Adam. Nevertheless, good roads and canals were not sufficient to meet the demands of English industry, and it was not till George Stephenson, the son of a poor collier, had overcome the difficulties of moving waggons along iron rails by means of a locomotive or steam-engine, that English products could find easy conveyance to their markets. The first railroad was built in 1830, from Manchester to Liverpool, and the train travelled at the rate of thirty-five miles an hour.
Besides these, other improvements were going on, such as founding Mechanics’ Institutes, reducing the price of newspapers, building schools and colleges, and providing asylums for the insane. It is sad to think that, while so many things were being done to improve the lot of the poor, a great many were suffering from want, part of which was caused by the many improvements in labour-saving machines. So, in the year 1837, when William IV. died, there were many families in England that could scarcely afford to buy the coarsest food and clothing.
CHAPTER XXVI.
HISTORY OF OUR OWN TIMES.
1. Victoria.—William IV., like George IV., left no child as heir to the throne. He was succeeded by Victoria, the daughter of the Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. The young queen at the time of her accession was but eighteen years of age, nevertheless, she had been so carefully trained and educated under her mother’s watchful eye that, when she came to the throne, it was with a deep sense of the duties she had to discharge, and with a fixed resolve to keep the good of her people always before her. During the fifty-five years of her rule, she has earned the love and respect not of her subjects alone, but of the people of all nations, by her pure domestic life, and by her faithful discharge of every private and public duty.
Her accession to the throne made it necessary to separate Hanover from the Crown of England, the laws of Hanover not permitting a
