151-462: Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle , who served in Pelham's government and succeeded him as prime minister. Pelham is generally considered to have been Britain's third prime minister, after Robert Walpole and
302-665: A colonial raid against Louisbourg in 1745 , which was successful. Along with the defeat of a Spanish Invasion of Georgia in 1742, this strengthened the British position in North America. In 1745, the Jacobite Rising broke out in Scotland and soon spread to northern England . Newcastle feared an attack from the north by Bonnie Prince Charlie , who had already gathered 5,000 men in Derby , and
453-511: A "party" in the modern sense. They had no definite programme or policy and were by no means even united. Generally, they stood for reducing crown patronage, sympathy towards nonconformists , support for the interests of merchants and bankers and a leaning towards the idea of a limited reform of the voting system. Most Whig leaders, such as Lord Grey , Lord Grenville , Lord Althorp , William Lamb (later Lord Melbourne ) and Lord John Russell , were still rich landowners. The most prominent exception
604-602: A French invasion of southern England. In the panic, a number of false rumours circulated around London, including news that Newcastle had fled to the Continent for fear that all was lost. He was forced to show himself to a crowd that had gathered outside Newcastle House to prove that he was still there. Nonetheless, his position was threatened since if the Jacobites were triumphant his estates would likely have been confiscated and he would have been forced into exile. Newcastle awoke to
755-555: A Tory and Fox as a Whig, Pitt always considered himself to be an independent Whig and generally opposed the development of a strict partisan political system. Fox's supporters saw themselves as legitimate heirs of the Whig tradition and they strongly opposed Pitt in his early years in office, notably during the regency crisis revolving around the King's temporary insanity in 1788–1789, when Fox and his allies supported full powers as regent for their ally,
906-616: A Tory-dominated House of Commons but upon the accession of William III in 1688 a new Act was passed that prohibited the importation of French goods. In 1704, the Whigs passed the Trade with France Act that renewed protectionism against France. In 1710, Queen Anne appointed the predominantly Tory Harley Ministry , which favoured free trade. When the Tory minister Lord Bolingbroke proposed a commercial treaty with France in 1713 that would have led to freer trade,
1057-776: A central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and were the standing enemies of the Roman Catholic Stuart kings and pretenders . The period known as the Whig Supremacy (1714–1760) was enabled by the Hanoverian succession of George I in 1714 and the failure of the Jacobite rising of 1715 by Tory rebels. The Whigs took full control of the government in 1715 and thoroughly purged the Tories from all major positions in government,
1208-651: A chance to die down. When it met in October 1680, an Exclusion Bill was introduced and passed in the Commons without major resistance, but was rejected in the Lords. Charles dissolved Parliament in January 1681, but the Whigs did not suffer serious losses in the ensuing election. The next Parliament first met in March at Oxford, but Charles dissolved it after only a few days, when he made an appeal to
1359-733: A coalition with the ' New Whigs ', previous opponents of the Walpole government. However, there remained a strident opposition, led vocally by men like William Pitt and Lord Sandwich . In 1740, shortly after the declaration of war with Spain, a separate war had broken out simultaneously in Europe into which the War of Jenkins' Ear soon became submerged. In a dispute over the throne of Austria, both France and Prussia had invaded Austria and planned to remove Empress Maria Theresa and replace her with their own claimant. Austria's longstanding alliance with Britain required
1510-640: A fund to reduce the National Debt. In 1749, the Consolidation Act was passed, reorganising the Royal Navy . On 20 March 1751, the British calendar was reorganised as well (New Year's Day became 1 January); Britain would adopt the Gregorian calendar one year later. In 1752 he was able to reduce the land tax from 4 s to 2 s in the pound (an effective reduction from 20% to 10%). One social consequence of
1661-574: A house located at 22 Arlington Street in St James's, Westminster. He hired the architect William Kent to build the structure in two phases. Kent died in 1748 and the work was completed by Stephen Wright in 1754. Pelham died in 1754 and was buried in All Saints' Church, Laughton, East Sussex . His personal papers were inherited by his son-in-law and now form part of the Newcastle (Clumber) Collection held at
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#17330847192551812-631: A lasting peace that would be built around a strong and stable British alliance with Austria. Like many Whigs he saw maintaining the European balance of power, as essential. He described the process as "restoring the Old System", but it was popularly known as the Newcastle System. He came under continuous attack from Pitt and the Patriot Whigs , who despised his European policy because of their belief that
1963-593: A major overhaul of public buildings, many of which had fallen into very poor repair. In 1724, Newcastle was chosen by Walpole to be Secretary of State for the Southern Department in place of Lord Carteret , a move largely engineered by Townshend. He had been for some time considered the third most important man in the government, behind Walpole and Townshend, which was confirmed by his new position. Newcastle had for several years been growing increasingly interested in foreign affairs and had been educating himself on
2114-418: A national network of newspapers and magazines as well as local clubs to deliver their message. The press organised petitions and debates and reported to the public on government policy, while leaders such as Henry Brougham (1778–1868) built alliances with men who lacked direct representation. This new approach to the grass roots helped to define Whiggism and opened the way for later success. Whigs thereby forced
2265-516: A new system emerged with two separate opposition groups. The Rockingham Whigs claimed the mantle of Old Whigs as the purported successors of the party of the Pelhams and the great Whig families. With such noted intellectuals as Edmund Burke behind them, the Rockingham Whigs laid out a philosophy which for the first time extolled the virtues of faction, or at least their faction. The other group were
2416-400: A peerage ), Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (declined a peerage but died as an MP), Bonar Law (died as an MP), Ramsay MacDonald (died as an MP), Neville Chamberlain (declined a peerage but died as an MP), Sir Winston Churchill (declined a peerage), Sir Edward Heath (declined a peerage), Sir John Major (declined a peerage), Sir Tony Blair (declined a peerage), Gordon Brown (declined
2567-599: A peerage), Boris Johnson , and Liz Truss . Pelham was played by Roger Allam in the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides . Whigs (British political party) Factions: The Whigs were a political party in the Parliaments of England , Scotland , Ireland , Great Britain and the United Kingdom . Between the 1680s and the 1850s, the Whigs contested power with their rivals,
2718-465: A policy and became a target for unprecedented attacks. Newcastle too came under intense pressure but initially considered the demands for Britain to declare war with Spain a dangerous step, and in spite of his increasingly bellicose statements, he still considered the idea of an Anglo-Spanish alliance as late as 1739. He tried to negotiate a solution to the crisis with the Convention of Pardo , which agreed
2869-519: A royal favourite, but by 1743, Newcastle and his brother were firmly in control of British policy until 1756. Newcastle now set about drawing up a fresh scheme to enhance British power on the continent, including an attempt to persuade the Dutch Republic into the anti-French alliance and mediating the dispute between Austria and Prussia, which led to the Treaty of Dresden in 1745. He also approved plans for
