(The), subs. (political).—A nickname given to two Coalition Governments, one in the last century (1741), and the other in 1807.
1742. WALPOLE, Letter to Sir Horace Mann (1833), No. 22, Feb. 18, I., 106. The Tories declare against any farther prosecution—if Tories there are, for now one heard of nothing but the BROAD-BOTTOM; it is the reigning cant word, and means the taking all parties and people, indifferently, into the Ministry.
1807. The Pigs possessed, or the BROAD-BOTTOM’D Litter running headlong into the Sea of Perdition. [The characters are George III., as the British farmer; Lords Sidmouth, Ellenborough, Howick (‘Test Act’); Mr. Wyndham; Lords Holland, Walpole, Carlisle St. Vincent; Earls Temple (‘Last Stake’), Grenville (‘Catholic Bill’), and of Derby; Lords Erskine, Lauderdale (a Scotch pig), H. Petty, and Moira; the Duke of Bedford, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, marked ‘Erin go Bragh’; Earl Spencer, Marquis of Buckingham (‘Family’), R. B. Sheridan (Harlequin), Courtney, Tierney, and Whitbread (‘Entire’). Courtney is placed in profile between Ellenborough and Sidmouth. He was an intimate friend of Fox. This is said to be the only portrait of him. The print is a supplement to another styled ‘More Pigs than Teats.’ The pigs represent the Ministers described commonly by the phrase ‘All the Talents,’ or the ‘BROAD-BOTTOMS’ who were succeeded, April, 1807, by the Duke of Portland and his supporters. An earlier ‘BROAD-BOTTOM’ Administration was commemorated in the satirical inscription for Fox’s tomb, Hic jacet Pater Broad-Bottomos.]
1843. MACAULAY, Historical Essays, II., 244. The Pelhams had forced the King, much against his will, to part with Lord Carteret … They proceeded, after this victory, to form the Government on that basis, called by the cant name of the ‘BROAD-BOTTOM.’
1863. JEAFFRESON, Live It Down, I., 249. The star of Granville is falling, that of Pelham is in the ascendant; and the great coalition on ‘The BR. B.’ is managing the affairs of the State.
1871. M. E. BRADDON, Robert Ainsleigh, I., 37. A scathing reply from the polished chief of the famous BR. B. Administration.
1887. Political Slang, in Cornhill Magazine, June, 628. A Coalition Government in the last century was known by the apt nickname of the ‘BROAD BOTTOM.’
