The Constitutional History of England From 1760 to 1860 - Charles Duke Yonge
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THE
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY
OF
ENGLAND
from 1760 to 1860
BY CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A.
REGIUS PROFESSOR OF MODERN HISTORY, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, BELFAST
AND AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH NAVY"
"THE LIFE OF MARIE ANTOINETTE" ETC.
1882
PREFACE.
Mr. Hallam's "Constitutional History" closes, as is well known, with the
death of George II. The Reformation, the great Rebellion, and the
Revolution, all of which are embraced in the period of which it treats,
are events of such surpassing importance, and such all-pervading and
lasting influence, that no subsequent transactions can ever attract
entirely equal attention. Yet the century which has elapsed since the
accession of George III. has also witnessed occurrences not only full of
exciting interest at the moment, but calculated to affect the policy of
the kingdom and the condition of the people, for all future time, in a
degree only second to the Revolution itself. Indeed, the change in some
leading features and principles of the constitution wrought by the
Reform Bill of 1832, exceeds any that were enacted by the Bill of Rights
or the Act of Settlement. The only absolutely new principle introduced
in 1688 was that establishment of Protestant ascendency which was
contained in the clause which disabled any Roman Catholic from wearing
the crown. In other respects, those great statutes were not so much the
introduction of new principles, as a recognition of privileges of the
people which had been long established, but which, in too many
instances, had been disregarded and violated.
But the Reform Bill conferred political power on classes which had never
before been admitted to be entitled to it; and their enfranchisement
could not fail to give a wholly new and democratic tinge to the
government, which has been visible in its effect on the policy of all
subsequent administrations.
And, besides this great measure, the passing of which has often been
called a new Revolution, and the other reforms, municipal and
ecclesiastical, which were its immediate and almost inevitable fruits,
the century which followed the accession of George III. was also marked
by the Irish Union, the abolition of slavery, the establishment of the
principle of universal religious toleration; the loss of one great
collection of colonies, the plantation of and grant of constitutions to
others of not inferior magnitude, which had not even come into existence
at its commencement; the growth of our wondrous dominion in India, with
its eventual transfer of all authority in that country to the crown;
with a host of minor transactions and enactments, which must all be
regarded as, more or less, so many changes in or developments of the
constitution, as it was regarded and understood by the statesmen of the
seventeenth century.
It has seemed, therefore, to the compiler of this volume, that a
narrative of these transactions in their historical sequence, so as to
exhibit the connection which has frequently existed between them; to
show, for instance, how the repeal of Poynings' Act, and the Regency
Bill of 1788, necessitated the Irish Union; how Catholic Emancipation
brought after it Parliamentary Reform, and how that led to municipal and
ecclesiastical reforms, might not be without interest and use at the
present time. And the modern fulness of our parliamentary reports
(itself one not unimportant reform and novelty), since the accession of
George III., has enabled him to give the inducements or the objections
to the different enactments in the very words of the legislators who
proposed them or resisted them, as often as it seemed desirable to do
so.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Mr. Hallam's View of the Development of the Constitution.--Symptoms of
approaching Constitutional Changes.--State of the Kingdom at the
Accession of George III.--Improvement of the Law affecting the
Commissions of the Judges.--Restoration of Peace.--Lord Bute becomes
Minister.--The Case of Wilkes.--Mr. Luttrell is Seated for Middlesex by
the House of Commons.--Growth of Parliamentary Reporting.--Mr.
Grenville's Act for trying Election Petitions.--Disfranchisement of
Corrupt Voters at New Shoreham.
CHAPTER II.
The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act
of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown
Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt
fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export
Duties, etc., on Corn.
CHAPTER III.
