Such in my opinion, Sir, is the use now made of the present scarcity; a misfortune inflicted upon us by the hand of Providence alone; not upon us only, but upon all the nations on this side of the globe; many of which suffer more, but none less than ourselves. If at such a time, it is more burthensome to the nation to raise supplies, it must be remembered, that it is in proportion difficult to other nations to oppose those measures for which the supplies are granted; and that the same sum is of greater efficacy in times of scarcity than of plenty. Our present distress, will, I hope, soon be at end; and perhaps a few days may produce at least some alteration. It is not without reason that I expect the news of some successful attempts in America, which will convince the nation, that the preparations for war have not been idle shews contrived to produce unnecessary expences. In the mean time it is necessary, that we support that power which may be able to assist us against France, the only nation from which any danger can threaten us, even though our fleet in America should be unsuccessful. If we defeat the Spaniards, we may assist the House of Austria without difficulty, and if we fail in our attempts, their alliance will be more necessary. The sum demanded for this important purpose, cannot be censured as exorbitant, yet will, I hope, be sufficient: if more should hereafter appear necessary, I doubt not but it will be granted. The Resolution was then agreed to. The King's Speech at the Close of the Session.] April 25. The King came to the House of Lords, and put an end to the Session with the following Speech to both Houses: "My lords and gentlemen ; "The zeal and dispatch, with which you have gone through the public business, during the course of this session, are undeniable proofs of your steady regard to the welfare of your country, and consequently the most acceptable testimonies of your duty and affection to me. The powerful assistance, which you have given me for carrying on the just and necessary war, in which I am engaged, is the best means of reducing our enemies to reason; and the vigour and earnestness, which you have so seasonably shewn for the defence of the House of Austria, and the maintenance of the balance and liberties of Europe, must give the greatest encouragement to our friends. These are the methods to secure to this nation that weight and influence abroad, which its natural strength and situation entitle it to. "Gentlemen of the House of Commons; "It is with particular satisfaction, I acknowledge your readiness and application, in raising the supplies for the service of the current year; which you have done with so just a regard to the present exigencies of the public, as shews you to be the true representatives of my faithful Commons. "My lords and gentlemen; "I cannot part with this parliament, without publicly returning you my thanks, for the many eminent instances which you have given me, of your fidelity and affection to my person and government; your fixed resolution to maintain the Protestant succession in my family; and your unshaken adherence to the true interest of your country. You have, with the most becoming spirit and firmness, exerted yourselves in vindicating and defending the honour of my crown, and the undoubt ed rights of navigation and commerce belonging to my subjects; and enabled me to revenge these wrongs and insults, which, contrary to the faith of treaties, had been committed against both. In so critical a conjuncture, you have supported the national credit, and strengthened the hands of my government, to a degree exceeding the expectations of those, who wished well to us; and to the manifest disappointment of such, as envied our prosperity. At the same time, you have demonstrated to all the world, that Great Britain is in a condition, not only to defend herself, but also the common cause of Europe. As such a to afford a due support to her allies, and conduct must give a lasting reputation to this parliament, so it will be the subject of emulation to those which shall come after it. "I will immediately give the necessary orders for calling a new parliament. There is not any thing Iset so high a value upon, as the love and affection of my people; in which I have so entire a confidence, that it is with great satisfaction, I see this opportunity put into their hands, of giving me fresh proofs of it, in the choice of their representatives. "On the present establishment depends the continuance of our excellent constitu tion in church and state; and in this constitution consists the security of the present establishment; nothing can hurt the one, that will not, in proportion, undermine and weaken the other. For my part, the uniform preservation of both, and the maintenance of the religious and civil rights of all my subjects, have been, and ever shall be, my constant care. Those who distinguish themselves by persevering in these principles, shall always find my countenance and favour; and, by invariably pursuing these wise and honest measures, we may entertain the best grounded hopes, that under the protection of the divine Providence, the happiness of Great Britain will be perpetuated to posterity."