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May–June 1846
In June 1846, the prime minister Robert Peel responds to decades of campaigning by abolishing the Corn Laws. Ever since 1815, these protectionist laws have placed barriers against the import of foreign 'corn' (a term that includes all grain) and have therefore kept the price of British wheat – and bread – artificially high. This has protected the profits of farmers and landowners, and caused hardship to the poor, for whom bread forms a main part of their diet. Protests against the laws have been rife in times of economic depression; the authorities have often responded brutally. Since 1838, the Anti-Corn Law League, founded by politicians John Bright and Richard Cobden, has campaigned vigorously for the laws to be abolished. They have recently been joined by the Chartists (see 1838 The People's Charter). They are vehemently opposed by the aristocracy and landowning class, who profit from the laws. As a Conservative, Peel draws much of his party's support from the aristocracy and landowners, and he was elected on a pledge to retain the Corn Laws. However, he believes in free trade and has come to support abolition. He attempts to repeal the laws in November 1845, during the Irish famine (see September 1845), but is defeated by his own Cabinet. He resigns in favour of the Whig leader Lord John Russell, but is reinstated when Russell is unable to form an administration. Peel finally brings the Repeal Bill to Parliament in January 1846. It eventually passes both houses of Parliament and receives royal assent on 26 June, despite attacks by the protectionist Conservative MPs led by Benjamin Disraeli. The row over the repeal of the Corn Laws has destroyed Peel's standing in the Conservative Party. Within weeks, the protectionists band together with Irish MPs and Whigs to defeat a government Coercion Bill, which would have allowed rule by force in Ireland in times of unrest. The day after the queen signed the Repeal Bill, bringing it into force, Peel resigns and Russell finally forms a replacement government. |
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