OF BRITISH LIBERALISM DEPOSITED BY THE COMMITTEE OM (Brafcmate Studies. QILL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY SCCI'JISM 3GIRC^3 OF BR IT ±31-; LIBLRALISI ^/u,faru£tkc/ &<& & /njKuJb for* %t /hcu/0* 's Jfepi^e U 6<&*u*40 fa. ^mUiU^t #.<9 Scottish Sources of British Liberalism. Bitterly opposed to the measures of burgh reform much dis­ cussed at the time, and fondly clinging to "abcient opinions", Sir Walter Scott wro£e to Croker in the year 1826:- "Scotland, completely liberalised as she is in a fair way of being, will be the mast dangerous neighbour to England that hhe has had since 1659. If you UNSCOTCH us you will find us damned mischievous Englishmen. The restless and yet laborious and constantly watchful character of the people, their desire for speculation in politics or anything else, only restrained by some proud feelings about their own country, now become antiquated, and which bold measures will tend much to destroy, will make them under a wrong direction, the most for- (a) midable revolutionists who ever took the field of innovation.w Scott is obviously prejudiced by national and party feeling? combined with his natural conservatism. His words not only indic­ ate the confusion between the terms liberalism and revolution, common in the minds of those whd> feared Jacobinism, bit also suggefetr an interesting relationship between England and Scotland. The stimulus which the French Revolution gave to liberal movements in Britain is of undeniable importance^, and has a place in every history of the period,in which it was felt. In Scotland, as in England, there were men/like Pitt and Dugald Stewart, who wel- corned it with caution, like Mackintosh and Fox, who received it with enthusiasm; and in both countries^there were men like Grey and Archibald Fletcher, who did not need the example of France to urge them to advocacy.^of reform in the matter of political institutions. This is true of England to a much greater extent than of Scotland. It will be the purpose of this thesis to show fcgt L,$GKtuutTi UfE or J/A- UMTER scotr (mw rom /mj/V,J+. -2- that in spite of Scotland's political inactivity In the latter part of the eighteenth century, she was in a position to influence England along liberal lines early in the nineteenth; in other words, that British Liberalism, partly English and partly French, is also partly Scotch. The yalon had led to no immediate understanding between the two countries. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 hardly pro­ moted good feeling, though they convinced the majority of the Scotch people that Jacobitism, however potent as a romantic ideal, was impracticable in the realm of politics. Scotland remained hostile to English interference and set herself to maintain her national identity, since her political independence had been surrendered. As Jacobitism declined, Toryism grew; Scotland gave general allegiance to George III/Ths accession to power of a Scotch minister, the Earl of Bute, did not draw the two peoples together; on the contrary, the violent antipathy of the English to the king's favourite extended itself to his countrymen. Sensible of the feeling against her, Scotland tended to withdraw into herself^and to concentrate on her material developement and local administration.with little regard for British politics. This indifference, added to the venalty of individual mem­ bers went towards making the forty-five Scoteh representatives in Parliament an almost solid body of government supporters. It is true that these members were elected by a very small section of the nation — there were not many more than four thousand (b) voters in Scotland before the Reform Bill — but it is apparent (&). TERRY • HISTORY OF SCOTLAfW i 566. that the mass of the people were either unconcerned with their behaviour in Parliament,or approved of their supporting the gov­ ernment as such. The General Assembly of 1770, in passing an address of loyalty to the Crown condemned the prevailing viru­ lence of political agitation. At the time of the American VVar the great majority of Scotch towns and counties were among those who sent addresses in favour of the Gogernment policy; Glasgow, owing to her trade connections, was among the few exceptions who (c) petitioned for conciliation. Local circumstance rather than party feeling caused the Scotch members.to desert the ministry of the day, as when Foxfs India Bill received the opposition which was to be expected from a people which had shared largely in appoint­ ments in the East India Company. The system by which the Government practically handed Scot­ land over to one man, in return for the votes of his countrymen in Parliament, was seen in its entirety during the political ascendancy of Henry Dundas. By birth, education, and ability, he was In a position to