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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
This is Volume 2 of 3. The first volume can be found in Project
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The List of Illustrations has been copied from Volume I. This list
describes six illustrations, two in each volume.
As the Editor notes in his Preface in Volume I, “Some, though very
few, coarse expressions, have been suppressed by the Editor, and the
vacant spaces filled up by asterisks.” There is one such occurrence
in this volume (on page 205). Some omitted text is indicated by * * *
(on page 416.)
The Editor has also inserted the occasional [word] in brackets, when
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Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example M^R.
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been
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Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
VOL. II.
[Illustration: M^R. FOX.
London, Henry Colburn, 1846.]
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
BY
HORACE WALPOLE,
YOUNGEST SON OF SIR ROBERT WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD.
EDITED, FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.
WITH A PREFACE AND NOTES,
BY THE LATE
LORD HOLLAND.
Second Edition, Revised.
_WITH THE ORIGINAL MOTTOES._
VOL. II.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER,
GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1847.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER I.
A. D. PAGE
1755. Endeavours for Peace with France in vain 2
Duke of Dorset removed; Lord Hartington made
Lord-Lieutenant 3
Debate on King Charles’s Martyrdom _ib._
Affair of Sheriffs-Depute in Scotland, and Debates
thereon 4
Ireland 10
History of the Mitchel Election 11
Scotch Sheriff-Depute Bill 14
History of Earl Poulet 18
Preparations for War 19
Ireland _ib._
Preparations for War in France 20
King’s Journey to Hanover _ib._
Duke of Cumberland at head of Regency 21
Prospects of War 22
Affairs of Ireland 23
CHAPTER II.
1755. Commencement of the War 27
War with France 28
War in America 29
Author avoids detailing Military events minutely 30
Defeat and Death of General Braddock 31
Events at Sea 32
Spain neutral 33
Fears for Hanover _ib._
Negotiations at Hanover. Treaties made there 34
Dissensions in Ministry and Royal Family 36
Disunion of Fox and Pitt 37
Affairs of Leicester House 39
King arrives _ib._
Ministers endeavour to procure support in Parliament 41
Fox made Secretary of State 43
Resignations and Promotions 44
Both Ministers insincere and discontented 45
Sir William Johnson’s Victory 46
Accession of Bedford Party _ib._
The Parliament meets 47
Address in Lords 48
New Opposition of Pitt, &c. 50
Debates on the Treaties _ib._
Pitt &c. dismissed 62
Sir George Lyttelton Chancellor of the Exchequer 63
Complaint of Mr. Fox’s Circular to Members of
Parliament _ib._
Debate on Fox’s Circular Letter 65
Debates on number of Seamen 67
CHAPTER III.
1755. Earthquake at Lisbon 77
Debates on a Prize Bill 78
Death of the Duke of Devonshire 86
Debates on the Army _ib._
Remarks on the above Debate 96
Debates on a new Militia Bill 97
CHAPTER IV.
1755. Debates on the Treaties 103
Affair of Hume Campbell and Pitt 107
Changes in the Administration settled 139
Lord Ligonier and Duke of Marlborough _ib._
Further Changes and new Appointments 140
Lord Barrington and Mr. Ellis 141
Pensions granted to facilitate Changes in Ministry 143
Parliamentary Eloquence _ib._
History of Oratory. Account and comparison of Orators 144
CHAPTER V.
1756. Parliament 150
Negotiations with France _ib._
Accommodation with the King of Prussia 152
Parliament _ib._
Affair of Admiral Knowles _ib._
Supplies 153
Grants to North America 154
Parliament and Parties _ib._
Hessians sent for 155
Mischiefs produced by Marriage Act _ib._
Prevot’s Regiment 156
Debate on Prevot’s Regiment 157
Author’s Speech on Swiss Regiments 163
Debate on Swiss Regiments continued 170
Affair of Fox and Charles Townshend 172
Divisions 174
Swiss Regiment Bill opposed in all its stages _ib._
Swiss Regiment Bill passed the Commons and Lords 175
Anecdote of Madame Pompadour 176
Debates on Budget and Taxes 177
New Taxes _ib._
CHAPTER VI.
1756. Tax on Plate 179
Tranquillity restored in Ireland 183
Hessians and Hanoverians sent for 184
Private Bill for a new Road, and Dissensions thereupon 186
Hessians 187
Hanoverians 188
Debate on Hanoverians _ib._
French attack Minorca 190
Militia Bill 191
Vote of Credit _ib._
Debates on the Prussian Treaty 197
War declared 201
Militia Bill in Lords _ib._
Parliament Prorogued 202
Troops raised by Individuals 203
The Prince of Wales of age 204
History of Lord Bute’s favour _ib._
Scheme of taking the Prince from his Mother 206
CHAPTER VII.
