Chapter I (2)

Nor was the success of the court interest in the house of commons altogether pure, and free from exception and dispute. When the charge of the land forces fell under the consideration of the commons, and Mr. Henry Pelham, secretary at war, moved that the number of effective men for the land service of the ensuing year should be fixed at seventeen thousand seven hundred and nine, Mr. Pulteney insisted upon its being reduced to twelve thousand. Mr. Shippen affirmed that Mr. Pelham’s motion was a flat negative to the address for which he voted on the first day of the session, as it plainly implied a distrust of the validity of the late treaty, which he then assured the house would immediately produce all the blessings of an absolute peace, and deliver the kingdom from the apprehensions and inconveniences of a war. He said the motion tended directly towards the establishment of an army in Great Britain, which he hoped would never be so far germanized as tamely to submit to a military government. He observed, that the nation could have no occasion for all the troops that were demanded, considering the glorious scene of affairs which was now opened to all Europe. “They are not necessary,” said he, “to awe Spain into a firm adherence to its own treaty; they are not necessary to force the emperor into an immediate accession, nor are they in any sort necessary for the safety of his majesty’s person and government. Force and violence are the resort of usurpers and tyrants only; because they are, with good reason, distrustful of the people whom they oppress; and because they have no other security for the continuance of their unlawful and unnatural dominion, than what depends entirely on the strength of their armies.” The motion, however, was carried in the affirmative.

BILL PROHIBITING LOANS.

Another warm debate was excited by a bill which the courtiers brought in, to prevent any subjects of Great Britain from advancing sums of money to foreign princes or states, without having obtained license from his majesty, under his privy-seal or some great authority. The minister pretended that this law was proposed to disable the emperor, who wanted to borrow a great sum of the English merchants, from raising and maintaining troops to disturb the tranquillity of Europe. The bill contained a clause empowering the king to prohibit by proclamation all such loans of money, jewels, or bullion: the attorney-general was empowered to compel, by English bill, in the court of exchequer, the effectual discovery, on oath, of any such loans; and it was enacted, that in default of an answer to any such bill, the court should decree a limited sum against the person refusing to answer. Mr. Daniel Pulteney, a gentleman of uncommon talents and ability, and particularly acquainted with every branch of commerce, argued strenuously against this bill, as a restraint upon trade that would render Holland the market of Europe, and the mart of money to the nations of the continent. He said that by this general prohibition, extending to all princes, states, or potentates, the English were totally disabled from assisting their best allies: that, among others, the king of Portugal frequently borrowed money of the English merchants residing within his dominions; that while the licensing power remained in the crown, the licenses would be issued through the hands of the minister, who by this new trade might gain twenty, thirty, or forty thousand a-year: that the bill would render the exchequer a court of inquisition: and that whilst it restrained our merchants from assisting the princes and powers of Europe, it permitted our stockjobbers to trade in their funds without interruption. Other arguments of equal weight were enforced by Mr. Barnard, a merchant of London, who perfectly understood trade in all its branches, spoke with judgment and precision, and upon all occasions steadily adhered to the interest and liberties of his country. After having explained his reasons, he declared he should never consent to a bill which he deemed a violation of our fundamental laws, a breach of our dearest liberties, and a very terrible hardship on mankind. Sir William Wyndham distinguished himself on the same side of the question: the bill was vindicated by sir Robert Walpole, Mr. Pelham, and sir Philip Yorke, attorney-general; and being supported by the whole weight of ministerial influence, not only passed through the house, but was afterwards enacted into a law.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

CHARTER OF THE EAST-INDIA COMPANY.

The subsidies were continued to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and the duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttle, in spite of all that could be urged against these extraneous incumbrances; and the supply for the ensuing year was granted according to the estimates which the ministry thought proper to produce, amounting to about two millions two hundred and eighty thousand pounds. It must be owned, however, for the credit of the session, that the house appropriated one million of the surplusses arising from the sinking fund towards the discharge of the national debt; and by another act extinguished the duties upon salt, by which expedient the subject was eased of a heavy burden, not only in being freed from the duty, but also from a considerable charge of salaries given to a great number of officers employed to collect this imposition. They likewise encouraged the colony of Carolina with an act, allowing the planters and traders of that province to export rice directly to any part of Europe southward of Cape Finisterre; and they permitted salt from Europe to be imported into the colony of New York. The term of the exclusive trade granted by act of parliament to the East India company drawing towards a period, many considerable merchants and others made application forbeing incorporated and vested with the privilege of trading to those countries, proposing to lay that branch of trade open to all the subjects of Great Britain on certain conditions. In consideration of an act of parliament for this purpose, they offered to advance three millions two hundred thousand pounds, for redeeming the fund and trade of the present East India company. This proposal was rejected; and the exclusive privilege vested in the company was, by act of parliament, protracted to the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, upon the following conditions: That they should pay into the exchequer the sum of two hundred thousand pounds towards the supplies of the year, without interest or addition to their capital stock: that the annuity or yearly fund of one hundred and sixty thousand pounds, payable to them from the public, should be reduced to one hundred and twenty-eight thousand: that after the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, their right to the exclusive trade should be liable to be taken away by parliament, on three years’ notice, and repayment of their capital.

