Horace Walpole, "and then I need not tell you that he CHAP. 'II. and War. In 1756 England made an alliance with Prussia, and The Seven war was declared between England and France, India and Years' America being the double theatre of operations. The Seven Years' War began in Europe, the conflict being caused by the alarm entertained by the Continental Powers at the aggressive designs of Frederick the Great and by the desire of Maria Theresa to recover the province of Silesia from the King of Prussia. While these great events were in their inception, a Mr. SecreMinisterial crisis occurred in England. Newcastle, being tary Pitt. deserted by Fox, and unable to make terms with Murray (soon to be created Lord Chief Justice Mansfield), Egmont, and Granville, resigned office. The Duke of Devonshire became nominal Prime Minister, with Pitt as Secretary of State and possessing the real power. On the opening of the session of 1757, Parliament Parlia passed a series of resolutions prohibiting for a limited ment in 1757 and George I. George II. CHAP. II. time the export of grain, flour, and biscuit; fifty-five thousand men were granted for the sea service, and fortyfive thousand for the land; a bill was passed for remodelling the national militia; and a sum of £200,000 was granted for the defence of his Majesty's electoral dominions. Admiral England without a Govern ment. Pitt returns. Conven Prussia. The case of Admiral Byng caused great excitement at this time. Owing to his pusillanimous conduct, Minorca was captured by the French. There was no imputation on Byng's personal courage, but he had failed in fully acting up to his responsibility. He was condemned by courtmartial, and the populace clamoured for his death. Pitt exerted himself to the utmost to save him, but in vain, and on March 14th he was shot on the quarter-deck of the Monarque in Portsmouth harbour. The King was still very inimical to Pitt, and dismissed that statesman on April 9th. Devonshire fell with him. The Duke of Newcastle now endeavoured in vain to form a Ministry without Pitt; and for nearly three months the extraordinary spectacle was witnessed of England without a Government, and with a great war in prospect. At last the King was compelled to give way and to receive Pitt. The Ministry was re-constituted with the Duke of Newcastle as First Lord of the Treasury, Legge as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Pitt and Holderness as Secretaries of State, Granville as Lord President, Temple as Lord Privy Seal, and George Grenville as Treasurer of the Navy. Pitt was the real head of the Government; and, by the strange irony of fate, his rival Fox, who had led the House of Commons, accepted the inferior office of Paymaster of the Forces, without a seat in the Cabinet. In 1758 a new convention was concluded with Prussia, tion with by which England agreed to pay to that Power yearly a subsidy of £670,000. The House of Commons voted the money with scarcely a dissentient voice, as it did the supplies generally, amounting to upwards of £10,000,000. Great triumphs for England. Pitt now prosecuted the various wars in which England was engaged with great vigour. In 1757 the successes of Clive in India had somewhat atoned for the disasters in Germany; in 1758 there were neither great victories nor great defeats to record; but the year 1759, which was one of the most glorious in our history viewed from the standpoint of foreign affairs, made amends for all. In Europe, Africa, Asia, and America extraordinary successes were recorded. The victories by land and sea culminated with the naval victories at Lagos and off Quiberon Bay, and the capture of Quebec under General Wolfe, which ensured the conquest of Canada. Great Com These brilliant successes gave Pitt an extraordinary "The influence in Parliament and with the whole nation, and he enjoyed a prestige hitherto unparalleled in the career moner." of any English statesman. He was spoken of as "the Great Commoner," and his will and that of Parliament might be said to have become synonymous terms. In the midst of this period of triumph, however, Death of George II. died, on October 25th, 1760, and it was felt the King. that new political developments must immediately follow. These will be detailed in the ensuing chapter. Personally, George II. had "scarcely one kingly quality, except personal courage and justice." But his private failings must not blind us to the fact that as a sovereign he made no attempt to invade the rights of the nation or unduly to assert the prerogatives of the Crown. As Lord Stanhope has remarked, his reign, which was illumined towards its close by the glories of Wolfe and of Chatham, "left the dynasty secure, the Constitution unimpaired, and the people prosperous." III. CHAPTER III. THE REIGN OF GEORGE III. Accession GEORGE III., the son of Frederick Prince of Wales, and of George grandson of George II., was twenty-two years old when he began that reign which proved to be the longest and most eventful in our annals. He was born on June 4th, 1738, and married in 1761 the Princess Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Lord The young King was greatly under the influence of his father's friend, John Stuart, Earl of Bute, a man of haughty carriage and unconciliatory manners. As soon as the reign began, Bute endeavoured to make a figure in the political sphere, although he had hitherto shown no special aptitude or ability for the career of a statesman. Only two days after his accession George III. directed that his brother Edward, Duke of York, and his Groom of the Stole, Lord Bute, should be sworn of the Privy Council; and from this time forward the latter was consulted on all the principal affairs of state. One of the first acts of the King was to issue a proclamation "for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and for the prevention and punishment of vice, profaneness, and immorality." Whatever faults George III. possessedand he was undoubtedly not without them-this proclamation only set forth the earnest efforts of his own life for upwards of half a century after its issue. CHAP. III. of The King's In opening Parliament in November, 1760, the King said that he gloried in the name of Briton, and that it would be his peculiar happiness to promote the welfare of his people-expressions which were welcomed with the liveliest satisfaction by the Lords and Commons. Supplies first amounting to nearly £20,000,000 were promptly voted, and the Civil List for the new reign was fixed at £800,000 per annum, the King surrendering the branches of his hereditary revenue. speech. Onslow. In the following March Speaker Onslow retired, after Speaker a long and honourable service of thirty-three years. "He had filled the chair with higher merit probably than any one either before or after him-with unequalled impartiality, dignity, and courtesy." In taking leave of the House of Commons, he said, "It is, I confess, with regret, because the being within these walls has ever been the chief pleasure of my life." The party names of Tory and Whig were revived, the Political former being used to denote those who supported Bute's parties. policy or person, and the latter to designate his opponents generally. There were cabals and intrigues on both sides, but Bute's influence was already in the ascendant, and on March 25th, 1761, he was appointed joint Secretary of State with Pitt, in the place of Lord Holderness. The elections took place during March and April, and, The although there was no great political struggle involved, Elections. they were the most venal elections which had yet been held. The sale of boroughs to any wide extent, as Hallam has remarked, may be dated from this period; and one borough, that of Sudbury, actually advertised publicly for a buyer. The penalties of bribery were evaded by a simulated sale of trifling articles at exorbitant prices. Pitt. What is known as the Family Compact was made in Resigna1761 between France and Spain, its object being to tion of associate the latter Power with France in the Seven Years' War. Pitt earnestly entreated the Cabinet to 1 Stanhope's History of England. |