gladstone liberalism and gov

themes of gladstone liberalism

freedom and individual moral choice, virtue of the masses, retrenchment, laissez-faire, free trade

gladstone liberalism gov spending ops

state should spend as little as possible, since government spending reduced individual liberty because it took money away from individuals through taxes and allowed government officials to direct spending – which always promoted corruption and inefficiency

levying indirect taxes on items of common consumption, so that any government wanting to increase spending would be checked by popular resistance to the idea of paying increased taxes on articles of everyday use

freedom and individual moral choice theme gl

central principle was the necessity of creating the conditions within which men could make free and informed choices about their own actions

Gladstone’s understanding of freedom entailed: freedom of speech and assembly, trade and enterprise, religious worship, publication and reporting, and the removal of barriers to individual advancement.

how gov could promote freedom of individual according to gladstone

job of the state was to open the way for individual initiative by breaking the power of vested interests, reforming institutions in the interests of efficiency, clearing the path to advancement by merit, reducing the fiscal burden to the barest minimum, avoiding destructive wars, and involving the mass of the population in political decision making.

virtue of the masses theme of gl

Gladstone believed that all men united by some specific interest, and had a tendency to place that interest ahead of the wellbeing of society as a whole. As the avenues for material gain multiplied so did the willingness of privileged actors to set aside moral scruples and seek their own benefit. The result was a set of vested interests which caused politics to reflect, not the interests of the nation, but of a class.

gladstone ops on how to stop corruption in classes

believed there existed amongst the masses a reservoir of virtue that might exercise a salutary check upon the self-seeking conduct of privileged elites. Hence Gladstone’s remark that he was for the masses against the classes; his preparedness to extend the franchise to the working class – believing that the working population would vote for fiscal retrenchment and oppose aggressive foreign policies.

limits on gladstone liberalism territorial aristocracy

Gladstone was always a proponent of the virtues of a territorial aristocracy, believing that extensive property brought with it great duties to the wider community which hereditary aristocrats were most likely to appreciate.

limits on gladstone liberalism peelism

He had learnt his mature politics from Peel and took readily to Peel’s conviction that political leadership entailed strong executive government according to the informed understanding of necessities and possibilities on the part of the King’s ministers.

1868 election

The Liberals under Gladstone’s leadership secured a great electoral victory in 1868 - increasing their majority to over 110.

This was the first election held since the 1867 Reform Act, which extended the vote to all rate payers in the boroughs.

liberals success over tories 1868

saw for the total in the UK, conservatives with 274 seats and liberals with 384.

Overall, the Liberals received around 1.4 million votes to the Tories 0.9 million.

support for gladstone organisations

New model unions – skilled workers, upper working class.

Local newspapers – daily telegraph was a liberal paper.

support for gladstone ideologies

Non conformists – power base of liberal party at this time were chapel goers ie not members of church of England. Eg liberation society. However Gladstone believes very strongly in established church.

Links to temperance movement – people who want to ban alcohol.

gladstone aims for gov and spending

complete move to free-trade by reducing indirect taxes to the lowest possible level, significantly decrease government spending through ‘retrenchment, improve the efficiency of government and purging it of all waste.

gladstone aims for gov beliefs

remove main Non-conformist grievances concerning the established position of the Church of England so as to secure its long-term position within the state.

tackle the real and specific grievances of Ireland, with a view to ending unrest and strengthening that country’s loyalty to the British state.

how gladstone would hold liberal party together

Gladstone saw his role as that of directing national public opinion in the direction of efficient, economical, and moral government.

The job of Parliament was then to realise this agenda through legislation, and this continual demand would bind the party together in a common task

issue with keeping liberals together legislation

once having passed Irish Church reform, Gladstone struggled to find another piece of legislation with comparable cross-party appeal.

Bringing forward numerous measures divided as much as it united the party, with major initiatives such as the Education Act of 1870 and the Irish University Bill of 1873 weakening the Government through the controversy they provoked.

issue with keeping liberals together conception of party

Gladstone’s conception of government clashed with the established Whig-Liberal traditions of the party.

thought parties existed to implement the priorities of the executive and the opinions of colleagues or the preferences of Parliament were of little account. This clash between the rival views of party as forum and party as instrument became a source of frustration for both sides.

