* "Notes of a tour in England, Scotland, and Ireland, with a view to inquire whether our labouring population be really redundant."

Yet Mr. Crope, while he denounced the state of the law in Ireland as affecting landlord and tenant, in terms which attracted the attention of the country, and of foreign lands, described the difficulties of landlords in a way just to the class and to his subject. "A moment's consideration," he says, "will show the futility of expecting any mercy to be shown to these poor people by those whom the law at present arms with the power of destroying them. It sounds very well to English ears to preach forbearance and generosity to the landowners. But it should be remembered that few of them have it in their power to be merciful or generous to their poor tenantry. They act under compulsion, usually of the severest kind. They are themselves engaged in a life and death struggle with their creditors. Moreover the greater number of the depopulators are mere agents for absent landlords or for the law-receivers under the courts acting for creditors, and bound by the established rules and avowed practice of the Court of Chancery itself (the fountain and head of justice) to make the utmost of the property entrusted to them, without regard to any other consideration than the pecuniary interest of the parties, which is committed to their care. Those landlords who have yet some voice in the management of their estates, seeing the highest court of judicature in the realm sanction this principle of action, think themselves justified—most of them, indeed, are compelled by the overwhelming pressure of their own difficulties—to follow the example. It is vain to expect mercy to be shown under such circumstances. All is done in the sacred name of the law. The sheriff, the representative of the majesty of the law, is the actual exterminator. The officers of the law execute the process. The constabulary, acting under the orders of the magistracy, stand by to prevent resistance; and if any is expected, the queen's troops are brought to the spot, to quell with all the power of the throne what would amount to an act of rebellion. It is absurd, then, to cast the blame of these foul deeds, and their horrible results, upon a few reckless, bankrupt, wretched landlords. It is to the law, or rather to the government and legislature which uphold it, and refuse to mitigate its ferocity, that the crime rightly attaches; and they will be held responsible for it by history, by posterity—ay, and perhaps before long, by the retributive justice of God, and the vengeance of a people infuriated by barbarous oppression, and brought at last to bay by their destroyers." It is difficult to read such statements and wonder that agrarian outrage prevailed extensively in Ireland, and that all over the land murder stained the soil with blood.

It is impossible to write the history of Ireland in any given year without having to record assassinations springing from religious discord, and 1849 was no exception.

Political disturbance was only kept down by the arm of the law. Early in the session, Earl Grey moved in the house of lords for a renewal of the "suspension of the Habeas Corpus act," and in doing so he stated that although there was no reason to fear an insurrection, yet disaffection existed extensively, and especially in the districts which had been the scenes of insurgency in the previous year. His lordship never knew much of Ireland in any respect—her people, the philosophy of her turbulence, or the policy which ought to be pursued towards her; had he formed acquaintance with such subjects he would hardly have spoken of disaffection existing in certain districts, for it is chronic in Ireland. The masses of the people have been disaffected since the English first obtained the ascendancy in Ireland; but independent of any hostility of race or nationality, a deep-rooted religious animosity towards the creed of England rankles in the hearts of all in Ireland who differ from that creed.

The Young Ireland party was not extirpated by the events of 1848, although as a public organized body, suppressed. Its writers continued to write, although there was little public speaking. Charles Gavan Duffy, more fortunate than his fellows, was enabled to escape the legal penalties attached to his undoubted treason; juries would not convict, notwithstanding the plainest evidence. The Roman Catholics in the juries were obstinate in refusing a conviction. This circumstance deepened the general distrust existing among Protestants in the fidelity of Roman Catholic jurors on any question in which they took a political or ecclesiastical interest. There is no reason, however, to suppose that this spirit of inequitable partizanship was confined to Roman Catholics. Such incidents never justified the government in refusing them alterations in the jury laws, popularly demanded, and in exercising so sternly the right of challenge which belonged to the crown in such prosecutions. Mr. Duffy resumed his place at the office of the Nation newspaper, affecting to believe that there was no hope of achieving what he called Irish independence by political agitation; that the country needed material improvement in the first instance, and that in proportion as it increased in wealth would it be likely to obtain a national existence. Mitchell, in his exile, denounced this doctrine; and when he afterwards escaped to the United States, he impugned these opinions of Mr. Duffy as dangerous to freedom, and as a cover to his retreat from the patriotic advocacy of Irish nationality. The recriminations of these two champions of Young Irelandism showed what little prospect there ever had been of any harmony existing in an Irish provisional government, if success had attended the efforts of these men. Mr. Duffy, while for a time persisting in his new course, and making his paper more an organ of the ultramontane priesthood, took every opportunity of inciting the people to treason, at first covertly, but gradually in a more open manner. This the government permitted, to the disparagement of the loyal, and the injury of peace and improvement in Ireland. The Old Ireland party continued to agitate, but their agitation assumed still more of a sectarian character. Yet the name of O'Connell had lost much of its spell, and at an auction of his library in Dublin, his books, even with his autograph, barely fetched the prices which the same volumes would have brought at any other public auction if the property of an unknown person.

The winter of 1849 smote Ireland with fresh accumulations of suffering. Gaunt famine stalked abroad; pestilence lurked in the hovels of the country, and the cellars and garrets of the great towns; cholera ravaged as fiercely in some places as if no other destroyer visited the unhappy realm; crime lurked by the wayside, and sedition and bigotry muttered their curses everywhere. It seemed as if a wide-wasting ruin covered all.

The queen's visit to Ireland made this year memorable in her history. An account of this will appear in the narrative of the court in another page.



POLITICAL STATE OF ENGLAND.

Notwithstanding the humiliation of the Chartists in 1848, they still continued blatant. Some rioting occurred, and but for the conviction that the people at large would support the government in strong measures, the tendency to disturbance would have been still more decidedly manifested. The anti-freetraders were still a large and powerful party, and, led by Mr. Disraeli, formed an imposing array both in and out of parliament. The freetraders were also active and resolute, giving to the government a very general support. The agitations in the country assumed no new phases, and almost all political questions assumed a politico-economical aspect from the temper in which men discussed them, and the prevailing tone of the time. The alteration —virtually the repeal—of the navigation laws caused much excitement in the sea ports, as the agitation of the subject did the previous year; but the government and the freetrade party mustered all their strength, and succeeded with the measure. The government was not popular, but was accepted as a political necessity. Lord John Russell had great weight in parliament, "in the city," and with the old whig party everywhere; but the more advanced liberals had lost confidence in him, and some of his colleagues were unpopular. Foreign politics engaged much of the attention of the nation, and the tide of reaction which began to roll back over the continent, sweeping away so many newly acquired liberties, was a cause of abundant regret, and even alarm to the English people.



COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS.

The year did not begin or end very prosperously in business and monetary matters. The successive blights of the potatoe crop, the advances to Ireland, the ruinous bankruptcies of 1848, the enormous railway calls, the many failures upon the continent of both banking-houses and commercial establishments, by which English firms sustained great losses, and the continued disturbance of commercial relations in consequence of the civil conflicts on the continent, were causes sufficiently numerous and potent to create and sustain apprehension, and embarrass the usual proceedings of trade. Still money flowed into England from continental Europe, as the place of security which, whatever might betide the world, was supposed to be beyond the range of political convulsion. Thus capital was plentiful, and money was easily obtained by all creditable establishments. The peace, good order, and constitutional liberty by which these blessings were established, afforded England a source of prosperity amidst so much that was calculated to impoverish. The wrecks of many nations floated around her shores, but within her borders all was safe; the shadow of the thunder-cloud passed over her, and she heard its peals, as it burst in lightning and torrent on less favoured lands.



THE CHOLERA.

There was one calamity, which befel so many nations, from which England was not spared. The mysterious cholera, which appeared in 1848 in some places, broke out in the autumn of this year with surprising fury. Its ravages were far more extensively fatal than in 1832. In 1832 the number attacked in London was 14,154, and the number of those who fell victims was 6729. In 1848-49, the number attacked exceeded 30,000, and nearly half the number perished. In 1832, one out of every 250 of the population died; in 1848-49, one out of every 150. More than 80,000 persons died of cholera and diarrhoea in Great Britain during the latter period. The disease spared neither sex nor age. It was found in London to prevail most near the banks of the Thames, and on the south side of the river, where the ground was lower and worse drained than on the north. In the higher grounds, north and south, the disease inflicted but little injury. Where the water supply was from the less pure portions of the Thames, the havoc was greater than where it was drawn from a portion of the river further up, or from other sources. The disease prevailed most during hot weather both in Great Britain and Ireland. The faculty was as little able to treat it as when it first appeared; and there was a disposition to rely too much on general sanitary measures, without regard to the specific virus of the disease.



PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY OF 1849—OPENING OF THE SESSION.

