1847] FIELDEN'S FACTORY ACT. 171 of whom strongly condemned it. It was urged that it must inevitably produce a decrease of wages, which the high and rising price of provisions would render disastrous, for it could be hardly possible in most cases for the factory to continue at work after the dismissal of the young persons. It was asserted to be a restriction on free contract, a compulsory limitation upon the willing work of the industrious man. It was urged that the two hours it was proposed to withdraw from labour was exactly that time which returned his profit to the manufacturer; and that in the general competition, which the country was wilfully seeking by its newly introduced free trade, this Act would strike a deathblow at manufacturing interests. Even Sir Robert Peel, who foresaw the immense importance of the working classes, and was eager for their well-being, urged with all his authority that education and the larger command of the necessaries of life were the true means of securing it, and that unless they had these preliminary requisites increased leisure would be useless to them. But sympathy with the dreary lot of unenlivened labour; the not wholly unfounded belief that the quality of shortened hours of work might make up for the loss of quantity; the principle which has guided much of the action of the Liberal party that the boon must be given before the recipient can be raised to the full power of enjoying it; and more than all the social conscience which had been aroused and was impatient for the immediate removal of evil, rendered Parliament deaf to such arguments, and the Bill was carried by large majorities in both Houses. Russell's education grant carried. The question of national education, which appeared to some to be the only sure method of ameliorating the condition of the working classes, was also engaging the attention of Government. The establishment of a Committee of May 1847. Privy Council by Lord John Russell in 1839, for the purposes of national education, had formed a starting-point. The grant for schools at that time was but £10,000. Efforts to extend the system upon wider lines had been made by Sir James Graham in 1842, but had failed. The grant however had been several times increased, and Lord John Russell now asked Parliament for £100,000. So small a sum could have excited no opposition from those who thought that the duty of educating the people lay upon Government. But there were many who denied this duty, and were jealous of the increasing outlay on education, and of the patronage which its distribution appeared to place in the hands of Government. There were others who looked upon the scheme as at present existing as unduly favourable to the interests of the English Church. It was the opposition of this class (which included both Roman Catholics and Dissenters) which had obliged Sir James Graham to withdraw his propositions. Lord John Russell was fully aware of the difficulties which beset any general plan, and was induced by the apparent impossibility of combining conflicting interests to confine his efforts to the improvement of the class of teachers. The grant he demanded was for the purpose of giving effect to a minute of the Educational Committee of Council issued the preceding year, and chiefly drawn up by Sir Kay Shuttleworth. The scheme itself might be carried out by the authority of the Crown without recourse to Parliament. All he required was the money. In making his demand he stated that the Roman Catholics would still be excluded from the advantages of the grant, but that this arose from no wish of his or of the Government. The obstacle in their way, which he did not as yet see the means of removing, was the necessity of the employment, in the religious teaching of the schools, of the authorised version of the Bible. The clear declaration of Government that they were ready at a future time to admit the Roman Catholics to its advantages removed one great objection to the grant, and it was ultimately allowed by a considerable majority. The scheme which was thus authorised formed in many respects the basis of the subsequent development of our national education. Masters were by it allowed to take pupil-teachers as apprentices, careful inspection under strict conditions was established, and pensions were granted to superannuated masters. It was hoped that those arrangements, although they fell far short of establishing any general system, would at least secure the efficiency of such schools as chose to seek Government assistance. Bishopric of July 1847. With the exception of a Bill for the establishment of a Bishop of Manchester, little else of importance was done during this Manchester Bill. Session. The opposition which stood in the way of so reasonable a Bill was grounded on the difficulty felt to any increase of the number of spiritual peers, and was overcome by an arrangement by which the number of bishops having seats in the House remained unchanged, the junior bishop being excluded unless he should happen to be the bishop of London, Winchester, or Durham. Several very important Bills were withdrawn, and the Parliament was prorogued preparatory to a dissolution in July. The election which followed was uneventful. It was carried Nov 23, 1847. out with less than the usual excitement, and produced no marked change in the balance of parties. It was thought necessary New Parliament. 1847] COMMERCIAL CRISIS. 173 to bring the new Parliament together in the middle of November. There were two causes which led to its being thus early summoned. The continued increase of outrage and social disorganisation in Ireland seemed to call for repressive measures, and the commerce of England was passing through a dangerous crisis. The measures taken with regard to Ireland have been already mentioned. Commercial crisis. Sept.