e the introduction of railroads. The famous Old Sarum had
members in Parliament long after it had ceased to have any inhabitants.
Seats for these rotten boroughs, as they were called, were simply bought
and sold. Political life in England was exceedingly corrupt; some of the
best statesmen indulged in wholesale bribery as if it were the most
innocent thing in the world. The country was really governed by a few
great families, some of whose members sat in the House of Lords and
others in the House of Commons. Their measures were often noble and
patriotic in the highest degree, but when bribery and corruption seemed
necessary for carrying them, such means were employed without scruple.

[Sidenote: George III. and his political schemes.]

When George III. came to the throne in 1760, the great families which
had thus governed England for half a century belonged to the party known
as Old Whigs. Under their rule the power of the crown had been reduced
to insignificance, and the modern system of cabinet government by a
responsible ministry had begun to grow up. The Tory families during this
period had been very unpopular, because of their sympathy with the
Stuart pretenders who had twice attempted to seize the crown and given
the country a brief taste of civil war. By 1760 the Tories saw that the
cause of the Stuarts was hopeless, and so they were inclined to transfer
their affections to the new king. George III. was a young man of narrow
intelligence and poor education, but he entertained very strong opinions
as to the importance of his kingly office. He meant to make himself a
real king, like the king of France or the king of Spain. He was
determined to break down the power of the Old Whigs and the system of
cabinet government, and as the Old Whigs had been growing unpopular, it
seemed quite possible, with the aid of the Tories, to accomplish this.
George was quite decorous in behaviour, and, although subject to fits of
insanity which became more troublesome in his later years, he had a
fairly good head for business. Industrious as a beaver and obstinate as
a mule, he was an adept in political trickery. In the corrupt use of
patronage he showed himself able to beat the Old Whigs at their own
game, and with the aid of the Tories he might well believe himself
capable of reviving for his own benefit the lost power of the crown.

[Sidenote: The "New Whigs" and parliamentary reform.]

Beside these two parties a third ha