Burkes Speech on Conciliation with America | Page 2

beginning of the policy of
George III. which, had it been successful, would have made him the
ruler of an absolute instead of a limited monarchy. He hated the Tories
only less than the Whigs, and when he bestowed a favor upon either, it
was for the purpose of weakening the other. The first task he set
himself was that of crushing the Whigs. Since the Revolution of 1688,
they had dictated the policy of the English government, and through
wise leaders had become supreme in authority. They were particularly
obnoxious to him because of their republican spirit, and he regarded
their ascendency as a constant menace to his kingly power. Fortune
seemed to favor him in the dissensions which arose. There grew up two
factions in the Whig party. There were old Whigs and new Whigs.
George played one against the other, advanced his favorites when
opportunity offered, and in the end succeeded in forming a ministry
composed of his friends and obedient to his will.
With the ministry safely in hand, he turned his attention to the House of
Commons. The old Whigs had set an example, which George was
shrewd enough to follow. Walpole and Newcastle had succeeded in
giving England one of the most peaceful and prosperous governments
within in the previous history of the nation, but their methods were
corrupt. With much of the judgment, penetration and wise forbearance
which marks a statesman, Walpole's distinctive qualities of mind
eminently fitted him for political intrigue; Newcastle was still worse,
and has the distinction of being the premier under whose administration
the revolt against official corruption first received the support of the
public.

For near a hundred years, the territorial distribution of seats in the
House had remained the same, while the centres of population had
shifted along with those of trade and new industries. Great towns were
without representation, while boroughs, such as Old Sarum, without a
single voter, still claimed, and had, a seat in Parliament. Such districts,
or "rotten boroughs," were owned and controlled by many of the great
landowners. Both Walpole and Newcastle resorted to the outright
purchase of these seats, and when the time came George did not shrink
from doing the same thing. He went even further. All preferments of
whatsoever sort were bestowed upon those who would do his bidding,
and the business of bribery assumed such proportions that an office was
opened at the Treasury for this purpose, from which twenty-five
thousand pounds are said to have passed in a single day. Parliament had
been for a long time only partially representative of the people; it now
ceased to be so almost completely.
With, the support which such methods secured, along with
encouragement from his ministers, the king was prepared to put in
operation his policy for regulating the affairs of America. Writs of
Assistance (1761) were followed by the passage of the Stamp Act
(1765). The ostensible object of both these measures was to help pay
the debt incurred by the French war, but the real purpose lay deeper,
and was nothing more or less than the ultimate extension of
parliamentary rule, in great things as well as small, to America. At this
crisis, so momentous for the colonists, the Rockingham ministry was
formed, and Burke, together with Pitt, supported a motion for the
unconditional repeal of the Stamp Act. After much wrangling, the
motion was carried, and the first blunder of the mother country seemed
to have been smoothed over.
Only a few months elapsed, however, when the question of taxing the
colonies was revived. Pitt lay ill, and could take no part in the proposed
measure. Through the influence of other members of his party,--notably
Townshend,--a series of acts were passed, imposing duties on several
exports to America. This was followed by a suspension of the New
York Assembly, because it had disregarded instructions in the matter of
supplies for the troops. The colonists were furious. Matters went from
bad to worse. To withdraw as far as possible without yielding the
principle at stake, the duties on all the exports mentioned in the bill

were removed, except that on tea. But it was precisely the principle for
which the colonists were contending. They were not in the humor for
compromise, when they believed their freedom was endangered, and
the strength and determination of their resistance found a climax in the
Boston Tea Party.
In the meantime, Lord North, who was absolutely obedient to the king,
had become prime minister. Five bills were prepared, the tenor of
which, it was thought, would overawe the colonists. Of these, the
Boston Port Bill and the Regulating Act are perhaps the most famous,
though the ultimate tendency of all was blindly coercive.
While the king and his friends were busy with these,