Memoirs of the Courts and Cabinets of George the Third | Page 4

the date of the Revolution up
to the accession of George III., the independent authority of the Crown
can scarcely be said to have had any practical force--scarcely, indeed,
to have had any existence. The Government of the country was
essentially Parliamentary. It was part of the compact with William III.
A foreign dynasty had been established, and the people naturally
looked to the protection of their domestic interests against the possible
preponderance of extrinsic sympathies in the reigning power. Under
William III., the claim of the United Provinces upon the special regard
of the Sovereign was the object of national jealousy; and when the

House of Brunswick ascended the throne, popular vigilance was
transferred to Hanover. The first two Princes of that House who ruled
in England scarcely spoke our language, and were so ignorant of our
Constitution and our customs, that they could not be admitted with
safety to an active participation in the Government. The Whigs, who
had brought about these changes, preserved in their own hands the
entire authority of the State. The Sovereign was merely the motionless
representative of the monarchical principle. But George III. was not an
alien. Born in the country, educated in its language and its usages, and
inspired by an ardent devotion to Protestantism, he entered life under
auspices that attracted at once towards the Crown an amount of
popularity which it had never enjoyed under his predecessors. The
qualities and dispositions of the King were favourable to the cultivation
of these opportunities. Without being profoundly versed in the
philosophy of character, he possessed a remarkable aptitude in the
discrimination of persons suited to his purposes. He had considerable
skill (to which Lord Shelburne bears special testimony) in extracting
the opinions of others, and turning the results to account. If his mind
was not vigorous and original, it was active and adaptive, inquisitive
and watchful. If his judgment was not always sound, his convictions
were strong, and the tenacity of his resolution commanded submission.
An accomplished linguist, fond of business, and having some talents as
a writer, which enabled him to express his meaning with facility and
clearness, he was well qualified to avail himself of the political
accidents which contributed to revive and strengthen the royal
prerogative.
The Whigs themselves helped mainly to bring about this struggle
between the Crown and the Parliament, or rather between the Crown
and the "great families," to use Mr. Canning's phrase, who had hitherto
absorbed the power and patronage of the State. United in principle, they
were divided by personal jealousies. The long possession of office had
given a sort of impunity to their pretensions; and believing that they
held a perpetual tenure of Administration, they were weak enough, at
every new ministerial change, to contend amongst themselves for the
prizes. These internal dissensions weakened and scattered them, and
prepared the way for those experiments which were made, during the

early years of George III., to conduct the Government without their aid.
The effects were felt in an entire change of system. The accession of
George III. was followed by a coup-d'état, which displaced the able
Cabinet that had been organized by the elder Pitt, to make room for the
Earl of Bute, who had the credit of being the author of the scheme, and
who was utterly incapable of carrying it out. Independently of his want
of the requisite qualifications as a statesman, there were other
objections of a private nature to Lord Bute, which rendered it
impossible that he could ostensibly continue to guide the councils of
the Ministry, however he might be permitted, or retained, to influence
them from behind the curtain. But his short essay at Government had
sufficiently disturbed the ancien régime, to leave in the King's hands
the power of choosing his Ministers without reference to popular
clamour or the will of Parliament. The consequence was, a rapid series
of Ministerial mutations, throughout which the contest for power was
maintained on both sides with so fierce a spirit, that during the first ten
years of the reign of George III., there were no less than seven
successive Administrations.
It was not till Lord North was called to the head of the Ministry, in
1770, that the public uneasiness was allayed, and a Cabinet of the
King's own choice was founded in security. Lord North was an especial
favourite with the King, whose extraordinary regard for him originated
in the promptitude with which he responded to His Majesty's appeal, at
a moment of serious embarrassment, when the Duke of Grafton
unexpectedly threw up the Government, and Lord North consented to
undertake it. "I love you as a man of worth, as I esteem you as a
Minister," writes the King to him on one occasion; "your conduct at a
critical moment