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Example research essay topic: Prime Minister Nineteenth Century - 1,597 words

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During the last quarter of the nineteenth century Tory governments held office for seventeen years (1874? 80, 1886 - 92, 95 - 1900). During this time Salisbury was Prime Minister for the last eleven years, and was also a member of the cabinet for the first six. To add to this, he enjoyed the position of leader of the opposition during the Gladstonian ministries that interrupted this spell of Tory leadership. What were the reasons for this Conservative political ascendancy, and what was Salisbury? s contribution to it? According to Michael Bentley Salisbury was?

the most formidable politician the Conservative Party has ever produced. ? He ad the most impressive electoral record of any Victorian politician, with his victories in 188, 1895 and 1900 all secured with massive margins, and his defeats in 1885 and 1892 close enough to leave the Liberals heavily reliant on the unpopular Irish Nationalists. During Disraeli? s period in office (1874? 1880) Salisbury served in the India Office and was later made Foreign Secretary after Derby? s resignation in 1877. It is important to note here that Salisbury accompanied Disraeli to the Congress of Berlin?

arguably the ministry? s biggest imperialist success. His contribution to Tory Dominance here was that of winning support from? the jingoes? and thus encompassing a further section of society under the Conservative umbrella. The 1886 election saw Salisbury come to power with a large electoral swing.

The conservatives had 316 seats compared to 191 Gladstonian Liberal and 83 INP. As leader of the opposition almost throughout the two Liberal ministries of 1880? 1886 Salisbury played a major part in crafting this electoral victory via several channels. Firstly, in an era of growing Trade Union power Salisbury had observed the growth of Villa Toryism as the middle classes began to move to the right for fear of socialism. In 1884 the Lords twice rejected Gladstone? s Third Reform Act, and Salisbury met with Gladstone to negotiate a compromise. The result was the 1885 Re-distribution Act?

the price Gladstone had to pay for the introduction of his Third Reform Act. This re-distribution Act, although introduced by Gladstone, was negotiated primarily by Salisbury and was a huge contributor to the Tory Dominance which was about to begin. It capitalised on Villa Toryism by creating new seats in the suburbs of large cities which were full of middle class conservatives, and the effects were staggering. In formerly radical cities such as Leeds and Sheffield the Conservatives, after 1885, regularly took two or three of the five seats. In London, which had received almost 40 seats under the re-distribution act, the Tories, in 1895 and 1900 were to win 51 of the 59 seats, when in 1859 and 65 they hadn? t won a single one.

Furthermore, in 1885 and 86 the Liberal Party were deep in crisis over the Home Rule issue. At the 1886 election the Liberal Unionists, spear-headed by Chamberlain won 78 seats, accounting for a sizeable chunk of the Gladstonian Liberal loss. Salisbury had assisted this by instructing the local Conservative Party associations not to place a candidate against defectors from the Liberal Party, and so the Conservative votes went to these candidates, thus deepening the split in the Liberal Party, and evidently, lessening their electoral threat in years to come. To add to this, Salisbury was also able to keep hold of the loyal working class conservatives? the would be benefactors of Disraeli an? one nation conservatism? , by establishing?

constitutional clubs? sponsored by local brewers. He also envisaged mass membership of the party by accepting the Primrose League as an official body of the party, which confirmed support from the old Disrealian Young Englanders. To summarise, Salisbury?

s contribution to Conservative Dominance by means of winning the 1886 election was very important. His negotiation of the Re-distribution Act completely converted whole cities from Radical to Conservative, and he preyed on Gladstone? s unpopular infatuation with Home Rule. He was able to achieve the latter of these two points through an overall improvement in party organisation, through a re-channelling of funds, made possible by the Corrupt Practices Act of 1883.

For all the above reasons, Salisbury became Prime Minister in 1886, and immediately spoke of? the virtues of doing nothing? . (David Cooper). Salisbury? s most fundamental belief was that of self help. He saw it as the state? s job to shape matters, by providing education and other public services, not to give handouts.

