in order to get more money to use as a corruption fund. See
May's "Constitutional History."
[4] "Personal monarchy": see S15 of this Summary.

29. The American Revolution.

The King's power reached its greatest height between 1770 and 1782.
He made most disastrous use of it, not only at home but abroad. He
insisted that the English colonists in America should pay taxes,
without representation in Parliament, even of that imperfect kind
which then existed in Great Britain. This determination brought on
the American Revolution--called in England the "King's War" (SS549-
552). The war, in spite of its ardent support by the "King's
Friends," roused a powerful opposition in Parliament. Chatham, Burke,
Fox, and other able men protested against the King's arbitrary
course. inally, Dunning moved and carried this resolution (1780) in
the Commons: "Resolved, that the power of the Crown has increased, is
increasing, and ought to be diminished" (S548). This vigorous
proposition came too late to affect the conduct of the war, and
England lost the most valuable of her colonial possessions. The
struggle, which ended successfully for the patriots in America, was in
reality part of the same battle fought in England by other patriots in
the halls of Parliament. On the western side of the Atlantic it
resulted in the establishment of national independence; on the eastern
side, in the final overthrow of royal tyranny and the triumph of the
constitution. It furthermore laid the foundation of that just and
generous policy on the part of England toward Canada and her other
colonies which has made her mistress of the largest and most
prosperous empire on the globe.[1]

[1] The area of the British Empire in 1911 was nearly 12,000,000
square miles.

30. John Wilkes and the Middlesex Elections; Publication of
Parliamentary Debates.

Meanwhile John Wilkes (S556), a member of the House of Commons, had
gained the recognition of a most important principle. He was a coarse
and violent opponent of the royal policy, and had been expelled from
the House on account of his bitter personal attack on the King.[2]
Several years later (1768) he was reelected to Parliament, but was
again expelled for seditious libel;[3] he was three times reelected by
the people of London and Middlesex, who looked upon him as the
champion of their cause; each time the House refused to permit him to
take his seat, but at the fourth election he was successful