* * "Immediately upon the rising of the parliament, the nation was in the utmost ferment. The minister, as has been hinted, relying too much upon the superiority which had appeared in his favour upon the motion that had been made against him, and imagining that the tories and the old wbigs, having so lately split upon that subject, could not coalesce time enough to oppose him, had been unaccountably negligent in exerting his interest for a new parliament. But he was deceived; for though the tories, who had left the whigs upon that occasion, acted upon principle, yet the heads of the whigs were more pliable, and very readily forgetting all that was passed, entered into every scheme of opposition that could distress the minister. The elections of London and Westininster were amongst the first which came on in the nation, and the eyes of the public were soon fixed upon a most extraordinary scene in the very city where the court had its residence, and was supposed to have its greatest influence, that of Westminster. It had been usual of late for the minister to name two members, who were always returned without the least opposition. The members for Westminster in the late parliament had been sir Charles Wager and lord Sundon, of the kingdom of Ireland, one of the lords of the treasury, an unamiable and unpopular man, bred all his life to office business and to a dependence upon power. It was never doubted by the minister or the candidates but the election would go, as usual, unquestioned and unopposed; but some private inhabitants of Westminster, though otherwise of no great consideration or weight, found means to throw in a spark which fired the train that had been so artfully laid against the minister, by naming admiral Vernon, who was then at the very pinnacle of popularity, for one of their candidates, and Mr. Edwin, a private gentleman of fortune, for the other. This opposition, though at first despised, became formidable, and the court party in the city, in order to take off at least one member from the opposition, named Vernon a candidate for Lon FIRST SESSION OF THE NINTH PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. cember 1, 1741. This day the New ParMeeting of the New Parliament.] De it don, along with sir Edward Bellamy, sir John Barnard, and Mr. Perry; the other list being chair by the death of Mr. Parsons, who died in sir Daniel Lambert (who had succeeded to the his mayoralty) sir John Barnard, sir Robert Godschall, and alderman Heathcoat. The court party, however, losing their aim in this, gave double spirit to the opposition in Westminster; and sir Charles Wager being called off the hustings to attend his majesty to Holland, the management of the election was left in the hands of ignorant vestrymen and violent justices. Upon this, the opposite party, who were sensible of their inferiority of numbers, pushed on the election, but with so much tumult, that the remaining candidate was prevailed upon to order the books to be shut up, a party of the guards to attend, and himself and sir Charles Wager to be returned by the high bailiff, while the military power surrounded the hustings, which was in the portico of Covent Garden church. This exasperated the people into such a rage, that the guards themselves were pelted, and it was with difficulty the remaining candidate escaped with his life. "It is incredible what a spirit the example of the opposition in Westminster diffused all over the kingdom, and no art or power of writing was wanting to support it. In short, a very few weeks made it evident, that at the meeting of next parliament, the minister could not boast a majority of twenty sure votes in his favour. "The state of affairs upon the continent having this year rendered his majesty's going to Germany indispensible, he nominated lords justices, in his absence, and sat off on the 7th of May. He returned to England on the 19th of October, and the new Parliament met on the 4th of December." Tindal. "The example of the opposition at Westminster diffused a general spirit throughout the kingdom, and violent contests were excited in all quarters. Large sums for supporting the expences were subscribed by Pulteney, the duchess of Marlborough, and the prince of Wales, who contracted great debts on this me morable occasion; and the managers of opposition employed this money with great advantage. Lord Falmouth gained over many of the Cornish boroughs, which had usually returned the members recommended by the crown the duke of Argyle exerted himself Who being come; the Lord Chancellor liament met at Westminster. The King | majesty's pleasure, that they attend him being seated on the throne, adorned with immediately, in this House. his crown and regal ornaments, and attended with his officers of state, commanded the gentleman usher of the black rod, to let the Commons know, It is his with such effect in Scotland, that he baffled all the efforts of his brother, the earl of Ilay, who had long managed the interest of the crown in that quarter; and the majority of Scottish members, who had formed a strong phalanx in favour of government, were now ranged on the contrary side. These acquisitions were considered by opposition as a sure omen of success; and Dodington, in a letter to the duke of Argyle, drew a comparative statement of the two sides, in the future parliament, highly unfavourable to the ministerial party. He justly observed, that a majority of sixteen, which was the utmost that the most sanguine friends of the minister could entertain hopes of forming at the commencement of the session, would soon become a minority. He laid down a plan of conduct and attack which was wisely formed, and ably executed, the homogeneous parts were consolidated, and the whole phalanx, however divided and discordant in other respects, moved on uniformly to one great object, the removal of the minister. said: "My lords and gentlemen, "I have it in command from his ma inflamed to this measure, by the most leading politicians, by the first orators, and the greatest poets of the times. For that war Pope sung his dying notes. For that war Johnson, in more energetic strains, employed the voice of his early genius. For that war Glover distinguished himself in the way in which his merit was the most natural and happy. The crowd readily followed the politicians, in the cry for a war which threatened little bloodshed, and which promised victories, that were attended with something more solid than glory. A war with Spain was a war of plunder." ter. "But even those who acted with him laboured