Thread by @AndrewBrunatti

For the next #Castlereagh200 thread, let's look at value conflicts.

Value conflicts contribute to chronic stress, and are a serious risk factor in #MentalHealth.

What kind of value conflicts did Castlereagh face throughout his career as a public servant?

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#twitterstorians

Value conflicts can be internal (e.g. an individual having to choose between competing values at a personal level) or external (e.g. an individual's personal values conflicting with a competing value system in their professional or social environment).

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In the workplace, value conflicts can create the perception that a competing value system is keeping a person from achieving good or just outcomes, or can lead to ethical dilemmas. The tension can be difficult to identify, but pervasive and demoralizing.

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Let's start with Castlereagh's values. He was more policymaker than politician, placing greater value on pursuing the best policy than scoring partisan political points. Hobhouse observed that Castlereagh had one fault as Leader of the House: he was too willing to compromise.

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Castlereagh took personal and public honour very seriously (ask Canning, who had a bullet wound to prove it). Talleyrand observed during negotiations that Castlereagh was very concerned about any perception that he was negotiating in bad faith or compromising his word.

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Now, let's take the Irish Union policy and Catholic emancipation as an initial example. For Castlereagh, the most effective union policy included Catholic emancipation. However, idea of emancipation clashed with the values of the traditionalist elements of the establishment.

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In turn, this led to a constitutional clash of values between elected ministers and the King, which ultimately ended the government and undercut the Union policy.

True to his convictions, Castlereagh continued to support emancipation, albeit subtly.

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Moving later in Castlereagh's career, and into diplomacy, Castlereagh was personally accountable for trying to balance the conflicting values of Britain's constitutional system and the authoritarian monarchies of the Holy Alliance.

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For Castlereagh, a defensive alliance system based on rules was the best guarantor of security and, hence, the best policy to pursue. In his 1820 State Paper, he laid out such a policy indicating that it would be consistent with Britain's constitutional values.

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However, the aggressive tendencies of the authoritarian allies, based on very different political values, threatened to undercut the alliance system’s legitimacy in a way that Castlereagh knew would make it increasingly difficult for Britain to participate.

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Playing out at the same time, the trial of Queen Caroline represented a value conflict similar to those Castlereagh had experienced following the Irish Union: royal interests clashing with ministerial judgement.

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For the King the trial was about personal interest, but the Cabinet had to grapple with the larger political costs to the govt's (and Crown's) reputation and the opportunity cost to its larger policy agenda. For Ministers, the trial was a blow to their ability to govern.

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These value conflicts may seem abstract, but consider their cumulative impact on Castlereagh by 1821...

The value conflicts he experienced in Ireland stayed with him--for many in Ireland he was too British, and for the Protestant establishment he was too pro-Catholic.

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Also, the alliance system that Castlereagh had nurtured for nearly a decade was beginning to crack at the foundations, pulled apart in ways by different political value systems. He needed more time for careful diplomacy, more policy work, or--quite likely--both.

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Instead of being able to direct his energy towards Britain's foreign policy, Castlereagh was drawn into the King's pursuit of a divorce, which he thought unwise and too politically costly from the beginning and resulted in very little except lost time and effort.

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In short, Castlereagh valued the technical skills of policymaking and statecraft, but by 1821 numerous value conflicts (both old and new) were undermining his efforts to achieve success in these areas, increasing the cumulative stress on his already overburdened mind.

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