{1730}

THE EMPEROR RESENTS THE TREATY OF SEVILLE.

On the fifteenth day of May, the king went to the house of peers and closed the session. In his speech he expressed his joy, that, notwithstanding all the clamours which were raised, the parliament had approved of those matters which, he said, could not fail to inspire all mankind with a just detestation of those incendiaries, who, by scandalous libels, laboured to alienate the affections of his people; to fill their minds with groundless jealousies and unjust complaints, in dishonour of him and his government, and in defiance of the sense of both houses of parliament.*

* In the course of the session the commons passed a bill for
making more effectual the laws in being, for disabling
persons from being chosen members of parliament who enjoyed
any pension during pleasure, or for any number of years, or
any offices holden in trust for them, by obliging all
persons hereafter to be chosen to serve the commons in
parliament to take the oath therein mentioned. In all
probability this bill would not have made its way through
the house of commons, had not the minister been well assured
it would stick with the upper house, where it was rejected
at the second reading, though not without violent
opposition.

The emperor was so much incensed at the insult offered him in the treaty of Seville, with respect to the garrisons of Tuscany and Parma, that he prohibited the subjects of Great Britain from trading in his dominions: he began to make preparations for war, and actually detached bodies of troops to Italy with such despatch as had been very seldom exerted by the house of Austria. Yet the article of which he complained was not so much a real injury as an affront put upon the head of the empire; for eventual succession to those Italian duchies had been secured to the infant, Don Carlos, by the quadruple alliance; and all that the emperor required was, that this prince should receive the investiture of them as fiefs of the empire.

ARRIVAL OF SEVEN INDIAN CHIEFS.

In Great Britain, this year was not distinguished by any transaction of great moment. Seven chiefs of the Cherokee nations of Indians in America were brought to England by sir Alexander Cumin. Being introduced to the king, they laid their crown and regalia at his feet; and by an authentic deed acknowledged themselves subjects to his dominion, in the name of all their compatriots, who had vested them with full powers for this purpose. They were amazed and confounded at the riches and magnificence of the British court: they compared the king and queen to the sun and moon, the princes to the stars of heaven, and themselves to nothing. They gave their assent in the most solemn manner to articles of friendship and commerce, proposed by the lords commissioners of trade and plantations; and being loaded with presents of necessaries, arms, and ammunition, were re-conveyed to their own country, which borders on the province of South Carolina. In the month of September, a surprising revolution was effected at Constantinople, without bloodshed or confusion. A few mean Janissaries displayed a flag in the streets, exclaiming that all true Mussulmen ought to follow them, and assist in reforming the government. They soon increased to the number of one hundred thousand, marched to the seraglio, and demanded the grand vizier, the kiaja, and captain pacha. These unhappy ministers were immediately strangled. Their bodies being delivered to the insurgents, were dragged through the streets, and afterwards thrown to the dogs to be devoured. Not content with this sacrifice, the revolters deposed the grand seignor Achmet, who was confined to the same prison from whence they brought his nephew Machmut, and raised this last to the throne, after he had lived seven-and-twenty years in confinement.

England was at this period, infested with robbers, assassins, and incendiaries, the natural consequences of degeneracy, corruption, and the want of police in the interior government of the kingdom. This defect, in a great measure, arose from an absurd notion, that laws necessary to prevent those acts of cruelty, violence, and rapine, would be incompatible with the liberty of British subjects; a notion that confounds all distinctions between liberty and brutal licentiousness, as if that freedom was desirable, in the enjoyment of which people find no security for their lives or effects. The peculiar depravity of the times was visible even in the conduct of those who preyed upon the commonwealth. Thieves and robbers were now become more desperate and savage than ever they had appeared since mankind was civilized. In the exercise of their rapine, they wounded, maimed, and even murdered the unhappy sufferers, through a wantonness of barbarity. They circulated letters demanding sums of money from certain individuals, on pain of reducing their houses to ashes, and their families to ruin; and even set fire to the house of a rich merchant in Bristol, who had refused to comply with their demand. The same species of villany was practised in different parts of the kingdom; so that the government was obliged to interpose, and offer a considerable reward for discovering the ruffians concerned in such execrable designs.

