of Commons; thus giving the whole patronage of India to the minister for the time being. Whatever were the faults of the coalition ministry, there can be no doubt that the king, in his desire to get rid of them, used most illegal means, such as no sovereign since the Revolution would have dared to employ.

When the coalition ministry was dissolved, in 1784, William Pitt, the second son of the great Earl of Chatham, was made prime minister. Though only twenty-three years of age, he had already attained a high position in Parliament by his eloquence. His ministry was the most popular that had existed for many years, and he had the support of both king and people. During ten years of peace the nation recovered from the effects of the American war; trade revived; manufactures and commerce were extended. The famous trial of Warren Hastings took place in 1786. He had been GovernorGeneral of India, and was impeached by the House of Commons for the misgovernment and oppression of that country. His trial was remarkable for the eloquence displayed by his accusers, Burke, Sheridan, and Fox, and for its extraordinary length. It lasted till 1795, when Hastings was acquitted.

The peace of Europe was disturbed in 1789 by the outbreak of the French Revolution. The French abolished their monarchy, beheaded Louis the Sixteenth, and established a Republic. This revolution alarmed all the monarchs of Europe; and in England many feared the spread of revolutionary opinions. In 1793 France declared war against England, and a British army was sent to the Netherlands, under the command of the Duke of York, to assist the Austrians and Prussians against

the French. The troops of the Republic, however, were everywhere successful, and the British lost large numbers by mismanagement and disease. At sea, however, on her own element, England was victorious. On the the 1st of June 1794 Lord Howe defeated the French fleet off Ushant. For some years England was chiefly occupied at sea in destroying French commerce, and in the capture of some small West India Islands. In 1797 Spain and Holland taking part with France, the Spanish fleet was defeated near Cape St. Vincent, by Sir John Jarvis, and the Dutch fleet by Admiral Duncan at Camperdown.

That same year an alarming mutiny broke out in the English fleets at Spithead and the Nore. The sailors demanded an increase of pay and naval reform. This was granted, and most of the sailors returned to their duty, but the fleet at the Nore refused to yield, and blockaded the Thames. The government, however, was firm, and some of the leaders of the mutiny were arrested and executed, and ultimately this great peril averted.

In 1798 a rebellion broke out in Ireland, instigated by France, which sent troops to the assistance of the rebels; these, after a severe contest, were routed, and most of them made prisoners.

Napoleon Bonaparte, who had risen by his wonderful abilities from a lieutenant of artillery to the chief power in France, led a French expedition to Egypt. His fleet was pursued by Nelson, and utterly destroyed in the great battle of the Nile, fought in Aboukir Bay, on the 1st of August 1798. For this brilliant victory

Nelson was raised to the peerage.

In 1801 the parliament of Ireland was united to that of Great Britain, and the three countries were thence

forward called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

A second combination of European powers against France was completely broken up by the victories of Napoleon. England alone had been successful at sea against France, and both nations were now inclined for peace, which was signed at Amiens in March 1802. During these nine years of war, the resources of England had been supplied by a rapid increase in her commerce and manufactures, without which she must have been utterly exhausted by her enormous expenditure in expeditions and subsidies.

Mr. Pitt retired from the ministry at the peace, and Mr. Addington was made premier. This peace was of very short duration, for war was renewed next year. A coalition, consisting of England, Russia, Sweden, and Austria, was formed against Napoleon, who was now Emperor of France. In 1805 Lord Nelson defeated the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Trafalgar; but he fell in the moment of victory. His loss was deplored by the nation, who justly regarded him as the greatest of English admirals. Mr. Pitt, worn out with anxiety, died in 1806, and his great rival, Mr. Fox, who succeeded him in the government, followed him to the grave in a few months. The most important measure of Mr. Fox's administration was the abolition of the slave trade, which was now declared piracy. Napoleon, after completely destroying the power of Austria and Prussia in a succession of great battles, placed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain. The Spaniards rose against the French, and were assisted in their struggle for liberation by the British

government. Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards the famous Duke of Wellington, was sent in command of a British force to Spain. He defeated the French general Junot at Vimiera, in 1808. Sir John Moore afterwards commanded the British army, and was forced to retreat before an overwhelming French force, but completely routed them at the battle of Corunna, where he lost his life.

In 1809 Wellington, at the head of an English army, drove the French out of Portugal, and defeated them at the battle of Talavera. In a series of subsequent victories-Busaco, Salamanca, and Vittoria, the French armies were driven from the Peninsula.

The power of Napoleon being broken by the disastrous issue of his invasion of Russia, the great powers of Europe again united their armies and invaded France on every side. Napoleon was forced to abdicate his throne and retire to the Isle of Elba. He remained there but a few months, and in 1815, to the astonishment of Europe, re-appeared in France, where he was welcomed by the army and the people, and resumed the government. The Duke of Wellington, who commanded a large army of English and Hanoverians in the Netherlands, was met by Napoleon at the small village of Waterloo, near Brussels. Here a great battle was fought on the 18th of June 1815, in which the French troops were utterly routed, and Napoleon fled. After trying to escape to America, he delivered himself up to the British government, and was by them banished to St. Helena, where he died in 1821. The battle of Waterloo terminated the longest and most exhausting war recorded in European history. The latter years of the war were years of great distress in England. The

taxes levied were enormous, and the scarcity of food, and stagnation of trade, caused great suffering to the working classes. At the close of the war the national debt amounted to more than 800,000,000l. The heads of the government at this time were Lords Liverpool and Castlereagh. Very severe and unjust measures were employed by them to crush the discontent excited by hardship and misgovernment. Among the worst measures of their government was the imposition of the corn laws, which prohibited the importation of corn as long as the price in this country was less than eighty shillings per quarter.

In 1817 the Princess Charlotte, daughter of George Prince of Wales, died, to the great grief of the nation; and in 1820, the old king George the Third died at Windsor, in his eighty-second year. He had been insane since 1810, and since that time his place had been filled by his son George, as Prince Regent.

George the Third had some good qualities, which, in spite of many faults, endeared him to the people. He was simple in his tastes and habits, and virtuous in all the relations of private life; but as a ruler he was narrow-minded, obstinate, unforgiving, and inclined to extend the royal prerogative much beyond the limits allowed by the laws of England.

CHAP. XXXVIII.

STATE AND PROGRESS OF ENGLAND DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III.

THIS long reign saw several generations pass away. The England of 1760 was very different from the