ABSTRACT
During the eighteenth century, among English cities Bristol was second in size, wealth, and commercial importance only to London. Certain influential Bristol merchants had come to recognize that Edmund Burke's "tried abilities and known commercial knowledge" would make him a powerful representative of their interests in Parliament. In the acceptance speeches following their election, Burke's colleague declared that he regarded himself bound by the coercive authority of his constituents. Ultimately, his refusal to maintain trade restrictions against Ireland, and to continue the penal laws against Catholics, and some lesser matters, alienated him from Bristol. Bolstered by victories abroad, early in 1777 North used his great majority in Parliament to restrict his critics by passing a bill to partially suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Britain. Burke had noted on several occasions that the American war was creating a constitutional crisis in Britain, that success abroad would result in restrictions against civil liberty at home.