1756. Minorca 209
Character of Richelieu and Blakeney 210
Siege of Minorca 212
Incapacity of Administration 213
Reinforcements from Gibraltar refused 214
French Reports from Minorca 215
Public Indignation _ib._
Admiral Byng’s Despatch 217
Remarks on the Character of Government 218
The Empress-Queen joins with France 220
Conclusion of the Law-suit about New Park 221
Continuation of the proceedings with the Prince
of Wales 221
Death of the Chief Justice Rider, and designation
of Murray 223
Loss of Minorca 225
Proceedings on Loss of Minorca 227
General Fowke tried 229
Addresses on the Loss of Minorca 230
Revolution in Sweden 231
Deduction of the Cause of the War in Germany 232
German Ministers 233
Bruhl _ib._
Kaunitz 234
Views and Conduct of the Courts of Dresden and Vienna 235
Character of the Czarina 236
League of Russia, Austria, and Saxony 238
King of Prussia apprized of the League against him _ib._
King of Prussia endeavours to secure Peace 240
Invasion of Saxony by the King of Prussia 241
Dresden Conquered, and the Archives searched by
the Prussians 242
Campaign in Saxony 243
CHAPTER VIII.
1756. Affairs at Home 245
Mr. Byng publishes a Defence 246
Effect of Byng’s Pamphlet 247
Loss of Oswego 248
Affair of the Hanoverian Soldier at Maidstone _ib._
The King admits Lord Bute into the Prince’s Family 249
Fox discontented with Newcastle, and insists
on resigning 251
Precarious state of the Ministry 252
Lord Grenville takes Fox’s resignation to the King 253
Fox, irresolute, applies to the Author 254
Author’s motives in declining to interfere 255
Fox has an Audience 256
Pitt’s objections and demands 257
Prince of Wales’s new Household 258
Pitt visits Lady Yarmouth 259
State of Parties 260
Duke of Newcastle determines to resign 262
Pitt declines acting with Fox _ib._
Negotiations for the formation of a new Ministry 263
Fox labours to obstruct the formation of a Ministry 268
The designs of Fox defeated 269
Duke of Devonshire accepts the Treasury _ib._
New Ministry 270
Duke of Newcastle resigns 272
The Chancellor resigns 273
The changes settled 274
Pitt Minister 275
Parliament meets 276
CHAPTER IX.
1757. Character of the Times 278
Contest between the Parliament and Clergy in France 279
France 280
King of France stabbed 281
Torture and execution of Damiens 282
The King compliments Louis on his escape 283
Trial of Admiral Byng 284
Admiral Byng’s sentence, and the behaviour of the
Court-Martial 287
Author’s impressions 288
Sentence of Court-Martial on Byng 289
Representation of Court-Martial 292
Remarks on Byng’s case 293
Two Highland Regiments raised 300
Ordnance Estimates 301
Guinea Lottery _ib._
Militia Bill 302
Ordnance 303
CHAPTER X.
1757. Baker’s Contract 304
Parliamentary Inquiries limited to Minorca 305
Byng’s Sentence produces various impressions 306
The Sentence of the Court-Martial referred to
the Judges 307
Conduct of the Judges on the Case referred to them 308
Conduct of Fox 309
The Admiralty sign the Sentence 311
The Sentence notified to the House of Commons 312
Mr. Pitt demands Money for Hanover 313
Lord G. Sackville declares for Pitt 314
Motives of Lord G. Sackville 315
Approaching Execution of Byng 317
House of Commons 318
Sir Francis Dashwood animadverts on Byng’s Sentence _ib._
Debate on Byng’s Sentence _ib._
Some applications to the King for mercy 326
Members of Court-Martial desirous to be absolved from
their Oaths 327
Author urges Keppel to apply to House of Commons _ib._
Author promotes an application to House of Commons 328
Sir Francis Dashwood applies for Mr. Keppel _ib._
Keppel’s application to House of Commons _ib._
Debate on Keppel’s application 329
Keppel’s application considered in Cabinet 331
The King’s Message on respiting Byng 332
Breach of Privilege in the King’s Message 332
Debate on the King’s Message _ib._
Bill to release Court-Martial from Oath 335
Sensations excited by proceedings in House of Commons 341
Holmes and Geary disavow Keppel 342
Further debate on Court-Martial Bill 344
Court-Martial Bill passes House of Commons 350
CHAPTER XI.
1757. Debate in Lords 351
Debate in Lords on proposal to examine the Members
of Court-Martial 354
Court-Martial ordered to attend House of Lords 358
Examination of Court-Martial in House of Lords 359
Bill debated and dropped in House of Lords 366
Result of Proceedings in Parliament 367
Petition for Mercy from City intended and dropped 368
Death of Admiral Byng 369
Reflections on Admiral Byng’s behaviour 370
Rochester Election 372
Death of Archbishop Herring 374
Abolition of the Office of Commissioners of
Wine-Licences 375
Intrigues to dismiss Mr. Pitt, and form a new Ministry 376
The Duke goes to Hanover to command the Army 378
Change in Ministry 379
------
APPENDIX 383
ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. I.
GEORGE II. _Frontispiece_.
MR. PELHAM p. 378
VOL. II.
MR. FOX _Frontispiece_.
DUKE OF BEDFORD 270
VOL. III.
MR. PITT _Frontispiece_.