exercise a powerful influence over Scotch domestic affairs. He entered Parliament in 1774, and was appointed Lord Advocate in 1775; underAsuccessive ministries of North, Rockingham and Shelburne,he continued to dominate Scotland at homeland to represent her interests abroad. It was only near the close of the Fox and North coalition that he was replaced by the Whig, Henry j^rskine, as Lord Advocate. His return to office under Pitt^when he became Home Secretary (1791-1794), Secretary at War (1794-1801), then First Lord of the Admiralty (1804-1806), gave him wide opportunities for exerting patronage, and Scotland was (d) solidified under him accordingly. His supremacy, though generally acceptable^, was not satisfactory to the Scotch Whigs - witness (c) cnm A^amuRY OF SCOTTISH Rtsr&grn 50,51 1 +$+ (d\ flASSOH: FD/TfBORGtf SKETC£S AHD mtlQRlZS /4-8-/$7. -4- the complaint of the y~<un& lawyer in London,TTDundas is the man who gives away everything. He rules x^itt and is thus trie first (e) man in England".- But the fact of his control remains and is sufficient to show that the system which made his dictatorship possible allowed the opinion of the Scotch people little weight in Parliament. An idea of this as the established rule persisted as late as Canning's administration, when he consented "to let Lord Binning HAVE Scotland". There was then , however, an effec- (f) tive protest against it. Though the interest of Scotland in British politics was very small in the eighteenth century, individual Scots hkd not hesi­ tated to seek in England a wider field for their abilities. The exodus from Scotland to London was not halted by the coldness of the English reception. Scorned for their poverty, taunted with their thrift, despised as place-hunters, perhaps because they vi.ere too successful, Scotchmen continued to .go to England. VKe know that at one time a Scot, Mansfield, was Chief Justice, that others, Gilbert Elliot and James Oswald, were at the Treasury Is) Board, that Ramsay was Court painter and Adam^Court architect^. It is difficult, however, to make an estimate of the Scotch "invasion". We know the conspicuous figures, like Strahan and Andrew Millar the publishers, John Murray the bookseller in Fleet Street, Gilbert Stuart the rather infamous pamphleteer, Smollett, Pallet, and Thomson, the men of letters, Perry the editor of the kerning Chronicle, pVedderburn and ^rskine, the lawyers. It is interesting to note that of the three hundred and thirty.four licentiates of the Royal College of Physicians,in tne last fifty years of the century seventy were 3c$£6h. Certain Scotch doctors, the Hunters, Pringle, Fordjfce, and Pitcairn were very high in tixeir profession, and men of imp©ttance (e) cAtimu. :un(ed.mDCAsm)/ssi-i^/so. (s) Ltcnr- tncuwt in m uaimrmt emmr ••Tmso /f7Z- (fj COCKBURN- T7FI70R/ALJ 367. Ch)//C///A ROLL Of Ttlt ROYAL COLLFCf OF FNTJ/CJAffS 2T- in London. For the rest,we m.'st infer the presence of many ^cots in England from scattered references to individuals, and the English atti^tude of the time towards Scotchmen in general. It is not necessary to look very far for evidences of English antipathy. Trie "North Briton" collected all the topics that could excite the national hatred against tne countrymen of Bute. Churchill's "Prophecy of Famine" pictured the hungry north­ erners descending upon England. In politics, prejudice was so strong that Horace V.alpole alleged the Scottish birth of Gilbert Elliot as the only reason that he should not lead the House of Commons. When "Humphrey Clinker" appeared in the year 1-771, it was fiercely attacked on the grounds that it was written to defeitc£ d) the Scotch. Accusations of Jacobitism were frequently brought against them. Lord Mansfield was. charged by Junius with Jacobite O) connections. Hume's "History of England" was assailed as an apology for the oturts. Dr Johnson's contemptuous remarks crystallised the common opinions, when hostility grew weaker, the b English feeling of superiority remained. Lord Camnell ±ells us that when as a young man among his English friends>he was found guilty in a mock trial, he was"sentenced*' 'to be carried back to the place from whence I came', which considering what that w-:s, the court considered punishment enough, and hoped would operate (D„ as an example to all Scotchmen. This was in jest, but it reflects a degree of £te truth. The facts of t ,e English attitude concern us rather than the cause; they are sufficient to indicate that there was not likely to be, at the close of the eighteenth cent­ ury, any ready acceptance in England of ocotch ideas as such,37^ that presumably there could be little free exchange o;f opiniomg. While Scotchmen were rising to positions of importance, or eking out scant livelihoods in England, men of enterprise and & W tICKY - M 51-, 55.5 7.