John Campbell’s Authorship of Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the British Constitution (London, 1761)

Abstract

The unattributed pamphlet entitled Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the British Constitution (London, 1761) is the work of the mid-eighteenth-century historian, John Campbell (1708–75). In early 1761, Campbell wrote a series of articles in the London Evening Post, which he then expanded into a pamphlet, Reflections. The pamphlet paralleled the focus of Campbell’s previous works, which promoted government policy that addressed economic inequality between England and Scotland by emphasizing British interest. In his previous works and in Reflections, British interest was supported by drawing on Campbell’s ‘Old Whig,’ ‘Country’ principles, which encouraged independence, fiscal management, and a balanced constitution. This emphasis on British interest not only demonstrated his support for George III’s new reign but also defended the policies of the king’s favourite, John Stuart, 3rd earl of Bute, whose administration, the pamphlet implied, would secure a peace that would extend the benefits of commerce to all in Great Britain.