BILL AGAINST PENSIONERS SITTING AS MEMBERS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

In the speech with which the king opened the session of parliament on the twenty-first day of January, he told them that the present critical conjuncture seemed in a very particular manner to deserve their attention; that as the transactions then depending in the several courts of Europe were upon the point of being determined, the great event of peace or war might be very much affected by their first resolutions, which were expected by different powers with great impatience. He said, the continuance of that zeal and vigour with which they had hitherto supported him and his engagements, must at this time be of the greatest weight and importance, both with regard to his allies, and to those who might be disposed before the season of action to prevent, by an accommodation, the fatal consequences of a general rupture. The former scene was repeated. Both houses, in their addresses, promised to support his majesty in all his engagements; yet the members of the opposition demonstrated the absurdity of promising to fulfil engagements before they could possibly know whether or not they were for the service of Great Britain. Another bill was brought into the house of commons, to prevent pensioners from sitting as members of parliament; and, after a third reading, carried up to the lords for their concurrence. When the supply fell under consideration, the debates were renewed upon the subsidies to the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and the duke of Wolfenbuttle, which, however, were continued; and every article was granted according to the estimates given in for the expense of the ensuing year. Two petitions being presented to the commons, representing the delays of justice occasioned by the use of the Latin tongue in proceedings at law, a bill was brought in for changing this practice, and enacting, that all those processes and pleadings should be entered in the English language. Though one would imagine that very little could be advanced against such a regulation the bill met with warm opposition, on pretence that it would render useless the ancient records which were written in that language, and introduce confusion and delay of justice, by altering the established form and method of pleading: in spite of these objections it passed through both houses, and obtained the royal assent. A great number of merchants from different parts of the kingdom having repeated their complaints of depredations and cruelties committed by the Spaniards in the West Indies, their petitions were referred to the consideration of a grand committee. Their complaints upon examination appeared to be well founded. The house presented an address to the king, desiring his majesty would be graciously pleased to continue his endeavours to prevent such depredations for the future; to procure full satisfaction for the damages already sustained; and to secure to the British subjects the full and uninterrupted exercise of their trade and navigation to and from the British colonies in America. The hill against pensions produced a warm debate in the house of lords, where it was violently opposed by the dukes of Newcastle and Argyle; the earl of Hay, and Dr. Sherlock, bishop of Bangor. This prelate, in a remarkable speech, represented it as a scheme to enlarge the power of the house of commons, and to break the balance between the powers essential to the constitution, so as sooner or later to prove the ruin of the whole. The great barrier provided against bribery and corruption by this bill, consisted in an oath to be imposed on all members of the lower house, by which they must have solemnly sworn and declared, that they had not directly, nor indirectly, any pension during pleasure, or for any number of years, or any office in part, or in the whole, held for them, or for their benefit, by any persons whatsoever; and that they would not accept any such pensions or offices, without signifying the same to the house within fourteen days after they should be received or accepted. The bill was vindicated as just and necessary by the earls of Winchelsea and Strafford, lord Bathurst, and lord Carteret, who had by this time joined as an auxiliary in the opposition. [237] _[See note 2 K, at the end of this Vol.]_

{1731}

TREATY OF VIENNA.

The house of peers proceeded to consider the state of the national debt: they read a bill for the free importation of wool from Ireland into England, which was fiercely opposed, and laid aside, contrary to all the rules of sound policy. They passed the bill for carrying on proceedings at law in the English language; and a fruitless motion was made by lord Bathurst for an address, to desire his majesty would give directions for discharging the Hessian troops that were in the pay of Great Britain. On the seventh day of May the parliament was prorogued, after the king had given them to understand that all apprehensions of war were now happily removed, by a treaty signed at Vienna between him and the emperor. He said it was communicated to the courts of France and Spain, as parties to the treaty of Seville, the execution of which it principally regarded; and that it likewise was submitted to the consideration of the states-general. He observed, that the conditions and engagements into which he had entered on this occasion were agreeable to that necessary concern which the British nation must always have for the security and preservation of the balance of power in Europe; and that this happy turn, duly improved with a just regard to former alliances, yielded a favourable prospect of seeing the public tranquillity re-established.

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF PARMA.

