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HARPER'S
NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.
No. XIV.—JULY, 1851.VOL. III. ADAMS, SHERMAN,LIVINGSTON, JEFFERSON, FRANKLIN.THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO PREPARE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
S
 MORE.PHANTOMS AND REALITIES.—AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.SOMNAMBULISM.A CHAPTER ON GIRAFFES.THE SOLAR SYSTEM.THE CONVICT'S TALE.A BRUSH WITH THE BISON.JOSEPHINE AT MALMAISON.WORK AWAY!THE USURER'S GIFT.A FRENCHMAN IN LONDON.LONDON SPARROWS.CONCERNING THE ECLIPSES IN THE MONTH OF JULY, 1851.THE DESERTED HOUSE.VISIT TO AN ENCAMPMENT OF LAPLANDERS.THE WORSHIP OF GOLD.
HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.1
 
MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE.Monthly Record of Current Events.Literary Notices.Editor's Drawer.A Leaf from Punch.Summer Fashions.
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, sonof the deceased Frederick, Prince of Wales; the
 groom
 was John Stuart, Earl of Bute, an impoverisheddescendant of an ancient Scottish chieftain. The prince was young, virtuous, and amiable; the earl was in theprime of mature manhood, pedantic, gay, courtly in bearing, and winning in deportment. He came as anadventurer 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 Lothariowell not only in the amateur theatre, but in the drawing-room of the princess, and soon became her pettedfavorite.The Prince of Wales died, and rumor with her half-lying tongue often whispered in the public ear thesuspicion that the earl and the dowager princess were unmindful of the requirements of virtue. Publiccredulity believed the scandal, and the public mind became troubled because the pupilage of the futuresovereign 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 beauand the courtier, than in comprehension of the most simple principles of jurisprudence, the duties of astatesman, or the solid acquirements necessary for a reigning prince or his chief adviser. It was evident thatthe groom of the stole would be the prime minister of the realm when George should possess the throne of hisgrandfather, 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, atKew, when a solemn peal[Pg 146] tolled out from the bells of London. While they were listening, amessenger came in haste to the prince and announced the sudden death of the old king. He was soon followedby William Pitt, the greatest commoner in England, the idol of the people, and, as prime minister, the actualruler of the affairs of the empire. Pitt confirmed the sad tidings, and made preliminary arrangements forproclaiming the accession of George the Third. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, Number 14, July 1851, by Harper and Brothers.OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.2
 
 EARL OF BUTE.The earl and his pupil remained that day and night at Kew, in company with Doddington and a few otherfriends, and the next morning rode up to St. James's, in London, to meet the great officers of state. At thatinterview, 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 sagaciousmind of Pitt a broad and gloomy view of the future. He perceived that Bute was to be the ruling spirit in thenew cabinet; that he whom he despised for his weakness and illiberality, his pedantic assumption of superiorscholarship, 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 forerrors which were certain to abound in the administration of affairs, he soon withdrew to his mansion atHayes, and watched, with all the interest and anxiety of a statesman and patriot, the gradual weaving of theweb 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 heobtained the control of the cabinet. For nearly ten years his unwise advice and defective statesmanship, in thecabinet 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 thehonest but stubborn mind of the king at the beginning of his long reign of half a century, these United Statesmight have remained a part of the British Empire fifty years longer. But that great man, whose genius as astatesman, eloquence and wisdom as a legislator, and whose thorough knowledge of human nature and thepast history of the world, made him peerless, and whose administration of government during almost theentire progress of 
 The Seven Years' War 
, had carried England to a height of prosperity and influence whichshe had never before approached, was superseded by a fop; his eminent worth was overlooked; his serviceswere apparently forgotten, and he was allowed to retire from office and leave the young sovereign and hisgovernment in the hands of weak, crafty, and selfish men. The people venerated Pitt; they despised the veryname of Stuart. They deprecated the influence of the king's mother as being unfavorable to popular freedom.A placard which appeared upon the Royal Exchange, bearing, in large letters, the significant expression of "No petticoat governmentno Scotch ministerno Lord George Sackville," prefigured those popular tumultswhich soon afterward disturbed the metropolis and extended to the American colonies. That placard was theharbinger of that great Declaration, the adoption of which by a representative Congress of theAnglo-American people fifteen years afterward, is the occasion of our National Anniversary. The Project Gutenberg eBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, Number 14, July 1851, by Harper and Brothers.OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.3

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