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[Illustration: THE PRINCESS VICTORIA IN 1830
(From the Picture by RICHARD WESTALL, R.A., at Windsor Castle.)]
FIFTY YEARS AGO
BY
WALTER BESANT
AUTHOR OF ‘ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN’ ETC.
[Illustration]
_PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED_
NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE
BY WALTER BESANT.
ALL IN A GARDEN FAIR. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
DOROTHY FORSTER. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
FIFTY YEARS AGO. 8vo, Cloth. (_Just Published._)
HERR PAULUS. 8vo, Paper, 35 cents.
KATHERINE REGINA. 4to, Paper, 15 cents.
LIFE OF COLIGNY. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents.
SELF OR BEARER. 4to, Paper, 15 cts.
THE WORLD WENT VERY WELL THEN. Illustrated. 4to, Paper, 25 cents.
THE CHILDREN OF GIBEON. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
THE HOLY ROSE. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
TO CALL HER MINE. Illustrated. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
UNCLE JACK AND OTHER STORIES. 12mo, Paper, 25 cents.
By WALTER BESANT AND JAMES RICE.
ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
BY CELIA’S ARBOR. Illustrated. 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.
SHEPHERDS ALL AND MAIDENS FAIR. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents.
“SO THEY WERE MARRIED.” Illustrated. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
SWEET NELLY, MY HEART’S DELIGHT. 4to, Paper, 10 cents.
THE CHAPLAIN OF THE FLEET. 4to, Paper, 20 cents.
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THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY. 8vo, Paper, 40 cents.
’TWAS IN TRAFALGAR’S BAY. 32mo, Paper, 20 cents.
WHEN THE SHIP COMES HOME. 32mo, Paper, 25 cents.
PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.
☛ _Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to
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PREFACE.
It has been my desire in the following pages to present a picture of
society in this country as it was when the Queen ascended the throne.
The book is an enlargement of a paper originally contributed to ‘The
Graphic.’ I have written several additional chapters, and have revised
all the rest. The chapter on Law and Justice has been written for this
volume by my friend Mr. W. Morris Colles, of the Inner Temple. I beg to
record my best thanks to that gentleman for his important contribution.
I have not seen in any of the literature called forth by the happy
event of last year any books or papers which cover the exact ground
of this compilation. There are histories of progress and advancement;
there are contrasts; but there has not been offered anywhere, to my
knowledge, a picture of life, manners, and society as they were fifty
years ago.
When the editor of ‘The Graphic’ proposed that I should write a paper
on this subject, I readily consented, thinking it would be a light
and easy task, and one which could be accomplished in two or three
weeks. Light and easy it certainly was in a sense, because it was very
pleasant work, and the books to be consulted are easily accessible; but
then there are so many: the investigation of a single point sometimes
carried one through half-a-dozen volumes. The two or three weeks became
two or three months.
At the very outset of the work I was startled to find how great a
revolution has taken place in our opinions and ways of thinking,
how much greater than is at first understood. For instance, America
was, fifty years ago, practically unknown to the bulk of our people;
American ideas had little or no influence upon us; our people had no
touch with the United States; if they spoke of a Republic, they still
meant the first French Republic, the only Republic they knew, with
death to kings and tyrants; while the recollection of the guillotine
still preserved cautious and orderly people from Republican ideas.
Who now, however, connects a Republic with a Reign of Terror and the
guillotine? The American Republic, in fact, has taken the place of the
French. Again, though the Reform Bill had been, in 1837, passed already
five years, its effects were as yet only beginning to be felt; we were
still, politically, in the eighteenth century. So in the Church, in the
Law, in the Services, in Society, we were governed by the ideas of the
eighteenth century.
The nineteenth century actually began with steam communication by
sea; with steam machinery; with railways; with telegraphs; with the
development of the colonies; with the admission of the people to the
government of the country; with the opening of the Universities; with
the spread of science; with the revival of the democratic spirit. It
did not really begin, in fact, till about fifty years ago. When and how
will it end? By what order, by what ideas, will it be followed?
