562

FREE-TRADE BANQUET-OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.

[1849. provisions effectual than Prince Albert. At a meeting of the "Society for Improving the Condition of the Labouring Classes," he uttered words which sank deep into the national mind: "Depend upon it, the interests of classes too often contrasted are identical, and it is only ignorance which prevents their uniting for each other's advantage. To dispel that ignorance, to show how man can help man notwithstanding the complicated state of civilized society, ought to be the aim of every philanthropic person; but it is more peculiarly the duty of those who, under the blessing of Divine Providence, enjoy station, wealth, and education."

On the 31st of January, 1849, there was a public banquet in the Freetrade Hall at Manchester, to celebrate the triumph of that principle which had so often been advocated in that vast room. Two thousand persons were assembled. The renowned leaders of the League were the chief speakers. Their special vocation was now at an end, but they were ready again to do battle for political truth if a defeated party should attain power, and attempt to undo the great work of seven years. The hand of the clock was approaching the hour which was to begin another day, when the band struck up the inspiriting air of " A good time coming, boys." A chorus, very solemn in its joyfulness, burst from those two thousand voices. As the clock struck twelve, the chairman called for silence. "THE GOOD TIME HAS COME," he shouted. Then that multitude stood up, and with the British huzza which has struck terror into many an enemy proclaimed that one foe to the well-being of the people was at last laid low. The first of February, so hopefully expected, so patiently waited for, had arrived. The millions who earned their daily bread by the sweat of their brow might at last eat "untaxed food."

When the Session of Parliament was opened by the Queen on the 1st of February, the same newspaper contained the Speech of her Majesty, and the Report of the great banquet at Manchester. The royal speech contrasted the tranquillity and loyalty of England with the condition of the continent, convulsed by anarchy or trodden down by absolutism. Who, with any pretence to political philosophy, can now fail to trace this peace and contentment, in a very material degree, to the extinction of that injustice which had been so long perpetrated by delusive legislation, for the supposed interests of an exclusive class? The great statesman who accomplished this work points, with an honest exultation, to those who had been loudest in condemnation of the measures of 1846, who, on the 10th of April, 1848, openly rejoiced that provision had been made for the total repeal of the Corn-Laws. Yet, he says, these admissions were retracted, on the removal of all danger from popular disaffection. They were retracted without due reflection on the causes which had interfered in the hour of danger to promote loyalty to the throne, and confidence in the justice of parliament."*

All these inconsistencies of party feeling have long since passed away. We have no pleasure in recalling the wearisome period of controversy that preceded the common agreement of all, except a few who still pored over their obsolete statistics, to enter upon a new era of manly exertion, unimpeded by class prejudices and unembittered by class animosities. We were

Memoirs by Sir Robert Peel," p. 319.

1849.]

FINAL EXTINCTION OF THE CORN-LAWS.

563

becoming an united people, even in that dawning of a brighter day when the Queen met her Parliament on the 1st of February, 1849, and said—“I observe with satisfaction that this portion of the United Kingdom has remained tranquil amidst the convulsions which have disturbed so many parts of Europe. . . . It is with pride and thankfulness that I advert to the loyal spirit of my people, and that attachment to our institutions which has animated them during a period of commercial difficulty, deficient production of food, and political revolution. I look to the protection of Almighty God for favour in our continued progress; and I trust you will assist me in upholding the fabric of the Constitution, founded as it is upon the principles of freedom and of justice."

END OF THE HISTORY.

POSTSCRIPT.

I HAVE thus completed a labour of seven years, in writing the History of my country from the Roman period to a remarkable epoch of the reign of Queen Victoria. With a reverent heart I thank the Supreme Controller of all human designs that He has permitted me, in reaching a prolonged term of the life of man, to carry forward my purpose to its close.

In referring from time to time to the irrevocable results of this longcontinued occupation-irrevocable, because this History of four thousand pages has been produced at periodical intervals, thus precluding the power of revising it as a whole-I am conscious of errors that might have been corrected under other circumstances. But I am not conscious of any material want of harmony between the earlier and the later portionscertainly of no essential discordance of principles and feelings. Whatever may be the defects of this narration,-stretching over nineteen hundred years of recorded time, and comprehending a vast body of facts, of whose quantity and varied character the Indexes, full as they are, will give an inadequate conception-I am warranted in saying that it is the only complete History of England—a Library History and not a School History-which is the production of one writer. With the exception of three Chapters, the "Popular History" has been wholly written by myself. This unity of thought, whatever may be the knowledge and ability of a historian, must have a certain value beyond what may be attained by a division of labour. Being the production of one mind, the due proportions of the narrative, from the first Chapter to the last, have, I trust, been maintained.

