Sixty Years a Queen Part 10

CHAPTER V.

1846-1850.

The Irish Famine--Smith O'Brien's Rebellion--Widow Cormack's Cabbages--The Special Commission--Revival of the Chartist Movement--The Monster Pet.i.tion--Its Exposure and Collapse of the Movement--Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those in other Countries--Growing Affection for the Queen--Its Causes--Royal Visit to Ireland--The Pacifico Imbroglio--Rupture with France Imminent--_Civis Roma.n.u.s Sum_--Lord Palmerston's Rise--Sir Robert Peel's Death--The Invention of Chloroform.

[Sidenote: The Irish Famine.]

The condition of affairs in Ireland, with which it had fallen to the Russell Ministry to deal on entering office in 1846, had become truly appalling. Nearly a million of money had been expended by Peel's Government in relief of the distress caused by the failure of the potato crop in 1845, and the disease had reappeared with greater intensity in the following season. Further measures of relief were brought forward by the Prime Minister; charitable subscriptions poured in from every town in England and Scotland; nearly every country in Europe, including even Turkey, contributed help in the hour of need, and the United States Government freighted some of their war vessels with grain for their starving cousins.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FIRST CLOSED DIVING HELMET.

Invented by A. Siebe, 1839. Now in the Patents Museum. South Kensington.]

Nevertheless, the situation was one of extraordinary perplexity. In the footprints of famine stalked sedition. Agrarian murders rose to a frightful figure; secret societies grew apace; midnight drilling went on in almost every county; and that very peasantry whose dest.i.tution had touched the hearts of the whole civilised world, proved themselves able to buy enormous quant.i.ties of arms and ammunition. In Clonmel alone, 1,138 stand of arms were sold in a few days, and everywhere, to quote a letter written at the time, "the peasantry are armed or are arming almost to a man. The stores of the armourer are more frequently exhausted than the provision stores." So brisk was the demand as to cause a revival of the gun trade in Birmingham, where the existing stock of small arms was entirely cleared out. But there could be no doubt of the reality and severity of the distress. It was worst in the south and west; famine and famine-fever carried off thousands, and the population of Ireland, which had stood at eight millions in 1845, could only be reckoned at six millions in 1848. The difference, however, was not entirely due to deaths by starvation or disease. The westward stream of emigration had set in, and tens of thousands of Irish families sought and found the means of better existence in the land of plenty beyond the Atlantic.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. Doyle_ ("_H. B._").} {_Political Sketches, 1847._

AN INTERESTING GROUP; OR, "MISFORTUNE MAKES STRANGE BEDFELLOWS."

Lord Lincoln, Sir Robert Peel, Mr. Goulbourne, Mr. Disraeli, Lord George Bentinck, and Mr. O'Brien.

Lord George Bentinck's plan of relief works for Ireland, which mainly took the form of railway extension, was at first opposed by the Government, but afterwards adopted by them, thus bringing this "interesting group" of men into line.]

But the ferment of rebellion was spreading swiftly among those who remained. All the misery of the famine was laid at the door of the land system; not unfrequently coroners' juries returned verdicts of wilful murder against the Prime Minister or Lord Lieutenant, holding them directly responsible for not averting the disasters of the country. Once more the Government had to undertake the hateful task of bringing forward a Coercion Bill, for the people seemed on the brink of civil war. Technically that limit was actually transgressed, though the means were ludicrously inadequate to the end--repeal of the Union. The "Young Ireland" party, inflamed by the successful revolution in France, separated from and plunged ahead of O'Connor's Repealers. O'Connor had precipitated the rupture by endeavouring to induce his party to pledge themselves against any except const.i.tutional means. His proposal was laughed to scorn. William Smith O'Brien, brother of Lord Inchiquin, claiming descent from Brian Boruibh, placed himself at the head of the "Confederates," as the new party was called, with Meagher, Dillon, and others as his lieutenants; the _United Irishman_ newspaper was started in opposition to the less inflammatory _Nation_, the organ of the older party. It was managed by John Mitch.e.l.l, who filled its columns week by week with the most violent and acrid sedition.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._

HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES Christmas 1846.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: _F. Winterhalter._} {_In the Royal Collection._

HER MAJESTY AND THE PRINCE CONSORT WITH THE ROYAL CHILDREN, 1846.

The Princess Royal (born 1840), Prince of Wales (1841), Princess Alice (1843), Prince Alfred (1844), and Princess Helena (1846).]

[Sidenote: Smith O'Brien's Rebellion.]

[Sidenote: Widow Cormack's Cabbages.]

[Sidenote: The Special Commission.]

