1716. pedantry, of his profession. He loved the law of England, not as too many seem to love it, merely for the sake of the dross that defiles it for the gibberish which still clings to its language for the mummeries into which some of its forms have grown. He loved the law of England as the armoury from which, when threatened either by democracy or by despotism, we may draw our readiest weapons, and which may prevent recourse to any others. In foreign affairs he was no less deeply skilled, having most attentively studied the balance of power, and the political interests of Europe. As a speaker, his reasoning was close and powerful, his diction flowing and manly. The natural warmth of his temper, which he so successfully mastered in politics, glowed unrestrained in his attachment to his friends; and as no man was ever more deserving of the veneration of posterity, so no one was ever more beloved in private life. During the time that the Ministers were carrying the Septennial Act and their other measures through Parliament, they had another struggle, almost as important and far more difficult to maintain, at Court. The King's impatience to revisit his German dominions could no longer be stemmed. It was in vain that his confidential advisers pointed out to him the unpopularity that must attend, and the dangers that might follow, his departure at such a crisis; their resistance only chafed instead of curbing His Majesty, and at length the Ministers let go the reins. Two great obstacles, however, still remained to delay his journey — first, the restraining clause in the Act of Settlement; and, secondly, his jealousy of the Prince of Wales, whom, in his absence, it would be indispensable to invest with some share at least of power and sovereign authority. As to the first of these difficulties, it might have been met in two modes; by proposing to Parliament either an occasional exception, or a total repeal of the restraining clause. The former would certainly have been the more safe and constitutional course, but the latter was thought the most respectful, and accordingly preferred. Accustomed as George was to foreign habits, and attached to his Hanoverian subjects, his ardent desire to visit them should be considered a misfortune indeed to our country, yet by no means a blemish in his character. But it certainly behoved the Legislature to hold fast the invaluable safeguard which they already possessed against his foreign partialities. It might, therefore, be supposed by a superficial observer, that the repeal of the restraining clause, when proposed by Sir John Cope in the House of Commons, would have been encountered with a strenuous opposition. On the contrary, it passed without a single dissentient voice; the Whigs and the friends of Government supporting the wishes of the King, and the Tories delighted at the prospect that His Majesty's departure would expose his person to unpopularity and his affairs to confusion. The jealousy which George the First entertained of his son was no new feeling. It had existed even at Hanover, and been since inflamed by an insidious motion of the Tories in the House of Commons, that, out of the Civil List, 100,0007. should be allotted as a separate revenue for the Prince of Wales. The motion was over-ruled by the Ministerial party, and its rejection offended the Prince as much as its proposal had the King. In fact, it is remarkable as a peculiarity either of representative government, or of the House of Hanover, that, since the power of the House of Commons has been thoroughly established, and since that family has reigned, the heirs apparent have always been on ill terms with the sovereign. There have been four Princes of Wales since the death of Anne, and all the four have gone into bitter Opposition. "That family," said Lord Carteret, one day in full Council, "always has quarrelled, and always "will quarrel from generation to generation." Such being His Majesty's feelings, he was unwilling to intrust the Prince with the government in his absence, unless by joining other persons in the commission, and limiting his power by the most rigorous restrictions. Through the 1716. THE KING GOES TO GERMANY. 221 channel of Bernsdorf, his principal favourite, he communicated his idea to the members of the Cabinet, and desired them to deliberate upon it. The answer of Lord Townshend to Bernsdorf is still preserved,* He first eagerly seized the opportunity of recapitulating in the strongest manner the objections to the King's departure, and then proceeded to say, that the Ministers having carefully perused the precedents, found no instance of persons being joined in commission with the Prince of Wales, and few, if any, of restrictions upon such commissions; and that they were of opinion, "that the constant tenour of ancient practice could "not conveniently be receded from." Under such circumstances, the King found it impossible to persevere in his design. Instead, however, of giving the Prince the title of Regent, he named him Guardian of the Realm and Lieutenant an office unknown in England since the days of the Black Prince.** He also insisted that the Duke of Argyle, whom he suspected of abetting and exciting his son in ambitious views, and who, as Groom of the Stole to the Prince, had constant and easy access to his person, should be dismissed from that and all his other employments. Having thus settled, or rather unsettled, matters, George began his journey on the 9th of July, and was attended by Stanhope; the other Secretary, Lord Townshend, being detained by the pregnancy of his wife in England. It cannot be denied that at this period the popularity of George the First was by no means such as might have been expected from his judicious choice of Ministers, or from his personal justice and benevolence of disposition. These qualities, indeed, were not denied by the multitude, but they justly complained of the extreme rapacity and venality of his foreign attendants. Coming from a poor Electorate, a flight of hungry Hanoverians, like so many famished vultures, fell with keen eyes and bended talons on the fruit *It is dated May 19., and printed in Coke's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 61, ** There were, morcover, several restrictions imposed upon the authority of the Prince of Wales. They are dated July 5. 1716, and may be seen in Coxe's MSS. vol. lvi. Brit. Mus. ful soil of England. Bothmar and Bernsdorf, looking to the example of King William's foreign favourites, expected peerages and grants of land, and were deeply offended at the limitations of the Act of Settlement. Robethon, the King's private secretary, whilst equally fond of money, was still more mischievous and meddling; he was of French extrac tion, and of broken fortunes: a prying, impertinent, venomous creature, for ever crawling in some slimy intrigue. All these, and many others, even down to Mahomet and Mustapha, two Turks in his Majesty's service, were more than suspected of taking money for recommendations to the King, and making a shameful traffic of his favour. But by far the greatest share of the public odium fell upon the King's foreign mistresses. The chief of these, Herrengard Melesina Von Schulenburg, was created by His Majesty Duchess of Munster in the Irish peerage, and afterwards Duchess of Kendal in the English. She had no great share of beauty; but with George the First a bulky figure was sufficient attraction. To intellect she could make still less pretension. Lord Chesterfield, who had married her niece, tells us that she was little better than an idiot; and this testimony is confirmed by the curious fact, that one morning, after the death of her Royal lover, she fancied that he flew into her window in the form of a raven, and accordingly gave the bird a most respectful reception. She affected great devotion, and sometimes attended several Lutheran chapels in the course of the same day; perhaps with 'the view of countenancing a report which prevailed, though I believe without foundation, that the King had married her with the left hand, according to the German custom. Her rapacity was very great and very successful. After the resignation of the Duke of Somerset, no Master of the Horse was appointed for several years, the profits of the place being paid to the Duchess; and there is no doubt that her secret emoluments for patronage and recommendations far surpassed any outward account of her receipts. Sir Robert Walpole more than once declared of her (but this was after 1716. THE COUNTESS OF DARLINGTON. 223 the death of George the First), that she would have sold the King's honour for a shilling advance to the best bidder. The second mistress, Sophia Baroness Kilmanseck, created Countess of Darlington, was younger and more handsome than her rival; but, like her, unwieldy in person, and rapacious in character. She had no degree either of talent or information, it being apparently the aim of George, in all his amours, to shun with the greatest care the overpowering dissertations of a learned lady.* *This sort of feeling is well expressed in the pretended memoirs of Madame du Barry, "J'aimais à les voir," she says of two blockheads; "leur entretien me reposait l'imagination." - (Vol. i. p. 147.) |