In compiling even such a modest work as the present, one is constantly
attended by a haunting dread of having forgotten something necessary
to complete the picture. I have been adding little things ever since I
began to put these scenes together. At this, the very last moment, the
Spirit of Memory whispers in my ear, ‘Did you remember to speak of the
high fireplaces, the open chimneys--up which half the heat mounted--the
broad hobs, and the high fenders, with the fronts pierced, in front of
which people’s feet were always cold? Did you remember to note that
the pin of the period had its head composed of a separate piece of
wire rolled round; that steel pens were either as yet unknown, or were
precious and costly things; that the quill was always wanting a fresh
nib; that the wax-match did not exist; that in the country they still
used the old-fashioned brimstone match; that the night-light of the
period was a rush candle stuck in a round tin cylinder full of holes;
and that all the ladies’ dress had hooks and eyes behind?’
I do not think that I have mentioned any of these points; and yet, how
much food for reflection is afforded by every one! Reader, you may
perhaps find my pictures imperfect, but you can fill in any one sketch
from your own superior knowledge. Meantime, remember this. As nearly as
possible, fifty years ago, the eighteenth century passed away. It died
slowly; its end was hardly marked.
King William the Fourth is dead. Alas! how many things were dying with
that good old king! The steam-whistle was already heard across the
fields: already in mid-ocean the great steamers were crossing against
wind and tide: already the nations were slowly beginning to know each
other: Privilege, Patronage, and the Power of Rank were beginning
already to tremble, and were afraid: already the working man was heard
demanding his vote: the nineteenth century had begun. We who have
lived in it; we who are full of its ideas; we who are all swept along
upon the full stream of it--we know not, we cannot see, whither it is
carrying us.
W. B.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I. GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, AND THE COLONIES 1
II. THE YEAR 1837 18
III. LONDON IN 1837 30
IV. IN THE STREET 45
V. WITH THE PEOPLE 67
VI. WITH THE MIDDLE-CLASS 85
VII. IN SOCIETY 110
VIII. AT THE PLAY AND THE SHOW 125
IX. IN THE HOUSE 137
X. AT SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITY 154
XI. THE TAVERN 160
XII. IN CLUB- AND CARD-LAND 175
XIII. WITH THE WITS 183
XIV. JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS 209
XV. THE SPORTSMAN 214
XVI. IN FACTORY AND MINE 224
XVII. WITH THE MEN OF SCIENCE 233
XVIII. LAW AND JUSTICE 237
XIX. CONCLUSION 258
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
_PLATES._
THE PRINCESS VICTORIA IN 1830. _From the Picture by
Richard Westall, R.A., at Windsor Castle_ _Frontispiece_
WINDSOR CASTLE _Vignette_
PAGE
QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1839. _From a Drawing by R. J. Lane, A.R.A._ 1
THOMAS CARLYLE. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 16
THE QUEEN’S FIRST COUNCIL--KENSINGTON PALACE, JUNE 20, 1837.
_From the Picture by Sir David Wilkie, R.A., at Windsor
Castle_ 18
A SHOW OF TWELFTH-CAKES. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 20
GREENWICH PARK. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 22
THE CHIMNEY-SWEEPS’ ANNUAL HOLIDAY. _From Cruikshank’s
‘Comic Almanack’_ 24
BEATING THE BOUNDS. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 26
BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 28
VAUXHALL GARDENS. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 30
IN FLEET STREET. PROCLAIMING THE QUEEN. _From Cruikshank’s
‘Comic Almanack’_ 56
LEIGH HUNT. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 64
JOHN GALT. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 86
THE QUEEN RECEIVING THE SACRAMENT AFTER HER CORONATION.
WESTMINSTER ABBEY, JUNE 28, 1838. _From the Picture by C. R.
