Republican Treason and National Identity in the 1790s

Abstract

From 1775 to 1803 the British constitution endured many attacks. The Americans’ quest to establish local parliaments and protect their traditional English rights guaranteed in the Revolution Settlement received sympathy from the ‘Real’ Whigs and inspired both the Irish and English to contemplate internal parliamentary and church reforms. By the end of the 1780s the situation in France was galvanizing the reform movement. At first England rejoiced that 1789 had brought the principles of the Glorious Revolution to France, but Edmund Burke’s worst fear materialized as the Revolution turned bloody. William Pitt the younger, once an enthusiast for the French Revolution, now led a governmental crackdown. He saw treachery unleashed in England, and the possibility of a French invasion added to his unease. Jacobin sympathizers were gathered up, deposited in jail and charged with high treason.