REIGN OF GEORGE III. TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF WILLIAM PITT.
Great subjects were discussed in England, and great events happened in
America, during the latter years of the reigns of Frederic II.,
Catharine II., and Maria Theresa. These now demand attention.
[Sidenote: Military Successes in America.]
George III. ascended the throne of Great Britain at a period of
unparalleled prosperity, when the English arms were victorious in all
parts of the world, and when commerce and the arts had greatly
enriched his country and strengthened its political importance. By the
peace of Paris, (1763,) the dominions of George III. were enlarged,
and the country over which he reigned was the most powerful in Europe.
Mr. George Grenville succeeded the Earl of Bute as the prime minister
of the king, and he was chiefly assisted by the Earls of Egremont and
Halifax. His administration was signalized by the prosecution of
Wilkes, and by schemes for the taxation of the American colonies.
Mr. Wilkes was a member of parliament, but a man of ruined fortunes
and profligate morals. As his circumstances were desperate, he applied
to the ministry for some post of emolument; but his application was
rejected. Failure enraged him, and he swore revenge, and resolved to
libel the ministers, under the pretext of exercising the liberty of
the press. He was editor of the North Briton, a periodical publication
of some talent, but more bitterness. In the forty-fifth number, he
assailed the king, charging him with a direct falsehood. The charge
should have been dismissed with contempt; for it was against the
dignity of the government to refute an infamous slander. But, in an
evil hour, it was thought expedient to vindicate the honor of the
sovereign; and a warrant was therefore issued against the editor,
publisher, and printer of the publication. The officers of the law
entered Wilkes's house late one evening, seized his papers, and
committed him to the Tower. He sued out a writ of habeas corpus, in
consequence of which he was brought up to Westminster Hall. Being a
member of parliament, and a man of considerable abilities and
influence, his case attracted attention. The judges decided that his
arrest was illegal, since a member of parliament could not be
imprisoned except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. He had
not committed any of these crimes, for a libel had only a _tendency_
to disturb the peace. Still, had he been a private person, his
imprisonment would have been legal; but being unconstitutional, he was
discharged. Lord Chief Justice Pratt gained great popularity by his
charge in favor of the liberation of Wilkes, and ever nobly defended
constitutional liberty. He is better known as Lord Camden, the able
lord chancellor and statesman during a succeeding administration, and
one of the greatest lawyers England has produced, ranking with Lord
Hardwicke, Lord Ellenborough, and Lord Eldon.
[Sidenote: Prosecution of Wilkes.]
After the discharge of Wilkes, the attorney-general was then ordered
to commence a state prosecution, and he was arraigned at the bar of
the House of Commons. It was voted, by a great majority, that the
forty-fifth number of the North Briton was a scandalous and seditious
libel, and tending to excite traitorous insurrections. It was further
voted that the paper should be burned by the common hangman. Wilkes
then complained to the House of a breach of privilege, which
complaint, being regular, was considered. But the Commons decided that
the privilege of parliament does not extend to a libel, which
resolution was against the decision of the Court of Common Pleas, and
the precedents upon record in their own journals. However scandalous
and vulgar the vituperation of Wilkes, and especially disgraceful in a
member of parliament, still his prosecution was an attack on the
constitution. Wilkes was arrested on what is called a _general
warrant_, which, if often resorted to, would be fatal to the liberties
of the people. Many, who strongly disliked the libeller, still
defended him in this instance, among whom were Pitt, Beckford, Legge,
Yorke, and Sir George Saville. But party spirit and detestation of
Wilkes triumphed over the constitution, and the liberties of members
of parliament were abridged even by themselves. But Wilkes was not
discouraged, and immediately brought an action, in Westminster Hall,
against the Earl of Halifax, the secretary of state, for seizing his
papers, and, after a hearing of fifteen hours, before Lord Chief
Justice Pratt and a special jury, obtained a verdict in his favor of
one thousand pounds damages and costs.
