A history of England

by Charles Oman

Renewed popularity of the Whigs.

Now the Tories had merited well of their country by carrying the war to a successful close, but when the war was over, it was time to be thinking of some way of alleviating the social ills which had been accumulating during its course. This they refused to do, quoting the fate of Lewis XVI. as the sample of what happens to rulers who yield one inch to the pressure of mob violence. They were still firm in office, for the Whig party had not yet recovered from the discredit which they had won from the hopeless failure of the Fox-Grenville cabinet of 1806-1807. But now that their ideas on foreign policy could do no harm, they began to be viewed with more favourable eyes. The ten years which followed the battle of Waterloo were marked by the gradual passing over of the great middle class to the Whig party. It was felt that the only hope for the introduction of any scheme of social and political reform lay with the Whigs, and that from them alone could England obtain the liberal measures which Pitt would have granted years ago, if the French Revolution had not intervened.

But the Whigs were still in a hopeless minority in Parliament, though they were gradually growing stronger in the ranks of the nation. It was not till fifteen years had elapsed since the end of the great war, that a Whig ministry once more received the seals of office.

Projects of reform.—Attitude of the Tories.

The general discontent of the lower classes in the years 1815-20 found vent in two very different ways. The wilder spirits talked of general insurrection, and an assault not only on the government but on all forms of property and all established institutions. A few mischievous demagogues set themselves to fan these rash and ignorant aspirations into a flame, and to bring about anarchy in order thereby to rid the nation of the existing social evils. The cooler and wiser heads were not influenced by these wild notions, but pinned their faith to the modification of the constitution in the direction of popular government. It was their belief that matters would improve the moment that England was governed by the people and for the people. And this end could only be secured by reform of the real governing body—the House of Commons. The idea of making the House truly representative of the nation had been one of Pitt's cherished plans; in 1785 he had actually brought forward a bill for doing away with the worst of the rotten boroughs, but had failed, owing to the factious opposition of the Whigs. But Pitt's successors at the head of the Tory party had contrived to forget his teaching; they owed much of their strength to the support of the great borough-mongers, and they now refused to take any measures tending to Parliamentary Reform. At the bottom of their hearts they did not trust the masses, and feared that a House of Commons really representing the nation would proceed to wild measures of radical reform, and sweep away all the institutions that they held dear.

The Whigs and reform.—Lord Grey.

Hence it came to pass that the Whigs alone supported the idea of Parliamentary Reform in the early years of the nineteenth century, and the multitudes who saw in that measure the panacea of all ills were bound to follow them. All the old chiefs of the Whigs were now gone: Fox had died in 1806; Sheridan in 1816; Grenville had retired from public life, and the party was now led by Charles Lord Grey, a very capable and moderate man, who fully shared the notion that Parliamentary Reform was the one pressing question of the day, but was careful not to go beyond the bounds of wisdom and law in pressing for it.

The royal family and the succession.

The Whigs got no help from their old friend the Prince of Wales; since he had obtained the regency in 1811 owing to his father's insanity, George had thrown himself into the hands of the Tories. Personally he disliked all reforms—for the person in England who most needed reforming was himself. He was now a man of fifty-five, but age had not improved him; to the last he was as false, vicious, and selfish as in his youth. For many years his quarrels with his foolish and flighty wife, Caroline of Brunswick, had been a public scandal. She was an intolerably vain and silly woman, but the provocation which he gave her would have driven a wiser head into rebellion. But George's health was weak, owing to his evil life, and it was hoped by many that he would not survive his aged father. At his death the crown would fall to his only daughter, the Princess Charlotte, an amiable and high-spirited young woman of whom all spoke well. But the princess, having married Leopold of Saxe-Coburg in 1816, died in childbirth before the next year was out, to the general grief of the nation. The next heir was Frederick, Duke of York, but as he—though married—had no children and was no stronger in health than his elder brother, it was clear that the crown would not stay long with him. Therefore all the younger sons of George III. hurried into wedlock in 1818, that their father's line might not be extinguished. William, Duke of Clarence, who afterwards reigned as William IV., married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; Edward, Duke of Kent, was wedded to Victoria of Saxe-Coburg, and became by her the father of our present queen; Adolphus of Cambridge and Ernest of Cumberland also took wives and had issue, who are still among us.

The Government and the agitation.