Mr. Grenville imposes a Duty on Stamps in the North American
Colonies.--Examination of Dr. Franklin.--Lord Rockingham's Ministry
Repeals the Duty.--Lord Mansfield affirms a Virtual Representation in
the Colonies.--Mr. C. Townsend imposes Import Duties in America.--After
some Years, the Civil War breaks out.--Hanoverian Troops are sent to
Gibraltar.--The Employment of Hanoverian Regiments at Gibraltar and
Minorca.--End of the War.--Colonial Policy of the Present
Reign.--Complaints of the Undue Influence of the Crown.--Motions for
Parliamentary Reform.--Mr. Burke's Bill for Economical Reform.--Mr.
Dunning's Resolution on the Influence of the Crown.--Rights of the Lords
on Money-bills.--The Gordon Riots.
CHAPTER IV.
Changes of Administration.--The Coalition Ministry.--The Establishment
of the Prince of Wales.--Fox's India Bill.--The King Defeats it by the
Agency of Lord Temple.--The Ministry is Dismissed, and Succeeded by Mr.
Pitt's Administration.--Opposition to the New Ministry in the House of
Commons.--Merits of the Contest between the Old and the New
Ministry.--Power of Pitt.--Pitt's India Bill.--Bill for the Government
of Canada.--The Marriage of the Prince of Wales to Mrs.
Fitzherbert.--The King becomes Deranged.--Proposal of a
Regency.--Opinions of Various Writers on the Course adopted.--Spread of
Revolutionary Societies and Opinions.--Bills for the Repression of
Sedition and Treason.--The Alien Act.--The Traitorous Correspondence
Act.--Treason and Sedition Bills.--Failure of some Prosecutions under
them.
CHAPTER V.
The Affairs of Ireland.--Condition of the Irish Parliament.--The
Octennial Bill.--The Penal Laws.--Non-residence of the Lord-
lieutenant.--Influence of the American War on Ireland.--Enrolment of the
Volunteers.--Concession of all the Demands of Ireland.--Violence of the
Volunteers.--Their Convention.--Violence of the Opposition in
Parliament: Mr. Brownlow, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Flood.--Pitt's Propositions
Fail.--Fitzgibbon's Conspiracy Bill.--Regency Question.--Recovery of the
King.--Question of a Legislative Union.--Establishment of Maynooth
College.--Lord Edward Fitzgerald.--Arguments for and against the
Union.--It passes the Irish Parliament.--Details of the Measure.--
General Character of the Union.--Circumstances which Prevented
its Completeness.
CHAPTER VI.
A Census is Ordered.--Dissolution of Pitt's Administration.--Impeachment
of Lord Melville.--Introduction of Lord Ellenborough into the
Cabinet.--Abolition of the Slave-trade.--Mr. Windham's Compulsory
Training Bill.--Illness of the King, and Regency.--Recurrence to the
Precedent of 1788-'89.--Death of Mr. Perceval.--Lord Liverpool becomes
Prime-minister.--Question of Appointments in the Household.--Appointment
of a Prime-minister.
CHAPTER VII.
The Toleration Act.--Impropriety of making Catholic Emancipation (or any
other Important Matter) an Open Question.--Joint Responsibility of all
the Ministers.--Detention of Napoleon at St. Helena.--Question whether
the Regent could Give Evidence in a Court of Law in a Civil
Action.--Agitation for Reform.--Public Meetings.--The Manchester
Meeting.--The Seditious Meetings Prevention Bill.--Lord Sidmouth's Six
Acts.
CHAPTER VIII.
Survey of the Reign of George III.--The Cato Street Conspiracy.--The
Queen's Return to England, and the Proceedings against her.--The King
Visits Ireland and Scotland.--Reform of the Criminal Code.--Freedom of
Trade.--Death of Lord Liverpool.--The Duke of Wellington becomes
Prime-minister.--Repeal of the Test and Corporation Act.--O'Connell is
Elected for Clare.--Peel Resigns his Seat for Oxford.--Catholic
Emancipation.--Question of the Endowment of the Roman Catholic
Clergy.--Constitutional Character of the Emancipation.--The Propriety of
Mr. Peel's Resignation of his Seat for Oxford Questioned.
