The house having resolved itself into a committee, to deliberate upon the most proper methods for the better security and improvement of the duties and revenues charged upon tobacco and wines, all the papers relating to these duties were submitted to the perusal of the members; the commissioners of the customs and excise were ordered to attend the house, the avenues of which were crowded with multitudes of people; and the members in the opposition waited impatiently for a proposal, in which they thought the liberties of their country so deeply interested. In a word, there had been a call of the house on the preceding day. The session was frequent and full; and both sides appeared ready and eager for the contest when sir Robert Walpole broached his design. He took notice of the arts which had been used to prejudice the people against his plan before it was known. He affirmed that the clamours occasioned by these prejudices had originally risen from smugglers and fradulent dealers, who had enriched themselves by cheating the public; and that these had been strenuously assisted and supported by another set of men, fond of every opportunity to stir up the people of Great Britain to mutiny and sedition. He expatiated on the frauds that were committed in that branch of the revenue arising from the duties on tobacco; upon the hardships to which the American planters were subjected by the heavy duties payable on importation, as well as by the ill usage they had met with from their factors and correspondents in England, who, from being their servants, were now become their masters; upon the injury done to the fair trader; and the loss sustained by the public with respect to the revenue. He asserted that the scheme he was about to propose would remove all these inconveniencies, prevent numberless frauds, perjuries, and false entries, and add two or three hundred thousand pounds per annum to the public revenue. He entered into a long detail of frauds practised by the knavish dealers in those commodities; he recited the several acts of parliament that related to the duties on wine and tobacco; he declared he had no intention to promote a general excise; he endeavoured to obviate some objections that might be made to his plan, the nature of which he at length explained. He proposed to join the laws of excise to those of the customs; that the further subsidy of three farthings per pound charged upon imported tobacco, should be still levied at the custom-house, and payable to his majesty’s civil list as heretofore; that then the tobacco should be lodged in warehouses, to be appointed for that purpose by the commissioners of the excise; that the keeper of each warehouse, appointed likewise hy the commissioners, should have one lock and key, and the merchant-importer have another; and that the tobacco should be thus secured until the merchant should find vent for it, either by exportation or home consumption; that the part designed for exportation should be weighed at the customhouse, discharged of the three farthings per pound which had been paid at its first importation, and then exported without further trouble; that the portion destined for home consumption should, in presence of the warehouse-keeper, be delivered to the purchaser, upon his paying the inland duty of fourpence per pound weight, to the proper officer appointed to receive it; by which means the merchant would be eased of the inconvenience of paying the duty upon importation, or of granting bonds and finding sureties for the payment, before he had found a market for the commodity; that all penalties and forfeitures, so far as they formerly belonged to the crown, should for the future be applied to the use of the public; that appeals in this, as well as in all other cases relating to the excise, should be heard and determined by two or three of the judges, to be named by his majesty; and in the country, by the judge of assize upon the next circuit, who should hear and determine such appeals in the most summary manner, without the formality of proceedings in courts of law or equity.
Such was the substance of the famous excise scheme, in favour of which sir Robert Walpole moved that tha duties and subsidies on tobacco should, from and after the twenty-fourth day of June, cease and determine. The debate which ensued was managed and maintained by all the able speakers on both sides of the question. Sir Robert Walpole was answered by Mr. Perry, member for the city of London. Sir Paul Methuen joined in the opposition. Sir John Barnard, another representative of London, distinguished himself in the same cause.
