In the House of Lords a remarkable debate arose upon a proposition of the Earl of St. Germains, to make marriage with a deceased wife’s sister legal. The measure was opposed by the bishops. The Bishop of Norwich made a speech of remarkable clearness and force in opposition. Lord Campbell, the lord-chief-justice, made an oration of an eccentric and illogical character; its spirit and temper were even worse than its arguments; the people of Germany and America were referred to in a manner the most insulting and unjust. The bishops and the law lords defeated the bill.
Lord Redesdale, one of the champions of Puseyism in the established church, made a motion in the peers for the revival of convocation, which was successfully opposed by the evangelical “primate of all England.”
One of the subjects introduced during the session which excited most interest in the country, was the removal of Jewish disabilities. Lord John Russell produced a bill in the commons which was carried, but was thrown out in the lords. Events followed of an important nature and of historical interest. An alderman of the city of London, named Salomons, had been elected to sit in parliament for the borough of Greenwich. He determined to take his seat. He presented himself at the table of the house on the 18th of July, but refused to take the oaths “on the true faith of a Christian,” the form prescribed by the rules of the house. He was then ordered by the speaker to withdraw. Mr. Salomons sat down on one of the benches of the ministerial side of the house, but the speaker insisted upon his withdrawal, upon which he returned to the bar, but under protest of his right to take his seat. Called upon, in the course of the discussion which ensued, by various members to do so, he repeatedly resumed his seat, addressed the house, and voted on divisions concerning himself. After long protracted and violent discussions, he was conducted forcibly by the sergeant-at-arms below the bar. The house, at the instance of Lord John Russell, resolved that he had not a right to sit until he took the oath of abjuration on the true faith of a Christian. Lord John at the same time intimated his intention to persevere in seeking the emancipation of Jewish citizens from all civil disabilities on account of their religion. These events in the English House of Commons attracted the attention of the Jewish community all over the world, and the reports were perused extensively abroad as well as at home.
On the 27th of May a party debate arose upon the conduct of Lord Torrington, when governor of Ceylon. Debates occurred in both houses, the object of the opponents of government being to condemn the policy of Lord Torrington, and the friends of government to uphold him. Nothing was proved against his lordship sufficient to justify the course pursued against him, but it was made plain that his appointment to the government of a colony as distracted as it was important, did not arise from the noble lord’s fitness, but from his political interest; and that Earl Grey, the whig colonial minister, had performed his official duties in a way crotchety, self-sufficient, and arrogant—in the spirit of the partizan rather than of the patriot.
Various bills were passed in reference to administrative departments of the church, and of the state. A bill for the removal of Smithfield market was carried on humane and sanitary considerations, after a discreditable opposition from the corporation of London. Law reform made some progress, especially in connection with the court of chancery. There were several sharp discussions and important motions on colonial and foreign affairs, which will be more appropriately noticed when referring to those departments of the history of the year.
On the 8th of August parliament was prorogued, and the legislative history of 1851 terminated.
EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS.
Among the home incidents of the year none excited more general interest than “the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations,” which was opened on the 1st of May. During 1850 public expectation had been intensely directed to it. The patronage of the queen, and the active assistance as well as patronage of her consort, threw a halo of respectability and popularity around the undertaking. The design was to erect a large temporary building, into which might be brought, in an honourable and peaceful rivalry, specimens of the manufacture and art of all nations. The site selected for the building was Hyde Park, near the Prince’s Gate. Mr. Paxton (afterwards Sir Joseph Paxton), gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, devised a plan for erecting the building of glass—a bold and novel scheme, which resulted in a structure elegant and useful. Mr. Fox (afterwards Sir Charles) was the principal contractor. All concerned worked with zeal and skill, and their task was brought to a satisfactory termination. The building was a parallelogram, 1,848 feet long by 408 feet wide. The distribution of the articles sent for exhibition was upon the principle of giving to each country a separate compartment in the building, with the exception that all working machinery was placed together at the north-west end. It would require a volume to describe the wonderful variety and beauty of the productions of skill and labour brought together in this Crystal Palace of industry; nothing equal to it for curious and instructive interest had ever before been realized. On the 1st of May this fairy fabric was opened with all the circumstances of pomp which royalty and multitudes of persons gathered from many nations could present. There were arrivals from almost every nation; and from Europe and America the numbers were so great that the vast area of London seemed thronged day by day, and almost night by night, with crowds. The various national physiognomies and costumes gave a picturesque effect to the streets and parks, and especially to the interior and neighbourhood of the building for the Exhibition on the opening day. Everything connected with its inauguration was auspicious, and public order was preserved in a wonderful manner; all men from all nations and peoples seemed earnest to maintain the harmony and decorum of the happy occasion. Those classes of English society which made themselves notorious for their hostility to human progress, and especially to the increase of manufactures in England, had been opposed to the project of the Exhibition; and had it not been for the ardour with which the prince, the husband of her majesty, took up the enterprise, opposition from these classes would have been far more vigorous and virulent. All the fears of the objectors to the undertaking proved groundless, and all their vaticinations false; improvement to the national industry, and social enjoyment of England, and a happy intercourse with their brethren of many nations were the results. It was, however, a long time after the Exhibition had accomplished its good purposes, and the last fragment of its material was swept away from the site it had occupied, before the murmurs and objections of the anti-progress classes died away.