71 



GEORGE III. 



QEORGK IV. 



nopocUtioo* which bad been for some time in progress bad terminated 

 in tit* signature of the preliminaries of general peace. This news 

 was received with universal satisfaction and rejoicing. The definitive 

 treaty of ptaoe was signed at Amiens on the 25th of March 1802. 



Within a yea however boetilitiee were renewed. We need on); 

 notice a* the moat remarkable occurrence* in the ooone of thia war, in 

 ao far aa thia country waa concerned, the occupation of Hanover by 

 il.i- French, in 1803 ; the declaration of war by Spain, in December 

 1S04 ; the threatened invaaion by France, and Nelson's glorious 

 victory of Trafalgar, in 1805; tbe uniucoessful attempt to negociate 

 a peace, tbe capture of the Capo of Good Hope by England, and 

 Bonaparte's Berlin decree of 1806 ; the seizure of the Danish fleet 

 and u>e capture and subsequent evacuation of Buenos Ayrei, in 1806 ; 

 tbe insurrection in Spain, tbe alliance entered into with that country, 

 and the expuUion of the French from Portugal, in 1808 ; tbe long 

 contest begun in that year, which eventually achieved tbe liberation 

 of the peninsula ; tbe war with America, in 1812; the treaty with 

 Ruuia, in that year ; tbe treaties with Sweden and Austria, and the 

 expulsion of tbe French from Hanover, in 1813; the peace with 

 Denmark, in January 1814; tbe surrender of Paris to the allies, in 

 March ; tbe abdication of Bonaparte and restoration of tbe Bourbons ; 

 tbe peace with America, signed at Ghent, in December ; the return of 

 Bonaparte from Elba, in March 1S15 ; and finally, tbe victory of 

 Waterloo, in June following, which put an end to tbe war. 



Of the public events which occurred within tbe kingdom during 

 this period the most remarkable were : the return of the king's 

 illness for a few weeks iu February 1804 ; tho restoration of Mr. Pitt 

 to power, in May of that year; the death of Mr. Pitt the 23rd 

 of January 1806; tbe accession of the ministry of Mr. Fox and 

 Lord Greuville; the death of Mr. Fox, 13th of September; tbe disso- 

 lution of tbe Grenville administration, in March 1S07, in consequence 

 of tbe king refusing bis assent to their proposed measures for the 

 relief of the Roman Catholics ; the formation of a new cabinet under 

 the Duke of Portland and Mr. Perceval ; the resignation of the com- 

 mand of tbe army by the Duke of York, in March 1809, in conse- 

 quence of the result of an investigation on charges of corrupt practices 

 (of which however it appeared that the profits were reaped, not by 

 tbe duke, but by his mistress, tho notorious Mrs. Clarke) ; the cele- 

 bration, on the 25th of October that year, of the Jubilee, on the 

 occurrence of the fiftieth anniversary of his majesty's accession ; tbe 

 commencement of the final insanity of the king, in the end of October 

 1810; the consequent appointment, by act of parliament, of tho 

 Prince of Wales as regent, in February 1811 ; the assassination of 

 Mr. Perceval, May 11, 1812; and the appointment of the Earl of 

 Liverpool as premier. The ministry of Lord Liverpool lasted during 

 tbe remainder of the reign. The king continued iu the same state of 

 mental incapacity into which ho bad fallen, till bis death at Windsor 

 Castle on the night of Saturday, the 29th of January 1820, in the 

 eighty-second year of bis age, and the sixtieth of bis reign. He had 

 been entirely blind for some years before his death. 



For an enumeration of the children of George III. and Queen 

 Charlotte (who died at Kew, 17th of November 1818) we refer to any 

 of tbe Almanacs or Peerages. They were fifteen in all, namely, nine 

 sons (of whom two, George, bis successor, and William, reigned aa 

 kings of England, and one, Ernest, as king of Hanover), and six 

 daughters, one of whom, Mary, is still living (1856). 



On the subject of tbe character, moral and intellectual, of George III. 

 there is probably now not much difference of opinion. He had no 

 pretensions to any superior penetration or vigour of understanding, 

 but be possessed rather more than the ordinary endowment of prac- 

 tical tact and skill in the management both of affairs and of men. 

 He was perfectly master of all the proprieties of his station, which 

 never, at least on important occasions, lost any of its respectability 

 or authority during his occupation of it. His firmness or tenacity of 

 purpose was such as usually to defeat in the end any attempt that 

 was made to thwart bis wishes in the movements of domestic politics, 

 and indeed it was generally believed that the royal spirit of determi- 

 nation or obstinacy had a considerable share in prolonging more thau 

 one of the great public contests in which the country was involved 

 during this reigu, after all reasonable hope of success bud vanished. 

 But it has generally been admitted that the persistency of George III., 

 however mistaken or unfortunate, was for the most part conscientious 

 in other words, that he firmly believed himeelf to be in the right 

 even in those cases in which he was possibly most in the wrong. Tbe 

 credit that was given to him upon this point operated with a power- 

 fully favourable effect, not only upon the estimation in which be was 

 personally held, but in obtaining support to the measures of his govern- 

 ment. The decorum of his private conduct also was of much service 

 to him, as well as probably efficacious in no tlight degree in giving a 

 higher tone to the public manners and in making the domestic virtues 

 fashionable even in tbe circles where they are most apt to be treated 

 with neglect. It ought not moreover to be omitted, that, with what- 

 ever narrowness of view consequent upon bis training and bis position 

 George III. may be chargeable, be was what many influential persons 

 of bis time were not an avowed friend to the diffusion of education, 

 and certainly was not afraid that bis subjects would be made either 

 more difficult to govern or worse in any other respect, by all classes 

 aud e\ery individual of them being taught to rc.id and to write. 