While the Commons were prosecuting Wilkes for a libel, the Lords also
continued the prosecution. Wilkes, in conjunction with Potter, a
dissipated son of Archbishop Potter, during some of their bacchanalian
revels, had written a blasphemous and obscene poem, after the model of
Pope's Essay on Man, called _An Essay on Woman_. The satire was not
published, but a few copies of it were printed privately for the
authors. Lord Sandwich had contrived to secure a copy of it, and read
it before the House; and the Lords, indignant and disgusted, voted an
address to the king to institute a prosecution against the author. The
Lords, by so doing, departed from the dignity of their order, and
their ordinary functions, and their persecution served to strengthen,
instead of weaken, the cause of Wilkes.
[Sidenote: Churchill.]
Associated with him, in his writings and his revels, was the poet
Churchill, a clergyman of the Establishment, but as open a contemner
of decency as Wilkes himself. For some years, his poetry had proved as
bad as his sermons, his time being spent in low dissipation. An
ill-natured criticism on his writings called forth his energies, and
he started, all at once, a giant in numbers, with all the fire of
Dryden and all the harmony of Pope. Imagination, wit, strength, and
sense, were crowded into his compositions; but he was careless of both
matter and manner, and wrote just what came in his way. "This
bacchanalian priest," says Horace Walpole, "now mouthing patriotism,
and now venting libertinism, the scourge of bad men, and scarce better
than the worst, debauching wives, and protecting his gown by the
weight of his fist, engaged with Wilkes in his war on the Scots, and
set himself up as the Hercules that was to cleanse the state and
punish its oppressors. And true it is, the storm that saved us was
raised in taverns and night-cellars; so much more effectual were the
orgies of Churchill and Wilkes than the dagger of Cato and Brutus.
Earl Temple joined them in mischief and dissipation, and whispered
where they might find torches, though he took care never to be seen to
light one himself. This triumvirate has even made me reflect that
nations are most commonly saved by the worst men in them. The virtuous
are too scrupulous to go the lengths which are necessary to rouse the
people against their tyrants."
[Sidenote: Grafton's Administration.]
The ferment created by the prosecution of Wilkes led to the
resignation of Mr. Grenville, in 1765, and the Marquis of Rockingham
succeeded him as head of the administration. He continued, however,
the prosecution. He retained his place but a few months, and was
succeeded by the Duke of Grafton, the object of such virulent
invective in the Letters of Junius, a work without elevation of
sentiment, without any appeal to generous principle, without
recognition of the eternal laws of justice, and without truthfulness,
and yet a work which produced a great sensation, and is to this day
regarded as a masterpiece of savage and unscrupulous sarcasm. The Duke
of Grafton had the same views as his predecessor respecting Wilkes,
who had the audacity, notwithstanding the sentence of outlawry which
had been passed against him, to return from Paris, to which he had,
for a time, retired, and to appear publicly at Guildhall, and offer
himself as a candidate for the city of London. He was contemptuously
rejected, but succeeded in being elected as member for Middlesex
county.
Mr. Wilkes, however, recognizing the outlawry that had been passed
against him, surrendered himself to the jurisdiction of the Court of
the King's Bench, which was then presided over by Lord Mansfield. This
great lawyer and jurist confirmed the verdicts against him, and
sentenced him to pay a fine of one thousand pounds, to suffer two
years' imprisonment, and to find security for good behavior for seven
years. This sentence was odious and severe, and the more unjustifiable
in view of the arbitrary and unprecedented alteration of the records
on the very night preceding the trial.
[Sidenote: Popularity of Wilkes.]
The multitude, enraged, rescued their idol from the officers of the
law, as they were conducting him to prison, and carried him with
triumph through the city; but, through his entreaties, they were
prevailed upon to abstain from further acts of outrage. Mr. Wilkes
again surrendered himself, and was confined in prison. When the
Commons met, Wilkes was again expelled, in order to satisfy the
vengeance of the court. But the electors of Middlesex again returned
him to parliament, and the Commons voted that, being once expelled, he
was incapable of sitting, even if elected, in the same parliament. The
electors of Middlesex, equally determined with the Commons, chose him,
for a third time, their representative; and the election, for the
third time, was declared void by the commons. In order to terminate
the contest, Colonel Lutterell, a member of the House, vacated his
seat, and offered himself a candidate for Middlesex. He received two
hundred and ninety-six votes, and Wilkes twelve hundred and
forty-three, but Lutterell was declared duly elected by the Commons,
and took his seat for Middlesex.
This decision threw the whole nation into a ferment, and was plainly
an outrage on the freedom of elections; and it was so considered by
some of the most eminent men in England, even by those who despised
the character of Wilkes. Lord Chatham, from his seat, declared "that
the laws were despised, trampled upon, destroyed; those laws which had
been made by the stern virtues of our ancestors, those iron barons of
old, to whose spirit in the hour of contest, and to whose fortitude in
the triumph of victory, the silken barons of this day owe all their
honors and security."
Mr. Wilkes subsequently triumphed; the Commons grew weary of a contest
which brought no advantage and much ignominy, and the prosecution was
dropped; but not until the subject of it had been made Lord Mayor of
London. From 1768 to 1772, he was the sole unrivalled political idol
of the people, who lavished on him all in their power to bestow. They
subscribed twenty thousand pounds for the payment of his debts,
besides gifts of plate, wine, and household goods. Every wall bore his
name and every window his picture. In china, bronze, or marble, he
stood upon the chimney-pieces of half the houses in London, and he
swung from the sign-board of every village, and every great road in
the environs of the metropolis. In 1770 he was discharged from his
imprisonment, in 1771 was permitted to take his seat, and elected
mayor. From 1776, his popularity declined, and he became involved in
pecuniary difficulties. He, however, emerged from them, and enjoyed a
quiet office until his death (1797.) He was a patriot from accident,
and not from principle, and corrupt in his morals; but he was a
gentleman of elegant manners and cultivated taste. He was the most
popular political character ever known in England; and his name, at
one time, was sufficient to blow up the flames of sedition, and excite
the lower orders to acts of violence bordering on madness.
[Sidenote: Taxation of the Colonies.]
During his prosecution, important events occurred, of greater moment
to the world. The disputes about the taxation of America led to the
establishment of a new republic, whose extent and grandeur have never
been equalled, and whose future greatness cannot well be exaggerated.
These disputes commenced during the administration of George
Grenville. The proposal to tax the American colonies had been before
proposed to Sir Robert Walpole, but this prudent and sagacious
minister dared not run the risk. Mr. Grenville was not, however,
daunted by the difficulties and dangers which the more able Walpole
regarded. In order to lighten the burden which resulted from the
ruinous wars of Pitt, the minister proposed to raise a revenue from
the colonies. The project pleased the house, and the Stamp Duties were
imposed. It is true that the tax was a light one, and was so regarded
by Mr. Grenville; but he intended it as a precedent; he was resolved
to raise a revenue from the colonies sufficiently great to lighten the
public burden. He regarded the colonists as subjects of the King of
Great Britain, in every sense of the word; and, since they received
protection from the government, they were bound to contribute to its
support.
[Sidenote: Indignation of the Colonies.]
But the colonists, now scattered along the coast from Maine to
Georgia, took other views. They maintained that, though subject in
some degree to English legislation, they could not be taxed, any more
than other subjects of Great Britain, without their consent. They were
willing to be ruled in accordance with those royal charters which had,
at different times, been given them. They were even willing to assist
the mother country, which they loved and revered, and with which were
connected their brightest and most cherished associations, in
expelling its enemies from adjoining territories, and to fight battles
in its defence. They were willing to receive the literature, the
religion, the fashions, and the opinions of their brethren in England.
But they looked upon the soil which they cultivated in the wilderness
with so many difficulties, hardships, and dangers, as their own, and
believed that they were bound to raise taxes only to defend the soil,
and promote good government, religion, and morality in their midst.
But they could not understand why they were bound to pay taxes to
support English wars on the continent of Europe. It was for their
children, and for the sacred privilege of religious liberty, that they
had originally left the mother country. It was only for themselves and
their children that they felt bound to labor. They sought no political
influence in England. They did not wish to control elections, or
regulate the finances, or interfere with the projects of military
aggrandizement. They were not represented in the English parliament,
and they composed, politically speaking, no part of the English
nation. Great, therefore, was their indignation, when they learned
that the English government was interfering with their chartered
rights, and designed to raise a revenue from them to lighten taxes at
home, merely to support the government in foolish wars. If they could
be taxed, without their consent, in any thing, they could be taxed
without limit; and they would be in danger of becoming mere slaves of
the mother country, and be bound to labor for English aggrandizement.