3020-503: A shrewd and calculating politician. He was reserved and cautious, but behind the reserve was steel. All agreed on his integrity, which was remarkable in a venal age; unlike Walpole, he died relatively poor. Pelham married Lady Catherine Manners , daughter of the 2nd Duke of Rutland , on 31 October 1726 in the Parish of St James , City of Westminster . They had four daughters: When Pelham was elevated to Prime Minister, he began construction of
3171-410: A song named "Doing It for the Whigs". Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne , (21 July 1693 – 17 November 1768) was an English Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain , and whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. He is commonly known as
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#17330847192553322-766: A strong presidency , initially the presidency of Andrew Jackson , analogous to the British Whig opposition to a strong monarchy. The True Whig Party , which for a century dominated Liberia , was named for the American party rather than directly for the British one. Dickinson reports the following: All historians are agreed that the Tory party declined sharply in the late 1740s and 1750s and that it ceased to be an organized party by 1760. The research of Sir Lewis Namier and his disciples [...] has convinced all historians that there were no organized political parties in Parliament between
3473-505: A sum of compensation to be paid to British merchants, but British public opinion had shifted, and Walpole felt that there was no option but to declare war in December 1739. The British opened the war with a victory, capturing Porto Bello in Panama. That led to an outbreak of patriotic fervour, and further increased the pressure on Walpole and Newcastle for their perceived unwilling prosecution of
3624-567: A union of parties resulted in the formation of an administration in which Pelham became Prime Minister the following year, succeeding the Earl of Wilmington after his death. The first year of Pelham's premiership is regarded as a continuation of the Carteret ministry , with Lord Carteret continuing as Secretary of State for the Northern Department with responsibility for foreign affairs; Carteret
3775-414: A younger son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham , and his wife, the former Grace Pelham, Baroness Pelham of Laughton, the daughter of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare , and Grace Pierrepont. He was educated at Westminster School , and matriculated at King's College, Cambridge at Easter 1709, then migrated to Hart Hall, Oxford (the present-day Hertford College), matriculating on 6 September 1710, upon
3926-523: Is a deficit of trade with France was bad because it would enrich France at England's expense. In 1678, the Whigs passed the Prohibition of 1678 that banned certain French goods from being imported into England. The economic historian William Ashley claimed that this Act witnessed the "real starting-point in the history of Whig policy in the matter of trade". It was repealed upon the accession of James II by
4077-625: The Duke of Bedford and elements of that which had been led by George Grenville , it also contained elements of the Kings' Men, the group formerly associated with Lord Bute and which was generally seen as Tory-leaning. The association of Toryism with Lord North's government was also influential in the American colonies and writings of British political commentators known as the Radical Whigs did much to stimulate colonial republican sentiment. Early activists in
4228-465: The Duke of Bedford by engineering his resignation and the dismissal of Lord Sandwich, whom Newcastle had now begun to consider a dangerously ambitious rival. The ease with which he did so demonstrated his total control of British politics, as Bedford led a strong faction. He had, however, made a significant enemy, who would later try to undermine Newcastle. In 1752 he made a rare trip abroad by accompanying George II on his annual trip to Hanover . During
4379-573: The Duke of Monmouth , being implicated, fled to and regrouped in the United Provinces . Algernon Sidney , Sir Thomas Armstrong and William Russell, Lord Russell , were executed for treason. The Earl of Essex committed suicide in the Tower of London over his arrest for treason, whilst Lord Grey of Werke escaped from the Tower. After the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Queen Mary II and King William III governed with both Whigs and Tories, despite
4530-416: The Duke of Newcastle . A protégé of Robert Walpole , he served under him for more than 20 years until 1742. He held power with his brother, prime minister Henry Pelham , until 1754. He had then served as a Secretary of State continuously for 30 years and dominated British foreign policy. After Henry's death, Newcastle was prime minister for six years in two separate periods. While his first premiership
4681-580: The Earl of Shelburne , took its place. After Rockingham's unexpected death in July 1782, this uneasy coalition fell apart, with Charles James Fox , Rockingham's successor as faction leader, quarrelling with Shelburne and withdrawing his supporters from the government. The following Shelburne administration was short-lived and Fox returned to power in April 1783, this time in an unexpected coalition with his old enemy Lord North. Although this pairing seemed unnatural to many at
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4832-519: The Prince of Wales . The opposition Whigs were split by the onset of the French Revolution . While Fox and some younger members of the party such as Charles Grey and Richard Brinsley Sheridan were sympathetic to the French revolutionaries, others led by Edmund Burke were strongly opposed. Although Burke himself was largely alone in defecting to Pitt in 1791, much of the rest of the party, including
4983-537: The Prince of Wales . Following his success in defeating the government over the Peerage Bill in 1719, Walpole was invited back into government the following year. He was able to defend the government in the Commons when the South Sea Bubble collapsed. When Stanhope died unexpectedly in 1721, Walpole replaced him as leader of the government and became known as the first Prime Minister . In the 1722 general election
5134-570: The Royal Academy of Music . The Duke ordered Handel in May 1719 to go to the Continent to contract singers for as long as possible. He held the post for seven years and performed well enough to be considered for further promotion. Despite his youth, he had demonstrated his strength in several general elections when he had been able to get as many as 20 MPs elected to seats that he controlled through his family's wealth and political patronage. He survived in
5285-841: The Tories . The Whigs became the Liberal Party when the faction merged with the Peelites and Radicals in the 1850s. Many Whigs left the Liberal Party in 1886 over the issue of Irish Home Rule to form the Liberal Unionist Party , which merged into the Conservative Party in 1912. The Whigs began as a political faction that opposed absolute monarchy and Catholic emancipation , supporting constitutional monarchism and parliamentary government , but also Protestant supremacy. They played
5436-566: The Tory party as treasonous Jacobites , and the Septennial Act ensured that the Whigs became the dominant party, establishing the Whig oligarchy. Between 1717 and 1720 the Whig Split led to a division in the party. Government Whigs led by the former soldier James Stanhope were opposed by Robert Walpole and his allies. While Stanhope was backed by George I, Walpole and his supporters were closer to
5587-537: The aristocratic families, the continued disenfranchisement of Catholics and toleration of nonconformist Protestants ( dissenters such as the Presbyterians), while the Tories generally favoured the minor gentry and people who were ( relatively speaking ) smallholders; they also supported the legitimacy of a strongly established Church of England . (The so-called High Tories preferred high church Anglicanism, or Anglo-Catholicism . Some, particularly adherents of
5738-576: The colonies called themselves Whigs, seeing themselves as in alliance with the political opposition in Britain, until they turned to independence and started emphasising the label Patriots . In contrast, the American Loyalists , who supported the monarchy, were consistently also referred to as Tories. Later, the United States Whig Party was founded in 1833 on the basis of opposition to
