1783-1812
How was Britain Governed and how did democracy and political
organisations change and develop?
Pitt administrative reforms success vs unsuccessful
Pitt abolished some sinecure offices- Clerkship of Pell’s worth £3000 a year- 28 sinecures closed - 1784-
1793- reduced by 440
1785- Treasury control auditing public accounts costing 1/3rd of previous system
Consolidated fund at BoE- tax revenue put here to pay governmental payments – simplifying collection
procedures - 103 separate Exchequer accounts replaced by 1 fund
Govt. departments reorganised improve efficiency- more staff Customs +Excise -stop smuggling
Reorganised armed forces –1784-90, increased Navy 15,000-18,000 men, built 33 new ships
India Act 1784 clipped East India Company's control over India – but still substantial powers over territory-
not complete control, even though India vital to British trade and the empire.
Cost closing sinecure offices high - Lords Mountstuart+ Sondes of Treasury 1785- compensation, £7000 a
year each from government.
Pitt failed to introduce Parliamentary reform Bill 1785, Patronage powers only slightly reduced – King still
had great power, 119 new peers created during Pitt’s tenure (contradictory aim).
Political impact French War
Broke Whig opposition- Burke + moderates broke with Foxites -united behind Pitt
o Portland Whigs inflexibility towards France –led to policy of repression 1793
1801 – war + C.E fragmentation politics - 1804- Grenville + Fox opposition - Addington criticised for
hesitance declaring war in May 1803 after Napoleon breached peace terms- indecisive action
o Levee en Masse Act – July 1803 - men 17-55 trained, armed + ready to fight- 800,000 men, Addington
efficiencies income tax to boost war funds- importance defeating Napoleon at sea, Ordered a blockade
of French ports- ministry still criticised
What pressures did governments face and how did they respond to these?
French Revolution- Pitt good wartime leader vs bad wartime leader
Pitt subsidies European powers £66m- Pitt paid £9m 1803 – most paid 1810/ 1815- European allies
complained – Austria received loans high interest 1795 +1797 NOT subsidies, Prussian subsidy treaty
1794- 60,000 men supplied- didn’t operate - delays producing cash
Britain ignored Padua Circular 1791 to support French monarchy + Aug 1791 Austro-Prussian Pillnitz
Declaration v French Rev. –French declared war on Austria 1792 -British remained neutral
50% British exports to New World= Cape of Good Hope+ Ceylon- Britain fund war no collapse in financial
system – targeted rich - tax luxuries +income tax 1798- unpopular but contribution
BUT
Pitt NO clear war aim strategy –confine revolutionary France using Balance of Power Doctrine or restore
Bourbon monarchy- spread resources too thinly -no knockout blow any area
1780s – navy only 15,000 men 1793, 1801- 133,000 – pay + conditions = poor- Mutiny 1797-
improvements only began 1795- too late to secure victory against disorganised France
Some French territories seized - Blue Water Strategy – West Indies –Guadeloupe + St Lucia 1795- handed
back Peace of Amiens – attempt capture Haiti failed- 80,000 men dead - disease
Duke York in Flanders April 1793- only 7000 British infantry–forced to evacuate Apr 1795
French rev. impact radicalism
London 13 daily papers, 50 weekly papers - attacked govt. =end corruption + electoral reform, response
war America +fears George III abusing powers to force will on Parl.
John Wilkes Booth – North Briton- accused of sedition on King + arrested- protesting in support – ‘Wilkes
and Liberty’ – trial collapsed- campaign only in London
Yorkshire Association –Wyvill 1780 provide forum for country gentlemen - confined to Yorkshire
Society for Constitutional Information 1780- more radical –educate on need reform (universal male
suffrage, annual parliaments) –John Cartwright
, 1791-1795- 80 new political societies=London, Sheffield, Manny, Leeds
Tom Paine – Rights of Man- 200,000 copies sold -1 year- Paine led to govt. repressive measures against
radicalism –Proclamation against Seditious Writing 1792
Sheffield Society for Constitutional Information 1791- within 6 months= 2500 members
LCS – Thomas Hardy 1792- tradesmen +artisans, open for everyone, membership fees only 1p a week -
total membership 5000 but 1000 active members –large open air meetings 1793-95
French rev. impact popular loyalism
John Reeves Association (founded in 1792) support ‘King and Country’ – 2000 branches, every parish
Reeve Association Westminster Committee, 1000s associations 1793- burning Paine figures
Hannah More sold 1.5m loyalist book ‘Village Politics’ (‘Burke for Beginners’), Government propaganda
(‘The Sun’ and ‘The Oracle’).
