CHAPTER VIII.

CHAP. THE news of Lord Townshend's removal was
VIII.
received in London with almost universal disappro-
1716. bation. No clear and definite cause being then

assigned for that measure, and its advisers being
absent from England, a large field was left open to
conjecture, exaggeration, and mistrust.*
It was
commonly considered as a Hanoverian cabal, as a
fatal proof of the ascendency of Continental politics;
and the conduct of Stanhope, in being a party to
it, was loudly and generally inveighed against.
The Jacobites hailed this symptom of weakness in
the Government as an omen of hope to their cause.
The Whigs, who well knew the high worth and
tried merit of Lord Townshend, felt no less sorrow
than surprise at his dismissal; and the monied men
foreboded the loss of public confidence, and the de-
cline of public credit. "I will venture to say,"
writes Mr. Brereton, the same who brought these

"It is difficult to trace the causes of a dispute between "statesmen." This was the remark of Sir Robert Walpole after his own quarrel with Lord Townshend in 1730. Coxe's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 339.

...

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despatches from Hanover, "the town is in greater CHAP. "confusion now than it was in any part or at any "alterations whatsoever made in the late Queen's reign. When I go into the City all the "considerable men there crowd about me, and press me in the most earnest manner to give some "reasons for these sudden and unexpected resolutions, and to tell them who I thought were the "advisers and contrivers of them." It may be doubted, however, whether there is not some exaggeration in these statements, since, when we come to positive facts, we find that the fall in the funds did not amount to one per cent.t

Townshend himself, and the Walpoles, were not among the least indignant. Their resentment was still further exasperated by a very intemperate letter from Sunderland to Lord Orford, directly accusing Townshend, Robert Walpole, and the Lord Chancellor, of having entered into engagements with the Prince and Duke of Argyle against the King's authority. No wonder that Townshend, perfectly innocent as he felt himself on that charge,

• Mr. Brereton to Mr. Charles Stanhope, December, 1716. Erasmus Lewis writes to Swift, Jan. 12. 1717, "The division "of the Whigs is so great that, morally speaking, nothing but a "another rebellion can ever unite them." In this sense Lewis would probably not have been displeased at their union.

+ Letter from Mr. Charles Stanhope to Mr. Brereton. December, 1716.

This letter itself is missing; but it is mentioned by Lord Townshend when writing to M. Slingeland, Jan. 1. 1717, O. S., and by Baron de Wassenaar when writing to Lord Townshend, Jan. 26. 1717. Coxe's Walpole.

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CHAP. should have more than ever given the reins to his passionate temper, should complain of this "infamous accusation" from the "villany and infatuation" of Lord Sunderland, and should impute to that nobleman "frenzy fits" in writing his letters.*

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Townshend lost no time in sending his answers to Hanover. To Stanhope he wrote only a few lines in a style of bitter irony; to the King his letter was couched in very loyal and becoming terms, respectfully but firmly declining the offer of Ireland.

My private affairs," says he in his correspondence with the Hague, "would not permit me to remove "to Ireland, any more than common honesty "would allow me to put the profits of that em"ployment in my pocket, without going over to do "the duties of it." This was intended as a severe reflection on Sunderland, for having acted in the manner here described, but it might have been more prudently omitted, since we shall find Townshend himself very shortly afterwards taking precisely that course which he had branded as repugnant to "common honesty."

Both the Walpoles, on their part, wrote to Stanhope in very reproachful terms, declaring that he had acted "in a passion," and with "sudden changes "to old sworn friends;" and that, in their opinion, "the authors of this scheme did not expect that "Townshend would, nor desire that he should,

* See Townshend's letter to Slingeland, Jan. 1. 1717, O. S.

† Ibid.

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66 accept the Lord-Lieutenancy." Stanhope, in his CHAP. reply, expresses deep concern that what he judged and meant as a service to Lord Townshend should be thus resented; that, so far from representing his Lordship's refusal of the Lord-Lieutenancy to his prejudice, he had obtained the King's commands to renew the offer; that the Lord-Lieutenancy would at all events be kept open for him till the King's return; and that he entreated Robert Walpole to prevail upon Townshend to accept it. He adds, his satisfaction that Walpole at least has expressed no thoughts of resigning his office, and most earnestly hopes that they may "continue to live and act for the King's service "with the same friendship and union which has "been.”*

These friendly expressions tended in no small degree to allay the resentment of the brother ministers; and a still more favourable effect was produced when the King left Hanover, and passed a few days at the Hague, on his way to England. The leading men of the Dutch republic were, for the most part, personal friends of Townshend. To one of them, Slingeland, he had just written a

Stanhope to Robert Walpole, Jan. 1. and 3. 1717. Archdeacon Coxe imputes the conciliatory language of Stanhope in writing to Walpole and Methuen to his "terror" at perceiving the great weight which the opinion of the Dutch statesmen had with George the First when his Majesty was at the Hague on his return to England (Memoirs of Walpole, vol. i. p. 104. 105.) A single fact overturns this surmise. The letters quoted by Coxe are dated from Hanover before the King's departure.

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CHAP. full account of his dismissal and vindication of his VIII. conduct. They openly expressed their fears of the fatal consequences which this division in the British Cabinet might produce to the combined interests of the two countries, and they left no exertion untried to promote a reconciliation. They held repeated conversations with Sunderland and Stanhope; they wrote pressing letters to Townshend. They assured him that Sunderland repented of his violent letter to Lord Orford, and of his charge of caballing with the Duke of Argyle, which had proceeded from his misconceiving a hasty expression of Lord Cadogan. They declared, as they truly might, that the blame rested mainly upon the Hanoverians, and their false intelligence from England; that if Lord Townshend declined the King's commands at present, he would close the avenue to his returning favour; and that if even Lord Townshend should be indifferent to that consideration, he ought still to sacrifice his own resentment to the necessity of union and to the public good.*

The King himself, on his arrival (he landed at Margate towards the end of the month), received Townshend very graciously, and expressed his regret for the precipitation with which he had acted. By his direction the fallen minister received a visit from Count Bernsdorf, who stated to him that his

* Baron de Wassenaar to Lord Townshend, Jan. 19. and 20. 1717. Coxe's Walpole.