On the second of February the queen in person opened a new session. Her majesty's speech referred to most great matters which had occurred in the latter part of 1848, and to such subjects as formed the leading features of the policy of the ministry for 1849. Her majesty especially recommended an alteration in the navigation laws, and she asked for further administrative power to preserve order in Ireland. The general tone and tenor of the speech were congratulatory. Lord Stanley, in the lords, moved an amendment to the usual address, which represented that the state of the country was not such as to call for or justify an address pervaded by a spirit of gratulation. The amendment was rejected, but only by a majority of two. In the commons Mr. Disraeli moved an amendment upon the address, similar to that which Lord Stanley had proposed in the lords, and with no better success. Mr. Disraeli especially contended for keeping up a much larger fleet and army than the government proposed. His arguments were singularly opposed to those which, without any professed change of principle, he used eight years afterwards, against the government of Lord Palmerston, for refusing to reduce the army and navy when serious perils demanded their increase in the judgment of that astute and experienced minister. Mr. Grattan, son of the distinguished Irishman who assisted Irish independence in 1782, proposed an amendment adverse to the ministerial policy for Ireland, but it was rejected in a very decisive manner. The temper of the house, as displayed towards Mr. Grattan, was harsh, invidiously national on all sides, and especially offensive to the popular party in Ireland.



REPEAL OF THE NAVIGATION LAWS.

On the 14th of February Mr. Labouchere renewed the motion for the repeal of the navigation laws, which had been defeated the previous year by the agitation of the shipowners and sailors, particularly those of the Tyne, under the leadership of James Mather, Esq., of South Shields. On the 9th of March the second reading came on, and was met by an amendment proposed by Mr. Hemes, such as is usually offered in order to defeat a bill. This amendment was negatived, in a house of four hundred and seventy-six members, by a majority of fifty-six. The government was much mortified that the minority was so very considerable. In committee Mr. Labouchere modified the bill in a manner which proved the want of proper forethought and decided policy in its preparation. This was the case with most whig measures. On the 23rd of April Mr. Hemes again endeavoured to defeat the bill, securing a very large minority, which further annoyed the ministry, but failed to obstruct the progress of the measure. In the lords the bill was opposed vehemently by Lord Brougham, who denied that it was based upon the principles of free trade. By a majority of ten only the government succeeded in carrying it, and it was generally believed that it would have been lost, only that the government raised a report of intended resignation if the bill had been lost. This decided the opposition of Lord Brougham, who desired to produce such a result, and influence the doubtful among the Conservatives, as they were not prepared at that moment to resume the reins of power. The Bishop of Oxford proposed an amendment intended, by securing the anti-slavery lords, to defeat the measure by a "side wind;" but his object was transparent, and his end was not attained. The bill was carried, and ordered to take effect from the beginning of 1850.



AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS—MOTION FOR GOVERNMENTAL RELIEF.

The agricultural interest was as discontented as it had been since the repeal of the corn-laws. It was still hoped that the greater part of the public burdens would be shifted to the shoulders of the commercial middle classes; and the party calling itself "the agricultural interest," but in reality adverse to the prosperity of the farmers and farm-labourers, clamoured for public relief. Mr. Disraeli had now fairly succeeded Lord George Bentinck as the leader, and he on the 5th of March proposed a resolution for a committee of the whole house, to consider such measures as might relieve the owners and occupiers of real property, and establish a more equitable apportionment of the public burdens. Sir Charles Wood, in an awkward and clumsy speech, confuted Mr. Disraeli, no difficult matter even in such a speech, for the honourable leader of "the country party" had collected his statistics carelessly, and used them illogically. His speech was also deficient in the eloquence so striking generally in his elaborate orations. It failed to produce any effect upon any party, even upon his own, and he could only muster the support of seventy members against three hundred and ninety-four. This motion greatly damaged the prestige of Mr. Disraeli: it was thought that he was not competent to lead a great party, and but for the paucity of talent in the conservative ranks, his leadership would have immediately terminated. In the country generally, but especially in the large cities and manufacturing districts, the speech excited a stronger political hostility to Mr. Disraeli than had before prevailed.



IRELAND.

A very considerable portion of the session was occupied by the affairs of Ireland. Under the section devoted to the concerns of that country such notice was taken of the proceedings in parliament bearing reference to her, as makes it unnecessary to enter at length into their record in this place. Early in the session the government requested the house to renew the act for the suspension of Habeas Corpus: it was granted. Measures bearing upon the poor-laws, and the commercial state of the country, were subsequently discussed, the government always succeeding in obtaining the support of the house. A bill for facilitating the transfer of encumbered estates was introduced on the 26th of April; its object was, chiefly, to amend a similar act of 1848, which had been found to a great extent impracticable, the usual fate of most whig measures. The new bill was carried; but while it did much good, it was sometimes an instrument of injustice, very imperfectly answered its own objects, and was not conceived or framed in a comprehensive or statesman-like spirit. The great changes which its abettors predicted it would create in the social condition of Ireland were not realized. The estates brought into the court were often purchased by their former owners, or occupiers, or by other Irish landowners, who borrowed money for the purchase at a heavy interest, on the credit of the estates themselves, which soon became as much encumbered as they had been before. English companies and assurance offices were also purchasers: their management was generally bad, expending large sums without obtaining an adequate return. Ignorance of the habits of the people caused much loss to such occupiers, and a species of quackery in cultivation sprung up which was injurious to the interests of the owners and of the country.



VOTE OF THANKS TO THE ARMY IN INDIA.

Votes of thanks to the troops engaged in the war of the Punjaub were proposed and carried on the 24th of April. These were advocated with eloquence, and conceded with enthusiasm. Sir Robert Peel passed an eloquent eulogy on Lord Gough, which was as just to the brave old veteran, after having served his country with honour for fifty-six years, as it was creditable to the impartiality, temper, and talent of Sir Robert.



MR. COBDEN'S MOTION FOR REDUCING THE ARMY AND NAVY.

The Whigs were not good financiers. Sir Robert Peel excelled his contemporaries, and more especially his opponents, in the practicability of his financial arrangements. The government had been placed in circumstances of great difficulty by events purely of a providential nature; but there existed a general impression that they did not meet the emergency with skill. A society called the Financial Reform Association grew into existence in consequence of this feeling. Its head-quarters was at Liverpool. Many important facts were brought to light by it, and much information extended, but there was a want of tact in the management which defeated these laudable and enlightened exertions. The society had a singular fatality for urging particular measures precisely at the juncture when there was least likelihood of gaining the ear of either the public or the legislature. Mr. Cobden made himself conspicuous in this agitation, and began that career of impracticability which gradually limited his public usefulness, and at last expelled him from parliament. When the whig budget came on for discussion, Mr. Cobden was agitating a scheme for returning to the expenditure of 1835, by which he alleged ten millions annually would have been saved. The state of Ireland and the continent rendered it unlikely that the country would consent to any very great reduction in its military and naval defences, yet it was in these departments Mr. Cobden contemplated his economical experiments. On the 26th of February he submitted a motion to the house embodying the principles for which he had contended at public meetings. The chancellor of the exchequer showed that no reductions which even Mr. Cobden himself dare submit to the house would reduce the national expenditure to the proposed extent, and proved that the defence of the commerce and independence of the country forbade any such reduction. Mr. Cobden only obtained seventy-seven to support him, in a house of three hundred and fifty-three members. This did not arise from any indisposition to reduce the public burdens, but from a conviction that Mr. Cobden rested his motion upon false data, and that his scheme was utterly inapplicable to the circumstances of the times.



THE BUDGET.

On the 29th of June the chancellor of the exchequer brought forward his budget. He estimated the ordinary income at L51,550,000, and the extraordinary income at L580,000. The expenditure he estimated at L53,287,000. He contemplated a surplus income for the ensuing year of about three quarters of a million sterling. The statement was received favourably, but a general impression existed that the chancellor might have carried retrenchment much farther. The supplies, however, were granted upon the basis of the statement offered.



MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE NATION

On the 2nd of July Mr. Disraeli moved for a select committee on the state of the nation. He did not expect that the government would concede, or the house support it; but he made it the occasion for a general attack upon the whig policy, and especially the free-trade policy which that party had originated in parliament, although Sir Robert Peel, their successful rival in this department, carried away the credit of having done so. The speech of Mr. Disraeli was rhetorically, and only rhetorically, successful. He reenumerated the misfortunes which befel Ireland and the colonies during the three previous years, and all the monetary difficulties which befel England, and attributed them, with dextrous dishonesty, to whig impolicy and free trade. These calamities, which were chiefly caused by delaying free trade too long, he ascribed to that measure. The perverted ingenuity thus displayed did not serve his party or convince his opponents. He was opposed in a blunt and candid speech by Mr. Hume, and in one of the happiest orations ever delivered by Sir Robert Peel. Lord John Russell also made an effective reply. Mr. Disraeli received small support from his followers. If the chief was not equal to the exigencies of the party, neither was the party worthy of the chief. Only one hundred and fifty-six votes sustained him, although Mr. Disraeli did his utmost to induce a decided display of strength. The motion was lost by an overwhelming majority.



