and
determined the mode of answering them. I must put the main facts in
evidence, though they are even painfully familiar. The most obvious
starting-point is given by the political situation. The supremacy of
parliament had been definitively established by the revolution of 1688,
and had been followed by the elaboration of the system of party
government. The centre of gravity of the political world lay in the
House of Commons. No minister could hold power unless he could command a
majority in this house. Jealousy of the royal power, however, was still
a ruling passion. The party line between Whig and Tory turned ostensibly
upon this issue. The essential Whig doctrine is indicated by Dunning's
famous resolution (6 April 1780) that 'the power of the crown had
increased, was increasing, and ought to be diminished.' The resolution
was in one sense an anachronism. As in many other cases, politicians
seem to be elaborately slaying the slain and guarding against the
attacks of extinct monsters. There was scarcely more probability under
George III. than there is under Victoria that the king would try to
raise taxes without consent of parliament. George III., however, desired
to be more than a contrivance for fixing the great seal to official
documents. He had good reason for thinking that the weakness of the
executive was an evil. The king could gain power not by attacking the
authority of parliament but by gaining influence within its walls. He
might form a party of 'king's friends' able to hold the balance between
the connections formed by the great families and so break up the system
of party government. Burke's great speech (11 Feb. 1780) upon
introducing his plan 'for the better security of the independence of
parliament and the economical reformation of the civil and other
establishments' explains the secret and reveals the state of things
which for the next half century was to supply one main theme for the
eloquence of reformers. The king had at his disposal a vast amount of
patronage. There were relics of ancient institutions: the principality
of Wales, the duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, and the earldom of
Chester; each with its revenue and establishment of superfluous
officials. The royal household was a complex 'body corporate' founded in
the old days of 'purveyance.' There was the mysterious 'Board of Green
Cloth' formed by the great officers and supposed to have judicial as
well as administrative functions. Cumb