William Anthony Hay. The Whig Revival, 1808-1830. Houndsmill: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. xiv + 225 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-333-79328-2.
Reviewed by Raymond Westphal (Department of History, University of Exeter)
Published on H-Albion (March, 2006)
Reform and Renewal
One must ask at the onset, if there is a need for another monograph on Whig politics. For those interested in early-nineteenth-century parliamentary politics the answer must surely be yes, for William Hay's The Whig Revival does offer a new perspective. In this new monograph, Hay's objectives are to "present the Whig revival as a key episode in the political history and party development between 1808 and 1830" (p. 8), and his examination is centered on the role of Henry Brougham, a Whig MP, who is credited for the Whig revival. Hay argues that Brougham developed alliances with local interests who had been excluded from influence. However, what Brougham should be most remembered for, in Hay's opinion, was his pioneering style of opposition politics--dubbed "petition and debate." Brougham combined local petitioning meetings with press reports, creating what we would today call "spin." Using this new tactic, Whig parliamentarians were able to defeat the regulatory Orders in Council of 1812 and the Income Tax Bill of 1816. Combining petition and debate, Brougham was instrumental in forcing his party to challenge safe Tory seats. Utilizing these tactics, Brougham educated public opinion.
Whig attempts to expand their political influence also created new problems since they certainly did not want to be associated with radicals or social agitators amongst the lower classes. This exclusion led the Whigs to focus their attentions on the only remaining segment of society available to them, the middle class. This focus differed radically from the eighteenth century when the Whigs had relied on secret influences and on the power of the crown.
Hay's monograph is divided into six chapters, which examine different aspects of the early-nineteenth century. Following a very detailed introduction, chapter 1 begins with a discussion of the state of parliamentary politics at the turn of the century, and provides extensive explanations for the Whigs exclusion from power. Chapter 2 sets high politics into the broader context of social and economic forces beyond Parliament and considers the role of the press from 1812-17. Chapters 4 through 6 examine Whig efforts to recapture power from 1818 through 1830. Hay concludes his monograph examining some post-1830 political reform, specifically the Reform Act of 1832 and its ramifications. Continental politics and their role on British parliamentary issues before, during and after the Napoleonic wars is, however, a significant omission from Hay's account.
One of the most significant aspects of Hay's monograph is his examination of the press, and the role they had in reviving the Whig party's fortunes at the expense of their opponents. Hay has consulted numerous newspapers and periodicals throughout Britain and Scotland, and this is the monograph's greatest strength: it ties parliamentary politics and media influences together in a manner which explains how and why the Whig Party was able to reestablish itself as an affective opposition and future majority. In demonstrating this, Hay has done a masterful job.
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Citation:
Raymond Westphal. Review of Hay, William Anthony, The Whig Revival, 1808-1830.
H-Albion, H-Net Reviews.
March, 2006.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=11478
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