A Short History of Our Own Times, Vol. 1 of 2: From the Accession of Queen Victoria to the General Election of 1880 (Classic Reprint) - Paperback

Excerpt from A Short History of Our Own Times, Vol. 1 of 2: From the Accession of Queen Victoria to the General Election of 1880

Before half-past two o'clock on the morning of June 20, 1837, William IV. Was lying dead in Windsor Castle, while the messengers were already hurrying off to Ken sington Palace to bear to his successor her summons to the throne. With William ended the reign of personal government in England. King William had always held to and exercised the right to dismiss ministers when he pleased, and because he pleased. In our day we should believe that the constitutional freedom of England was outraged, if a sovereign were to dismiss a ministry at mere pleasure, or to retain it in despite of the expressed wish of the House of Commons.

The manners of William IV. Had been, like those of most of his brothers, somewhat rough and overbearing. He had been an unmanageable naval officer. He had made himself unpopular while Duke of Clarence by his strenuous opposition to some of the measures which were especially desired by all the enlightenment of the country.

He was, for example, a determined opponent of the measures for the abolition of the slave trade. But William seems to have been one of the men Whom in creased responsibility improves. He was far better as a king than as a prince. He proved that he was able at least to understand that first duty of a constitutional sovereign which, to the last day of his active life, his father, George III., never could be brought to com prehend - that the personal predilections and prejudices of the King must sometimes give way to the public interest. We must judge William by the reigns that went before, and not the reign that came after him, and admit that on the whole he was better than his educa tion, his early Opportunities, and his early promise.

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