Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/631

 ENGLAND 619 en s

suppressed, and the few mutineers that remain- ed were reduced to the condition of wandering brigands. The rebellion resulted in the trans- fer of the. immediate government of India from the East India company to the crown, the old directory sitting for the last time Sept. 1, 1858. But the ministry under which measures so thorough had been initiated became unpopular, because it was supposed to be too subservient to the policy of France. A hostile vote in the house of commons in February, 1858, drove the Palmerston ministry from office, and a new conservative ministry was formed, with the earl of Derby as premier, and Mr. Disraeli as chancellor of the exchequer. This ministry soon resigned, and Lord Palmerston resumed office in June, 1859. England made some in- effectual efforts to prevent the war in that year between Austria and Italy. In 1860 an impor- tant commercial treaty was made with France, chiefly through the agency of Mr. Cobden, the leader of the English free traders. In 1861 great efforts were made to stimulate the cultivation of cotton in India, in view of the cutting off of the ordinary supply by the civil war in America. On May 13 the queen recognized the belligerency of the insurgents in America and the blockade of their ports, and proclaimed neutrality between the contending parties. In November Com. Wilkes, of the United States frigate San Jacinto, seized the confederate com- missioners to England and France, from the British mail steamer Trent, then in the Baha- ma channel. This event created great excite- ment in England, but the commissioners were surrendered by the United States government. On Dec. 14 the prince consort Albert died. In the manufacturing counties there was great suffering from the cotton famine. In October, 1862, more than 150,000 operatives in Lan- cashire were entirely out of work, and 120,000 others were working only half time. This dis- tress led some to urge the government to break the blockade of the cotton states ; but it re- fused, and also declined the proposal of the emperor of the French for a joint mediation in American affairs. Government help was given to the distressed operatives, and pri- ate donations were made amounting to more ban 1,000,000. Diplomatic correspondence ith the United States in regard to the . depredations of the privateer Alabama led to more settled feelings as to the American conflict, and on May 13, 1864, Mr. Oobden of- fered in parliament a petition for more prac- tical efficiency in preventing violations of neu- trality. On March 10, 1863, the prince of Wales was married to the princess Alexandra of Den- mark. The throne of Greece was declined by Prince Alfred, and in 1864 the Ionian islands were finally ceded to Greece. In February of this year Denmark asked help of England against Prussia and Austria, and a conference in regard to Schleswig-Holstein met in London April 25 ; but nothing was done. The parlia- ment elected in 1865 was strongly liberal. On Oct. 18 Lord Palmerston died, having been premier, except for a very short period, since 1855, and Earl Russell took his place; but a reform bill introduced by the ministry being rejected by parliament as insufficient, they re- signed. The conservative ministry which now came into office, headed successively by the earl of Derby and Mr. Disraeli, proposed a measure of reform more liberal than that of the liberals ; and a bill was passed which effected the greatest change in the constituency of the house of commons since the reform bill of 1832. The act of 1867-'8, giving the suffrage to all householders, with certain limitations, increased the number of electors in England and Wales from 1,056,659 in 1866 to 2,012,631 in 1868. In 1868 an army organized at Bombay, under the command of Sir Robert Napier, and com- prising 4,000 British and 8,000 sepoy troops, in- vaded and conquered Abyssinia, whose king Theodore had imprisoned and otherwise ill- treated a number of British subjects. Mag- dala, the chief fortress of the country, was captured by storm on April 13, when Theo- dore committed suicide. The British captives being released and the king dead, the English retired from the country without delay. In 1868 Mr. Gladstone introduced a bill for the disestablishment of the Irish church, and after a sharp struggle carried it through the house of commons against the government. Parlia- ment was dissolved Nov. 11, and a most exci- ting election resulted in a liberal majority of 112. The ministry resigned before the meeting of parliament, and Mr. Gladstone was called to form a new ministry, of which John Bright be- came a member. The Irish church disestab- lishment finally became a law in July, 1869. The diplomatic correspondence with the Uni- ted States in regard to the depredations of the privateer Alabama was continued, and a treaty was negotiated by Reverdy Johnson, minister to England, but rejected by the United States senate. The endowed schools for elementary instruction formed the subject of a report to parliament in 1869, which showed that the in- come of these schools, amounting to 592,000, was mostly wasted. A bill was then passed to give these schools real efficiency. In 1870 a general education act was passed, which aims to use all the old schools efficiently, organizes England and Wales into school districts, and provides for destitute regions by local taxa- tion and by parliamentary grants. Education is not made free, but the school board of each district has power to remit school rates and to enforce attention to education. Under this act 300 school boards were at work in 1871, and included some of the most eminent and liberal men of the nation. Religious tests in the universities were abolished, as to all lay students, June 16, 1871. A bill for the aboli- tion of the purchase and sale of commissions in the army was carried through the house of commons, but rejected by the lords, when the ministry took the unusual course of abolishing