The inseparable union of taxation and representation A conceptual approach on the idea of representation during the controversies on the excise scheme and the Stamp Act, 1732 – 1734 and 1765 - 1766 Zachris Haaparinne University of Jyväskylä Faculty of Social Sciences Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy Master's Thesis 15.11.2015 Contents Abbreviations List of Common Pseudonyms 1. Introduction 1 1.1. The political sphere in the early Georgian Britain 1 1.2. Theoretical framework and methodological Approach 9 1.3. Sources 19 I The voice of the people or raving of the rabble? : Instructing the representatives during the Excise Crisis, 1732 – 1734 2. The cusp of the Walpolean premiership 29 3. Petitioning the House of Commons 32 3.1. Excise petitions 32 3.2. Representing the private interest as the national interest 38 4. Debating the petitions 43 4.1. Vox populi, vox dei? 43 4.1. Defending the balance of power 55 4.1. The men of superior abilities 68 II No taxation without representation : Debating the nature of representation during the Controversy on the Stamp Act, 1765 – 1766 5. The escalating crisis in the Colonies 80 6. Parliamentary sovereignty 84 6.1. The indivisibility of sovereignty 84 6.2. The exceptionality of taxation 90 6.3. Maintaining the honour and dignity of Westminster 94 6.4. Maternal protection and the British diaspora 99 6.5. The dichotomous nature of taxation 104 7. The voluntary foundation of governance 118 7.1. The consensus on consent 118 7.2. Representation - a natural or a contractarian right? 131 7.3. Virtual representation 141 8. Change and continuity 150 9. Bibliography 158 ABBREVIATIONS BM British Museum C Craftsman DC Daily Courant DJ Daily Journal FB Free Briton FJ Fog's Journal GJ Grubstreet Journal GM Gentleman's Magazine LJ London Journal HCPP The History and Proceedings of the House of Commons HoP The History of Parliament ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography LIST OF COMMON PSEUDONYMS DURING THE EXCISE CRISIS, 1732 - 1734 Publication title Pseudonym Main author Political affiliation Craftsman Caleb D'anvers Nicholas Amhurst Tory and opposition Whig Daily Courant Meanwell & Carus Ministerial Daily Journal Ministerial Free Briton Francis Walsingham William Arnall Ministerial Fog's Journal Mr Fog Nathaniel Mist Jacobitism Gentleman's Sylvanus Urban Opposition Magazine London Journal Mr Osborne James Pitt Ministerial 1. Introduction 1.1. The political sphere in the early Georgian Britain The Long Eighteenth Century, as the period from 1688 to 1832 often is referred as, is most commonly perceived to commence from the Glorious revolution. The Catholic Monarch, James II of England, was dethroned and forced into exile by the invasion forces of William of Orange, landing at Torbay on the fifth of November 1688, invited by the English Convention Parliament to become Monarch of England with his wife Mary, the oldest daughter of James II. When accepting the parliamentary invitation the joint Monarchs agreed to recognize the Bill of Rights, the statutory form of the Declaration of Rights, that proclaimed the sovereignty of Parliament and constrained the regal authority. The charter assured the regularity of parliamentary meetings, free and regular elections, the freedom of speech and immunity of Parliament, and transferred the budgetary and fiscal power to Parliament, hence making the Crown dependent on the annual Civil List granted by the parliamentary authority.1 The importance of these events as such should, however, not be overestimated as historical cruxes and trajectories do not emerge out of thin air. England did not change at Torbay in November 1688 or in December when James II fled the country; these events were but consequences and manifestations of the change that had already occured. The conflict between the Crown and Parliament had existed at least since the early 17 th century, inflicting a bloody civil war in 1642, eventually leading to the regicide of Charles I and the establishment of the English Republic. Even though the monarchy was restored in 1660, the Exclusion Crisis in 1679 - 1681, the Rye House Plot in 1683, and the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685 were signs of the forthcoming upheaval2. Rather than being based on precipitous and abrupt changes of fundamental nature, historical trajectories are formed during longer spans of time. The Glorious revolution may have been crucial, but the transformation and the change it would induce during the late 17th and early 18th century was of much more importance. It 1 Ihalainen & Palonen 2009, 7 - 8, 18; Turkka 2007, 54 - 56, 59 - 59, 60 - 62, 119 - 120, 125; Murdoch 2007, 105 - 108; Hesse 2007, 367 - 379; Haapala 2012, 11 - 12; Hayton 2002, 39 - 42; Daunton 2002, 162 - 164; O'Gorman 2006, 22, 27 - 36, 42 - 43, 122 - 134, 172 - 173, 374 - 377; Black 2008, 1 - 5, 226 - 227, 253 - 256; Langford 2002, 9, 19; Hayton 2002, 35, 47, 67. 