Having undertaken, perhaps somewhat rashly, to write a History of England that, regarding only its chronological extent, involved a large range

Those three chapters are Chap. xxix. of Vol. v. ; Chap. iv. of Vol. vii.; and Chap. viii. of Vol. viii. Being confined to the subject of the Fine Arts, I felt that they required technical knowledge and a peculiar judgment to which I could not pretend. I therefore confided them to Mr. James Thorne, who has for some years contributed many articles on Art to works in which I have been engaged.

of research,—more especially so as it was intended from the first to embrace the Social as well as the Political History of many ages,-it is scarcely necessary for me to apologize for not having plunged into the great ocean of unpublished State Papers, which have, in very recent days, afforded most valuable materials for the authors of special Histories of particular eras. Such an employment would have rendered it impossible for me to have completed my undertaking in double or treble the years during which it has been my continued occupation. At the same time I may conscientiously state that I have not taken upon trust the facts or opinions of any previous writers of the general history of our country or of the history of any detached regnal periods. I have consulted no inconsiderable number of books that are the essential foundations of the English Historical Library; and for modern times I have not neglected that vast field of Memoirs and Letters, English and Foreign, in which there are always fruits to be gathered by the writer who will diligently seek for them.

Of the spirit which has animated me during the progress of this work, and has sustained me through the difficulties of my task, I will venture to say a few words. I had a fixed purpose in view when I commenced it. I addressed myself, not exclusively, but with a steady regard, to those of either sex who were entering upon the serious duties of life. Passing from the elementary works that had been used in the course of ordinary education, there were hundreds to whom a fuller History,-not dry, not didactic, not written with the prejudices of party or sect-would be an acquisition. Feeling my responsibilities to be increased by the fact that my duty was to impart knowledge and not to battle for opinions, my desire has been to cherish that love of Liberty which is best founded upon a sufficient acquaintance with its gradual development and final establishment amongst us; to look with a tolerant judgment even upon those who have sought to govern securely by governing absolutely; to trace with calmness the efforts of those who have imperilled our national independence by foreign assault or domestic treason, but never to forget that a just love of country is consistent with historical truth; to carry forward, as far as within the power of one who has watched joyfully and hopefully the great changes of a generation, that spirit of improvement which has been more extensively and permanently called forth in the times of which this concluding Volume treats, than in the whole previous period from the Revolution of 1688. I doubtless have failed in many cases in the accomplishment of my leading purposes; but the wish to effect these objects has been always present.

In the Introduction to my First Volume I have stated the circumstances which led me to entertain the idea of writing a book that might be recommended for purposes of instruction, "when a Young Man of Eighteen asks for a History of England." With a pardonable pride, I may presume to mention that my desire to produce such a book has been welcomed in a manner far beyond my hope-I fear beyond my desert. Whilst the Prince of Wales was pursuing his studies at the University of Cambridge, my History was used as a text-book, and was quoted and recommended by the Reverend Charles Kingsley, the Professor of Modern History, in the course of Lectures which His Royal Highness attended. The exalted rank of the Student-the literary eminence of the Professor-combine to render this compliment most grateful to me. It affords me the consolation of believing that, whatever may be the errors and deficiencies of my undertaking, it has been recognized by one whose opinion is of no ordinary value, as a well-meant endeavour to write the History of the Kingdom and of the People with a due sense of my responsibility to be just and truthful, and with a catholicity of mind that may be preserved without the suppression of honestly-formed opinions.

I am writing the concluding sentences of this Postscript in my birth place-in Windsor. In solitary walks of my boyhood-by the windings of the Thames, or looking from the gentle hills of the Forest,-the "proud keep" seldom rose to my view but I connected it with some historical memory. To me those majestic towers were interpreters of Heaven's o'er-past decrees. They formed my, mind to look upon the History of my country as the most interesting of studies; to endeavour to draw from that study a just guide to the public duties of a youth who had the happiness to be born a Briton. If what I have written in these Volumes should inspire similar feelings; if this History should be found more calculated for truthful instruction than the Histories which were accessible to me in my early days, I have not written in vain.

In the " Faery Queen,"-passages of which present themselves to my memory as I ramble amongst the scenes where I first read that noble poem, a man "of ripe and perfect age" unrols the ancient book of "Briton Moniments" to two youthful champions, who burn with fervent fire to attain a knowledge of "their country's ancestry." As the old man of Spenser unfolded the "records from ancient times derived," to induce that feeling of patriotism which would make his chivalrous visitors brave and courteous maintainers of England's honour, I would point to the earliest and