He then knelt and prayed aloud for her, for his family, and for the nation; and in closing, for himself, that it might please God to avert his heavy calamity, or grant him resignation to bear it.  Then he burst into tears, and his reason again fled.[1] In consequence of the incapacity of the King, his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, was appointed regent (1811), and on the King’s death came to the throne as George IV.

[1] See Thackeray’s “Four Georges.”

568.  Summary.

The long reign of George III covered sixty very eventful years.  During that time England lost her possessions in America, but gained India and prepared the way for getting possession of New Zealand and Australia.  During that period, also, Ireland was united to Great Britain.  The wars with France, which lasted more than twenty years, ended in the great naval victory of Trafalgar and the still greater victory on the battlefield of Waterloo.  In consequence of these wars, with that of the American Revolution, the National Debt of Great Britain rose to a height which rendered the burden of taxation well-nigh insupportable.

The second war with the United States in 1812 made America independent on the sea, and eventually compelled England to give up her assumed right to search American vessels.  The two greatest reforms of the period were the abolition of the slave trade and the mitigation of the laws against debt and crime; the chief material improvement was the extension of canals and the application of steam to manufacturing and to navigation.  The “Industrial Revolution” transformed the North of England.

GEORGE IV—­1820-1830

569.  Accession and Character of George IV.

George IV, eldest son of the late King, came to the throne in his fifty-eighth year; but, owing to his father’s insanity, he had virtually been King for nearly ten years (S567).  His habits of life had made him a selfish, dissolute spendthrift, who, like Charles II, cared only for pleasure.  Though while Prince of Wales he had received for many years an income upwards of 100,000 pounds, which was largely increased at a later period, yet he was always hopelessly in debt.

Parliament (1795) appropriated over 600,000 pounds to relieve him from his most pressing creditors, but his wild extravagance soon involved him in difficulties again, so that had it not been for help given by the long-suffering taxpayers, His Royal Highness must have become as bankrupt in purse as he was in character.

After his accession matters became worse rather than better.  At his coronation, which cost the nation over 200,000 pounds, he appeared in hired jewels, which he forgot to return, and which Parliament had to pay for.  Not only did he waste the nation’s money more recklessly than ever, but he used whatever political influence he had to opposesuch measures of reform as the times demanded.

570.  Discontent; the “Manchester Massacre” (1819).