overn
the nation with as little regard to its opinion as of old. But, whether
he would or no, the drift of opinion aided him. Though the policy of
Walpole had ruined Jacobitism, it long remained unconscious of its ruin.
But when a Jacobite prince stood in the heart of the realm, and not a
Jacobite answered his call, the spell of Jacobitism was broken; and the
later degradation of Charles Edward's life wore finally away the thin
coating of disloyalty which clung to the clergy and the squires. They
were ready again to take part in politics; and in the accession of a
king who unlike his two predecessors was no stranger but an Englishman,
who had been born in England and spoke English, they found the
opportunity they desired. From the opening of the reign Tories gradually
appeared again at court.

[Sidenote: The King's friends.]

It was only slowly indeed that the party as a whole swung round to a
steady support of the Government; and in the nation at large the old
Toryism was still for some years to show itself in opposition to the
Crown. But from the first the Tory nobles and gentry came in one by one;
and their action told at once on the complexion of English politics.
Their withdrawal from public affairs had left them untouched by the
progress of political ideas since the Revolution of 1688, and when they
returned to political life it was to invest the new sovereign with all
the reverence which they had bestowed on the Stuarts. In this return of
the Tories therefore a "King's party" was ready made to his hand; but
George was able to strengthen it by a vigorous exertion of the power and
influence which was still left to the Crown. All promotion in the
Church, all advancement in the army, a great number of places in the
civil administration and about the court, were still at the king's
disposal. If this vast mass of patronage had been practically usurped by
the ministers of his predecessors, it was resumed and firmly held by
George the Third; and the character of the House of Commons made
patronage a powerful engine in its management. George had one of
Walpole's weapons in his hands, and he used it with unscrupulous energy
to break up the party which Walpole had held so long together. The Whigs
were still indeed a great power. "Long possession of government, vast
property, obligations of favours given and received, connexion of
office, ties of blood, of alliance, of friendship, the name of Whigs
dear to the majority of