Volume 3 — TO CHAPTER XVI

During the year 1847 the Parliament which had been elected in 1841 with a great Tory majority was dissolved, and, as a result, the position of the Whig Ministry was slightly improved; but they were still dependent on the support of Sir Robert Peel. A Factory Act limiting the labour of women and children to ten hours a day was passed. An autumn session was rendered necessary by an acute financial crisis, the Ministry having authorised the Bank of England to infringe the provisions of the recent Bank Charter Act, and as a consequence being compelled to ask Parliament for an indemnity. The knowledge of the Bank's authority to issue notes beyond the prescribed limits was of itself sufficient to allay the panic. The Church of England was convulsed by the promotion of Dr Hampden, whom Lord Melbourne had made Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, to the See of Hereford; his orthodoxy was impugned in a memorial presented by thirteen bishops to the Prime Minister, and an unsuccessful application was made to the Queen's Bench (the Court being divided in opinion) to compel the Primate to hear objections to Dr Hampden's consecration. The new House of Lords was used for the first time this year.

Perhaps the most important event in France was the cold-blooded murder of the Duchesse de Praslin (daughter of Count Sebastiani, formerly French Ambassador in England) by her husband, an incident which, like the Spanish intrigue of 1846, contributed subsequently to the downfall of the Orleanist dynasty.

Switzerland was torn by internecine strife, partly owing to the existence, side by side, of Catholic and Protestant cantons; the proposed expulsion of Jesuits and the formation of the "Sonderbund" were the questions of the day. The latter was an offensive and defensive confederation of seven cantons, and civil war raged round the question of its legality.

In Italy the death of Pope Gregory XVI. and the election of a more liberal successor induced Lord John Russell to send his father-in-law, Lord Minto, the Lord Privy Seal, on a special mission to the new Pope Pius IX., to encourage him in the path of Reform. But more violent measures were in progress, and it was soon clear that Lombardy and Venetia were rising against Austria, and the way being paved for the Unity of Italy.

Spain was in a ferment, frequent changes of Ministry taking place, and the miserable marriage of the Queen having all the evil results anticipated in England. Portugal continued in a state of civil war, the British attempting to mediate, but the revolutionary Junta refused to abide by their terms, and ultimately armed intervention became necessary.