DUKE OF NEWCASTLE 182
MEMOIRS
OF THE REIGN OF
KING GEORGE THE SECOND.
1755.
Invenies etiam disjecti membra.--_Hor._
CHAPTER I.
Fruitlessness of our efforts to maintain Peace with France
at the commencement of the year 1755--Lord Hartington, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland--Debate on King Charles’s Martyrdom--Scotch
Sheriff-Depute Bill--Speeches in the House of Commons--The St.
Michael Election--History of Earl Powlett--Preparations for
War--The King’s Journey to Hanover--Duke of Cumberland at the
head of the Regency--Affairs of Ireland.
The tranquillity of the Administration continued to be disturbed
by repeated accounts of great armaments preparing in France for
the West Indies; of which General Wall was believed to have given
us the first intimation. Their marine grew formidable, but their
insults unwisely outstripped their increasing power. We took
the alarm; two regiments were ordered from Ireland; and by the
beginning of February a fleet of thirty ships of the line was
fitted out with equal spirit and expedition. Lord Anson had great
merit in that province where he presided. The Earl of Hertford, a
man of most unblemished morals, but rather too gentle and cautious
to combat so presumptuous a Court, was named Embassador to Paris,
whither Monsieur de Mirepoix was desired to write, that if they
meaned well, we would send a man of the first quality and character.
The Duke of Marlborough succeeded Lord Gower in the Privy Seal,
and the Duke of Rutland, a nobleman of great worth and goodness,
returned to Court, which he had long quitted, yet without enlisting
in any faction, though governed too much by a mercenary brother;
and was appointed Lord Steward.
France sent a haughty answer, accompanied with these inadmissible
proposals; that each nation should destroy all their forts on the
south of the Ohio, which would leave them in possession of all
the north side of that river; and whereas the Five Nations were
allotted to the division of England by the Treaty of Utrecht, and
the French had built forts amongst them contrary to that Treaty,
and we agreeably to it, they demanded that we should destroy
such forts, while they should be permitted to maintain theirs.
Lord Hertford’s journey was suspended; at the same time that his
brother, Colonel Conway, rose merely on the basis of his merit
to a distinguished situation, entirely unsought, uncanvassed.
The Ministry had perceived that it was unsafe to venture Ireland
again under the Duke of Dorset’s rule; and they had fixed on Lord
Hartington to succeed, as the most devoted to their views, and as
the least likely, from the wariness of his temper, to throw himself
into the scale of either faction. He refused to accept so uncommon
an honour, unless Mr. Conway, with whom he was scarce acquainted,
would consent to accompany him as Secretary and Minister. Mr.
Conway’s friends would not let him hesitate.
January 29th.--Mr. Fox having proposed that the House should sit
the next day, to read some Bill for which the time pressed, the
Speaker urged the Act of Parliament that sets apart that day for
the commemoration of what is ridiculously termed _King Charles’s
Martyrdom_. It occasioned a warm squabble between the Speaker and
Fox, and between Sir George Lyttelton[1] and General Mordaunt;
and though Sir Francis Dashwood talked of moving for a repeal of
the Act, the Speaker prevailed for observing the solemnity. One
can scarce conceive a greater absurdity than retaining the three
holidays dedicated to the house of Stuart. Was the preservation of
James the First a greater blessing to England than the destruction
of the Spanish Armada, for which no festival is established? Are
we more or less free for the execution of King Charles? Are we at
this day still guilty of his blood? When is the stain to be washed
out? What sense is there in thanking Heaven for the restoration of
a family, which it so soon became necessary to expel again? What
action of Charles the Second proclaimed him the--Sent of God? In
fact, does not the superstitious jargon, rehearsed on those days,
tend to annex an idea of sainthood to a worthless and exploded
race? and how easy to make the populace believe, that there was
a divine right inherent in a family, the remarkable events of
whose reigns are melted into our religion, and form a part of our
established worship!
February 20th.--The new Lord Advocate of Scotland moved that
the Bill, passed seven years before, for subjecting their
Sheriffs-depute to the King’s pleasure during that term, and which
was on the point of expiring, after which they were to hold their
offices for life, should continue some time longer on the present
foot. It was opposed with great eloquence and knowledge by one
Elliot, a young Scotch civilian, lately chosen into Parliament. The
measure had been one of the steps taken after the late Rebellion,
to create greater dependence on the Crown, and to empower it to
commit places of trust to more loyal hands, as it should be found
necessary.
26th.--The House went again upon the Scotch Bill. Charles Townshend
warmly opposed the Ministerial plan, urged that the independence of
the Sheriffs-depute was a case connected with every thing sacred,
and hoped that the most habitually-attached to a Ministry, who are
generally the most unfeeling, would think on this. What signifies
the best constitution, if the Judges [are] not independent, and
their judgments [not] impartial? If the people are oppressed, what
matters it by whom? That this alteration was a breach of faith to
Scotland--that these Sheriffs are formed according to the claim
of right, and to the Act of Settlement; would not the King have
sufficient power over them if they were to hold their offices only
_quam diù se benè gesserint_? that he was sorry to see _that_ basis
shaken, on which this Administration stands, or it ought to stand
on none. That this will be regarded with fear and amaze; with
fear, for the people will not know what is to follow, or whether
this is not an attempt to try how far they will bear: with amaze,
for Murray had pronounced that there was not one Jacobite left in
Scotland. That he neither meaned ambition nor courted popularity,
but looked upon himself as an executor of those who had planned the
Revolution.
