445 IX. were rather calculated for the meridian of Ger- CHAP. many than of Great Britain; and that. it was the only infelicity of his Majesty's reign that he was 1718. unacquainted with our language and constitution. Nothing could be more true than the remark nothing more mischievous than the intention; and a storm of indignation was immediately raised against the " downright" Jacobite.* It was moved that he should be taken into custody; and, though Walpole interposed in favour of his new ally, and dexterously afforded him an opportunity for an explanation, which would probably have been accepted, yet Shippen, disdaining any submission, was sent to the Tower, where he remained during the rest of the session. Meanwhile, our relations with Spain had been growing to the critical point described in the foregoing chapter; and the Ministers, on full consideration, foresaw that an English fleet might be required to avert or to resist the designs of Alberoni. For this purpose a Royal message was delivered to the House of Commons, on nearly the last day of the session, adverting to the possible necessity of a larger naval force; and a corresponding address was moved by Sir William Strickland, pledging the House to make good any such excess in "I love to pour out all myself as plain POPE. Shippen used afterwards to say of Walpole, "Robin and I are "two honest men; though he is for King George, and I for King James." IX. 1718. CHAP. the sea-service of 1718, as his Majesty might find requisite to preserve the tranquillity of Europe. Both the message and the address cautiously shunned the mention by name of any foreign power; but Walpole insidiously observed, that such an address had all the air of a declaration of war against Spain. It was, however, carried without dividing. Preparations were immediately commenced for a large armament at Portsmouth; its destination to be the Mediterranean, its commander Sir George Byng. Still, however, it was confidently hoped that negotiations might prevent an appeal to arms; and it was chiefly with the view of effecting this happy result, that a change was made at this period in the office of Secretary of State. Stanhope, from his personal intimacy at the Courts of Paris, Vienna, and the Hague, and his long experience of Spain, was the person who, even when removed to the Treasury, still exercised a paramount influence on our foreign affairs. Dubois, Prince Eugene, and many others, continued to apply to him instead of to Sunderland; he was still looked to by Continental states as the head of the counsels relative to them; and the King likewise relied mainly on him in these affairs. Under such circumstances it was undoubtedly better that he should resume the office which would give him the official and responsible control of our foreign policy; and that the management of our domestic affairs, together with the chief post at the Treasury, should be IX. 1718. transferred to Sunderland. Accordingly an ex- CHAP. change of offices took place between the two ministers; and Stanhope was also, at this period, raised to an Earldom. The office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, which Stanhope had also held, was, however, conferred upon Aislabie. The other Secretary of State, appointed with Sunderland, had been Addison. That admirable writer, whose works must give instruction and delight to all men capable of either, and whose renown can never cease so long as the English people, or even the English language, endure, unhappily comes before the historian as only a mute at St. Stephen's, and a trifler in Downing Street. Whenever he had to deal with practical and pressing affairs, the razor was found too sharp for the blocks. It has often been related, how, when Secretary to the Lords Justices, and desired to write an official notice of the Queen's death, he was so distracted with the choice of words, and so overwhelmed with the importance of the crisis, that at length the Lords, losing all patience at his bungling, summoned a common clerk who readily did what was required in the usual form of business. In a higher In a higher office his deficiencies were of course still more apparent. *The following is a striking remark by Sir James Mackintosh: "What a good exchange of stations might have been made "by Swift and Addison! Addison would have made an ex"cellent Dean, and Swift an admirable Secretary of State!" See the Memoirs of Mackintosh, by his son, vol. ii. p. 91. — a worthy record of a most accomplished man. 1718. CHAP. He himself became painfully sensible of them, and IX. solicited his retirement, which he obtained at this time with a pension of 1500l. a year. But ill health (this had been another cause of his official failure) brought his useful life to a close in only fifteen months: he expired at Holland House (then and since a classic spot in English literature), with the memorable words upon his lips, "See in what peace a Christian can die!" His successor, as Secretary of State, was James Craggs, a ready speaker, a good man of business, and a consistent politician. The Government sustained at this time another loss, and no light one, in Lord Cowper, who resigned the Great Seal. His motive I do not find explicitly stated by others, and his own private journal does not extend so far.* That he parted from his colleagues on good terms, may be presumed from his being promoted to an Earldom but I conjecture that the Peerage Bill, and the act for the relief of Dissenters, which he so strenuously opposed next year, might be already contemplated by the Cabinet, and that Lord Cowper had determined never to concur in them. His health, however, was declining, and his temper had soured, and either of these circumstances might suggest a wish for retirement. His place was occupied, not filled, by Lord Parker, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and afterwards Earl of Macclesfield. *The last entry in Lord Cowper's Diary is Sept. 21. 1714, and there are but very few in that and the next preceding years. IX. From the usual versatility of the Duke of CHAP. Shrewsbury, it is doubtful whether his death could be considered a gain or a loss by any political 1718. party. He expired this year on the 1st of Feb ruary. Charles Talbot, the twelfth Earl of Shrewsbury, was born in 1660, and succeeded to the title at a very early age, his father having been killed in a duel with the Duke of Buckingham.* The family was then, as at present, Roman Catholic; but the young Earl embraced the Protestant faith so early as 1679, and by his steady adherence to it in very trying times, incurred the displeasure of King James. He was foremost in the secret schemes against that Prince; and one of the seven who, in June, 1688, signed the celebrated Association, inviting the Prince of Orange. He continued throughout one of the chief promoters of the Revolution; and, as such, was employed as Secretary of State, and raised to a dukedom by the new sovereign. So polished, engaging, and conciliatory were his manners as to make him in a great measure loved and trusted by both parties, insomuch that William the Third used to call him "the King of Hearts." "I never," says another most acute observer, "knew a man so formed to "please, and to gain upon the affection while * See an account of this duel in Pepys's Diary, January 17. 1668. Lady Shrewsbury was the Duke of Buckingham's mistress, and is said to have held his horse in the dress of a page whilst he was fighting her husband. |