Conservative Liberalism: The Progress of a Victorian Paradox

a glorious Phantom may

Burst, to illumine our tempestous day.

Percy B. Shelley England in 1819

In the aftermath of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, several
European countries gained a sense of national pride that was combined with the
revolutionary spirit of the ideas of equality and liberty that the French had tried to spread.
Even when some monarchies had managed to survive the continental war, it was a matter of
time before absolute monarchy saw an end. The lavish and inefficient kings and princes were
in some cases deposed; or, in the best of cases, deprived of most of their power by rioters
that had long suffered the hardships of poverty and exploitation. In the years of the Storming
of the Bastille and for some time after the defeat of Napoleon, in 1815, Britain was under the
rule of a mentally incapable king, George III, and later his self-absorbed son, George IV; both
clearly ineffective rulers. The Industrial revolution had created further inequality between
British classes; the electoral system provided no representation for new industrial towns, and
the prices of staple food was on the rise while ordinary men, women and children survived in
squalor. Why was there no revolution in Britain?

Paradoxical as it may seem, Burkes theories of English conservatism provide a

feasible frame to understand how British parliamentary monarchy and the industrial boom
fostered the political and social conditions that allowed liberal ideas to be gradually
incorporated and implemented in Britain. In the present essay I intend to explain how
liberalism and British conservatism combined to allow the smooth implementation of the
principles of liberty and equality along the nineteenth century.

Conservatism is the political philosophy that favours the preservation of status quo
and the introduction of gradual social reform. The violent radicalism of the French Revolution
caused a series of reactions among intellectuals who saw revolutionary zeal as a source of
political chaos. One of the earliest philosophers to reflect on that issue was British intellectual
Edmund Burke, who as soon as 1790 in his Reflection on the Revolution in France, argued

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against the enlighten notion of natural human rights1 and social reform by applying universal
principles. Burke rejected the existence natural rights outside of society or prior to history.
He asserted that all rights derive from the previous generations within a society, and are an
inheritance of the past just as political institutions. Furthermore he stated that the
universalistic revolutionary ideals called into question the status of the aristocracy, the
monarchy and the church, key institutions of European heritage. He claimed that social
reform should take place slowly and with due respect to national traditions and values.
According to Burke, who was widely popular in England, the British should avoid radical
changes as their political institutions were founded on the wisdom of many generations.

Liberalism was another philosophy of social reform that developed after the French
Revolution. In general terms, it embraces the notions of individual liberties as its main
political goal, favours individual rights, the secularisation of the state, free competition and
the conception of progress through legal reform. In contrast with Conservatism, Liberalism
rejects the value of tradition towards progress and considers that obsolete institutions should
be reformed regardless of their historical significance. The most characteristic forms of New
Liberalism developed in France and Britain during the nineteenth century. In Britain, this
ideology is commonly associated with Utilitarianism, the ethical doctrine first introduced by
Jeremy Bentham and later represented by James and John Stuart Mill.

In his work The Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789), Jeremy Bentham builds
on the notion that nature has placed mankind under the governance of () pain and
pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what
we shall do. He suggested that social problems could be solved by applying his greatest
happiness principle. That is, that the goals of politics should be to minimize the pain while
maximizing the pleasure for the greatest number of people, even if it demanded a breach
with traditions. In this way Bentham expected a rationalization of society by analysing how
different institutions, such as government, educational and prison systems, worked to
eventually introduce the changes that would ensure the happiness of the largest number of
individuals. Since, he assumed, individuals are able to identify their personal needs and the
means to improve their situation, universal male suffrage was a desirable reform that would
result in extended participation and the possibility of social transformation within the
monarchical system. This optimistic outlook presupposes that collective and individual
interests can overlap harmoniously; therefore Utilitarianism endorses political, cultural and
economic liberalism.

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Enlightenment Philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, had stated, in his Discourse on Inequality
(Discours sur l'origine et les fondements de l'ingalit parmi les hommes, 1754), that civilization
implied a decline from nature. Basically he claimed that primitive people living in nature had been free
and equal whereas people living in civilization had been filled with inequality and lack of freedom.

