bought members could not refuse the money for their buying.

The people of England knew that Parliament was corrupt. But how
to end the system? The press was not free. Some of it the
government bought and the rest it tried to intimidate though
often happily in vain. Only fragments of the debates in
Parliament were published. Not until 1779 did the House of
Commons admit the public to its galleries. No great political
meetings were allowed until just before the American war and in
any case the masses had no votes. The great landowners had in
their control a majority of the constituencies. There were scores
of pocket boroughs in which their nominees were as certain of
election as peers were of their seats in the House of Lords. The
disease of England was deep-seated. A wise king could do much,
but while George III survived--and his reign lasted sixty
years--there was no hope of a wise king. A strong minister could
impose his will on the King. But only time and circumstance could
evolve a strong minister. Time and circumstance at length
produced the younger Pitt. But it needed the tragedy of two long
wars--those against the colonies and revolutionary France--before
the nation finally threw off the system which permitted the
personal rule of George III and caused the disruption of the
Empire. It may thus be said with some truth that George
Washington was instrumental in the salvation of England.

The ministers of George III loved the sports, the rivalries, the
ease, the remoteness of their rural magnificence. Perverse
fashion kept them in London even in April and May for "the
season," just when in the country nature was most alluring.
Otherwise they were off to their estates whenever they could get