On one point they insisted with peculiar earnestness--that taxation,
in a free country, without a representation of interests in
parliament, was an outrage. It was on account of this arbitrary
taxation that Charles I. lost his crown, and the second revolution was
effected, which placed the house of Hanover on the throne. The
colonies felt that, if the subjects of the king at home were justified
in resisting unlawful taxes, they surely, on another continent, and
without a representation, had a right to do so also; that, if they
were to be taxed without their consent, they would be in a worse
condition than even the people of Ireland; would be in the condition
of a conquered people, without the protection which even a conquered
country enjoyed. Hence they remonstrated, and prepared themselves for
resistance.
[Sidenote: The Stamp Act.]
The English government was so blinded as not to perceive or feel the
force of the reasoning of the colonists, and obstinately resolved to
resort to measures which, with a free and spirited people, must
necessarily lead to violence and strife. The House of Commons would
not even hear the reports of the colonial agents, but proceeded, with
strange infatuation and obstinate bigotry, to impose the Stamp Act,
(1765.) There were some, however, who perceived its folly and
injustice. General Conway protested against the assumed right of the
government, and Colonel Barré, a speaker of great eminence, exclaimed,
in reply to the speech of Charles Townshend, who styled the colonies
"children planted by our care, and nourished by our indulgence,"--"They
planted by your care!--No! your oppressions planted them in America;
they fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated wilderness, exposed
to all the hardships to which human nature is liable! They nourished
by your indulgence!--No! they grew by your neglect; your _care_ of
them was displayed in sending persons to govern them who were the
deputies of deputies of ministers--men whose behavior, on many
occasions, has caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil
within them; men who have been promoted to the highest seats of
justice in a foreign country, in order to escape being brought to the
bar of a court of justice in their own." Mr. Pitt opposed the fatal
policy of Grenville with singular eloquence; by arguments which went
beyond acts of parliament; by an appeal to the natural reason; and by
recognition of the great, inalienable principles of liberty. He
maintained that the House had _no right_ to lay an internal tax upon
America, _that country not being represented_. Burke, too, then a new
speaker, raised his voice against the folly and injustice of taxing
the colonies; but it was in vain. The commons were bent on imposing
the Stamp Act.
But the passage of this act created great disturbances in America, and
was every where regarded as the beginning of great calamities.
Throughout the colonies there was a general combination to resist the
stamp duty; and it was resolved to purchase no English manufactures,
and to prevent the adoption of stamped paper.
Such violent and unexpected opposition embarrassed the English
ministry; which, in addition to the difficulties attending the
prosecution of Wilkes, led to the retirement of Grenville, who was
succeeded by the Marquis of Rockingham. During his short
administration, the Stamp Act was repealed, although the Commons still
insisted on their right to tax America. The joy which this repeal
created in the colonies was unbounded; and the speech of Pitt, who
proposed the repeal, and defended it with unprecedented eloquence, was
every where read with enthusiasm, and served to strengthen the
conviction, among the leading men in the colonies, that their cause
was right. Lord Rockingham did not long remain at the head of the
government, and was succeeded by the Duke of Grafton; although Mr.
Pitt, recently created Earl of Chatham, was virtually the prime
minister. Lord Rockingham retired from office with a high character
for pure and disinterested patriotism, and without securing place,
pension, or reversion, to himself or to any of his adherents.
[Sidenote: Lord Chatham.]
The elevation of Lord Chatham to the peerage destroyed his popularity
and weakened his power. No man ever made a greater mistake than he did
in consenting to an apparent elevation. He had long been known and
designated as the _Great Commoner_. The people were proud of him and,
as a commoner, he could have ruled the nation, in spite of all
opposition. No other man could have averted the national calamities.
But, as a peer, he no longer belonged to the people, and the people
lost confidence in him, and abandoned him. What he gained in dignity
he lost in power and popularity. The people now compared him with Lord
Bath, and he became the object of universal calumny.
And Chatham felt the change which had taken place in the nation. He
had ever loved and courted popularity, and that was the source of his
power. He now lost his spirits, and interested himself but little in
public affairs. He relapsed into a state of indolence and apathy. He
remained only the shadow of a mighty name; and, sequestered in the
groves of his family residence, ceased to be mentioned by the public.
