father, who died without ascending the throne, his education had devolved upon his mother, by whom he was brought up in the strictest privacy. She had unfortunately quarrelled with the late king, and the prince, though now in his twentysecond year, had been consequently such a stranger to the court of his grandfather, that he was unacquainted even with the persons of the ministers. 2. His first address to the council was gracious and conciliatory: the only remarkable occurrence that distinguished the opening of the new reign was the elevation of the earl of Bute to the office of privy. counsellor. 3. The parliament was assembled in November, and the king's first speech gave universal satisfaction to the country. The civil list was fixed at the annual sum of 800,000l.; and liberal supplies were voted for the maintenance of the war in which the country was engaged The king, in return for this instance of affection on the part of the people, assented to a bill for further securing the independence of the judges, by providing that their offices should not be vacated on the demise of the crown. 4. (A.D. 1761.) The act of settlement prohibiting the sovereigns of Britain from intermarrying with Roman Catholics, his majesty was precluded from seeking a consort in the great families of Europe; he therefore selected as his bride a daughter of the house of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, a small principality in the north of Germany; the marriage was celebrated on the 8th of September, and on the 22d of the same month the ceremony of the coronation was performed with great pomp and magnificence. 5. The war which had been carried on with great spirit and success under the auspices of Mr. Pitt, continued to be supported with unabated vigour; prince Ferdinand, at the head of the allies, pursued his victorious career in Germany, and Belleisle was captured by a British force under the command of admiral Keppel and general Hodgson. The French court, terrified at these losses, made an abortive attempt to obtain peace, but having failed in this, a successful application for assistance was made to the king of Spain. and a secret treaty, called the Family Compact, was made between the two powers. 6. This transaction, though carefully concealed, did not escape the penetration of Mr. Pitt; he warned his colleagues of the insidious designs of Spain, and urged them to send out a fleet to intercept the Spanish flota, or strike some other decisive blow before the hostile projects of that court were ripe for execution. This proposal was very coolly received by the other members of the cabinet; they were not in possession of all the informa tion which their colleague had obtained, and they were besides jealous of the influence which Mr. Pitt's superior popularity conferred. The project was finally rejected, and Mr. Pitt immediately resigned. As a mark of gratitude, however, for his eminent public services, a pension of 3000l. a year was settled on him for three lives, and his wife was created baroness Chatham. 7. The retirement of this popular minister was generally attributed to the secret influence of the earl of Bute, who was supposed to have obtained complete ascendency over the mind of his royal master. This suspicion created general displeasure among the people; on the lord mayor's day, when his majesty and suite proceeded to dine in the city, the king and queen were received with coldness and silence, the earl of Bute was grossly insulted, but Mr. Pitt was welcomed with the loudest acclamations. 8. In a few months the wisdom of Mr. Pitt's anticipa tions was fully established; the hostile designs of Spain could no longer be concealed, and when the British ambassador remonstrated, he received nothing but evasive answers, or flat refusals to all his demands. He was in consequence recalled, and in a short time after a declaration of war was published against Spain. 9. A new parliament being assembled, the consideration of a provision for the queen, in the event of her surviving his majesty, was recommended from the throne. An annuity of 100,000l. was settled on her for life, together with the palace of Somerset house (afterwards exchanged for Buckingham house), and the lodge and lands of Richmond park. 10. (A.D. 1762.) No change of importance had hitherto been made in the cabinet, except the appointment of the earl of Bute to the office of secretary of state; but a more important alteration had long been meditated, one that involved almost a complete revolution in the domestic policy of England. Since the accession of the house of Brunswick, the administration of public affairs had been prin. cipally confided to some of the great families, by whose exertions that race of sovereigns had been placed upon the throne. Their power had been considerably strengthened by the suppression of the two rebellions in 1715 and 1745. and the two former kings, more attached to their German dominions than to their British kingdoms, surrendered the government of these countries to their ministers without reluctance. The new sovereign of Britain was entirely free from German predilections; in the court of his mother he had been taught to dislike the politics of his grandfather, and he had no longer any reason to dread dangers from the change, for the claims of the young pretender had long since sunk into total insignificance. Unfortunately, the earl of Bute, to whom the management of such an important change was confided, did not possess abilities equal to the task. His domestic virtues, his refined taste, and generous liberality had made him deservedly beloved in private life; but his reserved habits, his coldness of manner, and his total ignorance of state affairs, made his public career odious to the people, painful to himself, and injurious to the popularity of his sovereign. 