In the month of January the duke of Parma died, after having made a will, in which he declared his duchess was three months advanced in her pregnancy; entreating the allied powers of Europe to have compassion upon his people, and defer the execution of their projects until his consort should be delivered. In case the child should be still-born, or die after the birth, he bequeathed his dominions and allodial estates to the infant Don Carlos of Spain; and appointed five regents to govern the duchy. Notwithstanding this disposition, a body of Imperial troops immediately took possession of Parma and Placentia, under the command of general Stampa, who declared they should conduct themselves with all possible regularity and moderation, and leave the administration entirely to the regents whom the duke had appointed. They publicly proclaimed in the market-place, that they took possession of these duchies for the infant Don Carlos; and that if the duchess dowager should not be delivered of a prince, the said infant might receive the investiture from the emperor whenever he would, provided he should come without an army. Though these steps seemed to threaten an immediate war, the king of Great Britain and the states-general interposed their mediation so effectually with the court of Vienna, that the emperor desisted from the prosecution of his design; and on the sixteenth day of March concluded at Vienna a treaty with his Britannic majesty, by which he consented to withdraw his troops from Parma and Placentia. He agreed, that the king of Spain might take possession of these places in favour of his son Don Carlos, according to the treaty of Seville. He likewise agreed that the Ostend company, which had given such umbrage to the maritime powers, should be totally dissolved, on condition that the contracting powers concerned in the treaty of Seville should guarantee the pragmatic sanction, or succession of the Austrian hereditary dominion to the heirs female of the emperor, in case he should die without male issue. The Dutch minister residing at the Imperial court did not subscribe this treaty, because, by the maxims received in that republic, and the nature of her government, he could not be vested with full powers so soon as it would have been necessary: nevertheless the states-general were, by a separate article, expressly named as a principal contracting party.

DON CARLOS TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS TERRITORIES.

On the twenty-second day of July, a new treaty was signed at Vienna between the emperor and the kings of Great Britain and Spain, tending to confirm the former. In August, a treaty of union and defensive alliance between the electorates of Saxony and Hanover was executed at Dresden. The court of Spain expressing some doubts with regard to the pregnancy of the duchess of Parma, she underwent a formal examination by five midwives of different nations, in presence of the elder duchess dowager, several ladies of quality, three physicians and a surgeon; and was declared with child: nevertheless, after having kept all Europe in suspense for six months, she owned she had been deceived; and general Stampa, with the Imperial forces, took formal possession of the duchies of Parma and Placenta. Spain and the great duke of Tuscany having acceded to the last treaty of Vienna, the crown of Great Britain engaged to equip an armament that should convoy Don Carlos to his new dominions. Accordingly, sir Charles Wager sailed with a strong squadron from Portsmouth on the twenty-sixth day of August; and in September arrived at Barcelona, where-, being joined by the Spanish fleet and transports, they sailed together to Leghorn; from whence the admiral returned to England. Don Carlos passed through part of France, and embarking at Anti-bes on board of the Spanish galleys, arrived at Leghorn in December. Then the Imperial general withdrew his forces into the Milanese; and the infant took possession of his new territories.

FRANCE DISTRACTED BY RELIGIOUS DISPUTES.

During these transactions France was distracted by religious disputes, occasioned by the bull Unigenitus thundered against the doctrines of Jansenius; a bull which had produced a schism in the Gallican church, and well nigh involved that country in civil war and confusion. It was opposed by the parliaments and lay tribunals of the kingdom; but many bishops, and the Jesuits in general, were its most strenuous assertors. All the artifices of priestcraft were practised on both sides to inflame the enthusiasm, and manage the superstition of the people. Pretended miracles were wrought at the tomb of abbé Paris, who had died without accepting the bull, consequently was declared damned by the abettors of that constitution. On the other hand, the Jesuites exerted all their abilities and industry in preaching against the Jansenists; in establishing an opinion of their superior sanctity; and inspiring a spirit of quietism among their votaries, who were transported into the delirium of possession, illumination, and supernatural converse. These arts were often used for the most infamous purposes. Female enthusiasts were wrought up to such a violence of agitation, that nature fainted under the struggle, and the pseudo saint seized this opportunity of violating the chastity of his penitent. Such was said to be the case of mademoiselle la Cadiere, a young gentlewoman of Toulon, abused in this manner by the lust and villany of Père Girard, a noted Jesuit, who underwent a trial before the parliament of Aix, and very narrowly escaped the stake.

THE MINISTRY VIOLENTLY OPPOSED.