Leslie, R.A., at Windsor Castle_ 94
THEODORE HOOK. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 100
THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 110
COUNT D’ORSAY. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 112
SYDNEY SMITH. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 116
JOHN BALDWIN BUCKSTONE. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 126
THOMAS NOON TALFOURD. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 128
MARY RUSSELL MITFORD. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 130
SIR WALTER SCOTT. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 132
LORD LYNDHURST. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 138
WILLIAM COBBETT. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 140
LORD JOHN RUSSELL. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 144
EDWARD LYTTON BULWER. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 148
BENJAMIN D’ISRAELI. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 150
THOMAS CAMPBELL. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 176
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 182
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 184
REV. WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 186
PIERRE-JEAN DE BÉRANGER. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 188
JAMES HOGG. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 190
REGINA’S MAIDS OF HONOUR. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 192
HARRIET MARTINEAU. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 194
WILLIAM HARRISON AINSWORTH. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 196
THE FRASERIANS. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 198
JOHN GIBSON LOCKHART. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 200
SAMUEL ROGERS. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 202
THOMAS MOORE. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 204
LORD BROUGHAM AND VAUX. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 206
WASHINGTON IRVING. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 208
JOHN WILSON CROKER. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 210
COCKNEY SPORTSMEN. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 218
RETURN FROM THE RACES. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 220
SIR JOHN C. HOBHOUSE. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 226
A POINT OF LAW. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 238
MICHAEL FARADAY. _From the Fraser Gallery_ 258
_WOODCUTS IN THE TEXT._
ARRIVAL OF THE CORONATION NUMBER OF ‘THE SUN’ 2
LIFEGUARD, 1837 4
GENERAL POSTMAN 6
NAPOLEON AT LONGWOOD. _From a Drawing made in 1820_ 12
LONDON STREET CHARACTERS, 1837. _From a Drawing by John Leech_ 14
5 GREAT CHEYNE ROW. _The House in which Carlyle lived from 1834
to his Death in 1881_ 16
THE DUCHESS OF KENT, WITH THE PRINCESS VICTORIA AT THE AGE OF
TWO. _From the Picture by Sir W. Beechey, R.A., at Windsor
Castle_ 17
WILLIAM IV. _From a Drawing by HB._ 18
PEELER 20
THE SPANIARDS TAVERN, HAMPSTEAD 22
SIR ROBERT PEEL 24
A PARISH BEADLE. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank in
‘London Characters’_ 26
EVENING IN SMITHFIELD. _From a Drawing made in 1858, at the
Gateway leading into Cloth Fair, the Place of Proclamation
of Bartholomew Fair_ 28
FIREMAN 31
HACKNEY COACHMAN. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank in
‘London Characters’_ 34
THE FIRST LONDON EXCHANGE 34
THE SECOND LONDON EXCHANGE 35
THE PRESENT ROYAL EXCHANGE--THIRD LONDON EXCHANGE 35
CHARING CROSS IN THE PRESENT DAY. _From a Drawing by Frank
Murray_ 37
TEMPLE BAR 38
THE ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE 39
LYONS INN IN 1804. _From an Engraving in Herbert’s ‘History of
the Inns of Court’_ 41
KENNINGTON GATE--DERBY DAY 42
THE OLD ROMAN BATH IN THE STRAND 43
LONDON STREET CHARACTERS, 1827. _From a Drawing by John
Leech_ 46
THE KING’S MEWS IN 1750. _From a Print by I. Maurer_ 47
BARRACK AND OLD HOUSES ON THE SITE OF TRAFALGAR SQUARE.
_From a Drawing made by F. W. Fairholt in_ 1826 48
THE LAST CABRIOLET-DRIVER. _From a Drawing by George
Cruikshank in ‘Sketches by Boz’_ 49
A GREENWICH PENSIONER. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank
in ‘London Characters’_ 52
AN OMNIBUS UPSET. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 53
EXETER CHANGE 54
THE PARISH ENGINE. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank in
‘Sketches by Boz’_ 56
CROCKFORD’S FISH SHOP. _From a Drawing by F. W. Fairholt_ 57
THOMAS CHATTERTON 60
THIRD REGIMENT OF BUFFS 63
DOUGLAS JERROLD. _From the Bust by E. H. Bailey, R.A._ 64
JOHN FORSTER. _From a Photograph by Elliott & Fry_ 65
CHARLES DICKENS 66
THE DARBY DAY. _From Cruikshank’s ‘Comic Almanack’_ 76
NEWGATE--ENTRANCE IN THE OLD BAILEY 77
IN THE QUEEN’S BENCH 79
GEORGE ELIOT. _From a Drawing in ‘The Graphic’_ 86
LA PASTOURELLE 89
FASHIONS FOR AUGUST 1836 98
FASHIONS FOR MARCH 1837 98
WATCHMAN. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank in ‘London
Characters’_ 101
A SCENE ON BLACKHEATH. _From a Drawing by ‘Phiz’ in Grant’s
‘Sketches in London’_ 105
MAID-SERVANT. _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank in ‘London
Characters’_ 107
OFFICER OF THE DRAGOON GUARDS 111
A SKETCH IN THE PARK--THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON AND MRS.
