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VOL. XIV. (2) WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 95 
THE ENGLAND OF THE TIME OF THE 
WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 
BY THE LATE 
JOHN BELLOWS 
(Read April 22nd, 1902) 
“ George III alone, and not England,” remarks a recent 
writer in the Zzmes, “was responsible for that great 
historic War of Independence.” If along with the King 
we class a few headstrong advisers, the statement will 
probably be correct; for although the nation, when once 
it was committed to the conflict with the American 
Colonies, sided with the King, it was not because its 
judgment was convinced that he had acted justly, but 
because its passions were aroused ; for the masses of the 
people were never consulted in the matter; nor did there 
exist any real means of consulting them. It is true there 
was a House of Commons that had on several occasions 
done service to the cause of right and of liberty; but it 
must be borne in mind that representative institutions are 
the result of an evolution extending over a long period of 
time, and that the stage at which they had arrived in the 
eighteenth century was an exceedingly imperfect one. 
The power of voting for candidates to Parliament was 
restricted to a very small minority, and even that minority 
was by no means composed of the most intelligent classes 
of the community. The voters were, as a rule, the tools 
of wealthy or powerful men, who used them to secure the 
return of their own nominees. The grosser forms of this 
corruption were swept away by the Reform Bill of 1832; 
not to give place to a perfect system of election, but to 
one less imperfect than that of the “ Rotten boroughs,” 
