flinging themselves on the squares all day. About four in the afternoon, the head of the Prussian column under Bulow began to emerge from the wood to the east, menacing the right flank of the French position. That obliged Napoleon to risk his last desperate cast upon the game, then all but lost—namely, the advance of the Old Guard, which had been kept in reserve in the rear of the French lines. To the foot of the British position Napoleon himself led these veterans, who had never failed him yet. "There, gentlemen," he said, pointing to the British. lines" there is the way to Brussels." He had seen his splendid artillery foiled, his splendid cavalry broken, but he still trusted in the Old Guard. On they went under Ney's command, up the face of the ridge near La Haye Sainte. On the top of the ridge the British Guards under Maitland and the brigade of Adams, arranged four deep by Wellington himself, lay on the ground, awaiting the attack. When the French were within fifty yards of the top, the British started to their feet and levelled their muskets. Then there was poured in so fearful a fire that the columns, hampered on their flanks by other attacks, became mixed in the act of trying to deploy, and were driven in rout down the hill. "They are mixed!” cried the fallen Corsican, as he rode away to the rear. "Let the whole line advance!" was Wellington's final order, as he galloped to the front. Then the great mass, which with patient resolution had stood on the plateau since early morning with scarce a murmur, now swept grandly forward-infantry, horse, and guns ---in one imposing rush which carried every French position, and drove the relics of the Grand Army along wreck-strewn roads toward the frontier of France. During the three eventful days (June 16, 17, 18) forty thousand French, sixteen thousand Prussians, thirteen thousand British and Germans, were killed. Paris, where he abdicated in favour of his son; Rochefort,*

* Rochefort, a maritime town on the west coast of France, seven miles from the mouth of the Charente. and eighteen south-east of La Rochelle.

whence he tried to escape to America; the Roads of Aix,* where, on the quarter-deck of the Bellerophon, he cast himself on the mercy of the British king; the lonely rock of St. Helena,† where for six years he dwelt imprisoned by the Atlantic waves-these are the last scenes in the history of Napoleon I. He died on the 3rd of May 1821; and in 1840 his remains were removed to France.

Before Waterloo was fought-on the 9th of June 1815-the Congress of Vienna had marked on the map of Europe the changed lines which were to follow the fall of Napoleon. This Treaty of Settlement was followed in November (20th) by the second treaty of Paris, which was signed by Wellington and Castlereagh on the part of Great Britain. By these treaties the empire of France, distended far beyond its natural limits by the ambition of Napoleon, collapsed into a kingdom similar in size to that of 1790. Thus ended a war during which Britain had made gigantic efforts. The National Debt, which at the end of the Seven Years' War (1763) was £139,000,000, and at the end of the American War (1783) was £268,000,000, had now reached the enormous sum of £880,000,000. But fast as the debt grew, still faster grew the wealth of the cotton-mills, where steam-power had come to the aid of the spinning-frame and the hand-loom. Without these it might have been impossible for Great Britain to bear the long-continued strain and the heavy burden.

* Roads of Air, off the island of Aix, fourteen miles north-west of Rochefort.

+ St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic, twelve hundred miles from the coast of Africa.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE ERA OF REFORM.

Effects of the war-Agitation for reform-The Princess Charlotte—The Algerine pirates--" Peterloo"-Birth of Princess Victoria-Death of George III.-The Cato Street conspiracy-Queen Caroline-State of Ireland-Canning's foreign policy-Commercial crisis-First Burmese War-The Canning ministry-Navarino-The Wellington ministryRepeal of the Test and Corporation Acts-The Catholic Emancipation Act-The first locomotive-The Grey ministry-The Reform BillFirst Reformed House of Commons-Abolition of slavery-The Melbourne ministry -Municipal Reform Acts-Death of William IV.

THE

HE proclamation of peace was followed by great distress in Britain. When the excitement of the war was over, people had time to consider its consequences, and were forced to feel them. Commerce was almost completely stagnant. The weight of taxation was excessive, owing to the enormous debt which the country had incurred. Food was scarce, and therefore dear. There was little demand for labour, and therefore wages were low. Nevertheless, the government,

in order to favour the British farmers and land-owners, 1815 passed a Corn Act, forbidding the importation of foreign grain until the price of wheat* had reached eighty shillings per quarter. This led to riots in the larger towns, which were attended with great destruction of property, especially of machinery, and in some cases with loss of life.

* Wheat. During the ten years from 1875 to 1885 the price of wheat averaged 478. per quarter. Its highest price since 1815 was 96s. 11d. in 1817. The maximum of the century was 126s. 6d. in 1812.

Then arose the cry for a reform of the House of Commons, with universal suffrage and annual Parliaments. Political societies called Hampden Clubs were formed all over the country that in London being presided over by Sir Francis Burdett. The writings of William Cobbett the journalist, who had begun life as a ploughman, had great influence with the tradesmen and labourers, whose champion he proclaimed himself to be. The ministry, influenced by Lord Castlereagh, stood firm in resisting all change.

The agitation thus resumed, which continued during the next seventeen years, had been in progress before the war began. While the war lasted, the public mind was occupied by it to the exclusion of nearly every other subject; but when peace came, the question of reform was reopened with all the more keenness because of the national distress and the widespread disaffection. Ever since the reign of Queen Anne, the ascendency of the House of Commons had been undoubted; but the complaint was that that House did not represent the nation. The influence of the crown, of the ministry for the time being, and of the chief land-owners, was so great that a large proportion of the representation was in their hands. has been already noticed, the younger Pitt was one of the first to raise the question, but the excesses of the French Revolution led him to abandon reform. The subject was again raised by Sir Francis Burdett in 1810; but it was not till the close of the war that the question really aroused the nation.

As

The marriage of the regent's only child-the Princess Charlotte-to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was celebrated on the 2nd of May 1816 amid rejoicings shadowed by no prophetic cloud. During the autumn of the same year Canning joined the Liverpool ministry as President of the Board of Control.

A terrible lesson was taught to the Algerine pirates by Lord Exmouth, who bombarded the white walls of the African city for six hours, sweeping away hundreds of the bearded demons

with shot and shell. The immediate release of one thousand and eighty-three Christian slaves followed this stern piece of punishment (Aug. 27, 1816). The cause of this assault was an act of massacre at Bona, where some Moslem soldiers had trampled on the British flag.

1817

The price of wheat continued to rise steadily after the peace. It reached its maximum in 1817-a year of gloom and distress. The prince-regent was fired at when returning from the opening of Parliament. No fewer than six hundred petitions for reform-some of them with thirty thousand signatures-were sent to Parliament. In spite of a royal proclamation against rioting and unlawful assemblages, both riots and seditious meetings increased. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended; but the riots still continued, and at Derby three of the ringleaders were executed. In May, Burdett introduced in the House of Commons a motion for reform. It obtained only seventy-seven supporters, while two hundred and sixty-five voted for its rejection. Towards the end of the year the death of the Princess Charlotte caused deep national sorrow, and revived for a time the loyalty of the people.

During the next two years, the excitement and the discontent continued to spread. In 1818 Burdett's resolution for universal suffrage and annual Parliaments obtained only two votes in the House of Commons. A crisis came in 1819 1819. Riots by the unemployed were common in the manufacturing towns. Public meetings in favour of parliamentary reform were held everywhere. A great meeting held at Smithfield was watched by the military and by six thousand "special constables." In St. Peter's Field, Manchester, one hundred thousand persons assembled to petition for reform. They were dispersed by the military, but not until several had been killed and hundreds wounded. The affair was derisively called the Battle of "Peterloo." For writing a letter condemning the "Manchester massacre," Sir Francis Burdett was fined