He was supported by Mr. Pulteney, sir William Wyndham, and other patriots. The scheme was espoused by sir Philip Yorke, appointed lord-chief-justice of the king’s-bench, and ennobled in the course of the ensuing year. Sir Joseph Jekyll approved of the project, which was likewise strenuously defended by lord Hervey, sir Thomas Robinson, sir William Yonge, Mr. Pelham, and Mr. Wilmington, which last excelled all his contemporaries of the ministry in talents and address. Those who argued against the scheme, accused the minister of having misrepresented the frauds and made false calculations. With respect to the supposed hardships under which the planters were said to labour, they affirmed that no planter had ever dreamed of complaining, until instigated by letters and applications from London: that this scheme, far from relieving the planters, would expose the factors to such grievous oppression, that they would not be able to continue the trade, consequently the planters would be entirely ruined; and, after all, it would not prevent those frauds against which it was said to be provided: that from the examination of the commissioners of the customs, it appeared that those frauds did not exceed forty thousand pounds per annum, and might in a great measure be abolished, by a due execution of the laws in being; consequently this scheme was unnecessary, would be ineffectual in augmenting the revenue, destructive to trade, and dangerous to the liberties of the subject, as it tended to promote a general excise, which was in all countries considered as a grievous oppression. They suggested that it would produce an additional swarm of excise officers and warehouse-keepers, appointed and paid by the treasury, so as to multiply the dependents on the crown, and enable it still further to influence the freedom of elections: that the traders would become slaves to excisemen and warehouse-keepers, as they would be debarred all access to their commodities, except at certain hours, when attended by those officers: that the merchant, for every quantity of tobacco he could sell, would be obliged to make a journey, or send a messenger to the office for a permit, which could not be obtained without trouble, expense, and delay: and that should a law be enacted in consequence of this motion, it would in all probability be some time or other used as a precedent for introducing excise laws into every branch of the revenue; in which case the liberty of Great Britain would be no more. In the course of this debate, sir Robert Walpole took notice of the multitudes which had beset all the approaches to the house. He said it would be an easy task for a designing seditious person to raise a tumult and disorder among them: that gentlemen might give them what name they should think fit, and affirm they were come as humble suppliants; but he knew whom the law called sturdy beggars: and those who brought them to that place could not be certain but that they might behave in the same manner. This insinuation was resented by sir John Barnard, who observed that merchants of character had a right to come down to the court of requests, and lobby of the house of commons, in order to solicit their friends and acquaintance against any scheme or project which they might think prejudicial to their commerce: that when he came into the house, he saw none but such as deserved the appellation of sturdy beggars as little as the honourable gentleman himself, or any gentleman whatever.
1733
After a warm dispute, the motion was carried by a majority of sixty-one voices. Several resolutions were founded on the proposal: and to these the house agreed, though not without another violent contest. The resolutions produced a bill, against which petitions were preferred by the lord-mayor, aldermen, and common-council of London, the city of Coventry and Nottingham. A motion was made that counsel should be heard for the city of London; but it was rejected by the majority, and the petitions were ordered to lie upon the table. Had the minister encountered no opposition but that which appeared within doors, his project would have certainly been carried into execution; but the whole nation was alarmed, and clamoured loudly against the excise-bill. The populace still crowded around Westminster-hall, blocking up all the avenues to the house of commons. They even insulted the persons of those members who had voted for the ministry on this occasion; and sir Robert Walpole began to be in fear of his life. He therefore thought proper to drop the design, by moving that the second reading of the bill might be postponed till the twelfth day of June. Then complaint being made of the insolence of the populace, who had maltreated several members, divers resolutions were taken against those tumultuous crowds and their abettors; these resolves were communicated to the lord-mayor of London, the sheriff of Middlesex, and the high-bailiff of Westminster. Some individuals were apprehended in the court of requests, as having fomented the disturbances; but they were soon released. The miscarriage of the bill was celebrated with public rejoicings in London and Westminster, and the minister was burned in effigy by the populace. After the miscarriage of the excise scheme, the house unanimously resolved to inquire into the frauds and abuses in the customs; and a committee of twenty-one persons was chosen by ballot for this purpose.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The subsequent debates of this session were occasioned by a bill to prevent the infamous practice of stock-jobbing, which with great difficulty made its way to the house of lords, who proposed some amendments, in consequence of which it was laid aside; and succeeded by another bill establishing a lottery, to raise five hundred thousand pounds for the relief of those who had suffered by the charitable corporation. After having undergone some alteration, it passed through both houses and obtained the royal assent. The king, by message to parliament, had signified his intention to give the princess royal in marriage to the prince of Orange, promising himself their concurrence and assistance, that he might be enabled to bestow such a portion with his eldest daughter as should be suitable to the occasion. The commons immediately resolved, that but of the monies arising from the sale of lands in the island of St. Christopher’s, his majesty should be empowered to apply fourscore thousand pounds as a marriage dower for his daughter; and a clause for this purpose was inserted in the bill, for enabling his majesty to apply five hundred thousand pounds out of the sinking fund for the service of the current year.