5889-415: The last major European war , Britain had been an ally of France, a strong reversal in policy, as France had previously been considered the premier enemy of Britain. The reasons for the alliance were complex, and many had doubted the détente could last long, but when Newcastle became Secretary of State, they had been allies for nearly a decade. By 1719, they had become part of a wider Quadruple Alliance, which
6040-404: The non-juring schism , openly or covertly supported the exiled House of Stuart 's claim to the throne—a position known as Jacobitism .) Later, the Whigs came to draw support from the emerging industrial reformists and the mercantile class while the Tories came to draw support from farmers, landowners, royalists and (relatedly) those who favoured imperial military spending. By the first half of
6191-615: The "Whigs". In The History of England , c. 1760 , David Hume wrote: The court party reproached their antagonists with their affinity to the fanatical conventiclers in Scotland, who were known by the name of Whigs: The country party found a resemblance between the courtiers and the popish banditti in Ireland, to whom the appellation of Tory was affixed. And after this manner, these foolish terms of reproach came into public and general use; and even at present seem not nearer their end than when they were first invented. The precursor to
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6342-589: The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht , which they attempted to block through their majority in the House of Lords . The Tory administration led by Harley and the Viscount Bolingbroke persuaded the Queen to create twelve new Tory peers to force the treaty through. The Whigs primarily advocated the supremacy of Parliament, while calling for toleration for Protestant dissenters. They adamantly opposed a Catholic as king. They opposed
6493-429: The 19th century, the Whig manifesto had come to encompass the supremacy of parliament , the abolition of slavery , the expansion of the franchise (suffrage) and an acceleration of the move toward complete equal rights for Catholics (a reversal of the party's late-17th-century position, which had been militantly anti-Catholic ). The term Whig began as a short form of whiggamore , a term originally used by people in
6644-521: The American colony of Georgia in 1733. The longstanding peace policy was now beginning to look extremely fragile. He also acted as a mediator in the War of the Polish Succession , helping to bring the conflict to an end in 1738. The growing tension between Britain and Spain came to a head in 1731 during an incident known as Jenkins' Ear , when a British merchant captain was captured for illegal trading off
6795-599: The Austrian Alliance. He spent several years trying to secure the election of Maria Theresa's son, the future Emperor Joseph II , as King of the Romans , a title of the Holy Roman Empire that carried enormous prestige but little real power, only to see the scheme fail because of Austrian indifference. There were a number of warning signs that all was not well with the alliance, but Newcastle ignored most of them since he
6946-484: The Austrian Succession . He demobilized the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12 million to £7 million. He refinanced the national debt dropping the interest from 4% to 3%. In 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound; that is, from 20% to 10%. Historians Stephen Brumwell and W. A. Speck describe him as being an effective politician: His subdued manner concealed
7097-720: The British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . It purchased and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar islands. After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833. The Whigs also passed the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 that reformed the administration of relief to the poor and the Marriage Act 1836 that allowed civil marriages. It
7248-601: The Catholic Church because they saw it as a threat to liberty, or as Pitt the Elder stated: "The errors of Rome are rank idolatry, a subversion of all civil as well as religious liberty, and the utter disgrace of reason and of human nature". Ashcraft and Goldsmith (1983) have traced in detail, in the period 1689 to 1710, the major influence of the liberal political ideas of John Locke on Whig political values, as expressed in widely cited manifestos such as "Political Aphorisms: or,
7399-401: The Church of England, opposed to a Whig". He linked 18th-century Whiggism with 17th-century revolutionary Puritanism, arguing that the Whigs of his day were similarly inimical to the established order of church and state. Johnson recommended that strict uniformity in religious externals was the best antidote to the objectionable religious traits that he linked to Whiggism. At their inception,
7550-419: The Dutch Republic to make peace with the French. The Dutch feared that the French would soon launch a devastating onslaught and overrun their country. Newcastle considered that any peace that would be made would be extremely disadvantageous to Britain, and he tried to keep the anti-French coalition strong through constant diplomacy and offers of financial subsidies . Talks for a peace settlement were convened in
7701-400: The Earl of Wilmington . Pelham's premiership was relatively uneventful in terms of domestic affairs, although it was during his premiership that Great Britain experienced the tumult of the 1745 Jacobite uprising . In foreign affairs, Britain fought in several wars. On Pelham's death, his brother Newcastle took full control of the British government. Pelham, Newcastle's younger brother, was
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#17330847192557852-441: The Household and was given the responsibility of overseeing theatres. Plays were often extremely political, and Newcastle was tasked with suppressing any plays or playwrights that he believed to be too critical of the Hanoverian succession or the Whig government. Newcastle clashed repeatedly with Sir Richard Steele , a leading playwright. In 1719, he was one of the three main investors in George Frideric Handel 's new opera company,
8003-464: The Jacobite James Stuart , known later as the 'old pretender'. This issue dominated British politics during the last few years of Queen Anne's reign, leading up to her death in 1714, and had a profound impact on the future career of the young Duke of Newcastle. He joined the Hannover Club and the Kit Kat Club , both leading centres of Whig thinking and organisation. Newcastle House in London became his premier residence. Newcastle vigorously sustained
8154-483: The Junto led to a split among the Whigs, with the so-called Country Whigs seeing the Junto as betraying their principles for office. The Country Whigs, led by Robert Harley , gradually merged with the Tory opposition in the later 1690s. Although William's successor Anne had considerable Tory sympathies and excluded the Junto Whigs from power, after a brief and unsuccessful experiment with an exclusively Tory government she generally continued William's policy of balancing
8305-446: The Netherlands. Orange wanted to continue the war with the French but soon had to apply to the British for a massive loan. Newcastle, now aware of how close the Dutch were to collapsing altogether, reluctantly turned towards seeking a peaceful accommodation with France. He berated himself for his "ignorance, obstinacy and credulity" and half expected his misjudgment in putting so much faith in the Dutch to result in his dismissal, but both
8456-478: The Prime Minister would often meet at Houghton Hall in Norfolk, where they would draw up much of the country's policy. These meetings became known as the Norfolk Congress . With Walpole, he served as a founding governor of the popular charity the Foundling Hospital when it opened its doors in 1739. Like his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, Pelham was an active freemason of the Premier Grand Lodge of England , active alongside John Theophilus Desaguliers . In 1742
8607-424: The Sovereign. When he finally died in 1754, the King remarked "Now I shall have no more peace." The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in 1748 leading inexorably to a number of cost-cutting budgetary measures. The Army and Navy spending shrunk from £12 m to £7 million per annum. Pelham promised to reduce interest rates through introduction of a balancing act measure from 4% to 3% by 1757. He also assisted
