olonies, the attention of
students is directed to Grahame's and Bancroft's Histories
of the United States. In regard to India, see Elphinstone's,
Gleig's, Ormes's, and Mills's Histories of India; Malcolm's
Life of Clive; and Macaulay's Essay on Clive. For the
contemporaneous history of Great Britain, the best works are
those of Tyndal, Smollett, Lord Mahon, and Belsham;
Russell's Modern Europe; the Pictorial History of England;
and the continuation of Mackintosh, in Lardner's Cabinet
Cyclopedia.

CHAPTER XXI.

THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.

The English nation acquiesced in the government of Sir Robert Walpole
for nearly thirty years--the longest administration in the annals of
the country. And he was equal to the task, ruling, on the whole,
beneficently, promoting peace, regulating the finances, and
encouraging those great branches of industry which lie at the
foundation of English wealth and power. But the intrigues of rival
politicians, and the natural desire of change, which all parties feel
after a long repose, plunged the nation into war, and forced the able
minister to retire. The opposition, headed by the Prince of Wales,
supported by such able statesmen as Bolingbroke, Carteret,
Chesterfield, Pulteney, Windham, and Pitt, and sustained by the
writings of those great literary geniuses whom Walpole disdained and
neglected, compelled George II., at last, to part with a man who had
conquered his narrow prejudices.

But the Tories did not come into power on the retirement of Walpole.
His old confederates remained at the head of affairs, and Carteret,
afterwards Lord Granville, the most brilliant man of his age, became
the leading minister. But even he, so great in debate, and so
distinguished for varied attainments, did not long retain his place.
None of the abuses which existed under the former administration were
removed; and moreover the war which the nation had clamored for, had
proved disastrous. He also had to bear the consequences of Walpole's
temporizing policy which could no longer be averted.

[Sidenote: The Pelhams.]

The new ministry was headed by Henry Pelham, as first lord of the
treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, and by the Duke of
Newcastle, as principal secretary of state. These two men formed,
also, a coalition with the leading members of both houses of
parliament, Tories as well as Whigs; and, for the first time since the
accession of t