To what extent was the weakness of the radicals the cause of Pitt surviving the revolutionary threat to his government?
Certainly the weakness of the radicals was one of the main reasons behind Pitt surviving the revolutionary threat to his government but this is not to say that was the only reason. Along with the radical groups being rather weak, there was a large opposition to them. There were large numbers of riots organised against the radicals by conservatives. The general feeling in Britain was that of anti-radicalism, this feeling deepened as the revolution went on in France and was heavily escalated during the terror. Pitt wielded the majority conservative population to his advantage and passed bills which helped to prevent radicals meeting and holding large demonstrations.
Radical groups had begun to emerge in 1791, they were rather weak then but by 1793 they were becoming a cause for concern. They were expanding and multiplying spreading their literature in the form of newsletters. There were a large number of radical groups but the member count of each group was rather low. The support for the radicals was minimal. There were a few main radical groups like the “Revolution Society” and the “London Corresponding Society”, with the LCS being the biggest threat to Pitt and his government. The LCS was nicknamed as the British Jacobins and many conservative politicians accused them of being republican. The inspiration behind these radical groups were the writings of Thomas Paine, he wrote “The Rights of Man”, which was a book directed at replying to the attacks made by Edmund Burke on the French Revolution. Burke was opposed to the Revolution. In 1790 he published his book “Reflections on the Revolution in France” as a warning to many English reformers such as the Country Gentry, the Foxites and Wilkesites who believed that the French were having their own Glorious Revolution. Burke said that the French were not having their own version of the Glorious Revolution but that events in France were something very different. He asserted that events in France would lead to conflict and bloodshed and that wars would result from the Revolution, ending in the establishment of a military dictatorship. Burke ‘got it right’, but died in 1797 and never saw the rise of Napoleon. Even though Burke was against the revolution it is not to say that he opposed reform, He believed in organic reform and organic growth: that is, natural evolution. He had no time for drastic revolution. He opposed rapid, uncontrolled change, as was happening in France, particularly since the demolition of the Ancien Régime was in the hands of amateurs who had little or no political expertise. Burke increasingly gained support as he was proved right. Most people stopped endorsing the Revolution as it became violent and became conservative and reactionary. The exceptions were Paine, Fox, their supporters and the extremists. The threat of radicals was exaggerated, they were small uncoordinated groups, and each group had its own goals and ideals and varied in the level of radicalism. Pitt still saw these groups as a threat and as such had to take action.
