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London Lobbying, 1829–1834

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Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics

Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series ((CIPCSS))

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Abstract

This chapter describes the travels of Jotham Blanchard (as an agent for the Rev. Thomas McCulloch), John Dunmore Lang and William Lyon Mackenzie to Britain during the reform crisis of the early 1830s when the whig government was attempting to get its bill for the reform of political representation in Britain through parliament. It considers the ways in which the colonists shaped this process, were inspired by reform culture in Britain and became known to each other. This chapter draws attention to the significance of Scottish dissenting networks, whose role in colonial lobbying is too little known. The chapter ends by suggesting that the limits of the reform agenda in Britain generated a backlash across the empire.

‘[Is a] British subject forever to be traversing the Atlantic, to complain of reiterated injuries on the part of a colonial and subordinate government?’

(George Greig to Earl Bathurst, McCall Theal 1904, p. 19)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Laidlaw 2005.

  2. 2.

    National Library of South Africa [NLSA], Thomas Pringle Collection, MSB 393, 2, Pringle and Fairbairn Letters, Greig to Fairbairn 11th July 1828 and Greig to Fairbairn 30th Aug 1828.

  3. 3.

    Vigne 2011, p. 302.

  4. 4.

    Mitchell Library, Sydney [ML], Lang papers, MSS 268/1 CY3349; ML MSS 5488.

  5. 5.

    Pringle to Philip, 16 November 1830, Vigne 2011, p. 329.

  6. 6.

    Laidlaw 2005, p. 21.

  7. 7.

    Taylor 2007, p. 301.

  8. 8.

    ‘Mr Curr’s Letter, To the Editor of the Port Phillip Herald’, Australasian Chronicle, 6 July 1843. For Hume’s involvement in Colonial Office business see also Hume’s correspondence in the British Library, ADD MS 89039.

  9. 9.

    In 1831 Hume represented the United Secession in the House of Commons, endorsing the whig government’s plans for Irish education on the Secession’s behalf. See Gray 1832. Hume also received pamphlets from voluntaryist activists, part of the Hume Tracts , a trove of pamphlets collected by Hume, held by University College London . See e.g., McLaren 1841, sent to Hume by the author: http://www.jstor.org/stable/60210951. Hume shared with Scottish voluntaryists an anti-clerical position though parted company with them on issues of theology.

  10. 10.

    For Hume’s attitudes to disestablishment in the empire see Huch and Ziegler 1985, p. 58. See also the Hume Tracts, many on church reform.

  11. 11.

    On Hume’s involvement in Indian affairs and the relationship between the campaign for Indian reform and the Reform Act, see Taylor 2007, pp. 285–308, quote at p. 285.

  12. 12.

    Woollacott 2015, p. 103.

  13. 13.

    I have documented Blanchard’s expedition elsewhere; see Wallace 2014, available online at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03086534.2014.894708. This chapter draws on that analysis but clarifies some detail and adds new material.

  14. 14.

    Fergusson 1959, pp. 28–34.

  15. 15.

    National Records of Scotland, CH3/298/3, Minutes of the United Associate Synod 1820–40.

  16. 16.

    Anon. 1826, p. 10.

  17. 17.

    Lockhart 1834.

  18. 18.

    Colonial Patriot, 21 January 1829; Colonial Patriot, 17 December 1828.

  19. 19.

    Colonial Patriot, 17 December 1828.

  20. 20.

    ‘Affairs of Nova Scotia’, The Scotsman, 26 January 1831.

  21. 21.

    Nova Scotia Archives [NSA], Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/98, Blanchard to McCulloch.

  22. 22.

    ‘Extract from a Traveller’s Journal’, Colonial Patriot, 9 January 1830.

  23. 23.

    Baker 1985, p. 75.

  24. 24.