The parliament of Great Britain meeting on the thirteenth day of January, the king in his speech declared, that the general tranquillity of Europe was restored and established by the last treaty of Vienna; and Don Carlos was actually possessed of Parma and Placentia; that six thousand Spaniards were quietly admitted and quartered in the duchy of Tuscany, to secure, by the express consent and agreement of the great duke, the reversion of his dominions; and that a family convention was made between the courts of Spain and Tuscany for preserving mutual peace and friendship in the two houses. He told the commons, that the estimates for the service of the current year would be considerably less than those of former years. He recommended unanimity; he observed that his government had no security but what was equally conducive to their happiness, and to the protection of his people: that their prosperity had no foundation but in the defence and support of his government. “Our safety,” said he, “is mutual, and our interests are inseparable.” The opposition to the court measures appears to have been uncommonly spirited during the course of this session. The minister’s motions were attacked with all the artillery of elocution. His principal emissaries were obliged to task their faculties to their full exertion, to puzzle and perplex where they could not demonstrate and convince, to misrepresent what they could not vindicate, and to elude the arguments which they could not refute. In the house of commons, lord Hervey, lately appointed vice-chamberlain of his majesty’s household, made a motion for an address of thanks, in which they should declare their entire approbation of the king’s conduct, acknowledge the blessings they enjoyed tinder his government, express their confidence in the wisdom of his councils, and declare their readiness to grant the necessary supplies. This member, son to the earl of Bristol, was a nobleman of some parts, which, however, were more specious than solid. He condescended to act as a subaltern to the minister, and approved himself extremely active in forwarding all his designs, whether as a secret emissary or public orator; in which last capacity he appears to have been pert, frivolous, and frothy. His motion was seconded by Mr. Clutterbuck, and opposed by sir Wilfred Lawson, Mr. Shippen, Mr. W. Pulteney, sir William Wyndham, and Mr. Oglethorpe. They did not argue against a general address of thanks; but exposed the absurdity and bad tendency of expressions which implied a blind approbation of all the measures of the ministry. Sir Wilfred Lawson observed, that notwithstanding the great things we had done for the crown of Spain, and the favours we had procured for the royal family of that kingdom, little or no satisfaction had as yet been received for the injuries our merchants had sustained from that nation. Mr. Pulteney took notice, that the nation, by becoming guarantee to the pragmatic sanction, laid itself under an obligation to assist the Austrian family when attacked by any potentate whatever, except the grand seignor; that they might be attacked when it would be much against the interest of the kingdom to engage itself in a war upon any foreign account; that it might one day be for the interest of the nation to join against them, in order to preserve the balance of Europe, the establishing of which had already cost England such immense sums of money. He insisted upon the absurdity of concluding such a number of inconsistent treaties; and concluded with saying, that if affairs abroad were now happily established, the ministry which conducted them might be compared to a pilot, who, though there was a clear, safe, and straight channel into port, yet took it in his head to carry the ship a great way about, through sands, rocks, and shallows; who, after having lost a great number of seamen, destroyed a great deal of tackle and rigging, and subjected the owners to an enormous expense, at last by chance hits the port, and triumphs in his good conduct. Sir William Wyndham spoke to the same purpose. Mr. Oglethorpe, a gentlemen of unblemished character, brave, generous, and humane, affirmed that many other things related more nearly to the honour and interest of the nation, than did the guarantee of the pragmatic sanction. He said he wished to have heard that the new works at Dunkirk had been entirely razed and destroyed; that the nation had received full and complete satisfaction for the depredations committed by the natives of Spain; that more care was taken in disciplining the militia, on whose valour the nation must chiefly depend in case of invasion; and that some regard had been shown to the oppressed protestants in Germany. He expressed his satisfaction to find that the English were not so closely united to France as formerly; for he had generally observed that when two dogs were in a leash together, the stronger generally ran away with the weaker; and this he was afraid had been the case between France and Great Britain. The motion was vigorously defended by Mr. Pelham, paymaster of the forces, and brother to the duke of Newcastle, a man whose greatest fault was his being concerned in supporting the measures of a corrupt ministry. In other respects he was liberal, candid, benevolent, and even attached to the interest of his country, though egregiously mistaken in his notions of government. On this occasion, he insisted that it was no way inconsistent with the honour or dignity of that house to thank his majesty in the most particular terms, for every thing he had been pleased to communicate in his speech from the throne; that no expressions of approbation in the address could be any way made use of to prevent an inquiry into the measures which had been pursued, when the treaties should be laid before the house. He said, at the opening of a session the eyes of all Europe were turned towards Great Britain, and from the parliament’s first resolves all the neighbouring powers judged of the unanimity that would ensue between his majesty and the representatives of his people; that their appearing jealous or diffident of his majesty’s conduct, would weaken his influence upon the councils of foreign states and potentates, and perhaps put it out of his power to rectify any false step that might have been made by his ministers. His arguments were reinforced by a long speech from Mr. H. Walpole. The question was put, the motion carried, and the address presented.

DEBATE ON A STANDING ARMY.

