DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(3-3 House of Hanover to the Throne, the power of the House of Commons in the affairs of the State had been steadily increasing. But during these hundred years the abuses of the Parliamentary system had kept pace with the growth of its overwhelming supre- macy. Paradoxical as it may appear, the very power of the House of Commons made it, on the accession of George III., a pliable instrument in his hands for personal government. Owing to the rapid development of the wealth and prosperity of the country Parliament had long ceased adequately to represent the nation, or to accurately reflect public opinion. From its necessary reforms, the attention of the country was distracted by the great Continental wars, as well as by the preoccupations of the intrigues of the deposed dynasty. Ministers availed themselves of the rising importance of the House in their own interest and that of the Crown by conciliating members and procuring their votes, and to this effect instituted a regular system of bribery and corruption, which turned the majority of the members into mere hirelings of the Government. During the past two centuries the Crown, in order to increase its influence, had been creating a profu- sion of small boroughs. Most of these were mere villages, and gradually passed into the hands of the neighbouring landowners, who bought and sold htem as they bought and sold their estates.