211. Influences Affecting the Language. The events of the nine-
teenth century and of the early twentieth affecting the English-
speaking countries were of great political and social importance,
but in their effect on the language they were not of a revolution-
ary character. The success of the British on the sea in the course
of the Napoleonic Wars, culminating in Nelson's famous victory
at Trafalgar in 1805, left England in a position of undisputed
naval supremacy and gave her control over most of the world's
commerce. The war against Russia in the Crimea ( 1854-56) and
the contests with native princes in India had the effect of again
turning English attention to the East. The great reform measures
-- the reorganization of parliament, the revision of the penal code
and the poor laws, the restrictions placed on child labor, and the
other industrial reforms -- were important factors in establishing
English society on a more democratic basis. They lessened the
distance between the upper and the lower classes and greatly
increased the opportunities for the mass of the population to
share in the economic and cultural advantages that became avail-
able in the course of the century. The establishment of the first
cheap newspaper ( 1816) and of cheap postage ( 1840), and the
improved means of travel and communication brought about by
the railroad, the steamboat, and the telegraph had the effect of
uniting more closely the different parts of England and of spread-
ing the influence of the standard speech. At the same time the
growth in importance of some of England's larger colonies, their

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