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His speculative effusions, notwithstanding their splendour of diction and graces of style, are not consulted as containing just axioms or practical precepts; except by those who wish to avail themselves of the laxity of his political tenets, and his affectation of recurring to first principles and abstract doctrines, for the purpose of substituting a capricious and theoretical system, in the place of a well defined and limited government

The influence of female characters was conspicuous in the time of George I. :-during the reign of his successor, that sort of influence was less perceptible, but for many years equally considerable. Mr. Coxe observes that some French writers call history "la fable convenue," and not without reason; since most histories are written by those who, not having access to original papers, derive their information from imperfect and corrupt sources. The historians of George II. scarcely mention the name of Queen Caroline, who almost entirely governed the king during the first ten years of his reign. This defect is amply supplied in the performance before us :-the character of that accomplished princess is set in a just and strong light; and her influence on public affairs, and particularly in the continuance of Sir R. W. in the ministry, and in the patronage of literary merit, is detailed with a circumstantial and minute diligence, which cannot ever be more properly exercised than in doing justice to great characters which have been the victims of calumny.

The principal feature of Walpole's ministerial character was his love of peace. Next to that, the disposition by which he was most distinguished was his disinclination to counteract the public opinion; of which we have a striking example in his conduct respecting the famous excise-bill in 1733. Mr. Coxe relates that transaction at great length, and observes:

Many conjectures have been made on the motives which induced the minister to abandon his plan; but I find none so satisfactory as the dislike of counteracting the public opinion. The decline of his majority from 61 on the first, to 17 on the last division, affords no solution of his motives, for the intermediate questions were not of so much importance as the first, and though some of his friends, undoubtedly from a dread of encountering the fury of a misguided po pulace, retired for a time from the scene of contest, I do not find,

*The works of Bolingbroke, principally alluded to, are the Occasional Writer, his Essays in the Craftsman, which were afterwards collected and re-published under the Titles of a Dissertation on Parties, with a sarcastical dedication to Sir Robert Walpole, and Oldcastle's Remarks on the History of England; Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, on the Idea of a patriot King, &c. His posthumous Letters on the Study of History, have been ably refuted in Horace Walpole's Answer, and in Leland's Reflections.

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from the printed list in the Historical Register, that more than four joined the standard of opposition. Nor is it probable that the threat of farther desertions alarmed the minister, because, if his partisans had resolved to abandon him, they would have united themselves with the opposition, and have formed a constant majority in the house against him. An anecdote recorded by one of his friends, renders it still more probable, that his unwillingness to carry any measure marked by popular disapprobation, was the true motive of his conduct.

"On the evening before the report, Sir Robert summoned a meeting of the principal members who had supported the bill. It was very largely attended. He reserved his own opinion till the last: But perseverance was the unanimous voice. It was urged that all taxes were obnoxious, and there would be an end of supplies, if mobs were to controul the legislature in the manner of raising them. When Sir Robert had heard them all, he assured them, "How conscious he was of having meant well; that in the present inflamed temper of the people, the act could not be carried into execution without an armed force. That there would be an end of the liberty of England, if supplies were to be raised by the sword. If, therefore, the resolution was to proceed with the bill, he would instantly request the king's permission to resign, for he would not be the minister to enforce taxes, at the expence of blood *.”

In the following year, the minister gained an important victory over his adversaries, in the question for repealing the septennial bill. His speech on that occasion is one of the best that he ever pronounced, and exhibits the true character of his elocution,-manly, nervous, practical, and convincing; equally remote from that circuitous prolixity which stupifies instead of persuading, and from that false glitter of words which plays on the fancy without reaching the understanding. It is remarkable that neither Smollet nor Belsham, who both quote with the highest eulogies the speech of Sir William' Wyndham, make the smallest mention of the minister's reply. Yet the former was considered as an intemperate effusion, which did not lose the minister a single supporter in parlia ment, nor a single adherent in the country; whereas the sensation produced by the latter in the House of Commons, and the effect which it had out of doors in developing the intrigues of Bolingbroke with the opposition in England, and of laying open his cabals with foreign courts and ministers, were the immediate cause that he quitted this country, and retired to France.'

