Legislation under Queen Victoria. The" Bed chamber Plot." carried by a majority of five votes only, Ministers decided CHAP. III. to resign. Sir Robert Peel was invited to form a Government, but stipulated for the removal of certain ladies of the Bedchamber. This request her Majesty refused, stating that "she could not consent to adopt a course which she considered to be contrary to usage, and which was repugnant to her feelings." As Sir Robert Peel would not give way, Lord Melbourne returned to office, somewhat strengthened by the incident, though its constitutional aspect was warmly discussed by the opposing parties. A second Jamaica Bill was introduced, but it was shorn of its most important provisions, and it left a loophole for continued misgovernment. As finally passed, it allowed time to the Assembly to reenact the annual laws without which the affairs of the island could not proceed; and it invested the Governor in Council with power to renew those laws at the expiration of two months after the Assembly should have separated without re-enacting them. Another serious rebellion broke out in Jamaica in 1865, which was repressed with great and undue severity by Governor Eyre. At the close of the year the representative Jamaica constitution of the island was abolished by the Legisla- tion ture, and this abolition was subsequently confirmed by abolished. the British Parliament. The affairs of Jamaica have since been administered by a governor, assisted by a Legislative Council and a Privy Council. Constitu in Austra lasia. Colonial reform occupied a prominent position in Reforms 1849-50. Excess of authority, the sending out of convicts, and other causes, had led to grave discontent in many of the British colonies. Moved with a desire to give the Australians a system of self-government, Lord John Russell introduced the Australian Colonies Bill in Austra the session of 1850. While reserving the power of veto lian in all cases to the Home Government, he proposed the Bill. establishment of a legislative body in each of the Australian colonies, with power to introduce such changes in their constitution as they thought fit, and an executive responsible to the colonial Parliament. The measure was Colonies tion under Queen Victoria. land. CHAP. III. carried, and it formed the commencement of a system of Legisla- local responsible government for our colonies generally. In the course of a few years representative governments were formed for New South Wales, Victoria, South AusNew Zea- tralia, and Van Diemen's Land. In 1852 New Zealand was established as a self-governing colony. It was divided into six provinces, ultimately increased to nine; but in 1875 the provincial system was abolished. The legislative power was then vested in the Governor, together with a general assembly of two chambers-the Legislative Council, nominated by the Crown, and the House of Representatives, elected by the people. The Colonial South African Confederation. The Crown and its In 1854 the War and Colonial Secretaryships, which had been united since 1801, were divided, the accumulated duties devolving upon the Colonial Office rendering a chief Secretary of State necessary for each department. Sir George Grey was appointed Colonial Minister. The policy of confederation was extended to South Africa in 1877, when Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, carried a bill to permit the colonies of Natal and the Cape of Good Hope, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal, to form a confederation. The measure failed in its effect, partly because of the abortive action of the English agents, and partly because of the unfriendly attitude of the colonists. The South African Confederation Act was unlike that of Canada from the fact that, instead of merely constituting a single dominion, to which new provinces might from time to time be admitted, it constructed an elaborate federal system, more after the fashion of the United States, with a central Legislature and local Legislatures, the respective functions of which were clearly assigned in the constituting act. Power was reserved to the Home Government to make any law relating to the Union. In this same year (1877) Lord Carnarvon sanctioned the annexation of the Transvaal by Sir Theophilus Shepstone. The Imperial Parliament can legislate for British deDependen pendencies either by the prerogative of the Crown, or by cies. the existence of constitutional government already con Legisla tion under Queen Victoria. ceded to a colony. A conquered country, while a dominion CHAP. III. of the Crown in right of conquest, is subject to the legislative power of the Imperial Parliament. A statute passed in 1843, conferring legislative power on the Crown in the case of settlements on the coast of Africa and the Falkland Islands, empowered the Queen in Council to establish laws, institutions, and ordinances, but all such Orders in Council were to be laid before Parliament. The Imperial Legislature has virtually a right to impose taxes on a colony, and it also possesses a plenary power of amending and altering its constitution. Govern The direct legislative control of India had long been The gravitating towards the Crown, when urgent attention ment of was drawn to Indian affairs by the terrible mutiny of India. 