Page 23 - History 2020

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reinforced the political stability that had already broken out in early 18 century
Britain. The significance of this is enormous. Stability is precisely what everyone came
to celebrate as the innate quality of the British constitution. More; it has become
part of our national identity. Continentals have revolutions and instability; we have
the opposite. This has spilled over into our self-image: we have stable government
because we are stable. It is innate. It is often argued that the famed stability of our
constitution was due to its balancing of diverse elements. Our mix of the
monarchical, the aristocratic and the democratic (King, Lords and Commons) ensured
representation of all but domination by none. This was not a new argument; the

ancient Greek writer Polybius had praised the Roman Republic for the same reason,
and arguing that this was the secret of its success in expanding over its neighbours,
resulting in the Roman Empire (not so balanced). As we’ll see in later sessions, the
Americans would later adopt a similarly balanced design for their new Constitution
(President, Senate, House of Representatives).

However, I would argue that if we look at the British history after the 1688

Revolution, our stability owes more to the legacy of Walpole: parliamentary
patronage plus oligarchy. He did not invent either. But his 20-year supremacy made
them indispensable to the working of our constitution.

However, if this is right, then the question arises: how did the oligarchy survive? One
way is to persuade the majority that the system is good for everyone, not just
members of the ruling oligarchy. I believe that this is precisely what happened, and
that it was done in two major ways; first through a new conservative political

philosophy, which we will turn to next; second, through a new interpretation of
British history, which we will discuss next session. First, we must turn our attention
to the conservative ideas of Edmund Burke (1729-1797).

Who was Edmund Burke?
Burke is remembered for two things, as the scourge of the French Revolution and as

the founder of modern conservatism. The two were closely linked. Burke was a
practical politician who honed his arguments as weapons in battles over real issues:
the impeachment of Warren Hastings for oppression as Governor-General of India
1774-85, the American Revolution of 1776, the French Revolution of 1789, and the
plight of the Irish in the 1790’s.

Burke’s background was not mainstream establishment. He was born in Dublin to a
Catholic mother and an Anglican solicitor father, attended a Quaker school, and
ended as an Anglian married to a Catholic. He studied law at Trinity College, Dublin,

then began his London career as a writer, not on politics but aesthetics (his