The next subject of debate was the number of land-forces. When the supply fell under consideration, sir W. Strickland, secretary at war, moved that the same number which had been maintained in the preceding year should be continued in pay. On the other hand, lord Morpeth having demonstrated the danger to which the liberties of the nation might be exposed, by maintaining a numerous standing army in time of peace, made a motion that the number should be reduced to twelve thousand. A warm debate ensuing, was managed in favour of the first motion by lord Hervey, sir Robert Walpole and his brother, Mr. Pelham, and sir Philip Yorke, attorney-general. This gentleman was counted a better lawyer than a politician, and shone more as an advocate at the bar than as an orator in the house of commons. The last partisan of the ministry was sir William Yonge, one of the lords commissioners in the treasury; a man who rendered himself serviceable and necessary by stooping to all compliances, running upon every scent, and haranguing on every subject, with an even uninterrupted tedious flow of full declamation, composed of assertions without veracity, conclusions from false premises, words without meaning, and language without propriety. Lord Morpeth’s motion was espoused by Mr. Watkin Williams Wynne, a gentleman of an ancient family and opulent fortune in Wales, brave, open, hospitable, and warmly attached to the ancient constitution and hierarchy; he was supported by Mr. Walter Plummer, who spoke with weight, precision, and severity; by sir W, Wyndham, Mr. Shippen, Mr. W. Pulteney, and Mr. Barnard. The courtiers argued that it was necessary to maintain such a number of land-forces as might defeat the designs of malcontents, secure the interior tranquillity of the kingdom, defend it from external assaults, overawe its neighbours, and enable it to take vigorous measures in case the peace of Europe should be re-embroiled. They affirmed, the science of war was so much altered, and acquired so much attention, that no dependance was to be placed upon a militia; that all nations were obliged to maintain standing armies, for their security against the encroachments of neighbouring powers; that the number of troops in Great Britain was too inconsiderable to excite the jealousy of the people, even under an ambitious monarch; that his majesty never entertained the least thought of infringing the liberties of his subjects; that it could not be supposed that the officers, among whom were many gentlemen of family and fortune, would ever concur in a design to enslave their country; and that the forces now in pay could not be properly deemed a standing army, inasmuch as they were voted and maintained from year to year by the parliament, which was the representative of the people. To these arguments the members in the opposition replied, that a standing force in time of peace was unconstitutional, and had been always thought dangerous; that a militia was as capable of discipline as a standing army, and would have more incentives to courage and perseverance; that the civil magistrate was able to preserve the peace of the country; that the number of the malcontents was altogether contemptible, though it might be considerably augmented by maintaining a standing army, and other such arbitrary measures; that other nations had been enslaved by standing armies; and howsoever they might find themselves necessitated to depend upon a military force for security against encroaching neighbours, the case was very different with regard to Great Britain, for the defence of which nature had provided in a peculiar manner; that this provision was strengthened and improved by a numerous navy, which secured her dominion of the sea; and, if properly disposed, would render all invasion impracticable, or at least ineffectual; that the land-army of Great Britain, though sufficient to endanger the liberties of an unarmed people, could not possibly secure such an extent of coast, and therefore could be of very little service in preventing an invasion; that though they had all imaginable confidence in his majesty’s regard to the liberty of the subjects, they could not help apprehending, that should a standing army become part of the constitution, another prince of more dangerous talents, and more fatal designs, might arise, and employ it for the worst purposes of ambition; that though many officers were gentlemen of honour and probity, these might be easily discarded, and the army gradually moulded into quite a different temper. By these means, practised in former times, an army had been new modelled to such a degree, that they turned their swords against the parliament for whose defence they had been raised, and destroyed the constitution both in church and state; that with respect to its being wholly dependent on the parliament, the people of England would have reason to complain of the same hardship, whether a standing army should be declared at once indispensable, or regularly voted from year to year, according to the direction of the ministry; that the sanction of the legislature granted to measures which in themselves are unconstitutional, burdensome, odious, and repugnant to the genius of the nation, instead of yielding consolation, would serve only to demonstrate that the most effectual method of forging the chains of national slavery, would be that of ministerial influence operating upon a venal parliament. Such were the reasons urged against a standing army, of what number soever it might be composed; but the expediency of reducing the number from about eighteen thousand to twelve thousand, was insisted upon as the natural consequence of his majesty’s declaration, by which they were given to understand that the peace of Europe was established; and that he had nothing so much at heart as the ease and prosperity of his people. It was suggested, that if eighteen thousand men were sufficient on the supposed eve of a general war in Europe, it was surely reasonable to think that a less number would suffice when peace was perfectly re-established. Whatever effect these reasons had upon the body of the nation, they made no converts in the house, where the majority resolved that the standing army should be maintained without reduction. Mr. Plummer complained that the country was oppressed by an arbitrary method of quartering soldiers, in an undue proportion, upon those publicans who refused to vote in elections according to the direction of the ministry. Mr. Pulteney asserted, that the money raised for the subsistence of eighteen thousand men in England, would maintain sixty thousand French or Germans, or the same number of almost any other people on the continent. Sir William Wyndham declared, that eighteen thousand of the English troops in the late war were maintained on less than two-thirds of the sum demanded for the like number; but no regard was paid to these allegations.

