How and why did Lord Liverpool survive the Radical Challenges
of 1812 – 1822?
In 1812 the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval was assassinated. Lord Liverpool then became Prime Minister; he was the fifth choice candidate and he wasn’t expected to last very long because of this. However he managed to last for almost 15 years but over the first ten years he had to face economic problems caused by the end of the war and resurgent radical groups inspired by the economic problems from the war and the impact of the Industrial Revolution. The handling of the economic problems caused more support for the radical groups, the abolition of income tax and the introducing of the Corn Laws caused more economic difficulties but preserved the power and privileges of the elite going against public opinion at the time. Groups like the Luddities and the Spenceans were very different to ones from Pitt’s time, where parallels have been drawn; they were prepared to use violence to achieve their means. Lord Liverpool’s government took a line similar to Pitt’s repressing revolts and protests instead of introducing reforms that addressed the complaints of protestors.
The radical groups that Lord Liverpool faced were varied in their aims and seriousness. Peterloo Massacre, Luddities, Cato Street and Spa Fields were by far the most serious for a number of reasons. In 1811 – 1812, there was a series of incidents where armed protestors stormed factories and broke up machinery. These incidents happened mainly in the North, and were called Luddities. It was explained as an economic and political phenomenon with radical and violent tendencies stemming from unemployment, wage cuts and price rises. It was serious because it damaged large amounts of machinery. However, it was local splintered action of working class labourers with no united aims, for example, some wanted their jobs back and others wanted to halt industrialisation. There for they were easily defeated by the government. Cato Street was organised by a number of Spenceans who wanted to assassinate the cabinet as they meet at Grovesnor Square in February 1820, this would, they hoped, paralyse decision making in the capital creating chaos and confusion leading to uprisings. However a government spy called George Edwards had easily infiltrated them and acted as an agent provocateur, stirring up trouble making the threats more serious than they appeared, his information led to the arrest of the leader Arthur Thistlewood and four others as they gathered in Cato Street. This threat was dangerous to Lord Liverpool because it was the most isolated and suicidal act of defiance during this time period by extremists. However it showed that the radicals were growing more organised and more dangerous, and this was very serious. However, the Cato Street conspirators were easily caught and once they were, they didn’t inspire further uprisings as intended, the opposite happened, Lord Liverpool used the threats from Cato Street to gain support. It was therefore one of the last radical threats of the period. Spa Fields was also organised by the Spenceans, it was part of a series of mass meetings aiming to intimidate the authorities and inspire the public top rebel against the current system by occupying the Tower of London and the Bank of England. 10’000 people turned out to hear Henry Hunt talk but the meetings were quickly dispersed when spies found out about it. One pedestrian was killed and a member of the authorities stabbed during the dispersing of the meeting. The four leaders were arrested for treason but were acquitted. It was regarded by the authorities a serious threat because of the large support network with the Spenceans leading it who were sinister groups wanting a revolution. But beyond the 10’000 people turning out to see Henry Hunt there was no national interest and no national leaders to organise action. Peterloo Massacre was also a mass meeting on 16th August 1819, 60’000 people turned up in St. Peters Field to hear Henry Hunt campaign for universal manhood suffrage and annual parliaments. However the local magistrates were nervous about Hunt talking because he had caused riots in Manchester, spies made it worse by suggesting that armed radicals were in mass meeting. The hated Manchester Yeomanry tried to arrest Hunt but found it difficult to move him. The magistrates called in the 15th Hussars to rescue the Yeoman from the crowd. However, the crowd stampeded and 10 died, some of which from sabre cuts. The magistrate’s response to the mass meeting does suggest how serious a threat it was. The response was because mass meetings were very new and no one knew how to deal with them. The fact that it was very badly dealt with brought revolutionary ideas to the forefront of the nation’s conscience, bringing more hatred on Lord Liverpool’s government.