THE PROROGATION.

Few events of public interest occurred in the parliamentary history of the session except those which are here recorded. The prorogation occurred on the 1st of August. The president of the council read the queen's speech, which referred in the usual vague and general manner to the topics which had been discussed, but paid a generous tribute of acknowledgment to the heroism of the troops in the Punjaub. The blessing of domestic peace, and of the prospects of a good harvest were dwelt upon in terms of thankfulness to the Divine goodness.

The session of 1849 was not in any way remarkable. Few good laws were passed, few good speeches made, and no incidents of striking importance entered into its history. The state of parties remained what it had been when the session commenced; perhaps, if any change took place, the Whigs were on the whole strengthened. Sir Robert Peel gave them a qualified support, taking care frequently to express his want of confidence in their Irish policy, although nothing in his own past policy warranted the expectation that he would have governed Ireland substantially better than his rivals.



THE COURT.

Outrage on her Majesty.—There were various occurrences in the course of the year of interest or importance to the court, and to the public as having reference to the court.

On the 19th of May her majesty held a drawing-room, and shortly after her return, drove out with three of her children in the park. She was returning a little before six o'clock, when a shot was fired as the carriage passed down Constitution Hill by a man who stood within the railing of the Green Park. He was seized, and narrowly incurred being torn to pieces by the people, who were in a state of furious excitement at the occurrence. He was eventually rescued from the populace by the park-keepers and police and conducted to the guard-house of the palace. Her majesty displayed the coolest self-possession and courage. Prince Albert, who rode on before, heard the occurrence from her majesty's lips as she alighted. The name of the criminal was Hamilton; he was a native of Adair, county Limerick, Ireland. General Wemyss, who rode exactly in the line between her majesty and the criminal, thought that the pistol was fired at him, and was of opinion that, had it been loaded with ball, he must have been struck; he also considered the report to be from a blank cartridge. This opinion proved to be correct, he had no intention of hurting any person, and seemed either to have been actuated by a desire for display, or to place himself in the hands of the authorities as a criminal, for sake of maintenance, as he was in great destitution. He was sentenced to seven years' transportation.



THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO IRELAND.

The ministry had, with much wisdom, advised her majesty to visit Ireland in the autumn of 1849. It was supposed by them that such an event would soothe the spirit of party, and restore the loyalty which was supposed to exist before 1848. Such was its tendency; but it ought to have been understood that the people were no more disloyal in that year than in the year which preceded it, or any other previous one; and the visit of her majesty, although beneficial for a time, on the whole, was not likely to give any permanent effect to the loyalty of those who might, during her visit, display the like. The Young Ireland press denounced the policy of the visit as a trick to ensnare the generosity of the Irish character, and to divert the people from the only true political pursuit for Irishmen—the separation of their country from Great Britain; and those papers predicted that the reception of her majesty, notwithstanding that national generosity which they truly asserted, would be painful to the royal lady, and demonstrate the unwillingness of the Irish people to be her subjects. The Old Ireland press, like the Old Ireland leader in parliament (Mr. John O'Connell), gave a very "uncertain sound "—it "blew hot and cold with the same mouth," protesting that the Irish people were most loyal, but at the same time in a very treasonable state; spurned, doubted, and encouraged the ministerial policy by turns. The newspapers made a point of averring, that if her majesty would only grant repeal and justice to Ireland, and, in fact, whatever the party demanded, she would find the Irish people, always excepting Orangemen and "swadlers," most peacefully disposed. The words of the national poet were echoed by these persons:—

"There never were hearts, if our rulers would let them, More formed to be tranquil and blest than ours."

The Irish people not connected with these two parties made every exertion to prove their real and unaffected loyalty and devotion to her majesty; and they boldly declared that the prophecies of the Young Irelanders, and the doubts of the Old Irelanders, as to the probability of the queen receiving insult, were unworthy of notice. The Irish are too gallant a nation to insult a lady and a queen under any circumstances, and there was not a man among either Old Ireland or Young Ireland who would do the like, however wavering in loyalty; nor was there one among them who would not risk his life to chastise such conduct, had it happened in his presence.

After the prorogation, the court proceeded to Cowes, where a squadron was in readiness, and her majesty, with her husband and children, embarked and proceeded on their voyage on the night of the 1st of August. The next night, at one o'clock, the squadron arrived at Cove, "amidst a blaze of illumination by sea and land." In the morning, the little town of Cove received the designation of Queenstown from her majesty, at the request of the inhabitants, as commemorative of her arrival there. It was noticed that the moment her majesty set her foot on shore, the sun, which had been clouded, burst forth with brilliancy. In the afternoon, the royal party visited the city of Cork, to receive various deputations, and afford the queen an opportunity of seeing the city. She proceeded up the river, and never did the scenery on the banks of the beautiful Lee look finer than on that bright autumnal day. Her majesty's reception in Cork was most enthusiastic. There is no country in the world where public enthusiasm appears to greater advantage than in Ireland, when displayed in a good cause; and in no part of Ireland are the people more hearty in any feeling than m the sunny south. The reception of her majesty and suite was everything she could wish it to be. She received an address from the city, while seated on the quarter-deck of the royal tender. As the first address presented to her in Ireland, it has historic interest:—

May it please your Majesty,—

We, your majesty' s dutiful and loyal subjects, the mayor, aldermen, and councillors of the ancient city of Cork, humbly approach your majesty to tender to you, on behalf of ourselves and our fellow-citizens at large, the homage of our profoundest loyalty, and of our deepest affection and attachment to your majesty's sacred person and crown.

We gratefully beg to express our deep sense of the high honour and distinction conferred on us by your majesty graciously condescending to select our city as the place where you, and your royal and much-loved consort, pay your first visit to this portion of the kingdom; and we hail with the sincerest feelings of joy and exultation your august presence here, and ardently hope that your majesty will be graciously pleased to cheer and gladden us by frequent visits, and thus diffuse pleasure and happiness amongst us. We sincerely hope that your majesty's gracious visit will be like those of the angel of mercy, with healing on its wings, and that it is the harbinger of bright and better days for our country, which your majesty must be aware is passing through a fearful ordeal.

We know that your majesty deeply sympathises in the sufferings and privations which your people have undergone, and are still going through; and we are convinced that nothing would afford a higher gratification to your royal breast than to mitigate and relieve those sufferings, and to raise the moral and social condition of your majesty's much and long enduring, but patient and faithful Irish subjects.

We trust that your royal advent here will lay the foundation of a better order of things than lias hitherto existed; be the means of fully developing the great and varied natural resources of our beautiful and fertile country; and that its prosperity, and the consequent comfort, happiness, and contentment of its people, will be the glorious and blessed results of your auspicious visit.

That your majesty may enjoy a long and prosperous reign over a united, happy, and contented people, and that you, your royal consort and family, may possess every happiness that this world can afford, is the ardent and sincere prayer of your loyal and attached subjects, the council and citizens of Cork.

Her majesty's sail down the Lee was even more picturesque than her voyage up; and her departure from Cove was such a scene as, no doubt, the royal lady, as well as her subjects of the south, will long and vividly remember. Her majesty's yacht tarried the next night at Waterford harbour, but she did not visit the city.

On Sunday, the 5th, her majesty was expected to arrive at Kingstown, and the people of the metropolis, and the surrounding country for many a mile, poured multitudinously along the beautiful shores of Kingstown and Killany. When in the evening the squadron approached, the enthusiasm of the people was boundless. At twenty minutes past seven, the squadron dropped anchor in the deep clear waters of Kingstown harbour, and every token of cordial greeting that a people could express, or a queen receive, indicated the popular spirit. The sea was crowded with barques, the shore with people. The former were gaily decked, the latter in elegant attire; and over sea and shore rang the loud cheers of a vast and excited multitude. Few sights were ever presented to her majesty equal in scenic effect. She appeared on deck, and bowed in acknowledgment of the cheers of her people. Prince Albert next presented himself, and was received with an ardour as great as that which marked the welcome of the queen. Her majesty and the prince having retired, the people renewed their cheers, when the royal pair again came forward, with their four children, and, amidst renewed demonstrations of welcome, bowed to the people in the boats, and on the shore. The attempt at illumination in Kingstown was a failure. It had been intended to light bonfires on the Wicklow and Dublin mountains; this would have been a picturesque and national welcome, but the scheme was not executed.