ARBUTHNOT 115
LINKMAN 117
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY 123
LISTON AS ‘PAUL PRY.’ _From a Drawing by George Cruikshank_ 128
CHARLES READE 130
T. P. COOKE IN ‘BLACK-EYED SUSAN’ 132
VAUXHALL GARDENS 133
THE ‘NEW’ HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, FROM THE RIVER 138
LORD MELBOURNE 140
THOMAS BABINGTON MACAULAY 141
LORD PALMERSTON 142
BURDETT, HUME, AND O’CONNELL. _From a Drawing by HB._ 143
DANIEL O’CONNELL 146
O’CONNELL TAKING THE OATHS IN THE HOUSE. _From a Drawing by
‘Phiz’ in ‘Sketches in London’_ 147
EDMUND KEAN AS RICHARD THE THIRD 161
OLD ENTRANCE TO THE COCK, FLEET STREET 163
THE OLD TABARD INN, HIGH STREET, SOUTHWARK 173
SIGN OF THE SWAN WITH TWO NECKS, CARTER LANE 174
SIGN OF THE BOLT-IN-TUN, FLEET STREET 174
OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE CLUB, PALL MALL 176
UNITED UNIVERSITY CLUB, PALL MALL 177
CROCKFORD’S, ST. JAMES’S STREET 179
CHARLES KNIGHT. _From a Photograph by Hughes & Mullins_ 184
ROBERT SOUTHEY 185
THOMAS MOORE 186
‘VATHEK’ BECKFORD. _From a Medallion_ 187
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR. _From a Photograph by H. Watkins_ 188
RALPH WALDO EMERSON 189
LORD BYRON 190
SIR WALTER SCOTT 191
A FASHIONABLE BEAUTY OF 1837. _By A. E. Chalon, R.A._ 193
LORD TENNYSON AS A YOUNG MAN. _From the Picture by Sir T.
Lawrence, R.A._ 196
MATTHEW ARNOLD 200
CHARLES DARWIN 201
HOLLAND HOUSE 203
LETTING CHILDREN DOWN A COAL-MINE. _From a Plate in ‘The
Westminster Review’_ 225
CHILDREN WORKING IN A COAL-MINE. _From a Plate in ‘The
Westminster Review’_ 229
LONDON STREET CHARACTERS, 1837. _From a Drawing by John
Leech_ 231
MARSHALSEA--THE COURTYARD. _From a Drawing by C. A. Vanderhoof_ 239
[Illustration: QUEEN VICTORIA IN 1839.
(From a Drawing by R. J. LANE, A.R.A.)]
FIFTY YEARS AGO.
CHAPTER I.
GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, AND THE COLONIES.
I propose to set before my readers a picture of the country as it was
when Queen Victoria (God save the Queen!) ascended the throne, now
fifty years ago and more. It will be a picture of a time so utterly
passed away and vanished that a young man can hardly understand it. I,
who am no longer, unhappily, quite so young as some, and whose babyhood
heard the cannon of the Coronation, can partly understand this time,
because in many respects, and especially in the manners of the middle
class, customs and habits which went out of fashion in London lingered
in the country towns, and formed part of my own early experiences.
