They, no less than the
Americans, were the victims of a turn in politics which, for a
brief period, and for only a brief period, left power in the
hands of a corrupt Parliament and a corrupting king.
Ministers were not all corrupt or place-hunters. One of them, the
Earl of Dartmouth, was a saint in spirit. Lord North, the king's
chief minister, was not corrupt. He disliked his office and
wished to leave it. In truth no sweeping simplicity of
condemnation will include all the ministers of George III except
on this one point that they allowed to dictate their policy a
narrow-minded and ignorant king. It was their right to furnish a
policy and to exercise the powers of government, appoint to
office, spend the public revenues. Instead they let the King say
that the opinions of his ministers had no avail with him. If we
ask why, the answer is that there was a mixture of motives. North
stayed in office because the King appealed to his loyalty, a plea
hard to resist under an ancient monarchy. Others stayed from love
of power or for what they could get. In that golden age of
patronage it was possible for a man to hold a plurality of
offices which would bring to himself many thousands of pounds a
year, and also to secure the reversion of offices and pensions to
his children.
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