Week 6 Lecture Notes
The Victorian World: Great Britain and Mid-Century
If there was any country that dominated the nineteenth century world, that
country was England. The emphasis here is on world: Britain had created in the
nineteenth century a global empire. In fact, it was the largest empire ever
assembled in human history in sheer size and scope. We will return to this issue
when we discuss the impacts of “imperialism” (colonialism) on Europe in the late
nineteenth century.
Great Britain was also the first country to industrialize. This period from roughly
the mid-eighteenth century to the mid-nineteenth century-- 1750-1850-- has been
called a revolution, the Industrial Revolution.
The rise of England throughout the world might be referenced by way of
England’s long serving monarch, Queen Victoria (ruled from 1837-1901). Her
name is associated not only with “Victorian England,” but also the Victorian
world (the British Empire centered in India).
Social attitudes of the nineteenth century that underscored the rise of a
prosperous “middling sort” (middle classes) and their fastidious social attitudes
were called, “Victorianism.” Certain English writers would mock the attempts at
respectable society in England during the hey-day of nineteenth-century
civilization. Lytton Strachey, for one, published his work on the cultural world of
the nineteenth century after that world had been destroyed by the first World
War: Eminent Victorians (1918).
Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, embodied much of the spirit of English
politics during this time. Albert was no idle husband: Once hitched to Victoria, he
immediately set himself to the task of social reform and public improvement. You
should recall that the Revolutions of 1848 had underscored numerous social
problems particularly among the working poor (the Social Question). Prince
Albert developed ideas for public housing particularly in the context of his
greatest achievement: The Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1851.
The Crystal Palace Exhibition was among a number of “Universal Expositions”
that exhibited the material culture of the industrial world as each nation
showcased the splendor of its industrial accomplishments. England hosted the
first of these grand nineteenth century Expos in Hyde Park, London where a
massive, spacious venue, the Crystal Palace, had been set up for the numerous
national delegations, largely from Europe.
Second Empire France (1852-1870)
France’s Second Republic lasted only briefly. It was soon succeeded by another
authoritarian regime (the first had been Napoleon I’s): The Second Empire.
Napoleon I’s nephew, who had been living in exile, returned in the tumult of 1848
and ran for the presidency of the Second French Republic. Having a famous
name, especially influential in the countryside, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte won
the election and became President of the Republic. He would overthrow that
same Republic in 1851 and in the following year declare the Second Empire. He
ascended the throne as Napoleon III (out of respect for Napoleon I’s son).
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte’s administration began as an out-right military
dictatorship and eventually became a stable authoritarian regime that
manufactured consent through manipulated votes (popular plebiscites). As the
years went by, however, the regime relaxed controls and liberalized allowing
genuine political competition. In 1866, for example, the Republican Party was
allowed to run in elections (and proceeded to win control). Emile Ollivier, a former
liberal critic of the regime (Republican), eventually became Prime Minister in
1869.
The most striking feature of the Second Empire was in finance, trade,
economics-- and even architecture. A major free trade agreement was passed
with England in 1860 (the Cobden-Chevalier Free Trade Agreement). New
banks were created that helped to fund railroad construction and to cut canals.
Paris, itself, received a major overhaul as broad new streets that still exist today
were created-- the Grand Boulevards-- under Baron Haussmann. Mass
merchandising and the modern retail sales were created; the first shopping
centers were opened (Au Bon Marche in 1855).
The Second Empire, in short, was a period of successful modernization that
lasted until the catastrophic defeat of France at the hands of Prussia in the
Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). At the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III was
captured and his long-lived regime came to an end. The Third Republic-- lasting
well into the 20th century (1940)-- would be its chief legacy.
England: Reform 1832-1867
Victorian England embraced a progressive political tradition. The two main
political groupings in Parliament, the Whigs (Liberal Party-- by mid-century) and
Tories (Conservative Party-- by mid-century) agreed, in fact, on a number of
issues for public improvement. Why?
