CHAP. II. mistress.

William

IV. and Parliamentary Reform.

tions Act.

Relief was now to be confined to destitution, the workhouse test was instituted to detect imposture, and outdoor relief to the the able-bodied was forbidden. The act, which was initiated by Lord John Russell and Lord Althorp, had the effect of reducing parochial expenditure, diminishing crime, and encouraging thrift, though its full influence was not felt until after the abolition of the Corn Laws.

Municipal Municipal reform, a natural corollary to ParliamenCorpora tary reform, was dealt with in 1835. For centuries there had been a gradual encroachment upon popular rights by those who assumed the municipal authority in towns. The suffrages of burgesses and freemen were thrust aside, and the practice of self-election substituted. In the eighteenth century corporations were little more than close governing bodies, and the inhabitants of the towns had no effective share in the management of their own affairs. By the Reform Act of 1832 the exclusive electoral privileges of the corporations were taken away and given to the people, and now the municipalities were to be reformed in other directions. A commission of inquiry was first appointed, which exposed the prevalent abuses, and this step was followed by the introduction of Lord John Russell's Municipal Corporations Bill in 1835. This measure proposed to vest the municipal franchise in rated inhabitants who had paid poor rates for three years. These were to elect the mayor and common council. The municipal franchise of the freemen was superseded, and no new freemen were to be created. Exclusive trading rights were to be discontinued, and extended powers were given to the new councils over the police, local government, and the administration of justice. Provision was made for publishing the proceedings of the councils, and for the proper administration of their funds and the publication and audit of their accounts. The ancient corporation of London was exempted from the operation of the act. The measure passed the Commons almost as drawn, but in the Lords some important amendments were incorporated. As the

William

IV. and Parliamentary Reform.

result of a compromise with the Commons, the Parlia- CHAP. II. mentary franchise and the pecuniary rights of the freemen were more fully safeguarded, a qualification for councillors was inserted, aldermen were to be elected for six years, and the exclusive eligibility of existing aldermen was surrendered. The qualification to vote was afterwards reduced to one year's payment of rates. This act, establishing local self-government, has had many beneficial results, not the least of which is the stimulus it has given to the growth of political freedom in the towns.

of Slavery.

A noble act was enrolled upon the statute book in Abolition 1833. In May of that year Mr. Stanley, in a speech of remarkable eloquence, introduced the Government bill for the abolition of colonial slavery. By this measure all children under six years of age, or who should be born after August 1st, 1834, were declared free; all registered slaves over six years became from the same date apprenticed labourers, with weekly pay, either in money or by board and lodging, possessing at the same time all the rights and immunities of free men. With regard to compensation to owners, Ministers originally proposed to advance a loan of £15,000,000 to the West Indian proprietors, but the idea of a loan was abandoned, and a gift substituted, the sum of £20,000,000 being finally voted as compensation to the slave-owners. By this humane. measure the self-denying labours of Wilberforce, Clarkson, and others were brought to a happy consummation.

India

Many miscellaneous acts of importance were passed The East during the reign. In 1833 the charter of the East India Charter. Company was renewed for twenty years from April 30th, 1834, under certain restrictions. The company now became a political body. Its monopoly of the China trade was taken away, and its commercial property sold, but its dominion over India was confirmed for twenty years. So great was the pressure of legislation this year (1833) that the Commons adopted morning sittings for Morning the despatch of business. An act was passed enabling sittings. Quakers, Moravians, and Separatists, on entering Parlia- Affirmament, to substitute an affirmation for an oath. The

tion Act.

William
IV. and
Parlia-

Reform.

Bank
Charter
Act.

Factory Act of 1833.

CHAP. II. charter of the Bank of England was renewed by the Bank Charter Act of 1833. The act provided that notes of the Bank of England were to be made legal tender, so mentary that country banks would be enabled to meet a panic with notes instead of gold. One-fourth of the debt due from the public to the Bank was to be immediately paid; and, in consideration of its new privileges, the Bank was to deduct £120,000 per annum from its charge for the business of conducting the National Debt affairs. Paper issued and specie kept in hand were henceforth to bear to each other the ratio of three to one, and the Bank was compelled to publish a general statement of its condition quarterly. Lord Ashley (afterwards Earl of Shaftesbury) and his coadjutors witnessed the partial success of their philanthropic labours in 1833 by the passing of a Factory Act for the protection of women and children. The employment of children under nine years of age in factories was prohibited; the labour of those of both sexes and of all women was subjected to regulation; an inspection of factories was instituted; and provision was made for the Education éducation of factory children. An act was passed making grant. a grant of £20,000 for educational purposes. This grant was continued annually up to 1839, when it was increased, and the Committee of the Privy Council on Education formed. The grant was dispensed to the National Society and to the British and Foreign School Society by the Treasury. In 1834 an act was passed establishing the Central Criminal Court. The jurisdiction of the Old Criminal Bailey court was greatly extended, not only in Middlesex, but in parts of Surrey, Kent, and Essex. To the Middlesex Sessions at Clerkenwell was left the trial of offences punishable with not more than seven years' House tax transportation. During the same session the house tax was repealed, sinecure offices in the House of Commons were abolished, and facilities were afforded by the Post Office for the transmission of foreign newspapers. An act improving the patent law was carried by Lord Brougham in 1835. Amongst other things, it provided for the extension of the term of a patent from fourteen to

