Pre-Raphaelite Movement-Wilberforce and Abolition of Slavery-Revolutions of 1848-1867 Reform Act -The Corn Laws

The Pre-Raphaelite Movement

The Raphaelites were a group of artists and men of letters who combined in the 1850’s to combat the existing conventions in art and literature.

They advocated a return to the art forms supposed to have existed in europe before the Italian artist Raphael.

The greatest exponent of this school of art and poetry was Dante Gabriel Rosetti,a poet and painter of distinction.In 1848 an association was formed by Rosetti in co-operation with two other painters,John Millais and Holman Hunt.

This association of like minded artists and poets came to be called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

Writers like Ruskin,Morris,and Christina Rosetti were influenced by this school of poets and painters.They all were the friends of Dante gabriel Rosetti(1828-82).

Christina was the younger sister of Rosetti.In his Modern Painters Ruskin supported the pre-Raphaelite Movement.

As a poet and painter Rosetti was attracted not by victorian London but by the Florance of Dante.As artists and Poets the pre-Raphaelites loved realism and medievalism.

They all had a passion for beauty.Their poems have pictorial and lyrical qualitities also.In all these respects the poets of this Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were in line with the great romantic poet.

D G Rosetti’s collection of his early Poems published in 1870 induced the critic Robert buchanan to attack him as the leader of “the Fleshly School of Poetry’.

Wilberforce and Abolition of Slavery

William Wilberforce(1759-1833),a member of the British parliament ,was one of the Philanthropists who strove for the ending of the inhuman slave trade between Arica and the New world(USA).

Englishmen had the largest share of the slave  trade.Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson were the leading members of the Quaker dominated committee for the Suppression of slave trade formed in 1787.

The committee succeeded in rousing the public conscience against the cruel business.

Slave trade was abolished in Geat Britain as early as 1807.But it prevailed in many parts of the British empire.

Therefor Wilberforce,Fowell Buxton and others were continuing their struggle to end the nefarious practice in the colonies.An era of reforms was opened by the passing of the Reform Act of 1832.The Whigs under Gray who were resposible for the Reform Act passed the famous Emancipation act in 1833 and slavery were required to serve their former masters as apprentices for a number of years.And this was also ended in 1838.

Revolutions of 1848

The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples  or  the Year of Revolution,and The February Revolution  were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary forces had won out and the revolutions collapsed.

This revolutionary wave began in France in February, and immediately spread to most of Europe and parts of Latin America. Over 50 countries were affected, but there was no coordination or cooperation among the revolutionaries in different countries. Five factors were involved: the widespread dissatisfaction with the political leadership; the demand for more participation and democracy; the demands of the working classes; the upsurge of nationalism; and finally, the regrouping of the reactionary forces based in the royalty, the aristocracy, the army, and the peasants.

The uprisings were led by shaky ad-hoc coalitions of reformers, the middle classes and workers, but it could not hold together for long. Tens of thousands of people were killed and many more forced into exile. The only significant reform was the abolition of serfdom in Austria and Hungary. The revolutions were most important in France, Germany, Italy, and Austria, and did not reach Russia, Great Britain, or the United States.

1867 Reform Act 

In March 1860 Lord John Russell attempted to introduce a new Parliamentary Reform Act that would reduce the qualification for the franchise to £10 in the counties and £6 in towns, and effecting a redistribution of seats. Lord Palmerston, the prime minister, was opposed to parliamentary reform, and with his lack of support, the measure did not become law. 

On the death of Palmerston in July 1865, Earl Russell (he had been raised to the peerage in July 1861) became prime minister. Russell, with the once again tried to persuade Parliament to accept the reforms that had been proposed in 1860. The measure receive little support in Parliament and was not passed before Russell's resignation in June 1866. William Gladstone, the new leader of the Liberal Party, made it clear that like Earl Russell, he was also in favour of increasing the number of people who could vote.

Although the Conservative Party had opposed previous attempts to introduce parliamentary reform, Lord Derby's new government were now sympathetic to the idea. The Conservatives knew that if the Liberals returned to power, Gladstone was certain to try again. Benjamin Disraeli, leader of the House of Commons, argued that the Conservatives were in danger of being seen as an anti-reform party. in 1867 Disraeli proposed a new Reform Act. Lord Cranborne (later Lord Salisbury) resigned in protest against this extension of democracy. In the House of Commons, Disraeli's proposals were supported by Gladstone and his followers and the measure was passed. 

The 1867 Reform Act gave the vote to every male adult householder living in a borough constituency. Male lodgers paying £10 for unfurnished rooms were also granted the vote. This gave the vote to about 1,500,000 men. 

The Reform Act also dealt with constituencies and boroughs with less than 10,000 inhabitants lost one of their MPs. The forty-five seats left available were distributed by: (i) giving fifteen to towns which had never had an MP; (ii) giving one extra seat to some larger towns - Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham andLeeds; (iii) creating a seat for the University of London; (iv) giving twenty-five seats to counties whose population had increased since 1832(v) the counties of Cheshire, Kent, Norfolk, Somerset, Staffordshire and Surrey were all given 6 MP’s instead of 4.

The Corn Laws

Overview. The Corn Laws were a series of statutes enacted between 1815 and 1846 which kept corn prices at a high level. This measure was intended to protect English farmers from cheap foreign imports of grain following the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Note: in this context "corn" means grain of all kinds, not simply the vegetable corn.

Background. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British blockaded the European continent, hoping to isolate the Napoleonic Empire and bring economic hardship to the French. One result of this blockade was that goods within the British Isles were protected against competition from outside sources. Farming became extremely lucrative, and farming land was traded at very profitable rates.

When the wars ended in 1815 the first of the Corn Laws was introduced. This law stated that no foreign corn would be allowed into Britain until domestic corn reached a price of 80 shillings per quarter.

Who Benefited? The beneficiaries of the Corn Laws were the nobility and other large landholders who owned the majority of profitable farmland. Landowners had a vested interest in seeing the Corn Laws remain in force. And since the right to vote was not universal, but rather depended on land ownership, voting members of Parliament had no interest in repealing the Corn Laws.

Who suffered? The artificially high corn prices encouraged by the Corn Laws meant that the urban working class had to spend the bulk of their income on corn just to survive. Since they had no income left over for other purchases, they could not afford manufactured goods. So manufacturers suffered, and had to lay off workers. These workers had difficulty finding employment, so the economic spiral worsened for everyone involved.

Reform. The first major reform of the Corn Laws took place during the ministry of the Duke of Wellington in 1828. The price of corn was no longer fixed, but tied to a sliding scale that allowed foreign grain to be imported freely when domestic grain sold at 73 shillings per quarter or above, and at increasing tariffs the further the domestic price dropped below 73 shillings. The effect of this reform was negligible.

The Reform Act. In 1832 the right to vote was extended to a sizable portion of the merchant class through the passage of The Reform Act. The merchant classes were far more likely to look favorably on changes to the Corn Laws.

The Reformers. Several groups arose during the early and mid 1800s to fight for repeal of the Corn Laws amid other social reforms. Most prominent among these movements were the Chartists and the Anti-Corn Law League. The ACLL began in 1836 as the Anti Corn Law Association, and in 1839 adopted its more familiar name. Despite its social reform agenda, the league drew its members largely from the middle-class; merchants and manufacturers. Their aim was to loosen the restrictions on trade generally, so that they could sell more goods both at home and around the world. After constant agitation, the ACLL was successful, and in 1846 the government under Sir Robert Peel was persuaded to repeal the Corn Laws.