17. Britain in the Napoleonic Wars.

The growing hostility of England towards the development of the revolution in France finally led to war between the two countries. In 1793 England declared war on France. England together with Austria, Prussia and Spain already at war with France formed the first coalition which lasted four years. In the course of war Prussia and Spain withdrew from the conflict while the defeat of Austria put an end to the first coalition. At this stage Napoleon decided to strike at E. through her possessions in India. Egypt was an important link in his strategic plans. But these plans were disrupted by the English fleet under the command of admiral Nelson. The second coalition lasted 2 years (1799-1801).

Napoleon managed to defeat Austria in 1800. Soon England made peace with France. The Peace of Amiens (1802) signed between E. and F. proved to be only a truce (перемирие). In 1804 Napoleon was declared emperor.

Tension between E. and F. broke into open war and a third coalition of E., Russia, Austria and Sweden was formed in 1805. Napoleon gathered a large army At the French channel port of Boulogne. All E. was in great tension awaiting the invasion. But Russian and Austrian troops frustrated Napoleon’s plans. He was compelled to stop his invasion plans especially after admiral Nelson’s brilliant victory near Trafalgar in 1805 when he destroyed the combined forces of the French and Spanish fleets. E. seemed unconquerable. She headed every coalition against F.

The English had one week spot- their commercial dependence upon Europe. Napoleon announced a continental blockade of the Br. Isles: no trader was allowed to deal commercially with E. Britain did the same for France.

The fate of Napoleon’s empire was decided in Russia. It was the heroic resistance of the Russian people and the army in 1812 that led Napoleon to his final downfall. The Allies (Антанта) assembled at the Congress of Vienna, which met from 1814 to 1815 to redraw the map of Europe which Napoleon had drawn. Quite naturally E., Russia, Prussia and Austria dominated the meetings. England made serious gains to her empire. She secured (овладела) Malta, Ceylon, the Cape of Good Hope and others. But the country suffered a severe economic crisis. Foreign trade had seriously shrunk during the long period of wars.

18. The 1832 Reform Bill. Chartism.

In 1825-1827 England faced a typical crisis of capitalism. It effected every branch of economy, thousands of workers became unemployed and social tension was growing in the country. The election system certainly needed reform. In 1830 the July revolution took place in France and it gave a powerful fillip (толчок) to the movement for parliamentary reform in England. The Whig reformers under Lord Grey did not intend to give the vote to everybody. The Bill which they intended to introduce gave the vote only to men paying rates on their property.

A month before the French July revolution William IV was crowned as king. The reformers made use of the situation and handed (вручили) in petitions to reform the electoral system. However, this modest Bill failed to pass the House of Commons on the first occasion. When the Tory majority in the Lords threw out the Reform Bill for a second time, Lord Grey asked the king to make some more Whig peers. The Tories were threatened. When the Bill came up again to the upper house, the latter surrendered and did not vote against it. In 1832 the Reform Bill was passed, and became law.

After the passing of the Bill it became evident that the industrial bourgeoisie was the greatest winner and practically nothing was gained by the working class. The Reform Act took 143 parliamentary seats. Representation was given to the new large towns like Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham. It increased the number of voters. But most Englishmen, especially the working class, and all English women, were still without the vote. In fact, only one out of forty could vote.

However, not all the conditions of suffrage (избирательное право) that had been insisted on were accepted. There was no secret ballot (избират. бюллетень), no payment of deputies.

Chartism. In 1836 a trade and industrial crisis broke out. The Working Men’s association was organized in London by William Lovett. They formulated their demands in a six-point charter (хартия) (hence the name of the movement): universal suffrage (право голоса), annual parliaments, vote by ballot, abolition (отмена) of the property qualification (имущественного ценза) for MPs, payment of MPs so that low-income representatives could participate in the session of parliament, and the equal electoral districts. Gradually the industrial North became the focus of the whole movement with the main periodical the Northern Star. There were 3 trends in the movement. 1) Lovett and his supporters held the opinion that the Charter must be won in alliance (в союзе) with the radical bourgeoisie and only by peaceful methods – education, peaceful persuasion, agitation and petitions to Parliament. This was the party of “moral force”. 2) The party of “physical force” was headed by Feargus O’Connor. He recognized armed uprising, but only as a last resort when all other methods of struggle had failed. 3) In the course of struggle a revolutionary left wing began to evolve (развиваться) among the Chartists headed by O’Brian, Harney and Jones. They had a much clearer idea of class struggle and considered that socialism was the only option which the workers should choose and that it could be won in stubborn class struggle.

The government undertook suppressive measures against the movement. Some 450 prominent activists of the movement were arrested and imprisoned. The Chartist papers were banned. The failure of the first Petition was a direct result of the lack of unity among the Chartists.

In 1840 the workers in Manchester formed a nation-wide political party known as the National Chartists Association. It was set to unite the working class and gain political power for masses. In 1841 another Petition was being drawn. It contained the main demands of the first petition coupled with new items such as wage increase, shorter working hours etc. The Tory government of 1842 rejected the Petition. The executive committee of the National Chartist Association proclaimed a general strike. A great number of active participants of the Chartist movement were arrested. Some were sent to colonies in Australia.

In 1846 England again was hit by another crisis. National Chartist Association started a new agitation for the third National Petition. The Chartists included the demand to proclaim Britain a republic into the third Petition. On April 10, 1848 a great demonstration was held in support of the Petition. The government mustered (собрали) army and police force in London. The Petition was rejected a third time. O’Connor, the chief organizer of the demonstration in London, failed to give the signal for resolute action. After the dramatic events of 1848 Chartism gradually lost its revolutionary fervour (рвение).

The main reason for the defeat of the Chartists was the harmful influence of the supporters of peaceful evolutionary actions and conciliation with the bourgeoisie as well as the absence of a militant revolutionary party. Chartism made a deep impression on the working class in England. It was the first attempt to build an independent political party representing the interests of the laboring and unprivileged classes of the nation. Chartism played a great historical role. The ten-hour working day, the more liberal factory legislation, the Parliamentary Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 were results of this heroic effort of British working class struggle.