[Illustration: ARRIVAL OF THE CORONATION NUMBER OF ‘THE SUN’--ONE
PAPER, AND ONE MAN WHO CAN READ IT IN THE TOWN]
In the year 1837--I shall repeat this remark several times, because
I wish to impress the fact upon everybody--we were still, to all
intents and purposes, in the eighteenth century. As yet the country
was untouched by that American influence which is now filling all
peoples with new ideas. Rank was still held in the ancient reverence;
religion was still that of the eighteenth-century Church; the rights
of labour were not yet recognised; there were no trades’ unions; there
were no railways to speak of; nobody travelled except the rich; their
own country was unknown to the people; the majority of country people
could not read or write; the good old discipline of Father Stick and
his children, Cat-o’-Nine-Tails, Rope’s-end, Strap, Birch, Ferule,
and Cane, was wholesomely maintained; landlords, manufacturers, and
employers of all kinds did what they pleased with their own; and the
Blue Ribbon was unheard of. There were still some fiery spirits in
whose breasts lingered the ideas of the French Revolution, and the
Chartists were already beginning to run their course. Beneath the
surface there was discontent, which sometimes bubbled up. But freedom
of speech was limited, and if the Sovereign People had then ventured
to hold a meeting in Trafalgar Square, that meeting would have been
dispersed in a very swift and surprising manner. The Reform Act had
been passed, it is true, but as yet had produced little effect.
Elections were carried by open bribery; the Civil Service was full of
great men’s nominees; the Church was devoured by pluralists; there were
no competitive examinations; the perpetual pensions were many and fat;
and for the younger sons and their progeny the State was provided with
any number of sinecures. How men contrived to live and to be cheerful
in this state of things one knows not. But really, I think it made
very little apparent difference to their happiness that this country
was crammed full of abuses, and that the Ship of State, to outsiders,
seemed as if she were about to capsize and founder.
This is to be a short chapter of figures. Figures mean very little
unless they can be used for purposes of comparison. When, for
instance, one reads that in the Census of 1831 the population of Great
Britain was 16,539,318, the fact has little significance except when
compared with the Census of 1881, which shows that the population
of the country had increased in fifty years from sixteen millions to
twenty-four millions. And, again, one knows not whether to rejoice or
to weep over this fact until it has been ascertained how the condition
of these millions has changed for better or for worse, and whether the
outlook for the future, if, in the next fifty years, twenty-four become
thirty-six, is hopeful or no. Next, when one reads that the population
of Ireland was then seven millions and three-quarters, and is now less
than five millions, and, further, that one Irishman in three was always
next door to starving, and that the relative importance of Ireland to
Great Britain was then as one to two, and is now as one to five, one
naturally congratulates Ireland on getting more elbow-room and Great
Britain on the relative decrease in Irish power to do the larger island
an injury.
[Illustration: LIFEGUARD, 1837]
The Army and Navy together in 1831 contained no more than 277,017 men,
or half their present number. But then the proportion of the English
military strength to the French was much nearer one of equality. The
relief of the poor in 1831 absorbed 6,875,552_l._, but this sum in 1844
had dropped to 4,976,090_l._, the saving of two millions being due to
the new Poor Law. The stream of emigration had hardly yet begun to
flow. Witness the following figures:
The number of emigrants in 1820 was 18,984
” ” 1825 8,860
” ” 1832 103,311
” ” 1837 72,034
It was not until 1841 that the great flow of emigrants began in
the direction of New Zealand and Australia. The emigrants of 1832
chiefly went to Canada, and as yet the United States were practically
unaffected by the rush from the old countries.
The population of the great towns has for the most part doubled
itself in the last fifty years. London had then a million and a half;
Liverpool, 200,000; Manchester, 250,000; Glasgow, 250,000; Birmingham,
150,000; Leeds, 140,000; and Bristol, 120,000.
Penal settlements were still flourishing. Between 1825 and 1840,
when they were suppressed, 48,712 convicts were sent out to Sydney.
As regards travelling, the fastest rate along the high roads was ten
miles an hour. There were 54 four-horse mail coaches in England, and 49
two-horse mails. In Ireland there were 30 four-horse coaches, and 10 in
Scotland. There were 3,026 stage coaches in the country, of which 1,507
started from London.
