XXXVIII. 1839.

and heretofore unprecedented combination of extremely CHAP high prices of provisions of all sorts, in consequence of four bad seasons having succeeded each other without intermission, with ruinously low wages of labour in consequence of the contraction of the currency, and stoppage of credit originating with a monetary system dependent on the retention of gold, in the drain of the precious. metals occasioned by the consequent import of foreign grain. It may safely be affirmed that this extraordinary combination produced an amount of distress which never before had been witnessed in British, or even in modern history; and it was decisively proved by the extraordinary fact already mentioned, that one-seventh of the entire population of the two islands had become paupers. It fell with much more severity on the urban and manufacturing than the rural and agricultural population; for to the former the high price of necessaries was in some degree compensated by the high price of agricultural produce, but to the latter it was aggravated by the low price of manufactures. The people in towns saw this, and writhed under its severity; but they were ignorant of the cause to which it was owing, and lent a willing ear to the agitators, who ascribed it all, not to the monetary system, but to the monopoly of grain, which was enriching the landlords and farmers in the midst of the general ruin. The suffering being universal among the working classes in the towns and manufacturing districts, and the remedy proposed for it in the free importation of foreign grain such as was on a level with every capacity, it obtained universal credit among these classes, and being skilfully improved by Cobden, Bright, and the whole orators of the Anti-Corn-Law League, became so powerful as to portend important changes in the commercial policy of the nation at no distant period.

Encouraged by these favourable appearances, Mr Villiers, on 7th February 1839, brought forward a motion to take evidence on the operation of the Corn Laws. But

XXXVIII.

1839.

37.

motion for

of the Corn Laws lost.

CHAP. the attempt was premature; the landed influence of the great Whig magnates who formed the Cabinet was not sufficiently weakened to admit of such a concession to the Mr Villiers' commercial interests, and the motion was resisted by the the repeal Ministers. Such as it was, however, the result of the motion evinced the indecision of Government on the subject, and was hailed by the Anti-Corn-Law League as the harbinger of coming triumphs. Lord John Russell had declared to his constituents at Stroud that the Corn Laws were indefensible on principle, and that the time had come for a change; but in answer to Mr Villiers in the House, he said, "The impression on my mind is, that it is my duty to oppose the motion to hear evidence at the bar. I have not as yet found sufficient precedents to induce me to adopt such a course. At the same time, as there will be a great deal of discussion relating to facts, when a mode is proposed by which these facts can be ascertained which is conformable to precedent, and not inconvenient to the house, I shall be willing, though not ready to propose it myself, to support such an inquiry." The whole Cabinet, with the exception of Mr Poulett Thomson, including Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, Lord Howick, and Mr Spring Rice, voted against inquiry. The Feb, 18, motion was negatived by a majority of 181; the numbers being 361 to 172. So strongly intrenched were the Corn Laws in the legislature on the very eve of their fall. In the House of Peers a similar motion was negatived withParl. Deb. out a division, Lord Melbourne declaring that "the repeal of the Corn Laws would be the most insane proposition that ever entered into the human head." 1

1839.

xlv. 156,

691.

38.

agitation on

The Anti-Corn-Law delegates were rather encouraged Increased than the reverse by this result, and the general excitethe subject. ment on the subject was much increased by what had passed in Parliament, and the evident division in the Cabinet on the subject. "There was no cause for despondence; they were the representatives of three millions of

СНАР. XXXVIII.

1839.

people; they were the evidence that the great towns had _CHAP. banded themselves together; and their alliance would be a Hanseatic League against their feudal Corn-Law plunderers. The castles which crowned the rocks along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Elbe, had once been the stronghold of feudal oppression, but they had been dismantled by a league, and they now only adorned the landscape as picturesque memorials of the past, while the people below had lost all fear of plunder, and tilled their vineyards in peace." 1

1 Spectator,

The delegates left, but only to 1839, 178. meet again in Manchester, when fresh modes of agitation were devised, whereby it was to be carried into every village and hamlet of the realm. The "Anti-Corn-Law Rhymes" made their appearance at this period, and by expressing exactly the feeling of the urban multitude on the subject, soon acquired great popularity, and powerfully contributed to advance the cause. There was much ability in many of the publications issued, and thorough knowledge of the means of moving the multitude in the practical leaders by whom they were directed; but the great cause of the rapid progress and ultimate success of the movement was the coincidence of high prices of provisions, the result of five bad seasons in succession, with low prices of manufacturing produce, the result of the consequent contraction of the currency-a state of things so anomalous and distressing to the inhabitants of towns that it rendered them ready to embrace with ardour any project which held out the prospect even of bringing it to a termination.

