XV. 1730. CHAP. old friends, near relations, and brother ministers, seized one another by the collar, and grasped their swords. Mrs. Selwyn shrieked for assistance; the men interposed and dissuaded them from going out, as they wished, to fight an immediate duel. But though the encounter was prevented, the friendship could never be restored. Townshend, however, made another struggle to establish his power at Court, and obtain the dismissal of Newcastle. He had still considerable personal influence with the King; but finding it quite inadequate to maintain him against his all-powerful colleague, he resigned on the 16th of May. He left office with a most unblemished character, and -what is still less common-a most patriotic moderation. Had he gone into opposition, or even steered a neutral course, he must have caused great embarrassment and difficulty to his triumphant rival. But he must thereby also have thwarted a policy of which he approved, and hindered measures which he wished to see adopted. In spite, therefore, of the most flattering advances from the Opposition, who were prepared to receive him with open arms, he nobly resolved to retire altogether from public life. He withdrew to his paternal seat at Rainham, where he passed the eight remaining years of his life in well-earned leisure, or in agricultural improvements. It is to him that England, and more especially his native county of Norfolk, owes the introduction and cul 66 XV. 1730. tivation of the turnip from Germany. He resisted CHAP. all solicitations to re-enter public life, nor would even consent to visit London. Once when Chesterfield had embarked in full opposition to Walpole, he went to Rainham, on purpose to use his influence as an intimate friend, and persuade the fallen minister to attend an important question in the House of Lords. "I have irrevocably determined," Townshend answered, "no more to en66 gage in politics; I recollect that Lord Cowper, though a staunch Whig, was betrayed by per"sonal pique and party resentment to throw him"self into the arms of the Tories, and even to support principles which tended to serve the "Jacobites. I know that I am extremely warm, "and I am apprehensive that if I should attend "the House of Lords, I may be hurried away by my temper, and my personal animosities, to 'adopt a line of conduct which in my cooler "moments I may regret." Whatever may be thought of Lord Cowper's conduct, the highest praise is certainly due to Townshend's, and he deserves to be celebrated in history, as one of the very few who, after tasting high power, and when stirred by sharp provocation, have cherished their principles more than their resentments, and rather chosen themselves to fall into obscurity than the public affairs into confusion. Let him who undervalues this praise compute whether he can find many to deserve it! The peaceful accession of George the Second, VOL. II. P CHAP. the happy conclusion of the Treaty of Seville, -and the consequent quiet throughout Europe, XV. 1730. dashed all the hopes of the English Jacobites. That party had never varied in its language. It had uniformly declared that any attempt without a body of troops would be hopeless, and would not receive their support; and such troops could no longer be expected from any foreign power. In the twelve years from 1728 to 1740, the Jacobite cause was evidently at a very low ebb; the Stuart Papers lose most of their importance, and the correspondence dwindles in a great measure from powerful statesmen down to low adventurers. What interest could the reader feel in tracing a succession of wild schemes formed by subaltern ambition, or nourished by religious bigotry, or what place can history assign to the reveries of some despairing exile, or persecuted priest? As the old leaders drop off, few others appear to supply their place. In 1728, we find Shippen praised for keeping what is called "his honesty," (that is, swearing one way, and voting the other,) "at a "time when almost every body is wavering." The faults of the Government afterwards added again to the strength of the Jacobites; but of their new champions scarce any seem of note, besides Lord Cornbury, heir to the illustrious house of Clarendon, and member for the University of Oxford.t Abroad, the Pretender's party lost at nearly the * Mr. Morice to Bishop Atterbury, June 24. 1728. See his letter to James, May 17. 1733. Appendix. same time the Earl of Mar, the Duke of Wharton, CHA P. . and Bishop Atterbury. Mar died at Aix-laXV. Chapelle in May, 1732, distrusted by all parties 1730. and regretted by none. - Wharton had been plunging deeper and deeper from one folly and extravagance to another. His first Duchess having died in England, he on a very short acquaintance, and contrary to the advice of all his friends, married Miss O'Byrne, the daughter of an exiled Irish Colonel, and maid of honour to the Queen of Spain, but he afterwards left the lady almost as suddenly as he had sought her. So completely did he renounce his country, that he joined the Spanish army as a volunteer, when engaged in the siege of Gibraltar. Next spring, we find him again in Italy, having an interview with the Chevalier at Parma, and writing him a letter in vindication of his conduct, and in reply to" some gentlemen, "who brand my zeal with the name of madness, " and adorn their own indolence with the pompous "title of discretion, and who without your Ma"jesty's gracious interposition will never compre"hend that obedience is true loyalty!"* Yet in June, 1728, only a month from the date of this letter, he writes from Lyons to Horace Walpole, to protest that "since his present Majesty's acces❝sion to the throne, I have absolutely refused to be "concerned with the Pretender or any of his af"fairs. . . . . I was forced to go to Italy to get "out of Spain. . . . . I am coming to Paris to put * Letter to James, May 21.1728. Appendix. ... XV. CHAP. "myself entirely under your Excellency's protection, and hope that Sir Robert Walpole's good "nature will prompt him to save a family which "his generosity induced him to spare." 1730. To Paris, accordingly, Wharton came, and there renewed the strongest assurances to the ambassador. "He told me," says Horace Walpole, "that he had, indeed, lately passed through 66 Parma, where the Pretender, and several of his "adherents were with him; but that he had industriously avoided to speak with any of them. “.... He then gave me, by fits, and in a ram"bling way that was entertaining enough, an ac"count of several of his late motions and actions "while he was in the Pretender's service..... "And he concluded with telling me, that he "would go to his lodgings, which were in a 66 garret, where the Duchess of Wharton was "likewise with him, and would write me a letter, "and immediately, without making the least stay or appearance here, retire to Rouen, in Normandy, and there expect the answer from Eng"land." + 66 66 This answer, however, was not favourable; the English ministers, who had already preferred against the Duke an indictment for high treason, refused to receive any application in his favour. At this intelligence Wharton immediately renewed his connection with the Jacobites, and his profession of the * To Horace Walpole, June 28. 1728. Coxe's Walpole. |