The opposition in the house of lords was still more animated, though ineffectual. The debates chiefly turned upon the pension bill, the number of land forces, and a motion made by lord Bathurst for an account of the produce of the forfeited estates which had belonged to the directors of the South-Sea company. The trustees for these estates had charged themselves with a great sum of money, and the lords in the opposition thought they had a right to know how it had been disposed. The ministry had reasons to stifle this inquiry, and therefore opposed it with all their vigour. Nevertheless, the motion was carried after a warm dispute, and the directors of the South-Sea company were ordered to lay the accounts before the house. From this it appeared that the large sums of money arising from the forfeited estates had been distributed among the proprietors, by way of dividend, even before recourse was had to parliament for directions in what manner that produce should be applied: lord Bathurst, therefore, moved for a resolution of the house that the disposal of this money, by way of dividend, without any order or direction of a general court for that purpose, was a violation of the act of parliament made for the disposal thereof, and a manifest injustice done to the proprietors of that stock. The duke of Newcastle, in order to gain time, moved, that as the account was confused, and almost unintelligible, the present directors of the company might be ordered to lay before the house a further and more distinct account of the manner in which the money had been disposed. A violent contest ensued, in the course of which the house divided, and of fifty-seven peers who voted for the delay, forty-six were such as enjoyed preferment in the church, commissions in the army, or civil employments under the government. At length lord Bathurst waived his motion for that time; then the house ordered that the present and former directors of the South-Sea company, together with the late inspectors of their accounts, should attend and be examined. They were accordingly interrogated, and gave so little satisfaction, that lord Bathurst moved for a committee of inquiry; but the question being put, was carried in the negative: yet a very strong protest was entered by the lords in the opposition. The next subject of altercation was the bill for misapplying part of the produce of the sinking fund. It was attacked with all the force of argument, wit, and declamation, by the earl of Strafford, lords Bathurst and Carteret, and particularly by the earl of Chesterfield, who had by this time resigned his staff of lord-steward of the household, and renounced all connexion with the ministry. Lord Bathurst moved for a resolution, importing that, in the opinion of the house, the sinking fund ought for the future to be applied, in time of peace and public tranquillity, to the redemption of those taxes which were most prejudicial to the trade, most burdensome on the manufactures, and most oppressive on the poor of the nation. This motion was overruled, and the bill adopted by the majority. On the eleventh of June, the king gave the royal assent to the bills that were prepared, and closed the session with a speech, in which he took notice of the wicked endeavours that had been lately used to inflame the minds of the people by the most unjust misrepresentations.
Europe was now reinvolved in fresh troubles by a vacancy on the throne of Poland. Augustus died at Warsaw in the end of January, and the neighbouring powers were immediately in commotion. The elector of Saxony, son to the late king, and Stanislaus, whose daughter was married to the French monarch, declared themselves candidates for the Polish throne. The emperor, the czarina, and the king of Prussia, espoused the interests of the Saxon: the king of France supported the pretensions of his father-in-law. The foreign ministers at Warsaw forthwith began to form intrigues among the electors: the marquis de Monti, ambassador from France, exerted himself so successfully, that he soon gained over the primate, and a majority of the catholic dietines, to the interests of Stanislaus; while the Imperial and Russian troops hovered on the frontiers of Poland. The French king no sooner understood that a body of the emperor’s forces was encamped at Silesia, than he ordered the duke of Berwick to assemble an army on the Rhine, and take measures for entering Germany in case the Imperialists should march into Poland. A French fleet set sail for Dantzic, while Stanislaus travelled through Germany in disguise to Poland, and concealed himself in the house of the French ambassador at Warsaw. As the day of election approached, the Imperial, Russian, and Prussian ministers delivered in their several declarations, by way of protest, against the contingent election of Stanislaus, as a person proscribed, disqualified, depending upon a foreign power, and connected with the Turks and other infidels. The Russian general Lasci entered Poland at the head of fifty thousand men: the diet of the election was opened with the usual ceremony on the twenty-fifth day of August. Prince Viesazowski, chief of the Saxon interest, retired to the other side of the Vistula, with three thousand men, including some of the nobility who adhered to that party. Nevertheless, the primate proceeded to the election: Stanislaus was unanimously chosen king; and appeared in the electoral field, where he was received with loud acclamations. The opposite party soon increased to ten thousand men; protested against the election, and joined the Russian army, which advanced by speedy marches. King Stanislaus finding himself unable to cope with such adversaries, retired with the primate and French ambassador to Dantzic, leaving the palatine of Kiow at Warsaw. This general attacked the Saxon palace, which was surrendered upon terms: then the soldiers and inhabitants plundered the houses belonging to the grandees who had declared for Augustus, as well as the hotel of the Russian minister. In the meantime, the Poles, who had joined the Muscovites, finding it impracticable to pass the Vistula before the expiration of the time fixed for the session of the diet, erected a kelo at Cracow, where the elector of Saxony was chosen and proclaimed by the bishop of Cracow, king of Poland, under the name of Augustus III., on the sixth day of October. They afterwards passed the river, and the palatine of Kiow retiring towards Cracow, they took possession of Warsaw, where in their turn they plundered the palaces and houses belonging to the opposite party.
