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1732.

PAPER CONTROVERSIES.

179

controversy did not end here.
Several pamphlets ap-
peared subsequently on both sides. Pulteney's private
concerns were most unwarrantably exposed, and amongst
other crimes laid to his charge, he was accused of
having obtained the fee-simple of 9000l. per annum
through the favour of the minister whom he was en-
gaged in defaming. To this accusation he replied with
vehemence, and, disclosing some private conversations
that had formerly taken place respecting the prince of
Wales, denounced Walpole for having conspired against
his majesty before he came to the throne. This reve-
lation produced a result the very contrary of what he
calculated upon. The king, instead of being angry with
Walpole, was inflamed against Pulteney, and with his
own hand struck him out of the list of privy counsellors,
dismissing him at the same time from all his commis-
sions of the peace. Never was the frenzy of party
carried to such frantic extremities. The opposition,
goaded into madness by the indignities cast upon their
leader, entered into a pledge of uncompromising hos-
tility against Walpole; and Pulteney publicly announced
that they had “ come to a determined resolution not to
listen to any treaty whatsoever, or from whomsoever it
might come, in which the first and principal condition
should not be to deliver him up to the justice of the
country."

Yet wide and irreparable as the breach was between 1732. them, and violently as they opposed each other in public, Pulteney and Walpole frequently entered into amicable conversation in the house of commons; for which they enjoyed ample opportunities, as Pulteney, although he was in opposition, always sat on the treasury bench. Parliament was convened on the 13th of January, and the king's speech congratulated the country on the execution of the treaty of Seville, which was supposed to be attended with insurmountable difficulties, and upon the restoration of peace in Europe through the treaty of Vienna. It was evident from the tone of the speech that ministers believed the opposition to be utterly frustrated, and de

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prived of all reasonable ground of cavil. But the vitality of a parliamentary cabal is not easily extinguished. While the success of the foreign negotiations was admitted, it was suggested by Pulteney that "if we were now right, he was certain the time had long ago elapsed when we might have been as right with infinitely less expense and trouble.' As to the Pragmatic Sanction, he declared that he never regarded it in so formidable or so favourable an aspect as ministers had done at different times; and, admitting it to be agreeable to the general interests of England that the Austrian succession should be transmitted whole and undivided, he doubted the policy of binding ourselves by an explicit guarantee to maintain it at a future and indeterminate period, when England might, for reasons which could not then be foreseen, find it incompatible with her interest to engage in a foreign war upon any account; and no alternative would be left us but to violate our faith, or risk our safety. To violate the national faith, he observed, was nothing new with ministers, for the treaty of Vienna was a violation of the treaty of Hanover; nor would he allow that the interest or honour of the nation had been consulted in any of the late transactions; nor indeed had any one treaty been signed for the previous sixteen years which had been made, or even intended, for the good of these kingdoms. Such were the new objections of Pulteney; and since he could not deny that the result of the ministerial policy was beneficial to the country, he was reduced to the necessity of protesting against the manner in which it was accomplished. "I hope," he exclaimed, "that all our affairs abroad are now set to rights, and that our domestic grievances are in a fair way of being redressed; but if they are so, I must say, it is something like a pilot, who, though he has a clear, a safe, and a straight passage for going into port, yet takes it into his head to carry the ship a great way about, through sands, rocks, and shallows, and thereby loses a great many of the seamen, destroys a great deal of the tackle and the rigging, and puts the owners to a vast

1732.

TACTICS OF THE OPPOSITION.

181

expense; however, at last, by chance he hits the port, and then triumphs in his conduct." Even the sturdy Shippen could find nothing to complain of but the complimentary terms of the address, which he moved an amendment to omit. These frivolous expedients, however, were of no avail, and the address passed without a division.

