Alpha Book

So long as the Whigs held a
majority of the seats in the Commons, William found that the wheels of
government turned smoothly if all his ministers were Whigs. On the
other hand, when the Tories gained a preponderance in the Commons, the
Whig ministers were so distasteful to the new majority of the Commons
that it was necessary to replace them with Tories. Queen Anne, although
her sincere devotion to Anglicanism inclined her to the Tories, was
forced to appoint Whig ministers. Only toward the close of her reign
(1710) did Anne venture to dismiss the Whigs.
[Sidenote: Era of Whig Domination, 1714-1761]
[Sidenote: Robert Walpole and his Policies]
Under George I (1714-1727) it became customary for the king to absent
himself from cabinet-meetings. (It will be remembered that George could
not speak English.) This tended to make the cabinet even more
independent of the sovereign, as shown by the fact that Anne was the
last to use her prerogative to veto bills. From 1714 to 1761 was the
great era of Whig domination.


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