CHAPTER IX.
Demand for Parliamentary Reform.--Death of George IV., and Accession of
William IV.--French Revolution of 1830.--Growing Feeling in Favor of
Reform.--Duke of Wellington's Declaration against Reform.--His
Resignation: Lord Grey becomes Prime-minister.--Introduction of the
Reform Bill.--Its Details.--Riots at Bristol and Nottingham.--Proposed
Creation of Peers.--The King's Message to the Peers.--Character and
Consequences of the Reform Bill.--Appointment of a Regency.--
Re-arrangement of the Civil List.
CHAPTER X.
Abolition of Slavery.--Abridgment of the Apprenticeship.--The East India
Company's Trade is Thrown Open.--Commencement of Ecclesiastical
Reforms.--The New Poor-law.--State of Ireland.--Agitation against
Tithes.--Coercion Bill.--Beginning of Church Reform.--Sir Robert Peel
becomes Prime-minister.--Variety of Offices held Provisionally by the
Duke of Wellington.--Sir Robert Peel Retires, and Lord Melbourne Resumes
the Government.--Sir Robert Peel Proposes a Measure of Church
Reform.--Municipal Reform.--Measures of Ecclesiastical Reform.
CHAPTER XI.
Death of William IV., and Accession of Queen Victoria.--Rise of the
Chartists.--Resignation of Lord Melbourne in 1839, and his Resumption of
Office.--Marriage of the Queen, and Consequent Arrangements.--The
Precedence of the Prince, etc.--Post-office Reform.--War in
Afghanistan.--Discontent in Jamaica.--Insurrection in Canada.--New
Constitution for Canada and other Colonies.--Case of Stockdale and
Hansard.
CHAPTER XII.
Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime-minister.--Commercial
Reforms.--Free-trade.--Religious Toleration.--Maynooth.--The Queen's
University.--Post-office Regulations.--The Opening of Letters.--
Naturalization of Aliens.--Recall of Lord Ellenborough.--Reversal of the
Vote on the Sugar Duties.--Refusal of the Crown to Sanction a Bill.--The
Question of Increase in the Number of Spiritual Peers.--Repeal of the
Corn-laws.--Revolution in France, and Agitation on the Continent.--Death
of Sir Robert Peel.--Indifference of the Country to Reform.--Repeal of
the Navigation Laws.--Resolutions in Favor of Free-trade.--The Great
Exhibition of 1851.
CHAPTER XIII.
Dismissal of Lord Palmerston.--Theory of the Relation between the
Sovereign and the Cabinet.--Correspondence of the Sovereign with French
Princes.--Russian War.--Abolition of the Tax on Newspapers.--Life
Peerages.--Resignation of two Bishops.--Indian Mutiny.--Abolition of the
Sovereign Power of the Company.--Visit of the Prince of Wales to
India.--Conspiracy Bill.--Rise of the Volunteers.--National
Fortifications.--The Lords Reject the Measure for the Repeal of the
Paper-duties.--Lord Palmerston's Resolutions.--Character of the Changes
during the last Century.
INDEX.
CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
CHAPTER I.
Mr. Hallam's View of the Development of the Constitution.--Symptoms of
approaching Constitutional Changes.--State of the Kingdom at the
Accession of George III.--Improvement of the Law affecting the
Commissions of the Judges.--Restoration of Peace.--Lord Bute becomes
Minister.--The Case of Wilkes.--Mr. Luttrell is Seated for Middlesex by
the House of Commons.--Growth of Parliamentary Reporting.--Mr.
Grenville's Act for trying Election Petitions.--Disfranchisement of
Corrupt Voters at New Shoreham.
