CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



upon Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans. By this 

 event, a great impulse was given to the reforming 

 spirit in Britain, and the demands for an improve- 

 ment in the parliamentary representation became 

 very strong. The consequence was the retirement 

 of the Wellington administration in November, 

 and the formation of a Whig cabinet, headed by 

 Earl Grey. This ministry succeeded, in spite of 

 the opposition of the Tories, or Conservatives, as 

 they now were called, in passing, June 7, 1832, 

 measures for parliamentary reform in the three 

 divisions of the kingdom. The acts disfranchised 

 56 boroughs ; while 43 new ones, together with 30 

 county constituencies, were created ; a 10 house- 

 holder qualification was established in boroughs, 

 and the county franchise was extended to tenants 

 of land with a rental of 50 a year. During the 

 agitation, the country was visited by Asiatic cholera, 

 which destroyed thousands. 



During the few years which followed the passing 

 of the Reform Bills, the attention of parliament 

 \v.is chiefly occupied by a series of measures, the 

 most important of which, in a moral point of view, 

 was the abolition of slavery in the colonies, which 

 had been agitated for by Wilberforce and Clarkson, 

 the sum of twenty millions being paid to the 

 owners of the negroes, as a compensation for 

 resigning a right of property which had long been 

 a disgrace to humanity. By this act, eight hundred 

 thousand slaves were (August i, 1834) placed in 

 the condition of freemen, but subject to an 

 apprenticeship to their masters for a few years. 



In the same year an act was passed for amend- 

 ing the laws for the support of the poor in England, 

 which had long been a subject of general com- 

 plaint. One of the chief provisions of the new 

 enactment established a government commission 

 for the superintendence of the local boards of 

 management, which had latterly been ill-conducted, 

 and were now proposed to be reformed. The 

 able-bodied poor were also deprived of the right 

 which had been conferred upon them, at the end 

 of the eighteenth century, to compel parishes to 

 support them, either by employment at a certain 

 rate, or pecuniary aid to the same amount ; they 

 were now left no resource, failing employment, 

 but that of entering poor-houses, where they were 

 separated from their families. 



In 1833, a reform took place in the mode of 

 electing the councils and magistracies of the Scot- 

 tish burghs. The parliamentary constituencies 

 were now empowered to choose the requisite 

 number of councillors, the latter, again, choosing 

 the magistrates. The English and Irish municipal 

 corporations were somewhat similarly reformed 

 in 1835 an d 1840. 



During the summer of 1834, the ministry en- 

 deavoured to carry through parliament a bill to 

 enable them to take unusual measures for restrain- 

 ing turbulence in Ireland. In consequence of a 

 difficulty experienced in passing the measure, 

 Lord Althorp and Earl Grey resigned. The place 

 of the latter was supplied by Viscount Melbourne, 

 and Lord Althorp was induced to resume office. 

 The Irish Coercion Bill, with certain modifications, 

 was then passed. 



The Melbourne ministry continued in power for 

 several years, 'the only other ministry during this 

 reign being one which Sir Robert Peel constructed 

 of the Conservatives who lost office in 1830, and 

 which was compelled to resign after being only a 



172 



few months in office. Among the measures passed 

 by the Melbourne administration were an act for 

 commuting tithes in England into a corn-rent 

 charge payable in money ; an act for enabling 

 Dissenters in England to be married otherwise 

 than by the established clergy ; and another for a 

 general registry of births, deaths, and marriages. 

 This ministry also reduced the stamp-duty on 

 newspapers to one penny, by which the circula- 

 tion of that class of publications was very largely 

 increased. In 1837, a bill was introduced into 

 the House of Commons for settling the Irish 

 tithe-question ; but before this or any other 

 measure of importance had been carried, the king 

 died of ossification of the vital organs (June 20), 

 which had also been the cause of his predecessor's 

 death, in the seventy-third year of his age, and 

 seventh of his reign, being succeeded by his niece, 

 the PRINCESS VICTORIA. 



REIGN OF QUEEN VICTORIA. 



Queen Victoria, born May 24, 1819, began to 

 reign June 20, 1837, and had, therefore, just com- 

 pleted her eighteenth year ; was crowned on the 

 28th of June in the following year ; and was 

 married to her cousin, Prince Albert of Coburg 

 and Gotha, February 10, 1840. This union was 

 followed by the birth of four princes and five 

 princesses ; and as the marriage of the Prince of 

 Wales, Albert Edward, who was born November 

 9, 1841, to the Princess Alexandra of Denmark 

 (March 10, 1863) resulted erelong in the birth of 

 two sons and three daughters, the amplest security 

 has been given for the continuance of the present 

 dynasty. 



The Whig ministry, being on the decline, were 

 obliged, in 1841, to yield to a vote of 'no con- 

 fidence;' and Sir Robert Peel again took the helm 

 of affairs. The parliament of 1841 was in many 

 respects one of the most important during the 

 reigning dynasty. Besides carrying out a great 

 many reforms in the internal administration of the 

 country, the corn-laws and other restrictive duties 

 were abolished, and thus the great principle of 

 free-trade was fairly established a course in which 

 Great Britain has since been more or less followed 

 by other nations. Although the abolition of the 

 corn-laws (1846) was received as a precious boon 

 by the masses of the people, it alienated so many 

 of Sir Robert's political supporters, that he was 

 obliged to resign office, and was succeeded by Lord 

 John Russell, to whom was assigned the further 

 task of carrying out the principles of free-trade. 



Among the internal commotions and difficulties 

 that the nation had to pass through in this period, 

 may be noticed the agitation of the Chartists 

 (1838), who were chiefly working-men suffering 

 from the prevalent distress, and so called because, 

 at a meeting at Birmingham, they demanded a 

 people's charter, containing six points universal 

 suffrage, vote by ballot, triennial parliaments, 

 equal electoral districts, the abolition of property 

 qualifications, and salaries for members of parlia- 

 ment. In the year 1848, when a revolution had 

 driven from the throne of France its monarch, 

 Louis-Philippe, and revolutionary movements had 

 convulsed a large portion of the continent, the 

 Chartists mustered on Kennington Common to 

 the number of 20,000, intending to march through 

 London to the House of Commons, carrying a 





