f
hostile statesman, as one of the singular results flowing from that
necessity of adaptation to circumstances which was rendered unavoidable
by the unyielding character of the Sovereign.

There were other circumstances which, combined with the personal
dispositions of the King, led to the strenuous assertion in this reign
of the prerogatives of the Executive against the interference and
control of the aristocracy and the Parliament. From 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 convicti