parliamentary reform and liberal toryism

path to electoral reform summary

widening of tory divisions over electoral reform and catholic emancipation, high and liberal tories join together, death of george iv, captain swing, whigs and tories join to get rid of wellington and earl grey becomes prime minister

widening of tory divisions over electoral reform

Liberals alienated by Wellington’s opposition to any measure of parliamentary reform.

example of divisions over electoral reform

two boroughs Penryn and East Retford were condemned as being particularly corrupt and liberal tory Huskisson wanted to transfer their 4 seats to Manchester and Birmingham. This was blocked by the Lords and Huskisson offered to resign in disgust and Wellington accepted it, despite the fact that Huskisson tried to withdraw his resignation. All the other Canningites left the government.

alienation of high tories over catholic emancipation

Test and corporation acts of 1828 alienated the ultra tories because they were church of England.

result of alienation of high and liberal tories

high and liberal tories join together to oppose wellington

death of george iv impact

1830, meant new king William IV was a whig sympathiser and general election was called. The tories won a majority in the election with 250 seats compared to 196 for whigs, however the party remained divided and the government majority declined by 30 seats.

impact of captain swing

earl grey and whigs call for reform but wellington refuses all claim for reform

end of wellington gov

Whigs, liberal and ultra tories all united bring down Wellington and he is replaced by Earl Grey in 1830 whose first announcement as prime minister was a pledge to carry out parliamentary reform.

grey gov members

coalition, it was formed of whigs with little government experience and no majority, canningite tories and regular tories

what united grey gov

Commitment to parliamentary reform because Grey was long-committed to reform, social unrest, economic recession, reform agitation, whigs need a policy.

first reform bill date

march 1831

first reform bill proposals

re-align seats to population (107 borough lost seats and 34 to new towns and 53 to counties), standardised qualification to vote (£10 per annum rent in boroughs)

opposition to first reform bill arguments

it would make the house of common too strong which would weaken the position of the house of lords and the king. Power would pass from the landed property class to the industrial and commercial middle class, by casing constituencies upon the number of electors a principle was being established which would lead to democracy because an MP would represent voters instead of interests, the bill was not a permanent solution to the problem because it would be followed by further calls for reform

debunking opposition to first reform bill

the qualification to vote would remain quite high which was far from universal suffrage, there was no secret ballot, most of the scrapped borough seats were being given to the counties where the stronghold of landed property and farming interest was. Some radicals accused the whigs of not going far enough

result of first reform bill

after 8 days of debate, the bill achieved a second reading by a vote 302 to 301

second reform bill date

october 1831

second reform bill proposals

same as first but added chandos clause which gives vote to farmers renting £50 per annum of land

second reform bill result

bill passed commons by 136, but rejected in the house of lords 199 to 158

result of second reform bill failing

popular unrest

examples of popular unrest after second reform bill

national political union was founded in London, the Birmingham political union called monster meetings of over 100,000 to urge reformers to stand firm, the London houses of wellington and duke of Newcastle, a great borough-monger, were attacked, there was rioting and arson in towns such as Nottingham, Derby and Worcester, and on 29 October the centre of Bristol was sacked by an angry mob where 12 people died

third reform bill date

december 1831

third reform bill proposals

contained a number of amendments which made it less radical. Eg some boroughs were to keep their MPs, the number of MPs in England and Wales was no longer to be reduced

reason for amendments to third bill

concessions were designed to win over more moderate tories in the house of lords

third bill result

carried by the commons by a majority of 162 and was passed in the lords by a majority of 9 in April in 1832

lord lyndhurst amendment

may 1832 would have delayed consideration of the disenfranchising clauses of the bill which was passed 116 to 111 votes

grey response to lyndhurst amendment

Grey asked King William to create 50 new lords to give the bill a majority or he would resign. The king was alarmed by unrest and apparent challenges to traditional authority refused to create the new peers and grey resigned

new gov after grey

king asks wellinton to form a gov but he fails

why wellington failed to form new gov

·        The fall of the government and the third bill led to a rise in popular protest eg Birmingham political union doubling its efforts with expanding membership and calling for a more radical bill

·        In Manchester a mass meeting was arranged to protest against the actions of the house of lords.

