ABSTRACT
On 3 September 1783, Great Britain endured an unusual experience. It signed a peace settlement, the Treaty of Versailles, to end a war it had lost. The war had, however, dragged on, allowing Britain to reassert its naval supremacy over France and Spain, the colonies allies, during 1782. The real damage of the American war had been done not to Britains armed forces, tactically outmanoeuvred though they had been, but to the authority of King George III. Failure to win a war in which victory had initially been assumed put greater pressure on the unpopular, but long-lived, government led by Lord North, the Kings favourite and trusted adviser of. In 1780, the pressure on Norths government intensified. Norths critics condemned him not only as ineffective but also as a pawn in the hands of the monarch. The primary objective of Wyvills so-called County Association Movement was to launch petitions against sinecures and government pensions.
