Tories levelling down Britain 1799 to 1868 block all reforms.

The French Revolution set in motion reforms that benefitted every country in Western Europe except one, Britain. Before the revolution, William Pitt was disposed to modest reform. A new small professional and educated middle class had emerged and they wanted a say in things. The revolution and the changes it was bringing to Europe put paid to any reform in Britain.

Britain was ruled by a corrupt nobility and cabal of large gentlemen landowners with the King at the top of the dung heap. They were scared to death of any change, let alone revolutionary change in Britain.

The Whigs wanted reform but the ruling elite turned to the Tories to block all attempts and to keep the corrupt system firmly in place.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/pm_and_pol_tl_01.shtml list of pms

Who were the writers seeking change?

Although a member of the Whig party Edmund Burke was a conservative. He led the defence of Britain against any changes due to the revolution. He was afraid that reform might escalate and lead to revolutionary change in Britain. Burke and his conservative comrades were afraid of the change to property rights and any loosening of rigid social class division.

But trade and industry must be putting pressure for change on the Tories?

There was no possibility of reform during the conflict with France from 1783 to 1815.

The Tory party aided by conservative minded whigs like Burke controlled parliament during the French Revolution, the war with France and the period following.

Even after Waterloo when the war was won the Tories were entrenched in the corrupt social, economic a political system in Britain. It was more or less the same as the ancient regime the French Revolution had displaced. The reason was an unadulterated self interest of the ruling class. The structure of British society was grossly unequal with definite and pronounced discrimination across all sections.

Power and political representation 1815 to 1830

Britain was ruled by the aristocracy, large landowning gentry and the monarch. Parliament was a sop to this class. The monarch could still appoint ministers. Elections, such as they were and where a semblance of democracy existed were subjected to bribery, threats and corruption. The monarch sat on top of a dung heap that was holding back Britain.

Britain was ruled by the titled aristocracy and landed gentry. They claimed Britain was a democracy but this was far from reality. The ruling elite promulgated the idea that Britain was a land of local self government. Other countries around the world believed it and copied the model.

In the county based local government, the nobility and gentry filled all the important positions. The same applied to the boroughs. Just beneath the nobility and landed gentry was a squirearchy of local squires who maintain the order at the local level.

The national government was made up almost entirely of nobility, gentry and their representatives.

The House of Lords was made up entirely of large landowners. Large landowners were at the very heart of Britain's ruling class. It was considered logical that these men have such a vested interest that they would act in the countries best interest and so were the best choice to run the country.

The House of Commons was supposed to represent the 'commoners' but it didn't.

In 1815 the House of Commons had 658 members.

489 England

100 Ireland

45 Scotland

24 Wales

There were three types of constituencies, counties, boroughs and universities. Counties and boroughs sent two members regardless of population or size.

Industrial growth, changes in agriculture and international trade were changing the demographics of Britain but this was not reflected in the political representation. For example, Scotland had 45 members and a population of 3 million. Cornwall had 44 members and a population in the thousands.

In order to vote a man had to have land that yielded an income of 40 shillings a year or more. This led to a very restricted tight knit group of men who could vote. Less than 3000 of the 3 million population of Scotland were entitled to vote.

The boroughs were even worse than the counties.

Boroughs returned 467 members and landowners had even more influence on who was elected, to the extent that members were chosen in reality.

there were three types of borough

Nomination

Rotten

Close

Each returned two members.

Nomination borough members were chosen by the patron. There might not be anyone living in a nomination borough and the borough of Dunwich was under the sea but still returned two members.

Rotten borough members were chosen by the Corporation.

Close boroughs had a semblance of democracy but with only 50 or so voters they were easily influenced.

Large and growing cities like Manchester and Birmingham had no representation.

Tory Story 1. from Torries to Tories

 Where do Tory and Whigs come from? 