to undermine his power. Wilmington wished his downfall, trusting that if that event should take place, he should succeed as first lord of the treasury. He caballed with the principal leaders of opposition, and in a letter to Dodington, congratulated him on his success in the elections of Melcomb and Weymouth, against the candidates supported by the minisNewcastle, who had hitherto acted an "Many causes concurred, in the present under-part, aspired to be leader of the Whigs, crisis, to render the efforts of Walpole for se- and flattered himself that on the removal of curing a sufficient majority in the new parlia- Walpole, a considerable addition of power ment ineffectual. He had continued so long in would be placed in his hands. He had even full power, that many, like the subjects of the made clandestine overtures to the duke of Arpope during a long reign, pined for a new ad-gyle, which had been disclosed to the minister. ministration, from a mere desire of change. Others formed dreams of future splendour and happiness, which were to beam on the nation, when the minister was removed; that minister, who was styled the father of corruption, who was accused of squandering the public money, and of drawing from the plunder of his devoted country, such immense riches as no individual had ever before amassed; who alone prevented the suppression of numerous taxes, the abolition of the national debt, and obstructed those plans of reform, which were to restore credit and dignity to the king and parliament. His fall was to produce a new æra, the revival of the golden age; a junction of all parties was to take place, and the sovereign, instead of being the chief of a sect, was to become at once the father of his people, and to reign in the hearts of his subjects. These notions were industriously circulated, and greedily swallowed by the deluded populace, until his removal became an object of national concern. "The popular clamour for a war with Spain had been so violent, that the resistance of the minister was deemed a shameful pusillanimity and dereliction of national honour, and became the favourite theme of satire and contumely, both in prose and rhyme. "Sir Robert Walpole," as Burke justly observes," was forced into the war in 1739, by the people, who were "The minister was also greatly embarrassed with the conduct of foreign affairs, on which he was not always confidentially consulted. The negociation which settled the neutrality of Hanover, was begun and nearly concluded, not only without his approbation, but almost without his knowledge. The first positive information he received of it, was a private letter from the king, which was delivered to him in the presence of the duke of Newcastle, to whom he never disclosed the contents. He was apprehensive lest the nation should impute to him a measure so extremely unpopular. He complained that lord Harrington, the secretary of state who attended the king to Hanover, had not given earlier notice to the cabinet of England, and he told a foreign agent, that the neutrality of Hanover was compulsory, and could not affect England. On mature reflection, however, he appreciated the necessity of the measure, and though dissatisfied with the com mencement of the negociation, approved and sanctioned its conclusion. . "Every means was now employed to traduce his character. The most calumnious reports were invented and diffused. It was rumoured that admiral Haddock had orders to avoid meeting and intercepting the Spanish transports carrying troops to Italy, for the purpose of taking possession of Tuscany, Parma, jesty, to acquaint you, that he is pleased | mediately repair to the place where the to defer declaring the causes of calling Commons usually sit, and there choose a this parliament, till there shall be a Speaker fit person to be your Speaker; and that of the House of Commons. It is, there- you present the person who shall be so fore, his majesty's pleasure, that you, gen- chosen, to his majesty, here, for his royal tlemen of the House of Commons, do im- approbation, on Friday next, at two of the clock." and Placentia, for Don Philip, under the guarantee of England. Even such wild and absurd fictions, that he had betrayed to Fleury and Patinho, the projected operations against Spain, and that he received from those ministers large remittances to bribe the parliament, were audaciously advanced, and confidently believed. "The minister had been no sooner forced into the war, than the mode of conducting it became an object of obloquy and censure. Violent murmurs were diffused throughout the nation, grounded on the ill success of the war, the loss of the commerce with Spain, of which those who forced the minister to commence hostilities most loudly complained; the neutrality of Hanover was represented as inconsistent with the dignity and interests of England, and falsely imputed to him. To these immediate causes of complaint were added apprehensions of future evils; the conclusion of a dishonourable peace with Spain was said to be in agitation, of which the basis was to be the restitution of Gibraltar and Minorca; the aggrandisement of France, the abasement of the house of Austria, the establishment of the elector of Bavaria on the throne of the empire, who would always remain attached to the house of Bourbon, and the guarantee of Parma to Don Philip, which would be a shameful breach of the guarantee of the pragmatic sanction. "The majority by which the motion to remove him was rejected, the death of sir William Wyndham, and the retreat of Bolingbroke into France, rendered him indolent, and inspired him with too much confidence in the support of the king, and in the strength of his friends. 