1815]

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French headquarters. The pursuit was intrusted to the Prussians, less exhausted than their English allies, and was followed up by Gneisenau along the Charleroi road as far as Frasnes. The loss in this great battle was very heavy on all sides; that of England is put at 13,000, that of Prussia at 7000, and of France between 23,000 and 30,000. It was however decisive.

The advance of the allies into France was unchecked, and on the 7th of July Paris was again occupied. The entrance of The allies the allies upon the country of France at once exhibited in Paris. the different feelings by which they were actuated; while Blücher and the Prussians thought of nothing but vengeance, Wellington, true to the constant policy of England, insisted upon regarding France as a friendly country to which he was restoring its legitimate sovereign. He succeeded in restraining his violent colleague, who wished to put Napoleon to death, to lay a large contribution on Paris, and to blow up the bridge of Jena over the Seine, the name of which he considered an insult to Prussia. Wellington had no instructions how to act with regard to Napoleon, he therefore allowed him to follow his own course. The Emperor, embarking in an English frigate, the Bellerophon, attempted in his usual theatrical manner to claim the hospitality of the Prince Regent, but the dread of his name and ambition, and the proved danger of allowing him to remain in Europe, prevented the English Government from entertaining any such ideas, and Napoleon was sent to end banished to his days as a prisoner in St. Helena.

Napoleon

St. Helena,

Second Treaty

of Paris.

Nov. 20, 1815.

The influence of England, naturally increased by the great part it had played in the war in Belgium, was sufficient to give the direction to the negotiations which followed the second restoration of the Bourbons. The Government succeeded in procuring that the Treaty of Vienna completed on June 9th and the first Treaty of Paris (May 1814) should be upon the whole maintained, but it could not refuse to allow some punishment to fall on France for the events of "the hundred days." The country was vigorously confined to its limits in 1790, losing all the additions which the first Treaty of Paris had given it; it was compelled to bear much of the expenses of the war; while its immediate good conduct was secured by an army of occupation, which was for five years to hold the northern fortresses under the command of the Duke of Wellington. The war contribution was to consist of 700,000,000 francs, a sum which was to be paid in five years, during which time the northern fortresses were held as guarantee. This treaty was signed on the 20th of November.

1

The completion of the settlement of Europe had been carried out during the recess of Parliament. From July 1815 to February 1. 1816, the Government had been able to act entirely unchecked. On that day Parliament reopened, and Castlereagh resumed his seat in all the triumph of his completed negotiations. But Opposition in the Parliament. With the conclusion of the war came the hour of trial Feb. 1, 1816. for the Tory ministry. The mediocrity of their talent. the reactionary character of their political views, had been forgotten. or even regarded as favourable points in their administration, while they stood forth firmly and energetically to express and give effect to the great wish of the nation, the destruction of the Napoleonic rule. With the return of peace the great questions of home politics were again becoming of importance, and the tendencies of the party fostered by their successful warfare were to call into existence an opposition not only in Parliament but among the nation at large. Already voices were raised against the late negotiations; though, no doubt, the real magnanimity shown towards France, the advantages gained for England on the sea, and the security for some years of peace which the elaborate system of balance was thought to give, were fully in accordance with the wishes of the majority of the nation. There were men who, undazzled by the glories of the late war, saw that the policy of England had in fact favoured absolutism, -that, for the sake of the balance of power, countries had been handed over quite irrespective of the wishes of the people to sovereigns for whom they felt no natural affection, that a dynasty disliked by a large section of the people had been forced upon France, and was upheld by English bayonets, and that in spite of the efforts of England the influence of Russia had been increased. It appeared to them that the intercourse with foreign powers had rendered our negotiators absolutists. Their conduct with regard to the Holy Alliance showed

The Holy Alliance. Sept. 1815.

that this was not in fact the case. The Holy Alliance, or Convention of September, by which the enthusiastic and sentimental Emperor of Russia joined with his brother sovereigns of Prussia and Austria to declare that henceforward their policy should be ruled on Christian principles alone, had been rejected by the English Government, which saw danger in this brotherly and religious bond between absolute monarchs, and declared through the Duke of Wellington that the English Parliament would require" something more precise." In fact, though in no way wishing to disturb the English Constitution, the Tory Government had been 1d into a course of policy which was not in accordance with English

1816]

OPPOSITION TO GOVERnment

1349

traditions. The conclusion of a war the burden of which had been upon the whole patiently borne, should have brought with it the real blessings of peace; but these were not found in the declaration of the Government that it intended to keep up the war taxes, and to keep on foot an army of 150,000, an intention which, when taken in conjunction with the close alliances entered into with foreign powers, seemed to mean that England was henceforward to attempt to take its place as one of the great military powers of the Continent.

Extravagance

Government.

