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By the date of Sir Francis Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill in 1825, emancipation looked a likely success. Indeed, the success of the bill in the Commons in April, followed by [[Robert Peel]]'s tender of resignation, finally persuaded Liverpool that he should retire. When Canning made a formal proposal that the cabinet should back the bill, Liverpool was convinced that his administration had come to its end. [[George Canning]] then succeeded him as Prime Minister. Catholic emancipation however was not fully implemented until the major changes of the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829]] under the leadership of the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] and [[Sir Robert Peel]], and with the work of the [[Catholic Association]] established in 1823.<ref>Richard W. Davis, "Wellington and the 'Open Question': The Issue of Catholic Emancipation, 1821–1829", ''Albion'', (1997) 29#1 pp 39–55. {{doi|10.2307/4051594}}</ref> |
By the date of Sir Francis Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill in 1825, emancipation looked a likely success. Indeed, the success of the bill in the Commons in April, followed by [[Robert Peel]]'s tender of resignation, finally persuaded Liverpool that he should retire. When Canning made a formal proposal that the cabinet should back the bill, Liverpool was convinced that his administration had come to its end. [[George Canning]] then succeeded him as Prime Minister. Catholic emancipation however was not fully implemented until the major changes of the [[Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829]] under the leadership of the [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] and [[Sir Robert Peel]], and with the work of the [[Catholic Association]] established in 1823.<ref>Richard W. Davis, "Wellington and the 'Open Question': The Issue of Catholic Emancipation, 1821–1829", ''Albion'', (1997) 29#1 pp 39–55. {{doi|10.2307/4051594}}</ref> |
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==Later life: 1827-1828== |
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=== Final year === |
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Liverpool's first marriage was to [[Louisa Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool|Lady Louisa Hervey]]. From the beginning, the couple were close and was affectionate. Louisa, as the wife of an leading statesman of his day, was a constant solace to him and was involved in many of his private affairs during their marriage. She preformed charities for the poor, hosted balls and entertained guests during his years as prime minister. But from 1798, she fell ill and was sickly ever since as she never recovered. By 1818, her health deteriorated and was nursed by her sister while at their home at [[Fife House]]. Despite efforts to cure her, she died at 54. |
Liverpool's first marriage was to [[Louisa Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool|Lady Louisa Hervey]]. From the beginning, the couple were close and was affectionate. Louisa, as the wife of an leading statesman of his day, was a constant solace to him and was involved in many of his private affairs during their marriage. She preformed charities for the poor, hosted balls and entertained guests during his years as prime minister. But from 1798, she fell ill and was sickly ever since as she never recovered. By 1818, her health deteriorated and was nursed by her sister while at their home at [[Fife House]]. Despite efforts to cure her, she died at 54. |
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The Earl of Liverpool
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Portrait by Thomas Lawrence, c. 1827
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| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 8 June 1812 – 9 April 1827 | |
| Monarchs |
|
| Regent | George, Prince Regent (1812–1820) |
| Preceded by | Spencer Perceval |
| Succeeded by | George Canning |
| Secretary of State for War and the Colonies | |
| In office 1 November 1809 – 11 June 1812 | |
| Prime Minister | Spencer Perceval |
| Preceded by | The Viscount Castlereagh |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Bathurst |
| Leader of the House of Lords | |
| In office 25 March 1807 – 9 April 1827 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | The Lord Grenville |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount Goderich |
| In office 17 August 1803 – 5 February 1806 | |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | The Lord Pelham |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Grenville |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 25 March 1807 – 1 November 1809 | |
| Prime Minister | The Duke of Portland |
| Preceded by | The Earl Spencer |
| Succeeded by | Richard Ryder |
| In office 12 May 1804 – 5 February 1806 | |
| Prime Minister | William Pitt the Younger |
| Preceded by | Charles Philip Yorke |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Spencer |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 20 February 1801 – 14 May 1804 | |
| Prime Minister | Henry Addington |
| Preceded by | The Lord Grenville |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Harrowby |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Banks Jenkinson (1770-06-07)7 June 1770 London, England |
| Died | 4 December 1828(1828-12-04) (aged 58) Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England |
| Resting place | Hawkesbury Parish Church, Gloucestershire, England |
| Political party | Tory |
| Spouses |
(m. 1795; died 1821)
(m. 1822) |
| Parent | Charles Jenkinson (father) |
| Education | Charterhouse School |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Signature |  |
| |
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, KG, PC, FRS (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He also held many other important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. He was also a member of the House of Lords and served as leader.