8758-436: The True Maxims of Government Displayed", an anonymous pamphlet that appeared in 1690 and was widely cited by Whigs. The 18th-century Whigs borrowed the concepts and language of universal rights employed by political theorists Locke and Algernon Sidney (1622–1682). By the 1770s the ideas of Adam Smith , a founder of classical liberalism became important. As Wilson and Reill (2004) note: "Adam Smith's theory melded nicely with
8909-465: The Whig Party ( blue and buff , a yellow-brown colour named after buff leather ) were particularly associated with Charles James Fox . Poet Robert Burns in "Here's a health to them that's awa" wrote: It's guid to support Caledonia's cause And bide by the Buff and the Blue. "The British Whig March" for piano was written by Oscar Telgmann in Kingston, Ontario , c. 1900 . Punk band The Men That Will Not Be Blamed for Nothing have
9060-440: The Whig Party's hold on power remained strong for many years thereafter. Thus historians have called the period from roughly 1714 to 1783 the "long period of Whig oligarchy". During the American Revolution , the Whigs were the party more sympathetic to American independence and the creation of a democracy in the United States. By 1784, both the Whigs and Tories had become formal political parties, with Charles James Fox becoming
9211-474: The Whigs at Queen Anne's death and had much influence in making the Londoners accept King George I , even organising so-called 'Newcastle mobs' to fight with rival Jacobites in the street. His services were too great to be neglected by the new Hanoverian king, and in 1714, he was created Earl of Clare , and in 1715 Marquess of Clare and Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, two titles previously held by his late uncle John Holles. He also became Lord-Lieutenant of
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#17330847192559362-494: The Whigs swept to a decisive victory. Between 1714 and 1760, the Tories struggled as an active political force, but always retained a considerable presence in the House of Commons . The governments of Walpole, Henry Pelham and his older brother the Duke of Newcastle dominated between 1721 and 1757 (with a brief break during the also-Whig Carteret ministry ). The leading entities in these governments consistently referred to themselves as "Whigs". This arrangement changed during
9513-406: The Whigs was Denzil Holles ' parliamentarian faction, which was characterised by its opposition to absolute monarchism . Under Lord Shaftesbury's leadership, the Whigs (also known as the Country Party) sought to exclude the Duke of York (who later became King James II) from the throne due to his Roman Catholicism, his favouring of monarchical absolutism, and his connections to France. They believed
9664-440: The Whigs were protectionist in economic policy, with free trade policies being advocated by Tories. The Whigs were opposed to the pro-French policies of the Stuart kings Charles II and James II as they believed that such an alliance with the Catholic absolute monarchy of France endangered liberty and Protestantism. The Whigs claimed that trade with France was bad for England and developed an economic theory of overbalance, that
9815-519: The Whigs were vehemently against it and it had to be abandoned. In 1786, Pitt's government negotiated the Eden Agreement , a commercial treaty with France which led to freer trade between the two countries. All of the Whig leaders attacked this on traditional Whig anti-French and protectionist grounds. Fox claimed that France was England's natural enemy and that it was only at Britain's expense that she could grow. Edmund Burke , Richard Sheridan , William Windham and Charles Grey all spoke out against
9966-500: The Whigs, and he was granted unprecedented powers, effectively making him the first prime minister of Great Britain . During his time in the office, Newcastle and his wife had become famous for throwing lavish parties that were attended by much of London society including many of his political opponents. He was also prodigiously fond of fox hunting and often went down to Bishopstone , one of his Sussex properties, expressly for that purpose. During his time as Lord Chamberlain he oversaw
10117-462: The Whigs, especially as her personal relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough deteriorated. This situation also became increasingly uncomfortable to many of the non-Junto Whigs, led by the Duke of Somerset and the Duke of Shrewsbury , who began to intrigue with Robert Harley's Tories. In the spring of 1710, Anne dismissed Godolphin and the Junto ministers, replacing them with Tories. The Whigs now moved into opposition and particularly decried
10268-464: The Whigs. Following their victory, the Whigs split with one group forming the government for George I, and the other dissident Whigs became the effective opposition in Parliament. After a period of political manoeuvring, he was for a while associated with a Whig faction led by James Stanhope , but from 1720, Newcastle began to identify strongly with the government Whigs, who had quickly come to be dominated by Sir Robert Walpole . Walpole gladly welcomed
10419-438: The alliance were not to end in defeat. In the same year, 16,000 British troops were sent to the continent. Newcastle was a staunch Austrophile and strongly supported aid to the Austrians. He had long thought that the only way Britain could defeat France was in alliance with Austria, a view sharply at odds with many other leading politicians such as Walpole and Pitt. Newcastle's position had briefly been threatened by Carteret ,
10570-420: The appointment of bishops and lucrative positions in the Church of England. Newcastle's growing independence from Walpole was helped by the support of his brother and his best friend, Hardwicke , who had become Lord Chancellor. During the latter half of the decade, his job was increasingly dominated by managing relations with Spain, which included trade disputes and objections to the controversial founding of
10721-407: The appointment of his tutor Richard Newton as Principal of Hart Hall. As a volunteer he served in Dormer's regiment at the Battle of Preston in 1715 and spent some time on the Continent. He was returned as Member of Parliament for Seaford in Sussex by his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, at a by-election on 28 February 1717 and represented it until 1722. Through strong family influence, and
10872-470: The army, the Church of England , the legal profession, and local political offices. The first great leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole , who maintained control of the government from 1721 to 1742, and whose protégé, Henry Pelham , led the government from 1743 to 1754. Great Britain approximated a one-party state under the Whigs until King George III came to the throne in 1760 and allowed Tories back in. But
11023-622: The chief party manager for the Whigs from 1715 to 1761. He used his energy and his money to select candidates, distribute patronage and win elections. He was especially influential in the counties of Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. His greatest triumph came in the 1754 election . Outside the electoral realm, his reputation has suffered. Historian Harry Dickinson says that he became [n]otorious for his fussiness and fretfulness, his petty jealousies, his reluctance to accept responsibility for his actions, and his inability to pursue any political objective to his own satisfaction or to
11174-401: The city of Breda in 1746. Newcastle was instrumental in securing the appointment of Lord Sandwich as the British representative at the talks, as his views were very close to his own. Sandwich's principal instructions were to delay the talks until a significant British victory allowed them to negotiate from a position of strength. The Congress of Breda did not progress well initially because
11325-537: The coalition, the Whiggish elements of the new party progressively lost influence during the long leadership of former Peelite William Ewart Gladstone. Subsequently, the majority of the old Whig aristocracy broke from the party over the issue of Irish home rule in 1886 to help form the Liberal Unionist Party , which in turn would merge with the Conservative Party by 1912. However, the Unionist support for trade protection in
