INTRODUCTORY NOTE

TO CHAPTER XIV

The new year (1845) opened auspiciously, trade improving owing to the
great impetus given to it by the many lines of railway then in
course of promotion. Over two hundred schemes were prepared at
the commencement of the session to seek legislative sanction, and
speculation outran all reasonable limits. The Income Tax (which in the
ordinary course would have expired) was renewed, and the Anti-Corn
Law Leaguers were more persistent than ever in their assaults on
Protection, while the attacks on the Ministry from a section of their
own party were redoubled. The most remarkable measure of the year was
the Government Bill for increasing the grant to the Roman Catholic
College of Maynooth, which was strongly opposed from the Conservative
and the Protestant points of view; Mr Gladstone, though he approved of
the measure, retired from the Ministry, as he had a few years before
written in the opposite sense. Towards the close of the year the
condition of Ireland, owing to the failure of the potato crop, became
very alarming, and the Ministry greatly embarrassed. Lord John Russell
wrote from Edinburgh to the electors of the City of London, announcing
his conversion to the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and the _Times_
announced that such a Bill would be brought in by the Ministry. Peel,
reluctant to accept the task, resigned office in December, and a Whig
Ministry was attempted. Owing to dissensions, the attempt had to be
abandoned, and Peel returned to office, without Lord Stanley, but
with Mr Gladstone, who however did not seek re-election for the seat
vacated by his acceptance of office.

A dispute of great importance arose during the year with the United
States, relating to the boundary line between English and American
territory west of the Rocky Mountains. Twenty-five years earlier the
same question had arisen, and had been settled on the footing of joint
occupancy. The increased importance of the Pacific slope made the
matter more vital, involving as it did the ownership of Vancouver
Island and the mouth of the Columbia River; President Polk
unequivocally claimed the whole, and said he would not shrink from
upholding America's interests; the British Government was equally
firm, and the matter was not adjusted till 1846.

In India, which during nearly the whole year enjoyed peace, the Sikhs
in December assumed the aggressive, and crossed the Sutlej, invading
British India. They were sign