laid
before the public. In order, however, to render intelligible the
allusions that are scattered through them, and to point out their real
value as materials for the political history of the time, it is
necessary to offer a few preliminary remarks on the circumstances to
which reference has been made.

George III.--whose admirable business habits and inflexible integrity
inspired the highest deference and attachment amongst the personal
friends he admitted to his confidence--was remarkable in no one
particular more than in his jealousy of the prerogatives of the Crown.
He carried his zeal in that matter so far as even to draw upon himself
the charge of desiring to strain the rights of the Crown beyond
constitutional limitations. But as these limitations have never been
accurately defined, and as it has always been difficult to prescribe the
precise privileges which would relieve the Sovereign, on the one hand,
from being a mere state puppet, without giving him, on the other, too
great a preponderance of executive power, we need not discuss the
justice of an imputation which refers to the general complexion of the
King's views rather than to any particular acts of arbitrary authority.
That it was the great aim of His Majesty's life to preserve the royal
prerogatives from encroachment is undeniable; but it should be
remembered that when George III. ascended the throne, the relative
powers and responsibilities of the Sovereign and his advisers were not
so clearly marked or so well understood as they are at present; and if
His Majesty's jealousy of the rights which he believed to be vested in
his person led him to trespass upon the independence of his servants, or
to resist what he considered the extreme demands of the Parliament, it
was an error against the excesses of which our Constitution affords the
easiest and simplest means of redress.

Intimately conversant with official routine, and thoroughly master of
the details of every department of the Government, he acquired a
familiar knowledge of all the appointments in the gift of the Ministry,
and reserved to himself the right of controlling them. Nor was this
monopoly of patronage confined to offices of importance or considerable
emolument; it descended even to commissions in the army, and the
disposal of small places which custom as well as expediency had
delegated to the heads of those branches of service to which they
belonged. His Majesty's pertinacity on these