During these transactions, the French king concluded a treaty with Spain and Sardinia, by which those powers agreed to declare war against the emperor. Manifestoes were published reciprocally by all the contracting powers. The duke of Berwick passed the Rhine in October, and undertook the seige of fort Kehl, which in a few days was surrendered on capitulation: then he repassed the river and returned to Versailles. The king of Sardinia having declared war against the emperor, joined a body of French forces commanded by mareschal de Villars, and drove the Imperialists out of the Milanese. His Imperial majesty, dreading the effects of such a powerful confederacy against him, offered to compromise all differences with the crown of Spain, under the mediation of the king of Great Britain; and Mr. Keene, the British minister at Madrid, proposed an accommodation. Philip expressed his acknowledgments to the king of England, declaring, however, that the emperor’s advances were too late, and that his own resolutions were already taken. Nevertheless, he sent orders to the count de Montijo, his ambassador at London, to communicate to his Britannic majesty the motives which had induced him to take these resolutions. In the meantime he detached a powerful armament to Italy, where they invested the Imperial fortress of Aula, the garrison of which was obliged to surrender themselves prisoners of war. The republic of Venice declared she would take no share in the disputes of Italy; the states-general signed a neutrality with the French king for the Austrian Netherlands, without consulting the emperor or the king of Great Britain; and the English councils seemed to be altogether pacific.
In November the prince of Orange arrived at Greenwich, in order to espouse the princess royal; but the marriage was postponed on account of his being taken ill: and he repaired to Bath, in Somersetshire, to drink the water for the recovery of his strength. Henrietta, the young duchess of Marlborough, dying about this time, the title devolved to her sister’s son, the earl of Sunderland. Lord King resigning his office of chancellor, it was conferred upon Mr. Talbot, solicitor-general, together with the title of baron; a promotion that reflected honour upon those by whom it was advised. He possessed the spirit of a Roman senator, the elegance of an Atticus, and the integrity of a Cato. At the meeting of the parliament in January, the king told them, in his speech, that though he was no way engaged in the war which had begun to rage in Europe, except by the good offices he had employed among the contending powers, he could not sit regardless of the present events, or be unconcerned for the consequences of a war undertaken and supported by such a powerful alliance. He said, he had thought proper to take time to examine the facts alleged on both sides, and to wait the result of the councils of those powers that were more immediately interested in the consequences of the rupture. He declared he would concert with his allies, more particularly with the states-general of the United Provinces, such measures as should be thought most advisable for their common safety, and for restoring the peace of Europe. In the meantime, he expressed his hope that they would make such provision as should secure his kingdom, rights, and possessions from all dangers and insults, and maintain the respect due to the British nation. He said, that whatever part it might in the end be most reasonable for him to act, it would in all views be necessary, when all Europe was preparing for arms, to put his kingdom in a posture of defence. The motion for an address of thanks produced as usual a debate in both houses, which, it must be owned, appears to have proceeded from a spirit of cavilling, rather than from any reasonable cause of objection.
The house of commons resolved to address his majesty for a copy of the treaty of Vienna. Sir John Rushout moved for another, desiring that the letters and instructions relating to the execution of the treaty of Seville, should be submitted to the inspection of the commons; but, after a hard struggle, it was over-ruled. The next motion was made by Mr. Sandys, a gentleman who had for some time appeared strenuous in the opposition, and wrangled with great perseverance. He proposed that the house should examine the instructions which had been given to the British minister in Poland, some years before the death of king Augustus, that they might be the better able to judge of the causes which produced this new rupture among the powers of Europe. The motion being opposed by all the court members, a contest ensued, in the course of which Mr. Pulteney compared the ministry to an empyric, and the constitution of England to his patient. This pretender in physic, said he, being consulted, tells the distempered person there were but two or three ways of treating his disease; and he was afraid that none of them would succeed. A vomit might throw him into convulsions that would occasion immediate death; a purge might bring on a diarrhoea that would carry him off in a short time; and he had been already bled so much, and so often, that he could bear it no longer. The unfortunate patient, shocked at this declaration, replies, “Sir, you have always pretended to be a regular doctor; but now I find you are an arrant quack. I had an excellent constitution when I first fell into your hands, but you have quite destroyed it; and now I find I have no other chance for saving my life, but by calling for the help of some regular physician.” In the debate, the members on both sides seemed to wander from the question, and indulge themselves in ludicrous personalities. Mr. H. Walpole took occasion to say, that the opposition treated the ministry as he himself was treated by some of his acquaintances with respect to his dress. “If I am in plain clothes,” said he, “then they call me a slovenly dirty fellow; and if by chance I wear a laced suit, they cry, What, shall such an awkward fellow wear fine clothes?” He continued to sport in this kind of idle buffoonery. He compared the present administration to a ship at sea. As long as the wind was fair, and proper for carrying us to our designed port, the word was, “Steady! steady!” but when the wind began to shift and change, the word was necessarily altered to “Thus, thus, and no nearer.” The motion was overpowered by the majority; and this was the fate of several other proposals made by the members in the opposition. Sir John Barnard presented a petition from the druggists, and other dealers in tea, complaining of the insults and oppression to which they