The world: historical and actual . us in this chapter. Queen Aiiue died August 1,1T14. In accordance with the Act of Settlementpassed by parliament in 1701, George I., Elector ofHanover, succeeded her upon the throne. Hisreign continued thhteen years. Sir Horace Wal-pole, whose motto was, Every man has hisprice, was the foremost politician (statesman hewas not) of that reign. Walpole became premierunder (ieorge the First, andcontinued to hold that positionfifteen years under his succes-sor, <ieorge II. The most mem-orable feature of the reign ofthe first of the Georges was theSouth Sea Bubb
The world: historical and actual . us in this chapter. Queen Aiiue died August 1,1T14. In accordance with the Act of Settlementpassed by parliament in 1701, George I., Elector ofHanover, succeeded her upon the throne. Hisreign continued thhteen years. Sir Horace Wal-pole, whose motto was, Every man has hisprice, was the foremost politician (statesman hewas not) of that reign. Walpole became premierunder (ieorge the First, andcontinued to hold that positionfifteen years under his succes-sor, <ieorge II. The most mem-orable feature of the reign ofthe first of the Georges was theSouth Sea Bubble. That gi-gantic speculation dates backto Queen Annes reign, theSouth Sea Company havingbeen chartered in 1711. It wasa scheme to monopolize Britishtrade along the coast of SpanishAmerica. In a few years thecompany became a formidablerival of the Bank of England infinancial influence. Its pros-perity was purely speculative. It had the effect 46 (367) ^pT 368 PRESENT GEORGE in. to stimulate a vast amount of speculation. Awild period of financial lunacy set in. The bub-ble burst in 1720, and thousands of families wereruined by it. It was cotemporary with and similarto Laws Mississippi scheme, which crazed and bank-rupted France. The reign of the second George was along one, ex-tern ling to 1760, and the period was one of great im-portance, but the king himself had very little to dowith the actual accomplishment of any of the greatresults to be hereafter set forth. At his death his grandson, George III.,came into the royal in-heritance. His reignextended from 1760 to1820, covering the pe-riod of the Revolution-ary War which freedthis country from Brit-ish tyranny, also the ca-reer of Napoleon. In-sane as this king un-doubtedly was during apart of his reign, his ca-pacity for affairs of state mattered little. The pop-ularity of parties and party leaders determined thepolicy of the government. During the last tenyears of this reign the Prince of Wales
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