He became melancholy, nervous, and unfit for business. Nor could he be
induced to attend a cabinet council, even on the most pressing
occasions. He pretended to be ill, and would not hold conference with
his colleagues. Nor did he have the influence with the king which he
had a right to expect. Being no longer beloved by the people, he was
no longer feared by the king. He was like Samson when deprived of his
locks--without strength; for his strength lay in the confidence and
affections of the nation. He opposed his colleagues in their
resolution to impose new taxes on America, but his counsels were
disregarded.
These taxes were in the shape of duties on glass, paper, lead, and
painters' colors, from which no considerable revenue could be gained,
and much discontent would inevitably result. When the news of this new
taxation reached the colonies, it destroyed all the cheerfulness which
the repeal of the Stamp Act had caused. Sullenness and gloom returned.
Trust in parliament was diminished. New combinations of opposition
were organized, and the newspapers teemed with invective.
In the midst of these disturbances, Lord Chatham resigned the Privy
Seal, the office he had selected, and retired from the administration,
(1768.)
[Sidenote: Administration of Lord North.]
In 1770, the Duke of Grafton also resigned his office as first lord of
the treasury, chiefly in consequence of the increasing difficulties
with America; and Lord North, who had been two years chancellor of the
exchequer, took his place. He was an amiable and accomplished
nobleman, and had many personal friends, and few personal enemies; but
he was unfit to manage the helm of state in the approaching storm.
It was his misfortune to be minister in the most unsettled and
revolutionary times, and to misunderstand not merely the spirit of the
age, but the character and circumstances of the American colonies.
George III., with singular obstinacy and blindness, sustained the
minister against all opposition; and under his administration the
American war was carried on, which ended so disastrously to the mother
country.
As this great and eventful war will be the subject of the next
chapter, the remaining events of interest, connected with the domestic
history of England, will be first presented.
The most important of these were the discontents of the Irish.
As early as 1762, associations of the peasantry were formed with a
view to political reforms and changes, and these popular
demonstrations of the discontented have ever since marked the history
of the Irish nation--ever poor, ever oppressed, ever on the eve of
rebellion.
[Sidenote: Functions of the Parliament.]
The first circumstance, however, after the accession of George III.,
which claims particular notice, was the passing of the Octennial Bill,
in 1788. The Irish parliament, unlike the English, continued in
existence during the life of the sovereign. In 1761, an attempt had
been made by the patriotic party to limit its duration, and to place
it upon the same footing as the parliament of England; but this did
not succeed. Lord Townshend, at this period, was lord lieutenant, and
it was the great object of his government to break the power of the
Irish aristocracy, and to take out of their hands the distribution of
pensions and places, which hitherto had, from motives of policy, been
allowed them. He succeeded in his object, though by unjustifiable
means, and the British government became the source of all honor and
emolument. During his administration, some disturbances broke out in
Ulster, in consequence of the system which then prevailed of letting
land on fines. As a great majority of the peasantry and small farmers
were unable to pay these fines, and were consequently deprived of
their farms, they became desperate, and committed violent outrages on
those who had taken their lands. Government was obliged to resort to
military force, and many distressed people were driven to America for
subsistence. To Ireland there appeared no chance of breaking the
thraldom which England in other respects also exercised, when the
American war broke out. This immediately changed the language and
current of the British government in reference to Ireland; proposals
were made favorable to Irish commerce; and some penal statutes against
Catholics were annulled. Still the patriots of Ireland aimed at much
greater privileges than had as yet been granted, and the means to
secure these were apparent. England had drawn from Ireland nearly all
the regular forces, in order to send them to America, and the
sea-coast of Ireland was exposed to invasion. In consequence of the
defenceless state of the country, the inhabitants of the town of
Belfast, in 1779, entered into armed associations to defend themselves
in case of necessity. This gave rise to a system of volunteers, which
soon was extended over the island. The Irish now began to feel their
strength; and even Lord North admitted, in the House of Commons, the
necessity of granting to them still greater privileges, and carried a
bill through parliament, which removed some grievous commercial
restrictions. But the Irish looked to greater objects, and especially
since Lord North, in order to carry his bill, represented it as a boon
resumable at pleasure, rather than as a right to which the Irish were
properly entitled. This bill, therefore, instead of quieting the
patriots, led to a desire for an independent parliament of their own.