-Oct. 1847. With regard to the commercial difficulty the Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed that a committee should be appointed to examine into the causes of distress and into the operation of the Bank Restriction Act of 1844. In introducing his motion he sketched the course of events which necessitated it. The failure of the harvest in 1846, and of the potato crop, had rendered necessary a large importation of corn, more than could be paid for in goods, and consequently money payments had been required. At the same time railway enterprise had demanded a great amount of capital. And both the corn trade and the making of railways had afforded a wide field for speculation. Such speculations may be carried on long upon credit, but money must be eventually obtained, and the expenses met by obtaining advances from banks and dealers in money, upon securities payable at some future date, and realised at once upon the payment of discount. The demand for such advances became so great that they could not be obtained even at a very high rate of discount. The pressure had begun in April, but had apparently passed away. It set in again with extreme severity in the ` autumn. Unable to obtain money either from their own resources or by means of advances, house after house, many of them of high standing, stopped payment. The Bank of England, which in some degree regulated the money market, continually raised its rate of discount to 6, 7, and 8 per cent., at the same time shortening the period for which it was willing to lend its money. A crisis seemed approaching. In spite of the high rate money was not forthcoming, the failures continued, the funds fell as low as 79, and so difficult was it to obtain money that the Bank of England was practically the only establishment from which advances could be got. The Bank Restriction Act of 1844 had set a limit to the amount of notes which the Bank could issue, and consequently limited its power of making advances. It appeared that that limit would soon be reached, that all the means of obtaining additional money would have been exhausted, and that universal bankruptcy would follow. The condition of the country was so serious that the Government thought it right to interferc, and wrote to the bank directors advising them to continue to advance, even though in so doing they passed the legal limits. The ministers suggested, as a means of keeping the advances within reasonable bounds, the maintenance of a very high rate of discount, but promised that if it should be necessary to infringe the restrictions of Credit 1844 they would introduce into Parliament a Bill to indemnify the directors from this breach of the law. Upon this suggestion the bank acted. The knowledge that further accommodation was within reach checked the panic. The high rate of discount, and the great demand, had the natural effect of attracting money from abroad; and by degrees, without any infringement of the law, credit was re-established and the pressure lightened. But it remained evident that this had only been effected by an authoritative relaxation of the restriction of the Bank Act, and it became a very natural question whether a restriction which could not be enforced in time of difficulty was worth maintaining. It was consequently subjected to severe criticisms; but Sir Robert Peel vindicated the measure of which he had been the author, showed that the unexpected scarcity of food, the wild spirit of speculation, and the failure of the cotton crop were the chief causes of the present distress, and declared it to be his belief (a belief which was generally accepted as correct) that any tampering with the existing law would afford but temporary assistance with the risk of greater subsequent danger. He also pointed out that although many important failures had undoubtedly taken place, there had been as a fact no run on the bank for gold, and that the country had been consequently saved from the terrible disorders of 1838 and 1839. Financial embarrassments of Government. Although the Government had been allowed to raise a loan of £8,000,000 to meet the requirements of the Irish famine, the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not desire to continue this very questionable method of supplying the revenue, and the financial difficulties to be overcome were by no means slight. The threatening aspect of political affairs on the Continent had raised into prominence the condition of the national defences, and the opinion that they were wholly inadequate had been strongly expressed. The receipts of the year had fallen below the estimate under nearly every head. The only important increase was that derived from the sugar duties since they had been lowered; and this was the only practical proof of the advantages of Free-trade Various causes had kept up the price of food. The commercial theory of 1846 had therefore to be upheld against a Protectionist party not yet silenced by the overwhelming logic of facts; while the Radical 1848] FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES. 175 free-traders regarded with indignation all idea of increased arma ments. Free-trade maintained. June 4, 1848. The question of the commercial policy to be pursued arose early in the Session, upon a motion of Lord George Bentinck for a Committee to consider the condition of the West India planters. Their depression could not be denied. However, although their claims were enforced not only by the usual arguments in favour of protection, but by others peculiar to their case-such as want of labour, the duty of supporting free labour in opposition to slavery, and the special responsibility England had incurred by the abolition of the slave-trade-Government succeeded in maintaining its free-trade attitude. The planters had to content themselves with a small loan for the purpose of encouraging immigration of free labour, and with a reduction of the duty paid by sugar from the colonies. But upon the production of the Budget the financial weakness of the Government became evident. Afraid, in the present disturbed state of Europe, to adopt the plan of the advanced free-traders and diminish the warlike expenditure of the country, and rightly disinclined to increase the national debt, additional taxation appeared the only means of encountering the formidable deficit. Lord John Russell therefore proposed to renew the income-tax at the increased rate of one shilling in the pound for five years. His proposition encountered the most vehement opposition. While one party cried out against the wicked expenditure on the army and navy, another revived all the arguments previously urged against direct taxation; a third, while accepting it in principle, pointed out the injustice of taxing realised property and professional incomes equally, and clamoured for an income-tax graduated in some way to meet this difficulty. The Government yielded to The Budget the storm, It allowed the army and navy estimates to withdrawn. August 1848. be examined by a committee charged with the duty of reducing them if possible. It gave up the idea of increasing the income-tax, though maintaining it at its present rate, and in its present form. And at last, late in August, when, after all this patching and correction was over, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made his definite statement, he found himself obliged to demand a renewed loan of £2,000,000, which, not without considerable objection, was ultimately allowed. Few things lower the credit of a Government more than a rejected budget, and a strong feeling began to gain ground of the inefficiency of the present Ministers to grapple with financial difficulty. Yet on |