The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year of the Reign of Queen Victoria

ACCESSION OF GEORGE III.

Few monarchs ever ascended a throne under more auspicious circumstances than George III. The sources of national wealth and prosperity were daily becoming developed, and the British arms were everywhere victorious. So extensive were their conquests, indeed, that it may be said, the sun rose and set, at this date, within the limits of the British dominions.

Prince George, who was the eldest son of the late Frederick, Prince of Wales, was riding on horseback in the neighbourhood of Kew palace, with his groom of the stole, Lord Bute, when news was brought him that his grandfather was dead. This intelligence was confirmed soon after by the arrival of Mr. Pitt, the head of the government, and they repaired together to Kew. On the next morning George went up to St. James’s, where Pitt waited upon him, and presented the sketch of an address to be pronounced at the meeting of the privy council. Pitt, however, was doomed to find a rival where he thought to have found a friend. He was told by his majesty, that an address had already been prepared, which convinced him that Bute, on whose favour he had reckoned, would not be contented with a subordinate place in the new government, but would aspire to the highest offices in the state. In the course of the day, October 26th, George was proclaimed king with the usual solemnities.

The accession of George, notwithstanding, did not involve any immediate change in the existing administration. The Earl of Bute, together with Prince Edward, Duke of York, were admitted into the privy council, but it was given out that his majesty was satisfied, and even charmed, with the existing cabinet, and that he would make no changes, with the exception of a few in the household and in the minor offices. One of the first acts of George III., was a proclamation “for the encouragement of piety and virtue, and for preventing and punishing of vice, profaneness, and immorality.” This was naturally looked upon as a token of his majesty’s virtue and devotion, which view was borne out by his after character; for although the proclamation may be considered in the light of a dead letter as regards actual operation, it was enforced, or recommended, by his example; and example hath a louder tongue either than precept, proclamations, or laws. From the beginning to the close of his long reign, George III. manifested a decent, moral, and religious life, which doubtless had very beneficial effects upon society at large.

On the accession of the new king, parliament was prorogued, first to the thirteenth, and afterwards to the eighteenth, of November. In the meantime, public attention was engaged by the equipment of a large squadron of men-of-war and transports at Portsmouth, and speculations were rife as to the policy of the monarch—whether it would be favourable to war or to peace. All classes of society, however, agreed in anticipating the happiest results from his rule, since he had been born and bred among them, and was well acquainted with the language, manners, laws, and institutions of the people over whom he presided. Loyal and dutiful addresses, expressing such sentiments, were presented to the young monarch by the city of London, the two universities, and from various bodies of people, to all which he returned sententious but suitable replies, declaring his fixed resolve to respect their rights and conciliate their esteem. A letter was addressed to him by the venerable Bishop of London, Dr. Sherlock, as a parting benediction, in which he gave him the following wise council:—“You, sir,” he writes, “are the person whom the people ardently desire; which affection of theirs is happily returned by your majesty’s declared concern for their prosperity: and let nothing disturb this mutual consent; let there be but one contest, whether the king loves the people best, or the people him; and may it be a long, a very long, contest; may it never be decided, but let it remain doubtful; and may the paternal affection on the one side, and the filial obedience on the other, he had in perpetual remembrance.”

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT ETC.

The new king met parliament for the first time on the eighteenth of November. He opened the session with a speech, announcing not only the state of public and domestic affairs, but also the general principles by which he intended to rule. One clause in his speech was very gratifying to the people: “Born and educated in this country,” he observed, “I glory in the name of Briton.” Having uttered this memorable sentence, he said it would be the happiness of his life to promote the happiness and interests of his loyal and affectionate people; and that their civil and religious rights were equally as dear to him as the valuable prerogatives of his crown. He then declared, that on his accession to the throne of his ancestors he found the kingdom in a flourishing and glorious state; victorious and happy; although engaged in a necessary war, which, in the language of the late reign, he designated, “a war for the Protestant interest.” In this speech he neither spoke of peace nor negociation, but asked the assistance of parliament to prosecute this war with vigour. Finally, addressing the Commons on the subject of supplies, he concluded his speech thus:—“The eyes of all Europe are on you; from your resolutions the Protestant interest hopes for protection, as well as all our friends for the preservation of their independency; and our enemies fear the final disappointment of their ambitious and destructive views: let these hopes and fears be confirmed and augmented, by the vigour, unanimity, and despatch of our proceedings. In this expectation I am the more encouraged, by a pleasing circumstance, which I consider one of the most auspicious omens of my reign—that happy extinction of divisions, and that union and good harmony, which continue to prevail amongst my subjects, afford me the most agreeable prospects; the natural disposition and wish of my heart are to cement and promote them; and I promise myself, that nothing will arise on your part to interrupt or disturb a situation so essential to the true and lasting felicity of this great people.” This speech was warmly responded to by addresses from both houses of parliament; and the supplies for the ensuing year, amounting to £19,616,119, were cheerfully voted, while the civil list was fixed at £809,000; the king, on his part, consenting to such a disposition of the hereditary revenues of the crown, as might best promote the interests of the nation.