Lord George Sackville replied well, and ridiculed the importance
with which Mr. Townshend had treated so immaterial a business, the
utmost extent of the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs not extending
to decide finally upon property of above the value of 12_l._ Yet,
whoever had come into the House, not knowing the subject, would
have concluded that a question was agitating for taking away the
Judges from Westminster-hall. The lawyers, he said, were not agreed
as to the extent of their criminal jurisdiction: in cases of
treason, it is agreed, they have none. That the Sheriffs-depute,
if supported by military authority, might have suppressed the last
Rebellion. With such resources for good, and so tied up from ill,
would you not entrust the disposition of them with the Crown? The
more this family encroaches illegally, the more they lessen their
tenure in the Crown. But this measure was taken at the request of
the people of Scotland; have any there petitioned against it? Nor
is it a breach of faith, for one Parliament may correct the acts of
a preceding.
The Attorney-General laboured, in a speech extremely artful, to
convince the Speaker, whose Whig spirit had groaned over this
attempt, that it was no breach of the principles of the Revolution;
and he insisted that it was by no means the sense of Scotland, that
these little magistrates should be for life. He owned, that Judges,
who are to decide on questions of State, should be for life, as in
cases of treason, where it is not fit to trust the Crown with its
own revenge; in cases of charters, &c.; but it is not necessary to
be so strict in mere cases of _meum_ and _tuum_. Even Charles, and
James the Second, permitted other Judges to be for life, as the
Master of the Rolls, the Judge of the Marshalsea, &c., because the
Crown could remove trials into the King’s Bench.
This, with many more details of law, too long to rehearse, were
poorly answered by Lord Egmont; by Pitt, with great fire, in one
of his best-worded and most spirited declamations for liberty,
but which, like others of his fine orations, cannot be delivered
adequately without his own language; nor will they appear so
cold to the reader, as they even do to myself, when I attempt to
sketch them, and cannot forget with what soul and grace they were
uttered. He did not directly oppose, but wished rather to send the
Bill to the Committee, to see how it could be amended. Was glad
that Murray would defend the King, only with a salvo to the rights
of the Revolution; he commended his abilities, but tortured him
on his distinctions and refinements. He himself indeed had more
scruples; it might be a Whig delicacy--but even that is a solid
principle. He had more dread of arbitrary power dressing itself in
the long robe, than even of military power. When master principles
are concerned, he dreaded accuracy of distinction: he feared that
sort of reasoning: if you class everything, you will soon reduce
everything into a particular; you will then lose great general
maxims. Gentlemen may analyze a question till it is lost. If I can
show him, says Murray, that it is not My Lord Judge, but Mr. Judge,
I have got him into a class. For his part, could he be drawn to
violate liberty, it should be _regnandi causâ_, for this King’s
reigning. He would not recur for precedents to the diabolic divans
of the second Charles and James--he did not date his principles of
the liberty of this country from the Revolution: they are eternal
rights; and when God said, “_let justice be justice_,” he made it
independent. The Act of Parliament that you are going to repeal is
a proof of the importance of Sheriffs-depute: formerly they were
instruments of tyranny. Why is this attempted? is it to make Mr.
Pelham more regretted? He would have been tender of cramming down
the throats of people what they are averse to swallow. Whig and
Minister were conjuncts he always wished to see. He deprecated
those, who had more weight than himself in the Administration, to
drop this; or besought that they would take it for any term that
may comprehend the King’s life; for seven years, for fourteen,
though he was not disposed to weigh things in such golden scales.
Fox said, that he was undetermined, and would reserve himself for
the Committee; that he only spoke now, to show it was not crammed
down his throat; which was in no man’s power to do. That in the
Committee he would be free, which he feared Pitt had not left it
in his own power to be, so well he had spoken on one side. That he
reverenced liberty and Pitt, because nobody could speak so well on
its behalf.
Nugent made an impertinent and buffoon speech, though not without
argument, the tenour of which was to impeach professors of liberty,
who, he said, (and which _he_ surely could say on knowledge,)
always became bankrupts to the public. He perceived, he said,
that the House was impatient to rise--they were not worthy of
liberty!--yet, what were they to stay to hear? vague notions of
liberty, which my Lord Egmont could even admire in Poland, and in
the dungeons of the Barons! The Craftsman[2] and Common Sense,
which had often very little common sense, had wound the notions of
liberty too high. That he had read the Craftsman over again two
years ago, and had found it poor stuff! that this was no more a
breach of public faith, than the innovations which had been made in
the Act of Settlement. Though the House sat till ten at night, no
division ensued.