A union was formed of volunteers to secure this end, not composed of
the ignorant peasantry, but of all classes, at the head of which was
the Duke of Leinster himself. In 1781, this association of volunteers
had a force of fifty thousand disciplined men; and it moreover formed
committees of correspondence, which naturally alarmed the British
government.
These and other disturbances, added to the disasters in America,
induced the House of Commons to pass censure on Lord North and his
colleague, as incapable of managing the helm of state. The king,
therefore, was compelled to dismiss his ministers, whose
administration had proved the most disastrous in British annals. Lord
North, however, had uncommon difficulties to contend with, and might
have governed the nation with honor in ordinary times. He resigned in
1782, four years after the death of Chatham, and the Marquis of
Buckingham, a second time, was placed at the head of the government.
Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke also obtained places, and the Whigs were once
more triumphant.
[Sidenote: Irish Discontents.]
The attention of the new ministry was imperatively demanded by the
discontents in Ireland, and important concessions were made. Mr.
Grattan moved an address to the king, which was unanimously carried in
both Houses, in which it was declared that "the crown of Ireland was
inseparably annexed to the crown of Great Britain; but that the
kingdom of Ireland was a distinct kingdom, with a parliament of her
own, the sole legislature thereof; that in this right they conceived
the very essence of their liberty to exist; that in behalf of all the
people of Ireland, they claimed this as their birthright, and could
not relinquish it but with their lives; that they had a high
veneration for the British character; and that, in sharing the freedom
of England, it was their determination to share also her fate, and to
stand and fall with the British nation." The new lord lieutenant, the
Duke of Portland, assured the Irish parliament that the British
legislature had resolved to remove the cause of discontent, and a law
was actually passed which placed the Irish parliament on the same
footing as that of England. Acts were also passed for the right of
habeas corpus, and for the independence of the judges.
The volunteers, having accomplished the objects which they originally
contemplated, did not, however, disband, but now directed their
efforts to a reform in parliament. But the House of Commons rejected
the proposition offered by Mr. Flood, and the convention, appointed by
the volunteers, indefinitely adjourned without persevering, as it
should have done. The volunteer system soon after declined.
The cause of parliamentary reform, though no longer supported by the
volunteers in their associate character, was not deserted by the
people, or by their advocates in parliament. Among these advocates was
William Pitt himself. But in 1783, he became prime minister, and
changed his opinions.
[Sidenote: Protestant Association.]
But before the administration of Pitt can be presented, an event in
the domestic history of England must be alluded to, which took place
during the administration of Lord North. This was the Protestant
Association, headed by Lord George Gordon, and the riots to which it
led.
[Sidenote: Lord George Gordon's Riots.]
In 1780, parliament had passed an act relieving Roman Catholics from
some of the heavy penalties inflicted on them in the preceding
century. It relieved bishops, priests, and schoolmasters from
prosecution and imprisonment, gave security to the rights of
inheritance, and permission to purchase lands on fee simple. This act
of toleration was generally opposed in England; but the fanatical
spirit of Presbyterianism in Scotland was excited in view of this
reasonable indulgence, to a large body of men, of the rights of
conscience and civil liberty. On the bare rumor of the intended
indulgence, great tumults took place in Edinburgh and Glasgow; the
Roman Catholic chapel was destroyed, and the houses of the principal
Catholics were attacked and plundered. Nor did the magistracy check or
punish these disorders with any spirit, but secretly favored the
rioters. Encouraged by the indifference of the magistrates, the
fanatics formed themselves into a society called the _Protestant
Association_, to oppose any remission of the present unjust laws; and
of this association Lord George Gordon was chosen president. He was
the son of the Duke of Gordon, belonging to one of the most ancient of
the Scottish nobility, but a man in the highest degree wild and
fanatical. He was also a member of parliament, and opposed the views
of the most enlightened statesmen of his time, and with an
extravagance which led to the belief that he was insane. He
calumniated the king, defied the parliament, and boasted of the number
of his adherents. He pretended that he had, in Scotland, one hundred
and sixty thousand men at his command, who would cut off the king's
head, if he did not keep his coronation oath. The enthusiasm of the
