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When Georg Ludwig , elector of Hanover, became king of Great Britain on August 1, , the country was in some respects bitterly divided. Fundamentally, however, it was prosperous, cohesive , and already a leading European and imperial power. It took France a decade to recover, and Spain and Holland were unable to reverse their military and economic decline. War had also strengthened the British state at home. The need to raise men and money had increased the size and scope of the executive as well as the power and prestige of the House of Commons.
Agriculture was still the bedrock of the economy, but trade was increasing, and more men and women were employed in industry in Britain than in any other European nation. Wealth, however, was unequally distributed, with almost a third of the national income belonging to only 5 percent of the population.
But British society was not polarized simply between the rich and the poor; according to writer Daniel Defoe there were seven different and more subtle categories:. This was crucial to social stability and to popular acquiescence in the new Hanoverian regime. But early 18th-century Britain also had its weaknesses. Its Celtic fringe—Wales, Ireland , and Scotland—had been barely assimilated.
The vast majority of Welsh men and women could neither speak nor understand the English language. Most Irish men and women spoke Gaelic and belonged to the Roman Catholic church, in contrast with the population of the British mainland, which was staunchly Protestant. Scotland , which had only been united to England and Wales in , still retained its traditional educational, religious, legal, and cultural practices.
These internal divisions were made more dangerous by the existence of rival claimants to the British throne. His Catholicism and Scottish ancestry ensured him wide support in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands; his cause also commanded sympathy among sections of the Welsh and English gentry and, arguably, among the masses. Controversy over the succession sharpened partisan infighting between the Whig and Tory parties. About 50 Tory MPs less than a seventh of the total number may have been covert Jacobites in More generally, Tories differed from Whigs over religious issues and foreign policy.
They were more anxious to preserve the privileges of the Anglican church and more hostile to military involvement in continental Europe than Whig politicians were inclined to be.
These attitudes made the Tories vulnerable in The new king was a Lutheran by upbringing and wanted to establish wider religious toleration in his new kingdom. As a German he was deeply interested in European affairs. Consequently he regarded the Tory party as insular in its outlook as well as suspect in its allegiance. John, Viscount Bolingbroke. In their place he appointed two Whig politicians, Charles, Viscount Townshend , and James, Viscount Stanhope , as secretaries of state.
Walpole, who came from a minor Norfolk gentry family, was an extremely able politician, shrewd, greedy, and undeviatingly Whig.
In December the Old Pretender landed in Scotland, provoking an armed rebellion that was quickly suppressed. The proved involvement of a small number of Tory landowners led to Tories being purged not only from state office but also from the higher ranks of the army and navy, the diplomatic service , and the judicial system.
To make their capture of the state even more secure, the Whigs passed the Septennial Act in It allowed general elections to occur at seven-year intervals instead of every three years, as mandated by the Triennial Act of Having defeated their Tory opponents, the Whig leaders began to quarrel among themselves. In Walpole and Townshend left office and went into open opposition.
Stanhope stayed on, with Charles Spencer, earl of Sunderland , now serving as secretary of state. At the same time the heir apparent to the throne, George, prince of Wales , quarreled with his father and began to flirt with Opposition groups in Parliament. These events set the pattern for future political conflicts. From then on until the s the Opposition in Parliament would be a hybrid group of Whig and Tory sympathizers.
And from then on until the early 19th century Oppositions in Parliament would enjoy sporadic support from successive princes of Wales. In the rebel Whigs were a serious threat in large part because Walpole was such a skillful House-of-Commons politician. He showed his power by mobilizing a majority of MPs against the Peerage Bill in To prevent further blows of this kind, the Whig elite ended its schism in April The royal family temporarily buried its differences at the same time. The restoration of unity was just as well, as saw the bursting of what became known as the South Sea Bubble.
The South Sea Company had been founded in as a trading and finance company. In its directors offered to take over a large portion of the national debt previously managed by the Bank of England. In investing in the South Sea Company became a mania among those who could afford it and some who could not; South Sea stock was at in January and rose to 1, by August. But in September the inevitable crash came.
Many landed and mercantile families were ruined, and there was a nationwide shortage of specie. Parliament demanded an inquiry, thus raising the possibility that members of the government and the royal family would be openly implicated in financial scandal. He used his influence in the Commons to blunt the parliamentary inquiry and managed gradually to restore financial confidence. The strain of the investigation killed Stanhope, and Sunderland too died in Walpole duly became first lord of the treasury and chancellor of exchequer, while Townshend returned to his post as secretary of state.
Francis Atterbury was bishop of Rochester. In —22 he and a small group of conspirators plotted an armed invasion of Britain on behalf of the Old Pretender. The plot was uncovered by the secret service, which was more efficient in this period than it was until World War II. Atterbury was tried for treason by Parliament and sent into exile. It fixed him with the King, and united for a time the whole body of Whigs to him, and gave him the universal credit of an able and vigilant Minister.
Some historians have also claimed that Walpole was the architect of political stability in Britain, but this interpretation needs to be qualified. There is no doubt that from to his resignation in Walpole stabilized political power in himself and a section of the Whig party. Nor can there be any doubt that his foreign and economic policies helped the Hanoverian dynasty to become securely entrenched in Britain. But it should not be forgotten that Walpole inherited a nation that was already wealthy and at peace. He built on foundations that were already very strong.
And, although he was to dominate political life for 20 years, he never succeeded in stamping out political, religious, and cultural opposition entirely, nor did he expect to do so. Opposition to Walpole in Parliament began to develop as early as When William Pulteney , an ambitious and talented politician, was dismissed from state office, he and 17 other Whig MPs aligned themselves with the Tory MPs remaining in the House of Commons. Some were motivated primarily by disappointed ambition.
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But many Whigs and Tories genuinely believed that Walpole had arrogated too much power to himself and that he was corrupt and an enemy to liberty. These accusations were expressed not just among politicians in London but also in the growing number of newspapers and periodicals in Britain at large. In Pulteney and the one-time Tory minister Lord Bolingbroke founded their own journal, The Craftsman the implication of the title being that Walpole governed by craft alone.
It was widely read among the political classes, not least because many of the most gifted writers working in London had been drawn into the Opposition camp. But, despite its flamboyance and innovative tactics, the Opposition for a long time lacked high-level support. Frequent disagreements occurred between its Patriot Whig and Tory sectors. These weaknesses helped Walpole to keep the Opposition at bay until But there were other reasons for his prolonged stay in power: he retained the support of the crown, resisted military involvement in Europe, pursued a moderate religious policy, and adopted a skillful economic policy.
Moreover, in the general elections of and he was able to manipulate the electoral system to maintain himself in power.
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