Most mob violence = loyalists attacking radicals– Joseph Priestley Birmingham lab was attacked.
o Brum 1791- 5 days rioting by Church and King Mob attacking meeting houses and private residences
with magistrates offering support to rioters
o Manchester 1792- mob attacked dissenters/ reformists – targeting Cross Street Chapel where
reformist Literary and Philosophical Society gathered
Strikes govt. docks 1801+ civilian shipyards Thames ‘03- textile workers SW, Tyne Keelmen 1803
Price riots in Covent Garden 1809 - Soaring price of bread- food riots
1000 stocking frames destroyed between March 1811 and February 1812 Nottingham
o January 1813- 17 luddites executed and 6 sent to Australia
Luddites- skilled textiles - job security+ high wages threatened by new machinery in old craft/ woolen
textile districts - Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, East midlands and West riding of Yorkshire
Failed to secure Minimum Wages Bill 1808- rioted + sabotaged new power loom machines
Pitt ability to deal with radicalism
Pitt’s Terror – local magistrates power to take away licenses Public Houses who allowed political meetings
on premises –LCS used pubs, home office expanded- Alien+ Secret Service to monitor activities of foreign
spies + radical activity – infiltrated LCS+ radical groups- Agent provocateurs among working men stirred up
trouble to flush out radical leaders- Corresponding Societies +Society of United Irishmen banned 1799
Dec 1792- royal proclamation for military after rumors French emigres alliance with radicals planning
attacks BoE + Tower London, 1792 – Paine tried of seditious libel, Muir (delegate of Scottish National
Convention) 1793- 14 years transportation to Australia, Treason trials in 1794 of leaders of Corresponding
Society – Hardy, Thelwall and Henry Tooke
Habeas Corpus suspended 1794 –prisoners held without trial, Treasonable + Seditious Practices Act 1795-
broadened treason-not only plotting war on country but speaking/ writing against constitution, Seditious
Meetings Act - give notice before meeting 50 people, 1796- Stamp duty newspapers to price people out,
1799- Corresponding societies banned, Combination Acts outlawed trade unions among workers - 3,000
workers arrested for violating Acts- successful till 1808 minimum wage bill rejected by Parliament - first
strike movement – cotton weavers, 1810- strike miners in Northumberland and Durham, 1812- General
strike among Scottish weavers, 1811- Nottingham Luddite machine breaking
Economic issues led to popular unrest – threat of radicalism
Trade cycle+ harvest failure – rains 1792– rising bread prices- rioting Scotland + Ireland, trade depression
1793– 7000 workers unemployed Manchester May 1793, Sheffield Cutlers’ wages cut ½, 1794 April – LCS
meeting Chalk Farm- govt. policy denounced, 1795 harvest failure increased wheat prices 50% in 1 year –
massive outdoor meetings to call for parliamentary reform + end to war, October 1795- Copenhagen
Fields London, stones thrown at Kings coach- parliament justified Seditious Meetings Act
Repressive rather than attacking actual issues - drove radicalism underground rather than destroy it
London championed Hardy as martyr when tried and triumphantly acquitted of High Treason in Nov 1794
Govt. agents attack Birmingham Friends of France at dinner to celebrate anniversary of fall Bastille – mob
attacked homes of known Dissenters
, April / May 1797- failed mutinies navy Spithead and Nore – against living conditions + demanding pay rise-
Richard Parker LCS elected President of Delegates of Fleet –presented to Admiral Charles Buckner
Black Lamp conspiracy 1800-02- secret meetings– hiding depots of weapons, practice of firing arms +