On Monday, the 6th, according to previous announcement, her majesty was to land, and proceed by rail to Dublin, about six miles. The morning broke over the beautiful bay and the bold hills of Wicklow in peculiar loveliness. From Howth to Bray Head the mellow light of an autumn morning shed its richness; the clear waters of the noble bay, the green hills of Dublin, the majestic city, west and south the granite peak of "the Sugar-loaf," and the broad forehead of Bray Head, glistened in the glorious day. The very earth and heavens welcomed the Island Queen. Amidst all the loveliness on which she looked, the fairest spot was that which was washed by the waters of Killany Bay, where the soft sweet vale of Shanganah, with its silver strand, its green bosom, and noble background, stretched away between Bray Head and Kingstown. They were scenes amidst which one of queenly taste might love to linger, and were well calculated to impress her majesty and family with the beauty of the fair but sorrowful land upon which she was about once more to tread.

At ten minutes to ten on Monday morning, her majesty, consort, and children, came upon deck, and were received with acclamations. The moment she set foot on Irish ground, the harbour master hoisted the royal standard, and the cannon sent their thunders echoing over the bay, and among the hills.

The royal suite proceeded by rail to Dublin, the line profusely decorated, and the banks thronged with people, waving hats and handkerchiefs, and filling the air with their hurrahs. At the Sandy-Mount station the royal carriages were in waiting, and a grand procession of the authorities and gentry of the county. Seated in open carriages, the royal personages then drove, attended by a splendid military escort, to the vice-regal Lodge, Phoenix Park. The route was indeed triumphal, everywhere along the magnificent course which the cortege pursued, the national expression, "caed mile failthe" (a hundred thousand welcomes), was heard. There were several halts in the line of progress: the first to afford opportunity to the lord mayor to present the keys of the city to her majesty; the second was of her majesty's spontaneous desire, in order to admire the beautiful church of St. George; the third was at the triumphal arch at the foot of Eccles Street, where a scene of much interest was presented. As the royal carriage was about entering the triumphal arch, a beautiful fawn-coloured dove, ornamented with a white ribbon, was lowered to her majesty by Mr. Robert Williams. Her Majesty received this suitable emblem of the effect which her royal visit was expected to produce with smiles, and most graciously acknowledged the simple but significant gift. The bird was held out by her majesty to the royal children, to whom it at once became an object of attraction. The Prince of Wales soon obtained possession of the bird, which seemed to absorb his attention. In the evening Dublin was illuminated, and maintained its well-established fame for pyrotechnic displays.

Her majesty during her stay held a brilliant court, which was attended by the nobility and gentry of Ireland, numbering many among them of those most famed for arts and arms, literature and politics. The royal party visited most of the public institutions, in which they appeared to take an interest, and many expressions were said to have dropped incidentally from the queen indicative of her concern for the peace and welfare of Ireland, as well as of her admiration of the country. On the Tuesday evening the illuminations were spontaneously renewed, and with more brilliancy than before, and on the Wednesday evening all the public buildings were a third time illuminated. On the morning of that day a levee was held at the Castle, the most brilliant ever known in Ireland. The costume of the queen attracted the highest admiration. She wore a robe of exquisitely shaded Irish poplin, of emerald green, richly wrought with shamrocks in gold embroidery. Her hair was simply parted on her forehead, with no ornament save a light tiara of gold studded with diamonds and pearls. On the Friday the royal party visited the Duke of Leinster, the premier peer of Ireland, and the same evening embarked at Kingstown for Belfast. Her departure, like her arrival, was attended by vast multitudes. Her majesty ascended the paddle-box of the steamer, and waved her hand again and again in response to the adieus of the great multitude. On Saturday morning the royal squadron arrived at Belfast, where her majesty and suite landed, and received as hearty a welcome as elsewhere. The same night she embarked, and steamed through a violent gale for the Scottish coast, but was obliged to defer the attempt until Sunday, in the evening of which the squadron arrived at Loch Ryan, in Argyleshire.



THE ROYAL VISIT TO SCOTLAND.

After her majesty's triumphal visit to Ireland, the loyal Scottish people were most anxious to show her their warm affection and deep respect. Arrangements were accordingly made for public entry into Glasgow and Perth, by which route her majesty determined to proceed to her autumn residence at Balmoral. Ardent as was the hospitality of the Irish, it was rivalled by the patriotic fervour of the Scots, and the cities of Glasgow and Perth made demonstrations of attachment of which the royal lady might well be proud. On the 15th of August the court reached Balmoral, and entered upon those happy and private recreations which the royal family were wont to enjoy at their delightful Highland home. On the 29th of September the court was once more at Osborne.



DEATH OF THE QUEEN DOWAGER.

On Sunday morning, the 2nd of December, the queen dowager died at Stanmore Priory. The royal lady was the relict of King William IV., the uncle of Queen Victoria. She was supposed to have been much attached, through her husband's reign, to the Conservative party, and to have favoured those intrigues in that interest which kept alive so long and so fiercely the spirit of faction during the discussions about the reform bill, and for some time after that measure was carried. Her majesty was buried on the 13th, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, where her coffin was placed beside that of her husband.



DEATHS OF EMINENT PERSONS.

It is always a subject of deep interest to a nation when its most eminent citizens are called away from the duties and honours of their citizenship. How frequently has the decease of a great person turned the scale of party, baffled armies or states, restored a country from peril, or placed it in the imminency of danger? Such was not the case with England in 1849, yet many very remarkable persons were that year numbered with the dead; the most notable person whose removal took place in this way, was the queen dowager.

On the 1st of January the Earl of Auckland died. This nobleman had attracted for some years previously a large share of public attention. He was not remarkable in youth for any special gift. In the House of Commons, which he entered in early life, he made no figure. The public were therefore amazed when, in November, 1830, he was appointed by Earl Grey a member of the cabinet, with the important post of president of the board of trade, and also the office of master of the Mint. In 1834, he was made first lord of the Admiralty. In 1835 he was appointed governor-general of India. In 1841 he was displaced, a conservative government coming into office. In 1846 he again appeared at the head of the Admiralty board. His business habits and good sense qualified him for office, and at the Admiralty he rendered some service, but had he not been a peer and a friend of Lord Grey, he would never have occupied so prominent a place in the government.—On the 7th Earl Talbot died. His career was remarkable only for his having proved himself very unfit to govern Ireland, having exemplified, when lord-lieutenant, how little the conservative party at that time considered the importance of placing a man in the important situation because of his aptitudes.—On the 20th Mr. Cadell, the eminent Scotch publisher, and, in great degree, founder of cheap literature in Great Britain. He was identified with Sir Walter Scott in the cheap issue of his immortal volumes.

Feb. 1st. Lieut.-general Sir Thomas Arbuthnot, a very distinguished officer. He was born in the county of Mayo, in Ireland, and died at Salford, Manchester, while in military command of the northern district.—19th. Bernard Barton, the quaker poet, the amiable and useful author of so many pious and instructive compositions. He was born near London, and died at Woodbridge, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

May 9th. General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, Bart. This officer had distinguished himself through a long series of years in the most active and daring military services, especially in Germany, Poland, and Russia. He was particularly known as having, in conjunction with two other British officers, effected the escape of Count Lavalette, after the battle of Waterloo. He was a native of London, and died at an hotel there in the seventy-third year of his age.—13th. General the Hon. Sir Edward Paget, the last surviving brother of the Marquis of Anglesea. Sir Edward's services in the Peninsular war are matters of pride and honour in British history.—19th. Sir Nesbit Josiah Willoughby, Rear-admiral of the White. This gallant officer served both by land and sea, having, when not engaged by the British Admiralty, joined the Russian army, in which, as a colonel, he greatly distinguished himself. He was born in Warwickshire, at the family seat, and died in London, in the seventy-third year, of his age.—21st. At Edgeworthstown, county of Longford, Ireland, in her eighty-fifth year, Miss Edgeworth, so celebrated as a novelist, and deserving equal celebrity as a metaphysician, for her novels abound with the most accurate and acute speculations in mental philosophy, incidentally occurring in the course of her narratives. She was small in stature, lively in disposition, vivacious in thought, a good correspondent, and an affectionate friend. The opinion has gained currency since her death, that the more intellectual portions of her writings were the products of her father's genius, whose hand appeared in nearly all her novels.—22nd. At his house in Pall Mall, aged seventy-five, William Vernon, Esq., an artist and a tasteful collector of pictures. He had been a successful man of business, and left a large fortune to the nation in works of art, the productions of native artists, which reveal the talent prevailing among native painters, whom it was the fashion to undervalue.

June 4th. The Countess of Blessington. This beautiful and accomplished lady, so well known as the friend of Byron, was born at Curragheen, county Waterford, Ireland, and she was distinguished through life for literary eminence as well as personal beauty. She possessed a noble generosity, especially to obscure men of talent. Her house at Kensington Gore, near London, was for many years the resort of the most eminent literary men. She died at Paris.

July 8th. Mr. Wilson, the celebrated Scotch vocalist, at the early age of forty-nine. He was born in Edinburgh, and died at Quebec.—12th. Horace Smith, the author, known in connection with "The Pic-nic Papers," "The Rejected Addresses," &c. He was born in London, and died at Tunbridge Wells, at the age of seventy.

