The defeat of Napoleon brought seventeen new colonies, but not prosperity; a general depression of six years ensued. The population grew from 11 to 21 million in the forty years after the war. To survive or succeed, pluck, discipline, "determination, hardness, energy, persistency, thoroughness and inflexibility", the virtues of the coming Victorian era, were required. The year 1815 saw riots over the price of corn and the following year over unemployment. "The spirit of French revolt was abroad." George III was on the throne, but the country was ruled by the Prince of Wales, whom Wellington described "as the worst man I ever fell in with..." A Cotton Factory Act in 1819 prohibited children under 9 from working, thus marking the first time the government "had turned its face against unchecked laissez-faire in the workings of the economy." The 1820's saw reform in the air. The government supported freedom in South America and began to consider legalizing trade unions. April, 1829 saw the extension of the vote to Roman Catholics, and a few years later, a Reform Bill was enacted. It was a far cry from universal male suffrage (the nation still had but 652,000 voters), but it did afford representation for the great cities of the nation. It empowered the middle class and enhanced the structures of the political parties. Commons may have been improved, but Lords still reigned supreme. 1833 saw the abolition of slavery throughout the empire. The first decades of the century had seen the introduction of the steam engine, the laying of rail lines and the rapid industrialization of the country. The entire century, though, would be dominated by the 'Irish Question', which was on one hand forever undefinable and yet, capable of felling government after government. Another defining aspect of the kingdom was unparalleled urban poverty and filth, along with the depravity of conditions in the factories, but, to a much greater degree, the horror in the coal mines. To the west lay an island of paupers, two million of whom starved to death in the 1840's. That government should act to mitigate starvation had not occurred to anyone. As the politics of the country struggled with the ongoing conflicts between the rich and poor, the economy continued to grow and grow, year over year. The factories were now closed on Saturday afternoons, thus affording their workers leisure time.
The war in the Crimean Peninsula intervened in the peace of the era and, although mostly remembered for Tennyson's poetry and Florence Nightingale's ministrations, it saw the first examples of the impact of industrialization on the ancient art of war. Too many Britons died in an inconsequential effort that lacked finality and the management of the army was condemned as incompetent. Three years later, in 1857, the Indians erupted in violence against their occupiers, leading to the end of the rule of the East India Company and the establishment of the sub-continent as a crown colony.
Gladstone became PM in 1868 after another expansion of the electorate and began to undertake meaningful change. The colonies became part of the confederation that would ultimately be known as the Commonwealth. He disestablished the Church of Ireland. Public education blossomed throughout the country. The secret ballot was confirmed. Religious tests for universities were abolished. Mines were regulated. Imprisonment for debt was reduced. Government, courts and the civil service were reformed. Gladstone, however, continued to butt heads with the monarch, who had withdrawn unto herself for so long after Albert's death that there was concern for the well-being of the institution. When her son survived typhoid, ten years after her consort had succumbed to it, and she avoided another Fenian assassination attempt, she was so happy that she rejoined public life and once again became the mother of the nation. Gladstone was succeeded in 1874 by Disraeli, who had Victoria crowned Empress of India and who finessed the acquisition of the Suez Canal. Gladstone was back in 1880. Starting in that decade, and for the next thirty-years, the issue Irish Home Rule would dominate British domestic politics. Trade unionism finally gained ground in the waning decades of the century, which closed with the country engaged in a trying slog of a war in South Africa in which England was humiliated. As for the eponymous Victoria, she and the era ended on January 22, 1901. She had been queen for over sixty-three years.
I have enjoyed every book in this series. So it has been a disappointment to labor through the focus here on domestic politics. This was an era that saw Britain dominate the world, create the wealthiest country in history; indeed, achieve a national apogee of unparalleled success, and this volume is bogged down in the endless intricacies of political gamesmanship.
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