There were already 668 British steamers afloat, though the penny
steamboat did not as yet ply upon the river. Heavy goods travelled
by the canals and navigable rivers, of which there were 4,000 in
Great Britain; the hackney coach, with its pair of horses, lumbered
slowly along the street; the cabriolet was the light vehicle for rapid
conveyance, but it was not popular; the omnibus had only recently been
introduced by Mr. Shillibeer; and there were no hansom cabs. There
was a Twopenny Post in London, but no Penny Post as yet. There was
no Book Post, no Parcel Post, no London Parcels Delivery Company. If
you wanted to send a parcel to anywhere in the country, you confided
it to the guard of the coach; if to a town address, there were street
messengers and the ‘cads’ about the stage-coach stations; there were no
telegraphs, no telephones, no commissionaires.
[Illustration: GENERAL POSTMAN]
Fifty years ago the great railways were all begun, but not one of
them was completed. A map published in the _Athenæum_ of January 23,
1836, shows the state of the railways at that date. The line between
Liverpool and Manchester was opened in September, 1830. In 1836 it
was carrying 450,000 passengers in the year, and paying a dividend of
9 per cent. The line between Carlisle and Newcastle was very nearly
completed; that between Leeds and Selby was opened in 1834; there were
many short lines in the coal and mining districts, and little bits of
the great lines were already completed. The London and Greenwich line
was begun in 1834 and opened in 1837. There were in progress the London
and Birmingham, the Birmingham, Stafford, and Warrington, the Great
Western as far as Bath and Bristol, and the London and Southampton
passing through Basingstoke. It is amazing to think that Portsmouth,
the chief naval port and place of embarkation for troops, was left
out altogether. There were also a great many lines projected, which
afterwards settled down into the present great Trunk lines. As they
were projected in 1836, instead of Great Northern, North-Western, and
Great Eastern, we should have had one line passing through Saffron
Walden, Cambridge, Peterborough, Lincoln, York, Appleby, and Carlisle,
with another from London to Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, and Yarmouth;
there was also a projected continuation of the G.W.R. line from Bristol
to Exeter, and three or four projected lines to Brighton and Dover.
The writer of the article on the subject in the _Athenæum_ of that
date (January 23, 1836) considers that when these lines are completed,
letters and passengers will be conveyed from London to Liverpool in ten
hours. ‘Little attention,’ he says, ‘has yet been given to calculate
the effects which must result from the establishment throughout the
kingdom of great lines of intercourse traversed at a speed of twenty
miles an hour.’ Unfortunately he had no confidence in himself as a
prophet, or we might have had some curious and interesting forecasts.
As regards the extent of the British Empire, there has been a very
little contraction and an enormous extension. We have given up the
Ionian Islands to gratify the sentiment of Mr. Gladstone, and we
have acquired Cyprus, which may perhaps prove of use. We have taken
possession of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea. In Hindostan, which
in 1837 was still partially ruled by a number of native princes, the
flag of Great Britain now reigns supreme; the whole of Burma is now
British Burma; the little island of Hong Kong, which hardly appears in
Arrowsmith’s Atlas of 1840, is now a stronghold of the British Empire.
Borneo, then wholly unknown, now belongs partially to us; New Guinea is
partly ours; Fiji is ours. For the greatest change of all, however, we
must look at the maps of Australia and New Zealand. In the former even
the coast had not been completely surveyed; Melbourne was as yet but a
little unimportant township. Between Melbourne and Botany Bay there was
not a single village, settlement, or plantation. It was not until the
year 1851, only thirty-six years ago, that Port Phillip was separated
from New South Wales, and created an independent colony under the name
of Victoria; and for a few years it was a very rowdy and noisy colony
indeed.
In New South Wales, the population of which was about 150,000, convicts
were still sent out. In the year 1840, when the transportation ceased,
21,000 convicts were assigned to private service. There were in Sydney
many men, ex-convicts, who had raised themselves to wealth; society
was divided by a hard line, not to be crossed in that generation by
those on the one side whose antecedents were honourable and those on
the other who had ‘served their time.’ Tasmania was also still a penal
colony, and, apparently, a place where the convicts did not do so well
as in New South Wales.
