and others of desperate views, arising from disappointed and malicious hearts; all these gentlemen, with respect to their political behaviour, moved by him, and by him solely, all they say, either in private or public, being only a repetition of the words he has put into their mouths, and a spitting out that venom which he has infused into them; and yet we may suppose this leader not really liked by any, even of those who so blindly follow him, and hated by all the rest of mankind. We will suppose this anti-minister to be in a country where he really ought not to be, and where he could not have been but by the effect of too much goodness and mercy, yet endeavouring, with all his might and all his art, to destroy the fountain from whence that mercy flowed. In that country, suppose him continually contracting friendships and familiarities with the ambassadors of those Princes who, at the time, happen to be most at enmity with his own; and if, at any time, it should happen to be for the interest of any of those foreign ministers to have a secret revealed to them, which might be highly prejudicial to his native country, suppose this foreign minister applying to him, and he answering, I will get it you; tell me but what you want, I will endeavour to procure it for you; upon this he put a speech or two in the mouth of some of his creatures, or new converts, and what he wants is moved for in Parliament. Let us farther suppose this anti-minister to have travelled, and at every Court where he was thinking himself the greatest minister, and making it his trade to reveal the secrets of every Court where he had before been, void of all faith or honour, and betraying every master he ever served!"-How must Pulteney and Wyndham have quailed before this terrible invective! How must it have wrung the haughty soul of St. John! These Parliamentary skirmishes were the precursors of the great Electoral battle. It was fought, in little more than a month afterwards, with the utmost acrimony on both sides. Sir Robert himself made great exertions, and is said, on very good authority (his friend Mr. Etough's), to have spent no less than 60,000l. from his private fortune, which by this time had far outgrown its original bounds of 20007. a year. Still more active, if possible, were the Opposition; they felt sanguine of a majority in their favour, while Walpole, on the other hand, expected his former numbers. Neither party succeeded altogether to their wish; a majority was obtained for the Minister, but by no means so large as at the last election. He still maintained his popularity in many places, his influence in many others; but the tide was every where upon the ebb, and in several counties flowed against him. The Excise scheme still rankled in many minds; the standing army, or the Septennial Act, served likewise for a popular cry; and the peace of England, while all was war upon the Continent, instead of being hailed with praise, was branded as "tame tranquillity;" as an infamous dereliction of our old allies. In Scotland, Walpole's chief manager, Lord Isla, had become disliked, and several, even of the Whigs, joined in a complaint of undue influence in the election of the Sixteen Peers. "On the whole," writes Newcastle, "our Parliament is, I think, a good one; but by no means such a one as the Queen and Sir Robert imagine. It will require great care, attention, and management, to set out right, and to keep people in good humour."* Yet when the new parliament met, in January, 1735, it appeared that the majority, though smaller, was quite as sure and steady as before; and the Opposition, after a few trials, lost hope and courage, and for a while again flagged in their exertions. The chief sign of their despondency, at this period, was the resolution of Bolingbroke to withdraw from England; a resolution which Mr. Coxe, without any proof, and, as I think, without any probability, ascribes to the philippic of Walpole. The speech of the Minister, be it observed, was delivered a year before the departure of his rival. But the fiery and restless spirit of St. John had long pined at playing an inferior part; at being shut out from the great Parliamentary arena; at merely writing where he should have spoken, and advising what he ought to have achieved. Till lately he had been buoyed up with visions of victory, and was willing to labour and to bear; but now the result of the general election dashed his hopes from the people, while the retirement of Lady Suffolk, at nearly the same moment, destroyed his expectations from the Court. Under these circumstances, veiling his mortification under the name of philosophy, he sought the delicious retreat of Chanteloup, in Touraine, and the enjoyment of literary leisure. "My part is over," said he, "and he who remains on the stage after his part is over deserves to be hissed off. . . . . I thought it my duty not to decline the service of my party till the party itself either succeeded or despaired of success. It is a satisfaction to me that I have fulfilled this duty, and had my share in the last struggle that will be made, perhaps, to preserve a Constitution which is almost destroyed. . . . . I fear nothing from those I have opposed; I ask nothing from those I have served."§ Yet although the motives I have mentioned for Bolingbroke's departure seem fully sufficient to account for it, there is reason to suspect that they were not the only ones. We have vague hints of * Duke of Newcastle to Horace Walpole, May 24, 1734. † Memoirs, p. 426. Chanteloup was built by Aubigny, the favourite of Princess Orsini, under her direc tions, and with a view to her future residence. (St. Simon, Mem. vol. x. p. 97, ed. 1829.) Delille calls it in Les Jardins, "Chanteloup, fier encore de l'exil de son maître !" which might have been applied to Bolingbroke more justly than to Choiseul.