Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides the story of the efforts of the more advanced Whigs—in particular of Whitbread and Brand—to drag the leaders into cooperation with the Burdettites and the extra-Parliamentary agitation. It explains the difficulties experienced by the Whigs in their search for a leader who should be objectionable to as few of them as possible, and the disastrous effects of Ponsonby’s weakness upon their discipline and unity. The book deals with the some occasions upon which the Whigs seemed to have a reasonable chance of office. It is therefore surprising that the Whigs should have been so ineffective in Opposition. In the years 1807–1812 Catholic Emancipation stood first in the political programme of the Whigs, and was consistently championed by them in Parliament.