the proprietors to reject it, and a vast number of papers flew Geo. II. about on that head. Upon a ballot, however, the offer of 1744. Mr. Knight was accepted by a majority of 410 against 257. ballot. meets. On the Ift of December the parliament, after feveral pro- Carried on a Jogations, refum'd its feffion; the king in his speech told the Parliament members, that the dominions of the queen of Hungary had been evacuated by her enemies, and that the powerful armies which had marched to her affiftance, had been obliged to retire out of the empire. "In this conjuncture, faid his King's majefty, it is a great fatisfaction to me to acquaint you, that speech. I have been joined by a body of troops of my good friends and allies the States General. In further profecution of these measures, the definitive treaty between me, the queen of Hungary, and the king of Sardinia, has been happily concluded, which fhall be laid before you. The advantages which cannot fail to refult from this alliance to the common caufe, are apparent; and it will be particularly conducive to the interefts of my kingdoms, by disappointing the ambitious views of the crown of Spain, with which we are engaged in fo juft and neceffary a war. As I make no doubt but you will proceed upon these foundations with firmness and conftancy, we may reasonably hope to see the public tranquillity re-eftablished, and a general and honourable peace obtained. Thefe are my views, to which my utmost attention and refolution shall not be wanting: but in order to bring about these great ends, measures of vigour are neceffary; and to enable me to carry on and concert fuch measures, I do with a juft confidence rely on your zealous, chearful, and effectual fupport. The marriage of my youngest daughter with the prince royal of Denmark, cannot but give fatisfaction to all my good fubjects, as it tends to cement and strengthen the proteftant intereft of Europe." the Hanove A dutiful address was moved for in the house of commons Great deby Mr. Coke, fon to lord Lovel, and feconded by Mr. bates about Yorke, fon to the lord Harwick; but it was oppofed with a rian troops spirit that threatned diffolution to the conftitution. A fet of revived. intelligence was procured, throwing the conduct of the minifter into the moft odious light, and inftances of partiality. and preference fhewn to Hanoverians in difgrace to the British troops were trumped up, and received countenance from some of the greatest men in the nation. Lord Stairs himself did not openly avow any charges of that kind, but amongst his private friends he complained bitterly of his hands being tied up by the caution of the Hanoverian generals, who never failed to outvote him in the councils of war. His fentiments were Geo. II. were propagated with great induftry, and the duke of Marl1744. borough more openly efpoufing the fame charge, accused the Hanoverians not only of infolence, but of difobedience to the British general's orders, and of keeping out of the way, both of danger and fervice, at the battle of Dettingen; and fome young officers of rank and quality attended to have been examined, if neceffary, touching the behaviour of the Hanoverians. Changes at court. It was not in the motions for the addresses only that those charges were thrown out; for they recurred at every debate, and were urged with fo much confidence, that an Hanoverian became a word of difgrace all over the nation. The minifter, however, vindicated, upon all occafions, both the conduct and the behaviour of his royal mafter; and when the charges came to be candidly confidered, they were generally found to be either immaterial or ill founded. Many real friends of his majesty thought, however, that there had been fome failure of refpect on the part of the Hanoverians, and were forry that the clamour against them had been suffered to come to fo great a head. The party against the minister, though not more numerous, were more united, and more determined than any that had been formed fince the acceffion of the present family to the throne. Great complaints were made of the inequality of fome chief officers of state to their places; and a general diffatisfaction prevailed at too much power being engroffed by one man. In fhort, the complexion of the times was threatning. Lord Gower refigned the privy feal, and great debates arose about his fucceffor. The earl of Carlifle earnestly defired to be appointed, and thought himself fo fure of being fo, that he abfurdly fuffered himfelf to be complimented as if the feal had been already in his cuftody. It was given, however, to the earl of Cholmondley. But much greater difficulties arose about fupporting the public credit. The clamour that had been raised against foreign measures and connections daily gained ground, and many of the leading monied men began to be uneafy at the vast fums bestowed amongst foreigners. Lord Wilmington had been placed at the head of the treafury, merely because he had ee p. 531. of late discovered no attachment to any party. But he was old and indolent, and unequal to the poft, and he had been for fome time dead. It was plain that public credit then was in the most imminent danger, and could only be fupported by a minister who could recover the confidence of the people to the measures of the government. But as this could not head of the not be done but by raising such a minifter above the danger Geo. II. of being controuled in the measures he might pursue for the 1744. benefit of public credit, his majesty was pleased again to unite in the person of the right honourable Henry Pelham, efq; the Mr. Pelham two high departments of firft lord of the treafury, and chan- put at the cellor of the exchequer; and Mr. Sandys was made a peer treasury. of Great Britain. Mr. Pelham was fucceeded as paymaster by Mr. Winnington. Lord Middlesex, eldest fon to the duke of Dorfet, was appointed one of the commiffioners of the treasury, and Henry Fox, efq; another. Sir John Rushout was made treasurer of the navy; general Wade was raised to the rank of field marshal, and placed at the head of the army, and feveral promotions in the navy took place likewise. and pen On the feventh day of the feffion it was moved in the com- Motion for mittee of fupply, by way of amendment to the land-tax bill, taxing places "To lay a duty of eight fhillings in the pound on all places fions. and penfions." Though perhaps it never was imagined that this motion was to take place, yet it fubjected the new modelled miniftry to fome raillery, and it was introduced with that air. The thing, however, became more serious, and the act of the 29th and 30th of king Charles II. was quoted, by