-Bolingbroke had also another smaller Chateau near Fontainebleau, of which a most spirited description is given by the accomplished and high-minded author of Tremaine. (De Vere, vol. iii. p. 188-208.) Ş To Sir William Wyndham, November 29, 1735, January 5, and February 20, 1736. 1 [Lord Hervey (Mem. of Reign of George II., chap. xxiii.) speaks merely of "Lord Bolingbroke's going out of England on account of the bad situation both of his public and private affairs." Mr. Croker, in a note, expresses his "disappointment not to find in these Memoirs some clue to the real cause of Bolingbroke's sudden retreat into France, but Lord Hervey was not yet in the cabinet. Mr. Pulteney attributed it, as Lord Hervey does, to pecuniary difficulties, (Letter to Swift, 22d Nov., 1735,) and such was, no doubt, Bolingbroke's own language, (Letter to Wyndham, 18th March, 1736.) Pope (17th August, 1736) chides Swift for believing that there was some more censurable cause, some disagreement between him and Pulteney, who, it is said, advised him to withdraw for the good of their party. It is not improbable that the cabals with foreign ministers, in which Bolingbroke had engaged, and to which Walpole had alluded, may have been pushed so far as, at length, to disgust the Whigs in opposition, and turn them from their plotting leader. A letter, soon afterwards, from Swift to Pope, might have thrown great light on these suspicions; but it has been suppressed in the correspondence, and is only known to us by Pope's reply.* Bolingbroke himself, in a letter of 1739, alludes to some persons in opposition, who "think my name, and, much more, my presence, in England, when I am there, does them mischief." Writing to the same person, seven years later, he not very consistently indulges in an empty boast, that he did not leave England till his friends had some schemes in contemplation in which he would not join.‡ It may, perhaps, have some bearing to this subject, that we find Pulteney about the same time, or soon afterwards, much depressed in spirits, and seeming to make advances to the Walpoles. The day before the House rose, some remarkable civilities passed between him and Sir Robert; and proceeding on a journey to the Hague, he sent a message to Horace, who, in consequence, came to see him, and was very cordially received. "I endeavoured," says Horace, "to be easy and cheerful, and to make him so; but his constant complaint was lowness of spirits, and, in my opinion, he is rather dead-hearted than sick in body; and, in other respects, had a stranger come into the room, he would have thought we had never been otherwise than good friends."§ Be this as it may, the Parliamentary warfare between them was certainly waged as fiercely as ever in the ensuing sessions. Pope to Swift, August 17, 1736. The close connection of Bolingbroke and the other opposition chiefs at this time with Frederick Prince of Wales, and their great hopes from him, seem incompatible with any Jacobite design. Marchmont Papers, vol. ii. p. 179. Marchmont Papers, vol. ii. p. 350. terly Review, No. cviii. p. 386. § Sir R. Walpole to Horace, May 25. Walpole, vol. iii. See also some acute observations in the Quar Horace to Sir Robert, June 10, 1736. Coxe's but does not intimate what it was. The probability seems to be, as hinted by Lord Mahon, (chap. xvi.,) that Sir Robert Walpole had obtained proofs of some serious intrigues with the foreign ministers here. It can hardly be doubted that there must have been some more sudden and urgent cause than that assigned."] [Note referred to on p. 384. A memoir of Oglethorpe is a contribution to English biography that remains yet to be supplied, although literature has given some celebrity to his character and services. The labours of the Committee on the State of the Prisons, of which he was chairman, drew from Thomson the passage in "Winter," beginning, "the generous band Who, touched with human woe, redressive searched Into the horrors of the gloomy jail." This cause, together with his active zeal in his large scheme of beneficence, inspired also Pope's well known couplet: "One driven by strong benevolence of soul, Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole." James Edward Oglethorpe was born at London in 1698. When quite a youth he accompanied the Earl of Peterborough to Italy, and soon afterwards served under Prince Eugene in the war against the Turks, during which he was present at the siege of Belgrade. In 1722 he was elected to the House of Commons, when he began a parlia mentary career which lasted for thirty-two years, and was distinguished for his activity. The desire to better the condition of the poor debtors appears to have led to the project for colonizing a portion of the British territory in North America, which was intended to be an asylum not only for the poor and unfortunate, but for the persecuted Protestants in different parts of Europe; to be an additional security to the province of Carolina, and to promote Christianity among the natives. Funds were raised by private contributions, and to these a parliamentary grant was added, the appropriation which had been promised to Bishop Berkeley for his benevolent project being diverted to Oglethorpe's scheme. A royal charter, vesting the powers of government in 21" Trustees," was obtained June 9th, 1732, and the new province—the youngest of "the Old Thirteen States" —was named after the King. It was the last colony which the English estab lished in North America, and it was the only one to which the British government contributed direct assistance. "The government," says the late Mr. Southey," had encouraged it, with wise political views, as a defence for the southern provinces against the Spaniards, and for the purpose of occupying a critical position which otherwise, there was reason to believe, would have been occupied by the French, to