THE CHARITABLE CORPORATION.

The next object of importance that attracted the notice of the house, was the state of the charitable corporation. This company was first erected in the year one thousand seven hundred and seven. Their professed intention was to lend money at legal interest to the poor upon small pledges; and to persons of better rank upon an indubitable security of goods impawned. Their capital was at first limited to thirty thousand pounds, but, by licenses from the crown, they increased it to six hundred thousand pounds, though their charter was never confirmed by act of parliament. In the month of October, George Robinson, esquire, member for Mar-low, the cashier, and John Thompson, warehouse-keeper of the corporation, disappeared in one day. The proprietors, alarmed at this incident, held several general courts, and appointed a committee to inspect the state of their affairs. They reported, that for a capital of above five hundred thousand pounds no equivalent was found; inasmuch as their effects did not amount to the value of thirty thousand, the remainder having been embezzled by means which they could not discover. The proprietors, in a petition to the house of commons, represented that by the most notorious breach of trust in several persons to whom the care and management of their affairs were committed, the corporation had been defrauded of the greatest part of their capital; and that many of the petitioners were reduced to the utmost degree of misery and distress; they therefore prayed, that as they were unable to detect the combinations of those who had ruined them, or to bring the delinquents to justice, without the aid of the power and authority of parliament, the house would vouchsafe to inquire into the state of the corporation, and the conduct of their managers; and give such relief to the petitioners as to the house should seem meet. The petition was graciously received, and a secret committee appointed to proceed on the inquiry. They soon discovered a most iniquitous scene of fraud, which had been acted by Robinson and Thompson, in concert with some of the directors, for embezzling the capital, and cheating the proprietors. Many persons of rank and quality were concerned in this infamous conspiracy; some of the first characters in the nation did not escape suspicion and censure. Sir Robert Sutton and sir Archibald Grant were expelled the house of commons, as having had a considerable share in those fraudulent practices; a bill was brought in to restrain them and other delinquents from leaving the kingdom, or alienating their effects. In the meantime, the committee received a letter from signior John Angelo Belloni, an eminent banker at Rome, giving them to understand, that Thompson was secured in that city, with all his papers, and confined to the castle of St. Angelo; and that the papers were transmitted to his correspondent at Paris, who would deliver them up, on certain conditions stipulated in favour of the prisoner. This letter was considered as an artifice to insinuate a favourable opinion of the pretender, as if he had taken measures for securing Thompson, from his zeal for justice and affection for the English people. On this supposition, the proposals were rejected with disdain; and both houses concurred in an order that the letter should be burned at the Royal Exchange, by the hands of the common hangman. The lower house resolved, that it was an insolent and audacious libel, absurd and contradictory; that the whole transaction was a scandalous artifice, calculated to delude the unhappy, and to disguise and conceal the wicked practices of the professed enemies to his majesty’s person, crown, and dignity.

REVIVAL OF THE SALT-TAX.

No motion during this session produced such a warm contest, as did that of sir Robert Walpole, when, after a long preamble, he proposed that the duties on salt, which about two years before had been abolished, should now be revived and given to his majesty, his heirs and successors, for the term of three years. In order to sweeten this proposal, he declared that the land-tax for the ensuing year should be reduced to one shilling in the pound. All the members of the country party were immediately in commotion. They expressed their surprise at the grossness of the imposition. They observed, that two years had scarcely elapsed since the king, in a speech from the throne, had exhorted them to abolish some of the taxes that were the most burdensome to the poor: the house was then of opinion, that the tax upon salt was the most burdensome and the most pernicious to the trade of the kingdom, of all the impositions to which the poor was subjected, and therefore it was taken off; but that no good reason could be produced for altering their opinion so suddenly, and resolving to grind the faces of the poor, in order to ease a few rich men of the landed interest. They affirmed, that the most general taxes are not always the least burdensome: that after a nation is obliged to extend their taxes farther than the luxuries of their country, those taxes that can be raised with the least charge to the public are the most convenient and easiest to the people: but they ought carefully to avoid taxing those things which are necessary for the subsistence of the poor. The price of all necessaries being thus enhanced, the wages of the tradesman and manufacturer must be increased; and where these are high the manufacturers will be undersold by those of cheaper countries. The trade must of consequence be ruined; and it is not to be supposed that the landed gentlemen would choose to save a shilling in the pound from the land-tax, by means of an expedient that would ruin the manufactures of his country, and decrease the value of his own fortune. They alleged that the salt-tax particularly affected the poor, who could not afford to eat fresh provisions; and that, as it formerly occasioned murmurs and discontents among the lower class of people, the revival of it would, in all probability, exasperate them into open sedition. They observed, that while it was exacted in England, a great number of merchants sent their ships to Ireland, to be victualled for their respective voyages; that since it had been abolished, many experiments had been successfully tried with salt for the improvement of agriculture, which would be entirely defeated by the revival of this imposition. They suggested that the land-tax was raised at a very small expense, and subject to no fraud, whereas that upon salt would employ a great number of additional officers in the revenue, wholly depending upon the ministry, whose influence in elections they would proportionably increase. They even hinted, that this consideration was one powerful motive for proposing the revival of an odious tax, which was in effect an excise, and would be deemed a step towards a general excise upon all sorts of provisions. Finally, they demonstrated that the salt-tax introduced numberless frauds and perjuries in different articles of traffic. Sir Robert Walpole endeavoured to obviate all these objections in a long speech, which was minutely answered and refuted in every article by Mr. Pulteney. Nevertheless, the question being put, the minister’s motion was carried in the affirmative, and the duty revived; yet, before the bill passed, divers motions were made, and additional clauses proposed by the members in the opposition. New debates were raised on every new objection, and the courtiers were obliged to dispute their ground by inches.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

