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Das Problem der Politischen Opposition: Entwicklung und Wesen der Englischen Zweiparteienpolitik im 18. Jahrhundert by Kurt Kluxen Review by: Robert Walcott The American Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Oct., 1957), p. 102 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1847131 . Accessed: 24/06/2014 21:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Oxford University Press and American Historical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Historical Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 194.29.185.145 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:18:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

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Page 1: Das Problem der Politischen Opposition: Entwicklung und Wesen der Englischen Zweiparteienpolitik im 18. Jahrhundertby Kurt Kluxen

Das Problem der Politischen Opposition: Entwicklung und Wesen der EnglischenZweiparteienpolitik im 18. Jahrhundert by Kurt KluxenReview by: Robert WalcottThe American Historical Review, Vol. 63, No. 1 (Oct., 1957), p. 102Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Historical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1847131 .

Accessed: 24/06/2014 21:18

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Oxford University Press and American Historical Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,preserve and extend access to The American Historical Review.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.145 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:18:48 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Page 2: Das Problem der Politischen Opposition: Entwicklung und Wesen der Englischen Zweiparteienpolitik im 18. Jahrhundertby Kurt Kluxen

I02 Reviews of Books DAS PROBLEM DER POLITISCHEN OPPOSITION: ENTWICKLUNG

UND WESEN DER ENGLISCHEN ZWEIPARTEIENPOLITIK IM i8. JAHRHUNDERT. By Kurt Kluxen. [Orbis Academicus: Geschichte der poli- tischen Ideen in Dokumenten und Darstellungen.] (Freiburg: Verlag Karl Alber. I956. Pp. iX, 295. $3.39 postpaid.)

FROM the subtitle of this volume one might expect an account of the develop- ment and nature of eighteenth-century English party politics after the manner of Sir Lewis Namier, but Kluxen proceeds in quite another fashion. While he is aware of the realities of party government, his principal concern is theory, in particular, the political theory of Viscount Bolingbroke.

English writers have been hard on Bolingbroke. In his English Thought in the Eighteenth Century Leslie Stephen dismisses Bolingbroke's writings as ephem- eral political works designed to advanced his immediate objectives as leader of the opposition to Walpole, and in his Political Thought from Locke to Bentham Laski echoes this opinion. Of Bolingbroke's works only the Patriot King is con- sidered worth serious attention, and the supposed adoption of its principles by George III has been taken as proof of the worthlessness of Bolingbroke's ideas.

Kluxen is intent on reversing such judgments. Drawing on the whole range of Bolingbroke's thought, he has given it a surprising coherence. He believes that Bolingbroke is an important figure in English thought-at once an acute analyst of politics worthy of comparison with Machiavelli and a precursor of Burke in his organic concept of the state, in his recognition of the necessary connection between morality and politics, and in his general stature as a philosopher of conservatism. In support of his thesis Kluxen ranges widely over the history of ideas, drawing a number of interesting parallels in the discussion of the varied influences on Bolingbroke and his influence on others.

Within the general framework of Bolingbroke's "cosmic Toryism" (the term is Basil Willey's) is set his theory of Opposition. "Government" (i.e., Constitution and Common Law) is good, for it embodies the inherited wisdom of the Folk; but "government" (i.e., the ministry) is subject to inevitable degeneration because of the imperfection of human nature and the corrupting influence of power. The Opposition provides the necessary antithesis to "government": regeneration vs. degeneration, public interest vs. private, the whole vs. the part (i.e., Walpole's party). Theoretically this antithesis-which guarantees the health of the state (or freedom)-can be transcended in a synthesis: the "Patriot King." Such a ruler- the embodiment of the Folk-symbolizes the perfect identity of public and private interest, government and people, the part and the whole. In this instance, Opposi- tion loses its raison d'etre and can "wither away."

Bolingbroke's theory of Opposition and the Patriot King is not his most im- pressive contribution, and on this particular point Kluxen is least convincing. He has, however, raised Bolingbroke's reputation a significant notch or two from the depths to which it fell not long after his own time.

College of Wooster ROBERT WALCOTT

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.145 on Tue, 24 Jun 2014 21:18:48 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions