Some
months ago I head a story . Someone had claimed that the only use of
History was in a Pub Quiz. I began to rave about this and then began
to reflect. It disturbs me and yet it is worthy of reflection. I
began to think about the similarities between the political elites of
today and the political elites of the 18th century. A
figure emerged from the 18th century in my memory and I
began to see connections between both John Wilkes and Nigel Farage of
today's UKIP.
John
Wilkes (17
October 1725 – 26 December 1797) was an English radical,
journalist, and politician.
He
was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Mi
dlesex election
dispute, he fought for the right of his voters—rather than the
House
of Commons—to
determine their representatives. In 1768 angry protests of his
supporters were suppressed in the St
George's Fields Massacre.
In 1771, he was instrumental in obliging the government to concede
the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts
of parliamentary debates. In 1776, he introduced the first bill for
parliamentary reform in the British
Parliament.
During
the American
War of Independence,
he was a supporter of the American
rebels,
adding further to his popularity with American
Whigs.
In 1780, however, he commanded militia
forces
which helped put down the Gordon
Riots,
damaging his popularity with many radicals. This marked a turning
point, leading him to embrace increasingly conservative
policies
which caused dissatisfaction among the progressive-radical
low-to-middle income landowners.
This was instrumental in the loss of his Middlesex parliamentary
seat in
the 1790
general election.
At the age of 65, Wilkes retired from politics and took part in
progressive social reforms such as Catholic
Emancipation in
the 1790s following the French
Revolution.
During his life, he earned a reputation as a libertine.
Wilkes
set up a newspaper and called it the Northern Britain. It railed
against the 1707 Act of Union between England and Scotland. He felt
that this union would bring poor immigrant workers from Scotland that
would steal English jobs. Wilkes
was born in London in 1725 and was a thorough rouge yet also a
fervent patriot of England. He was at times involved in trade, was an
author and a MP. Wilkes firmly supported Whiggism and hated the Scots
and was outraged as what he saw as the Scottish takeover of the
English administration. Whiggism was an English political and
historical ideology that saw English history as the progression of a
strong ethnocentricity based on Protestantism, an ancient
constitution, limited monarchy and a special and expanding place for
England in the world. In contemporary politics Whigs supported
policies that upheld these principles and continued their progression
and improvement. There was also Scottish Whiggism, based around a
Presbyterian-aristocratic ideology. Wilkes scorned the concept of
‘Great Britain’ and felt that the Scots “unchangeably alien,
never ever to be confused or integrated with the English. Wilkes and
his followers, called Wilkes, sought to protect the great building
blocks of England – the Protestant succession, the revolution of
1688, the Magna Carta and English freedoms – the great elements of
English Whiggism, all of which they felt to be under threat in the
1760’s by a rising sense of Britishness. The Wilkites argued that
the Scots were politically dangerous. They had a taste for arbitrary
power and rule – had not the hated Stuarts come from Scotland?Their
lords were tyrants while the common people were slaves and passively
obedient to their masters. The march of the highlanders in 1745
burned freshly in peoples’ minds. With such attitudes history and
upbringings, how long would it be before they infected and threatened
the building blocks of England? Numerous cartoons such as A
View of the Origin of Scotch Ministers & Managers depicted
the flocking of Scots to England with bad or evil intentions and a
tendency to scratch each others’ backs. Wilkes wrote that “no
Scot ever exerted himself but for a Scot.”
Protests
and rallies were heard across England - “more opportunities for
Scots meant fewer perks for Englishmen.”Wilkes himself was furious
that he had lost his attempt to become first British governor of
Quebec to James Murray.
Does that not remind you of a certain UKIP leader on the East
European Issue. Does this not remind you of things written about
Islam and things said by Britain First. Does this not remind you of
things heard in recent elections? Does not Wilkes sound like those
railing against multiculturalism and the progressives...........
Wilkes
railed that England had thrown awy its empire and its gains from the
French in the Seven Years War. This was because Wilkes argued clever
French negotiators overcame the British. Does that not sound like
UKIP on the European Union? Could not Farage have made this speech
“The French king, by a stroke of his pen, has regained what all the
power of that nation, and her allies, could never have recovered; and
England, once more the dupe of a subtle negotiation, has consented to
give up very nearly all her conquests…What right have we to expect
that an indulgent Providence will again in so distinguished a manner
stand forth our friend, when we have thus wantonly given away to the
enemy of our religion and liberty, the fruits of all the signal
blessings heaven has poured down upon us? Or indeed this “England
in her wars with France should never sheath the sword till peace is
absolutely concluded. The wicked policy of that nation, their
superior address in negotiation, their total disregard of faith, and
their known arts of spinning out treaties merely to gain time to
recover strength, without any real intention of bringing them to a
conclusion, have taught us this lesson, altho’ we have seldom been
prudent enough to put it into practice.
The
North Briton, No. 18, October 2 1762.
The
North Briton, No. 28, December 11 1762.
At
the end of Wilkes career he once heard someone shouting “Wilkes and
Liberty” He turned to the old lady who had shouted it and said
“shut up you olf fool, that outlook was over long ago”. Wilkes
claimed he stood up for the oppressed and the ordinary people he
ended his life supporting the establishment and the rule of the upper
classes. Modem UKIP is made up of ex Tories, it fools many in the
white working class into thinking that it stand up for them. It is in
favour of privatisation, the market economy and the rule of the
public school, city trader background that Nigel Farage comes from.
