How significant was the Triennial Act of 1694 in promoting parliamentary power?

Question 1

Give a timeline of the role of parliament from 1688 to 1701.

Answer 1

1689 - Bill of Rights passed
1690 - 225 Whigs and 206 Tories elected to 1690 parliament
1692 - Whig Junto grows in influence
1694 - Triennial Act passed
1696 - Plot to assassinate William by Stuart sympathisers discovered
1697 - Nine Years’ War end with Peace of Ryswick
1698 - Whig Junto begins to disintegrate
1701 - Tories make gains in the general election

Question 2

Immediately after becoming king, what did William III exercise?

Answer 2

Prerogative powers immediately after becoming king in order to form a Privy Council of his own choosing:
- choice of Lord Halifax as Lord Privy Seal not surprising

Question 3

Who was Lord Halifax, the Lord Privy Seal?

Answer 3

• He had become a close advisor to William after being dismissed by James
• Had led the House of Lords in their discussions about the political settlement during the Convention Parliament - perhaps most crucially, not loyal to either Tory or Whig parties

Question 4

Why was it important that Lord Halifax wasn’t affiliated to either party?

Answer 4

William struggled to understand the system of political parties - keen to appoint someone who would be able to transcend their differences
- Earl of Danby - Lord President of the Council - carefully selected balance of Whigs and Tories appointed to other posts - struggled to command respect of the Commons

Question 5

Who was George Savile?

Answer 5

First Marquess of Halifax (1633-95):

• From a Yorkshire gentry family - first elected as MP in the Convention Parliament of 1660
• 1667 - elevated to peerage - became a privy councillor under Charles II in 1672 - active in passing Test Act
• Succeeding in persuading Lords to accept William and Mary as joint sovereigns - enjoyed unrivalled influence on the Privy Council
• Failure to support Tory or Whigs - left him isolated - career fell into decline - removed from Privy Council in June 1692 as he began to sympathise with Stuart cause

Question 6

What did the parliament of 1690 consist of?

Answer 6

225 Whigs - 206 Tories.

Question 7

Who should’ve been William’s natural allies?

Answer 7

Whigs:

• favoured progressive reform
• had originally called for a Protestant succession

But he originally believed they were too radical - had suspicions that some of them were republicans.

Question 8

Why did William hope to woo the Tories?

Answer 8

He knew them to favour tradition and strict loyalty to the monarchy and the Anglican Church.

Question 9

What happened in the first session of the 1690 parliament?

Answer 9

• Strengthening in position of the Privy Council over parliament
• Opposition attempt to establish a parliamentary commission to investigate govt accounts rejected

Question 10

What happened in Ireland in 1690?

Answer 10

1) James amassing force in Ireland - attempt to return to power
2) William left to fight him in summer 1690
3) Culminated in victory at the Battle of the Boyne in July
4) Councillors who he left in charge in his absence reflected his clear preference for loyal court Tories

Question 11

How did the Williamite War (1689-91) start?

Answer 11

When James held a parliament in Ireland in 1689

- majority of Catholic gentry of Ireland offered support to his cause

Question 12

How many soldiers fought in the Williamite War?

Answer 12

Over 80,000 soldiers fought on both sides.

Question 13

How do some historians use the Williamite War, in relation to the argument that the Glorious Revolution was violent?

Answer 13

• Used it as evidence that GR wasn’t the peaceful and sensible transition suggested by Whigs
• Over 8,000 died - when William’s forces defended the Siege of Derry in 1689 - half of James’ soldiers killed or capture at Battle of Aughrim

Question 14

How did parliament view the war in Ireland?

Answer 14

The cost of war was a concern

- Whigs - headed by Robert Harley - established a commission of accounts - to attempt to control expenditure

Question 15

What did divisions, in 1691-92, in parliament over war strategy lead to?

Answer 15

• A series of defeats to the French in the Nine Years’ War (1688-97) between Louis XIV and an alliance of other European states

Question 16

What have the Williamite War, and the Jacobite rising in Scotland, been interpreted by historians as?

Answer 16

Extensions of the wider Nine Years’ War.

Question 17

Who were the ‘Whig Junto’?

Answer 17

Group of Whig rebels - became influential between 1692 and 1693

• Favoured strong executive
• Supported William’s war

Attempted to push through triennial bill to ensure regular parliaments - passed by both Commons and Lords - William forced to use royal veto.

Question 18

How, and when, was the Whig Junto beginning to dominate govt?

Answer 18

Beginning of 1694:

• Montagu became Chancellor of the Exchequer, Somers Lord Keeper and Russel First Lord of the Admiralty
• Triennial bill debated again - received royal assent in Jan 1694

Question 19

What were the terms of the Triennial Act 1694? Therefore…

Answer 19

A parliament could not last longer than 3 years - meant general elections would be held more regularly

• more seats contested in these elections
• Rivalry between Whigs and Tories stronger than ever - regular elections meant it was difficult for Crown to establish a party in the Commons
• So William became more reliant on securing support from MPs

Question 20

Period of circa 1690 to 1715 referred to by historians as…

Answer 20

Rage of Party - instability caused by frequent elections

- With more regular elections came renewed interest in politics from those outside immediate political nation

Question 21

What was the Licensing Act?

Answer 21

Repealed in 1695 - so electorate better informed then they had ever been - Act had previously led to heavy censorship
- Allowed new press freedom for political pamphleteering - journalism influencing votes of 200,000 men that could vote

Question 22

What was the impact that the Triennial Act had on parliament, highlighted by Edward Vallance?