27th.--The Chancellor and Newcastle acquainted the Duke of Dorset
that he was to return no more to Ireland. He bore the notification
ill, and produced a letter from the Primate, which announced
a calmer posture of affairs, and mentioned a meeting of the
Opposition, at which no offensive healths had been suffered. Lord
George Sackville, who was present, had more command of himself,
and owned, that one temperate meeting did not afford sufficient
grounds to say, that animosities were composed; and he agreed to
the prudential measure of their not going over again. His father
rejoined, that if the situation of affairs should prove to be
mended, he hoped his honour might be saved, and he be permitted to
return to his government. The next morning Andrew Stone conceded
for his brother the Primate, who, he owned, was sufficiently
elevated, and would be better without power. At last the Duke of
Dorset begged a little respite, and that the King might not yet be
acquainted with the scheme. He wanted to fill up Malone’s place of
Prime Serjeant, and to obtain the dismission of Clements.
The next business in Parliament did not deserve to be noticed for
any importance in itself; the scenes, to which it gave rise, made
it very memorable. Lord Sandwich, who could never be unemployed,
but to whose busy nature any trifle was food, and who was as
indefatigable in the election of an Alderman, as in a Revolution
of State, had been traversed at Mitchel[3] in Cornwall, a borough
belonging to his nephew, by the families of Edgecombe and Boscawen.
His candidates were returned by his intrigues, but a petition was
lodged against them. He had scarce effected their return, but
he applied to all parties for support, against the cause should
be heard in Parliament; and had even worked so artfully as to
engage the Chancellor on his side; and having once engaged him,
pleaded his countenance, as a proof that it was a private affair,
unconnected with party. Mr. Fox eagerly supported him as a creature
of the Duke, which soon threw the whole into a cause of faction.
The Duke of Newcastle at first did not appear in it; but Lord
Lincoln, pretending to espouse the Edgecombes, commanded all their
dependents to vote against Lord Sandwich. The second hearing of
the petition was on the 28th, when Mr. Fox, attacking and attacked
by the law, of which body was Hussey, one of the petitioners, beat
four lawyers and Nugent, and carried a division by 26; in which he
was aided by Potter, one of the tellers, who counted five votes
twice.
The Tories, who had promised their votes indiscriminately as their
affections led them, perceiving that this election was to decide
whether Fox or Newcastle should carry the House of Commons, and
that at least in this affair the members were nearly balanced, came
to a sudden resolution of giving their little body importance, and
at once, as if to add to their weight, threw all their passions
and resentments into the scale. Northey, the representative of
their anger, proposed to the Duke of Newcastle, that if he would
give up the Oxford election, and dismiss both Fox and Pitt, they
would support him without asking a single reward. The proposal
was tempting--the Tories did not hate Fox and Pitt, the one for
always attacking, the other for having deserted them, more than
the Duke of Newcastle hated both for acting with him. The defect
of the proposal was, that besides disgusting the whole body of
Whigs by sacrificing the Oxford election, the Jacobites would
deprive his Grace of the two ablest speakers in the House, with
all their followers, and could replace them with nothing but about
a hundred of the silentest and most impotent votes. Though his
Grace would have embraced a whole majority of mutes, he took care
not to fling himself away on such a forlorn hope. This notable
project being evaporated, the Tories were summoned, on the 5th of
March, to the Horn Tavern. Fazakerley informed them that they were
to take measures for acting in a body on the Mitchel election: he
understood that it was not to be decided by the merits, but was
a contest for power between Newcastle and Fox: whoever carried
it, would be Minister: that he for every reason should be for the
former. Beckford told him, he did not understand there was any
such contest: that he did not love to nominate Ministers: were he
obliged to name, he would prefer Mr. Fox. The meeting, equally
unready at speeches and expedients, broke up in confusion. This
business, however remarkable, does not deserve to be dwelt upon
too long; and therefore I shall finish it at once, though it spun
out near a month longer. Mr. Fox, who apprehended these Tory
cabals, proposed to Murray a compromise of one and one; but Admiral
Boscawen, the most obstinate of an obstinate family, refused it.
Murray’s friends suspected, that the Chancellor’s unnatural support
of Lord Sandwich was only calculated to inflame a division between
Murray and Fox.
7th.--Sixty-two Tories met again at the Horn, where they agreed
to secrecy, though they observed it not; and determined to vote,
according to their several engagements, on previous questions, but
not on the conclusive question in the Committee.
12th.--The last day in the Committee Lord Sandwich triumphed by
158 to 141. Of the Tories all retired but eight, who were equally
divided. Forty of them, having omitted to summon twenty-nine,
had met again to consider if they should adhere to their last
resolution.
24th.--The morning of the report, the Tories met again at the
Horn, and here took the shameless resolution of cancelling all
their engagements, in order to defeat Fox. The merits of elections
have long been out of the question: promises, private friendships,
reasons of party, have almost always influenced in their decision.
However, a decency was observed, and conscience always pretexted.
