II

GEORGE III AND THE ELDER PITT[56]

To a superficial observer, the accession of George III was one of the
most fortunate events that could have occurred. The new king was born
in England, spoke English as his mother tongue, and was said to look
upon Hanover as a foreign country, whose interests were to be
considered of subordinate importance. At the same time, the last hopes
of the House of Stuart were now destroyed; the Pretender himself was
languishing in Italy, where he shortly after died: and his son, a
slave to the vices which seemed hereditary in that family, was
consuming his life in an unpitied and ignominious obscurity.

[Footnote 56: From Volume I, Chapter VII, of the "History of
Civilization in England."]

And yet these circumstances, which appeared so favorable, did of
necessity involve the most disastrous consequences. The fear of a
disputed succession being removed, the sovereign was emboldened to a
course on which he otherwise would not have ventured. All those
monstrous doctrines respecting the rights of kings, which the
Revolution was supposed to have destroyed, were suddenly revived. The
clergy, abandoning the now hopeless cause of the Pretender, displayed
the same zeal for the House of Hanover which they had formerly
displayed for the House of Stuart. The pulpits resounded with praises
of the new king, of the domestic virtues, of his piety, but, above
all, his dutiful attachment to the English Church. The result was the
establishment of an alliance between the two parties more intimate
than any had been seen in England since the time of Charles I. Under
their auspices the old Tory faction rapidly rallied, and were soon
able to dispossess their rivals of the management of the government.

This reactionary movement was greatly aided by the personal character
of George III, for he, being despotic as well as superstitious, was
equally anxious to extend the prerogative and strengthen the church.
Every liberal sentiment, everything approaching to reform, nay, even
the mere mention of inquiry, was an abomination in the eyes of that
narrow and ignorant prince. Without knowledge, without taste, without
even a glimpse of one of the sciences, or a feeling for one of the
fine arts, education had done nothing to enlarge a mind which nature
had more than usually contracted. Totally ignorant of the history and
resources of foreign countries, and barely knowing their geographical
position, his inform