The learned and judicious writer to whom is due the first idea of a
"Constitutional History of England," and of whose admirable work I here
venture to offer a continuation, regards "the spirit of the government"
as having been "almost wholly monarchical till the Revolution of 1688,"
and in the four subsequent reigns, with the last of which his volumes
close, as "having turned chiefly to an aristocracy."[1] And it may be
considered as having generally preserved that character through the long
and eventful reign of George III. But, even while he was writing, a
change was already preparing, of which more than one recent occurrence
had given unmistakable warning. A borough had been disfranchised for
inveterate corruption in the first Parliament of George IV.[2] Before
its dissolution, the same House of Commons had sanctioned the principle
of a state endowment of the Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland, and had
given a third reading to a bill for the abolition of all civil
restrictions affecting members of that religion. It was impossible to
avoid foreseeing that the Parliamentary Reform inaugurated by the
disfranchisement of Grampound would soon be carried farther, or that the
emancipation, as it was termed, of all Christian sects was at least
equally certain not to be long delayed. And it will be denied by no one
that those measures, which had no very obscure or doubtful connection
with each other, have gradually imparted to the constitution a far more
democratic tinge than would have been willingly accepted by even the
most liberal statesman of the preceding century, or than, in the days of
the Tudors or of the Stuarts, would have been thought compatible with
the maintenance of the monarchy.
When George III. came to the throne, he found the nation engaged in a
war which was occupying its arms not only on the Continent of Europe,
but in India and America also, and was extending her glory and her
substantial power in both hemispheres. _Inter arma silent leges_. And,
while the contest lasted, neither legislators in Parliament nor the
people outside had much attention to spare for matters of domestic
policy. Yet the first year of the new reign was not suffered to pass
without the introduction of one measure limiting the royal prerogative
in a matter of paramount importance to the liberty of the people, the
independence of the judges. The rule of making the commissions of the
judges depend on their good conduct instead of on the pleasure of the
crown had, indeed, been established at the Revolution; but it was still
held that these commissions expired with the life of the sovereign who
had granted them; and, at the accession of Anne, as also at that of
George II., a renewal of their commissions had been withheld from some
members of the judicial bench. But now, even before the dissolution of
the existing Parliament, the new King recommended to it such a change in
the law as should "secure the judges in the enjoyment of their offices
during their good behavior, notwithstanding any demise of the crown;"
giving the proposal, which was understood to have been originally
suggested by himself, additional weight by the very unusual step of
making it the subject of a speech to the two Houses in the middle of the
session. A bill to give effect to it was at once brought in, and, though
the Houses sat only a fortnight longer, was carried before the
dissolution.
The close of the year 1762, however, saw the restoration of peace; and
the circumstances connected with the treaty which re-established it gave
birth to a degree of political and constitutional excitement such as had
not agitated the kingdom for more than half a century. That treaty had
not been concluded by the minister who had conducted the war. When
George III. came to the throne he found the Duke of Newcastle presiding
at the Treasury, but the seals of one Secretary of State in the hands of
Mr. Pitt, who was universally regarded as the guiding genius of the
ministry. The other Secretary of State was Lord Holdernesse. But, in the
spring of 1761, as soon as the Parliament was dissolved,[3] that
statesman retired from office, and was succeeded by the Earl of Bute, a
Scotch nobleman, who stood high in the favor of the King's mother, the
Princess Dowager of Wales, but who had not till very recently been
supposed to be actuated by political ambition, and who was still less
suspected of any statesman-like ability to qualify him for the office to
which he was thus promoted. It was presently seen, however, that he
aspired to even higher dignity. He at once set himself to oppose Pitt's