    During this meeting Lang told Chalmers that he thought Chalmers was wrong to contend that moral restraint would check Britain’s surplus population. One of the fundamental axioms of political economy, Lang believed, could be found in the book of Genesis : be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. Lang 1833, p. 3.

  25. 25.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS 3267, box 5.

  26. 26.

    ML, Lang papers, A2236 CY 1487, Hume to Council of the Australian College, 2 June 1834.

  27. 27.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/90, Blanchard to McCulloch, 9 May 1831.

  28. 28.

    Anon 1837.

  29. 29.

    Colonial Patriot, 21 January 1832.

  30. 30.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/96, Blanchard to James Mitchell, 18 June 1831.

  31. 31.

    Colonial Patriot, 11 August 1832.

  32. 32.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 Vol. 553/89, Blanchard to McCulloch, 29 April 1831.

  33. 33.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers MG 1 553/93, Copy of Dr M’Crie’s letter to Brougham, 28 April 1831.

  34. 34.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/89, Blanchard to McCulloch, 29 April 1831.

  35. 35.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 554/36, Lord Jeffrey to McCulloch 1826.

  36. 36.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/91, Blanchard to James Mitchell, 23 May 1831.

  37. 37.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/99, Blanchard to James Mitchell, 5 July 1831.

  38. 38.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/91, Blanchard to James Mitchell, 23 May 1831.

  39. 39.

    Fergusson 1959, pp. 28–34.

  40. 40.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1, 553/100, Blanchard to McCulloch, 27 July 1831.

  41. 41.

    NLSA, Thomas Pringle Collection, MSB 393, 2, Pringle and Fairbairn letters, Greig to Fairbairn, October 1824.

  42. 42.

    After consulting with Blanchard Morison travelled to Scotland and stopped in Glasgow to convene with the Rev. John Mitchell: NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/91, Blanchard to James Mitchell, 23 May 1831. For Morison’s connection to Waugh see Morison 1844.

  43. 43.

    In a letter to David Moir on 5 August 1830, Pringle wrote that Bowring was a pleasant, intelligent fellow. Pringle contributed to the Westminster Review on occasion: National Library of Scotland, ACC 9856/53.

  44. 44.

    Blanchard to McCulloch, 29 April 1831, Copy of a letter to Col. Fox, Blanchard to McCulloch, 27 May 1831, Blanchard to McCulloch, 28 May 1831, and Blanchard to McCulloch, 6 July 1831, NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1, 553/89; 553/92; 553/94; 553/95; 553/97.

  45. 45.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/95, Blanchard to McCulloch 28 May 1831.

  46. 46.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1, 553/98, Blanchard to McCulloch.

  47. 47.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/101, August 1831.

  48. 48.

    Blanchard to McCulloch, July 6th 1831 and Blanchard to McCulloch, 12 October 1831, NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/97; 553/106. On the Patriot’s support of the Reform Bill in Britain, the defeat of High Tory principles and the consequent cleansing of the Church, see Colonial Patriot, 11 June 1831; Colonial Patriot, 20 August 1831.

  49. 49.

    ‘Nova Scotia’, Colonial Advocate, 25 August 1831.

  50. 50.

    University of Western Ontario, William Proudfoot papers, Series 1, File 1, Journal 3, 22 December 1832.

  51. 51.

    ‘Canada Land Companies’, Morning Chronicle, 19 September 1832.

  52. 52.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 259.

  53. 53.

    St Thomas Liberal, 29 November 1832.

  54. 54.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 285.

  55. 55.

    Colonial Advocate, 28 June 1832.

  56. 56.

    Colonial Advocate, 19 July 1832.

  57. 57.

    ‘Imperial Parliament’, Colonial Advocate, 29 July 1830.

  58. 58.

    ‘York Town Meeting’, Colonial Advocate, 21 July 1831.

  59. 59.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 259.

  60. 60.

    Quoted in LeSeur 1979, p. 187.

  61. 61.

    Lindsey 2009, pp. 262–4.

