5. An era of peace : The few colonial wars that broke out during the Victorian approach did not seriously disturb the national life. There was one continental war that directly affected Britain the Crimean war and one that affected her indirectly though strongly the Franco german struggle yet neither of these caused any profound changes. In America the great civil struggle left scars that were soon to be obliterated by the wise statesmanship of her rulers. The whole age may be not unfairly described as one of peaceful activity. In the earlier stages the lessening surges of the French revolution were still felt but by the middle of the century they had almost completely died down, and other hopes and ideals largely specific were gradually taking their place.

 

6. Material Developments : It was an age alive with new activity. There was a revolution in commercial enterprise, due to the great increase of available markets and as a result of this an immense advance in the use of mechanical devices. The new commercial energy was reflected in the great exhibition of 1851. Which was greeted as the inauguration of a new era of prosperity on the other side of this picture of commercial expansion we see the appalling social conditions of the new industrial cities, the squalid slums and the exploitation of cheap labor (often of children), the painful flight by the enlightened few to introduce social legislation and the slow extension of the franchise. The evils of the industrial revolution were vividly painted by such writers as dickens and Mrs. Gaskell and they called forth the missionary efforts of men like Kingsley.

 

7. Intellectual developments : There can be little doubt that in many cases material wealth produced a hardness of temper and an impatience of projects and ideas that brought no return in hard case yet it is to the credit of this age that intellectual activities were so numerous. There was quite a revolution in scientific thought following upon the works of Darwin and his school, and an immense outburst of social and political throrizing which was represented in this country by the writings of men like Herbert Spencer and john Stuart mill. In addition, popular education became a practical thing. This in its turn produced a new hunger for intellectual food and resulted in a great increase in the production of the press and of other more durable species of literature.