It was impossible for the Government to allow this sort of stuff to be circulated among an excitable peasantry, smarting under imaginary wrongs and real distress and armed to the teeth; but the existing law contained no provisions framed to stop it. The Prime Minister, therefore, introduced and pa.s.sed what is known as the Treason Felony Act, making written incitement to insurrection a crime punishable with transportation, and enabling the Executive to imprison persons charged with contravention of it. Mitch.e.l.l was arrested at once, but Smith O'Brien continued to hold armed meetings in various parts of Ireland: matters looked threatening, and there was grave apprehension in England as to the result. On the morning of August 7 it was turned into mirth by the arrival in London from Liverpool of one of the first telegraphic despatches of importance ever published in this country. Rebellion had actually broken out: Smith O'Brien in person had led a considerable force to attack a body of fifty or sixty police, who defended themselves in the house of one Widow Cormack, near Ballingarry, in Tipperary. A good deal of firing took place but very little bloodshed; thanks, on the one hand, to the indifferent arms carried by the rebels, and, on the other, to the forbearance of the police, who could easily have shot O'Brien, so theatrically did he expose himself during the brief contest.

The chief damage was done to the poor widow's cabbages, which the Confederates trampled to pieces in the garden adjoining the house. The affair was soon over: the patriots, not relishing a few rounds from the muskets of the police, melted quickly away, and the heroic O'Brien was arrested in the act of taking his railway ticket at Thurles station. It is unlucky for any cause--it is worse, it is fatal to it--when it becomes ridiculous, and people have never since been able to mention Smith O'Brien's cabbage garden without a grin. But the general state of Ireland had grown to be no laughing matter. The number of persons arrested for complicity in seditions, or for the frequent murders of landlords, agents, and policemen far exceeded what the ordinary tribunals of the country could deal with, and a special Commission of judges was appointed to try them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "SPURN" LIGHTSHIP.

The first light-vessel was moored at the Nore in 1732. Since that date, to the untechnical eye, the change in the outward appearance of a lightship has not been great; but the efficiency of the light has been increased, since 1837, from about 1,500 candles to about 20,000 candles.

The _Spurn_ Lightship shows a light of the power just named, and in foggy weather sounds a powerful siren in place of the old-fashioned gong.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE.

The present Lighthouse was erected in 1881, when Smeaton's celebrated tower was removed to the Hoe at Plymouth, except the lowermost courses, which are shown in the picture and still remain on the rock. The lantern sends out a series of flashes of 79,000 candle-power.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SMALLS LIGHTHOUSE IN 1837.

With the exception of Smeaton's tower at the Eddystone and that on the Bell Rock, this was the only rock Lighthouse on the coast of Great Britain in 1837. It was built on oak piles, and in stormy weather rocked like a ship. Its lantern was furnished with twenty-seven argand lamps with reflectors, giving a light of about 3,000 candle-power. It was superseded by the present granite tower in 1861.]

[Sidenote: Revival of the Chartist Movement.]

The spirit of revolution was astir in many lands besides Ireland in the year when Louis Philippe was forced from the throne of France. In England the Chartist movement was sympathetically inflamed into renewed activity. A Chartist convention a.s.sembled in London in spring and made arrangements for a monster demonstration to be held on Kennington Common on April 10. But the Convention had hardly begun deliberating before disunion appeared in its councils. There were two parties among the Chartists--the const.i.tutional Radicals and the physical force party. The latter were for a.s.sembling on Kennington Common under arms; but the venerable leader of the whole movement, Feargus O'Connor, would have nothing to do with unconst.i.tutional or violent proceedings. The consequence of this was a rupture in the camp. Every preparation was made by the authorities to protect London from the ravages of a mob: the troops were under arms: the police mustered in great force: thousands of special constables were sworn in, and the Chartist procession was prohibited. But about 20,000 Chartists did a.s.semble on the Common to listen to harangues by O'Connor and others. O'Connor then went to the Home Office, interviewed Sir George Grey, and told him the meeting had taken place without disorder. "Are you going back to it?" asked Grey.

"No," replied O'Connor, "I've had my toes trodden on till I'm lame: my pocket has been picked, and I'll have no more to do with them."

[Ill.u.s.tration: DIOPTRIC LANTERN.

The series of circular gla.s.s prisms collects the rays from the lamp--usually an oil lamp with several concentric wicks--and concentrates them into a horizontal beam of great power. The Lantern ill.u.s.trated is that of the Lighthouse at Spurn Point, and is the most powerful oil Lantern yet made; it has a maximum intensity of 179,000 candles. But this power is greatly exceeded by the electric lights at St. Catherine's, the Lizard, and elsewhere.]

[Sidenote: The Monster Pet.i.tion.]

[Sidenote: Its Exposure, and Collapse of the Movement.]

