History Quotes Britain 1815-1865

RADICALS:

"The radicals lacked the military teeth" - Flagship History

"seldom in history has a government been so hated by its people" - A. Wood

"The French Revolution directed the minds of the lower orders" - Lord Liverpool

REPRESSION:

[Peterloo was] "a blunder not a massacre" - Evans

[Suspension of Habeas Corpus was like] "a dark cloud of opression" - Bamford

[Liverpool dealt with the radicals with] "firmness even ruthlessness" - W.D Rubinstein

The judges dealt with Peterloo with "foolishness and inconsistency"

"Carol-loo" - Evans

"many issues were left untouched"- Pugh

"hardly be described as enlightened" - Flagship

"Unquestionably a change for the better" - Aspinall

DECLINE

"the illness and resignation of Lord Liverpool began the disintegration" -N.Gash

"never has a weaker or more unstable ministry sat in a cabinet" - Duke of Newcastle

[Catholic Association was] "the first successful extra-parliamentary pressure group" - W.D Rubinstein

GENERAL REFORM

"Impressive package of genuine attempts to relieve social distress" - Murphy

"much that was neglected" - Murphy

[reform is a] "mere trick of state for the preservation of power" - Earl Grey

"significant contribution to the Victorian age" - Evans

[the Poor Law Amendment Act] "Unquestionably encouraged prudency, saving and thrift" - W.D Rubinstein

GREAT REFORM ACT 1832

"paved the way for a century of peaceful political evolution" - Derry

"a corrupt relic of the past" - Ward

 "not a good bill but a great bill when passed" - Evans

"Reform delayed is revolution begun" - Dawson

FORMATION:

[revolutions in Europe had] "given great heart to the Chartists" - Roberts

"reform delayed is revolution begun" - Dawson

"knife and fork; a bread and cheese question" - Stephens

FAILURE:

[they failed because of the]  "firm but not brutal government response" - W.D Rubinstein 

"they were temporarily strong everywhere" - W.D Rubinstein (shows that they were only strong for a short time)

"failed to call upon a united working class" - Cunningham

[The anti-corn law league had] "missionary zeal" and were the "Greatest mass movement of reform" - W.D Rubinstein

REFORM GENERALLY

"Peel lacked a sense of vision" - Clark

"contradictory character containing mixed good and evil" - Greville

"economic stability was restored" - Gash

"always seemed to me the most faultless of ministers" 

"Peel's proposals were ingenious and far-reaching" - W.D Rubinstein

REPEAL OF CORN LAWS

[The anti-corn law league had] "missionary zeal" and were the "Greatest mass movement of reform" - W.D Rubinstein

"I deny Peel a place as one of the great Conservative leaders because he split the party" - Blake

REASONS FOR A BOOM

"a major factor in the growth of the British economy was the lack of competition" - Flagship

"Extension of free trade created a positive dynamic" - Hudson

[An agricultural boom would be] "too strong" - Murphy

Castlereagh:

• "without a diplomatic or military card in his hand, he negotiated a peace treaty with the allies that would protect all Britain's best interests" - M.E Chamberlain 
• "his policies were ahead of his time" - Kissinger
• "I met murder on the way, he had a mask like Castlereagh" - Shelley

Canning:

• "His most important achievement was the destruction of the Holy Alliance" - Hayes 
• "maintain and increase Britain's prestige and prosperity" - Hinde

Palmerstone:

• "was closer to Castlereagh than Canning in his emphasis of Balance of Power in Europe" - S.J. Lee

BALANCE OF POWER IN EUROPE

"containment and order, not conquest and expansion" - Wood

"cautious containment of France" - Bloy

"The Catholic Association was the first successful extra-parliamentary pressure group" - W.D. Rubinstein

"The Almighty indeed brought the blight but the English created the famine" -John Mitchel (one of leaders of Young Ireland)

"great political genius" O'Farrell (about O'Connell)

Peel showed "much sympathetic consideration" to the Irish - W.D Rubinstein

"Ireland is too poor for a Poor Law" - O'Connell