Sept. 12. William Cooke Taylor, LL.D. This learned and gifted man was born in Youghall, county of Cork, Ireland. He fell a victim to cholera, in Dublin, in the fiftieth year of his age.

Nov. 3rd. Mr. Duncan, the African traveller, on board her majesty's ship Kingfisher. He was a native of Wigtonshire, in Scotland.

Dec. 1. Ebenezer Elliott, "the Corn-law Rhymer." He was born and died in Yorkshire. He was the author of several pleasing poems, of a somewhat epigrammatic character.

The year 1849 was remarkable for the death of eminent general officers and military men of inferior rank. Naval heroes, of a reputation extensive as the world, were also called away. The numbers of persons of great mark in the nation who died during the year were too great to receive notice within the limits of this history. To point out a few in whom the public of the present day take most interest is all which space will allow in this volume.



CHAPTER LXII.

{VICTORIA. 1850}

Foreign Relations..... Colonial Affairs..... Ireland..... Home Incidents-Debates in Parliament..... Deaths of Remarkable Persons.

{A.D. 1850}

The year 1850 was not a striking period of English history. There was no foreign war, no colonial revolt, no great question to be solved at home; yet in every department of the national affairs there were occurrences of importance, as might be expected in so vast an empire, with so many and complicated interests.



FOREIGN RELATIONS.

Spain.—The interruptions of diplomatic relations with Spain, in consequence of the offence taken by General Narvaez at the interference of Sir Henry L. Bulwer, was brought to a termination by the appointment of Lord Howden as envoy extraordinary, and ambassador plenipotentiary of the Queen of Great Britain to the court of Madrid. This event seemed to give great satisfaction to the Spanish court and people, and her Iberian majesty, on the assembling of the cortes, made the matter a prominent topic in her address; but little interest was taken in Great Britain in connection with the event.

Greece.—The independence of the Greek kingdom was not followed by any improvement in the condition or character of the people. The government constituted by the three protecting powers (England, France, and Russia) was corrupt and incompetent, and the king despotic and faithless. Russia had an interest in keeping Greece disturbed, and especially in exciting both king and people to ambitious projects against Turkey, and Louis Philippe, King of the French, aided in promoting the corruption, and founded a policy for France inimical to the permanent advantage of Greece and the peace of Europe. The Greek government well knowing the unfavourable feeling of both Russia and France to England, treated British subjects with insult, and frequently allowed Greek subjects to treat them with wanton and unprovoked injury. The remonstrances of the English minister were unavailing, the wrongs of English citizens were unredressed. At last, the British foreign minister determined to make a categorical demand for justice, and in case of refusal to take reprisals. The demands made by Lord Palmerston were for satisfaction of the following claims:—

1. Mr. Finlay, an English subject, was deprived of land in 1838, which was enclosed in the gardens of the royal palace at Athens, in 1840.

2. M. Pacifico, a native of Gibraltar, was insulted, his house broken into at Athens in open day by a mob, aided by soldiers and gendarmes, in 1847. The mob supposed that certain measures of the government were incited by the British, and that M. Pacifico had personally some part in the matter. The government made no effort to restrain the rioters, and refused all reparation.

3. In October, 1846, six Ionian boats were plundered at the custom-house of Salcina. The Greek government refused all satisfaction.

4. Two Ionians were illegally arrested at Pyrgos, in 1847, and cruelly flogged.

5. The police at Paints arrested two Ionians, and subjected them to various cruelties and indignities for putting up some English, Ionian, and Greek flags on the awning of a coffee-shop.

6. The boat's crew of a British man-of-war landed the son of the British consul at Patras, in January, 1848, when Greek soldiers seized the unarmed sailors, beat and imprisoned them. The Greek government refused to apologise for the outrage.

After these claims were made, another was added—that the isles or rocks of Corvi and Lapienza belonged to the Ionian Isles, and that, therefore, the Greek government should forego all acts of sovereignty in respect to them.

On the 28th of December, 1849, Mr. Wyse, the English minister at the court of Athens, called the attention of M. Londos, the minister for foreign affairs at the court of Athens, to the claims of England, declaring, that the long forbearance of her majesty's government must not be construed into indifference. No notice was taken of the note; the Greek king and his ministers had for so many years been permitted to offer insults to the English government with impunity, they could not conceive that it was now in earnest. The conduct of Lord Aberdeen in the English foreign office had especially encouraged this state of feeling, and Lord Palmerston had found no opportunity during the eventful years 1847-8-9, to enter upon the matter with such purpose as the case required, from the known sympathies of Russia and France. On January 10th, Mr. Wyse and Admiral Parker had an interview with M. Londos, who listened to their representations, but reserved a formal reply. The next day he read a note, refusing the concessions required. No allusion was made in any of these transactions to the cession of the islets. Mr. Wyse then made a formal written demand, and allowed twenty-four hours for a reply. During that time the agents of both Russia and France were consulted by the Greek minister, who was encouraged by them to resist the English requisitions. This was notorious at Athens; yet, at the expiration of the twenty-four hours, M. Londos offered to submit the matter to the arbitration of France and Russia. Her majesty's minister, of course, refused to bring in the arbitration of the powers whose jealousy and intrigue had led to the situation. He accordingly declared the blockade of the Piraeus by the English fleet, and himself embarked on board Sir W. Parker's flag-ship. The Greek government treated the blockade with contempt, and sent out the Otho, and other government vessels. These were seized and sent to Salamis by the admiral, or detained near his own ships. On the 20th, M. Londos sent a protest to Mr. Wyse against these proceedings, and an hint that the other nations of Europe would interfere. Sir W. Parker next laid an embargo upon all Greek ships, and made arrangements for the capture of all he might find at sea.

On the 5th of February, M. Drouyn de Lhuys made an offer in London of friendly offices on the part of France, which were accepted, and on the 12th official notes were exchanged to that effect. Orders were, consequently, sent to Mr. Wyse and Admiral Parker to suspend coercive measures, pending the friendly intervention of France. The French government sent out a negotiator, Baron Gros, who arrived at Athens on the 5th of March. That gentleman, on examining the claims, fixed upon those of M. Pacifico as exaggerated, and no agreement between him and the British negotiator could be concluded; and on the 23rd of April, he notified the failure of his mission to the Greek government.

While this was going on at Athens, the French ambassador in London and the English foreign minister had agreed upon a plan of settlement, and the French government sent immediately a frigate with despatches for Baron Gros, instructing him to that effect. From some mistake or oversight the English government sent no orders to Mr. Wyse, and the result was that he refused to recognise the instructions sent out to the baron by his government. Hostilities commenced next day, which compelled the Greek government to submit to the demands of the English minister.

When tidings of these transactions reached France the French ambassador quitted London, but the difference between France and England was ultimately arranged by friendly explanations, and by the English government substituting the terms of agreement which had been made by the two governments at London, for the mere stipulations accepted by the Greek government at Athens.

The czar was enraged at these proceedings, and his ministers addressed a remonstrance to the British cabinet, couched in terms indignant and affrontful. The diplomatic turmoil in connection with the affairs of Greece caused considerable discussion in the country and the commons, which will be noticed under the section appropriated to parliamentary proceedings.

Liberia.—The British government, in its desire to put down negro slavery, took a deep interest in the prosperity of the free black colony of Liberia. The English public regarded it as a great experiment as to the adaptation of the negro race for self-government and modern civilization. The origin of the colony was not as philanthropic as was supposed in England. It did not originate in the benevolence of American citizens anxious to promote the advantages and progress of the negro, but in the selfishness of those who favoured slavery, and were desirous to exile the free blacks from the land of their birth, where their good conduct was a reproach to oppressors, and their freedom a temptation to the whole negro race to break their own bonds. In 1848-9 negotiations for a treaty of commerce, based on reciprocal advantages, was opened between the infant black state and her Britannic majesty. It consisted of eleven articles, which stipulated perpetual peace and friendship, freedom of commerce, mutual protection of the subjects of the respective states, the establishment of consuls, the slave trade to be piracy, English vessels of war in pursuit of slavers to be received with hospitality, and at liberty to visit any suspected vessels sailing under the Liberian flag. This treaty belongs strictly to the history of the previous year, but became known to the British public generally at the beginning of 1850.

Costa Rica.—The trade of England with the South American republics having for many years assumed considerable importance, a formal recognition of the principles by which it was desirable to conduct that trade became necessary with this particular state. This treaty consisted of sixteen articles, which engaged the powers mutually to preserve perpetual amity; freedom of commerce; freedom of correspondence; "the most favoured nation" clause; personal freedom and protection; exemption from forced loans and military conscriptions; establishment of consuls; in case of any interruption of friendly intercourse, citizens on the coasts to be allowed six months, and in the interior twelve months, to wind up their affairs, and safe conduct to be afforded to them; liberty of Christian burial and protection of places of sepulture; total prohibition of the slave trade. This treaty was signed at San Jose de Costa Rica, November 27th, 1849, and ratified at London, February, 1850. The treaty to exist for seven years, or longer, unless either party gave notice to the contrary after that date.

