(3) The Education Grant Act, 1833. Under this Act Parliament granted for the first time the sum of £20,000 to be paid annually for the purposes of elementary education. Part of the grant was made to the "National Society," as representing the Established Church, and part to the "British and Foreign Society," as representing the Nonconformists. NOTE. Hitherto the schools for elementary education had been supported by the Church and other religious bodies. The existing system (4) The New Poor Law Act, 1834. of giving outdoor relief not only encouraged pauperism, but increased the rates to an enormous extent. In the year 1817, it is estimated that the poor rates amounted to £8,000,000, and in many places actually exceeded the annual rent of the land. The new law enacted (1) that small neighbouring "Parishes" should combine into "Unions," and that "Union Workhouses" should be substituted for "Parish Workhouses." This plan was adopted on the ground that one large institution could be worked "more efficiently and less expensively" than several small ones. (2) That only aged and impotent persons should receive outdoor relief. (3) That able-bodied persons should not receive outdoor relief, but should be compelled to enter the "Union Workhouse." NOTE.—“This Act did more to improve the condition of the people than any other single measure of the time." 8. Break-up of the Grey Ministry, 1834. The causes of this were:-(a) A Conservative reaction was setting in, and the Ministry was beginning to lose its welldeserved popularity. (b) Sir Robert Peel, a wise and moderate leader, was already collecting and organizing the scattered remnants of the Tory Party. (c) The Ministers were beginning to disagree among themselves. The Tithe War in Ireland and the Coercion Act. The Roman Catholic peasants refused to pay the tithe for the support of the Established Church of Ireland, and for six years a "Tithe War" raged, accompanied by rioting and outrage. In 1832 it is estimated that no less than 9000 crimes, of which 240 were murders, were committed. In 1833 the Coercion Act was passed, for the suppression of riots and violence, and did much to restore order. In the Ministry an open rupture occurred, when Lord John Russell proposed "that the Government should take over the collection of the tithe in Ireland, and appropriate the money thus raised for such purposes, either secular or otherwise, as might be thought fit.” Many of the Ministers objected to this proposal, and resigned. "Johnny had," said Stanley, "upset the coach." On the renewal of the Coercion Act an angry debate ensued, and Lord Grey retired. Lord Melbourne became Prime Minister, and contrived to keep the Cabinet together for a few months. Encouraged by the symptoms of a Conservative reaction, the King suddenly dismissed the Ministry, and sent for Sir Robert Peel. A dissolution of Parliament followed. SECTION II. SIR ROBERT PEEL'S FIRST MINISTRY AND LORD MELBOURNE'S SECOND MINISTRY. I. The issue of the Tamworth Manifesto by Peel to the electors of Tamworth, the borough for which he was a candidate, did good service for the Conservative cause. In that address he professed himself to be a moderate but conservative reformer, "willing to give a just and impartial consideration of what was due to all interests, agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial." In the New Parliament, although the Conservatives gained a hundred seats, they were still in the minority, and were outvoted on several occasions. They then formed a coalition with the Irish members, under an agreement known as the "Lichfield House Compact," and carried, in opposition to the Ministry, Lord John Russell's motion relating "to the appropriation of the surplus revenues of the Irish Church to the purposes of education." Sir Robert at once resigned. 2. Lord Melbourne's Second Ministry, 1835-1841. Three important Acts mark this Ministry. (1) The Municipal Reform Act, "the principal achievement of Lord Melbourne's Second Administration." The evils it sought to remedy were anomalous to those which had existed in the parliamentary constituencies—(a) corporations filled up their own vacancies; (b) the members were elected for life; and (c) the proceedings of corporations were conducted in secret. The Bill enacted-(1) That all members of Town Councils should be elected by the rate-payers (the City of London was to be exempt from this law). (2) That all "trading privileges It should be abolished. (3) That Town Councillors should not (2) The Second Marriage Act, 1836, allowing Nonconformists to celebrate marriages in their own chapels, or before the registrar of the district. It (3) The Tithe Commutation Bill in England, 1836. enacted, that tithes should be paid in "money" and not in "kind," and that the amount should vary according to the average price of corn during the seven preceding years. The result of this measure was, "that a fruitful source of ill-feeling which had hitherto existed between Churchmen and Nonconformists was removed." Death of the King. In 1837 the "worthy old king" died, and was succeeded by his niece, Victoria, the daughter of the late Duke of Kent, the fourth son of George III. NOTE.