It was reserved to the wretched remnant of the Tories, who having
suffered most by, had been most clamorous against, engagements
and bias in elections, to throw off the mask entirely, and crown
their profligacy by breach of promises. Only twelve of them stood
to their engagements; the Duke of Newcastle, assisted by the
deserters, ejected Lord Sandwich’s members, by 207 to 183; the
House, by a most unusual proceeding, and indeed by an absurd power,
as the merits are only discussed in the Committee, setting aside
what in a Committee they had decided.
I return to the Scotch Bill, which was finished in the foregoing
month, after another long Debate, though the Ministry had given up
the point of its being _durante benè placito_. Sir Francis Dashwood
pronounced that the Revolution had not gone half far enough; and
proposed to suspend the Act for seven years more. General Mordaunt,
with his usual frankness, attacked the Scotch principles, and
would extend the suspension for fifteen. Campbell, of Calder, a
worthy man, and formerly of the Treasury, would have moderated
for nine, lest it should seem that the suspension was perpetually
to be renewed for seven years. His son warmly defended the
Highlanders, and said, (what perhaps was no very great hyperbole,)
that Middlesex contained more Jacobites than the Highlands. Elliot
defended them still better, and called on Mordaunt for a local
remedy, as he affirmed that twenty-five counties of thirty-three
know nothing of, have nothing in common with, the Highlands: and
he asked how it happened, that when the Duke could suppress the
Rebellion pending the jurisdictions, the Ministry, with those
and other impediments demolished, could not quash Jacobitism,
though seven years had rolled away since the Rebellion? The
Attorney-General said, he would yield to great authority, (the
Speaker’s,) would agree, though not convinced, as he saw everybody
meaned the same end, though by different means.
The Speaker uttered one of his pompous pathetics couched in short
sentences; declared he was against the principle, as it was against
the Revolution. It was against the principle of the constitution,
of society, of liberty. No farther against the Revolution, than
as it is against liberty. It always was true, it always will be.
What is liberty, but that the people may be sure of justice?
Other officers of justice should be for life like this; not this
at pleasure, like others. If the Judge of Gibraltar decided on
property, he should be for life. Shall the accidental union of the
ministerial office and of police reduce this to their standard,
and have the preference? We are all united with regard to the
principle. If he thought that these last seven years had united
Scotland, he would not give a day more to this suspension. Would
not have it thought that this Act is ever to be renewed; but when
this additional term shall be expired, that the Sheriffs-depute are
to be for life. Would say with that great man, Lord Somers, what
I cannot have to-day I will be contented to have to-morrow. The
people of Scotland are within our patronage; it is generous to make
no distinction between them and our countrymen. Whoever thinks to
preserve justice here by denying it there, is unjust. He would be
content with suspending the Act for fifteen years for this once.
Fox replied, laughing at the Speaker, that he could not think these
Judges of such a magnitude. If they were within the Speaker’s
description, he would not consent to subject them to the Crown
for any term. That the Lord Chancellor is not for life, and yet
nobody is discontent with his decisions on that account. That
he was content to get to-day what he might have to-morrow too.
That this was the truest triumph of Revolution principles, for it
was the sound that triumphed, not the sense. That perhaps it was
honourable deceit in those who opposed this; they made it serious,
as they thought no harm could come from their opposition. That his
deference for the Speaker was such, that he should even _malle cum
Platone errare, quam cum cæteris rectè sentire_; but that if Plato
did not err, if sense and reason were with him and his sect, it
would be following sense and reason with so few, that for his part
he chose to follow them no farther.
Pitt talked on the harmony of the day, and wished that Fox had
omitted anything that looked like levity on this great principle.
That the Ministry giving up the _durante benè placito_ was an
instance of moderation. That two points of the Debate had affected
him with sensible pleasure, the admission that judicature ought to
be free, and the universal zeal to strengthen the King’s hands.
That liberty was the best loyalty; that giving extraordinary
powers to the Crown, was so many repeals of the Act of Settlement.
Fox said shortly, that if he had honoured the fire of liberty,
he now honoured the smoke. Dr. Hay, a civilian, lately come into
Parliament with great character, began to open about this time: his
manner was good; as yet he shone in no other light. Nugent declared
that liberty was concerned in this question, just as Christianity
had been in the Jew Bill--Oswald replied rudely, “If he will define
to what species of Christianity he chooses to belong,”--but Nugent
calling him to order, Oswald said, “My very expression admitted
that he was a Christian.” No division following, the Committee
resolved that the suspension should be enacted for seven years.
March 6th.--The Marquis of Hartington was declared Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland; and the same day, the Earl of Rochford, Minister at
Turin, having been appointed to succeed the late Lord Albemarle,
as Groom of the Stole; Earl Poulet, First Lord of the Bed-chamber,
resenting that a younger Lord had, contrary to custom, been
preferred to him, resigned his employment. He had served the
King twenty years in that station; and yet his disgrace was not
lamentable, but ridiculous. He did not want sense, but that sense
wanted every common requisite. He had dabbled in factions, but
always when they were least creditable; he had lived in a Court,
without learning the very rudiments of mankind; and was formal upon
the topics which of all others least admit solemnity. For about two
months the town was entertained with the episode of his patriotism:
it vented itself in reams of papers without meaning, and of verses
without metre, which were chiefly addressed to the Mayor of
Bridgewater, where the Earl had been dabbling in an opposition.