the great danger and detriment of the British settlements; but it had been projected by men of enlarged benevolence, as a means of providing for the employment and well-being of those who were poor and distressed at home." (Southey's Life of Wesley, chap. iii.) The perils and toils of establishing a new colony were encountered by Oglethorpe in person, and he crossed the Atlantic several times, being himself the guide of the emigrants. A commission of Brigadier was conferred on him, and his military experience was employed in maintaining the southern frontier of British America against the Spaniards. For a full account of Oglethorpe's life, as connected with the history of Georgia, and of the parliamentary action with regard to the colony, see Mr. Bancroft's History of the United States, chap. xxiv.; Grahame's History of the United States, book ix.; and Stevens's History of Georgia, book ii. chaps 1 and 2. The latter part of Oglethorpe's life is familiarly known from the record that Boswell has made of his friendly intercourse with Dr. Johnson. (See Boswell's Johnson, passim.) Oglethorpe lived to see his colony an independent state, and that independence acknowledged by Great Britain in the peace of 1783-just fifty years after the first settlement. General Oglethorpe died in 1785. Bishop Berkeley's project may also be alluded to here, as another event of the times connecting the history of England with that of the colonies in America. It was a scheme of the purest and loftiest benevolence-too pure for success in an age when both the Church and State were actuated by low and narrow views of policy. It was the enterprise of one to whom, in an age prone to detraction, the poet ascribed "every virtue under heaven." With assurances of the support of government, Berkeley came to America, in 1728, to labour for the good of his neglected fellow subjects in the colonies, and of the Indians, by establishing a college, in which the education of the colonists should be aided, and the conversion of the savages promoted. The island of Bermuda, at first selected for the site of the college, was relinquished for a spot on the continent. Berkeley resided for about two years in Rhode Island, and returned to England in 1731, reluctantly abandoning his plan on finding that Walpole had no intention of fulfilling the promise of support from the government. "Disappointed, yet not irritated," says Mr. Bancroft, "Berkeley returned to Europe to endow a library in Rhode Island; to cherish the interests of Harvard; to gain a right to be gratefully remembered at New Haven; to encourage the foundation of a college at New York." (History of the United States, vol. iii. p. 374, chap. xxiii.) See also Grahame's History, book viii. chap. ii. It may be added, that it was during his residence in America, that Berkeley composed his "Minute Philosopher," which was published in London in 1732. The traditions which are still cherished of his residence in this country, mark the affectionate veneration that is felt for his memory, and the gratitude for his baffled exertions. He is to be remembered, not only for the true catholic spirit of his American project; but for piety, and wisdom, and learning, his name may be associated with that of the other great British bishop of the same times-the names of Butler and Berkeley being the redeeming names in a century of ecclesiastical slothfulness and degeneracy.] CHAPTER XVII. WHILE Such was the tranquillity in England, the hostilities abroad were dwindling into negotiations. The Emperor, chagrined at his losses, and foreseeing only fresh disasters should he continue to stand alone, made every effort to draw the Dutch and the English into his quarrel. He alleged positive engagements; he pleaded for the balance of power; entreaties, remonstrances, and threats were all tried in turn; he even menaced, unless he received some succours, to withdraw his troops from the Netherlands, and cede that country to the French. It may be observed, that even so early as 1714, Prince Eugene declared to Stanhope that Austria looked upon the Netherlands as only a useless drain, and accepted them rather for the sake of her allies than for her own:* but, in fact, during the whole of that century, these provinces were a constant source of uneasiness, vexation, and embarrassment to the Maritime Powers. Lord Chesterfield was, I believe, the first statesman who formed the plan to revive, as he termed it, the Duchy of Burgundy; that is, to unite Holland and Belgium, so as to construct a powerful and independent barrier against France. To this idea he alludes in one of his private letters, just after resigning the Seals. It has since been carried into execution, under very favourable auspices, by the Congress of Vienna.1 Yet, above a century before, the genius of Marlborough could discern and declare the fatal obstacle which has lately marred and defeated that promising measure; and he writes to Lord Godolphin, from Flanders: "Not only the towns, but the people, of this country hate the Dutch." Another hope of the Emperor was founded, as in 1726, ón divisions in England. He knew that the King himself, and a section of the Cabinet, headed by Harrington, were inclined to grant him assistance, though not desiring, or not daring, to oppose the ascendency of Walpole; he expected to induce this party to join the Opposition, and thus to overthrow the all-powerful Prime Minister. For this negotiation he availed himself of one Abbé Strickland, an unprincipled adventurer, who had intrigued for the Jacobites and against the Jacobites, and been alternately a spy of the Pretender, and of the English Government. In some of his juggling he had caught for * Appendix. †To Mr. Dayrolles, September 23, 1748. To Lord Godolphin, December 6, 1708. 1 [By the creation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.] |