While Liberals like Harcourt were alienated by Gladstone, Gladstone became frustrated by the inability of the Cabinet and Parliament to discharge its business effectively.

university test act reason

Under existing statutes, only members of the Church of England could hold scholarships at Oxford and Cambridge or become Fellows at those institutions. By 1871, Gladstone had come to see that exclusion on religious grounds was no longer sustainable and incompatible with Liberal principles.

university test act measure

abolished religious tests, opening teaching and administrative positions within Oxford and Cambridge to persons of any or no religion.

university test act response

popular measure with Non-conformists and was accepted as necessary by most Anglicans – although the Conservative Lord Salisbury put up resistance in the Lords

elementary education act reason

growing recognition that the provision of education for the working class poor was inadequate, 2 million children were left outside the school system altogether.

1. The growing urban working class population was seen as growing up outside of Christian education, in many working class districts there were no local schools for children to attend.

2. Growing awareness of the economic achievements of Prussia and the United States, both of which had, by 1870, free compulsory state-funded elementary education.

education act measure

allowed voluntary schools to carry on unchanged, established a system of 'school boards' to build and manage schools in areas where they were needed.

The boards were locally elected bodies which drew their funding from the local rates, religious teaching in the board schools was to be 'non-denominational'

education act impact on anglican church hold over education

would supplement, not supersede, the basic structure of church-schools and the hold of the Anglican Church over school teaching would not be broken – Anglican schools were to get increased subsidies

anglican response to education act

alarmed because it introduced the principle of non-Church of England religious instruction in government schools.

Anglican Church defence movement was set up, to block the formation of Board Schools, the existing Church of England schools recruited pupils more aggressively, the number attending denominational schools rising from 1.15 to 1.98 million between 1870 and 1880.

non conformists response to education act

believed they had been humiliated by Gladstone - continued to take issue with details of the Act, notably the 50 per cent increase in government grants to existing (mainly Anglican) denominational schools

opposition to education act

Chamberlain’s National Education League objected to the basic principles of the Act and kept up a sustained campaign against it.

At a fraught meeting in 1872 the Education League voted for purely secular education in Board Schools. Chamberlain seized upon the Clause 25 issue and when the general election of 1874 took place 300 out of 425 Liberal candidates in England, Wales, and Scotland were pledged to its repeal.

education act issues to gladstone gov

1. It highlighted Liberal divisions. The Non-conformists had been angered and were henceforth to some degree alienated from the Government.

2. The Act strengthened the forces of Conservatism. Moderate Anglicans were disturbed to find the position of their Church questioned and to see radical Non-conformists like Chamberlain use the issue to stir up general demands for disestablishment.

success of education act

By 1880, 770,000 children were receiving a Board School education.

Education was not yet wholly free or wholly compulsory but the basic principle of state-aided and supervised education was established and free and compulsory education soon followed.

The late nineteenth century saw a rapid rise in literacy rates.

1880 education act

finally made school attendance compulsory between the ages of five and ten, though by the early 1890s attendance within this age group was falling short at 82 per cent.

army regulation act 1871

sped up the rate of troop recruitment, it was hoped that greater numbers of volunteers would come forward and he size of the army increased from 200,000 to 497,000

abolition of commissions of purchase 1871

under the existing army hierarchy officerships could be purchased Cardwell proposed to abolish this and base promotions on merit and ability rather than wealth

• Although the Bill went through the Commons, the Lords blocked its passage.

• Gladstone persuaded the Queen to issue a Royal Warrant withdrawing her sanction for the purchase of commissions, and the Lords then passed the Bill

effects of army reform finances

total defence spending fell by £4 million between 1868 and 1874 – of which £1.5 million came from a fall in expenditure on the navy.

limitations of army reform

the considerable opposition Cardwell experienced meant that several other reforms he had planned were abandoned. Eg he failed to set up a centralised General Staff

The Duke of Cambridge continued to block as many changes as possible until his retirement in 1895.

He failed to get the artillery to abandon the old-fashioned muzzle-loading cannon in favour of the breech-lading cannons used by the Prussians.

1870 civil service reform

principle of entry by competitive examination was established so bright young men from ordinary backgrounds could have the chance of a stable, well-paid career in home civil service (excluded foreign and diplomatic service)

judicature act 1873

Britain’s legal system had seven major independent courts, each with their own procedures, and the legal process was slow, inefficient, and expensive.

Judicature Act 1873 proposed to create a single Supreme Court of Judicature

the Act brought significant rationalisation to court procedure and was relatively uncontroversial

reasons for voting reform

1. The growing political role of trade unions aroused fears that working class voters might be pressured into supporting union-backed candidates if their votes continued to be openly recorded.

