rnment was unequal to the situation, have
accepted his resignation, and allowed his new ministers to act as they
thought best. These duties, however, were not, as we have seen, so
clearly settled in those days. The prime minister of our time was not
then fully invented, and George's plan of personal government through
ministers was not yet rejected by the country. He could still rely on
the support of parliament. A proposal to request the king to dismiss his
ministers was defeated at that very time by 263 to 113 in the commons
and by 100 to 36 in the lords. Chatham's return to office would
doubtless have been hailed with satisfaction by the nation. Yet, though
a change in public sentiment with regard to the American war was
beginning, and was soon to spread rapidly, the king's policy was still
popular with the larger part of his subjects.[138] When therefore his
conduct in March, 1778, is compared with that of Charles I. it should be
remembered that George had parliament and the mass of the nation at his
back.

The personal light in which he regarded the question is inexcusable. He
had been disappointed and deeply offended by Chatham's political
conduct, and he had cause to fear that a whig government would rob him
of the power which he loved. As a king he had no right to allow his
private feelings to affect his public action. That he did so was the
result partly of his system of personal rule, partly of serious defects
in his character, his implacability of temper, and his habit of
regarding all things as they affected himself. North struggled in vain
against his determination, and gave way before it. It is a mistake,
however, to regard the king as solely responsible for the continuance of
the war. If he is to be blamed because, rather than submit to the loss
of the colonies, which nearly all men believed would be the end of
England's greatness and prosperity, he determined to carry on the
struggle, the blame must be shared by others. Had North been true to his
convictions George could not have formed another administration willing
to act on the same system. Had the majority of the commons refused to
support the king, the constitution afforded the means of over-ruling his
will.[139]

Questions as to Chatham's return to power were soon to be brought to an
end. On April 7 he appeared in the lords after a severe attack of
illness, and, in faltering sentences, though with some remains of his
peculiar fire, protested agai