  62. 62.

    Hansard HC Debs., 3rd series, Vol. V, 25–26 July 1831, cols., 282, 383.

  63. 63.

    Hansard HC Debs., 3rd series, Vol. VIII, 14 October 1832, cols., 767–81.

  64. 64.

    Hansard HC Debs., 3rd series, Vol. VI, 16 August 1831, col., 115.

  65. 65.

    ‘Editorial’, South African Commercial Advertiser, 17 October 1831.

  66. 66.

    Colonial Patriot, 9 January 1830.

  67. 67.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG1 553/98, Blanchard to McCulloch.

  68. 68.

    NLSA, Thomas Pringle Collection, MSB 393, 2, Pringle and Fairbairn Letters, Hume to Fairbairn, 1836.

  69. 69.

    ‘The Cape of Good Hope’, Cape Literary Gazette, September 1835; ‘South African Public Library’, Cape Literary Gazette, September 1834.

  70. 70.

    ‘The Colonies’, South African Commercial Advertiser, 26 August 1829; see also, ‘Upper Canada’, South African Commercial Advertiser, 12 August 1829; ‘Editorial’, South African Commercial Advertiser, 6 July 1831.

  71. 71.

    ‘Hints to Emigrants’, Cape Literary Gazette, 1 November 1833.

  72. 72.

    Pringle to Fairbairn, 3 June 1834, Vigne 2011, p. 363.

  73. 73.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS 3267, Box 5, Pringle to Lang, 4 June 1834.

  74. 74.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS 3267, Box 5, Philip to Lang, 28 February 1835[?].

  75. 75.

    NLA, Lang papers, MS 3267, Box 5, Pringle to Lang, 4 June 1834.

  76. 76.

    ‘Review’, The Colonist, 15 January 1835.

  77. 77.

    ‘Australian College’, The Colonist, 31 December 1835.

  78. 78.

    South African Commercial Advertiser, 12 March 1831.

  79. 79.

    ‘Editorial’, South African Commercial Advertiser, 7 September 1831.

  80. 80.

    South African Commercial Advertiser, Nov 2 1831; South African Commercial Advertiser, 7 December 1831.

  81. 81.

    Pringle to unknown 29 July 1834, Vigne 2011, p. 366.

  82. 82.

    Pringle to Philip 23 August 1834, Vigne 2011, p. 367.

  83. 83.

    ‘Canada Land Companies’, Morning Chronicle, 19 September 1832.

  84. 84.

    Wilson 1968, pp. 91–2

  85. 85.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 276.

  86. 86.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 279.

  87. 87.

    Lindsey 2009, p. 279.

  88. 88.

    Schrauwers 2008, p. 12; McKenzie 2004.

  89. 89.

    ‘Address’, The Colonist, 1 January 1835.

  90. 90.

    ‘Colonial Politics’, The Colonist, 11 February 1836.

  91. 91.

    Lang 1837, II, p. 358.

  92. 92.

    Quoted in Stoneman 2013, p. 191.

  93. 93.

    ‘Colonial Politics’, The Colonist, 30 April 1835.

  94. 94.

    Baker, pp. 99–100; ML, Lang papers, A2232 CY 2187, letter to Lang from the Colonial Office, 18 March 1834.

  95. 95.

    ‘Colonial Politics’, Colonial Observer, 28 October 1841.

  96. 96.

    Lang 1839, p. 98.

  97. 97.

    Quoted in Fletcher 2002.

  98. 98.

    NSA, Thomas McCulloch papers, MG 1 553/92, Copy of a letter to Col Fox, 24 May 1831.

  99. 99.

    Taylor 2003, p. 311.

  100. 100.

    Cockburn 1874, p. 136.

  101. 101.

    Quoted in LeSeur 1979, p. 367.

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    Valerie Wallace

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Wallace, V. (2018). London Lobbying, 1829–1834. In: Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70467-8_6

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