11. It was resolved to get rid of the Pelham family, which had been so long at the head of affairs; the duke of Newcastle was made so uneasy in his situation, that he resigned his post as first lord of the treasury, and was succeeded by the earl of Bute; the greater part of the ministers imitated the duke's example; and even the duke of Devonshire, whose exertions in behalf of the Hanoverian succession had been rewarded by the place of lord chamberlain, found it necessary to resign his situation. A furious paperwar ensued, and party spirit, which had slept during the triumphant administration of Mr. Pitt, was revived, and raged with unparalleled fury. National prejudices contributed to fan the flame; the earl of Bute was a Scotchman, and the old jealousy between the natives of the northern and southern divisions of the country was made a formidable engine of party hostility. 12. The war was carried on with equal vigour and success by the new administration. The French and Spaniards having in vain endeavoured to detach the Portuguese from their alliance with England, sent an army to invade the country but an English body of auxiliaries was immediately despatched to Portugal, and the progress of the invaders was soon checked. At first, indeed, the bigoted Portuguese refused to unite cordially with their heretical allies; but when count de la Lippe was appointed to the command of their armies, he entered cordially into the views of the English general, and the Spaniards were defeated in two decisive engagements. Spain suffered still more se verely in other quarters of the globe; Havannah, with plunder to the amount of three millions sterling, was taken by the earl of Albemarle and admiral Pococke; the city of Manilla surrendered to general Draper and admiral Corn. ish; it was ransomed for the stipulated sum of one million but the Spaniards violated their engagements, and the ransom was never paid. Two valuable treasure ships, contaming property to the amount of two millions sterling, were about the same time captured by British cruisers. (August 12, 1762.) While the wagons that conveyed the treasure taken from the Spanish vessels to the Tower were passing in front of the palace, the cannon in the park an nounced the birth of a prince of Wales, and this coincidence not a little increased the public joy at this happy event. 13. While the arms of England were thus triumphant in various quarters of the globe, the king of Prussia, her principal, and, indeed, her almost only ally, after a series of brilliant exploits, which have immortalized his name, seemed to have been brought to the very brink of ruin by the junction of the Russians with his inveterate enemies. At the very moment, however, that his destruction seemed certain, he was rescued by one of those sudden revolutions which baffle all human calculation. Elizabeth, empress of Russia, dying, was succeeded by her nephew, Peter III., who was an enthusiastic admirer of the Prussian king; he not only concluded a peace with Frederick, but even joined his arms to those of that monarch, and began to act hostilely against his former allies. Peter was, however, soon dethroned by his subjects; Catharine II., his consort, then became empress of Russia; she withdrew her forces from those of the king of Prussia, and resolved to maintain a strict neutrality. Frederic was not slow in availing himself of these favourable circumstances, and soon amply retrieved his former losses. 14. All parties were now seriously anxious for the restoration of peace. France was deprived of her colonial possessions, and saw her commerce on the brink of ruin; Spain had suffered still more severely; the Austrians and Prussians were wearied of campaigns, which left the armies at their close nearly in the same situation they occupied at the commencement; and England, notwithstanding her triumphs, felt that a continuation of such exertions would soon exnaust her resources. The seven years' war was terminated by a general peace, by which England was permitted to re tain Canada and several other conquests, receiving also from Spain, Florida, in exchange for the Havannah. 15. Though the terms of the peace were very favourable to the interests of the English, yet the nation, intoxicated by success, regretted the termination of the war. The articles had been signed several months before the city of London could be prevailed upon to present a tardy and reluctant address of congratulation, and on the day of its presentation, the lordmayor (Beckford) refused to attend, and the bells of the different churches rung muffled peals during the procession Questions for Examination. 1. By whom was George II. succeeded? 2. Did any thing remarkable occur at the first meeting of the privy council, 3. What proceedings took place in parliament? 4 To whom did George III. unite himself in marriage? 5. Did any circumstances tend to show hostile dispositions in the Spanish court? 6. Under what circumstances did Mr. Pitt resign his office? 7. What were the consequences of his resignation? 8. Were Mr. Pitt's suspicions of the Spanish court well founded? 9. What dowry was settled on the queen? 10. What great change took place in the administration? 11. Did any evil consequences result from the change of ministry? 12. How was the war conducted? what triumphs did the English obtain ? 13. By what means was the king of Prussia rescued from his difficulties? 14. Why were all parties anxious to terminate the war? 15. Was the peace popular in England? SECTION II. Like smoke emitted from Vesuvius' top, So breathe the fires of discontent-nor stop Till all around is wrapt in burning showers.- Brown. 1. (A.D. 1763.) TRANQUILLITY might naturally have been expected at the conclusion of a glorious war, but this was prevented by the domestic dissensions which party spirit produced. The earl of Bute's unpopularity still con tinued, but his influence was apparently unabated, for not withstanding the most vigorous efforts of the opposition, he prevailed upon parliament to impose a tax upon cider which, without producing any great revenue, gave infinite dissatisfaction to the nation. Immediately after this triumph, his lordship, to the great surprise of every one, resigned his post and retired into private life. 2. He was succeeded by Mr. George Grenville. The press soon teemed with the most virulent libels from the partisans of the several factions hat divi led the country. In these productions the person |