to sweep away the greatest scandal of the
age. He was supported by Lord Stanley, then colonial secretary, who
eloquently defended the cause of liberty and humanity; and he moved that
effectual measures be at once taken to abolish slavery altogether, with
some modifications. Thomas Babington Macaulay, who had entered
Parliament in 1830, also brought all his eloquence to bear in behalf of
the cause; and the upshot of the discussion was that Parliament set free
the slaves, and their masters received twenty millions of pounds as a
compensation. Thus the long agitation of fifty years pertaining to negro
emancipation in the British dominions was closed forever. The heart of
England was profoundly moved by this act of blended justice, humanity,
and generosity, which has been quoted with pride by every Englishman
from that time to this. Possibly a similar national assumption of the
vast expense of recompensing English owners of Irish lands may at some
time relieve Ireland of alien landlordism and England of her
greatest reproach.

The condition of Hindostan next received the attention of Parliament;
and on the renewal of the charter of the East India Company, in 1833,
its commercial monopoly was abolished, and trade with the East was
thrown open to the merchants of all the world. The political
jurisdiction of the Company was, however, retained.

The new Parliament then turned its attention to a reduction of taxes.
The duty on tiles was repealed; also the two-shilling stamp duty on
advertisements, together with the vexatious duty on soap. Dramatic
copyrights also received protection, and an improvement in the judicial
administration was effected. Sinecure offices were abolished in the
Court of Chancery, and the laws of dower and inheritance were amended.

The members most active in these reforms were Lord Althorp, Daniel
O'Connell, Joseph Hume, and William Cobbett. Lord Althorp, afterward
Earl Spencer, made not less than one thousand speeches, and O'Connell
six hundred, in support of these reforms,--all tending to a decrease
in taxation, made feasible by the great increase of wealth and the
abolition of useless offices.

The Trade Unions (a combination of operatives to secure improvement in
their condition) marked the year 1834, besides legislative enactments to
reduce taxation. Before 1824 it was illegal for workmen to combine, even
in the most peaceable manner, for the purpose of obtaining an increase
of wages. This injust