warlike policy; and, on the question of declaring war against Spain, he
was so successful in inducing the rest of the cabinet to reject Pitt's
proposals, that that statesman resigned his office in unconcealed
indignation. Having got rid of the real master of the ministry, Bute's
next step was to get rid of its nominal chief, and in the spring of 1762
he managed to drive the Duke of Newcastle from the Treasury, and was
himself placed by the King at the head of the administration. So rapid
an elevation of a man previously unknown as a politician could hardly
fail to create very widespread dissatisfaction, which was in some degree
augmented by the nationality of the new minister. Lord Bute was a
Scotchman, and Englishmen had not wholly forgiven or forgotten the
Scotch invasion of 1745. Since that time the Scotch had been regarded
with general disfavor; Scotch poverty and Scotch greediness for the good
things of England had furnished constant topics for raillery and
sarcasm; and more than one demagogue and political writer had sought
popularity by pandering to the prevailing taste for attacks on the whole
nation. Foremost among these was Mr. John Wilkes, member for Aylesbury,
a man of broken fortunes and still more damaged character, but of a wit
and hardihood that made his society acceptable to some of high rank and
lax morality, and caused his political alliance to be courted by some
who desired to be regarded as leaders of a party; many of the
transactions of the late reign having, unfortunately, not been favorable
to the maintenance of any high standard of either public or private
virtue. On Lord Bute's accession to office, Wilkes had set up a
periodical paper, whose object and character were sufficiently indicated
by its title, _The North Briton_, and in which the diligence of Lord
Bute in distributing places among his kinsmen and countrymen furnished
the staple of almost every number; while in many the Princess of Wales
herself was not spared, as the cause, for motives not obscurely hinted
at, of his sudden elevation. So pertinacious and virulent were the
attacks thus launched at him, coinciding as they did, at least in one
point, with the prejudices of the multitude, that they were commonly
believed to have had some share in driving Lord Bute from office, which,
in the spring of 1763, he suddenly resigned, hoping, as it might almost
seem, thus to throw on his successor the burden of defending his
measures. The most important of these measures had been the conclusion
of the Treaty of Versailles, which, when it was first announced to
Parliament, had been vehemently attacked in both Houses by Pitt and his
followers, but had been approved by large majorities. Wilkes, however,
not without reason, believed it to be still unpopular with the nation at
large, and, flushed with his supposed victory over Lord Bute, was
watching eagerly for some occasion of re-opening the question, when such
an opportunity was afforded him by the King's speech at the prorogation
of the Parliament, which took place a few days after Lord Bute's
resignation.
Lord Bute had been succeeded by Mr. George Grenville, who had for a time
been one of his colleagues as Secretary of State; and on him, therefore,
the duty devolved of framing the royal speech the opening sentences of
which referred to "the re-establishment of peace" in terms of warm
self-congratulation, as having been effected "upon conditions honorable
to the crown and beneficial to the people." Wilkes at once caught at
this panegyric, as affording him just such an opportunity as he had been
seeking of renewing his attacks on the government, which he regarded as
changed in nothing but the name of the Prime-minister.[4] And, four days
after the prorogation,[5] he accordingly issued a new number of _The
North Briton_ (No. 45), in which he heaped unmeasured sarcasm and
invective on the peace itself, on the royal speech, and on the minister
who had composed it. As if conscious that Mr. Grenville was less
inclined by temper than Lord Bute to suffer such attacks without
endeavoring to retaliate, he took especial pains to keep within the law
in his strictures, and, accordingly, carefully avoided saying a
disrespectful word of the King himself, whom he described as "a prince
of many great and amiable qualities," "ever renowned for truth, honor,
and unsullied virtue." But he claimed a right to canvass the speech
"with the utmost freedom," since "it had always been considered by the
Legislature and by the public at large as the speech of the minister."
And he kept this distinction carefully in view through the whole number.
