The Victorian compromise had several aspects. Politically it meant the reconciliation of the claims of liberty and progress with order.

An orderly bordering down of freedom from precedent to precedent became the Victorian ideal. Government still remained an affair of “great families” whether Whig or Tory. But the aristocracy itself was recruited more freely from the middle classes. In every field the Victorians tried to uphold authority in the face of the rising tide of social change.

In the political field “authority” meant State and established law: in the field of government it meant aristocracy; in religion it was represented by the Established Church: in the domestic sphere it meant the supremacy of man over woman. Victorianism emphasized authority, and in religion it was represented by the English Church. The emphasis on Church authority deepened in the face of the challenge from science and rationalism.