408 Ch. 1 1 • Dynastic Rivalries and Politics
minister, officer, bishop, general, or admiral. The cabinet and government
officials carried out the functions of state. But they did so against the back
drop of ongoing practical compromises between Parliament and the
monarch.
During the early decades of the eighteenth century, the House of Com
mons gradually emerged as an epicenter of political life. Unlike the House
of Lords, all of whose members were nobles, members of the House of Com
mons were elected by Britain’s narrow electoral franchise based on landed
wealth. Although still dominated by “gentle,” or landed, interests, the num
ber of merchants elected to the Commons increased, for families that had
made fortunes in business, whether they were titled nobles, nontitled gen
try, or commoners, invested their money in land. Wealthy MPs could easily
control blocs of votes in their countries through patronage. In 1776, only
5,700 men in Britain elected half of the members of Commons, most of
whose members were routinely reelected every seven years. In only three
boroughs did more than 4,000 men have the right to vote, and in several
others, fewer than 15 men could cast ballots. Thus, one lord confidently
assured his son in 1754, “Your seat in the new Parliament is at last
absolutely secured and that without opposition or the least necessity of
your personal trouble or appearance.” Some MPs were returned from “rot
ten” and “pocket” boroughs. Rotten boroughs ranged from the infamous
“Old Sarum,” which had no inhabitants but two representatives in Com
mons, and another that had been under water for centuries, to those with
several hundred voters almost as easily managed. Pocket boroughs were in
the pocket of the MP because his election was uncontested.
Some of England’s growing industrial towns were not represented in
Parliament. Many urban elites no longer bought the idea that their inter
ests were “virtually represented” by MPs from districts represented in the
House of Commons. Furthermore, emerging political discontent reflected
alarm that the role of the House of Commons as the defender of the con
stitution against possible tyrannical abuse was being compromised by
institutionalized patronage and outright corruption, symbolized by rotten
and pocket boroughs.
The Development of Party Politics in the 1760s: Whigs and ToriesWhigs and Tories had governed in reasonable harmony during the Robert
Walpole era. But after Walpole, many Whigs came to believe that ministers
ought to be acceptable to Parliament as well as to the king. In contrast,
Tories traditionally took the view that the prerogatives of king and Church
had to be maintained at all costs.
After coming to the throne in 1760, George III gave the impression that
he intended to rule without Parliament. When the king refused to declare
war on Spain in 1761 during the Seven Years’ War, Pitt resigned as prime
minister. Subsequently, the king appointed his former tutor, the aristo