11476-418: The coast of Cuba by a Spanish privateer, and in punishment for his alleged breach of the strict laws forbidding foreign commerce with Spanish colonies, he had an ear cut off. The incident shocked Britain not so much because of its brutality but because many saw it as an outrage that Spain should have the temerity to harm a British subject simply for trading, which many held to be a legitimate occupation despite
11627-569: The complex and changing factional politics of the Restoration into the neat categories of 19th-century political divisions. In 1836, a private gentleman's Club was constructed in Pall Mall , Piccadilly as a consequence of the successful Reform Act 1832 . The Reform Club was founded by Edward Ellice Sr. , MP for Coventry and Whig Whip , whose riches came from the Hudson's Bay Company but whose zeal
11778-405: The continent were full of praise on how he had overturned such a disadvantageous situation. Following the peace, Newcastle began to put into practice a policy that he had been developing for a very long time. He believed that the stately quadrille , which had seen states continually shifting alliances, had been unstable and led to repeated wars. He wanted instead to use vigorous diplomacy to create
11929-421: The continent. Notably, Britain did not become embroiled in the War of the Polish Succession and indeed tried to prevent it from breaking out. Newcastle attempted to throw both the French and Austrians off-guard by being cagey about Britain's response if war broke out, but that did not stop the conflict. Once the war had started, George II tried to push for Britain to honour its commitment to assist Austria, but he
12080-484: The counties of Middlesex and Nottingham and a Knight of the Garter . In his new position, he was in charge of suppressing Jacobitism in the counties under his control. In Middlesex, he arrested and questioned 800 people and drew up a Voluntary Defence Association to defend the county. In 1715, he became involved in a riot that ended with two men being killed, and Newcastle fleeing along rooftops. The succession of George I
12231-564: The country against the Whigs and determined to rule without Parliament. In February, Charles had made a deal with the French King Louis XIV , who promised to support him against the Whigs. Without Parliament, the Whigs gradually crumbled, mainly due to government repression following the discovery of the Rye House Plot . The Whig peers, the Earl of Melville , the Earl of Leven , and Lord Shaftesbury , and Charles II's illegitimate son
12382-610: The decline of the Liberal Party in the early 20th century, it was de rigueur for Liberal MPs and peers to be members of the Reform Club, being regarded as an unofficial party headquarters. However, in 1882 the National Liberal Club was established under William Ewart Gladstone 's chairmanship, designed to be more "inclusive" towards Liberal grandees and activists throughout the United Kingdom. The Liberal Party (the term
12533-514: The department of Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham . He was one of the first of a relatively few prime ministers who never acceded to a peerage . Others include George Grenville (died as an MP), William Pitt the Younger (died in office), Spencer Perceval (died in office), George Canning (died in office), Sir Robert Peel (died as an MP, though was a baronet in his own right ), William Ewart Gladstone ( declined
12684-470: The direction of Britain's foreign policy. Townshend was convinced that Britain's principal enemy was now Austria . Walpole and Newcastle saw Spain as the main threat to British power because of its large navy and colonial interests. Eventually, Walpole had his way, forcing Townshend from office, and replacing him with Lord Harrington . From then on, Newcastle served as the senior Secretary of State and largely controlled British foreign policy himself. Newcastle
12835-464: The early twentieth century under Joseph Chamberlain (probably the least Whiggish character in the Liberal Unionist party) further alienated the more orthodox Whigs. By the early twentieth century "Whiggery" was largely irrelevant and without a natural political home. One of the last active politicians to celebrate his Whiggish roots was the Liberal Unionist statesman Henry James . The colours of
12986-404: The end, he was later accused by many of Walpole's supporters of having undermined him. Horace Walpole , his son, continued to attack Newcastle's behaviour for years to come. Newcastle continued in office after Walpole's fall and became more powerful on his younger brother Henry Pelham becoming prime minister in 1743. Together, the two brothers and their supporters known as the 'Old Whigs' made
13137-403: The estate with his Aunt was finally settled in 1714. He increasingly identified with Whig politics, like his father and uncle, but whereas they had been moderate in their views, he grew increasingly more partisan and militant in his views. Britain was very divided between Whigs who favoured the succession of George of Hanover after Queen Anne 's death and Tories who supported the return of
13288-454: The fact that many of the Tories still supported the deposed Roman Catholic James II . William saw that the Tories were generally friendlier to royal authority than the Whigs and he employed both groups in his government. His early ministry was largely Tory, but gradually the government came to be dominated by the so-called Junto Whigs , a group of younger Whig politicians who led a tightly organised political grouping. The increasing dominance of
13439-586: The fall of the Talents ministry in 1807, the Foxite Whigs remained out of power for the better part of 25 years. The accession of Fox's old ally, the Prince of Wales, to the regency in 1811 did not change the situation, as the Prince had broken entirely with his old Foxite Whig companions. The members of the government of Lord Liverpool from 1812 to 1827 called themselves Whigs. By 1815, the Whigs were still far from being
13590-527: The followers of Lord Chatham , who as the great political hero of the Seven Years' War generally took a stance of opposition to party and faction. The Whigs were opposed by the government of Lord North which they accused of being a Tory administration. While it largely consisted of individuals previously associated with the Whigs, many old Pelhamites as well as the Bedfordite Whig faction formerly led by
13741-476: The franchise and ended the system of " rotten and pocket boroughs " (where elections were controlled by powerful families) and instead redistributed power on the basis of population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. Only the upper and middle classes voted, so this shifted power away from the landed aristocracy to the urban middle classes. In 1832, the party abolished enslavement in
13892-501: The government to recognise the role of public opinion in parliamentary debate and influenced views of representation and reform throughout the 19th century. Whigs restored their unity by supporting moral reforms, especially the abolition of slavery. They triumphed in 1830 as champions of Parliamentary reform. They made Lord Grey prime minister 1830–1834 and the Reform Act 1832 championed by Grey became their signature measure. It broadened
14043-578: The heir presumptive, if allowed to inherit the throne, would endanger the Protestant religion, liberty and property. The first Exclusion Bill was supported by a substantial majority on its second reading in May 1679. In response, King Charles prorogued Parliament and then dissolved it, but the subsequent elections in August and September saw the Whigs' strength increase. This new parliament did not meet for thirteen months, because Charles wanted to give passions
14194-465: The influential House of Lords leader the Duke of Portland , Rockingham's nephew Lord Fitzwilliam and William Windham , were increasingly uncomfortable with the flirtations of Fox and his allies with radicalism and the French Revolution. They split in early 1793 with Fox over the question of support for the war with France and by the end of the year they had openly broken with Fox. By the summer of
