Title The waning of 'Old Corruption' : the politics of economical reform in Britain, 1779-1846 / Philip Harling

Published Oxford [England] : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, ©1996

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Description 1 online resource (vii, 307 pages) Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. Background to the French Wars: Pittite Reform in the 1780s -- 3. The French Wars and the Failure of Pittite Reform -- 4. The 'Pitt System' and the Revival of Economical Reform, 1806-1815 -- 5. Liberal Toryism and Economical Reform, 1815-1830 -- 6. Economical Reform in the 'Decade' of Reform, 1830-1841 -- 7. Conservative Disinterestedness, 1841-1846 Summary Most historians of Britain now take for granted that a narrow and mostly landed elite managed to retain its social supremacy throughout much of the nineteenth century. But as yet, there is no thorough explanation for the persistence of the old elite's political authority in an age when that authority was seriously questioned by many Britons. In this original study, Philip Harling furnishes an important part of this explanation He argues that the mostly Pittite governing elite helped to allay the suspicions of parasitism at the root of the familiar critique of 'Old Corruption' by responding to intense pressure to sanitize government. They did this by reducing and redistributing the tax burden; by eliminating serious administrative abuses such as the grant of lucrative sinecures and unmerited pensions; and by ostentatiously dedicating themselves to public business rather than the pursuit of wasteful privileges for themselves and their hangers-on. If the frugal, liberal state that partly resulted from these reforms was scarcely capable of ameliorating social injustice, at least it could no longer be seen to contribute to it through favouritism and a heavy and inequitable tax load. Such a state was well-suited for the preservation of a narrow ruling elite Analysis Politics History, 1714-1837 Great Britain Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 267-298) and index Notes English Print version record Subject Finance, Public -- Great Britain -- History -- 1815-1918. Finance, Public -- Great Britain -- History -- 1688-1815. Elite (Social sciences) -- Great Britain -- History Political corruption -- Great Britain -- History Elite (Social sciences) Finance, Public Political corruption Politics and government Wirtschaftsreform Corruptie. Economische hervormingen. Politieke aspecten. Geschichte 1779-1846. SUBJECT Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1760-1820. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056908 Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 19th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85056911 Subject Great Britain Großbritannien Genre/Form Electronic books History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780191676772 0191676772

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