As prime minister, Liverpool called for repressive measures at domestic level to maintain order after the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. He dealt smoothly with the Prince Regent when King George III was incapacitated. He also steered the country through the period of radicalism and unrest that followed the Napoleonic Wars. He favoured commercial and manufacturing interests as well as the landed interest. He sought a compromise of the heated issue of Catholic emancipation. The revival of the economy strengthened his political position. By the 1820s, he was the leader of a reform faction of "Liberal Tories" who lowered the tariff, abolished the death penalty for many offences, and reformed the criminal law. By the time of his death, however, the Tory party, which had dominated the House of Commons for over 40 years, was ripping itself apart.
Derry says he was:
[A] capable and intelligent statesman, whose skill in building up his party, leading the country to victory in the war against Napoleon, and laying the foundations for prosperity outweighed his unpopularity in the immediate post-Waterloo years.[1]
Important events during his tenure as prime minister included the War of 1812 with the United States, the Sixth and Seventh Coalitions against the French Empire, the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars at the Congress of Vienna, the Corn Laws, the Peterloo Massacre, the Trinitarian Act 1812 and the emerging issue of Catholic emancipation. Scholars rank him highly among all British prime ministers, but he was also called "the Arch-mediocrity" by a later Conservative prime minister, the Earl of Beaconsfield (Benjamin Disraeli).[2]
Jenkinson was baptised on 29 June 1770 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, the son of George III's close adviser Charles Jenkinson, later the first Earl of Liverpool, and his first wife, Amelia Watts. Jenkinson's 19-year-old mother, who was the daughter of a senior East India Company official, William Watts, and of his wife Begum Johnson, died from the effects of childbirth one month after his birth.[3] Through his mother's grandmother, Isabella Beizor, Jenkinson was descended from Portuguese settlers in India; he may also have been one-sixteenth Indian in ancestry.[4][5][6]
From an early age, Jenkinson had a strong influential training in economics and politics from his father, who was at the time, a leading politician and adviser to King George III. To give his son the highest education possible, Jenkinson was sent to be educated at Charterhouse School, whose education was broader than that of the prestigious Eton College, to which many sons of noblemen were sent be educated. While at Charterhouse, Jenkinson’s father insisted that he study political economy and read current politics. Jenkinson later matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, in 1787.[7][8]
While learning at Oxford, he went on the tradition “Grand Tour” of Europe, which was undertaken by most wealthy students to travel abroad. In the summer of 1789, he took his Grand Tour, first travelling to Italy and then to Paris, France. In Paris, Jenkinson spent four months there to perfect his French and enlarge his social experience among Parisian Society. While there, he witnessed the storming of the Bastille during the early stages of the French Revolution and before the revolution took place, he was able to safely return to England and in time for his last year at Oxford. He spent next the three months in Oxford to complete his terms of residence, and in May 1790 was created Master of Arts.
He won election to the House of Commons in 1790 for Rye, a seat he would hold until 1803; at the time, however, he was below the age of assent to Parliament, so he refrained from taking his seat and spent the following winter and early spring in an extended tour of the continent. This tour took in the Netherlands and Italy; at its conclusion he was old enough to take his seat in Parliament. It is not clear exactly when he entered the Commons, but as his twenty-first birthday was not reached until almost the end of the 1791 session, it is possible that he waited until the following year.
With the help of his father's influence and his political talent, he rose relatively fast in the Tory government. In February 1792, he gave the reply to Samuel Whitbread's critical motion on the government's Russian policy. He delivered several other speeches during the session, and was a strong opposer of abolitionism and William Wilberforce. He served as a member of the Board of Control for India from 1793 to 1796.
