Page:The child's pictorial history of England; (IA childspictorialh00corn).pdf/197

 an alteration in the Corn Laws, so that bread might be cheaper; and this alteration was to be made by letting corn be brought from abroad without paying duty. Neither of these points were gained while George the Fourth was king; but the Reform Bill was passed during the reign of his successor, William the Fourth; and, in the year 1846, some important alterations were made in the corn and provision laws.

8. William the Fourth was the brother of George the Fourth, and on the death of that monarch, in 1830, succeeded to the throne.

9. That same year is memorable for the opening of the first Railway for travelling, which was that between Manchester and Liverpool; a circumstance that may be mentioned as the commencement of one of the greatest changes of modern times, and when we consider the number and extent of the railways now in use, we cannot but admire the immense works of the kind that have been performed in so short a space of time.

10. The speed with which we can now travel, both by sea and land, would astonish our good old ancestors, who used to think it a great and dangerous undertaking to set out on a journey of twenty or thirty miles.

11. In the time of Charles the Second, the