Samuel Romilly and Parliamentary Reform

In 1806 Samuel Romilly entered the House of Commons as MP for Queenborough. When Lord Grenville was invited by the king to form a new Whig administration he invited Romilly to became his solicitor-general.

Romilly was one of the most progressive MPs in the House of Commons and usually associated with other radicals such as Charles Fox, Samuel Whitbread and Henry Grey Bennet. The author of The Making of the English Working Class (1963), Edward Thompson, has argued: "While the democratic persuasions of most of the group were largely speculative, individual members - Sir Samuel Romilly, Samuel Whitbread, H. G. Bennet - stood up again and again in the House to defend political liberties or social rights."

Romilly was close to other supporters of parliamentary reform such as Francis Burdett and William Cobbett. In 1809 Burdett was charged with a breach of privilege by the House of Commons. This resulted from an article that appeared in Cobbett's Political Register. Burdett was defended by Romilly. Burdett's biographer, Marc Baer, has commented: "The confrontation between the ‘Man of the People' and the Perceval government had been building for some time, owing to Burdett's speeches about the unrepresentative character of the Commons, criticism of the war and the sale of army commissions, and tiresome lectures on the ancient constitution. On 6 April the Commons voted to commit Burdett to the Tower of London, whereupon he challenged the speaker's warrant and barricaded himself in his London house." Burdett was arrested on the morning of 9th April 1810 and was ordered to was confined to the Tower of London until the end of the parliamentary session on 21st June. The government was too afraid to expel him from Parliament. When Burdett was released he cancelled a march through London, fearing further riots and loss of life.

Romilly supported the principle of parliamentary reform but he admitted that he was "no friend to universal suffrage … or even to annual parliaments." He also criticised the aggressive oratory of men such as Francis Burdett and Henry Hunt. In his memoirs he argued: "No conduct can, in my eyes, be more criminal than that of availing one's self of the prejudiced clamours of the ignorant or misinformed to accomplish any political purpose, however good or desirable in itself." He also disagreed with Thomas Paine and was surprised by the success of The Rights of Man: "I do not understand how men can be convinced without arguments."


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