In the defence movement that followed the outbreak of hostilities with France, Jenkinson, was one of the first of the ministers of the government to enlist in the militia. He became a colonel in the Cinque Ports Fencibles in 1794, and his military duties led to frequent absences from the Commons. His regiment was sent to Scotland in 1796, and he was quartered for a time in Dumfries.
In 1797, the then Lord Hawkesbury was the cavalry commander of the Cinque Ports Light Dragoons who ran amok following a protest against the Militia ActatTranentinEast Lothian; twelve civilians were killed. Author James Miller wrote in 1844 that "His lordship was blamed for remaining at Haddington, as his presence might have prevented the outrages of the soldiery."[9]
His parliamentary attendance also suffered from his reaction when his father angrily opposed his projected marriage with Lady Louisa Hervey, daughter of the Earl of Bristol. After Pitt and the King had intervened on his behalf, the wedding finally took place at Wimbledon on 25 March 1795. In May 1796, when his father was created Earl of Liverpool, he took the courtesy title of Lord Hawkesbury and remained in the Commons. He became Baron Hawkesbury in his own right and was elevated to the House of Lords in November 1803, as recognition of his work as Foreign Secretary.[citation needed] He also served as Master of the Mint (1799–1801).[7]
As the question of Catholic emancipation came apparent and as the King refused to pass on to law, in response, Pitt resigned as prime minister as a result. This departure left the King to choose a successor and so appointed one of Pitt’s prominent allies, Henry Addington, as the new prime minister. When Addington's government came to power, the young Liverpool entered the cabinet in 1801 as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. Addington’s main political agenda was peace and promised that as prime minister that, he will negotiate with the French. In this capacity he was entrusted by Addington negotiate with the France and pursue a immediate peace deal, which he set to do, as his first duty.[10]
The French Revolutionary Wars begun as a direct result of the French Revolution, of which the aftermath saw a growing sentiment of radicalism[disambiguation needed] and a shock wave of political turmoil being send across Europe. At the beginning of the Revolution, the British government led by William Pitt opposed it’s ideology and the belief that it would undermine the principles of Britain’s established constitutional monarchy. Also the French revolutionary ideology heavily opposed such forms of government containing a monarchy, while favouring a republican form of government, which Britain and other countries in Europe opposed and wished to end such ideologies from spreading elsewhere. What followed was a decade long series of wars, known as the Coalition wars that resulted in Britain and it’s allies being defeated or being pushed to the position of economic crisis and so many opted to peace.
As Foreign Secretary, Liverpool has to face the crisis war in Europe and negotiate peace as soon as possible. As Britain and it’s allies in the continent were unable to defeat France in any way and the long duration of the war itself, led to a period of instability as the British war effort has been over overwhelmed by nearly a decade of war without any results. As per Addington’s wishes, Liverpool opened negotiations with France. Liverpool immediately, first, communicated with the French commissary for prisoners of warinLondon, Louis Guillaume Otto, through whom he could contact and agree to Napoleon Bonaparte’s earlier proposals.
Liverpool stated that he “wanted to open discussions on terms for a peace agreement”, but Otto, who was under direct and strict orders from Bonaparte, begun to open negotiations by mid-September. Despite his efforts, negotiations seemed fruitless with Otto and unhappy with this result, Liverpool sent diplomat Anthony MerrytoParis to open a second round of negotiations with his own French counterpart, French Foreign Minister Talleyrand by mid-September. By this time, written negotiations followed and progressed to the point Otto met shaft a preliminary agreement on 30th September and finally in London, which was finally published the next day. Thus signing the Treaty of Amiens and concluding the end of the War of the Second Coalition.
Most of his time as Foreign Secretary was spent dealing with the nations of France and the United States. But this was cut short, as shortly afterwards, the Addington government came under attack from the opposition and was criticised for it’s lack of credibility when war resumed yet again in 1803 and the start of the War of the Third Coalition. Soon the government fell into disarray and quickly led to the reappointment of Pitt as prime minister.
