The agitations respecting the Catholic Relief Bill had in some measure
subsided, when, June 26, 1830, George IV died of ossification of the
vital organs, and was succeeded by his next brother, the Duke of
Clarence, under the title of WILLIAM IV. About a month after, a great
sensation was produced in Britain by a revolution which took place in
France, the main line of the Bourbon family being expelled, and the
crown conferred upon Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orleans. By this event, a
great impulse was given to the reforming spirit in Britain, and the
demands for an improvement in the parliamentary representation became
very strong. The consequence was the retirement of the Wellington
administration in November, and the formation of a Whig cabinet,
headed by Earl Grey. The agitations of the time were much increased by
a system of nocturnal fire-raising, which spread through the south of
England, and caused the destruction of a vast quantity of agricultural
produce and machinery.
The Whig ministry came into power upon an understanding that they were
to introduce bills for parliamentary reform, with reference to the
three divisions of the United Kingdom. These, when presented in March
1831, were found to propose very extensive changes, particularly the
disfranchisement of boroughs of small population, for which the
members were usually returned by private influence, and the extension
of the right of voting in both boroughs and counties to the middle
classes of society. The bills accordingly met with strong opposition
from the Tory, now called the Conservative party. By a dissolution of
Parliament, the ministry found such an accession of supporters as
enabled them to carry the measure through the House of Commons with
large majorities; but it encountered great difficulties in the House
of Lords; and it was not till after a temporary resignation of the
ministry, and some strong expressions of popular anxiety respecting
reform, that the bills were allowed to become law.
During the few years which followed the passing of the Reform Bills,
the attention of Parliament was chiefly occupied by a series of
measures which a large portion of the public deemed necessary for
improving the institutions of the country, and for other beneficial
purposes. The most important of these, in a moral point of view, was
the abolition of slavery in the colonies, the sum of twenty millions
being paid to the owners of the negroes, as a compensation. By this
act, eight hundred thousand slaves were (August 1, 1834) placed in the
condition of freemen, but subject to an apprenticeship to their
masters for a few years.
In the same year, an act was passed for amending the laws for the
support of the poor in England, which had long been a subject of
general complaint. One of the chief provisions of the new enactment
established a government commission for the superintendence of the
local boards of management, which had latterly been ill conducted, and
were now proposed to be reformed. The able-bodied poor were also
deprived of the right which had been conferred upon them at the end of
the eighteenth century, to compel parishes to support them, either by
employment at a certain rate, or pecuniary aid to the same amount:
they were now left no resource, failing employment, but that of
entering poor-houses, where they were separated from their families.
The contemplated results of this measure were a reduction of the
enormous burden of the poor-rates, which had latterly exceeded seven
millions annually, and a check to the degradation which indiscriminate
support was found to produce in the character of the laboring classes.
Early in 1837, the ministry again introduced into the House of Commons
a bill for settling the Irish tithe question; but before this or any
other measure of importance had been carried, the king died of
ossification of the vital organs (June 20), in the seventy-third year
of his age, and seventh of his reign, being succeeded by his niece,
the PRINCESS VICTORIA. The deceased monarch is allowed to have been a
conscientious and amiable man, not remarkable for ability, but at the
same time free from all gross faults.