Overview

Examination of debate within the Conservative party over the principles of free trade. The complex and troubled relationship between protectionism and Conservatism in nineteenth-century Britain is the focus of this book. It looks at how the developing free-trade orthodoxy was challenged within Conservatism, and offers new perspectives on the intellectual controversies which precipitated the Conservative party's split of 1846 and the intricate denouement of 1846-52. In contrast to traditional accounts, it also seeks to explore the intellectual character of opposition to the evolving mid-Victorian consensus framed around free trade, laissez-faire and sound money, revealing how Conservatives debated key aspects of economic policy. Through an exhaustive reading of Conservative journals, pamphlets and contributions to parliamentary debates, the author is able to expose an alternative set of ideas about the direction of British economic and social change and the role of government in moulding it. Dr ANNA GAMBLES is lecturer in modern British history, University of Kent at Canterbury.

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9780861932443

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Reviews

Impressive study,,, an original and thoughtful analysis of tory economic opinion in the period between the end of the Napoleonic wars and the collapse of the Derby ministry in 1852... A provocative, important book. PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY Meticulous scholarship...has transformed our understanding of the social and political philosophy underpinning Conservative opposition to Free Trade in the first half of the nineteenth century. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW A masterful, tightly argued and exhaustivelydetailed book...which goes a long way to retrieving and rehabilitating the intellectual envaustivelydetailed book...which goes a long way to retrieving and rehabilitating the intellectual environment of Toryism in the first half of the ni

Impressive study,,, an original and thoughtful analysis of tory economic opinion in the period between the end of the Napoleonic wars and the collapse of the Derby ministry in 1852... A provocative, important book. PARLIAMENTARY HISTORY Meticulous scholarship...has transformed our understanding of the social and political philosophy underpinning Conservative opposition to Free Trade in the first half of the nineteenth century. ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW A masterful, tightly argued and exhaustivelydetailed book...which goes a long way to retrieving and rehabilitating the intellectual environment of Toryism in the first half of the nineteenth century. HISTORICAL JOURNAL Seminal study. JOURNAL OF IMPERIAL AND COMMONWEALTH HISTORY

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