[15]. “The Oxford Movement” or “Catholic Revival” was initiated as a result of statutory changes in the position of the Church of Ireland, which it was feared might ultimately be extended to England. The position and possible danger of the Church were fully discussed in the Tracts for the Times, ninety in number, issued from Oxford during the nine years, 1833-41, and chiefly written by Newman, Keble, Pusey, Williams, and Froude. The object of the movement was to rouse the members of the whole Anglican Community to promote corporate reforms in the Anglican Church as a National Institution—changes which the Evangelical Revival of the end of the eighteenth century had failed to introduce. The line adopted in the movement has been described as “a via media between Roman Catholicism and Reformation doctrines.” (Ed.).
[16]. Afterwards Bishop of Grahamstown, Cape Colony.
[17]. My notes are taken from the copy of a plan (now before me) by my brother Henry Mere Ormerod, solicitor, Manchester: see page 58.
[18]. The Sailing Directions for the West Coast of England, published by the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, says:—“Depths: There is a depth of about 46 feet in the river to Chepstow at high water springs, and 36 feet at high water neaps.” “Tides: It is high water, full and change, at Chepstow at 7 h. 30 m. local or 7 h. 41 m. Greenwich time; mean springs rise 38 feet and neaps 28½ feet. The tide has, however, been known to rise as high as 56 feet.” (E.A.O.)
[20]. See quotations in Hist. of British Quadrupeds, including the Cetacea, by Thomas Bell, F.R.S., &c. pp. 469-472.
[21]. Manual of Elementary Geology, by Sir Charles Lyell, F.R.S., fifth edition, 1855, pp. 337, 338.
[22]. For some years previously the possibility of transmission, at a low rate of speed, of goods or mineral products had been established by George and Robert Stephenson, against great opposition in some cases.
[23]. Chartism was an excited, and, in some instances, violent political movement which occurred in Great Britain consequent upon the dire distress and poverty of the labouring classes in the thirties of the nineteenth century, and their disappointment with the results of the Reform Bill of 1832. In June, 1839, a monster petition was presented to the House of Commons with 1,280,000 names attached. Its unsympathetic reception fanned the rebellious spirit abroad among the working classes and led to an increase of unruly disturbances, and to the outbreak at Newport, here described. The movement collapsed in 1848, and with the development of the industrial prosperity of the country, largely due to the use of steam power in manufacturing centres, and the vast improvement of the economic and social condition of the people, together with greater political freedom, any return of the perfectly natural, if not even justifiable, spirit of discontent became impossible. (Ed.).
[24]. The Trial of John Frost for High Treason under a Special Commission held at Monmouth, in December 1839, and January, 1840, (p. [58]). London, Saunders and Benning, Law Booksellers, 43, Fleet Street, 1840. (E.A.O.)