Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/188

 honour of the invention between them in 1837. In 1838 steamships crossed the Atlantic, and in 1839 Sir Rowland Hill succeeded in getting the Government to carry letters to any part of Great Britain and Ireland for a penny. All these changes were in the interest of trade and commerce, and cheap postage was a great boon to the poor; nevertheless, work was scarce, food was dear, and there was much distress among the working classes. The Reform Bill had given political power to the middle classes, but had left the great mass of working-men without any voice in the affairs of the nation. They began to think that their troubles were mainly due to the bad laws made without their consent, and an agitation began for further reforms. In 1838, at a great meeting in Birmingham, a formal demand was made for the “People’s Charter.” This charter asked (1) that all men should have votes; (2) for annual Parliaments; (3) for voting by ballot; (4) that a man might be a member of Parliament without owning any land ; (5) that members of Parliament should be paid; (6) that the country should be divided into equal electoral districts. Most of these demands have since been granted, but at that time the upper and middle classes felt no inclination to share their power with their less fortunate country-men.

4. Anti-Corn Law League.—Meanwhile it was beginning to be felt that one cause of the poverty of the working classes was to be found in the laws which placed a high tax on food and the raw material of manufactures coming into this country. We have seen that Walpole, Pitt, and Huskisson had each done something to lessen duties and make trade freer. The landowners, however, were very powerful in Parliament, and to keep up their rents they had heavy duties placed on wheat coming into the country. Whenever crops failed, bread became dear, and the poor were often on the verge of starvation. At last, Richard Cobden, a cotton printer, took the lead in forming a league which had for its object the removal of the taxes on food, and the lowering of duties on other imports. This league was formed in 1838, and under the guidance of Richard Cobden, and John Bright, a carpet manufacturer, it soon made its influence felt all over the land. Cobden and Bright were very clear-headed, able men, and by their speeches and writings they convinced the people that the taxes on food were unjust to the poor