were subjected by the excise laws, and imploring relief. Sir John and Mr. Perry, another of the city members, explained the grievous hardships which those traders sustained, and moved that the petition might be referred to the consideration of the whole house. They were opposed by Mr. Winnington, sir W. Yonge, and other partisans of the ministry; and these skirmishes brought on a general engagement of the two parties, in which every weapon of satire, argument, reason, and truth, was wielded against that odious, arbitrary, and oppressive method of collecting the public revenue. Nevertheless, the motion in favour of the sufferers was rejected. When the commons deliberated upon the supply, Mr. Andrews, deputy-paymaster of the army, moved for an addition of eighteen hundred men to the number of land forces which had been continued since the preceding year. The members in the opposition disputed this small augmentation with too much heat and eagerness. It must be acknowledged, they were by this time irritated into such personal animosity against the minister, that they resolved to oppose all his measures, whether they might or might not be necessary for the safety and advantage of the kingdom. Nor indeed were they altogether blameable for acting on this maxim, if their sole aim was to remove from the confidence and councils of their sovereign, a man whose conduct they thought prejudicial to the interests and liberties of their country. They could not, however, prevent the augmentation proposed; but they resolved, if they could not wholly stop the career of the ministry, to throw in such a number of rubs as should at least retard their progress. The duke of Bolton and lord Cobham had been deprived of the regiments they commanded, because they refused to concur in every project of the administration. It was in consequence of their dismission, that lord Morpeth moved for a bill to prevent any commissioned officer, not above the rank of a colonel, from being removed, unless by a court-martial, or by address of either house of parliament. Such an attack on the prerogative might have succeeded in the latter part of the reign of the first Charles; but at this juncture could not fail to miscarry; yet it was sustained with great vigour and address. When the proposal was set aside by the majority, Mr. Sandys moved for an address to the king, desiring to know who advised his majesty to remove the duke of Bolton and lord Cob-ham from their respective regiments. He was seconded by Mr. Pulteney and sir William Wyndham; but the ministry foreseeing another tedious dispute, called for the question, and the motion was carried in the negative. The next source of contention was a bill for securing the freedom of parliament, by limiting the number of officers in the house of commons. It was read a first and second time; but when a motion was made for its being committed, it met with a powerful opposition, and produced a warm debate that issued in a question which, like the former, passed in the negative. A clergyman having insinuated in conversation that sir William Milner, baronet, member for York, received a pension from the ministry, the house took cognizance of this report; the clergyman acknowledged at the bar that he might have dropped such a hint from hearsay. The accused member protested, upon his honour, that he never did nor ever would receive place, pension, gratuity, or reward from the court, either directly or indirectly, for voting in parliament, or upon any other account whatever. The accusation was voted false and scandalous, and the accuser taken into custody; but in a few days he was discharged upon his humble petition, and his begging pardon of the member whom he had calumniated. The duty upon salt was prolonged for eight years; and a bill passed against stock-jobbing.
But the subject which of all others employed the eloquence and abilities on both sides to the most vigorous exertion, was a motion made by Mr. Bromley, who proposed that a bill should be brought in for repealing the septenntal act, and for the more frequent meeting and calling of parliaments. The arguments for and against septennial parliaments have already been stated. The ministry now insisted upon the increase of papists and Jacobites, which rendered it dangerous to weaken the hands of the government; they challenged the opposition to produce one instance in which the least encroachment had been made on the liberties of the people since the septennial act took place; and they defied the most ingenious malice to prove that his present majesty had ever endeavoured to extend any branch of the prerogative beyond its legal bounds. Sir John Hinde Cotton affirmed, that in many parts of England the papists had already begun to use all their influence in favour of those candidates who were recommended by the ministers as members in the ensuing parliament. With respect to his majesty’s conduct, he said he would not answer one word; but as to the grievances introduced since the law was enacted for septennial parliaments, he thought himself more at liberty to declare his sentiments. He asserted, that the septennial law itself was an encroachment on the rights of the people; a law passed by a parliament that made itself septennial. He observed, that the laws of treason with regard to trials were altered since that period; that in former times a man was tried by a jury of his neighbours, within the county where the crimes alleged against him were said to be committed; but by an act of a septennial parliament he might be removed and tried in any place where the crown, or rather the ministry, could find a jury proper for their purpose; where the prisoner could not bring any witnesses in his justification, without an expense which perhaps his circumstances would not bear. He asked, if the riot act was not an encroachment on the rights of the people? An act by which a little dirty justice of the peace, the meanest and vilest tool a minister can use, who, perhaps subsists by his being in the commission, and may be deprived of that subsistence at the pleasure of his patron, had it in his power to put twenty or thirty of the best subjects in England to immediate death, without any trial or form but that of reading a proclamation. “Was not the fatal South-Sea scheme,” said he, “established by the act of a septennial parliament? And can any man ask, whether that law was attended with any inconvenience; to the glorious catalogue I might have added the late excise bill, if it had passed into a law; but, thank heaven, the septennial parliament was near expiring before that famous measure was introduced.”