Central

Court Act.

abolished,

etc.

The

Patent
Law.

William
IV. and

twenty-one years. The year 1836 witnessed the intro- CHAP. II. duction of a number of varied reforms. First, the newspaper stamp duty was reduced to one penny. Lord John Russell carried two measures for the relief of mentary

Parlia

Reform.

Dis

etc.

tion Act.

Dissenters. The Dissenters' Marriage Act permitted Newsthe solemnisation of marriages in Nonconformist chapels. paper The act for the registration of births, marriages, and duty. deaths established a record of births and deaths that senters' was wholly civil; the record of marriages was ordered marriages, to be made by the minister performing the ceremony and transmitted to the registrar, while those who objected to a religious ceremony could enter into a civil contract before the superintendent registrar. A general register office was provided for London, and the country was divided into registration districts. An act Tithe for tithe commutation in England provided for the final Commuta extinction within two years of the vexatious right of exacting tithes in kind, and for commuting them into a corn-rent charge payable in money. The average price of corn for the preceding seven years was to be taken; and the great tithes were to be levied on corn and grass, the small tithes on other produce. Commissioners were appointed to carry out the commutation. After the ap- Church pointment of various commissions of inquiry into the reforms. condition of the Church of England, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners were incorporated in 1836, and various schemes of reform drawn up by them were sanctioned by Parliament. The incomes of the prelates were reduced to the following amounts under an act for effecting a new distribution of episcopal dioceses and incomes:-The Archbishop of Canterbury, £15,000; Archbishop of York, £10,000; Bishop of London, £10,000; Winchester, £9,000; Durham, £8,000; Ely, £5,500; St. Asaph and Bangor, £5,200; Worcester, £5,000; other bishops being apportioned incomes from £4,000 to £5,000. The bishoprics of Gloucester and Bristol were united, and new sees were created successively under the act at Ripon and Manchester. Cathedral and collegiate establishments were reduced, and their revenues appropriated to the

VOL. II.

30

466

IV. and

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

[воок

CHAP. II. relief of spiritual destitution. The surplus Church funds William accruing from the various reforms effected were subseParlia- quently applied to the augmentation of small livings, mentary and other purposes intended to increase the usefulness and efficiency of the Church.

Reform.

Parlia

ment

Houses destroyed. Police.

Death of
William

IV.

The establishment of an efficient system of police in Great Britain began with Sir Robert Peel's Act of 1829, constituting the Metropolitan Police. The old system of watchmen was abolished. Counties and boroughs followed suit, and in 1835 the new plan was perfected. The City of London retains control over its own police. Acts organising or regulating the police forces throughout the kingdom were passed at various intervals from 1829 to 1888. Ireland has two police forces-the Dublin Metropolitan Police and the Royal Irish Constabulary.

By an untoward accident the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire on October 16th, 1834. It appears that the conflagration was caused by the burning of the exchequer-tallies in a building adjoining the House of Lords. As the fire spread, grave fears were entertained for Westminster Hall and Westminster Abbey, but these venerable and magnificent structures were happily preserved. The two Houses of Parliament were, however, destroyed. Many valuable documents were burnt, including the original death-warrant of Charles I.; but the vast bulk of the State papers and the valuable libraries were saved. Temporary buildings were erected on the old site, and the erection of the present imposing Houses was begun from designs by Mr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Barry. The Lords occupied their new chamber in 1847, and the Commons theirs in the session of 1852.

William IV., the third son of George III., died on June 20th, 1837. He was not in any sense a remarkable sovereign, and he had much of the hereditary stubbornness of his race; nevertheless, he had also a natural affability of character, and, as Sir Robert Peel said in pronouncing his eulogium, he was compassionate for the sufferings of others, and was utterly free from all selfishness.