A Grand Revolution: Peyton Randolph and the End of the Robinocracy

This date in 1742 (1741 if you're sticking to the old style calendar) marked a remarkable event in British history, a true end of an era: The 21 years of the Robinocracy came to a close when Sir Robert Walpole, having finally lost his majority in the House of Commons and facing a increasingly vehement opposition, resigned as First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. For Williamsburg, Walpole was a major figure, both in terms of imperial politics and personal relationships. He and his brothers clearly understood the importance of the tobacco economy to the empire's interests and did all they could to protect and promote it. On a more intimate level, evidence suggests that there was a close relationship between Walpole and Sir John Randolph, one that extended to their families and which lasted through the American Revolution.

We're rather fortunate to have a glimpse into that relationship and this event in the form of one of the few extant letters written by Peyton Randolph. The Randolph who wrote of Walpole's fall was a much different figure than the stout statesman encountered in Revolutionary Williamsburg. Only about 20 years old in 1742, he had already been in London for almost three years, having begun his legal studies at the Middle Temple of the Inns of Court in 1739. The nature of eighteenth-century legal studies being what it was, young Randolph had a great deal of time on his hands to study or to attend sessions of Parliament or the law courts. Mostly he had the opportunity to soak up the rich political culture of Augustan England, which Walpole had done much to shape. It this Randolph, full of humor and vitality, who writes to John Custis IV in Virginia of the "grand Revolutions" of 1741/2, chief among which is the resignation of "Sr Robert":

“The year 41 has been as memorable as that just a Century ago. We see all the Courts of Europe in an Uproar, & grand Revolutions in many of them. Here has been a very great one, as little expected before the Sitting of the Parliament, as that I shall come to be Grand Signor. Sr Robert being no longer able to keep a Majority in the House, was obliged voluntarily to give up all his Places; which was the most honorable Way of parting with them. He has taken the title of Lord Oxford, by which he will be entitled to a Trial by his Peers in case of Impeachment; where it is said he has a great Majority.”