When Pitt came to power for the second time, he reappointed the former Foreign secretary and he was soon continued to serve in the cabinet as Home SecretaryinPitt the Younger's second government.
Soon after taking the role of Prime Minister, Pitt fell ill and was sick during 1805. Despite a terminal illness, he managed the out-going war in Europe and was able to hold together his Cabinet and his country against the will-power of the French. While Pitt was seriously ill, Liverpool was in charge of the cabinet and drew up the King's Speech for the official opening of Parliament. When William Pitt died in 1806, the King needed choose a successor to office and asked the Home Secretary Liverpool to accept the post of Prime Minister, but he refused, as he believed he lacked a governing majority.
He was then became Leader of the Opposition during Lord Grenville's ministry. This was the second only time that Liverpool did not hold government office between 1793 and after his retirement. In 1807, after an year in opposition, he resumed office as Home Secretaryinthe Duke of Portland's new ministry.[7]
Lord Hawkesbury, by this point, assumed the title of Lord Liverpool, as he had now become by the death of his father in December 1808. After the fall of the Whig Portland ministry, saw the sudden rise of Spencer Perceval to the office of prime minister. Perceval was reluctant appoint a fellow Tory to his cabinet, as the Whigs were splintered and unified, which would allow the Tories to govern opposed and asked Liverpool to join his new cabinet. Liverpool accepted the position of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in Perceval's new government in 1809. Liverpool's first step on taking up his new post was to elicit from General Arthur Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington) a strong enough statement of his ability to resist a French attack to persuade the cabinet to commit themselves to the maintenance of his small force in Portugal. In 1810 Liverpool was made a colonel of militia.[11]
By 1809 the political situation in Europe have changed dramatically. Napoleon has conquered most, if not almost, all of Europe except for Russia, Austria, Eastern Europe and Northern Europe. The war against Napoleonic France did not improve for Britain’s war effort and is by this point, Five coalitions have failed to defeat Napoleon or bring down France. This did not help Britain overcome the Continental System, issued by the 1806 Berlin Decree, which forbade most countries of Europe from Engaging in trade and commerce with the British and prevented them from trading British goods. This not only effected Britain and all countries as they were dependent on British supplies, mainly British allies. But to prevent Britain falling to an economic crisis, Liverpool as War Secretary has raised loans to help the Britain win the war and also help Britain’s allies in need. At home, with a combination of strong government finances and sustain financial attrition was able to save Britain from falling behind the economic fallout. And by using the Royal Navy to undermine French naval activities, a blockade across the English Channel and with persistent but moderate military pressure on France would ultimately bear fruit and will win the war.
When Perceval was assassinated in May 1812, George, the Prince Regent, successively tried to appoint four men to succeed him, but they were unable to form ministries; Liverpool, the Prince Regent's fifth choice for the post, reluctantly accepted office on 8 June 1812.[12][7] The cabinet proposed Liverpool as his successor with Lord Castlereagh as leader in the Commons but after an adverse vote in the Lower House, they subsequently both gave their resignations. The Prince Regent, however, found it impossible to form a different coalition and confirmed Liverpool as prime minister on 8 June. Liverpool's government contained some of the future leaders of Britain, such as Lord Castlereagh, George Canning, the Duke of Wellington, Robert Peel and William Huskisson. Liverpool was considered a skilled politician, and held together the liberal and reactionary wings of the Tory party, which his successors, Canning, Goderich and Wellington, had great difficulty with.
