t seemed to have
abdicated its chief functions. The Journals of the House of Commons,
during four sessions contain no trace of a division on a party question.
The supplies, though beyond precedent great, were voted without
discussion. The most animated debates of that period were on road bills
and enclosure bills.

The old King was content; and it mattered little whether he were content
or not. It would have been impossible for him to emancipate himself from
a ministry so powerful, even if he had been inclined to do so. But he
had no such inclination. He had once, indeed, been strongly prejudiced
against Pitt, and had repeatedly been ill used by Newcastle; but the
vigor and success with which the war had been waged in Germany, and the
smoothness with which all public business was carried on, had produced a
favorable change in the royal mind.

Such was the posture of affairs when, on the twenty-fifth of October,
1760, George the Second suddenly died, and George the Third, then
twenty-two years old, became King. The situation of George the Third
differed widely from that of his grandfather and that of his
great-grandfather. Many years had elapsed since a sovereign of England
had been an object of affection to any part of his people. The first two
Kings of the House of Hanover had neither those hereditary rights which
have often supplied the defect of merit, nor those personal qualities
which have often supplied the defect of title. A prince may be popular
with little virtue or capacity, if he reigns by birthright derived from
a long line of illustrious predecessors. An usurper may be popular, if
his genius has saved or aggrandized the nation which he governs.
Perhaps no rulers have in our time had a stronger hold on the affection
of subjects than the Emperor Francis, and his son-in-law the Emperor
Napoleon. But imagine a ruler with no better title than Napoleon, and no
better understanding than Francis. Richard Cromwell was such a ruler;
and, as soon as an arm was lifted up against him, he fell without a
struggle, amidst universal derision. George the First and George the
Second were in a situation which bore some resemblance to that of
Richard Cromwell. They were saved from the fate of Richard Cromwell by
the strenuous and able exertions of the Whig party, and by the general
conviction that the nation had no choice but between the House of
Brunswick and Popery. But by no class were the Guelphs regarded with
that devote