Date of Award
Spring 1997
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
First Advisor
Hay, Carla
Second Advisor
Gardinier, David
Third Advisor
Hay, Robert
Abstract
The above statement was made in London by the soon-to-be restored king of France in April 1814 at a banquet held in his honor at the Guildhall. This gala state occasion marked the triumph of twenty-five years of British foreign policy. Although the reception was limited to the inner circle of society, the British public were keenly interested in the proceedings and in Louis XVIII's journey back to his native land. Would the restored king follow the example set by his adopted land and establish a constitutional monarchy or would he follow the fateful path of his brother Louis XVI? Diplomatic history has traditionally focused on the activities of the few men who formulated and enacted foreign policy while little attention has been paid to the domestic pressures that affected international decisions. In a recent work, noted IV historian Linda Colley, underscoring the need to examine more closely British public opinion, called for further investigation of British patriotism during the years when the United Kingdom was at war with France. In his study, Natural and Necessary Enemies; Anglo-French relations in the Eighteenth Century, historian Jeremy Black has demonstrated the interaction between public opinion and foreign affairs for the eighteenth-century. The crucial period coinciding with the conclusion of the Napoleonic wars, the restoration of the Bourbons, and the implementation of the congress system has not received, however, comparable analysis despite the growing politicization of the populace as evidenced in phenomenon as diverse as the abolitionist movement, Spa Field riots, and the organized outcry against the first peace treaty with France. This study will remedy this imbalance by focusing on the crucial period between the Treaty of Chaumont and the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, a pivotal period in Anglo-French relations. It will highlight the interplay between the public and the government which caused the Liverpool administration to tum away from its initial policy of open friendship with France and instead distance itself from Continental affairs...