Sir William Wyndham concluded an excellent speech, that spoke him the unrivalled orator, the uncorrupted Briton, and the unshaken patriot, in words to this effect:—“Let us suppose a man abandoned to all notions of virtue and honour, of no great family, and but a mean fortune, raised to be chief minister of state, by the concurrence of many whimsical events; afraid or unwilling to trust any but creatures of his own making; lost to all sense of shame and reputation; ignorant of his country’s true interest; pursuing no aim but that of aggrandizing himself and his favourites; in foreign affairs trusting none but those who, from the nature of their education, cannot possibly be qualified for the service of their country, or give weight and credit to their negotiations. Let us suppose the true interest of the nation by such means neglected, or misunderstood, her honour tarnished, her importance lost, her trade insulted, her merchants plundered, and her sailors murdered; and all these circumstances overlooked, lest his administration should be endangered. Suppose him next possessed of immense wealth, the plunder of the nation, with a parliament chiefly composed of members whose seats are purchased, and whose votes are bought at the expense of the public treasure. In such a parliament suppose all attempts made to inquire into his conduct, or to relieve the nation from the distress which has been entailed upon it by his administration. Suppose him screened by a corrupt majority of his creatures, whom he retains in daily pay, or engages in his particular interest, by distributing among them those posts and places which ought never to be bestowed upon any but for the good of the public. Let him plume himself upon his scandalous victory, because he has obtained a parliament like a packed jury ready to acquit him at all adventures. Let us suppose him domineering with insolence over all the men of ancient families, over all the men of sense, figure, or fortune in the nation; as he has no virtue of his own, ridiculing it in others, and endeavouring to destroy and corrupt it in all. With such a minister, and such a parliament, let us suppose a case which I hope will never happen: a prince upon the throne, uninformed, ignorant, and unacquainted with the inclinations and true interest of his people, weak, capricious, transported with unbounded ambition, and possessed with insatiable warice. I hope such a case will never occur; but, as it possibly may, could any greater curse happen to a nation than such a prince on the throne, advised, and solely advised by such a minister, and that minister supported by such a parliament? The nature of mankind cannot be altered by human laws; the existence of such a prince or such a minister we cannot prevent by act of parliament; but the existence of such a parliament I think we may prevent; as it is much more likely to exist, and may do more mischief, while the septennial law remains in force than if it were repealed; therefore, I am heartily for its being repealed.” Notwithstanding the most warm, the most nervous, the most pathetic remonstrances in favour of the motion, the question was put, and it was suppressed by mere dint of number.
1734
The triumph of the ministry was still more complete in the success of a message delivered from the crown in the latter end of the session, when a great many members of the other party had retired to their respective habitations in the country. Sir Robert Wal-pole delivered this commission to the house, importing that his majesty might be enabled to augment his forces, if occasion should require such an augmentation, between the dissolution of this parliament and the election of another. Such an important point, that was said to strike at the foundation of our liberties, was not tamely yielded; but, on the contrary, contested with uncommon ardour. The motion for taking the message into consideration was carried in the affirmative; and an address presented to the king, signifying their compliance with his desire. In consequence of a subsequent message, they prepared and passed a bill, enabling his majesty to settle an annuity of five thousand pounds for life on the princess royal, as a mark of his paternal favour and affection.
