to the favors of the court, and being once admitted to office, contrived, by union amongst themselves, by borough interests, and by their monopoly of the influence of the Crown,

to secure an ascendency in Parliament which, for nearly fifty years, was almost unassailable. Until the fall of Sir Robert Walpole the Whigs had been compact and united; and their policy had generally been to carry out, in practice, the principles of the Revolution. When no longer under the guidance of that minister, their coherence, as a party, was disturbed; and they became divided into families and cliques To use the words of Lord John Russell, this "was the age of small factions." 1 The distinctive policy of the party was lost in the personal objects of its leaders; but political power still remained in the same hands; and, by alliances rather than by union, the "great Whig families," and others admitted to a share of their power, continued to engross all the high offices of state, and to distribute among their personal adherents the entire patronage of the Crown.

ters.

The young king, George III., on succeeding to the throne, regarded with settled jealousy the power of his Accession of ministers, as an encroachment on his own, and George III. His jealousy resolved to break it down. His personal popu- of his minislarity was such as to facilitate the execution of thi uesign. Well knowing that the foreign extraction of his predecessors had repressed the affections of their people, he added, with his own hand, to the draft of his first speech to Parliament, the winning phrase, "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton." 2 The Stuarts were now the aliens, and not the Hanoverian king. A new reign, also, was favorable to the healing of political differences, and to the fusion of parties. In Scotland, a few fanatical nonjurors may still have grudged their allegiance to an uncovenanted king. But none of the young king's subjects had

1 Introduction to vol. iii. of Bedford Correspondence.

2 The king himself bore testimony to this fact upwards of forty years afterwards. - - Rose's Correspondence, ii. 189 (Diary).

plotted against his throne; and few could be suspected of adherence to the fallen cause of the Stuarts, which had been hopelessly abandoned since the rebellion of 1745. The close phalanx of the Whig party had already been broken; and Mr. Pitt had striven to conciliate the Tories, and put an end to the bitter feuds by which the kingdom had been distracted. No party was now in disgrace at court; but Whigs, Tories, and Jacobites thronged to St. James's, and vied with each other in demonstrations of loyalty and devotion.1

ucation.

The king was naturally ambitious, and fond of the active The king's ed- exercise of power; and his education, if otherwise neglected, had raised his estimate of the personal rights of a king, in the government of his country. So far back as 1752, complaints had been made that the prince was surrounded by Jacobite preceptors, who were training him in arbitrary principles of government. At that time these complaints were discredited as factious calumnies; but the political views of the king, on his accession to the throne, appear to confirm the suspicions entertained concerning his early education.

His mother, the Princess Dowager of Wales, - herself ambitious and fond of power, had derived her views of the rights and authority of a sovereign from German courts; and encouraged the prince's natural propensities by the significant advice of "George, be king." Lord Waldegrave,

5

1 "The Earl of Lichfield, Sir Walter Bagot, and the principal Jacobites, went to Court, which George Selwyn, a celebrated wit, accounted for from he number of Stuarts that were now at St. James's.".

14.

Walpole's Mem.,

2 Dodington's Diary, 171. The Princess of Wales said: "His booklearning she was no judge of, though she supposed it small or useless.". Ibid., 357; Wraxall's Mem., ii. 39.

8 See debate in House of Lords, 22d March, 1753; Walpole's Mem., iv. 139; Dodington's Diary, 190, 194, 197, 228.

4 Walpole says, "The princess, whose ambition yielded to none.”. Mem., i. 12. "The princess was ardently fond of power, and all its apna. nages of observance." Adolph. Hist., i. 12

5 Rockingham Mem., i. 3.

who had been for some time governor to the prince, describes him as "full of princely prejudices contracted in the nursery, and improved by the society of bedchamber-women and pages of the back-stairs."