War, therefore, was to be continued, and Mr. Pitt and his colleagues seemed to be confirmed in office: yet at this very moment the train was laying for their expulsion. Earl Bute was anxious to become secretary of state, and he was busily engaged in a correspondence with the noted intriguer, Bubb Doddington. A few days after the meeting of parliament his lordship declared to Doddington, that Lord Holderness “was ready at his desire to quarrel with his fellow ministers, and go to the king and throw up with seeming-anger, and then he (Bute) might come in without seeming to displace anybody.” This expedient, however, did not please Doddington, and Bute paid deference to his opinion. Still the two friends took counsel together on this important affair. In a letter from Doddington to Bute, which was written in December, he advises “that nothing be done that can be justly imputed to precipitation; nothing delayed that can be imputed to fear.” He adds: “Remember, my noble and generous friend, that to recover monarchy from the inveterate usurpation of oligarchy, is a point too arduous and important to be achieved without much difficulty, and some degree of danger; though none but what attentive moderation and unalterable firmness will certainly surmount.”

In his career of ambition, Bute, who was “better fitted to perform Lothario on the stage,” than to act as secretary of state, paid small regard to danger, but kept his eye fixed steadily on the point he had in view. In January, he told Doddington that “Mr. Pitt meditated a retreat;” and in the same month Doddington writes to him—“If the intelligence they bring me be true, Mr. Pitt goes down fast in the city, and faster at this end of the town: they add, you rise daily. This may not be true; but if he sinks, you will observe that his system sinks with him, and that there is nothing to replace it but recalling the troops and leaving Hanover in deposit.” Again, on the 6th of February, Lord Bute declared, that it was easy to make the Duke of Newcastle resign, but at the same time he expressed a doubt as to the expediency of beginning in that quarter. Doddington replied, that he saw no objection to this step; and that if Bute thought there was, he might put it into hands that would resign it to him when he thought proper to take it. But Bute was not disposed to try the duke too much, nor to risk too bold a leap at once: so all ill humours were concealed under a fair surface.

Had Earl Bute taken any decisive step thus early in the reign of the new king, it would probably have exposed him to public derision and scorn. At this time the old system seemed to please everybody; and among the supplies voted by the House of Commons, none were more freely granted than the continental subsidies, and especially that of £670,000 to the King of Prussia. His victory at Torgau, which subjected all Saxony—Dresden excepted—to his power, was made known in England just before the meeting of parliament, and it had the effect of raising him high in the public favour of the people of England. Nor was it less advantageous to him on the Continent. His victory, with its results, indeed, were a full compensation to him for the previous losses he had sustained during the campaign. Laudohn raised the siege of Cosel, and evacuated Silesia; the Russians raised that of Colburg, and retreated into Poland; and the Swedes were driven out of Western Pomerania. In the same spirit of gratitude, the parliament granted £200,000 to our colonies in America, for the expenses they had incurred, and the efforts they had made in the present war—a war which laid some of the groundworks of the independence which a few years later was claimed by those colonies.

JUDGES MADE INDEPENDENT OF THE CROWN.

By an act passed in the year 1701, under the reign of William III., the commissions of the judges were continued quamdiu bené se gesserint; or the power of displacing them was taken from the crown, and their continuance in office was made solely dependent on the faithful discharge of their duties, so that it might be lawful to remove them on the address of both houses to the king. Still, at the demise of the crown, their offices were vacated, and George II. had even refused to renew the commission of a judge who had given him personal offence. Towards the close of this session, his present majesty, in a speech from the throne, recommended an important improvement in this matter, which greatly increased his popularity. He declared his wish to render the bench still more independent of the crown, and the administration of justice still more impartial; and he recommended that provisions should be made for the continuance of their commissions and salaries, without any reference to the death of one king, or the accession of his successor. In compliance with this expressed wish, a bill was framed for rendering the judges thus independent, which was carried through both houses. It received the royal assent on the 19th of March, on which day his majesty put an end to the session.