It is scarcely necessary to observe that over all our Western 

 world, and nowhere more than in England, the period forming the 

 reign of George III. is perhaps to be placed above every other of tbe 

 same length in modern history for the multitude and vutnesa both of 

 the social changes and of the accessions to almost every department 

 of human knowledge by which it has been signalised. It is worth 

 remarking however that even the political confusion and universal 

 wars of the latter half of tbe period did not prevent that space from 

 being at least as productive of valuable inventions and discoveries, and 

 as distinguished for the busy and successful cultivation of every 

 branch of science and literature, as the quieter time that preceded. 



Very great changes took place in the extent of the British dominions 

 during the reign of George IIL Ireland ceased to be a separate king- 

 dom Hanover was lost and recovered Canada was added to our 

 colonies our other and much more important possessions on the 

 North American continent were severed from us a new empire, 

 immense in its extent aud population, was acquired in India. On the 

 whole, notwithstanding the loss of the American colonies, the power 

 and influence of tbe state were undoubtedly much greater at tbe close 

 of the reign than they were at its commencement. Of the commerce 

 and wealth of tbe country it would be more correct to say that they 

 were multiplied during this period than simply that they were 

 increased. No financial operations were ever effected or undertaken 

 or dreamt of in any other time or country approaching to the gigantic 

 magnitude of those accomplished by the British government in the 

 closing years of tbe late war. The revenue raised by taxation at the 

 beginning of the reigu waa under nine millions ; it did not reach ten 

 millions till the year 1773; in 1780 it had increased to somewhat 

 above 12,000,00*. ; in 1786 it waa 15,000,000k ; in 1793, at the com- 

 mencement of tbe war with France, it was 17,000,000. After this 

 new taxes were imposed to a considerable amount, to that the entire 

 revenue raised in 1800 exceeded 34,000,0002. From this date it 

 continued to rise every year, till in 1S15 it amounted to the immense 

 sum of 72,210,5m (' Official Tables of the Board of Trade,' part iii.) 

 In the seven years from 1810 to 1816 inclusive, about 472,000,0004 

 were raised by taxes alone, being on an average above 67,000,0001. 

 per annum. In 1819, the last year of the reign, the sum thus raised 

 was still nearly 53,000,0002. Tbe sums raised by loaus were, to the 

 end of the Seven Years' War in 1763, about 32.000.000/. ; during the 

 American War (1775-84) above 121,000,0002.; aud during tbe last war 

 with France (1793-1S15) above 609,000,0002. In the year 1813, the 

 total amount borrowed was 52,000,0002. funded, aud above 554 

 unfunded, making, with the produce of the taxes, tbe total payments 

 into the Exchequer for that year 107,597,6602., beiug at the enormous 

 rate of above 2,000,0002. weekly. Tbe national debt, which at the 

 commencement of the reign was about 108,000,0002., on which waa 

 paid an annual interest of not quite 4,000,0002., bad increased by the 

 end of the reign to above 800,000,0002. of principal, bearing an interest 

 of more than 30,000,0002. 



The collection of tbe ^statutes passed in the reign of George III. is 

 nearly four times as large as that of the whole mass of preceding 

 English legislation from tbe Conquest. We can only here mention, as 

 having most of a popular or historical interest, the Act of 1761, con- 

 tinuing the commissions of the judges notwithstanding any demise of 

 the crown ; the Hoyal Marriage Act, already noticed ; the Grenville 

 Act of 1770 (amended in 1788), for the settlement of disputed 

 elections of members of the House of Commons; the act of 1782, 

 disqualifying revenue officers from voting at elections, aud govern- 

 ment contractors from sitting in tbe bouse; the act of 1792 (com- 

 monly called Fox's Libel Law), declaring the right of juries to judge 

 of tbe law aa well as of tbe fact in cases of libel; the act of 1801, 

 excluding clergymen from the bouse of Commons; the act of 1807, 

 abolishing the slave trade; Sir Samuel Homilly's acts of 1811 and 

 1818, for the amelioration of the criminal law; the act of 1813, 

 abolishing the penalties aud incapacities to which Unitarians were 

 formerly subjected; the act of 1819, abolishing the appeal of battle 

 in cases of murder ; the Foreign Enlistment Act, of the same year ; 

 aud the acts of that year for the suppression of blasphemy and 

 sedition, commonly called tbe Six Act-. 



GEORGE (AUGUSTUS FREDERICK) IV., King of Great Britain, 

 the eldest son of George III., was born on tbo 12th of August 1762, 

 exactly forty-eight years (making allowance for tbe difference of style) 

 after the accession of tbe bouse of Hanover. On the 17th he was 

 created by letters patent Priuce of Wales aud Earl of Chester, and 

 was baptised the next day. He was made a knight of the Garter 

 December 26th, 1765, and a few months afterwards was appointed by 

 a king's letter, addressed to the lord mayor, captain-general of the 

 Honourable Artillery Company of the city of Loudon. Tbe Prince of 

 Wales was educated along with his next brother, Prince Frederick, 

 bishop of Osnaburg (afterwards Duke of York), in great privacy, aud 

 on a system of strict discipline. In April 1771, Lord Holdcruesse 

 was appointed governor, Mr. Smelt sub-governor, Dr. Markham, 

 bishop of Chester (afterwards archbishop of York), preceptor, aud 

 Mr. (afterwards Dr.) Cyril Jackson sub-preceptor to the two princes. 

 In 1770 however all these persons suddenly resigned their ollices, for 

 some cause which has never been satisfactorily explained. The 

 common account is, that they found some political works which they 

 considered objectionable put into tbo bauds of the boys by the 



