WILLIAM IV.—1830 to 1837.
How the Reform Bill was passed; how Slavery in our colonies was
abolished; how there were Revolutions in France and Belgium; how the
cholera broke out; how railways were established; and how the Houses
of Parliament were burned down.
As King George the Fourth left no child to succeed him, his brothers
were the next heirs to the throne. The Duke of York, the second son
of George the Third, died three years before George the Fourth, and
left no child; so William Henry, Duke of Clarence, the third son of
George the Third, now mounted the throne. William the Fourth, who had
been brought up as a sailor, was at this time sixty-four years old;
he was married to an excellent German Princess, named Adelaide of
Saxe Meiningen, and he had had two daughters, but they both died in
early infancy.
This reign was a short one, but several important changes took place
in it, one of which was the passing of the Bill for a reform in
the House of Commons. You know how it was settled by King Edward
the First that all the large towns, which in his reign were called
burghs, should choose one or two persons to go to Parliament and help
to make the law. This was nearly six hundred years ago; and since
that time a great many little hamlets and villages had grown into
large towns, and a great many of the old burghs had dwindled away
until only a few houses were left in them, or even none. The people,
who were now living in the towns that had grown so large, thought
it very hard not to be able to send members to Parliament to tell
what was wanted in their towns; and they also thought it was useless
for the little burghs, where only a few people lived, to continue
sending members. So it was proposed that the large towns or boroughs
should be allowed to send members to the House of Commons, according
to the number of people in each town, and that the little decayed
towns should leave off sending members. This new plan was called the
“Reform Bill.” It was talked over a long time in Parliament before
it was agreed to; for, although there were a great many people who
wished for the change, there were many others who thought it would be
dangerous to the welfare of Old England, and both sides had to tell
all their reasons for what they thought. At last it was put to the
vote whether the Bill should pass or not; and as the greatest number
were for making the change, the Bill became law. But I shall have to
tell you of another Reform of Parliament under Queen Victoria.
Nearly the next thing that was done was to put an end to slavery in
all the colonies belonging to England. A good man, named William
Wilberforce, had tried to do this many years ago, in George the
Third’s reign; but it was not an easy thing to do, because all those
persons who had large estates in the colonies, and who had bought
slaves to cultivate the land, had paid a great deal of money for
their slaves; and the masters were afraid they should be ruined if
the slaves were set free, as there would be no one to sow and dig
their fields.
There is no doubt the Parliament and people of England acted wisely
in wiping away so great a disgrace as _slavery_ is; and in order
to do this with justice they paid a very large sum of money—twenty
millions of pounds. When this was at last done, the slaves were made
free.
There was a very sudden revolution in France at the beginning of this
reign. It only lasted three days, and was called the “Three Days’
Revolution.” Charles the Tenth, the King of France, was expelled, and
came over to this country; his cousin Louis Philippe was then chosen
by the French people to be their king, and was called the King of the
French.
The example of France was followed in Belgium, a country which had
been joined to Holland, so as to make but one kingdom, over which
the Dutch king reigned. The Belgians fought hard, and succeeded in
completely driving away the Dutch; after which they invited Prince
Leopold of Saxe Coburg to be their king. Although Prince Leopold
would not be King of Greece, he accepted the kingdom of Belgium;
and he afterwards married the Princess Louise, daughter of Louis
Philippe, the new King of the French. He reigned a long time and
wisely, and was succeeded by his son, Leopold the Second.
I will now tell you of some improvements that were made in this
reign, the principal of which is perhaps the forming of railways.
The first that was opened in England was one between Liverpool and
Manchester; and it was a very useful one. You know that the people
at Manchester weave great quantities of cotton; so much, indeed,
that the town is full of factories, where thousands of spinners
and weavers are constantly at work. After the railway was opened,
the work went on faster than ever, for as soon as the raw cotton
arrived in bales from America to Liverpool, it was sent off by rail
to Manchester; and as fast as it was spun and woven at Manchester, a
great deal was sent back by rail to Liverpool, to be shipped off to
America and other parts of the world. This kept a great many people
at work, and as this railway seemed to do so much good, railways were
very soon carried from one end of Britain to the other.
Amongst the sad events of this reign, may be mentioned the appearance
of the cholera in England, and a great fire which destroyed the
Houses of Parliament at Westminster.
William the Fourth died, after a reign of seven years, at the age of
seventy-one; and his widowed queen, who then became Queen Dowager,
survived him about twelve years, when she died, much loved and
respected by the English people.