alarmist, and put Mr. Burke's "Reflections" into the hands of all his courtiers; observing that if a stop was not put to republicanism there would be an end of his order. In his fears he had the support of the rich and titled, whose wishes are equivalent to laws, and cannot be disregarded. But he was more pertinacious in the continuance of hostilities both with America and France than the most bellicose of his subjects. George III., indeed, lacked the most shining part of a Christian in not being a lover of peace, but prone to war; embodying the mediæval ideal of a champion rather than of a patriot monarch worthy of his age. The chief virtues of the king, indeed, were domestic; his vices those that distress nations. In the internal government of the kingdom there is little scope for eulogy. The ascendancy of Toryism, consequent on the revolting coalition of North and Fox, was interrupted only by fitful interludes of Whiggism. Important guarantees of constitutional liberty were infringed. or suspended. The growth of public opinion, and the increase of wealth and intelligence among the people, formed the chief bulwarks against the increasing influence of the crown from the augmentation of the peerage and government expenditure. The right of reporting the parliamentary debates, and the independent publicity of the journals, which were fully established, imposed an indirect responsibility to the community on the Legislature, the force of which was augmented by the frequency of county and other public meetings, aided by numerous societies established for political reform and the diffusion of political information. The external pressure from these influences, concurring with critical emergen * Recollections of the Reign of George III., p. 400.; by Mr. Nicholls, a contemporary observer and M. P. PROGRESS DURING HIS REIGN. 615 cies in the wars, was felt and evinced in the character of public measures. Ireland was sought to be conciliated by the mitigation of the penal laws against Catholics, the opening of her trade with this country and the Continent, and her legislative union with England. The rivalries of factions and their endless parliamentary divisions, which had obstructed and sometimes suspended executive government, fell into disrepute. Questions bearing more directly on the commonweal-the freedom and advancement of commerce, fiscal and judicial im - ---- provements, mitigation of the criminal law, popular education and police, the growth of indigence and population, mercantile vicissitudes and currency derangements - obtained a larger share of public attention. The age was intellectual; but George III. did not actively interest himself in its triumphs further than by the patronage of the elementary teachers of education, of the fine arts, and voyages of geographical discovery. Since the days of Cardinal Wolsey, England has not had a prominent Mæcenas among her kings or ministers. Even the national universities, and the public and grammar schools of the kingdom, continued fettered by usage, by devotion to an exploded philosophy, or by the tenure of their foundations, and did not essentially accelerate the advancement of science. With little aid, however, from these sources, knowledge of a valuable kind made an extraordinary progress, stimulated by the wants, or fostered by the increasing riches of the people. The subtleties of metaphysics, whose confines lead nowhere; the niceties of classical scholarship, which savour of pedantry; the higher orders of mathematics, whose uses and reasonings are inapplicable to common life, were less successfully cultivated, and yielded in public estimation to the more novel and available pursuits of political economy, chemistry, mechanics, geology, the medical art, history, natural and experimental philosophy. Literature and poetry, as already described, acquired great renown; but the leading characteristic of the age was Utility, less morally than physically, in the application of the intellect to the substantial requisites of commerce, agriculture, and the manufacturing arts. It was an age of Humanity; of which the abolition of the African slave-trade, and the efforts made to induce other nations to follow the example, is a noble testimony. The tendency of the national feeling was evinced in the encouragement given to the Bell and Lancaster schemes of instruction; to institutions of charity and benevolence; to efforts to mitigate or extinguish loathsome or infectious maladies; and to better the state of the poor by an indulgent, if not always an enlightened, philosophy. The infamous and often cruel and unequal punishment of the pillory was abolished; also the barbarous one of burning females for petty treason, and the disembowelling of traitors. Corruption of blood in the descendants of criminals was limited, and the Gothic jurisprudence of wagers of battle abolished. Unquestionably it was an age of great progress, though the long reign of sixty years was unmarked by the consummation of any great social or political reform. It was eminently a stirring period, and instructive from the variety and vast interests of its occurrences. It was distinguished by the spread of intelligence, increase of national riches, extraordinary scientific discoveries, great canal and road improvements, and brilliant naval and military triumphs. On the bright side of the monarch's character may be urged his private worth, piety, humanity, and love of justice; on the dark, his selfishness, bigotry, obstinacy, dissimulation, vindictiveness, and ingratitude. HIS COMPLETE SOVEREIGNTY. 617 His understanding and regal abilities have been underrated. It is sufficient to say that he abased the factions, and thoroughly understood his own interests. To his successor he left a splendid inheritance, a crown in more complete sovereignty, more independent of aristocratic dictation, disputed title, favouritism, or other control, than it had been held since the times of the Tudors.* CHAPTER XXX. REGENCY AND REIGN OF GEORGE IV. War as the Pacificator of Nations.-Transition from War to Peace; its Effects on England and the Continent. — Resistance to Retrenchment. Political Discontents; their Causes and Character.--Trial of Queen Caroline. · Continental Revolutions; the Holy Alliance; the British Ministry dissentient. Commencement of Liberalism; short Ministry of Mr. Canning. — State of Ireland. — Ministry of the Duke of Wellington; its Energetic and Conciliatory Progress. Relief of the Dissenters, and Repeal of Catholic Disabilities.-Death of the King, and Characteristics of his Reign. — Architectural and Street Improvements.- Public Reforms in Weights and Measures, the Coinage, Currency, and Police.-Literature, Poetry, and Novels. The Quarterly Reviews. Music, Painting, and the Lyrical Drama. It is unfortunate for mankind that, while a peaceful era is most conducive to the public welfare, it is frequently the least so to the ease and renown of the supreme power. The glories of war chiefly concentrate in the sovereign, Concluding paragraphs, with slight alterations, from the author's "British History." Bohn. Fifth edition, 1847. his ministers, and great officers; while the blessings of peace are more widely diffused and shared in by the entire community. The calamities of modern wars are not limited to the period of hostilities; but, like hereditary diseases, transmitted to an immediately succeeding or more distant generation. They are chiefly waged on credit, and contrition for their miseries, and the redemption of their squanderings, bequeathed to a guiltless posterity. They are the spendthrift's riot, who wastes the estate in which he has only a life tenure, leaving the paternal inheritance dilapidated and encumbered to his heirs. Wars have thus become a joyous and gratuitous entertainment to governments mindful only of themselves; and if the profligate gratification is not more frequently indulged in, it may be ascribed to the more beneficent enlightenment of nations and rulers, and a deeper sense of the illusive and blood-stained triumphs of the most dazzling victories. There is irksomeness in all transitions, even from bad to good. A nation long devoted to peaceful occupations does not easily assume a belligerent attitude. Her first efforts are feeble, ill-directed, abortive; and most wars begin by disaster. As hostilities continue, greater competence and aptitude are acquired, and the war fever rises. A wider circle of the national sympathies is enlisted in the quarrel; miscarriages have begot shame and indignation; armaments are made more powerful, their purpose more cautiously planned, and their execution more skilfully and energetically managed. But as the avowed end of all wars is peace, a safe and honourable peace, of course,- this tends to drive to a greater distance, or entirely prostrates, their legitimate end. The heavier, more deadly, and long continued the blows inflicted by both sides, the greater become the mutual hatred and |