GREAT BRITAIN 



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GREAT BRITAIN 



which saw nothing strange in such tavern signs 

 as "Drunk for a penny; dead drunk for two- 

 pence; clean straw for nothing." 



The Break with America. When George III 

 came to the throne in 1760 he proved to be 

 very different from his father and his grand- 

 father. A man of excellent character, he had 

 the best interests of his kingdom at heart and 

 was unwilling that the ministers should con- 

 tinue to exercise all the power. The royal 

 authority should be asserted, the king should 

 dictate to the ministers instead of their dictat- 

 ing to him those were the reforms which he 

 was determined to carry through. Pitt resigned 

 and was succeeded by Bute, who in turn gave 

 place to North, a minister completely after 

 the king's own heart; and it was the king and 

 North who advocated those policies which 

 terminated in the outbreak of the American 

 Revolution. The king v was honestly unable to 

 see the injustice of taxing the colonies when 

 they had no representation in Parliament, or 

 the folly of keeping them utterly dependent, 

 as it was his aim to do. The necessity of 

 acknowledging the independence of the United 

 States was a great grief to him, nor could he 

 ever be brought to see the unwisdom of his own 

 course. See REVOLUTIONARY WAR IN AMERICA. 



War with France. Just at the close of the 

 American Revolution, in 1783, Pitt, son of the 

 earlier minister of that name, was made Pre- 

 mier; until his death, twenty-three years later, 

 his voice was dominant in English affairs. He 

 it was who carried on the war against France 

 so vigorously that Nelson was able to estab- 

 lish by his victory at Trafalgar the supremacy 

 of England on the sea, and that Wellington 

 was empowered to give a severe blow to 

 Napoleon's cause by driving the French out of 

 Spain. In the Congress of Vienna, which 

 readjusted the affairs of Europe after the long 

 turmoil, England secured very favorable terms, 

 and gained possession of certain valuable terri- 

 tories. All the results of the struggle with 

 Napoleon were not beneficial, however, for a 

 large debt was placed upon the people, and 

 taxes were made painfully heavy. This con- 

 dition had been rendered more serious by a 

 second war which occurred while the first was 

 still in progress the War of 1812 with the 

 United States. 



Another important event took place during 

 the Napoleonic struggle. A revolt in Ireland 

 strengthened the feeling of the English states- 

 men that that country should be made a part 

 of England, and in 1800 an Act of Union was 



passed. Pitt made Roman Catholic emancipa- 

 tion a part of his proposal, but to this the king 

 would not consent, nor was it finally secured 

 until 1829 (see O'CONNELL, DANIEL). 



The Reform Era. It is significant of the 

 gradual decrease in the power of the kings 

 that reform measures should have occupied 

 much of the public attention during the reign 

 of George IV (1820-1830), a king who had no 

 interest in reform of any kind. The people, 

 suffering under the heavy burdens laid upon 

 them by the wars, were openly murmuring, 

 and one leader after another found it expedient 

 to listen to their demands. Sir Robert Peel, in 

 1823, brought about the reform of the criminal 

 laws, doing away with the death penalty for 

 many minor offenses; in 1828 the Duke of 

 Wellington, stanch Tory that he was, brought 

 about the repeal of the obnoxious Test Act; 

 and Roman Catholic Emancipation has been 

 referred to above. 



It was after the accession of William IV, in 

 1830, that the chief reforms were put through. 

 The matter of Parliamentary elections sadly 

 needed reform, and Earl Grey devoted all his 

 energies to bring about a redistribution of the 

 franchise in accordance with population. By 

 inducing William IV to agree to the creation 

 of a number of new peers he compelled the 

 House of Lords to pass the Great Reform Bill 

 of 1832 (see GREY, CHARLES), and he also 

 carried out a number of minor reforms. Slav- 

 ery in the colonies was abolished in 1833, and 

 beneficial changes were made in the poor laws 

 and the factory laws. 



Queen Victoria (which see) was only a girl 

 when she came to the throne in 1837, but she 

 had the wisdom to adopt at the very outset 

 of her reign the policy which she pursued to 

 the end the policy of allowing her ministers 

 to deal with political matters without her inter- 

 ference. Her moral influence, however, and 

 that of her husband, Prince Albert, was very 

 plainly felt in every department of national 

 life. Her long reign was glorious, and the list 

 of its statesmen includes Peel, Bright, Cobden. 

 Russell, Palmerston, Salisbury, Disraeli and 

 Gladstone (whose lives are given in these vol- 

 umes). Noteworthy among the reforms of the 

 early part of the reign was the repeal of the 

 Corn Laws (which see) in 1846; while among 

 the reform measures of the later period of her 

 reign was the Act of 1867. which broadened 

 the franchise and gave the workingmen a 

 voice in the government. The country was 

 making strides towards democracy. 



