Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/720

 708 GEORGE III. 20 years before was most humiliating to all re- flecting Englishmen. The king was compelled to submit to a whig ministry, headed by the marquis of Rockingham and Charles James Fox (March, 1782). Lord Rockingham's death (July 1) caused the new ministry to fall to pieces, and power passed into the hands of the earl of Shelburne and the younger William Pitt. American independence was acknowledged, and peace restored, though the king was even then resolute to continue the contest, and talked of retiring to Hanover because of the coercion to which he was subjected. The Shelburne ministry was driven from power by the famous coalition of the Foxite whigs with the tories who followed Lord North (April, 1783). The king hated this ministry intensely, and talked of going to Hanover more than ever, and prob- ably refrained from going because of the hint that while it would be easy to reach that coun- try, it would not be so easy to get back to England. His submission was short-lived. The coalition broke down in an attempt to put a stop to the misgoyerninent of India. Its India bill passed the commons, but was thrown out by the lords in consequence of royal influence having been brought to bear on the minds of some of the peers. The king then dismissed the ministry, and placed Pitt at the head of his councils (December). After the new minis- try had carried on a conflict with the coalition party in the commons until the latter had lost its majority, parliament was dissolved, and in the elections that followed the coalition was annihilated. The king, with the Pitt ministry, was now as popular as formerly he had been odious, and the tory party commenced a reign of nearly half a century. The prince of Wales was now of age. His loose life was all the more distasteful to the king because his asso- ciates were mostly whigs. As George I. had hated his eldest son, and George II. followed his father's example, so did George III. hate the heir apparent. Public affairs, however, went on smoothly, save that the impeachment of Hastings, who was patronized by the king, was brought about by the aid of Pitt. In August, 1786, an attempt upon the king's life was made by an insane woman named Margaret Nichol- son. The labors of John Howard had led to legislation for prison reform. Various expe- dients were tried, and in 1787 the first convicts were transported to New South Wales. In 1788 the king was severely assailed by that illness which finally rendered him incapable of attending to business. A fierce struggle was commenced between parties, the object of the whigs being to have the prince of Wales made king under the title of regent should the royal illness continue, while the tories were determined to abridge materially the powers of the regent. The recovery of the king put an end to the contest, and was the subject of great national rejoicing. Immediately afterward occurred the commencement of the French revolution, which arrested his attention ; and that great movement found in him the most determined of its enemies. Before the break- ing out of the war with France, a dispute took place with Russia, the object being to prevent the conquest of Turkey by Catharine II. The opposition rallied and gained strength, but Turkey was saved. Another dispute occurred with Spain, but did not lead to war. The war with revolutionary France began in 1793 ; and though the English maintained their naval character, defeating the French off Brest on June 1, 1794, at the Nile on Aug. 1, 1798, and elsewhere, the Spaniards at Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797, and the Dutch at Camperduin, Oct. 11, their military character was not raised by its events. The most arbitrary rule was maintained at home, and nothing but the firm- ness of English juries prevented the establish- ment of as complete a reign of terror in Great Britain as existed in France. Ireland was goaded into rebellion, which was suppressed by measures as cruel and bloody as any perpe- trated by the French republicans in La Vendee and Brittany. The union between Great Brit- ain and Ireland was effected in 1800, the par- liament of the latter ceasing to exist, while she was allowed to send 100 members of the house of commons and 30 representative peers to the imperial parliament. Peace was made with France in 1802, though against the king's wishes, his opinion being always in favor of bloodshed, unless his enemy should uncondi- tionally submit. The French had been driven out of Egypt, and Malta captured from them. The peace was but a hollow truce, and the re- fusal of the English to give up Malta led to the renewal of the war in 1803. The Pitt ministry had broken down in 1801, really on the question of peace with France, but osten- sibly because of the king's bigotry, he refusing relief to the Catholics, though it had been un- derstood that it was to be granted as one of the conditions of the Irish union. Henry Ad- dington became premier, and kept his post until after the renewal of the war, when Pitt returned to office. The threats of Napoleon to invade England, and the vast preparations he made for that purpose, caused the people to rally around the throne, and an immense force was on foot, of regulars, militia, and vol- unteers, while the navy was much increased. Spain was drawn into the war on the side of France, and their united fleets were destroyed in Nelson's victory at Trafalgar (1805), which made England irresistible on the ocean, and settled the invasion question for that genera- tion. For some time the war on the part of England was chiefly confined to the ocean, though she assisted the enemies of France with money. Such military expeditions as she fitted out were on a small scale, and mostly failed. In South America, in Egypt, in the north of Europe, her armies either were beaten or accomplished nothing ; and it was not un- til the breaking out of the Peninsular war in 1808 that, under the command of Moore and