Like Wilkes, Farage must be seen in that way.
The
greatest irony was then that I found Radio 4 had made a programme in
its Long View Series comparing Farage and Wilkes.https://audioboom.com/boos/2415785-longview-23-jul-14-nigel-farage-and-john-wilkes
For
those who feel that History is only of use in the Pub Quiz I feel
that the betrayal of the working class voters seduced by UKIP will be
exactly the same as those seduced by Wilkes. The Tory Governments
that came after Wilkes were the most brutal, the most violent, the
most powerful destroyers of Liberty. I truly hope that the rise of
UKIP does not foreshadow a similar Conservative domination of UKIP
politics for the next thirty years.
I
see that government in the eyes of Boris Johnson , Iain Duncan Smith
and Neil Hamilton. Some will say that I am obsessed with UKIP and
naively dismiss my words but those who say that I suspect have no
knowledge or awareness of History. When we do not learn from history
we quickly repeat it.
I
like this story …...Dr
Johnson abhorred John Wilkes as a man of no principle. Wilkes was a
member both of the notorious Hell-Fire Club and of Parliament; he was
a demagogue, a rake. A stay in the Tower for a near-treasonous
pamphlet made him a hero as a defender of liberty, but Johnson
scorned him as a "patriot" in the 18th-century sense - a
factious disturber of government. "Patriotism," Johnson
sniffed, "is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
I understand Dr Johnson's view and apply them to Mr Farage. And make
a claim for the teaching of History thematically....lI will leave
you with this poem I adapted it from Shelleys great poem the “Masque
of Anarchy” Its about a nightmare post brexit England and its last
colony Wales. Excuse my indulgence I see similarities between now and
the 18th
Century......
The Masque of Austerity As I lay asleep in Neathy There came a voice from over the Sea, And with great power it forth led me To walk in the visions of Poesy. I met some Murderers on the way— One had a mask like Theresa May-- Very smooth she looked, yet grim; Seven blood-hounds followed them: All were fat; and well they might Be in admirable Tory plight, For one by one, and two by two, She tossed them human hearts to chew Which from her wide cloak she drew. Next came Pretence , and he had on, Like Michael Gove, an ermined gown; His big tears, for he wept well, Turned to mill-stones as they fell. And the little children, who Round his feet played to and fro, Thinking every tear a gem, Had their brains knocked out by them. Clothed with Sanctions, as with light, And the shadows of the night, Like Cameron , next, Hypocrisy On a crocodile rode by. And many more Destructions played In this ghastly masquerade, All disguised, even to the eyes, Like Atos, lawyers, peers, or spies. Last came Austerity: he rode On a white horse, splashed with blood; He was pale even to the lips, Like Death in the Apocalypse. And he wore a bankers crown; And in his grasp a sceptre shone; On his brow this mark I saw-- 'I AM TROIKA , AND IMF, AND LAW!' With a pace stately and fast, Over Welsh land he passed, Trampling to a mire of blood The adoring Tory/Ukip multitude. And a mighty troop around, With their trampling shook the ground, Waving each a bloody sword, For the service of Atos their Lord. And with glorious triumph, they Rode through Wales proud and fay, Drunk as with intoxication Of the wine of neoliberalism . O'er fields and towns, from sea to sea, Passed the Pageant swift and free, Tearing up, and sanctioning down; Privatising till they came to Swansea town And each dweller, panic-stricken, Felt his heart with terror sicken Hearing the tempestuous cry Of the triumph of Austerity For with pomp to meet him came, Clothed in arms like blood and flame, The hired murderers, who did sing 'Thou are TROIKA and IMF and law We have waited, weak and lone For thy coming, Mighty One! Our purses are empty, our swords are cold, Give us glory, and blood, and atos gold.' Lawyers and acountants , a motley crowd, To the earth their pale brows bowed; Like a bad prayer not over loud, Whispering -- `Thou art IMF and GOD Then all cried with one accord, `Thou art IMF and GOD Austerity , to thee we bow, Be thy name made holy now!' And Austerity the Skeleton, Bowed and grinned to every one, As well as if his education Had cost ten millions to the nation. For he knew number 11 Downing Street Of our neo-liberal economiststs Him of Eaton , globe and law And the gold-inwoven robe he wore. So he sent his slaves before To seize upon the Bank and Law, And was sanctioning with intent To meet his pensioned Parliament `Then they will return with shame To the place from which they came, And the blood thus shed will speak In hot blushes on Clegg`s cheek. `Every woman in the land Will point at Tories as they stand-- They will hardly dare to greet Liberal Democrats on the street. `And the bold, true warriors Who have hugged Danger in wars Will turn to those who would be free, Ashamed of such base Tory company. `And that slaughter to the Nation Shall steam up like inspiration, Eloquent, oracular; revolution A volcano heard afar. `And these words shall then become Like Oppression's thundered doom Ringing through each heart and brain, Heard again -- again -- again-- `Rise like Lions after slumber In unvanquishable number-- Shake your chains to earth like dew Which in sleep had fallen on you-- Ye are many -- they are few.'
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