280 likes | 604 Vues
Hanoverian Britain. The Whig Supremacy, 1714-1760. Hanoverian Succession. Not contested by Bolingbroke and Jacobites, and Jacobites were discredited by the ’15 George I left his wife in Hanover and arrived with the elephant and the maypole, Mistresses Kielmansegee and Schulenburg
E N D
Hanoverian Britain The Whig Supremacy, 1714-1760
Hanoverian Succession • Not contested by Bolingbroke and Jacobites, and Jacobites were discredited by the ’15 • George I left his wife in Hanover and arrived with the elephant and the maypole, Mistresses Kielmansegee and Schulenburg • A term of George’s ascension-No English war in favor of Hanover • Whigs secure supremacy through 1716 Septennial Act (average life of P. was 6.5 years from 1716-1776)
Early Supremacy • “The least government the better” • Faction—not Party—matters • Factions feud over Great Northern War and South Sea Bubble Crisis • Robert Walpole and Charles Townshend lead opposition to James Stanhope and the Earl of Sunderland
Emergence of Walpole • South Sea Bubble Crisis eliminated Stanhope/Sunderland and Walpole protected King from Parliamentary inquiry (“Robin Screen”) • Walpole was master politician: Peace and Prosperity were his poles • Managed both Crown and Commons • Used patronage power • Created “sinking fund” to pay off South Sea bubble debt—people considered him a brilliant Financier
Walpole’s Team (Dramatis Personae) • Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle (provided the $) • Henry Pelham, ran the Treasury and Exchequer • John Cartaret, Earl Granville, initially supporter then rival of Walpole • Prince George (later George II), opposed his father—Reversionary Interest.
Newcastle and Pelham—Political Operatives of the Whig Supremacy
Excise Scheme (1733) • Bolingbroke returned from exile—good Tories couldn’t support him because he was a deist, a rake, and scarred with Jacobitism • Railed against excise scheme of Walpole in The Craftsman (gov’t. would tax everything and would enter private homes) • For one of few times, Walpole failed to get bill passed; it was defeated in Lords • Showed to opponents of Walpole that he could be bested
Walpole’s system • Other than excise scheme, Walpole succeeded from 1721 to 1739. • He kept government small and taxes low: salutary neglect toward colonies • Walpole served G. II (got king’s income doubled) and enjoyed support of Queen Caroline of Ansbach, who was the brains of the family • Success and political domination was his undoing
War of Jenkins’ Ear • Robert Jenkins’ incident inspired anti-Spanish sentiment • Walpole’s political opponents and the merchants thought that war with Spain would be profitable—rejected Spanish peace treaty that adjudicated England’s claim. • War was successful (Porto Bello 1739) but costly [siege of Cartagena and of Cuba (1740) failed] • Politicians then blamed Walpole for failures while demanding a bigger war.
War of the Austrian Succession • Spanish War merged with attempts by rival states to seize territories belonging to Habsburg Queen Maria Theresa. • Hanover was threatened by Prussia and France • Walpole quit (1742) and took a peerage (Oxford and Mortimer) • John, Lord Cartaret, assumed control of commons and got money for war through bribes, despite the fact that this was contrary to law. • Cost of land war led Newcastle and Henry Pelham to oppose Cartaret in Commons.
War of the Austrian Succession • Enigmatic but brilliant, William Pitt, built following in commons denouncing war. • Jacobites rise in favor of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” in the ’45; defeated by William, Duke of Cumberland (Son of G. II) at Culloden Moor in 1746 • Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle (1748) ended war (Status quo antebellum)
Diplomatic Revolution • In interest of protecting Hanover, England by 1756 allies with Prussia • Austria (Habsburgs) and France ally (this is how Marie Antoinette wound up a French Queen) • Balance of Power concept • Parties in War of Austrian Succession thus change sides
So what? • Diplomatic shifts follow problems in Parliament; Henry Pelham died and Duke of Newcastle needs someone to run Parliament for him • Forces G. II to have to make Pitt his chief minister, as all others were not capable. • Need for capable leadership was heightened when war erupted in Virginia in 1754, in India, and on the Continent by 1756
7 Years War • Really a general European War and in the empire pitting France against Great Britain • Early on, war was a disaster for England • Pitt kept war going by reforming English military—especially the navy—and using tax dollars to keep Frederick the Great of Prussia fighting on the continent (thereby protecting Hanover) • 1757—Robert, Lord Clive, secures English interests in India • 1759—annus mirabilis—Quiberon Bay and Quebec
Treaty of Paris, 1763 • Ended war with England gaining a vast empire • Politics of getting a new King (G. III) and how to manage parliament illustrate that the age of the Walpolean Whig supremacy were over • These politics will do w/ George III
So does the Whig Supremacy Matter? • Dominance of Patronage system • Parliamentary supremacy but not Parliamentary independence; contrary to Lockean system of Crown, Lords, and Commons • Background of G III’s constitutional issues • Walpole, Newcastle, and then Pitt, are magisterial politicians whose aptitudes and foibles inspire imitation • Not Prime Ministers—considered a term of derision—but laid foundation for party/PM governance