Answer 22

“ensured regular Parliaments and ushered in a period of feverish electioneering and deeply partisan politics”

Between 1689 and 1715 “twelve general elections”

“in almost every constituency in England the local electorate was at some point asked to decide between rival candidates… politics was increasingly being governed by loyalty to one or other party’

Evidence that after 1695 - “voting in the Commons was conducted largely along party lines”

Question 23

What did the Triennial Act give the Commons?

Answer 23

A new-found confidence

- 1695 - number of inquiries set up to investigate corruption in govt

Question 24

Give an example of the increased power and influence of the Commons due to the Triennial Act?

Answer 24

Speaker, Sir John Trevor, accused of accepting bribe of 1,000 guineas to assist with passage of bill
- William convinced that parliament would have to be dissolved to prevent inquiries from continuing - when this happened - another election held in Oct 1695

Favoured the Whigs - cemented dominance over parliament and Privy Council

• Feb 1696 - plot by Stuart sympathisers to assassinate the king discovered - Whigs more united than ever
• William more dependent on Whig faction than ever - and Whig Junto in Privy Council

Question 25

How did both Houses reassert their belief in the king?

Answer 25

Adopted Whig proposal acknowledging - reasserted belief in him through a loyal ‘Association’ - although 89 Tories didn’t sign it.

Reminder of opposition to Whigs still lingering given in 1697 - when opposition to Junto in council able to secure vote limiting William to sustaining an army of just 10,000 through govt grants.

Question 26

What happened in the election of 1698?

Answer 26

Marked by a distrust of the Whig Junto - and rivalry between Court and Country interests as strong as ever.

Question 27

How did the country opposition limited William’s military power in 1698?

Answer 27

Secured a bill that restricted the size of the army in England to 7,000 + refused to allow retention of William’s Dutch guard

Question 28

In 1698, it seemed clear that William…

Answer 28

had little room for manoeuvre and parliament was dictating policy.

Question 29

What are Court and Country?

Answer 29

2 broad factions within parliament from c1680-1740

• Court party - loyal to Crown
• Country party - disaffected Whigs and some Tories - believed that the Court party were corrupting politics

Question 30

The heavy blows sustained by the govt in 1698 contributed to…

Answer 30

the Junto dismantling:

- Montagu was demoted - within Privy Council - Russell forced to resign his rank within Admiralty - only Somers survived

Question 31

In 1698, a commission was set up to investigate…

Answer 31

Crown’s choice of recipients for confiscated lands in Ireland.

Question 32

In 1699, what did the commission investigating confiscated lands in Ireland find?

Answer 32

Issued its report finding that William had made excessive grants to loyal courtiers
- Commons put forward bill of resumption - infuriated William - saw it as infringement of his royal prerogative and a personal insult

Question 33

What was the bill of resumption?

Answer 33

• Stated that any grants of land in Ireland given to Privy Council members were illegal
• 13 trustees to be appointed to hear claims to estates in Ireland - and sell them to the most appropriate individuals - money arising from sale of lands to go towards arrears fo pay due to the army

Question 34

How did the Lords react to the bill of resumption?

Answer 34

Attempted to stall it - but William reluctantly gave it royal assent.

Question 35

How did parliament react to Somers staying in his position?

Answer 35

Petitioned for his resignation - William saw as a personal affront to his authority.
- Although the opposition lost the vote, Somers resigned anyway

Question 36

What happened in, and after, the 1701 election?

Answer 36

Tories made gains and instigated impeachment proceedings against Somers, Montagu and Russel - but they were eventually acquitted by fellow parliamentarians

Question 37

What did the Revolution represent a move towards, if not the dawn of parliamentary democracy?

Answer 37

A move towards parliamentary govt:
- William needed parliamentary taxes to fight French - resulted in parliament gaining increased control over govt finance

Question 38

Through the Triennial Act, parliament became…

Answer 38

an institution that the monarch couldn’t ignore

Question 39

How did parliament control William III

Answer 39

• political necessity had forced William to appoint men he loathed
• forced to reduce size of army due to parliamentary decision

Question 40

What are the arguments for parliament becoming a partner in govt?

Answer 40

1) Able to encroach on areas once firmly part of royal prerogative - e.g., ministerial appointments - and control of army
2) Triennial Act - its authority impossible without Bill of Rights - parliament gave approval for a standing army to kept in peace time + tax w/ parliament illegal
3) Previous Stuart monarchs had refused demands for more parliamentary power - thought its only purpose was the raise money for the Crown - no longer the case
4) Bill of Rights guaranteed that abuses of power wouldn’t be repeated
5) Monarch couldn’t interfere w/ elections + judges couldn’t question proceedings of parliament
6) Financial settlement ensured William and Mary would be dependent on parliament

William still had vast power and commanded deep respect - but was more aware than any previous monarchy of the need to gain approval of elected representatives.

Question 41

Despite the arguments that parliament became an integral part of the political system, what are counter-points to this?

Answer 41

1) Still desire among many of political class to join royal court - which strengthened William’s hand
2) Much of royal prerogative left intact - power to declare war, dissolving parliament and vetoing legislation
3) Civil List Act 1697 - parliament gave grant of £700k per year to William for life - to cover expenses of royal household - and salaries for diplomats and judges - king and parliament working in unison