612 Ch. 15 • Liberal Challenges To Restoration Europe
As with the 1832 Reform Act, it took a change of heart by a Conservative
government to get a repeal bill passed. Prime Minister Robert Peel, whose
smile it was said resembled the gleam of silver plate on a coffin, was himself
the conservative son of a cotton manufacturer. Believing in free trade, he
had pushed through reductions in and even the elimination of some tariffs,
including those on imported raw cotton. The Irish potato famine helped
push him to undertake the dismantling of the Corn Laws. Repeal would be
an act of political courage, as he was bound to fall from power. Peel now
believed only such a move could forestall a popular insurrection. In 1846,
Parliament repealed the Corn Laws, reducing duties on wheat and other
imported agricultural products. Having bitterly divided the Conservative
Party, Peel was forced to resign the same day, a victim, his supporters
insisted, of doing the right thing.
Conclusion
Between 1820 and 1850, liberals and nationalists challenged the conserva
tive post-Napoleonic settlement. Revolutions brought a liberal monarchy to
France and independence to Belgium. In Great Britain, political and eco
nomic liberalism triumphed within the context of the nations reformist tra
dition. The Reform Act of 1832 incorporated many more middle-class men
into the political arena. British workers remained committed to peaceful
protest. Liberals also gained ground in the German and northern Italian
states, where middle-class proponents of German and Italian national unifi
cation became more vocal.
At the same time, cultural and nationalist movements began to develop
among Czechs, Serbs, and other peoples within the Habsburg domains.
However, the Prussian and Austrian monarchies, to say nothing of the Russ
ian tsar, whose troops had crushed the Polish insurrection in 1831, stood as
formidable obstacles both to reform and national movements. Nonetheless,
the Concert of Europe no longer existed. Political momentum was with those
seeking to break down the bastions of traditional Europe, as the dramatic
Revolutions of 1848 would clearly demonstrate.