Gladstone And Liberalism Notes

British History VI (1815-1924)

Gladstone and later Victorian Liberalism

To what extent did Gladstone successfully refashion the nature of liberalism in the later 19^th century?

Introduction

Changing status quo/Palmerston/Conservative threat

Finance

Foreign Policy

Ireland

Domestic Legislation

Electoral performance of the party

Refashioning owed to others?

Conclusion

Gladstone and the Liberal Party: M. Winstanley

- 1868 – Supported the abolition of Church Rates

- 1869 – Disestablished the Irish Anglican Church

- 1870 – Irish Land Act

- 1872 – Secret Ballot

- 1879 – Midlothian Campaign

- 1882 – Arrears Act

- 1883 – Corrupt Practices Act

- 1884 – Third Reform Act – enfranchises rural households

- 1885 – Redistribution of Seats Act

- 1885/86 – Support for Home Rule splits Liberals

- Gladstonian Liberalism: ‘emphasis on individual freedom and responsibility…free-trade and cheap government.’¹

- The State was there to enable, not provide, whilst promoting the welfare of the nation as a whole.

- Gladstone remained socially conservative and a supporter of the State, Crown, and Church.

- In 1878, he said: ‘I am a firm believer in the aristocratic principle, the rule of the best.’²

- He reluctantly accepted the secret ballot.

- He objected to the terms of the Second Reform Act.

- Whilst the Liberal party was not ‘formed’ until 1859, post-18446 many non-Tory newly elected MPs referred to themselves as Liberals.

- Party and policy remained fluid.

- Only with the 1877 foundation of the National Liberal Federation did a structured party machine emerge.

- Make-up of the Liberal party³:

- A total of 457 Liberal MPs sat between 1857 and 1874.

- Nearly half came from significant landowning families, although this was soon to change.

- 100 or so were of aristocratic or gentry origin.

- A quarter were relatives of peers.

- One in ten earned Anglican livings.

- On the front bench, the landowning class continued to dominate.

- Only around a fifth of Liberals were non-conformists.

- After 1849, the majority of Irish Liberal MPs were Roman Catholics.

- Palmerston had been an obstacle to reform, particularly in fiscal and franchise matters.

- Gladstone’s attack on Irish land ownership and the Anglican church drove some Liberals into alliance with the Tories as ‘Liberal Unionists.’

- Gladstone, 1877: ‘Nonconformity supplies the backbone of English Liberalism.’⁴ Maybe in the country, but not in parliament.

- Gladstone’s support base was public, not parliamentary, as the ‘People’s William’.

- His first administration faced the dual challenges of sectionalism within the Liberal party and a Tory dominated Lords.

- Irish disestablishment was a cause that served to unite many within the party.

- However, Gladstone did not exercise a firm grip on policy.

- The 1870 Education Act was drafted without much input, likewise the 1872 Licensing Act.

- He was unhappy about the abolition of university religious tests.

- In 1881, the government began to dismantle Disraelian diplomacy, re-introducing coercion in Ireland and withholding self-government from the Transvaal.

- Most Bills passed were the result of compromise, not a reflection of Gladstone’s wishes. Apart from fiscal issues, he had little direct involvement in the development of domestic legislation.

- His 1870 Land Act did not appease the Irish, but merely further raised expectations.

- If the Liberals were to recover from their 1874 defeat, they needed to adjust their policies to the new electorate and the new rhetoric of the Tories.

- By 1892, Liberalism had lost most of its landed contingent – with only 8% of MPs coming from this group. In contrast, the overwhelming majority of Liberals came from the professions.

- Some of the party’s old Whigs had deserted over Irish Home Rule.

- However, the most significant factor was the deteriorating economic position of the landed class and their resultant loss of interest in parliament.

- Gladstone wanted the party to harness ‘the great social forces of the age’⁵ in order to survive.

- Home Rule was constitutionally unacceptable to most Liberals. Gladstone had committed himself to an impractical and unpopular cause.

- By the late 1880s, Gladstone was not working constructively to reform the party, ‘a survivor from a previous age who found it difficult to adapt to the new political climate.’⁶ He had dominated his party for 30 years and constructive debate had largely been quashed.

- Whilst a strong leader, he was also stubborn and inflexible, failing to reassess the meaning of ‘Liberalism’ in the last quarter of the century.

- His 1868 decision to concentrate on Irish disestablishment did much to reunite the divided Liberals.

Britain and the European Powers, 1865-1914: R. Pearce

- Did Gladstone depart from Palmerston’s ‘gunboat diplomacy’?

- After 1865, Britain’s largest foreign policy commitment was the guaranteeing of the Ottoman Empire under the 1856 Treaty of Paris.

- This became increasingly fraught following the 1876 Bulgarian Massacre.

- Britain reduced its commitment to the less substantial ‘Turkey-in-Asia’, and less still once Gladstone had returned to office.

- Gladstone did not seek military prestige, he wanted peace and the proliferation of free trade. Yet, in 1882 he authorized the invasion of Egypt to protect the Suez Canal (opened in 1869).

- He was unable to prevent the scramble for Africa by European powers.

- He mishandled the South African problems.

- On foreign policy, Gladstone campaigned in 1880 promising to reverse Disraelian ‘lust for glory, aggressiveness, and chauvinism.’⁷ He was not an avid imperialist – yet the public remained supportive of Empire.

- He wanted to cede Cyprus to Greece, but was otherwise persuaded.

- He did not consider giving India its independence.

- Events did not allow him to be isolationist.

- Gladstone was a Europhile, and tried to restart the Concert of Europe. Whilst diplomacy with the French reached advanced stages, Bismarck rejected the idea, instead forming his own...

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