·        In London a campaign was launched to try to stop a tory government from taking office.

·        Radicals such as O’Connell threatened civil war if the bill was blocked.

result of wellington failing to form gov

king asked grey to return as prime minister with permission to create enough new peers which was necessary to get the reform bill through the house of lords

passing of third reform bill

In June 1832 the bill passed the house of lords by 106 votes to 27 and it became law

terms of 3rd reform bill

·        56 borough constituencies lost their MPs.

·        30 boroughs lost one of two members.

·        22 new double MP borough constituencies were created.

·        20 new single member boroughs were created.

·        In counties adult males could vote if they owned freehold property worth 40 shillings per annum, had copyhold land worth £10 per annum or rented land worth £50 per annum.

·        In boroughs adult males could vote if the occupies or owned property worth £10 per annum provided they had lived there for a year and paid all taxes on property and not received any poor relief in previous years.

impact of reform bill on working class

were excluded from politics and it disappointed the hopes of the radicals who had helped secure its passage

impact of manner of passing reform bill

1832 act was carried out against the initial opposition of the commons, against the opposition of the lords and the opposition of the king. This meant there was developing power in the house of commons and the electorate who could put pressure on the lords and the king

impact of reform bill distribution of power

position of property in the constitution was upheld but the whigs had undermined the landed-monopoly of power, political influence had been extended to a wider range of members of the middle class eg merchants, manufacturers. while most MPs continued to be from landed backgrounds, the number of middle class MPs increased and the electorate to which the MPs had to appeal was more middle class in composition and was backed by public opinion expressed through the press. The power of middle class ideas and voting were developing.

reasons for liberal toryism

change in gov personnel, change in character and preoccupations of gov, constructive approach to reform

change in gov personnel

Old figures eg Castlereagh Wallace Vansittart, were replaced by younger, more middle class reformers like Robinson Huskisson and Peel who had always been sympathetic to liberal economic principles and did implement a series of reforms.

change in character and preoccupations of gov

Before 1821 the gov was caught in a cycle of disturbances and repression, but after 1821 unrest ended and the governments agenda was dominated by reform in key areas of domestic policy.

more constructive approach to reform in gov

the years after 1821 saw trade policy liberalised, the penal system reformed, there was a change in the style of foreign policy as Canning explicitly sought backing of public opinion.

reasons against liberal toryism

continuity in policy making, repression before 1821 shouldnt be exaggerated, continuity in personnel, economic recovery reason for shift in tone of periods, liberalism after 1822 shouldnt be exaggerated

continuity in policy making in gov

The groundwork for many reforms after 1822 had been laid in the years before. For example the gold standard was  restored in 1821 but the decision to do so was taken in 1819, Peel’s reforms were built on previous work of parliamentary committees. Wallace had already to begun to move to free trade before Huskisson and Vansittart had balanced the governments budget in 1819 so paved way for Robinson’s financial reforms.

continuity in personnel in gov

Robinson had been in gov since 1809, peel since 1810 and Huskisson since 1804. High tories such as wellington remained important figures in government.

exaggeration of liberalism after 1822

Catholic disabilities remained in place, government was relentlessly opposed to all measures of parliamentary reform.

exaggeration of repression before 1821

There was no reign of terror during these years as measures such as habeas corpus were designed to deal with specific threats and only temporarily affected a small number of people

biggest factor shifting atmsophere between govs was economy

economic recovery brought an end to popular unrest so no need for repression, meant governments finances were in health so was easier to pursue a tariff reducing agenda, recovery was not caused by economic reform and owed more to low food prices and natural adjustment of economy from the effects of the end of the war.