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 The rational and moderate nature of both British Conservatism and Utilitarianism
provided a unique balance between the urge for reform and respect for traditional institutions.
Britain was already a symbol of political liberalism even before the French Revolution.
England presented one of the first antecedents of political liberalism in the High Middle Ages;
Magna Carta was the first document that limited the prerogative powers of the English
monarchy in 1215. The rights that nobility pressed King John to acknowledge had been part
of the national tradition long before other European states started to consider the rights of the
subjects. This document established the rights of English Barons, Habeas Corpus, trial by
peers and consensual taxation. These rights extended to other freemen at the end of
feudalism, and then became part of the Common Law. Further provisions were introduced in
the Bill of Rights (1689) such as the autonomy of judiciary systems, freedom of speech, and
right of petition among others. Some of these rights were limited during the Napoleonic Wars;
allowing the stability that gave the country a head start in industrial revolution and the
creation of a class of industrialists that demanded both certain degree of reform but also
considered political stability a must. Civil liberties were reintroduced after 1815 and were
further extended during the nineteenth century. Thus, as the monarch had already lost most
prerogative powers and it was clear that sovereignty laid mainly in Parliament, in the form of
a Constitutional Monarchy, Britain had already created a tradition that allowed the
introduction of political reform without the need for revolution.

While many felt the revolutionary need to change the system for good as soon as
possible, they also perceived that it was English institutions that made the country the most
powerful and prosperous nation at the time; which had, in turn, given Britain an advantage
over Napoleonic ambitions. Although it had taken over a century for British monarchs to
come to terms with their limited power, since the Glorious Revolution (1688); it was quite
timely for Whig Duke of Clarence to receive the crown as William IV in 1830. In spite of
himself, William IV allowed the introduction of the first Reform Act in 1832, which
enfranchised men who occupied homes with an annual value of 10, allowing about one in
seven adult males to vote. These new voters were mainly industrialists, already the core of
new bourgeois Britain. Besides, William IVs successor in 1837, the young Queen Victoria
and her family restored the reputation of the monarchy, turning it into a symbol of stability
and national unity that embodied the values of the new bourgeoisie.

The Reform Act (1832) spearheaded a century of parliamentary reform. Lower-middle

and upper-working classes reacted to high-middle class enfranchisement with the Chartist
Movement (1838-1848), as they feared the middle-classes would further exploit
unrepresented workers. In the People's Charter of 1838, they established a series of liberal
demands: universal male suffrage for those over 21, equal-sized electoral districts, secret
ballot, abolition of property qualifications for Parliament members, salaried MPs and annual

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parliamentary elections. Chartist demands made sense within the Utilitarian ideology, yet the
movement was unsuccessful for two main reasons that reflect conservative concerns. Firstly,
most chartists were uneducated or even illiterate; thus parliament refused to consider their
1839 petition, in which protesters even expressed their disapproval of Queen Victorias
expenditure, on the basis that uneducated and un-propertied masses lacked the fundamental
political understanding indispensable for such a responsibility. Secondly, there was a
Chartist faction that favoured revolutionary action, such as the faction led by John Frost in
Newport. The government managed to put out the uprising by taking control of the railway
and telegraph system, and in that way the government proved that future riots could be
easily repressed. During the early 1840s Britain suffered from a mild economic depression
that strained the lower classes and once again and Chartist activists were in the forefront;
they sent a new petition to parliament including economic demands, which was rejected once
more. Thus in1842, workers decided to go on violent strikes in the north of England and parts
of Scotland. This time protesters attacked industrial property by unplugging steam boilers,
which gave this uprising the name of Plug Plot; the government responded by sending the
cavalry and armed troops to handle the strikers. Yet once again Chartists demonstrated in
1848, but leading rioters were disposed of by means of transportation to the colonies.
Nevertheless most Chartists demands were introduced as parliamentary reforms 1867, with
the enfranchisement of town dwellers, in 1884 with the enfranchisement of rural workers, and
in 1872 when secret ballot was adopted. Hand in hand with extended enfranchisement came
the educational reform that empowered the new voters: Forster-Ripon English Elementary
Education Act (1870), which made primary education compulsory. In this way both
Conservative and Utilitarian courses of action combined to allow direct representation of
lower classes in the long run.