which, for the carrying on the war vigoroufly against France, one fhilling in the pound was laid upon perfonal estates, two fhillings upon places, and three upon penfions. The queftion was opposed by Mr. Pelham and fir William Yonge and others, and thrown out, but not without fome very severe things being faid of the new coalition. against the Two days after, December 19, the earl of Sandwich, in Motion the house of peers, moved, "That an humble address be Hanoveprefented to his majefty, that he will be gracioufly pleafed rians. to give orders, that the 16,000 Hanoverians then in the pay of Great Britain, be no longer continued in the service of the nation after the 25th of that inftant December, thereby to put a stop to the jealoufies and heart-burnings among his majesty's faithful fubjects at home, and his British forces abroad." This motion bore a long and a violent debate, and the facts upon which it was founded were advanced with the fame affurance as if all of them had been judicially proved. Inftances of difobedience, infolence, and cowardice among the Hanoverians were multiplied. At the battle of Dettingen they were faid to be not in the poft of danger but of fafety; and the moft invidious acts of partiality in their favour were mentioned. Lord Carteret, however, who was at the battle, repelled all those charges with great vigour, nor indeed did They are lord Car teret. Geo. II. one of them appear to be well founded. From all, faid his 1744. lordship, I could fee, and from all I could hear from gentlemen who were present in the action, they fhewed as much true courage, and as much obedience to the commands of defended by their fuperior officers, as any troops ever did; from whence I infer, that they could do as much fervice as any troops whatever, and that they were willing to do us fervice, is evident from their being always ready to march wherefoever they were commanded by our generals. It is a mistake, my lords, continued he, to fay, that the Hanoverian troops durft not fight against the emperor, because he was their fovereign, and elected with the concurrence of their mafter. The emperor neither began, nor does he now carry on, any war against the queen of Hungary as emperor. He is engaged in war with her only as duke of Bavaria, and confequently the members of the empire may affift either the one or the other, without committing a breach of any law of the empire. If our army did not attack the French, it was not owing to any backwardness in the Hanoverians, but to our not having an opportunity to attack them with any advantage. Befides, common prudence, and the regard we were obliged to fhew to the fentiments of fome of the neutral powers of Europe, made it neceffary for us rather to wait for than begin the attack." In another paffage of the fame celebrated fpeech he obferved, "That the noble lord (meaning the earl of Stair) who had the chief command under his majesty of all the British troops, as well as the troops in British pay, is well known to most of your lordships, and every one that knows him must be convinced that he would not have submitted tamely to fuch an affront as that of a disobedience to his commands. If he had refented it, or if he had complained, I should certainly have heard of it in the army; and as I never did, I muft suppose there never was the leaft occafion for any fuch complaints." It is doing no more than common justice to transcribe the above paffages, which were the fole arguments advanced in favour of the Hanoverians, in oppofition to thousands of papers and pamphlets published against them, and which in the main deftroyed, in the breast of every candid hearer, the credibility of all the atrocious charges that had with so much affurance been urged against them. A great number of other lords fpoke both for and against the motion, the substance of whofe arguments have been already given in the complex view of the debate laft feffion (for it was upon the main the Geo. II. fame) and fhall not be here repeated. Upon a divifion, the 1744question was rejected by a majority of 71 against 36 peers. But the rejection of the queftion was attended with a very finging proteft, figned by about 25 peers. See vol. xx. P. 591. divifion. commons, The oppofition in the house of commons went hand in tion difhand with that in the house of peers. Edmund Waller, efq; miffed on a a gentleman of great weight with the party, after a long and Motion on laboured deduction of facts, in which he had a great talent, the fame in concluded his fpeech with moving, "That an humble ad- the house of drefs be presented to his majefty, that he will be graciously pleafed forthwith to give orders and directions that the 16,000 Hanoverians, now in the pay of Great Britain, be no longer continued in the service of this nation after the 25th of this inftant December." The debate upon this queftion was pretty much the fame as that in the house of peers, but it was not opposed there with the fame abilities, or to the fame conviction of the hearers. It was, after being long continued by a variety of speakers, thrown out by a majority of 231 against 181. On the 15th of December another motion was made by Mr. Greenville, and feconded by George Lyttelton, efq; fince lord Lyttleton, "To addrefs his majefty that he will not engage the British nation any farther in the war on the continent, without the concurrence of the States General, on certain ftipulated proportions of force and expences in the last war." As their High Mightineffes had marched no more than 20,000 of their troops to the affiftance of the queen of Hungary, and as they had come too late to the allied army to perform any material service; but above all, as it never had been doubted by those who were moft forward in fupporting the house of Auftria, that the States General would enter into the war upon the fame terms as in the reigns of king William and queen Anne, there was great foundation in reafon for this motion. It was, however, oppofed by the minifterial party, as entrenching too far upon the prerogative, and as being improper with regard to the Dutch themfelves, confidering the forwardness they had lately fhewn, and the dif ordered ftate of their finances, which, with the dilatory forms of their government, did not, perhaps, admit of their taking fuch vigorous refolutions as the most fanguine part of this difmiffed nation might call for. Upon the queftion, the motion was likewife. rejected by a majority of 209 against 132. The next mo- Motion for tion in the house of commons was for repealing the feptennial repealing bill, and was made by Mr. Sydenham, one of the members nial act by for Mr. Syden the fepten ham. |