2. the 1867 Act had given the vote to many more people who were not financially independent and therefore more susceptible to intimidation and bribes.

secret voting bill 1870

passed through the Commons, however the House of Lords rejected it by 97 against 46, with many Whigs abstaining and Lord John Russell actively opposing.

In 1872, Forster re-introduced the measure and Lords resistance was overborne when Gladstone threatened to call an election if the Lords continued to block the measure.

did significantly reduce the corruption and intimidation surrounding elections

new model unions

important pressure group supporting the Liberals in the 1868 election

• Representing skilled workers

• They were the driving force behind the growing organisation of unions in this period, with 1868 witnessing the inaugural meeting of the Trade Union Congress.

• The main thing unions wanted from the Liberal government was legislation to confirm their legal status and thus protect their monetary reserves and enable them to carry out actions on behalf of their members.

trade union act 1871

gave unions full legal rights as organisations, would be able to protect their funds through the courts and they would be immune from prosecution for restraint of trade.

This Act was warmly welcomed by union leaders – though propertied opinion was less impressed by the surge in strikes which followed its passage

criminal law amendment act 1871

outlawed all forms of intimidation in labour disputes, and declared the threatening or obstructive picketing of workplaces to be illegal.

limitations of trade union legislation

Unions strongly objected to criminal provision, since although they were legalised almost any action they took to achieve their actions was illegal: judges and magistrates interpreted it more restrictively than intended, effectively ruling that all picketing was ‘threatening’ and hence illegal

cost gladstone working class support

factories/coal mines regulations reforms

• The 1870 Factories and Workshop Act strengthened the regulation of factory conditions

• The 1872 Coal Mines Regulation Act established detailed rules covering operating procedures, conditions of work, and age of employees.

women rights reforms

in 1869 unmarried female rate-payers were given the right to vote in municipal elections, while in 1870 they were allowed to vote for School Boards.

married womens property act in 1870 gave married women the right to own property in their own name.

licensing act reasons

The 1867 Reform Act gave great impetus to the movement to control drinking, with the working class now possessing the vote their drunkenness had to be regulated.

Prosecutions for drunkenness rose by 25 per cent in the last half of the 1860s. In 1869 a cross-party alliance of MPs voted to restore public houses to the control of local magistrates, enabling them to refuse licenses to those of bad character.

1872 licensing act

• Regularised the process by which magistrates would grant licenses to public houses.

• Increased fines for drunkenness.

• Forbade the adulteration of beer (e.g. by adding salt to increase thirst)

• Set closing times of 11 pm in rural districts and 12 pm in towns.

opposition to licensing act too limited

temperance movement thought too limited, didnt implement their central demand for a reduction in the number of public houses; nor did it establish the ‘local option’, under which local electors were to be given the right to decide how many pubs could be established in their area – preferably none

opposition to licensing act too extreme

Working class drinkers, were angered by enforced closing hours. There were riots and attacks on police.

The brewing interest resented government interference in their trade. As a result brewers and publicans swung their support behind the Conservatives. This was not a good group to alienate, as they possessed both money and political influence.

local government act 1871

established a Local Government Board, under the direction of a government minister. This Board had responsibility for overseeing the operation of the Poor Law and public health legislation.

1872 public health act

was the product of a Royal Commission into sanitation appointed by Disraeli in 1868, England and Wales were divided into a network of health authorities, each with a Medical Officer but the health authorities accomplished relatively little as their duties were not clearly specified and their funds were limited

impact of local gov reform

• Great municipal buildings were constructed, including town halls, museums, hospitals, and libraries. Civic pride was much enhanced.

• Total spending by local government grew from £27 million in 1870 to £56 million in 1882.

• Death rates in cities fell by a third 1870 to 1900.

• Streets were paved and lighted, and later, taking advantage of the Conservatives Artisans’ Dwellings Act, 90 acres of slum property was acquired and demolished.

financial goals met under gladstone

Retrenchment was accomplished, Lowe and Gladstone put pressure on the spending departments to reduce their estimates

• By 1870 defence spending, at £22 million, was at its lowest level since 1858, and total government spending, which was £71 million in 1868, had fallen to £67 million in 1871.

reasons defence spending increased from 1870 reforms

• Cardwell’s army reforms, though saving money overall, did create additional outlays. The need to purchase commissions, for example, cost £800,000 per annum.

• The 1870 Education Act, with its provisions for increased government subsidies to schools, pushed up education spending from £1 million in 1867 to £2 million in 1873.

reason defence spending increased from 1870 war

The Franco-Prussian War 1870. Although Britain was neutral, it was pledged to guarantee the status of Belgium, so a special credit of £2 million was raised in August 1870.

