in his whole administration had relieved him from more embarrassment. The Government measures now passed easily and smoothly, with seldom a speech, and never a division to arrest them. Bills were introduced and carried in behalf of the woollen manufacture and of the sugar Colonies; and though the repeal of the Test Act was again proposed by a section of Walpole's friends, the others rallied round him so effectually that the motion was rejected by a larger majority than on the last occasion.

But the question on which the Secession was most advantageous to the Minister was undoubtedly the Danish Subsidy, by which we stipulated to pay annually 250,000 dollars for three years, in return for a promise of the King of Denmark to hold ready 6000 men for our service, if required. It is alleged that the French Government had endeavoured to draw Denmark into a separate alliance with itself and Sweden against England, and had made other and more considerable offers, which it was our interest and duty to forestall.* But as it appears to me, there is no proof nor probability of such endeavours beyond the assertion of a Danish Minister who wished to enhance his terms, and the belief of an English Envoy who wanted an excuse for his employers. The secret motive of this treaty, as of too many others, was not English but Hanoverian, and regarded the possession of a petty castle and lordship called Steinhorst. This castle had been bought from Holstein by George the Second, as Elector of Hanover, but the Danes claiming the sovereignty had sent a detachment of troops against it; a skirmish ensued, and the Danes were driven from the place. The Court of Copenhagen, much incensed, had made preparations to avenge the insult; and it was precisely at this period that the well-timed treaty of subsidy calmed their resentment, and obtained the cession of their claim. It is, according to my judgment, a mere evasion to assert in apology for Walpole, that the two transactions, though identical in point of time, were not connected in any other manner. The Opposition leaders, from their country retreats, exclaimed, and not without much truth, that Steinhorst was bought with British money; and Bolingbroke, with his usual exaggeration, soon afterwards expresses his "fear that we shall throw the small remainder of our wealth where we have thrown so much already, into the German gulf, which cries Give, give, and is never satisfied."+

The Session having closed in such unusual tranquillity, Sir Robert redoubled his exertions to bring the differences with Spain to a pacific issue; but the invectives of the pseudo-patriots had unfortunately served not merely to rouse animosity in England, but to awaken a corresponding spirit in Spain. Like all subjects of despotic monarchies, the Spaniards ascribed the insults of the British Opposition to the fault of the British Ministry; and, in order to resent the first, determined to assail the latter. When the plenipotentiaries met, in

See Coxe's Walpole, vol. i. p. 609, and his MS. Collections, Brit. Museum. †To Lord Marchmont, June 9, 1741. Marchmont Papers, vol. ii.

pursuance of the Convention, loud complaints were heard that the required sum of 68,000l. was withheld by the South Sea Company; and it was declared that the King of Spain thought himself at liberty, in consequence, to seize their effects, and to suspend their Asiento for negroes. The continuance of the British squadron in the Mediterranean gave scarcely less offence; while it remained there, said La Quadra, no "grace or facilities" were to be expected, as the honour of the King his master would not admit any condescension with such a scourge hung over him. But, above all, the Court of Madrid, galled at the denial of their Right of Search in the English Parliament, assumed a far higher tone respecting it, and intimated that unless it were admitted as the basis of negotiation there would be no need of any further conferences.

Notwithstanding this haughty tone, all hopes of peace had not yet vanished. Cardinal Fleury, with his usual conciliatory temper, offered the mediation of France; and undertook to guarantee the immediate payment of the 95,000l. demanded from Spain under the Convention, provided only the English squadron were withdrawn from the Mediterranean.* Walpole, however, well knew that the English nation was now too highly irritated to admit of any compromise, however just and reasonable. There are humours in the body politic as in the human frame, that can only be cured by their own excess and festering, and must be worse before they can be better. Such a spirit had at length been raised by the Opposition in England. The King also was impatient for vigorous measures, being quick in anger, fond of the army, and, like most Princes, thinking himself a great military chieftain. Thus urged, both from above and from below, Walpole perceived that the time for palliatives had passed, and that he was reduced to this plain alternative -to engage in war, or to retire from office. He decided for the former. The most active preparations now began; the squadron of Haddock, so far from being withdrawn, was reinforced; Sir Chaloner Ogle was ordered to the West Indians with another; and Sir John Norris hoisted his flag on board the Namur, at Chatham. Diplomatists were likewise set in movement: Horace Walpole embarked for Holland to require the auxiliary troops stipulated in case of hostilities; and Mr. Keene received his final instructions, with a view no longer of preserving peace, but of justifying war. He was directed to declare, in most peremptory terms, that the King his master insisted on an absolute renunciation of the Right of Search; on the immediate payment of the sum fixed by the Convention; on an express acknowledgment of the British claims in North America. These demands being, as was foreseen, refused, or rather evaded, a Declaration of War against Spain was issued in London on the 19th of October.

