Grenville, William Wyndham Grenville, Baron — Substance of the Speech of the Right Hon. Lord Grenville in the House of Lords, November 30, 1819 — 1820

Author: William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (1759–1834)
Title: Substance of the Speech of the Right Hon. Lord Grenville, in the House of Lords, November 30, 1819, on the Marquis of Lansdowne’s Motion, that a Select Committee be Appointed to Inquire into the State of the Country, and More Particularly into the Distresses and Discontents Prevalent in the Manufacturing Districts, and the Execution of the Laws with Respect to the Numerous Meetings which have Taken Place
Publisher: John Murray, Albemarle Street, London
Date: 1820
Edition: First edition
Format: Octavo
Pagination: 63 pp. plus publisher’s advertisements
Binding: Later dark cloth, gilt-lettered spine
Stock Code: 004200
Location: Bookroom

First edition of this substantial political speech by William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville, former Prime Minister, delivered in the House of Lords on 30 November 1819 during one of the most turbulent moments in early nineteenth-century British politics.

The speech was delivered on a motion by Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, Marquess of Lansdowne, calling for a select committee to investigate the state of the country, particularly the severe economic distress affecting the manufacturing districts and the enforcement of the law in relation to the numerous large political meetings then taking place. The debate occurred only a little over three months after the Peterloo Massacre at Manchester on 16 August 1819 and while Parliament was considering the repressive legislation that became known collectively as the Six Acts.

Grenville’s speech is especially interesting because it cannot be reduced to a simple radical-versus-government position. He regarded the political situation as genuinely dangerous and spoke forcefully about organised mass assemblies and the threat of revolutionary agitation, drawing explicit comparisons with the French Revolution. At the same time, he supported Lansdowne’s call for parliamentary inquiry and argued that the causes of unrest and the conduct of public authorities deserved proper examination.

The parliamentary record preserves Grenville’s speech at considerable length and confirms that he supported Lansdowne’s motion. The motion was ultimately heavily defeated, with 47 votes in favour and 178 against, a majority of 131.

The publication consequently forms an important primary source for the political reaction to Peterloo, the economic distress of the post-Napoleonic period, the growth of popular radicalism and the governmental response to mass political organisation. Grenville discusses manufacturing distress, unemployment, the Poor Laws, public order, the authority of magistrates, revolutionary agitation, political meetings and the constitutional responsibilities of Parliament.

Grenville himself had already occupied the highest levels of British political life. He served as Prime Minister from 1806 to 1807, leading the so-called Ministry of All the Talents, whose most enduring achievement was the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. By 1819 he was one of the elder statesmen of the House of Lords, and the publication of this speech by John Murray reflects the considerable contemporary interest attached to his intervention.

Bibliographically, the original 1820 John Murray issue is recorded as Goldsmiths’ 22754 and Kress C.5339.

Bound in later dark cloth, gilt-lettered to the spine. The binding is firm and presents well. The pages are generally nice and clean, with some foxing principally affecting the preliminaries. Now housed in an easily removable clear acetate cover.

Very good.

An important contemporary political pamphlet from the immediate aftermath of Peterloo, combining the views of a former Prime Minister with direct discussion of manufacturing distress, popular political mobilisation, public order and parliamentary responsibility during the crisis of 1819.

Stock code: 004200. Location: Bookroom.

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