The general condition of Great Britain was prosperous. The influx of gold from the newly-discovered gold regions, especially those of Australia, stimulated enterprise. The recent remissions of duties afforded relaxation to the pressure of taxation upon industry; trade was good; the industrial classes were contented; the farmers, sharing in the general prosperity, yielded less willingly to make themselves instruments of agitation in the hands of Lord Derby. Benjamin Disraeli, and other less prominent leaders of the opponents of free-trade, especially in corn. With the exception of the Cape of Good Hope, the tidings received from the colonies were favourable. No foreign war threatened, although many apprehended that the “coup d’état” by leading to the revival of the empire, would also lead to a revival of the old imperial attitude of France to England,—that of menace and ambition. The policy pursued by the British government was, however, so conciliatory and fair, that no opportunity was left for France to make a quarrel. It was moreover the interest of the French president to court alliance with England, to prevent the possibility of a continental coalition against him, which he knew would never dare the power of France while England was her ally. The discussions connected with the outrage committed upon Erskine Mather, Esq., at Florence, by Austrian officers, alone agitated the country in connection with foreign politics. The progress of that event was laid fully before the reader in the last chapter. During the debates about it in parliament and the press, in 1852, a strong public sentiment was evoked against the Duke of Tuscany, and the Austrian government and army. Much sympathy was felt towards the young Englishman who had so well maintained his country’s honour, and to his father, by whom he was sustained in the manly and patriotic course which he had adopted. The procedure of the diplomatic agents of the English government, of the English government itself, and of the foreign minister, Lord Malmesbury most especially, excited the indignation of the people, and tended much to weaken the cabinet of which Lord Malmesbury was so prominent a member: probably the apathy and want of manly spirit and patriotism displayed by the British government and its employés in the Florence affair, did more to shake the confidence of the people in the administration than all the party attacks to which in its short existence it was exposed.

Among the home events of the year which excited general interest were a series of earthquakes, which spread alarm over a large portion of Great Britain. Such rare phenomena in this island naturally attracted the attention of the philosophical, and affected the multitude with awe. On the 4th of November the inhabitants of the northwestern districts of England felt the shocks usually characteristic of earthquake. The chief force of the subterranean commotion seemed to be beneath Liverpool and the districts that surround it. In Manchester the shock was felt more severely than in most other districts. On the opposite coast of Ireland, especially in the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, the vibrations of the earth were nearly as remarkable as in Lancashire and Cheshire.

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DEATH OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

The decease of the most remarkable man in Europe, perhaps in the world, the great Duke of Wellington, filled the country with grief, commanded the sympathy of all nations friendly to Great Britain, and the attention of civilized men in every portion of the world. In England, it was the most important event of the year’s history. No man exercised the same influence over her fortunes. His name was a tower of strength before her enemies, and his wisdom the chief and dernier ressort in her councils. He was the most confidential private counsellor of the queen, who regarded him with the veneration and affection due to the friend of her childhood, when she was neglected by the corrupt court of one uncle, and the apathetic court of another, the sovereigns of the empire over which she also was destined to reign. The removal of the great Duke was an irreparable loss to her majesty and to the country she so wisely ruled; and in no branch of the public service was this loss felt more than in the army, which he had raised to an unprecedented pitch of efficiency and glory. A brief notice of the life of this extraordinary man is desirable, that the reader may more clearly see the important influence his death necessarily had upon the position and policy of the United Kingdom. Concerning the origin and career of this glorious man, J. H. Stocqueler has made the following striking remarks:—

“Nobly born, carefully educated, and connected with people enjoying considerable political influence, he was subjected to no early wrestlings with fate. He was launched upon the stream of life under the most favourable auspices, tasting neither the bitterness of poverty nor the humiliation of obscurity. His public life, from first to last, was one uninterrupted chain of glory, each link more brilliant than its predecessor, and, unlike other great adventurers, whose course from insignificance to splendour was broken, through a series of mischances or their own unsteadiness of character, his progress knew no culminating point—his fame no tarnish, his fortunes no reverse.

“But the even tenor of his career is no disparagement of the vast merit of the Duke of Wellington. If his antecedents were less humble than the public beginnings of other men, let it be remembered that he reached a higher eminence than any personage of whom the annals of England possess a record—always excepting John, Duke of Marlborough, his prototype in all things but political virtue. Nor has his upward path been free from a thousand obstructions, which none but a gigantic mind and a firm heart could surmount. His difficulties began with his direct responsibility. His triumphs followed as the results of his indomitable perseverance, his unflinching courage, and his amazing constancy.”

The most accurate and, at the same time, brief account of the birth, education, and early professional progress of the future hero, is one written by the author just quoted.*