Liverpool's ministry was a long and eventful one. At the beginning of his premiership, Liverpool was faced directly with conflict, the War of 1812 with the United States and the final campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars were fought during Liverpool's governance. It was during his ministry that the Peninsular Campaigns were fought, where the British army led by the Duke of Wellington drove the French out of Spain and Portugal that lasted six years. France was utterly defeated in the Napoleonic Wars, and Liverpool was appointed to the Order of the Garter that same year. At the peace negotiations that followed, Liverpool's main concern was to obtain a European settlement that would ensure the independence of the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, and confine France inside its pre-war frontiers without damaging its national integrity. To achieve this, he was ready to return all British colonial conquests. Also, during the allied-led campaign of 1813, saw a combined army of Britain’s allies including Austria, Prussia, Russia and Sweden decisively defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig on 19th October. In the aftermath that followed, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba and soon peace was restored after two decades of war and peace negotiations immediately followed to layout the boundaries of Europe. Despite this, the of the defeat of Napoleon did not last long, after having briefly been exiled to the island of Elba escaped exile and returned to rule France once more. The allies immediately begun mobilising their armies to fight the escaped emperor and an combined Anglo-Allied army was send under the command Wellington to assist Britain's allies. Within few months, Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Waterloo in June that year, after many years of war, peace followed through the now exhausted continent.
After the Battle of Waterloo saw the conclusion of the War of the Seventh Coalition and the ushering in of peace in Europe, after the continuous decade-long wars that were fought as a direct aftermath of the French Revolution in 1789, now ceased. Despite this, Napoleon’s conquests left a defining situation in Europe and all countries of Europe to fill or reconstruct many of it’s cracks. Soon after the victory at Waterloo and peace was secured, the nations of Europe came together to talk of securing peace. The Austrian Foreign Minister Klemens Von Metternich, a skilled diplomat and capable politician, called on European countries to gather at Vienna to negotiate a peacekeeping effort, with the aim of establishing a lasting peace. The main powers: Britain,Austria, Prussia, Russia and last the defeated France all met at Vienna for negotiations and representing their perspective countries. Lord Liverpool, as prime minister, decided to a send one of his most skilled ministers to attend the peace assembly in France, and so appointed his Foreign Secretary, Lord Castlereagh, to be sent to Vienna. The gathering of nations at the Austrian city, is known as the Congress of Vienna and was attended by some of Europe’s most influential diplomats and politicians and the result of this congressional meeting was the establishment of a peaceful Europe. So, as a direct result, it saw the maps of Europe being redrawn to the previous borders there before the war, opposing or eradicating radicalism[disambiguation needed] and liberal ideals, such as that of the French Revolution, from spreading across the continent and securing a lasting peace that would see no major conflict being ever fought between the nations of Europe. This became known as the Concert of Europe and it’s ideals of a longstanding peace and political landscape would endure to the early 20th Century until the start of the First World War in 1914.
The British Empire in 1815 and throughout Liverpool’s premiership was thriving and expanding across the globe and was raising as greatest colonial empire of all time. As the 20-year long war in Europe ended with peace being established in Europe, Britain finally established itself as a main power, alongside Austria, Russia and France. But by this point, Britain proved itself to be a far more superior power than any other nation in Europe. Through it’s vast empire, strong economy and military might, it made Britain one of the earliest known world power with establishing a hegemony over the globe. Through trade and commerce, Britain accumulated large amounts of wealth and through it’s industrialisation, mass production of cotton, iron, wheat increased dramatically. Britain’s colonial endeavours saw British armies conquering and subjugating new territories. In South Asia, saw British territories gradually expanded far and beyond. The annexation of Nepal during the Anglo-Nepalese War saw it incorporated to British India as a result. Britain also expanded it’s borders within the Indian frontiers during the Third Anglo-Maratha War against the long-time British enemy of the Maratha Confederacy. In modern-day Myanmar, conflict with the Burmese Empire led to the First Anglo-Burmese War, which saw the strategic weakening of the Burma and led to the cessation of territories in Assam, Manipur, Rakhine and other territories south of the Salween River as a result. Furthermore, in South Africa, the complete integration of the Cape ColonyinSouth Africa and victory over the Xhosa tribes in the Fourth Xhosa War in which the Colony were able to push the tribes beyond the Fish River and reverse many of the Xhosa’s past success. During Liverpool’s tenure as Prime Minister, saw the establishment of a permanent penal colony in Australia and new settlements in New Zealand.
