ABSTRACT
THE peculiar interest which now attaches to the period immediately after a great European war would seem to justify the devotion of a somewhat disproportionate amount of space to the seven years which followed the overthrow of Napoleon. Then the consequences of the long contest were so acutely felt and the social and industrial problems appeared so complex that the Government adopted repressive measures to prevent what it conceived to be the impending dissolution of society. This was the inevitable result of the lack of any kind of a constructive policy. Lord Liverpool’s ministry had been formed in 1812, and it remained in power until 1827 largely owing to the pliability of the Prime Minister. His chief asset was his skill in securing the co-operation of men who differed from one another on personal and public grounds. On more than one occasion he professed liberal sympathies ; but he could be depended on not to press any question which a group within the Cabinet did not wish to be raised. Eldon, the Lord Chancellor, has become the typical example of the opponent to all change. Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, wets Home Secretary, a mediocrity whose weakness and readiness to give credence to the wildest rumours ill-fitted him for the responsibility of dealing with the widespread unrest. At the Exchequer was Nicholas Vansittart, the son of a former Governor of Bengal. A financier of average ability, he was quite incapable of coping with a situation of unprecedented difficulty. The Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, was the most striking personality in the Ministry, but, whatever 30his merits were as a diplomatist, he was extremely unpopular at home.
