In the face of such appalling facts, and of the bad harvests and
distress in England, Sir Robert Peel (S592) could hold out no longer,
and by a gradual process, extending from 1846 to 1849, the obnoxious
Corn Laws were repealed, with the exception of a trifling duty, which
was finally removed in 1869.
The beginning once made, free trade in nearly everything, except wine,
spirits, and tobacco, followed. They were, and still are, subject to
a heavy duty, perhaps because the government believes, as Napoleon
did, that the vices have broad backs and can comfortably carry the
heaviest taxes. A few years later (1849) the old Navigation Laws
(S459) were totally repealed. This completed the English free-trade
measures. But, by a singular contrast, while nearly all goods and
products now enter England free, yet Australia, Canada, New Zealand,
and the Union of South Africa--in a word, all the great self-governing
English colonies--continue to impose duties on imports from the mother
country (S625).
595. The World's Fair (1851); Repeal of the Window and the Newspaper
Tax; the Atlantic Cable, 1866.
The great industrial exhibition known as the "World's Fair" was opened
in Hyde Park, London (1851). The original plan of it was conceived by
Prince Albert. It proved to be not only a complete success in itself,
but it led to many similar fairs on the part of different nations.
For the first time in history the products and inventions of all the
countries of the globe were brought together under one roof, in a
gigantic structure of glass and iron called the "Crystal Palace,"
which is still in use for exhibition purposes at Sydenham, a suburb of
London.
The same year (1851) the barbarous tax on light and air, known as the
"Window Tax,"[1] was repealed and the House Tax (which is still in
force) was substituted for it. From that date the Englishman, whether
in London or out, might enjoy his sunshine, when he could get it,
without having to pay for every beam,--a luxury which only the rich
could afford.
[1] This tax, which took the place of the ancient Hearth Tax
(1663-1689), was first imposed in 1695.
A little later (1855) a stamp tax on newspapers, which had been
devised in Queen Anne's time in the avowed hope of crushing them out,
was repealed. The result was that henceforth cheap papers could be
published, and the workingman, as he sat by his fireside, could inform
himself of what the world was doing and thinking,--two things of which
he had before known almost nothing, and cared, perhaps, even less.
To get this news of the world's life more speedily, England had
established the first line of Atlantic steamers (S565); next, the
first Atlantic cable, connecting England with America, was laid
(1858). It soon gave out, but was permanently relaid not long
afterwards, in 1866. Since then a large part of the globe has been
joined in like manner,[1] and the great cities of every civilized land
are practically one in their knowledge of all important events. So
many improvements have also been made in the use of electricity, not
only for the transmission of intelligence, but as an illuminator, and
more recently still as a motive power, that it now seems probable that
"the age of steam" will be superseded by the higher "age of
electricity."
[1] There are now over 250,000 miles of submarine electric cables in
operation in the world.