become merged in the Napoleonic war. The battle of
Waterloo (1815) ended the struggle with the defeat of Napoleon by the
English general, Wellington.

The War of 1812 with the United States was for England only an
incident of the war with France. England had become so powerful on the
sea, as a result of the victories of Nelson, that she not only forbade
vessels of a neutral power to trade with France, but she actually
searched American vessels and sometimes removed their seamen, claiming
that they were British deserters. The Americans won astonishing naval
victories; but the war was concluded without any very definite
decision on the points involved.

The last part of the eighteenth century saw the invention of spinning
and weaving machines, the introduction of steam engines to furnish
power, the wider use of coal, the substitution of the factory system
for the home production of cloth, and the impairment of the home by
the employment of women and children for unrestricted hours in the
factories.

The long reign of George III., interrupted by periods of insanity,
ended in 1820. The next two kings were his sons, George IV.
(1820-1830) and William IV. (1830-1837). During these two reigns the
spirit of reform was in the air. The most important reforms were (1)
the revision of the criminal laws, which had prescribed death for some
two hundred offenses, including stealing as much as five shillings;
(2) the removal of political disabilities from Catholics, so that for
the first time since 1673 they could hold municipal office and sit in
Parliament; (3) the Reform Bill of 1832, which (_a_) extended the
franchise to the well-to-do middle classes but not to those dependent
on day labor, (_b_) gave a fairer apportionment of representatives in
Parliament and abolished the so-called "rotten boroughs," _i.e._ those
districts which with few or no inhabitants had been sending members to
Parliament, while the large manufacturing cities in the north were
without representatives; (4) the final bill in 1833 for the abolition
of slavery; (5) child labor laws, which ordered the textile factories
to cease employing children under nine years of age, prescribed a
legal working day of eight hours for children between nine and
thirteen, and of twelve hours for those between thirteen and eighteen;
(6) the improvement of the poor laws.

The increased interest in human rights and welfare is the most
important characteristic of this entire per