THE HOUSE OF HANOVER (3). Foreigners, Parliament, Conscience, Forfeited, Accession, Protested, Vehemently. Insurgent, GEORGE III. DERIVATION. Sax., faran, to go, or to Fr., parlement, from parler, of. MEANING. Belonging to another nation or country. Literally, a speaking, a mutual consultation. The assemblies of the Lords and Commons. Internal or self knowledge, Fr., forfaire, forfait, forfeit. Lost or alienated. Lat., protestor, from pro, The act of ascending a With great force or violence. A person who rises in opposition to civil authority. One who opposes the execution of a particular law or of laws. 8. George II. was succeeded by his grandson George III., in 1760. The princes of the house of Hanover had till now been foreigners, but George III. was born and educated in England, and he gloried in it. In his first speech to Parliament, he used the words: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton." Frederick, Prince of Wales, the father of George III., died when his son was only thirteen years of age. The young prince was brought up by his mother, who carefully guarded him from evil company. He was a prince of the most amiable disposition and purest character. He had the most earnest desire to do right, and conscientiously adhered to his convictions, even when he was mistaken in his views. This led to many errors and mistaken measures in his public conduct; but his pure life, and simple and homely tastes, endeared him to the people, whose affection for his person was never forfeited, even by all the errors of his government. 9. No immediate change of the ministry ensued upon the accession of the young king, but during the next year, Pitt's proposal to begin war with Spain was rejected by the council, and the great minister resigned. He was succeeded by the Marquis of Bute, who resigned in 1763, and was succeeded by George Granville. This minister attempted to tax the colonies in America, on the plea that the late war had been waged for their protection. A stamp-duty was imposed in March 1765. All the colonial assemblies protested vehemently; they stood upon the principle, not yet thoroughly carried out, that no British subject ought to be taxed without his consent: so they asserted that they could not be taxed by the British Parliament, to which they sent no members. Their resistance was so serious, that the Stamp Act was repealed. Mr Pitt was recalled for a short time to the ministry, but soon after accepted a peerage as Earl of Chatham, and retired in bad health to his country seat. During his absence, Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, revived the fatal scheme of taxing the American colonies. A revenue act was passed granting the king duties in America on glass, red and white lead, painters' colours, paper, and tea. The Revenue Act was met by the Americans by a determination not to use the taxed articles. In 1770, when Lord North became prime minister, his first act was to repeal the obnoxious duties, except that on tea. In 1773, as part of the aid given to the East India Company, they were allowed to export to the American colonies several millions of pounds of tea, the colonial duty on which was to be paid in the American ports. When the first tea ships arrived in the harbour of Boston, a party of men, disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded the ships, broke open the chests, and threw the tea into the bay on the night of December 16, 1773. 10. The Government brought in a bill to deprive the port of Boston of its privileges, with other obnoxious measures. These were vehemently opposed by Lord Chatham, Fox, and other eminent men, but were passed by Lord North, backed up by the will of the king, and supported by a decided majority in Parliament. In consequence, the first Congress of the American States met at Philadelphia, and drew up a Declaration of Rights. A second Congress, from thirteen colonies and plantations, met at Philadelphia in 1775, drew up articles of perpetual union among the States, and named George Washington commander-in-chief of their forces. On the 4th of July 1776, the Congress of Philadelphia adopted and signed the Declaration of Independence of the "United States of North America." The war continued for seven years in the colonies and Canada. It was maintained by Washington's untiring firmness and great ability. The French Government, hostile to England, took part with the insurgent colonists. Lord Chatham had throughout protested with equal vehemence against British injustice and American independence, and that protest was repeated with his dying breath in the House of Lords. In 1778, as he was delivering a vehement and eloquent speech against the acknowledgment of American independence, he suddenly fell down, and was carried dying from the House. He lingered for a month, and died in his seventieth year, on the 11th of May. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. 11. France, Holland, and Spain had all declared war against England, and made common cause with America. Gibraltar was closely invested by sea and land, and sustained a most terrible siege, which commenced in 1779, and did not terminate till the 2nd of February 1783. It was successfully defended by General George Augustus Elliot (afterwards Lord Heathfield), a man of great courage and ability, against the combined forces of France and Spain. In 1780, Sir George Rodney, afterwards Lord Rodney, completely defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St Vincent; and in 1782 he obtained a decisive victory over the French fleet in the West Indies. Admiral Howe, besides keeping the ports of Holland in blockade, baffled and outmanoeuvred the Dutch navy. 12. The war in America continued with varied fortune, until the last hopes of British success ended with the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis and his army to Washington, and a body of French, in 1781. In 1782, the preliminaries of peace were signed at Versailles, and in the next year definitive treaties of peace were concluded between England, France, Spain, Holland, and the United States of America. The independence of the United States was fully recognised, and when (two years and a half later) their first minister, John Adams, was presented to George III., the king said to him, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made, and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power." SUMMARY.-George III. succeeded his grandfather, George II., in 1760. He was the first king of the House of Hanover who had been born and educated in Britain, and he gloried in this. No immediate change of the ministry followed his accession. During the next year Mr Pitt resigned, and was succeeded by the Marquis of Bute, who resigned in 1763, and was succeeded by George Grenville. During his ministry, a stamp-duty was imposed on the colonies of America, which they vehemently resisted; finally, the obnoxious taxes on the Americans were all repealed except that on tea; and in 1773, when the tea ships arrived at Boston, a number of men boarded them, and threw the tea into the sea. This was soon followed by the Declaration of Independence; and after a war which lasted seven years, the independence of the United States was fully recognised by Britain in 1783. During the intermediate period, England had been at war with Holland, Spain, and France. Gibraltar was besieged for three years, but successfully defended by General Elliot. |