Great Events in the History of North and South America

by Charles A. Goodrich

GEORGE III.

George III. was born in 1738, and succeeded to the throne on the death of his grandfather, George II., October 25, 1760, about the time the troubles with America began. At this period, principally through the lofty spirit and political sagacity of Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, who was, and for some time had been, at the head of the administration, the affairs of the nation were in a most prosperous state. The army and navy were highly efficient, and flushed with recent conquests; the revenue flourished; commerce was increasing; the people were loyal; and, perhaps, no prince had ascended the throne of his ancestors with more flattering prospects than George the Third.

Soon after ascending the throne, the king evinced a determination to procure a general peace. In this measure he differed from his great minister, Pitt, who, on that account, retired from office, October 5, 1761. Peace, however, contrary to the wishes and designs of the king could not be obtained on a just basis, and the war proceeded.

In May, 1762, Lord Bute, a particular favorite of the king, who had contrived to gain a remarkable ascendancy over him, succeeded the Duke of Newcastle, as first lord of the treasury. Preliminaries of peace between England, France, and Spain, were signed on the 3d of November, and the definite treaty followed, February 10th, 1763. The people, however, were by no means pacifically inclined, or contented with the political ascendancy of Lord Bute, whose administration was attacked with unsparing severity by several popular writers, particularly by the celebrated John Wilkes, in his periodical paper, called the North Briton. The arrest of Wilkes, and the seizure of his papers under a general warrant, issued by the secretary of state for the home department, increased the indignation and clamors of the people; Lord Bute was execrated throughout the country, and the king himself became exceedingly unpopular. The removal of the favorite, and the appointment of George Grenville to the head of the treasury, having failed to allay the national irritation, Pitt, it is asserted, was at length summoned to court, and requested to make arrangements for forming a new ministry; but he presumed, it is added, to dictate such arrogant terms, that, rather than submit to them, the king said he would place the crown on Pitt's head, and submit his own neck to the axe.

In 1764, the king suggested to Grenville the taxation of America, as a grand financial measure for relieving the mother-country from the heavy war expenses, which, it was unjustly claimed, had chiefly been incurred for the security of the colonies. The minister was startled, and raised objections to the proposal, which, however, were overruled by the king, who plainly told him that, if he were afraid to adopt such a measure, others might easily be found who possessed more political courage. At length, Grenville reluctantly brought the subject before parliament; and, in spite of a violent opposition, the stamp act, so important in its consequences, was passed in the following year. The most alarming irritation prevailed among the colonists of America.

The Rockingham party, which now came into power, procured the repeal of the stamp act; but, notwithstanding this and some other popular measures of the new cabinet, it was dissolved in the summer of 1766. The Duke of Grafton succeeded Lord Rockingham, as first lord of the treasury, and Pitt (then Earl of Chatham) took office as lord privy seal. In the following year, Charles Townshend, chancellor of the exchequer, proposed the taxation of certain articles imported by the American colonists; and, early in 1768, Lord Chatham retired in deep disgust from the administration, which, during the preceding autumn, had been weakened by the succession of Lord North to Charles Townshend, as chancellor of the exchequer. Some other official changes took place; one of the most important of which, perhaps, was the appointment of Lord Hillsborough to the new colonial secretaryship.

The aspect of affairs in America grew more serious every hour: the deputies of Massachusetts declared taxation by the British parliament to be illegal; a scheme for a general congress of the different states was proposed, and an open rupture with the mother-country was evidently approaching. Blind to the consequences of their fatal policy, the king and his ministers, however, persisted in those measures, with regard to the trans-Atlantic colonies, which eventually produced a dismemberment of the empire.

In January, 1770, the Duke of Grafton resigned all his employments; but, unfortunately for America, he was succeeded by Lord North, who increased rather than alleviated the national calamities, and was decidedly with the king in his determination never to yield to the demands of the colonists, but to coerce them to submission, however unjustly, by the arm of power.

In 1782, Lord North was compelled to resign, and the Rockingham party, friendly to the independence of America, came into office; but the new administration soon afterwards broke up, on account of the sudden death of the premier. Lord Shelburne was now placed at the head of the treasury, and Pitt, son of the great Earl of Chatham, became chancellor of the exchequer.

In 1783, a general peace was concluded, and the United States procured a formal acknowledgment of their independence. When Adams, the first American envoy, attended at the levee, the king, to whom he was personally disagreeable, received him with dignified composure, and said, "I was the last man in England to acknowledge the independence of America, but having done so, I shall also be the last to violate it." This was highly honorable to the king. America was a jewel in the British crown which was increasing in lustre, to part with which was truly painful to royal ambition. Nor did George III. consent to any acts which tended to this relinquishment, only as he was compelled to it by the ill success of his armies in America, and the clamorous demands for peace by his subjects at home. But having, at length, parted with this jewel, and having acknowledged the independence of America, he nobly declared his intention to live in peace with this newborn empire.