Queensland as a separate colony was not yet in existence, though
Brisbane had been begun; tropical Australia was wholly unsettled;
Western Australia was, what it still is, a poor and thinly settled
country.
The map of New Zealand--it was not important enough to have a map
all to itself--shows the coast-line imperfectly surveyed, and not a
single town or English settlement upon it! Fifty years ago that great
colony was not yet even founded. The first serious settlement was made
in 1839, when a patch of land at Port Nicholson, in Cook Strait, was
bought from the natives for the first party of settlers sent out by the
recently established New Zealand Company.
In North America the whole of the North-West Territory, including
Manitoba, Muskoka, British Columbia, and Vancouver’s Island, was left
to Indians, trappers, buffaloes, bears, and rattlesnakes. South Africa
shows the Cape Colony and nothing else. Natal, Orange Free State, the
Transvaal, Bechuanaland, Griqualand, Zululand are all part of the
great undiscovered continent. Considering that all these lands have now
been opened up and settled, so that where was formerly a hundred square
miles of forest and prairie there is now the same area covered with
plantations, towns, and farms, it will be understood that the British
Empire has been increased not only in area, but in wealth, strength,
and resources to an extent which would have been considered incredible
fifty years ago. It is, in fact, just the difference between owning a
barren heath and owning a cultivated farm. The British Empire in 1837
contained millions of square miles of barren heath and wild forest,
which are now settled land and smiling plantations. It boasted of vast
countries, with hardly a single European in them, which are now filled
with English towns. In 1837, prophets foretold the speedy downfall of
an Empire which could no longer defend her vast territories. These
territories can now defend themselves. It may be that we shall have
to fight for empire, but the longer the day of battle is put off the
better it will be for England, and the greater will be her might. To
carry on that war, there are now, scattered over the whole of the
British Empire, fifty millions of people speaking the Anglo-Saxon
tongue. In fifty years’ time there will be two hundred millions in
Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, Africa, Asia, New Zealand, and
the Isles, with another two hundred millions in the States. If the
English-speaking races should decide to unite in a vast confederacy,
all the other Powers on the earth combined will not be able to do them
an injury. Perhaps after this life we shall be allowed to see what goes
on in the world. If so, there is joy in store for the Briton; if not,
we have been born too soon.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON AT LONGWOOD
(From a Drawing made in 1820)]
Next to the extension and development of the Empire comes the opening
up of new countries. We have rescued since the year 1837 the third
part of Africa from darkness; we have found the sources of the Nile;
we have traced the great River Congo from its source to its mouth; we
have explored the whole of Southern Africa; we have rediscovered the
great African lakes which were known to the Jesuits in the seventeenth
century; in Australia we have crossed and recrossed the continent; the
whole of North America has been torn from the Red Indians, and is now
settled in almost every part.
[Illustration: LONDON STREET CHARACTERS, 1837
(From a Drawing by John Leech)]
If the progress of Great Britain has been great, that of the United
States has been amazing. Along the Pacific shore, where were fifty
years ago sand and rock and snow, where formerly the sluggish Mexican
kept his ranch and the Red Indian hunted the buffalo, great towns and
American States now flourish. Arkansas and Missouri were frontier
Western States; Michigan was almost without settlers; Chicago was a
little place otherwise called Fort Dearborn. The population of the
States was still, except for the negroes, and a few descendants of
Germans, Dutch, and Swedes, chiefly of pure British descent. As yet
there were in America few Irish, Germans (except in Pennsylvania),
Norwegians, or Italians. Yet the people, much more than now our
cousins, held little friendly feeling towards the Mother Country, and
lacked the kindly sentiment which has grown up of late years; they were
quite out of touch with us, strangers to us, and yet speaking our
tongue, reading our literature, and governed by our laws.
