This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908. Excerpt: ... The Georges. For nearly a hundred years after the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty, the House of Lords stood very much where it was. The earlier (Hanoverian) monarchs reverted to the policy of the Tudors, and made new additions to the Peerage. Between 1700 and 1750 there were only forty-two new creations--scarcely sufficient to keep up the numbers. The Union with Scotland in 1703 brought in sixteen additional members. But the size of the assembly at the time may be gathered from the proposal put forward in 1719 and passed by the Lords to restrict their numbers to one hundred and seventy-eight. The great leap forward which brought the House of Lords to its present numbers came under the reign of George III., who first realised the amount of power placed in his hands by his position as "the fount of honour." He was the first to methodise the gift of a Peerage, as a regular instrument in the work of government. It is notorious that this was the weapon which largely secured the passage of the Act of Union, and George III. steadily employed these gifts as a method of forming and consolidating a "King's Party," and dominating the House of Commons through the House of Lords. Most of the constituencies at that time were regularly trafficked for by borough owners; and to reward one of these merchants of votes with a Peerage was to secure so many seats in the Lower House for the King's side. The Modern Method of Peer-Making. This was a method, which, to succeed, must be employed prodigally, and Pitt did not hesitate to do so. Between 1750 and 1801 the Peerage rose by leaps and bounds. In all, there were one hundred and forty new additions--as against forty-two in 1700-50. George III. created altogether three hundred peers. When we add to this the twenty-eight Ir...