An entrenched aristocracy dominated English politics before and throughout the
nineteenth century in all its political groups and alliances. Yet the English
aristocracy possessed a notion of ‘public service’ and a sense of the
commonweal (public good). The notion of active reform laws that benefited the
public good in the course of England’s nineteenth century has been called Whig
history, a history of public progress even if ‘Whig history’ is, in fact, a story of
cooperation between English political groupings in the nineteenth century.
The most outstanding example of legislation being used to reconcile ordinary
Britons to their government, the liberal tradition of political representation, was
the Reform Law of 1832. Responding to the public campaign William Cobbett,
the first Reform Act got rid of largely vacant electoral districts (“rotten boroughs”)
and expanded the franchise (the vote) among men (excluding women).
The Chartist Movement of the 1840s-- a mass petition movement-- pressed for
specific reforms such as universal manhood suffrage, voting one’s conscience
(secret ballot), lifting income restrictions on the right to run as Minister of
Parliament, salaries for MPs, equal electoral districts, and annual elections to the
House of Commons. Nearly all of the aims in the People’s Charter would be
attained (not the last: annual elections). The 1832 law was not the last piece of
reform legislation. The 1867 Reform Law built upon the foundation of previous
legislation.
English Liberalism
As an idea, English liberalism stressed freedom in the context of social stability.
John Stuart Mill in his classic essay, “On Liberty,” underscored the importance of
maintaining one’s right to act as long as it did not infringe upon another’s
freedom or person (property or person). This careful statement of the extent of an
individual’s freedom showed a great deal of concern for the impact of individual
actions on the public at large: Freedom must yield to law and order.
Mill’s colleague, Jeremy Bentham, outlined the architecture for a “Panopticon”-a building that would allow authorities to establish clear lines of sight throughout
a structure to maintain policing authority. The Panopticon became a useful model
for both the early nineteenth-century shopping center as well the modern
penitentiary.
All this may seem as though English liberals supported police surveillance-- they,
in fact, did support such measures in theory and in action. Yet, English liberals
did so for the same reasons as all the legislators: They all claimed to be acting
for the public good. English liberal political economists such as Mill referred to
the Principle of Utility (usefulness): ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’
or to maximize ‘happiness.’
An English Consensus
England, even to this day, is a society with class consciousness: Every English
person knows where he or she stands in relation to another according to their
socio-economic class. So why wasn’t there conflict between classes in the
middle-nineteenth century when continental Europe was in social revolt? Some
reasons are listed above: A rising middling class, an active reform movement
with a responsive English government, and-- above all-- a liberal political culture
(note the restrictions for law-and-order in liberalism). For all these reasons,
England did not experience the tumult of social schism as other European
societies experience in the middle-nineteenth century.
Rule For discussion.
Expectation Benchmarks for the periodic Discussion Board Essay Posts Please post your essay by
selecting “add new discussion thread” in the Discussion Board area of the Blackboard (a link is provided
in the Weekly Folder in those weeks were an essay assignment is due). The questions prompts can be
found in the posted syllabus in the Announcements section as well as in the relevant Weekly Folder.
Please use: (1) The relevant online primary source specific in the syllabus (2) the
Rapport Reading and/or the relevant Course Notes Content: • Attempts to
answer the question posed in the syllabus in a sustained fashion. • Attempts to
situate document in historical context. • Refers to specific example(s) from the online
document. • Cites examples: “(Rapport, page number)” and “(Title of Primary Source)” or quotation,
“(author).” • Does not rely on personal impressions to interpret document. Style and Presentation
considerations: • Minimum length 300 words. • Few grammatical errors. • Organized into paragraphs,
coherent, and in essay form. · Final Consideration: Essay is not plagiarized.
Reading Source - https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1848lamartine.asp
Assignment Question:
Alphonse de Lamartine, “History of the Revolution of 1848 in France” Essay Question: From what you can
gather from this description, what is the nature of the revolution in France in 1848?
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