British Politics on the Eve of Reform: The Duke of Wellington’s Administration, 1828–30

495 Pages·1998·47.7 MB·English

by  Peter Jupp (auth.)

BRITISH POLITICS ON THE EVE OF REFORM
Also by Peter Jupp
BRITISH AND IRISH ELECTIONS, 1784-1831
LORD GRENVILLE, 1759-1834
THE LETTER-JOURNAL OF GEORGE CANNING, 1793-1795
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British Politics on the
Eve of Reform
The Duke of Wellington's Administration,
1828-30
Peter Jupp
Professor of British History
The Queens University
Belfast
First published in Great Britain 1998 by
MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London
Companies and representatives throughout the world
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-349-26821-4 ISBN 978-1-349-26819-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26819-1
First published in the United States of America 1998 by
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC.,
Scholarly and Reference Division,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010
ISBN 978-0-312-21407-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jupp, Peter.
British politics on the eve of reform: the Duke of Wellington's
administration, 1828-30 I Peter Jupp.
p. em.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-312-21407-4 (cloth)
1. Great Britain-Politics and govemment-1820-1830.
2. Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of, 1769-1852. I. Title.
DA539.J87 1998
320.941'09'034-<lc21 97-52923
CIP
© Peter Jupp 1998
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1998
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made
without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with
written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by
the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.
Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to
criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and
sustained forest sources.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98
For Belinda and the other historians in the
family
Contents
List of Illustrations
IX
Acknowledgements
XI
List of Abbreviations
Xlll
Introduction 1
1 The Monarchy 9
2 Wellington as Prime Minister 38
3 The Cabinet 70
4 The Departments of State 107
5 Parliament: Legislation 133
6 Parliament: Debates, Committees, Petitions and
'Returns' 195
7 Parliament: Parties 240
8 Parliament and Public Opinion 330
9 Parliament, the Government and Popular Politics 387
10 Summary and Conclusion 440
Bibliography 451
Index 465
Vll
List of Illustrations
'The Abatement' by HB [John Doyle], published
26 February 1830. 51
'Caleb Quotem - The Parish Factotum' by Paul Pry
[? John Phillips], published 1 June 1829. 64
'A Cabinet Picture' by HB [John Doyle], published
5 November 1830. 94
'The Man Wot Guards the Hopposition' published [?]
April 1829, author unknown. 277
'Alas! Poor Yorick' by HB [John Doyle], published
29 May 1830. 285
'Modern Patriots' by [?] Heath, published c. February 1829. 373
'A New Farce Called a "County Meeting'" by HB
[John Doyle], published February 1830. 397
Sources: In the private collection of the author.
IX
Acknowledgements
I am extremely grateful to the staff of all the Record Offices and
Libraries that I have visited and written to in the course of re
searching this book and whose names are listed in the bibliogra
phy. Without exception, they have responded to my various requests
with the utmost kindness and helpfulness. In particular, I owe a
special debt to Dr Christopher Woolgar and his colleagues of the
Hartly Institute in the University of Southampton, the curators of
the Wellington and Palmerston papers. He and they have steered
me through these papers with great expertise and, in addition, have
provided me with welcome hospitality during my various visits.
I would also like to thank the following owners of manuscripts
for the generous permission they have given me to make reference
to items in their collections: Her Majesty, the Queen, the Mar
quess of Anglesey, the Earl of Derby, the Duke of Devonshire, Mr
D.Q. Gurney, the Earl of Haddington, the Earl of Harewood, the
Earl of Harrowby, the Howard family, the Rt. Hon. The Lord
Kenyon, the Viscount Lambton, the Marquess of Salisbury, Mr D.E.
Scott and the Viscount Sidmouth.
The help and advice of many other institutions and individuals
has been essential to the completion of the book. Amongst the
institutions, I thank The Queen's University of Belfast for periods
of study leave and for research grants; and owe a particular debt
to my colleagues in the School of Modern History and the Library
- the former for commenting helpfully on papers associated with
the book and the latter for finding sources. The Institute of His
torical Research was an important base for a year and a Study
Leave grant from the British Academy proved vital. As for indi
viduals, I am particularly grateful to Dr A.P.W. Malcomson, Pro
fessor Paul Smith and Professor Eric Evans for various kindnesses
and for their support. In this context I would also like to thank the
wife of the late Professor Peter Fraser who allowed me to read a
draft of his book on British politics in the early 1820s, which sadly
he was unable to finish. Ms Sabine Wichert commented with cus
tomary insight on early drafts of the initial chapters but my chief
debts in this respect are to Dr David Fisher of the History of Par
liament Trust, Dr David Hayton of Queen's and Dr Tony Smith,
Xl