Initially, the Tories supported the Stuarts and the Whigs supported the William of Orange. They were factions rather than political parties. This changed during and in the years after the English Civil war. The civil war was a wider conflict than just England especially after it ended. Scotland and Ireland were involved in conflicts. A sequence of events changed the political situation, the war, the restoration of Charles II and the removal of James II to be replaced by William III, the Glorious Revolution.

Scotland and Ireland did not accept Cromwell's Commonwealth. England was also divided roughly along town and country. Towns generally were in favour of Cromwell and country areas the Monarchy.

In Ireland bands of rebels called Torries harrassed Cromwell's soldiers. The Torries were largely made up of people who'd been forced off their smallholding by protestant migrants from England and Scotland. Some of the Scots Presbyterian migrants were called Whigamores. The Torries were Jacobites in that they supported Catholic King James. The Tories and Whigs originated in Scotland and Ireland. (who were the whigamores and torries) 

When James II was King he became a Catholic. This caused problems as he was the head of the protestant Church of England. Britain was run by the Nobility and powerful landowners. There was a parliament but it wasn't democratic. The political system was corrupt. None of the powerful factions wanted another civil war. The ruling nobility distrusted James so they contrived to get rid of him and they invited William of Orange to take over the job of King. In 1688 William came to England and James escaped to France. The escape was contrived.

King James now a Catholic and claiming divine right to rule as he liked was an intolerable situation. It was too close to the situation that triggered the civil war. In addition, trade and industry was taking off. Science was beginning to change attitudes, the period known as the enlightenment was in flow with science and logic taking centre stage.

 A debate opened up over the divine right of Kings. The Whigs were opposed to the notion of divine right and organised the change of monarch. The Torries now called Tories supported the notion of divine right.

Although an all out civil war was avoided there was political conflict. The supporters of William called Whigamores and were derided by the supporters of James known as Jacobins. The Whigamores attacked their opponents as supporting a bad monarch who could do great harm. The Torries in Ireland were Jacobites and supported the divine right of Kings who answered only to God. The divine right of kings and a king who exercised this to excess was part of the cause of the civil war.

William landed and faced no opposition, James fled. A peaceful transfer of power was organised and William married James' daughter and became King.

Now comes the irony. Although the Whigs arranged for William to be King, he favoured the Tories because of their belief in divine right, support might be a better word than belief. He liked the way they had stood up for James, so he gave the Tories the top jobs.

The Tories now accepted the peaceful abdication and change over. William thought he could rule better with the Tories than the Whigs.

The first levelling down.

The Tories allowed the King control over taxation and foreign policy. The Whigs wanted parliament to control this in the interest of the wider country and especially trade and industry. Trade and industry were developing rapidly and the industrial revolution was only 70 years away. The Tories held back industrial and economic growth by keeping taxation and foreign affairs in the control of the King who managed this in his own interest rather than in the interest of the growing economy.

I need to live the lifestyle of a king equal to all the other kings of Europe.
To this end, I need the taxation from the country and also from foreign exchange and foreign affairs.
I said king William the 3rd to the Tories
The king chose the Tories because they believed in the Divine right of kings so any said he needs all this money he had the Divine right answering only to God for the ministers to give him the money
William would have had advisors who came over from Holland and they would have advised them to play the Divine right of kings card and say he needs to look everything king for all the European dignity isn't ambassadors and that for him to look like a king and opulent king would be great for trade and industry that was developing at the time
It was in the national interest at the king got all the taxes and the income from foreign affairs it also made the wigs who are trying to get the taxes and income diverted to trade and industry and for the wider economy it made them look like spoilsports and fools but like the Labour party is made to look today

Had King William done the logical thing and favoured the Whigs over the Tories the enlightenment would have moved at a faster pace and the industrial revolution might have come earlier giving Britain a significant advantage over rival countries.

Shortly after their formation, the king aided by the fledgling political party the Tories levelled down Britain to keep a King in the opulent style he wanted.