1716, PARTY TENDENCIES. 49 This doubt is increased by the notion that prevailed touching the invalidity of the statute of the 16th Car. 1. c. 7., whereby that parliament was not to be dissolved but by an act of parliament. No act of parliament was ever made for that purpose; which would certainly have been done, had the subsequent parliament thought that a law made in diminution of the people's interest in the legislature had been valid.”* It is not a little remarkable that these arguments in defence of the liberties of the people, which the supporters of the measure did not venture to combat, were urged by tories; while the measure which, in its immediate application to the parliament then sitting, annihilated their liberties, was the work of whigs. At this great inquest upon the electoral privileges of the nation the two great parties changed sides; and it was found, as it too frequently happens in despite of theories and pledges, that the ministerial section laboured to curtail popular rights, while the glory of vindicating them fell to the opposition. But this peculiarity may be observed, with few exceptions, through the whole current of English history, especially since the passing of this memorable bill, by which the people were removed to a greater distance than ever from all salutary participation in the affairs of legislation. The advocates of the people have generally been found in the opposition; or the opposition, rather, has been compelled to advocate the people as the only means of making a strong head out of doors against ministerial majorities within; while ministers, wielding the power of an unpopular parliament, have, even with the best intentions, generally forfeited the support of the nation. Nor is it likely ever to be otherwise, except in brief seasons of extraordinary excitement, so long as the Septennial Act continues in force. A return to short parliaments, by affording the people frequent opportunities of infusing fresh spirit into popular representation, can alone yield the only certain and permanent means of strengthening the hands of a government that really possesses the confidence of the nation. A striking revolution of opinion respecting the Septennial Act afterwards took place amongst its supporters; for when the question of its repeal came under the consideration of parliament in the year 1734, of sixtyseven surviving members who had originally voted in favour of it, no less than thirty-five voted for its repeal ; while of thirty who had formerly voted against it, only four were found, from motives of policy and unwillingness to disturb the existing system, to vote for its continuance. The triumphant passage of this bill through both houses inspired the ministerial party with increased confidence, and threw the tories into despair. The opposition was so utterly prostrated that when, immediately afterwards, an act was brought in to repeal that clause in the Act of Settlement which restrained the king from going out of the kingdom, not one vote was recorded against it, although it was notoriously inimical to the feelings of the whole country. The victory of the whigs was complete; and the king, elated with the successes which had attended him in the field and the legislature, prorogued the parliament on the 26th of June, in a speech full of self-congratulation on the "mercies" he had shown to the faction of the Pretender, and the prospects of prosperity arising from " a settled government," concluding with the announcement of his intention to visit his German dominions in the recess; a step which excited the open jealousy of his English subjects, and threatened to involve his ministers in serious embarrassment. 51 1716. CHANGES AT COURT. CHAP. III. 1716, 1717. KING'S LIEUTENANT DURING THE THE PRINCE OF WALES APPOINTED STATE OF THE COUNTRY. BEFORE his departure his majesty appointed the prince of Wales his guardian of the realm, and lieutenant during his absence; but not, however, until after he had been defeated by the privy council in an attempt to associate other persons in the commission.* Several promotions took place in the offices about the court, accompanied by disgraces equally unmerited and inexplicable. The duke of Argyle and his brother, the earl of Ilay, who had rendered the most important services to his majesty, were dismissed from all their appointments; even their votes in the lords, not to speak of their devotion throughout the contest with the Pretender, failing to propitiate the favour of their ungrateful so Coxe. The eagerness exhibited by the prince to obtain the office of regent is said to have disgusted the king, who did not care to conceal his dislike of his royal highness on account of his personal popularity. vereign. The only reason that has ever been assigned for this piece of gratuitous oppression was, that the duke, who, amongst a brilliant variety of honours, held the place of groom of the stole, was an especial favourite with the prince, which was quite enough to render him odious to the king. During his majesty's absence, which continued for six months, the prince of Wales, to improve, no doubt, his influence with the country, set several prisoners at liberty, reprieved others, and performed several acts of toleration and generosity. The tories seized upon this prognostic of a more lenient policy, and attempted to get up numerous addresses to his royal highness, with the secret view of making a party instrument of the prince. Had the prince's own inclinations been consulted, this manœuvre must have succeeded; for he entertained no very good will towards his father, and would not have regretted any occasion that, without apparent connivance upon his part, should have had the effect of putting them both upon the country. But Walpole and Townshend were too wary to be tricked by so obvious a stratagem; and accordingly they prevailed, with great difficulty, on the prince to discourage all such addresses, and to express his desire that they should be made directly to the throne. The spirit of discontent, however, was beginning to revive in the provinces, especially in Oxford and Edinburgh; seditious sermons were preached; libels against the government published; and it was at last thought advisable that the king should return with all available expedition, and open the parliament.* But this determination was not acted upon until some sudden and unexpected changes were made in the administration at home. George I. was singularly unhappy in his treat "The only remedy they can foresee for this (the addresses) and other growing evils is, what I had the honour to mention to you in my last, that his majesty should take the resolution of coming over to hold the parliament, and that it should be known immediately he has such an intention." -Stephen Poyntz to Secretary Stanhope. (See Correspondence in Coxe's Walpole.) 1716. SWEDISH PLOT. 53 ment of his friends. Having dismissed the duke of Argyle, who had espoused his cause with so much ardour in the field of battle, he now displaced Townshend, who was labouring with all his skill to baffle the machinations of his enemies during his absence, from the office of secretary of state; appointing the duke of Roxburgh in his place, and softening the sentence of expulsion by sending the removed minister to Ireland. This extraordinary movement was adopted through the intrigues of the earl of Sunderland, who was travelling in Hanover under the pretence of ill health, and who contrived to inflame the German ministers, Bernstoff, Bothmar, and Robotun*, against Townshend and his colleague Walpole. Before his majesty returned to England, he effected a treaty of friendship and alliance with the duke of Orleans, then regent of France, during the minority of Louis XV. ; a measure which provoked considerable animadversion at home, where it was not easy to persuade the people that the protestant succession could derive much security from the interposition of a catholic power. This treaty, however, was only a part of the German policy of the king. The cession to Hanover of the duchies of Bremen and Verdun, which had been wrested from the Swedes by Denmark, was justly regarded by Sweden as a flagrant wrong, rendered still more insulting by the harassing proceedings of the English fleet in the Baltic. Charles XII., always inflammable and imprudent, resolved to take revenge; and, entering into a correspondence with the disaffected English, formed the *Robotun was a French refugee, and originally secretary to Bernstoff. When Townshend was envoy to the States, he invited this Robotun to his table; and the reptile, charmed by a condescension to which he was little accustomed, took care afterwards, when George I. ascended the English throne, to recommend Townshend, the only English minister he knew, to the favour of his master. But as his influence increased, his sense of favours conferred diminished; and in the end he became instrumental to the removal of his former friend. Townshend appears to have been a person of easy disposition and limited capacity. "He had that sort of understanding," says lady W. Montagu, "which commonly makes men honest in the first part of their lives; they follow the instructions of their tutor, and, till somebody thinks it worth while to show them a new path, go regularly on in the road where they are set."— Works, vol. i. p. 108, |