St. Domingo.—This was a treaty of eleven articles, engaging the respective powers named to mutual friendship; freedom of commerce; personal protection and protection of property; "the most favoured nation" clause; consular immunities and privileges; religious freedom for the subjects of each state within the territory of the other; perpetual prohibition of slavery; "right of search;" existence of treaty to be ten years, and after that, until due notice on either party had expired. Subsequently, an additional article was inserted, providing for the possible suspension of the previous articles in case the Dominican republic should continue at war with Hayti, or be again at war with that nation.

The treaty was signed at St. Domingo on the 6th of March, and the ratifications were exchanged at the same place on the 10th of September.

Coast of Guinea.—On the Gold Coast, or Coast of Guinea, the Danes had long held certain positions or forts, named Christiansbergh, Augustabergh, Kongensteen, and Prindsensteen; connected with these was an undefined amount of territory. The Danish merchants, who at first derived some profit from these establishments, soon found that they could obtain from Great Britain more cheaply the various articles of that commerce, than by direct communication with the country itself. This arose from the numerous interests of Great Britain, and the broader foundation of her commercial speculations. The Danish government felt the African possessions cumbersome and expensive, and agreed to cede them, with their guns, stores, property, territorial rights, &c, to her Britannic majesty for the sum of L10,000. A treaty to this effect was signed in London on the 17th of August, and ratified there September 11th.



COLONIAL AFFAIRS.

Australia. Considerable excitement existed in the Australian colonies for a more constitutional form of government, and at last the imperial legislature took up the subject with earnestness. Constitutions were granted to the Australian colonies in harmony with their British origin. These concessions of the mother country were hailed with delight in the colonies. The general prosperity of Australia secured peace. Crime, however, prevailed to a great extent in New South Wales, Victoria, and Van Dieman'a Land: in the first and last named, from the presence of convicts, or those who had been such. Many of this class had made their escape to the colony of Victoria, where they committed depredations and violence, and brought some disrepute upon the settlement.

Canada.—The annexation movement continued to disturb the province and disquiet the government. Persons holding civil situations, and officers of militia who took any part in the agitation, were dismissed; and by a vigilant repressive policy the government gradually brought the Canadas into a more quiescent state. A reaction at last set in, and general expressions of loyalty prevailed where opinions in favour of an independent confederation of the British American provinces had been boldly announced. The ministry by which the indemnity bill was carried during the previous year were not able to retain power. The governor, on opening the provincial parliament at Toronto, delivered a speech in French and English, which was well received by both parties. Before the year closed it was proved that a large majority of the people of the Canadas were against separation from the mother country.

The West Indies.—The West India Islands were in a discontented state throughout the year. Jamaica led the way in the expression of dissatisfaction. The English free-trade measures were the chief source of the disquietude, and tinged every disappointment or misfortune that befel the colonists. The post-office arrangements; the local finance; the provision required by the imperial government for the support of the various colonial administrations; the relation of the planters to the negro free labourers, were all topics of angry debate in the colonial press and legislatures. A very general desire to unite with the North American States was felt, or at all events, expressed; the desire being, as in Canada, to escape free trade, and the additional motive that, by such a change, negro slavery might possibly be restored. A fear and hatred of freedom was the grand source of colonial sedition throughout the continent and islands of British America.



INDIA.

The vast territory comprised in British India was seldom wholly at peace, the agitations of contiguous countries extending to it, and requiring the constant vigilance of the government, lest mischief beginning beyond the borders should spread within them.

In the early part of the year there were signs of disaffection throughout the north-west districts, and the native garrison of Delhi manifested some insubordination on account of batta which they demanded if ordered beyond the Sutlej, and which the government had determined to refuse. Sir Charles Napier persevered in his attempts to reform the army, and put down drunkenness and gaming among the officers, and some severe examples were made even in the case of officers of professional merit. In these efforts the commander-in-chief was not seconded by the governor-general and the authorities at Calcutta.

In the Nizam's territory disturbances occurred which compelled the attention of the Indian government. At Sikhim, in the latter part of the previous year, two British officers were seized by the independent sovereign of that country, formerly a dependency of Nepaul. The offence of these officers was entering the territory without permission; and the severity, and even cruelty and indignity with which they were treated, called for the interposition of the authorities at Calcutta; but it was necessary to move troops against the tyrant before he gave the satisfaction required.

The border tribes in the neighbourhood of Peshawur gave great uneasiness notwithstanding that severe chastisement was inflicted upon them at the close of the previous year by Colonel Lawrence. Sir Colin Campbell was sent against them, at the head of a considerable force, but his expedition was not attended with success. Dost Mohamed used every exertion to prevent the peaceful occupation of the province by the English, his hope being that they would abandon it as too troublesome and expensive, and that he might take possession of it on their retirement. Early in June one of the most terrible calamities which had ever occurred in British India took place at Benares. A number of magazine boats were in the river, which by some means ignited and blew up, spreading destruction far and wide. One thousand persons were killed, many of them blown to pieces, and great numbers besides were injured. Rumours reached England of the dissatisfaction expressed by Sir Charles Napier with many things connected with the native armies in India. The extravagance and dissipation of the officers, and the constitution generally of the army of the Bengal Presidency, were named as the subjects of his displeasure.



IRELAND.

The condition of this unhappy country during the year 1850 was only a little less miserable than it had been in what were emphatically called the "famine years." Great distress prevailed, aggravated by bad laws, and the general social state and spirit of the people. The moral condition of the country was still worse than its material circumstances. Scarcely had the year opened, when a series of the most atrocious murders that ever disgraced a country were perpetrated. A gentleman, steward to a person of large landed property in the county Tipperary, was shot near his own dwelling by cowardly assassins, who fired upon him from behind a hedge. Two brothers, in the same county, disputed about land; the younger clove the skull of the elder with the spade which he held in working. A poor emaciated man, in the same blood-stained county, while in a state of starvation pulled a turnip in a turnipfield, and was caught by the owner in the act of satisfying his hunger upon it; the inhuman wretch shot the miserable delinquent on the spot.

These atrocities were but samples of the barbarous deeds which took place over many districts in Ireland throughout the year. The criminals were not always poor men; farmers, farmers' sons, and even men of this class possessing what might be called affluence, either committed, or caused others to commit, the savage acts which disgraced their country and shocked all civilized nations. Sometimes the murders were effected by men who had no wrong to complain of, no injury to redress, but who for a small sum of money, or being chosen by the ballot of the ribbon lodges, assassinated men whom they had never seen before, having been pointed out by their associates in the ribbon conspiracy. Sometimes the assassinations were on account of religion; in a few cases, for personal vengeance; but, generally, they were in connection with disputes about land. The state of the law was such as to have enabled the government to put down these societies, and to disarm the people, who were unworthy to be trusted with the liberty of keeping dangerous weapons; but the Whigs were unwilling to incur unpopularity, and only acted with spirit and determination when the government itself was endangered, and anarchy impended. The Conservatives charged the government with tolerating, to a certain extent, for political purposes, evils which nothing could justify a government for allowing to be perpetrated. This imputation was deserved.

The political agitations were of the usual character, but gradually diminished; the events of the two preceding years having nearly extinguished the Young Ireland party, and so lowered the tone of its rival, as to deprive it of much notice either in Ireland or England.