39.

the Queen.

It is the ordinary effect of such periods of general and long-continued distress, to engender a feeling of irritation Attack on at those in authority, which often leads to attempts at assassination. The great and affluent can in reality do nothing so well calculated to assuage the public distress, so far as their means go, as engaging in festivities which occasion an expenditure of money, for it is the want of

XXXVIII.

1840.

CHAP. Such expenditure which occasions the worst part of the distress. It is grating to the feelings, however, to see one class revelling in luxury while another is pining in indigence, and reflection on the beneficial effects of the expenditure comes only to those who immediately experience its benefits. The Queen's popularity from this cause, and from no error on the part of her Majesty, sensibly declined in the melancholy years 1839 and 1840; and the sore feeling in the last of these years appeared in attempts at assassination, which, though unconnected with any political association, and the acts of isolated individuals, were suggested by the general soreness and irritation which pervaded the public mind. The first of these was the act of a wrong-headed youth named Oxford, who, on 10th June 1840, fired two loaded pistols at the Queen as she was ascending Constitution Hill in the Park, in her phaeton. Happily neither shot took effect; the criminal was immediately seized; and by the mistaken lenity of the authorities, instead of being hanged, he was considered a lunatic, and sentenced to confinement in an asylum for life. He himself afterwards said, if he had been hanged, there would have been no more firing at the Queen; but instead of meeting with his deserts, he became a hero with the fine ladies of London, "even members of Parliament applying for locks of his hair." The consequence was, that several other half-crazy youths, desirous of notoriety, sought it by further attempts, or feigned attempts, to assassinate her Majesty, until the abominable practice was stopped by an Act passed in 1841, which declared any such attempts punishable, in addition to transportation, by three private whippings in jail. This was a disagreeable result of a longing for Ann Reg notoriety, and accordingly it put an effectual stop to these Law Cases; disgraceful acts. Yet how alarming soever, while they continued they were attended with this good effect, that on every occasion on which they occurred they drew forth

1840, 245;

Mart. ii.

417.

expressions of the loyalty of the people and the personal CHAP. courage and humanity of the Sovereign.

XXXVIII.

1841.

difficulties

The session of 1841, which was opened by the Queen 40. in person on 26th January, took place amidst the general Extreme conviction that the Whig Ministry could not get through of Ministers. it. The balance of parties had been so even during the preceding session of Parliament, that it had been barren of legislative results. Nothing of real importance was either proposed or thought of, and Government seemed to cling to office rather from the instinctive desire of Britons not to be beaten, or a chivalrous feeling of devotion towards the Sovereign, than from any real sense that they had strength enough to discharge the duties of Government. The penny postage had given universal satisfaction, as every remission of taxation generally felt never fails to do; but it had made an alarming chasm of £1,700,000 a-year in the revenue, and brought up the deficit to £2,500,000, which Government apparently had not the means of replacing. Indirect taxes on articles of luxury consumed had been found by experience to have reached its limit; any increase had ceased to be productive. If attempted, it would at once raise such a storm among the urban consumers as would prove fatal to any administration. Direct taxation still remained, but it had been pronounced by Sir R. Peel to be a "dire scourge," and it was more than doubtful whether his whole party, three hundred strong, would not at once resist any attempt to introduce it. An universal feeling in consequence had come to pervade the community, that an entire change of Administration had become indispensable; the Tories openly exulted at the prospect of a speedy accession to power, and even their cautious 1 Doubleleader did not hesitate to affirm on several occasions, that day, ii. 296a united party, led by three hundred independent mem- ii. 436; bers of Parliament, could not long remain excluded from 1841, 5-7. office.1

298; Mart.

Ann. Reg.