At the accession of the Queen protective duties or taxes existed in
Great Britain on all imported breadstuffs and on many manufactured
articles. Sir Robert Peel, the Conservative Prime Minister (1841),
favored a reduction in the last class of duties, but believed it
necessary to maintain the former in order to keep up the price of
grain and thus encourage the English farmers. The result of this
policy was great distress among the poorly paid, half-fed workingmen,
who could not afford to buy dear bread. A number of philanthropists
led by Richard Cobden and John Bright organized an Anti-Corn Law
League[1] to obtain the repeal of the grain duties.
[1] Corn is the name given in England to wheat or other grain used for
food. Indian corn or maize cannot be grown in that climate, and is
seldom eaten there.
At the same time, Ebenezer Elliott, the "Corn-Law Rhymer," gave voice
to the sufferings of the poor in rude but vigorous verse, which
appealed to the excited feelings of thousands in such words as these:
"England! what for mine and me,
What hath bread tax done for thee?
. . . . . . . .
Cursed thy harvest, cursed thy land,
Hunger-stung thy skill'd right hand."
When, however, session after session of Parliament passed and nothing
was done for the relief of the perishing multitudes, many began to
despair, and great numbers joined in singing Elliott's new national
anthem:
"When wilt Thou save the people?
O God of mercy! when?
Not kings or lords, but nations!
Not thrones and crowns, but men!
Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they!
Let them not pass, like weeds, away!
Their heritage a sunless day!
God save the people!"
Still the Government was not covinced; the Corn Laws were enforced,
the price of bread showed no signs of falling, and the situation grew
daily more desperate and more threatening.