Salisbury was non-intervention alist to the core, as? too many? big bills? , he believed, proceeded on the assumption that every political problem, no matter how complex, had a solution. ? Salisbury was much happier to provide pragmatic solutions to problems as they arose and not busy Parliament with a dynamic and exhausting programme, confirming his belief that? legislative interference generally made problems worse. ? Bearing in mind the fact that he faced extremely weak opposition, this?

policy? proved very successful. When faced with an opposition as deeply divided as Salisbury? s was at the moment the only way he could bring about his downfall would be to shoot himself in the foot with failed legislation, and his conclusion that? our bills must be tentative and cautious, not sweeping and dramatic?

removed such an eventuality from the equation. Indeed his thirteen years as Prime Minister produced only three significant pieces of domestic legislation? the Local Government Act of 1888, the introduction of free elementary education in 1891 and the Workmen? s Compensation Act of 1897. As short as the list is, Salisbury only introduced these measures as a step towards consolidating Conservative power.

The primary goal of the Local Government Act was to keep the power in the hands of the traditional figures, such as the Justices of the Peace, and by doing this he lessened the likelihood of their power being removed totally in? some future torrent of radicalism? (Cooper). In this sense, this is comparable to his provision of free elementary education which, he perceived, would fend off the Radical Liberal plans to review the whole system and eventually disassociate education and the church, which would inevitably lessen the bond between the Church of England and the Conservatives, which Disraeli fought to uphold. It would seem that all his domestic legislation kept the radicals at arms length, and the electorate content, using what could be described as cautious and tentative appeasement. Throughout Salisbury? s period in office Britain?

s Foreign Policy was, albeit unofficially, that of Splendid Isolation. Salisbury himself had once described Foreign Policy as that of? drifting downstream in a boat, occasionally putting out an oar to fend off the bank. ? Whilst he was prepared to accept that intervention was sometimes necessary he distrusted grand schemes, such as Chamberlain?

s desired alliance with Germany. Salisbury? s main objectives were to avoid war, although he appreciated the importance of upholding British interest and was prepared to use violence to do so. This again contributed to the dominance of the Conservative Party as a less rampant Imperialist policy lessened the possibility of the embarrassment of British troops and thus himself.

His handling of the Fashoda Incident in 1898 without the need for war was seen as? one of the country? s greatest diplomatic triumphs? (Ramsden) and this won him support from the more Gladstonian? moral politicians?

who were extremely anti-imperialist. Salisbury pleased the population by conveying the straight-forward message that he had no interest in joining any of the existing alliances in Europe. He was supported in this view by many politicians who also feared the danger of? permanent or entangling alliances. ? (Campbell-Bannerman). In spite of this however, in the 1890 s the Conservatives were better equipped than the Liberals to gain from any public enthusiasm for imperialism, the virtues of which were publicised in the popular press. As Salisbury re-enforced the Conservative identification with patriotism and empire and publicly exalted the Crown, they were assisted by the occurrence of two Royal Jubilees (1887, 1897).

Moreover, the Primrose League and its branches skilfully encouraged patriotic sentiment. Salisbury was prepared to exploit war-time patriotism? in the Boer War, at the time of the reliefs of Mafeking and Ladysmith? to call a? snap election? much to his party?

s advantage. In conclusion, Salisbury? s contribution to the Tory Dominance of the late nineteenth century was primarily in helping the Liberals to self-destruct. Salisbury engaged himself in exacerbating the impact of the Home Rule debate on the Liberal party, and using his significant influence in the Lords, gave Gladstone a very high price for his Third Reform Act? the re-distribution Act. Indeed one he was perhaps foolish to pay.

His pessimistic pragmatism quite simply allowed things to tick along without entering into any radical shake-ups. The majority of his domestic legislation was aimed at increasing the likelihood of long-scale prevention of the introduction of radical measures in the fields of local government and education. Also, he was aware of the power of the argumentative Chamberlain and appeased him with? non-threatening?

social reform, such as the Workmen? s Compensation Act and the Tythe Act, until his attention switched to that of the Boer War. Looking at the above factors Salisbury basically knew that he faced a weak opposition. He knew that the opposition could only be strengthened through his own shortcomings and his appreciation of the fact that anything radical has an equally radical opposition was the most significant reason for the relatively tame nature of his ministries, and therefore, for the reason why Tory Dominance could prevail for so long. 318


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