MR. PULTENEY’S NAME STRUCK OUT OF THE LIST OF PRIVY-COUNSELLORS.

The pension-bill was revived, and for the third time rejected in the house of lords. A bill for the encouragement of the sugar colonies passed through the lower house with great difficulty, but was lost among the peers: another, for the better securing the freedom of parliaments, by further qualifying members to sit in the house of commons, was read the third time, and thrown out upon the question. A committee had been appointed to inquire into a sale of the estate which had belonged to the late earl of Denventwater. It appeared by the report, that the sale had been fraudulent; a bill was prepared to make it void; Dennis Bond, esquire, and Serjeant Birch, commissioners for the sale of the forfeited estates, were declared guilty of notorious breach of trust, and expelled the house, of which they were members: George Robinson, esquire, underwent the same sentence on account of the part he acted in the charitable corporation, as he and Thompson had neglected to surrender themselves, according to the terms of a bill which had passed for that purpose. During this session, five members of parliament were expelled for the most sordid acts of knavery; a sure sign of national degeneracy and dishonour. All the supplies were granted, and among other articles, the sum of two-and-twenty thousand six hundred and ninety-four pounds, seven shillings and sixpence, for the agio or difference of the subsidies payable to the crown of Denmark, in pursuance of the treaty subsisting between the late king and that monarch; but this was not obtained without a violent dispute. Mr. Pulteney, who bore a considerable share in all these debates, became in a little time so remarkable as to be thought worthy of a very particular mark of his majesty’s displeasure. The king, on the first day of July, called for the council-book, and with his own hand struck the name of William Pulteney, esquire, out of the list of privy-counsellors; his majesty further ordered him to be put out of all the commissions of the peace. The several lord-lieutenants, from whom he had received deputations, were commanded to revoke them; and the lord-chancellor and secretaries of state were directed to give the necessary orders for that purpose.

THE KING SETS OUT FOR HANOVER.

Nor did the house of peers tamely and unanimously submit to the measures of the ministry. The pension-bill being read, was again rejected, and a protest entered. A debate arose about the number of standing forces; and the earl of Chesterfield argued for the court motion. The earl of Oxford moved that they might be reduced to twelve thousand effective men. The earl of Winchelsea observed, that a standing army rendered ministers of state more daring than otherwise they would be, in contriving and executing projects that were grievous to the people; schemes that could never enter into the heads of any but those who were drunk with excess of power. The marquis of Tweedale, in reasoning against such a number as the ministry proposed, took occasion to observe, that not one shilling of the forfeited estates was ever applied to the use of the public; he likewise took notice, that the eighteen thousand men demanded as a standing force, were modelled in such a manner, that they might be speedily augmented to forty thousand men on any emergency. The duke of Argyle endeavoured to demonstrate the danger of depending for the safety of the kingdom upon an undisciplined militia, a fleet, or an army of auxiliaries. Then he represented the necessity of having recourse to a regular army in case of invasion; and, after all, acknowledged that the number proposed was no way sufficient for that purpose. All his arguments were answered and refuted in an excellent speech by lord Carteret; nevertheless, victory declared for the minister. The parliament having granted every branch of the supply, towards the payment of which they borrowed a sum from the sinking fund, and passed divers other acts for the encouragement of commerce and agriculture, the king, on the first day of June, gave the royal assent to the bills that were prepared, and closed the session, after having informed both houses that the states-general had acceded to the treaty of Vienna; that he had determined to visit his German dominions, and to leave the queen regent in his absence. He accordingly set out for Hanover in the beginning of June. By this time the pragmatic sanction was confirmed by the diet of the empire, though not without a formal protest by the electors Palatine, Bavaria, and Saxony.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}