Produced by David Kline, Greg Bergquist and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Transcribers Note: Variant spelling has been retained. Minor corrections to punctuation have been made without note. The large table near the end of the etext has been split for presentation purposes. HARPER'S NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. NO. XIV.--JULY, 1851.--VOL. III. [Illustration: ADAMS, SHERMAN, LIVINGSTON, JEFFERSON, FRANKLIN. THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO PREPARE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.] OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY. BY BENSON J. LOSSING. On the morning of a brilliant day in October, 1760, the heir apparent to the British throne and his groom of the stole, were riding on horseback near Kew Palace, on the banks of the Thames. The _heir_ was George, son of the deceased Frederick, Prince of Wales; the _groom_ was John Stuart, Earl of Bute, an impoverished descendant of an ancient Scottish chieftain. The prince was young, virtuous, and amiable; the earl was in the prime of mature manhood, pedantic, gay, courtly in bearing, and winning in deportment. He came as an adventurer to the court of George the Second, for he possessed nothing but an earldom, a handsome person, and great assurance; he lived in affluence in the royal household of Frederick, because he played Lothario well not only in the amateur theatre, but in the drawing-room of the princess, and soon became her petted favorite. The Prince of Wales died, and rumor with her half-lying tongue often whispered in the public ear the suspicion that the earl and the dowager princess were unmindful of the requirements of virtue. Public credulity believed the scandal, and the public mind became troubled because the pupilage of the future sovereign was under the guidance of the shallow earl. He was a tutor more expert in the knowledge of stage-plays, the paraphernalia of the acted drama, and the laws of fashion and etiquette necessary for the beau and the courtier, than in comprehension of the most simple principles of jurisprudence, the duties of a statesman, or the solid acquirements necessary for a reigning prince or his chief adviser. It was evident that the groom of the stole would be the prime minister of the realm when George should possess the throne of his grandfather, and this expectation made virtuous men and true patriots unhappy. The prince and his inseparable companion had just reined up at the portal of the garden of the dowager, at Kew, when a solemn peal tolled out from the bells of London. While they were listening, a messenger came in haste to the prince and announced the sudden death of the old king. He was soon followed by William Pitt, the greatest commoner in England, the idol of the people, and, as prime minister, the actual ruler of the affairs of the empire. Pitt confirmed the sad tidings, and made preliminary arrangements for proclaiming the accession of George the Third. [Illustration: EARL OF BUTE.]