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The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria cover

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. / From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

Chapter 1204: STATE OF THE COUNTRY.
By Edward Farr
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The volume traces British political, parliamentary, and military developments from the accession of George III through the early nineteenth century, chronicling changes of ministry and cabinet, debates over colonial taxation and the American conflict, parliamentary controversies involving figures such as Wilkes and Warren Hastings, questions of Catholic relief and slave-trade abolition, and responses to the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, including major naval and continental campaigns, the union with Ireland, and domestic legislation on finance, civil liberties, and parliamentary reform.

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

A.D. 1843

AT the opening of this year the aspect of public affairs was such as to create disquietude and anxiety. In every branch of trade and industry there was great depression, which was by some attributed to the workings of the new tariff, and by others to a groundless panic occasioned by that measure. Whatever it arose from it certainly existed; and the fact of its existence was clearly proved by the diminished consumption of those articles which contribute in so large a proportion to the public revenue. The total decrease in the excise, stamps, customs, and taxes on the quarter was £1,379,057, which was equivalent to a total yearly deficiency of £5,516,222. The distress which prevailed naturally give rise to various opinions as to the remedies to be applied. Some suggested and advocated the repeal of the corn-laws; others threw the blame upon the income-tax, and the other financial measures of Sir Robert Peel’s government; some attributed the distress to the poor-laws; and others pointed to emigration as the natural safety-valve and outlet for the pressure of a too rapidly increasing population. All these subjects were discussed at length in both houses of parliament; but few practical results arose from these discussions.