Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851

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  HARPER'S

  NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

  NO. XIV.--JULY, 1851.--VOL. III.

[Illustration: ADAMS, SHERMAN, LIVINGSTON, JEFFERSON, FRANKLIN.

THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO PREPARE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]




OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.

BY BENSON J. LOSSING.


On the morning of a brilliant day in October, 1760, the heir apparent to
the British throne and his groom of the stole, were riding on horseback
near Kew Palace, on the banks of the Thames. The _heir_ was George, son
of the deceased Frederick, Prince of Wales; the _groom_ was John Stuart,
Earl of Bute, an impoverished descendant of an ancient Scottish
chieftain. The prince was young, virtuous, and amiable; the earl was in
the prime of mature manhood, pedantic, gay, courtly in bearing, and
winning in deportment. He came as an adventurer to the court of George
the Second, for he possessed nothing but an earldom, a handsome person,
and great assurance; he lived in affluence in the royal household of
Frederick, because he played Lothario well not only in the amateur
theatre, but in the drawing-room of the princess, and soon became her
petted favorite.

The Prince of Wales died, and rumor with her half-lying tongue often
whispered in the public ear the suspicion that the earl and the dowager
princess were unmindful of the requirements of virtue. Public credulity
believed the scandal, and the public mind became troubled because the
pupilage of the future sovereign was under the guidance of the shallow
earl. He was a tutor more expert in the knowledge of stage-plays, the
paraphernalia of the acted drama, and the laws of fashion and etiquette
necessary for the beau and the courtier, than in comprehension of the
most simple principles of jurisprudence, the duties of a statesman, or
the solid acquirements necessary for a reigning prince or his chief
adviser. It was evident that the groom of the stole would be the prime
minister of the realm when George should possess the throne of his
grandfather, and this expectation made virtuous men and true patriots
unhappy.

The prince and his inseparable companion had just reined up at the
portal of the garden of the dowager, at Kew, when a solemn peal tolled
out from the bells of London. While they were listening, a messenger
came in haste to the prince and announced the sudden death of the old
king. He was soon followed by William Pitt, the greatest commoner in
England, the idol of the people, and, as prime minister, the actual
ruler of the affairs of the empire. Pitt confirmed the sad tidings, and
made preliminary arrangements for proclaiming the accession of George
the Third.

[Illustration: EARL OF BUTE.]

The earl and his pupil remained that day and night at Kew, in company
with Doddington and a few other friends, and the next morning rode up to
St. James's, in London, to meet the great officers of state. At that
interview, Pitt presented the young king with an address to be
pronounced at a meeting of the Privy Council. The minister was informed
that one had already been prepared. This announcement opened to the
sagacious mind of Pitt a broad and gloomy view of the future. He
perceived that Bute was to be the ruling spirit in the new cabinet; that
he whom he despised for his weakness and illiberality, his pedantic
assumption of superior scholarship, and his merited unpopularity with
the people, was to be the bosom friend and adviser of the king. Pitt
well knew his unfitness, and deplored the consequences. Unwilling to be
held in the least responsible for errors which were certain to abound in
the administration of affairs, he soon withdrew to his mansion at Hayes,
and watched, with all the interest and anxiety of a statesman and
patriot, the gradual weaving of the web of difficulty in which the
impotent men who surrounded the king, were soon ensnared.

By virtue of his office as groom of the stole, Bute was sworn in a Privy
Councilor, and, by degrees he obtained the control of the cabinet. For
nearly ten years his unwise advice and defective statesmanship, in the
cabinet and in the parlor, led George the Third into many and grave
errors, which finally resulted in the loss of the fairest portion of his
American possessions. Had Pitt been allowed to guide the public policy
and direct the honest but stubborn mind of the king at the beginning of
his long reign of half a century, these United States might have
remained a part of the British Empire fifty years longer. But that great
man, whose genius as a statesman, eloquence and wisdom as a legislator,
and whose thorough knowledge of human nature and the past history of the
world, made him peerless, and whose administration of government during
almost the entire progress of _The Seven Years' War_, had carried
England to a height of prosperity and influence which she had never
before approached, was superseded by a fop; his eminent worth was
overlooked; his services were apparently forgotten, and he was allowed
to retire from office and leave the young sovereign and his government
in the hands of weak, crafty, and selfish men.