over the island for
L70,000, and it became thenceforward an integral part of the realm of
England.

FOOTNOTES:

[65] Hardwicke to Newcastle, Add. MS. 32,948, f. 54.

[66] G. Rose, _Diaries_, ii., 192.

[67] James Grenville to Lady Chatham, Jan. 12, 1765, MS. Pitt Papers,
35.

CHAPTER IV.

THE KING, THE WHIGS, AND CHATHAM.

Both for public and personal reasons George was anxious to get rid of
his ministers. Unlike them, he appears as early as the spring of 1765 to
have considered the discontent of his American subjects a serious
matter, and he blamed them for it.[68] In other respects, too, he was
dissatisfied with their public conduct, and he complained bitterly of
their behaviour towards himself. In spite of some outward agreement in
action, he and Grenville, who without the name retained nearly all the
authority of prime minister, pursued fundamentally different systems.
Grenville, though not less ready than the king to meet opposition with
violent measures, was imbued with whig theories. While George sought to
rule by securing the support of parliament, Grenville tried to use that
support to enable him to rule the king. He was a pedant, and lectured
the king on his duty like a schoolmaster. Bute stood in his way as the
king's ally and secret counsellor. His victory over him was partial and
short-lived. While Bute was in the country the king corresponded with
him, and he returned to London in the spring of 1764. His return made
the ministers uneasy, and Grenville's lectures became intolerable. "When
he has wearied me for two hours," George complained, "he looks at his
watch to see if he may not tire me for an hour more." Bad as their
public conduct was, he and his colleagues owed their fall chiefly to
their unbecoming behaviour to their sovereign.

[Sidenote: _THE REGENCY BILL._]

Early in 1765 the king had a severe illness and showed signs of the
insanity from which he suffered later. He recovered in March, and as he
believed that his life was not likely to be prolonged, he was anxious to
provide for a possible regency. Constitutional usage pointed to the
queen as the proper person to be regent during the infancy of her son.
George, however, wished to have the power to nominate a regent by an
instrument revocable at pleasure. Grenville dissuaded him from this
idea, and, with his ministers' consent, he announced from the throne
that a bill would b