14345-451: The king and the rest of the cabinet retained their faith in him. To oversee the peace settlement, Newcastle switched across to the position of Northern Secretary . He secured Sandwich's promotion to the Admiralty although he had wanted Sandwich to succeed him as Southern Secretary . During the summer of 1748, Newcastle made his first ever trip outside Britain when he visited Hanover and
14496-493: The late 1750s and the early 1780s. Even the Whigs ceased to be an identifiable party, and Parliament was dominated by competing political connections, which all proclaimed Whiggish political views, or by independent backbenchers unattached to any particular group. The North administration left power in March 1782 following the American Revolution and a coalition of the Rockingham Whigs and the former Chathamites, now led by
14647-419: The latter to declare war. It was also considered by many that a French victory would leave the French too strong in Europe. However, Britain soon found itself dragged into this wider war despite the reluctance of its government. Initially, Britain's involvement was limited to financial subsidies and diplomacy in support of Austria, but by 1742, it was apparent that a more substantial commitment would be needed if
14798-475: The leader of a reorganized Whig Party arrayed against William Pitt the Younger 's new Tories. The foundation of both parties depended more on the support of wealthy politicians than on popular votes. Although there were elections to the House of Commons , only a few men controlled most of the voters . Both parties slowly evolved during the 18th century. In the beginning, the Whig Party generally tended to support
14949-461: The legal prohibition in force. In 1738, Jenkins appeared in Parliament to testify about his treatment. Other merchants sent petitions, and the powerful South Sea Company mobilised popular opinion. To many, the Spanish Empire was crumbling, and its South American possessions were ripe for the picking. A vociferous group in Parliament demanded war with Spain. Walpole was adamantly opposed to such
15100-408: The liberal political stance of the Whig Party and its middle-class constituents". Samuel Johnson (1709–1784), a leading London intellectual, repeatedly denigrated the "vile" Whigs and praised the Tories, even during times of Whig political supremacy. In his great Dictionary (1755), Johnson defined a Tory as "one who adheres to the ancient Constitution of the state and the apostolical hierarchy of
15251-509: The main British campaign against Spain was a combined amphibious attack on the South American city of Cartagena , which had experienced considerable delays. Command was awarded to Admiral Edward Vernon , the victor of Porto Bello, who was given a force of 31,000 soldiers and sailors to take the city. The siege proved to be a total disaster for the British, who lost thousands of men before being forced to withdraw. Although Newcastle had issued
15402-402: The minimum age of consent for marriage. Upon his death, his brother (the aforementioned Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne) took over government. His very defects were among the chief elements of Pelham's success, for one with a strong personality, moderate amount self-respect, or haughty conceptions of statesmanship could not have restrained the discordant elements of the cabinet for any length of time
15553-456: The nation's profit ... Many modern historians have depicted him as the epitome of unredeemed mediocrity and as a veritable buffoon in office. Thomas Pelham was born in London on 21 July 1693 the eldest son of Thomas Pelham, 1st Baron Pelham , by his second wife, the former Lady Grace Holles, younger sister of John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . He studied at Westminster School and
15704-480: The next 21 years. He was related to Walpole's leading ally, Charles Townshend , strengthening his bond with the leader of the new administration. On 2 April 1717, he increased his Whig connections by marrying Lady Henrietta Godolphin , the granddaughter of the Duke of Marlborough , a national hero following his victories in the recent European war who was considered a Whig icon. In 1717, at 23, Newcastle first attained high political office as Lord Chamberlain of
15855-537: The next year, large portions of the opposition had defected and joined Pitt's government. Many of the Whigs who had joined with Pitt would eventually return to the fold, joining again with Fox in the Ministry of All the Talents following Pitt's death in 1806. The followers of Pitt—led until 1809 by Fox's old colleague the Duke of Portland—rejected the label of Tories and preferred to call themselves The Friends of Mr. Pitt . After
16006-528: The north of England to refer to (cattle) drovers from western Scotland who came to Leith to buy corn. The Gaelic -speaking Scottish cattle drivers would call out "Chuig" or "Chuig an bothar"—meaning "away" or "to the road"; this sounded to the English like "Whig", and they came to use the word "Whig" or "Whiggamore" derisively to refer to these people. During the English Civil Wars , when Charles I reigned,
16157-460: The office during the turmoil in the Whigs between 1717 and 1721, and his switch of allegiance to Walpole secured his influence thereafter. Walpole had overseen a brief end to the rift between the Whig factions after the collapse of the South Sea Company , which had left thousands ruined. Newcastle himself had lost £4,000. Walpole was then seen as the only man to bring stability to the country and
16308-541: The orders and overseen the organisation of the expedition, much of the blame for the disaster fell on the shoulders of the ailing prime minister, Walpole. In the wake of the Cartagena disaster, Britain held a general election . The result reduced Walpole's former dominance of the House to an unworkable majority. Within months, he had been forced out of office and succeeded by Lord Wilmington . Though Newcastle stayed with Walpole to
16459-467: The other. On 17 December 1783, Fox stated in the House of Commons that "[i]f [...] a change must take place, and a new ministry is to be formed and supported, not by the confidence of this House or the public, but the sole authority of the Crown, I, for one, shall not envy that hon. gentleman his situation. From that moment I put in my claim for a monopoly of Whig principles". Although Pitt is often referred to as
16610-413: The participants were not yet fully committed to peace. The Allies continued to do badly by suffering severe defeats at Bergen op Zoom and Lauffeld . Newcastle's brother, Henry, was now strongly advocating peace, but Newcastle firmly rejected that since he was still convinced a major Allied victory was imminent. In 1747, Newcastle was involved in organising a coup to put the Prince of Orange in power in
16761-679: The parties, supported by her moderate Tory ministers, the Duke of Marlborough and Lord Godolphin . However, as the War of the Spanish Succession went on and became less and less popular with the Tories, Marlborough and Godolphin were forced to rely more and more on the Junto Whigs, so that by 1708 they headed an administration of the Parliament of Great Britain dominated by the Junto. Anne herself grew increasingly uncomfortable with this dependence on
16912-466: The past. Later on, several members from the Whig party came to oppose the protectionism of the Corn Laws , but trade restrictions were not repealed even after the Whigs returned to power in the 1830s. With the succession of Elector George Louis of Hanover as king in 1714, the Whigs returned to government with the support of some Hanoverian Tories . The Jacobite rising of 1715 discredited much of
17063-572: The press gangs going to sea in an expansive navy fleet was the growth of industrial processes necessary for warfare. The distillation of gin reduced the price of alcohol, resulting in widespread drunkenness , demonstrated clearly by Hogarth in " Gin Lane ". Preaching in favour of temperance, and social problems caused by drunken soldiers and sailors, persuaded the administration to introduce the Gin Acts. The Gin Act 1751
17214-449: The previous war had shown that North America was increasingly the most important theatre of war. They mocked Newcastle for his perceived lack of vision and ignored the complex nature of European politics and Britain's relationship with Hanover and the fact that as early as 1740 Newcastle had been aware of the expanding power of the American colonies . Newcastle remained extremely attentive to
