[4] Debates in Parliament could not be reported until 1771 (S556), and certain Acts (1793, 1799) checked the freedom of the press for a time.  See May’s “History of England.”

27.  The House of Commons no longer a Representative Body; the First
    Two Georges and their Ministers.

But now that the Revolution of 1688 had done its work, and transferred the power of the Crown to the House of Commons, a new difficulty arose.  This was the fact that the Commons did not represent the people, but stood simply as the representative of a small number of rich Whig landowners.[1] In many towns the right to vote was confined to the town officers or to the well-to-do citizens.  In other cases, towns which had dwindled in population to a very few inhavitants continued to have the right to send two members to Parliament, while, on the other hand, large and flourishing cities had grown up which had no power to send even a single member (S578).  The result of this state of things was that the wealthy Whig families bought up the votes of electors, and so regularly controlled the elections (S538).

[1] The influence of the Whigs had secured the passage of the Act of Settlement which brought in the Georges; for this reason the Whigs had gained the chief political power.

Under the first two Georges, both of whom were foreigners, the ministers—­especially Sir Robert Walpole, who was the first real Prime Minister of England, and who held his place for twenty years (1721- 1742)—­naturally stood in the foreground.[2] They understood the ins and outs of English politics, while the two German sovereigns, the first of whom never learned to speak English, neither knew nor cared anything about them.  When men wanted favors or offices, they went to the ministers for them (S538).  This made men like Walpole so powerful that George II said bitterly, “In England the ministers are king” (S534).

[2] See S21 of this Summary.

28.  George III’s Revival of “Personal Monarchy”; the “King’s Friends.”

George III was born in England, and prided himself on being an Englishman.  He came to the throne fully resolved, as Walpole said, “to make his power shine out,” and to carry out his mother’s constant injunction of, “George, be King!” (S548).  To do this, he set himself to work to trample on the power of the ministers, to take the distribution of offices and honors out of their hands, and furthermore to break down the influence of the great Whig families in Parliament.  He had no intention of reforming the House of Commons, or of securing the representation of the people in it; his purpose was to gain the control of the House, and use it for his own ends.  In this he was thoroughly conscientious, according to his idea of right,—­for he believed with all his heart in promoting the welfare of England,—­but he thought that welfare depended on the will of the King much more than on that of the nation.  His maxim was “everything