To those who consider the unavoidable miseries of war, not only to the vanquished, but even to the victors; the lives lost and the

* Earl Waldegrave to the Duke of Newcastle, Paris, Aug. 15, 1739.

bodies maimed in battle; and worse than loss of limb or of life, the sad bereavements and broken hearts at home: to those who recollect how long England had enjoyed, and how highly thriven by, the blessing of peace; to them there must be some matter of surprise in the universal and rapturous joy with which this Declaration was received. Exultation spread from man to man like a contagious illness; and depending as little on reason or reflection. Each felt as though he had attained some special and personal advantage. The Spanish colonies, it was thought, would prove an easy prey, and amply reimburse all the expenses of an armament against them. Already were the treasures of Potosi grasped in anticipation; and again did the golden dreams of the South Sea Company float before the public eyes. The stocks which had been latterly declining rose immediately. The bells pealed from every steeple in London. Still louder were the shouts and acclamations resounding from the large and delighted multitude which followed the heralds of the Declaration, and poured after them into the City. Several chiefs of the Opposition (for they and they alone were in truth the gainers) joined the joyful procession. The Prince of Wales himself was present; nor did his Royal Highness disdain to stop before the Rose Tavern at Temple Bar, and drink success to the war.

On reviewing the whole of the transactions that prepared and produced the Spanish quarrel, we shall find ample reason for condemning, though on different grounds, both the Opposition and the Minister. To inflame a headstrong resentment; to kindle an unjust and unprofitable war; to serve their party at the expense of principle; and to wound their antagonist through the sides of their country; such was the conduct of those who arrogated the name, but forsook the duty, of PATRIOTS! These noisy brawlers with No SEARCH as their favourite cry, who exclaimed that unless that right were explicitly renounced by the Spaniards, there should be no alternative but hostilities; these very men, only ten years afterwards, cheerfully concurred in a peace that left the Right of Search altogether unnoticed and secured! But why enlarge upon the accusation, when Walpole's opponents have themselves pleaded Guilty. "Some years after," says Mr. Burke, "it was my fortune to converse with many of the principal actors against that minister, and with those who principally excited that clamour. None of them, no, not one, did in the least defend the measure, or attempt to justify their conduct. They condemned it as freely as they would have done in commenting upon any proceeding in history in which they were totally unconcerned.'

But was the Minister more free from blame in yielding to this clamour? Was it not beyond all doubt his duty to stand firm against it so long as it could be resisted, or to retire if it became irresistible? Yet at this the critical, the turning point of his political character, Walpole still unworthily clung to his darling office, thus

• Thoughts on a Regicide Peace, p. 74.

proving that a love of power, and not a love of peace, as has been pretended, was his ruling principle. It was a sin against light. No man had a clearer view of the impending mischief and misery of the Spanish war. On the very day of the Declaration, when joyful peals were heard from every steeple of the City, the Minister muttered, "They may ring the bells now; before long they will be wringing their hands."* Yet of this mischief and misery he would stoop to be the instrument!

It is alleged, indeed, that Sir Robert did actually tender his resignation to his Sovereign, and recalled it only at the Royal request but this, were it true, would not suffice for his justification; and it seems, moreover, to rest merely on some loose and apologetic expressions of his brother Horace many years afterwards. Yet how shortsighted is personal ambition! Like avarice, in its baser stages, it cannot part with present possession, even for the largest future returns. Had Walpole withdrawn upon this question, its subsequent unpopularity would have retrieved his own, and the revulsion of national feeling would speedily have borne him back to office, more uncontrolled and mighty than before. By remaining at the helm, on the contrary, Sir Robert secured but a brief respite; and, as we shall find, was ere long overwhelmed by that tremendous tempest, which, though aimed only at the steersman, endangered the vessel itself.

*Coxe's Walpole, vol. i. p. 618.

1 ["With that minister (Walpole) rests, I think," writes Lord Campbell also, "the greatest share of the disgrace of commencing this war-the most unprovoked and unjus tifiable in our annals. Walpole's opponents were deeply to blame, and still more were his colleagues, who wished, by making him unpopular, to supplant him; but with him the responsibility rested, and rather than part with power, even for a time, he consented to involve the country in hostilities which he knew to be unjust, and which he expected to be disastrous. Had he honestly resisted, the nation would speedily have been restored to reason, and he would have been restored to power. By tardily yielding to the public delusion, he did not recover the popularity he had lost by resistance, and he was, ere long, forced into permanent retreat. Fit punishment, likewise, fell upon the nation; for, during the contest, although the heavy calamities which several times seemed impending were averted, the military enterprises which were undertaken produced disappointment and disgrace; we were indebted to chance, and the blunders of our enemies, that our shores were not trod by invading armies; a Stuart Prince being recognized by all Scotland, was within a few days' march of the English metropolis, where there were many friends to receive him; and we were finally obliged to agree to a treaty of peace, by which Spain did not make a single concession on the point which had been the pretence for hostilities." Lives of the Chancellors, vol. v. p. 74-5, chap. cxxxii., Life of Lord Hardwicke.]

APPENDIX.