Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38 (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38 Richard W. Davis Unrepentant Tory. Political Selections from the Diaries of the Fourth Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyne, 1827-38. Edited by Richard A. Gaunt. (Parliamentary History Record Series, 3). Woodbridge: The Boydell Press for the Parliamentary History Yearbook Trust. 2006. xl, 405 pp. £50.00. ISBN 1843832666. For two and a half decades after 1820 ultra tories played a significant role in British political life. In their eyes two great causes were paramount. The first was the continued spiritual and political supremacy of the Church of England, the keystone of the protestant constitution they and others considered the precious legacy of the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The second was agricultural protection. Shortly after 1820 these two causes became major foci of political attention, and it became clear, even to tory governments, that the futures of these causes were not bright. Catholic emancipation bills began to be passed routinely in the house of commons and defeated in the Lords, but only by uncomfortably small majorities. At the same time, politicians began to seek a way to reduce the prohibitory tariff on corn established in 1815, which had proved completely satisfactory to no one and deeply resented by most outside the landed classes. But as tory leaders began to reconcile themselves to future change, a significant portion of their followers became adamantine in their defence of the existing institutions in Church and state. Ultra positions were supported by votes numbering in the 80s and 90s, roughly half the Conservative peers, with about 50 consistent voters. But though their numbers were formidable, the ultras were never really an organized party. Typically, it was about a dozen peers who exercised the functions of leadership. Probably the most important of these, and certainly the most remarkable, was the fourth duke of Newcastle. Richard Gaunt has studied Newcastle for many years, and taught us much about the ultras in the process. Now, in this meticulously edited volume, he reveals the man himself, or perhaps more accurately allows the duke to reveal himself. In his own time, and since, Newcastle has been looked upon as an eccentric, if not a little mad, failed politician. In fact, many of his eccentricities have been shared by large numbers of christians over the ages. As for being a failure in his public life, he was more cunning than mad. He knew what he was doing, and he could be very successful. Religion was at the very centre of his life. He was a dedicated member of the established Church, devoted to its rituals and formulations, and vigilant in observing the practices of others. So far as he could tell Canning had died without any clergyman coming near him to administer the sacrament. On another occasion when there was talk of Wellington's government setting up a commission to alter the Church liturgy, Newcastle observed that it was just what might have been expected of a minister who held most of his cabinets on a 'Sunday and at Church time'. This was nothing compared to his reaction to the whig government allowing the debate on the second reading of the Reform Bill to run over into a Sunday morning. That 'it should so far forget itself as to overstep the acknowledged bounds of religious propriety in the [End Page 255] due and solemn observance of & respect for the Sabbath, is quite a new event in our history'. It was the work of a 'reforming, revolutionary, and I suppose atheistical Ministry'. It was 'a gross outrage of public morals & national decency as a wanton parliamentary desecration of the Sabbath'. Even matters more apparently innocent could bring down denunciations almost as severe. In 1834 Newcastle made an attempt in the house of lords to halt the holding of a musical festival in Westminster Abbey. 'I think such uses of a Church are most improper & indecent - I would go so far as calling it sacrilegious.' He was aware that he was 'treading on a hornets nest', for the festival had a powerful friend in King William himself, 'but I know that I am doing...