It was upon the two points of taxation and economy that the Government first met with opposition. Mr. Vansittart, Chancellor of the Exchequer, declared his intention of of the continuing half the income and property tax, which from the first had been avowedly a war tax. The Opposition to this measure was headed in the Commons by Brougham. By a skilful use of parliamentary tactics, he succeeded in gaining time, which he employed in procuring a flood of petitions exhibiting the feeling of the country so strongly that the Government was beaten. Apparently in dudgeon at his defeat, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that as he had lost the income tax he should also throw over the malt tax, a step which Castlereagh explained by saying that Government was going to contract a loan, and £2,000,000 or £3,000,000 more or less would make no difference. The recklessness of this assertion points to one of the evils which the late war had produced ;—an unbounded and lavish supply of money, and the habit of spending almost without question if success could be obtained, had destroyed all idea of economy in the minds of the ministers. The angry feeling excited in the people by this carelessness of the public money was not diminished by the extravagances of the Court, and the constant demands for money to supply the deficiencies of the Civil List. Although £800,000 was the sum granted in exchange for the hereditary revenues, the average of late years had been considerably above a million; in 1815 it had reached nearly a million and a half. On this point the ministers were themselves obliged to take the initiative, and a Bill was passed for the better regulation of the Civil List. But while the demand for economy, for the reduction of the war expenditure, and the return of England to its usual independent position with regard to the Continent, afforded themes for the Opposition in Parliament, an agitation of far more importance had sprung into existence outside its walls.

At the opening of the session the Prince Regent's speech had congratulated the country upon the prosperity of agriculture, and of all

CON, MON.

[2 M]

Agricultural depression.

branches of trade and manufacture. But it was, in fact, a time of unexampled distress. The principle of protection which had found favour with the mercantile world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had been extended to agriculture. In 1670, a period of great plenty having reduced the price of corn, it was thought necessary to impose heavy dues on its importation. Up to 53s. 4d. a duty of 16s. a quarter was imposed, between that and 80s., a duty of 8s. a quarter. The price at which importation, free or at a nominal duty, was allowed had been more than once changed. In 1804 it had been set at 66s. During the latter years of the war there had been constantly deficient harvests. In 1812 and 1813 the quarter of wheat had risen to 171s. The average price during six years, from 1808 to 1813, had been 108s. During several of those years the Continental System had virtually excluded foreign competition. The effect of the high prices was most disastrous upon agriculture; while the suffering of the labourer had, as has been explained, been very great, the class of farmer had changed, the careful small cultivator had given place to ostentatious spendthrifts. To secure great returns land wholly unfitted for the purpose had been brought under the plough, crop after crop of corn had been grown to the exhaustion of the soil, and many advantageous and necessary forms of agriculture had been thrown aside for the cultivation of corn. The year 1813 was one of extraordinary plenty, the surplus crop was enough to continue that plenty during the two following years; the effect was a very rapid fall in prices. Such a fall naturally entailed the restoration of a better system of husbandry, and the ruin of many of those who had embarked on the false course. Peace added still further to this distress. Violent efforts were made in Parliament by the landed interest, which was very strong, to bolster up the evil system. It was proposed in 1813 that importation should be subject to a prohibitory duty till the price of wheat reached 105s. the quarter. This demand was reduced to 84s. in 1814. Circumstances prevented its being carried then, but in 1815, when the foreign markets were again opened, the terror of approaching cheapness enabled farmers and landlords to combine and hurry through the House a Corn Law, fixing the price at which corn might be imported at 80s. In spite of this, however, the distress continued. In fact, the false inflation of late years was giving way, and agriculture entering upon a more natural course. The agricultural interests still complained, and still asserted the necessity of relief, but as, in order to win their support, the Government had already

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given up the malt tax, there was really scarcely anything left to give them, and their complaints remained unanswered; and as the distress, although it was caused chiefly by the fault of the agriculturalists, and was but a fair counterpoise to the enormous profits they had lately been making, was a terrible reality, the poorer ciasses continued to suffer.

The depression was not confined to the agricultural interest. The removal of the restrictions caused by the Continental commercial System excited lively hopes among the trading com- depression. munity. During the war our exports had chiefly depended upon an organized contraband trade. Even so, in 1811, shipments had been made to the Continent to the value of £11,000,000. It was supposed that, without restrictions, the sum might be doubled. Everybody wished for a share in the golden harvest, and much money was transferred from legitimate and lucrative trade to the purchase of colonial produce for exportation. But what is called effective demand for any commodity depends not on the desire of the purchaser, but upon his power of purchase. The exhausting wars of late years so limited that power of purchase that the exports of England either lay in the ports unsold or were got rid of at less than the cost price. Nor did our restrictive commercial policy allow a ready interchange of commodities, which might have tended to render the disaster less. Peace with America had produced somewhat the same effects. Thus, both in agriculture and in commerce, widespread suffering and distress existed.

Riots and

meetings.

The difficulties were increased at the time by a considerable reduction in the circulating medium. The fall in agricultural profits had ruined many banks in agricultural districts, and induced others to restrict their issue of paper money. A severe winter, a deficient harvest, and the rise of the price of wheat political before the close of the year (1815) again to 103s., came to complete the general misery. The effect was a widespread series of riots; rick-burning and machine-breaking were constant, especially in the east of England. At Littleport, in the isle of Ely, the town was for two days in the hands of the mob (May 22), and the tumult was only suppressed after the military had been called out. In the coal and iron districts, though the people on the whole behaved well, great meetings of unemployed operatives took place; while in Nottingham and the neighbourhood the Luddite disturbances broke out with fresh vehemence. The discontent and unhappiness of the people before long assumed the shape of a political movement.