388 OUTLINE OF ENGLISH HISTORY. Millions of pounds terrible suffering after the war. had been spent and lost to the country in supporting the war. This and other causes brought about the ruin of manufacturers and farmers. The ruin of manufacturers and farmers brought sharp distress to the labourers and the artisans. Poor men were more ignorant then than they are now, and they broke cut into riots, as if rioting would give them work, or earn them money. was. 4. Romilly as a Criminal-Law Reformer.—The Government was frightened. Prime Minister, had been murdered some years before, and had been succeeded by Lord Liverpool. Mr. Perceval, the Lord Liverpool was a man of kind disposition, who left the business of governing very much to the other ministers, and the other ministers were stiìl frightened lest what had happened in France at the Revolution should happen in England. They did not like changes to be made, and thought it best to keep everything as it House of Commons, Sir Samuel Romilly, thought that the cruel laws which had come down from the One man in the old England of the Plantagenets and Tudors ought to be altered. It was law that any one who picked a pocket of more than five shillings, or carried off goods to the same amount from a shop, should be hanged. Some years before Romilly had induced Parliament to agree to abolish the hanging of pickpockets, but the House of Lords refused to abolish hanging for those who robbed a shop. Romilly again tried to persuade the House of Lords to be merciful, but they were stubborn, and the hangings still went on. 5. Agitation in the Country.-Amongst the artisans of the north of England a demand arose for Parliamentary Reform. They saw how much was amiss, and they thought that if every man had a vote, and there was a fresh Parliament every year, things would mend. They forgot that the greater number of men in England could neither read nor write, and that it might be dangerous to subject the Government to the control of those who were so very ignorant. In London a crowd marched into the City, but it was easily driven back and its leaders secured by the Lord Mayor and a few citizens. All this frightened the Government. They obtained from Parliament new laws to enable them to put down rebellion. There was no rebellion to be feared, though the working-men knew that they were miserable, and wanted to be better off. A large number of men collected at Manchester, and set off towards London to ask for relief. Some of them had blankets rolled up on their backs, perhaps to keep them warm by night, so that their procession is known as the March of the Blanketeers. They never got further than Macclesfield. Some were driven home again, some grew tired, and went home of their own accord. In Derbyshire a man named Brandreth, who was half mad, headed about twenty men with pikes and guns, broke into several houses to search for arms, and shot one unfortunate man. His numbers increased to a hundred. They were met by a party of soldiers. Most of them ran away, but some were taken. Three of these were hanged, and others sentenced to various punishments. The Government and Parliament did all that they could do to put down these disturbances, but as yet they had no thought of setting their minds to find out their cause, or to relieve the people from their miseries. 6. The Manchester Massacre.-For some time the conflict between the Government and the workingmen of the north went on. It was announced that a great meeting would be held in St. Peter's Field at Manchester to petition for Parliamentary Reform. The Government was afraid that large numbers of men, when they came together, would not be content with merely preparing a petition. It was known that many of them had been drilled by old soldiers. According to their own account of the matter, they only wanted healthy exercise, and to be able to march to and from the meetings in good order. It is no wonder that the Government thought that they intended to fight. The meeting was to be addressed by a man named Hunt, a vain emptyheaded speaker with a fluent tongue, who was very popular at that time. The magistrates determined to arrest Hunt, and instead of waiting till the meeting was over they sent soldiers to seize him in the midst of the multitude. The soldiers, who were not from the regular army, but yeomanry, chiefly composed of master-manufacturers, could not get through the thick crowd. They drew their swords and cut right and left. The regular soldiers, the Hussars, were then ordered to charge. The mass fled in confusion, leaving the wounded behind them. Six persons were killed and many more were wounded. The Manchester Massacre, as it was called, took place in 1819. It had an unexpected effect upon thoughtful men all over the country. Till then there had been little disposition amongst well-educated persons to favour the demands of the artisans. Nobody who knew anything about politics could think that it would be wise to give every man a vote in those days of ignorance. But no one who thought seriously could doubt that the crowd at Manchester had been grievously wronged. When they were attacked by the soldiers they had committed no offence against the law, and had simply come to listen to speeches in a peaceable and orderly way. The Government most unwisely declared the magistrates to have acted rightly, before they had had time to inquire whether they had or not. Parliament was on their side, and made new laws, known as The Six Acts, to stop seditious meetings. But many people, therefore, who had hitherto supported the Government, were so disgusted that they began to turn their minds to consider whether there might not be some way in which things might be altered for the better. 7. Death of George III.The year after the Manchester Massacre the poor blind, mad old king died. His son, the Prince Regent, became king, under the name of George IV. CHAPTER XLIII. REIGN OF GEORGE IV. (1820-1830.) 1. The Cato-Street Conspiracy. When many people are dissatisfied it often happens that there are some who think that the easiest way to have right done is to murder those whom they think to be guilty. So it had been in the time of the Gunpowder Plot, and so it was again now. A man named Thistlewood formed a plan with some others for killing all the ministers as they were at dinner together. The plot is known as the Cato-Street Conspiracy, because the conspirators met in CatoStreet, a small street near the Edgware Road. The plot was however found out, and the plotters seized, though they succeeded in killing one of the policemen sent after them, and in wounding three others. 2. George Canning; Foreign Policy.-In 1822 two men entered the Government who did very much to change its character, and to lead it in a better way. They were George Canning and Robert Peel. Canning became Foreign Secretary, that is to say, the minister who has to manage all the arrangements with Foreign States. The kings and emperors of the Continent were much more frightened lest there should be rebellions in their dominions than even the English Government had been, and they agreed to send troops to put down any rebellion which might happen, even in states which were not their own. An Austrian army had |