The opposition in the house of peers kept pace with that in the house of commons, and was supported with equal abilities, under the auspices of the lords Bathurst and Carteret, the earls of Chesterfield and Abingdon. The duke of Marlborough made a motion for a bill to regulate the army, equivalent to that which had been rejected in the lower house; and it met with the same fate after a warm dispute. Then lord Carteret moved for an address to the king, that he would be graciously pleased to acquaint the house who advised his majesty to remove the duke of Bolton and lord viscount Cobham from their respective regiments, and what crimes were laid to their charge. This proposal was likewise rejected, at the end of a debate in which the duke of Argyle observed, that two lords had been removed, but only one soldier lost his commission. Such a great majority of the Scottish representatives had always voted for the ministry since the accession of the late king, and so many of these enjoyed places and preferments in the gift of the crown, that several attempts were made by the lords in the opposition to prevent for the future the ministerial influence from extending itself to the elections of North Britain. Accordingly, two motions for this purpose were made by the carl of Marchmont and the duke of Bedford; and sustained by the earls of Chesterfield, Winchelsea, and Stair, lords Willoughby de Broke, Bathurst, and Carteret. They were opposed by the dukes of Newcastle and Argyle, the earl of Cholmondeley, earl Paulet, lord Hervey, now called up by a writ to the house of peers, and lord Talbot. The question being put on both, they were of course defeated; and the earl of Stair was deprived of his regiment of dragoons, after having performed the most signal services to the royal family, and exhausted his fortune in supporting the interest and dignity of the crown. Strenuous protests were entered against the decision of the majority concerning the king’s message, demanding a power to augment his forces during the recess of parliament; as also against a bill for enabling his majesty to apply the sum of one million two hundred thousand pounds out of the sinking fund for the service of the current year. The business of the session being despatched, the king repaired to the house of lords on the sixteenth day of April, and having passed all the bills that were ready for the royal assent, took leave of this parliament, with the warmest acknowledgment of their zeal, duty, and affection. It was at first prorogued, then dissolved, and another convoked by the same proclamation. On the fourteenth day of March, the nuptials of the prince of Orange and the princess royal were solemnized with great magnificence; and this match was attended with addresses of congratulation to his majesty from different parts of the kingdom.
GEORGE II. 1727-1760
The powers at war upon the continent acted with surprising vigour. The Russian and Saxon army invested the city of Dantzic, in hopes of securing the person of king Stanislaus. The town was strong, the garrison numerous, and animated by the examples of the French and Poles, made a very obstinate defence. For some time they were supplied by sea with recruits, arms, and ammunition. On the eleventh day of May a reinforcement of fifteen hundred men was landed from two French ships of war and some transports, under fort Wechselmunde, which was so much in want of provisions, that they were not admitted; they therefore re-embarked, and sailed back to Copenhagen. But afterwards a larger number was landed in the same place, and attacked the Russian intrenchments, in order to force their way into the city. They were repulsed in this attempt, but retired in good order. At length the Russian fleet arrived, under the command of Admiral Gordon, and now the siege was carried on with great fury. Fort Wechselmunde was surrendered; the French troops capitulated, and were embarked in the Russian ships, to be conveyed to some port in the Baltic. Stanislaus escaped in the disguise of a peasant to Marienwarder in the Prussian territories. The city of Dantzic submitted to the dominion of Augustus III., king of Poland, and was obliged to defray the expense of the war to the Russian general count de Munich, who had assumed the command after the siege was begun. The Polish lords at Dantzic signed an act of submission to king Augustus, who, on the tenth day of July, arrived at the convent of Oliva. There a council was held in his presence. The recusant noblemen took the oath which he proposed. Then a general amnesty was proclaimed; and the king set out on his return to Dresden.
On the Rhine the French arms bore down all resistance. The count de Belleisle besieged and took Traerbach. The duke of Berwick, at the head of sixty thousand men, invested Philipsburgh, while prince Eugene was obliged to remain on the defensive, in the strong camp at Heilbron, waiting for the troops of the empire. On the twelfth day of June, the duke of Berwick, in visiting the trenches, was killed by a cannon-ball, and the command devolved upon the marquis d’Asfeldt who carried on the operations of the siege with equal vigour and capacity. Prince Eugene being joined by the different reinforcements he expected, marched towards the French lines; but found them so strong that he would not hazard an attack; and such precautions taken, that with all his military talents he could not relieve the besieged. At length general Watgenau, the governor, capitulated, after having made a noble defence, and obtained the most honourable conditions. Prince Eugene retired to Heidelberg; and the campaign ended about the beginning of October. The Imperial arms were not more successful in Italy. The infant Don Carlos had received so many invitations from the Neapolitan nobility, that he resolved to take possession of that kingdom. He began his march in February, at the head of the Spanish forces; published a manifesto, declaring he was sent by his father to relieve the kingdom of Naples from the oppression under which it groaned; and entered the capital amidst the acclamations of the people; while the count de Visconti, the German viceroy, finding himself unable to cope with the invaders, thought proper to retire, after having thrown succours into Gaeta and Capua. When he arrived at Nocera, he began to assemble the militia, with intent to form a camp at Barletta. The count de Montemar marched with a body of forces against this general, and obtained over him a complete victory at Bitonto in Apuglia, on the twenty-fifth of May, when the Imperialists were entirely routed, and a great number of principal officers taken prisoners. Don Carlos being proclaimed, and acknowledged king of Naples, created the count de Montemar duke of Bitonto; reduced Gaeta, and all other parts of the kingdom which were garrisoned with Imperial troops; and resolved to subdue the island of Sicily. About twenty thousand troops being destined for this expedition, were landed in the road of Solanto in August, under the command of the new duke of Bitonto, who being favoured by the natives, proceeded in his conquests with great rapidity. The people acknowledged Don Carlos as their sovereign, and took arms in support of his government; so that the Imperial troops were driven before them, and the Spaniards possessed the whole kingdom, except Messina, Syracuse, and Trepani, when the infant determined to visit the island in person.