The size of the army increased by 20,000 in 1871, with spending on the army rising by £2.6 million.

Defence spending therefore began a steady rise, standing at £23 million in 1872 and £23.7 million in 1873.

attempt to abolish income tax

was 6 pence in the pound in 1868, by 1873 it was down to 3 pence, the defence departments resisted calls to end income tax from gladstone so he called snap election for February 1874, appealing over the heads of the military to the ‘people.’

• however his income tax proposals failed to gain popular approval and the Liberals were defeated.

reform league pressuring electoral reform

In 1865, the Reform League to campaign for adult male suffrage was formed. The League was a working class organisation with trade union support and wanted universal make suffrage and radical reform. It was strong in the industrial towns of the north. Middle class Radicals also returned to the issue of electoral reform.

national reform union pressuring electoral reform

manchester saw the formation of the National Reform Union in 1864, with a programme which included the secret ballot; redistribution of seats according to population and property; triennial parliaments; and the franchise for all male persons paying rates.

death of palmerston pressuring electoral reform

• In October 1865 Lord Palmerston, who had recently won a big election victory without making any reference to reform, died. His death opened up the Liberal leadership - and with it the issue of electoral reform. The 73-year-old Russell was at last able to return as Prime Minister and anticipated ending his career with a new reform bill.

1866 reform bill

proposed a relaxation of voting qualifications to give vote to skilled workers and smallholders in counties, would increase the electorate by about 40 per cent

response to 1866 reform bill liberals

• Radicals thought it did not go far enough. They wanted a lower property qualification to vote – or even Household Suffrage, where anyone who paid rates at all would get the vote.

• Moderate Liberals thought the Bill would extend the vote to too many of the working class. With the proposed extension the working class would be in a clear majority in most Boroughs.

Forty opposition Liberals in total

response to 1866 reform bill conservatives

decided to oppose the Bill because:

• By extending the franchise to the Liberal-supporting Labour Aristocracy and shifting seats to urban centres, it would threaten the end of the Conservative party.

• Both Derby and Disraeli saw a chance to defeat the Bill, bring down the government - and terminate Gladstone’s leadership ambitions.

impact of 1866 reform bill

In June 1866 a meeting of Conservative leaders and Liberal dissidents agreed to put forward an amendment which would have the effect of significantly reducing the number of extra voters.

• The government opposed the amendment, but was defeated on 18 June by 315 votes to 304. 51 Liberals voted against their own government.

As a result, the Liberal government decided to resign.

1867 reform act

Under the 1867 Act the vote was extended and it increased the size of the electorate by 80 per cent, from 1.36 million to 2.46 million.

In the English boroughs the increase was 670,000 or 134 per cent.

Where one in five adult males in England and Wales had possessed the vote before 1867, one in three now did so.

1867 reform act working class impact

enfranchised members of the working class - skilled borough workers, there was a five-fold increase in the number of working class voters.

popular agitation as reason for 1867 reform bill

Mass agitation around the issue of reform

• Democracy was clearly going to come, and to stand in its way would foolishly risk revolution. Organisations like the Reform League and the London Working Men’s Association, and individuals like Bright placed pressure

• Moderate Liberals and Conservatives felt their hands strengthened by the unrest and violence, promoting a feeling for order and discipline.

• The basic effect of the agitation was to keep reform in the public eye and to persuade politicians and even the Queen that it was better to diffuse the issue by granting a measure of moderate reform.

political motivation as reason for 1867 reform bill

• Derby basic aim was secure and maintain power for the Conservatives. They had been in opposition for most of the previous 20 years. He wanted to end this by showing that the Conservatives were capable of effective and moderate government.

• Reform had split the Liberals in 1866; continuing with reform in 1867 would keep them divided.

• would undermine Gladstone’s position within the Liberal party.

• Derby realised that reform was inevitable. By proceeding with reform themselves the Tories could shape the details in their own interest.

reform bill 1867 credit goes to

Derby was the initiating force behind the Reform Bill. However his ill health and presence in the Lords meant that from January 1867 onwards it was Disraeli in the Commons who was chiefly responsible for determining the final shape of the bill.

conservative features of 1867 reform bill

• Voting continued to take place in public, with the result that workers could still come under pressure from employers and landowners.

• In the counties the electorate only increased by 40%, and the voting qualification of £12 was sufficiently high to deny the vote to agricultural labourers and industrial workers in rural areas – such as coal miners.