2 Black 2008, 43, 163, 227, 229, 232; O'Gorman 2006, 3 - 4, 6, 25, 44, 160; Hayton 2002, 47. 1 did not bring immidiate tranquility or stability, rather the opposite, as the first decades after the succession of William III and Mary II were but turbulent and precarious. The yet frailty line of succession was consolidated by the Act of Settlement in 1701 as William III and Mary II were unable to produce heirs. After the death of William III in 1702, it was the Anglican daughter of the dethroned James II, Anne, that would ascend the throne. Queen Anne was the first Monarch to reign Great Britain as the personal union of England and Scotland was completed in 1707 by merging the Parliaments of England and Scotland into the British Parliament, consisting of 486 English, 45 Scottish, and 27 Welsh representative seats. Apart from institutionalizing the British political sphere, the union of England and Scotland also drastically improved the internal security of the British Isles. Regardless of the major parliamentary reform during her reign, Queen Anne was a weak Monarch and due to her inability to produce surviving heirs she was not only the first Stuart to rule Great Britain, but also the last.3 The death of Queen Anne inflicted the first solemn crisis for the Protestant succession in 1714 as by Anne's Catholic brother James Francis Edward Stuart, exiled in France, was excluded from ascending the throne according to the Act of Settlement. The House of Stuart was replaced by the House of Hanover as the Lutheran great-grandson of James I and the Elector of Hanover, George I, succeeded Queen Anne on the British throne. Only a year after the accession of the House of Hanover the supporters of the Catholic Stuarts, the Jacobites, revolted in Scotland, briefly gaining the control over most of North Britain. James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', was unable to gain the military strength he endeavoured and briefly returned to France, the revolt being crushed during the following year. Regardless of the Jacobite revolts in 1715 - 1716 and again in 1719, it was during the reign of the House of Hanover that Britain was to be stabilized and most of the reforms of the Glorious revolution implemented. Unlike Queen Anne, George I despised Tories due to their Stuart sympathies and foreign policy and it was during his reign in 1714 - 1727 the hegemony of the Whigs was established. George II, reigning from 1727 to 1760, disdained Tories even more than his father, further entrenching the Whig hegemony. It was not until the short-lived premiership of Lord Bute in 1762 - 1763 that the Tories were briefly able to regain power.4 3 Turkka 2007, 125 - 130; Pulkkinen 2008, 42 - 44; O'Gorman 2006, 2 - 4, 23, 33, 37 - 40, 45 - 48, 51, 56 - 58, 65 - 66, 99, 130 - 135, 140 - 145; Black 2008, 39, 43, 52, 76, 88, 122, 130, 162, 213, 230 - 236; Langford 2002, 18; Hayton 2002, 35, 38, 45. 4 Cruickshanks 1984, 28 - 29; Dickinson 1984, 53 - 54; Black 1984, 1, 6 - 9; Pulkkinen 2008, 42 - 44; Turkka 2007, 119 - 120; Langford 2002,6, 18 - 20; Hayton 2002, 40 - 41, 51, 53 - 56; Wilson 1998, 93 - 99, 102 - 106, 319 - 322; 2 It was not only the dislike of the Tories but also the favouring of the Whigs that characterized the reigns of both George I and George II. After an intense period of equivocal party strife and weak governments, Sir Robert Walpole entrenched his dominance in 1721, becoming not only the first but also the longest-serving Prime Minister in British history. During the long premiership of Walpole, lasting from 1721 to 1742, the political order of the Glorious revolution was consolidated and stabilized, enabling Britain to gain strength and to prosper. Walpole's objective was to keep Britain out of war, avoid religious controversies, reduce the national debt, and to lower the tax on land, assuring him the support of merchants, landowners, and religious dissenters in particular. During the 1722 general election Walpole was able to win the Whigs 389 seats against the 169 seats gained by the Tories in opposition. In the 1727 general election the Prime Minister was yet capable of increasing the majority of the ministerial Whigs to 415 seats, despite being deserted by the faction of Whigs led by William Pulteney, whose Opposition Whigs attained 15 seats. By means of these considerable majorities Sir Robert Walpole was capable of reforming the early Georgian political sphere with remarkable success.5 Eventually a notable opposition was formed against the vigorous ministry of Walpole. In 1726 a Whig faction withdrew its support from the Walpolean ministry and joined the Tories in opposition, together forming what commonly was referred to as the Patriot opposition, or the Country Party in contrast to the Walpolean Court Party.