--The kingdom of Hanover was now separated from that of England, for by the Salic Law, which prevailed in Hanover, no female could occupy the throne, and Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Kent's next brother, became king of that country. This separation of the two countries freed England from all necessity for interfering in the internal affairs of Germany. MEMORABLE EVENTS. The Opening of the First Railway. Perhaps the greatest event in the reign of William IV. was the "opening of the First Railway," from Liverpool to Manchester -an event destined to revolutionize the world. The successful application of steam-power to locomotion on land was due to the perseverance and ingenuity of George Stephenson, the son of a poor collier in the Durham coalfield. Stephenson had learnt something about machinery while he worked in a coal-pit as engine-boy, and as he grew up had saved enough money out of his scanty wages to enable him to pay for instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. In 1816 he constructed a locomotive engine capable of drawing waggons on tram-lines. Subsequently he was engineer for the line which connected Stockton and Darlington, and designed and built the engine which ran on it. In the same year it was resolved to make a railway between Liverpool and Manchester, and Stephenson was chosen as engineer. On its completion, he advised the directors to offer a prize for the best locomotive. Four inventors sent in their engines for competition, but Stephenson's, called the "Rocket," far outrivalled all the others, and ran at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour. The "Rocket" locomotive has served as the model and type of all other locomotives. NOTE 1. The superiority of the "Rocket" was mainly due to (a) its multitubular boiler; (b) the simple but admirable contrivance of the steam-blast, which increased the draft, and consequently the intensity of combustion in the furnace. Stephenson took the lead in railway engineering, and lived to see the Railway System established in England. NOTE 2.-The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was attended with an accident, which cost the life of Huskisson, one of the greatest advocates of the Railway System. The occasion of the opening was deemed of national importance, and Huskisson, the Duke of Wellington, and other eminent statesmen had been invited to be present. Huskisson had quarrelled with the Duke of Wellington, and seeing the Duke in a railway carriage, stepped forward to effect a reconciliation with him. While doing so he was accidentally knocked down by the "Rocket," and died the same day of the injuries he had received. NOTE 3.-What the locomotive has done on land the steamboat has done on sea. In 1812 the first steamboat, called the Comet, the work of Henry Bell, plied on the river Clyde, and in 1819 a steamboat called the Savannah crossed the Atlantic, and became the forerunner of those majestic "Liners" which traverse the ocean to every part of the globe. NOTE 4. The canals of the country were no longer adequate to carry the increased traffic. Telford and Macadam, both Scotchmen, turned their attention to the improvement of the roads. The result was that a good coach service was introduced, and coaches ran at what was then considered to be the wonderful rate of ten miles an hour. Title : George III. VICTORIA, 1837. Daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, son of Married, Albert of Saxe-Coburg. SUMMARY OF REIGN. SECTION I.-LORD MELBOURNE'S MINISTRY IS CONTINUED. Accession. Insurrection in the Canadas. Rise of the Chartists. Rowland Hill's New Postage Scheme is adopted. Irish Affairs. First War with China 195-200 SECTION II. DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT; SIR ROBERT PEEL BECOMES PRIME MINISTER. First Afghan War. Income-Tax is established. War with and Conquest of Sindh. Disruption in the Church of Scotland, and Establishment of the Free Church of Scotland. The First Sikh War. Struggle for the Repeal of the Corn Laws 200-206 SECTION III.-LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S MINISTRY. The Year of Revolutions; in France, in Ireland and in England. The Second Sikh War. The Great Exhibition of the Industries of All Nations. Coup d'Etat, or Massacre of December 2. Lord Palmerston is dismissed from office 206-210 SECTION IV. LORD DERBY BECOMES PRIME MINISTER, BUT RESIGNS SAME YEAR, AND LORD ABERDEEN TAKES OFFICE. Death of the Duke of Wellington. The Crimean War. Events in the War: Battle of the Alma; Battle of Balaclava ; Battle of Inkerman 210-214 |