Foiled upon all points in reference to foreign politics, the opposition now opened an attack upon what Pulteney called "domestic grievances." The existence of a standing army afforded a plausible topic of popular declamation. It was, no doubt, obviously inconsistent on the part of the tories to find fault with an ancient institution to which they were so notoriously attached; but tories out of office had a different creed from that which they acted upon when they were in the administration, and upon this occasion they gave ample proofs of the elasticity of their consciences. Besides Pulteney, who gloried in the name of whig, headed the onslaught, and, by his personal influence, imparted something like a character of honesty to its movements. The old arguments were repeated with as little weight as ever, seeming rather, indeed, to have lost something of their passing effect by the frequency of repetition. It was urged that a standing army in time of peace was unconstitutional; that it was a grievous burden to the people; that it was unnecessary; that the civil force was sufficient to preserve internal tranquillity; that other nations had been enslaved by standing armies, which were always dangerous instruments in the hands of despots; and that, although the reigning monarch was, of course, incapable of employing the troops for any tyrannical purposes, another prince might arise, and make use of them to subvert the public liberties. The court party answered all these objections by coolly asserting, that if a strong standing force were not then actually necessary, it was impossible to say when it might become so; that it was important to keep it up for the sake of maintaining the reputation of Great Britain with other nations; that the

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reduction of the military was always followed by popular insurrections; and that a parliamentary army,' the phrase by which they endeavoured to disguise the perpetual tyranny, never yet did any harm. A motion was made to reduce the army to 12,000 effective men, but it was rejected by a majority of 241 against 171, and the original ministerial proposal of 17,709 was triumphantly carried.

Pulteney followed up this fruitless effort, by moving for an account of the savings arising from vacancies in the army; but it was hardly considered worth a discussion, and after a few words from Walpole, it was negatived.

The pensions' bill was brought forward for the third time, and met with the same fate as on the two former occasions, passing the commons, and being rejected by the lords, who treated it as a specious attempt to limit the power of the crown, for the unworthy purpose of endeavouring to secure a little temporary popularity.

The

The great measure of the session was a bill introduced by Walpole, for reviving the duty on salt. This proposition may be regarded as an experiment preparatory to those more expanded plans of financial improvement which had long occupied his attention, and which he soon afterwards brought to perfection. immediate object of this bill was to substitute a duty on salt, for one shilling in the pound of the land-tax, the remainder of which one shilling more he signified his intention to remit in the ensuing session. The debate was animated and elaborate, and the proposal of the minister was resisted with considerable ability by Pulteney and his colleagues. But the clearness and cogency of Walpole's arguments were conclusive of the benefits to be derived from the change. He showed that the pressure of the salt-tax, when it came to be distributed amongst the consumers, including all classes of the people, was so slight as to be hardly perceptible; that while it was in existence it never produced a single complaint, and when it was repealed

1732.

CLOSE OF THE SESSION.

183

no one thought himself benefitted ; and that, in addition to the advantage of falling lightly upon individuals, it fell equally upon all, and produced, from the universality of its use, a large annual revenue. On the other hand, he showed that the land-tax was unjust and unequal; that the landholders bore but a small proportion to the whole population; that no man contributed to such a tax but those who were possessed of a land estate; and that many landed gentlemen had been ruined through its effects. The favourable reception of this measure, although it was carried only by a small majority, determined the minister to prosecute his more comprehensive project, of which it was the initial step. He formed this determination in the midst of a storm of accusations, charging him with malignant designs against the liberties of the country. The anticipation of a "General Excise" threw the opposition into a state of anarchy. They believed, or pretended to believe, that the dispersion of several hundred excise officers over the country would place in the hands of the government an extensive machinery of corruption, to be employed as it might suit their purposes, in overawing the elections, or advancing any other objects adverse to the interests of the people. But Walpole, evading a direct reply, turned aside the charge of contemplating such a project, by directing attention to the immediate question under consideration, and distinctly demonstrating the practical benefits of the proposed alteration.

The close of the session was marked by the announcement of the formal accession of the states-general to the treaty of Vienna. The parliament was prorogued on the 1st of June; and his majesty, leaving the queen regent in his absence, paid a visit to his German dominions, where he had the satisfaction, at last, of receiving the long delayed investitures of Bremen and Verdun, which had cost Great Britain so much negotiation, blood, and treasure.

The incidents of the recess were utterly destitute of The clamour concerning the excise

public interest.

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