The real meaning of the occasion is best sought in a review of the record of those threescore years.  They were, in large degree, a period of progress; perhaps, in fact, no similar period in European history has been so “crowded with benefit to humanity.”

When Victoria came to the throne in her nineteenth year (1837) she found the kingdom seething with discontent, and the province of Canada approaching rebellion.  In business circles reckless speculation and the bursting of “Bubble Companies” had been followed by “tight money” and “hard times.”  Among the poor matters were far worse.  Wages were low, work was scarce, bread was dear.  In the cities half-fed multitudes lived in cellars; in the country the same class occupied wretched cottages hardly better than cellars.[2]

[2] See Cobbett’s “Rural Rides, 1821-1832.”

The “New Poor Law” (S403),[3] which went into effect in 1834, or shortly before the Queen’s accession, eventually accomplished much good; but for a time it forced many laborers into the workhouse.  The result aggravated the suffering and discontent, and the predominant feeling of the day may be seen reflected in the pages of Dickens, Carlyle, and Kingsley.[1]

[3] The “New Poor Law”:  Between 1691 and 1834 the administration of relief for the poor was in the hands of justices of the peace, who gave aid indiscriminately to those who begged for it.  In 1795 wages for ordinary laborers were so low that the justices resolved to grant an allowance to every poor family in accordance with its numbers.  The result of this mistaken kindness was speedily seen; employers cut down wages to the starvation point, knowing that the magistrates would give help out of the poor fund.  The consequence was that the tax rate for relief of the poor rose to a degree that became unbearable.  The “New Law” of 1834 effected a sweeping reform:  (1) it forbade outdoor relief to the able-bodied poor, and thus, in the end, compelled the employer to give better wages (but outdoor relief is now frequently granted); (2) it restricted aid to that given in workhouses, where the recipient, if in good health, was obliged to labor in return for what he received; (3) it greatly reduced the expense of supporting the poor by uniting parishes in workhouse “unions”; (4) it modified the old rigid Law of Settlement, thereby making it possible for those seeking employment to take their labor to the best market. [1] See Dickens’s “Oliver Twist” (1838), Carlyle’s “Chartism” (1839), and Kingsley’s “Yeast” and “Alton Locke” (1849).

Notwithstanding the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832 (S582), political power was still held chiefly by men of property who distrusted the masses of the people.  They feared that the widespread distress would culminate in riots, if not in open insurrection.