by William R. Thayer, in 2 volumes

(1) for which I enclose check Me (2) and charge to my regular . (or money order) for $7.90. account.

[Cross out form not used.]

Chapter I The Peace Without A Parallel

PAGE From War to Peace—Agricultural Distress—Its Causes— Agricultural Riots—

The Corn Law of 1815 and the Harvest of 1816—Trade and Manufacture in 1816—The Metal Industries—The Textile Industries— Remedial Efforts—Influence of the Distress on Political Agitation ; I

Chapter II The Rural Worker At The Beginning Of The Nineteenth Century

The Decay of the Village Community—The Elizabethan Settlement—The Great Rebellion—The Rule of the Squirearchy—Enclosure in the Eighteenth Century—The Open-field Village—Results of Enclosure— The Fate of the Peasantry—The Revolution in i Araneae Poor Law in the Eighteenth Century . : ;

ay CHAPTER III THE URBAN WORKER AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The Apprenticeship System—The Factory aa PR First vote for Reform—The Hand-loom Weavers . : ; : 49

Chapter XIII The Campaign For Public Health, 1832 To 1854

Sanitary Conditions of London in the Eighteenth Century—Sanitary Conditions of Provincial Towns—The Coming of Cholera— Edwin Chadwick—The Health of Towns Commission—The General Board of Health—The L.G.B. . ‘ ; , : j : ; ‘

Chapter XXIII Strains And Stresses In Modern England

PAGE

The Government of England—The Industrial System—Feminism—Births and Deaths—The Children’s Movement. : ; : : 1 202 MMUROLOGICAL SUMMARY ~. 5... wwf 2299

APPENDIX— Diagram I. Prices of British Wheat

II. World’s Gold Production and Average Prices of Commodities

III. True Course of British Foreign Trade

IV. Births and Deaths of England and Wales

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Chapter I The Peace Without A Parallel

FROM WAR TO PEACE

THERE are but few turning-points in history at which there is so marked a break in the current of the life of nations as there was for Europe and for England when, in November 1815, the peace was concluded which finally ended the Napoleonic wars. I would say, somewhat forcing the literal meaning of the word, that for our own country the eighteenth century ended in 1815, and the nineteenth began with the first year of peace, 1816. For the story of the eighteenth century is, as Professor Seeley has taught us, the story of the expansion of England. Externally it was the time during which Britain struggled with France for the Empire of the Seas, for the dominion of India, and for the opportunity of colonising the great sparsely populated lands of the world in the temperate zones beyond the ocean. Internally, it was the time during which the same proud aristocracy which conducted this Struggle made itself the master of the land and of the peasantry. After Waterloo Britain emerged from the foreign struggle almost completely successful. She was Mistress of the Seas, she held securely that position of empire and of commercial supremacy which Portugal, Spain and Holland had partially grasped ; and, though the original American colonies had broken away, the seed of

B other great colonies had been planted in Canada, Australasia and South Africa. Nor was this proud position fated to be challenged during the succeeding ninety years, until in 1905 the present naval competition in Dreadnought building seriously began. With the beginning of the year 1816 the whole direction of national thought and energy was turned from the desperate struggle against the genius of Napoleon and the power of France to an almost equally desperate struggle for internal reform. The work of the nineteenth century began.

It was not by any means of their own free will that our forefathers of a century ago turned their minds so immediately to this new task, which was indeed the making of modern England. Throughout the latter years of the war, through the period when families in the south of England had scarcely dared to go undressed to bed for fear of the landing of the French during the night, through the years of Wellington’s struggles and triumphs in Spain, and through the last effort that ended in the victory of Waterloo, men had continually looked forward to the coming of peace as a time for relaxation, prosperity and happiness. When peace actually came it brought with it © instead even greater distress than had been known during the war. “Oh, wondrous Peace! Oh, Peace without a parallel!” is the exclamation with which the Morning Chronicle opened an outburst of astonishment and lament early in the year. After bidding the observer mark the desolation in town, the versifier bids him—

Turn to the country, then, and witness there

Tenants in gaol and landlords in despair ;

Industrious hinds that beg for work in vain ;

Recovered lands that turn to waste again. As the year 1816 passed on, misery deepened into starvation, and almost frantic efforts to cope with the distress were accompanied by fierce controversies as to its causes and possible remedies. There was but slight improvement in 1817 and 1818, followed by an almost equal accession of misery in 1819. These were four years of national purgatory; but during them the nation realised the necessity of radical national reform.

AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS

Merely as an economic phenomenon the distress of the péace merits examination. In the first half of 1816 the outcry came almost entirely from the agricultural interest ; in fact the King’s speech at the opening of Parliament declared that the commerce, manufactures and finances of the country were in a flourishing condition, while it prudently abstained from referring to the condition of agriculture. The prosperity alleged to exist was probably regarded by both Houses as but a poor compensation for the distress of agriculture. It must be remembered that the condition of agriculture was then just as important to the country as that of all its other industries put together. By the estimates prepared for the Budget that spring, the incomes of persons engaged in trade, manufacture and handicraft in Great Britain were computed at a little less than thirty-four and a half millions, while the rents paid by occupiers of agricultural lands, assessed under Schedule B, amounted to nearly thirty-seven millions.