Despard conspiracy 1802- imprisoned for promising freed slaves in Honduras – on release joined LCS
Pitt’s Terror = exaggerated –– most measures temporary – suspension of H.C meant to be 6 months, SMA
3 years, punishments were mild – only 200 people were prosecuted for treason
Not completely repressive - high price 1795-6- Speenhamland system wage support, Pitt 1796 Poor Law
reform - parish provide relief + work + JPs grant relief to anyone sick without forcing entry workhouse
Failed to crush radical threat –politicized masses - South- west Lancashire – every labour organisation
passed into hands -Textile workers rallied slogans – No war , Damn Pitt and A free constitution - Food riots
1799-1801 – carefully planned + Potential mass support – especially in North west
Ireland
Oct 1791 – Society United Irishmen Belfast - establish democracy Ireland- parliamentary reform + equal
rights for men = Wolfe Tone = ascendancy ousted if work with Catholics for political rights
1797 -8 – Wolfe Tone plotting French landings Ireland to overthrow Parliament – attacks failed, captured-
Govt. informers aware of rebellion plans and took action against them
Defender movement –Catholic movement against protestant Peep O’Day Boys= attacked catholic farmers/
Pitt persuading Dublin Parliament to pass Catholic Relief Act 1793 allowing Catholic vote but not MPs
Nearly Catholic Emancipation 1795 but met with fierce opposition George III
1795- Earl Fitzwilliam – Portland Whig Dublin as Chief Secretary – dismissed John Beresford – long-serving
anti-Catholic Commissioner of Revenue – promised C.E- Pitt recalled and reinstated Beresford reinstated
Union 1800- Dublin Parliament to accept300 Dublin MPs reduced to 100 + bribe Catholics C.E. promise
Opposers paid to withdraw– 20% MPs, £30,000 s. service money bribes, 40 new peers 1799 for unionists
Portland, Westmoreland, Chatham all opposed, Loughborough also opposed and told the King – united in
opposition and king was even angrier that Pitt was planning behind back
Insurrection Act 1796- oath-taking criminal offence –magistrate search powers, habeas corpus suspension
Francis Burdett remained in Parliament – concerned to establish individual rights+ liberties e.g. rights of
Dissenters to hold public office rather than extension of Parliamentary franchise
Radicalism changed by Bentham- political reform must come before all other reform
1812 Hampden Clubs formed by leading radicals – little real impact on change
How and with what results did the economy develop and change?
Britain following loss of American War of Independence:
1783 – Fiscal deficit £10.8m, National debt increased 91% (close to national bankruptcy).
Smuggling trade -4m tons of tea smuggled illegally every year
Industry production down 1770s, exports down 12%, national debt up 91% 1775 +1784, govt. stocks
decreased 17% 1783- government deficit £11milion on annual income of £23.5million
Impact of French Wars
National debt £228m to £876m between 1793 and 1815
Income tax imposed 1799- only 1/3rd of tax revenue, only received 5m / 10ms expecting to raise - 600
new banks founded by end , Customs / excise duties quadrupled yield 1790- 1815- hit poor harder
Interest charges - £10m- £30m 1783-1815+ £8m increase payments to coalitions 1808- 1810
5 biggest Mancunian firms bankruptcy- Lancashire Labourers in May 1811 only 3days a week if at all
£ circulation £8.5m to 16m – prices increased 55% 1795- 1800- wages didn’t keep up
Output per worker 50% higher than any other European country
1700 70% land enclosed, 50% cultivable land area enclosed, 1730-89- 2.5m acr. enclosed, 1789-1815- 3 m
acr. enclosed - high wheat prices, 1760- 1815- 7 million acres of land enclosed
Napoleon’s decrees+ blockades- grain imports decreased 114,000 tons 1807 -14,000 i1808