• * This anecdote is mentioned in "Historical Remarks on the Taxation of free States," on the authority of Mr. White, member for Retford, who lived in friendship with Sir Robert Walpole.'

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Pulteney, however, still remained behind, to drive the minister from the helm; an event the more easily effected, because the nation in 1739 was bent on making war against Spain, whereas Walpole's great aim was to maintain peace with all nations. This war was declared on the 19th of De'cember.

The declaration was received by all ranks and distinctions of men, with a degree of enthusiasm and joy, which announced the general frenzy of the nation. The bells were pealed in all the churches of London; huzzas and acclamations resounded on all sides; a numerous procession attended the heralds into the city, and the prince of Wales did not deem it a degradation to accompany it, and to stop at the door of the Rose Tavern, Temple Bar, and drink success to the war. The stocks, which had been some time on the decline, rose instantaneously. This unusual circumstance, at the opening of a war, was owing to the sanguine expectation, that hostilities would be carried on at the expence of the enemy. The possessions of Spain in the West Indies were considered as likely to fall an easy prey to the British adventurers. The merchants anticipated the monopoly of the commerce with South America, and the possessions of the mines of Peru and Potosi. But these idle dreams of riches and conquest soon proved fallacious; what the minister had foreseen, now happened: England stood singly engaged in war without an ally.

The Spanish manifesto fully justified the conduct of Spain, and proved to impartial Europe, that though in the refusal to pay the £95,000, she appeared to be the aggressor, the English were the real aggressors, and that while affecting to comply with the-letter, they had violated the spirit of the treaty. France artfully availed herself of these circumstances; while she armed both by sea and land, with a view to intimidate England, and to join Spain, whenever a favourable opportunity should occur, she artfully offered her mediation to compose the differences, and prevailed on the Dutch to maintain a state of neutrality, by threatening them with an army of 50,000 men towards the Low Countries, and alluring them with hopes of sharing the spoils of the trade which the English carried on to Spanish America.

On reviewing the conduct of England, from the renewal of the disputes concerning the Spanish depredations in 1737, to the declaration of war, we shall not hesitate to confess, that it was inconsistent, unjust, haughty, and violent.

The British nation listened only to one side of the question, gave implicit credit to all the exaggerated accounts of the cruelties committed by the Spaniards without due evidence, and without noticing the violations of express treaties by the British traders. The dif ficulty of obtaining an accurate statement of facts, which had passed in the American seas, was seldom taken into consideration. Instant and full reparation for damages, not sufficiently authenticated, and always over-rated, was loudly and repeatedly called for. The cry of No search echoed from one part of the kingdom to another, and reverberated from London to Madrid. The common topics of justice and

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humanity were forgotten amidst the public ardour; a general enthu siasm pervaded all ranks of people, and the religious crusade against the Saracens, in an age of bigotry and ignorance, was not prosecuted with greater fervour than the commercial crusade against Spain, in an enlightened century. The crown of Spain was reviled and de graded in the eyes of Europe, by the petulance of declamatory elo. quence; imperious messages were sent to Madrid, and the most haughty and irritable court in Europe was provoked and insulted beyond the possibility of farther forbearance."