When the House of Commons turned to the consideration of the state of agriculture, as it did at the first opportunity, the stories told from all parts of the country were alarming. In Cambridgeshire only 8d. a day is given to strong, healthy men who are capable of the greatest labour.”

Mr. Brand, member for Kent, reported that—

“a farmer who was the last occupier of land in the parish of that county and on whom, of course, the payment of poor rates had devolved, came to him, imploring in the most earnest manner to inform him what he should do, as he was unable to bear the burdens laid upon him. Being asked what had become B 2 of other occupiers of land in the parish, seeing he was left alone, ‘ Sir,’ said the farmer, ‘worn out by the wretchedness of the times they are not able to touch the land.’ Land-holders to a man refuse to plough the land, and this farmer was to leave his farm at Lady Day. Where, then, had the poor any right to apply when there were none in their own parish to pay the rates? Undoubtedly they must go to the neighbouring parishes. Nor was this a solitary instance of the miserable state of the country; he was ready to furnish gentlemen with many of a similar nature, should it be deemed necessary. The poor in many cases had abandoned their residences. Whole parishes had been deserted, and the crowd of paupers, increasing in numbers as they went from parish to parish, spread wider and wider this awful desolation.”

Through the months of February, March and April the Board of Agriculture’ sent a series of questions to all its correspondents. To the question whether any farmers in the correspondent’s. district had given notice to quit, 37 answers out of 322 said that all farmers that could had given notice, 103 that many had, 111 that some had, and 71 that none had. The report of the Board added the note, “Tt is scarcely necessary to remark that, until the present period of depression commenced, such an idea as giving notice to quit a farm, except for the purpose of hiring another one, may be said to have been almost unknown in the kingdom.” On the state of the labourers, 237 answers out of 273 asserted that there was want of employment, 101 describing extreme distress. Further, says the report, “Bankruptcies, seizures, executions, imprisonments and farmers becoming paupers are particularly mentioned by many of the correspondents; with great arrears of rent, and in many cases tithes and poor rates unpaid, extreme distress and absolute ruin in a variety of instances.”

1 A voluntary Association founded in 1793 with Sir John Sinclair as president and Arthur Young as secretary. It was in receipt of an annual grant from the Treasury till 1816. It ceased to exist in 1819.

Its CAUSES

The change from war to peace was only in part the cause of the agricultural distress, which, in fact, had been felt, though in less degree, in the years 1814 and 1815. The period of the war had been, on the whole, one of great prosperity for large farmers and owners of agricultural land. The growing numbers of the manufacturing population, the heavy purchases by the Government for the supply of the army and navy, the making of turnpike roads and canals, the rapid progress of enclosure and of other agricultural improvements, all contributed to swell profits and rents. As Brougham put it in the House of Commons (April 9, 1816)—

“Not only wastes have disappeared for miles and miles, giving place to houses, fences and crops; not only have the most inconsiderable commons, the very village greens, the little strips of sward by the roadside, been in many places subjected to division and exclusive ownership and cut into cornfields in the rage for farming; not only have stubborn soils been forced to bear crops by mere weight of metal, by sinking money in the earth, as it has been called; but the land that already grew something has been fatigued with labour and loaded with capital until it yielded much more.”

The increased production had only been sufficient for the increased wants of the people during the years of particularly good harvests. In bad years grain of all sorts leapt up to famine prices. This had been the case in 1800, when the price of wheat averaged 114s. for the year, and 1801, when it stood at 120s., after which better years had followed. Then came the year 1810 with a deficient harvest, and 1811 with a very bad one. In August 1812 the price of wheat rose to 155s. per quarter. The harvest of 1812 was good, that of 1813, we are told, was the best ever known,’ that * Robert Wilson, Tract on the Distress in 1816.

of 1814 good again. Prices fell rapidly, that of wheat dropping to 52s. 6d. in January 1816. The inflation of prices, mainly produced by scarcity, had been aggravated by the depreciation of Bank of England notes, which reached a discount of about thirty per cent.; and both the scarcity and the depreciation of paper helped to force up rents and to stimulate the raising of money on mortgage for agricultural improvement. In 1813 there were about 700 country banks largely engaged in making such advances to farmers and landlords; as prices fell the country banks became alarmed and began to call in their notes, but in many cases they took alarm too late, for in the three years 1814, 1815 and 1816 no fewer than 240 were obliged to stop payment.’ Meanwhile, partly perhaps as a result of the consequent diminution in the issue of notes of private banks, but more, no doubt, in consequence of the greater demand for money during the temporary peace from April 1814 to March 1815, the discount on Bank of England notes almost disappeared. This, again, aggravated the position of men who had borrowed money or who had contracted to pay rents at the time when paper had been depreciated.