Inevitably taxes rose to compensate for borrowing and to pay off the national debt, which led to widespread disturbance between 1812 and 1822. Around this time, the group known as Luddites began industrial action, by smashing industrial machines developed for use in the textile industries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. Throughout the period 1811–1816, there was a series of incidents of machine-breaking and many of those convicted faced execution.[10]
Agriculture remained a problem because good harvests between 1819 and 1822 had brought down prices and evoked a cry for greater protection. When the powerful agricultural lobby in Parliament demanded protection in the aftermath, Liverpool gave in to political necessity. Under governmental supervision the notorious Corn Laws of 1815 were passed prohibiting the import of foreign wheat until the domestic price reached a minimum accepted level. Liverpool, however, was in principle a free-trader, but had to accept the bill as a temporary measure to ease the transition to peacetime conditions. His chief economic problem during his time as Prime Minister was that of the nation's finances.[citation needed]
The interest on the national debt, massively swollen by the enormous expenditure of the final war years, together with the war pensions, absorbed the greater part of normal government revenue. The refusal of the House of Commons in 1816 to continue the wartime income tax left ministers with no immediate alternative but to go on with the ruinous system of borrowing to meet necessary annual expenditure. Liverpool eventually facilitated a return to the gold standard in 1819.[citation needed]
Liverpool argued for the abolition of the wider slave trade at the Congress of Vienna, and at home he supported the repeal of the Combination Laws banning workers from combining into trade unions in 1824.[13] In the latter year the newly formed Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later the RNLI, obtained Liverpool as its first president.[14]
The reports of the secret committees he obtained in 1817 pointed to the existence of an organised network of disaffected political societies, especially in the manufacturing areas. Liverpool told Peel that the disaffection in the country seemed even worse than in 1794. Because of a largely perceived threat to the government, temporary legislation was introduced. He suspended habeas corpus in both Great Britain (1817) and Ireland (1822). Following the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, his government imposed the repressive Six Acts legislation which limited, among other things, free speech and the right to gather for peaceful demonstration. In 1820, as a result of these measures, Liverpool and other cabinet ministers were targeted for assassination. They escaped harm when the Cato Street conspiracy was foiled.[15]
After the conclusion of war at Waterloo, the government has to address and face a massive debt crisis. Public and national debt was by far 200% of the country’s GDP and the budget was heavily in deficit, with debt interest payments absorbing well over the government normal funding. To counter this, measures taken to reduce debt were enacted when the government began a rigorous austerity program, which saw public expenditure being cut by 67.2% in 1817.
By 1825, at the top of the major economic reform and ten years into peace after the Congress of Vienna in 1815, government payments and expenditure sales were further reduced by 8.5%. The buoyancy of revenues had by then to produce major tax reductions, mostly on tariffs and excises, as well as the budget surplus. And by doing so, Britain’s debt to the GDP ratio peaked at a round 260% following with a recession of 1819, fell below 200% by Liverpool’s last year in office in 1827.
The period between 1815 to 1820, saw massive economic disruption caused by the end of a 20-year long war. Also a mass failure of the European harvests in 1816, led to food shortages in some of parts of Europe. This saw Britain’s economy going through unprecedented change in it’s history. As one Of the changes, The government freed the British private sector of the economy to compete cuts to public spending.
After a period of post-war retrenchment, which lasted two years from 1815, the eruption of Mount Tambora led to “the year without a summer” exacerbated the failure of the harvests, leading to low food productions in Britain and led to the enactment of the Corn Laws. Despite this, however, Britain's economy recovered rapidly in the second half of 1818.
Before 1820 the Liverpool government was responsible for two important economic legislations that had positive long-standing effects. The Savings Bank Act of 1817 established what would later become the Trustee Savings Bank. It provided for savings that the banks have administered by unpaid trustees which would require to invest in government deposits in the Bank of England. The Saving Banks Act was one of the most important legislative acts of the Liverpool government’s tenure. By 1825, eight years after it was enacted, it has savings bond deposits that have grown to £13.3 million more than 27% of the share of the capital of the London Stock Exchange.
