Out In The Be-Bop 18^th Century Night- The Time Of The Georges-W.A. Speck’s Stability And Strife-England, 1714-1760

Book Review

Stability And Strife-England, 1914-1760, W.A. Speck, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1977

One thing is for sure, as W.A. Speck makes clear in his above- titled book which was part of a general history of England published by Harvard University Press many years ago, in 18^thcentury England it did not pay to be a Catholic, royal or otherwise, if you wanted to be the king or queen of England. That fact goes a long way in describing the strife part of the book. The stability part comes mainly from a resolution of that conflict in favor an eternal Protestant succession mandated by Parliament as it nibbled away at the royal prerogative and as it vanquished the expectations of the House of Stuart that had animated the political life of England for most of the previous century (and subsequently after the union, Great Britain).

Of course within the changes of political and social infrastructure in the early 18^th century began the period of the slow accumulation of attributes that would later in the century make Great Britain the first serious capitalist society. And so Professor Speck links all of the major trends that went into producing that change, some by happenstance others as a matter of governmental or economic policy. But the first consideration needed to be a final resolution of the monarchial succession in the Protestant line (there was no serious republic effort in that century unlike the previous one under Cromwell or the next one with the Chartist movement). And that causes serious divisions at one point between the two main political divisions, Tories and Whigs, over the nature, extent, and legitimacy of royal power.

Professor Speck spends no little time on this controversy from the original divisions in Parliament (and society) between what became the Tory and Whig parties over the various claims of the Stuarts which do not finally get fully resolved until mid-century with the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charles and his ill-fated attempted military invasion of England. The stabilization of the succession in the House of Hanover early in this period through the reigns of staid George I and George II though made such movements much more unlikely of success. Moreover, as part of the grand social bargain the Parliament during this period began to whittle away at various prerogatives with the expansion of a more royally independent cabinet government, changes in election laws and the overwhelming dominance of one party, the Whigs, in Parliament during much of this period.

Professor Speck also argues that the state Anglican Church during this period finally chases off other contenders for that role (and the fight, left over from the previous century, of having any established state church) and takes a less prominent role in the social and moral conditioning of the population. It becomes a more benign institution. He also addresses the important changes in the English economy during this period with the rise and solidification of the hold of the squirarchy and the city merchants (and the various mixing s of the two segments of society) as the dominant force driving the new expanding economy. The role of financial institutional, especially those that dealt with international transactions was greatly expanded during this period. Most importantly Professor Speck makes a very compelling case (as E.P. Thompson did for the rise of the working class in the next century) for the way that a ruling class (beyond the royal family, its hangers-on, and the nobility), a conscious ruling class, emerged during this period that would dominant English life for the next couple of centuries. That factor is his prima facie case for the stability aspect of his title.

The professor also delves into the various Parliamentary and cabinet ministry crises of the period beginning with the aforementioned succession crisis, the various ministerial combinations and splits that evolved over both domestic and foreign policy (and as an added factor the role the Hanover question played since both Georges held power there as well). He goes through the various maneuvers of such historic parliamentary figures as Stanhope, Walpole, the Pelhams, and the rise of Pitt. This section is frankly less well done, or rather less interesting, since the great outlines of what is to come have already been laid done in the first section of the book and so the squabbles of a small minority of powerful men (almost totally men)is less evocative and made me long for the in-fighting in old Oliver’s time. But read this book to get an idea of what England was like just before the big capitalist explosion decisively shook things up in the world.