ABSTRACT
The Painite movement and the threat of revolution were defeated for three reasons. Most importantly, Britain and France went to war in 1793 and the new principles of reform became ‘French’ and hostile. This doubtless frightened off thousands of potential reformers. Secondly, the government reacted both quickly and prudently to the upsurge in popular radicalism. Finally, the loyalist movement mushroomed, both spontaneously and under guidance, into a massive and highly successful reactionary force. Heralded by a Royal Proclamation against sedition, subversion and riot published on 22 May 1792 and read aloud to much of the population, loyalism dictated the terms of the revolutionary debate from early 1792 to about the end of 1794. None the less its victory was by no means immediately certain. The king’s sentiments prompted an outpouring of loyal addresses (some 32,000 by July, claimed Paine). But the proclamation also had the effect of adding fuel to the flames. As one account put it, ‘in remote villages, where hardly two copies of the Rights of Man had before been sold, 140hundreds were now called for, and greedily bought up; the coaches which brought up the addresses, carrying down cargoes of Paine’s prohibited works’. 2 Initially this reaction thus probably helped the popular radical movement. Still, prominent Whig leaders like Lord Fitzwilliam soon saw the virtues of the government’s anti-sedition legislation. Charles James Fox remained indecisive, defending the revolution but attacking Paine. But most of Parliament backed Pitt, and the basis for an alliance between government and the parliamentary opposition was laid by May 1792.
