Parliament responded nobly to the piteous calls for help, and voted in all no less than 10,000,000 pounds to relieve the distress.[2] Subscriptions were also taken up in London and the chief towns, by which large sums were obtained, and America contributed shiploads of provisions and a good deal of money; but the misery was so great that even these measures failed to accomplish what was hoped.  When the famine was over, it was found that Ireland had lost about two million (or one fourth) of her population.[3] This was the combined effect of starvation, of the various diseases that followed in its path, and of emigration.[4]

[2] Molesworth’s “History of England from 1830.” [3] The actual number of deaths from starvation, or fever caused by insufficient food, was estimated at from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand.  See the Encyclopaedia Britannica under “Ireland.” [4] McCarthy’s “History of Our Own Times,” Vol.  I.

594.  Repeal of the Corn Laws, 1846-1849; Free Trade established, 1869.

In the face of such appalling facts, and of the bad harvests and distress in England, Sir Robert Peel (S592) could hold out no longer, and by a gradual process, extending from 1846 to 1849, the obnoxious Corn Laws were repealed, with the exception of a trifling duty, which was finally removed in 1869.

The beginning once made, free trade in nearly everything, except wine, spirits, and tobacco, followed.  They were, and still are, subject to a heavy duty, perhaps because the government believes, as Napoleon did, that the vices have broad backs and can comfortably carry the heaviest taxes.  A few years later (1849) the old Navigation Laws (S459) were totally repealed.  This completed the English free-trade measures.  But, by a singular contrast, while nearly all goods and products now enter England free, yet Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa—­in a word, all the great self-governing English colonies—­continue to impose duties on imports from the mother country (S625).

595.  The World’s Fair (1851); Repeal of the Window and the Newspaper
     Tax; the Atlantic Cable, 1866.

The great industrial exhibition known as the “World’s Fair” was opened in Hyde Park, London (1851).  The original plan of it was conceived by Prince Albert.  It proved to be not only a complete success in itself, but it led to many similar fairs on the part of different nations.  For the first time in history the products and inventions of all the countries of the globe were brought together under one roof, in a gigantic structure of glass and iron called the “Crystal Palace,” which is still in use for exhibition purposes at Sydenham, a suburb of London.

The same year (1851) the barbarous tax on light and air, known as the “Window Tax,"[1] was repealed and the House Tax (which is still in force) was substituted for it.  From that date the Englishman, whether in London or out, might enjoy his sunshine, when he could get it, without having to pay for every beam,—­a luxury which only the rich could afford.