An agitation for what was called tenant right extended itself, but especially in Dublin, the great centre of all Irish agitation, and in the north. The character of this movement will more fully appear when noticing the debates in parliament which afterwards took place on the subject: it is here only necessary to say, that the ostensible and real objects of the agitators were very different. They professed to seek justice for the occupying tenant; they desired to inflict injustice upon the owner of the soil. The Irish tenant suffered much from an unfair state of the law in favour of the landlord, who often used to the uttermost the inequitable advantage thus afforded him. In the province of Ulster this was less the case; a more generous disposition prevailed among the landlords, and a more confiding one among the tenantry; the relations between the two classes were, as described by themselves, "live, and let live." The outgoing tenant claimed a right to a certain sum for his improvements and interest, from the incoming tenant, which was altogether irrespective of any bargain between the latter and the owner of the soil. This prescriptive right was so generally recognised, that all parties were satisfied. In the other provinces of Ireland it was otherwise. The English and Scottish settlers in Ulster found this usage, which was an old Celtic tradition, and adopted it; their power enabled them to assert it; but the vanquished Celts themselves were not permitted by those to whom the estates were confiscated, to retain a custom so favourable to the occupier. The professed object of the agitation was to secure compensation to the occupying tenant all over the country for his improvements, and such certainty of tenure, according to the nature of his lease or taking, as would secure him from vexatious lawsuits and inequitable ejectments, against which, notwithstanding that they were inequitable in the eyes of all men, there was no redress. As the agitation was developed, it was plain that the real object was political and religious on the part of the prime movers. It became noticeable that while the clergy of the Established Church, the Methodists, Congregationalists, &c, abstained from all participation in the struggle, those of the Roman Catholic and Presbyterian communions fiercely fanned it. The higher classes were generally episcopal Protestants, the former in the north, to a large extent, were Presbyterians, and in the other provinces Roman Catholics; it was the interest of the clergy of both sects that their flocks and chief supporters should be placed in as independent position as possible. Ultimately, however, the two parties ceased to coalesce, their objects became so dissimilar, that all co-operation was impossible. The tenant-right league became a focus of Roman Catholic agitation, for purely Roman Catholic objects. Mr. Lucas, an English proselyte to the Church of Rome, who had formerly been a Quaker, became a very prominent person, and he carried his fanaticism to great lengths. Charles Gavan Duffy coalesced with him, and these men, abetted by others, so disgusted their Presbyterian confederates, that the latter seceded altogether from the confederacy. The doctrines taught by the party which remained became increasingly bold, and it was soon apparent that the league was a knot of conspirators, whose object was to transfer the property of the Protestant landlords of Ireland to the hands of their Roman Catholic tenants, the former having a sort of rentcharge upon their own land, which would in time have been also taken from them. The state of the law of landlord and tenant was so unjust, that a well-organized opposition to it, conducted with truth, dignity, and honour, must have speedily adjusted matters. The imperial legislature could not have resisted demands so fair. But the movement, like almost all others in Ireland, no matter for what object originally framed, became a mere sectarian and party one, conducted without justice or decency, and with designs that were disloyal to the government, and insidious to all classes of Irishmen not identified with it. These remarks anticipate the progress and character of this unprincipled agitation, as it soon became, but in doing so, an explanation is afforded to the reader which enables him to comprehend occurrences and debates which entered into the history of subsequent years.

The remaining matters of interest connected with Ireland will be found in the section given to the affairs of parliament.



HOME EVENTS.—PROPOSAL FOR AN EXHIBITION OF THE INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS.

Early in the year a project was mooted for bringing together in one vast building specimens of the industry of all nations, The object in view was to promote commerce and national amity. The persons who projected this scheme had several consultations at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in Westminster, and it was finally agreed, if possible, to interest Prince Albert in the matter, give him all the credit of its origin, and its chief direction. On communicating the matter to the prince, he accepted the responsibility, and from that moment her majesty became deeply concerned in its success. The interest taken by the queen and her consort soon communicated itself to the rest of the royal family and to the government, and every exertion was made to secure the aid of foreign courts and governments, and the sympathy of foreign nations. A committee was organized of the most likely persons to conduct such an undertaking to a fortunate conclusion, and the powerful influence of the court was exerted throughout the British Isles. It was resolved to erect a building in Hyde Park for the display of the various productions that might be forwarded, and although a fierce opposition was raised by the aristocracy of Kensington and Knightsbridge, the court and government supported the committee as to the site they had chosen. A design was made by Mr. Paxton, gardener to the Duke of Devonshire, to erect a structure of glass, which was accepted, and Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co., of Birmingham, contracted for the erection. The contemplated size of the "Palace of Industry" was such as to make the undertaking one of much courage and enterprise on the part of those who made themselves responsible for its construction: the particulars will be most properly given under another chapter.

On the 2nd of March, the Lord Mayor of London gave a splendid entertainment at the Mansion House to the chief magistrates of as many towns and cities of Great Britain and Ireland as could accept the invitation. There were present two hundred and two chief magistrates of English and Welsh cities and boroughs, ten provosts of Scotch burghs, and five mayors of Irish cities and boroughs. Prince Albert was present on the occasion. The assembled magistrates received such information as enabled them in their respective localities to promote the object. The bringing together so unusual an assembly attracted the notice of the empire and of the civilized world; the project was in that way greatly accelerated.

A very large portion of the upper classes were, however, very much opposed to the whole design. An alarm was spread that men would be brought together from all nations, revolutionists and anarchists, especially from France, Italy, and Germany, and that possibly, with the assistance of these invaders landing upon our shores in the disguise of promoters of peace and industry, a revolution of the disaffected among ourselves would be attempted. Many were the dissuasions resorted to for the purpose of checking the zeal of the committee, and causing the court to swerve from its patronage of so bold a measure! The court, the government, the committee, and the leading men in the mercantile interests of the metropolis and the provinces, pursued the even tenor of their way, amused at the folly of so many persons in a condition of life to know better. These fears proved how large a portion of the classes who occupy the higher positions in society are ignorant of their own countrymen, and of the world. They could not comprehend the scheme, sympathise with its objects, or appreciate its benefits. Many men of strong conservative tendencies who wished to persevere in what they called the good old ways for ever, declared that the shopkeepers of London would be ruined, and that western London would be lost in a deluge of immorality, the result of such an influx of wicked foreigners from every clime. All these apprehensions were destined to be dissipated; but it was in vain that men eminent for wisdom and experience, pointed out their groundlessness; they were indulged until facts confuted them.

Meanwhile, communications were transmitted from foreign courts and governments that the most eminent persons in their respective countries were nominated as commissioners to collect and arrange the products of those countries in the form and way most calculated to ensure the end in view. Intelligence of this sort was received from Russia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, the Hanse Towns, Nassau, Hanover, Oldenburgh, Mechlenburgh, France, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Sardinia, Switzerland, the United States, Venezuela, and some other foreign countries, as well as from the governors of all our colonies, and from various Indian princes.

It would appear as if the exhibition which had been held in France for various limited objects, and that intended to be held in Vienna, in 1851, had suggested to the English projectors the feasibility and desirableness of uniting all nations in one grand attempt to exhibit together their products, natural and industrial, in the great centre of finance, commerce, and power—the metropolis of the world. The Emperor of Austria, however, entered heartily into the views of Prince Albert, and postponed the exhibition intended at Vienna to the year 1852. Throughout the year the great preparations were pursued, and at the appointed time in the ensuing year reached a happy consummation, to the amazement of all, and gratification of most of those whose vaticinations were so gloomy.



COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY.

The commercial condition of Great Britain throughout the year was favourable. The railway speculations of previous years exercised a prejudicial influence upon the money market, and "calls" were severely felt; but the foreign commerce of the country increased rapidly, and the revenue was in a state which tended to preserve public confidence, and showed that the resources of the nation were unimpaired notwithstanding so many recent calamities. Free trade began already largely to tell upon the great interests which it affected, and justified its advocates and promoters.

The farming interest was, however, distressed; free trade in corn had deranged their habits, and rendered alterations necessary in their customary procedure as to the landowners, their farms, and the markets which they were reluctant to adopt. The landlords were unwilling to concede lower rents, and kept up those which were brought about by war prices during the great struggle with France. Hence a protectionist agitation pervaded the country, unsettling the minds of the farmers, inspiring false hopes, irritating the trading classes, producing counter agitation, and by all these means inflicting injury upon the country.



THE CHOLERA.

The cholera, which broke out at the close of 1848, slumbered during the winter and spring, 1849, and then ravaged the country, continued to afflict, more or less, during this year also. The mitigation and removal of the disease during the year enabled medical and scientific men to give more calm and undisturbed investigation as to its phenomena. Some of the laws which characterized its advance, prevalence, and removal, were discovered and brought before the public; but the cause or source of the pestilence still remained a mystery, and no specific treatment was discovered. It was remarked that it appeared generally in the same districts, towns, streets, houses, and some persons affirmed, even apartments, which had entered in the year 1832.



PAPAL AGGRESSION.

