How did Britain’s political system work?
The United Kingdom, based on a single Parliament at
Westminster, was quite new in the 1780s. Wales was united with England by
legislation in 1536 and 1542. The Act of Union with Scotland was in 1707.
However, Ireland did not lose its independence in 1801. The British Constitution
of monarchy, House of Commons and House of Lords was held up, particularly by
continental writers, as a model of how a country should be run. The American War
of Independence (1775-1783) and the outbreak of revolution in France in 1789 led
to increasing radical demands for reform of the system.
The electorate.
In the 1780s about 435,000 people in England and Wales could
vote out of a population of nine millions, or just over five per cent. In
Scotland and Ireland it was less than one per cent of the total population of
ten millions. The Septennial Act 1715 established seven-year parliaments though
general elections were also held on the death of the monarch, a practice finally
ended in 1867.
The House of Commons was made up of MPs from the boroughs or
towns and the counties. Both counties and boroughs sent two MPs each to
Parliament. In the counties, all forty-shilling freeholders were entitled to
vote and some of the counties had a considerable number of voters. Yorkshire,
for example, had about 20,000 in the 1780s. Bedfordshire had nearly 4,000 just
before the Reform Act, which was average for English counties. In the boroughs,
the situation was much more confused. In some towns, the vote was given to the
corporation or town council. In others, it was restricted to 'freemen' or to all
who owned or occupied certain types of property, who paid local taxes ['scot and
lot'] or who were not getting alms or charity ['potwallopers'].
Counties were more democratic than boroughs because the size of
the electorate was important in determining the level of corruption. There were
'rotten boroughs', like Dunwich in Suffolk where thirty-two electors chose the
two MPs. Where there were a small number of voters, elections allowed them to
sell their votes. When William Cobbett stood, unsuccessfully, for parliament in
1806 on a non-corruption ticket he was accused of talking the bread from the
mouths of voters. The price varied. Some electors accepted straightforward
bribes. Others preferred to negotiate benefits for the town or corporation.
Successful candidates were expected to show their gratitude and 'treating' was
widespread. An elector had two votes, but could give both their votes or ‘plump’
for one candidate. When it is recalled that more than 40 per cent of the English
boroughs had electorates of less than 100 and that two-thirds had electorates
below 500, the importance of influence through corruption or 'management' is
more understandable. Some boroughs were under the control of a particular family
or patron: they were known as 'pocket boroughs' or 'nomination boroughs'.
Although control by patrons was accepted, it could not be taken for granted and
once achieved it had to be cultivated carefully. Since elections were expensive
great efforts were made to avoid a contest whenever possible. Local Whigs and
Tories might agree to share the representation rather than incur the cost of
disputing it. When the ambitions of two families clashed, it was cheaper for
them to take with one seat each rather than embark on the costly and uncertain
procedures necessary to win both.
Elections.
Eighteenth and early nineteenth century elections were noisy,
rough and held in public. Drunkenness and rioting were normal events and through
the days on which polling took place, the mob revelled in the exhilarating
diversions that accompanied the poll. Voting took place over several days on an
open husting and unpopular preferences were greeted with catcalls, whistles or
over-ripe fruit. Opponents were lured into taverns where they were got drunk and
locked up until voting was completed. A memorial tablet in Leeds Parish Church
reads "Roger Holt Leigh severely injured by an excited populace when engaged in
the exercise of his franchise as Burgess of Wigan that he subsequently died."
Since there was no voting register documents were often forged to give people
the vote that did not have it. Dead men were impersonated, votes were cast twice
and the returning officer often embarrassed his opponents by transferring the
hustings to some inaccessible and unadvertised spot. Known enemies were
disqualified on trumped up charges. Once all the votes had been cast, there
could still be disputes over whether individuals had the right to vote.
Parties.
Before 1832, working out election results was complicated by
the vagueness of party lines, the number of uncontested elections and the
presence of 'independent' candidates. National political parties, like those we
have today, offering distinctive political programmes and with an organised
national and local party machine, did not begin to emerge until after the 1832
Reform Act. However, from the 1780s the number of MPs consistently supporting
Tory or Whig positions in divisions in the House of Commons did increase. To
talk about the 'Whig' and 'Tory' parties is deceptive. In neither case did the
term mean a tightly knit political group, although they both came from the
aristocratic landed elite, and it is necessary to give both words a very loose
meaning. Lord Liverpool led a broadly Tory government between 1812 and 1827 but
his cabinet was not united on fundamental issues. Liverpool remained in office
not because he had a united and disciplined party behind him but because he
could manage a majority in the Commons and Lords, on most occasions, and because
he had the support of George, as Regent before 1820 and then as king. His long
period in office demonstrated two particular things. First, as Prime Minister,
he had at his disposal large amounts of political patronage, which he used to
maintain his authority and 'manage' Parliament. Secondly, the pursuit of planned
policies was difficult and through the period successive Prime Ministers tended
to react to situations rather than determine them. Changes in direction were
only possible when they had widespread support across the political
establishment or if the policies were uncontroversial.
Religion
Organised religion in the 1780s played a dominant role in
people’s lives. Christian principles formed the bedrock of society and its
system of morality. Baptism, marriage and burial were key events for
individuals. The pulpit was an important means of communication. The churches
provided education, especially for the poor, in the form of day and Sunday
schools. People often learned to read from the Bible. The language, images and
messages of religious belief permeated throughout society.
The fundamental religious division was between Roman
Catholicism and Protestantism, the religion of the state throughout Great
Britain. The Church of England or Anglican Church was the Established Church
except in Scotland where the Presbyterian Church had the same role. It was
created by Parliament in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and its
archbishops and bishops, a conservative body largely unwilling to contemplate
reform, sat in the House of Lords. The strength of the Church of England lay in
rural England and was based on the bond between the squire and the parson. By
the 1780s, this cosy relationship was threatened by a weakening of social ties
and widespread criticisms of clerical abuses. It was, however, weak in the
growing towns. It failed to accommodate growing congregations leaving a
religious vacuum among the working population that Nonconformity or Dissent
filled from the 1760s and 1770s. Anti-Popery ran deep in British society and
Roman Catholics were, until 1829, denied the same civil rights as Protestants.
Catholicism in Ireland, the religion of the majority, was seen as a means of
expressing nationalist aspirations and consequently as subversive. In Wales
Calvinist Methodism increasingly took a similar stance. Chapel and Church were
at the heart of many communities providing a focus for spiritual and practical
support.
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