had decided that the Crown should pass from Anne to the heirs of
Sophia, Electress of Hanover and daughter of James I.; and the fact that
the Chevalier was a Catholic made his accession impossible according to
law, and the policy of Bolingbroke highly treasonable.

George I. could not speak English, and relied entirely on his Whig
ministers. Bolingbroke fled to the Continent, but was permitted to return
from exile nine years later. Oxford was impeached and sent to the Tower.
The Whigs were left in triumph to rule the country for nearly fifty
years--until the restiveness of George III. broke up their dominion--and
for more than twenty years of that period Walpole was Prime Minister.
Cabinet government--that is, government by a small body of men, agreed upon
main questions of policy, and commanding the confidence of the majority of
the House of Commons--was now in full swing, and in spite of the monarchist
revival under George III., no King henceforth ever refused consent to a
Bill passed by Parliament.

The Whigs did nothing in those first sixty years of the eighteenth century
to make the House of Commons more representative of the people. They were
content to repeat the old cries of the Revolution, and to oppose all
proposals of change. But they governed England without oppression, and
Walpole's commercial and financial measures satisfied the trading classes
and kept national credit sound.

WALPOLE'S RULE

Walpole remained in power from 1720 to 1742 by sheer corruption--there was
no other way open to him. He laughed openly at all talk of honesty and
purity, and his influence lowered the whole tone of public life.[68] But he
kept in touch with the middle classes, was honest personally, and had a
large amount of tact and good sense. His power in the House of Commons
endured because he understood the management of parliamentary affairs, and
had a genius for discerning the men whose support he could buy, and whose
support was valuable.

George III. went to work in much the same way as Walpole had done, and only
succeeded in breaking down the power of the Whig houses by using the same
corrupt methods that Walpole had employed. The "King's friends," as they
were called, acted independently of the party leaders, and in the pay of
the King were the chief instrument of George III.'s will.

THE CHANGE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS

But George III. not only turned the Whigs out of office, he altered
permanently the political comple