It was ridicule--that universal solvent--which finally shattered this once formidable Chartist League. A monster pet.i.tion to Parliament had been in course of signature for some months. Feargus O'Connor, in presenting it, declared that 5,700,000 names were attached to it. It was remitted in the ordinary course to the Committee on Public Pet.i.tions, who employed a number of clerks to examine the signatures. The result was speedily made known. Instead of nearly six million names, less than two million were appended to it. Whole sheets of these were found to have been written by the same hand. But the crowning exposure, which convulsed the whole nation with laughter, appeared from the a.n.a.lysis of the names themselves. Those of the Queen and Prince Albert, of Ministers and leaders of Opposition were of frequent occurrence; noted names in fiction, especially that of "Cheeks the Marine," a familiar character in Marryat's novels, then very popular, appeared in every sheet, besides all sorts of ribaldries, indecencies, and buffooneries. Chartism was a genuine and an earnest movement: it was an upheaval against cla.s.s privileges, a revolt against cla.s.s grievances. But these privileges and grievances were in course of removal; the extension of the franchise had brought about repeal of the corn laws, laid the foundation of free trade, and redressed some, at least, of the evils prevalent in factories and mines. Much remained to be done, which has been done since, but Chartism was to have no hand in the doing of it. As a political force it collapsed; as a social movement it crumbled away under the intolerable ridicule of the Monster Pet.i.tion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SECTIONS OF THE EDDYSTONE LIGHTHOUSE,

Shewing the interior, and the method of morticing the stones for greater security. The Lantern is a double dioptric one, and consists of two such arrangements as that shewn on the left of this page placed one above the other. The fog-signal is an explosive one of gun-cotton.]

[Sidenote: Revolutionary Movements in Britain compared with those in other Countries.]

It will be long before English statesmen forget the lessons of 1848-9.

During these years the whole of Europe was convulsed by violent popular conflicts with authority. In France the Bourbon dynasty collapsed with the abdication of Louis Philippe, and then, to repeat Mr. Justin McCarthy's happy phrase, "came a Red Republican rising against a Republic that strove not to be red," to be drowned in blood by Cavaignac. The Pope was chased from Rome, the Emperor of Austria from Vienna, the Italian princes from their duchies, the German rulers from their princ.i.p.alities; there were sanguinary struggles in Poland, in Naples, in Sardinia; while Great Britain had only to blush for Widow Cormack's cabbages and the picking of Feargus O'Connor's pocket at Kennington. Yet there was no doubt of the earnestness of the leaders of agitation and insurrection in England: no question about the reality of the grievances.

Freedom of speech and freedom of the press, no ineffective safety valves in times of discontent, were tolerated in the United Kingdom--then, as now--far beyond the limits of public security, as these were reckoned by every other European State. But the chief safety of England lay in the faith of the ma.s.ses in the power of Parliament to devise measures of redress, and their confidence that the Sovereign would interpose no bar to remedial legislation. Nor have that faith and confidence been betrayed. Throughout all the years that have elapsed since the dissolution of the Chartist League, Parliament has been diligent in devising measures to meet the ever-changing and growing wants of the people, and the Royal a.s.sent has always been cordially given to them.

The Queen and her Consort do not appear very prominently or very often in the chronicles of these early years, but all the time there had been growing silently that popular affection for the Sovereign which disappeared entirely from practical politics with the active reign of George III. The qualities of Prince Albert, his industry, his untiring anxiety for the welfare of the people, his un.o.btrusive influence in favour of freedom, were becoming known: the Crown was becoming more than the decorative centre of the Court--the mere frontispiece of the aristocracy--it was becoming recognised as the actual head of the British people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _J. D. Francis._} {_From an Engraving._

HER MAJESTY IN THE WALKING COSTUME OF 1846.]

[Sidenote: Growing Affection for the Queen. Its Causes.]

[Sidenote: Royal Visit to Ireland.]

The growing affection of the people for their Queen was stimulated about this time by the act of a harebrained scamp who, on May 17, discharged a rusty pistol, loaded, it is believed, with no deadly missile, at Her Majesty as she was driving in Const.i.tution Hill with three of her children. The fact that the wretch was an Irishman was regarded rightly as being of no political significance, and it was a happy--it was more, it was a wise--project which was carried into effect by the visit of the Queen and Prince Albert, with the Prince of Wales and Princess Royal, to Ireland in August 1849. The Royal yacht was escorted by four warships, but the reception they met with at Cork, at Dublin, and at Belfast proved that to be but a formal precaution. Perhaps, had it been possible in later years that the Monarch and her family should become more familiar to the warm-hearted Irish, many subsequent misfortunes and misunderstandings might never have taken place.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM IN 1837 AND 1897.]