Editing Henry Pelham (section)

==Prime Minister<span class="anchor" id="Premiership"></span><!-- linked from redirects [[Premiership of Henry Pelham]], [[Prime ministership of Henry Pelham]] -->==
=== Appointment ===
[[Image:Henry Pelham (1694–1754).jpg|thumb|upright|Pelham, attributed to [[John Giles Eccardt]]]]
The first year of Pelham's premiership is regarded as a continuation of the [[Carteret ministry]], with [[John Carteret, 1st Earl Granville|Lord Carteret]] continuing as [[Secretary of State for the Northern Department]] with responsibility for foreign affairs; Carteret was close to [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]]. Pelham served as [[First Lord of the Treasury]], [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]] and [[Leader of the House of Commons]].

In November 1744, the Pelhams forced Lord Carteret out of the ministry: Pelham bluntly told the king that either Carteret step down, or the Pelhamites would, leaving His Majesty without a government. Thereafter Pelham shared power with his brother, the [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle|Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne]]. Pelham was regarded as the leading figure, but rank and influence made his brother very powerful in the Cabinet.  In spite of a genuine attachment, there were occasional disputes between them, which sometimes led to further difficulties.

=== "The Broad-Bottomed Administration" ===
{{Main|Broad Bottom ministry}}

Being strongly in favour of peace, Pelham carried on the [[War of the Austrian Succession]] with languor and indifferent success, but the country, wearied of the interminable struggle, was disposed to acquiesce in his foreign policy almost without a murmur. King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]], thwarted in his own favourite schemes, made overtures in February 1746 to [[William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath|Lord Bath]], but his purpose was upset by the resignation of the two Pelhams (Henry and Newcastle), who, after a two-day hiatus in which Bath and Carteret (now earl Granville) proved unable to form a ministry, resumed office at the king's request.  One of their terms was to insist that the king should have 'total confidence' in a ministry; rather than partial grudging acceptance of the Whigs.

[[File:Henry Pelham by William Hoare, 1743.jpg|thumb|right|Henry Pelham, by [[William Hoare]], {{circa|1743}}]]

The [[wikt:Augustan|Augustan]] era was essential to the development of [[Powers of the prime minister of the United Kingdom|prime ministerial power]] as being entirely dependent on a Commons majority, rather than royal prerogative interventions.  While the king struggled with his headstrong son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, his son's uncertain constitutional position was high in the Leicester House party set.  In 1748 Frederick, a Tory, planned to bring down the Pelhamites at a general election due the following year.  The Prime Minister called an early poll in 1748 by asking the king to dissolve Parliament in 1747.  The prince and his father, the king, grew to hate one another with unspeakable animosity. But one consequence was a closer relationship between Henry Pelham and the sovereign.  When he finally died in 1754, the king remarked "Now I shall have no more peace."  The [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle]] had been signed in 1748 leading inexorably to a number of cost-cutting budgetary measures.

=== Economic reform ===
The Army and Navy spending shrunk from £12 m to £7 million per annum.  Pelham promised to reduce interest rates through introduction of a balancing act measure from 4% to 3% by 1757.  He also assisted a fund to reduce the National Debt. In 1749, the [[Consolidation Act]] was passed, reorganising the [[Royal Navy]]. On 20 March 1751, the British calendar was reorganised as well (New Year's Day became 1 January); Britain would adopt the [[Gregorian calendar]] one year later. In 1752 he was able to reduce the land tax from 4&nbsp;s to 2&nbsp;s in the pound (an effective reduction from 20% to 10%).

One social consequence of the press gangs going to sea in an expansive navy fleet was the growth of industrial processes necessary for warfare. The distillation of gin reduced the price of alcohol, resulting in [[Gin Craze|widespread drunkenness]], demonstrated clearly by Hogarth in "[[Gin Lane]]". Preaching in favour of temperance, and social problems caused by drunken soldiers and sailors, persuaded the administration to introduce the Gin Acts. The [[Gin Act 1751]] was the last of four that had largely failed to prevent serious social unrest, including riots in London, reduced the number licensed dealers and sellers of liquor.  By restricting supply the consumption dropped and price fell helping to manage the problem.<ref>Brumwell, p.159</ref>

=== Death ===
Two of Pelham's final acts were the [[Jewish Naturalization Act 1753]], which allowed Jews to become naturalized by application to [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]], and the [[Marriage Act 1753]], which enumerated the minimum age of consent for marriage. Upon his death, his brother (the aforementioned Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne) took over government.

===Achievements===
His very defects were among the chief elements of Pelham's success, for one with a strong personality, moderate amount self-respect, or haughty conceptions of statesmanship could not have restrained the discordant elements of the cabinet for any length of time the way he did. Moreover, he possessed tact and a thorough acquaintance with the forms of the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]. Whatever quarrels or insubordination might have existed within the cabinet, they never broke out into open revolt. His foreign policy followed Walpole's model of emphasizing peace and ending wars.  His financial policy was a major success once peace had been signed in 1748 to end the [[War of the Austrian Succession]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Basil |last=Williams |title=Whig Supremacy: 1714–1760 |year=1962 |pages=259–270}}</ref> He demobilized the armed forces, and reduced government spending from £12 million to £7 million. He refinanced the national debt dropping the interest from 4% to 3%. In 1752 he reduced the land tax from four shillings to two shillings in the pound; that is, from 20% to 10%.<ref name="Brumwell and Speck 288">{{cite book |first1=Stephen |last1=Brumwell |first2=W. A. |last2=Speck |title=Cassell's Companion to Eighteenth Century Britain |year=2002 |page=288}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Dorothy |last=Marshall |title=Eighteenth Century England |year=1974 |pages=221–227}}</ref> Historians Stephen Brumwell and W. A. Speck describe him as being an effective politician:

{{quote|His subdued manner concealed a shrewd and calculating politician. He was reserved and cautious, but behind the reserve was steel. All agreed on his integrity, which was remarkable in a venal age; unlike Walpole, he died relatively poor.<ref name="Brumwell and Speck 288"/>}}