17365-517: The recommendation of Robert Walpole , he was chosen in 1721 as Lord of the Treasury . At the 1722 general election he was returned as MP for Sussex county. In 1724 he entered the ministry as Secretary at War , but this office he exchanged in 1730 for the more lucrative one of Paymaster of the Forces . He made himself conspicuous by his support of Walpole on the question of the excise . He, Newcastle, and
17516-426: The reign of George III , who hoped to restore his own power by freeing himself from the great Whig magnates. Thus George promoted his old tutor Lord Bute to power and broke with the old Whig leadership surrounding the Duke of Newcastle. After a decade of factional chaos, with distinct Bedfordite , Chathamite , Grenvillite and Rockinghamite factions successively in power and all referring to themselves as "Whigs",
17667-404: The shadow of Walpole and being more assertive. Newcastle was particularly annoyed both by what he saw as the abandonment of Austria and by the suggestion that Walpole no longer trusted him. By 1735, Newcastle had largely assumed control of colonial affairs, further increasing the amount of patronage he controlled. A devout Anglican, he was also given control over ecclesiastical matters, especially
17818-473: The subtle details of diplomacy and the European State System . However, his first few years in the office had him defer control of British foreign policy to the other Secretary of State, Townshend, and Newcastle effectively served as his deputy. Walpole was generally happy to allow Townshend to control foreign affairs, as he agreed with him on most issues. Since the Treaty of Utrecht , which had ended
17969-646: The term "Whig" was picked up and used by the English to refer derisively to a radical faction of the Scottish Covenanters who called themselves the Kirk Party (see the Whiggamore Raid ). It was later applied to Scottish Presbyterian rebels who were against the king's Episcopalian order in Scotland. The word Whig entered English political discourse during the Exclusion Bill crisis of 1679–1681: there
18120-430: The threat posed by the Jacobites much faster than George II and many of his colleagues, who dismissed the rebellion as a farce. Newcastle organised a response, and by late 1745, he had rallied all of the southern militias and regular forces. The Jacobites withdrew to northern Scotland where they were defeated at Culloden in 1746. On the Continent, the British continued the war effort, but they were now under pressure from
18271-507: The throne. The new king had previously had exceptionally bad relations with Walpole and Newcastle and, during one altercation between them, George's poor English had made Newcastle think that he had challenged him to a duel. Their relationship had not improved in recent years, and many anticipated the imminent replacement of the government. Instead, Walpole made himself extremely useful to George II, who soon became convinced of his competence and retained him in his post. The thawing of relations
18422-472: The time, it was to last beyond the demise of the coalition in December 1783. The coalition's untimely fall was brought about by George III in league with the House of Lords and the King now brought in Chatham's son William Pitt the Younger as his prime minister. It was only now that a genuine two-party system can be seen to emerge, with Pitt and the government on the one side, and the ousted Fox-North coalition on
18573-481: The trade agreement on the same grounds. Ashley claimed that "[t]he traditional policy of the Whig party from before the Revolution [of 1688] down to the time of Fox was an extreme form of Protectionism". The Whigs' protectionism of this period is today increasingly cited with approval by heterodox economists such as Ha-Joon Chang , who wish to challenge contemporary prevailing free trade orthodoxies via precedents from
18724-432: The visit, Newcastle made an attempt to cultivate Lord North , a future prime minister, as an ally into his political faction. He was unsuccessful although both became good friends, and North later spoke out in defence of Newcastle. On Henry Pelham's death on 6 March 1754, Newcastle succeeded him as prime minister. He had initially hoped to stay in his role as Northern Secretary as he much preferred foreign affairs, but he
18875-444: The war. Newcastle tried to combat that by cultivating a reputation as the leading "patriot" of the cabinet. He took on additional military responsibilities and, for the first two years of war, served as a de facto Minister of War. One of his most notable suggestions during the period was the recruitment of large numbers of troops drawn from the American colonies , whose growing manpower had previously gone largely untapped. In 1741,
19026-406: The way he did. Moreover, he possessed tact and a thorough acquaintance with the forms of the House of Commons . Whatever quarrels or insubordination might have existed within the cabinet, they never broke out into open revolt. His foreign policy followed Walpole's model of emphasizing peace and ending wars. His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748 to end the War of
19177-421: The young Newcastle into his coterie because Walpole believed that he could easily control Newcastle and because it would strengthen Walpole's hand against the rival Whig factions. Newcastle joined with Walpole because Newcastle, correctly, believed that Walpole was going to dominate British politics for a generation. In 1721, Walpole began to serve as Britain's first prime minister and would hold that position for
19328-454: Was Henry Brougham , the talented lawyer, who had a relatively modest background. Hay argues that Whig leaders welcomed the increasing political participation of the English middle classes in the two decades after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. The fresh support strengthened their position in Parliament. Whigs rejected the Tory appeals to governmental authority and social discipline and extended political discussion beyond Parliament. Whigs used
19479-449: Was Newcastle's poor handling of the family fortune, which was being constantly depleted through his out-of-control spending. Pelham was also considered by many to be the abler of the two brothers, but it was the Duke who was initially more successful in politics. In spite of their differences, they remained firm political allies. The administration faced a crisis in 1727, when George I died unexpectedly, and his son George II succeeded to
19630-532: Was admitted as a fellow commoner at Clare College, Cambridge , in 1710. Pelham's uncle died in 1711, and his father the next year, both leaving their large estates to their nephew and son. When he came of age in 1714, Lord Pelham was one of the greatest landowners in the kingdom, enjoying enormous patronage in the county of Sussex . One stipulation of his uncle's will was that his nephew add Holles to his name, which he faithfully did, thereafter styling himself as Thomas Pelham-Holles. A long-standing legal dispute over
19781-469: Was around this time that the great Whig historian Thomas Babington Macaulay began to promulgate what would later be coined the Whig view of history , in which all of English history was seen as leading up to the culminating moment of the passage of Lord Grey's reform bill. This view led to serious distortions in later portrayals of 17th-century and 18th-century history, as Macaulay and his followers attempted to fit
19932-886: Was blocked by Walpole, who insisted that Britain should not join the war. Newcastle broadly supported the same position as the king, but he accepted the decision. Newcastle's brother Henry Pelham had now attained the lucrative position of Paymaster General and had effectively replaced Townshend as the third man of the government. The three men continued what had become dubbed as the Norfolk Congress by meeting regularly at Houghton Hall , Sir Robert Walpole's country house in Norfolk. The three men would hold private meetings, draw up wide-ranging policies on foreign and domestic issues and then present them to parliament for their seal of approval, which their vast majority allowed them to do. Slowly, however, Newcastle and his brother were moving out of