His fury died in the fright of a measure which I shall mention
presently.
25th.--Sir Thomas Robinson, by the King’s command, acquainted the
Commons with the preparations of France for war, and demanded
assistance. He did _not_ inform them that there were actually then
but three regiments in England, and that the Duke of Newcastle,
from jealousy of the Duke’s nomination, would not suffer any more
to be raised. Lord Granby and George Townshend moved the Address
and a vote of credit. Doddington spoke with much applause on the
insignificance into which Parliaments were dwindled, and of the
inattention to public affairs. Every sentence trimmed between
satire on, and a disposition towards, the Court: he concluded, “Let
us carry the zeal of the people to St. James’s, with such spirit,
that it may be heard at Versailles!” The torrent was for revenge;
even Sir John Philipps felt against the French. Prowse desired it
might be observed that we were advising a war. It was a puerile
Debate. In the House of Lords, the Duke of Bedford attacked the
inadvertence of the Ministry. The next day the Committee of Supply
gave a million.
The Duke of Dorset was made Master of the Horse; but his faction
did not fall without a convulsive pang. The primate and Lord
Besborough sent a violent letter, to deny the report of their
having quarrelled, and to demand some more sacrifices. As Lord
Besborough’s son, Lord Duncannon, had married the new Lord
Lieutenant’s sister, the latter resented this symptom of attachment
to the disgraced cabal. The King said, “It was the work of that
ambitious priest, the Primate.” And the Duke of Newcastle, to mark
his own sacrifice of the Stones, solemnized their condemnation with
a Latin quotation--_Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat_.
On the 10th, came advice that 20,000 French were ready to embark
at the Isle of Rhee. Lord Rothes, and the officers on the Irish
establishment, were ordered to their posts in that kingdom; whither
Lord Hartington and Mr. Conway went, without ceremony, at the end
of the month.
23rd.--At midnight was finished the Oxfordshire election, after
hearings of near fifty days: the Jacobite members were set aside by
231 to 103.
It was the year in turn for the King to go to Hanover. The French
armaments, the defenceless state of the kingdom, the doubtful
faith of the King of Prussia, and, above all, the age of the
King, and the youth of his heir at so critical a conjuncture,
everything pleaded against so rash a journey. But, as his Majesty
was never despotic but in the single point of leaving his kingdom,
no arguments or representations had any weight with him. When all
had failed, so ridiculous a step was taken to dissuade him, that
it almost grew a serious measure to advise his going. Earl Poulet
notified an intention of moving the House of Lords to Address
against the Hanoverian journey. However, as the Motion would not
be merely ridiculous, but offensive too, Mr. Fox dissuaded him
from it. He was convinced; and though he had been disgraced as much
as he could be, he took a panic, and intreated Mr. Fox and Lady
Yarmouth to make apologies for him to the King. Before they were
well delivered, he relapsed, and assembled the Lords, and then had
not resolution enough to utter his Motion. This scene was repeated
two or three times: at last, on the 24th, he vented his speech,
extremely modified, though he had repeated it so often in private
companies, that half the House could have told him how short
it fell of what he had intended. Lord Chesterfield, not famous
heretofore for tenderness to Hanover, nor called on now by any
obligations to undertake the office of the Ministers, represented
the impropriety of the Motion, and moved to adjourn. Lord Poulet
cried, “My Lords, and what is to become of my Motion?” The House
burst into a laughter, and adjourned, after he had divided
it singly. The next day the Lord Chamberlain forbade him the
_entrées_; the Parliament was prorogued; and on the 28th, the King
went abroad, leaving the Duke at the head of the Regency. This was
thought an artful stroke of the Newcastle faction, as it would tie
up Fox, who, by being a Cabinet Councillor, became a Regent too,
from censuring, in the ensuing session, the measures of the summer,
in which the Duke and he would necessarily be involved: but the
truth was, that the Duke of Devonshire, terrified by old Horace
Walpole at the thoughts of the King’s going abroad, had proposed
the Duke for sole Regent. The Duke of Newcastle, in a panic for
his power, hurried to the King, and besought him to place the Duke
only first in the Regency. In fact, the nomination of him for sole
Regent might have been attended with this absurdity; had the King
died abroad, the sole Regent must have descended from his dignity,
to be at the head of the Council to the parliamentary sole Regent,
the Princess.
On the 29th, it was known that the French squadron was sailed,
and that our fleet was ordered to follow and attack them, if they
went to the Bay of St. Lawrence, even though they designed for
Louisbourg. It was a hardy step, and not expected by France: our
tameness and connivance at their encroachments had drawn them into
a false security; they could not believe us disposed to war, nor
had calculated that it would arrive so soon: their debts were not
paid, their fleets not re-established, their Ministry was divided,
and the spirit of their Parliaments not abashed. These were
advantages in our scale; but our incumbrances were not inferior
nor dissimilar to theirs. Our debts were weighty, not to be wiped
out by a _De-par-le-Roy_; our troops, our sailors were disbanded;
our Ministry was weak and factious, if not divided; and, headed by
the Duke of Newcastle’s jealousy, how long could it preserve any
stability?--Our Parliament, indeed, was not mutinous; it was ready
to receive any impression.