Scotch soon spread to the English; and, throughout the country,
associations were affiliated with the parent societies in London and
Edinburgh, of both of which Lord Gordon was president. At Coachmakers'
Hall he assembled his adherents; and, in an incendiary harangue,
inflamed the minds of an immense audience in regard to the Church of
Rome, with the usual invectives respecting its idolatry and
corruption. He urged them to violent courses, as the only way to stop
the torrent of Catholicism which was desolating the land. Soon after,
this association assembled at St. George's Fields, to the astonishing
number of fifty thousand people, marshalled in separate bands, with
blue cockades; and this immense rabble proceeded through the city of
London to the House of Parliament, preceded by a man carrying a
petition signed by twelve hundred thousand names. The rabble took
possession of the lobby of the house, making the old palace ring with
their passionate cries of "No popery! no popery!" This mob was
harangued by Lord Gordon himself, in the lobby of the house, while the
matter was discussed among the members. The military were drawn out,
and the mob was dispersed for a time, but soon assembled again, and
became still more alarming. Houses were plundered, churches were
entered, and the city set on fire in thirty-six different places. The
people were obliged to chalk on their houses "No popery," and pay
contributions to prevent their being sacked. The prisons were emptied
of both felons and debtors. Lord Mansfield's splendid residence was
destroyed, together with his pictures, furniture, and invaluable law
library. Martial law was finally proclaimed--the last resort in cases
of rebellion, and never resorted to but in extreme cases; and the
military did what magistrates could not do--restored order and law.
Had not the city been decreed to be in a state of rebellion, the
rioters would have taken the bank, which they had already attacked.
Five hundred persons were killed in the riot, and Lord George Gordon
was committed to the Tower. He, however, escaped conviction, through
the extraordinary talents of his counsel, Mr. Erskine and Mr. Kenyon;
but one hundred others were capitally convicted. This disgraceful riot
opened the eyes of the people to the horrors of popular insurrection,
and perhaps prevented a revolution in England, when other questions,
of more practical importance, agitated the nation.
But no reform of importance took place until the administration of
William Pitt. Mr. Burke attempted to secure some economical
retrenchments, which were strongly opposed. But what was a
retrenchment of two hundred thousand pounds a year, when compared with
the vast expenditures of the British armies in America and in India?
But though the reforms which Burke projected were not radical or
important, they contributed to raise his popularity with the people,
who were more annoyed by the useless offices connected with the king's
household, than by the expenditure of millions in war. At first, his
scheme received considerable attention, and the members listened to
his propositions so long as they were abstract and general. But when
he proceeded to specific reforms, they no longer regarded his voice,
and he was obliged to abandon his task as hopeless. William Pitt made
his first speech in the debate which Burke had excited, and argued in
favor of retrenchment with the eloquence of his father, but with more
method and clearness. The bill was lost, but Burke finally succeeded
in carrying his measures; and the offices of the master of the
harriers, the master of the staghounds, the clerk of the green cloth,
and some other unimportant sinecures, were abolished.
[Sidenote: Parliamentary Reforms.]
[Sidenote: Reform Questions.]
The first attempt at that great representative reform which afterwards
convulsed the nation, was made by William Pitt. He brought forward two
resolutions, to prevent bribery at elections, and secure a more
equitable representation. But he did not succeed; and Pitt himself,
when his cause was advocated by men of a different spirit,--men
inflamed by revolutionary principles,--changed his course, and opposed
parliamentary reform with more ardor than he had at first advocated
it. But parliamentary reform did not become an object of absorbing
interest until the times of Henry Brougham and Lord John Russell.
No other great events were sufficiently prominent to be here alluded
to, until the ministry of William Pitt. The American Revolution first
demands attention.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.--Belsham's History of the Reign of George III.
Walpole's Memoir of the same reign. Holt's Private and
Domestic Life of George III. Lord Brougham's Statesmen of
the Reign of George III. Smyth's Lectures. Thackeray's Life
of the Earl of Chatham. Correspondence of the Earl of
Chatham. Annual Register, from 1765 to 1775. Debret's
Parliamentary Debates. Stephens' Life of Horne Tooke.
Campbell's Lives of the Lord Chancellors. Macaulay's Essay
on Chatham. Burke's Thoughts on the Present Discontents.