The speech he denounced with bitter vehemence, as "an abandoned instance
of ministerial effrontery," as containing "the most unjustifiable public
declarations" and "infamous fallacies." The peace he affirmed to be
"such as had drawn down the contempt of mankind on our wretched
negotiators." And he described the present minister as a mere tool of
"the favorite," by whom "he still meditated to rule the kingdom with a
rod of iron." But in the whole number there was but one sentence which
could be represented as implying the very slightest censure on the King
himself, and even that was qualified by a personal eulogy. "The King of
England," it said, "is not only the first magistrate of the country, but
is invested by the law with the whole executive power. He is, however,
responsible to his people for the due execution of the royal functions
in the choice of ministers, etc., equally with the meanest of his
subjects in his particular duty. The personal character of our present
amiable sovereign makes us easy and happy that so great a power is
lodged in such hands; but the favorite has given too just cause for him
to escape the general odium. The prerogative of the crown is to exert
the constitutional power intrusted to it in such a way, not of blind
favor and partiality, but of wisdom and judgment. This is the spirit of
our constitution. The people, too, have their prerogative; and I hope
the fine words of Dryden will be engraven on our hearts, 'Freedom is the
English subject's prerogative.'"
These were the last sentences of No. 45. And in the present day it will
hardly be thought that, however severe or even violent some of the
epithets with which certain sentences of the royal speech were assailed
may have been, the language exceeds the bounds of allowable political
criticism. With respect to the King, indeed, however accompanied with
personal compliments to himself those strictures may have been, it may
be admitted that in asserting any responsibility whatever to the people
on the part of the sovereign, even for the choice of his ministers, as
being bound to exercise that choice "with wisdom and judgment," it goes
somewhat beyond the strict theory of the constitution. Undoubtedly that
theory is, that the minister chosen by the King is himself responsible
for every circumstance or act which led to his appointment. This
principle was established in the fullest manner in 1834, when, as will
be seen hereafter, Sir Robert Peel admitted his entire responsibility
for the dismissal of Lord Melbourne by King William IV., though it was
notorious that he was in Italy at the time, and had not been consulted
on the matter. But as yet such questions had not been as accurately
examined as subsequent events caused them to be; and Wilkes's assertion
of royal responsibility to this extent probably coincided with the
general feeling on the subject.[6] At all events, the error contained in
it, and the insinuation that due wisdom and judgment had not been
displayed in the appointment of Mr. G. Grenville to the Treasury, were
not so derogatory to the legitimate authority and dignity of the crown
as to make the writer a fit subject for a criminal prosecution. But Mr.
Grenville was of a bitter temper, never inclined to tolerate any
strictures on his own judgment or capacity, and fully imbued with the
conviction that the first duty of an English minister is to uphold the
supreme authority of the Parliament, and to chastise any one who dares
to call in question the wisdom of any one of its resolutions. But _The
North Briton_ had done this, and more. No. 45 had not only denounced the
treaty which both Houses had approved, but had insinuated in
unmistakable language that their approval had been purchased by gross
corruption (a fact which was, indeed, sufficiently notorious). And,
consequently, Mr. Grenville determined to treat the number which
contained the denunciation as a seditious libel, the publication of
which was a criminal offence; and, by his direction, Lord Halifax, as
Secretary of State, issued what was termed a general warrant--a warrant,
that is, which did not name the person or persons against whom it was
directed, but which commanded the apprehension of "the authors,
printers, and publishers" of the offending paper, leaving the officers
who were charged with its execution to decide who came under that
description, or, in other words, who were guilty of the act charged,
before they had been brought before any tribunal. The warrant was
executed. Wilkes and some printers were apprehended; Wilkes himself, as
if the minister's design had been to make the charge ridiculous by
exaggeration, being consigned to the great state-prison of the Tower,
such a use of which was generally limited to those impeached of
high-treason. And, indeed, the commitment did declare that No. 45 of
_The North Briton_ was "a libel tending to alienate the affections of
the people from his Majesty, and to excite them to traitorous
insurrections against the government." Wilkes instantly sued out a writ
of _habeas corpus_, and was without hesitation released by the Court of
Common Pleas, on the legal ground that, "as a member of the House of
Commons, he was protected from arrest in all cases except treason,
felony, or a breach of the peace;" a decision which, in the next session
of Parliament, the minister endeavored to overbear by inducing both
Houses to concur in a resolution that "privilege of Parliament did not
extend to the case of publishing seditious libels."