Historians know that nineteenth-century British Liberals were highly exercised about the dangers of ‘despotism’, but little specific attention has been given to the place of the concept in contemporary political science. This article examines one of the Victorian era’s most systematic comparative analyses of ‘despotic’ government, as conducted by the lawyer and statesman Henry Brougham, in his little-studied Political Philosophy. Published between 1842 and 1844, Brougham’s unwieldy text aimed to educate British working men on the basic principles of politics, and at the same time to demolish Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws. The article argues that Brougham’s vivid treatment of the workings and effects of ‘despotism’ was an attempt to safeguard the Whig legacy in the face of new political threats.
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/imp/hpt/2022/00000043/00000002...