The most striking home incident of the year, was the event which went generally under the name of papal aggression. England, since the Reformation, had been exceedingly jealous of any exercise of authority by the Roman pontiff within her dominions, and in consequence of this feeling it had been deemed politic at Rome to govern the Roman Catholics of England by vicars apostolic. For some years, however, the church and court of Rome had been encouraged by the Romanist tendencies of the "High Anglican" and Puseyite parties in the English church. Many clergymen and laymen went over to Rome, especially of the former, and very many more were known to be inclined to follow. It was also alleged that a large body of the clergy and gentry were favourable to a union of the Church of England with the Church of Rome. In many of the churches, the communion-table was turned into an altar; lighted candles were employed in the daytime, crucifixes were placed above what was called the altar, and the clergy practised genuflexions and intonations which were supposed to be peculiar to Roman Catholicism. All these things prepared the minds of the people, who were in the main attached to Evangelism, and were steady in their Protestantism, to meet any aggressive action on the part of Rome with anger, and even exasperation. An occasion arose to put this to the test. The pope issued "a brief," constituting an episcopal hierarchy in England instead of the vicars apostolic. One archiepiscopal and twelve episcopal sees were created, and the territorial limits of the province and the sees were marked out. Dr. Wiseman, elevated to the rank of cardinal, was appointed Archbishop of Westminster. The language of the brief was arrogant in the extreme, and literally outraged the feelings and the honour of the English people. It was followed by a document still more offensive, written by Cardinal Wiseman, which he termed a pastoral, and dated "Out of the Flaminian Gate at Rome." This was addressed to the faithful about to become, and whom he treated as though they had already become, his subjects. The arrogance of this document was such as to move the Protestant feeling of the country, and to awaken a spirit of hostility to the Church of Rome which seemed unlikely ever to be quenched. The irritation created among the Protestant population was greatly increased by the tone in which the cardinal and his newly-created bishops addressed their followers upon their appointment to their new offices. The cardinal adopted the style of a prince, commencing with the royal "We," his authority to "rule over" the province to which he was nominated. His vindication of the course pursued by the pontiff was a bitter sneer at English and Protestant institutions, mingled with an insulting defiance of the established authorities of the British nation. He reminded his hearers and the whole British nation (whom he knew would at such a crisis peruse his address) that he had no authority in Westminster, or in Westminster Abbey, by law, and that he would still pay the entrance fee to go into Westminster Abbey like other liege subjects, resign himself meekly to the guidance of the beadle, and "listen without rebuke when he pointed out to his admiration detestable monuments, or show a hole in the wall for a confessional." "He would still visit the shrine of St. Edward, and meditate on the olden times when the church would fill without a coronation, and multitudes hourly worshipped without a service."

The popish Bishop of Birmingham, Dr. Ullathorn, went beyond his master in boasting, and uttered the following blasphemous address:—"The people of England, who for many years had been separated from the see of Rome, were about, of their own free will, to be added to the Holy Church. He did not recollect any people on earth, but those of Great Britain, who, having rejected the religion of God, were again restored to the bosom of the Church. The hierarchy was restored, the grave was opened, and Christ was coming out."

Great as was the excitement produced throughout the country by the event itself, and by the preposterous pretensions of the new Roman bishops, the public feeling was much intensified by a letter of Lord John Russell's to the Bishop of Durham. The prelate was supposed to be an ardent and consistent Protestant, and the circumstance of a man of such a character being selected by the premier as the medium through which to give his opinions to the public, parliament not being then sitting, led the country to believe that his lordship really sought its support for some great and practical purpose; that the letter was intended to indicate an anti-papal policy for the future, for which the support of the nation was sought. It was as follows:—

TO THE RIGHT REV. THE BISHOP OF DURHAM.

My dear Lord,—I agree with you in considering "the late aggression of the pope upon our Protestantism" as "insolent and insidious," and I therefore feel as indignant as you can do upon the subject.

I not only promoted to the utmost of my power the claims of the Roman Catholics to all civil rights, but I thought it right, and even desirable, that the ecclesiastical system of the Roman Catholics should be the means of giving instruction to the numerous Irish immigrants in London and elsewhere, who, without such help, would have been left in heathen ignorance.

This might have been done, however, without any such innovation as that which we have now seen.

It is impossible to confound the recent measures of the pope with the division of Scotland into dioceses by the Episcopal Church, or the arrangement of districts in England by the Wesleyan Conference.

There is an assumption of power in all the documents which have come from Rome—a pretension to supremacy over the realm of England, and a claim to sole and undivided sway, which is inconsistent with the queen's supremacy, with the rights of our bishops and clergy, and with the spiritual independence of the nation, as asserted even in Roman Catholic times.

I confess, however, that my alarm is not equal to my indignation.

Even if it shall appear that the ministers and servants of the pope in this country have not transgressed the law, I feel persuaded that we are strong enough to repel any outward attacks. The liberty of Protestantism has been enjoyed too long in England to allow of any successful attempt to impose a foreign yoke upon our minds and consciences. No foreign prince or potentate will be permitted to fasten his fetters upon a nation which has so long and so nobly vindicated its right to freedom of opinion—civil, political, and religious.

Upon this subject, then, I will only say, that the present state of the law shall be carefully examined, and the propriety of adopting any proceedings with reference to the recent assumption of power deliberately considered.

There is a danger, however, which alarms me much more than any aggression of a foreign sovereign.

Clergymen of our own church, who have subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles, and acknowledged in explicit terms the queen's supremacy, have been the most forward in leading their flocks, "step by step, to the very verge of the precipice." The honour paid to saints, the claim of infallibility for the church, the superstitious use of the sign of the cross, the muttering of the liturgy so as to disguise the language in which it is written, the recommendation of auricular confession, and the administration of penance and absolution, all these things are pointed out by clergymen of the Church of England as worthy of adoption, and are now openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his charge to the clergy of his diocese.

What, then, is the danger to be apprehended from a foreign prince of no great power, compared to the danger within the gates from the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself?

I have little hope that the propounders and framers of these innovations will desist from their insidious course; but I rely with confidence on the people of England; and I will not bate a jot of heart or hope so long as the glorious principles and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall be held in reverence by the great mass of a nation which looks with contempt on the mummeries of superstition, and with scorn at the laborious endeavours which are now making to confine the intellect and enslave the soul.

I remain, with great respect, &c.,

J. Russell.

Downing-street, Nov. 4.

Whether the noble writer of this letter was sincere in the feelings he expressed was doubted by few at the time, although his subsequent turning and time-serving justified the public in believing that the letter was used merely for the party purpose of forestalling the opposition by an appeal to the Protestant feeling which then seemed irresistible. The immediate effect of the letter upon the country was to stimulate afresh the indignation which had been so keenly felt and warmly expressed. Public addresses were presented to the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other notable persons, by the clergy of the various dioceses, the universities, the corporations of cities, and voluntary assemblies, pledging those who presented them to the most loyal support of her majesty and the legislature in resisting the pretensions of popery. On the 5th of November, the anniversary of the gunpowder plot, there was a burst of anti-popish feeling all over the kingdom, such as had not been witnessed since the glorious revolution of 1688. The pope, Cardinal Wiseman, the new bishops, members of the conclave at Rome, and various other persons, offensive by their popery, were burnt in effigy, and "Guys" were carried about through London and the provincial cities in mockery of their assumed dignity and pretensions.

These events produced very opposite effects upon the Roman Catholics themselves. Cardinal Wiseman manifested some alarm, and endeavoured to appease the popular wrath by directing his emissaries to speak slightingly of the importance of the matter, and to represent it as an ecclesiastical arrangement only of any interest to Roman Catholics themselves. Lord Beaumont, and other members of the Latin church, who were men of culture and enlightenment, deprecated the whole proceeding of the court of Rome, and the haughty spirit in which its English agents proclaimed them. In Ireland the Roman Catholic party were stirred up to perfect fury, and "Conciliation Hall" echoed with blustering attacks upon the government, and upon Protestantism. The following extract of a speech of John O'Connell's depicts the spirit of the Irish sympathies with Cardinal Wiseman and his English coadjutors:—"If a cry be raised against the Catholic Church, cannot a cry be raised against the Protestant Church? In Ireland, at least, we shall do so. Does the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster send tax-gatherers and bring the force of law to bear upon Protestants to compel them to contribute to the support of his dignity? No; he will be supported by the voluntary contributions of the Catholics; he will receive no money under false pretences; he will take no money for services he does not render. But the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, and the Protestant archbishop and bishops of other sees are not so; they receive money under false pretenses—they exact money for services they do not perform. The Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, or the other Catholic bishops in England or Ireland, do not enforce the payment of tithes at the point of the bayonet; the life of no widow's son is taken on their account. The soil of Ireland has been saturated with blood in the forced collection of this odious impost, and the Catholic people are still compelled to pay it indirectly, for they cannot get their receipts for their rent until they pay the tithes to the landlord, who has to pay it to the parson in the first instance. We must put an end to this. I hope the country will rally, and meet the cry against popery by a cry against the Protestant Church establishment."

The cardinal and his colleagues persisted in their assumption of territorial ecclesiastical authority, and the ceremony of his enthronisation was attended with extraordinary pomp and parade, while the doctrines propounded on the occasion showed Rome to be, as to her ambition and purpose, semper eadem.

Finally, a bill rendering illegal and punishable the assumption of ecclesiastical titles was brought into parliament under the auspices of the premier: the right of prosecution was, however, reserved to the government, and as it was well known that the Whigs would never exercise that right from fear of losing the parliamentary support of the Romanists, their bill was seen by the public to be a sham. This circumstance, taken in connection with the premier's vehement letter to the Bishop of Durham, threw an imputation of inconsistency and insincerity upon the political character of Lord John Russell, which impaired his subsequent usefulness and credit.