Print Culture and Political Lobbying during the English Civil Wars
- Print Culture and Political Lobbying during the English Civil Wars
Historians familiar with parliamentary history during the civil wars will probably recognize reports like the following, from September 1646:
It was this day ordered (by reason of much people flocking about the House of Commons door to hinder the members passing in and out . . .) that no person except those of the House shall come into the outer room, and the guard to be at the stairs' foot.1
At times during the tumultuous events of the mid-seventeenth century, parliament was clearly the focal point for crowds of interested citizens. This was only sometimes considered to be problematic, and parliament was probably willing to permit the public to frequent the palace, its passages and its lobbies, and even the doors of the Houses, as well as the committee chambers.2 What this paper seeks to address is the extent to which the regularity with which people attended at Westminster, and occasionally in numbers sufficient to warrant concern, reflected an explosion of information available to the public, whether petitioners or lobbyists, regarding the nature of forthcoming proceedings in the Lords and Commons.
As such, the aim is to link two of the most interesting strands of recent historiography regarding early modern political culture: parliamentary lobbying and news culture. Both subjects contribute to our understanding of parliament's place in the wider world, and of the public's awareness about, and interaction with, the Westminster system. Bringing these two strands together for the first time permits assessment of the impact of printed newspapers upon political lobbying, at least in terms of the potential for lobbying, if not yet in terms of the reality. This project is crucial to larger issues regarding the practical impact of the news revolution upon political participation, representation, and accountability during the mid-seventeenth century. The aim is to address, therefore, the extent to which newspapers, and popular print culture in general, offered practical help to potential lobbyists, in terms of providing the knowledge required for undertaking their campaigns.
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Although it was possible to lobby on particular issues in a general way, irrespective of the business being undertaken by parliament, it is clear that the art of lobbying as it had developed since the late sixteenth century recognized the need for greater precision. What this piece needs to examine, therefore, is the extent to which the press provided five types of information:
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1. membership of parliament;
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2. forthcoming parliamentary debates;
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3. forthcoming parliamentary committee meetings;
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4. membership of such committees;
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5. times and places of committee meetings.
This paper will treat each of these issues in turn, in order to trace the growth in the amount of information available to members of the public, and in order to assess the attitudes of journalists and newswriters, as well as of the political élite .
The evidence garnered by recent scholarship on lobbying indicates that, in the era before printed news, it was possible for at least some people to secure access to the information required to undertake targetted lobbying. Clerks would provide information, for a fee, and mercantile companies regularly spent money in order to secure copies of bills which were under consideration, as well as lists of committee members. Corporate lobbyists, in other words, could pay for a bespoke service, whereby they received advanced warning from clerks of forthcoming business, enabling them to work out when best to hire boats to Westminster, and when best to attend the lobbies of either House, as well as whom best to dine, and whom to encourage to make speeches and motions.3 Evidence from the sixteenth century suggests, however, that obtaining this 'perfect knowledge' was an expensive business, and London livery companies paid between 12d. and 10s. for particular committee lists.4 Lists ofM.P.s were even more expensive, sixteenth-century evidence suggesting a going rate anywhere between 7s. 6d. and 17s. 6d.5 Although such items appear to have been available for 2s. 6d. in 1621, they apparently cost 5s. in 1625 and 1626.6 Nevertheless, there was clearly a demand for such information, and even private...