While Don Carlos was thus employed in the conquest of Naples and Sicily, the Imperialists were hard pressed in Lombardy by the united forces of France and Piedmont, commanded by the king of Sardinia and the old mareschal duke de Villars. In the month of January they undertook the siege of Tortona, which they reduced; while the troops of the emperor began to pour in great numbers into the Mantuan. In the beginning of May, count Merci, who commanded them, passed the Po in the face of the allies, notwithstanding all the skill of Villars, obliged him to retreat from the banks of that river, and took the castle of Colorno. The old French general being taken ill, quitted the army, and retired to Turin, where in a little time he died; and the king of Sardinia retiring to the same place, the command of the allied forces devolved upon the mareschal de Coigny. The confederates were posted at Sanguina, and the Imperialists at Sorbola, when the count de Merci made a motion to San Prospero, as if he intended either to attack the enemy, or take possession of Parma. The mareschal de Coigny forthwith made a disposition for an engagement; and, on the twenty-ninth day of June, the Imperial general having passed the Parma, began the attack with great impetuosity. He charged in person at the head of his troops, and was killed soon after the battle began. Nevertheless, the prince of Wirtem-berg assuming the command, both armies fought with great obstinacy from eleven in the forenoon till four in the afternoon, when the Imperialists retired towards Monte Cirugalo, leaving five thousand men dead on the field of battle, and among these many officers of distinction. The loss of the allies was very considerable, and they reaped no solid fruits from their victory.
The Imperial forces retreated to Reggio, and from thence moved to the plains of Carpi, on the right of the Secchia, where they received some reinforcements; then general count Konigsegg arriving in the camp, took upon himself the command of the army. His first step was to take post at Quingentolo, by which motion he secured Mirandola, that was threatened with a siege. On the fifteenth of February he forded the river Secchia, and surprised the quarters of mareschal de Broglio, who escaped in his shirt with great difficulty. The French retired with such precipitation, that they left all their baggage behind, and above two thousand were taken prisoners. They posted themselves under Gustalla, where, on the nineteenth day of the month, they were vigorously attacked by the Imperialists, and a general engagement ensued. Konigsegg made several desperate efforts to break the French cavalry, upon which, however, he could make no impression. The infantry on both sides fought with uncommon ardour for six hours, and the field was covered with carnage. At length the Imperial general retreated to Lazara, after having lost above five thousand men, including the prince of Wirtemberg, the generals Valpareze and Colminero, with many other officers of distinction; nor was the damage sustained by the French greatly inferior to that of the Germans, who repassed the Po, and took post on the banks of the Oglio. The allies crossed the same river, and the marquis de Maillibois was sent with a detachment to attack Mirandola; but the Imperialists marching to the relief of the place, compelled him to abandon the enterprise; then he rejoined his army, which retired under the walls of Cremona, to wait for succours from Don Carlos. So little respect did the French court pay to the British nation at this juncture, that in the month of November, an edict was published at Paris, commanding all the British subjects in France, who were not actually in employment, from the age of eighteen to fifty, to quit the kingdom in fifteen days, or enlist in some of the Irish regiments, on pain of being treated as vagabonds, and sent to the galleys. This edict was executed with the utmost rigour. The prisons of Paris were crowded with the subjects of Great Britain, who were surprised and cut off from all communication with their friends, and must have perished by cold and hunger, had not they been relieved by the active charity of the Jansenists. The earl of Waldegrave, who then resided at Paris, as ambassador from the king of Great Britain, made such vigorous remonstrances to the French ministry upon this unheard of outrage against a nation with which they had been so long in alliance, that they thought proper to set the prisoners at liberty, and publish another edict, by which the meaning of the former was explained away.