The minister's opposition to the war drew on him much odium and unpopularity from all quarters. The king was eager for hostilities. The Duke of Newcastle was particularly vehement in supporting the contents of a petition, which the merchants had delivered to his Majesty. The Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, spoke with great eloquence in the House of Lords in favour of compulsory measures; while Walpole, standing behind the throne, exclaimed to those who were near him, "Bravo, Colonel Yorke !" The Earl of Wilmington was always blindly attached to the opinion of the King, and therefore favoured the war. He aspired to the station of first minister, and therefore occasionally thwarted and counteracted Walpole's advice. The situation of the minister was rendered still more irksome by the occasional ill-humour of his Majesty of which Mr. C. gives the following example,-illustrating the precariousness of royal favour, and the mortifications attending the descent from ministerial power:

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Horace Walpole had served, with little interruption, in the quality of envoy, plenipotentiary, or embassador from 1722 to 1739. He had performed his functions with unremitting assiduity and address; and had rendered himself eminently useful in the conduct of foreign affairs. He had been for some time weary of his employment, and expressed an earnest desire to return to England. On the death of queen Caroline, his situation abroad became more difficult. Contradictory orders were occasionally issued from London and Hanover. The opinion and advice which he freely gave, were not always congenial to the king's German prejudices. He incurred displeasure by the frankness with which he declared his sentiments on all occasions, and the courage with which he opposed the petty electoral views, which sometimes interfered with the grand interests of Great Britain and Europe. Frequent bickerings with lord i rington, rendered his continuance abroad more and more irksome, and he resisted all the importunities of his brother, enforced by the earnest representation of the chancellor, for whom he entertained the highest esteem, and persevered in his resolution to retire from the diplomatic line.

The state of affairs, and temper of the Dutch, who were pressed by England on one side, and by France on the other, required a person of great abilities, address, and circumspection, agreeable to the leading men of the republic, well acquainted with the forms of

their complicated constitution, and capable of obviating the dilatoriness of their counsels. It was necessary also, that the successor should be attached to the minister, and likely to follow the directions of Horace Walpole. Such a person was Robert Trevor, second son of lord Trevor, who had, from the commencement of Horace Walpole's embassy to the Hague, served in the capacity of private secretary, and during his absence, had acted as chargé d'affaires. He was distinguished no less for his discretion than his talents, and his dispatches were peculiarly interesting and animated.

But the king had entertained a violent prejudice against Trevor, and though he could not with justice or policy object to his nomination, yet he clogged his mission with so many difficulties as nearly prevented it, and when those difficulties were finally overcome, he positively refused to confer on him the united character of envoy and plenipotentiary, with the salary of eight pounds a day, but insisted that he should be only appointed envoy, with a salary of no more than five pounds. The repeated solicitations of Walpole, in compliance with his brother's wishes, had no effect, all his attempts to persuade the king were ineffectual.

Trevor had received from Horace Walpole a promise of his recommendation, and as he knew the affection of Sir Robert Walpole for his brother, and believed his influence all-powerful in the closet, he had considered his appointment to the offices of envoy and plenipotentiary, as certain as if it had passed the great seal. When, therefore, the minister acquainted him with the king's inflexibility, he declined accepting the grant of envoy alone, as degrading to himself; and declared that, on account of the smallness of his own fortune, the salary of five pounds a day was insufficient to maintain an establishment, in a style and manner conformable to usage, and consonant to the dignity of his station.

The minister never felt himself more chagrined. He was concerned lest his brother should impute to him a lukewarmness in pro moting his friend, and procuring a post which had been solemnly promised. He was apprehensive lest Trevor should conceive his influence over the king greater than it really was, and should suspect him of duplicity, and he was at the same time convinced, that no person was so proper to be employed at the Hague. He therefore frankly represented his situation to his brother; he expressed his inability to prevail over the king, and intimated, that should Trevor decline the appointment of envoy, the consequence would be the increase of the king's disgust, and the nomination of another person, who might be both incapable of discharging his functions, and be disagreeable to them. He therefore earnestly entreated his brother to obtain the acquiescence of his friend. His exhortation prevailed; Trevor, at the suggestion of Horace Walpole, complied, and succeeded him at the Hague, in the quality of envoy only.'

Thus compelled to declare war against his own opinion, reviled by the nation, and thwarted by the king, it seems extraordinary that a man of Sir Robert's good sense should not have been forward to resign. He might have declared that

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