[Illustration: 5 GREAT CHEYNE ROW
(The House in which Carlyle lived from 1834 to his death in 1881)]
[Illustration: Your’s faithfully,
T. Carlyle.
-THOMAS CARLYLE-]
As soon as the battle of Waterloo was fairly fought and Napoleon
put away at St. Helena, the Continental professors, historians,
political students, and journalists all began with one accord to
prophesy the approaching downfall of Great Britain, which some
affected to deplore and others regarded with complacency. Everything
conspired, it was evident, not only to bring about this decline,
but also to accelerate it. The parallel of Carthage--England has
always been set up as the second Carthage--was freely exhibited,
especially in those countries which felt themselves called upon and
qualified to play the part of Rome. It was pointed out that there
was the dreadful deadweight of Ireland, with its incurable poverty
and discontent; the approaching decay of trade, which could be only,
in the opinion of these keen-sighted philosophers, a matter of a
few years; the enormous weight of the National Debt; the ruined
manufacturers; the wasteful expenditure of the Government in every
branch; the corrupting influence of the Poor Laws; the stain of
slavery; the restrictions of commerce; the intolerance of the Church;
the narrowness and prejudice of the Universities; the ignorance
of the people; their drinking habits; the vastness of the Empire.
These causes, together with discontent, chartism, republicanism,
atheism--in fact, all the disagreeablisms--left no doubt whatever that
England was doomed. Foreigners, in fact, not yet recovered from the
extraordinary spectacle of Great Britain’s long duel with France and
its successful termination, prophesied what they partly hoped out of
envy and jealousy, and partly feared from self-interest. Therefore
the politicians and professors were always looking at this country,
writing about it, watching it, visiting it. No; there could be no
doubt; none of these changes and dangers could be denied; the factories
were choked with excessive production; poverty stalked through the
country; the towns were filled with ruined women; the streets were
cumbered with drunken men; the children were growing up in ignorance
and neglect inconceivable; what could come of all this but ruin?
Even--and this was the most wonderful and incredible thing to those
who do not understand how long a Briton will go on enduring wrongs and
suffering anomalies--the very House of Commons in this boasted land of
freedom did not represent half the people, seats were openly bought
and sold, others were filled with nominees of the great men who owned
them. What could possibly follow but ruin--swift and hopeless ruin?
What, indeed? Prophets of disaster always omit one or two important
elements in their calculations, and it is through these gaps that the
people basely wriggle, instead of fulfilling prophecy as they ought to
do. For instance, there is the recuperative power of Man, and there
is his individuality. He may be full of moral disease, yet such is
his excellent constitution that he presently recovers--he shakes off
his evil habits as he shakes the snow off his shoulders, and goes on
an altered creature. Again, the mass of men may be in heavy case, but
the individual man is patient; he has strength to suffer and endure
until he can pull through the worst; he has patience to wait for better
times; difficulties only call forth his ingenuity and his resource:
disaster stiffens his back, danger finds him brave. Always, to the
prophet who knows not Man, the case is hopeless. Always, to one who
considers that by gazing into the looking-glass, especially immediately
before or after his morning bath, he may perceive his brother as well
as himself, things are hopeful. My brother, have things, at your
worst, ever been, morally, so bad with you that you have despaired of
recovery, seeing that you had only to resolve and you were cured? Have
you ever reflected that while, to the outside world, to your maiden
aunts and to your female cousins, you were most certainly drifting
to moral wreck and material ruin, you have gone about the world with
a hopeful heart, feeling that the future was in your own grasp? Even
now the outlook of the whole world is truly dark, and the clouds are
lowering. Yet surely the outlook was darker, the clouds were blacker,
fifty years ago. Read Carlyle’s ‘Past and Present,’ and compare. There
may be other dangers before us of which we then suspected nothing.
But if we still preserve the qualities which enabled us to stand up,
almost alone, against the colossal force of Napoleon, with Europe at
his back, and which carried us through the terrible troubles which
followed the war, we surely need not despair.
[Illustration: THE DUCHESS OF KENT, WITH THE PRINCESS VICTORIA AT THE
AGE OF TWO
(From the Picture by Sir W. Beechey at Windsor Castle)]