Ten Englishmen of the Nineteenth Century | Page 5

1834 put an end to these abuses
by restricting outdoor relief to the aged and destitute, and requiring all
other paupers to go to the union workhouse. Within two years the
poor-rate was diminished fully one-third.
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
In 1834 slavery was abolished throughout the British dominions. The
earnest labors of the Abolitionists, Clarkson, Wilberforce, Macaulay,
and others, had secured the abolition of the slave trade thirty years
before (1807), but the united opposition of the colonial planters to a
reform which would deprive them of the services of their chattel
laborers postponed the consummation of the humanitarian measure.
The reformed Parliament proved less sensitive to the planters'
arguments. It destroyed the system forever, making a cash
compensation to the owners.
A third question, on which Earl Grey's ministry took high moral ground,
was a redress of another of the ancient wrongs of Ireland. The Church
of England was by law established in that most distressful country, and
the people, though mostly Roman Catholics, were under the necessity
of paying tithes for the support of a church which they detested, and
which indeed, in a large part of the island, had no existence except for
purposes of taxation. The Irish protest, as has often been the case, took
the form of violence and outrage, the so-called "Tithe War," which
postponed rather than hastened the redress of their grievance. But in
1835 the ministry of Lord Melbourne relieved the peasants of this part
of their many burdens.
ACCESSION OF VICTORIA
The name of Lord Melbourne has been kept green not only by the
Australasian metropolis, but by the fact that it was his duty as Prime
Minister to announce to the Princess Alexandrina Victoria the fact--to
her so momentous--that her uncle, William IV., was dead (June 20,

1837), and that she, a girl of eighteen, was Queen of England. Victoria,
as she was known thenceforward, lived to see the dawn of the twentieth
century, to witness the enormous development of the British empire in
population, wealth, and power, and it is perhaps not too much to say, to
win all hearts among her subjects by the simplicity, purity, and strength
of her character. Had she displayed the stubborn stupidity of her
grandfather, George III., or the immorality of some of his sons, it is not
rash to believe that the tide of radicalism might have thrown down all
barriers and swept away the throne on the flood of democracy. By
grace of character she was a model constitutional sovereign, and her
benign reign, the longest in English annals, contributed more than the
policy of any of her ministers to make the monarchy popular and
permanent.
The first decade of the Victorian era witnessed three great agitations,
two of which ended in fiasco and the third in a triumph which wrought
tremendous changes in the kingdom. "Chartism," "Repeal," and "Free
Trade" were the three topics on which the thought of multitudes was
engaged.
CHARTISM
Chartism was the name applied to the agitation in favor of a statement
of principles called "The People's Charter." The six points of Chartism
were: (l) annual Parliaments, (2) salaries for members, (3) universal
suffrage, (4) vole by ballot, (5) abolition of property qualification for
membership in the House of Commons, and (6) equal electoral districts.
The demand came from the workingmen, who were dissatisfied
because the Reform Bill of 1832 had stopped short of their political
stratum. The Chartists copied the method of agitation which O'Connell
had employed in extorting Catholic emancipation. Monster meetings,
mile-long petitions, copious effusions of printer's ink and oratory, and a
National Charter Association were a part of the machinery. In 1848,
when the prevalent hard times increased the restless discontent of the
masses, the movement culminated in a vast assembly on Kennington
Common. A respectful half-million were to march to Westminster and
lay their demands, the six points backed by six million signatures,

before the Commons. The year 1848 was one of widespread discontent,
the revolution year of the century, and the authorities took pains to
guard the peace of London with especial care, even Wellington being
called into service to direct the military. But nine-tenths of the mob
failed to put in appearance, and the monster petition turned out to be a
monstrous and clumsy fraud. Nothing came of it at the moment. The
return of better times took the heart out of the agitation, and the
progress of orderly political development gradually incorporated three
of the Chartist points in the law of the land without seriously affecting
the constitution.
O'CONNELL AND REPEAL
The second popular war cry was "Repeal." In this agitation, again
O'Connell's was the chief personage, and his eloquence the chief factor.
It was in effect another phase of the Irish demand for Home Rule. Since
the first day