DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

oes) . commanded by the sovereigns of preceding centuries, he surrounded himself with men who were ready to acquiesce in the changes he endeavoured to bring about in the system of government for the pro- . { | motion of his individual authority. With that | object he dismissed from their posts Ministers of the highest ability, replacing them in his Councils by such politicians and courtiers as would be sub- | servient tools in his hands ; and swamped the House of Lords with creations of Conservative peers to earry out his views, with an effect on the influence of that assembly which is now apparent. For a considerable period before his accession to the throne, the Whig party had absorbed the entire political influence of the country, and reduced their opponents, the Tories, to a condition of helpless weak- ness. From these George III. selected as his first Prime Minister Lord Bute, a man who, though not devoid of taste and of talent, was deficient in ability, and whose first act was to expel from their posts not only the great dignitaries of State, but the meanest officials, for no other reason than that they had been appointed by the previous administration. In order to ensure the return to Parliament of ) men on the majority of whose votes he could rely, George III. inaugurated an organized system of bribery and corruption, as discreditable as it was injurious; and lavished such fabulous sums on brib-