Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/156

142 History of the Radical Party in Parliament. [1815-1820. the 1 5th of February, 1820, but it was destined to meet much earlier. On the 2Qth of January George III. died at Windsor, ending in sorrow and gloom a reign which had begun with the brightest promises of happiness and success. The friends and the hopes of his early life had alike passed away, and the old King had become rather a memory than an active reality before the grave closed over him. The memory was associated in the minds of his subjects with feelings of per- sonal affection ; but the political ideal for which he had striven, that of a King reigning supreme over an obedient Parliament by the help of dependent ministers, seemed a very mockery in the presence of the poor wreck, stricken in mind and body, in whose name the business of his country had for years past been conducted. Of the ambitions and the struggles of the throne, of the affections and the sorrows of the home, there were none that he now could feel or care for. " Oh, let him pass ! he hates him That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer."