The Years of Growth and Fear The Age of Critical Realism

VII

Monument to Wellington

and Wellington Arch. Hyde park Corner. London

Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was a successful military leader famous for defea­ting Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. He was called "the Iron Duke". In 1828 Wellington became Prime Minister.

In 1815 Britain occupied a strong position in the world after the defeat of Napoleon. Its self-confidence was based on industry, trade and navy. Britain used its power to control the world markets. Britain kept its ships in almost every ocean of the world. It became a very powerful empire in a world scale. But at home Britain was in danger. The population in 1815 was 13 million people. A lot of former soldiers who had taken part in the Napoleonic Wars were looking for work; unemployment was increasing, the prices doubled, the disappointment of the working class was growing. To­wards the end of 1820's the rise of a powerful manufac­turing and trading class was obvious. The political vic­tory of the bourgeoisie brought no relief to the working class and worsened their living conditions.

The new methods of exploitation were invented. Crime and misery caused much trouble. People were hungry, they ate birds and animals. The dirty and crowded workhouses were hated and feared. There in the workhouses, the poor lived in dangerous conditions. Nevertheless, only those who lived in the workhouses I were given any help at all.

Several uprisings took place in the period between 1815 and 1830. In 1819 the working people and their families gathered in Manchester to protest against the social inequality. They were attacked by the govern­ment forces and eleven people were killed during that riot. The rich feared the poor, but they understood the need to reform the law in order to improve social life in the country. The Whigs wanted to avoid the revolution only by reform. The Tories were more conservative: they hoped that Parliameat would accept only the rich. Nevertheless, the middle class was represented in Par­liament. The poor were still kept out of it.

There were reasons for fear. Since 1824 workers be­gan to join together in unions. They tried to defend their rights, and in 1838 they put forward a People's Charter, demanding the democratic changes of the Parliament, including the right to vote and be elected.

Chartism had important literary results in the devel­opment of popular poetry. The Chartists revived the revolutionary poems of Byron and Shelley. It is interes­ting to know that Shelley's "Song to the Men of Eng­land" became a Chartist marching-song:

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