The last straw on the tenant farmer’s back, it was declared, was the income-tax of 2s. in the 4. Farmers’ incomes, for this purpose, were assessed at three-quarters of their rent, an arrangement which had probably been favourable to them in the days of high profits, but the reverse now, when they were largely living on their capital. It is not surprising that bankruptcies became more and more numerous through 1814 and 1815. The Liverpool Mercury (September 15, 1815) says the prisons were | choked with farmers. The number of bailable writs and executions in Norfolk was 636 in 1814, 844 in 1815; 430. and 850 in the two years respectively in Suffolk; 640 and 890 in Worcestershire. A group of farmers in Lincolnshire emigrated in a body and took with them the village

1 Brougham, House of Commons, April 9, 1816.

curate. According to the Morning Chronicle, they were — frequently ready to sell themselves as contract labourers for a term of years in America in order to pay their passage money thither.

As a general rule the misery of the agricultural labourers reflected in an aggravated degree the suffering of the tenant farmers. It is true there were exceptions. Grass land naturally suffered less than the arable districts; and in Devonshire, for example, the chief cause of the agricultural depression, which was considerable in that county, was the suspension of purchases of meat by the Government. Cheshire, not so directly affected by this cause, appears to have scarcely felt the depression at all. Wherever the farmers were able to continue employing the full number of labourers, the latter gained through the great fall in the price of bread. There was, however, a strong move to reduce wages, whether paid directly by the farmer or indirectly out of the poor-rates by the corrupting and pauperising system of allowances. In 1814 the amount expended in Poor Law relief had risen to 12s. 8d. per head of the population. It was now argued, in the words of the Courier (June 20), the organ of the Tory party, that—

“The lower classes have been accustomed to high wages and liberal allowances from the parish. These must be reduced as the price of provisions falls.” And again, “Provisions have fallen in price, farmers are lowering wages, and a great part of the poors’ rates are discontinued.”

The movement to reduce wages, which had risen to 2s. or 2s. 6d. a day (when the price of a 4 lb. loaf was close upon 2s.) was certainly effective; but only a slight and temporary success attended the efforts to reduce poor-rates. Though the merits of the lavish outdoor system adopted during the war, in maintaining a high birth-rate and in making even labourers feel that they had a stake in the landed property of the country, were no longer so important and desirable in the eyes of justices of the peace as they had been during the war, it was found practically impossible to reduce the poor-rates in the face of the miseries of the people, and the total rate reached its highest point in the year ending March 31, 1818, when it amounted to 13s. gd. per head of population.

William Cobbett, writing in the Political Register of his own district in Sussex, gives a graphic picture of the condition of the labourers—

“T have the good fortune to live in a part of the country where the labouring people are better off than in any part of England that I have seen. . . . (Indeed until the last three years, very little distress was known here.) But now it has found us out, and threatens to involve us in one general mass of misery. I could name numerous individuals, who are actually become a sort of skeletons. It is useless, however, to enter into descriptions; and I need only tell you, that since my return from London, in the month of March, more than 300 labourers have applied to me for work, and none of the 300 have I been able to employ, though the nature of my crops requires a great many hands. I see scores of young men, framed by nature to be athletic, rosy-cheeked and bold. I see scores of young men formed by nature to exhibit this appearance; I see them as thin as herrings, dragging their feet after them, pale as a ceiling and sneaking about like beggars.” ?

AGRICULTURAL RIOTS

To a certain extent the misery of the agricultural labourers vented itself in disorder. In one week at the end of April there were eleven incendiary fires in Suffolk, in May paper-mills were burnt down at Exeter and Toprf 4 sham. Numerous fires took place in the neighbourhood of

Honiton ; in Bridport riots to reduce the price of provisions, and in Appledore and Bideford to prevent cargoes of potatoes from leaving those ports. Later there was an epidemic of incendiarism in Dorset. But by far the most formidable riots took place in Littleport and Ely, where, through the wholesale bankruptcy of farmers, an enormous area of land was left vacant and uncultivated. Fifteen hundred men collected, marching under a banner inscribed “Bread or Blood,” armed with heavy sticks and demanding that maximum prices should be fixed for bread. Seventyeight men were indicted before a special commission for their shares in these proceedings, twenty-four of them were condemned to death, and five were actually hanged at Ely.

It was reported that these five men went to the scaffold expressing contrition and acknowledging the justice of their sentence, but the agricultural labourers were not invariably ready to endorse the ruling code of ethics. One effect of the distress was an increase of poaching, and the rumour that the laws against poaching were to be still further increased in severity led to the -following anonymous circular being sent to the magistrates of Somerset—

“Take notice: We have lately heard and seen that there is an Act passed, that whatever poacher is caught destroying the game is to be transported for seven years. Now we swear to each other that the first of our company that this law is inflicted on, that there shall not one gentleman’s seat in our county escape the rage of fire; we are nine in number, and we will burn every gentleman’s house of note. The first that impeaches shall be shot. We have sworn not to impeach. You may think it is a threat, but they will find it a reality. The Game Laws were too severe before. The Lord of all men sent these animals for the peasant as well as for the prince. God will not let His people be oppressed; He will assist us in our undertaking, and we will execute it with caution; let every one of us that breathe praise the Lord.” ?