1857. Legislation now became imperative, and in 1858 an act was passed for the better government of India, by which the government of the British territories in India was transferred from the East India Company to her Majesty. Already in 1853 the patronage of the Civil Service had been taken away from the East India Company by Sir Charles Wood's Act, and thrown open to competition, and the disastrous Indian Mutiny precipitated other reforms. The bill of 1858 was introduced by Lord Stanley, after several abortive attempts at legislation. It provided that the entire Indian administration should be transferred to the Crown, which was to govern through one of the Secretaries of State, assisted by a Council of fifteen. The title of Viceroy was given to the Governor-General, and the naval and military forces of the company were united with the services of the Queen. On the motion of Mr. Gladstone, a clause was incorporated limiting the employment of East Indian troops to our Indian possessions. Lord Stanley was appointed the first Secretary of State for India. The East India Company still existed as a medium for distributing stock, but it was finally extinguished in 1873. The Additional Titles Bill, passed in 1876, enabled the Queen to add to her other titles that of Empress of India, by which she was proclaimed on January 1st, 1877. CHAP. III. Legislation under Queen lation. III. LEGISLATION FOR THE WORKING CLASSES. One of the most excellent characteristics of the Queen's Victoria. reign is the great body of legislation passed in the inWorking terests of the working classes. This legislation has class legisembraced their health, their labour, their recreations, their savings, and their education. I shall endeavour briefly to trace the course and extent of this legislation, leaving the question of national education only for separate treatment. It began worthily in the session of 1842 with Lord Ashley's bill for the improvement of the condition of women and children in mines and collieries. The report of a royal commission had revealed a terrible state of things, under which women and children were but mere beasts of burden. Moral and physical deteriorain mines. tion, with premature death, was the lot of all engaged in Women and children Factory legislation. collieries. Lord Ashley's bill provided, first, for the entire exclusion of all females from mines and collieries, and of all boys under thirteen years of age; secondly, for the employment as engineers of men over twenty-one only, for the purpose of avoiding numerous accidents; and thirdly, for the abolition of apprenticeships, by which pauper children had been rendered the absolute slaves of their masters till they reached the age of twenty-one. The House of Commons was so shocked by the revelations made that the measure passed without a division; but, to disarm the opposition of the Lords, a clause which had compelled the employment of boys on alternate days only was abandoned, and apprenticeship, instead of being totally prohibited, was restricted to eight years. But, even with these amendments, the bill possessed great humanitarian advantages. Factory legislation was next pressed forward. Reference has already been made to the act of 1834, but as far back as 1802 this subject had attracted the attention of Sir Robert Peel the elder, who carried the Health and Morals Act, which, besides providing for the cleansing and ventilation of factories, limited the labour of apprentices to twelve hours a day, forbade their employment in CHAP. III. tion under 1814. night work, and made arrangements for their clothing, education, and moral well-being. In the session of 1843 a Factory Bill, which provided for the compulsory education of pauper and factory children, was introduced, but Victoria. in consequence of the opposition of the Dissenters, on the ground of the undue influence it gave to the Church, it was withdrawn. Sir James Graham reintroduced the measure in the following session, without the educational clauses. Strife raged round the clause settling the hours of labour, but at length a twelve hours' limit was agreed to. The Factory Act of 1844 largely amended the exist- The Act of ing statute. It reduced the working hours of children to six and a half, and insisted upon the hours being consecutive, so as to allow time for education. The limitation of twelve hours was to include women as well as young persons. The certificate of age and health was made. strictly imperative; dangerous machinery was ordered to be guarded to prevent accidents; and inspectors were appointed to carry out the Act. In 1845 Lord Shaftesbury's Print Works Act was passed. Mr. Fielden carried an act The Ten in 1847 for limiting the labour of young people between Hours the ages of thirteen and eighteen to twelve hours a day, less two hours for meals. The measure was opposed by Graham, Peel, Brougham, and others, on the ground that compulsory limitation of the hours of labour was a restriction on free contract and an unjustifiable curtailment of the willing work of an industrious man; but the general sense of Parliament was in favour of the measure, and the Ten Hours Bill passed both Houses by large majorities. In 1850 the Coal and Iron Mines Act, which contained effective provisions for the supervision of mines, Other was passed. In the same year the act of 1817 was measures. extended and supplemented by an act which settled the time of labour for all protected persons at practically ten hours per day. In 1860, bleaching and dye works were included in the operation of the acts, and lace factories and bakehouses were legislated for in 1861. The pottery trade was dealt with in 1864. Lord Shaftesbury's Commission of Inquiry issued its first report in 1861, and a few VOL. II. 31 Act. |