Agnes Strickland's Queens of England, Vol. 3. (of 3) / Abridged and Fully Illustrated

by Agnes Strickland; Elisabeth Strickland

There was no grand state banquet, but the king entertained a large party of the royal family and nobility, with the chief officers of the household instead. In consequence of the ill-health of Princess Victoria, heiress-presumptive, neither she nor her mother, the Duchess of Kent, took part in the ceremonies.

Coronation day was distinguished as a general holiday, and in the evening the city was illuminated. It was selected for the laying of the corner-stones of two churches,—one at Hastings by the Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester, and one at East Cowes by the Princess Victoria. Everybody felt satisfied, the coronation had been a success, and a number of peers had been created.

The reform bill was not yet settled in parliament, and the debates upon it brought into prominence many men whose names are familiar to us at the present day. Macaulay was one of these, and his speeches were very brilliant. Robert Peel, whom we have already mentioned, was another. At last the real fight took place in the House of Lords, where there was a magnificent display of talent on both sides, which resulted at the first reading in the defeat of the reform bill. We need not give the details of this matter. While it was pending little else was thought of, and no sooner was it decided than the appearance of cholera, that dread disease that had been slowly but surely approaching, filled the public attention.

It broke out with violence at Sunderland among the filthy and degraded; but it did not become so dreadful a plague as many that had visited England in previous times. It proved a benefit in this, that it awakened people to the necessity for cleanliness in the thoroughfares, and prompted the benevolent to help those who were attacked with the disease on account of their privations and unhealthy habitations in wretched, damp country villages. A board of health was established, and England was from that period awakened to the duty of care for the public health, which, we have seen, was a matter of slight consideration in earlier days.

A.D. 1832. Riots continued while the reform bill remained unsettled; for this was the only argument that those ignorant, lawless people who took part in them could bring to bear against those who opposed them. The consequences of these proceedings were dreadful. In Derby the town jail and many houses of the respectable inhabitants were destroyed, and in Nottingham the ancient castle belonging to the Duke of Newcastle was completely demolished.

The rioters even marched upon St. James's Palace under pretence of presenting addresses, and several mansions in the neighborhood were stoned. Fortunately they first attacked the Duke of Wellington's house, which gave the troops ample time to assemble for the protection of the palace.

A riot in Bristol lasted three days, during which all the public buildings were set on fire, and the toll-gate was pulled down. The prison-doors were burst open, and all the prisoners liberated; dwellings and warehouses were completely demolished, and the property destroyed in that one town alone was valued at half a million of pounds. At last the military attacked the rioters, and, after several were shot down, order was restored; but many had perished in the flames they themselves had kindled, after having drunk to excess of the liquor they had stolen. Public meetings were held in every part of the kingdom to express dissatisfaction,—particularly in the large manufacturing towns, some of which were frequently set on fire.

In November a meeting of the political union of the working-classes was announced, their object being to demand universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and yearly parliaments; but government took the matter in hand, and the leaders of such illegal proceedings were frightened into abandoning them for the time being. These scenes of excitement produced their effect, even across the channel in France, where demonstrations were made by men who attacked some of the principal places, and were only dispersed at last by the appearance of the National Guard in their midst. Lord Eldon wrote at the time on this subject: "The French are more volatile than we are; they have travelled somewhat quicker on the road to ruin than we sluggish Englishmen travel; but we are, I fear, on the same road."

We have said very little about the Princess Victoria, because she lived in retirement, pursuing her studies under the excellent supervision of her mother, the Duchess of Kent; but in the autumn of this year the two royal ladies made an interesting tour through the principal counties of Eng land and Wales, and were everywhere received with demonstrations of welcome and respect. They returned to Kensington Palace in November, highly gratified with their tour.

During this year occurred some events to which we must allude, because they are too important to be passed over in silence. One is the marriage of Leopold, King of the Belgians, with the Princess Louise, daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. This event was preceded by the death of the only son of Napoleon I., known as the Duke of Reichstadt.