20083-764: Was by far the most powerful force in European politics, as had been demonstrated during the War of the Quadruple Alliance , a largely-naval war in the Mediterranean by which the powers had defeated a Spanish attempt to reclaim lost territory in Italy. The alliance was unpopular, however, with many in Parliament and in the country, which continued to consider France to be Britain's natural enemy. Newcastle had been joined in government by his young brother, Henry Pelham . The two brothers got on well but were prone to have intractable disputes. One constant source of tension between them
20234-511: Was chiefly devoted to securing the passage of the Reform Act 1832 . This new club, for members of both Houses of Parliament , was intended to be a forum for the radical ideas which the First Reform Bill represented: a bastion of liberal and progressive thought that became closely associated with the Liberal Party , who largely succeeded the Whigs in the second half of the 19th century. Until
20385-543: Was close to King George II . Pelham served as First Lord of the Treasury , Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons . In November 1744, the Pelhams forced Lord Carteret out of the ministry: Pelham bluntly told the king that either Carteret step down, or the Pelhamites would, leaving His Majesty without a government. Thereafter Pelham shared power with his brother, the Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne . Pelham
20536-598: Was controversy about whether King Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York , should be allowed to succeed to the throne on Charles's death, and Whig became a term of abuse for members of the Country Party , which sought to remove James from the line of succession on the grounds that he was a Roman Catholic ( Samuel Johnson , a fervent Tory, often joked that "the first Whig was the Devil".). Eventually, Country Party politicians themselves would start describing their own faction as
20687-488: Was convinced that neither Austria or Britain had any other serious potential allies to turn to. Referring to the election, Newcastle believed that if his scheme failed, "France and Prussia will dictate to all the world". He managed to broker a compromise at a Congress of Hanover to secure the election of Joseph. His triumph at the Congress was soon undermined by his failure to secure Austrian backing. He managed to outmanoeuvre
20838-483: Was disposed to acquiesce in his foreign policy almost without a murmur. King George II , thwarted in his own favourite schemes, made overtures in February 1746 to Lord Bath , but his purpose was upset by the resignation of the two Pelhams (Henry and Newcastle), who, after a two-day hiatus in which Bath and Carteret (now earl Granville) proved unable to form a ministry, resumed office at the king's request. One of their terms
20989-478: Was first used officially in 1868, but had been used colloquially for decades beforehand) arose from a coalition of Whigs, free trade Tory followers of Robert Peel and free trade Radicals , first created, tenuously under the Peelite Earl of Aberdeen in 1852 and put together more permanently under the former Canningite Tory Lord Palmerston in 1859. Although the Whigs at first formed the most important part of
21140-410: Was helped by the friendship between Newcastle and George's daughter Amelia , leading many to speculate, without substantive evidence, that they were having an affair. By November 1727, Walpole and Newcastle's positions were both safe once more, boosted by an election victory that saw them gain 430 seats to the opposition's 128 in the House of Commons . In 1729, a rift broke out in the government over
21291-473: Was high in the Leicester House party set. In 1748 Frederick, a Tory, planned to bring down the Pelhamites at a general election due the following year. The Prime Minister called an early poll in 1748 by asking the king to dissolve parliament in 1747. The prince and his father, the king grew to hate one another with unspeakable animosity. But one consequence was a closer relationship between Henry Pelham and
21442-531: Was neither but France, which had been considered a close ally. The increasingly-confrontational actions of the French Chief Minister, Cardinal Fleury , soon convinced them that they had been wrong. This misjudgment was later used by the Patriot Whigs to castigate the ministry for their lack of preparation against the French threat. In general, Newcastle shared Walpole's abhorrence of war and wished to prevent Britain from getting dragged into major wars on
21593-425: Was not mentioned at all. Newcastle was immediately attacked by his opponents for giving up Louisbourg, but many of them failed to realise just how weak the British position on the Continent had become. Austria was also deeply unhappy as they felt the British had abandoned them and had not tried enough for Silesia to be returned. Nonetheless, Newcastle was happy with the terms that had been gained, and observers on
21744-553: Was not particularly notable, Newcastle precipitated the Seven Years' War , and his weak diplomacy cost him his premiership. After his second term, he served briefly in Lord Rockingham 's ministry, before he retired from government. He was most effective as a deputy to a leader of greater ability, such as Walpole, his brother, or Pitt. Few politicians in British history matched his skills and industry in using patronage to maintain power over long stretches of time. His genius appeared as
21895-506: Was persuaded there was no other serious candidate and accepted the seals of office from the king in March. Newcastle's first task was to select someone to represent the government in the Commons . To great surprise, he rejected the favourites, William Pitt and Henry Fox , and chose Sir Thomas Robinson , who had barely even been considered a candidate by most. Newcastle was largely instrumental in appointing men considered slightly weaker so that he could dominate them. Both Pitt and Fox bore
22046-465: Was received with a rapturous reception wherever he went. When the talks got underway, they went far more smoothly, and in October 1748, the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was formally concluded. Britain would give back Louisbourg to France in exchange for the return of Madras and a full French withdrawal from the Low Countries. The issue of free trade for which Britain had gone to war with Spain in 1739
22197-465: Was regarded as the leading figure, but rank and influence made his brother very powerful in the Cabinet. In spite of a genuine attachment, there were occasional disputes between them, which sometimes led to further difficulties. Being strongly in favour of peace, Pelham carried on the War of the Austrian Succession with languor and indifferent success, but the country, wearied of the interminable struggle,
22348-432: Was saddened by the demise of his relative and former patron although their partnership had become increasingly strained and the new situation offered enormous possibilities to him personally. Together, Newcastle and Walpole managed to drive a wedge between Spain and Austria, making an ally of the latter and directing their future efforts against Spain. Subsequently, however, it turned out that Britain's long-term major rival
22499-727: Was secured in late 1715 by the defeat of a Jacobite army at the Battle of Preston and the subsequent flight of the Old Pretender . The victory of the Hanoverians over the Jacobites marked the beginning of the Whig Ascendancy which lasted for much of the 18th century. Because the Tory opposition had been tainted, in the eyes of George I, by their support of the Jacobite pretenders, he did not trust them and drew all of his ministers and officials from
22650-487: Was the last of four that had largely failed to prevent serious social unrest, including riots in London, reduced the number licensed dealers and sellers of liquor. By restricting supply the consumption dropped and price fell helping to manage the problem. Two of Pelham's final acts were the Jew Bill of 1753 , which allowed Jews to become naturalized by application to Parliament , and the Marriage Act of 1753 , which enumerated
22801-429: Was to insist that the king should have 'total confidence' in a ministry; rather than partial grudging acceptance of the Whigs. The Augustan era was essential to the development of prime ministerial power as being entirely dependent on a Commons majority, rather than royal prerogative interventions. While the king struggled with his headstrong son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, his son's uncertain constitutional position
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