Another one of the economic centrepieces of Lord Liverpool’s economic policy was Britain’s return to the Gold Standard in the Parliamentary Session of 1819. Before Liverpool revived the use of the gold standard, the Bank of England suspended cash payments in gold in 1797 by the then government of William Pitt the Younger and because of this suspension, the price of gold grew to premium of up to 30% from it’s previous value. Liverpool brought back the gold standard once again amidst Britain’s economic and industrial growth and by the end of 1820 the economy was sufficiently strong to support it’s convertibility to the gold standard and it’s return came into effect on first of May 1821.
In May 1820, Liverpool announced that the government was moving toward a policy of free trade, providing an act that would lead to Britain’s future economic prosperity and growth for the next 40 years. On May 26, in the House of Commons, Liverpool responded to an approach to free trade by a speech from the Whig Leader of the Opposition Lord Lansdowne, in which Liverpool agreed with the advantages and principles of free trade. Liverpool versus supporter of multilateral trade while he was staunchly against unilateral trade. In general Liverpool welcomed the idea of examining the opportunities of free trade that will enable Britain’s economic stability and prosperity. So, because of this modest reform, would lead Britain to become a commercial trade power with a monopoly over all trade with Europe and the world as whole.
From 1820 onwards, the Liverpool government proved it was a reforming one. The most significant legislation of this period was the 1824 trio of bills that were passed to increase and establish workers rights. The first bill repealed the 1799 Combination Acts and earlier anti-combination legislation, thus allowing free collective-bargaining and legal formation of trade unions. The second bill abolished the 1719 legislation forbidding “artificers” from emigrating and the third bill set up arbitration for disputes between masters and workmen.
Regrettably the legislation of three collective-bargaining together with the 1820 to 1825 trade cycle was followed by a massive outbreak of industrial unrest with a five-month strike in the cotton factories from August 1824 to January 1825. This made combinations illegal beyond those with the purpose of raising wages and limiting work hours within these narrow restrictions trade unions remained legal though they remained Liable for damages caused by individual action and could not legally coerce or convince workers to join them.
Lord Liverpool‘s government attempted the government first steps in reforming child labour the cotton industry employed a large number of women and children in their workspaces with an unlimited amount of work and being working hours being from 14 to 16 hours a day. The employment of children in those factories came as a result of Britain’s booming cotton industry and children of poor parents working to make ends meet worked to exhaustion. The government in response, introduced the Cotton Mills and Factories Act of 1819 under Home Secretary Robert Peel. It forbade the employment of children younger than the age of nine working in factories and limited working hours to 12 hours a day until the age of 16.
The bill was generally supported by the Tories and while the Whigs opposed it. Liverpool later gave a brief and eloquent speech in Parliament concerning the bill’s passage:
I highly approve of the bill and consider it so much a principle of the common law of the land that children should not be overworked. That I desire some words to be introduced to the bill... to declare it fact... I agree that free labour ought not to be interfered with, however unwholesome or deleterious might be the nature of manufacture. But to have free labour there must be free agents and I contend that the children, to whom this bill applies, are not free agents... nor is that such excessive labour is highly injurious to them.
Despite opposition from the Whigs, Liverpool’s government and the Tories were able to ensure its passage into law through Parliament and ensuring the first attempts by governments to pass laws to regulate child labour and children’s rights.
During the 19th century, and, in particular, during Liverpool's time in office, Catholic emancipation was a source of great conflict. In 1805, in his first important statement of his views on the subject, Liverpool had argued that the special relationship of the monarch with the Church of England, and the refusal of Roman Catholics to take the oath of supremacy, justified their exclusion from political power. Throughout his career, he remained opposed to the idea of Catholic emancipation, though he did see marginal concessions as important to the stability of the nation.
The decision of 1812 to remove the issue from collective cabinet policy, followed in 1813 by the defeat of Grattan's Roman Catholic Relief Bill, brought a period of calm. Liverpool supported marginal concessions such as the admittance of English Roman Catholics to the higher ranks of the armed forces, the magistracy, and the parliamentary franchise; but he remained opposed to their participation in parliament itself. In the 1820s, pressure from the liberal wing of the Commons and the rise of the Catholic Association in Ireland revived the controversy.