Another movement attempted to introduce economic reforms: The Anti-Corn Law

League. This group was more successful because it was better organized, focused on a
single aim and was led by industrialists. The Corn Laws (1804) had been introduced to
protect the landed farmers, from external competition by imposing a duty on imported corn.
When in 1815 the war was over, landowners required the House of Commons to set
restrictions to prevent the import of foreign wheat that would cause their profits to plummet.
The Corn Laws were loathed by industrialists, who adhered to Adam Smiths theory of
Capitalism. Richard Cobden and John Bright founded the Anti-Corn Law League in
Manchester, 1838. During the hungry forties, the prices of bread soared reducing the
purchase power of workers, and fuelling Chartist demands. The League claimed that
landowners were being unfairly protected by Parliament. In their view the wheat market
should be self-regulating by the law of competition that would force landowners to device
more effective farming systems, while the national government should stick to a Laissez
faire policy. The league employed every available device of propaganda, including the use

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of new means of communication: pamphlets and the penny post, which had been introduced
in 1840. They gained national support arguing that the repeal of the hated Corn Laws would
lower the price of bread, make British agriculture more efficient and productive, expand
employment, expose trade and agriculture to foreign competition, give manufactures more
outlets for their products and promote international peace through trade contact.
Landowners expressed their indignation against a measure that, as they saw it, had as main
purposes allowing manufacturers to avoid paying higher salaries and undermining the
traditional power of the landed classes. After bitter confrontation with Commons and Lords,
Conservative Prime Minister Robert Peel finally repealed the Corn Laws in 1846. The
utilitarian and rational perspective of the league leaders together with the newly gained
representation of high-middle classes combined for the abolition of the measures that had
caused a great deal of suffering to the working class.

The line of reasoning proposed by the Anti-Corn Law League exemplified some of the
tenets of economic liberalism endorsed by Utilitarianism and Capitalism. In 1776, Scottish
philosopher Adam Smith published his theory of Capitalism in Inquiry Into the Nature of
Causes of the Wealth of Nations. According to Smith, self-interest could lead to socially
beneficial results. He argued that the basic economic market is regulated by an invisible
hand that depends on the production of the right amount and variety of goods; while the to
the prices of those goods are regulated by the law of supply and demand. In his view free
market was the ideal system I which the law of competition would compel producers to be
increasingly efficient, and to respond to the desires of consumers; therefore governments
should interfere minimally with the free and efficient workings of the market, following a
Laissez faire policy (Leave things alone.). Just as Smith , Jeremy Bentham rejected
monopolies, tariffs, duties, and other state enforced restrictions of his time as he assumed
that individuals were able to recognize their own interests and act accordingly to improve
their position. However, Benthams disciple, John Stuart Mill in Principles of Political
Economy (1871) accepted minor government interventions in the economy if there were
sufficient utilitarian grounds, or for the protection of children, animals or environment. He also
alleged that Benthams original hypothesis presupposed rational understanding in disregard
of emotions.

As far a Laissez faire was concerned, Britain was the ideal place for an industrial
revolution. Prior to the Reformation Act 1832, the country had been ruled for the interest of
the landed minorities; and even those who had become wealthy in trade aspired to join the
gentry, as in the case of Robert Peel (the son of a textile manufacturer). Besides, Britain had
experienced a Financial Revolution in the early eighteenth century, there had been political

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stability since 1688, the Agricultural Revolution and the introduction of inoculation had
resulted in a population boom in the late eighteenth century, and the recently acquired
territories abroad provided an attractive market for new products. However, while higher-
middle classes improved their social position before long, working classes remained at the
bottom of the social ladder. Men, women and children were forced to endure the hardships of
the industrial system and unemployment during recession, with the scant protection that the
Poor Laws (1834) would provide in the form of the dreaded workhouses or meager outdoor
relief. Part of the conservative idiosyncrasy of British society was apparent in the slight
notion of social mobility among working classes, who soon understood that their
empowerment through enfranchisement would be a time-consuming and dawdling process.
In order to improve their situation in a more efficient and immediate fashion some workers
preferred to channel their efforts through trade unions.

