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The effects of the Corn Law cancellation upon agriculture were really tremendous. The mere threat of foreign competition led to a number of significant improvements in technique. As compensation for the loss of the Corn Law the landowners in Parliament advanced themselves financial support for improvements at a remarkably low rate of interest, thus enabling themselves to add the value of their land and make a handsome profit out of the farmers who were charged for the improvements at a considerably higher rates.

Land drainage became widely available on a large scale in 1845, with the invention of a pipe-making machines. This event added greatly to the productivity of the heavy wheatgrowing lands, made them more workable, and made the use of artificial manures profitable. Such substances as nitrates, guano and bone manure all came into common use at this time. Much new agricultural machinery also was introduced (the Royal Agricultural Society’s Show of 1853 could be a perfect illustration with over 2000 implements).

A more direct stimulus to the use of machinery was given by the increase in the wages of the British farm workers which took place between 1845 and 1859 as the result of the great demand for labor in mines, in the construction of railways, and so on. This increase in the use of machinery led to a reduction in the number of laborers employed, although the area under cultivation had increased by half a million acres and the total agricultural production had increased far more in proportion.

The size of the British farms increased considerably due to the greater application of capital to agriculture. Between 1851 and 1871 farms of all sizes below 100 acres decreased in number while farms of 300 acres and over increased from 11000 to 13000, the greatest proportional increase being in those over 500 acres.

Development of the British industry under Queen Victoria reign had never experienced a burst of increased effectiveness as the agriculture did. Still, it introduced some important innovations which should be mentioned.

In 1847 the Ten Hours’ Bill limited the hours of women and young people, and, in practice, secured a ten hour day for most of the men, since it proved unprofitable to keep the factories open for them alone. This result was not achieved for some years, however, during which the employers tried every conceivable and device short of flat defiance of the provision of the Act.

There was also a significant improvement in the educational field during Victorian years. In 1840 perhaps only twenty per cent of the children of London had any schooling, a number, which had risen by 1860, when perhaps half of the children between 5 and 15 years old were in some sort of school.

The Mid-Victorian period was prosperous primarily for the agricultural branch which became possible mainly due to the significant technological advances coupled with the cancellation of the Corn Law. It ended abruptly and a long depression in agriculture set in with the arrival of American wheat and Australian wool in bulk, starting from 1866. The improvement in the condition of the laborers ended much earlier when the rise in prices produced by the influx of Californian and Australian gold brought about a steady decline in real wages.”

Since the political life during the Victorian time was of especially great importance, it should be given a special attention. It would be useful to learn the political aspect of the early Victorian period by listening to the set of brief reports by pupils. Probable texts for reports are the following (they can be given by teacher to the pupils prior to the lesson for homework): “The Parliament in the early Victorian period: Liberals and ConservativesThe Whigs and those who acted with them gradually gave up the old party name and began to call themselves “Liberals”. This name soon came to be the only one used and was regularly applied to the party of which Earl Grey, Lord Russell, Lord Brougham, and Lord Melbourne were the leaders. The name “Whig” went out of existence. The Tories came to be known as “Conservatives”. The party name “Tory” went out of use except as it was used to describe a man who was extremely and narrow-mindedly conservative. The most influential representatives of the Conservative party were the duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel. The latter especially was the real organizer and leader of the conservatives after the adoption of the Reform Bill. He was prime minister for five important years, from 1841 to 1846. Yet in the main the Liberals kept control of the government till after the middle of the century, when they gradually became tired of a reforming policy. Their sense of responsibility in that direction had been satisfied and they believed that no further political changes should be made. They defeated measures for admitting Jews to parliament, for lowering the franchise, for introducing the ballot in voting, and for more frequent elections, and no further great reforms were to be put to their credit for many years. Lord PalmerstonThe prime minister during 1855-1865 and the most prominent minister of England for many years, was Lord Palmerston. He was one of those men who had been originally moderate Tories, but who had afterwards drifted into the Liberal party during the agitation for the first Reform Bill. His service as minister in Tory cabinets had extended from 1809 to 1830; afterwards as foreign secretary and then as prime minister he was an influential member of almost every Liberal cabinet for thirty-five years. He always adopted a high tone in foreign affairs, and many of the foreign disputes into which England had been drawn were largely a consequence of his policy. He was usually able to win success for his party and his country in these contests, and

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