'His success on this occasion,' as a contemporary pamphleteer justly expresses himself, threw him into a lethargy of power. He imagined that the breach between the Whigs and the Tories was too great to be repaired during the time of electing a new parliament; he thought that it would daily become wider; he seems to have mistaken the motives which induced the Tories to act as they did, and formed too favourable a judgment of the temper and spirit manifested by the people on that unjust motion. He gave them time to reconcile this temporary ebb, and suffered the popular opinion against him to flow back again with increasing violence.' "While the minister laboured under this pressure of great unpopularity; while he was arraigned for the measures of others, of which he was accused of being the sole director; while the cabinet was divided, and the support from the crown so feeble; the exertions on the side of government were inadequate to the vi Then his majesty was pleased to retire ; and the Commons withdrew. List of the House of Commons.*] The following is a List of the Members of the House of Commons: gorous efforts made by opposition. The Tories "It was thought about this time, that the By the best judgment I can form of the list of this present parliament, and I have examined it very carefully, we appear to be so strong, that I think we can but just be called the minority; and I am very sure that such a minority, well united and well conducted, might soon be a majority. But Hoc opus hic labor 'est.' It will neither be united nor well conducted. Those who should lead it will make it their business to break and divide it; and they will succeed. I mean Carteret and Pulteney. Their behaviour for these few years has, in my mind, plainly shewn their views and their negociations with the court: but, surely, their conduct at the end of last session puts that matter out of all dispute. They feared even the success of that minority, and took care to render it as insignificant as possible. Will they then not be much more apprehensive of A LIST OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS BEDFORDSHIRE the success of this; and will not both their "On the other hand, sir Robert must be alarmed at our numbers, and must resolve to reduce them before they are brought into the field, He knows by experience, where and how to apply for that purpose; with this difference only, that the numbers will have raised the price, which he must come up to. And this is all the fruit I expect from this strong minority. You will possibly ask me, whether all this is in the power of Carteret and Pulteney? I answer, yes; in the power of Pulteney alone. He has a personal influence over many, and an interested influence over more. The silly, halfwitted, zealous whigs consider him as the only support of whiggism; and look upon us as running headlong into Bolingbroke and the tories. The interested whigs, as Sandys, Rushout, and Gibbon, with many others, are as impatient to come into court as he can be; and, persuaded that he has opened that door a little, will hold fast by him to squeeze in with him, and think they can justify their conduct to the public, by following their old leader, under the colours (though false ones) of whiggism. to others; and many will, by that time, present themselves. "For example, the court generally proposes some servile and shameless tool of theirs to be Chairman of the Committee of Privileges and Elections. Why should not we, therefore, pick out some whig of a fair character, and with personal connections, to set up in opposition? I think we should be pretty strong upon this point. But as for opposition to their Speaker, if it be Onslow, we shall be but weak; he having, by a certain decency of behaviour, made himself many personal friends in the minority. The affair of Carthagena will of course be mentioned; and there, in my opinion, a question, and a trying one too, of censure, lies very fair, that the delaying of that expedition so late last year was the principal cause of our disappointment. An address to the king, desiring him to make no peace with Spain, unless our undoubted right of navigation in the West Indies, without molestation or search, be clearly and in express words stipulated, and till we have acquired some valuable possession there, as a pledge of the performance of such stipulation: such a question would surely be a popular one, and distressful enough to the ministry. "I entirely agree with you, that we ought to have meetings to concert measures some time before the meeting of the parliament; but that I likewise know will not happen. I have been these seven years endeavouring to bring it about, and have not been able. Fox-hunting, gardening, planting, or indifference, having always kept our people in the country, till the "What then, is nothing to be done? Are we very day before the meeting of the parliament. to give it up tamely, when the prospect seems Besides, would it be easy to settle who should so fair? No; I am for acting, let our numbers be at those meetings? If Pulteney and his be what they will. I am for discriminating, people were to be chose, it would be only inand making people speak out; though our forming them beforehand, what they should numbers should, as I am convinced they will, either oppose or defend; and if they were not lessen considerably by it. Let what will hap- there, their own exclusion would in some depen, we cannot be in a worse situation than gree justify, or at least colour their conduct. that we have been in for these last three or four As to our most flagitious House, I believe you years. Nay, I am for acting at the very be- agree there is nothing to be done in it; and for ginning of the sessions, and bringing our num- such a minority to struggle with such a mabers the first week; and points for that pur-jority, would be much like the late king of pose, I am sure, are not wanting. Some occur Sweden's attacking the Ottoman army at Bento me now, many more will, I dare say, occur der, at the head of his cook and butler. [VOL. XII. ] [0] |