• The distribution of seats still failed to reflect the pattern of population, with the industrial urban centres of the north under-represented compared to the more sparsely populated south and east. Wiltshire and Dorset, for example, had 25 MPs for a population of 450,000, yet the West Riding of Yorkshire had only 22 MPs for a population of 2 million.

1867 reform act impact on party voting patterns

In 1865 the Conservatives won 99 English county seats; in 1868 they won 127 and in 1874 145. During the same period the Liberal county representation fell from 48 to 45 to 27.

Liberal votes tended to pile up in the great centres of population, while the Conservative vote was more evenly spread throughout the country.

1867 reform act impact on party organisation liberals

encouraged the growth of party organisation.

Formation of the Birmingham Liberal Association in 1865, brought together the votes of the working and middle classes of the town to ensure the Liberals retained a strong grip on the politics of the town. In the elections of 1868, 1874, and 1880 all three of Birmingham’s MPs were Liberal.

1867 reform act impact on party organisation conservatives

In 1867 the National Union of Conservative Associations was formed, and in 1870 Disraeli appointed J.A. Gorst as the head of a new Conservative Central Office. In 1871 Gorst also became Secretary of the National Union, and this became, in effect, the national propaganda arm of the Central Office.

By 1873 Gorst had founded 69 Conservative Associations, bringing the total in the country to 400. Gorst’s particular aim was to improve Conservative organisation in the large urban boroughs.

impact of reform act 1867 on electorate and politicians relationship

power shifted from the Westminster Parliament to the electorate which meant a shift away from Parliament to the national party organisations which campaigned and secured the votes necessary for the formation of governments.

marked the decline of traditional parliamentary government. Mps were increasingly subordinated to the disciplines of the party organisations, with their resources and members, which were hence able to define the national political agenda and direct parliamentary debate.

1880 election

Disraeli’s Conservatives lost 114 seats, allowing the Liberals to emerge with a majority of 106. For Gladstone, the outcome was at once a vindication of his faith in the just good sense of the public and a decisive personal triumph over his old rival Disraeli.

mildothian campaign

Gladstone had developed a loathing for Disraeli’s Conservative government as its domestic policies were wasteful and economically damaging, while its foreign policies were immoral in their cynicism and appeals to aggressive patriotism.

By the time the campaign ended in April 1880 he had made 18 major speeches and had addressed around 87,000 people, biggest audience of all was the newspaper reading public, the major papers carrying extensive reports of the speeches. The Times, alone, carried some 250,000 of Gladstone’s words over the campaign.

reasons for liberal victory 1880

• Mildothian campaign.

• A deteriorating economic position.

• Improvements in Liberal party organisation.

• The Conservatives utter lack of constructive policies.

• Hartington, the Liberal leader, in securing a renewed commitment to Liberal politics among Whig landowners.

gladstone 2nd cabinet

Of the 20 who served in the Cabinet between 1880 and 1885, nine were Whigs, five mainstream Liberals, and three Radicals; Bright’s appointment as Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster was essentially symbolic, but the presence of Chamberlain and, later, Dilke, represented an important concession to the forces of provincial radicalism.

issues with 1880 gov

The Cabinet was far from harmonious and never functioned very effectively. Argyll resigned in 1881, Forster and Bright in 1882. Unlike the 1868 government, that of 1880 ‘not only lacked a structured programme but it also had little idea in advance of the main issues with which it would have to deal

liberals were divided

corrupt practices act 1883

sought to end electoral corruption by making it illegal to bribe voters and setting limits on campaign spending

redistribution bill 1885 aim

attempted to equalise the size of constituencies in terms of numbers of population and brought to an end the over-representation of rural areas and under-representation of industrial towns and cities

redistribution bill 1885 terms

Boroughs with a population under 50,000 lost one MP, boroughs with a population under 10,000 lost both their MPs

142 seats were redistrubted

national liberation foundation

founded in 1877, radical wing of the liberal party, put pressure to extend franchise to working men in the countryside, pressure for 1884 reform act

1884 reform bill increase in franchise

electorate increased from 3 million to 6 million out of a population of 35 million, about 60% of adult males could vote but all women and 40% of men still couldnt vote

1884 reform bill terms

in the counties vote given to all male householders over 21 and £10 lodgers

a £10 occupier franchise was created for those living in shops or offices

made the franchise the same in counties and boroughs but different regulations added complications to the system eg the older franchise still applied

limitations of 1884 reform act

all women and 40% of adult men were still without the vote, men excluded from the register of legal provision were left off because of the complexity of the registration system or because they were temporarily unable to fulfil the residency qualification