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Combination Acts (1799) prohibited
unionization and collective bargaining by workers, for fear of Jacobinism. Early trade unions,
also called Friendly Societies, were mainly skilled workers social clubs that gathered funds
to provide benefits to insure members against unemployment, ill health and old age, as well
as covering funeral expenses and widow pensions in case of members death. Long after
violent groups such as the Luddites revolt in Lancashire (1812), during which textile
machines were destroyed, fear of workers revolt subsided by 1824, when the Combination
Acts were repealed only to be reintroduced in 1825 in response to the series of strikes that
further estranged social sympathies, as unionisation was viewed as a threat to the capitalist
system. By 1851, once the successful Great Exhibition in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park
had displayed British modern industrial technology, design and commitment to progress, the
entire nation was utterly converted to the free market dogma; even workers now to aspired,
not to the dissolution of the industrial system, but to a greater share in the capitalist
blessings. A new form of unions developed: the Junta. This association of skilled workers,
the aristocracy of labour, believed in sobriety and family values, despised violent action
and sought to promote improvements by orderly demonstrations making their demands and
situation known to the general public. These men pressed for legal changes to protect trade
union funds and to allow them to act collectively in industrial disputes. They also campaigned
to ensure that all trade unionism was not condemned by public opinion after the Sheffield
outrages, during which cutlery workers had tried to put pressure on non-strikers by dropping
gunpowder can down their home chimneys. Following the 1867 Reform Act, both Liberal and
Tory governments showed interest in trade unions; a Royal Commission on Trade Unions
(1867) gave trade union leaders the opportunity not only to defend nearly all trade unionism
as law-abiding but also to press for favourable legal changes. Members of the commission,

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Frederic Harrison, Thomas Hughes and the Earl of Lichfield produced a report that
maintained that trade unions should be given privileged legal status that would allow
protection of their funds. And, contrary to the general perception, they pinpointed that unions
actually meant fewer and more orderly strikes, as union stressed respect for lawful
organization.

After this report, the first Trade Union Congress in Manchester in May 1868 was
summoned, with a total of 34 national delegates, beginning a period of centralize national
unionisation that facilitated political lobbying. It was only when unions started to own to
conservative attitudes that major legal reforms were introduced for their sake. Factory Act
1847, limited the workday for women and children under 18 years of age to 10 hours. The
1871 Trade Union Act recognised unions as legal entities as corporations, as such they were
entitled to protection under the law in cases of fun theft. The 1874 Factory Act set a ten-hour
limit on the working day - the unions were campaigning for eight. The Employers and
Workmen Act 1875 modified the old Master and Servant Law so that employers too could be
sued for breach of contract. The 1875 Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act de-
criminalized picketing: workers peacefully discussing their grievances to passers-by in front
of factories. The Factory Act 1878 banned child labour and introduced compulsory education
of children under 10. The Employers' Liability Act 1880 extended protection to workers
concerning accidents caused by the negligence of managers, superintendents and foremen.
The Factory and Workshop Act 1895 regulated the sanitary condition of premises in which
outworkers were employed. Unionisation of unskilled workers and women workers started in
the 1880s and by 1900 union membership reached 2 million. Both Tories and Liberals were
keen to use the working class vote to their advantage. The Liberal Party strategy was 'lib-
labism', supporting workingmen as parliamentary candidates in selected constituencies;
however these lib-men were often intimidated by parliamentary aristocracy and gentry.
Thus, in the early 1890s the TUC recognized the need for a political party to represent the
interests and needs of the waged people: The Labour Party.

Outrageous and subversive as the ideals of universal male enfranchisement, free

market and unionisation appeared to British parliamentarians at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, it is clear that even without a revolution middle and working classes
managed to improve their legal condition along the Victorian age. Burkes Conservatism and
Benthams Utilitarianism were two moderate, yet contrasting, ideologies that accepted the
introduction of amendment to the Common Law and respect for the parliamentary system.
Adherence to these basic principles allowed the Chartist movement, the Anti-Corn Law
League and Trade Unions to obtain wider enfranchisement, profitable free-market economy,
educational improvements and recognition of workers plight and need of legal protection.

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Consequently, at the turn of the twentieth century Britain was a pioneer nation as regards
social service and political stability.

Bibliography
Allitt, Patrick N. PhD (The Teaching Company 2007) Victorian Britain
McDowall, David (1991) An Illustrated History of Britain
Morgan, Kenneth (1993) The Oxford Illustrated History of Britain
www.victorianweb.org/
http://www.web-books.com/classics/Poetry/anthology/Shelley/England.htm