1716.

CHAP. "should, accept the Lord Lieutenancy." StanVIII. hope, in his reply, expresses deep concern that what he judged and meant as a service to Lord Townshend should be thus resented; that, so far from representing his Lordship's refusal of the Lord Lieutenancy to his prejudice, he had obtained the King's commands to renew the offer; that the Lord Lieutenancy would at all events be kept open for him till the King's return; and that he entreated Robert Walpole to prevail upon Townshend to accept it. He adds his satisfaction that Walpole at least has expressed no thoughts of resigning his office, and most earnestly hopes that they may "continue to live and act for the King's "service with the same friendship and union "which has been."*

These friendly expressions tended in no small degree to allay the resentment of the brother Ministers; and a still more favourable effect was produced when the King left Hanover, and passed a few days at the Hague, on his way to England. The leading men of the Dutch Republic were, for the most part, personal friends of Townshend. To one of them, Slingeland, he had just written a full

Stanhope to Robert Walpole, Jan. 1 and 3, 1717. deacon Coxe imputes the conciliatory language of Stanhope in writing to Walpole and Methuen to his "terror" at perceiving the great weight which the opinion of the Dutch statesmen had with George the First when His Majesty was at the Hague on his return to England (Memoirs of Walpole, vol. i. p. 104, 105). A single fact overturns this surmise. The letters quoted by Coxe are dated from Hanover before the King's departure.

account of his dismissal and vindication of his con- CHAP. VIII. duct. They openly expressed their fears of the fatal consequences which this division in the Bri- 1716. tish Cabinet might produce to the combined interests of the two countries, and they left no exertion untried to promote a reconciliation. They held repeated conversations with Sunderland and Stanhope; they wrote pressing letters to Townshend. They assured him that Sunderland repented of his violent letter to Lord Orford, and of his charge of caballing with the Duke of Argyle, which had proceeded from his misconceiving a hasty expression of Lord Cadogan. They declared, as they truly might, that the blame rested mainly upon the Hanoverians, and their false intelligence from England; that if Lord Townshend declined the King's commands at present, he would close the avenue to his returning favour; and that if even Lord Townshend should be indifferent to that consideration, he ought still to sacrifice his own resentment to the necessity of union and to the public good.*

The King himself, on his arrival (he landed at Margate towards the end of the month), received Townshend very graciously, and expressed his regret for the precipitation with which he had acted. By his direction the fallen Minister received a visit from Count Bernsdorf, who stated to

* Baron de Wassenaar to Lord Townshend, Jan. 19 and 20, 1717. Coxe's Walpole.

VIII.

1716.

CHAP. him that His Majesty having, though perhaps on false reports and on hasty impulse, taken away the seals from Lord Townshend, could not, with due regard to his own consistency and character, immediately restore them. But, if Lord Townshend would accept of Ireland, the King, satisfied with that mark of submission, would give him every satisfaction in his power; would make no other change whatever in the administration; and, so far from requiring Townshend to proceed to his post, would allow him to continue a member of the Cabinet in England, and give him leave to consider the Lord Lieutenancy as only a temporary office, to be exchanged hereafter for another at his pleasure. Townshend was softened by these promises; he saw, moreover, all the evils of division at that dangerous crisis; and, being still more patriotic than passionate in his character, he gave way, and accepted the terms proposed to him. His political adherents, comprising Methuen, Pulteney, Walpoles, the Duke of Devonshire, and Lord Orford, were thus satisfied, and remained in their places. Methuen, who had hitherto merely acted as Secretary of State during Stanhope's absence, was now appointed his colleague for the southern department; and thus it was hoped that the party schism might be completely closed, and the great body of Whigs completely reunited.

My wish of presenting these intricate Ministerial transactions in one unbroken narrative has prevented me from noticing till now the conclusion of

VIII.

the treaties at the Hague.-Even after sufficient CHAP. full powers for Lord Cadogan had arrived, some trifling obstacles delayed for several days longer 1716. the separate signature of the Abbé Dubois. Cadogan insisted that the title of King of France should still be borne by George the First, and that the treaty should be written, not in French, but in Latin. In the former point he prevailed, in the latter he yielded; and, in fact, how could he deny that the two "Kings of France" should negotiate in the language of that country? "It is not diffi"cult to discover," says Dubois, "that these pre"tensions in the English Ministers proceed from "their inexpressible terror of being brought before Parliament, and most severely arraigned on the slightest pretext."* But these little difficulties being soon surmounted, the Convention between France and England was finally signed on the 28th of November.

66

Meanwhile, the slow formalities of the Dutch Republic were by no means exhausted, and the agents of the Court of Vienna made every exertion to delay or to prevent its accession. But happily the principal statesmen were sensible of their true interest; and some threats of the Regent's displeasure having spurred their lazy good will, they at length waived some forms, quickened some others, and finally signed the treaty on the 4th of January, 1717. 1717. It repeated all the articles of the previous

* Mém. de Sevelinges, vol. i. p. 232; see also p. 454.

VIII.

CHAP. convention between England and France; which convention, when Stanhope, shortly afterwards passed through the Hague, was, at his suggestion, destroyed; that no idea might prevail of separate interests, and that the whole might seem in appearance, as well as be in reality, "THE TRIPLE 66 ALLIANCE.

It had been intended that the King should open Parliament immediately on his return; but its meeting was delayed, and the public attention diverted by a new and unexpected discovery. That the Jacobites should enter into another conspiracy was no strange event; but to find the King of Sweden negotiating with them, and intending to assist their revolt by foreign invasion, might justly excite dismay. So far back as the late rebellion the Duke of Berwick had formed a project of this nature, and held several conferences upon it with Baron Spaar, the Swedish Minister at Paris. It was designed that a body of seven or eight thousand Swedes, then encamped near Gothenburg, should be embarked at that port; that a sum of 150,000 livres should be advanced by the Pretender for their expenses; and that they should proceed to Scotland, which, as Berwick observes, would be the easier, since no one had the least idea of such a scheme, and since, with favourable winds, the passage might be made in forty-eight

Mém. de Sevelinges, vol. i. p. 240; Corps Diplomatique, vol. viii. part i. p. 484, ed. 1731.