"1

His groom of the stole, Lord Bute,—afterwards so notorious as his minister, had also given the young prince instruction in the theory of the British Constitution; and knowing little more than the princess herself, of the English people and government, had taught him that his own honor and the interests of the country required the extension of his personal influence, and a more active exercise of his prerogatives. The chief obstacle to this new policy of the court was found in the established authority of responsible ministers, upheld by party connections and parliamentary interest. Accordingly, the first object of the king and his advisers was to loosen the ties of party, and break down the confederacy of the great Whig families. The king desired to His determiundertake personally the chief administration of ern. public affairs, to direct the policy of his ministers, and himself to distribute the patronage of the Crown. He was ambitious not only to reign, but to govern. His will was strong and resolute, his courage high, and his talent for intrigue considerable. He came to the throne determined to exalt the kingly office; and throughout his long reign, he never lost sight of that object.

nation to gov

broke's theo

Lord Bolingbroke had conceived the idea of a government under "a patriot king,” 3—who should "gov- Lord Bolingern as soon as he begins to reign," — who should ry. "call into the administration such men as he can assure himself will serve on the same principles on which he intends to govern," - and who should "put himself at the head of his people in order to govern, or, more properly, to subdue all

1 Lord Waldegrave's Mem., 9.

2 See letter of Sir J. Phillips to Mr. Grenville, Sept. 8th, 1763; Grenville Papers, ii. 117; Burke's Present Discontents, Works, ii. 231.

8 The Idea of a Patriot King, Works, iv. 274.

"1

parties." But it had been no part of Lord Bolingbroke's conception, that the patriot king should suffer his favorites to stand between him and his "most able and faithful councillors."

cession.

The ministry whom the king found in possession of power Ministry at at his accession, had been formed by a coalition the time of between the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt. the king's acThe former had long been the acknowledged leader of the great Whig connection, and enjoyed extended parliamentary interest: the latter, by his eloquence and statesmanship, had become the most popular and powerful of the king's subjects. The ministry also comprised the Grenville and Bedford sections of the Whig party. It was so strong in Parliament, that for some years the voice of opposition had been scarcely heard; and so long as it continued united, its position was impregnable.

cret counsel

lors.

"8

But, strong as were the ministers, the king was resolved The king's se- to wrest all power from their hands, and to exercise it himself. For this purpose he called to his aid the Earl of Bute, and other secret counsellors, drawn from all parties. The greater number were of the Tory party, whose views of prerogative were Jacobite. According to Horace Walpole, " they abjured their ancient master; but retained their principles." It was the king's object not merely to supplant one party, and establish another in its place; but to create a new party, faithful to himself, regarding his personal wishes, carrying out his policy, and dependent on his will. This party was soon distinguished as "tho king's men," or "the king's friends.” 4 Instead of relying upon the advice of his responsible ministers, the king took counsel with this "double" or "interior cabinet." Even his first speech to Parliament was not submitted to the cabinet

1 The Idea of a Patriot King, Works, iv. 281, 282.

2 Ibid., 330.

8 Walp. Mem., i. 15.

4 Burke's Present Discontents, Works, ii. 240–242.

It had been drawn up by himself and Lord Bute; and when Mr. Pitt took exception to some of its expressions, the king long resisted the advice of his minister. It had been usual for ministers to rely upon the support of the Crown, in all their measures. They now found themselves thwarted and opposed; and the patronage, which they had regarded as their own, they saw divided by the king amongst his new adherents and their connections. This "influence behind the throne was denounced by all the leading statesmen of that time, by Mr. Grenville, Lord Chatham, the Marquess of Rockingham, the Duke of Bedford, and Mr. Burke. Occasionally denied, its existence was yet so notorious, and its agency so palpable, that historical writers of all parties, though taking different views of its character, have not failed to acknowledge it. The bitterness with which it was assailed at the time was due, in great measure, to political jealousies, and to the king's selection of his friends from an unpopular party; but, on constitutional grounds, it could not be defended.

A constitutional government insures to the king a wide authority, in all the councils of the state. He Constitutionchooses and dismisses his ministers. Their res- al relations of the king to olutions upon every important measure of for- his ministers. eign and domestic policy are submitted to his approval; and when that approval is withheld, his ministers must either abandon their policy, or resign their offices. They are responsible to the king on the one hand, and to Parliament on the other; and while they retain the confidence of the king, by administering affairs to his satisfaction, they must act upon principles, and propose measures, which they can jus tify to Parliament. And here is the proper limit to the king's influence. As he governs by responsible ministers, he must recognize their responsibilities. They are not only his ministers, but also the public servants of a free country. But an influence in the direction of public affairs thus limited, by no means satisfied the ambition of the king. His