sity to disunion, all the first seven years of this reign present one lamentable scene of instability. Every act of the legislative body seemed a contradiction to the preceding! General warrants were first sanctioned, and then by a subsequent statute they were condemned. The affairs relating to America were still more inconsistently conducted. By a palpable but deliberate impolicy, the legislature first exerted a prerogative in taxation, which reason and expediency proved to be unfounded; and when it was found necessary to retract it, this was not done in a manner at all calculated to quiet the alarms of the colonists; for the tax, disguising itself like a Proteus, appeared under another shape, but calculated still more to insult the understandings of its victims. In the sequel we shall find the evils consummated, of which the foundations were unhappily laid in a few statutes of this parliament.

CHAPTER III.

1767-1772.

THE introduction of lord North into the cabinet, and his lordship's acceptance of the seals of office as chancellor of the exchequer, was the commencement of an important era in the history of Great Britain.

A. D. 1768.

On the 10th March the parliament was dissolved, and the country was kept in a state of considerable agitation for some time by the election of a new one. The spirit of party ran high, and produced disorder and tumult in several places. Mr Wilkes, who had nearly sunk into oblivion in consequence of his residence on the continent, had the presumption to return home on the dissolution of parliament, and to offer himself as a candidate for representing the city of London. Failing, however, in this instance, he immediately offered himself for the county of Middlesex; and such was his popularity that he was returned by a large majority. After his election, he surrendered himself before the court of king's bench; but that court refused to commit on his outlawry, and he was consequently discharged. Proceedings of a different nature were now instituted against him: he was apprehended on a writ of capias ut legatum; but as the officers were conveying him to the king's bench prison, he was rescued by the mob, and set at liberty. He thought proper to go and surrender himself to the keeper of the prison, and he remained in confinement at the meeting of the new parliament, which was assembled on the 10th May. The mob now determined to convey him in triumph to parliament; and to carry their point they met in great numbers in St George's fields, where meeting with some unexpected opposition, they became so riotous that the military were or dered to fire on them, and one man was killed.

The coroner's jury brought in a verdict of wilful murder against the magistrate who gave the order to fire, and he was tried for the crime, but acquitted. Mr Wilkes's outlawry was afterwards reversed by the court of king's-bench as illegal; but judgment was pronounced against him for the two publications of which he had been formerly convicted, and he was sentenced in two fines of L.500 each, and to be imprisoned for two years.

The session of parliament commenced on the 8th November, and the speech from the throne recommended the consideration of our commercial interests, and regretted the interruption on the continent of Europe of the general tranquillity, but stated the assurances which his Majesty had received, that Great Britain would not be affected by these continental differences. The commotions in America were particularly recommended to the wisdom of parliament, and the necessity of internal harmony and union was strongly inculcated. The first subject which came under their consideration was the corn, of which the crop had been good; and measures were taken to prevent the recurrence of scarcity. A bill was brought in to prohibit the exportation of corn, and also to prevent its use in the distillation of spirits. But other concerns more urgent soon began to occupy the attention of parliament.

The North American colonies were in a state of the most distressing agitation during the whole of this year. A letter was drawn up, in the month

of February, by the colony of Massachusets, and sent to all the other colonial assemblies in the union, representing the late acts of the British parliament as unconstitutional, and proposing a general confederation for counteracting their effects. The different assemblies returned an answer to that of Massachusets, expressing their entire concurrence in the proposed plan; and resolutions were immediately entered into by most of the colonies, to import no English goods until the obnoxious acts were repealed. At Boston the people broke out into riotous proceedings against the custom-house officers, in consequence of the seizure of a sloop belonging to one of the merchants; and so outrageous was the mob, that the revenue officers were compelled to seek refuge on board the Romney, an English ship of war. A public meeting was called, at which the minds of the people were heated by inflammatory speeches, inculcating the most sovereign contempt for the authority of the mother-country. In this disturbed state of things, a report was circulated that two regiments were daily expected to arrive from Ireland, and that troops were assembling at Halifax. A committee was therefore appointed to wait on the governor of Boston, desiring him to call a general assembly without delay, which he declined to do. A convention was nevertheless summoned without his concurrence, to which ninety-six towns sent their deputies; and a resolution was adopted to recommend to the inhabitants to provide themselves with arms and ammu

nition, under the flimsy pretext that war was to be apprehended with France. The convention communicated with the governor, who admonished them of the irregularity of their proceedings, and the danger attending them; at the same time assuring them from authority, that the king was determined to maintain his entire sovereignty over the colonies. They however prepared a statement of their conduct to be transmitted to London, and on the 29th September the convention broke up. On the same day a fleet from Halifax, with two regiments, arrived in the harbour of Boston; and soon after general Gage, with two regiments from Ireland, also arrived, which, when the difficulties about quartering the troops were adjusted, produced a tolerable state of harmony, which continued during the remainder of the year.

Among the domestic transactions of this year may be briefly mentioned the death of the princess Louisa Anne, second sister of his Majesty. She died on the 13th May, in the 20th year of her age. In the course of the summer, the king of Denmark visited England, where he was honoured with every possible mark of respect and distinction, and entertained at court with all the princely magnificence that was suitable to the rank of the parties. His Danish majesty, travelling under the title of prince Travendahl, visited York, Cambridge, Oxford, &c. where he met with the most marked politeness and attention from the various learned bodies; and on his return to London he honoured the lord mayor with his company