By the date of Sir Francis Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill in 1825, emancipation looked a likely success. Indeed, the success of the bill in the Commons in April, followed by Robert Peel's tender of resignation, finally persuaded Liverpool that he should retire. When Canning made a formal proposal that the cabinet should back the bill, Liverpool was convinced that his administration had come to its end. George Canning then succeeded him as Prime Minister. Catholic emancipation however was not fully implemented until the major changes of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 under the leadership of the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel, and with the work of the Catholic Association established in 1823.[16]
Liverpool's first marriage was to Lady Louisa Hervey. From the beginning, the couple were close and was affectionate. Louisa, as the wife of an leading statesman of his day, was a constant solace to him and was involved in many of his private affairs during their marriage. She preformed charities for the poor, hosted balls and entertained guests during his years as prime minister. But from 1798, she fell ill and was sickly ever since as she never recovered. By 1818, her health deteriorated and was nursed by her sister while at their home at Fife House. Despite efforts to cure her, she died at 54.
Liverpool was grief-stricken and heartbroken at his loss and was said to have missed the one true companion of his life. To cope with his grief, he soon remarried again, on 24 September 1822, to Lady Mary Chester, a long-time friend of Louisa.[17] Liverpool finally retired on 9 April 1827 after suffering a severe cerebral hemorrhage at his Fife House residence in Whitehall two months earlier,[18] and asked the King to seek a successor. He suffered another minor stroke in July, after which he lingered on at Coombe until a third attack on 4 December 1828 from which he died.[19] Having died childless, he was succeeded as Earl of Liverpool by his younger half-brother Charles. He was buried in Hawkesbury parish church, Gloucestershire, beside his father and his first wife. His personal estate was registered at under £120,000.
Historian R. W. Seton-Watson sums up Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses:
No one would claim Liverpool as a man of genius, but he had qualities of tact, firmness and endurance to which historians have rarely done full justice: and thus it came about that he held the office of Premier over a period more than twice as long as any other successor of Pitt, long after peace had been restored to Europe. One reason for his ascendancy was that he had an unrivalled insight into the whole machinery of government, having filled successively every Secretaryship of State, and tested the efficiency and mutual relations of politicians and officials alike.... He had a much wider acquaintance with foreign affairs than many who have held his high office.[20]
Liverpool was the first British Prime Minister to regularly wear long trousers instead of knee breeches. He entered office at the age of 42 years and one day, making him younger than all of his successors. Liverpool served as Prime Minister for a total of 14 years and 305 days, making him the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 19th century. As of 2022, none of Liverpool's successors has served longer.
In London, Liverpool Street and Liverpool Road, Islington, are named after Lord Liverpool. The Canadian town of Hawkesbury, Ontario, the Hawkesbury River and the Liverpool Plains, New South Wales, Australia, Liverpool, New South Wales, and the Liverpool River in the Northern Territory of Australia were also named after Lord Liverpool.[21]
Lord Liverpool, as Prime Minister to whose government Nathan Mayer Rothschild was a lender, was portrayed by American actor Gilbert Emery in the 1934 movie, The House of Rothschild.
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Appleby 1790 With: Richard Ford |
Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Rye 1790–1801 With: Charles Long 1790–1796 Robert Dundas 1796–1801 |
Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain |
Member of Parliament for Rye 1801–1803 With: Sir John Blaquiere 1801–1802 Thomas Davis Lamb 1802–1803 |
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| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Master of the Mint 1799–1801 |
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| Preceded by | Foreign Secretary 1801–1804 |
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| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 1803–1806 |
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| Preceded by | Home Secretary 1804–1806 |
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| Preceded by | Home Secretary 1807–1809 |
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| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Lords 1807–1827 |
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| Preceded by | Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1809–1812 |
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| Preceded by | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 8 June 1812 – 9 April 1827 |
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| Preceded by | Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 1806–1827 |
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| Preceded by | Earl of Liverpool 1808–1828 |
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