Our state at home was most naked and defenceless: the Stuart party
in Scotland was humbled, not extirpated; Ireland was in a state of
confusion, swarming with Papists, and the Whigs ready to burst into
a civil war--a single circumstance will show how little attention
had been paid to the security of so considerable a dominion: the
few muskets in the hands of the King’s troops had been purchased,
in the Duke of Devonshire’s Regency, at Hanover, and were so
carelessly or knavishly made, that the men dared not fire them at a
common review, lest they should burst in their hands: a supply was
forced to be sent at this juncture from the Tower. Lord Hartington
and Mr. Conway set out in haste for that kingdom, without awaiting
the preparations for a new Lord Lieutenant’s entry. He was received
coolly, though visited by each party: the Speaker and Malone made
him great promises of not obstructing the King’s measures, and of
even acquiescing to the litigated clause of the King’s consent to
the disposal of the surplus money; though they wished the question,
if possible, might be avoided. Lord Hartington replied, he could
not engage it should. For the Primate, he would impart only a
proper share of power to him. The Opposition determined to pursue
that Prelate; and the difficulty of appointing him of, or omitting
him in, the Regency, prevented Lord Hartington from returning
immediately to England, as was intended. Mr. Conway was sent alone,
commissioned to obtain concessions to the Irish patriots, and to
state the posture of affairs in such a light, as should force the
Duke of Newcastle to withdraw his protection from the Primate.
This was not to be demanded in form, though, unless conceded, Lord
Hartington determined to resign the government: if obtained, the
Lord Lieutenant proposed to deal more haughtily and sparingly with
the Speaker’s party on other points.
During Mr. Conway’s absence, Lord Hartington was made to expect
a conference with the Speaker, who kept in the country--several
delays were invented--at last he came. The Marquis told him he
should expect and had understood three things: that the supplies
should be raised; the previous question dropped on both sides;
that no censures should be passed on the late Administration.
On his side, he would obtain the restoration of the Speaker to
his employments, and of the rest, as occasion should offer: he
engaged that the Primate should have no obnoxious power; and
that all proper communication of Government should be made to
the discontented. The Speaker professed that these offers would
content himself, but feared would have no effect on his friends,
unless they were promised that the Primate should not be left in
the Regency. “That,” replied the Marquis, “is more than I have
authority to promise.” The Speaker desired till next day to consult
his friends. He returned with Malone; but no acquiescence could be
drawn from them without such a promise. The Primate made a specious
offer of sacrificing himself for the tranquillity, if it would not
be prejudicial to the dignity, of the Government. How sincere this
interlude of self-denial was on either side, will appear hereafter.
Mr. Conway prevailed on the Chancellor and the Duke of Newcastle
to consent to this sacrifice, which Lord Kildare, through Mr.
Fox, assured Mr. Conway would content him. Newcastle wrote to
the Primate, to desire he would ask his own exclusion. He was
thunderstruck: he had offered it, while depending on support
from England--it was the last thing he was ready to do, if his
resignation was to be accepted. As he neither wanted arts nor
engines, and had so fair a field to exercise his abilities on, as
the Lord Lieutenant, now destitute of Mr. Conway’s advice, and
beset by Lord Besborough, Mr. Ponsonby, and Lady Elizabeth, his
wife, the Marquis’s sister, the junto instilled a thousand fears
into the Lord Lieutenant of falling into the power of the Speaker;
and drove him to write, not only to his father and Mr. Conway,
to object against discarding the Primate, but even to the Duke
of Newcastle, and to propose the nomination of a Lord Deputy.
This childish and contradictory step confounded Mr. Conway, and
transported the Duke of Newcastle. The father-Duke and Mr. Fox
wrote earnestly to the Marquis to persuade him to abandon the
Primate: he yielded to their advice; yet was again whirled round to
the interests of that faction; for, on Lord Kildare’s returning to
Ireland, and assuring Lord Hartington that his sole object was the
disgrace of the Primate; the Marquis replied, that, as the Primate
had supported the King’s measures, and the Speaker had defeated
them, he would not give up the one, and leave the other in the
Regency; but offered to omit the Primate, provided Lord Kildare
would come to him in form, and offer to relinquish the Speaker too.
This was a master-stroke of the Churchman: he knew Lord Kildare did
not love the Speaker: yet, being punctilious, the Earl replied, he
could not take such a step on his own authority. I have chosen to
throw these transactions together, though they took up some months
in discussion, lest the reader should be perplexed by the frequent
interruption of the narrative.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] He had formerly written a letter against a Bishop’s sermon,
which had carried very high the respect due to that day.
[2] Two Papers published weekly by the Opposition against Sir R.
Walpole.
[3] [St. Michael, Cornwall.] E.